If you’re on the hunt for a VPN provider you’ve most likely heard of PureVPN. It’s one of the more high profile providers out there, largely thanks to its large user base and server network.
As of this writing it has more than 500 servers placed around the world in 180 locations in 121 countries, which makes it one of the biggest VPN server networks out there.
On the security front, PureVPN offers the protocols of PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, SSL, and 128-bit encryption, which is common for most VPN providers, as well as Secure DNS and a VPN kill switch, which will terminate your connection if it ever becomes unsecure.
The company meanwhile makes it privacy policy clear online. “We Do Not monitor user activity nor do we keep any logs,” says PureVPN, which means it has no record of the sites that you visit. It does however log the time that you signed in and used the service and the IP address that you connected to.
The company itself is headquartered in Hong Kong because it has “no mandatory data retention laws.”
Update on October 9, 2017: PureVPN handed over logs to the FBI that led to the arrest of an alleged cyber stalker in the US, reports BleepingComputer. It’s not clear what those logs contained, but the report does mention an IP address that was used to log into a victim’s Gmail account. The report does not state whether the FBI had a court order, but because PureVPN is incorporated in Hong Kong and the FBI is an American intelligence agency, one would assume PureVPN had legal grounds to reject the request for data.
Pure VPN advertises itself as a no-logs VPN provider, despite stating that it collects users‘ IP addresses in its privacy policy. The „no logging“ claim misrepresents the truth; the company stores information that can identify users and be used to corroborate their online activity. To bend to the will of a foreign intelligence agency–especially the US–further betrays users‘ trust. For these reasons, we have lowered PureVPN’s rating from 3.5 stars (7/10) to 2.5 stars (5/10).
Getting started
After you install the program and log in for the first time, you’ll be greeted by a menu that asks you what you want to use PureVPN for. You’re given a couple of options like streaming, unblocking sites, or security etc. By choosing the purpose that’s right for you, PureVPN can serve up the best servers for that particular use.
We got straight into it and tested a couple of different servers. First off, the design is rather clean and easy to navigate.
In many cases, PureVPN have several servers in each country. If you select the country you’d like, it will connect you to the fastest one available. To begin we clicked on America and it connected us to a New York server with download speeds of 12.45Mbps and upload speeds of 3.10Mbps, making it one of the faster VPN connections we’ve seen from a provider in recent times.
While this is the fastest American server in Pure’s network, you can select one from its other locations. Currently the company has servers in Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Jersey, Houston, Georgia, Washington, Virginia, San Francisco, Ohio, Seattle, and Alaska.
Once you connect to a server, PureVPN has a very handy graphic for the user to keep an eye on their own upload and download traffic too.
Next we decided to try out a European server. Users are required to wait three seconds between server switches.
Then we tried to connect a server in Belgium but failed to do so, instead receiving a VPN error message asking us to the change our password. Following a few more attempts we moved on to a German server, connecting us to its faster server based in Frankfurt (download: 11.86Mbps, upload: 3.04Mbps).
We had similar connection problems when tried some Middle East servers, namely Afghanistan, which we tried to connect to in order to compare it with American and European options. Rather, we got an 812 error message that stated: “The connection was prevented because of a policy configured on you RAS/vpn/ server.” On the flipside, we tried a server in Qatar and got some solid speeds, though not as fast at the others we tested.
Once you’ve been using the service for a while, you can add server to your list favourite servers. This is a very convenient way of connecting to a server you like quickly.
Does PureVPN work with Netflix?
VPNs are a popular means of unblocking Netflix to access the wider US Netflix library of content for subscribers outside of the US. Unfortunately Netflix has banned many VPN’s including PureVPN, if you try accessing Netflix using PureVPN you will get the Netflix proxy error message.
Customer service
PureVPN offers a live chat service on its website should you ever encounter any issues. We contacted the live chat regarding some questions we had about the service and received very quick and efficient replies.
The live chat is open on the website so you don’t need a subscription to use it. This is especially convenient for any potential new users that are shopping around for a VPN.
PureVPN Pricing
Like most VPNs, PureVPN offers tiers of different plans – one month, six months, 12 months. You can try a one month plan for $9.95 or commit to longer plans if you commit to longer plans. There’s also a three-day money back guarantee, provided you have used 500MB of data or less. You can see all of the plans including any discounts here.
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See all reviewsI’ve been using PureVPN now for about a week. So far it has been great. If you use servers in the USA you’ll be happy with the speeds. International speeds have been decent, but about what I expected.
Now to address the IP leaks or DNS leaks. I went to ipleak.net to check this out myself. I’ve visited the site several times and I have had no IP leaks. However, my DNS was leaking at one point. You can fix that by changing your DNS manually on your network connection or you can change it on your router. Then simply flush your DNS through the command line and that should fix the problem.
PureVPN is by far the best VPN available, hands down. The PureVPN encryption and tunnelling service is super fast, stable and flexible. When I run doileak, the anonymity provided by some locations is far beyond anything I’ve seen.
The PureVPN App is amazing. Click and go…no configuring 3rd party clients. And an automatic anonymous DNS and IPv6 blocker helps keep people safe, as long as they block WebRTC manually.
The VPN Hotspot function lets me share the VPN with friends, which seriously impresses people, including me.
Bad Ad Johnny is a very effective ad/tracker blocker and has only been picked up on one site that I visited.
I’m running the PureVPN APP on 4 different operating systems; Android 4.1; Android 5; Windows 10 and Windows 7 and it works seamlessly and dependably.
The help forum, should you ever have any questions, is comprehensive and professionally written in easy to understand, everyday language.
I don’t EVER write reviews but I am so impressed with the service, the PureVPN APP and the price that I had to spread the word.
Pure VPN is one of the worst services I have used to date. Constant problems with their application, slow connections and drops constantly, forced to use outdated software because they can’t fix their own problems, customer service is literally one of the worst I have used for anything when it comes to technical support, they push you into their 2 year deal to only find out how terrible their service is after the 7 day money back guarantee. This truly is the worst service I have ever used. I am out the money on a 2 year plan and I am still going to purchase another plan with another company because the service really is that terrible. Once they lock you into their 2 year plan, you will hardly get a stitch of REAL support out of them.
They simply won’t give you your money back for nothing!
I had a problem with installing PureVPN with my OSX 10.11, thanks to the customer service with chat ( Zobel was helping me ), everything was nicely fixed in neither 5 minutes!
Great job!
I had some issues with my VPN. Ended up having registered two accounts by accident, one expired and the other was still active. Franklin figured out which account was the wrong one, helped me get the correct account set up and was able to start using the VPN again. Hopefully smooth sailing from here on out. Thanks
Have to agree that PureVPN is a scam. I tried using them and after a lot of tech support, the connections were slow and servers drop out. Tried to get a refund after a week, but due to testing by techs, I had used over 500mb so they would not refund. Cancelled my 12 month subscription anyway and used another service. 12 months later, I get an email saying that my subscription fee will be taken off my credit card, now I am back talking with them trying to stop the payments.
I’ve been using pureVPN for almost a year and I had a great experience!
I had to contact customer service 2 times and I received great service. Today I was helped by Demian and it was a great experience. The problem was due to my move from one computer to another one. And Demian was very knowledgeable and had everything I expect from a customer service wizard: listening, knowledgeable, understanding, quick. I am very satisfied. Great job Demian
Support agent Daniel did an awesome job helping me out he was very efficient & professional, thank you Danbiel!
PureVPN is a scam. I spent hours working with “them” to make a connection only to finally conclude it does not work where i reside. They then informed me by email that my fully paid account was blocked until “with trembling fingers you must first verify your identity by sending a scanned document with your name and address on it (a clear attempt at identity theft is what that is!). I decided to terminate my account after that message, which was within 24 hours of opening it, and here it is 10 days later and no refund despite the claim that they will give a full refund within 7 days of opening an account. After repeated emails to them (we are always available 24/7) there is still no acknowledgement that they will abide by their full refund claim. Stay away from these scam artists if you know what is good for you.
Does this VPN give you access to Netflix US? My VPN has been blocked.
I travel a lot and have used PureVPN to connect to and unblock various geographically restricted video services. I’d used HideMyAss previously and have found speeds to be better with PureVPN. I have had connections drop a few times as mentioned in this review but it’s rare and on the whole I’m happy I made the switch.