Most users have said that HideMy.name is a supposedly highly configurable VPN, while some users aren’t so happy about its streaming performance. This HideMy.name review will show you everything there is to know about the VPN and more.
HideMy.name VPN has been up and running for 14 long years, but have they been making improvements to the app?
To make things a little easier for you, I’ll be running a few tests that are extremely important, to determine whether the provider is secure or not. I’ll be testing its security, the speeds, running a few leak tests, and discussing the reliability of the VPN as a whole. Then after achieving all the results, you can compare it against what the provider itself offered.
HideMy.name review – At a glance
| Base | Belize |
| Price | $2.00/mo. |
| Servers | 102+ servers in 43 countries |
| Logs | No logs |
| Multi-logins | 5 devices |
| Refund | 30-days |
| Recommended | Yes |
| Website | Hidemy.name |
This chart includes only a few main points of what each provider mentions on its website, excluding the recommendation, which is left to our final verdict. You and I both know that a VPN and its performance is conducted in detail.
So, to review what we’ll be working with or against, I’ll be testing HideMy.name based on a criterion. According to that, you’ll have a better idea of whether this VPN is truly worth your investments. But first, let’s talk about what HideMy.name has to offer:
- Hidemy.name is located in Belize. (We’ll be discussing the safety of the jurisdiction.
- It offers around 102 servers, spread across 79 cities 43 countries, and is compatible with streaming and torrenting. (Servers to be tested for unblocking abilities)
- Supports all the major apps and devices, some of which include Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS. (User-friendly apps to be discussed)
- Fast speeds. (Tested out further on)
- Basic security features (Discussing its encryption and protocols)
- 24/7 customer support (how reliable is it?)
HideMy.name review 2022 – The rating guide
There are many VPN services in the industry, and equally as many reviews, so, how do you settle with a conclusion regarding the safety and competence of HideMe.name VPN?
The thing about choosing VPN, you need to go through every aspect of it and also dive into minor details. I always follow a set rating criterion, which highlights everything you need to know about a provider. Keeping that in mind, HideMy.name will be tested based on:
- Pricing
- Location
- Security
- Invisibility
- Streaming
- Speed
- Compatibility
- Reliability
Pricing – The HideMy.name affordability review
The price of a VPN tells us a lot about a provider. It’ll give you a birds-eye view of all the features and performance the VPN offers according to its price.
There are some cases where the provider is extremely expensive and delivers results that don’t match up at all. At the same time, there are also providers that are quite affordable and offer the best and most advanced array of features.
Let’s take a look at how affordable HideMy.name is:
The most affordable HideMy.name packages break into three plans:
- $2.5/mo. for the 2-year plan, billed $60 every 2-years
- $2.4/mo. for the 3-year plan, billed $86 every 3-years
- $2/mo. for the 5-year plan, billed $120 every 5 years (BEST VALUE)
HideMy.name free trial
A VPN should always offer a free trial even if it’s for a limited time. This allows the user to get a feel of the app, and see if it fulfills their requirements. HideMy.name luckily does offer a free trial but only for 24-hours. The only con of the free trial is that you lose access to the VPN’s fastest servers.
The 30-day refund policy
Doesn’t matter if the app has a limited trial because it also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, you need to make sure that you don’t exceed beyond 5GB of data. Secondly, to avail of a refund, you need to contact the support team and clarify the issues you experienced. And only after attempting to consolidate through effective measures to solve the issue, will the HideMy.name team issue the refund.
There’s a lot to go through regarding the procedure and how much of a percent is cut from the refund depending on what payment methods you used. But, here’s a short excerpt from the policy, regarding the requirements:
HideMy.name payment methods
The payment method of a VPN also shows how much a provider values a user’s privacy. There are times when they offer payments made through Bitcoin. This is the most private mode of payment. Luckily, HideMy.name offers a variety of options. They include:
- Bitcoin
- Visa
- PayPal
- WebMoney
Now, moving onwards, let’s see what this VPN has to offer in accordance with its price, but first, let’s discuss the safety of its location.
Location – Safety review of the HideMy.name jurisdiction
It’s important to look into the jurisdiction of a VPN provider. This is mostly because the location of origin could or might be within 14-eyes territories. Countries that are located within these regions are part of an alliance where they steal, share, and sell user data.
However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes there are providers located within these regions but are secure because they stick to a strict no-logging policy.
Coming back to HideMy.name, it’s located in Belize, which is far away from prying eyes. You won’t have to worry about the service logging any important data. They save just basic information like your sign up details and is deleted after a few hours. For more information regarding the logging policy, jump straight to “Reliability” of the VPN.
HideMy.name location coverage – What’s served?
The kind of server coverage that a VPN comes with is important to look into. Sure, it can have the largest server network, but there are times where the coverage isn’t spread across important locations. For instance, to access local Chinese content from within the country or while traveling, you need to be connected to Chinese servers that grant that kind of access.
However, since almost all providers don’t offer coverage within China, the best option to connect to would be a Hong Kong server.
In terms of coverage HideMy.name doesn’t have a very large network, in fact, has only 102 servers in 43 countries. The server coverage definitely needs a lot more work, but we still have the unblocking abilities to go through.
Does HideMy.name VPN work in China?
In China, the censorship blocks and restrictions are extremely severe. China not only blocks access to international services but also includes a whole list of VPNs on its list. If a VPN isn’t blocked, there are certain IP addresses that are blacklisted. So, it’s pretty uncanny to have a provider successfully working from there.
I did contact the HideMy.name support and asked if there was functionality in China. Here’s what they had to say:
There’s no surety of it, and you’ll probably have to tweak around until you find the best server for it. However, if a VPN in China is what you’re mainly looking for, there are other premium providers that have full functionality.
Security – The HideMy.name advanced feature review
One of the main reasons why users buy VPN services is to enhance their security and privacy online. In most cases, Android, iOS, or other operating systems don’t come fully equipped with the best security. A VPN can help with that.
However, not all VPN services come packed heavy with the best features. For instance, it needs to have the highest grade encryption standards, and at the same time make sure other in-app advanced features are fully functional.
Let’s take a look at what HideMy.name has to offer in the security department, starting with its:
The HideMy.name encryption review
The encryption of a VPN is extremely important and makes up the entire basis of how secure a VPN is. The best and strongest in the industry is AES 256-bit. Luckily, HideMy.name operates using the best, securing your connections using RSA 2048-bit and AES 256-bit encryption.
The protocols
Other than encryption, you also need to pay focus to the kind of protocols a VPN possesses. The bets for security and fast speeds is OpenVPN. HideMy.name offers a selection of all the major protocols that you can manually switch from the app itself. They are:
- OpenVPN
- IKEv2
- L2TP
- PPTP
Is there a Kill Switch?
Yes, thankfully HideMy.name sports a functional Kill Switch that you can enable in the app. You’ll find it within the settings under “general”.
Chameleon technologies
HideMy.name also uses Chameleon technologies to help you shield your connection and secure it from prying eyes. You can enable the feature in your app settings under the tab of “General.”
Additional Proxy settings
HideMy.name also offers proxy services allowing you to choose between HTTP and SOCKS5. This only works for websites accessed through your browser. It’s quite similar to using the NordVPN SOCKS5 proxy.
Other than that, there aren’t advanced features like Split-Tunneling or Ad-blocker.
Invisibility – Does HideMy.me leak any IP/DNS/webRTC?
No, it doesn’t.
Leak protection is also a part of the VPN security infrastructure. It makes sure that your personal data such as location or the websites you visit aren’t exposed. The great news is, HideMy.name VPN rendered clear results.
To test whether this provider was leak free, I connected to the VPN using a US server and compared the results against the local ones.
Here’s the result:
For the IP leak test, I conducted it on ipleak.org, and connected it to the US server. The results I got were leak-free!
For the DNS leak test, I conducted it on dnsleaks.com, and connected it to the US server. The results I got were leak-free!
For the webRTC leak test, I conducted it on browserleaks.com and connected it to the US server. The results I got were leak-free!
Streaming – Does HideMe.name work well with Netflix?
Not really.
Streaming is another reason why most users seek a reliable VPN. There are many streaming services that aren’t exactly available all over the world. For instance, to access Netflix and all its libraries, you’re either going to have to be located within the US or within its territories.
There are streaming services like BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and others that are only aired within the countries of origin. Gaining access to these platforms are extremely hard to do.
When put to the test, HideMy.name only managed to unblock a few, and sadly Netflix wasn’t one of them. It did, however, manage to unblock Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer.
If access to unlimited and blocked streaming platforms is what you’re looking for, mainly within geo-censored regions, then there are other suitable streaming VPNs that offer access to it.
Is HideMy.name P2P compatible?
Other than streaming, this provider works well for torrenting platforms. However, when I contacted the support chat, they mentioned that a particular server (Moscow) works best for it. Here’s what they said:
Speed – How fast is HideMy.name?
Just like gaining access to restricted streaming platforms is required by a VPN in general, the speeds are equally important. What’s the point of being able to access BBC iPlayer and wait for hours to stream through one movie?
A VPN won’t increase your internet speeds but will help stabilize it. In most cases, an Internet Service Provider actively throttles with speed and bandwidth. A VPN can help get past these issues.
I ran HideMy.name VPN through a series of tests checking out the speeds of a few popular servers that users mainly connect to for international streaming. But first, I recorded the speed results of my local connection speeds, so that I could compare the VPN speeds later on.
The results of the speed without a VPN were:
Then with connection to the VPN, I recorded the speeds of the following, ranked from best to worst.
US server:
UK server:
JP server:
CA server:
AUS server:
The standard speed requirement of streaming on HD or 4K is 5Mbps and Ultra HD is 25Mbps. The results I got were exceptionally good considering the requirements. However, wasn’t too pleased with the Australian server.
Compatibility – HideMy.name device support review
A VPN should support multiple operating systems and devices. Some users need VPN protection for their smartphones, while others for their desktop or tabs. Choosing the best VPN needs to support multiple device connections, all the major devices, and offer user-friendly apps.
The best VPN needs to offer support for multiple operating systems and devices, and a few of them include Windows, iOS, Android, macOS, and more.
Keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at the HideMy.name device support:
- Windows
- Android
- macOS
- iOS
- Android TV
- Linux
- Routers
Additionally, HideMy.name also allows you to connect up to 5 devices in one go. So, along with your smartphone, you’ll be able to make multiple other connections with it.
I ran the VPN through a few tests using its Windows app. The interface was simple to setup, by entering in the code provided upon subscription. The settings are easy to navigate through and configure. Here’s what the Windows app settings look like:
Reliability – How safe is HideMy.name VPN?
Now that you’ve come towards the end of this HideMy.name review, we’ve been through the prices, its security, the device support, the speed, and leak tests, but the end result also depends on how reliable the service is.
Apart from going through the VPN’s security features, you also need to dig deep within its privacy policies and customer service. First, let’s talk about HideMy.name VPN’s logging policy.
Does HideMy.name log any user data?
Thankfully, no it doesn’t.
They neither record the browsing history, nor like activities, and neither do they keep a record of any personal data other than your email ID. This is used to maintain contact with its users. Here’s an excerpt from the HideMy.name VPN’s privacy policy:
24/7 customer support
60% of the time, VPN users are new to the apps, and setting them up is sometimes a bit of a task. What’s great about this VPN is that they offer the assistance of a live chat system. The agents are pretty competent and answered most of my queries. Other means of support include email and an FAQ section that covers technical and billing support.
The verdict – Do I recommend HideMy.name?
In this HideMy.name VPN review, we crossed checked the following: makes a great app where security is concerned, but it seems to have struck a blank for its unblocking abilities. It has a small list of servers in reasonably good coverage of countries around the world, but still not enough to get across some restrictions, for instance, Netflix.
Its no-logs policy is solid, supports all the major devices and operating systems, offers a one-day free trial, and 30-day refund policy. All-in-all, I believe this VPN is good enough for basic use only because of its inability to unblock a couple of services. But, it, however, is budgeted, which is great.