X-VPN Review

X-VPN is owned by Free Connected Limited, which was incorporated in July 2017 and is based in Hong Kong.

From a data retention point of view, Hong Kong is a privacy-friendly VPN jurisdiction. It’s not part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance either.

However, our free VPN ownership investigation revealed that X-VPN does have links to mainland China, which is a privacy concern.

Jin Li, the company’s director, and Chengdu Zhuozhuo Technology Co, the sole shareholder, are based in the Sichuan province of China.

X-VPN’s logging policy is clear and transparent, displaying all the necessary information in a simple table:

This isn’t an awful logging policy but it does collect a considerable amount of user data, including:

• VPN connection timestamp
• Choice of VPN protocol
• Network type

These logs used to be stored for 96 hours before being erased. Thankfully, X-VPN has since reduced this timeframe to 48 hours, decreasing the risk of your data being compromised.

However, it’s still concerning that X-VPN logs connection timestamps for two days. Better VPNs are able to optimize their service without retaining any logs.

X-VPN is unique in that the amount of data collected depends on the device in use. This becomes apparent when first starting up X-VPN’s iOS app which requests permission to track your activity.

X-VPN’s justification is “to cover the free server cost,” however this is not the case on the free Android app. You can decline this prompt but it’s still troubling that X-VPN has the capacity to track your data on iOS.

When accessing the app, X-VPN also logs:

• Device information
• Data usage
• City-level location

This information is used to help X-VPN with product development, and can be deleted upon request.

While none of the information X-VPN logs is identifiable in isolation, collecting your geo-location and connection timestamp is, in theory, enough to de-anonymize your activity.

We would feel more assured about X-VPN’s logging policy if it was verified by an independent audit or even a warrant canary.

In summary, X-VPN’s logging policy doesn’t do enough to protect its users’ privacy, especially considering its links to China.

Before reading the results below, be aware that X-VPN doesn’t use standard VPN protocols like OpenVPN or WireGuard, which we usually use for our tests.

X-VPN employs a proprietary protocol named Protocol-X, but confusingly this isn’t the terminology used within the VPN apps, where you’ll find protocols labeled Protocol A through to Protocol I.

We asked X-VPN’s support team for the best protocol to use for speed and were advised to use Protocol M while connected to a CF-Line server. Frustratingly, this isn’t made apparent in the app nor is it clear that you can access Protocol M by first connecting to a CF-Line server.

We tested every single protocol to be sure and Protocol M came out on top in our speed tests.

Protocol M is also one of the select protocols available on all versions of X-VPN, so your speeds should be consistent regardless of what platform you’re using.

We recorded a respectable average download speed loss of 23% when connected to nearby servers from our UK office.

If you don’t need to connect to servers overseas, then using X-VPN won’t noticeably affect your internet speeds. X-VPN is fast enough for web browsing, HD streaming, torrenting, and online gaming.

Our internet speeds were much slower on longer-distance connections but still acceptable for most online activities.

Most notably, we recorded a speed loss of just 25% when connecting to the US as well as an average ping of 88ms. While this doesn’t compete with the fastest VPNs we’ve reviewed, it’s still fast enough for most online activities.

The upload speeds across all locations were disappointing but we were impressed by the consistency of the download speeds. Our tests to the UK, Germany, and US all regularly hit an average of 75Mbps with minimal fluctuation.

Which X-VPN Protocol Is the Fastest?

X-VPN provides barely any contextual information about its proprietary protocols, citing ‘privacy reasons’. You can find a table on the VPN service’s website ranking seven of the 11 protocols by different categories, including:

• Speed to connect
• Speed after connect
• Security
• Unblock

We don’t trust X-VPN’s rating system. It provides no information on why Protocol H and Protocol C are rated five out of five stars for security but the rest of the protocols are capped at four.

We’re also unconvinced by the speed ratings as Protocol E performed second best in our tests despite its lowly ranking.

We’ve compiled the average download and upload speeds of X-VPN’s ‘fastest’ protocols on Windows so you can compare and contrast them to ‘Protocol M’:

X-VPN Free’s Speed Test Results

We couldn’t apply our speed testing methodology to X-VPN Free as our VPN connection was periodically interrupted to encourage an upgrade to the premium version.

To make matters worse, X-VPN Free automatically picks a server location for you, and it may not be close by.

During our testing, we were only ever assigned IP addresses in Amsterdam and London. This was close to us, but you might not be as fortunate.

After repeated reconnections, we were eventually able to speed test X-VPN Free’s iOS app.

Our short-distance connection to London produced an impressive 9% loss in speed, but there’s no guarantee your connection will be as local.

Connecting to the Netherlands from the UK saw a 45% loss in download speed. This is very poor for a fairly nearby connection and doesn’t bode well for longer-distance connections.

X-VPN comes with servers optimized for popular streaming services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

Selecting Video&Game in the X-VPN app displays a list of services categorized by both region and streaming platform.

Using X-VPN’s dedicated American servers we were able to unblock US Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

On its British equivalent, we were able to access BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, and All 4.

X-VPN can only unblock the US and Australian Netflix libraries but since the US library is one of the most coveted, this is still a fairly strong streaming performance.

The main issue with streaming with X-VPN is its slow international speeds. While the VPN unblocks many content platforms, the streaming quality isn’t what you get with the best streaming VPNs.

We’ve tested every X-VPN server and summarized the best one for each streaming service below:

Streaming Service	Best X-VPN Server
US Netflix	US-Video-N
HBO Max	US-Video-N-1
Disney+	US-Video-D+-1
Amazon Prime Video US	US-Video-A
BBC iPlayer	GB-Video-B
ITV Hub	GB-Video-iV
All 4	GB-Video-iV

X-VPN Free’s Streaming Performance

X-VPN’s Free service is a bad VPN for streaming. The paid version of X-VPN has dedicated streaming servers, but they are not available for free users.

We were unable to access US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and all other streaming services in our testing. Sadly, most free VPN services don’t prioritize streaming access.

X-VPN Free automatically assigns you a server as close as possible to your real-life location which defeats the purpose of accessing geo-restricted content in different regions.

We tried using the free London server to unblock content in the UK but couldn’t access a single British streaming service.

We were never assigned a server location outside of Western Europe during any point in our testing.

If you want a free VPN for streaming then consider using Windscribe Free. It can stream 6 Netflix libraries, more than either version of X-VPN, as well as HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

X-VPN’s stance on torrenting and P2P activity hasn’t been clear in the past so we contacted live chat support and received this response:

This is not made obvious within the VPN client or on the X-VPN website. The ‘Ultimate Line’ servers are found in the default server list without any accompanying information.

It’s also not made clear that Protocol K can only be accessed through the Ultimate Line servers. Selecting Protocol K on a standard VPN server forces the connection to switch to Protocol B with no explanation.

We carried out several torrenting tests using X-VPN’s Ultimate Line Frankfurt server and recorded a disappointing average bitrate of 4.1MiB/s.

X-VPN performs marginally better on its standard protocols and servers but it’s still not fast enough to qualify as a top torrenting VPN.

Its logging policy isn’t good enough to safeguard its customers’ privacy, either. For us, using a no-logs VPN for torrenting is critical.

X-VPN uses proprietary protocols rather than the standard ones – these are labeled from A to I and, according to X-VPN’s website, vary in speed and security levels.

While X-VPN claims its proprietary technology is better than the standard protocols, there’s no way to know this for sure because the company doesn’t publish any technical details about it.

We analyzed our data packets when connected to X-VPN using Wireshark and couldn’t identify a known VPN protocol. We didn’t capture any TLS handshakes and a follow-up test confirmed it didn’t use SSL either.

Our traffic was at least encrypted, only displaying incoherent symbols when inspected.

Based on our results we can confirm X-VPN uses a TCP-based protocol that will encrypt your traffic but we can’t evaluate its strength or reliability.

According to X-VPN’s website, the service uses AES-256 cipher to encrypt traffic at least, which is the industry-standard.

Moving forward we would like to see X-VPN make its protocol open-source so it can undergo proper scrutiny or, even better, use trusted standard protocols like OpenVPN or WireGuard.

We ran X-VPN through our leak testing tool and the results were mixed:

X-VPN didn’t leak during our IP test, which is the most important one, but we found an issue with its DNS requests.

Our test revealed that X-VPN doesn’t support first-party DNS servers and instead runs all of its requests through Google. This isn’t a total breach of anonymity as your information requests will be one of thousands, but it still isn’t great from a VPN service.

Reliable but Paywalled Kill Switch

All of X-VPN’s apps come equipped with a VPN kill switch but you have to upgrade to premium to use it on iOS and Android.

This is bad practice and puts your personal data at risk if you unexpectedly disconnect from the internet on mobile.

We tested the VPN service using our first-of-its-kind kill switch testing tool. This checks for any IP leaks in two instances: when changing VPN servers and when the VPN disconnects unexpectedly.

X-VPN passed all parameters of our test multiple times confirming that its kill switch works properly.

X-VPN is Safe to Use but Not Private

We ran X-VPN’s Windows installer through VirusTotal.com and it only detected one anomalous piece of software.

The tool detected an unknown entity and displayed it as ‘Trojan Generic.’ This is the default label assigned to any software that VirusTotal doesn’t recognise.

Based on our testing, we can confirm that this software is unlikely to be malicious. There is nothing to indicate the presence of malware in any of the VPN’s apps.

X-VPN is safe to install on Windows.

We also scanned the Android app with the εxodus tool to see what trackers and permissions it implements:

We’re not impressed with the amount of trackers X-VPN uses on Android. Its privacy policy does at least admit to collecting analytic data on mobile to: “help us understand users, plan product development and improve user experience.”

This is a poor excuse, other premium VPN services are able to maintain a high quality service without using any trackers.

The presence of advertisement trackers is also concerning. X-VPN’s privacy policy insists that these third-party services operate “independently” from the VPN service.

On this basis we can confirm that X-VPN is safe to use on Android, but not entirely private.

Limited Advanced Features

X-VPN’s extra features fall short of what we expect from a quality VPN service.

All X-VPN apps come equipped with a split tunneling feature called Application control, allowing you to select which applications enter the VPN tunnel, and a VPN kill switch. Although, both of these features are limited to the premium version.

The Android app exclusively has access to its own private browser. This allows you to browse the web on X-VPN’s own browser exempt from cookies and advertisement trackers. Frustratingly, this is also hidden behind a paywall.

Both mobile apps come with support for a proxy server that can be used to tether your VPN connection to a games console. This is another paid-only feature and we can’t recommend it on the basis of X-VPN’s fluctuating ping speeds and unconvincing logging policy.

Security Features We’d Like to See from X-VPN

X-VPN lacks the security features we expect from a premium VPN service. Here are some features we’d like to see X-VPN add:

• Standard VPN protocols to improve the VPN’s security, speed performance, and overall trustworthiness.
• First-party DNS to eliminate any DNS leaks and maintain your online anonymity.
• Double VPN to reduce the likelihood of traffic correlation attacks.
• Ad Blocker to ensure a smooth browsing experience free from ads.

In the past, X-VPN was one of the few VPNs that consistently bypassed the Great Firewall of China. Sadly, that’s not the case anymore.

We tested every protocol on multiple server locations nearby to China, but X-VPN failed to connect every time.

We contacted X-VPN’s support and were told: “Sorry, X-VPN does not work in China.”

Considering X-VPN’s lack of VPN obfuscation tools, we suspect it won’t work in other restricted countries such as Iran, UAE, and Russia.

X-VPN live chat support is not at all reliable.

We were told that live chat is available Monday to Saturday but even within those days we were left waiting hours for a response.

When an agent did eventually answer they lacked technical knowledge and asked us to send an email with our questions for the manager.

It took a couple of days for the manager to reply, and they still didn’t answer all of our questions.

X-VPN’s online resources are nothing special, either.

There are a few basic setup articles and some general FAQs, but it lacks troubleshooting and technical resources.

There seems to be quite a lot of information on the website that conflicts with what customer support told us, too. While it has clearly been updated recently (and is a big improvement on what it used to be) it still has a long way to go.