PrivateVPN Review 2023: 4 cons and 6 pros

by Vít Nováček, updated August 6, 2022

1. PrivateVPN: 4 Disadvantages & 6 Advantages

   • No added features
   • Not entirely intuitive app
   • Average number of servers
   • No independent auditing

   • 7-day trial + 30-day money back guarantee
   • Applications for most devices and router
   • Unblocks a large number of streaming services and libraries
   • Classified mode for use in countries where VPNs are banned
   • Adequate range of countries
   • In-house technical support

   Swedish company PrivateVPN’s services are among the better ones we’ve tested.

   The VPN offers an affordable subscription price with a one-month satisfaction guarantee and a seven-day trial. It loses out to the best VPN providers in added features like whitelisting, connecting to the fastest server, and in the number of servers and countries offered.

   What sets it apart from the competition is its ability to unblock streaming services, something many VPNs struggle with. Stealth mode can also come in handy, especially in countries where VPNs aren’t legal. PrivateVPN is an interesting alternative to the biggest providers.

2. PrivateVPN Subscription: Discount Code, Free Trial, Money Back Guarantee…

   • Your Price: $8.14​74% off  $2.08 /mo (6 devices)
   • Money Back Guarantee: Yes (30 days)
   • Free Trial: Yes (7 days)
   • Cryptocurrency payments:
     Yes

     Bitcoin :Yes
     Dash :No
     Ethereum :No
     Ripple :No

   Get this VPN 74% cheaper

   PrivateVPN offers a 7-day trial. You don’t need to enter a payment method to get it, just fill in an email address to log into your account. After the trial is over, you can decide for yourself whether to get PrivateVPN.

   After purchasing PrivateVPN, you can request an unconditional refund at any time within 30 days.

   PrivateVPN offers monthly, three-month and annual subscriptions as standard. During promotions, subscriptions can be longer. The longest term subscription is the best value. When you purchase, you are charged for the full subscription period, subscription promotions are very common.

   You can pay via PayPal, credit card or bitcoin.

3. PrivateVPN and Supported Devices: Android, iOS, macOS…

   • Device limit: 6

   Platforms supported

   • Android:
     Yes

     Android is supported by 100 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Android TV:
     Yes

     Android TV is supported by 41 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Apple TV:
     Yes

     Apple TV is supported by 23 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Fire TV:
     Yes

     Fire TV is supported by 42 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Chromebook:
     No

     Chromebook is supported by 18 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Chromecast:
     Yes

     Chromecast is supported by 22 % of reviewed VPNs
   • iOS:
     Yes

     iOS is supported by 98 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Kodi:
     Yes

     Kodi is supported by 27 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Linux:
     Yes

     Linux is supported by 54 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Mac:
     Yes

     Mac is supported by 98 % of reviewed VPNs
   • NAS:
     Yes

     NAS is supported by 30 % of reviewed VPNs
   • nVidia Shield:
     Yes

     nVidia Shield is supported by 26 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Playstation:
     Yes

     Playstation is supported by 28 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Raspberry Pi:
     Yes

     Raspberry Pi is supported by 22 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Roku:
     Yes

     Roku is supported by 24 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Router:
     Yes

     Router is supported by 52 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Windows:
     Yes

     Windows is supported by 100 % of reviewed VPNs
   • xBox:
     Yes

     xBox is supported by 28 % of reviewed VPNs

   Browser Extensions

   • Brave :
     No

     The Brave browser add-on is offered by 53 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Chrome :
     No

     The Chrome browser add-on is offered by 53 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Edge :
     No

     The Edge browser add-on is offered by 21 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Firefox :
     No

     The Firefox browser add-on is offered by 38 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Opera :
     No

     The Opera browser add-on is offered by 53 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Safari :
     No

     The Safari browser add-on is offered by 1 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Vivaldi :
     No

     The Vivaldi browser add-on is offered by 53 % of reviewed VPNs.

   PrivateVPN allows you to connect up to 6 devices at a time, which is average compared to the competition.

   Apps are available for all widespread operating systems including Windows, Android, macOS and iOS. On the PrivateVPN website, you can also find tutorials on how to get a VPN up and running on your router and Linux using OpenVPN and other freely available clients.

   Using a VPN on your router gives you the ability to connect all devices in your home under one active connection. Another benefit of using a VPN on a router is the ability to enjoy protection and unblock streaming services on devices for which the PrivateVPN app does not offer. This can include smart TVs, Android TV, Apple TV, gaming consoles and more.

   PrivateVPN doesn’t offer any browser extensions. Browser extensions are mostly used as a way to use the VPN on unsupported devices or to add additional features such as ad blocking. Not supporting browser extensions isn’t that big of a drawback, as in most cases it isn’t needed.

4. PrivateVPN App: User-friendliness, whitelist, server selection…

   • Traffic limit: Unlimited
   • App Languages: 🇺🇸 English +11 more🇪🇸 Spanish 🇷🇺 Russian 🇩🇪 German 🇹🇷 Turkish 🇫🇷 French 🇮🇹 Italian 🇳🇱 Dutch 🇨🇳 Chinese 🇵🇱 Polish 🇮🇳 Hindi 🇸🇪 Swedish
   • Whitelisting:
     No

     Whitelisting is supported by 54 % of reviewed VPNs

   PrivateVPN offers the option to connect at boot time, both on the desktop and mobile app. On the other hand, it does not offer whitelisting. It also lacks the option to choose the fastest server. In our testing, server pings were also not displayed.

   The app is simple, more intuitive on mobile devices.

   The advanced settings can be found in the desktop version, not so happily, only after clicking on the advanced overview button. When testing PrivateVPN on the desktop version, the streaming servers tab was empty. A list of streaming servers can be found on the PrivateVPN website, and can also be found in the streaming section of the review below. In the mobile app, this tab was not present at all. The dark mode of the app is not supported.

   The PrivateVPN app is translated into 12 languages, among them you can find Spanish, German, French, Italian and more.

5. PrivateVPN Connection Speed: Upload, Download & Latency

   Download speed

   Higher is better. The average download of all tested VPNs is 90 MB/s.

   Upload speed

   Higher is better. The average upload of all tested VPNs is 59 MB/s.

   Server latency

   A lower value is better. The average response rate of all tested VPNs is 66 ms.

   PrivateVPN has no data transfer limit like all paid VPNs. The speed of connection to the server was very satisfactory. PrivateVPN never kept us waiting unnecessarily during our testing.

   The connection speed to the nearest server was also good and would be enough to play 4K resolution video. When connecting to the server in the US and UK, we achieved values that should handle Full HD video streaming.

   The slowdown compared to a connection without a VPN was average. In our test, the upload slowdown was significantly lower than the download slowdown.

6. PrivateVPN Server Locations

   • Number of servers:
     150

     The average number of servers for the reviewed VPNs is 1549.
   • Number of countries:
     62

     The average number of countries available for the reviewed VPNs is 39.

   Europe	🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇪🇪 Estonia 🇫🇮 Finland 🇫🇷 France 🇭🇷 Croatia 🇮🇪 Ireland 🇮🇸 Iceland 🇮🇹 Italy 🇨🇾 Cyprus 🇱🇹 Lithuania 🇱🇻 Latvia 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 🇭🇺 Hungary 🇲🇹 Malta 🇲🇩 Moldova 🇩🇪 Germany 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway 🇮🇲 Isle of Man 🇵🇱 Poland 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇦🇹 Austria 🇷🇴 Romania 🇬🇷 Greece 🇸🇰 Slovakia 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 🇷🇸 Serbia 🇪🇸 Spain 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇹🇷 Turkey 🇺🇦 Ukraine
   North America	🇨🇦 Canada 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 🇲🇽 Mexico 🇵🇦 Panama 🇺🇸 USA
   South America	🇧🇷 Brazil 🇦🇷 Argentina 🇨🇱 Chile 🇨🇴 Colombia 🇵🇪 Peru
   Asia	🇵🇭 Philippines 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 🇮🇳 India 🇮🇩 Indonesia 🇮🇱 Israel 🇯🇵 Japan 🇰🇷 South Korea 🇲🇾 Malaysia 🇷🇺 Russia 🇸🇬 Singapore 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 🇹🇭 Thailand 🇹🇼 Taiwan 🇻🇳 Vietnam
   Africa	🇿🇦 South Africa
   Oceania	🇦🇺 Australia 🇳🇿 New Zealand

   PrivateVPN offers a choice of 150 servers, a low number compared to the top VPNs tested, which offer around 3,000. PrivateVPN’s servers are spread across 62 countries, giving you a good range of locations.

   PrivateVPN also offers VPN servers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

   In the streaming server offerings that PrivateVPN advertises on its site, you’ll find streaming servers in 20 countries.

7. PrivateVPN Security Features: DNS Leak Protection, Kill Switch…

   • DNS leak protection :
     Yes

     DNS leak protection is offered by 96% of the reviewed VPNs.
   • Kill Switch:
     Yes

     Kill Switch is supported by 82% of the reviewed VPNs.
   • Tor:
     No

     Tor support is offered by 12 % of the reviewed VPNs.

   PrivateVPN offers standard security such as DNS protection, a kill switch, Tor network connectivity, and WebRTC protection.

   You won’t find malware protection in the app, which is more of an antivirus issue than a VPN anyway. PrivateVPN doesn’t provide ad blocking or tracker blocking either. On the contrary, it offers a feature that hides the VPN usage behind a normal connection. This feature is especially useful in countries where VPNs are not legal.

8. PrivateVPN & Streaming: Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime…

   • Amazon Prime:
     Yes

     Amazon Prime streaming is supported by 51 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Disney+:
     Yes

     Disney+ streaming is supported by 49 % of reviewed VPNs
   • HBO:
     Yes

     HBO streaming is supported by 52 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Hulu:
     Yes

     Hulu streaming is supported by 48 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Netflix:
     Yes

     Netflix streaming is supported by 64 % of reviewed VPNs
   • YouTube:
     Yes

     YouTube streaming is supported by 83 % of reviewed VPNs

   
   PrivateVPN is able to unblock streaming services Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, YouTube and the UK’s BBC iPlayer.

   With PrivateVPN, you have the ability to unblock a large library of streaming services from up to 20 countries. These include the US, Canada, the UK, France, Japan, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and South Korea.

9. Features of PrivateVPN: AdBlock, Static IP…

   • Blocks Ads:
     No

     Ad blocking is offered by 48 % of the VPNs reviewed.
   • Blocks Malware:
     No

     Malware blocking is offered by 45 % of the VPNs reviewed.
   • Blocks Trackers:
     No

     Trackers blocking is offered by 42 % of the VPNs reviewed.

   PrivateVPN does not offer any blocking features.

10. Zatížení počítače s PrivateVPN

    The computer load was slightly higher than other VPNs, but it never caused any problems. If you don’t use PrivateVPN, the performance requirements are reduced. Alternatively, you can disable the VPN using the icon in the taskbar.

11. PrivateVPN Torrenting Servers

    • Torrenting servers:
      Yes

      Torrenting support is offered by 87 % of the reviewed VPNs.

    PrivateVPN offers 18 torrent-friendly servers in 15 different countries. This way, your identity and safety will be protected when downloading torrents.

12. What is the country of origin of PrivateVPN?

    • Country of origin: 🇸🇪 Sweden

    PrivateVPN is based in Sweden, which is part of the European Union and the so-called 14 Eyes Agreement. As PrivateVPN does not keep a record of your data transfers, it is not possible to give any data to the authorities.

13. PrivateVPN and Privacy: Logging Policy, Security Issues…

    • No-Logs Policy:
      Yes

      The No-Logs Policy is followed by 85% of reviewed VPNs.
    • Multi-Hop:
      No

      Multi-Hop connection is offered by 30 % of the VPNs reviewed.

    PrivateVPN’s website states that it “does not collect or store any activity logs, including storing browsing history, data transfer locations, connection time data, DNS queries, IP addresses (assigned or connected IP addresses), data content, or size of data connected.”

    Privacy protection is similar to other VPN providers. PrivateVPN stores your email address for account login. It also uses cookies and analytics data from its site, but shouldn’t share it with any third parties.

    Some competing VPNs have a certificate from an independent auditor. In the case of PrivateVPN and many other providers, you can only trust that they abide by their terms and conditions.

14. PrivateVPN Support: Chat, e-mail…

    PrivateVPN offers a FAQ on the site that isn’t very clear or extensive. It doesn’t have a search box and is relatively brief. PrivateVPN also offers tutorials on how to set up VPNs on supported devices to help the less tech-savvy.

    Any further questions can be directed to support using the chat box found in the bottom right corner. A direct link to the chat can also be found in the desktop app. In the mobile app, you can find an email address to contact support.

    Support is provided by PrivateVPN, so you contact the developer directly.