Cyberghost full review
Cyberghost is a VPN provider established in 2011, based in Romania (outside the 5, 9 and 14 eyes alliance).
Cyberghost’s infrastructure is impressive with nearly 8,000 servers located in over 90 countries around the world.
Cyberghost’s interface has been carefully designed to make it aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Cyberghost is compatible with a large number of platforms, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Routers, Kodi Media Center, SmartTV, Apple TV, game console …
For torrenting, Cyberghost offers several optimized servers, allowing fast speeds and increased privacy.
Cyberghost is also very good at bypassing the geographical restrictions put in place by streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney + Hulu, HBO beIN Sports…
Cyberghost offers some interesting features such as Kill Switch, DNS filtering, Wifi protection, App Protection or the possibility to get a dedicated IP address, but it unfortunately omits some very useful options such as Split Tunneling or Dual VPN.
Cyberghost Overview
Unblocking streaming platforms
- Netflix
- Prime Video
- Hulu
- beIN Sports
- BBC Iplayer
- HBO
- Disney+
Cyberghost Speed and Perfomances
It’s difficult to measure the performance of VPN networks, as many factors come into play, but we tried to get an idea of CyberGhost’s speeds by testing several servers on Fast.com, Open Speed Test and the Ookla Speed Test (see how we conduct our tests).
Most of the closest Western European servers provided solid and reliable speeds. Performance dropped off on servers in Eastern Europe, however.
Connections to servers in the United States showed very good performance, especially on servers on the East Coast, as well as very acceptable throughput from the West Coast, although slightly down due to the greater distances.
Significant drops in speed began to materialize when we connected to very remote servers like Australia and much of Asia.
On the other hand, the speeds were very bad on the South American servers, especially in Argentina and Chile.
Cyberghost : unblocking Netflix and other streaming platforms
Unblocking Netflix can be a challenge, even with the best of VPNs.
Most provider won’t tell you which servers are working and which are not, so you have to try all the servers in the target country until you find one that works.
Cyberghost under its terms of service, makes life much easier by highlighting locations that support the services you need. When we selected “streaming” in the cyberghost application we found the recommended locations for US Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube Red …
The netflix access went perfectly well and those regardless of the version (US, UK, France, etc) as well as Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, BBC iPlayer…
As we mentioned in the “performance” section, the cyberghost servers are very efficient and allowed us to view all channels in HD quality with no concern.
- Netflix
- Prime Video
- Hulu
- beIN Sports
- BBC iPlayer
- HBO
- Disney+
Cyberghost and the Torrenting
As soon as you launch the application you will see a list of servers called “for Torrenting”.
We can find some useful tweaks in Settings, including the ability to automatically log into CyberGhost every time you launch your torrent client.
Cyberghost also offers another very useful feature, a malicious URL filter, enabled by default, which will save you a lot of trouble.
If you ignore the “for Torrenting” list and prefer to manually connect to another server, it may cause problems.
CyberGhost explains it must block P2P protocols on certain servers, either for strategic reasons (traffic that unnecessarily slows down the traffic of other users), or for legal reasons in countries like (United States, Russia, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong).
If you stick to the recommended list, CyberGhost works great, and it’s an easy and efficient way to torrent anonymously.
The main features of Cyberghost
For many VPN users, network stability is a big concern.
They do not want their activities to be visible on the public network because of a disconnection. Indeed, if a disconnection happens, your real IP address is found uncovered (the one provided by your ISP). And suddenly, you find yourself vulnerable and your activities can be stalked again.
To avoid this problem, cyberghost offers the “kill switch” function. This function completely cuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection no longer works.
The Privacy Policy of Cyberghost
CyberGhost is based in Romania, which is not a member of the 14 Eyes alliance (a data sharing initiative between intelligence agencies in different countries) see article.
We appreciated that Cyberghost clearly highlights its entire confidentiality policy, written in legible characters and a clear manner.
After reading, here is a summary of the important points:
While using CyberGhost, user traffic data such as browsing history, traffic destination, data content and search preferences are not monitored, recorded, or stored by Cyberghost.
CyberGhost claims that it does not store connection logs, which means that they do not have any logs related to your IP address, your connection time, or the length of your session.
At no point, cyberghost know which user has accessed a particular website or service, nor which user was logged into their service at any given time, nor the IP address of the VPN server that was used.
We appreciated with CyberGhost’s clear clarification of its privacy policy, these are just words on a website and there is no way for a user to know how service actually works.
Some VPN providers like NordVPN have solved this problem by running independent audits on their systems. We hope CyberGhost and the rest of the industry will do the same soon.
Finally, cyberghost accepts payments by bitcoin.
Ease of use
CyberGhost’s application has recently redesigned its application interface. The old, bulky Windows 10-like slabs have been replaced with a much more standard look: a simple console with login status, a list of locations, and a login button.
The various functionalities are located on a side panel, in the center there is a directory of the location of the servers and their distance and current load.
You can filter the search to display servers optimized for streaming or torrents, and to save your favorite servers.
CyberGhost allows you to enable additional privacy features, including blocking advertisements and malicious websites. it can also automatically redirect HTTP connections to HTTPS for added security. Finally, additional functionality compresses images and “other elements” to reduce traffic and improve performance.
Most VPNs have an option to launch when Windows starts up, but CyberGhost takes it a step further by also allowing you to connect to your preferred server and automatically launch a particular application, such as your default browser in incognito mode.
The Wi-Fi Protection panel offers even more flexibility. CyberGhost lets you decide exactly what you want to do when you connect to a new network. For example, it can automatically connect you to a VPN server if the network is not secure or perform personalized actions for specific networks (home, work, etc.).
The App Protection option can connect you to a specific location when you open an app. No need to remember to turn on VPN before using your torrent client – CyberGhost can do this for you automatically.
Mobile applications
Mobile applications are as well designed as desktop applications.
The iOS or android app connects to the nearest server, but you can also browse a list of locations. Selecting a location displays information about the load, the number of logged in users, and you can save specific locations to a favorites list.
When you launch the application, it displays the name of the nearest wifi network. It helps to see which wifi to use to connect. If you tap on the name of the wifi network, you can specify whether you want CyberGhost to protect you automatically in the future, or whether it should ask you to choose each time.
The application can also record the appropriate actions for all the networks that you use regularly. So she knows what to do at home, at work …
Finally, the cyberghost interface, all platforms combined, is in our opinion the most successful on the VPN market.
Cyberghost compatible devices
Cyberghost is compatible with different platforms such as:
- Windows
- Mac OS
- Linux
- iOS
- Android
- Chrome
- Firefox
- FireTv Amazon Fire Stick
- Android TV
- Smart TVs
- Apple TV
- Xbox One & Xbox 360
- Playstation 3 & 4
- Wifi routers
The technical support of Cyberghost
- Live Chat
- Ticket system.
The ticket system is slower to respond, but it is preferred for complex questions such as router configurations for example.
however, you are unlikely to need to contact support as the software is so intuitive and easy to use.
Cyberghost : Prices and payment methods
Cyberghost offers 4 different subscriptions with a 45-day money back guarantee.
*1 month subscription: 14 days money back guarantee
The payment methods are:
- Credit card.
- PayPal.
- Bitcoins.
- Amazon Pay.
Cyberghost Security Suite
For more protection, you can choose Cyberghost security suite which for 2 extra euros per month integrates in addition to the VPN :
- An antivirus and anti-malware.
- A Windows anti-spyware.
- An outdated software detector.
- A private and ultra-secure browser.
Cyberghost Security Suite review
Final verdict on Cyberghost
Cyberghost remains one of the best VPNs on the market today
The applications stand out for their simplicity of use and the quality of their interface.
The servers optimized for streaming offer fast and stable speeds allowing viewing in HD quality without untimely buffering.
Torrenting users will also be able to take advantage of high-performance P2P-optimized servers.
Cyberghost performs relatively well when it comes to unblocking geographical restrictions put in place by content providers, Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu…
Finally, Cyberghost is one of the cheapest VPN providers on the market (apart from the price for 1 month), with a 3-year subscription at the unbeatable price of 1.89 € per month!
