Hotspot Shield VPN under test: excellent performance at a good price

High speed, high price

Hotspot Shield is one of the most successful VPN services, and it is also available for free. We tested whether the VPN’s performance, security and binding are convincing.

table of Contents

1. Hotspot Shield VPN in practice: our experience in VPN services
   
   1. Use hotspot shielding with streaming services
      
   2. Hotspot Shield bypasses local internet interruption
      
2. Final menu navigation
   
3. speed
   
4. Basic and premium
   
5. Hotspot Shield VPN fees: price, subscription and payment method
   
6. Is there a free Hotspot Shield VPN version?
   
7. Supported countries and agreements
   
8. in conclusion
   

In the free basic version of Hotspot Shield, you can browse unlimitedly through the US VPN server. In return, the software displays ads that may affect privacy. Anyone who signs up for “Premium” subscriptions is happy with the higher VPN speeds and servers in more than 70 countries. Similarly, in both versions, all servers provide high security standards, including AES 256-bit encryption of data. In addition, no user data is saved. Thanks to the company ’s headquarters in the United States, we are happy to accept this commitment from the company. We studied two versions and clarified who should choose which version.

Hotspot Shield VPN in practice: our experience in VPN services

Our Hotspot Shield test report mainly deals with the practicality of VPN services in daily use. Therefore, in addition to simple speed and server location, we are here to clearly solve how Hotspot Shield is suitable for bypassing the national spear on the one hand, and on the other hand can solve the problem of Internet connection. In both cases, successful technical data alone is not enough.

Use hotspot shielding with streaming services

Anyone who wants to access German offers from Amazon or Netflix from abroad (or vice versa from Germany who wants to use a foreign account to provide corresponding services) needs a VPN service. For this reason, the Hotspot Shield is very effective. In testing, the service can successfully stream Netflix in the US and UK, and Amazon Prime Video in Germany.

For many VPN providers, this is not a matter of course. Because video streaming platforms often block corresponding services. If it occurs in Hotspot Shield, the company will switch to a support page and provide related solutions on this page. If these methods do not solve the problem, you can consult customer service to solve the flow problem-very good.

Hotspot Shield bypasses local internet interruption

In addition to Internet interruptions (the reason for which is your Internet connection or the website you dialed), there are some interruptions that can be attributed to technical problems in the data transmission path between the beginning and the end. After all, in the latter case, VPN can help you, always create alternative routes for data transmission.

Hotspot shields are also suitable for this purpose, but only to a certain extent. Because in Germany, the service does not allow the selection of a single target server. Generally, the more target servers in a state, the greater the chance of processing one of them. Hotspot Shield servers in neighboring European countries provide limited remedies here. However, in the comparison of VPNs, Germany’s service selects a larger server.

Final menu navigation

Hotspot Shield has a modern, simple design and is equally impressive on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. The connection to the VPN server can be established quickly. You can change the country on your Mac directly from the macOS menu bar (not through the Windows taskbar) (if you have an elite subscription).

Unfortunately, the targeted selection of a single server in some states does not allow applications. The manual configuration outside the official application is also lost. For example, you cannot configure Hotspot Shield for all web traffic directly in the router.

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In addition to the lack of manual configuration, the VPN client can also be set up quickly. In the guide, we explained all the necessary steps and showed you how to set up Hotspot Shield on Windows and macOS.

HotspotShield in practice

speed

The performance of the server in the Premium subscription is absolutely convincing: the upload and download speeds are almost the same as the measured speed without using VPN. It is particularly pleasing: In the test, we not only obtained 77 Mbit download speed and 10 Mbit upload speed, but also connected to a remote server in North America. In this case, ping can also convince-very well.

The judgment of the free basic version is not very enthusiastic: here we have obtained an acceptable value, the maximum download is 19 Mbit, and the maximum upload is 7 Mbit, but this greatly lags behind the maximum bandwidth of the Internet connection. However, this performance will fully meet daily needs-including video streaming.

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Basic and premium

If you want to use a shield to permanently protect the network connection, you will soon be troubled by regular advertising, which will also affect privacy. Similarly, surfing at any time as an American can be annoying. The basic version is particularly suitable for users who only occasionally protect network traffic or wish to browse using a foreign identity.

Fortunately, both the basic and advanced versions always provide cloud-based malware scanners. The premium version is reserved for switching between servers in a total of 70 countries / regions, and there is no artificial speed limit. The Elite version is particularly suitable for ensuring long-term anonymity and security.

Hotspot Shield VPN fees: price, subscription and payment method

The annual subscription fee is 95.88 euros, so it is 7.99 euros per month. If you do n’t want to bind yourself to Hotspot Shield VPN for one year, you need to pay 12.99 euros per month-the price is higher than many competitors. For only 107.64 euros, you can directly get 3 years of VPN service, which is equivalent to only 2.99 euros per month, which is a very reasonable price.

Hotspot Shield is part of Pango-Pango is a software package that includes three other safety-focused programs. In addition to the popular password manager 1Password, it also includes “Robo Shield” applications that prevent spam calls and “Identify Guard” (which can monitor whether your personal data is stolen online). If you have used multiple Pango programs, the price / performance ratio of Hotspot Shield will be higher.

Regarding the supported payment methods, Hotspot Shield uses a simple method: you can use one of many credit and debit cards to pay, or you can pay through PayPal.

Is there a free Hotspot Shield VPN version?

Yes, unlike many other providers, Hotspot Shield provides a permanent free version for use. The free version of the VPN service is limited to US servers, but it is still convincing with reliable speed and good menu navigation. If you decide to subscribe to Hotspot Shield, if you are not satisfied, there is a 45-day money-back guarantee.

Supported countries and agreements