VPNSecure Review 2023: Secure, but what else can it offer?

VPNs are no longer tools for paranoid techies as they have now become an everyday tool. But before you choose one, you need to make sure it’s the right VPN for you. This VPNSecure review tells you everything you need to know about the VPN.

VPNSecure is an Australian VPN that has been around since 2010. The VPN service promises maximum privacy and security despite its tricky jurisdiction. It offers a great privacy policy, industry-standard security protocols and provides several tools and mechanisms that promote privacy, security, and internet freedom.

However, the VPN also falls short in several other areas, such as streaming and the server network size. So, is it a VPN that you should consider, and does its jurisdiction undermine its privacy efforts?

This VPNSecure review takes a closer look at the VPN in terms of privacy & security, streaming, torrenting, features, pricing, and more. By the end of the review, you’ll be able to tell whether it’s the right VPN for your needs.

What can VPNSecure do?

VPNSecure is committed to offering privacy and security to its users. Unfortunately, the VPN doesn’t offer much more.

When it comes to streaming, we couldn’t unblock any of the major streaming services. These include Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Video Prime, and Disney+. This is quite a disappointment especially considering that streaming has become a major reason for using a VPN.

If you’d like an all-round VPN service provider, we suggest that you go for Surfshark VPN. It is one of the best VPNs for streaming and it works with all major streaming platforms. In the case of Netflix, you’ll be able to access content from 18 different countries. You’ll also get a SmartDNS service if you don’t want to lose any speeds when you are streaming.

Does VPN Secure support torrenting?

Yes, VPNSecure supports torrenting. The VPN doesn't provide much information about the service on their website, but they provide SSH Socks software that you can use to create a secure TCP tunnel.  However, the VPN's small server network and average speeds mean that it doesn't make it to our selection of the best VPNs for torrenting.

Is VPNSecure Secure?

Security is right in the name of the VPN, and here’s how it operates broken down into privacy and security.

Privacy

Australia is a tricky region when it comes to privacy. First, it is a member of the 5/9/14 eyes multilateral. Second, it has very invasive privacy and security rules. In 2017, the country passed a law requiring ISPs to keep logs, but VPNSecure's chief executive Shayne McCulloch stated that VPNs did not fall under that category.

In 2018, the parliament passed another law that required ISPs to create a backdoor for decryption, and the VPN announced that they were moving their registration to Hong Kong. However, the VPN has not yet moved, and upon inquiry, they cited Hong Kong demonstrations and Covid-19.

At the moment, Australian VPNs are yet to be forced to provide a backdoor, but moving jurisdictions will bolster confidence among users.

Does VPNSecure keep logs?

The VPN states in their privacy policy that:

“We do not log any of your personal information when connecting to our service.  'Any data' means but is not limited to the following:

• IP Address NOT logged
• Connection timestamp NOT logged
• Disconnect timestamp NOT logged
• Bandwidth used NOT logged
• DNS Requests NOT logged.”

This is an excellent privacy policy, although they could go the extra mile and verify this through a third-party audit as ExpressVPN has done.

Apart from that, VPNSecure provides several tools that enhance privacy. These include meta search engine, leak protection, and a kill switch. We put the VPN to the test during this VPNSecure review, and we were glad to see that there were no IP or DNS leaks in any of the servers that we tested.

Overall, VPNSecure provides good privacy, although they can change jurisdictions and

Security

VPNSecure also does well when it comes to security. The VPN offers users the option of choosing their encryption level, with the choices being DES-CBC, AES-128-CBC, and AES-256-CBC.

The latter is the most secure and recommended encryption level as it can't be compromised. AES 128-bit encryption is fairly secure and faster, but we believe DES shouldn't even be an option this day and age. The protocol is half the speed of AES, and it also not secure as it uses 56-bit keys.

In terms of protocols, VPNSecure supports several protocols, and you can even choose a plan depending on the particular protocols you need. However, their client apps only run on OpenVPN.

If you’d like to have the ability to choose your protocol, you can consider ExpressVPN. The VPN provides Lightway (their proprietary protocol optimized for speed), OpenVPN, IKEV2, L2TP/ IPSec, and PPTP.

VPNSecure Features

VPNSecure provides several features.

Obfuscation: The VPN has a stealth VPN feature that provides obfuscation capabilities. This feature helps users disguise the fact they are using a VPN from their ISP. It also helps avoid Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) blocking in highly censored countries.

HTTP Proxy & Socks5: VPNSecure provides proxies that can be set up to increase anonymity.

Meta Search Engine: This is a search engine that protects user information. It does so by not sharing a user’s IP addresses or search history with the search engines from which it gathers results (including Google, Bing, DuckDuckgo, and others). It is included in all premium plans.

Kill switch: This is a handy feature that prevents user information from leaking out when you are not connected to a VPN. It does so by disconnecting all internet connections until either you reconnect to a server or close the VPN app.

Smart DNS: VPNSecure provides a smart DNS service known as Smarter DNS. You can use the service to unblock lots of websites, but you’ll still not be able to use it for streaming on Netflix.

VPNSecure Server Network

VPNSecure has a server network that consists of 100 servers in 48 countries. This is quite a small server network, although 48 countries are sufficient to give you access to most regions. The servers are also well distributed across the USA, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Africa, and Asia.

Nevertheless, 100 servers are still quite a far cry from what the top VPN providers offer. If you’d like a VPN with a huge server network, NordVPN leads the way with 5,400+ servers in 59 countries.

If distribution is what you are looking for, ExpressVPN is your best option. The VPN provides 3,000 servers distributed across 160 locations in 94 countries.

Pricing & Plans

VPNSecure offers 15+ pricing options, but when you check the website for the first time, here’s what you’ll see.

• 1-month plan: Costs $9.95 a month.
• 6-month plan: Costs $8.32 a month, billed $49.95 every 6 months.
• 3-year plan: Costs $2.99 a month, billed $107.64 every 36 months.

After you select one of the three and you decide to switch it, a fourth option will appear:

• 1-year plan: Costs $6.67 a month, billed $79.95 every 12 months.

You’ll also see a “Show All” button. This button displays plans based on the VPN protocols you’d like to use, and you can even decide to go for the proxy or Smart DNS without the VPN.

The plans range from a $2 VPNSecure trial subscription of 2 days to an “allproto” subscription that costs $17.95 a month. The initial 1-month plan still offers everything included in the “allproto” plan, so we didn’t understand the point for some of the plans.

Overall, the 2-day paid VPNSecure trial is good as it lets you try out the service without committing for a long time. The 1-month plan is fairly priced, but you could get better deals for the 6-month and 1-year plans.

Surfshark VPN offers all sorts of advanced features and functionalities, and it's still cheaper than VPNSecure. The 6-month plan costs $6.49 a month while the 1-year plan costs just $4.98 and comes with an extra 12 months!

Supported payment methods

VPSecure supports Perfect Money, Bitcoin (and other cryptos), PayPal, Credit Card, Payza, and Paymentwall. Note that the available payment methods may change depending on your region.

Does VPNSecure VPN have a free trial?

VPNsecure does not provide a premium free trial. You can look at our best free trial VPNs for that. The VPN however provides a free version of the VPN that lasts for 30 days. Although the VPN promotes it as a free trial, it's just a free VPN that has a single server in the US, a 2 GB bandwidth limit, and no access to any advanced configurations.

Does VPNSecure VPN have a money-back guarantee?

Yes, VPNSecure has a money-back guarantee that lasts for 7 days. During that time, you can cancel your subscription and get a full refund with no questions asked.

Getting started with VPNSecure

The VPNSecure website is well designed and organized to make it easy for users. After clicking “Join Now,” you’ll be taken to the pricing page where you can choose your subscription plan.

Unfortunately, the process gets quite complicated here if your desired plan is not among the main 4. After clicking “Show All,” VPNSecure gives you nine plans to choose from, and each of them can have up to 11 variations!

Things become easier if you choose a subscription plan, and you can check out with ease. However, there are extra security measures such as verifying your phone number that are required.

Overall, it’s not the easiest process we’ve seen.

Which devices & platforms does VPNSecure support?

VPNSecure provides native apps for Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux. There's also an SSH Tunnel Manager for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Ease of use

While doing this VPNSecure review, we installed and tested apps for Windows, iOS, and Android.

The Desktop clients are similar, and the VPSecure download file for Windows is about 60 MB. The app is however not heavy on RAM. Here’s how it looks like after logging in.

There’s no quick connect button (which is always a good feature), but you can easily connect by selecting a server.

You can customize your connection by opening settings from the hamburger menu icon on the top left side. Under General Settings, you can enable Stealth VPN. The leak protection feature is turned on by default.

The routing section lets you perform split tunneling for websites of your choice.

Under configuration, you can disable IPv6, activate the kill switch, and select your encryption standard.

The mobile apps look similar to the main app, but the only advanced feature is that they let you select the cipher you’d like.

Overall, we weren't impressed with the design of the apps, but they are easy to use, and we didn't encounter any problems.

How fast is VPNSecure?

As part of our VPNSecure VPN review, we conducted a VPNSecure speed test using several nearby and distant servers. Our base connection was 50 Mbps.

When connected to nearby servers, we averaged speeds of 39 Mbps. Distant servers gave us an average of 32 Mbps. These speeds however varied depending on the server you are using.

Overall, we found the VPN’s speeds to be very average.

VPNSecure Customer Support

We were impressed to find that VPNSecure offers live chat customer support. After starting a chat, we were connected to an agent within 30 seconds. You can also reach out to the team through a ticketing/ email support system.

If you need help setting up the VPN, there’s an FAQ and tutorials section on the website.

FAQ

Is there a VPNSecure Chrome extension?

VPNSecure had a Chrome extension, but it’s currently not available.

Is there a VPNSecure lifetime subscription?

VPNSecure lifetime subscription plan is no longer being provided.

Can I use VPNSecure Smart DNS for streaming?

You can use the VPNSecure Smart DNS for streaming, but it doesn’t work with Netflix or any of the major streaming services.

Why is VPNSecure not connecting?

If you experience any connection issues and your network is okay, it’s likely a program has messed with your TAP drivers. Try reinstalling the app.

Verdict

VPNSecure comes out as a VPN dedicated to offering privacy and security. The VPN doesn't keep any logs, provides robust security, and supports P2P. It also has lots of subscription options, which means you can find a suitable package.

However, the VPN lacks in terms of all-round performance, and it’s also based in an unfriendly country. The fact that you also can’t use it for streaming and the network is minimal means that it isn't a top VPN provider. If you'd like a VPN that gives you everything at a fair price, you can look at Surfshark VPN.