Hide.me remains a strong contender in the VPN market, offering a robust feature set and a commitment to privacy. With recent updates including a new independent security audit, interface improvements, and additional features, it’s worth a closer look. This review explores Hide.me’s performance, features, pricing, and security to help you decide if it’s the right VPN for you.
A Deep Dive into Hide.me’s Features
Hide.me’s customizable homescreen
Hide.me’s interface, while not drastically changed, remains user-friendly and customizable. The dashboard provides key information like quick connect, IP address, account details, streaming-optimized servers, and favorite locations. The customizable widgets allow users to prioritize the information they need most.
The left sidebar offers tabs for Locations, Map, Features, Socials, Settings, Your Account, and Support. The Locations tab provides a searchable list of servers, highlighting fast 10G servers. Filtering options include streaming optimization, multihop servers, and sorting by distance from your location. The Map tab visually displays server locations worldwide.
Hide.me’s map interface
The Features tab is where Hide.me truly stands out. Options include Bolt “Fast Proxy” for optimized OpenVPN TCP connections, split tunneling, “Stealth Guard” firewall for leak prevention, port forwarding, and “SmartGuard” ad and tracker blocker. The extensive features and protocol support, coupled with custom DNS options, make Hide.me ideal for power users.
Hide.me’s extensive feature options
While the abundance of features might overwhelm beginners, the learning curve is manageable. Hide.me’s availability across Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, consoles, and smart TVs, along with Chrome and Firefox browser add-ons with SOCKS proxy support, enhances its versatility.
Evaluating Hide.me’s Performance and Speed
Hide.me’s speed performance has improved, but consistency remains a concern. While some servers delivered impressive speeds, others experienced significant drops, particularly with increasing distance. The 10Gbps servers didn’t show a noticeable advantage in testing. WireGuard generally performed slightly better than other protocols.
Hide.me’s server list highlighting 10Gbps connections
Despite occasional speed fluctuations, Hide.me handled streaming effectively. Streaming-optimized servers consistently accessed Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, with some non-optimized servers also succeeding. However, the free version struggled with streaming access, making it less suitable for this purpose.
Hide.me’s Pricing: Free vs. Premium
Hide.me offers three premium plans: monthly, 1-year, and 2-year. The monthly plan is pricier compared to competitors. The 1-year plan offers better value, but the 2-year plan, including three free months, becomes the most cost-effective option.
The free version offers robust security features but limits data to 10GB per month and access to only eight servers. While excellent for secure browsing or trial purposes, its data limitations hinder streaming.
Security and Privacy: Hide.me’s Strengths
Hide.me’s protocol options
Hide.me prioritizes security with AES 256-bit encryption and a broad range of protocols, including IKEv2, OpenVPN, SoftEtherVPN, WireGuard, and SSTP. Advanced configuration options further enhance customization. Testing revealed no IP address leaks.
Based in Malaysia, Hide.me benefits from a favorable privacy environment with no data retention laws and no involvement in surveillance alliances. Its transparent privacy policy confirms no activity tracking, connection logs, or IP address storage. While troubleshooting logs are kept briefly, they are anonymized and regularly erased.
Recent independent security audits reinforce Hide.me’s commitment to its “no-log” policy. The publication of annual Transparency reports further demonstrates its dedication to user privacy.
Conclusion: Is Hide.me Right for You?
Hide.me presents a compelling balance of power user features and robust privacy. While its interface might initially feel complex and speed consistency could be improved, its strengths lie in its customization options, streaming capabilities, and strong privacy practices. It’s an excellent choice for users who value control and privacy, while beginners may benefit from starting with the free version.
