- Editor Rating
- Rated 4 stars
- Excellent
- Hide.Me
- Reviewed by:
- Published on:
- Last modified:
- Price / Packages
- Software
- Speed
- Servers
- Reliability
- Level of Privacy
- Support
Hide.Me combines an artistically designed VPN service with advanced customizability and good connection speeds. They provide a large number of pricing and packages that offer many desirable features. However, the price of these packages is fairly high compared to other similar VPN services.
Who are they? Where are they from?
After searching their website, it was clear that Hide.Me is a VPN service based out of Malaysia.
Hide.Me’s words about their service:
Price/ Packages
Package Configuration
Hide.Me currently offers two paid packages under three separate pricing plans.
- Plus
- 1 Month: $9.95/month
- 6 Months: $6.65/month
- 12 Months: $4.99/month
- Premium
- 1 Month: $19.95/month
- 6 Months: $13.32/month
- 12 Months: $9.99/month
They also offer a FREE VPN service that allows for 2GB of data transfer a month. This free service does not even require an email address to sign up, making it one of the most anonymous VPN services we have reviewed to date.
The premium package currently includes the features listed below.
- VPN servers in over 30 countries
- Simultaneous connection on 5 devices
- Zero logging of connections
- PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, IPsec, OpenVPN, and SoftEther protocols
- Port Forwarding
- Unlimited bandwidth and data transfer
- 24/7 live customer support options
Payment Options
Hide.Me currently offers payment through the following services.
- Major Credit Cards
- Bitcoin
- PayPal
- Sofort
- EuroCheque
- GiroPay
- CashU
The Ordering Process
The Ordering ProcessHide.Me allows for a quick and simple ordering process. Simply select your package and pricing plan, then input an email, billing address, and payment option. You are then ready to take advantage of all that Hide.Me has to offer on all supported devices and operating systems.
They also offer a 14 Day Money Back Guarantee in the event that you are unhappy with the provided service. Is you are interested in cheaper VPN services read our extended article.
Software and Connectivity
Hide.Me currently offers their service for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices. From our testing experience, these clients are all artistically and elegantly designed, without sacrificing speed of connectivity or setup.
Windows Client
The tested client v.1.1 is a well-designed VPN client that combined simplicity with great connectivity choices. It ran quickly and without issue on the Windows 10 operating system. The client also integrated aspects of Hide.me’s website, to allow upgrade payments and new system downloads to be made right from the application.
Some notable features include a kill switch, secure DNS binding, “launch on system startup”, and multiple protocol options for your connectivity needs. The kill switch is an especially important feature that disconnects all internet connections if the VPN service fails for any reason, securing your anonymity in any case.
The Hide.me website and payment integration is an interesting feature, but at times is confusing and cluttered. Despite this, the client is well-designed and simple, allowing for quick login and VPN connection.
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- Windows- Login
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- Windows- Disconnected
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- Windows- Connected
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- Windows- Server Selection
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- Windows- Settings
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- Windows- Application Download
Mac OS Client
The tested client v1.0.5 is a simple but effective VPN client that allows for advanced customizability and connectivity options. It runs quickly on the macOS operating system and is streamlined for the simplicity and ease that is macOS. Connecting to a VPN location is easy and fast, allowing the user to get connected within seconds of downloading the free version of the client.
The Hide.Me macOS client provides fast and efficient VPN connectivity while also providing many advanced VPN features. The interface is notable in it’s design and mirrors the simplicity of the macOS operating system, allowing for the combination of a great VPN service with pleasant design.
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- macOS- Startup
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- macOS- Login
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- macOS- Disconnected
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- macOS- Server Selection
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- macOS- Connecting
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- macOS- Connected
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- macOS- Support Tab
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- macOS- Settings
Android Application
The tested client v1.5.4 ran smoothly and without issue on Android Nougat 7.0. It is an artistically designed and animation-heavy VPN application, lacking some basic functionality concerning in-app settings. Despite this, it connected to servers quickly and navigation was easy to understand.
From download to connection, the Android VPN app is very well-designed and allows for a pleasant experience when connecting to a VPN server. This application stands as one of the better VPN mobile clients we have reviewed, as it is simple to use while delivering great connection.
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- Android- Welcome
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- Android- Disconnected
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- Android- Connected
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- Android- Server Selection
iOS Application
The Hide.Me iOS application v2.7.1 ran smoothly and efficiently on iOS 11. While it lacks some basic functionality such as the ability to switch protocols, it is beautifully designed and allows for quick and simple server selection and connection. The application is easy to navigate and everything of necessity is in plain sight.
The user experience of this application is very well developed and the animations when connecting are pleasing and fun. As a VPN service, this application is fairly standard. From a perspective of design, this application is well above average.
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- iOS- Startup
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- iOS- Disconnected
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- iOS- Connected
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- iOS- Server Selection
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- iOS- Connected (Detailed)
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- iOS- Settings
Connectivity Options
Hide.Me currently offers PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, IPsec, OpenVPN, and SoftEther protocols. Compared to other VPN services, this is a large number of protocols that allow for a highly customizable VPN service.
Speed
Our standard and most reliable testing methods that we found are by downloading from the nearest and fastest HTTP or FTP link for 60 seconds and measuring the average and max transfer rate. Upload and ping tests are performed by the closest beta.speedtest.net server, the most accurate HTML5 speed test thanks to 3000+ servers worldwide.
Speed Testing
The test is performed with a 180 / 60 Mbps wireless connection on the United States’ East Coast, from the server “UNC Chapel Hill” in Chapel Hill, NC. Speed tests with Hide.Me active are conducted through the VPN server “Washington D.C.” on the OpenVPN protocol. Keep in mind that the max upload speed is only 60Mbps, meaning the VPN could potentially be faster than projected, depending on internet bandwidth.
Download link used: http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/ubuntu-iso/yakkety/ubuntu-16.10-desktop-amd64.iso
Results without VPN
- Server UNC- Chapel Hill
- Ping 12 ms
- Average Upload 52 Mbit/s
- Average Download 102 Mbit/s
- Max Download 120 Mbit/s
Results with Hide.Me
- Server US- Washington D.C.
- Ping 32 ms
- Average Upload 44 Mbit/s
- Average Download 82 Mbit/s
- Max Download 89 Mbit/s
Hide.Me performed very well from the US East Coast when connecting to the US- Washington D.C. server. The service only slightly lowered both download and upload speeds, while a slight raise in ping is expected when connecting to any VPN. It is worth mentioning that this test was conducted with the Premium plan of Hide.Me, allowing for a wider choice of server options that were closer to our actual location.
Servers
Hide.Me currently offers over 30 server options. Compared to other VPN services, this is a reasonably small pool of server locations. However, it is probable that there are multiple servers in each location and that the servers are only presented by country in order to maintain simplicity.
| Country | Country |
|---|---|
| Austria | Australia |
| Brazil | Bulgaria |
| Canada | France |
| Germany | Hong Kong |
| India | Iceland |
| Italy | Japan |
| Lithuania | Luxembourg |
| NL- Haarlem | NL- Roosendaal |
| Norway | Morocco |
| Mexico | Poland |
| Romania | South Korea |
| Spain | Sweden |
| CH- Zug | CH- Zurich |
| Turkey | UK- London |
| UK- Maidenhead | US- East Coast |
| US- Washington D.C. | US- Miami |
| US- West Coast | US- San Francisco |
| US- Salt Lake City | US- San Jose |
| US- Seattle | Netherlands |
| Singapore |
Reliability
The connection reliability of Hide.Me was always superb and provided no issues throughout the entirety of testing. We never lost connection or had trouble connecting to a selected server location. The artistic design of Hide.Me combined with the excellent connection reliability makes it not only reliable but impressively designed as well.
Level of Privacy
Hide.Me offers a “zero logging” policy with their service, that claims to be the best in the business. This is supposedly because Hide.Me is based out of Malaysia, where the law indicates that they do not even have to keep logs of internet traffic. This means that Hide.Me can not deliver logs to a law enforcement agency because they are never created.
“Zero Logging” Policy
IPv6, DNS and WebRTC IP Leak Test
We tested for IP leaks at https://ipleak.net. Hide.Me did not leak your IP through WebRTC and IPv6. It also did not leak the DNS address of our ISP. This is a consistent representation of Hide.Me’s claims about their service.
Customer Support
The customer support is one area of Hide.Me that operates in an extraordinary fashion. With 24/7 live chat and support available, Hide.Me exemplifies a prominent dedication to customer support. Questions can be answered in a matter of minutes, as the support staff is well-versed and knowledgeable.
Pros
- Artistic and elegant mobile interface
- Customizable pricing and packages
- Absolutely zero logging of data
Cons
- High pricing
- Limited number of server locations comparatively
- Lack of emphasis on settings customization
Order Hide.Me
Summary: Hide.Me combines an artistically designed VPN service with advanced customizability and good connection speeds. They provide a large number of pricing and packages that offer many desirable features. However, the price of these packages is fairly high compared to other similar VPN services.
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