VyprVPN Review: Top-Tier VPN Service

VyprVPN is a VPN platform developed by Golden Frog, a security software company founded in Switzerland. It was made in response to Room 641a, an infamous room in San Francisco, California where the NSA conducted surveillance on AT&T’s networks in the early 2000s.

With such roots, VyprVPN continues to maintain a strong reputation for privacy. But there are some drawbacks when it comes to options available for different accounts.

VyprVPN Specs

Pricing

VyprVPN offers two pricing plans: Standard and Premium.

The Standard account provides basic features, supports three simultaneous connections and is available as a monthly and a yearly plan at the price of $9.95 and $5 per month, respectively.

The Premium account supports up to 5 devices at the same time, the proprietary Chameleon protocol and VyprVPN Cloud (we’ll get to these in the Features and Privacy sections). Its monthly option is $12.95, while the annual plan costs $6.67 per month.

VyprVPN also has a Refer a Friend program. Subscribers can refer new users by sending them their personal referral link. You’ll receive a credit equal to the monthly value of the your current account level when a new user signs up with your link.

If you’d rather test the service out to see if it’s the right match, you can do so during a risk-free 3-day free trial. You still have to sign up for a subscription, but you won’t be billed until after the 3-day trial expires, which means if you want to cancel without any loss, you’ll have to do so during that period.

VyprVPN accepts major credit cards and PayPal. The website also states Alipay is accepted but the pricing page doesn’t show this option.

The VPN service doesn’t have a money-back guarantee. Its Terms of Service states that “no refunds will be considered for accounts deleted for violation of our Terms of Service.” There is some evidence of users being issued a refund on the company’s forum under special circumstances. We suggest contacting the staff if you want a refund for any reason, but know that it’s not guaranteed.

Features

VyprVPN offers access to 200,000 IP addresses and more than 700 servers in over 70 locations. All the servers are owned and managed by the company itself, making it a tier-1 VPN provider. In theory, this means better performance in terms of speed and bandwidth.

The Premium account comes with a VyprVPN Cloud, a user-friendly, highly secure VPN server deployment solution that allows users to use an additional layer of security when accessing public or private cloud servers. VyprVPN Cloud is currently available for DigitalOcean, Amazon Web Service (AWS) and VirtualBox.

The software can be installed and used on a wide array of platforms. You can download clients for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, while the manual installation is possible on a long list of other platforms, including Linux, Blackphone, smart TVs, routers and more.

The provider unblocks the most popular streaming and other geographically restricted services, including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, Sky Go and more. It also supports unlimited torrenting.

Installing the service on a supported router allows unlimited simultaneous connections as the router counts as only one device.

If you encounter problems while installing or using the service, you can consult the website’s large searchable support section. If you still can’t find your answer, VyprVPN’s staff can jump in if you contact them via live chat or submit a request for email support. They are available 24/7.

Privacy

Along with the 256-bit AES encryption algorithm, VyprVPN employs OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP/IPSec transfer protocols.

In addition, Premium plan subscribers get usage of VyprVPN’s proprietary Chameleon protocol. It scrambles OpenVPN traffic metadata, thus protecting it from ISP deep packet inspection, connection throttling and VPN blocking.

An industry standard kill switch is used on VyprVPN clients (except iOS) to block all internet traffic on your device if the VPN connection malfunctions. This protects your sensitive information from leaking into the wrong hands.

The Connection Per App feature lets you select which apps you want to use with the VPN and which you want to leave on the regular internet connection, as well as select which apps will connect only if the VPN connection is on.

VyprVPN’s zero-knowledge DNS service hinders DNS filtering and other attempts to gain access to your online activities and private information.

VyprVPN has a zero logs policy, which means it doesn’t record or retain any data when you use its service. That data includes the user’s source IP address, the IP assigned when using VyprVPN, connection timestamps, the user’s traffic, or the content of any communications. This policy was tried and tested in an independent audit conducted by the Leviathan Security Group.

Switzerland, where Golden Frog is incorporated, has favorable privacy laws, like the Article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution, the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (DPA) and Swiss Federal Data Protection Ordinance (DPO) that protect both personal data pertaining to natural persons and legal entities. On top of that, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled in 2010 that IP addresses are personal information and therefore cannot be used to track internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

Performance

VyprVPN delivers excellent performance in terms of speed and connection stability.

In our testing, we found that latencies can occur for some servers depending on how far away they are. But this didn't affect the general experience.

Bottom Line

VyprVPN offers all the features one would expect of a good VPN provider. It allows unlimited torrenting and access to popular geo-blocked streaming services, all accompanied by high speeds, sturdy security mechanisms and confirmed dedication to your privacy.

Our main issues with VyprVPN were the lack of a clear money-back guarantee, short free trial period and a somewhat limited standard plan.

If that doesn’t bother you, VyprVPN is a solid VPN choice with comforting Swiss roots.

Image Credits: VyprVPN

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