Betternet is a VPN service that launched in 2015, soon gained popularity as a free VPN, and was later purchased by Pango. Betternet appeared to be an independent corporation situated in Canada when we initially tested it for a review a few years ago. However, now, it seems that Betternet is owned by Pango, which is linked to Hotspot Shield VPN.
When you look at Betternet’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, you’ll notice a lot of references to Pango. Hotspot Shield, Pango’s flagship VPN service, is no stranger to controversy. It has previously been called out for eavesdropping on web traffic and invading user privacy. Let’s learn more about Betternet.
Is Betternet Safe?
Betternet is not safe to use, according to our findings after considerable testing and study. Based on the following findings for this Betternet evaluation, this is our own opinion:
- Researchers discovered malware in Betternet apps.
- Tracking libraries were also discovered in Betternet apps.
- In 2017, Betternet was also hacked, and malware was transmitted through Betternet Chrome extensions.
The Reason Behind Malware And Tracking In Betternet’s Application
Your data is valuable, to put it simply.
Malware and tracking are just tools for gathering data, which is one way for “free VPN” apps to make money. Your data can then be sold to third parties (a very huge and successful industry) or used to target you with targeted adverts after it has been collected (which brings in commissions on sales).
Is Betternet Fast?
Betternet’s performance gives us the sense that it’s highly unreliable, and the protocols are badly developed.
VPN speed, on the other hand, is a tough quality to evaluate because any measurement results are highly dependent on the user’s location, internet connection, and a variety of other factors. To get around this, we evaluated speeds in a variety of places and compared them to the baseline speed, resulting in a rough estimate of a VPN provider’s total speed.
Ping was another thing we looked at. It is critical for internet calls, live streaming, gaming, and anything else that necessitates the shortest possible latency. Ping ranges from 50 to 100 milliseconds, with anything under 20 milliseconds being extremely low. The latency becomes problematic when it exceeds 100 milliseconds. And the longer the delay, the more difficult it is to communicate with colleagues and acquaintances over the phone, the worse the online gaming experience, and so on. You get the idea: the best ping is one with a low ping.
Does Betternet Unblock Netflix?
In the United States and the United Kingdom, Betternet collaborates with Netflix. It unblocks libraries and allows you to see stuff that is only available in these countries.
According to our tests, it is not the best VPN for viewing most geo-restricted content on other platforms. BetternetVPN not only doesn’t let you unlock other streaming services like Hulu, BBC iPlayer, or DAZN, but it also takes a long time to load.
Is Betternet Good For Torrenting?
Torrenting works fine with BetternetVPN, according to our tests. The download rates are reasonable, hovering about 3 megabits per second. It’s worth noting, though, that such torrenting speeds are much slower than those offered by other VPN companies.
However, we ran a speed test without P2P traffic to ensure a fair comparison. We saw a difference here. The download speed had increased from 3Mb/s to 11Mb/s. Because of the large difference in download rates with and without P2P activity, we can confidently conclude that BetternetVPN will limit torrenting traffic.
The Pricing Factor
There is a free and paid version of BetternetVPN. The latter has more features, such as a larger number of available locations, faster speeds, and the ability to connect to five devices at once. When compared to other VPNs on the market, it is, nevertheless, on the expensive side.
The good thing is that you can try the premium version for a week for free, so you don’t have to commit right away. These are the pricing plans:
| 1 week | Free trial |
| 1 month | $12.99 |
| 1 year | $7.99/month |
Free Version of the VPN
If it’s free, the user is the product, as the phrase goes. BetternetVPN formerly compensated its free users by forcing them to watch advertisements. While this is no longer the case, free users are still limited to 500MB per day.
BetternetVPN’s free version is adequate for infrequent and light browsing that does not necessitate high speeds, but not much more. The only advantage of the free version is that it does not require registration, although this is true of most free VPNs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Betternet VPN free?
Betternet VPN offers a free version with a daily bandwidth limit of 500MB. It also only lets you connect to a random US server, which is inconvenient if you want to utilize the VPN to stream or access other geo-restricted content.
Is Betternet VPN trustworthy?
Betternet VPN is kind of safe to use because it is situated in the United States and is owned by a US corporation. It also makes use of Hotspot Shield’s technologies, which aren’t the worst in terms of security. But it does have a bad history.
Does Betternet VPN unblock Netflix?
Yes, it does.
Should you really go for Betternet VPN?
No, it’s better if you go for some other VPN service if you can afford it.
Wrapping Up!
While Betternet may be popular among some mobile users (because of its low cost), it also has several drawbacks.
Betternet is not recommended in general for the following reasons:
- Slow speed
- Problems with the connection
- There is no kill switch.
- VPN programs have a troubled history of containing malware and tracking libraries.
- Privacy policy that is troubling (data collection)
Even if Betternet did well in this review, the fact that they have a history of malware with their VPN software is reason enough to avoid them. We would not recommend Betternet even if you require a free VPN.
There are other far better VPNs to consider if you are open to other options.
