PureVPN is a VPN provider located outside the 5, 9 and 14 eyes alliance more precisely it is based in Hong Kong which remains an interesting jurisdiction for a VPN.
PureVPN has been providing its services since 2007, so it’s not surprising that it now offers a long list of features: over 6,500 self-managed servers in 140 countries, a wide choice of protocols, torrent support, DNS and IPv6 protection, Kill Switch, five simultaneously authorized devices and Bitcoin payment.
It also provides less common options such as “split tunneling” and the ability to create a Wi-Fi VPN access point on your laptop to connect even more devices.
The company offers dedicated applications for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux, extensions for Chrome and Firefox, and tutorials to install it on routers, on Kodi, on Android TV, on Amazon Fire TV, etc.
Table of contents
Purevpn ExpressVPN Specifications
| Servers | +6500 |
| Countries | 140 |
| jurisdiction | Hon Kong |
| Conservation of data | No |
| Simultaneous connections | 10 |
| Netflix Unlocking | Yes |
| Anonymous torrent | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Encryption | AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) technology with 256 bit keys (AES-256). |
| Protocols | – OpenVPN -L2TP/IPSec -PPTP, SSTP, -IKEv2 |
PureVPN ExpressVPN Speed and perfomances
We have checked a large number of servers around the world (see how we perform our tests).
As for all the VPNs we test, we checked the performances with 3 different sites Fast.com, Open Speed Test and Ookla.
The servers in Europe gave us acceptable download speeds but could not compete with the best in the field.
Servers near Europe were below average.
The performance of the American servers is not the fastest we have seen, but is still sufficient for HD streaming.
As usual, speeds have decreased for those places farthest from us. For example, Ausralie had speeds of 15mbps, Thailand 10 Mbps, Taiwan was struggling to reach 1 Mbps, servers in South America sometimes gave us connection problems, speeds did not exceed 15Mbps and disconnections were frequent.
If you only plan to use American or European servers, PureVPN may be a good choice.
PureVPN : unblocking Netflix and other streaming platforms
PureVPN is making significant efforts to continue bypassing geographical blockages. PureVPN includes a specific streaming feature in its applications, allowing you to access Netflix (US and others), Hulu, BBC iPlayer and many other services from anywhere in the world.
Netflix and first of all the US version, the BBC iPlayer or the French channels (mycanal, rmcsport, bein sport and all the tnt channels) everything was unlocked without any problems.
By connecting to American or European servers, the HD streaming was of good quality.
PureVPN with torrent
PureVPN allows P2P downloads only on certain servers.
To download on torrent you must select the file sharing option, this option will select for you optimized servers located outside the UK, US, Canada or Australia to avoid receiving complaints from the DMCA.
Here is the list of available countries displayed on the PureVPN website:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominicia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Gernada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Madagascar, Mauritiania, Mauritius, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
In terms of performance, European servers are to be favoured, they are the ones with the fastest speeds.
The main features of Purevpn
Once activated, Kill Switch, continuously monitors your connection for any change in status or IP address.
If it notices any change (e.g. your VPN connection fails or disconnects), it will instantly shut down your device or prevent the specified apps from connecting to the Internet (torrent client for example) until the VPN connection is restored or you close the VPN app.
Split tunneling allows you to route some traffic from your device or application through a VPN while other devices or applications retain direct access to the Internet.
This can allow you, for example, to watch streaming movies on netlfix US from France while surfing the internet using your local IP.
This feature automatically detects when you connect to an unrecognized WiFi network and secures your connection by activating the VPN.
Having a dedicated IP address can be useful if you use sites like Gmail, eBay, PayPal, Facebook or even your online banking account.
Indeed, many of these services will reject your connection attempt if they detect that your current IP address differs from the one used to create the account. They will then ask you to recheck your account each time they log into their site, which is far from practical.
A dedicated IP will limit these repetitive checks as much as possible since you will always keep the same virtual location.
In addition, a dedicated ip will also allow you to escape blacklists. Indeed, one disadvantage of a shared IP is that you never know what other users are doing with the same IP address. This is why shared IP addresses may appear in blacklists, limiting your access to certain websites.
For these reasons, a dedicated IP address will greatly reduce the likelihood of it being blacklisted.
Hotspot is an unusual feature, it turns the host computer into a VPN router. Once activated, Hotspot allows you to use your phone, tablet or other devices to connect via your computer’s PureVPN connection.
PureVPN's Privacy Policy
A VPN aims to improve your anonymity, but it only works if the provider takes adequate measures to protect your information, otherwise it behaves no better than an ISP (Internet Service Provider).
PureVPN has recently updated its privacy policy and the results are quite convincing.
PureVPN claims not to record your activities or DNS requests. It also does not record your real IP address or the IP addresses of the VPN server you are using, which is a very good point.
However, it should be noted that the total bandwidth used during your session is recorded. This type of data collection is not unusual among VPN services and PureVPN ensures that the recordings cannot associate a specific activity with a user.
Please note that PureVPN is headquartered in Hong Kong. This may seem ironic, given the repression by the Chinese government. Yet despite its proximity to China, Hong Kong enjoys economic and political independence. Indeed, the city is actually an autonomous territory within China.
Confidentiality is protected by very strict laws and Hong Kong has no mandatory data retention law, which makes it an excellent location for a VPN.
PureVPN is therefore not required to store data about users and their behavior. Thus, while the Chinese government is working to ban VPNs that do not comply with certain restrictions, PureVPN explains in detail the measures the company takes to protect its users’ data when operating in China.
PureVPN explains that Hong Kong maintains its own “legislative and judicial system, establishing its own rules on immigration, public order, education, civil aviation and monetary system”. To be clearer, Hong Kong is not bound by the laws stipulated by the People’s Republic of China.
Ease of use
When PureVPN is launched, a screen prompts you to select one of the following five options:
- Stream
- Internet freedom
- Security / privacy
- File sharing (File sharing / Torrent)
- Dedicated IP (dedicated ip)
Depending on what you select, PureVPN will automatically optimize the various connection settings. For example, if you choose Security / privacy, it will focus on security, if you select streaming or file sharing, it will focus on speed.
Novices will appreciate this, as they won’t need to understand or change the settings. Others will be less attracted, because there is no indication of how the different modes are set. A clear and detailed display would have been desirable.
The Protocols menu allows you to choose from the available VPN protocols, as well as PureVPN’s customized Stealth protocol. Each option is accompanied by a speed and security note, which can be useful. By default, PureVPN is set to Auto and selects the protocol that best suits your needs.
Many VPN companies are faced with potential leaks, where your information can be briefly exposed. PureVPN responds to this with its Gravity option, which exploits the company’s secure DNS servers.
The Global Map tab on the left allows you to bypass PureVPN’s recommendations and select the server of your choice. To tell the truth, we prefer this kind of interface and it is a pity that PureVPN has not decided to use it as the main part of its application.
Once connected, all your information, whether it is your connection status, your current IP address or the duration of your session is displayed in the lower half of the interface. You will also find a traffic graph showing the level of bandwidth consumption during your session. Remember that PureVPN does not have a bandwidth limit, so this is just information to measure your consumption, which can be useful on smartphones.
PureVPN: Mobile application
The Android application and iOS of PureVPN are almost identical to the Windows version. After choosing a “Mode” we were able to select a server according to its country, city etc.
What is interesting is that mobile applications provide most of the settings and features including the choice of protocol (OpenVPN TCP/UDP or IKEv2), kill switch, split tunneling etc.) of the main application, which is not often the case.
PureVPN ExpressVPN Compatible Devices
PureVpn offers a very large choice of platforms:
PureVPN's technical support
PureVPN provides a large number of tutorials and troubleshooting guides, divided into different categories: getting started, installation guide, troubleshooting, users in China, how to watch Netflix US and more. All of these sections are very well done, by the way.
The Configuration Guides contain subsections for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Smart TV, routers and other devices.
If the information provided on the site is not enough you can contact support by
- Live Chat
- Ticket
We tested the service by chat. Although it responded quickly, it took a while to resolve our problem.
Overall, the support did its job, although the experience was a bit chaotic. We didn’t find pureVPN up to par with its leading competitors such as Expressvpn or Nordvpn to name a few.
PureVPN : Prices and Payment Methods
3 different choices available, all of which offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
Payments can be made by
- Credit Cards
- PayPal
Final verdict on Purevpn
For those who want to use a vpn mainly to access streaming services and channels, PureVPN can be a very good choice on , because it is very efficient to overcome geographical blocks.
For the rest, although purevpn has an extensive network of servers, only those located in Europe or North America are really efficient. The others are, at best, acceptable at worst unusable.
In summary, if you are looking for a vpn provider that can offer very fast download speeds, that cares about its entire server park while offering an intuitive application, we would rather recommend you to use Nordvpn, Expressvpn, Cyberghost which are in the same price range or Surfshark which has also obtained excellent results for an unbeatable price of $1.99 / month with a 2 year subscription.
