Hotspot Shield has amassed over 650 million users since its inception in 2008. Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and a slew of other prestigious publications have praised it since then. In 2019, Speedtest named it “the fastest VPN.”
The secret to Hotspot Shield’s success is its remarkable speed, which is matched by excellent security and consistent performance. Its owner (Pango Inc.) is also well-known for creating the “Catapult Hydra” VPN protocol.
Hotspot Shield, dubbed “Bitdefender VPN’s big brother,” has a lot of features beneath the hood. With that in mind, we had to put it to the test from beginning to end to see how it compared to the competition.
Brief Review of Hotspot Sheild
Hotspot Shield VPN is a robust VPN that is also user-friendly. Its apps are simple and straightforward to use, with no complicated menus or highly complex options. Its Catapult Hydra protocol offers lightning-fast speeds and connection times. For maximum security, the raw speed is combined with AES-128 encryption.
Hotspot Shield has over 3,200 servers in over 80 countries, all of which are devoted to streaming and gaming. It does not store any identifying activity logs and has not yet shared any user information with authorities.
For power users, it may be a little lacking in features, but beginners will feel perfectly at home. Its premium option is jam-packed with security and privacy features, making it one of the most cost-effective options available.
What is the Speed of Hotspot Shield VPN?
The two most critical components of any VPN service are speed and security. However, they are always in an inverse relationship: higher security generally comes at the expense of slower speeds, and vice versa. The ability to strike that precise balance between security and performance is what distinguishes a VPN provider.
We test VPN speeds in all key locations for each review to determine the fastest VPNs. Encryption will always slow you down, but it shouldn’t prevent you from browsing or doing other things.
After testing Hotspot Shield VPN, we came to the following conclusions:
- Because the VPN speed drop-off is much lower, the “VPN impact” is much lower.
- During day-to-day use, we saw no significant oscillations.
How Safe is it to Use Hotspot ShieldVPN?
A solid VPN should keep you anonymous at all times and shield your online traffic from prying eyes. Fortunately, the Hotspot Shield VPN is a pioneer in the field of internet security. It combines a strong security suite with a sensible logging policy. We’ll go over the methods, data collecting, and personal information needed to create an account in the sections below.
Here’s the main point:
The Catapult Hydra protocol is used by Hotspot Shield.
- It uses the AES-128 encryption cipher, which is military-grade.
- For Windows, it has an automated kill switch.
Privacy and logging
Hotspot Shield VPN bills itself as a “log-free VPN,” which implies it collects no information that might be used to track your online activity. To put it another way, they don’t keep track of your IP address, online activities, real-world location, or suspicious device identifiers.
Hotspot Shield, on the other hand, does gather the following information:
The length of your VPN sessions and the amount of bandwidth used.
Users’ visited domains (anonymized so they can’t tell which user visited which domain).
Device hashes are used to identify devices and link them to other data.
Kill switch
VPNs are as reliable as your internet connection in most cases. In other words, they may occasionally stutter for a second or two. That’s more than enough for your true IP address to be revealed, undermining the purpose of utilizing a VPN.
This is where a kill switch is useful. This feature effectively disconnects your connection in a single second by suspending all internet traffic until your VPN reconnects.
It activates in a fraction of a second and protects your personal information from being leaked.
Only the Windows app of Hotspot Shield has an automatic kill switch at the moment. This critical fail-safe is not available to Mac, Android, iOS, or Linux users.
A kill switch prevents you from accessing the internet without protection. As a result, it’s one of the most crucial defenses against data leakage.
We’re hoping that the rest of the Hotspot Shield apps gain this essential feature as soon as feasible.
What Data Does Hotspot ShieldVPN Require?
To offer you its service, every VPN requires some basic personal information. This should ideally be limited to your email and billing information. Some VPNs, such as Windscribe, don’t even ask for your email address.
On the other side, some businesses ask for a lot of personal information under the guise of “improving service.” However, because we value privacy above everything else, we want to provide as little information as possible during account creation.
With that in mind, here’s what Hotspot Shield asks for throughout the registration process:
- Password
If you choose a paid subscription, you’ll also have to provide your full name because Hotspot Shield does not accept bitcoin payments. Since crypto enables anonymous internet purchases, we’d like to see this changed in the future.
Having said that, we must applaud Hotspot Shield’s basic account creation technique. You only need to submit your email address and password to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to trust Hotspot Shield?
With over 650 million customers in over 200 countries, Hotspot Shield is a well-known VPN service.
Is Hotspot Shield truly private?
Yes! To hide your genuine identity, Hotspot Shield will mask your real IP address with a phony one.
Is Netflix compatible with Hotspot Shield?
Yes! Netflix US and many other regional versions are no problem for Hotspot Shield.
How can I get in touch with Hotspot Shield’s technical support?
With a paid VPN subscription, Hotspot Shield offers 24/7 live chat and email support for both free and premium plans.
Wrapping Up
Although we wouldn’t go as far as to say that Hotspot Shield is the ideal VPN, it is a good option that appears to be on the right route. It has good connection speeds, a large server network, a simple, user-friendly interface, a few unique features, excellent live chat assistance, and a completely free subscription.
