VyprVPN Review

VyprVPN always performs well in our security tests. It’s one of the safest and most secure VPNs, encrypting internet connections with the gold standard AES-256 cipher.

Protocols & Features

The VPN service uses OpenVPN, which is widely considered the most reliable and rigorously tested connection protocol.

Recently, VyprVPN also added WireGuard, an emergent VPN protocol with impressive speeds.

VyprVPN also offers a NAT firewall to block any unrequested traffic coming into your device when connected to VyprVPN.

On top of this, it features the all-important kill switch, which stops your IP address leaking if your VPN connection drops momentarily.

Not all VyprVPN’s apps have the same advanced security features, though. For instance, the PC client has a “public wifi protection” option not available on Mac, and the Mac software has split tunneling and a malware blocker, which the Windows app doesn’t have.

We’ve broken down all the features by app later in this review.

VyprDNS

VyprDNS, Golden Frog’s DNS network, is an important element of what makes VyprVPN so secure.

According to VyprVPN, its in-house DNS service holds these benefits:

• No DNS logs: VyprDNS is “zero-knowledge”: it doesn’t retain logs of hotnames, IP addresses, geolocation data or anything else.
• No DNS censorship: DNS servers can be used to censor access to specific websites at the request of governments or ISPs, but VyprDNS tunnels your data to prevent this from happening.
• No DNS location errors: DNS servers located in different countries to your VPN server can cause issues when accessing geo-locked content. VyprDNS avoids this by putting a DNS server in the same country as each VPN server.
• No injected content: it is technically possible for a DNS provider to inject ads or content into your browser’s DNS requests (Hotspot Shield was caught injecting code into users’ browsers in 2017). VyprVPN DNS servers don’t manipulate any of the content on the websites you visit.

VyprDNS is turned on by default, but you can toggle it off if you’d rather use public DNS servers, instead.

IP and DNS Leak Test Results

We thoroughly tested VyprVPN to check for IP and DNS data leaks.

In short, VyprVPN is leak-proof. Our IP and DNS addresses appeared under German addresses, and our true IP location in London, UK, was never exposed.

Here’s what we found when we ran VyprDNS through a leak test:

As you can see above, the DNS servers aren’t showing up as VyprVPN, or its owners Golden Frog and Powerhouse Management, but as the very companies the service is supposed to help you avoid: Google and Amazon.

We were concerned this meant VyprDNS wasn’t working properly. We reached out to VyprVPN, which clarified that it uses a DNS relay system.

This means that before your DNS traffic reaches any public DNS servers it is routed through a DNS proxy, fully anonymizing your traffic.

This isn’t quite the same as total end-to-end elimination of third parties, but it’s as close to it as possible without alerting websites that a VPN is being used.

But that’s just DNS. Here are the results of another, full leak test:

Encryption Tests using Wireshark

These top-level checks are good, and show that VyprVPN wasn’t leaking any other data. However, they don’t guarantee your data is fully encrypted and protected from third parties.

We’ve gone a step further than other review websites, and inspected the packets of data being sent by VyprVPN to make absolutely certain it is properly encrypted.

We use Wireshark to inspect individual packets of data in DNS, TCP, and UDP traffic to make sure absolutely nothing is visible in plain text.

Here are our Wireshark results:

This is an excellent outcome; exactly what we would expect from a top tier provider like VyprVPN.

Virus and Malware Checks

It’s important to be extra vigilant, so we also scanned VyprVPN’s apps using Malwarebytes looking for any potentially dangerous or malicious content.

Thankfully, it came out both virus- and malware-free.

Android App Permissions

We also analyzed the trackers and permissions within the Android app using the exodus tool.

The results show that the VyprVPN app contains four third party trackers: Adjust, Google Analytics Google CrashLytics, and Google Tag Manager.

All the trackers are analytics, so there’s nothing too concerning here, but other services like Astrill have a tracker-free app.

VyprVPN’s Android app also asks for 11 permissions from your phone, including “ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION,” a special permission which allows access to both GPS and network based location.

Some VPNs include this to determine your device’s location and offer a “fastest” connection to the nearest server.

Pinging servers to find the quickest connection is a more private and accurate solution, and doesn’t require using this special permission at all. Hopefully VyprVPN addresses this soon.

VyprVPN used to work in China, but lately it’s been inconsistent.

Over the last several months we’ve only been able to connect once from our test server in Shanghai. We run weekly checks, so we’ll update this page if the service returns to its previous performance.

Chamaleon and Obfuscation

The reason why VyprVPN often works in high-censorship countries is because of its Chameleon protocol.

This VPN protocol is specifically designed to bypass aggressive censorship and VPN blocks in countries like Turkey, China and UAE. It’s currently available on every VPN server, too.

In countries with advanced censorship infrastructure like China’s Great Firewall, just encrypting data is not enough.

These countries will run something called deep packet inspection (DPI) to determine if certain packets of data belong to a VPN. If they detect VPN traffic, they will block the connection.

VyprVPN’s Chameleon protocol works by scrambling the metadata of each OpenVPN packet, preventing it from being identified through DPI. This allows it to avoid detection from governments, ISPs, and other network administrators like your employer, school or university.

Underneath the obfuscation technology lies the unmodified OpenVPN protocol, with tried and tested AES-256 encryption. This means you can overcome censorship without giving up security.

The latest version of the protocol, Chameleon 2.0 has additional compatibility with Windows, Android, MacOS, and iOS devices.

If you choose to use VyprVPN in China, make sure you download the VPN before you travel there, since VyprVPN is banned in Chinese app stores.

Currently, you need to be using the beta version of the app to get reliable access in China for PC or iOS.

In addition to China, VyprVPN also works in other high-censorship countries like:

• UAE
• Saudi Arabia
• Turkey
• Russia
• Thailand
• Syria

VyprVPN’s global server network means a VPN server is never too far away. You should get good VPN speeds from any of these regions.

VyprVPN’s huge range of 300,000 IP addresses is the largest we’ve seen from any VPN service.

The choice of 700+ servers in 73 cities and 64 countries is more normal, but it will satisfy most people.

The server locations are evenly spread around the world, including 14 locations in Asia, seven in Central and South America, five in Oceania, five in the Middle East, and two in Africa.

The choice of server locations in Africa is fairly limited, with just Algeria and Egypt on offer, although that’s common among VPN services.

Few City-level Server Locations

However, we are disappointed by the lack of city-level servers. VyprVPN only offers city-specific choice in two countries: the United States and Australia.

VyprVPN’s US servers are located in:

• Austin
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• New York
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Washington D.C.

Servers in Australia are located in Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. This is a good offering for Australian users.

Unusually, there’s no city-level choice in Canada. If that’s important to you, head over to our list of top Canada VPNs.

First-party Server Ownership

On the plus side, VyprVPN owns and operates all its servers and therefore can offer “end-to-end” privacy. Having “no third parties” involved is perhaps VyprVPN’s biggest selling point.

It’s a strong step towards privacy by design, as it eliminates the security risks that are associated with renting servers.

Combined with Golden Frog’s in-house DNS service, VyprDNS, this means you only need to trust one party when you connect to the internet – VyprVPN itself.

The VPN apps also employ dynamic server switching, which seamlessly changes your server depending on load and server availability. This helps maintain a consistently high quality connection without service interruptions.

VyprVPN belongs to Golden Frog GmbH, which is itself owned by Powerhouse Management.

Powerhouse Management and its subsidiaries belong to Ron and Carolyn Yokubaitis, who have been working in internet access and networking since they started Texas.net in 1994.

Founded in 2009, VyprVPN’s proposition of eliminating as many third parties as possible asks you to put a lot of trust in them. VPNs have the ability to monitor everything you do online, with VyprVPN even taking control of your DNS requests.

You shouldn’t give this kind of trust to just anybody, so we’ve dug into VyprVPN’s privacy and logging policies.

VyprVPN is now a truly no-logs VPN. In its current privacy policy, it explicitly states that:

• They do not log users’ IP addresses
• They do not log the IP address assigned to users when using VyprVPN
• They do not log connection start or stop times
• They do not log users’ traffic or the content of any communications
• They are network neutral. They do not discriminate against devices, protocols, or applications
• They do not throttle or rate limit Internet connection

  VyprVPN’s current logging policy

This is a very clear and detailed logging policy that sets out a principled vision for the relationship between user and network provider.

Being network neutral is a key detail: it means VyprVPN won’t run real-time analysis of your traffic or block certain kinds of activity. Importantly it means you can torrent on any server you want.

Similarly, by agreeing not to log your IP address or connection times, VyprVPN makes it impossible for a third party to trace an IP back to you, even with a warrant. Again, this is good news for file-sharing users, but we’ll go over this in more detail later in the review.

Past Logging Practices

A few years ago VyprVPN’s logging policy far exceeded what we consider reasonable. It has since fixed this, and we now feel comfortable recommending VyprVPN as a private service.

You can still see the old privacy policy using the Wayback Machine.

The old privacy policy used to state that Golden Frog retains “the user’s source IP address, the VyprVPN IP address used by the user, connection start and stop time and total number of bytes used” for 30 days.

That data could totally deanonymize users, and there are examples of VyprVPN using it to hand over its users’ information to DMCA trolls.

Logging Policy Audit

Thankfully, Golden Frog has since updated its approach to user data. It was even one of the first VPNs to commission an independent logging policy audit in 2018.

The audit initially found some issues with how the service was handling personally identifiable information, but this was quickly rectified.

Swiss Jurisdiction

While it’s operated from Texas, US, Golden Frog is incorporated in Switzerland. This is a plus for user privacy, although not as big as some believe.

Switzerland is often called a ‘privacy haven’ because it isn’t in the EU, or in a major data sharing alliance like the Five Eyes or SIGINT. This means it doesn’t have formal agreements for sharing surveillance data.

But Switzerland does sometimes share information with other countries.

It also has data retention laws, the BÜPF and VÜPF, but they are comparatively lax compared to those of other countries.

In Switzerland, there is no law compelling VPN services to keep traffic logs, and sharing of data can’t be done casually. Crucially, Golden Frog doesn’t log user web data in the first place.

VyprVPN isn’t as fast as other top-rated VPNs, but its more than quick enough for browsing, streaming and torrenting. If you aren’t playing competitively, it’s a good option for gaming too.

To measure the impact on our internet speed, we took note of our connection speed before and after connecting to VyprVPN’s servers.

We recorded an average speed loss of 16% when connected to a nearby server, which is an above average result. There have also been big speed improvements on international connections, too.

Upload speeds were really strong, reaching as high as 87.71Mbps. This is an improvement on past test results.

VyprVPN is very reliable, with little fluctuation in speed from one server location to the next. As long as you have a stable internet connection, you shouldn’t have any speed issues.

That said, if speed is your primary concern, there are certainly faster VPNs available.

Ping times of just over 10ms between London and European servers are good, but not enough for us to recommend it for online gaming.

Long-Distance Speed Tests

While same city connections have stayed about the same, international speeds have improved significantly. This is key for streaming video and audio content from abroad.

To show the improvement, we’ve compared speed results from June 2019 with those taken in January 2020.

On almost all connections we saw notable speed improvements for both uploads and downloads. While global speeds have been a past weakness for VyprVPN, this is clearly no longer the case.

VyprVPN Is Slower than Its Top Rivals

In addition to the above results of our manual testing, below you can see the latest results from our automated VPN speed test tool.

These automated speed tests run every day, four times per day. Test connection speeds are capped at 100Mbps to recreate a typical home internet connection.

The graph below compares VyprVPN’s average loss of internet speed to other popular VPNs, on a New York to New York test connection. The results go back eight weeks, to give you a good idea of how reliable VyprVPN is, not just how fast it can be.

Compare VyprVPN’s worldwide speeds using our tool

Sadly, VyprVPN hasn’t been able to match other top services for several months.

On a New York to New York connection we suffered download speeds drops of as much as 50%, compared to drops of less than 10% for VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access.

Internationally, the results have been very similar, but VyprVPN has performed surprisingly better on very long-distance connections.

For example, connecting from New York to Singapore, its download speed has stayed above that of Private Internet Access, and is not far behind NordVPN.

VyprVPN’s streaming capabilities have massively improved over the years. It can now unblock several major streaming platforms, which in the past it struggled to stream.

VyprVPN works with Netflix

VyprVPN unblocks US Netflix on most of its US servers, with only one or two not working. The video quality was excellent and buffer-free.

What’s more, VyprVPN also works with the British, Canadian, Japanese, and German Netflix libraries.

But, there are better VPNs built for streaming Netflix. Some can unblock over 40 Netflix regions, like Windscribe (read our review here).

VyprVPN Unblocks BBC iPlayer

Historically, we’ve struggled to stream BBC iPlayer using VyprVPN, however the newest apps currently work well.

All UK servers worked, which is no easy feat considering lately many top-tier VPNs struggle to stream BBC’s video player.

Streaming Disney+, Hulu and HBO

VyprVPN can also unblock Hulu and Disney+. Setting up a Disney+ account from abroad isn’t as easy as Netflix or BBC iPlayer, though. See how to do it on our Disney+ VPN page.

You can also access HBO Max, ESPN, DAZN and several other platforms.

Torrenting with VyprVPN

VyprVPN allows torrenting and P2P activity on all its VPN servers, and it works great, too.

The service’s kill switch and first-party DNS servers are great pluses, and protect your real IP address during file-sharing.

Having said that, VyprVPN’s speeds aren’t the fastest and there is no support for port forwarding, either. Devoted torrenters may prefer to use a VPN more suited for P2P activity.

As covered in the logging section of this review, Golden Frog has significantly improved its privacy policy. However, the copyright policy remains broadly unchanged.

At first the two policies seem to hold some conflict. The Copyright Policy states that “it is Golden Frog’s policy:

1. to remove or disable access to the content identified in the notice of claimed infringement;
2. to notify the subscriber that it has removed or disabled access to the content; and
3. to terminate in appropriate circumstances subscribers who are repeat infringers.”

While this policy may appear concerning at first, it’s just ‘for show’ to appease content owners and copyright trolls. VyprVPN “treats all traffic equally” and it doesn’t log IP addresses or connection times.

Since VyprVPN’s privacy policy updates, we haven’t seen or heard of any customer receiving DMCA notices, or having their account locked for downloading copyrighted material.

Clarity is clearly a priority in all VyprVPN’s apps. The simple and uncluttered desktop apps are incredibly easy to set up and use.

Choosing a server location couldn’t be simpler, either, and VyprVPN keeps all the advanced options you may want to tinker with in one place, clearly explained in plain English.

The features and interface on offer do vary a bit by device though:

Windows Client

The VyprVPN Windows app feels great to use.

It has a big central “Connect” button, with a country select button just above. At the bottom of the screen there are three tabs: customize, connection, servers. This is simple and easy – everything we want from a VPN app.

The customise tab reveals a set of useful features, from toggles like public wifi protection and a kill switch to more complex controls for DNS, VPN protocol, and TAP Adapter settings.

You can customize what notifications you receive on desktop, too, a great little feature.

By default Windows uses OpenVPN to connect – our protocol of choice – but you also have IKEv2 and VyprVPN’s obfuscation protocol, Chameleon, to choose from.

MacOS Client

The MacOS app does all the same things as the Windows app, offering easy access to all VyprVPN’s servers as well as toggles for advanced features.

Unlike the Windows app, though, it includes both split tunneling and a malicious site blocker.

The malicious site blocker is a good feature, although it’s made redundant by several free security browser extensions that do a better job.

Split tunneling, on the other hand, is an exceptionally useful feature which allows you to route some traffic inside the VPN while keeping other traffic outside. This allows you, for instance, to have your web browser within the VPN but a gaming connection outside, or your email client within the VPN and a web browser outside.

There are some downsides compared to the Windows app, too.

You won’t be able to set the Mac app to run on start-up, or access the TAP adapter controls.

The default VPN protocol on Mac is IKEv2. We tend to prefer OpenVPN for desktops but this is a secure and well tested alternative.

Both OpenVPN and the Chameleon protocol are available, too, so you can switch to those if necessary.

Android App

The Android app is slick and visually very similar to the design of the desktop apps. Its features are pretty much on par with the MacOS and Windows apps, too.

You get split tunneling, a kill switch, VyprDNS, and plenty more. The only features absent from the Android app are TAP adapter controls and a malicious site blocker.

It can run on either OpenVPN or the Chameleon protocol, both good choices. If you’re in a censored region or you suspect your network provider might block a VPN go for Chameleon, otherwise the default OpenVPN is your best choice.

If you don’t want to or can’t download the app from the Google Play Store VyprVPN also offer an apk for you to sideload directly onto your device.

The Android app is our favorite of the bunch.

iOS App

The iOS app functions in much the same way as the Android one. It’s quick and easy to use and navigate, like all of VyprVPN’s apps.

It lacks some of the features of the other apps, though. There is no kill switch, for instance, which is a pretty major omission (although there aren’t many VPNs that have one on iOS). There also isn’t split tunneling, which limits the utility of the app somewhat.

VyprDNS is available, but it is always on and can’t be toggled on or off.

IKEv2 is the default protocol. This isn’t our favorite for PC or MacOS but is particularly strong on mobile connections, so we think it’s a good call here.

You can still access the Chameleon protocol, too, which is a plus.

Router App

The custom router app only works on certain Tomato flashed routers, but offers great utility with explicit router level considerations.

On top of the basic VyprVPN operation, it includes port forwarding controls, access restriction, per device controls, and support for all VyprVPN’s protocols (including Chameleon and OpenVPN at the AES-256 level of encryption). A great suite of features.

It also has USB and NAS controls which allow you to get the most out of your local network while still running the VPN at router level.

The VyprVPN router app gives you the ability to trace your bandwidth usage over time (stored locally). While not totally necessary, this does let you keep a close eye on the levels of activity in your local network.

Most of all, it facilitates quick and easy connection changes for all your home devices to anywhere in the VyprVPN network.

Smart TV App

Available for Android TVs and Amazon Fire TV devices, the VyprVPN smart TV app differs in user interface from the other apps on offer – a good thing considering the radically different capabilities of a TV remote compared to a touchscreen or mouse.

The app has been simplified even more, meaning some features are absent, too. It has WiFi protection for unsafe networks and a kill switch – both great features – but nothing else.

This isn’t a surprise for a smart TV app, as they tend to be fairly limited.

There are some reporting settings – app data, crash reports and (locally stored) connection logs – which are all turned on by default.

This kind of telemetry to improve performance is fine when users consent, but we VyprVPN should be more upfront that it’s happening.

Uniquely among the VyprVPN apps, the smart TV app has an option for both AES-128 and AES-256 encryption (the other apps only offer the more secure AES-256).

VyprVPN claims the AES-128 encryption option can be faster, but we wouldn’t recommend using it as it is less secure than AES-256, which has become the industry standard.

We’ve seen better support than VyprVPN offers, but it’s certainly satisfactory. It also provides more help to international audiences than other VPN services do.

VyprVPN has online support resources in multiple languages, including: Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

Less impressive is the scope of those resources. Compared to other VPN services, VyprVPN’s online resources are pretty poor. There are no video tutorials and there’s not much in-depth advice on advanced issues.

The VPN setup guides on VyprVPN’s website are very useful, though.

Getting in touch via the 24/7 live chat is by far the best way to get help from VyprVPN. Responses can take a few minutes, but the customer support agents are always clear, helpful and friendly.

VyprVPN offers a 30-day refund guarantee, so you have enough time to get to know the service before committing. If you’re not happy with the service, remember to cancel before the 30 days are up. You can read how to claim this offer in our VyprVPN free trial guide.

VyprVPN accepts a few different payment methods including most major credit and debit cards, PayPal, and UnionPay.

It doesn’t accept any forms of cryptocurrency, though, and international options are very limited compared to other top-ranked VPNs.

We recommend VyprVPN to anyone looking for greater online security and privacy.

The VPN has an effective kill switch, an audited no logs policy, IP leak protection, access to US Netflix, well designed apps and competitive pricing.

Not to mention that the Chameleon security protocol can bypass most aggressive web blocks.

That said, VyprVPN isn’t without fault, and it must improve its connections speeds, and releasing browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.

Overall, it’s safe to say that VyprVPN is a very good VPN.

However, if any of the drawbacks we highlighted in this review give you pause for thought, then take a look at the alternative VPNs below.

Additional research by Liam Mullally