Join any of Bitdefender's wonderful safety packages – Antivirus Plus, Web Safety, Complete Safety or its cellular apps – and you may additionally get a bundled VPN. Sounds nice, till you understand there is not any choice to decide on a location (the app robotically picks the closest server), and you see the tiny knowledge switch restrict of 200MB a day.
Thankfully, there's an alternative choice. Shopping for a Bitdefender Premium VPN license will get you limitless visitors and full entry to 1,300+ servers in 48 international locations (that is up from 30 in our final evaluate). And also you not want to make use of another Bitdefender app – it will fortunately run standalone, no matter safety software program you are utilizing.In the event you're questioning why you need to belief an antivirus firm to ship a high quality VPN, that is a very good query. The reply is that you simply're not, a minimum of not likely: Bitdefender VPN is definitely powered by the superb Hotspot Protect, a powerful indicator that you'll get an honest service.
You get entry to assist from Bitdefender's present help crew, too, by way of dwell chat, e-mail and telephone. Works for us, though in our expertise, the antivirus corporations promoting VPNs as extras do not ship the identical stage of help you may see with ExpressVPN, NordVPN and the perfect specialist suppliers. Platform help is cheap, with apps for Home windows, Mac, Android and iOS, and the service can join as much as 10 units concurrently. That is most likely sufficient for most individuals (and higher than NordVPN's 6, or CyberGhost's 7), however suppliers together with ZenMate and Windscribe haven't any limits in any respect. The apps now use Hotspot Protect's Catapult Hydra protocol relatively than OpenVPN. This normally means higher obtain speeds, however there is a catch. You possibly can solely use it by way of the official apps (there is not any help for manually establishing the service to run on routers or different platforms which do not have apps). Do not count on rather more in the best way of options; Premium VPN is geared toward common customers on the lookout for one thing easy, not consultants who have to fine-tune each element. It consists of the core necessities, although, with P2P help on supply and a kill change to guard you if the VPN drops, and it ought to cowl you in most conditions.
Bitdefender Premium VPN pricing
It is good to see Bitdefender has added a monthly billing option since our final evaluate. It regarded nice worth, too, at $6.99 (many rivals ask $10-$13 for his or her month-to-month plans), however the web site described this as 'billed $6.99 for the primary month.' Did this imply it elevated on renewal?
We could not see a renewal worth or a link to search out out, so we opened a dwell chat window with help. Regardless of telling us we have been #1 within the queue and could be speaking to somebody in 1-3 minutes, we really waited for 10 minutes. Though our query was purely concerning the product, the agent insisted on trying up our account particulars, which took one other six minutes. However lastly, they advised us there was no enhance on renewal. Month-to-month billing is pretty much as good worth because it appears to be like.
The annual plan does have a particular introductory worth of $2.49 a month for 12 months one, $4.17 on renewal. You possibly can pay by card, PayPal or financial institution switch, and there is a 30-day money-back assure if the service does not work out for you.
That is notably cheaper than the VPN heavyweights of ExpressVPN and NordVPN, though there are higher offers round, particularly when you're keen to join an extended contract. Non-public Web Entry costs solely $2.19 a month on its' three-year plan, as an example, and throws in easy antivirus without spending a dime.
Privateness and logging
Bitdefender Premium VPN seems to be a solely Bitdefender product – you pay them to make use of the service, it is powered by their software program – nevertheless it works by connecting to Hotspot Protect servers and utilizing the Hotspot Protect community. That does not matter in any respect whenever you're utilizing the service, nevertheless it's related whenever you're making an attempt to determine the service logging coverage, as a result of that is not underneath Bitdefender's management.
You possibly can see this in Bitdefender's very fundamental privacy policy, describing the information it makes use of:
"We collect for this service only randomly generated or hashed user and device IDs, IP addresses and randomly generated tokens to establish VPN connection for the sole purpose of providing the VPN service. For this service, we use AnchorFree as data processor who processes data on behalf of Bitdefender in accordance with Bitdefender's instructions and for the sole purpose of providing VPN services to users."
Not precisely useful. However as Hotspot Protect is processing the information, we checked its web site for more info.
The Hotspot Protect privacy policy explains, reassuringly, that there is not any monitoring of your web visitors or searching historical past. However there's more session logging than you would possibly count on, too, together with the recording of gadget identifiers, browser sorts, gadget settings, community info and more. This does not enable the corporate to see something of what you are doing on-line, nevertheless it's nonetheless greater than you may expertise with a lot of the competitors. Try our full Hotspot Protect evaluate when you're involved.
On the encryption entrance, Bitdefender's use of the Catapult Hydra protocol means it is not as clear the way you're protected as if, say, you are utilizing the open supply OpenVPN. Bitdefender has printed the default cipher suites utilized by Hydra, although, and they are much the identical mixture of AES-128/256 GCM as you may see with different VPNs, with the server refusing to attach if there's something weaker. (In the event you're curious, there's a bit more element on this user manual download [PDF] on the Bitdefender website.)
There are some Bitdefender privateness matters the place we may be clear, although. Once we rounded off this a part of the evaluate with some privateness checks, they introduced excellent news, as a number of take a look at websites have been unable to identify any DNS, WebRTC or different leaks.
Apps
Bitdefender's Home windows app is easy and largely simple, however with one or two surprises underneath the hood.
The interface is acquainted, with its giant blue Join button, the title of your presently chosen location, and, when you click on it, a listing of others to select from. That is about as fundamental as a location listing will get, although; there is a Search field, however no cities listed (international locations solely), and no server load figures or ping occasions that will help you select.
Helpful settings embrace choices to attach when Home windows begins, take fine-tuned management over product notifications, and enable a kill change to dam web visitors if the VPN drops.
A easy cut up tunneling system permits selecting web sites which you do not need to be directed by means of the VPN. May very well be useful, nevertheless it solely works for web sites – with most VPNs, there's cut up tunneling for apps.
Bitdefender Premium VPN will get more fascinating within the Auto-connect menu. In a click on or two you possibly can set Premium VPN to attach robotically whenever you launch a P2P app (or another utility you want), when you go to a particular web site, and even considered one of a number of classes of website (Monetary, Online Funds, {Health}, File Sharing, Online Relationship, Mature Content material). These are genuinely helpful options, and though we have seen one or two of them elsewhere – CyberGhost's App Safety can robotically join whenever you launch sure apps – nobody else has the complete set.
The shopper additionally helps a Darkish Mode, and is out there in some 20 languages.
It is all quite simple, and the core system labored largely as we hoped. Connection occasions have been speedy at 3-4 seconds, the shopper permits switching places with out having to shut the present connection, and desktop notifications let you know whenever you're protected, and whenever you're not.
As you'd count on from Bitdefender and Hotspot Protect, there is a high quality engine underneath the hood. It doesn't matter what sneaky methods we employed to shut the VPN connection, the shopper blocked our web visitors instantly and raised an alert.
It is a likeable setup, however we nonetheless seen one or two minor points. The situation listing has no Favorites or Not too long ago Used servers, as an example, for sooner reconnection to those.
Join utilizing the default Computerized mode to decide on the quickest location, and the app will not let you know which nation it is chosen (the show simply exhibits 'Computerized'). That issues, as we usually see VPNs select international locations distant from our actual location. To search out out, you will need to open the placement listing, scroll down and search for the nation marked 'Related'; hardly handy.
The earlier choice to robotically reconnect if the VPN drops has gone, too. The shopper warns you if the VPN fails, and the kill change ought to kick in when you've enabled it, however you may must reconnect manually.
There's a bit room for enchancment, then. However, realistically, if these are essentially the most important points we are able to discover in an app, it is doing very nicely.
Cellular apps
Bitdefender VPN's iOS app appears to be like and feels a lot the identical as its desktop cousin. Which means it is simply as straightforward to make use of, however shares the identical points: a fundamental location listing, no cities, little server info, and no Favorites system to assist lower down on the scrolling.
A handful of worthwhile settings consists of computerized connection whenever you entry public Wi-Fi, cut up tunneling for web sites and a kill change to guard you if the VPN drops. However notification management is more fundamental (see all notifications, or none), and you aren't getting any of the intelligent 'auto-connect if I entry a relationship website' stuff.
Even the built-in options are a bit underpowered. The 'auto-connect on public Wi-Fi' choice is an easy on/off change, as an example. One of the best apps additionally help whitelisting networks are protected, so the VPN does not kick in whenever you're at work, or your father or mother's home, say.
The Android app is a close to clone of the iOS model, however with a few welcome extras. Cut up tunneling for apps in addition to web sites permits setting some apps to make use of the VPN, and others to make use of your regular web connection. If it is arrived on Android, perhaps it will seem on different platforms quickly.
You get the choice to entry units in your native community whenever you're utilizing the VPN, too. That will not matter to a whole lot of customers, however it is going to be an actual comfort for some.
The cellular apps are superb for fundamental duties, which might be why they get exceptionally excessive consumer rankings (4.6 on Google Play, 4.7 on the Apple App Retailer, one of many highest mixed scores proper now). However we predict there's a whole lot of work to do earlier than they match the perfect of the competitors.
Netflix and streaming
Bitdefender sells Premium VPN largely for its encryption and anonymity advantages, however the web site claims it might additionally 'unlock media, movies and messaging from everywhere in the world.'
We related to the UK server, tried BBC iPlayer, and streamed content material with out issue. We reconnected and tried once more with two more IP addresses, and so they all acquired us in.
Bitdefender wasn't in a position to unblock US or UK-specific Netflix content material, although. Disappointing, because the VPN labored completely throughout our final evaluate.
And the dangerous news continued with our ultimate checks, as Bitdefender VPN additionally failed with Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus.
Efficiency
Bitdefender Premium was powered by the usual OpenVPN protocol, however that is now been changed by Hotspot Protect's Catapult Hydra, which expertise tells us could make a giant distinction. We ran our pace exams from UK and US places with a 1Gbps line, then checked our efficiency utilizing a number of benchmarking websites and applied sciences, together with SpeedTest.web's web site and official command line shopper, nPerf and SpeedOfme. All exams have been run in morning and night periods, then we labored by means of the information to calculate median speeds. UK outcomes have been beneath common at 150-160Mbps, however US speeds hit a way more acceptable 350-410Mbps. We won't let you know precisely what you may see, however the larger determine appears to be like more sensible to us. It is nearly equivalent to the pace we noticed within the final evaluate (340-410Mbps), and in the identical ballpark as Hotspot Protect's present figures (400-410Mbps). We would say that confirms Bitdefender Premium VPN is not some cut-down providing of the service; it actually does provide the similar Hotspot Protect-level of efficiency.
Though that is excellent news, Bitdefender nonetheless lags behind the perfect of the WireGuard-equipped VPNs. CyberGhost, IPVanish, NordVPN and Mozilla all managed downloads of 750Mbps and above.
Bitdefender Premium VPN evaluate: Closing verdict
Bitdefender Premium VPN is Hotspot Protect's little brother: it has only a few options, managed a comparatively poor unblocking efficiency, has a a lot smaller community, however doubtlessly very related efficiency for a far cheaper price. It does not have the ability for demanding customers, but when your necessities listing is actually 'low-cost, quick sufficient and a well-recognized title', it is a must-see.
- Additionally take a look at our roundup of the perfect VPN providers
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