CyberGhost 6
£10.99 for a six-month subscription cyberghostvpn.com
CyberGhost cleverly installs as a seven-day trial of its paid-for service – then moves you down to the free service if you decide not to subscribe. You keep the same basic VPN features, but free users must live with inapp adverts and are automatically disconnected after three hours of usage. There’s a smaller pool of servers too, so you might have to queue to get connected.
Still, CyberGhost has a slick interface and a strong feature set that’s arguably worth paying for. Connection speeds could be faster, but overall it’s not a bad Android VPN.
The CyberGhost app takes an unusual profile-based approach, with different VPN modes on offer to suit different needs. “Wi-Fi Auto-Protect” is designed to keep you safe on public networks, while “Secured Streaming” is for accessing international TV services, and the “Surf Anonymously” and catch-all “Choose My Server” options speak for themselves. Select one and the client will automatically connect you to the fastest and most suitable server.
It’s an approach that can feel long-winded if you’re experienced with VPNs. Once you’re connected, though, there’s little to complain about. The basic VPN services are effective, and CyberGhost is – at the time of testing – one of the few Android VPNs that can successfully trick Netflix into streaming its US catalogue to UK-based customers.
CyberGhost has over 1,250 servers worldwide, across 60 countries. They’re particularly concentrated in the most popular locations – such as the US, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK – but wherever you are, it shouldn’t be hard to find a connection that’s relatively nearby.
With all those servers to choose from, CyberGhost is extremely quick at making the initial connection (although it’s a little slower on the free service). Once you’ve established the link, however, actual browsing speeds are nothing to write home about. Using a UK server nearly halved the bandwidth of our downstream connection, though upstream speeds were nearer the 70% mark.
There’s a possible cause for concern when it comes to leak protection: doileak.com found that the same IP address was leaked through the WebRTC protocol whether the VPN was engaged or not. This won’t be a major worry for most users, but if you want to be certain of your online anonymity, look elsewhere.
CyberGhost is based in Romania and Germany; the latter has strict data-retention laws, but the company has a policy of not tracking or logging any activity in the first place, and all customer info is anonymised wherever possible.