Speedify VPN Review 2021

Speedify makes some boastful claims about being one of the most user-friendly VPN providers on the market. But its actions speak otherwise.

To its credit, it uses one of the most formidable encryptions and has a unique protocol to go with it. However, that is all that the service has to offer. All its other promises are either outright lies or half-truths at best.

Despite claiming to unblock Netflix and giving access to China, Speedify is unable to do any of these. Similarly, it hides its past practice of sharing logging info with the authorities and the subsequent change in the name of the service.

All of these should be enough for users to shun this service and rely instead on ExpressVPN that backs up all its claims with actual results and features making it one of the most well-reputed names in the VPN market.

Rating Criteria

1. Jurisdiction: Where Is Speedify VPN Located?
2. Security: Is Speedify VPN A Safe Option?
3. Leaks: Are Your IP, DNS & WebRTC safe?
4. Servers: How Many Servers Does Speedify VPN Have?
5. Streaming: Can Speedify VPN Unblock Netflix?
6. Speed: How Fast Are Speedify VPN Servers?
7. Compatibility: What Devices Can I Use Speedify VPN On?
8. Pricing: Is Speedify VPN An Affordable Option?
9. Trustworthiness: What Do Other Users Say About Speedify VPN?

Jurisdiction: Where Is Speedify VPN Located?

Speedify operates out of the United States. This would make it an extremely problematic VPN because of the country’s role as one of the leaders of the notorious 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

There are other issues such as the slew of federal and state data retention laws that make it possible for the authorities to keep a watchful eye over the internet activities of their citizens. There have been multiple scandals in the past where it has come to light how the NSA and CIA have both the mandate and the capabilities to actively monitor every aspect of each user online.

Considering how companies based out of the US ae required to cooperate with these organizations, Speedify’s jurisdiction immediately casts a massive red flag on the service’s ability to keep its users truly anonymous online.

Security: Is Speedify VPN A Safe Option?

No, I would not categorize Speedify as a safe VPN provider. The biggest red herring for me is its jurisdiction. It is further compounded by a dodgy logging policy and a set of encryption and protocols, that are fast, but unreliable as far as safety is concerned.

Dubious Logging Policy

The service claims to be a no-logs guaranteed VPN provider. Going on their website, it becomes clear that the service is trying to shed away the initial reluctance of users about their logging policy because of their jurisdiction.

There is a special “What Personal Information We Collect” section that mentions all the info that the service does store about their users i.e. contact info, access logs, device info, location info, cookies, and server access logs.

In short, apart from usage logs, Speedify has a complete log of your online sessions using Speedify.

Speedify VPN Encryption & Protocols

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Speedify has chosen to go for different encryption than the standard AES-256-bit one. It uses the ChaCha 256-bit Encryption that is harder to crack than the industry-standard AES-256-bit one.

Similarly, it doesn’t opt for any of the standard tunneling protocol, instead of relying on its own proprietary protocol by the name of “Channel bonding”. This unique protocol allows them to offer greater speed and stability by connecting all your devices and then beaming them directly, helping you to stay online even when one connection is disrupted.

Speedify VPN VirusTotal Test

To be safe that the service’s installation files are safe to download and install, I ran them through a virus test to check for any malicious add-ons. Here are the results of that test:

As users can see, there are no major malicious files to be worried of.

Leaks: Are Your IP, DNS & WebRTC Safe?

To see whether Speedify can properly keep my IP, DNS, and WebRTC safe from any vulnerabilities, I carried out a series of tests looking for potential leaks. Here are the results:

Evidently, users can rest assured that their IP, DNS, and WebRTC are completely safe online.

Servers: How Many Servers Does Speedify VPN Have?

Speedify can put 200+ servers in 30+ countries at its users’ disposal. The server count is not impressive by any measure, but can is it good for torrenting or for use in China? Find out below:

Does Speedify VPN Support P2P/File Sharing?

No, the service is not a good option as far as torrenting is concerned.

Speedify does not state its official policy with regards to P2P Sharing anywhere on its website. However, whenever I tried to download any torrent file, it would have negative impact on my internet speeds.

Does Speedify VPN Work in China?

Despite a Hong Kong server, the service does not work properly in China. This is due to an acute lack of any actual server in the Mainland.

VPNs have become users’ only way of retaining access to free internet in the wake of rowing censorship and online restrictions on content by the government.

Even expats end up getting VPN subscription to gain access to their favorite geo-restricted Chinese content that is only accessible inside the country. Both of these users will have to keep looking for other VPNs as Speedify is unsuited to both their needs.

Streaming: Can Speedify VPN Unblock Netflix?

Well, Speedify proudly advertises the fact that the service can unblock Netflix with ease. However, when I tried to use its dedicated streaming mode to unblock the service, it failed to do so. This reflects poorly on the service since it boasts of a feature that it clearly does not provide to its users.

I had similar issues with other popular streaming sites like Amazon Prime, Hulu, Hotstar, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. Considering how this is a key part of Speedify’s marketing campaign, I would say this was a major disappointment, to say the least.

Speed: How Fast are Speedify VPN Servers?

Despite the visibly unimpressive ensemble of servers, I wanted to see how these servers perform in terms of speed. Hence, using a 100Mbps connection, I put them through a speed test. I connected to 5 random countries i.e. New Zealand, India, Portugal, Canada, and Australia.

Here are the results:

Compatibility: What Devices Can I Use Speedify VPN On?

Currently, users will be able to use Speedify across devices and platforms such as  Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, and iOS as well on Fire TV. However, there is no additional support for any other platform or device making it a largely confining service in terms of complete cross-compatibility.

This extends to its lack of compatibility for any kind of router as well.

Pricing: Is Speedify VPN An Affordable Option?

Users will be able to choose between 3 different kinds of payment plans; each with their distinct benefit i.e. Individual, Family, and Team.

For the Individual packages, users can choose between the following subscriptions:

• Monthly ($9.99 per month)
• 1-Year ($5.99 per month)
• 2-Year ($3.99 per month)
• 3-Year ($2.99 per month)

For the Families packages, users can choose between the following subscriptions:

• Monthly ($14.95 per month)
• 1-Year ($8.95 per month)
• 2-Year ($6.00 per month)
• 3-Year ($4.50 per month)

For the Team plan, users can choose between two different plans depending on their requirements:

• Monthly ($9.99 per month)
• 1-Year ($5.99 per month)

Speedify VPN Payment Methods

The service does not put a wealth of options at your disposal when it comes to payment options. Users can only pay via credit cards, PayPal, and Amazon Pay. While the lack of support for debit cards of any kind was worrying, it was something else that left me completely disappointed.

Most services have started offering support for cryptocurrencies to make it easier to remain anonymous in term of financial transactions. Speedify’s lack of such support reflects poorly on its commitment to privacy.

Speedify VPN Refund Policy

The service does offer a 30-Day Money back guarantee. In my experience, this is the standard industry practice and Speedify does well to keep up with the rest of the market in this regard.

Trustworthiness: What Do Other Users Say About Speedify VPN?

I did not want my own experience to be the sole driving force behind this review. I wanted to incorporate the experiences of other users of this service as well. Hence, I headed over to Trustpilot and Reddit to see what users feel about the service there. Additionally, I also looked at Speedify’s own customer service. This is what I learned:

Speedify VPN Trustpilot Review

Speedify’s Trustpilot rating is an abominable 2.5 stars out of 5. This is made even worse by the fact that nearly 67% of the reviews are Bad and 17% Poor. It seems as the service does not take its promises seriously and is negligent in its attitude towards its users.

I should mention that this is the result of just 6 reviews. And the page itself is unclaimed. Speedify could remedy a lot of its problems if it claimed the page and started interacting with its users more.

Speedify VPN Reddit Review

I found out a lot of interesting details about Speedify that I did not know initially. It seems that my earlier suspicion of Speedify were accurate as most of these users echo the same sentiments.

It seems as thought the service used to be called Connectify. Its reason for changing its name is due to a case where they were found sharing info with government agencies. This is something highly dubious and an incredibly shady practice for a VPN service to be doing.

Similarly, users were reminded that the service lacks the ability to properly provide a number of essential features they promise based on the infrastructure of the country they were based in.

Speedify VPN Customer Support

It’s a good thing I had mentally prepared myself for this disappointment. Its customer support does little to assure users that they can depend on the service to address all their issues at every turn. There is a distinct lack of a live 24/7 chat support.

The best that the service can offer is an email ticketing system that is barely useful at all. Some other resources include a bunch of articles that are news related…but hardly of any help to the users in terms of their queries.

Some of the other sections include a Press, Social Media, and Email page. These are accompanied by a Blog and a Contact Us page that aims to address the issue of users’ queries.

Speedify VPN Alternatives

It is rare for me to bash a service so blatantly but Speedify’s deceptive practices leave me no choice. The sheer extent of Speedify’s inability to deliver on all the features it boasts left me surprised and disappointed.

For instance, Speedify evades the questions of its jurisdiction as much as it can. There is no mention on their platform of the fact that they changed their service’s name. While it is okay for a service to lack some features that other VPNs can provide, lying about having those features is a far greater problem.

There are dozens of other reasons why users should shun this service and opt for a better, more transparent service like PureVPN. Not only does it provide complete Netflix unblocking, support for torrents, and a Chinese server, but it also has a reputation of being completely honest with its users and never being duplicitous with them.

Do I Recommend Speedify VPN VPN?

No, users should steer clear of this service. Rarely have I ever seen a service so eager to deceive its users. The fact that it chose to change its name and present like nothing happened after breaching all their users’ trust should be reason enough to permanently blacklist this service.

When writing this review, I found myself frequently annoyed by how many false promises this service makes and its attempts to mislead users at every turn. Despite promising Netflix unblocking and access to China, it fails to deliver on either of these fronts.

I would strongly recommend users to opt for a far more reliable VPN such as PureVPN that makes no promises it can’t keep, while also boasting a far more impressive list of servers including one in China, to make your browsing more secure and seamless.