In this iTop VPN review, I’ll be covering everything there is to know about the app – whether its security is up to the mark, how fast the speeds are, whether it works with Netflix, and much more!
Where a VPN matters, it’s always a good idea to go through VPN reviews to get a clearer idea of how the app performs. Don’t get it wrong, though, there are many reviews that are meddled with for the sole reason of false advertising. That doesn’t help users all that much.
In this iTop VPN review, I’ll be covering every inch of the VPN app and then will come to a conclusion on whether the provider works reliably or not. Other than that, iTop VPN comes with a limited free version of its app and a 30-day refund period. The point of mentioning this is to give you the option of testing the VPN out on your own for better results!
iTop VPN at a glance
| Base | Seems to be in Hong Kong |
| Price | $2.31/mo. |
| Servers | 1800 servers in 100+ locations |
| Logs | No-logs |
| Multi-logins | 5 devices |
| Refund | 30-days |
| Website | itopvpn.com |
| Recommendation | Yes |
This table is just in case you don’t feel like going through the entire iTop VPN review. I’ve also highlighted a few points on the provider below that might be useful to you:
- There is no saying for sure where iTop VPN is located, but it seems to be headquartered in Hong Kong.
- The app comes with around 1800+ servers in 100+ locations. We tested a few of them further on.
- Unblocks Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and a couple of others.
- Great security features. Tested a few of them further down the review.
- Speeds are fast!
- Supports the major devices, some of which include Windows, iOS, and macOS.
- Allows up to 5 multi-device connections.
- Great UI on all the apps. Makes it easy for even beginners to comprehend and use the VPN.
iTop VPN review – The rating guide
Regardless of whether you need the VPN for streaming, torrenting, speeds, or for security purposes, it’s always a good idea to get a VPN that is well-rounded. With that said, there is a certain rating guide I use to conduct any VPN review. With that said, I tested the iTop VPN app in this review based on:
- Pricing
- Location
- Security
- Leak test
- Streaming
- Speed
- Device compatibility
- Reliability
Pricing – How affordable is iTop VPN?
Sometimes, the best VPN is affordable and reliable. Having looked into the iTop VPN prices, it prices are pretty affordable. The iTop VPN breaks into 3 plans:
- $11.99/mo. for the monthly plan
- $6.99/mo. for the 6-month plan
- $2.31/mo. for the 1-year plan + 1 year free. That makes it 80% of the regular packages.
The monthly plan is a little costly, but that’s why there are two other affordable options. Personally, the 1-year deal is extremely affordable, considering there are many other VPNs that offer larger prices for their yearly plans. Plus, the 1-year deal is currently coming with 1-year free services.
But wait, there’s more! iTopVPN has a special Christmas sale active right now. With this deal, you can enjoy this VPN for 24 months for $1.66 per month. You also get the VPN for 12 months for free.
Free iTop VPN app
There is no free trial available, but there is a free version of the app. It’s a little limited in the sense that it offers only 11 servers and 700MB of data/day. That’s about it. There are no additional perks and no features that you can use, which are already available on the paid app. If, however, this is not enough for you to run your tests, you could always go for the 30-day refund period.
The 30-day refund policy
Like most other VPN providers, iTop offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. That might seem a little limited, but it’s enough time for you to get a feel of the app. Although, make sure you go through the entire refund policy before diving into it.
For starters, the 30-day refund applies to all subscription plans as long as you follow their Terms of Service. We recommend going through the entire refund policy just in case the details are not mentioned on the home page. Apart from the full refund policy, there is a partial refund as well, but only available for the 6-month and the 1-year plans.
The iTop VPN payment methods
iTop VPN offers the following payment options:
- PayPal
- Credit or Debit Cards
- Bank transfer
Location – How safe is the iTop VPN jurisdiction?
A slight setback in the location is that no one knows for sure where iTop VPN is located. There has been news making rounds of the company being located in Hong Kong. So far, from what we know, Hong Kong is nothing like China when it comes to online privacy and security. Plus, the provider itself observes a strict no-logs policy. We’ll get to that part later on.
The iTop VPN servers
Coming to one of my favorite parts about iTop VPN, we have its servers. iTop VPN offers around 1800+ servers in 100+ locations, and saying that they’re optimized for streaming and other activities is an understatement, to say the least. What I love about the app is that the service has separate tabs labeled against what the servers are the best for. For starters, the servers below are just a glimpse of what it offers:
Then, on the far left of the app, you’ll see that these servers are further divided according to what’s best for downloading, streaming, social, and gaming.
For downloading
To start it off, you have the “For Downloading” tab, which is for P2P. The VPN already offers around 3 servers that are reliable for it. This makes things easier on users so that they don’t have to keep shuffling between servers to find what works.
Servers for streaming
Next, we have the “For Streaming” tab. This is probably what most users look for, considering how difficult it is for anyone to find streaming services that work reliably. iTop VPN does unblock some of the more popular ones, like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Hulu. You can use the refund period to test these out since the free app only offers very limited servers for streaming.
For social media apps/ websites
The next is the “For Social” tab, which is perfect for users traveling across borders. There are a few social media apps and communication apps that are blocked around the world. For starters, if you’re traveling to China, you’ll immediately lose access to WhatsApp and many other apps. iTop VPN offers special servers to unblock these.
Server for gaming
To unblock some of the best games or apps for it, users look into the best VPN for gaming. However, to make things easier for you, iTop VPN offers specialty servers for gaming. You will find it in the server tab labeled as “For Gaming.” In fact, in the image below, you can see that there are a few games labeled against it, such as:
Quick Access servers
Other than that, there is also a quick access tab, where you’ll find servers that unblock a mixture of platforms, ranging from streaming services to social media apps. Here is a snippet from the app itself.
We particularly loved the quick access feature, because other major providers don’t do this. You have to find the right servers for each platform with Trial and Error, which is time-consuming and quite vexing. Having a pre-listed server for each platform guarantees access, quality, and low time wastage.
Security – Discussing the iTop VPN app’s features and encryption
The security features, matched with the best encryption standards, are something to really dig into when it comes to choosing a great VPN. One of the main reasons to use a VPN is for online protection. So, what point would it be if the VPN you use can’t offer basic protection?
I was pleasantly surprised with iTop VPN and its security features. Not only does it offer great features, but they work!
iTop VPN encryption and protocols
The good news is that iTop VPN offers military-grade Salsa20 (chacha20) AES 256-bit encryption. This means that you can use the internet privately and securely without worrying about spyware, or other malicious intrusions. However, other than great encryption, the VPN matches along with-it other security features and a number of protocols to choose from.
The iTop VPN app comes with TCP, UDP, and HTTPS protocols. The TCP and UDP is basically the two kinds of OpenVPN protocols that are the best for fast and safe streaming. Connect to UDP for better results.
The app comes with other settings that you can adjust according to what you want. If you take a look at the “General” settings, you have the choice of launching the app on startup, automatically connecting to the VPN on startup, or always enabling the VPN on mini (minimized version to avoid distractions.)
iTop VPN app features
iTop VPN offers quite a great number of advanced features, all of which actually work. Sometimes, it’s a little difficult to believe that any VPN would work reliably just because the provider claims that it does. It’s why we test VPNs. Here are the features that come with the iTop VPN app:
Security Reinforce (Anti-Malware)
Malware is one of the main reasons why users should take every measure possible to secure device, data, and online privacy. It’s very rare that VPNs offer an anti-malware feature, but iTop VPN does. It’s called the “Security Reinforce.”
Split Tunneling
Newly added to its list of features is the Split Tunneling option. This feature is great for users who only want to use the VPN for specific apps. All you need to do is enable the feature and add certain apps to the list. Only those apps will pass through the VPN tunnel, while the rest will be seen like regular traffic.
Browser Privacy
Great for a clean and safe browsing experience. This feature on iTop VPN focuses on cleaning up any traces of malware or privacy issues found on any browser you’re connected to. It ranges from Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Internet Explorer, and Waterfox.
Kill Switch
The Kill Switch feature is one of the main aspects of a good VPN. If ever there is an issue with the VPN or the internet itself, the Kill Switch will cut off the internet connection instantly. This is to make sure that your real IP or any traces of it don’t leak out while the VPN is not functional. You can enable the Kill Switch from the app itself, it works!
Ads Block
Using the iTop VPN Ads block feature, you can control the amount of spam ads that flood your screen while streaming on a particular website or app.
DNS leak protection
Another great aspect of the VPN is that it didn’t leak any IP, DNS or webRTC. The test results are ahead.
IPV6 Protection and Kill Switch
A Kill Switch is the failsafe that stops your data from leaking into the greater internet in case of a connection drop. This feature is very important for people who are accessing blocked or restricted websites in countries with heavy censorship. The IPV6 is an advanced version of the IPV4, which uses a 128-bit address instead of the 32-bit address. It means your IP address is harder to exploit and your data is much safer.
Stealth Modes
iTopVPN has also introduced different stealth modes that configure your IP to give you the ultimate privacy. You can choose:
- Static IP: It keeps your IP the same whenever you connect to a VPN server. It’s great for people who are traveling to a foreign country for a period of time and want to access content from their homeland.
- Dynamic IP: It changes your IP every time you connect to a VPN server, which means you get a new identity at the snap of your fingers. The Dynamic IP option is great for those who want anonymity and privacy while streaming, surfing, and gaming.
- Super Stealth: The super stealth option is for people who want nothing more than the best in terms of security. This feature rotates your IP periodically, to make it harder for different hackers or other authorities to track your activities.
The super stealth mode is great for privacy but we wouldn’t recommend using it while streaming or gaming. The constantly rotating IPs might get you kicked from a server or hinder your speeds.
Leak test – Testing iTop VPN for IP, DNS, and webRTC leaks
As mentioned above, iTop VPN offers DNS leak protection, and along with that, our team also ran multiple tests for IP and webRTC leaks using various servers. For the final test and screenshots, we used the iTop VPN United States server, since that is the most widely used.
For the IP leak test, we used ipleak.org, and the results were leak-free:
To test for any DNS leaks, we used dnsleak.com, and the results were leak-free:
For the webRTC leak test, we used browserleaks.com, and the results were leak-free:
The results were extremely satisfactory, considering the US server works the least.
Streaming – Did iTop VPN unblock Netflix?
Netflix is a hard nut to crack, among many other streaming services. Because the service is among many that are geo-blocked, using the best VPN for Netflix is our only option, especially if you’re traveling abroad.
The app comes with some streaming specialty servers for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Hulu and many others that you can use to test it out. There’s one Netflix server in Kansas, US, that you can try, since it worked instantly for me. Other than that, we tested the VPN with BBC iPlayer, Hulu, DAZN, Sky Sports and more! iTop VPN works great for streaming!
What about P2P activities?
If you move up to the server’s section, you’ll find an image that shows the “For Downloading” section on the app. There are around 3 P2P optimized servers that you can use for it. At first, there were a few issues that I encountered personally, but you could always test the VPN and get different results. If, however, you’re looking for a VPN that offers safe torrenting access, there are a few others you can try.
Speed – Does iTop VPN help stabilize internet speeds?
Yes, it does.
Here’s the thing: it’s a huge VPN myth that a VPN can increase internet connection or download speeds. However, what a VPN does do, is help stabilize it.
For starters, if you’re using a fast internet connection, specifically because that’s what you paid for, and still experience slow speeds, it’s because of ISP throttling. Your ISP is meddling with how you use the internet by controlling your bandwidth. A VPN helps maintain consistent speeds.
We first tested the speeds without a VPN, and here were the results:
My only impression from the results above is that the ISP is throttling it, mostly because I paid for faster internet. Now I further tested the speeds after connecting to iTop VPN, using a few of the more popular server options.
After connecting to the Australian server:
Speed test using the Japan server:
After connecting to the UK server:
Testing the speeds using the US server:
The verdict? iTop VPN speeds were beyond my expectation. Comparing the before and after VPN, and minus the PING time, the download speeds were improved. I was only disappointed with the Japan server, but since 24Mbps is not too bad for simple streaming.
Device compatibility – Discussing iTop VPN apps & device support
Most users require VPN for multiple devices or at least one that offers apps for all the popular operating systems or platforms. Sadly, what I feel is a slight drawback is that the provider only offers apps for Windows, macOS, and iOS. There are no signs of it supporting routers or Firestick yet, and hopefully, that’s still in the works.
The android version is under maintenance and isn’t available for now. However, what iTop VPN does offer is the chance for users to make up to 5 multi-device connections. Other than that, the user interface and accessibility of the apps are great! It’s easy to use, especially if you’re a beginner.
Reliability – The iTop VPN no logs policy
Choosing a VPN also means looking into the legalities and policies that the provider states. Make sure you go for one that offers a strict no-logs policy. I looked into the VPN’s privacy policy, to which they stated that the VPN does not log any data, but does at the same time log some impersonal details. The only thing that struck a chord was that it logs the device ID.
Another part of the reliability of a VPN is whether the customer support actually helps users out. There seems to be no live chat support, which is a con when you need immediate assistance. The only thing available is the “Online Feedback” page, where you can fill out a form. That too, it takes around 24-48 hours to reach us.
To conclude – Do I recommend iTop VPN?
Yes, I do recommend iTop VPN, mostly because the proof was in the testing. To recap everything, iTop VPN offers great streaming support, the speeds were up to the mark, and the security features all worked! Of course, there’s also the point that the VPN is on the cheaper side where the 1-year package is concerned.
If, however, you’d like to go for another, more renowned provider, the door to your options is wide open. You can take your pick with our guide on the best VPN deals right now!
