Is it true that Hotspot Shield VPN is faster than most VPN services because of its proprietary Hydra protocol? So our team ran a general test of Hotspot Shield VPN to see if it had the speed that the question said it did, and how well it handled streaming services, gaming, torrenting and more.
Quick Review of Hotspot Shield VPN
Like AtlasVPN, Hotspot Shield VPN is one of the VPN services that offers free subscriptions to its users. It also is one of the world’s most popular VPN services, with over 650 million users.
Hotspot Shield VPN is an ad-sponsored VPN service, meaning that its free version comes with many ads as well as restricted daily data. But when you upgrade to the paid version, these problems are solved. In contrast to the free version, the paid version provides users with unlimited bandwidth, access to servers in 80 countries and a number of security features to protect users’ network activity.
| What We Like | What We Don’t |
|---|---|
| ✅ Stay anonymous with military-grade encryption ✅ Unlock worldwide content with over 115+ virtual locations ✅ Secure 5 devices with one account | ❎ Free version shares information with advertisers ❎ Based in the privacy-unfriendly US |
Key Data of Hotspot Shield VPN
| Premium Version | Free Version | |
|---|---|---|
| Data Cap | Umlimited | 500 MB / Day |
| Jurisdiction | US (Five Eyes Member) | US (Five Eyes Member) |
| Servers | 1800 | Undisclosed |
| Countries | 80 | 1 |
| US Netflix | Yes | No |
| Torrenting | Unlimited | Permitted |
| Simultaneous Connections | 5 | – |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat | Online Resources Only |
| Free Trial | 7 Days (Payment Info Required) | – |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 45-Day | – |
Detailed Review of Hotspot Shield VPN
Locations & Servers ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hotspot Shield VPN has 1,800 servers spread across more than 35 cities and 80 countries. However, you can only use one server on the free app. Premium servers are listed in the app, but I was unable to use them until I upgraded.
Hotspot Shield VPN’s coverage extends to the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and African regions in addition to the servers in the Americas, Europe, and Australia. It has servers in China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Egypt, Israel, and Kenya—all of which are places where the majority of VPNs do not operate. You can use this to access Filipino telenovelas and Bollywood movies, among other geo-restricted content. When you travel to nations that monitor their citizens’ internet activities, you can also hide your identity with Hotspot Shield VPN.
Speeding ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After testing, the speed of the HHS is truly impressive, perhaps due to the Catapult Hydra protocol. But there is no doubt why this VPN won Ookla’s speed badge – the download speed amplitude ranges from 1% to 28% drop with an average 15% drop-off.
The numbers are still impressive despite the slightly slower upload speed. They range from 0% to 95%, with an average reduction of about 80%.
| Location | Download | Upload |
|---|---|---|
| The US | 293 | 39 |
| The UK | 295 | 77 |
| Germany | 297 | 99 |
| Japan | 216 | 20 |
| Australia | 206 | 15 |
The IKEv2 tunneling protocol can also be selected and utilized with Hotspot Shield. Our tests show an average download speed of 262.2 Mbps and an average upload speed of 45.4 Mbps. Furthermore, while upload speeds performed slightly worse, the decreases in download speed ranged from 2% to 32%, putting the average at 20%.They fell by an average of 86%, from 3% to 98%.
Privacy & Security ⭐⭐⭐
As a result of our testing and investigation, in 2016, Hotspot Shield VPN used Java tracking code on its Android app to collect user information and then sold this data to third-party advertising companies.
In 2017, Hotspot Shield VPN was sued by CDT for not being transparent about its data sharing and traffic retargeting activities.
In 2018, another vulnerability was discovered in Hotspot Shield VPN. The vulnerability exposes users’ personal and private information, and hackers use the vulnerability to find the WIFI name of a user’s location.
Although Hotspot Shield VPN still claims in its current privacy policy that it does not collect and store any information about users, it does state that the following information is recorded:
- Information about the domains you access when connected
- Information about usage, such as the frequency of use, bandwidth used, and connection timestamps
- Device information including identifiers, operating systems, browser type, internet service provider, and network information
- Approximate location information (obtained from logging your IP address, albeit encrypted)
The company claims that each VPN session erases any IP addresses it collects. However, I discovered that Aura (Hotspot Shield VPN’s holder) can send advertisements to you using the IP addresses it collects. The clause does not specify whether Aura’s partner websites also use the addresses to profile paying customers, despite the fact that advertisements only appear on the free app.
To make matters worse, the use of the free version exposes personal information to attack and users are penalised for using the ad-blocking service.
Streaming ⭐⭐⭐⭐
For accessing geo-blocked content on major streaming platforms, Hotspot Shield VPN is a great VPN. It has more than 3200 servers in more than 80 nations. Consequently, regardless of their location-based restrictions, you can choose any streaming server to watch movies or television shows.
For instance, unblocking the US Netflix library was effortless for us. During the test, the most recent movies and TV shows loaded immediately with no degradation in image quality. The entire Netflix viewing experience was so smooth that it would be pretty hard to tell if a VPN was used at all.
Additionally, Hotspot Shield VPN makes it simple to unblock YouTube, allowing you to access globally popular videos. However, when we tried to access other streaming platforms, we encountered some issues. It did unblock BBC iPlayer, but at first there was some buffering.
| Streaming Platforms | Status |
|---|---|
| Netflix | ✅ |
| BBC iPlayer | ✅ |
| YouTube | ✅ |
| DAZN | ❎ |
Torrenting ⭐⭐⭐
In contrast to some of its rivals, Hotspot Shield publicly supports P2P activity. For instance, despite permitting torrenting on each server, TunnelBear VPN keeps its torrenting policy virtually secret on its website.
Hotspot Shield Elite is a good VPN for torrenting because of its fast upload speeds, effective DNS leak protection, and VPN kill switch (only available to Windows users). Your ISP won’t be able to see your P2P activity because the VPN hides your IP address.
You can also torrent on any supported device or platform, but unfortunately you can’t use Hotspot Shield with Kodi.
Subscription Plan ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Hotspot Shield VPN subscription plan is divided into two parts: a free version and a paid version.
The free version can only access one server, and there is a traffic limit of 500MB per month. Paid versions are available as Premium and Premium Family. The difference is that the Premium version allows up to 5 devices to be used at the same time, while the Premium Family offers 5 accounts, each of which can be connected to 5 separate devices. The price of both packages depends on whether the user is on a monthly or annual plan.
Monthly Plan ➡️
⬅️ Annual Plan
Final Thought