In this century, our lives revolve so much around the internet; better put, we can’t simply do without it. Everyone needs the internet, but there’s something that scares me, and that’s people prying on my personal information.

I have been able to protect my identity online from hackers, advertisers, and the government by using VPNs.

Over the years, I have tried many VPN options, and I believe Hide.me is one of the most reliable options on the market today.

Hide.me is a fast and reliable VPN software that can be used on any device or application software. There are so many features that it has that make me qualify it as the best.

For a very good VPN, you’ll expect that the pricing would be expensive, but MindMe pricing is affordable and unbelievable.

The most important things to pay attention to in deciding what VPN to use are the features and the pros and cons. In this review, I’ll take you through everything that you need to know about MindMe VPN.

About Hide.me VPN

Hide.me VPN is a Malaysian VPN provider that was founded in 2012 by Sebastian Schaub, who has been working in the internet security sector for over a decade now.

Hide.me VPN has excellent security, fast speed, and full leak protection. The headquarters of Hide.me is in Malaysia, and they operate outside a group of countries known as the Five Eyes, the United States, Canada, China, Australia, and New Zealand.

It has extensive industry-standard security features that help you protect your privacy online and IP address without leaving you with any doubts. Aside from the high-end security features, it has good streaming support and very easy, intuitive apps.

With Hide.me VPN, you can bypass any form of censorship and access any website without having to break the bank. Another amazing feature of this company is the extent of their servers.

They have about 2300 servers in 85 countries. Active subscribers are using the VPN in the same number of countries where their servers are present.

The VPN supports a wide range of platforms and devices such as:

• Windows
• macOS
• Android
• iPhone
• Ipad
• Linux
• Amazon Fire TV
• Smart TVs
• Game consoles
• Routers

You can also access it on browsers such as Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox. Their major aim is to ensure digital privacy, giving you access to surf the internet while keeping your IP address and location safe and preventing you from being seen by the ISP.

You are assured of proper encryption of your data by securing your internet connection whether you are at home, work, or in public.

Hide.me VPN Pros and Cons

Every product made by a company has its advantages and downsides. It is very important that you know the two sides, which would help you weigh your options and also aid your decision-making process when deciding what VPN company to invest in. Hide.me VPN has its pros and cons, which I’ll be stating one after the other in the section based on my review.

Pros

• A Simple User Interface: The desktop app has a straightforward and user-friendly interface. All I do when I open the app is click on the enable VPN button on the homepage to activate the VPN, and then I head to the location to choose whatever location I want to connect to. I love that the settings are easy to navigate. Another thing that amuses me is the ability to switch protocols easily without having to do a deep search for them.
• Secure and Tested Product: The quality of the service of Hide.me is top-notch, such that you are sure of protection even when you use the free version, Hide.me has great security features, which include a no-log policy, AES-256 encryption, and many more. They have a kill switch feature that ends all internet connections when the VPN server disconnects. There’s also a stealth guard feature that opens you to an option to enforce VPN-only connections in all your online internet connections.
• Unlimited Bandwidth with a Reasonable Data Cap: When I started using the free version of this VPN company, I realized that there is a whopping 10GB monthly limit, which is perfect for most users that aren’t gaming, streaming, or downloading a lot of things from the internet. The 10GB would allow you to view about 700 YouTube videos and browse the web for 4 hours. Hide.me VPN also has unlimited bandwidth, which gives you access to faster speeds while still under the 10GB limit.
• Good Free Version: Many other VPNs I have tried have a very shallow free version that automatically propels you to go for the paid version, but that’s not the case in the free version of Hide.me VPN. The free version has many features that you need for basic internet security: secured encryption, unlimited bandwidth, speed performance, and a reasonable monthly data limit. There are other important features in the paid version, but the free version is quite substantial and can help you protect your IP address online optimally.
• Unblocks Most StreamingPlatforms: Hide.me VPN unblocks geo-restricted videos with ease. It allows you to use several streaming platforms, such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Amazon Prime, and Disney, without restrictions.
• IP and DNS Leak Protection: Hide. I VPN takes extra lengths to make sure that your IP address is protected via strong leak protection. Once your device or platform is connected to the VPN, the app will delete the normal local gateway to your internet connection, thus making your mIP address inaccessible.
• 10 Simultaneous Users: The premium plan of Hide.me VPN allows i10 users to use unlimited data traffic and 10 devices simultaneously on one account using the same login details. This doesn’t reduce speed performance or expose the online activity of the people sharing the account; the internet connection of the 10 users is safe and secure.

Cons

• Server Limitation: This is a major setback. I got tired while using the VPN. When using the free version, you can only connect to five servers per time, whereas in the paid version, you have unlimited access to a full list of servers to choose from. This really comes up when trying to bypass geo-blocking while using streaming platforms. If you lack some servers, you might not be able to connect to a VPN server base in that country.
• Slow Connection Speed on the Free Version: Yes, the free version has a relatively good connection speed, but the reality of the compromise of the internet speed becomes more glaring when you check the download speed before and after using the VPN. With this VPN, there is a reduction in the download speed when you use the free version of this VPN as compared with not using the VPN.
• Data Usage Restrictions: I mentioned earlier that the free version gives you a reasonable data cap of 10GB per month, which would allow a few downloads and a maximum of 4 hours of surfing the net. This already gives a restriction on the things that you can do when using the free version of the VPN company. For maximal effectiveness on the internet, I suggest you get the paid version.
• One Simultaneous Connection for the Cheapest Plan: The free version and the cheapest plan on Hide.me iVPN allows just one simultaneous connection, and that is not so exciting. Other VPNs give you about three to five connections on their basic plans. To unlock five possible connections on Hide.me, you’ll have to pay for the premium plan, which might not be so convincing since other features that you need are present in other plans.

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Hide.me VPN Core Features: What Are the Things You Get on Hide.me VPN?

Considering the slow download and the cons of the free version, it is just safe to go with other VPNs, but in my experience so far using the Hide.me VPN company, their spectrum of features is one reason to stick with them. The highlight is that you don’t need to have any prior tech experience to use the app because it is easy to use.

 Here are some of the macing features of Hide.me VPN:

Fast Proxy Bolt

Hide.me VPN has a superfast proxy available mostly on Windows. This acceleration technology sends traffic through TCP and not UDP.

This proxy feature significantly increases your download and upload speeds.

The bolt feature is still under development, so you might notice some inconsistencies, but it is very essential if you want to boost your VPN speed.

IPv6 Support

The internet uses an internet protocol version 4, giving a possibility that the IPv4 addresses will become obsolete at some point.

In light of that, in preparation for the new version that will be generated in the future, Hide.me VPN is already compatible with IPv6, the newer and more standard version. Right now, when you connect with any server, they all have IPv4 and IPv6 compatibility.

With the IPv6 compatibility, you have an IPv6 address when you connect to the VPN. you also get a potentially higher download speed for every outgoing connection. The IPv4 compatibility of the VPN normally allows for extra encryption, and with that, you are safe.

Mobile Support

Hide.me VPN is a user-friendly platform with many easy-to-use features. The VPN service is not restricted to a single device or platform. They offer apps for Android, iPhone macOS, and Windows devices.

In recent times, they have provided apps for Amazon Fire devices, Netflix and Prime Video. You can also install this VPN’s browser extension on Chrome and Firefox, ensuring your IP address is changed. Although it does not use the same means to encrypt your traffic as the normal VPN app.

Multihop

There is a possibility of double VPN functionalities (connecting through two or more VPN users instead of one); this is referred to as multihop. Hide.me VPN has a version of it, although setting it up won’t be easy because it isn’t included in the apps.

The way it works is first by going to the app to set up one connection. Doing it on your device, you might have to add a manual connection for the other devices that need to be connected.

 You can also set the connection using a router and then connect through the app itself.

Zero Log Services

Hide.me VPN doesn’t request your personal information when you are subscribing to the app. The only details needed for registration are your email, and that is all. Also, they don’t pry into you surfing online or keep a log of your activity online.

All bandwidth connection logs are erased every few hours, and the logs are kept alongside IP addresses or timestamps. It is possible to track your bandwidth use, but it is non-invasive, and it’s not a concern.

This VPN company has also joined the 12iCoalition VPN Trust Initiative, showing its honest intentions for its users’ privacy and security once again.

Smartguard

Hide.me VPN now comes with an ad blocker feature which is called smartguard. It removes ads as well as trackers and majorly protects you from malware. It also has a parental filter such that you filter what you want to be visible to your kids on the internet.

Also, you can customize it by using toggles to choose what you should block and what you shouldn’t.

Some tests have been carried out on some websites to determine the effectiveness of the smart guard, and with the various methods tried, the Smartguard blocked all the ads from pop-up videos and other ads.

Split Tunneling

Hide.me has a very good split tunneling tool. Split tunneling helps you direct certain apps through your VPN and allows some to go through your local internet service provider. This enables you to improve your p2p speed and also provides convenience.

This feature allows you to include and exclude apps from your VPN tunnel. Split tunneling makes it possible to use websites using a VPN and still stream or play a game via your local ISP. The split tunneling feature has private internet access that allows you to split tunnel websites as well as apps.

Stealth Guard

Stealth guard is a new feature of Hide.me VPN that offers the services of skill switch and split tunneling at the same time. This feature allows you to choose the apps and internet connections that aid your selection of apps that will work only if connected to the VPN.

It goes way beyond split tunneling such that once the connection between the VPN server and device is disconnected, the apps selected to work only with the VPN will be shut off.

This helps make the torrenting way easier, such that if your VPN disconnects while torrenting and the app is added on stealth guard, the torrent client would also be disabled automatically.

Wireguard

This is one of the most important parts of the Hide.me VPN tunneling suite. The average download speed drops about 40%, while the upload speeds drop only by 45%. This isn’t far from softEther, which isn’t encryption-focused.

With Wireguard, you are not sacrificing your encryption to get very fast download and upload speeds. With this feature, Hide.me VPN has viable options as regards secure tunneling protocols. The speeds are consistent with no server drop in location.

Kill switch

This feature enables instant termination of internet access if your VPN connection drops. Basically, this prevents data leaks and makes this feature the core goal of this VPN.

There is a firewall responsible for this activity that limits internet connectivity to the VPN server. So immediately the connection goes off, the kill switch detects it and keeps you safe by ceasing internet connectivity.

Hide.me VPN Pricing

Hide.me VPN has a free version that is accessible to everyone and also consists of several features that are reasonable. Aside from the free version, Hide.me has three pricing plans that vary distinctly from one another.

The pricing plans available in Hide.me VPN company are as follows:

• One Month Plan: This plan costs $9.9 and is billed monthly. The rate per month is quite expensive, but it is very flexible, easy to pay, and also allows you to cancel or renew the subscription whenever you want to. Allows only a single simultaneous connection, has only 8 locations, and also restricted speed.
• Three Months Plan: This plan costs $15 per six months, which is about $5.00 per month. This culminated in about 25% off the price for the monthly subscription paid in 6 months. It’s way cheaper than the one-month plan, but it requires a long commitment, so you don’t have the option to cancel the subscription till after 3 months. It has the same perks as the one-month plan.
• 17-Month Plan: This plan costs $49.00 for a whole 17 months, which results in $2.88 per month. This plan includes a 3-month free bonus. This plan helps you save more than 50% of the actual fee per month. 

Most subscribers use this plan because it is way cheaper than the aforementioned plans, and it is very reasonable. Although it requires a lot of patience and commitment because you’re stuck with it till the end of the subscription. 

There are other perks, such as 10 simultaneous connections, unlimited data traffic, and dynamic port forwarding. These three plans allow any device or platform. The number of devices you have vs the number of devices that can be connected per time depends on the plan, but you can get about 10 connections in the 17-month plan.

A 30-day money-back guarantee covers the three plans, so you can use Hodememe VPN risk-free. You also have access to multiple payment options to pay for your plan, such as credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, and others.

Hide.me Privacy and Security

Hide.me VPN takes privacy as a priority. The app is full of advanced features that privacy-conscious users will enjoy, such as the first-party DNS servers. I found Hide.me’s privacy logging policy is very helpful because it encompasses the data the company gathers, how it goes about gathering it, and what the data is used for.

Hide.me collects very personal information from its users, in fact, as minute as just your email address. As stated in the policy, they do not request your name, IP address, or any other personal information.

The company keeps no log of your activities online. They don’t monitor the sites you visit, try to log through your IP address, or even try to timestamp your connection.

Hide.me is a Malaysian product which automatically exempts it from 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances. They are a group of countries that share surveillance data. This allows hide.me to publish an annual transparency report with a detailed explanation of how many data-sharing requests are not received from the government.

All of the time when this report has been released, Hide.me has been seen not to disclose any data to the government.

Although they help you keep a record of traffic, they also help you keep some troubleshooting information, such as clients’ randomly generated usernames and internally assigned IP addresses, but they delete the information every few hours.

In addition to this, Hide.me has been audited by DefenseCode, which most VPN companies have taken to prove their privacy and security bona fides to customers.

Another amusing feature of Hide.me’s privacy is the absence of trackers on the websites I used it for. Well, a high number of trackers doesn’t imply something bad, but the absence of any evidence that the privacy of the VPN company is very strong.

Hide.me Performance

A VPN company’s performance is one of the important things that users do when choosing the best VPN for their devices. To appreciate the performance of this VPN, I ran some tests. In all, I can say that Hide.me VPN might not be the best of the best, but it’s a great choice of VPN.

 Here are the tests I did and the findings that I got:

Speed

I ran a series of speed tests on my PC that uses Windows 10, using all the servers in the countries that Hide.me has. I did this to determine my average VPN speed. The fastest speed I had was on a local server in the US.

Also, I tried connecting to distant servers in Australia, Germany, France, and the UK; while I was connected, I got the fastest speeds for streaming, browsing, and torrenting.

The first thing I did was run a speed test without connecting to the VPN server to get the baseline speed of my ISP.

After that, I connected to Hide.me VPN server using the quick connect feature, and it connected to my location, and this was the speed I got.

This convinced me that hide.me VPN provided fast speeds. When I used a nearby server, the speed was still the same. I was able to load HD videos on YouTube, and it did not buffer when I skipped through them.

I also tried distant servers away from my location, and I only discovered about a 5% slowdown, which is not bad at all. Still, with the same server, I downloaded heavy torrents very fast, and HD videos load very fast.

Also, for streaming, Hide.me VPN has proven to be a great choice. It made it easy for me to watch content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or BBC iPlayer. This VPN bypasses geo-restrictions, allowing me access to any content across the globe.

While exploring these streaming platforms, I didn’t encounter any buffering issues. I love that I can use whatever streaming platforms I like without having to compromise on quality and speed.

Reliability

A stable connection to a VPN without interruptions or several disconnections is an important feature that good VPNs have because an absence can literally be frustrating. I tested the connection time of this VPN, and in about 98% of my trials, the connection was very good.

The wire guard gets you online in a split second. The app doesn’t appear to have a connection timeout, although there might be a hitch once in a while. In summary, the connection is very smooth; the app also makes good use of notifications to keep you informed about what it’s doing, like whether you are protected at the moment or not.

Another great feature that reinforces this reliability is the multi-shop feature. hide .me. It allows you to choose an entry and exit server such that websites or hackers think you’re in a particular place, preventing them from linking the activity on that website to your account.

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Hide.me VPN Customer Support

Hide.me VPN is one of the most reliable VPN services in the market. Their services are really good, and we have exhausted that to an extent in this review. The app has strong customer support, so you are not left to figure out what to do when there are troubleshooting issues or when you need information on how to manage your account.

From my own experience, hide.me VPN has one of the best customer services. They offer a wealth of knowledge that gives you everything that you need to know as regards the VPN.

They have a 24/7 live chat, which is an easy and fast way to reach out to the support team. You can get access to this live chat when you click the help button on the homepage.

This live chat connects you with a friendly and vast agent who can help answer questions about any challenge you are facing on the app or any other information that you may need. The live chat is available throughout the day, so you can reach out whenever you need to.

Another support route is the support email, where you can send emails and expect a reply in a couple of hours. Another option is to create a support ticket on the app or website to contact direct support.

You’ll have to fill in a form on the website to create a support ticket. It might also take a few hours for you to get a response. I suggest you try this method if you have exhausted the two aforementioned options and didn’t get a satisfying reply.

There is a blog that contains knowledge base articles that are available on Hide.me VPN website that you can expose yourself to. These articles contain frequently asked questions, how to navigate the app and basic help with troubleshooting.

You can also join their community consisting of users. This platform allows you to share your problems and also get possible solutions from users who have dealt with that same issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Hide.me VPN’s amazing features, visible efforts on privacy, and great performance earned the company the right to be classified as one of the best VPNs globally. From its IP leak protection to its fast speed, well-functioning kill switch, multihop feature, and widespread servers.

Hide.me VPN has a track record of protecting its user’s online presence with little or no glitches. Regardless of whatever you might need a VPN for, you can trust Hide.me VPN to give a user-friendly, privacy-focused solution that is worth the investment you put into it.