Astrill VPN review
[Presented by BestCloudBest.com]
Wondering how you can browse the Internet while protecting your privacy and security? You need a “Virtual Private Network” (VPN). Astrill VPN claims to offer privacy, security, speed, and compatibility. It also states that it unblocks geo-restricted streaming services and allows P2P/torrenting.
Many Internet users opt for VPNs, therefore, VPNs have a growing market. Several VPN providers compete in this market. When you try to choose one, you need to see whether it offers privacy, security, speed, customer service, and compatibility. You also need to whether it unblocks geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix and allows P2P/torrenting.
We evaluated Astrill using these yardsticks. Does this VPN meet your requirements and should you buy it? Read this review to find that out.
Features of Astrill VPN
We now examine the features that Astrill offers.
Is your data safe with Astrill VPN?
You want a VPN that offers privacy, and a VPN with an effective “no logs” policy can do that. Astrill follows a “no logs” policy, however, it’s a qualified “no logs” policy. The company doesn’t follow an absolute “no logs” policy.
Astrill clarifies its practice in its “Privacy Policy” page. The company claims that it doesn’t track and log the Internet browsing activities of its VPN users. However, it states that it does record the following:
For active sessions, Astrill tracks connection time, IP address, device type, and the Astrill VPN application version. Astrill claims that this information is automatically deleted when a user disconnects his/her VPN session. The company says that it tracks this to keep the number of simultaneous connections using an account within the limit offered by Astrill. It also states that you erase this information at any point in time from the “member area”.
Astrill collects information about the Internet traffic used by its users. The company states that it does this to plan its infrastructure expansion. Astrill also states that it only tracks the total number of transferred bytes, and it doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information.
Astrill collects information about the last 20 connection records of a user. The company collects connection time, connection duration, country, device type, and Astrill app version number. Astrill states that it doesn’t log any personally identifiable information about its VPN users, and users can request for the deletion of this data. The company automatically removes this information if a user isn’t active for the past 30 days. Astrill states that it collects this information to provide adequate customer support.
Most Internet users are law-abiding common citizens, and they won’t have a concern with Astrill keeping a limited amount of logs as it does. However, this isn’t an absolute “no logs” policy. Privacy enthusiasts will not like this. We consider that Astrill follows a qualified “no logs” policy, and it falls short of leading VPNs in this regard.
When you buy an Astrill subscription, the company collects your email address and name. It might collect your phone number and address depending on your payment method. Astrill doesn’t store your credit card information since it uses trusted 3rd party payment providers.
This company doesn’t sell, rent, and trade its customers’ personal information with any 3rd party. It processes the personal information of its customers per applicable laws. We are satisfied with the amount of personal information Astrill collects since the company doesn’t collect an excessive amount of personal data. The company secures your personal information.
Astrill collects website analytics information when someone visits its website. This information includes the IP address of the user, the pages they visit, etc. If you choose to opt-out of such tracking by using a “Do Not Track” header in your browser, then Astrill honors that preference. Astrill uses 3rd party services like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel for this. The company doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information during this process. This collection of website analytics information is pretty standard, and we see no concerns with this.
The jurisdiction of Astrill is Seychelles. This country isn’t a part of the “14 Eyes” coalition of countries that conduct mass surveillance. Seychelles doesn’t require Astrill to maintain logs on its customers. That makes it a preferred jurisdiction for a privacy-focused VPN.
We are reasonably satisfied with the privacy practices of Astrill. Astrill doesn’t have an absolute “no logs” policy, and the company maintains a limited amount of log. This doesn’t amount to tracking your Internet activities when you use its VPN. Most VPN users are law-abiding citizens, and they will not have a concern with this amount of logging. However, privacy enthusiasts won’t like the fact that Astrill maintains a limited amount of log. If you want a VPN with an absolute “no logs” policy, then you should explore other market-leading VPNs.
Data security used by Astrill VPN
You probably prioritize security and that’s why you are looking for a VPN. VPNs that support secure protocols can offer robust security, and Astrill does that. This VPN supports the following protocols:
· OpenVPN,
· OpenWeb,
· StealthVPN,
· WireGuard,
· OpenConnect,
· Cisco IPSec,
· IKEv2/IPSec,
· L2TP/IPSec,
· SSTP,
· PPTP.
We like the fact that Astrill supports OpenVPN since it’s the most secure VPN protocol. This protocol doesn’t have any known security vulnerabilities.
StealthVPN is another secure protocol and it helps to hide the fact that you are using a VPN. OpenWeb is a proprietary protocol developed by Astrill, and it’s also a secure protocol. OpenWeb can hide the fact that you are using a VPN too.
IPSec, IKEv2, L2TP, and SSTP are secure protocols too. While Astrill supports PPTP, it mentions that this protocol has security vulnerabilities. We don’t recommend you use PPTP.
WireGuard is a promising protocol that’s still under development. It uses advanced cryptography and promises to offer both security and speed. We recommend that you use it on an experimental basis.
Astrill offers the following types of encryption:
· AES-256, AES-192, and AES-128;
· Blowfish-448, Blowfish-256, Blowfish-192, and Blowfish-128;
· CAST-512, CAST-256, CAST-192, and CAST-128;
· Camellia-256, Camellia-192, and Camellia-128.
We recommend that you use AES-256 encryption if you are dealing with sensitive information over the Internet. It’s military-grade encryption!
Astrill prevents all IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. This VPN offers an ad blocker. For this, it uses a database of known adware. If you see that database doesn’t list any particular adware then you can manually add it to the database.
The Windows, Mac, and Linux apps of Astrill offer a “kill switch”. This blocks your Internet connection if the VPN drops unexpectedly, therefore, your sensitive information remains safe.
The Windows client from Astrill includes a feature called the “App Guard”. Using this, you can identify specific applications that will be blocked when the VPN drops suddenly. The other applications can access the Internet even if the VPN terminates.
Astrill offers a feature called “VPN sharing”. This feature works on its Windows, Mac, and Linux clients. Using it, you can share the VPN from your desktop to an entire network. This allows you to secure devices like gaming consoles, smart TVs, etc. These devices can’t run a VPN software, or they might not have VPN settings. The “VPN sharing” feature allows you to secure them too.
Astrill offers a “Port forwarding” feature. You can use it to connect to an internet-enabled device or service from anywhere while maintaining your privacy and security. This feature helps you to access P2P/torrenting services securely.
Astrill offers a “Multi-hop” feature. You can route your Internet traffic through multiple VPN servers. Even if a cybercriminal manages to intercept traffic in one server, he/she can’t intercept your traffic since you are using multiple servers. This feature adds to your privacy and security.
We found that Astrill has very strong security solutions. We would like Astrill to offer the “kill switch” feature on all of its clients/apps. Other leading VPNs offer it on all of their apps. On balance, Astrill is a great choice for security-focused VPN users!
Where are the servers of Astrill VPN Located?
You want a fast VPN. A VPN with enough servers in all key geographies can offer that. Astrill has more than 300 servers at the time of this review. It states that it has servers in 114 cities across 62 countries.
The company also states that it has invested in high-quality infrastructure. Astrill claims on its “VPN servers” page that it uses physical and dedicated servers, moreover, it connects to them high-quality network nodes.
Its server locations cover the following geographies and countries:
· North America: USA, Canada, Mexico, and Panama;
· Europe: UK, Austria, Albania, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Belgium;
· Russia;
· Oceania: Australia and New Zealand;
· Asia: Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, China, Pakistan, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, UAE, and South Korea;
· Latin America: Brazil, Argentina, and Chile;
· Africa: Egypt and South Africa.
In our review, we found that Astrill offers good speed. Its server locations covering key geographies and high-quality infrastructure is paying off!
What platforms are supported by Astrill VPN?
You want a VPN that you can use with all your devices. Astrill supports all key platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. It offers custom apps for all of these platforms, which helps users. Users can just install these apps and connect to the VPN. This makes Astrill highly user-friendly. Astrill allows 5 simultaneous connections, which is reasonable.
If you want to manually configure this VPN on your device, then you can use the guides that Astrill provides. You can configure the Astrill VPN on your Kindle Fire, Apple TV, and Boxee too by using its guides.
Astrill supports popular routers. For $50, you can buy TP-Link routers with Astrill VPN configured in it. This means that you don’t need to configure anything. It also supports ASUS Merlin and DD-WRT routers, and it has applets for them. You need to use the guides provided by Astrill to configure ASAS Merlin and DD-WRT routers.
We find that Astrill supports all key platforms and provides custom apps for them. If you prioritize device compatibility, then Astrill is an excellent choice!
Unblocking streaming services using Astrill VPN
Many Internet users want to access geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, etc. They buy a VPN subscription for this.
These geo-restricted streaming services aggressively identify VPNs and block them though. As a result, many VPNs can’t unblock these sites. Astrill can successfully unblock Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, and BBC iPlayer. This VPN offers good speed, therefore, you can have a satisfactory streaming experience. If you prioritize access to these streaming services, then Astrill is an excellent choice!
Does Astrill VPN allow for torrenting?
Do you want to access P2P/torrenting services? We recommend that you check the laws before you do so. Several countries have banned them, and copyright violation issues can arise even in countries that treat P2P/torrenting illegal.
Even if you access P2P/torrenting services legally, your ISP might throttle your connection! Cyber-attackers lurk around P2P/torrenting sites, which threatens your security. Many Internet users buy a VPN subscription to circumvent these challenges.
Astrill allows P2P/torrenting, and they have designated servers for this. They mark these servers with a star. You can access P2P/torrenting services securely using Astrill, moreover, the company imposes no bandwidth restrictions. Its good speed helps you too. Astrill is a great choice for P2P/torrenting.
Bypassing Internet censorship with Astrill VPN
Countries like China impose Internet censorship and people try to circumvent that by using VPNs. These countries know that and they aggressively identify and block VPNs. They use technologies like “Deep Packet Inspection” for this. As a result, several VPNs don’t work in these countries.
Astrill can bypass this kind of Internet censorship. OpenWeb, its proprietary protocol can bypass this type of censorship. Astrill also uses StealthVPN, another protocol that can bypass this kind of Internet censorship.
This VPN offers a “Smart Mode” feature. This feature uses the foreign IP addresses provided by Astrill to access International websites, however, it uses regional IP addresses to use local websites. This reduces the suspicion of possible VPN usage and further helps to circumvent Internet censorship. If you want a VPN that works in China, then Astrill is a great choice!
Filter unwanted content using Astrill VPN
Astrill offers a website and app filter. You can use it to identify websites and apps for which you will use the Astrill VPN connection. You can connect to the other websites and apps without a VPN. Astrill offers this feature on its Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android clients.
How much does Astrill cost?
You would want a reasonably-priced VPN. Astrill offers two kinds of plans, namely, business plans and personal plans.
Its business plan includes 24/7 business support, all VPN apps, free 100 GB data on VIP servers, and all other features. The price of this plan varies based on the number of accounts you need.
Astrill provides a calculator in the form of a sliding scale. The left end of the scale represents small businesses where each account costs you $9 per month. This assumes that you buy 10 accounts. The larger the number of accounts you need, the higher the discount. At the right end of the scale, you can see a rate of $7.92 per account per month. This assumes that you buy 200 accounts. You can also buy VIP data packages as add-ons.
The personal plan of Astrill includes 3 pricing packages, and each of the packages includes all its features. The packages are as follows:
· Monthly: You pay $20 per month;
· 6-months: This package costs you $90 every 6 months, which translates to $15 per month;
· Yearly: This package costs you $120 once a year, therefore, your monthly average cost is $10.
You can buy add-ons, which are as follows:
· Private IP addresses, which costs you $5/month;
· VIP add-ons, which cost you $10/month;
· Astrill VPN router that costs $50.
Astrill offers an iOS VPN plan, where you can use this VPN on 1 iOS device only. You pay using the Apple App Store payment method. You can pay $9.99 per month or $99.99 once a year. This plan is only slightly cheaper than the personal plan, however, you can connect 1 iOS device only.
Astrill offers a free Android plan. You can connect 1 Android device only and access a limited number of servers. This plan doesn’t allow you to select a VPN protocol of your choice.
You can pay for an Astrill subscription using the following payment methods:
· Credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, and American Express;
· PayPal;
· Alipay;
· Perfect Money;
· Webmoney;
· Bank wire;
· Popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether;
· Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero, Dash, etc.
The company offers secure ways of payment.
Astrill offers a 7-days free trial, and you don’t need to provide any credit card information for this. The company doesn’t offer this free trial in China. Astrill doesn’t offer any refund, and the company states this clearly in its “Refund policy”.
Astrill is quite expensive. Even if you consider the high quality of its infrastructure, products, and services, Astrill still comes out as expensive. It’s more expensive than several top-end VPNs you can find in the market. Astrill falls short of competitors in this regard, and a lack of refund policy compounds that. If the price is important for you, explore other leading VPNs.
The pros and cons of Astrill VPN
We now examine the pros and cons of Astrill. This VPN offers plenty of advantages, and these are as follows:
· Astrill protects your privacy and it doesn’t track your Internet browsing activities.
· It has a privacy-friendly jurisdiction.
· Astrill offers excellent security solutions.
· This feature-rich VPN offers good speed, thanks to its high-quality infrastructure.
· You can access geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer using Astrill. Its good speed gives you a satisfactory streaming experience.
· Astrill allows P2P/torrenting, and it doesn’t impose any bandwidth restrictions. Its speed is good, which helps with P2P/torrenting.
· Astrill supports all key platforms and offers user-friendly custom apps for all of them.
· This VPN offers excellent guides, a detailed FAQ, video tutorials, and robust customer support. It has a 24x7 live chat support facility.
· Astrill offers a free trial.
Astrill does have a few disadvantages, which are as follows:
· It maintains non-permanent connection logs, however, these are anonymized. While most VPN users won’t have a problem with this, privacy enthusiasts won’t like this.
· Astrill is expensive.
· This VPN doesn’t have a refund policy.
We find that Astrill certainly offers more advantages than disadvantages.
A few quick facts about Astrill VPN
We now summarize a few quick facts about Astrill, which are as follows:
· Operating since 2009, Astrill is based in Seychelles, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction.
· It doesn’t track the Internet activities of its users, however, it maintains anonymized connection logs. These connection logs are partial and temporary.
· Astrill has excellent security solutions.
· Astrill offers good speed, thanks to high-quality infrastructure.
· This VPN has 300+ servers in 114 cities across 62 countries.
· Astrill unblocks geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix, moreover, it allows P2P/torrenting.
· Astrill supports all key platforms and offers custom apps for them.
· This feature-rich VPN is more expensive than leading VPNs.
· Astrill offers excellent guide/tutorials and customer support. Its support capabilities include 24x7 live chat support.
· Astrill offers a 7-days free trial, however, this company doesn’t issue refunds.
How to get started with AstrillVPN?
Most VPN users want an easy-to-use VPN and you probably want that too. Astrill is a user-friendly VPN and you sense that as soon as you visit its website. The website is easy to navigate, moreover, you can find all the information you need.
You can easily locate key options like trial, download, pricing, support, etc. Astrill allows you to buy a subscription using just a few intuitive steps. You can easily find the VPN apps.
Astrill offers easy-to-use apps for all key platforms it supports, which helps users. Users can choose various options like protocol or encryption in the app. Astrill provides detailed guides for these apps. The company also provides detailed guides for manual VPN configuration.
Customer service at AstrillVPN
You need good customer support from your VPN provider. Astrill provides user-friendly custom apps, which reduces the need for customer support.
This VPN has a very well-structured support page on its website. Astrill offers excellent guides that cover its custom apps and manual VPN configuration. Astrill provides a detailed FAQ section on its support page, moreover, it offers video tutorials.
You can reach the customer support team of Astrill in multiple ways. The company offers 24x7 live chat support with a reasonable wait time. You can open a support ticket or email its support team.
The customer support team of Astrill is prompt and knowledgeable. It demonstrates professionalism. Astrill offers excellent guides, FAQ, video tutorials, and customer support!
Jurisdiction of AstrillVPN
The jurisdiction of Astrill is Seychelles. This country isn’t a part of the “14 Eyes” coalition of countries and it doesn’t conduct mass surveillance. Astrill isn’t subject to any law that requires it to maintain logs on its users. Seychelles is the ideal jurisdiction for a VPN that promises privacy, and that’s an advantage for Astrill.
Does AstrillVPN keep any logs of your activity?
Astrill maintains a good deal of transparency about its logging capabilities and policies. The company claims to maintain a “no logs” policy, however, it provides more details in its privacy policy. Effectively, Astrill maintains anonymous partial connection logs.
The company doesn’t track the browsing behavior of its VPN users. However, it maintains partial anonymous logs in the following ways:
· Astrill tracks active sessions and collects connection time, IP address of the user, device type, and the version of the Astrill VPN app used. The company removes this information permanently when you disconnect its VPN. Astrill collects this information to prevent abuse of its simultaneous connection limits.
· This VPN tracks and the total amount of Internet traffic used by its customers. It tracks only the number of bytes used for this, and the company does this to plan its network expansion.
· Astrill keeps the last 20 connection records for its VPN users. As part of this, the company collects the connection time, connection duration, country, device type, and the Astrill app version number. Astrill does this to provide customer support. The company doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information as part of this. Astrill removes this information automatically if a user is inactive for 30 days. Users can also request for the deletion of this information.
We believe that most users will not have a concern with this amount of anonymous connection logs. After all, these logs don’t include the Internet browsing behavior of users. However, privacy enthusiasts might not like this amount of tracking. In our view, Astrill maintains a qualified “no logs” policy. The market-leading VPNs maintain a complete “no logs” policy, and Astrill falls short here.
Technical security and encryption used by AstrillVPN
Astrill has implemented a set of robust security solutions. It supports OpenVPN, which is the most secure VPN protocol. This VPN supports other secure protocols too, e.g., StealthVPN, WireGuard, OpenWeb, OpenConnect, Cisco IPSec, IKEv2/IPSec, L2TP/IPSec, and SSTP.
OpenWeb is the proprietary protocol from Astrill, and it’s known as a secure protocol. It can bypass Internet censorship by hiding the use of a VPN. StealthVPN, another secure protocol does that too. WireGuard is a promising protocol that’s still under development, and we recommend you use it on an experimental basis.
Note that Astrill also supports the PPTP protocol, however, we don’t recommend you use it. This protocol has security vulnerabilities.
Astrill supports several types of encryption including AES-256, and we recommend you use AES-256. The other types of encryption that Astrill supports are as follows:
· AES-192, and AES-128;
· Blowfish-448, Blowfish-256, Blowfish-192, and Blowfish-128;
· CAST-512, CAST-256, CAST-192, and CAST-128;
· Camellia-256, Camellia-192, and Camellia-128.
Astrill prevents all IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. This VPN offers an ad blocker that blocks adware based on a database of such malicious software. You can manually add any particular adware in this database if you don’t see it there.
Astrill offers a “kill switch” in its Windows, Mac, and Linux apps. This feature blocks the Internet if the VPN connection drops suddenly, which keeps your sensitive information safe. We would like Astrill to offer this feature on all of its clients/apps.
This VPN offers the “VPN sharing” feature on its Windows, Mac, and Linux apps. This feature helps you to secure devices that can’t run a VPN software or the ones that don’t have VPN settings. You can secure gaming consoles or smart TVs on a network using this feature.
You can use the “Port forwarding” feature of Astrill to connect to an internet-enabled device securely from anywhere. This can keep your connections to P2P/torrenting services secure.
This VPN offers a “Multi-hop” feature, which helps you to route your Internet traffic through multiple VPN servers.
Astrill offers a “Multi-hop” feature. You can route your Internet traffic through multiple VPN servers. This frustrates the efforts of hackers that try to intercept your Internet traffic, therefore, it adds to your privacy and security.
We find that Astrill has implemented a set of strong security solutions.
Our short conclusion regarding AstrillVPN
Astrill promises privacy, security, user-friendliness, speed, compatibility, customer service, and access to restricted websites. It guards your privacy and doesn’t log your Internet browsing activities. It collects partial connection logs, however, these anonymized and temporary. This VPN offers excellent security features.
Thanks to its high-end infrastructure and sufficient presence in key geographies, Astrill offers good speed. It unblocks geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix and allows P2P/torrenting. This VPN supports all key platforms and offers user-friendly custom apps for all of them.
Astrill is expensive and it doesn’t offer refunds. The company provides excellent guides, tutorials, and customer support, which includes 24x7 live customer support. We consider that Astrill is a good buy. You can try it for free for 7 days and check whether this feature-rich VPN meets your requirements.
