ZoogVPN Review

Here’s a table summarizing the information that ZoogVPN logs:

ZoogVPN claims to be a no-logs VPN, but in reality it does collect bandwidth data and account information (including your email address).

Saving your email address is typical for most VPN services, though it does mean ZoogVPN could confirm to the authorities that you have an account. We recommend using a fake email address with no personal information to be sure your identity is hidden.

Importantly, ZoogVPN doesn’t collect your originating IP address, DNS requests, timestamps, assigned IP address, or ISP. Without this information, ZoogVPN cannot help authorities identify a specific user’s browsing history.

We’d prefer if ZoogVPN adopted a true zero-logs policy, like Private Internet Access or Perfect Privacy.

Who Owns ZoogVPN?

ZoogVPN’s corporate ownership is confusing. The VPN service is owned by Zoog Services Single Member Private Company, which is incorporated in Greece, but is headquartered in Ukraine. A majority of its employees are also from Ukraine.

ZoogVPN is also featured as a product of Softoria, a company registered in Ukraine.
Softoria has business relationships with multiple other technology companies, including DataForSeo, RankActive, Traffmonetizer, and Dataimpulse.

We reached out via email for clarification on its ownership structure and employees. ZoogVPN confirmed that Softoria and ZoogVPN are owned by the same person, but didn’t confirm who this person was.

We’re disappointed ZoogVPN’s corporate structure and employees aren’t detailed on ZoogVPN’s website and prefer a VPN service with transparent ownership. It’s always a bit suspicious when parent companies of VPNs also operate advertising or data mining businesses.

No Independent Audit & Out of Date Warrant Canary

Unlike top-tier VPNs, ZoogVPN doesn’t publish regular third-party audits that confirm its privacy policy is being adhered to. It’s had no real-world events, like a server seizure or court case, to prove that it doesn’t log your IP address or browsing history.

Even worse, ZoogVPN hasn’t updated its Warrant Canary since March 2022, which is when we last emailed ZoogVPN and requested it to be updated. The VPN service also leases all of its servers and hasn’t adopted diskless servers, like ExpressVPN has.

Uses Third-Party DNS Servers

Using our IP and DNS leak test tool, we found that ZoogVPN passed our IPv4, IPv6, and WebRTC leak tests. However, it failed to mask our geolocation and uses third-party DNS servers.

Our VPN leaks test detected Google’s DNS servers while connected to ZoogVPN.

As you can see in the image above, ZoogVPN doesn’t support first-party DNS servers, and instead routes all your traffic through Google DNS servers.

This isn’t a total breach of anonymity as your requests are still among thousands of others, but it still isn’t great if you’re using a VPN for online privacy purposes.

It’s fairly common for lower to mid-tier VPNs to rely on third-party DNS servers, but ZoogVPN will need to fix this to earn a higher rating in this category.

You can see the full selection of encryption and technical features that ZoogVPN offers below:

ZoogVPN doesn’t provide any additional features when it comes to security, but it does include the bare essentials.

It connects to OpenVPN by default — one of the most secure connection protocols available – and WireGuard has also been added.

Traffic is also encrypted with AES-256, a cipher that’s considered unbreakable.

ZoogVPN security settings on macOS.

Outside of this basic foundation, ZoogVPN doesn’t have any advanced settings, like split tunneling or Double VPN. This might be enough for casual users, but if you’re experienced with VPN services then you might find the lack of options frustrating.

It does have a VPN kill switch for Windows and Mac, which is responsible for preventing personal data leaks should the VPN connection drop suddenly. However, we experienced some issues with ZoogVPN’s kill switch in our testing, which we detail below.

Unlike NordVPN, which has extremely detailed software release notes, ZoogVPN doesn’t release any software update notes for any platforms. This means you might miss out key details on important bug fixes and new features.

ZoogVPN Owns Some of Its Servers

Almost all of ZoogVPN’s servers are bare-metal (physical) servers based in the locations described. The service owns a few servers, but leases a majority of them from trusted third-party companies.

ZoogVPN doesn’t specify which of its servers are virtual or physical in the app, but in an email confirmed that servers in “exotic locations” may be virtual.

This isn’t as good as ExpressVPN, which owns its entire physical server network, or PIA, which labels clearly which servers are virtual.

Kill Switch Leaked Our Real IP Address on macOS

We had mixed results when testing ZoogVPN’s kill switch. On Windows, the kill switch was effective and never leaked our real IP address. But on macOS, ZoogVPN leaked our real IP address when switching servers and when our internet dropped.

ZoogVPN failed our kill switch test on macOS.

Put simply, ZoogVPN’s kill switch did not work on macOS, and we don’t recommend relying on it if you’re using an Apple computer.

Even worse, a kill switch is not available on mobile at all. This is very disappointing, as most mid-tier VPNs at least have kill switches on Android devices.

Missing Technical Features We’d Like to See

ZoogVPN offers the bare essentials when it comes to security, which may be enough for beginners or irregular users. However, there are far better VPNs with stronger security and more features — often for a cheaper price, too.

For ZoogVPN to improve its security rating, it needs to invest in a kill switch for mobile devices, along with a suite of additional features.

Here are some features we’d like to see ZoogVPN add to its service:

ZoogVPN’s speeds didn’t disappoint — the VPN performed well, both over short-distance connections and further afield.

In our recent speed tests, we used ZoogVPN’s New York server to test its speeds.

Uploads and downloads were consistently quick enough for HD streaming and smooth torrenting when we connected to nearby VPN servers. This is much faster than other mid-tier VPNs we’ve reviewed.

Here’s a table showing ZoogVPN’s speed test results:

Ping times were a little less impressive, but shouldn’t affect the vast majority of users. For a lesser-known product, ZoogVPN’s speeds are great.

These speeds will enable you to stream, torrent, and browse without any buffering or lag.

ZoogVPN Free Speed Tests

ZoogVPN Free is very fast for a free VPN service. In our tests, ZoogVPN’s free version was almost as fast as the premium version. This makes ZoogVPN one of the fastest free VPNs around, with no sign of speed throttling.

We manually test both free and premium versions of VPNs to compare speed performance.

For the best speeds, we suggest choosing a server that’s close to your actual location. However, since ZoogVPN Free only has servers in 5 countries, a majority of people will not have a server nearby.

To mitigate this issue, we recommend using a free VPN like TunnelBear Free, which gives you access to servers in 47 countries.

Here’s a table showing ZoogVPN Free’s speed test results:

Here are the results of our streaming tests when using ZoogVPN:

ZoogVPN provides a bunch of streaming-friendly servers in several locations — they’re clearly marked with a play button symbol.

But they don’t always work; we managed to unblock geo-restricted content on Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and ITV Hub, but we failed to gain access to any Netflix library, including the US one.

You can easily find out which servers are intended to work with your favorite streaming service on ZoogVPN’s network status page.

As for the video quality, ZoogVPN’s speeds are more than fast enough for Full HD streaming with little buffering.

Tested: ZoogVPN Unblocks UK Streaming Services

In our streaming tests, ZoogVPN successfully bypassed geoblocks on BBC iPlayer and ITVX. We were able to stream shows like Doctor Who, Industry, and Love Island without blocks or buffering.

We used ZoogVPN’s paid UK – London 1 server to access iPlayer.

ZoogVPN Doesn’t Unblock US Netflix

Using ZoogVPN, we weren’t able to access US Netflix or any international Netflix library. If you want a VPN that’s reliable with US Netflix and other streaming services, ExpressVPN is the best VPN for streaming.

Connected to ZoogVPN’s New York server, we weren’t able to stream Netflix.

Despite it not working with Netflix, we were able to stream Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and YouTube with ZoogVPN.

ZoogVPN Free Doesn’t Unblock US Netflix

ZoogVPN Free doesn’t unblock as many services as its paid version, which is typical for a free VPN. Its 10GB monthly data cap also doesn’t allow for endless streaming — it will run out after roughly four hours of Full HD viewing.

Using ZoogVPN Free, we weren’t able to access US Netflix or Disney+, but it did occasionally unblock HBO Max. We used it to stream The Last of Us in HD without buffering.

In our recent tests, ZoogVPN Free’s Washington server worked with HBO Max.

ZoogVPN Free doesn’t come with any streaming-optimized servers for US streaming services, but it does for Singapore.

ZoogVPN’s premium version offers P2P servers optimized specifically for torrenting.

These P2P-friendly servers are clearly marked within the app’s server locations list. They span 16 countries including Canada, the US, and a handful of servers in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

We picked up a fast average bitrate when using these servers – 9.6MiB/s. This makes ZoogVPN faster than ExpressVPN (9.4MiB/s) and NordVPN (9.8MiB/s), the best two VPNs on the market.

However, despite these fast speeds, ZoogVPN simply isn’t secure or private enough for torrenting.

We don’t like that on mobile and macOS, ZoogVPN records and shows your historical usage data from when you first activated the account.

Although it works on Windows, the kill switch on macOS actually leaks your IP address when your connection drops. This presents a serious risk if you’re using the VPN for protection while torrenting.

We used ZoogVPN’s WireGuard protocol for torrenting tests.

If you’re planning to purchase or use a free VPN for torrenting, we highly recommend checking out Private Internet Access or PrivadoVPN Free instead.

These two are the most secure paid and free VPNs for torrentingwith reliable kill switches, more private logging policies, and advanced leak protection. In contrast, ZoogVPN may leak your DNS server and your IP address on macOS.

ZoogVPN has obfuscated servers and a feature called “Zoogshadowing” for bypassing online censorship. These tools can be effective, but they aren’t the most reliable over a long period of time.

Using ZoogVPN, we watched YouTube in China.

In our recent China tests with ZoogVPN, it took more than five minutes for the VPN to connect to a South Korean obfuscated server (KR – Seoul 2). However, once connected we were able to unblock YouTube and other censored websites.

While ZoogVPN’s paid version is sometimes able to bypass some firewalls, its free version isn’t as reliable in censored regions. We weren’t able to connect to a single server using ZoogVPN Free in China.

If you’re looking for a free VPN to use in censored regions, we recommend checking out Windscribe Free, which has six more server locations to choose from and more reliable obfuscation tools.

While only available intermittently, ZoogVPN’s live chat support is useful for quick answers to simple questions. A majority of mid-tier to top-tier VPNs offer 24/7 live chat support, so we’re disappointed to see ZoogVPN hasn’t adopted this.

For more technical questions, we recommend going straight to ZoogVPN’s email ticketing system. We waited an hour for a response, but replies were helpful when they eventually came.

We used ZoogVPN’s website contact page to get in touch with customer support.

There’s a basic FAQ section on the ZoogVPN website, along with setup wizards for numerous platforms, but the online resources are far from comprehensive.