PureVPN Review

PureVPN Review Summary

PureVPN is a VPN service that operates from the British Virgin Islands. They offer more than 6,500 servers in 140 different countries. With a huge network of available servers, they can offer a well-functioning service that meets users’ demands for speed and availability.

Overall, PureVPN ranks among our recommended services.

Recommendation

PureVPN has a huge selection of servers and a simple platform. The company has improved its speed since our first PureVPN test. With that, this is an absolutely approved service for us.

As far as we know, they are the only one of the major VPN providers with agreements on ongoing control from external audit firms (KPMG) that the no-logging policy is being adhered to. This is otherwise something that is very difficult to quality check in a test like this.

The fact that the company is based in Hong Kong and the ongoing political situation in the area is something that makes us a little concerned. We therefore hope that the company can carry out its intended relocation as soon as possible.

PureVPN Review

PureVPN is a popular VPN service and has many users. They offer a simple platform and high speed. Our PureVPN test shows that the company uses AES-25 6 ​​bit encryption and OpenVPN protocols,

They have had a history of somewhat unnecessary collection of user data. In recent times, they have shown a willingness to change this by advocating a heavily revised no-logging policy. They have also, as the only VPN provider, engaged external auditing companies to check that it is being complied with. The agreement means that the audit can carry out an unannounced inspection of the service at any time.

PureVPN has recently moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to the British Virgin Islands, where a number of other VPN providers are also based

Desktop The application is easy to use, with all the expected VPN functionalities. Kill Switch and other necessities are of course in place. They are also one of quite a few providers that can offer port forwarding.

The company also benefits from being able to offer 6,500 servers distributed over 140 different countries.

Below you will find our comprehensive PureVPN review where we have tested speed, security and functionality, as well as what you should think about before choosing PureVPN.

PureVPN Speed and Locations

There is no doubt that PureVPN is a fast VPN service . We tested both nearby servers and locations that were further away. As a starting point, our line without a VPN connection had a speed of 100 Mbps, after connecting to a nearby server we achieved speeds up to 90 mbps.

The result was thus a reduction of approx. 10%, which is not of any great importance to most people. A rule of thumb is that VPN services that reduce the speed by less than 10% are more than good enough for most types of use.

We also tested the long-distance speeds with a connection from our offices. Here we connected to servers in South Africa, Brazil, Japan and the USA, among other things. The speeds we achieved here were 86, 82, 71 and 69 mbps respectively. Here we were pleasantly surprised by how stable a connection PureVPN offers, even though we chose locations that were on completely different continents than our starting point.

Even so, it is important to note that we used our own connection as a starting point, which without VPN provides 100 mbps. If you have a lower online performance than this, the outcome with VPN will also be correspondingly lower. You may therefore find that it is difficult to use a VPN if you have a slow or unstable connection in the first place.

The company also scores highly on the number of servers available. Our PureVPN experiences show that the company offers more than 6,500 servers in 140 different countries. This means that you can mostly find a nearby server regardless of location.

PureVPN Logging Policy and Ownership

Previous PureVPN experiences have shown that the company collects far too much user data. This is something the company is now doing something about after several years of harsh criticism from users. The company has limited some of the information they collect, but they still collect;

• What days you connected
• Which server you use
• How long you stay connected
• How many times you connected
• Your internet provider
• Amount of data you have used through the server

On the positive side comes the company’s agreement on self-imposed subjection to regular controls by one of the world’s largest auditing companies, namely KPMG. The agreement means that KPMG can check without prior notice that PureVPN complies with its guarantees about the user’s anonymity.

Among other things, these reviews confirm that PureVPN does not log:

• the user’s own IP address
• the user’s assigned IP address
• the time the user connects to a VPN server
• which activities the user performs via the VPN connection

Until now, as far as we know, this is the only VPN provider that has submitted to the control of a third party.

PureVPN was previously based in Hong Kong, but has moved operations to the British Virgin Islands.

It is a good move considering the growing Chinese influence in the formerly independent state of Hong Kong. As is well known, VPNs provide security against monitoring internet activity, which the Chinese are no longer enthusiastic about.

In the British Virgin Islands, you will be free from interference and legislation from major powers such as China, the USA and the EU. It is reassuring considering that none of them can impose logging of or access to the users’ activities.

Security and Privacy

When it comes to security, our PureVPN test shows that the company has the basics in place. Among other things, they offer IKEv2 and OpenVPN protocols, as well as data encryption using AES-256 bit encryption. PureVPN also has the necessary Kill Switch feature integrated.

When it comes to more advanced functionality, we miss a bit.

The protocols PPTP, SSTP and L2PT were removed at the same time as the company updated its guidelines. PureVPN justifies this by saying that these are either outdated or, for reasons of rights, cannot be audited by a third party, as the company’s agreement with KPMG requires. However, this means that these protocols and associated adaptations are no longer available to users

Split tunnel is available for WIndows, Android and Android TV.

Port forwarding is an important function that is not included in the standard subscription. However, it can be purchased as an add-on service for $0.50 per month. This is otherwise a service that is integrated for free in almost all premium VPN solutions.

Security Features

• DNS Leak Blocking
• IPV6 Leak Blocking
• WebRTC Leakage Blocking
• VPN Kill Switch

PureVPN Streaming Services & Torrenting

PureVPN can therefore offer more than 6,500 servers in 140 different countries. However, far from all of these can be used for torrenting.

PureVPN no longer has dedicated servers specifically for streaming. In contrast, the normal servers are optimized so that they can be used for this purpose. In this sense, it is no longer necessary for users to have to choose a server before streaming.

On a positive note, all UK servers provide full access to BBC iPlayer, and all US servers unlock US Netflix. However, when we tested more international Netflix libraries, we were only able to access Australia, Brazil, Japan and the UK.

As for other streaming services, PureVPN can provide access to ABC, Amazon Prime, ESPN, HULU and Sky TV.

For Torrenting, PureVPN is simply a bad option. Out of 140 available countries, only 57 have servers with P2P use available. There is a long distance between the available servers which means that many users will experience very poor speed.

There has also been an unfortunate episode where the FBI was able to identify a PureVPN user by using IP addresses from the company to locate him. Such incidents are hopefully history with an even stronger consolidated no-logging policy and regular external checks.

How much does PureVPN cost?

As with the other reviews, our PureVPN review can report a very traditional payment structure. It gets cheaper the longer you subscribe. Among other things, you can choose to take out a subscription for one month without a commitment period of $10.95, 1 year at $4.16 per month, or two years at the low price of $2.91 per month. As usual, it is worth noting that in order to take advantage of the large discounts, the entire amount must be paid in advance.

There is some functionality you have to pay extra for. Among other things, Port Forwarding costs $0.99 per month, dedicated IP address $1.50 per month and DDoS protection $2.00 per month. If you want a safe and full-fledged VPN, the lowest price will therefore quickly approach $10 per month even with a two-year plan.

PureVPN on Different Devices

Chances are that PureVPN has a dedicated application for your operating system. They support Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android and Linux, among others. In addition, our PureVPN Test has included the company’s DD-WRT router application. Very few VPN players have a dedicated router application, but PureVPN is one of them. As soon as you have installed it, you get access to the VPN dashboard directly in your router login.

Unfortunately for Linux users, PureVPN is a very flawed and poor service regardless of which Distro you use. We would go so far as to say that if you use Linux, you should go for something other than PureVPN.

However, we were pleasantly surprised when our PureVPN experiences showed that the company has functional applications for AppleTV, Nintendo, Xbox, Amazon Fire TV, Playstation, Chromecast and Roku. There are not particularly many VPN services that can offer such a wide range of applications tailored to different platforms.

PureVPN also has browser extension available for Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox. The availability of PureVPN is thus without a doubt among the best we have seen.

PureVPN Ease of use

On usability, PureVPN is easy to use. All the platforms use a simple and clear design, which in some cases is a bit tasteless. There is nothing special about PureVPN’s platform, but when there is also a lot of functionality missing on all platforms, it is difficult to see what you are actually paying for.

Installation is straightforward and on very few devices we experienced any challenges. You simply download the software from the website and within a few keystrokes it is ready for use. Windows and MacOS are somewhat more adaptable than the other solutions, but we still miss more advanced options and room for customization in the application.

Customer Service

PureVPN offers a full-fledged customer service that is available 24/7. When we contacted customer service, they always maintained a polite and professional tone, but they could not always assist with the knowledge of more advanced technical issues. Compared to other premium players, customer service can therefore appear somewhat lacking in knowledge, but the company makes up for this with its huge library of step-by-step guides.

Namely, you can find hundreds of step-by-step guides for each individual platform and pretty much every technical issue you can think of. This way, you can quickly look up a specific problem and get a detailed solution on how to correct the error again. We found the guides easy to follow and it was a big plus that they all contained detailed pictures for each step.

Why Choose Pure VPN

With its capacity, speed and features, PureVPN is definitely a service we can vouch for.

Whether PureVPN stands up to the dominant VPN services on the world market is another question.

There is a restriction on torrents, which means that the service is not the optimal choice in this particular area. Otherwise, it is quite superb technically.

The introduction of controls to ensure that the company fulfills its guarantees of “no logging” of users and their activities and that anonymity is ensured in a satisfactory manner is, on the other hand, a good sign. So is the decision to move the business from Hong Kong to the British Virgin Islands.

It suggests that this is a service that will be the best on VPN, and that gives hope for the future.