Bitdefender VPN review
Our Verdict
If there's one affair Bitdefender VPN isn't, information technology's complex – and for power users this volition be severely limiting. However, if you just want basic online protection with practiced speeds and moderate content unblocking operation on the cheap, it may well bear witness to be a tempting service.
For
- Piece of cake to use
- Unblocks BBC iPlayer
- Constructive kill switch
Against
- Minimal features
- Tin can't unblock US Netflix, Amazon, Disney+
- Small-scale Windows app issues
Tom's Guide Verdict
If at that place's one thing Bitdefender VPN isn't, it's complex – and for power users this volition exist severely limiting. However, if you lot just want basic online protection with adept speeds and moderate content unblocking performance on the inexpensive, it may well prove to be a tempting service.
Pros
- +
Easy to utilise
- +
Unblocks BBC iPlayer
- +
Constructive kill switch
Cons
- -
Minimal features
- -
Tin can't unblock US Netflix, Amazon, Disney+
- -
Minor Windows app issues
Bitdefender Premium VPN is a super simple to employ, no-nonsense option for anyone that wants a no-frills mode to keep their privacy secure online. That will hateful it'due south defective in some features power-users might expect, but for about this will practise the job while offering decent speeds too.
To be clear, this is the Bitdefender Premium VPN review, which is the unlimited version equally opposed to the free version that comes with the Bitdefender security suite and only offers a meagre 200MB information limit. This Premium total version covers 48 countries with more than one,300 servers and offers unlimited information.
Bitdefender Premium VPN uses VPN provider Hotspot Shield'south tech for its protocol, which is the purpose built and impressive Catapult Hydra protocol. Information technology's just the apps you work through which are Bitdefender designed. From a privacy perspective, information technology's but the tech being used, and no data is shared with Hotspot Shield.
Does all that brand Bitdefender Premium VPN worthy of being on the best VPN services list right now? Read on to find out and decide if this is the correct VPN provider for your needs.
- Click to head directly through to the Bitdefender VPN website
Bitdefender Premium VPN 1-minute review
In terms of pricing, Bitdefender is pretty reasonable all-round. If you simply want to sign up for a month at a time, you won't have to pay through the nose – it's just $vi.99 a month. Signing upward for longer volition salvage yous even more cash, though, with the best option currently coming in at just $2.49 a calendar month for an almanac plan.
Bitdefender uses Hotspot Shield's superfast Catapult Hydra protocol which is widely thought of equally secure, and we've received clarification from Bitdefender that no user data is shared with Hotspot Shield or its parent companies.
Notwithstanding, thanks to that link with Hotspot Shield, Bitdefender VPN is pretty fast. The Catapult Hydra protocol delivers slap-up speeds the earth over, and in our testing it topped out at around 410Mbps – although the historic advantage information technology had over OpenVPN has now been eclipsed by the broad adoption of WireGuard.
Streaming was something of a allow-downward, though. Bitdefender VPN is able to access BBC iPlayer, but Usa Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime are all off the tabular array.
In use, the desktop apps are simple and effective, and while they don't offering annihilation ground-breaking, information technology's stable and useful. The impale switch worked well, and while information technology'due south missing some features similar a Favorites organisation, information technology's by no means underpowered. The same goes for the mobile apps, which also have a kill switch, and deliver good usability.
Finally, Bitdefender VPN offers live chat, electronic mail, and phone back up – but this is a general support service that covers Bitdefender'southward primary business organization of antivirus, besides. You should get decent service, simply exist aware information technology's not as robust as the support you'll get from the leading dedicated VPN providers.
- Sign up now on the Bitdefender website
Bitdefender VPN on paper
Number of servers: one,300+
Number of countries: 48+
Platforms supported: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS,
Simultaneous connections: 10
Split tunneling: No
Kill switch: Aye
Supported protocols: Catapult Hydra
Country of registration: USA
Back up: Articles, email, live chat
Latest updates
At that place have been a couple of pocket-sized developments from Bitdefender since our last review. Beginning off, we've got a host of new server locations, jumping upwardly to 48 countries covered in total, as opposed to 30 previously.
The mobile apps have also been improved, and will at present car-connect of Wi-Fi if you choose so, and your VPN IP is now displayed in-app.
There is now more support on the company's website with a great number of VPN manufactures which are now easier to find too.
Bitdefender VPN toll: how much is information technology and is in that location a Bitdefender free trial?
At $6.99 per month on a rolling plan, Bitdefender Premium VPN is a surprisingly cheap VPN, specially considering that the market leaders often accuse over $12 a month on similar plans.
Notwithstanding, at that place are more savings to be had for anyone willing to pay for a year'due south subscription in accelerate. This is billed as a i-off payment of $29.99 (equal to $ii.49 per calendar month) for the outset yr and $49.99 (equal to $4.fifteen per month) in subsequent years.
That'due south much less expensive than VPN providers such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN, and comparable to the all-time bargain provider Surfshark. Payment options include credit card, PayPal, banking company transfer, cheque, and even cash (if you're a Usa resident with a 7/11 nearby).
If you're looking to try before you buy then you'll exist glad to know that a seven-day costless trial is available to anyone that signs upwardly for a Bitdefender Cardinal business relationship. You'll also benefit from a xxx-day money-back guarantee if you exercise sign up for the service just subsequently decide it's non for y'all.
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How private is Bitdefender VPN and does information technology proceed logs?
Although Bitdefender Premium VPN may exist packaged as a Bitdefender product, it actually works by connecting through Hotspot Shield'due south Catapult Hydra protocol. servers. When we first reviewed the VPN, we initially wrote that we were concerned that Bitdefender was only a white-characterization Hotspot Shield, which would mean users were subject to similar logging.
All the same, we've had clarification that the service does non share user data with Hotspot Shield or its parents, meaning any logging – or lack of information technology – is wholly down to Bitdefender. The just shared applied science is the Catapult Hydra protocol.
Despite this, Bitdefender's privacy policy is fairly basic, to say the least, but it does outline what data it uses and how:
'We collect for this service simply randomly generated or hashed user and device IDs, IP addresses, and randomly generated tokens to found a VPN connection for the sole purpose of providing the VPN service. For this service, we employ AnchorFree as data processor who processes information on behalf of Bitdefender in accord with Bitdefender'south instructions and for the sole purpose of providing VPN services to users.'
Although neither Bitdefender nor Hotspot Shield tin can run across what you're doing online, and merits that what they log cannot be linked back to you, this level of logging is higher than well-nigh of its competitors.
At that place is a strong encryption to keep your data secure with AES-128/256 GCM, which is pretty standard for VPNs these days. We carried out some privacy checks and found no DNS, WebRTC or other leaks in our testing.
How fast is Bitdefender VPN?
The latest version of Bitdefender Premium VPN has swapped the OpenVPN protocol for Hotspot Shield's fast Catapult Hydra protocol. To say this has fabricated a big divergence would be an understatement, so if you're looking for a fast VPN, y'all won't be disappointed.
Download speeds on a 1Gbps United states data center to Bitdefender'south VPN's nearest location peaked at 350-410Mbps, which is adept and, unsurprisingly, very similar to Hotspot Shield'southward operation.
However, since WireGuard has been introduced and widely taken up by merely almost every VPN, Catapult Hydra has lost its border. So, Bitdefender VPN isn't equally speedy as providers like NordVPN (880Mbps), but on the whole Bitdefender is swift and should continue up with whatsoever task.
How good is Bitdefender VPN for streaming?
Bitdefender Premium VPN is sold generally for the sake of encrypting your information and assuasive you to scan the internet anonymously, but the website does say that users can 'unlock media, videos and messaging from all over the world.'
Offset up, we tried to admission United states of america Netflix and United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland Netflix, and Bitdefender was unable to become us in to either, even later trying several servers. This is a shame as information technology did work in our terminal review.
BBC iPlayer can often be problematic, and concluding fourth dimension Bitdefender struggled. However, this time circular it passed the iPlayer examination flight colours, which is an improvement we're very pleased to run across. This worked on several dissimilar UK servers in our testing.
Unfortunately, the fun stops there – Bitdefender can't access Amazon Prime Video or Disney+. However, we're glad to see some improvement, and we hope information technology carries on in the same direction.
So, if yous're looking for the all-time Netflix VPN, Bitdefender probably won't be on your shortlist, but while it's not the best all-around streaming VPN, depending on what you desire to watch it may well practice the job.
How good are the Bitdefender VPN apps?
Bitdefender Premium VPN provides a familiar interface for its Windows app, ane which is very like to ExpressVPN, and it covers the essentials of what is needed from the software. This includes a big blue Connect push and the proper name of the country where your electric current server is located, which when clicked on will present you lot with a list of other server locations (only without details such as load figures or ping times).
On the whole, it worked as expected, with connection times between 3 to iv seconds. Nosotros particularly similar that you tin can alter the server location you lot're continued to without having to disconnect from your current one. There are also desktop notifications to tell you when you are and aren't protected, and at that place's a Dark Mode.
The customer also sports an efficient kill switch, which does a expert task of blocking internet traffic and alerting the user should your VPN connection drop. This feature connected to function despite the tricks we used to shut the VPN connection.
A grade of split tunnelling is also included, although this only whitelists certain websites, not apps. This could potentially be useful in some cases, but considering that Bitdefender VPN is actually quite capable as a torrenting VPN, with P2P allowed on all servers, a per-app dissever tunnelling system would be most welcome.
However, y'all can gear up the app to autoconnect, and the mode it works is quite impressive. Enter the menu, and you'll be able to tell the app to connect when information technology detects a P2P app being opened (or whatever other app, for that matter). Yous can besides tell it to exercise this when you head to a detail website, and the app even has sure categories you can set this to (Financial, Online Payments, Wellness, File Sharing, Online Dating, Mature Content). This feature is seriously impressive, genuinely useful, and outdoes pretty much all of the competition.
The just issue with autoconnect is that it will do so without notifying you lot which land yous are connected to. Take a look at it will just say "Automated" – not ideal if yous want to access a certain server location, say for local shopping. Or you lot may want a local country for potentially faster speeds than one far away.
And so, it's a good customer, but non without its imperfections. Nosotros're missing a Favorites or Recent list to swiftly connect to your most-used servers, and in that location's no existent connection status information. However, the recent addition of an IP display and the powerful autoconnect feature certainly elevate the apps from bones to very usable – and if information technology has all the features yous desire, it'southward a pleasure to utilize.
Regarding its usefulness equally a mobile VPN, the apps for both Android and iOS are pretty similar in terms of both the interface and the functionality. We were pleasantly surprised that the kill switch is available on both platforms (as this isn't typical for an iPhone VPN) and at that place's a setting to 'automatically connect on public Wi-Fi.'
Another overnice affect is the ability to admission devices on your local network when you're using the VPN, which tin can be very convenient for those that use this characteristic.
What customer support does Bitdefender VPN offer?
Bitdefender's back up team tin be reached via live chat, e-mail, and telephone, but information technology's worth noting that this is the general support team and will cover issues for all of Bitdefender'southward products and services, not just Premium VPN.
Whilst it might be like shooting fish in a barrel to get the support you need, in our experience, the antivirus companies selling VPNs as extras don't provide the same level of support that you'd find with specialist providers such every bit ExpressVPN and NordVPN.
Every bit well equally the support teams, users tin can notice data in Bitdefender'southward cognition base, which is stocked with articles, how-to-videos, and FAQs. The number of articles has grown since our final review and the way they're organized is ameliorate, making them more useful than earlier.
Bitdefender Premium VPN: Final verdict
Bitdefender Premium VPN does a expert job of delivering great speeds for a good price, but don't let that fool you into thinking yous're getting a full-on Hotspot Shield-beating experience for less.
Bitdefender VPN is basic compared to the competition, and for ability users in that location simply won't be enough on offer to sate the appetite for customization – and for those we'd recommend ExpressVPN or NordVPN. However, with some decent connection speeds and genuinely useful features in-app, we're not writing off the antivirus behemothic'due south foray into VPN only notwithstanding. Well worth a try.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/bitdefender-vpn-review
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