Hide.me is a virtual private network (VPN) service that offers its users privacy protection, encryption, and WiFi security while enabling them to browse the web and geo-restricted content confidentially.
Through the platform, each user can surf the internet privately without worrying about their IP address being revealed. Its bypassing Geo-Blocking feature allows users to circumvent irritating censorship besides accessing any channel, website, or app without being blocked.
Hide.me VPN General Information
- Official Website: www.hide.me
- Overall Rank: The 50th most popular VPN out of 78
- Protocols: OpenVPN, SoftEther, L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2, SSTP, PPTP
- Encryption: 256-bit AES
- Locations: 55 countries, 160+ servers
- Supported platforms: PC, Android, macOS, iOS, Linux, Amazon Fire OS, Chrome, Firefox, routers
Hide.me VPN Overview
Established in 2012 by a team of IT experts, Hide.me VPN offers zero-logs service and boasts powerful encryption and feature-rich apps on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. With Hide.me, users can unblock several geo-restricted streaming services from around the world, including BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney +, and others.
Hide.me is known as one of the fastest VPN services. On average, users can expect speeds of 80Mbps – 100Mbps depending on various speed factors. Hide.me has more than 2000 servers in 46 countries that are all fully encrypted.
With Hide.me, users benefit from high-end security through sophisticated protocols that may be device-specific. Although it offers excellent free plans, its premium tier is a bit costly compared to many of its competitors. Still, the VPN is very well-equipped with advanced VPN features, so the price is worth it.
Hide.me Features
Kill Switch
By default, Hide.me is equipped with a kill switch feature, that prevents your data from being leaked in case the VPN fails. Having enabled this feature doesn’t cause any problems. Additionally, you can configure it to only allow the VPN to handle your online traffic, disabling all local traffic.
Split Tunneling
The Split Tunneling feature can be used if you don’t want or need to encrypt some of the apps or traffic on your network. With it, you can choose which apps or traffic should go straight to your ISP and which should be routed through the VPN tunnel.
Multihop
A new feature of Hide.me called VPN Multihop had been added to the service to improve security and combat online censorship. To enhance security, Multihop lets you automatically change IP addresses. This implementation stands out because you can choose your entry and exit points.
By defining a preferred entry and exit server, you can specify which servers to connect to. While this enhances your online privacy because you are harder to track, some websites may block your access if you constantly change your IP address with this feature. This feature is still considered a beta version. So, it may not operate perfectly yet.
Bolt
Users can activate the VPN Bolt feature on Hide.me for faster connection speeds. TCP traffic takes precedence, and UDP traffic is avoided whenever possible with this feature.
Additionally, it allows users to bypass speed throttling and a variety of censorship measures by their ISP. Like Multihop, Bolt is still an experimental service.
Stealth Guard
A unique feature of Hide.me VPN, Stealth Guard, combines split tunneling and the kill switch. You can select which apps will only work with VPN enabled or which apps will work with your entire Internet connection. As a result, it extends beyond split tunneling since when your connection to the VPN server breaks, the apps selected by you will also be disabled.
Think about the case where you are torrenting and you lose your VPN connection. When you add your torrenting app to Stealth Guard, not only will your Internet connection be terminated, but so will your torrent client as well.
Torrenting and Streaming
Since many users use VPN services to download torrents safely and access geo-restricted content, it is important to find out if the provider is appropriate for these activities. Not all VPNs support streaming and allow torrenting. In addition to allowing the use of torrents, Hide.me offers a specialized proxy.
All torrenting fans will be more than satisfied with this feature because it has great speeds for P2P connections. Additionally, your data and online activity will remain safe and unnoticed with ironclad protection.
Automatic WiFi Protection
Hide.me detects automatically connected devices to an insecure WiFi network and offers a VPN connection to protect you. When using public WiFi hotspots, you can use it to stay safe from hackers.
SoftEther
With Hide.me, you can disguise VPN encrypted traffic over TCP port 443 as regular HTTPS using the SoftEther VPN protocol. Thus, firewalls cannot block them, and people can evade VPN blocking in countries such as China and Iran. SoftEther is supported on Windows only.
Encryption and Security
Hide.me free offers incredibly secure online privacy. With a VPN connection, all your applications run with the highest level of encryption, AES-256, so nobody can see what you do online.
Connecting to one of Hide.me’s free VPN servers will let you choose from a variety of VPN connection protocols, including
- IKEv2
- OpenVPN (preferred protocol)
- SSTP
While you can choose the automatically selected protocol, it’s better to choose OpenVPN manually.
One of the best features of this service is that it keeps zero logs. Hide.me does not store any information about what people do online when using its service. Further, bandwidth connection logs are “securely wiped every few hours,” and those logs will never be matched with real IP addresses or timestamps. Since Hide.me keeps no logs, it is indeed a true no-logs VPN.
Anonymous Purchase
Hide.me lets you make payments for subscriptions using anonymous methods like a range of cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Tron, and Litecoin). You can essentially always keep your identity hidden by using anonymous payment methods.
A VPN provider usually keeps your account information on record when you subscribe, so using an anonymous payment method further reduces the amount of personally identifiable information they store. In this regard, Hide.me VPN can be considered to be safe in accepting anonymous subscription payments.
Supported Platforms and Devices
You can download the free VPN applications from Hide.me for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. The site also provides manual guides for setting up VPNs on Linux and other platforms.
Free users of Hide.me cannot use VPN on more than one device simultaneously. It is possible to install Hide.me at the router level. However, the data limit of 2GB will be an obstacle. Streaming devices and game consoles aren’t supported by Hide.me (free).
Additionally, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users can download free browser plug-ins from Hide.me.
User Experience
Hide.me’s website has an easy-to-navigate menu system, with everything arranged clearly. You’ll find helpful FAQs and guides on the provider’s website. There is no hassle with subscribing, and you only need to provide minimal information (you may use a burner email if you prefer).
Customer Support
Hide.me’s live chat is available 24/7 and can answer most of your basic questions, but it does not offer much assistance for more technical VPN inquiries. If you need technical assistance, you can contact Hide.me’s technical support team via email.
Pros and Cons of Hide.me
Pros
Hide.me has quite the impressive list of benefits for a freemium VPN service. Among them:
- No security limits on the free tier.
- Up to 10 simultaneous connections on the pro account.
- Faster speeds even on free servers.
- Premium users get Wireless Guard support.
- Headquarters are not under surveillance by the CIA.
- Hosted DNS are self-managed.
- Many locations support torrenting.
Cons
- You can’t stream for free
- Freemium plans have limited server locations
- No recent audit available
Hide.me Pricing Plans
Free Plan:
- Free Forever – no credit card required.
As long as you only need the VPN every now and then, the free plan is great because it provides only 2 GB of data per month and is limited to one connection at a time. In addition, you will only have access to five locations.
Plus plan:
- One month: $9.95 /month – Billed monthly
- Six months: $6.65 /month – Billed Biannually
- 12 months: $4.99 /month – Billed Annually
Premium plan:
- One month: $19.95 /month – Billed monthly
- Six months: $13.32 /month – Billed Biannually
- 12 months: $9.99 /month – Billed Annually
You can get your money back within 14 days, so there’s no need to worry about their premium plans being a scam. If you are not satisfied with their services, they will return your money, no questions asked.
However, you should also be aware that this guarantee is active only if you don’t exceed your 500MB usage limit.
Although Hide.me’s prices make it one of the more expensive VPNs out there, its overall quality is sufficient to offset this inconvenience.
Payment methods include:
- PayPal
- Credit/debit cards
- Wire transfer
- iDeal
- Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Bottom Line
Hide.me is a good service with good server speeds and an easy-to-use Windows application. Besides, Hide.me boasts some remarkable features. It supports top-notch VPN technology, provides up to 10 simultaneous connections, and has a good distribution of servers worldwide. The service unblocks many of the world’s most popular streaming services, which is perfect for users who enjoy streaming content from around the world.