Antivirus Test Report

VPN Comparative Test
A test commissioned by AnchorFree and performed by AV-TEST GmbH

Date of the report: June 15th, 2018
Executive Summary
In April 2018, AV-TEST performed a test of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) solutions. VPNs have been
reviewed in its different fields of potential uses such as providing privacy, anonymity or virtual
different geographical location.
The presented evaluation assesses AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield Elite, Avast SecureLine, Avira
Phantom VPN Pro, Cisco VPN, ExpressVPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN, KeepSolid‘s VPN Unlimited,
London Trust Media’s Private Internet Access, NordVPN, Pulse VPN, Symantec’s Norton WiFi Privacy
and Tunnel Bear.
We evaluated VPN on the following four criteria.
Usability: evaluating the ease of use, taking into account novice users. We evaluate how much effort
it takes not just to install the application but also to change settings and how much of that effort is
omitted by scheduled default settings. The range of clicks required until a product is setup varies, it
may take 11 clicks for VPN Unlimited or only two clicks as with F-Secure FREEDOME VPN. The top
scores in this tested category are shared between Avast SecureLine VPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN
and Hotspot Shield Elite.
Privacy and Security: testing how well the Internet Protocol Address (IP) and by extension the
identity of the user is protected and hidden from outside parties like internet service providers (ISP)
and webservers. This protects the anonymity of the user when accessing content online. Some
products like Hotspot Shield Elite have all security and extras included by default others like Pulse
Connect Secure or Avast SecureLine VPN don’t include certain features which may be considered
important to keep privacy intact. The top scores are shared between F-Secure FREEDOME VPN,
Private Internet Access, ExpressVPN and Hotspot Shield Elite.
Performance: measuring the amount of time for different VPN utilization compared to an
unprotected connection depends on geographical location, the location of the VPN servers as well as
the tasks performed by the user while the connection is active. We perform this test through all 7
weekdays at multiple times through each day to balance load times in different regions and for the
different use cases. Hotspot Shield Elite is the clear winner when it comes to performance. No other
product reaches similar speed when downloading, uploading or when file sharing data. Almost every
performance test was led by Hotspot Shield Elite, which on average more than doubled the
download speed as the competition. Private Internet Access came second followed by NordVPN,
achieving similar scoring.
Functionality: reviewing the amount and quality of features available to choose and customize
options. Different users have different requirements. These requirements vary with different
proficiency levels. Also, users vary in their expectations for a VPN. Some users will expect a vast net
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of servers all around the globe others expect a higher standard in privacy implementations such as
no logging of any data. This category is led by NordVPN and close behind Private Internet Access and
then ExpressVPN. These applications provide all basic and numerous more advanced features for
further configuration.
Overview
VPN provides anonymity through hiding the used IP from visited webpages and used applications.
User data is encrypted keeping data anonymous from third parties like the ISP. VPNs allow evading of
geographical blocked webpages as well as allowing access to locally censored content. Some VPNs
provide additional security and privacy services such as ads-, tracker- and malware blocker, useful
not just on personal home PCs but also on mobile devices to save network data. For company and
cooperation’s it offers the possibility to access local network from anywhere in the world.
There are many use cases for VPNs but only if they work as advertised. Advertisers, webpage
providers, governments and others are attempting to track user and their activity online through
varies means. Privacy protection needs to be airtight. The users’ identity maybe unmasked
deliberately by visited web content or accidentally through an unsecured VPN. There are numerous
ways such “leaks” may happen and a good VPN will be able to cope with them all. In the context of
privacy, it must also be mentioned that the logging policies should be clearly stated and adhered.
Such as no personal data or identifying meta-data is logged and in what intervals the logged data is
removed from the VPN server. The VPN should also support and use by default most up-to-date and
most secure protocols to ensure that data is kept encrypted and transmitted securely.
The user will expect the same experience accessing the internet using a VPN as without it. Fast
performance is a necessity which may not always be a given. Of course, in most cases, the
performance will suffer using a VPN because of encryption and tunnelling of the data through not the
direct route but through the VPN servers. Performance is heavily dependent on the server location
because it will make a difference in performance if the connection needs to be routed halfway across
the planet or only to a neighbouring country. The more servers are available the more evenly the
network traffic will be distributed and therefore a more reliable connection can be expected. More
server locations also provide the added advantages of more access to content worldwide which may
be geo-blocked.
Different users have different requirements for their chosen solutions some require torrents to work
others will put more emphasis on a wide degree of supported systems which can run the VPN like
media sticks or routers.

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Platforms
Windows
The tests were performed on physical machines and Virtual Machines hosted on Microsoft Azure
cloud computing service. All tests for a defined operating system were carried out on devices with
identical hardware configurations as described below.
All tests for the Windows operating system were performed on identical PCs equipped with the
hardware specified in the appendix. All patches available in April 2018 were previously installed.
Windows defender has been deactivated to avoid false positive detections during testing.
There are a few generic principles that were followed:
(1) Product cloud/Internet connection. The Internet was available to all tested products.
(2) Product configuration. All products were run with their default, out-of-the-box configuration.
Including default protocol used
(3) Clean device for the start of the test. The test devices were restored to a clean state before
testing the malware samples.
Testing Approach
Usability Test
The usability scoring attempts to measure the ease and comfort level when installing and setting up
the application on the Windows system. These applications are for private and cooperate users and
therefore should address different levels of computer proficiencies. Allowing the user to setup a
default connection plan with few clicks out of the box, like auto reconnect upon system start. The
number of steps to achieve the desired goal is counted and compared. The available languages are
evaluated to determine if non-native English speakers will have alternative choices.
Privacy and Security

We have identified six ways of possible data and information leaks which have to be addressed by
the VPN products.
o DNS leaks, tested through https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

o IP leak through missing or non-functioning kill switch tested by deactivating and
reactivating the network card as well as disconnecting the network connection for 1, 10
and 60 seconds and determining the IP directly after reconnection.
o WebRTC, tested through https://browserleaks.com/webrtc verified through
https://www.doileak.com/
o Windows login leak, tested through https://msleak.perfect-privacy.com/
o Torrent IP leak, tested through https://ipleak.net/
o HTTP request leak, tested through https://www.doileak.com/
Malware detection has been tested by opening 49 malicious URLs on a physical machine with the
active VPN connection. The URLs are verified to be malicious by our in-house analysis systems.

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To ensure the VPNs are compatible with all major anti-malware security products, all files copied to
the system are scanned by the in-house multi-scanner system VTEST to check for possible false
detections.
Performance Test
For the performance test, we measure the time taken for different use cases. The testing was
performed up to six times a day distributed through the day from Saturday until Friday. The
geographical locations were chosen to be one US location at the east coast and one European
location in the UK, both provided through Azure VM. At each geographical location, every product is
hosted twice, ones for each VPN location chosen to be tested. The VPN locations to be tested were
US west coast and UK London where possible. Not all products allow such specifics but instead allow
the overall country. The max and min value of each testing period are omitted from the test results
before calculating the averages.
o Downloading, uploading and latency is tested through the testing environment

CloudHarmony which is owned and operated by Gartner Group
(https://cloudharmony.com/). Every connection has three tests performed with different
but similar locations. The same connection are then tested while encrypted (through
https). This provides six results for every product at each geo location for both different
VPN connections. Further details on the connected server in the appendix.
o Video performance is measured through StreamTest.net (http://www.streamtest.net/)
o For Torrent, a 650 MB large file is downloaded, which has been in circulation for years,
for which a small variation of Leechers and Seeder can be assumed and therefore will be
neglected.
Functionality Test
In order to be considered as a complete VPN solution, the features provided by the solution should
be comprehensive. We determine the features considered vital for a VPN application and those
additional features which complete this kind of application. We validate the existence of such
features in the application and through information provided online by the vendors. This also
provides potential customers with an insight into what they buy and a guideline to use along with
their own expectations from the application.

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Test Results
Usability
Products Setup Con- Tutorial Online Number of Establish Use
steps nection during Account supported connection previously
steps setup manage- languages after established
steps ment (provider reboot connection
information)
Avast SecureLine VPN 7 2 4 + 24 - n/a
Avira Phantom VPN Pro 9 2 5 + 13 - n/a
Cisco AnyConnect Secure 13 3 - nip 1 - n/a
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 4 2 - + 2 + +
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 2 2 - - 20 + +
Hotspot Shield Elite 2 2 - + 10 + +
NordVPN 2 2 - + 1 + +
Norton WiFi Privacy 5 2 - + 18 + +
Private Internet Access 5 2 - + 18 + +
Pulse Connect Secure 13 2 - nip 1 - n/a
TunnelBear 6 2 3 + 1 + +
VPN Unlimited 11 2 - + 7 + +
nip - No information provided, n/a - not applicable, only reviewed when connection established after reboot by default
The setup process should be easy and quick. Some products like F-Secures FREEDOME, Hotspot
Shield Elite and NordVPN take only two steps to install after download. Other products require
significant more steps like Avira Phantom VPN pro which requires nine steps or VPN Unlimited which
requires the user to interact 11 times during installation which is almost as much as Cisco
AnyConnect and Pulse Internet Access, each of them requiring 13 steps. Both these products are sole
corporate solutions and left out of this assessment.
Some products offer additional tutorials after installation which add additional steps but all of them
allow easy skipping the whole process. Those products are Avast SecureLine VPN, Avira Phantom
VPN Pro and TunnelBear.
Manually connecting to the VPN serves is very quick with all these products, requiring two steps for
all but Cisco AnyConnect which requires three clicks.
F-Secure FREEDOME is the only home user product tested which does not provide some sort of
online management console and can only be managed through the application.
The languages supported by the individual products vary greatly. At the highest tier, there are Avast
SecureLine VPN which supports up to 24 different languages followed by F-Secure FREEDOME VPN
20 languages and Norton WiFi Privacy and Private Internet Access which each support 18 languages.
On the other hand, ExpressVPN only supports English and French and Cisco AnyConnect, NordVPN,
Pulse Connect Secure and TunnelBear only support English as far as we could determine.

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The user might want to opt-in to automatically connect the system when booting and connect to the
previously used server. This option is provided by all but four products. Those not supporting this
feature are Avast SecureLine VPN, Avira Phantom VPN Pro, Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
and Pulse Connect Secure.
Usability Conclusion
Setup is pretty easy for all consumer products and since it’s usually done only once on a system
having some more clicks may not be a great inconvenience. Having a tutorial can be useful but as all
products are pretty straightforward for the basic function this is also not considered very important.
What should be considered when choosing a product is if the users’ language is supported as not
everyone is fluent in English. Also, auto connecting to the VPN seems crucial at least on desktop
systems. Taking these points into consideration puts Avast SecureLine VPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN
and Hotspot Shield Elite in shared first place. Closely followed by Norton WiFi Privacy and Private
Internet Access.

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Privacy and Security
Leak test results
Products DNS WebRTC local IP Windows Login P2P & Torrent HTTP request
leak leak leak Protection leak
Avast SecureLine VPN + + - + +
Avira Phantom VPN Pro + + - + +
Cisco AnyConnect Secure + + - + +
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN + + + + +
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN + + + +* +
Hotspot Shield Elite + + + + +
NordVPN + - + + +
Norton WiFi Privacy + + - n/a +
Private Internet Access + + + + +
Pulse Connect Secure + + - + +
TunnelBear + + - +* +
VPN Unlimited + + - + +
* - Require selection of dedicated P2P servers. n/a - not applicable, torrent not available for Norton WiFi Privacy
DNS leak, Torrent IP leak and HTTP request Leak

When the users’ main focus is privacy there are no compromises on leak prevention of identifying
data. Some of the most common possible leaks are the DNS leak, Torrent IP leak and HTTP request
leak for which all products provided protection. No case was observed in which the information was
leaked.
WebRTC Leak
The Chrome and Firefox browser are both vulnerable to the WebRTC leak. This can be fixed by
manually changing the browser settings. Some VPNs provide a browser independent fix. In our test,
almost all VPNs offer some protection from the local network IP being disclosed.
NordVPN was the only product which allowed the real local network IP of the user to be published
from some of their VPN servers.
Windows Credential Leak

An old yet never patched leak is the Windows Credential Leak. Using the Internet Explorer or Edge
browser unprotected on most windows systems, the username and encrypted password will leak.
Depending on its strength the account password can be cracked in seconds. This may not just leak a
reusable password used but furthermore, the same windows credentials can be associated with
other windows services of the user. Only half of the tested products offer protection for this issue
those are ExpressVPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN, Hotspot Shield Elite, NordVPN, Private Internet
Access and TunnelBear.

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Kill switch
Products Kill Disable- Unmasked Unplugged Unmasked IP visible
switch enable IP visible network cable in s for unplugged
available network card in s 1s/10s/60s 1s/10s/60s
Avast SecureLine VPN - - 15 +/+/- 0 / 0 / 30
Avira Phantom VPN Pro +* + - +/+/- 0 / 0 / -**
Cisco AnyConnect Secure + + - +/+/- 0/0/1
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN + + - +/+/+ 0/0/0
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN - - 2 +/+/+ 0/0/0
Hotspot Shield Elite +* + - +/+/+ 0/0/0
NordVPN +* + - +/+/+ 0/0/0
Norton WiFi Privacy - - 19 -/-/- 8/8/8
Private Internet Access +* + - +/+/+ 0/0/0
Pulse Connect Secure - x - -/-/- 8/8/12
TunnelBear +* + - +/-/+ 0/7/0
VPN Unlimited - - 15 +/+/- 0 / 0 / 15
* - Feature not enabled by default, ** - No automatic reconnection, x - Network card switch off not working
Kill switch protects the user against sudden drops and re-establishing the connection with an
unprotected IP. Two ways were used to emulate a sudden connection drop, first one is to disable and
re-enable the network card and the second one is pulling the network plug and inserting it again
after a time. Different results were observed when physically pulling the plug.
Seven products offered a kill switch feature. ExpressVPN was the only product to have the feature
enabled by default. Hotspot Shield Elite, NordVPN and Private Internet Access require the feature to
be activated by the user. These three products and ExpressVPN are the only products in our test with
no IP leak observed.
Avira Phantom VPN Pro and Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client also require the user to
manually switch-on the kill switch, but they still leaked the real IP when reconnecting after 60
seconds. Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client leaked the IP for only one second. Avira Phantom
VPN Pro never managed to re-establish the VPN connection and the user was unprotected until
manually re-establishing the VPN connection.
TunnelBear also required the manual activation of the kill switch feature. TunnelBear had problems
hiding the real IP after a disconnection time of 10 seconds and took on average seven seconds to
hide the users IP again.
Malicious URL Protection

Products Phishing Websites Malware Phishing Malware
(25 samples) Websites Websites Websites
(24 samples) detection rate detection rate
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 18 13 72.00% 54.17%
Hotspot Shield Elite 13 2 52.00% 8.33%
NordVPN 0 0 0.00% 0.00%
Private Internet Access 9 0 36.00% 0.00%

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Four products claim to offer protection from malicious websites. Some more products offer it when
using browser extensions, but those were not considered, as this would not be a complete system
protection and in this case, any other security add-ons can be used.
Testing 25 phishing websites and 24 malware dropping websites we found F-Secure FREEDOME VPN,
Hotspot Shield Elite and Private Internet Access provided some protection. F-Secure FREEDOME VPN
blocked almost two third of the phishing pages and more than half the malware dropping pages.
Hotspot Shield Elite manages more than 50% on the phishing pages and just about 10% of the
malware pages. Private Internet Access didn’t manage to detect any of the phishing sites and only
detected about a third of the malware websites.
The sample set size for this test was relatively small, so these numbers cannot be taken for granted
and are likely not reflecting the real detection rate of these products. Yet having zero findings from
NordVPN seems a bit disappointing.
Security compatibility
All the files installed under windows by the VPN were scanned with all major antimalware products.
No issues were found which shows they can be used together on the same systems.
Privacy and Security Conclusion

The ranking for the first spots in the list is very close for this test. By features and provided security it
boils down to following four products ExpressVPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN, Hotspot Shield Elite
and Private Internet Access.
Hotspot Shield Elite passed all security checks. No leaks were detected, all necessary security
features are present as well as being one of only three products providing additional security
features in form of malicious website blocks. No slip-up in this category ensured the top spot for the
product.
ExpressVPN leaves nothing to be desired when it comes to the leak test. By default, it protects
against IP leaking when there are network issues which results in sudden connection drops and it did
so very well in our test by being one of only four products doing so. The only thing amiss to complete
the provided security would be malicious website detection as provided by the other three top
products.
Private Internet Access is one of the best VPNs when it comes to leak prevention. It provides full
protection for the user’s privacy as well as security. It also provides a basic website security feature.
In our test, there was no phishing website block observed and only about a third of malware pages
were detected.
F-Secure FREEDOME proves very good overall security. It was one of only three products to really
provide some protection against any harmful webpages and found the majority of them. It also
protects against most leaks. Unfortunately, there is no kill switch feature and the real IP is not
protected when the connection re-established.

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Performance
Due to the nature of the technology, performance while using VPNs will always be lower than
through an unsecured network. The reduction can vary greatly as seen in the following graphs.
Downlink
350 318
302 303 306 310 305
293
300
250
200
150
100
50 32 32 32 31 31 28 30
0
Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Downlink AVG (MB/s) Downlink Reference (MB/s)
Figure 1: The average download speed in MB/s for VPN compared with a direct connection.
The difference for download speed between secured and unsecured connection (“Reference”) is
huge, with the download speed being around 10 times as high as the average VPN connected
download performance.
Uplink
25
21 21 20 21 21
20 19 20
16 16 16 16 16
15 15 15
10
0
Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Uplink AVG (MB/s) Uplink Reference (MB/s)
Figure 2: The average uplink speed in MB/s for VPN compared with a direct connection.
As seen in the previous graph, not all performance losses are as significant as observed for the
download speed. The upload speed is only decreased by about a quarter and perceived performance
reductions can be minimal.

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Latency
Latency is the time it takes for a data packet to reach the server. Higher distances between the user
device and the server location will result in a higher latency. So a lower latency will result in a
speedier perceived connection. Also, a low latency is required to provide consistently fast uploads.
To create equal test cases for all tested products, not the optimal VPN connection suggested by the
product was used but instead the VPN servers are manually chosen to be similar for all products.
As default location in the US the west coast location was chosen if available and for the EU location
always London or the UK.
VPN connections don’t just connect from the users EU machine to an EU server through a European
placed VPN server but also included more extreme cases such as an EU user connecting to another
EU server through a US-based VPN server. This means the connection travels the Atlantic twice.
Latency in ms
250.00
206
200.00
169 172
160 161 163
149 149 150
150.00 137 137
129
100.00
74
50.00
0.00
Figure 3: The latency in ms for all week for encrypted and direct network connections.
The graph shows the average latency per week for all product. There has been no great difference
seen between SSL encrypted connections and those not encrypted by SSL. As a result, all averages
were combined to get the overall results. As seen, the fastest VPN connection takes twice as long to
reach the designated server as the reference. NordVPN performs best followed by a close second in
Hotspot Shield Elite and F-Secure FREEDOME VPN. It should be noted that Norton WiFi Privacy had
by far the slowest result almost three times slower than the reference.

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Stream
A good transfer rate is vital for fluent and clear streaming enjoyment. In the performed tests there
were no perceived issues when playing the 4k video content. Yet when measuring and looking at the
numbers there are significant differences in performances.
Stream speed in KB/s

90000 82,840
80,557 79,498 78,413 78,363
77,592 77,502 77,207 76,941 76,719 76,552
80000 72,695
70000
61,901
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
Figure 4: The stream speed in KB/s for all week for encrypted and direct network connections.
Unlike some other performance test results, there are no great differences between the speed
measured for the VPN connections and the reference. In fact, the performance difference between
the first placed VPN product Hotspot Shield Elite is similar to the difference between the first placed
and the fifth-placed Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client. What stands out are the differences for
Avira Phantom VPN Pro to the other products and even more though Pulse Connect Secure with only
75% of the performance reached by the top products.
Torrent
Many users decide to use a VPN to hide their identity when using P2P services. There are several
reasons for that. Some ISPs might block or limit the torrent protocol. Others fear they might get
notices from intellectual property right holders. Being able to use torrent and have a decent
download speed when doing so can be a very different experience.

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Torrent speed in MB/s
1.2 1.16
1.1
0.6 0.54
0.5 0.44 0.42 0.41
0.4
0.3 0.23 0.20 0.19
0.2 0.16 0.16 0.15
0.1
0
Figure 5: The torrent speed in MB/s for all week for encrypted and direct network connections.
The torrent performance results can be separated into three categories. First being Hotspot Shield
Elite as it is 20% faster than the next group of products at about half the speed as the direct yet
unsecured reference connection. Avira Phantom VPN Pro, NordVPN and ExpressVPN still provide
very acceptable performances with about a third of the direct connection. The remaining products
are significantly lower in speed with half the speed of the second group and the direct connection
being six times faster.
Downlink
The download speed directly influences the speed content from the internet is transferred to the
users’ device and is the most sought-after reference when it comes to VPN network performance. It
directly influences how fast the user will be able to open webpages, access mobile apps or just
generally download content. With increasing bandwidth available for more people around the world
it can be expected that this will show the biggest difference between using a VPN connection and
using the direct connection. The VPN servers will have to deal with requests from users who are used
to very fast downlink speeds.

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Downlink in MB/s
320 312
300
100
88.94
80
60
42.36 37.11
40 36.26 34.47
31.14 29.11
24.36
20 16.55 15.96
12.27 11.74
Figure 6: The downlink in MB/s for all week for encrypted and direct network connections.
As seen in Figure 6 there is no VPN getting even close to the average performance achieved through
a direct connection. Best ranked among VPNs is Hotspot Shield Elite with the speed of about a third
of the direct connection. The runner-up is Norton WiFi Privacy with less than half the speed of the
top product. A clear ranking emerges from the table. Even if Norton WiFi Privacy, Avira Phantom VPN
Pro, NordVPN and Private Internet Access are not nearly as fast as Hotspot Shield Elite they still
outperform the bottom of the table such as Pulse Connect Secure or TunnelBear by about 300%.
Uplink
The upload speed relates to the speed data is sent from the user to the servers placed in the
internet. The performance influences how fast the user can use cloud services, upload backups, host
servers or in general share information through for example social media.

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Uplink in MB/s
25.00
20.22
20.00 19.21
18.15
16.81 16.63
15.86 15.64
14.52 14.19
15.00
12.31
9.46 8.83
10.00
7.70
5.00
0.00
Figure 7: The uplink in MB/s for all week for encrypted and direct network connections.
The differences between the top VPN products and the reference uplink is almost neglectable. In the
case of Hotspot Shield Elite, the difference is only around 5%, for Private Internet Access it is 10% and
for the third places F-Secure FREEDOME VPN and NordVPN 15%. At the bottom of the ranking, there
are VPN Unlimited with a third of the speed achieved by the reference. Only slightly better are
TunnelBear and Avast SecureLine VPN still with less than half the speed of the reference.

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Summary Performance
The performance speed is a crucial data point reviewed when making the decision on which VPN to
choose. The tests didn’t use the optimal connection but instead connections where chosen so all VPN
servers where situated in similar VPN location. This will result in some variations to results observed
in a non-testing environment because some servers might be more suited for the location of the test
devices than others.
Most products for the majority of the tests provide similar and consistent results. There are some
exceptions some products break-in in one category yet perform average or even above average in
another tested category.
Hotspot Shield Elite performed consistently in all tests and came first in all but one category where
they came second. They didn’t just perform well in the downlink and torrent test but exceptional
compared to the other tested products. Also, in the stream and uplink test they came close to
performing at reference level.
Runner-up is Private Internet Access followed by a close NordVPN. Private Internet Access
disappointed for the torrent speed but was in general slightly better than NordVPN which convinced
most with its latency results.
More detailed breakdown of the results for the geographical and VPN-server location can be found in
the appendix.

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Features
Licensing
The licensing varies greatly. All products except for TunnelBear offer some sort of trial through
money back guarantee. The money back period is usually 30 days but it can also be as low as 7 days
for Private Internet Access and VPN Unlimited or up to 60 days for Norton WiFi Privacy or Hotspot
Shield Elite.
More comfortable is a simple “press-trial-option” which allows a trial period without having to go
through the process of providing some form of financial details, such as offered by most products
with some limitations on time or bandwidth. Not offering such service are Avast SecureLine VPN,
ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access.
Prices and Payment

The price depends on the subscription length number of devices used and if it is a desktop or mobile
device.
If only a one month license is required or desired there are reasonable prices options such as Norton
WiFi Privacy for one device 4.99$ or Avira Phantom VPN Pro 10$ for an unlimited amount of devices.
For a one year licence, the prices are between 39.95$ for five Private Internet Access devices and
99.95$ for three ExpressVPN devices.
Hotspot Shield Elite and VPN Unlimited offer a lifetime subscription for five devices for 119.99$ and
149.99$ respectively.
All products allow payment by credit card, which is probably one of the most convenient ways but
not necessarily the one providing the best privacy. ExpressVPN, VPN Unlimited and to some degree
Avira Phantom VPN allow payment through bitcoin. NordVPN, Private Internet Access and
TunnelBear also allow payment through bitcoin but also offer a wider variety of payment options for
cryptocurrencies. Hotspot Shield doesn’t offer the anonymous cryptocurrency option but does allow
payment through 80 different gift cards in the US.
More details and prices, licences and payment methods are found in the related appendix table.
No details available for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client and Pulse Connect Secure.
Compatibility
All tested products support Windows, Android and iOS. MacOS can be used by all products except by
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client. Just over half the products claim to support Linux, those are
ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, Pulse Connect Secure, TunnelBear and VPN
Unlimited. Also, only about half the products offer an option for manual setup on devices such as
routers those are Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet
Access, Pulse Connect Secure and VPN Unlimited.
With NordVPN and Private Internet Access there are two more products even offering the option of
using socks5 proxies.

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Location of servers
The location of the servers is crucial for the working of a VPN. In order to circumvent geo-restrictions
and access, local content servers need to be located in those areas. To provide the user with a fast
and stable connection enough resources in form of servers need to be allocated.
The countries with VPN servers range from 20 for TunnelBear up to 94 for ExpressVPN distributed
over 148 location in those countries. The number of servers claimed to be available are between
400+ for VPN Unlimited and 4267 for NordVPN. Except for Hotspot Shield Elite, all products offered
the option to connect with an optimal VPN server.
NordVPN was the only product in the test that supports the possibility of multihop cascading. That is
with predefined hops only.
No details available for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client and Pulse Connect Secure.
Logging
A no logging policy is important to almost all users just by nature of a VPN user. Almost all tested
products claim that no logs are saved. This really means “no personal data”. This statement varies
greatly in its meaning. All products supply some more information on what they mean by “no
logging”. The logging of data can result from various limitations vendors are constrained by, like
complying with national laws, limitations of the number of devices, implementing features such as
ad- or malware blocker, placing personalised ads and processing payments.
It is a good idea to look at the details of what data is stored and what isn’t by each user individually
for their own preferences. Except for Avast SecureLine VPN and Avira Phantom VPN Pro we found
dedicated terms of use for each product. It is not just about what data is stored but also for how
long. Avast SecureLine VPN stores data for 30 days, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN for 90 days and Pulse
Connect Secure for as long the account is active.
Protocol and encryption

It is very important what sort of tunnelling protocol is used when transmitting the data. The two
main aspects are security with privacy and performance. The protocols consider to provide the best
security are OpenVPN, IKEv2 combined with IPSec, SSTP and, if ignoring doubts spread by Edward
Snowden, L2TP in combination with IPSec. Almost all tested products support a secure protocol
which is usually OpenVPN. Also, almost all products provide a 256-bit AES data encryption, which is
mostly set to default except for Private Internet Access and Pulse Connect Secure.
Hotspot Shield Elite is the main exception to the default protocols. They use their own in-house
developed protocol Catapult Hydra, which they claim provides much better performance which has
been confirmed in the performance test of this report. Unlike OpenVPN, the Catapult Hydra protocol
it is not open source and therefore has not been independently reviewed by us but assumed secure
until proven otherwise. According to Hotspot Shield, Catapult Hydra it is used by a large number of
security vendors worldwide who trust it enough to use it to provide wireless security to their mobile
device customers.
For this test, only the protocols for windows are reviewed. The other operating system protocols are
included in the appendix table when the information is freely provided by the vendors.
No details available for Pulse Connect Secure.

18
Blocking
Ads and trackers can compromise the users’ privacy and threaten the security. This can be resolved
by the user in the browser with additional add-ons. But some VPN providers also offer solutions.
NordVPN provides CyberSec which can block ads when activated. F-Secure FREEDOME VPN and
Norton WiFi Privacy offer the option to block trackers. Private Internet Access MACE can block ads
and trackers. Furthermore, when we tested MACE, the anti-ad-blocker features of the webpage did
not block the ad-blocker. Hotspot Shield Elite and TunnelBear provide a chrome add-on to block
advertisement and trackers.
Additional
Unlimited bandwidth with no throttling is the norm for VPNs Except for Cisco AnyConnect Secure
Mobility Client and Norton WiFi Privacy for which no information is available and for Pulse Connect
Secure which limits the bandwidth to 50%, 75%, 90% or 100%.
Video streaming was no issue with any of the products. All provided sufficient performance to
provide continues uninterrupted streaming experience of HD content. Hotspot Shield Elite, NordVPN
and VPN Unlimited also allow the circumvention of several geo-locked streaming content.
Except for Norton WiFi Privacy, it is possible to torrent with all tested products. Although, some of
them like F-Secure FREEDOME VPN and TunnelBear require connection with dedicated servers.
The support for IPv6 is still limited to Avira Phantom VPN Pro and F-Secure FREEDOME VPN.
NordVPN claims it will be available at some point in 2018.
Summary Features
When deciding on the extent of features and options available in VPN products it boils down to
individual preferences and needs. Some products have almost all that can be desired from a VPN and
they distinguish themselves from the crowd. NordVPN, Private Internet Access or VPN Unlimited
provide features such as multihop cascading, malware- and ad-blocker, a huge number of servers or
the possibility to circumvent geo-blocked streaming content. Other solutions such as F-Secure
FREEDOME VPN or Hotspot Shield Elite don’t provide the same range of features but they do offer
malware and phishing protection and are sufficiently equipped to cater all security and privacy needs
for the user while also being easy and comfortable to use.

19
Summary
The test reviewed the four test categories usability, privacy and security, performance and features.
In the usability test, the results were pretty balanced. Setup and usage are usually straightforward.
Differences emerge when looking at available languages and a provided tutorial which some users
may feel might be overkill for such intuitive programs. Other differences can be found for auto
reconnect after the system start, a feature which only has relevance for desktop devices.
In first place with equal scoring are AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield Elite, Avast SecureLine VPN and F-
Secure FREEDOME VPN followed by Norton WiFi Privacy, Private Internet Access, NordVPN,
TunnelBear, Avira Phantom VPN Pro, ExpressVPN, VPN Unlimited, Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility
Client and Pulse Connect Secure at last place.
The main reason to use a VPN especially for home use is the privacy, anonymity and security aspect.
No tested product failed in spectacular fashion. Some products didn’t offer the kill switch function,
and even some of those providing it failed the appropriate test.
ExpressVPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN, Hotspot Shield Elite and Private Internet Access all provide
above average protection. Except for ExpressVPN, all these products provide some form of malware
protection. F-Secure FREEDOME VPN was the only one not providing a kill switch feature.
The first four ranked products are almost equal in scoring. Those are Hotspot Shield Elite, F-Secure
FREEDOME VPN, Private Internet Access and ExpressVPN followed by NordVPN, Cisco AnyConnect
Secure Mobility Client, TunnelBear, Avira Phantom VPN Pro, Avast SecureLine VPN and at shared last
place Norton WiFi Privacy, Pulse Connect Secure and VPN Unlimited.
The performance speed is a crucial data point reviewed when making the decision on which VPN to
choose. There is no point in having a product with a hundred features but a connection speed too
slow to use it effectively. Far outperforming all other products was Hotspot Shield Elite in the
categories downlink and torrent speed and doing extremely well for testing in latency and downlink
speed, getting a very comfortable first place. NordVPN was the only other product to claim a first
place in this category which was in the latency test, putting it with some distance in third place only
outperformed by Private Internet Access which also showed very good overall results.
Ranked first is unsurprisingly Hotspot Shield Elite followed by Private Internet Access, NordVPN, F-
Secure FREEDOME VPN, Avira Phantom VPN Pro, ExpressVPN, Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility
Client, Avast SecureLine VPN, Norton WiFi Privacy, TunnelBear, VPN Unlimited and Pulse Connect
Secure.
Extensive features apart from what can be considered default requirements are provided by
NordVPN, Private Internet Access or VPN Unlimited. For an everyday user who just wants to open,
connect and forget, who doesn’t require more advanced features F-Secure FREEDOME VPN or
Hotspot Shield Elite will suffice.
The ranking is NordVPN at the top closely followed by Private Internet Access and with almost no
difference VPN Unlimited followed by ExpressVPN, F-Secure FREEDOME VPN, Hotspot Shield Elite,
Avira Phantom VPN Pro, TunnelBear, Avast SecureLine VPN, Norton WiFi Privacy, Cisco AnyConnect
Secure Mobility Client, Pulse Connect Secure.

20
Conclusion
With its seconds to none showing in the performance test, Hotspot Shield Elite make it hard for a
user to see past this VPN solution. Also taking the top of the security and usability placing as well as
providing for all essential needs of the VPN users. Hotspot Shield Elite provides a comprehensive VPN
product which came first in the overall testing.
The objective of the here-presented tests was to assess the products’ completeness as a VPN
application providing security and performance. Indeed, the Hotspot Shield Elite product delivered
convincing results across all tests as well as providing some useful additional features such as
malware and phishing website protection. What also makes it stand out is a 45 days money return
guarantee as well as the possibility to try it as an unlimited ad-supported free version.
Private Internet Access took second place in the security test by providing excellent leak protection,
combined with its well working kill switch and the ability to block at least some malicious websites.
An overall a very good product, with competitive pricing, support for most common payment
methods and support for all possible devices and operating systems. Even though it came second in
the performance testing it didn’t come close to the first placed product.
NordVPN impressive features list put it in the top list of VPN choices. It achieved the highest scoring
for features provided. It was also the only product providing the multihop cascading feature for
increased anonymity. NordVPN came close third in the performance test just been beaten by Private
Internet Access. More than 4000 servers in 62 countries provide reliability and consistent
performance for active connections. The security provided is solid but could be extended by fixing
the WebRTC leak and the leaking of the local network IP. NordVPN claims to be able to provide a
malware protection and ad-blocking. unfortunately, the malware blocking didn’t play out in the
conducted testing.
When listing the top tested products F-Secure FREEDOME VPN should not be missing. With no leaks
detected and best detection for malware and phishing sites, only one product convinced more in
terms of security. Like Hotspot Shield Elite it is a two click install, two clicks activate application which
makes it ideal for novice users. It is available in 20 languages, supports ipv6 as one of only two tested
VPNs.

21
Appendix
Hardware Specifications
Windows
Operating system Windows 10 Pro Version 1709 OS Build 16299.309

with all patches available in April 2018.
Cloud VM-hoster Microsoft Azure, EAST US
Microsoft Azure, West Europe
Hardware  Intel Xeon CPU E5-2673 v4 @ 2.30GHz
 16 GB RAM
 50GB free Space
Installed applications  Chrome Browser 66.0.3359.139 (64-bit)
 µTorrent torrent client 3.5.3 (build 44396) [32-bit]
Performance Test Server Locations

Below are sets of CloudHarmony test links for selected combinations of client and server locations.
Each link is tested with both, http:// and https://.
VPN client: US; VPN server: US

cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-azure:compute-us-west2
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-aws:ec2-us-west-2
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-google:compute-us-west1
VPN client: US; VPN server: EU
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-azure:compute-eu-west
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-aws:ec2-eu-central-1
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-google:compute-europe-west3
VPN client: EU; VPN server: EU
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-azure:compute-eu-west
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-aws:ec2-eu-central-1
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-google:compute-europe-west3
VPN client: EU; VPN server: US
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-azure:compute-us-east
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-aws:ec2-us-east-1
cloudharmony.com/speedtest-downlink-uplink-latency-for-google:compute-us-east4

22
Test Results
Performance Test Results
Further in-depth details available upon request at AV-TEST.
Latency
Products Geo location Geo location Geo location Geo location Average
EU VPN EU VPN US VPN US VPN in ms
location EU location US location EU location US
in ms in ms in ms in ms
Avast SecureLine VPN 63.75 311.73 146.72 131.51 163.43
Avira Phantom VPN Pro 55.49 271.76 137.25 132.77 149.32
Cisco AnyConnect Secure 56.76 306.47 147.85 134.37 161.36
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 51.30 130.60 279.39 136.03 149.33
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 47.17 252.12 122.73 127.02 137.26
Hotspot Shield Elite 57.37 250.45 109.06 131.99 137.22
NordVPN 49.56 126.49 145.00 196.51 129.39
Norton WiFi Privacy 81.04 363.10 191.07 189.35 206.14
Private Internet Access 56.57 266.73 130.37 147.57 150.31
Pulse Connect Secure 56.81 318.92 151.86 149.71 169.32
TunnelBear 76.52 254.92 152.33 156.61 160.10
VPN Unlimited 72.23 314.47 148.76 152.27 171.93
Reference 25.68 n/a 122.97 n/a 74.33
n/a - not applicable, no VPN connection establish only direct connection is measured ones
Stream
The stream speed test was performed with a dedicated streaming test site in the Chrome browser.
Unfortunately, during the test period, a Chrome browser update was released which changed the
working of the test page and the testing automatism had to be changed, which resulted in an overall
performance drop after the first two test days.
Products Geo location Geo location Geo location Geo location Average in
EU VPN EU VPN US VPN US VPN KB/s
location EU in location US location EU in location US
KB/s in KB/s KB/s in KB/s
Avast SecureLine VPN 82461 74608 79086 81835 79498
Avira Phantom VPN Pro 73610 70330 73643 73196 72695
Cisco AnyConnect Secure 80172 73159 78626 78411 77592
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 74674 75851 80795 74887 76552
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 77983 76982 77652 80834 78363
Hotspot Shield Elite 81296 81296 81312 78326 80557
NordVPN 74743 82144 77700 74241 77207
Norton WiFi Privacy 75706 73266 81308 79727 77502

23
Private Internet Access 79098 72465 82844 79243 78413
Pulse Connect Secure 55673 65386 62827 63718 61901
TunnelBear 73986 74688 77149 81054 76719
VPN Unlimited 77626 75939 78231 75971 76941
Reference 82734 n/a 82947 n/a 82840
Torrent
There were no dedicated torrent servers available for the testing regions for the EU for F-Secure
FREEDOME VPN and TunnelBear as well as for the US for F-Secure FREEDOME VPN.
Norton WiFi Privacy is excluded as it does not support the torrent protocol.
Products Geo location Geo location Geo location Geo location Average in
EU VPN EU VPN US VPN US VPN MB/s
location EU in location US in location EU in location US in
MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 0.56 0.40 0.35 0.33 0.41
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN - - - - -
NordVPN 0.53 0.37 0.35 0.44 0.42
TunnelBear - 0.19 - 0.22 0.20
VPN Unlimited 0.25 0.11 0.15 0.11 0.16
Reference 1.00 n/a 1.31 n/a 1.16
Downlink
EU VPN EU VPN US VPN US VPN in MB/s
in MB/s in MB/s in MB/s in MB/s
Avast SecureLine VPN 61 9 24 22 29
Avira Phantom VPN Pro 66 19 27 36 37
Cisco AnyConnect Secure 37 4 12 12 17
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 50 32 17 25 31
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 54 13 14 16 24
Hotspot Shield Elite 118 75 90 73 89
NordVPN 68 32 24 22 36

24
Norton WiFi Privacy 60 21 33 55 42
Private Internet Access 77 12 27 21 34
Pulse Connect Secure 28 4 9 9 12
TunnelBear 29 5 7 6 12
VPN Unlimited 29 6 12 17 16
Reference 357 n/a 268 n/a 312
Uplink
EU VPN EU VPN US VPN US VPN in MB/s
in MB/s in MB/s in MB/s in MB/s
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 15.49 13.54 14.24 13.49 14.19
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 17.29 16.39 16.20 17.37 16.81
NordVPN 16.70 16.86 18.64 14.33 16.63
Norton WiFi Privacy 16.80 10.78 19.29 15.70 15.64
TunnelBear 14.52 4.94 7.79 8.07 8.83
VPN Unlimited 12.66 3.21 6.74 8.20 7.70
Reference 17.85 n/a 22.58 n/a 20.22
Features Test Results

The features described in the following table and described in the report have been taken as
provided information from the vendors or trusted third parties. They may not reflect the actual
availability or functionality due to a lack of more information.
Licensing
Products Trial period in days Number of devices per Money back guarantee
license
Avast SecureLine VPN - 5 30
Avira Phantom VPN Pro free version (max unlimited 30
500MB/month)
Cisco AnyConnect Secure nip nip nip
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN - 3 30
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 5 3/5/7 30

25
Hotspot Shield Elite Free (with ads) 5 45
NordVPN 3 6 30
Norton WiFi Privacy 7 (android only) 1 / 5 / 10 60
Private Internet Access - 5 7
Pulse Connect Secure nip nip nip
TunnelBear 7, 5 -
free version (max
500MB/month)
VPN Unlimited 7 5 7
nip - No information provided
Prices and Payment

Prices and payment options may differ on the location of purchase, country the products site is
accessed from and currently available offers for the products.
Products 1 Month license 1 Year Unlimited Payment Methods

license license Paypal / Bank Transfer
/ Bitcoins / DebitCard /
Credit card
Avast SecureLine VPN Desktop Desktop - + / +* / - / - / +
1 device 5.99$ 1 device 59.99$ (59.99€),
(5.99€), 3 devices 69,99$
(69,99€),
5 devices 79.99$
(79.99€),
Android, iOS Android, iOS

5 devices 2.99$ 5 devices 19.99$ (19.99€)
(2.99€)
Avira Phantom VPN Pro Desktop 7.99€ Desktop 59.95€ (78.00$) - + / + / +** / - / +
(10.00$)
Android, iOS
4.95€
Cisco AnyConnect Secure nip nip nip nip
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 12.95$ 99.95$ - +/+/+/-/+
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN - 3 devices 49.99$ (49.90€) - + / + / - / +* / +
5 devices 59.99$ (59.90€)
7 devices 79.99$ (79.90€)
Hotspot Shield Elite 5.99$ (15.99€) 71.88$ (83.99€) 119.99$ +/-/-/+/+
(139.99€)
NordVPN 11.95$ (11.95€) 69.00$ (69.00€) - +/+/+/-/+
Norton WiFi Privacy 1 devices 4.99$ 1 device 39.99$ (49.99€) - + / +* / - / - / +
5 devices 7.99$ 5 devices 39.99$ (29.99€)
10 devices 10 devices 59.99$
9.99$ (69.99€)

26
Private Internet Access 6,95$ 39.95$ - +/+/+/+/+
Pulse Connect Secure nip nip nip nip
TunnelBear 9.99$ 59.99$ - -/-/+/-/+
VPN Unlimited 9.99$ 59.99$ 149.99$ +/+/+/+/+
* - Varies between US, EU and possibly individual states
** - Only available for one year subscription
Compatibility
Products Additional supported OS, Option for manual setup Socks5 Proxy included
Win (XP/Vista/7/8) / Mac available (installation
OS / iOS / Linux / Android through configuration)
Avast SecureLine VPN +/+/+/-/+ nip nip
Avira Phantom VPN Pro +/+/+/-/+ - -
Cisco AnyConnect Secure +/-/+/+/+ + -
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN +/+/+/+/+ + nip
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN +/+/+/-/+ - nip
Hotspot Shield Elite +/+/+/-/+ - -
NordVPN +/+/+/+/+ + +
Norton WiFi Privacy +/+/+/-/+ nip -
Private Internet Access +/+/+/+/+ + +
Pulse Connect Secure +/+/+/+/+ + -
TunnelBear +/+/+/+/+ - nip
VPN Unlimited +/+/+/+/+ + nip
Location of servers
Products Number of countries Number of server Optimal Location Possibility to
with server (number locations (actual selection provided use Multihop
virtual servers (VPS)) server location) Cascading
Avast SecureLine VPN 33 52 + -
Avira Phantom VPN Pro 25 36 + -
Cisco AnyConnect Secure nip nip nip nip
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN 94 (2000+ server) 148 + -
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN 22 28 + -
Hotspot Shield Elite 25 (2600 server) nip - -
NordVPN 62 (4267 Server) nip + +
Norton WiFi Privacy 28 nip + -
Private Internet Access 28 (3041) 45 + -
Pulse Connect Secure nip nip nip nip
TunnelBear 20 nip + -
VPN Unlimited 52 (400+) 70 + -

27
Logging
Products No personal user data is Time for which logged Dedicated Terms
logged data is kept of use
Avast SecureLine VPN + 30 days -*
Avira Phantom VPN Pro + nip -*
Cisco AnyConnect Secure + nip +
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN + nip +
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN + 90 days +
Hotspot Shield Elite + nip +
NordVPN + nip +
Norton WiFi Privacy + nip +
Private Internet Access + nip +
Pulse Connect Secure - as long the account is +
active
TunnelBear + nip +
VPN Unlimited + nip +
* - No dedicated terms of use. Terms of use for wider product range by the vendor
Protocol and encryption

Products Available protocols Used data encryption
Avast SecureLine VPN OpenVPN on UDP (Windows), IPsec (Mac), 256-bit AES encryption
PPTP (Android, iOS)
Avira Phantom VPN Pro OpenVPN (Windows, Android), L2TP/IPsec 256-bit AES encryption
(iOS, Mac)
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Secure SSL and IPsec/IKEv2 256-bit AES encryption
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN OpenVPN (UDP or TCP), L2TP/IPsec, SSTP, 256-bit AES encryption
PPTP
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN OpenVPN (Windows, Android, Mac), IPsec 256-bit AES encryption
(iOS)
Hotspot Shield Elite Catapult Hydra 256-bit AES encryption
NordVPN OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec, PPTP, L2TP/IPsec 256-bit AES encryption
Norton WiFi Privacy OpenVPN (probably IKEv2 on iOS) nip
Private Internet Access OpenVPN (Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, 128-bit AES encryption is
Android rooted) , L2TP/IPSec and PPTP default, 256-bit encryption
(Android, iOS) available
Pulse Connect Secure nip 128-bit AES encryption is
default, 256-bit encryption
available
TunnelBear OpenVPN, IKEv2 (Windows, MacOS) 256-bit AES encryption
OpenVPN (Android) IPSec/IKEv2 (iOS)
VPN Unlimited OpenVPN (Android, Windows), IKEv2 128-bit and 256-bit AES
(macOS, iOS) encryption

28
Blocking
Products Ads Tracker Malware
Avast SecureLine VPN - - -
Avira Phantom VPN Pro - - -
Cisco AnyConnect Secure - - -
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN - - -
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN - + +
Hotspot Shield Elite +* +* +
NordVPN + - +
Norton WiFi Privacy - + -
Private Internet Access + + +
Pulse Connect Secure - - -
TunnelBear +* +* -
VPN Unlimited - - -
* - Available in Chrome browser with add-on
Additional
Products No Bandwidth Support Video streaming Support torrents Support IPv6
limitations / Circumvent some geo addressing
locks (US)
Avast SecureLine VPN + +/- +* -
Avira Phantom VPN Pro + +/- + +
Cisco AnyConnect Secure nip +/- + -
Mobility Client
ExpressVPN + +/- + -
F-Secure FREEDOME VPN + +/- +* +
Hotspot Shield Elite + + / +*** + -
NordVPN + + / +*** + -**
Norton WiFi Privacy nip +/- - -
Private Internet Access + +/- + -
Pulse Connect Secure - +/- + -
TunnelBear + +/- +* -
VPN Unlimited + + / +*** + -
* - Through dedicated servers only
** - Announced for 2018
*** - Applies to tested streaming sites and may vary with content providers

29

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VPN Comparative Test

A test commissioned by AnchorFree and performed by AV-TEST GmbH

We evaluated VPN on the following four criteria.

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

There are a few generic principles that were followed:

Privacy and Security

o DNS leaks, tested through https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

o Downloading, uploading and latency is tested through the testing environment

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

DNS leak, Torrent IP leak and HTTP request Leak

Windows Credential Leak

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Malicious URL Protection

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Privacy and Security Conclusion

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Downlink AVG (MB/s) Downlink Reference (MB/s)

Uplink AVG (MB/s) Uplink Reference (MB/s)

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Stream speed in KB/s

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Prices and Payment

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Protocol and encryption

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Operating system Windows 10 Pro Version 1709 OS Build 16299.309

Performance Test Server Locations

VPN client: US; VPN server: US

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Features Test Results

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Prices and Payment

Products 1 Month license 1 Year Unlimited Payment Methods

Android, iOS Android, iOS

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Protocol and encryption

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Copyright © 2018 by AV-TEST GmbH, Klewitzstr. 7, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

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