Hide.me VPN Review 2024: Is It Legit? Is It a Scam?

Hide.me is a virtual private network (VPN) service that was launched in 2011 in Malaysia. According to the company, its innovative zero-logging policy and heavy focus on privacy set it apart as superior. Combined with Hide.me‘s respectable privacy features, the Premium subscription is worthwhile if the average connection speed doesn‘t blow you away.

Hide.me is a VPN service with a small but constantly improving server network. Streaming services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer have been consistently unreliable. Even though Hide.me claims they‘re 100% reliable, they don‘t always work. Contacting customer service will reveal which server is currently being used. To get around this issue, we recommend using NordVPN instead.

This Hide.me VPN review will examine how the service performs across key parameters that matter to paying users. Not only must the bare minimum requirements be met, but also aspects like security, privacy, speed, effectiveness, cost, accessibility, and support.

Contents

Hide.me VPN Review 2024: Summary
Hide.me VPN Review 2024: In-depth
Speed
Privacy
Stealth Guard
SOCKS5
IPv6 Networking
Protocols
Logging And Privacy
Kill Switch
Streaming
Does Hide.me Unblock Netflix?
Does Hide.me Work In China?
Below Average Server Network
Limited Free Plan
Pricing
In Summary, the best VPNs in 2024 are:
Review Verdict
- Hide.me VPN Review 2024: Is It Legit? Is It a Scam?

Hide.me VPN Review 2024: Summary

Hide.me logo

Hide.me, a VPN service, was launched in 2011 in Malaysia. According to the company, its innovative zero-logging policy and heavy focus on privacy set it apart as superior. This policy, combined with Hide.me’s respectable privacy features, makes the Premium subscription worthwhile if the average connection speed doesn’t blow your mind.

Hide.me is a VPN service with a small but constantly improving server network. Netflix and BBC iPlayer are two streaming services that have been consistently unreliable. Even though Hide.me claims they’re 100% reliable, they don’t work sometimes. Contacting customer service will reveal which server is currently being used. To get around this issue, we recommend using NordVPN instead.

Pros

Superior functionality.
Ten active connections at once.
Fairly dispersed server load.

Cons

Expensive
Weird patterns in picking a residence.
There aren’t any special server configurations.
Reduced size of server infrastructure.
Not all devices are compatible with streaming.
Quite a hefty price tag
Lack of real-time chat

Hide.me VPN Review 2024: In-depth

So far, Hide.me has released free proxy extensions for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Fire TV, and the company claims that over 10 million people have used its services. There are no restrictions on your freedom of choice, as the VPN can be used for free. We used both the free and premium versions when conducting this Hide.me VPN review.

Both versions of Hide.me perform poorly in our speed tests and provide inadequate security and unreliable customer service. The company claims an extensive server network in 66 cities and 2,000 countries is included in the premium membership. There are also servers tailored to American streaming providers‘ unique needs, but most don‘t work.

The free version of the VPN has a limited number of servers (5 total) and a monthly data cap of 10GB. That‘s approximately 10 hours of streaming time. It isn‘t the best VPN for P2P file-sharing or broadcasting, so Hide.me is not a good choice. It does not provide the essential privacy and protection features for using public WiFi, such as IP masking and SSL encryption.

There are many issues with the Hide.me apps, including slow connection speeds, app crashes, and a kill switch that isn‘t always effective. The verdict of this Hide.me VPN review is that the service is unreliable and should be avoided.

Speed

Regarding performance and server speed, Hide.me VPN does not set any new standards or deliver anything particularly remarkable. You can‘t get speeds higher than 50 Mbps no matter which server you connect to or how fast your regular internet connection is.

For example, in New York the final result was only 17.17 Mbps from a baseline connection speed of 98.71 Mbps. There was a significant slowdown in upload speeds, going from 53 Mbps to 10.10 Mbps. The situation improved slightly on the EU server in Amsterdam. It was possible to download at 27.60 Mbps and upload at 19.92 Mbps.

The UK servers in London performed even worse, with a maximum download speed of 12.69 Mbps and an upload speed of 10.41 Mbps. Compared to other anonymizing services, Hide.me got poor results for DNS lookup time (how long it takes for a website to load).

This VPN is not the fastest in the world. That middling rating will have to do. The company claims that based on the strength of your internet service provider, you shouldn’t have any trouble enjoying any format of data, such as HD.

Privacy

According to the company, “Logs can easily relate activities straight to you, and certain VPN providers share these onto law enforcement agents when asked to do so.” It does not have a strict “no logging, ever” policy. Hide.me keeps track of how much data you transfer, which is expected from a service with capped subscriptions. Obviously, it also stores your email address.

The company has stated that it will obey valid court orders from government agencies. However, this is to be assumed, and if the logs reveal nothing noteworthy, it will be of no consequence.

The company states, “Hide.me has been verified as the most private VPN service in the industry,” claiming that a “comprehensive audit backs up this claim.” However, most reviewers are unhappy with their level of privacy protection.

Stealth Guard

The company claims that Hide.me’s VPN has a special Stealth Guard feature that combines the best kill switch and split tunneling capabilities. You can restrict your VPN’s access to specific programs or your entire network. Therefore, it goes beyond split tunneling in that the chosen applications will also be disabled if the close connection between your device and the VPN server drops.

To better understand this function, consider what would happen if your VPN connection suddenly failed while downloading torrents. If you have a torrent client installed and use Stealth Guard, it will shut down along with your internet connection.

SOCKS5

SOCKS5 proxy is built into the VPN connection, unlike with other services. Therefore, a VPN connection is required for use. While it is needed to complete one of the underlying difficulties with SOCKS5 proxies, it does so at the expense of limiting the possible application areas.

The SOCKS5 protocol simply redirects your traffic through a VPN server and does not encrypt it. The confidentiality of your connection is nonetheless enforced by the obligation to use SOCKS5 with an active VPN connection. Because authentication is set when you first establish the VPN connection, you won’t need to enter it again when you connect to the server.

IPv6 Networking

Hide.me IPv6 support — Hide.me supports IPv6

Internet Protocol version 4, on which most of the Internet currently relies, will eventually become incompatible with modern hardware. Therefore, Hide.me VPN claims to support IPv6 to be ready for the future.

All of the Hide.me VPN servers are IPv4 and IPv6 ready. Keep in mind that IPv4 is used for the VPN connection and is also encrypted. However, connecting to a VPN server unlocks IPv6 addresses and, in theory, faster download speeds for all outbound connections.

Protocols

The company claims that privacy on Hide.me is top-notch owing to the use of AES 256-bit encryption. Most experts agree that this represents the pinnacle of cryptographic security. In addition, Hide.me is compatible with a wide range of protocols:

OpenVPN
SSTP
IKEv2
SoftEther
WireGuard

A comprehensive review of these many protocols is provided on the Hide.me website. Here, the benefits and drawbacks of each protocol are laid out so readers can compare and contrast. This is helpful since it can reveal which protocol is compatible with your OS. Given its superior security, OpenVPN is the only protocol we would recommend.

Logging And Privacy

According to Hide.me, they have a “no-logs” policy. Therefore, they are not accumulating any information about you. Hide.me is based in Malaysia, so the company is exempt from keeping user activity records. In Malaysia, there are no laws that require businesses to preserve records.

Although Hide.me does not store any user activity records, they keep anonymized connection logs for a short time (a few hours). In other words, the company can track whenever ‘client x’ accesses one of their VPN connections. Client X’s identity remains hidden from Hide.me; all the company has access to is aggregated user data. Furthermore, these logs are only kept for a few hours before being deleted forever.

Kill Switch

If you work in the VPN industry, you know that a kill switch is essential for protecting your data from exposure in the event of a connection drop. To protect your privacy, the VPN servers you connect to will be the only ones able to access the Internet while the kill switch is activated.

However, some Hide.me VPN users have complained that the kill switch isn’t 100% reliable. We agree with the consensus that the Hide.me kill switch needs improving based on the feedback and data we’ve gathered. Hide.me VPN is not as effective as other options.

Streaming

Hide.me is definitely not a top choice when it comes to watching content online. In this Hide.me VPN review, we tested the VPN and found that it does not successfully bypass geo-restrictions on all of the most popular streaming services from around the world.

Does Hide.me Unblock Netflix?

Unfortunately, none of the Hide.me servers we tried successfully bypassed Netflix’s geo-blocking (US East, US West, and London, UK). Many VPNs are still struggling with this due to the crackdown by Netflix and other streaming services. When they detect that a user’s IP address is associated with a VPN service, they will immediately disable their connection and display an error notice.

If this is a dealbreaker for you, your search will have to continue. Users also tried using a UK server for Amazon Prime Video, but that didn’t work either. Evidently, this service provider does not place a high priority on allowing access to mainstream streaming sites.

Does Hide.me Work In China?

A recent blog post indicates that using the Hide.me service in China is not possible. China’s “Great Firewall prohibits the official Hide.me website.” The Hide.me website is now inaccessible in China, so if you plan to use the internet during your visit, you should download any necessary apps before you leave, such as NordVPN.

Below Average Server Network

It’s to be expected that Hide.me, as a relatively new VPN, will have fewer servers than more established services. Currently, its 160+ servers can be found in 55 data centers across the Americas, the Pacific Rim, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

They still have a good variety of server locations to choose from. However, compared to other VPNs, which often have thousands of servers, those raw figures fall short. For the most affordable package, you can only have one active connection at a time.

The Hide.me plan that falls in the middle of the pricing spectrum only allows one simultaneous connection. Indeed, that is also quite limiting. Contrary to Hide.me, you’ll need to upgrade to their priciest plan if you want to use all five of those allotted connections. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of this option is poor.

Limited Free Plan

If you like to save money, the free plan may come as a bit of a letdown. The company claims that it has high-quality safety mechanisms built in. However, you won’t have much freedom. If you want to do more than check your email and browse the web, you’ll quickly exceed the free plan’s 2GB (bandwidth) limit and be required to subscribe to a paid plan.

A maximum of three server locations and a single connection are available to you. While their feature set is extensive, cheaper plans provide unlimited bandwidth and more connections for the same price.

Pricing

The $9.95 monthly cost of the company’s VPN service is in line with industry norms. Some service providers are significantly less expensive than this, but the average is to pay closer to $10 per month. If you sign up for an annual subscription, your monthly cost drops to $4.99 ($59.95 total). This is competitive with other services.

Lastly, there’s a plan that’s a good deal over the long run: $3.84 per month (paid $99.95 every two years), plus two free months. As far as the market goes, this is one of the more reasonable prices you’ll find. Plans from NordVPN, for example, start at $2.50 per month.

Payment can be made via PayPal, credit card, Bitcoin, and several other methods, and a 30-day money-back guarantee backs the program, but most users are not satisfied with it.

In Summary, the best VPNs in 2024 are:

Rating	VPN Service	Get Offer
#1	NordVPN – #1 VPN in the industry	FREE Trial
#2	Surfshark – top budget VPN	Start Now
#3	Atlas VPN – best free VPN	Start Now

Review Verdict

This review of Hide.me VPN was intended to help you learn more about the service, from its key features and installation instructions to any potential downsides. Hide.me is not a good VPN if you need a dependable, secure service with fast speeds and an easy-to-use interface. It has a strict privacy policy but few security precautions.

To get around this problem, you need to switch to NordVPN. Superior speeds, impenetrable protection, and a no-logs approach are just some of the benefits that NordVPN users enjoy. Due to its user-friendly interface and robust feature set, NordVPN is a great VPN service.