Astrill Offers Multiple Proprietary Tunneling Protocols
OpenVPN and WireGuard are both trustworthy and open-source VPN connection protocols, and each one excels in different areas. Astrill offers them alongside StealthVPN and OpenWeb – two proprietary options – which provides a great balance between standardized and bespoke security.

Astrill offers the choice of four connection protocols.
OpenWeb is a proprietary protocol based on TCP, designed for fast streaming and browsing across the web. Rather than encrypting the traffic leaving your entire device, OpenWeb only tunnels traffic from popular web browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Chrome, and Chromium.
You can configure OpenWeb to encrypt traffic from other applications too, and also to share your OpenWeb connections with iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. This is useful in case mobile VPN protocols are blocked by your ISP or network administrators.
EXPERT ADVICE: If you switch servers or turn your VPN off when using the OpenWeb protocol, Astrill will automatically disconnect all applications. You can prevent these disconnections by going to Settings > Advanced > Keep Connection.
StealthVPN is Astrill VPN’s flagship proprietary protocol. It adds a layer of obfuscation to your already encrypted internet traffic, allowing you to bypass firewalls undetected.
It’s a stable and reliable protocol that works with both UDP and TCP protocols. It uses RSA-2048 certificates for authentication and the AES-256 cipher to encrypt your data.
Reliable & Advanced Kill Switch
Astrill’s kill switch works well to prevent IP leaks and cut your entire internet connection should the VPN connection fail. In this case, a pop-up window appears asking if you want to restore your internet connection or reconnect the VPN before continuing.
There’s also a feature called App Guard available on Windows, which Astrill describes as an “enhanced” version of a kill switch. This feature lets you block specific apps from connecting to the internet in the event of a VPN disconnection, while everything else works normally.
It works even when the Astrill desktop app is not running, and is enabled automatically on system startup.

Astrill’s advanced kill switch is called App Guard.
We ran both Astrill’s standard kill switch and App Guard feature through our kill switch testing tool to verify their effectiveness. The tool detects IP leaks by constantly monitoring your IP address and geo-location during an internet disconnection.
As shown in the screenshot below, Astrill’s normal kill switch failed to hide our real IP address during a VPN server change. This is more of a usability issue than a security one, as Astrill requires you to manually disconnect from your VPN server before connecting to a new one.
Top-rated VPNs, like PIA, allow you to switch between VPN servers without interrupting the VPN connection.

Astrill’s standard kill switch doesn’t activate while changing VPN servers.
Astrill’s kill switch did prevent our real IP address from leaking during a sudden VPN disconnection, which is the more important test.
App Guard concealed our IP address during both a VPN server change and a VPN disconnection. We recommend enabling App Guard at all times to maintain your online anonymity.
Astrill doesn’t support a VPN kill switch on either of its mobile apps. This is a significant drawback for mobile users, and we’d like to see this rectified in a future update.
IP, DNS & WebRTC Leak Tests
We tested Astrill VPN for any compromising IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks by connecting to a US server. We found no leaks of any kind.

Astrill VPN didn’t leak our IP address, WebRTC, or DNS.
Our test confirmed that Astrill doesn’t leak any of your personal data. It’s a safe, secure, and reliable VPN that will hide your IP address without fail.
Advanced Features Vary by Subscription
Astrill has more additional technical features than most VPN services, but their availability depends on your pricing plan.
You’ll need to purchase Astrill VIP to access the full suite of Astrill’s advanced features, which costs $10.00 a month extra.
Here’s a summary of how Astrill and Astrill VIP’s technical features differ:
Feature |
Description |
Astrill |
Astrill VIP |
Onion Over VPN |
Opening any .onion website in your regular browser automatically routers your traffic to the Tor network via the VPN tunnel. |
Enabled on all servers by default |
Enabled on all servers by default |
DNS Server Customization |
Allows you to choose between the default Astrill DNS servers, Google DNS, CloudFlare DNS, and more. |
Available (Desktop only) |
Available (Desktop only) |
Multi-Hop Servers |
Routes your traffic through two VPN servers instead of one, for increased anonymity. |
No |
Yes |
VIP Servers |
VPN servers optimized for fast speed and reduced latency, aimed at gamers and users in Asia. Capped by a monthly data limit. |
No |
Yes |
In addition to either plan, you can purchase a dedicated VPN IP address for an extra fee of $5.00 per month. This is a VPN IP address that only you can connect to and use. This allows for secure remote access and complete agency over your IP address.
Unlike other VPN services, Astrill automatically forwards ports to your dedicated IP, so all VOIP and P2P applications will work without additional configuration.