VeePN VPN review

VeePN is a small VPN provider that aims to someday reach the heights of the best VPN providers. It demonstrates this ambition with various features designed to help the service stack up against the major players. But how does it fare?

Price

The provider offers a one-day free trial that you can access by downloading its app and signing up with your email and desired password. There’s no need to leave your financial details until you decide you want to purchase the full service. Even then, you have the right to change your mind within 30 days (or 14 days if you signed up for the monthly plan).

Available payment plans include the monthly renewable subscription at $10.99/month, the 1-year at $5.83/month (billed annually), and, most unusually, a 5-year plan. The last option will only set you back by an equivalent of $1.67/month (in the form of a single payment of $99.99).

Regardless of the chosen plan, you’ll be able to run the VPN connection on as many as ten devices at the same time, which is a very high number in this industry.

Accepted payment methods include PayPal, AliPay, credit/debit cards, and even cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum.

Alternatives

VeePN is good, but it’s still a long way from the likes of ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, or CyberGhost, all of which have opened their doors to outside auditors, provide higher speeds and more servers.

Streaming 

VeePN allows you to view geographically restricted streaming content like BBC iPlayer and Netflix US. However, if you want to watch it seamlessly, your basic internet speed needs to be high, since the VPN reduces the download speeds by half even when connected to nearby servers.

About the company

For anyone worried their government might push this VPN to hand over data, don’t worry; VeePN’s headquarters are in Panama, which has no data retention laws.

Using this VPN will give you access to more than 2,500 servers in over 50 locations around the world, including Belarus, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Panama, and other places.

Privacy and encryption

VeePN uses the AES-256 encryption protocol, along with a set of connection protocols that include OpenVPN, IKEv2, Smart UDP, and Smart TCP. There’s also a kill switch - a mechanism that shuts down your entire internet access if the VPN connection drops. However, the kill switch isn’t activated by default, so you’ll have to turn it on yourself.

VeePN allows torrenting but reminds users that they’re responsible for the files they download and distribute.

The desktop apps also allow you to turn on extra features, including the ad blocker, blocker for malicious websites, online tracking blocker, DNS leak protection (on by default), as well as custom DNS address selection.

VeePN’s iOS app has a NetGuard option that blocks ads, network trackers, and malware. There’s also a WiFi auto-protection option which connects the VPN automatically if you’re trying to connect to an unsecured network. It is also possible to add networks to a list of exclusions.

The Android app has a kill switch, although it is off by default until you turn it on in the settings, potentially leaving an unaware user unsafe until they realize it’s not turned on. This app also has the split tunnelling option, allowing you to choose which apps can bypass the VPN.

Its Privacy Policy states that the provider doesn’t collect any information about what you’re doing on the internet, including IP addresses, browsing history, connection time stamps, session information, network traffic, used bandwidth, and "other similar data”.

According to VeePN, the “only” information it collects is through tools like Google Analytics (for the purpose of optimizing its performance), as well as your device type and model, CPU, system language, memory, OS version, Wi-Fi status, timestamp and zone, device motion parameters, carrier, and screen characteristics (size, density, etc.). When you use its apps, it can collect an advertising ID for displaying relevant ads and other marketing offers.

This is quite a lot of information and we have no way of knowing it actually doesn’t collect anything else since there hasn’t yet been an independent audit of the provider’s VPN platform.

Support

VeePN is compatible with a wide array of platforms, for some of which it has simple, lightweight and user-friendly native apps. These include Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, as well as Fire TV and Android TV (both via Google Play or Amazon Appstore). 

The provider has also included add-ons for Chrome and Firefox. Other supported platforms include Apple TV, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and routers, 

At the time of writing, the apps for Android and iOS and extension for Chrome all have a rating of 4.4/5 or greater. The Firefox add-on scored less well, at 3.8 stars.

VeePN has plenty of information available on its website, including in its searchable Support Center and blog. You can also talk to someone from the team at all times, thanks to the 24/7 multi-language customer support via live chat on the website. Other contact options include sending an email and filing a support ticket. That said, the support was a bit slow in responding to our email message (four days) but to be fair, it wasn’t about technical issues but a more general inquiry about the platform. 

Speed and experience 

VeePN was very simple to install and easy to use, with a big on/off button to immediately connect to an optimal location. We tested the provider’s VPN download speeds against our basic testing speed of 48.37Mbps and using the Automatic protocol selection option.

Each time, connecting took a few seconds or even longer, but we did get a notification once the app connected. The speeds were decent, although we’ve seen better.

Our nearest VPN location was in Belgrade, Serbia, and it delivered a very good 23.23Mbps (but still slower than we might hope, considering our physical location was very nearby).

Then it was time to try a location a bit further away, in the UK. Expectedly, the speeds were lower at 17.55Mbps. We then hopped over the Atlantic and landed on a server in California, which delivered a low but still usable 9.13Mbps. Finally, we went across the planet to Mumbai, India, which did well considering the location - 7.76Mbps.

Verdict

VeePN allows torrenting, unblocks major geo-restricted streaming platforms, supports a large number of simultaneous connections, has more than enough servers, lets you pay in cryptocurrency and its helpful customer support team is available at all times.

That said, it still has a lot of work to do if it ever wants to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best-known VPNs. Specifically, there’s room for improvement in terms of speeds,  Android app extras (such as website/ad/tracker blocker, performance meters, maps, etc.), as well as hosting an independent audit of its no-logging claims.