LimeVPN review

LimeVPN is a VPN service operating from Singapore and offering its customers excellent speeds on third-party apps like OpenVPN GUI and SoftEther and a rather small number of servers. The strategically placed servers allow it to unblock some of the popular streaming channels and make it a good choice for torrenting, as long as you’re using its Pro service. 

However, the necessity of downloading and importing configuration files makes it less than ideal for those used to user-friendly and straightforward clients as seen among today’s best VPN services.

Price

LimeVPN has two VPN products, both of which are billed monthly, yearly, or every two years. The LimeVPN Basic package costs $2.49/month when billed monthly, $1.49/month when billed yearly, or only $1.00/month if you choose to be charged every two years. It includes access to 17+ VPN locations worldwide, one of 6,000 shared dynamic IPs, hotspot WiFi protection, NAT firewall, shared speed up to 10Gbps, up to two concurrent connections, and 24/7 human support.

Ideal for businesses, the LimeVPN Pro package costs $19.99/month when billed monthly, $14.98/month when billed yearly or $11.00/month if you take the 2-year subscription. It includes all the features from the Basic package, plus static private IP, support for P2P/torrenting, TOR over VPN, DDoS protection, dedicated bandwidth of 1Gbps, 20+ supported simultaneous connections, as well as a dedicated private VPN server.

Both packages include a 30-day money-back guarantee which also serves as a free trial. The provider supports various methods of payment, including PayPal, credit/debit cards, WebMoney, Alipay, Paymentwall, Skrill, Payu, Clickandbuy, Stripe, Western Union, bank transfer, and even Bitcoin or Ripple.

Alternatives

Despite its good sides, LimeVPN has some obvious shortcomings, especially when compared to the top players in the field, like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, CyberGhost, or Surfshark, all of which have superior platforms with thousands of servers and native user-friendly apps for all the major platforms.

Streaming

LimeVPN provides high-speed access to geo-restricted streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, ABC, CBS, HBO, and NBC.

About the company

This VPN vendor is located “in the jurisdiction of Singapore”. If you go for it as your VPN provider of choice, you’ll be given access to over 20 servers in 10 countries, including India, Singapore, and Japan, as well as more than 6,000 dynamic IP addresses. It is also important to state that LimeVPN owns its servers and manages the network itself, allowing it to have more control over everything without third-party involvement.

Privacy and encryption

The privacy and security of your Internet activities are ensured through the deployment of 256-bit encryption with a 2048-bit key and multiple VPN protocol options that include PPTP, L2TP, IPsec, SSTP, OpenVPN, Softether, SOCKS5, and IKEv2.

Other safety tools include NAT firewall and hotspot WiFi protection, DNS leak protection, and a kill switch that steps in whenever your VPN connection drops, cutting off your Internet access so your private information remains safe from outsiders.

The Pro account also enables the use of TOR over a VPN to protect your anonymity inside public networks. If you select this account, you’ll also be able to benefit from DDoS protection. P2P/torrenting with no traces is supported but only if you opt for the provider’s Pro account.

The provider claims it doesn’t keep any logs and wouldn’t be able to provide them on demand. In its no-logs policy, we learn that it doesn’t monitor, record, or store logs for any single customer’s VPN activity, including web traffic data, visited websites, downloaded files, watched videos, etc. It does, however, record time, date, and location the VPN connection was made, the duration of the VPN connection, as well as the bandwidth used during the connection. This information is used by LimeVPN to enforce its Terms of Service, act against spam and criminal activities, and so on. This isn’t ideal but at least the company is upfront about it and affirms that neither it “nor third-parties are technically possible to match an IP address to an account.”

Support

LimeVPN can be used on a wide array of devices, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, SmartTV, PlayStation, Xbox, Kodi, Chromebooks, Chromecast, routers, and more. It doesn’t have native apps but instead provides download links for open-source software like SoftEther and OpenVPN. 

Step-by-step instructions with screenshots on configuring the VPN connection with all the supported protocols on almost any device are provided in LimeVPN’s online support center.  Live human customer support is available at any time of day or night, via live chat, email ticket system, or even a voice call and remote desktop support.

Speed and experience

We tested the download speeds when connecting to a server in Amsterdam, the Netherlands which gave us a superb 35Mbps on a 55Mbps testing connection. Then we tried Stockholm, Sweden and the speed reached an excellent 26Mbps. Then we tried a location further away from us - Kansas, US - and we weren’t disappointed with its 19Mbps. More exotic locations are often a challenge for a VPN but LimeVPN seemed just fine, as Bangalore, India easily hailed 17Mbps.

That said, the platform itself is a bit difficult to master, at least for a beginner. Since there are no native apps, it means you’ll have to download SoftEther or OpenVPN GUI, download the configuration files from the provider’s website, and then import them into the chosen app. The instructions are available but can still be a bit overwhelming.

Verdict

LimeVPN is a solid performer in terms of speeds, even though it doesn’t have many servers, any native apps, the P2P support is reserved for Pro users only, and its website could use some work. That said, it’s affordable, unblocks Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and many other streaming channels, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee that is enough to test it through and through. 

However, its disadvantages still make it inferior to the big kahunas in the world of VPN such as ExpressVPN.