Perfect Privacy Review

Perfect Privacy is a reliable zero-logs VPN that’s a solid choice for experienced users and VPN newbies alike. Performance on local connections is decent, with good uploads and P2P-friendly servers making it very appealing to torrenters. High ping times mean gamers will want to look elsewhere, and streaming fans will be disappointed to hear that Netflix and iPlayer are currently blocked. Custom apps are available for Microsoft Windows and Linux and you can manually configure the software on loads of other platforms, including routers.

Perfect Privacy defaults on startup to OpenVPN, the most secure protocol, and comes with loads of extra privacy features such as first-party DNS servers, a VPN kill switch and protection against DNS, IPv6 and WebRTC leaks. They’re strictly zero-logs, not even collecting basic connection metadata, based in privacy-friendly Switzerland. Additional obfuscation tools such as Stealth VPN mean it’s a good fit if you plan to be connecting out from high-censorship countries. Customer support is pretty standard with no live chat but speedy responses via email.

Perfect Privacy offers a range of different pricing plans so you shouldn’t struggle to find one that suits you. As is often the case, all of the plans give you access to the same features, but the price varies depending on the length of your chosen subscription – the longer you sign up for, the less you pay each month.

A single month is actually pretty expensive at $15.17 (converted from €12.99) but you can save yourself 23% by committing to the annual plan, coming in at $11.67 per month. The biggest savings can be found on the two-year plan, which will set you back $10.46 on a monthly basis, giving you a reduction of just over 30%. There are also three-month and six-month options for those who don’t want to commit to a year.

Perfect Privacy offers a seven-day money-back guarantee in place of a free trial. This is genuinely no questions asked with no hidden exceptions or restrictions, simply send them a refund request within seven days of your date of purchase and they’ll return the money to your account. They do ask you to email the support team if you’re experiencing any technical difficulties before you claim a refund so they can try to rectify the problem first, but this is by no means an obligation.

Unfortunately it’s not possible to get a refund if you paid with a gift-card or any coupon-based methods, as well as cash transactions. Payments using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are also non-refundable due to the high transaction fees, so that’s something to bear in mind before you sign up. We’d love to see some kind of free trial from Perfect Privacy in the near future to allow users to test out the service before committing to a paid subscription.

Even if they were nowhere near as quick as those offered by our top-tier providers, Perfect Privacy’s downloads on local connections were still more than fast enough for buffer-free streaming on a couple of devices simultaneously, with speeds of up to 42Mbps on same-country connections (we test from London). Speeds dropped connecting out to the US East Coast at 17Mbps, but we were pretty impressed that performance over longer distances remained solid, with Australia and Singapore coming in at 18Mbps and 16Mbps respectively.

We were less impressed by latency, which came in at 8ms even connecting to the same city. While this isn’t the end of the world, it is pretty laggy in comparison to the zippy ping times of less than 1ms offered by some providers, so serious gamers might want to look elsewhere.

Connection times were a bit of an issue for us too, as you have to disconnect from one server in order to connect to another. This makes the process that little bit longer and means your true IP address is at risk of being exposed if you connect to the internet at all during this time (unless you have the killswitch activated). Thankfully once we were connected, performance was rock solid with no connection drops at all.

Uploads were pretty similar to downloads if not a little better, peaking at 55Mbps in France and 51Mbps in the Netherlands. This makes it a great choice for torrenters, especially due to the fact that P2P activity is permitted on most of Perfect Privacy’s servers. As is usually the case, uploads massively dropped off over international connections (8Mbps in Australia and 11Mbps in Japan) but this is unlikely to be a problem for the majority, who are likely to be connecting locally.

Overall, don’t expect mind-blowing performance from Perfect Privacy, but connecting to pretty much any local server will give you speeds more than good enough for general browsing, HD streaming, and quick downloads, even if only on a couple of devices at once. Torrenters will be impressed by solid uploads combined with a strict-zero logs policy, however keen gamers might want to look at other providers considering the high latency, even on same-country connections.

To find out more about our speed testing methodologies, please read How We Review VPNs.

Perfect Privacy’s server network is incredibly small with just 23 countries available to choose from. All of the usual European locations are covered, as well as North America, but users in other parts of the world are sadly left wanting. We’d advise checking their server list to make sure there’s coverage in your desired locations before you decide to sign up to a paid subscription.

Unsurprisingly this means that Perfect Privacy also operates very few individual servers – just over 60 in total. Each of these has anywhere between four and 21 IP addresses to choose from but according to the support team this number “is often changing” so we’re not sure of a specific amount here. A smaller pool of IP addresses means a lot easier for you to get ‘lost in the crowd’, however it may also lead to congestion at peak times. Thankfully you can keep track of each server’s load on the desktop app and avoid the busier ones.

A choice of five different US cities is about what we’d expect in a server network of this size, even if it’s way behind the offerings of top-tier providers. There’s also a choice of five cities in Germany, three in France and two in the Netherlands and the UK. Coverage in the Asia-Pacific region is limited to Australia, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. Users in Africa only have one server to choose from, in Egypt, and there’s no coverage in Central and South America whatsoever.

You can find the complete list of Perfect Privacy server locations by country and city on their website below.

Perfect Privacy only offers custom apps for Microsoft Windows and Linux, putting it a behind many of its rivals, such as Private Internet Access, that offer native apps for at least the five most popular devices. It is compatible with MacOS, iOS and Android but these require an element of manual configuration to work with third-party applications such as OpenVPN and Tunnelblick. It’s also possible to install the VPN software at router level so you can protect all of the internet-connected devices in your home without having to install individual apps on each one (compatible routers include Tomato, pfSense, DD-WRT and AsusWRT-Merlin).

For those who don’t feel comfortable manually configuring the VPN, there is the option of buying a router with the software pre-installed from FlashRouters. This is ideal if you want to protect games consoles and streaming devices but aren’t too tech-savvy and need a plug-and-play solution that doesn’t require too much effort on your part. There are loads of detailed setup guides for various devices on Perfect Privacy’s website if you do decide to go for the more hands-on approach and install the software yourself.

Perfect Privacy can be used with loads of different games consoles and streaming devices simply by connecting them to a configured router. This can either be a router that you installed the software on yourself, or a pre-flashed one you bought from a site such as FlashRouters or Vilfo. By doing this, you’ll be automatically routing all of the internet-capable devices in your home through the VPN tunnel and therefore protecting them – this includes devices such as your Xbox, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation, AppleTV and many more.

Unfortunately there’s no way of installing the VPN app directly onto these kinds of devices, so if you’re looking for a plug-and-play solution you’ll have to look elsewhere. Manually configuring your existing router isn’t too complicated, but understandably VPN newbies might want to steer clear until they’re more comfortable with the software.

While this VPN is a great choice for privacy, it’s not so good if you’re looking for quick, easy access to popular streaming sites such as Netflix or BBC iPlayer. Thanks to a lack of dedicated streaming servers and a choice of only five different cities in the US, it was always going to be difficult to access Netflix, and unfortunately it was blocked on all US servers in our tests. It doesn’t look like there’s going to be a solution to this problem anytime soon, so we’d advise keen fans of the service to look at other providers, such as SaferVPN, that boast one-click access.

The story is unfortunately the same with BBC iPlayer, which is hardly surprising considering their recent crackdown on VPN providers. Perfect Privacy only offers two locations in the UK and neither of these worked for us. If access to these kinds of sites is make-or-break for you, consider looking for providers offering servers optimized for streaming or at least more city-specific server choice in popular countries.

Perfect Privacy is however really popular with torrenters, as P2P activity is permitted on the vast majority of their servers. Combine this with a zero-logs policy and reliable upload speeds and you’ve got a solid choice that doesn’t compromise your privacy.

As is suggested in their name, Perfect Privacy does very well in terms of protecting your online identity. The apps default on startup to OpenVPN, our preferred protocol, as this offers the best balance between speed and security. You can also choose to connect via IPSec which is almost as safe and reliable. Encryption is via AES-256, which is the gold standard and considered ‘unbreakable’ – it’s actually the cipher of choice for the US federal government.

We really like the fact that once a VPN connection is established, the kill switch is automatically active, protecting your true IP address should the connection drop for any reason. You can then configure the behavior of the kill switch in three different modes, depending on whether or not you want it to continue working even after you quit the VPN, but for most the default mode will be the best. Perfect Privacy also operates their own zero-log DNS servers, so there’s no risk of your web traffic being accidentally routed through less secure servers owned by third parties, such as Google or even your ISP.

Protection against DNS, IPv6 and WebRTC leaks is integrated into the VPN Manager for Microsoft Windows and Linux, so you don’t need to worry about your originating IP address potentially being exposed even when you’re switching servers. Perfect Privacy also offers the TrackStop feature which allows you to block all advertising domains on their nameservers, including Google Analytics, known Phishing sites, social media and more – you can activate this in the settings menu.

As far as we can see, Perfect Privacy seems to be a pretty reliable choice for users who are mainly going to be connecting out from high-censorship countries such as China. They offer several different tools that provide extra layers of obfuscation, such as their proprietary Stealth VPN. This protocol masks your VPN packets and makes them look like normal HTTPS traffic, meaning you’re far more likely to be able to overcome the Great Firewall and access government-blocked content such as Wikipedia, Google and Facebook. The website also isn’t currently blocked in China, which is a huge bonus, although we’d advise downloading it before you travel just to be on the safe side.

Because of these additional obfuscation tools, we’d also recommend Perfect Privacy to those living in or travelling to other high-censorship countries including Turkey, Iran or Saudi Arabia. The only possible downside here is the small server network, as this means you’ll have to connect over a fairly long distance to reach the nearest free-speech country, but if super-fast performance isn’t vital then this probably won’t matter to you.

Perfect Privacy is one of very few VPN providers on the current market that boasts a zero-logs privacy policy, which states that this is so they ‘can’t be forced to give away something they don’t have in the first place’. They don’t even collect any basic connection logs, such as connection timestamps or chosen VPN servers, so there’s no absolutely no way anything you do online can be traced back to you as an individual.

They solely record the ‘total usage ratio’ of the servers, i.e. how much traffic is being used on each server. This data can be publicly viewed on their server status page and is used for troubleshooting purposes. The most important thing is that no personally identifiable data is collected at all, keeping your online identity and activity private.

Perfect Privacy is based in Zurich, Switzerland, putting it beyond the reach of intrusive surveillance laws and intelligence-sharing agreements with countries such as the US and UK. This, coupled with their strict zero-logs policy, means you don’t need to worry about any of your personal information being passed onto third parties such as law enforcement agencies.

Perfect Privacy also publishes regular warrant canaries to keep their users updated on any information requests that may have been made. Their most recent one is from October 10th 2018, which states they have received:

• NO National Security Letters
• NO warrants in regards to the Perfect Privacy VPN service
• NO domestic or foreign court orders
• NO requests to backdoor our service or compromise our customer’s privacy in any way
• NO gag orders which would prevent us from stating that we have received legal process seeking our users’ information

We love this level of transparency, and it really reassured us that our confidential data was in safe hands.

Perfect Privacy’s Windows app isn’t the most attractive we’ve seen but it certainly does a good job at packing in loads of advanced features. When you open the app, the first thing you see is the server list – there’s no real main screen, as such. The list isn’t very well-organized but we like that you can see the server load as well as ping time for each location. At first we weren’t clear on how to connect, until we realized that we needed to click the little plug icon next to our chosen server. Annoyingly, you have to disconnect from one server before you can connect to another.

Clicking on the settings button opens a new window that’s organized into separate tabs for different advanced features. This feels a bit old-fashioned but it does make sense not to have it all in the same window due to the sheer number of configurable options on offer. We really like the contextual help that’s given alongside features such as DNS/IPv6 leak protection and proxy settings, as it makes them accessible to VPN newbies as well as more experienced, tech-savvy users.

If you’re looking for a sleek, one-click solution then Perfect Privacy definitely isn’t the best provider for you. However, if you’re willing to fiddle with a few settings in order to maximize performance and like to have loads of different connection options, then you won’t be disappointed. We only wish the custom apps were available for more platforms than just Windows and Linux.

Downloading Perfect Privacy on Windows or Linux is incredibly easy and the process took us only a few minutes from purchase to connection. After you’ve signed up for an account, simply download the software by selecting the relevant option in the ‘How To’ section on the website. All you have to do then is follow the sequence of prompts given to you by the installation wizard, agree to create a desktop shortcut and you’re good to go. Just be sure to have your confirmation email to hand when you’re asked to enter your login details.

For those who plan to use the VPN on MacOS, iOS or Android, the process is a bit more complex and involves some manual configuration on your part. Thankfully Perfect Privacy provides detailed step-by-step guides to help make this as simple as possible, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, even if this is your first time using a VPN.

Perfect Privacy’s customer support is nothing special but will do the job for most setup queries and basic troubleshooting issues you might have. We really like the step-by-step installation guides for those devices lacking native apps, as not only are they incredibly detailed but they also include helpful screenshots to give you an idea of what the process should look like. There are also loads of FAQs covering a wealth of topics from accounts and payment to technical questions, which should answer most common questions regarding the service.

You can contact the support team either directly via email or fill in a contact form on the website. We found responses to be pretty quick and the agents were very helpful, however we really missed the instant answers you get with live chat. You can also take advantage of the Perfect Privacy Forum, where users post hints and tips to get the most out of the software. We often found that if our queries weren’t covered in the FAQs, someone else had posted something similar in the Forum and it had been answered there, so it’s well worth taking a look at.

Perfect Privacy is a reliable, zero-logs VPN that’s well-suited to both VPN newbies and more experienced users. It’s pretty pricey, even if you commit to the annual plan, but we think it’s worth it due to the sheer amount of extra features on offer. Performance on local connections is nothing to write home about but good enough for HD streaming on a couple of devices, although gamers might want to look elsewhere. Streaming fans will be disappointed to hear that it’s not currently working with Netflix or BBC iPlayer.

It’s definitely one of the best-suited providers to those seeking high levels of privacy, defaulting on startup to OpenVPN and using top cipher AES-256. The apps come with a whole host of privacy extras, including an automatic VPN kill switch, first-party DNS servers and protection against DNS, IPv6 and WebRTC leaks. A strict zero-logs policy and jurisdiction in a privacy-friendly location are added bonuses. Custom apps are only available for Microsoft Windows and Linux, however the software can be manually configured to work with most other devices, including routers.

Customer support is pretty standard with loads of online resources, but we really missed a live chat feature. Thankfully email responses were very quick and helpful. It’s not a bad choice for those connecting out from high-censorship countries such as China due to the additional obfuscation tools on offer, such as Stealth VPN. Overall a solid VPN for privacy-conscious users, but gamers and streaming fans should definitely consider other providers.