Review Overview
Privacy
Server Network
Performance
Torrenting & P2P
Video Streaming
Offshore Incorporation
Pricing
User Support
RECOMMENDED
Summary : Excellent all round service!
Primarily operating as a Romanian company with a big presence in Germany, CyberGhost does turn heads with a number of offerings, chief of which is its free VPN service. Although subjected to the EU data retention laws, Romania does not have that level of an implementation system in place and, therefore, CyberGhost does not keep any kind of user logs. Owing to this, we put the free and paid services under that scanner in our CyberGhost VPN review and were fairly pleased with the results we received.
Reviewer’s Pick
- Free VPN works well
- Speed tests were just great for paid users
- No logging policy is excellent
- Good and easy to use clients
Video Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=krFp6gTnbEI
Infrastructure
CyberGhost boats of a fairly laudable infrastructure. Though most of its servers are spread across North America and Europe, it also has a certain presence in Asia and Australia. In total, it has a network presence over 30 countries over 4 continents. CyberGhost also clearly notifies on their site that they have always been looking to expand its network presence.
As far as VPN protocols go, all of CyberGhost’s implementation takes place via the use of OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, and PPTP.
Performance
CyberGhost claims to provide good speeds and unlimited bandwidth to all its users. While this stands completely true for those users availing paid services, the same cannot be said of its free services. We saw a steep decline in the speeds when using its free service. Below are the listed speed test results (without VPN, with VPN and free VPN).
IP address allotments made by CyberGhost are done in a dynamic manner and are of the shared type. DNS and IP leak tests performed also didn’t show any untoward results. Besides, CyberGhost is only accessible from one single device on the Premium plan while the Premium Plus plan offers up to 5 concurrent connections.
An anonymous web proxy service offered by CyberGhost, which is fairly good, also comes across as a welcome addition.
Privacy Quotient
CyberGhost offers its users with 256-bit AES encryption technique, which is something we consider to be very good. Also, we like the fact that it implements OpenVPN as the default standard, which is easily the safest VPN protocol in use.
CyberGhost’s logging policies are surely the best. If you are looking for completely free anonymous browsing, then it is fair to say that CyberGhost has got your back. As such, they are known to have a no logging policy, which is absolutely excellent. Apparently, CyberGhost did receive requests from German authorities for potential access to logs but didn’t have any.
Platforms Supported
CyberGhost VPN stretches its arm out to all major platforms and devices. Linux, Windows and Mac, each of these platforms are well supported with easily usable clients. There is also support for mobile devices with apps present for iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile. All of the clients and apps for accessing CyberGhost are remarkable for simplicity and inclusion of the right features.
CyberGhost also supports that use of routers both, Tomato as well as DDWRT.
User Support
Customer support is offered mainly via two primary methods, which are live chat and email ticketing system. We also came across a fairly well laid out FAQ section that does come with good help.
Tutorials that guide users with installation and setup of CyberGhost clients also came across as fairly well detailed.
Pricing
CyberGhost VPN comes in three major plans that are – free plan, Premium plan, and Premium Plus plan. The billing system can be opted for a monthly option or an annual option, with the latter offering better savings. Also worth a mention here is that for both, Premium and Premium Plus plans, the service offering are the same except in case of simultaneous access, where Premium Plus users are permitted to use up to 5 connections at a go.
CyberGhost’s free service offering that comes under the scanner. While it is definitely a very well defined service for those who seek a free offering, it comes with certain conditions.
- A speed restriction of 1Mbps
- Display of advertisements (for 17 seconds of login and every 2 hours then)
- Automatically connects to an available free server (no choice)
- No auto-reconnection feature (disconnects after every 6 hours of continuous usage)
Payment options accepted by CyberGhost include PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Bank Transfers, JCB, and Bitcoin. Besides, there is also the option for a month-long free trial option for those who wish to use it.
Public Perception
When VPN Squad took to the Internet, we figured out that CyberGhost VPN has a favorable reputation on the Web.
Final Verdict
To be fair, we liked CyberGhost totally. While the only drawback comes from the fact that there could possibly expand their network a little more, everything else about it just seems right. We are also all thumbs up for the no logging policy that CyberGhost maintains. We think this should be a very good service for both, free as well as premium users.
Review Overview
Privacy
Server Network
Performance
Torrenting & P2P
Video Streaming
Offshore Incorporation
Pricing
User Support
RECOMMENDED
Summary : Excellent all round service!