VyprVPN is owned by Golden Frog, the company behind Usenet, and they’ve been operating the VPN service for six years which gives it some maturity.
All of the VyprVPN software is developed in-house and their flagship Chameleon™ technology uses OpenVPN 256-bit AES encryption which is robust. This coupled with VyprVPN owning and controlling the DNS along with all 60+ global servers running the service, gives VyprVPN full ownership over the securing process.
The proprietary nature of the software coupled with the option of their Chameleon™ metadata scrambling technology, is one of the reasons the service is so popular in China, as it is claimed to thwart Chinese censorship and most notably The Great Firewall of China.
This scrambling technology is also claimed to prevent bandwidth throttling by Internet Service Providers who are unable to spot when users are streaming services online. Deep packet inspection by anybody able to observe the traffic is also made prohibitively difficult.
Some criticisms has been leveled at VyprVPN for their policy of retaining data for 30 days which includes: source IP address, VyprVPN IP address, times and data quantity however the company claim this is for purposes such as billing and troubleshooting and they do “not log a user’s traffic or the content of any communications” . Some Usenet users have claimed they had their VyprVPN service terminated after DMCA notices due to the “two-strikes-and-out” acceptable use policy.
On the flip-side it has long been suspected all VPN providers log some activity in one way or another and VyprVPN has been praised for at least being transparent.
Cost:
In February 2017, VyprVPN reduced the number of plans from three to two and lowered its prices. Essentially, the old basic plan was thrown out and the other two plans came down in price. The new base tier plan is the same as the old mid-tier “Pro” plan.
VyprVPN: $9.95 per month or $60 per year ($5 per month billed annually)
Premier: $12.95 per month or $80 per year ($6.67 per month billed annually)
Update, August 16 2016: VyprVPN are currently offering 50% off the first month here.
All come with unlimited data usage. Some of the more robust security features are not available in the basic package which only allows for PPTP. The main difference between the Pro and Premier versions are the allowed simultaneous connections, with Pro allowing two and Premier allowing three. Simultaneous connections are handy if you want to connect from different devices at the same time.
There is also a fully featured free three-day trial version.
Usability:
The supported platforms are impressive: Windows 8, 7, Vista, Mac OS X, iOS, Linux and Android.
Signing up for the free-trial service is a breeze; supply your email and password and wait for the confirmation email. Click the emailed link and select your download platform:
The download takes seconds as the app is very lightweight.
The installation wizard is so straightforward as to not merit further comment.
On completion the app pops up:
Simply hit the log in button, provide your username and password and you’re connected.
The options button on the app opens up a dialogue for very granular control of the service:
The connection page allows for automatic connection on operating system start up, automatic reconnection when disconnected and a kill switch to stop internet traffic when the VPN is disconnected. This all adds to peace of mind when surfing anonymously, as it is all too common with some VPNs to become disconnected and the user not realize, revealing their IP.
The Protocol page allows you to choose your encryption protocol and strength:
OpenVPN 160-bit or 256-bit, L2TP/IPSEC 256-bit, PPTP 128-bit and the proprietary Chameleon™ 256-bit.
The DNS page is set to VyprVPN by default but does allow for 3rd party DNS servers. The DNS leak prevention is also selected by default and as this has been an issue with VPNs in the past, I decided to check the veracity of this through dnsleaktest.com, which confirmed there was no leakage.
I did this test after selecting the Vietnam server, another good feature in the app allowing you to select your geolocation.
The General page is as you would expect with: desktop notifications, sound and language options. Plus the option to launch VyprVPN on login. You can also disable the local connection log.
The account page includes information on account name, type, data usage, update check, version, etc.
The VyprVPn website gives you your own account page within which you can access additional services at no extra cost.
The first additional service is Dump Truck, which is a Dropbox style secure online storage providing 5GB of space. Again there are nice apps to download for various operating system platforms for syncing.
The second additional service is Cypher, an encrypted messaging app for Android and iOS.
VyprVPN claims to be the fastest in the world and I don’t know if that’s true, but a check on download/upload speeds compared with my Internet connection without VPN, shows only slight speed degradation, which is to be expected, especially when selecting servers geographically distant.
Conclusion:
A slick, mature VPN, with a very user friendly app for most platforms. Good level of control over configuration and encryption protocols.
Pricing is on the higher scale of average for a VPN and I was disappointed to note only credit card and Paypal are accepted for payment; no virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. This coupled with the logging policy will concern the most privacy conscious.
Overall, I was impressed with this VPN.
Update 15 July 2017
#1
First, I’m commenting only because I’ve just read this immediately after buying and installing VyprVPN. (I do not work any tech company) This is a very objective and fair revue. So that’s #1. I compliment this review. It’s not just fluff, and assumes someone’s reading and alert. Your comment on how simple this was to buy & set up,
brilliant. All those scary stories from among the masses of comments… Not my experience at all. Simple. Good support (answering a few questions, offering some links, and only once a bit “robotic”). Easy purchase, and…
#2
It’s exactly as you describe – this said after just buying it and only now reading this review, while closing tabs & tabs of Chrome pages researching the various VPNs. Very hot market, competitive, lots of hype, inducements, and changes. For example, I was just about to buy the yearly subscription at a “reduced price” (thru June 2017) when they’ve started hiring as business is booming (think privacy protection!) and lowered the price so that it’s really WAY less expensive than some once-competitive but “costly” companies, away from the U.S. So COST: Is now $5 month paid in advance (easily done IF use of credit or PayPal is OK with you – no bitcoin). It’s super simple all around, and using it is like any other app you may completely ignore or fire up or turn off on occasion – again, with ease. Oh, back to COST: The asterisk on the deal is that it’s a “one year” price and it auto-renews at a higher rate. BUT wait… it auto-renews at $80 a year from now (it’s in the receipt), and that is 4 cents less than the last special deal. “Just saying”… prices are dropping.
#3
It is just so…. easy. again, sorry.
It booted me up to Algeria. I thought it malfunctioned but I guess it’s default alphabetical. I set it up (Mac/70MBs down usually) and switched to a fast and local server, in about 3 seconds, intuitively – and the speed dropped slightly (to 63) and imperceptibly. Set it to work automatically whenever I browse, with Mac just check the boxes for which app use VyprVPN by default.
I am very pleased, as it may sound, I’m not a shill, I’m actually a scientist, working with AI, VR, etc. So I was dismayed at all the hype and lack of trustable data. I took a chance and it is amazingly simple yet important to use – for my needs at least.
Sorry to lessen a commission by saying it’s worth checking out goldenfrog’s new pricing promotion, but it worked for me, after reading so many contrary “#1” and “fastest” and “best country” etc. This just works, point-to-point, with easy control over encryption, from “off” to just web or chat or full-tilt “chamelion” – I am pleased and want to share this “update” and also say that this is one of the most fair and accurate reviews of come across. Well stated. Strengths, weaknesses, and the verdict: “Great”. Not to worry. Some of the many had stories to tell, but may not be your typical customer, now that so many are subscribing. Again, I don’t work for any VPN company! Just trying to survive this oh-so-always-connected world.