Ariel Hochstadt
Ex-Google, International tech speaker
An interesting collection of VPNs here, with a varied service level. ZenVPN has good network location coverage, with a reasonable number of servers. They don’t have logging which is good, but the encryption levels are below average. In addition, there is no kill switch, it does, however, support torrenting. One interesting thing about ZenVPN is they give you the chance to win a subscription every week, which is a nice surprise.
PureVPN boasts hundreds of servers over a hundred countries worldwide coupled with 24/7 365 support and multiple concurrent connections this is a great VPN option. PureVPN is great for privacy too, with 256-bit encryption and a no logging policy.
VPNSheild provides a pretty good option with blazing fast speed, great for Netflix type streaming, and good privacy protection. It’s built for the non-technical layperson so it’s easy to use with a simple pricing structure and multiple concurrent connections, this a great entry-level VPN.
Features
7.4
Pricing
9.1
Ease of Use
8.0
Reliability & Support
8.0
Features
8.3
Pricing
6.0
Ease of Use
8.9
Reliability & Support
8.4
Features
8.3
Pricing
6.0
Ease of Use
8.9
Reliability & Support
8.5
Rating
Features
7.4
8.3
8.3
Pricing
9.1
6.0
6.0
Ease of Use
8.0
8.9
8.9
Reliability & Support
8.0
8.4
8.5
Reviews
Review by our expert
Katie Kasunic
Technology Researcher
8.0
PureVPN is a premium service that operates 2,000+ servers in 140+ countries. It offers unlimited bandwidth, P2P compatibility, and high-end security features including military-level encryption and port forwarding.
Even better, it can unblock Netflix. But it's not as reliable as our top 10 recommended VPNs, since the speeds were slow and the quality was poor.
Streaming – Does PureVPN Work wi...
3 years as a customerBeen using Pure VPN for 3 years without any issues. I always disable auto-renew and buy a year's deal on discount at around £12 for the year. These deals can be found on many deals sites if you look around. Speeds are fine at around 2 thirds of my unconnected speeds testing from UK based servers and neighboring countries servers. I don't connect to far-reaching countries so can't comment on the connection speeds. Only had to use the support once and within 5 minutes my issue was resolved. Android app is a bit clunky compared to the likes of the top 10 but at £12 for a year I can't complain. Suffices my torrent and streaming needs to keep my activities hidden from my ISP. Note, I do not use their streaming profile as PPTP uses RC4 and is not secure enough to hide your activities. Always best to be safe!
Latest negative user review
JM
2.0
Terrible support, questionable business practicesI purchased a lifetime account with PureVPN about four years ago. I have emails that confirm this, including from their support team. At some point, they changed my account to a five-year subscription and then (because they must use a different type of math) set my account to expire after <4.5 years. I contacted support numerous times about this over the course of two months to which they only responded twice, both with " so sorry, we' ll look into it" with no actual follow-up despite a dozen messages from my side.
The issue was never got resolved, my account expired and I can't use it anymore. Many people have reported similar experiences, so research before giving them any money. Another consideration is that Hong Kong is steadily coming under Beijing's control, so privacy can't really be expected. With more reliable providers available at a similar price, I'd suggests staying far away from PureVPN.
Based in Poland, VPN Shield is the VPN service product of the company Defendemus. They pride themselves on being an easy-to-use service for non-geeks. There's no mention of whether or not the service can unblock streaming services like Netflix anywhere on its site.
With just one VPN Shield subscription, you can connect five devices from a variety of operating systems. These include Windows (8.0...
Easy to useWorks very well wherever I go, especially when I have to use apps usually blocked in certain countries. Allows me to access websites usually blocked outside of the US. Easy to use - no fuss. If one server cannot be connected, can easily changed to other servers. Can be used across all of my Apple devices. Not too expensive.
ZenVPN claims to be a fast and affordable VPN service that will protect your privacy and security online. While it does uphold that promise, it's not reliable for streaming. We weren't able to access Netflix on any server, so if you're looking for a VPN that can, check out one of these top five vendors.
We put it to the test across multiple categories to find out how it really performs.
The pr...
No problems at all.Been using ZenVPN for about a year and find it's reliable. I skipped their own app due to its limitations, rather downloading my OpenVPN configuration file from the settings page, and I use the OpenVPN app instead. On my Android I have setup the built-in vpn using my personal connection details.
All in all, I think connection speeds are great and it's a straight forward system to use.
Latest negative user review
Artur Illenseer
2.0
Came with a pretty annoying uninstallable add-onSince installing ZenVPN my starting page in my browser changed and I then uninstalled it, The starting page was the same, but showed a ZenVPN message saying I cant use it anymore with a link to customer service. Looking for other software on my computer and using a malware scanner didn't help.
Customer service then made one suggestion that didn't help, then another one and when that didn't help either suggested to just try it again, because that is how problems are solved. Searching the web and trying a bunch of different things didn't help either so I´m stuck with it until I re-install my entire system. Now I got a pretty effective reminder to never try ZenVPN again.
PureVPN is a premium service that operates 2,000+ servers in 140+ countries. It offers unlimited bandwidth, P2P compatibility, and high-end security features including military-level encryption and port forwarding.
Even better, it can unblock Netflix. But it's not as reliable as our top 10 recommended VPNs, since the speeds were slow and the quality was poor.
Streaming – Does PureVPN Work wi...
Based in Poland, VPN Shield is the VPN service product of the company Defendemus. They pride themselves on being an easy-to-use service for non-geeks. There's no mention of whether or not the service can unblock streaming services like Netflix anywhere on its site.
With just one VPN Shield subscription, you can connect five devices from a variety of operating systems. These include Windows (8.0...
ZenVPN claims to be a fast and affordable VPN service that will protect your privacy and security online. While it does uphold that promise, it's not reliable for streaming. We weren't able to access Netflix on any server, so if you're looking for a VPN that can, check out one of these top five vendors.
We put it to the test across multiple categories to find out how it really performs.
The pr...
3 years as a customerBeen using Pure VPN for 3 years without any issues. I always disable auto-renew and buy a year's deal on discount at around £12 for the year. These deals can be found on many deals sites if you look around. Speeds are fine at around 2 thirds of my unconnected speeds testing from UK based servers and neighboring countries servers. I don't connect to far-reaching countries so can't comment on the connection speeds. Only had to use the support once and within 5 minutes my issue was resolved. Android app is a bit clunky compared to the likes of the top 10 but at £12 for a year I can't complain. Suffices my torrent and streaming needs to keep my activities hidden from my ISP. Note, I do not use their streaming profile as PPTP uses RC4 and is not secure enough to hide your activities. Always best to be safe!
Anonymously
10.0
Easy to useWorks very well wherever I go, especially when I have to use apps usually blocked in certain countries. Allows me to access websites usually blocked outside of the US. Easy to use - no fuss. If one server cannot be connected, can easily changed to other servers. Can be used across all of my Apple devices. Not too expensive.
Anonymously
10.0
No problems at all.Been using ZenVPN for about a year and find it's reliable. I skipped their own app due to its limitations, rather downloading my OpenVPN configuration file from the settings page, and I use the OpenVPN app instead. On my Android I have setup the built-in vpn using my personal connection details.
All in all, I think connection speeds are great and it's a straight forward system to use.
Latest negative user review
JM
2.0
Terrible support, questionable business practicesI purchased a lifetime account with PureVPN about four years ago. I have emails that confirm this, including from their support team. At some point, they changed my account to a five-year subscription and then (because they must use a different type of math) set my account to expire after <4.5 years. I contacted support numerous times about this over the course of two months to which they only responded twice, both with " so sorry, we' ll look into it" with no actual follow-up despite a dozen messages from my side.
The issue was never got resolved, my account expired and I can't use it anymore. Many people have reported similar experiences, so research before giving them any money. Another consideration is that Hong Kong is steadily coming under Beijing's control, so privacy can't really be expected. With more reliable providers available at a similar price, I'd suggests staying far away from PureVPN.
Came with a pretty annoying uninstallable add-onSince installing ZenVPN my starting page in my browser changed and I then uninstalled it, The starting page was the same, but showed a ZenVPN message saying I cant use it anymore with a link to customer service. Looking for other software on my computer and using a malware scanner didn't help.
Customer service then made one suggestion that didn't help, then another one and when that didn't help either suggested to just try it again, because that is how problems are solved. Searching the web and trying a bunch of different things didn't help either so I´m stuck with it until I re-install my entire system. Now I got a pretty effective reminder to never try ZenVPN again.
PureVPN is an outright winner, this provider is ranked 3rd in the world and with good reason. Great support levels and extensive coverage are just part of the reason. PureVPN provides a unique split tunneling feature which allows you to have country specific IP addresses, a great feature to access websites with limited geographic access.
Other factors that make this a winner: No logging, a kill switch, excellent encryption and obfuscation support to get you through that great firewall of China. ZenVPN and VPNSheild are both good entry-level VPNs, PureVPN is definitely for the power users out there.
Interestingly, if you compare PureVPN with Keeper, which is our top ranked vpn, you'll see that PureVPN can learn a lot from Keeper. Compare PureVPN with Keeper
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