Hotspot Shield and Hola go head-to-head in this match to find out who will be the winner. Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN provider known for its speed and reliability, as well as its Catapult Hydra protocol, which compresses data to improve connection speeds and performance. Hola is a smaller provider that operates in a unique way. Rather than hosting dedicated VPN servers, Hola is a peer-to-peer network that routes user traffic through nodes provided by other users. Although Hola claims this system improves anonymity, they have received criticism for failing to protect users from vulnerabilities and safety concerns on several occasions. On the other hand, Hola is easy to install and use, and can bypass some geoblocks on popular websites. Hotspot Shield offers a free version powered by ads as well as a paid subscription service. Hola is entirely free to use, but you have to pay for the premium service if you don’t want your server to be used as a node for other users. Read on to find out which VPN comes out on top category by category.
Features
2.4
Pricing
6.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Reliability & Support
2.0
Features
8.0
Pricing
9.0
Ease of Use
9.0
Reliability & Support
8.6
Rating
Features
2.4
8.0
0.0
Pricing
6.0
9.0
0.0
Ease of Use
4.0
9.0
0.0
Reliability & Support
2.0
8.6
0.0
Reviews
Review by our expert
Ariel Hochstadt
Ex-Google, International tech speaker
3.0
Hola is one of the better-known names associated with VPNs. A product of the Israel-based Hola Networks Ltd., this service has amassed over 180 million users since its launch in 2012. It markets itself as the first peer-to-peer VPN on the market, but we don't think it's a good thing.
Rather than offering a paid service that's subsidized by premium users, Hola compromises the safety of its users wi
Really good and reliable VPN clientI am very insecure about this post and how reliable this comparison actually is. There will always be people that either love or hate Hola VPN, whereas, this is a very individual decision.
Personally, I am rather happy with the app (i am also using it on my desktop from time to time) and i do not share the rating that is displayed on this webpage. I cannot say much about the support side but would give the rest (user functions, friendliness as well as pricing) 5 stars; why?!... because it fits my needs in a very easy and reliable manner.
Latest negative user review
Gabriele
2.0
The worst VPN service everI paid for the premium membership but for some strange reason my account type was "free", so I've sent an email to fix it and they never answered!
Plus to make things worse the following month I got a mail where I've been charged again with the new premium monthly membership......
Better to have nothing to do with this poor service.
Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN service with over 650 million users and multiple servers in 55+ countries.
In fact, the website claims it is the #1 grossing app for productivity in the US App Store. (When we checked the App Store source, it actually indicated #8, which is still an impressive ranking.)
One of the features that make Hotspot Shield special is its unique Catapult Hydra protocol,
Fast VPN!Based on my trial tests, I am very pleased with the speed and access to streaming sites like Hulu and Amazon Prime. I knew I will get good speed in the US. I am impressed with the speed internationally. I haven’t tried additional services yet.
Latest negative user review
Gabriele
2.0
The worst VPN service everI paid for the premium membership but for some strange reason my account type was "free", so I've sent an email to fix it and they never answered!
Plus to make things worse the following month I got a mail where I've been charged again with the new premium monthly membership......
Better to have nothing to do with this poor service.
Hola is one of the better-known names associated with VPNs. A product of the Israel-based Hola Networks Ltd., this service has amassed over 180 million users since its launch in 2012. It markets itself as the first peer-to-peer VPN on the market, but we don't think it's a good thing.
Rather than offering a paid service that's subsidized by premium users, Hola compromises the safety of its users wi
Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN service with over 650 million users and multiple servers in 55+ countries.
In fact, the website claims it is the #1 grossing app for productivity in the US App Store. (When we checked the App Store source, it actually indicated #8, which is still an impressive ranking.)
One of the features that make Hotspot Shield special is its unique Catapult Hydra protocol,
Really good and reliable VPN clientI am very insecure about this post and how reliable this comparison actually is. There will always be people that either love or hate Hola VPN, whereas, this is a very individual decision.
Personally, I am rather happy with the app (i am also using it on my desktop from time to time) and i do not share the rating that is displayed on this webpage. I cannot say much about the support side but would give the rest (user functions, friendliness as well as pricing) 5 stars; why?!... because it fits my needs in a very easy and reliable manner.
JoeR
10.0
Fast VPN!Based on my trial tests, I am very pleased with the speed and access to streaming sites like Hulu and Amazon Prime. I knew I will get good speed in the US. I am impressed with the speed internationally. I haven’t tried additional services yet.
Latest negative user review
Gabriele
2.0
The worst VPN service everI paid for the premium membership but for some strange reason my account type was "free", so I've sent an email to fix it and they never answered!
Plus to make things worse the following month I got a mail where I've been charged again with the new premium monthly membership......
Better to have nothing to do with this poor service.
Lftee
2.0
Great but file size, and where they keep it, is a problem***Hotspot shield*** is a **simple, affordable **and **great** software, did me a lot of service for free, even though *torrenting and privacy may not be reliable*, pretty much anything else you’d do using the internet (including streaming) works fantastically.
But, it has been almost a year I didn’t use it, and now when I was trying to clean some useless things from my C drive, I found **22GB text file** in my **C Drive **(or the Drive where Windows is installed or whatever you call it) **from Hotspot Shield, **I was **astonished** as I have never seen such a Huge text file ever even in Software development field… I was gonna uninstall it as I didn’t use it anymore, I just found a new reason to why…
Hotspot Shield is a well-known VPN provider owned by the large online security company, Anchor Free. In comparison with the relatively smaller Hola VPN, Hotspot Shield has more features, and uses a more advanced level of security and privacy. It is however important to note that this provider keeps partial logs. In order to take best advantage of its fast speeds, good prices, and solid encryption make sure you check out their great coupon deals which are available only for a limited amount of time.
Hotspot Shield is a well-known VPN provider owned by the large online security company, Anchor Free. In comparison with the relatively smaller Hola VPN, Hotspot Shield has more features, and uses a more advanced level of security and privacy. It is however important to note that this provider keeps partial logs. In order to take best advantage of its fast speeds, good prices, and solid encryption make sure you check out their great coupon deals which are available only for a limited amount of time.
Even though both Hotspot Shield and Hola VPN support torrenting, there have been some major privacy concerns with Hola VPN, which means it can be risky to use it for torrenting.
Even though both Hotspot Shield and Hola VPN support torrenting, there have been some major privacy concerns with Hola VPN, which means it can be risky to use it for torrenting.
Hotspot Shield offers a user-friendly Windows app that’s more efficient, secure, and feature-rich than Hola VPN’s proxy extension. In addition, in terms of privacy, Hotspot Shield is more reliable than Hola VPN.
Hotspot Shield offers a user-friendly Windows app that’s more efficient, secure, and feature-rich than Hola VPN’s proxy extension. In addition, in terms of privacy, Hotspot Shield is more reliable than Hola VPN.
Hotspot Shield has a full-on Android app with all the security and privacy features you would need in a VPN which is easy to download, install, and use. Hola VPN relies on a peer-to-peer sharing system for its Android app, which means users' resources are shared among them. This doesn’t sound very privacy-friendly.
Hotspot Shield has a full-on Android app with all the security and privacy features you would need in a VPN which is easy to download, install, and use. Hola VPN relies on a peer-to-peer sharing system for its Android app, which means users' resources are shared among them. This doesn’t sound very privacy-friendly.
Hotspot Shield's MacOS app is as reliable as its Windows and Android apps, with all the useful features you could need from a reliable VPN. If you want to use Hola VPN on MacOS, you can only use its browser extension, which is very limited compared to a full-on VPN app.
Hotspot Shield's MacOS app is as reliable as its Windows and Android apps, with all the useful features you could need from a reliable VPN. If you want to use Hola VPN on MacOS, you can only use its browser extension, which is very limited compared to a full-on VPN app.
Hola's an iOS app offers the option to subscribe for the premium paid service from within the app directly, but this app still has the same privacy issues as its apps for other platforms. Hotspot Shield offers a very reliable iOS app with access to all its features and the ability to connect to any of the servers in the Hotspot Shield network.
Hola's an iOS app offers the option to subscribe for the premium paid service from within the app directly, but this app still has the same privacy issues as its apps for other platforms. Hotspot Shield offers a very reliable iOS app with access to all its features and the ability to connect to any of the servers in the Hotspot Shield network.
Both Hola VPN and Hotspot Shield have servers in the US. However, Hotspot Shield is capable of bypassing geoblocks to access popular streaming services including Netflix US, whereas Hola VPN can’t.
Both Hola VPN and Hotspot Shield have servers in the US. However, Hotspot Shield is capable of bypassing geoblocks to access popular streaming services including Netflix US, whereas Hola VPN can’t.
This VPN’s biggest selling point is its lightning-fast connection speeds, thanks to the proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol. Hotspot Shield also delivers great user experience with attractive native apps that are easy to navigate, but their privacy practices could use some fine tuning.
Honesty and transparency – our two core values – make the internet a friendly place. Our reviews are written by users themselves, and are not influenced by VPN companies. When you purchase a VPN, we sometimes earn affiliate commissions that support our work. Here is an explanation of exactly what we do and how to support our work.
Ariel Hochstadt
Katie Kasunic