Speedify VPN review
[Presented by BestCloudBest.com]
Are you wondering how you can protect your privacy and security when you browse the Internet? You need a “Virtual Private Network” (VPN). There are quite a few VPN providers in the market, therefore, you could find it hard to choose one. Speedify, an American VPN is also in the fray.
What should you consider when buying a VPN? Look at its privacy and security features. Evaluate its speed, whether it unblocks geo-restricted streaming services, and whether it allows secure access to P2P/torrenting services. Check its customer support capabilities and price.
We used all of these yardsticks when we reviewed Speedify. Does this VPN meet your requirement and is it worth buying a subscription? Read on, as we answer these questions.
What are the main features of Speedify VPN?
We will now explain the key features that Speedify offers.
Is your information safe with Speedify VPN?
If you are planning to buy a VPN subscription, then you likely consider privacy important. A VPN that masks your IP address, encrypts your Internet traffic, and refrains from logging your online activities can offer privacy.
Speedify masks your IP address and encrypts your Internet traffic. It doesn’t log your online activities. This VPN explains in its privacy policy that it doesn’t track which websites you visit, the data you transmit, and your DNS requests.
Speedify records some information when you use this VPN. This information includes the following:
· Your Wi-Fi SSID;
· Your IP address;
· Your device ID;
· Connection start-time;
· Connection duration;
· The amount of data you transmit.
This VPN collects this information to improve the performance of its software and infrastructure. Speedify also uses this information for troubleshooting. This VPN retains this information for 6 months, and we consider this as “keeping limited logs”. This doesn’t amount to tracking your activities online though, and it doesn’t pose privacy risks.
When you buy a Speedify subscription, this VPN collects your name and email address. The company uses this information to create a user account. Speedify has partnered with Fastspring payment services to provide you with a secure payment process, and this VPN can’t access your payment information. We find that this doesn’t pose any privacy risks.
If someone visits the Speedify VPN website, then the company collects the IP address, the type of browser used, the pages visited, and the operating system of the user. This company collects this information in an anonymized and aggregate way. This doesn’t affect the privacy of its VPN users.
Speedify doesn’t sell, rent, or transfer your personal information to any 3rd parties. This VPN secures your personal information and processes it per applicable laws.
Connectify Inc., an American company owns and operates Speedify. This VPN is subject to the jurisdiction of the USA. The USA is part of the “5 Eyes” coalition of countries that conduct mass surveillance, therefore, it’s not the ideal jurisdiction for a privacy-focused VPN.
However, Speedify doesn’t keep logs of your online activities. Moreover, it will only allow a government agency to access its data if that’s required by law. Most VPN users are law-abiding citizens, therefore, this doesn’t pose a risk to them.
We are satisfied that Speedify can protect the privacy of most VPN users satisfactorily. Most VPN users are law-abiding people and the limited logging done by Speedify won’t impact them. However, privacy enthusiasts will not like the limited logging done by Speedify.
Is your data secure while using Speedify VPN?
Security is a key priority for most VPN users and you probably consider it important too. In that case, you need a VPN that supports secure protocols, provides robust encryption, prevents data leaks, and offers advanced security features.
Speedify offers its proprietary VPN protocol called “Channel bonding”. Its channel bonding technology uses all available Internet connections to provide optimal speed. We like VPNs that use the OpenVPN protocol since it’s the most secure VPN protocol. Speedify doesn’t use it, however, we found during our review that its proprietary protocol is secure too.
Speedify offers both ChaCha-256 and AES-256 encryption. These are military-grade encryption technologies, therefore, this VPN can secure your sensitive information. Speedify prevents all IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks.
This VPN offers a kill switch. This feature blocks your Internet connection if your VPN connection drops suddenly. This way, hackers can’t access your sensitive information even if the VPN connection terminates unexpectedly.
We find that Speedify offers solid security features.
Where are the servers of Speedify VPN located?
You want a fast VPN, and VPNs with enough servers across all key geographies can fit the bill. They should also invest in high-quality server infrastructure.
Speedify has 200+ servers in 36 countries. It covers all key geographies like North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Latin America, and Africa. Its server network is smaller than several leading VPNs. While Speedify offers reasonable speed, users from certain regions may find it slow.
What platforms are supported by Speedify VPN?
You would want a VPN that works with all kinds of devices that you have. Speedify supports Windows, Mac, and Linux among desktops. Among mobile platforms, it supports Android and iOS.
This VPN provides custom apps for all of these platforms. That helps since many VPN users aren’t tech-savvy. Having a custom app saves them the trouble of manually configuring a VPN connection.
Speedify doesn’t support routers. It also doesn’t provide manual configuration guides for any platform. If you are an advanced VPN user preferring to set a VPN connection manually on a router or other devices, then you might consider this a disadvantage. This VPN allows 5 simultaneous connections using one user account, which is comparable to other VPNs.
While Speedify supports all key platforms and offers custom apps, it doesn’t support other platforms. If you want a VPN that offers greater compatibility, then you should explore other leading VPNs.
Can Speedify VPN unblock streaming services?
Popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer impose geo-restrictions. Many Internet users try to bypass these geo-restrictions by using a VPN. However, these streaming services know that and they aggressively block VPNs. Many VPNs can’t unblock these streaming services.
Speedify can’t unblock Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer. It can unblock HBO GO, Hotstar, and YouTube. If you want a VPN to consistently unblock Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer, then you should explore other leading VPNs.
Does Speedify VPN allow for P2P/torrenting?
Speedify allows P2P/torrenting. However, we recommend you exercise care when you use this VPN to securely access P2P/torrenting services.
P2P/torrenting activities expose you to two kinds of risk. The first one involves the question of legality. Some countries ban P2P/torrenting services, moreover, you can get into copyright issues even in a country that allows them. We recommend you check applicable laws carefully before accessing P2P/services. If you inadvertently violate copyright laws, then you don’t want someone to log that. Speedify keeps limited logs. It will also let government agencies access its data if required by law. This can expose you to risks.
The second type of risk around P2P/torrenting activities involves security. Hackers monitor these sites and target their users. You need a VPN that encrypts your connection effectively so that hackers can’t monitor your Internet connection. Moreover, a VPN should offer a kill switch. That prevents hackers from accessing your sensitive information even if the VPN connection terminates unexpectedly. Speedify meets both of these criteria.
Speedify doesn’t impose any bandwidth restrictions on P2P/torrenting services. This is an advantage. ISPs throttle your Internet connection as soon as they detect that you are accessing a P2P/torrenting service. Speedify eliminates this challenge. This VPN offers reasonable speed.
Check carefully the content you plan to download from a P2P/torrenting service. As long as you are within the limits of the law, you can use Speedify to access P2P/torrenting services. Otherwise, you need to look for a leading VPN that doesn’t keep logs.
What is “Channel bonding” protocol?
Speedify uses its “Channel bonding” protocol, which is its proprietary VPN protocol. This protocol intends to utilize all available Internet connections. The objective of this is to offer the best possible speed. In reality, Speedify offers reasonable speed but not the best speed.
How much does Speedify VPN cost?
Ideally, A VPN should offer pricing plans that are reasonable considering the features it offers. Speedify offers 4 sets of plans.
1st is a free plan. This is always free, and it offers all the key features of its paid plan. However, you can transmit 2 GB data per month and use it on 1 device only. All free VPN plans come with limitations, and we aren’t surprised. This free plan enables you to test Speedify.
The 2nd set of plans is called the “Individuals” plan. This offers 4 billing options, which are as follows:
· Monthly: You pay $9.99 per month;
· Yearly: You pay $71.88 once a year, which means that your monthly average cost is $5.99;
· 2-years: You pay $95.76 every 2 years, therefore, your monthly average cost is $3.99;
· 3-years: Speedify charges $107.64 every 3 years, therefore, your monthly average cost is $2.99.
The individual plan allows 1 user only, however, it allows 5 simultaneous connections.
The 3rd set of plans is called the “Families” plan. You get 4 billing options, which are as follows:
· Monthly: It costs $14.95 per month;
· Yearly: You pay $107.40 every year, resulting in the average cost of $8.95 per month;
· 2-years: It costs $144.00 every 2 years, therefore, your monthly average cost is $6.00;
· 3-years: You pay $162.00 once in 3 years, therefore, your monthly average cost is $4.50.
The family plan allows up to 5 family members and each of them can use 5 simultaneous connections.
The 4th set of plans is called the “Teams” plan. You have the following billing options:
· Monthly: You pay $9.99 per month per user;
· Yearly: You pay $71.88 per year per user, which means that the monthly average cost per user is $5.99.
Each user in a team can use 5 simultaneous connections. Speedify offers dedicated VPN servers at an additional cost on its “Teams” plan.
You can pay for a subscription using popular credit cards like Visa and MasterCard. Speedify accepts PayPal too. The company offers a secure payment process.
While Speedify doesn’t offer a free trial for its paid plans, its free plan is good enough for this purpose. This VPN provider offers a 30-days money-back guarantee.
We find that the monthly plan of Speedify is a bit expensive. However, its longer-duration plans offer good discounts. Its 3-years plan offers steep discounts. Overall, Speedify is reasonably-priced.
The pros and cons of Speedify VPN
Speedify offers the following advantages:
· This VPN doesn’t log the websites you visit, the content you access, or your DNS queries.
· It offers secure protocols and encryption algorithms, moreover, it offers a kill switch.
· Speedify has over 200 servers in 36 countries and it offers reasonable speed.
· This VPN supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, which are key platforms.
· Speedify offers easy-to-use custom apps for all the platforms that it supports.
· This VPN allows 5 simultaneous connections.
· This VPN allows P2P/torrenting and it doesn’t impose any bandwidth restrictions. It keeps limited logs though, therefore, users need to exercise care.
· It offers very good documentation.
· Speedify offers reasonable pricing plans including a free plan, moreover, it offers a 30-days money-back guarantee.
Speedify offers a few disadvantages too, which are as follows:
· This VPN keeps a limited amount of logs, and it’s subject to the jurisdiction of the USA.
· Speedify doesn’t support routers, moreover, it doesn’t allow manual configuration on any device.
· This VPN can’t unblock popular geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer.
· Speedify doesn’t offer live chat support, moreover, its customer support team doesn’t respond to emails promptly enough.
A few quick facts about Speedify VPN
We now summarize a few quick facts about Speedify, which are as follows:
· This VPN is owned by Connectify Inc., and it’s subject to the jurisdiction of the USA.
· Speedify keeps limited logs.
· This VPN offers its proprietary VPN protocol called the “Channel bonding” protocol, which is secure.
· Speedify offers strong encryption and a kill switch.
· This VPN has 200+ servers in 36 countries, and it offers reasonable speed.
· This VPN can’t unblock Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer.
· You can access P2P/torrenting services using this VPN.
· Speedify supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, moreover, it offers user-friendly custom apps for all of these platforms.
· This VPN doesn’t offer live chat support.
· Speedify has a free plan, moreover, it offers a 30-days money-back guarantee.
Is Speedify VPN user friendly?
Most VPN users want an easy-to-use VPN and you probably want that too. Speedify is a user-friendly VPN and you can notice that as soon as you visit its website. The company makes a noticeable effort to explain its “channel bonding” technology and why it’s important. You can also find all key menu options and CTA buttons easily.
The Speedify website displays the pricing, support information, documentation, and app download options prominently. This company offers a secure and easy process to buy a VPN subscription. If you want to use its free plan, then you can find it easily on the website.
Speedify offers custom apps for all platforms it supports, which is useful. Its custom apps are easy to install and use. We find that Speedify is a user-friendly VPN.
About the customer service of Speedify VPN
You will likely prioritize customer service when you shop around for a VPN. In this regard, let’s remember that Speedify offers custom apps for all the platforms it supports. Moreover, it doesn’t allow you to configure a VPN connection manually on any device. Given that the Speedify custom VPN apps are user-friendly and stable, you won’t need much customer support.
Furthermore, Speedify has a neatly organized support page on its website. The support page offers troubleshooting guides for its desktop and mobile apps. It offers a searchable knowledge base and an FAQ section. Its knowledgebase articles cover both technical as well as administrative aspects. We have reviewed some of the knowledge base articles, and we found them to be informative.
Speedify doesn’t offer live chat support. This VPN offers email support. We sent an email to its support team with a few straightforward questions. However, we are yet to receive even after one business day.
Speedify offers excellent documentation. It doesn’t offer live chat support, and its customer support team doesn’t respond to emails promptly enough. We find that Speedify needs to improve its customer support capabilities.
What's the jurisdiction of Speedify VPN?
Speedify is owned and operated by Connectify Inc., an American company. Speedify is subject to the jurisdiction of the USA. The USA is a member of the “5 Eyes” coalition, which has countries that conduct mass surveillance.
The USA isn’t the ideal jurisdiction for a privacy-friendly VPN. However, Speedify doesn’t keep logs of which websites its users visit. It doesn’t track their DNS queries or the content they access. Speedify will allow government agencies access to their data only if required by the law. For a law-abiding common VPN user, Speedify sufficiently protects ones’ privacy.
Does Speedify VPN keep any logs of your activity?
Speedify doesn’t log your online activities, however, it keeps limited connection logs. This VPN explains in its privacy policy that it doesn’t log the websites you visit. It doesn’t log the data you transmit or your DNS requests. This means that it doesn’t track what you do online.
However, when you connect to the Speedify VPN, it collects the following information:
· Your Wi-Fi SSID;
· Your IP address;
· Your device ID;
· Connection start-time;
· Connection duration;
· The amount of data you transmit.
Speedify collects this information to improve the performance of its software and infrastructure. Moreover, it uses this information for troubleshooting. Speedify retains this information for 6 months.
We don’t consider that Speedify has an absolute “no logs” policy, and we see that it collects limited logs. However, it doesn’t track your online activities. We find that Speedify protects your privacy sufficiently.
Is your data secure with Speedify VPN?
Speedify uses its proprietary protocol, which is called “Channel bonding”. While we prefer VPNs that support the OpenVPN protocol, the proprietary protocol from Speedify is secure too.
Speedify supports both ChaCha-256 and AES-256 encryption algorithms. These are the most secure encryption algorithms that you can get.
This VPN prevents all IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. Additionally, your sensitive information remains safe even if the VPN connection drops suddenly. This is due to the “kill switch” feature of Speedify. This feature blocks the Internet connection as soon as the VPN connection terminates unexpectedly. In summary, we find that Speedify offers sufficient security features.
The conclusion of our review
Speedify keeps limited logs, however, this limited logging won’t pose privacy concerns to most VPN users. This VPN uses its proprietary VPN protocol, which is secure. It also uses strong encryption and offers a kill switch. Speedify has good security solutions.
With 200+ servers in 36 countries, Speedify offers reasonable speed. This VPN can’t unblock Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer. While it allows secure access to P2P/torrenting services, you need to be careful since it keeps limited logs. This VPN is subject to the jurisdiction of the USA, therefore, you need to be sure that you are accessing P2P/torrenting services legally.
Speedify supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. It offers user-friendly custom apps for all of these platforms. Speedify allows 5 simultaneous connections. While Speedify offers very good documentation, it doesn’t offer live chat support. Its customer support team doesn’t respond to emails promptly. This VPN is priced reasonably, moreover, you can use its free plan to test it. It offers a 30-days money-back guarantee.
In the overall analysis, we find that Speedify is a good option for most VPN users. You can try its free plan to see if it works for you, moreover, you can take advantage of its 30-days money-back guarantee.
