Snapshot
If you’re looking for outstanding privacy protection and a highly secure VPN which deploys market leading technology to help keep you safe online, you couldn’t go far wrong with hide.me. With a strict no logs policy, fantastic speeds, and some great features, hide.me is certainly up there with the best if you can get over their higher than average prices!
Compatible with
Rating
Our score:
4.7
★★★★★ 4.7/5
Pricing
Price from:
$4.99
per month
Pros
- Outstanding privacy protection
- Kill switch, DNS leak protection, 256-bit AES encryption
- SoftEther & Stealth protocols bypass government censorship
- Fantastic local & global average server speeds
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) torrenting permitted
- Protect up to 10 devices with the one account
Cons
- Not the cheapest VPN available
- Server network could be larger
Introduction
hide.me is an excellent choice if privacy and speed are the two most important factors for you when deciding which VPN provider to go with. They absolutely nail both!
They use custom built hardware which deliver remarkable speeds as well as providing advanced security and absolute privacy for your online activities. This combined with one of the strictest zero logs policy’s we have seen makes hide.me a serious player (if you can get over their higher than average prices!).
HD/4K streaming can be achieved with ease due to their incredible servers also making it an ideal choice for gamers and those looking at torrent protection. It’s also a great choice for browsing anonymously online, especially for those users living in higher levels of censorship like China, giving you full internet access without limitations.
Their user-friendly app will suit any user, from complete novices to those more advanced and wishing to play around with different VPN settings.
Despite not being the cheapest, we do have an exclusive deal with hide.me (not offered anywhere elsewhere!) when readers purchase a subscription through our website slightly helping with those higher prices. Every little help rights! And for some extra value… their pricing is backed up with superb 24/7 customer support and a 30-day money back guarantee.
Pricing
hide.me makes no apologies for not being the cheapest VPN available but you do get what you pay for with superior speeds combined with total privacy. Plans are available on monthly or yearly deals. Their 2 year plan represents the best value for money and is currently on special offer with 61% off when purchased through our website. Should you purchase today, you will also receive an additional 2 months protection absolutely free on their 2 year plan! All plans come with a reassuring 30-day money back guarantee too so you can test it out risk free.
For payment, hide.me currently accepts a wide range of options including all major credit and debit cards (including American Express), as well as PayPal. If you’re looking for additional anonymity, they also accept a vast range of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero and many more.
Save 61%
Features
So with a higher price, you’d expect to see a lot more extra features, right? Whether you get total value for the extra money is questionable, but their VPN is certainly packed full of some very useful features.
Offering total anonymity from 1,800+ servers scattered throughout 72 global locations spanning Asia, Europe and the Americas, there is more than sufficient coverage for most users despite not offering the largest network out there.
They deploy military grade encryption ensuring you are always hidden whilst using the internet (as long as your VPN is turned on!), and you can also use their handy split tunnelling feature which allows user to choose which apps are routed through the VPN and which don’t need protection. Handy if you’re torrenting using a VPN server in another country but want to shop online from home!
Additional handy security features such as the must have VPN kill switch, DNS leak protection and SoftEther ensure you can stay hidden from prying eyes and safely access any restricted or censored websites.
Platforms and devices
hide.me generously lets you protect up to 10 devices with just the one account ensuring you are fully protected whether at home, on the move or travelling abroad.
Their user-friendly apps can be installed on macOS, Windows and Linux operating systems as well as iOS and Android mobile devices. If using a Fire TV (Amazon Firestick) or Kodi is your thing… they’ve got you covered too, as well as Chrome and Firefox browser users. It’s also easy enough to configure your home router and protect your entire wi-fi network with a hide.me VPN.
Streaming
With their optimised servers for streaming and exceptional VPN speeds, hide.me have become a real force recently in the online streaming world. Whether you’re looking at unblocking US streaming services such as Netflix or Disney+, or catching up on great British shows with BBC iPlayer, hide.me has you covered.
Torrenting
hide.me is a great choice for P2P torrenting due to its exceptionally fast download and upload speeds combined with robust security features and a VPN kill switch to keep you safe. Whilst torrenting isn’t permitted on all servers they are clearly distinguished and there is plenty of choice so you won’t have any trouble here. Stay safe online and remember you should always use a VPN when torrenting.
Speed
As mentioned throughout this review, hide.me is market leading for speed and claims to be ‘the world’s fastest VPN’. Whether they can truly claim this accolade or not is debatable, but we have found some remarkable results during testing with download speeds of over 200Mbps on local servers and a global average of 86Mbps. This should assure our readers that you will have reliable and rapid speeds whenever you need them should you go with this service.
One final note regarding speed is for our gamer and P2P readers who will benefit from Hide.me’s extremely low latency, even when connecting further afield, providing them to be one of the most stable VPNs we have used.
Security
hide.me well and truly keep their users hidden! They use our favoured OpenVPN protocol and military grade AES-256 encryption so you can enjoy all the internet has to offer in total anonymity. They also use additional protocols including PPTP, L2TP, IPsec (IKEv1 and IKEv2), SoftEther, SSTP and WireGuard®.
Advanced security features also include DNS leak protection, IPV6 leak blocking and split tunnelling, as well as the additional VPN kill switch which acts as a fail safe preventing your unencrypted activities from being shared to your ISP in the event your VPN loses connection.
Also part of the package is SoftEther connections which also work well at bypassing any government censorship or blocks. With nearby servers in Asia, this is a popular VPN for users living or travelling in China allowing safe access to blocked applications and websites.
Applications
The team here really enjoyed using the hide.me app. Despite having some really advanced security features, their app is super slick and easy to use plus their user interface will suit both beginners and the more advanced VPN users.
The hide.me app can be downloaded on a whole host of popular devices such as iOS, Windows and Android, and works perfectly on the Amazon Fire TV (Firestick) or Android TV.
Customer service
From our experience, their customer support has been pretty faultless. They have both 24/7 online chat as well as email support in the event you should need some assistance and there are lots of online support guides and FAQ’s too so you can troubleshoot a whole range of VPN subject matters.
Log policy
hide.me offer one of the strongest zero log policies out there openly stating “We are dead serious about this one: we do not store logs of your online activity”.
Connection logs are immediately erased so can’t be tracked to an individual IP address and they literally store/have no data to handover in the event that it is requested from a law enforcement or a government agency.
We are totally behind their approach to logging and can confidently say we believe hide.me to be one of the best VPN providers for zero logs and keeping your internet activity hidden.
Jurisdiction
Located in the privacy heaven of Malaysia, hide.me is well out of the way of US and EU authorities. Privacy friendly, Malaysia doesn’t require VPN companies to log or store any data relating to user online activity, and with hide.me assuring us they keep no logs, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to your data. They also have no connection to any government or international data sharing schemes.
The verdict
When it comes to security and keeping your browsing data hidden, hide.me are simply outstanding. Whilst it’s higher priced than many of its premium rivals, it’s lightning quick server speeds, market leading security features, and easy to use applications mean it’s a great choice for both new and more experienced VPN users with deeper pockets!
Their service worked exceptionally well in testing, never struggling with HD streaming and P2P file sharing, and overcame all the streaming blocks forced on it from the like of Netflix and Disney+.
The two things we love most about hide.me is their real genuine focus on user privacy coupled with one of the strongest no logs policies on the market.
Melvyn and the team at comparemyvpn.com thoroughly enjoyed testing their product so if you’re after an outstanding VPN for privacy and speed, we may have you your ideal match!