Hide.me is a branch company of eVenture Limited, a Malaysian company that has been working in the VPN industry since 2011.
Hide.me has a pretty extensive network with a good number of servers and locations – 2,000 and 75, respectively. These are definitely impressive numbers, but some providers may provide more options. In any case, it covers the basic needs of the average user of such services.
As stated on the service website, users at Trustpilot rate Hide.me a rather immodest 4.9 out of a possible 5 stars. But is the service really as good as it is rated? Let’s look into it.
Pros & Cons
- WireGuard and OpenVPN high-speed connections
- 10GB/month limited free plan
- Unlocked Amazon Prime, US Netflix, Disney Plus, iPlayer, and more
- Pretty flexible customization options
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox
- Variable issues with Kill Switch
- Lack of security audits
- Contradictory pricing of the product (more on this below)
Security
Hide.me has a strict “no-logs” policy, stating that such data can easily link any activity to you, and some VPN providers turn it over to representatives of the law upon request.
Hide.me does keep a general data usage count, but this is not surprising for a service where some data plans have bandwidth limitations.
Hide.me states that it will comply with court orders obtained by recognized legal authorities with jurisdiction. But, again, this is to be expected, and if nothing significant is found in the logs, there is nothing to fear.
The company claims that this is confirmed by a “comprehensive audit” and that “Hide.me has been certified as the most anonymous VPN service in the industry.”
It turns out that this “audit” dates back to 2015. There is little information about the audit itself and no report to consult. There seems to have been an audit and a certificate, but there is no detailed information, and it’s also from 2015.
Perhaps it’s time for another audit? A more thorough one, where everyone can see the full results. This question remains open.
At the same time, Hide.me VPN uses encryption standards that are on par with market leaders’ use.
Hide.me uses AES-256-CBC encryption. Many secure VPNs use the same method to protect the connection, so this service is no exception.
Your username and password are encrypted when authenticating, as is your connection. The service uses an SHA-256 cipher to do this. Thus, only hashed versions of your credentials are stored on their servers and cannot be reprogrammed.
While this is standard encryption among VPN providers, it’s standard for a reason. It will keep you safe when you’re surfing the Internet.
This service successfully passed the DNS leak test.
Considering that they have a “security audit certificate,” which can be proved by nothing besides the certificate illustration on the website and PDF presentation about the company’s transparency, it’s hard to assess the risks of using this service even without user activity logging. A somewhat controversial conclusion comes out. In our humble opinion, we can give this item a 4/5.
Speed
To achieve the most objective results of the test we conduct when testing, we choose the same server on the speed test service website, thus leveling out the speed loss due to ping to be able to calculate also the potential loss/gain when using Hide.me VPN.
The download speed from the network in the case of the Dallas location dropped by 4x, and the download speed to the network increased by 59%
Considering the numbers from this test, we can say that Hide.me showed somewhat questionable results for both metrics. Considering that the average speed loss of receiving and sending through VPN providers is 10-20% on the market, we can rate the quality of the speed here with an evaluation of 3.5/5
Features
Protocols
Usually, encryption is not something you can change when using VPN services.
However, you can choose the protocols. Fortunately, the service has a set of necessary tools to meet the level of the market of VPN providers. Hide.me uses reliable protocols: IKev2, OpenVPN UDP/TCP, and Wireguard.
Stealth Guard
Stealth Guard is a unique feature of Hide.me VPN, like a combination of some kind of “switch” and split tunneling traffic. You can select applications or Internet connection and predetermine which applications will work only when VPN is on. Thus, this feature goes beyond split tunneling because in cases where the connection between your device and the VPN server is broken, the selected applications will also be disconnected from the network.
How does this apply in real life? Imagine you are downloading a torrent, and your VPN connection is interrupted there. If you add this app to Stealth Guard, the data flow will stop on the selected app, thus avoiding data leakage. Overall more looks like a version of the more flexible Kill Switch.
SOCKS5
Typically, SOCKS5 doesn’t add any encryption-it just routes your connection through an intermediate VPN server.
A big plus is that you don’t need to do any additional authentication when connecting to the server since it’s already built into the VPN connection.
IPv6 Network
The Internet primarily works on the protocol IPv4, and sooner or later, it will become an obsolete solution, and switching to new protocols will be not just a desire but a necessity. Therefore, Hide.me VPN is already preparing for a bright future with IPv6. The newer and more advanced standard already works in Hide.me VPN.
When you connect to the service’s VPN servers, they are all IPv4 and IPv6 compatible. Keep in mind that the VPN connection relies on IPv4, which is also encrypted. However, when you are connected to a VPN server, you get access to IPv6 addresses and potentially faster download speeds for all outgoing connections.
Double VPN
If you’re looking for multi-hop or double VPN features (connecting through 2 or more VPN servers instead of one), you can try this feature with Hide.me VPN.
Port Forwarding
Port forwarding can be pretty risky, so the developers of Hide.me VPN chose the more secure Universal Plug and Play or UPnP feature rather than static port forwarding. This option definitely wins because it only forwards a network port when the application requests it, rather than keeping it open all the time. It also doesn’t ask for a specific IP address, which can lead to negative results if you use a VPN for anonymity.
Fixed IP
Fixed IP here does not refer to a static IP address, which is usually sold separately and allows you to get your own unique IP address. Instead, a fixed IP address is like reserving an IP address on a public VPN server.
That way, whenever you connect to the same VPN server, you’ll get the same IP address. Although the service acknowledges that if the server is experiencing a heavy load, the IP address may be assigned to someone else.
However, remember that this feature won’t work on web hosting, as some ports are restricted there.
Hide.me VPN has definitely gone through an active formative period since its inception, with an impressive list of features, upgrades according to market trends, and security innovations to allow its audience to use quality, modern, vital VPN features.
It definitely deserves a 5/5 rating.
Price
It is worth noting the availability of the free plan for Hide.me VPN, which allows, though limited, to use the functions of the service without paying a penny.
As for the paid premium plans, the situation here is more ambiguous.
Looking at the plans, the question arises: “Why do I pay more if I buy a longer-term plan? Wouldn’t it be cheaper for me to pay monthly?” So far, there are more questions than answers.
As a rule, VPN services are loyal in their pricing policy if a user buys a long-term subscription plan. But apparently, Hide.me looks at this situation differently.
Even though Hide.me probably has a confusing pricing policy, the service remains fairly affordable.
The company has a wide range of payment methods that can be used to pay for Hide.me’s services.
Hide.me accepts credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners Club), PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, SEPA, SOFORT, and bank transfers. And also accepts cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, Horizen, ZCash.
But despite this, the service lacks the most popular payment methods from China, namely Alipay, WeChat Pay, and UnionPay.
Probably the target audience of the company is not in this country. In any case, there is always a cryptocurrency that can be used to pay for almost everything from anywhere in the world.
Definitely today’s exclusive offer in the form of $49 for 17 months of use is advantageous compared to other packages.
Considering that Hide.me has a pretty “flexible” open pricing system, where the plan costs more if you buy it for a longer period of time, and in the mobile app, the price generally starts at $9.99, this can be misleading.
Streaming
With Hide.me VPN, we could access the full Netflix USA library. There were no problems with downloading or buffering; overall, everything went smoothly.
The same happened with BBC Iplayer, ITV Hub, Youtube, Hulu, and other popular services.
In short, Hide.me VPN does a great job with streaming services. In addition, you can quickly find optimized servers for Disney+, RAI, and others in the quick access list. So you’ll likely be able to unblock more of them.
Conclusion
The free and paid plans on the Hide.me service are above average. They effectively hide your IP address, encrypt web traffic, and protect your data on public WiFi.
At the same time, there are questions about the 2015 audit and its results. The company thought that a digital picture of the certificate would be enough for a high level of trust and decided not to provide a full report. Obviously, it is time to do a “new audit” with a detailed report so as not to give the audience reason to doubt the honesty and safety of the company.
Both versions of the VPN provide high speed and a good set of additional configuration options. Moreover, Hide.me’s optimized U.S. servers are ideal for streaming U.S. Netflix. The fact that Hide.me can stream BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, and Hulu is also impressive.
We recommend the free version of Hide.me for those who want to test out a free VPN. Paid subscription plans are ideal for users who want to prioritize their online privacy and make the most of the service.
While Hide.me is a good VPN for streaming and torrents, there are better VPNs on the market that do these things better.
