AzireVPN
AzireVPN is a Swedish provider of VPN services that has been active since September 2012 and does a good job in terms of privacy, security, innovation, and transparency.
It does, however, lack many features and qualities; it doesn’t unblock the major VOD services, and its server network is limited. For this reason, you might want to take a look at other options in our best VPN guide.
Price
This provider’s services are offered in four subscription packages. The shortest is the 1-month option at €5/month ($5.88), followed by the 3-month subscription at €4/month ($4.71) and the 1-year package at €3.75/month ($4.41). Finally, you’ll get the best discount and most value for your money if you opt for the 2-year plan at €3.25/month ($3.82).
Under one account, users can run the VPN service on up to five devices at the same time.
Payments are accepted using all sorts of methods, including cash, credit/debit cards, PayPal, Swish, and an assortment of cryptocurrencies - not just Bitcoin, but also Litecoin, Monero, EOS, Doge, and Steem.
The provider offers a 7-day money-back guarantee, so you can request a refund if you don’t feel that AzireVPN is the right match for you. However, the refund policy is not valid for 1-month packages and cryptocurrency transactions.
Alternatives
AzireVPN may perform well in some areas but, in others, it is easily beaten by some of the industry’s top players, like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, CyberGhost.
All of these alternatives can unblock popular streaming services, have error-free and feature-rich apps, and boast thousands of servers.
Streaming
Lots of VPN providers can unblock VOD channels like Netflix and BBC iPlayer that restrict the accessibility to their services in certain regions but, unfortunately, AzireVPN is not one of them.
You may occasionally have luck with some of its servers, but there’s no guarantee you’ll have reliable access to such services. If this is important to you, there are plenty of competitors out there that offer reliable access not only to the services mentioned above but many others as well.
About the company
This VPN service is offered by Netbouncer AB, a company registered in Sundbyberg, Sweden. It offers access to 57 dedicated servers in 15 locations around the world, including in Thailand, Romania, Canada and so on.
The platform’s source code is available on GitHub for anyone who wants to examine it in detail, although you’ll need to have some expertise in code to understand it.
Privacy and encryption
AzireVPN is a P2P-friendly VPN vendor, which means it allows you to torrent as much as you want on all of its servers and in perfect privacy, protected by WireGuard, OpenVPN, and SOCKS5 protocols. OpenVPN uses AES-256 encryption, while WireGuard relies on ChaCha20 with Poly1305.
In its Terms of Service, the provider states it doesn’t log any traffic activity, timestamps, bandwidth data points, original or assigned IP addresses, nor the number of active sessions.
Although these claims are yet to be confirmed by a third-party auditor, they sound reassuring, especially in combination with the source code being available online.
Support
This VPN vendor has apps you can download for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. The iOS app is still in the beta stage, but you can try it via TestFlight.
Its Android app has been installed over 1,000 times and has an average score of 2.9 stars (out of 5), as rated by 12 reviewers. The app was last updated on February 25, 2020.
If you want to install the platform on other devices, like routers, you can do so manually, with the help of the installation guides on the website. Other than the installation guides and configuration files, AzireVPN’s support section features frequently asked questions and status indicators, showing the current service status, your VPN connection status, as well as DNS and WebRTC leaks from your device.
If you have any questions for the customer support, you can send them via email and you’ll get a response between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm UTC. We asked some general questions but never got a response, so presumably customer support prioritizes actual problems with the platform.
Speed and experience
We first tested a server in Canada that gave us download speeds of only 8.57Mbps on a 60Mbps testing connection. This is partly to be expected, since the server is further away from our physical location, but doesn’t change the fact that we have tested and reviewed VPNs that performed much better.
We then tried a server in Spain, which delivered better but still below-average speeds considering the vicinity (only 15.16Mbps).
The Windows app doesn’t save your password and you’ll need to enter it each time you want to connect, so make sure it’s something you’ll remember.
Otherwise, the app is as simple as they come, perhaps even too simple for a more demanding user as there are no features or options to customize.
Verdict
AzireVPN is an average VPN platform that offers connection reliability, decent speeds depending on the chosen location, as well as a free trial and source code that is free for anyone to examine.
However, a lot more work is necessary if it aspires to become the next ExpressVPN, especially in terms of server infrastructure, app design, and support for geo-locked VOD channels.
Comments
Post a Comment