| VPN | VPN.ac |
| Based in | Romania |
| Logs | Connection logs |
| Price | $3.75/mo. |
| Support | |
| Refund | 7 days |
| Website | VPN.ac |
VPN.ac may not get tons of attention, but this Romanian VPN provider offers some great features at a reasonable price — and it may be worth your consideration.
In this updated review I put VPN.ac through multiple rounds of tests to see if it’s still is on par with the other best VPN services in all areas of testing.
Let’s examine the results.
VPN.ac overview
VPN.ac is a Romania-based VPN service that provides users with strong encryption, secure apps, and great performance. Their network consists entirely of dedicated bare-metal servers with self-hosted DNS and gigabit bandwidth channels. VPN.ac also provides you with unique encryption protocols, double-hop server configurations, and secure proxy browser extensions.
While VPN.ac earns high marks in security and usability of its apps, this VPN.ac also comes with some drawbacks that we identified. The first issue is that VPN.ac keeps connection logs for network security and troubleshooting. And even though these are erased daily and do not contain browsing history, it’s still a drawback. Another problem is that VPN.ac does not work with most streaming sites, so we’ll recommend alternatives further below for streaming different media channels.
+ Pros
- Dedicated bare-metal servers with self-hosted encrypted DNS
- Excellent speeds with plenty of available bandwidth
- Multi-hop (double VPN) server configurations
- Obfuscation features with many different encryption options
- Secure proxy browser extensions
- WireGuard VPN support
– Cons
- Minimal connection logs (no activity, erased daily)
- Limited support for streaming websites
Website: https://vpn.ac
VPN.ac price
VPN.ac comes in about average on the pricing scale. The two-year plan will give you the best deal, at about $3.75 per month. This puts VPN.ac about on par with NordVPN review, which also offers a discounted two-year rate, as we covered in the NordVPN review.
Below are the current prices from the VPN.ac website.
Overall these prices are not too bad for a premium VPN service with secure applications. However, it’s also not the cheapest VPN you will find on the market.
Want to test drive VPN.ac without committing to a long subscription?
Discounted one-week trial – VPN.ac also offers the option to get a discounted one-week trial subscription, which includes all features and full functionality. Simply go to the website and click on the FAQ tab, where you will see a link at the top to the trial plan. There are also other VPNs with free trials you can consider as well.
Payment options – VPN.ac offers many payment options, including anonymous payment methods, such as Bitcoin and various gift cards:
- PayPal
- Bitcoin and various altcoins
- Credit cards
- Alipay
- 100+ US gift cards
- Mobile/SMS options and more…
Note: VPN.ac does not have any kind of free VPN plan. They only offer paid VPN subscriptions.
Refund Policy – VPN.ac provides a 7 day money-back guarantee, which they clearly describe on the website here:
7 days money back guarantee: We will refund your order if you can’t use our service or if you are not satisfied with it.
The refund policy is clear and does not contain any hidden exceptions or bandwidth clauses. Most other VPN services offer a longer refund window, as we noted in our Surfshark vs NordVPN comparison.
Company information and jurisdiction
VPN.ac was created by a team of network security professionals in 2012.
They are transparent about the background of the company and their professional qualifications. From their website:
Each individual member of our team has over 14 years of experience in IT security, providing security audit and penetration testing services for both public and private customers, banks and military institutions.
Our experience in pentesting and security audit services is mainly what gives us an edge in keeping our infrastructure secure, because it is often the infrastructure implementation which is the weakest link of a VPN service.
Encryption/data security is something we are very familiar with, as a result of being a local supplier of some of most secure commercial encrypted storage devices, which are compliant with requirements for governmental and military use (FIPS 140-2 Level 3, Common Criteria EAL, NATO InfoSec, etc.)
They also provide the contact details and professional certifications of the parent company, Netsec Interactive Solutions, which is based in Sibiu, Romania.
Jurisdiction – VPN.ac falls under the jurisdiction and laws of Romania. Romania appears to be a solid jurisdiction when it comes to privacy. It is not a member of the 14 Eyes surveillance alliance, or a close ally of any major spying regimes.
Being in Romania, VPN.ac is also able to ignore all DMCA complaints, and get around copyright issues on its network. This makes VPN.ac a good option if you need a safe VPN for torrenting.
Private data is also protected in Romania, with data retention being officially declared unconstitutional by the Romania Constitutional Court in 2014.
Platforms and applications
VPN.ac supports many different devices and platforms. They offer VPN applications (clients) for Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android. For Linux users, VPN.ac has a Linux client in beta for Ubuntu-based distributions, but this has not been available for a while now. (We’d recommend Linux users to check out these VPNs for Linux instead.)
You can download the latest software directly from the website and also view the installation guides:
We will go into detail on the Windows, Mac OS and Android clients below.
Connections – VPN.ac allows 6 connections per subscription. This is about average for the VPN industry. There are a few VPNs that give you an unlimited number of connections — check out our Surfshark review if you want to go that route.
Knowledge base – You can find many detailed guides in the knowledge base dealing with a variety of topics:
- OpenVPN, IPSec/L2TP, IKEv2, and PPTP encryption protocols
- Router installation guides
- Secure proxy and Socks5 proxy setup
- Online privacy tips
- Troubleshooting guides
- WireGuard integration
If you are interested in using a VPN on a router, VPN.ac is a decent choice. You can download the config files for your router in the member’s area. Currently, VPN.ac is not integrated with the Vilfo router, but you can easily import the OpenVPN configuration files on this and other models.
VPN.ac encryption options
VPN.ac offers numerous encryption options. This allows you to select the best encryption strength depending upon how much privacy and security you are seeking, while also optimizing performance.
The default encryption protocol is OpenVPN ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography). This provides a good combination of speed and security. The VPN.ac website further explains their different VPN protocols and encryption options:
- PPTP: 128-bit MPPE (keep in mind that the protocol itself is broken so the encryption is pretty much useless per se)
- L2TP/IPSec: 256-bit AES and RSA-2048 (with Maximum Strength Encryption enabled in manual setup or with our software)
- OpenVPN 128-bit BF: 128-bit BF-CBC for data channel, RSA 2048 for keys and SHA1 HMAC (preferably to be used only on devices that do not currently support AES/custom OpenVPN settings, e.g. Synology NAS)
- OpenVPN 128-bit AES: 128-bit AES-CBC for data channel, RSA 4096 for keys and SHA256 HMAC
- OpenVPN 256-bit: 256-bit AES-CBC for data channel, RSA 4096 for keys and SHA512 HMAC
- OpenVPN ECC: 128-bit AES-CBC for data channel, Elliptic Curve using curve secp256k1 for keys and SHA512 HMAC
- OpenVPN XOR: 128-bit AES-CBC for data channel, RSA 4096 for keys and SHA512 HMAC
VPN.ac also now supports the WireGuard VPN protocol. Unfortunately, WireGuard is not built into the VPN.ac clients. This means that using WireGuard with VPN.ac will take some setup and can be cumbersome. If you want to use WireGuard easily with the VPN apps, we’d recommend going with NordVPN.
Optimize performance – Having different encryption options helps you to optimize performance with your VPN. Testing out different VPN protocols, encryption, and ports is a good idea if you are in an area where VPN use is restricted.
Reading through one of the privacy guides on the website, they make an interesting argument for using a 128-bit cipher over a 256-bit cipher with their software:
OpenVPN 256-bit AES is kind of overkill, rather use AES 128-bit. We don’t expect anyone to go for AES cracking while there are weaker links in the chain, such as the RSA keys: how are they generated (good or poor entropy, online/offline generation, key storing on servers etc.). Therefore, AES-128 is a very good choice over AES-256 which is mostly used for marketing claims (“bigger is better”).
Now we’ll examine the obfuscation features.
Obfuscation to defeat network restrictions
VPN.ac offers an excellent lineup of obfuscation features, which allow you to break through network restrictions. This can hide VPN traffic, which may be getting blocked, as standard HTTPS encrypted traffic. Obfuscation usually entails a small performance tradeoff, but this can be minimal.
As a brief reminder, obfuscation features are necessary in countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, which implement censorship and strict network restrictions. This is also the case with many work or school networks that block VPNs or implement other restrictions. There are also reports of internet service providers interfering with VPN traffic – another area where obfuscation may help. mm
This is very easy to do because VPN.ac offers different VPN protocols (OpenVPN XOR) and port selection options, as they explain on their site:
OpenVPN XOR is similar to OpenVPN 256-bit in terms of key strength and HMAC as the same are used, it is just the symetric cipher that is different, AES 128-bit being faster and less CPU intensive than AES 256-bit. We recommend to use it only when other OpenVPN types do not work, such as within networks that block other connections than outgoing over ports 80 and 443. Running OpenVPN XOR over port TCP-443 should by-pass most firewalls/web-filtering engines.
Implementing this in the application is very easy, simply select the OpenVPN XOR protocol, then select port TCP-443, and then you can connect to any server you want:
As an extra stealth VPN feature, VPN.ac also provides a lineup of servers that are generally configured for China or other restricted countries. These are labeled in the VPN.ac client as “China Optimized” servers.
Due to these features, VPN.ac is currently one of the best VPNs to use in China – and any other restricted networks.
VPN.ac secure proxy for browsers
VPN.ac provides secure proxy browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera browsers. They describe the benefits of the browser extension as follows:
- Strong encryption for all browsing activity using TLS (pure HTTPS traffic)
- Stealth against Firewall/DPI (deep packet inspection): when inspected using DPI technologies, the connections using the SecureProxy don’t trigger alerts like a classic VPN would usually do
- There is no need to tunnel all your PC traffic through the VPN: you can have the browser tunneling the traffic through our servers and all other traffic sent via your regular ISP connection. You can call it “a VPN inside the browser”
This is a great feature for people who don’t want to encrypt all traffic on their computer via a VPN, but seek a secure solution for browsing with more privacy. We discuss other browser extension options in our best VPNs for Chrome guide.
Multi-hop VPN configurations
We’ve covered the benefits of multi-hop VPNs before. This feature adds a higher level of security and anonymity by putting two encrypted servers between you and the unencrypted internet.
Double-hop – VPN.ac currently offers 22 double-hop VPN server configurations. This is a great selection when compared to other providers. Here are a few of the double-hop servers available:
Performance – With multi-hop VPN configurations, you can typically expect a performance reduction simply due to increased latency (distance your traffic must travel).
I tested a transatlantic double-hop configuration from Germany to Canada and got nearly 82 Mbps, which is pretty good.
Overall the speeds were excellent throughout the server network. However, in our speed tests for the NordVPN vs ProtonVPN comparison, we also tested out double-VPN speeds and found NordVPN to get around 214 Mbps. Here is a double-VPN speed test with NordVPN:
Self-configurable multi-hop – For those seeking a higher level of anonymity, one great option is a self-configurable multi-hop configuration. In other words, the server network and applications allow you to create your own unique multi-hop cascade. Perfect Privacy offers this with their Windows, Linux and Mac OS clients.
VPN.ac for Windows
VPN.ac offers a great Windows client that I tested for this review. The screenshots below are all from testing VPN.ac on a Windows 10 laptop.
The VPN.ac Windows client also gives you access to a variety of different settings you can configure directly in the “Advanced” section, with VPN protocol and port selection at the top.
Overall I really like the new and updated client. It has a great layout, works well, and was very reliable in testing. It also gives you the option for light or dark mode.
If you need a VPN for Windows, this is a solid choice. We even rated it as one of the best VPNs for Windows.
VPN.ac for Mac OS
Just like with the Windows client above, the updated Mac OS client also worked well. Essentially it has the same layout, preferences, and features of the Windows client.
If you are needing a good VPN for Mac, VPN.ac would be on the short list of recommendations.
The VPN.ac Mac OS client provides all features, including:
- Double-hop configurations
- Obfuscation
- Advanced leak protection and firewall settings (kill switch)
Running numerous tests on a MacBook Air did not identify any issues with the VPN.ac Mac client.
VPN.ac Android
VPN.ac offers a fully-featured Android client that I also tested for this review.
Here is the VPN.ac Android client:
In testing out the Android client for the review everything worked well. I did not notice any bugs, crashes, connection problems or leaks.
Extensive features for the Android app – While most VPN services offer Android clients that are somewhat limited, VPN.ac’s Android client comes fully loaded with lots of great features.
It gives you all encryption options, all double-hop server configurations, and other advanced settings and preferences. It also made our roundup list of the best VPNs for Android, although it does not hold a top position.
VPN.ac iOS. (iPhone and iPad)
VPN.ac also offers a good iOS app that we tested for this review. It utilizes the built-in IKEv2 cipher, which is natively supported on iOS devices. This offers good security, no leaks, and is very stable. Here is the VPN.ac iOS app when tested with an iPhone (the VPN icon at the top confirms an active connection):
You can also confirm the function of the VPN app in the iOS settings. By choosing “Connect on demand” you will get a stable connection where all non-VPN (unencrypted traffic) will be blocked, and all internet will go through the VPN.
Alternative installation – Aside from using the VPN.ac iOS app, you can also manually configure your iOS device to use the IKEv2 config files for various servers. This is an app-free solution.
VPN.ac connection logs
One big drawback in terms of privacy is that VPN.ac keeps connection logs. Here’s the exact explanation on logs from the VPN.AC website:
Do you log/monitor my activity? What logs do you keep on servers?
No, we do not log/monitor any kind of user activity such as visited web-sites, emails, files transferred, instant messages, DNS queries etc.
We do, however, keep some connection logs (to our VPN service) for security and support purposes. These are kept on a separate, encrypted server (located in an undisclosed location) and are automatically erased on a daily basis. We don’t keep any logs on servers, not even common Linux daemon logs.
Keeping these logs also help us in identifying potential attacks against our service, such as brute-force and even some MiTM attack vectors.
Note: Fortunately, all connection logs are automatically erased daily. From the website:
All logs on this server are permanently deleted on a daily basis running a cron job. We do not log or store any sensitive data such as what you actually transfer during the session.
Overall this isn’t too concerning in my opinion. They are clearly being honest and transparent about their policies, explaining their need for logs, and also how the data is erased daily. Many VPNs need to maintain some form of logs to enforce connection or bandwidth limitations.
If you find these polices concerning, there are other no logs VPN services to consider.
VPN.ac server network
VPN.ac’s server network is both secure and fast, with a clear emphasis on server quality (dedicated bare-metal servers).
One of the biggest issues affecting speed is the number of people using the VPN server at a given time. Many VPNs oversell their services, resulting in congestion, slow speeds, and dropped connections.
You can see this is not the case with VPN.ac by looking at their server network bandwidth stats in real time (see Nodes Status at the top of the website). Using and testing VPN.ac over the years, I’ve always found the bandwidth and performance to be good.
No virtual private servers (VPS) – Another important aspect when examining VPN servers is whether they’re using virtual private servers (VPS), or dedicated (bare metal) servers for their VPN nodes. Here is VPN.ac’s server explanation:
We use dedicated servers on our VPN nodes, mostly consisting of powerful E3 and E5 Xeons with hardware AES crypto acceleration. Running VPN gateways on VPS/cloud instances is a security risk. Moreover, running VPN nodes on dedicated hardware can be as 10x or even 20x times more expensive than running on virtual servers, hence the reason why we don’t advertise ‘hundreds’ of locations but focus on fewer, where security is done properly and the bandwidth capacity is enough to ensure a fast and reliable service.
No fictitious server locations – I also tested a number of VPN.ac servers to verify their true locations. Every server I tested checked out.
Does VPN.ac work well with Netflix and streaming?
Although they don’t advertise it, VPN.ac does work with American Netflix on some servers – but you may need to ask support which servers to use. With that being said, there are other VPNs to use with Netflix that support numerous Netflix regional libraries around the world.
Other streaming services
Overall, VPN.ac is not the best choice for streaming as their focus is mostly on security and privacy. It is not a VPN for Disney Plus, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, or other services, simply because it often gets blocked by these websites.
Another issue is that VPN.ac does not offer much support for other streaming devices. For example, we noted in the ExpressVPN vs NordVPN comparison that these two VPNs support gaming consoles, TV systems, and a variety of other devices through a Smart DNS system. Meanwhile VPN.ac does not offer this kind of support. It is also not a VPN for Firestick because VPN.ac does not have a dedicated app available in the Amazon Store.
VPN.ac speed test results
I ran all speed tests with VPN.ac using a 160 Mbps ethernet connection with the VPN.ac Mac OS client using the OpenVPN protocol. Overall speed tests were pretty good.
First up was a nearby server in Frankfurt, Germany: 131 Mbps
Definitely not bad, but also not amazing. I ran a few other tests with nearby VPN.ac servers, and the results were consistent.
Here was a VPN server in Finland giving me about 122 Mbps:
With nearby servers in Europe, VPN.ac gave me pretty consistent speeds around 120 to 130 Mbps. Not great, but also not horrible.
Long-distance server speed tests
Next, I tested different VPN.ac servers in the US and Canada. Again, speeds were alright, but not amazing.
First up was a server in New York at about 107 Mbps:
Certainly not bad given the long distance, but I’ve gotten faster speeds with other VPNs. Next up was a server in Chicago, at about 54 Mbps:
Again, this is not great. We are seeing VPN.ac lagging behind other leading VPNs in the speed category. Other servers I tested in the US and Canada offered similar performance, between 70 and 100 Mbps.
Conclusion on speeds and performance
VPN.ac offers consistent speeds, but it’s certainly not the fastest VPN we have tested.
If getting the maximum speeds is important for you, I’d recommend going using NordVPN with the WireGuard protocol.
For comparison, below I’m using NordVPN with the WireGuard protocol on a US server and getting about 445 Mbps:
These tests were conducted from our US lab, which has a higher connection speed. Still, you can see a large performance difference.
Learn more about WireGuard with NordVPN here >
Privacy and security with VPN.ac
In terms of leak-testing results, VPN.ac passed without any leaks or issues to report.
I tested the Windows, Mac OS and Android clients using the basic VPN test procedures to identify problems or leaks.
Below are tests with a Norway server. Notice, my DNS requests are being picked up by three different secure servers in VPN.ac’s network. The IPv4 address matches the server, IPv6 is blocked, and there are no leaks to be found:
The test results for the Windows, Mac OS, and mobile clients (Android and iOS) were the same: no leaks were found.
As you can see from these test results, VPN.ac offers high-quality applications that are secure and will protect your privacy.
DNS leak protection – VPN.ac also does a great job of ensuring there are no DNS leaks by using their own secure DNS resolvers. From their website:
We protect DNS queries against MitM hijacking and snooping, wiretapping. We have our own, private DNS resolvers outside of US and UK. All DNS queries sent by VPN users are forwarded by our VPN servers to the private resolvers, through encrypted tunnels.
We are using an unique and clever way to overcome this risk [of 3rd party DNS resolver monitoring], by running a query generator service on each DNS resolver. Specifically, We are generating over 10 million DNS queries to existing domains each day. Those queries are generated randomly, at a high rate, and are mixed with the DNS queries of our customers. Basically, we are generating “noise” and it’s virtually impossible to match a user’s DNS queries within the “flood” of queries sent by us to DNS root servers directly. Therefore, if a 3rd party is ever going to wiretap our DNS resolvers, it will be totally ineffective.
While most VPN users may not pay much attention to issues such as server quality and securing DNS queries, these details have a major impact on your privacy and security.
Website and support (no live chat support)
The VPN.ac websiteis informative and straight-forward. It includes:
- Useful VPN information
- Privacy and security tips
- Server status page
- Detailed setup tutorials for different devices and platforms
Email support
The support team is also top-notch based on all my interactions with them. They do not outsource support and handle all requests internally with their own professional staff. However, there is one drawback: there is no live chat support available.
Support is handled through tickets (email) and reply times were fast with all my inquiries (under 24 hours). If you want access to 24/7 live chat support consider some alternatives like NordVPN, as well as ExpressVPN or Surfshark.
VPN.ac Review Conclusion
VPN.ac may just be one of the best-kept secrets in the VPN market. As a smaller provider that puts minimal emphasis on marketing, it does not get the attention it deserves. Nonetheless, VPN.ac is an advanced VPN service that is built on a premium network of dedicated servers, giving you both security and high performance.
Despite being a less-known provider, VPN.ac offers an excellent service and will remain among the top VPNs recommended on Restore Privacy. You can also pick up a discounted subscription by selecting the two-year plan to save 62% off the monthly rate. They also offer a one-week trial for only $2. All plans come with a 7 day money-back guarantee.
Website: https://vpn.ac
Alternatives to VPN.ac
Click the VPN name below to read our full review – or grab the discount for the best savings. All three of these VPNs have a 30 day money-back guarantee.
You can also check out our best VPN list for other recommendations. And if you want to see how well other VPNs stacked up, see our VPN reviews page. Some of our other popular reviews include:
If you have used VPN.ac, feel free to share your honest review (good or bad) below.
This review should be corrected. The connection logs aren’t erased daily, they are kept only during connection to the VPN server and removed shortly after disconnect.
Yep, we’ll have it updated soon with a full review update and new test results.
I am a long time user of Air VPN, PIA, and Mullvad. PIA is one I won’t touch any more, Mullvad is good but a bit too basic and pricey, Air is superb for a tech person, but I find it a bit too complex and designed that way. I have no doubt Air is definitely in the top 3 VPNs on earth for genuine security and privacy rather than just the mirage of it which so many companies push out in their marketing. However Air hasn’t got a great app (for me anyway) and so I looked around.
Then I found VPN.ac. I could’nt be more impartial, and I coudn’t be more impressed. In a word – WOW.
Sven says above “However, there is one drawback: there is no live chat support available.” – Sorry my friend, but that is NO drawback whatsoever in my experience. EVERY live chat I have had online, be it Amazon, GoDaddy, ExpressVPN or anyone else, has been a complete and utter moron with a short list of copy/paste answers at their disposal.
For example when I questioned ExpressVPN about logs, after 20 minutes of rephrasing my question about 10 different ways, I got the same answer every tinme, which was complete avoidance of the question and showed me they do (in my opinion) keep logs “in order to verify device connections and number of devices per account”.
I can’t begin to describe how annoyed and fed up I am with the amount of lies told by VPN companies, the only exceptions in my experience being AirVPN, and now VPN.ac too.
Given the VERY high bar set by AirVPN I didn’t think I would ever find one to compete but I have to say VPN.ac has now hit my top spot by just a smidgen, for two reasons: better apps and better support. I could easily add better speeds but they really don’t matter to me as long as I get 10mbps minimum which I do with both. FWIW – I ran a speed test just now on Air VPN, and got 20mbps down, 40mbps up. Pretty good. I then ran VPN.ac and got FOUR TIMES THAT for download! Yes 80mbps connecting from the UK to continental Europe (for both tests).
Here are the two reasons I can not recommend VPN.ac enough…..
1. Support – AirVPN does have great support, it really does, but it’s very slow, as it’s forum-based. You will get an answer but you may have to wait several days, and as much as they try to help, I always feel they are talking to me as if I am a coder and network technician all rolled into one! I am not, I am just a fairly computer savvy normal user. Over the past few days I must have fired about 100 questions at VPN.ac, honestly waiting for them to get ‘pi55y’ as ALL others have in my experience, I ask a lot of questions because I want to know a lot of things about how my data will be handled, and the first company to get fed up of answering is the first to get unsubscribed from by me. VPN.ac were nothing short of amazing, and I mean AMAZING. I have tickets going back and forth, plus emails going back and forth, for hours on end. I didn’t get short answers either, I got long, detailed, and brilliantly explained (in EXCELLENT English, hooray, ExpressVPN take note!) answers referring me to sources and information to learn more where needed. I knew I was talking to ACTUAL experts, not front men for experts leaving the experts to drink coffee and play on their Xbox! These guys are absolutely superb in every way and if I couldn’t exhaust their enthusiasm for giving excellent support, NOBODY can!
2. App – I want an app to just work, and sometimes Air’s app doesn’t. VPN.ac on the other hand – WOW! They have managed to balance FUNCTION with EASE OF USE, two critical things which both need respecting, and VPN.ac have hit the nail on the head in their balance of the two. The app is as simple to use as Mullvad’s or PIA’s (which is a great app I must say, not that I would use them again), but it has the options tucked away to adjust protocols, locations etc all very easily. I installed it on all platforms except WIndows and it was equally brilliant on all of them. Beautifully designed as well.
VPN.ac have some interesting points of view. For example I have read how double hop VPN is a bit of BS marketing, and it IS, USUALLY! I tested VPN.ac to see if they would peddle that same rubbish (i.e. “double anonymity”, hahahah, as i have seen other companies claim!) and whilst VPN.ac DO offer double hop, they don’t mis-sell it as something it isn’t. They merely told me one interesting advantage which I hadn’t thought about previously… faster networks by sending your traffic INSIDE Their network as close to home as possible, and keeping it INSIDE that network as long as possible before hitting the target site. There are obvious possible privacy/security benefits to that too, but minor ones in my view. But the speed issue is a good one, as their networks are blazing fast and their connections between nodes are therefore often faster than the rest of the interwebs. 🙂
Another interesting point of view is on ipv6. They don’t support it, and boldly state why they never will, as they deem it a risk. I have actually heard about the same thing before and their explanation was very interesting to read. In short, you pay PENNIES for this VPN (I mean come on, for 2 years its cheaper than the PIA filth!) but you get REAL experts firing back replies to any questions or problems. It’s so damn good I only hope it’s sustainable long term because I won’t be changing any time soon!
To sum up, I research VPN providers every year, and have done for about 8-10 years now. I go to great lengths, I test, I speak to security professionals I know personally, I check company ownership and background etc etc. I really want to find someone I can trust. Until now I only trusted AirVPN, and I still DO trust them 100%. But I now trust VPN.ac just as much, and their service is frankly better in my opinion, especially for anyone who needs simplicity and ease of use.
You can stop reading any more reviews, just give VPN.ac a try, ask as many “uncomfortable” questions as you can of their support people, and SEE if you can find better! I know I can’t, and nobody has tried harder to do so than me!!
Please click here to sign up today. Ha ha ha, just joking, I have NOTHING to gain by writing this except to know that I might save some other people the significant time and pain I have endured in my journey before finding VPN.ac. Now I can just stop thinking about damn connection issues and privacy, and get on with my real work, safe in the knowledge VPN.ac are looking after my traffic as well as anyone can.
Oh, dammit! I forgot one more reason why I chose them (before realising how good they actually were), and this is a big deal to me and to many others I am sure….. PAYMENTS.
Unlike just about all the others (except AirVPN anyway) you can actually top of your account manually for any amount you like. This is HUGE for me, due to how I pay, and I am not explaining more but it’s important as it’s my way of remaining anonymous from a billing point of view. I can’t do recurring payments, and all the others I tried seemed to insist on recurring billing, saying “you can turn it off afterwards”. Well firstly, I can’t, because my card won’t work with recurring turned on (not authorised for repeat billing). Secondly, I don’t like that approach, hey let’s hook you in and then hope you forget to cancel. It just doesn’t sit right with me. VPN.ac to the rescue! I contacted them to complain, expecting the usual cr*p I got from all others (SurfShark for instance) saying basically ‘take it or leave it’ (so I left it, their loss). VPN.ac on the other hand explained in detail how to do what I needed to do, which is a very odd setup and I am sure not many customers need it. Long story short, I can top up my account in small payments until it reached the amount needed for a 2 year subscription, then order it with the prepaid balance. This coud also be useful to those hard up folks who sometimes get a few bucks spare and you can just bank it in your VPN balance to ease the pain of resubscribing in the future. Very nice feature.
These guys are pros, contact them and find out for yourself.
Here endeth my unbiassed and honest review of VPN.ac, and I am quite happy to spend a few minutes singing their praises, because they earned it.
Astute observations, Jeff, and I actually agree with you that live chat support can be responsive, yet totally useless with most VPN providers. But for the average users, they want to talk to someone right away. Therefore many VPNs simply outsource live chat support to (often incompetent) third parties. This is not the case with VPN.ac and some others, including NordVPN and Surfshark.
Decided to give these guys a try and I have been rather impressed! Zero connection issues, speeds are good, customer service is superb! Xor/TCP 443 works flawlessly for me at my work. Being able to lower the encryption to 128AES saves me battery power, boosts performance quite a bit on mobile.
They recently released their “Secure DNS” ad/tracker blocker feature. So far it works well. I enquired about the connection logs and a customer service rep said that they’ve changed the policy and that they are deleted shortly after you disconnect. Whether it’s shortly after I disconnect or at the end of the day doesn’t really matter to me.
Hi, really I agree with the comment of the C.A user about the Open VPN Xor/TCP 443, it works. I jumped the blocking some webs using this protocolo.
I’m VPN.AC user from some years and I’m very happy with the service. The connection logs? No problem, if it’s for security, ok. Besides, I think most VPN services also do it but they don’t say it.
I have been with many VPN services. I still have a windscribe lifetime account (speeds are terrible).
I was looking for a VPN that supports the new Wireguard (well, new to me). I had looked at these guys before, but never tried them. I contacted them asking if they supported the wireguard native app. They replied quickly that yes, they do. So I signed up.
Within a day or so I was having a problem with a couple of servers. I started a ticket and told them the situation. They replied within 4 minutes and said ‘try to connect now, we are monitoring in realtime’. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never received support like that from a VPN company. We worked the issues out and now everything works great, just like I envisioned it. Their speeds are the fastest I’ve experienced on the VPN’s I’ve tried (SlickVPN, Windscribe, PureVPN, Surfshark). I have not in any way been paid or received any
have been using vpn.ac for almost 2 years. Since a few months back, pc app has connection issue, wont connect to any servers.
secondly, WG integration into their app is not finished yet, its has been almost 1.5 years, way to long. i have windscribe lifetime account they already has WG in mobile app, both android and ios.
i think i am saying this vpn a good bye.
i am now thinking of hopping again into either nord or ivpn, quite expensive though
I’m using VPN.AC for a year and a half. The service is good and normally the operation is correct. I really like the kill switch, it works perfect. I also want the servers to be dedicated and this VPN has dedicated servers. Speeds are good even with double hop servers.
Daily connection logs are not a problem, as it says they are only “of connection”, an aspect that most VPNs have in one way or another, since, for example, if a VPN service says that the number of computers that can connect simultaneously is limited , VPNs have some kind of connection log, simply to know the number of computers connected to the same user.
I have used several VPNs (ExpressVPN, Perfect Privacy, VyprVPN, and VPN.AC). At the moment I continue with VPN.AC because I am satisfied with the service.
Sven, it might be worth noting that the latest (Windows) iteration, 4.4, has added an (experimental) OpenVPN wintun adapter to the options. You have to add it separately (instructions here: https://vpn.ac/knowledgebase/132/Wintun-driver-support-Windows.html: 1) did not work for me, but 2) did), and then set the option in the vpn.ac GUI.
On my nominally 600 Mbps connection, speed increased instantly from 103 Mbps to 248 Mbps.
I’m pretty pleased with that. Not sure whether there are any downsides, and can’t see the wintun adapter in the normal place, in the (W10) adapter list. But it works well, and hasn’t crashed yet.
Hi Sven,
You didn’t test Netflix (streaming) compatibility ?
BTW, love the incognito avatars (white torso with sunglasses), except yours.
Ah, silly me. I now see that you did.
Yes. VPN.ac supports Netflix US, but you may need to ask their support exactly which servers to use.
You’re right it’s better to ask for server details. I also have to ask for Disney Plus and Amazon now.
I’ve been this provider’s user for about 2 years and I’d say this is a provider slowly went down the hill… At least for me, being from Eastern Europe…
First of all, the only logical server to connect to is Romanian P2P optimized, as this is the only server that scores more than 30 Mbps; about 90 to be prices. This would have been OK, but as of lately, there have been a lot of issues with it. At first, there were issues with calls in Signal messenger – they just couldn’t connect to the other party, but that issue seems to have gone. It wasn’t fixed, it was just gone. I contacted support, and they told me (after about 2 weeks that I posted my initial request to investigate the issue) that on their side everything worked, after which I confirmed so. What was the initial issue no one knows.
Second of all, this server seems to have a lot of issues when trying out online gaming… a lot of packets get lost, and disconnects happen very often… Now this specific issue is only happening when my router is connected to VPN, whereas when connected via the app directly, it seems to work fine.
Third of all, Netflix is a no go, at least on an Android TV… PC version of Netflix seems to work without an issue…
Overall, it’s an average VPN service, but sadly, nowadays being average in the business of VPNs is not enough…
I have been a VPN.ac subscriber for, I think, just over 4 years. I give them a rating of four stars, simply because, as good as they are, nobody’s perfect.
But I did resubscribe just this past December for another two years. I did some requisite due diligence prior to re-signing, but was not really able to find another provider that, based on external reviews and their own content, convinced me to switch.
I used to be a Witopia customer (probably for at least as long as I’ve been a VPN.ac customer). I liked Witopia, but came to prefer the idea of being with a VPN service that was based outside the “14 eyes.”
I do have a couple of issues with VPN.ac.
First, I sure wish they’d announce when they’ve added features (they do in Android, which I used to have), like more multi-hop server configurations, or even single server configurations. I would think an e-mail would appear telling me that, but it doesn’t. So, I just made a note to visit the site every couple of months.
Second, I consistently find their California-based servers to be just slow. That’s not really a problem, but it is a consistent situation, and that’s even after they’ve added servers. Again, not necessarily a problem for me, but I have noticed that to be a consistent condition.
On the plus side, I purchased from them the Netgear router with AdvancedTomato. Between their tutorials and their support people (Hey, Alex!), I’ve rarely had issues with resolutions.
And their newly-added double-hop configurations have been working really well, so much so that some days that’s all I use.
Also, I recently decided to start using VoIP, which necessitated installing here another network device. The VoIP provider took issue with me NOT using my real IP (this has now been successfully resolved), but would allow me one “geographical” IP. That is to say, they’d allow me one U.S. state, one Canadian province or, outside of those two, one country. (It’s complicated….)
Well, this wouldn’t really work for me as I use various locations in a given day. It just wasn’t going to work to be using one “geographical” IP all day, every day, IF I wanted VoIP to work at the same time.
I reached out to Alex at VPN.ac. And even though VoIP isn’t their thing, he was kind enough to help, along with a guy at the Tomato sub-Reddit, with understanding that I could configure my AdvancedTomato router for TWO simultaneous VPN connections, using different “geographical” IPs.
I was in VPN heaven.
So, yeah…got that working…VoIP consistently connected through one country while my PC is free to connect to wherever without interrupting my VoIP service.
My point is that VPN.ac has, I think, stretched a bit in order to help me make a basically unsupported device/service work…just because.
Anyway, the support, the equipment, the jurisdiction, and the overall value all make me a very happy customer.
Just an update for anyone interested. They just added support for WireGuard last week and it’s working incredibly well. Much better experience, at least on mobile as I haven’t tested yet on desktop, than OpenVPN. Even though it’s still beta and they announced that many changes and improvements are coming I haven’t had a problem in the past days while using it full-time. There are 15 locations available now and they are going to add a lot more. Highly recommended service!
A friend asked me for a short list of VPN providers I would trust for general browsing, torrenting, shitposting, and such. I’ve been an AirVPN subscriber for five years, and haven’t reason to switch. However I wouldn’t hesitate to also recommend vpn.ac: Their service is performant and reliable, customer support is generally competent and responsive, and (like Air) they’re affordably priced. The KISS philosophy appears to be in evidence: While not the most well featured or sophisticated VPN service, vpn.ac seems to competently deliver on what they do offer. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them if I could no longer continue with Air.
Some pros over AirVPN: 1) “double hop” connections, 2) SecureProxy plugin, sounds gimmicky but useful especially for network environments hostile to VPN and Tor use, 3) node availability in some countries that Air won’t come touch, 4) competently authored tutorials for getting novice users started with gui vpn client options in several OSs.
Some cons with respect to Air: 1) No IPv6, 2) No forwarded ports or dynamic DNS offering (not all that important), 3) simpler (cruder?) networking infrastructure, which might be also a “pro” depending on your perspective, 4) not as firmly “principled” about datacenter and country selection, 5) linux and bsd users will find almost no documentation at all for setting up a command line-based openvpn profile, so you’ll have to fetch one of the profiles from their ovpn repo and make some adjustments for your setup.
It seems ExpressVPN has come a long way over the years. Perfect Privacy had been #1 for a good number of years on your site. I’m using VPN.ac, they have been working for me reliably, especially on my mobile device. Support is great too.
I see no reason for me to move from them. Even works on my Linux desktop.
Restore Privacy is a great website for those serious about their privacy.
I signed up for VPN.ac based on the recommendations of others who used the service. At first, all was well. The service was fast, reliable, and support would answer inquiries within hours of submitting a ticket. Lately, however, things have been much different. Speeds when connected to several different servers are dramatically slower than they were. I have 175 Mbps service, and back when I enrolled in VPN.ac, I would get performance well within what I would consider the margin of error for VPN overhead. Now I’m seeing much more latency and speeds checking in at 80-100 Mbps, so more or less half of my available bandwidth. My latest support ticket has been open for 2 days with not so much as an acknowledgement of its existence. When everything works, the service is fantastic, but the cracks in the facade seem to be getting wider. Unless I see a significant improvement in the quality of service, both of the VPN and customer support varieties, I will be seeking a new provider when my renewal comes up.
Hi Sven Taylor, I have been with VPN.ac for truly a week now and they help me through some issues that I would have never been able to find. All is running perfectly well and speeds are awesome. I agree with you on what they log. I have nothing to really hide except just staying safe on the internet. I recommend VPN.ac to everyone.
Hi Sven,
thank you for posting meaningful privacy-related articles that are more truthful rather than to serve an alternate agenda (hint: sponsorships). I immediately signed up for vpn.ac a couple of months back after having read your article on it. I have to say that this vpn service has surpassed my expectations in terms of performance, online help, and it’s extensive and comprehensive knowledge base that clearly explains all the features of the vpn service. My current package is about to expire and I will definitely be renewing my subscription with VPN.AC. Once again, thanks for posting awesome content. Keep it up and I look forward to learning more from your website.
Cheers.
Just to tell my story about this vpn.ac
My previous vpn account finished and i wanted to change because it was based in USA.
So, i found your web site and after read carefully i decided to try vpn.ac
I send them some emails and all were answered very fast.
I wanted to buy 2 years plan but they dont have it yet but they said that option will be available very soon.
The service is awesome. The speed it incredible. Compared to my previous ipvanish account, the speed of vpn.ac is warp speed. Sometimes i really dont believe it can be so fast… I notice no delay. Have vpn on or off is almost the same, no loss of speed.
The people were very friendly when reply to me, i really cant be more satisfied with vpn.ac
I run leaking tests and all have great results, no info is leaking.
The program software is very beautiful and intuitive, very easy to setup.
This is my experience with this vpn. A honest one. I am from Portugal, in the extreme side of europe when comparing with Romania. So, speed is fast not because i am near.
Sven, thanks again for your superb work.