Speedify is the most recent VPN to catch my attention. As a result, I decided to test and review this service in order to validate what it claims to provide its users. Speedify, as the name implies, claims to be faster than any other VPN service available today. Furthermore, Speedify emphasizes its role as a VPN for live streaming.
How true is it that the majority of its features are designed to create a stable and fast connection? Whatever the answer, I can confirm that its security falls short and that it fails to unblock most streaming services. However, this VPN provider prioritizes speed over security.
Although Speedify appears to be a suitable VPN with a proprietary protocol, top-notch security measures, fast speeds, and user-friendly applications for popular operating systems, my further evaluations revealed several flaws. Because Speedify mentions such a large game, I decided to put it to the test and see if their chosen name is justified.
Continue reading as I investigate the Speedify VPN service with you, highlighting additional key features that are either hits or misses.
About Speedify VPN
Speedify is a VPN service provider based in the United States that is owned by Connectify Inc. It was founded by a team of Connectify experts in 2014 as a channel-bonding service and evolved into a full-fledged VPN in 2016.
Speedify is not Connectify’s first software product; the company previously used Kickstarter to develop its applications and received funding from In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm affiliated with organizations such as the CIA, DIA, NGA, and the broader intelligence community.
Speedify has servers in 50+ countries and 50+ locations. Business users can also access dedicated servers with static IP addresses. Unfortunately, Speedify does not support unblocking geo-restricted streaming services such as Netflix. They also frown on torrenting, but it is permitted on a small number of servers.
This VPN bills itself as the “fastest VPN on the market,” which is understandable given its lofty name. It also places a strong emphasis on increasing live streams, video conferencing, and other similar activities. I’ve never seen a VPN as ambitious as Speedify. It’s jam-packed with cutting-edge features and optimization tools. However, it has a slew of crippling flaws that render it practically useless.
While Speedify employs a solid proprietary protocol that supports both AES-128 and ChaCha20 ciphers, its privacy policies could be improved, given that it logs user information and is based in the United States. Given its high prices, Speedify must excel at a variety of tasks in order to be considered one of the best VPNs available today. Can its advanced tools overcome some obvious flaws? I’m not going to be the judge.
Speedify VPN Pros and Cons
Pros
- Parades standard features
- Supplies reliable internet connection
- Grants Netflix access
- Supplies lightning-fast speeds
Cons
- Untrusted traffic encryption
- Logs too much user information
- Lacks security elements
- Data encryption off button
- Can’t access most streaming sites
- Located in the US
- High costs
- Unstable in China
Read Also our Full reviews:
Speedify VPN Core Features: How Will Speedify VPN Benefit You?
Speedify has an impressive feature set and a commendable innovative design. However, it is important to note that the majority of its unique features come at the expense of decreased security. The following are some of the benefits of signing up for Speedify.
Channel Bonding Technology
This feature allows you to select one of three “channel bonding modes,” which determine how fast or stable your connection should be. This feature combines two or more internet connections to increase speed. This feature, however, will only work if you use multiple internet connections, such as Ethernet, WiFi, and mobile.
The cool thing about this channel bonding technology is that it always ensures that all connections are uniform. There are three main options: speed, redundancy, and streaming. The “Speed” option distributes internet traffic evenly and without lags across multiple connections. The “Redundant” mode manages the same data packets across all available internet connections, ensuring total stability.
The “Streaming” mode is the default mode, and it toggles between modes of operation. It also enables Speedify to make full use of multiple connections, resulting in much faster connection speeds. When it detects a drop in internet connection quality, it also switches to “Redundant” mode.
Jumbo MTU
Speedify also has a “Jumbo MTU” feature that reduces CPU strain, as well as “Header Compression,” which helps to reduce overall data usage. These are Speedify-only features, and no other VPN allows users to toggle such unique options.
DNS Leak and IPv6 Protection
Speedify claims to offer both DNS and IPv4 leak protection, which, if true, can help keep your ISP from tracking your online activity and jeopardizing your privacy. The VPN claims to provide IPv6 leak protection, but my testing revealed it is extremely leaky.
Kill Switch
Speedify’s kill switch feature should automatically shut down your Internet connection if your VPN session is breached.
However, whether this works that way or not, we will find out. Ordinarily, this feature should help prevent your online activity from being exposed to your ISP or any other third party.
Optimized Live Streaming and Video Conferencing
Speedify VPN also claims to prioritize live streams and video conferencing traffic over other network traffic, resulting in a more stable and smoother experience. Speedify’s Streaming mode accomplishes this by dynamically selecting the best way to send and receive traffic over your available Internet connections.
Encryption
Speedify claims to have secure encryption for recent phones and computers; the VPN uses AES256-GCM encryption, which takes advantage of AES hardware support built into modern CPUs. If true, this should provide strong encryption to protect against unauthorized access and data breaches. Speedify claims that the ChaCha encryption cipher secures data on older devices that do not support hardware acceleration for AES.
Unlimited Server Switches, Bandwidth, and Data
Speedify boasts that it allows users to connect to any server, switch servers anytime, and use as much data as they need without limitations. If true, this could be a useful feature for users who need to transfer large files, stream in 4K, or switch between locations frequently to access geo-restricted content.
Protocols
Speedify VPN employs a proprietary security protocol rather than common protocols such as OpenVPN. The VPN supports connections via UDP, TCP, and HTTPS, allowing you to select the mode of transport that provides the fastest connection. This feature improves the performance of activities like streaming, multiple connections, and velocity optimization.
Automatic Failover
To ensure the security of your data, Speedify VPN automatically switches to a different connection if one fails.
Bypass
If certain services are inaccessible while using a VPN, the Bypass feature can be enabled. This feature is available on streaming sites as well as Android services such as Android Auto, VoLTE, and Visual Voicemail.
Overall, Speedify VPN provides basic security tools but falls short of advanced features, such as split tunneling, in my opinion. This may be a significant disadvantage for users who require greater security and flexibility from their VPN service. While the product includes some useful tools, it does not provide a complete solution.
Speedify VPN Pricing
Speedify is a free VPN service that also offers paid plans, as do most other free VPNs. Its paid plans aren’t the most affordable, and you can get a much better deal by using a low-cost VPN service like Private Internet Access. But first, let’s take a look at its free plan.
Speedify Free Plan
The free version of Speedify has a monthly data allowance of 2GB. If you upgrade, you will have access to “premium locations,” but this is false. Free users have access to the same locations as paid users, though specific servers within a location may be unavailable due to high demand. The free plan, however, is not available on Linux.
Speedify VPN Paid Plans
Speedify’s paid version includes unlimited data and three plans: Individuals, Families, and Teams. You can sign up for a month, a year, or three years, with longer subscriptions providing larger discounts.
The Individual plan costs about $15 per month, which is more than ExpressVPN, a premium VPN.
The yearly plan reduces that cost by half, and the three-year plan reduces it to around $5 per month. In comparison, NordVPN charges the same for a one-year commitment and is even cheaper for a two-year commitment.
The Families plan allows you to have five users with five device connections each, but it is quite pricey at $7.50 per month for a three-year subscription.
The Teams plan includes a few business-oriented features, most notably a dedicated IP address, but you must pay extra to use the dedicated server option. The Teams plan is only available on a monthly or yearly basis, and it costs around $6.30 per user per month.
In addition to the free plan, Speedify provides a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are dissatisfied with your purchase. On iOS, you can also get a seven-day free trial, but not on Android.
Read Also our Full reviews:
Speedify VPN’s Privacy and Security
Privacy and Security
The provider claims to collect minimal information and does not monitor or record user activity, but its location in the US (part of the 5-Eyes Alliance) raises concerns about government surveillance.
There is also evidence of previous data breaches and security breaches.
Furthermore, based on online discussions, there is some evidence that Speedify VPN leaked data on two separate occasions.
Speedify was one of 16 VPNs that leaked private data in 2018, according to TechRepublic. It is worth noting that the free version of Speedify was tested, though I recognize that this is no excuse for any data leaks.
Furthermore, the report concentrated heavily on a few well-known VPNs, suggesting that it was a marketing ploy.
Furthermore, several years ago, a Reddit user claimed that Speedify leaked their data, including their social media and email accounts. Although there is no concrete evidence that Speedify is to blame, I would advise caution. This leaked data includes, among other things, connection timestamps, IP addresses, data volume transmitted, email addresses, and device identification numbers.
This information can be linked to your identity, jeopardizing your anonymity. Speedify operates within the jurisdiction of the United States, specifically within the geographic boundaries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where there are no statutory mandates requiring the collection of data. Nonetheless, revealing user information in specific situations is a common practice among US-based companies.
Speedify also works with TOR, which provides a safe way to access the dark web. You can anonymize your web activities, experience faster speeds on the TOR network, and protect your data from surveillance by combining Speedify and TOR.
If your privacy is important to you, I would advise against using Speedify because your data could be shared with the government. Instead, I recommend ExpressVPN, which has a comprehensive set of privacy features and is based in the British Virgin Islands, which is exempt from the Five Eyes Alliance and has no internet surveillance regulations.
Speedify only supports Channel Bonding as a VPN protocol. Because it isn’t a standard protocol, determining its true security is difficult.
Speedify VPN Performance
Speed
Speedify performed exceptionally well in my testing, with the server in Copenhagen exhibiting superior stability. In contrast, the server located in the United Kingdom performed slower than other international servers. It is possible to experience latency when using applications that require intricate applications, such as gaming, depending on the server you choose and where you are.
Speed Test Results
Speedify, as the name suggests, offers fast VPN services. My initial internet speed was 60Mbps before I started using this platform. Following a series of thorough assessments, I determined that the average speed increased by 8.3% to 65Mbps, proportional to the initial speed of 60Mbps.
I looked at local and remote servers to see if there was a significant decrease in velocity. Across all servers, I did not notice a drop in speed greater than 10Mbps. The download speed from the servers in Sydney and Copenhagen was 68Mbps, while the download speed from the server in Florida was 56Mbps. The most distant server, located in Tokyo, demonstrated exceptional stability at 67Mbps.
The servers’ high speed enabled the seamless streaming of high-definition video on 5 concurrent devices. The lack of latency throughout the process ensured smooth and uninterrupted viewing. Furthermore, an hour-long video conferencing session and concurrent computer gaming did not result in any instances of disconnection or lag, demonstrating the servers’ robust performance.
Gaming
In my evaluation of Speedify’s suitability for gaming, I observed fast speeds but also an unacceptable level of latency. When I connected to the server with the fastest connectivity, I recorded download speeds of up to 50 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps. Unfortunately, the latency levels were far from acceptable, exceeding the acceptable threshold of 120 milliseconds.
The most important requirement for a superior online gaming experience is low latency, which Speedify does not meet. I would recommend ExpressVPN because it has robust servers capable of providing low-ping connections with consistently lower latency, even when connecting to servers located in remote locations.
Network Servers
According to its website, Speedify operates an unspecified number of servers in over 30 countries and 50 cities. When I asked the support team for a more precise number of servers, I was told that this information is considered confidential and cannot be disclosed. This approach differs from the openness displayed by other VPN services, and in my opinion, it can harm their credibility.
Speedify offers dedicated servers to Team users, which include corporations, businesses, and organizations. This is done to ensure a consistent IP address and to improve internet speed. The servers are spread across six continents, giving users plenty of options for streaming, torrenting, and gaming.
North America has the second most servers, with 14, 12 of which are in the United States and two in Canada. With 26 server locations, Europe has the most. Asia has eight servers, Africa has two, and Oceania has three. It should be noted that the provider does not use any physical servers.
One of Speedify VPN’s distinguishing features is its ability to allow users to select specific servers from a dropdown menu for each country, which is a rare offering among VPNs and much appreciated by users. The client’s “Fastest Server” option will select the server closest to you, but if it is overcrowded, you may experience slow connectivity.
Speedify VPN Unblocks Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max
Speedify VPN fall short of providing access to geo-restricted content from other regions. It does, however, have a “Bypass” feature that allows you to watch local versions of popular streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disne+, Hulu, HBO Max, and so on.
This means Speedify will temporarily disable its security so you can watch these shows directly. Keep in mind that this isn’t a way to watch restricted content but rather a way to watch specific shows.
Speedify also has a Streaming Mode that is designed to improve live streaming and video calls. The software analyzes the differences between audio and video streams and adjusts how they are streamed in real time. This is accomplished through the use of a sophisticated algorithm that evaluates the speed and dependability of your internet connection.
Despite these constraints, testing revealed that it could access three of six streaming platforms. Netflix and HBO Max were both successfully unblocked, allowing me to watch my favorite TV shows in high quality. Hulu was also available, but only through a single server in Northern Virginia. It would not, however, work with Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, or BBC iPlayer.
Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and BBC iPlayer: Blocked
Speedify VPN was unable to access Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, or BBC iPlayer during testing. Even experimenting with different servers resulted in the same error messages. If Speedify doesn’t unblock the sites you want — for example, if you’re traveling or your ISP has blocked certain sites — an alternative VPN may be preferable.
If you want to unblock every popular streaming site while still enjoying lightning-fast speeds, I recommend ExpressVPN. It’s never been a problem for me to use it to unblock all popular streaming services and catch up on my favorite shows.
Torrenting
Speedify’s technical staff has confirmed the establishment of a server in the Netherlands dedicated to peer-to-peer file transfers. I tested this server by downloading materials that are not protected by copyright and found it to be extremely efficient for the intended use.
I strongly advise against using Speedify for torrenting because the risk of IP exposure to law enforcement entities is significantly increased. A better solution would be to consider using alternative VPNs with higher levels of privacy protocols. For example, CyberGhost operates in a jurisdiction that allows torrenting, providing a safer environment for downloading and reducing the risk of malware threats.
Unstable in China
Using Speedify within the geopolitical boundaries of China is a risk due to the strict regulations and firewalls that surround VPN usage. I was unable to validate this personally through direct experimentation, but I did seek clarification from the customer support team. According to the team, while some customers have had success using Speedify, others have had difficulties.
Device Connections
Speedify allows you to connect up to 5 devices at once, and connecting to all of them at once will not result in significant speed reductions. When I tested its speeds while connected to two Android phones, two Windows laptops, and a Mac, my speeds dropped by only 2-3Mbps. It wasn’t enough to notice any difference in quality or speed when I watched Tiger King on my Netflix US account on any of the devices.
Device Compatibility
Speedify works with all major technology platforms and operating systems, including macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and Linux. However, it should be noted that the free trial does not support the Linux platform. You must have Windows 7 or higher, macOS 10.12 or higher, iOS & iPadOS 10 or higher, Android 5.0 or higher, or Linux: Ubuntu & Raspberry Pi OS to download Speedify.
I ran all of my tests on my Windows 10 device. Speedify’s usability on this system was satisfactory. Speedify’s channel bonding protocol is designed to allow for seamless integration, allowing me to maintain high speeds despite sharing my mobile WiFi connection with my PC.
Read Also our Full reviews:
Is Speedify VPN Easy to Use?
Speedify VPN’s offerings are not intended for novice users, which is not necessarily a bad thing because not all VPNs must cater to those new to the technology. However, the client may become overwhelmed by all of the options, menus, and additional information.
The main window contains a lot of superfluous information and a small on/off button in the top right corner. Some features, such as live stream testing and statistics, should not be on the home screen, but there are links to current news and events on the same screen.
To access important features such as the server list, you must navigate through a lengthy Settings menu. The lack of search functionality makes navigating the list slightly difficult; however, the list is concise, with only 50+ countries.
The Settings menu organizes all of the settings into logical categories. In the menu, you can change your privacy and security settings, select a server, test performance, set data and speed limits, and define what happens if you go over the limit. The app also has a dark mode, but it isn’t perfect because some text is black and difficult to read.
Speedify VPN Customer Support
Speedify VPN stands out for its exceptional customer service, displaying a vast repository of resources, including guides, FAQs, troubleshooting manuals, and more, all accessible via its website. The support team handles inquiries with remarkable efficiency and responds within minutes.
The only way to contact the support team is via email, as there is no live chat feature. Nonetheless, the website includes a messaging platform that looks like a live chat interface. When you send a message to the support team, an automated response is generated that includes the business hours of operation, among other information.
According to this response, Speedify does not provide round-the-clock customer service. The Speedify client also gives you access to the company’s social media profiles, which you can use as a backup option for sharing issues and reviewing comments made by administrators and other users.
In conclusion, my experience with Speedify’s customer service was an unexpected revelation of exceptional quality. Despite the lack of a live chat function, it is an excellent example of how a VPN service provider should interact with its customers.
How Do I Install and Set Up Speedify VPN?
Speedify comes with a simple installation process, no matter if you’re using a desktop or mobile device.Below are the procedures for installing Speedify VPN:
- Go to the Speedify Home Page. Visit the Speedify website and tap on the “Download” button to download the Windows VPN client.
- Install the VPN App. Once the download is concluded, double-click on the downloaded file to start the installation process. Follow the on-screen directives to install Speedify on your Windows device.
- Sign Up for an Account. Once the installation is concluded, launch the Speedify VPN client. You will need to create an account or sign in if you already have one.
- Connect to a Network Server. Once you are signed in, you can pick a server from the list of available servers. You can choose a server based on your area or the specific service you want to access.
- Turn on the VPN Connection. To enable the VPN connection, tap on the “Connect” button. You will see a notification when the VPN connection is set.
- Enjoy Safe and Private Browsing. You can now browse the web safely and privately, with your online activities protected by Speedify VPN.
Read Also our Full reviews:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Speedify Good?
Yes, but not very well. Although Speedify has fast speeds and can unblock Netflix, other VPNs can do much more. That isn’t to say it isn’t a good VPN; it’s simple to use, keeps your connection and online activities private, and comes with a money-back guarantee, so you can try it risk-free. Other options with more features are available for a fraction of the price.
Can I Use Speedify for Free?
Yes! Speedify has a free version that allows for the connection of one device and the use of up to 2GB of data per month. The free version does not require the creation of an account, but it is limited to basic internet browsing and emailing. Furthermore, the provider has set up a 7-day free trial of its premium version, allowing for a thorough examination of its capabilities.
Is Speedify Really Safe?
It all depends. Speedify VPN includes features such as a kill switch and DNS leak protection to keep your data from being accidentally exposed. However, its privacy policies are dubious — information such as your IP address and connection timestamp are logged. Furthermore, because Speedify is headquartered in the United States (a 5 Eyes country), your data may be subject to surveillance.
Conclusion
Speedify, while commendable for its high-speed functionality and user-friendly interface, falls short in terms of comprehensive offerings when compared to the top-rated VPNs. While their free Speedify version provides a good starting point for accessing its servers, it comes with a catch: you’re limited to only 2GB of monthly data usage.
Because of this limitation, it is less than ideal for users who require a larger amount of data. Furthermore, users have expressed concern about Speedify’s privacy policy, and its premium plans are considered overpriced in comparison to other VPN providers.
ExpressVPN, on the other hand, offers a large server network, a transparent privacy policy, and the ability to unblock all popular streaming platforms, all of which Speedify VPN lacks. You can also test ExpressVPN with its 30-day money-back guarantee and request a refund if you are dissatisfied with your experience.
