Doublehop VPN Review 2024 — Is It Actually Any Good?

Doublehop is decent for using double VPN connections (which encrypt your data twice, so they provide more security), but it’s an otherwise terrible VPN service and you definitely shouldn’t purchase it. There are significantly better options out there in 2024 like ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, or Proton VPN (which offers excellent double hop VPN connections).

While Doublehop comes with industry-standard VPN security features like 256-bit AES encryption and a no-logs policy, it has tons of issues — it’s missing a kill switch (an essential VPN security feature), it doesn’t have dedicated apps (so you need to perform inconvenient and difficult manual setups), its server network is one of the smallest I have ever seen (it only has servers in 6 countries), and it has slow speeds.

Also, Doublehop doesn’t work with top streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime, its customer support is almost non-existent, it only accepts Bitcoin (and takes a long time to process your payments), and it doesn’t have a money-back guarantee.

Doublehop allows 6 simultaneous connections and has paid monthly and yearly plans.

Doublehop Full Review

I spent a couple of weeks testing Doublehop to see how it compares to the other top VPNs on the market — and I can honestly say it’s flat-out horrible and you should avoid it at all costs.

While it comes with 256-bit AES encryption, a no-logs policy, decent P2P support, and double VPN connections, it’s missing essential security features like a kill switch, there are no advanced security features like RAM-only servers, and it doesn’t come with extras like split-tunneling.

In addition, Doublehop doesn’t have native apps, so it’s difficult and time-consuming to manually configure with third-party apps (even worse, Doublehop doesn’t provide step-by-step tutorials to show you how to do this).

There are much better VPNs out there like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, which have excellent security features (including kill switches), dedicated apps for all major platforms, much better streaming and P2P support, and much faster speeds — I’d also consider Proton VPN, which has a really good and secure double VPN feature.

Doublehop Features

Doublehop has the following industry-standard VPN security features:

• 256-bit AES encryption — Doublehop uses bank-grade encryption to make your data unreadable.
• No-logs policy — Doublehop doesn’t collect your IP address and traffic (visited sites and downloaded files).

But Doublehop is missing a kill switch, which disables internet access if the VPN connection drops to protect you from data leaks. Without a kill switch, your real IP address will be exposed if the VPN disconnects — all of the top VPNs in 2024 have VPN apps that come with built-in kill switches.

Doublehop allows manual setups for the OpenVPN protocol, which is a pretty good protocol, but it doesn’t support WireGuard, which is just as secure as OpenVPN but much faster.

Doublehop doesn’t mention if it provides protection against IPv6, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. I reached out to customer support about this but never received a response. To check, I ran 10+ leak tests on all of Doublehop’s servers and never experienced any leaks — even so, I’d feel much safer using Doublehop if I knew what kind of leak protection it has (for example, ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have full leak protection).

Doublehop allows double VPN connections on all servers, meaning it sends your data through 2 VPN servers instead of 1 server (to provide more security by encrypting your data twice). That said, other VPN providers like Proton VPN and Surfshark also allow double VPN connections but provide exit servers in tons of more countries.

Plus, Doublehop is missing other extra security features that other top VPNs include, like split-tunneling and an ad blocker. Also, it lacks advanced security features like RAM-only servers and perfect forward secrecy.

Doublehop Privacy & Security

Doublehop has a strict no-logs policy — it doesn’t collect your traffic (what sites you visit and what files you download), IP address, connection timestamps, and bandwidth usage. It only logs your email address.

That being said, I think it’d be much easier to trust Doublehop if its privacy policy would undergo an independent security audit (like ExpressVPN and Proton VPN).

Doublehop also has a warrant canary, which provides transparency by disclosing if the provider has received warrants for user data or experienced seizures that could compromise user privacy. That’s great, but I wish Doublehop would also publish regular transparency reports (like Private Internet Access, Proton VPN, and CyberGhost VPN) to prove the VPN doesn’t log any user data.

Doublehop is headquartered in the Seychelles (a small country in East Africa), which is outside the jurisdiction of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances (a group of countries that share surveillance data with each other).

Overall, Doublehop comes with a strict no-logs policy and a warrant canary. But other top VPNs provide better transparency through external audits and transparency reports.

Doublehop Speed & Performance

I ran speed tests on my Windows 10 PC while connected to all of Doublehop’s servers to determine my average VPN speeds. I experienced noticeable slowdowns across all servers, which isn’t surprising since Doublehop only has double VPN servers, which are normally slower than regular VPN servers.

I ran my first speed test without being connected to the VPN to get a baseline for my local network speeds:

Doublehop doesn’t have servers in my country, so I couldn’t test nearby and distant servers separately (since all of Doublehop’s servers are double VPN servers). So I ran speed tests on 2 different double VPN connections that have exit servers in different parts of the world.

First, I connected to a US-Netherlands server (my connection is routed first through the US server and then the Netherlands server).

And here are my speeds when I used a Spain-Canada server:

On the US-Netherlands server, which was the closest one to my country, websites loaded in 2–3 seconds, HD videos loaded instantly but there was minor buffering when skipping through them, and I downloaded a 14 GB file in 11 minutes, which is pretty good. On the Spain-Canada server, I experienced bigger slowdowns — sites took 5–6 seconds to load, HD videos loaded in 4–5 seconds and there was noticeable buffering at the start, and I torrented the same 14 GB file in a whopping 2 hours.

Overall, I wasn’t impressed at all with Doublehop’s speeds. Top VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access provide significantly faster speeds across all servers for all online activities.

Doublehop Servers & IP Addresses

Doublehop only has 12 servers in 6 countries, which is one of the smallest server networks I have ever seen. Other top providers have vastly larger server networks — for example, ExpressVPN has servers in 105 countries and ProtonVPN has 4,070 servers in 85 countries. Such a small server network makes it incredibly difficult for most users to find and use nearby servers for fast speeds.

I also don’t like how all of Doublehop’s servers are double VPN servers — double VPN connections are always slower than regular VPN connections because your data travels through 2 servers, which takes longer. ProtonVPN’s Secure Core servers also route your traffic through 2 servers (including 1 from an ultra-secure location), but it provides an exit server in all 85 countries so you can find one either in your own country or in one that is close to you for the fastest speeds.

What’s more, Doublehop provides incorrect information about its server network. It claims to have Finnish and US exit servers (an exit server is the second VPN server in a double VPN connection), but that’s not true. In my leak tests, the Netherlands-US server provided me with a Canadian IP address (so the exit server is Canadian) and the Canada-Finland server provided me with a French IP address. When I checked my IP address using Proton VPN’s Secure Core servers, I always had an IP address from my exit server.

Doublehop allows torrenting on all servers, but you still only get servers in 6 countries. Other torrenting VPNs provide much better P2P support — for example, ExpressVPN (105 countries) and Private Internet Access (91 countries) allow torrenting on all of their servers.

Overall, Doublehop allows torrenting on all servers, but its server network is too small, there are only double VPN servers (which have slow speeds), and the VPN provides incorrect information about its servers.

Doublehop Streaming & Torrenting

Doublehop is terrible for streaming — our international team of testers found it worked with Max in their regions, but not with Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+. Also, it’s not compatible with BBC iPlayer because it doesn’t have a UK server.

If you need a great streaming VPN, I recommend ExpressVPN — it consistently works with 100+ streaming services (including Netflix) and has user-friendly apps for all platforms.

When it comes to torrenting, Doublehop works with top P2P apps like uTorrent and Vuze, but it only has 12 P2P servers in 6 countries and is missing a kill switch (so it’s not safe to use because traffic leaks could expose your data while torrenting). There are much better torrenting VPNs out there — for example, Private Internet Access allows torrenting on servers in 91 countries, provides excellent security and privacy features (including a kill switch), and has port forwarding (lets you connect to more peers to get faster speeds).

Overall, Doublehop is not good for streaming or torrenting — other top VPNs provide significantly better streaming and P2P support.

Doublehop Plans & Pricing

Doublehop has paid monthly and yearly plans. It allows 6 simultaneous connections (the industry average is 5–7 connections).

With plans starting at $9.00 / month, Doublehop is simply not worth the money. Other top VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access provide significantly better value.

Doublehop only accepts Bitcoin. While that provides good privacy, it’s inconvenient because cryptocurrency payments take more time to process. And Doublehop doesn’t automate its payments and its signup process. So, you have to wait for a support rep to manually approve your account and provide you with access to the service. In my case, I had to wait over a week to use the VPN — this is completely unacceptable and unprofessional. An ExpressVPN customer service representative told me that they process crypto transactions in 2 days or less.

Also, I hate how Doublehop doesn’t provide a money-back guarantee — most top VPNs come with a refund window or a free plan to test out the product (like TunnelBear). ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have a 30-day money-back guarantee, and CyberGhost VPN has a 45-day money-back guarantee on long-term plans.

Overall, Doublehop is affordable but doesn’t provide any value, only accepts Bitcoin, and doesn’t have a money-back guarantee.

Doublehop Ease of Use: Mobile & Desktop Apps

Doublehop doesn’t have native apps, so you need to perform inconvenient manual setups on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, or other devices. Even more annoying, there are no setup tutorials available and the customer support reps don’t provide you with setup instructions. Top VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have dedicated easy-to-use apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and other platforms that are simple to install.

On both my mobile and desktop devices, I had to download and install third-party apps and manually import server configuration files to use Doublehop. I’m very experienced with using VPNs, but the setup process was still time-consuming and inconvenient — it took me up to 10 minutes to manually set up Doublehop (it normally takes just 1–2 minutes to download and install a VPN app).

The setup process was especially frustrating on Windows because the support reps provided me with server files (the files that you click on in the third-party app interface that connect you to a server) that didn’t work. So, I had to try the server files for other platforms to see which ones would work (I was able to use Doublehop on WIndows with the Linux server files).

Overall, Doublehop doesn’t have native apps, so you need to perform inconvenient manual setups instead — all the top VPNs in 2024 have dedicated apps for all major platforms that are easy to install and use.

Doublehop Customer Support

Doublehop doesn’t have very good customer support, as it is missing a support section and live chat. Plus, despite having multiple communication channels, their reps rarely respond.

Doublehop doesn’t have frequently asked questions (FAQs), troubleshooting guides, or setup tutorials. So I always had to reach out to customer support whenever I had a question or when I wasn’t able to set up the VPN on my Windows 10 PC. Top VPNs like ExpressVPN and CyberGhost VPN come with in-depth support libraries that answer most of your questions (and ExpressVPN even has video tutorials).

Unlike other popular VPNs, Doublehop doesn’t provide live chat support. So I tested its email, WhatsApp, and Telegram support instead. The only platform where I received a response was over email, and even then it was just a few replies — and the answers were usually unhelpful.

Overall, Doublehop provides terrible customer support — all the top VPNs in 2024 provide significantly better customer support.

Is Doublehop Any Good in 2024?

Doublehop is a really bad VPN service, which you should avoid. Instead, I recommend getting a top VPN like ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, or ProtonVPN.

I like that Doublehop comes with essential VPN security features like bank-grade encryption and a no-logs policy, decent torrenting support, and double VPN connections.

But I hate how DoubleVPN doesn’t have a kill switch (an industry-standard VPN security feature), is missing dedicated apps, has a very small server network (and only lets you use double VPN servers), and provides slow speeds.

What’s more, Doublehop doesn’t work with top sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime, provides terrible customer support, only accepts Bitcoin (and takes too long to process your transactions), and doesn’t have a money-back guarantee.

Doublehop allows 6 simultaneous connections and offers monthly and yearly plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Doublehop safe to use?

No — while Doublehop has military-grade encryption, a no-logs policy, and double VPN servers (they encrypt your data twice), it’s missing a kill switch, which is an essential VPN security feature that disconnects you from the internet if the VPN connection drops. Without a kill switch, you can experience traffic leaks, which reveal your real IP address.

I recommend getting ExpressVPN instead — it doesn’t have double VPN servers, but it has a kill switch and also comes with advanced security features like full leak protection, perfect forward secrecy (changes the encryption key for each VPN connection to prevent hackers from compromising past or future keys), RAM-only servers (every server reset wipes all data), a malware blocker, and a free password manager.

Does Doublehop have iOS and Android apps?

No, Doublehop doesn’t have dedicated apps for iOS and Android. Instead, you need to perform inconvenient and time-consuming manual setups using third-party apps.

If you need a good VPN for iOS and Android, I recommend trying ExpressVPN — it comes with dedicated apps for iOS and Android that are very simple to install and use, provides access to high-end security features, and has the fastest speeds on the market.

Does Doublehop work with Netflix?

No, Doublehop isn’t compatible with Netflix. It also doesn’t work with other popular sites like Amazon Prime, Disney+, and BBC iPlayer. In fact, our international team of testers could only get it to work with Max.

If you’re looking for a really good Netflix VPN, I recommend ExpressVPN because it consistently works with Netflix, is compatible with 100+ other top streaming services, has easy-to-use apps for all platforms, and provides lightning-fast streaming speeds.

Is Doublehop good for torrenting?

No — while Doublehop allows torrenting on all of its servers (but only in 6 countries) and works with popular torrenting apps, it’s missing a kill switch. Without a kill switch, your real IP address will be exposed while torrenting if the VPN disconnects.

There are significantly better P2P VPNs out there — for example, ExpressVPN allows P2P traffic on servers in 105 countries, comes with excellent security features (including a kill switch), works with all P2P apps, and provides very fast download speeds across all servers.