PureVPN Review

PureVPN Review Summary – Why We Think PureVPN is Excellent

PureVPN is one of the best names in the business. It goes beyond normal VPN capabilities with its added security tools, dubbed Ozone and Gravity. Plus, it has generous features that make it a more compelling package than many rivals. And yet, despite its rich feature set, it's a breeze to use.

Though it isn’t the cheapest VPN if you opt to pay monthly, the costs work out a lot lower if you go for a one-year or two-year license. A single PureVPN account lets you install the apps or clients on as many devices as you want, though only five can be connected at any one time.

And yes, you can access Netflix with it (with some caveats, which we go into later).

PureVPN was so impressive in our thorough testing that it's in our top three highest-rated VPNs. It sits behind rival NordVPN in our test results, but we'd recommend PureVPN above plenty of competitors. See our table below for more:

PureVPN Features and Security

Generous Features

Within PureVPN, you can turn your PC into a VPN hotspot and connect other devices to the internet (privately) through it. You can also configure the VPN so that only specific apps can use it, while others use your regular Internet connection.

A lot of PureVPN's features are aimed at stopping malicious or annoying elements of the internet from even reaching a VPN user. Take PureVPN's filtering abilities: A web filtering feature will auto-block malicious URLs from even loading, while an app-filtering option does the same for applications.

PureVPN’s “Ozone” and “Gravity” features further protect your online activity. Ozone gives you antivirus blocks, content-filtering tools to block offensive material or certain websites, plus intrusion-detection features that warn you when somebody is trying to hack your PC.

Gravity then adds an ad-blocker to stop ads and malware appearing while you're browsing, plus a safe search feature that hides specified search results. All seemed to work effectively during testing.

PureVPN also throws up nice, clear notifications to let you know when you’re connected or disconnected. On top of all that, the service offers unlimited data transfer as well.

Security and Privacy

All PureVPN servers are kept secured with AES 256-bit encryption symmetric key, which ensures brute force attacks will fail. The service also includes IPv6 leak protection to ward off hackers or spying technology.

PureVPN's Internet Kill Switch stops all your internet connections if the VPN connection fails, preventing your identity and location from potentially being leaked.

A Split Tunnelling feature gives you even more control over how the VPN is used: With this feature, internet traffic can be split between the VPN-protected channel or an unprotected channel, for fast access to your local network.

For a little more money, PureVPN offers three add-ons to its main service. First there's Dedicated IP, starting from $0.99/month. This is an Internet address unique to your account, as opposed to one that's shared across multiple PureVPN users. There's also DDos Protection also $0.99/month which mitigates DDos attacks, and Port Forwarding, from $0.25/month, which allows users to access their device or personal server from anywhere in the world.

Does PureVPN Share your Data?

One of the main concerns from VPN users is whether or not their data and activities are really safe. After all, if you're using a VPN, you could be accessing content that's not available in your region, or bypassing a work firewall. Even if you're not up to anything illegal, there aren't many of us who would want their browsing history readily available to all.

Opinion on PureVPN is slightly divisive in this area, and it stems back to one instance. In 2017, PureVPN aided the FBI in tracking down a cyberstalker who had been carrying out an harassment campaign on a 24-year-old Massachusetts woman, as well as her friends, colleagues, and family. The crimes involved hacking into online accounts, sending indecent images of children, and making over 120 hoax bomb threats. The perpetrator was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

PureVPN received criticism for sharing user data with the FBI, with online commentators complaining that the VPN states it doesn't collect logs of internet activity. It's true that PureVPN doesn't do this, but the data it did have on the perpetrator were network logs, mainly used for troubleshooting and maintenance. While these don't identify online activities, the FBI were able to cross-reference this with their own information to pinpoint the cyberstalker's activities.

If you're using a VPN to access Netflix in another country, you don't need to worry about the Feds kicking down your door. You're only in danger if you're engaged in some shady, high end illegal activities, in which case, we're not here to help you.

To answer the question then, does PureVPN share your data? Well, only once, and that was for a criminal who was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Zero Log Policy

Reassuringly, PureVPN insists it has a zero-logs policy. This means that the company maintains no records of your online activities conducted while the VPN is enabled.

“We practice Zero Log policy, which means we do not record your activities or what you do online. Our commitment to preserve your online privacy is second to none.” – PureVPN official statement.

PureVPN won't keep records of your activity, network connections, connection times, original IP address, any VPN IPs assigned to your account, websites visited, data accessed, or DNS queries generated.

Compatibility: Apps And Supported Platforms

PureVPN supports a wide range of devices and applications, so it's unlikely that you'll wind up able to use the VPN on some devices, but not others. Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux are all supported, as are Chrome and Firefox browsers.

The VPN is available on many video streaming and gaming operating systems and devices. For your peace of mind, here's a list of the top platforms and devices that PureVPN will protect your internet activity on:

• Routers
• Android TV
• Amazon Fire Stick
• Microsoft Surface
• Kodi
• Roku
• Boxee box
• Now TV Box
• Raspberry Pi
• Chromecast
• PlayStation
• Xbox
• iOS App

In some cases, a few extra steps are required: for example, PureVPN offers a fully optimized standalone application for Fire Stick & Fire TV, which can be easily sideloaded.

VPN Protocols

PureVPN supports several popular VPN protocols. These include IKEv2, L2TP, PPTP, OpenVPN, and SSTP.

Each protocol offers a different combination of speed, encryption levels, and stability, making some more appealing for specific actions like steaming video or peer-to-peer file sharing. All of these protocols provide 256-bit encryption, except PPTP, which only offers a weaker 128-bit encryption.

The casual user will likely want to opt for OpenVPN most of the time, as it offers strong, leak-proof encryption without sacrificing much network speed.

Servers and Server Locations

PureVPN currently offers users a little over 2,000 servers across more than 140 countries in more than 180 different locations. The list includes servers in Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America, Europe, North America, and South America.

You can find a searchable list of PureVPN's exact server locations online, as well as within your PureVPN account. At the moment, for example, the service has 12 servers running in China, with 6 in Shanghai and another 6 in Beijing.

Does PureVPN Work with Netflix?

If you want to connect to a regional version of Netflix over a VPN, then PureVPN appears ready-to-go. There’s even a Netflix option in the Stream mode. However, when we tested this, we found that it failed to get past Netflix’s (increasingly savvy) VPN-detection.

When we took our findings to PureVPN directly, the company recommended using the browser extension for PureVPN in order to unblock Netflix. You'll need to be streaming Netflix in a browser for this to work, rather than via an app.

PureVPN's solution might not be the most convenient, and it means you'll need to fire up a browser each time you want to binge on hours of TV or movies, but it's a small price to pay. In our testing, we found that very few VPNs could make it through the Fort Knox that is Netflix's regional protection, even if they advertised that they did. PureVPN might not have the simplest unblock solution, but it does at least have one.

The battle rages on between the streaming giant and the VPN providers, and we expect to see further work from PureVPN to counter Netflix’s measures.

We'd still rank PureVPN among the Best VPNs for Netflix – see our guide for more VPN providers.

Is PureVPN good for Torrenting?

PureVPN is a torrenting friendly service. It even offers a file-sharing mode that gives users access to servers dedicated solely to and optimized for the peer-to-peer file sharing that torrents rely on.

However, these servers are available only from a limited selection of countries and locations, with the US, UK, Canada, and Australia not included. As a result, some users from these countries have found these file-sharing-dedicated servers' speeds to be noticeably slower.

Still, due to PureVPN's other many benefits, we can safely say that, of the VPN services that support torrenting, PureVPN is one of the best. If you're a frequent torrenter, though, you might want to consider a speedier service, as we'll discuss in the next section.

Read our Tech.co guide to the best VPNs for torrenting to learn more.

PureVPN Pricing: Cost, Plans, and Payment Options

PureVPN offers three main plans. Each one offers the same features and 24/7 support, but they are differentiated by how long the contract runs: Monthly, three months, or annually.

At $10.95 if you opt for monthly billing, PureVPN isn’t the cheapest VPN around. However, we think it's worth the money, and you can make substantial savings if you can commit to a longer period.

The three-month plan, for example, costs $8.00 per month, saving you 27%, while the one-year plan is a remarkable $3.33 per month, saving 70% over the month-to-month plan. That's excellent value for such a feature-laden VPN.

PureVPN does not offer a free version or a free trial. However, a 7-day trial is available for just $0.99, and is automatically included at the front of whichever plan you opt for, giving you time to acclimate to the VPN service before you commit. PureVPN also offers a 31-day refund policy.

PureVPN accepts payment via credit card, PayPal, Bitcoin, and through a partnership with the payment platform CoinPayments many other cryptocurrencies as well. It also supports AliPay, assorted gift cards, and more than 150 other payment methods via the Paymentwall platform.

Want the best deal? You can get PureVPN for as little as $2.88 a month with our exclusive two-year offer.

If you're tempted to pick up a free VPN, and you're an avid internet user, we'd recommend against it. We've tested some of the more popular free offerings on the market, and we're not impressed. With poor speeds, data constraints, and potential security risks, it's worth spending a few dollars a month for a premium service such as PureVPN.

Interface and Setup: PureVPN Download Steps

It’s simplicity itself to get up and running with PureVPN. A customer can simply create a new account with a username and email address, then choose their preferred payment method. Your username and password are emailed to you, and the payment confirmation page has a big green button to download the PureVPN app for a desktop or laptop.

Android and iOS users can simply install the app from the relevant app stores, then type in the email address and system-generated password. Once up and running, the VPN is extremely intuitive to use.

“Modes” for Using PureVPN

People use VPNs for different reasons, which is why PureVPN works through a series of “modes,” each optimized for a specific experience.

“Internet Freedom” mode is designed to work in countries where certain websites or services are usually censored. You can link to a country beyond the government firewall, and use these sites and services as normal.

“Security/Privacy” mode gives you the best balance of anonymity, security, privacy and speed. Meanwhile, “File Sharing” is aimed at users sharing files across a peer to peer network (you can probably guess why some users want to protect their identities while sharing, say, the latest episodes of hit TV shows).

The “Stream” mode is for accessing streaming services, such as Netflix or Hulu, that are normally locked to a specific region. With this engaged, you're supposed to be able to use them even when you’re not physically in that country. A catch, however even with this mode enabled, we found we weren’t able to get past Netflix’s ever-evolving VPN detection, and the service was blocked.

Finally, the “Dedicated IP” mode, which costs extra, gives your VPN its own dedicated IP address, which you might need for some applications like online gaming.

While you're asked to pick a mode when you first launch the app, it's easy to switch modes later. The advantage of this approach is that PureVPN can ask you what you want to do, then connect you to the best server to do it. If you want to go more in-depth, the site has some excellent guides and walkthroughs.