hide.me Review: Quick Expert Summary
hide.me offers excellent security, good streaming support, very fast speeds, and intuitive apps. In addition to industry-standard security features like 256-bit AES encryption, a kill switch, and a no-logs policy that’s been independently audited, hide.me also has:
- Split-tunneling.
- Full leak protection.
- Multihop.
- Perfect forward secrecy.
- And more …
I really like hide.me, but there are some issues to consider. Its long-term plans are quite expensive, and it doesn’t have an ad blocker, which is something many top VPNs offer — for example Private Internet Access has a good ad blocker and some of the most affordable prices in the industry.
hide.me allows 10 simultaneous connections with 1 account, which is well above the industry average of 5–7 connections. It has a really good free plan, and the paid monthly and yearly plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
| 🏅 Overall Rank | #17 out of 84 VPNs |
| 🌍 Number of Servers | 2,100+ |
| 📱 Number of Devices | 10 |
| 💸 Starting Price | $3.84 / month |
| 🎁 Free Plan | Yes |
| 💰 Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days |
30 Days Risk-Free — Try hide.me Now
hide.me Full Review
I spent a few weeks testing hide.me to see how it compares to other top VPNs, and I can safely say it’s one of the fastest VPNs I’ve tested.
On average, I only experienced a 2–5% slowdown and maintained blazing-fast speeds on nearby and distant servers. Websites and HD videos loaded instantly, I had very fast torrenting speeds, and there was no lag when I was gaming (but if you’re interested in gaming, there are better options out there).
hide.me also provides high-end security features and has easy-to-use apps, and it has really good streaming support.
hide.me Features
hide.me has the following industry-standard security features:
- 256-bit AES encryption — secures your data with bank-grade encryption.
- No-logs policy — doesn’t log your IP address and traffic. hide.me’s no-logs policy has also been independently audited.
- Kill switch — disables internet access if your VPN connection drops to prevent data leaks. There’s also a “Stealth Guard” feature that lets you customize the kill switch. For example, you can stop torrent clients from going online if the VPN isn’t enabled, to prevent accidental traffic leaks.
hide.me comes with OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec, SoftEther, WireGuard, and SSTP. I like that hide.me has support for WireGuard, because it’s very secure and much faster than OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec.
hide.me also provides DNS, IPv6, and WebRTC leak protection. Not all premium VPNs offer full leak protection. For example, VyprVPN makes you manually disable IPv6 and WebRTC. I ran 10+ leak tests with hide.me and never saw any leaks.
The VPN also has advanced security features. These include RAM-only servers (every server reset wipes all data) and perfect forward secrecy — this changes your encryption key for each session to protect you from hackers compromising past or future browsing sessions.
hide.me also provides additional features:
- Multihop. This sends your traffic through 2 VPN servers instead of just 1, providing more security. I really like how user-friendly multihop is — you can choose any entry and exit server you want. Multihop connections are normally slower, but I didn’t experience a big slowdown with hide.me (my speeds only slowed by about 26%). Multihop is similar to NordVPN’s Double VPN servers and Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop feature.
- Split-tunneling. This lets you choose which apps use the VPN and which apps use your internet service provider’s (ISP) network. I used it to route uTorrent traffic through the VPN to get faster speeds. But I like Private Internet Access’s split-tunneling more, because you can also split-tunnel IP addresses (you can split-tunnel individual websites instead of the whole browser).
- Obfuscation. This feature hides your VPN traffic, meaning the VPN can work in restrictive countries. It’s enabled by default whenever you use the OpenVPN protocol.
- hide.me Bolt (Windows only). This feature significantly increases your VPN speeds. In my tests, my speeds with WireGuard were 50% faster when I enabled hide.me Bolt. But this feature is still under development, so it doesn’t always work well — once, it crashed my operating system when I ran speed tests.
- WireGuardNT (Windows only). hide.me claims this feature is a more efficient implementation of the WireGuard protocol, which should provide faster speeds. But I didn’t notice any differences when I ran speed tests using WireGuardNT.
- OpenVPN DCO (Windows only). The provider claims this feature can enhance OpenVPN performance. In my tests, it boosted my OpenVPN speeds by about 20%, which is nice — but keep in mind this feature is still in beta, so you might experience issues when using it.
hide.me Privacy & Security
hide.me has a transparent no-logs policy — it doesn’t log your IP address or traffic. It only collects your email address, which is needed on signup, and bandwidth usage (only with the free plan). hide.me’s no-logs policy was independently audited in 2015, but I’d like to see it undergo a more recent audit, like ExpressVPN and Surfshark.
hide.me is located in Malaysia, which is not part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances (a group of countries that share surveillance data with each other). It publishes an annual transparency report, disclosing how many data sharing requests it received from the government and proving that it didn’t disclose any data.
Overall, hide.me has a strict no-logs policy that’s been independently audited, publishes an annual transparency report, and isn’t based in a 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances country.
hide.me Speed & Performance
I ran a series of speed tests on my Windows 10 PC, using servers in all countries where hide.me has servers to determine my average VPN speeds. I had the fastest speeds on a local server in the US. When I used distant servers in the UK, Australia, France, Germany, and South Africa, I maintained fast speeds for browsing, streaming, and torrenting.
First, I ran a speed test without being connected to the VPN to get a baseline of my ISP speeds:
Next, I used hide.me’s quick-connect feature, which connected me to the fastest server for my location (US). Here are my speeds:
Finally, I tested a distant server in Europe. Here are my speeds:
Overall, hide.me provided fast speeds on both nearby and distant servers. When I used a nearby server, my speeds didn’t decrease at all. HD videos on YouTube loaded instantly and didn’t buffer when I skipped through them. When I tested distant servers, I only experienced an average 2–5% slowdown, which is really good. I downloaded large torrents fast (10 GB files in 10–15 minutes), HD videos loaded in under 5 seconds, and VoIP calls didn’t drop or freeze.
hide.me Servers & IP Addresses
hide.me has 2,100+ servers in 50+ countries. It has a big presence in Europe, North America, and Asia, but only a few servers in Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Other top VPNs have much larger server networks — ExpressVPN and CyberGhost VPN both have servers in 90+ countries.
I like that hide.me displays the server ping to help you quickly identify fast servers. It uses a color-coding system (green means fast, red means slow), so it’s easy to tell which servers have the best speeds. In my tests, the color code was always accurate — servers with green ping were always faster than servers with red ping.
I really like that hide.me allows torrenting on all servers. Some top VPNs, like ProtonVPN, only allow torrenting on dedicated servers.
hide.me has dedicated streaming servers in 15+ countries, including Australia, the US, the UK, France, and Japan. These servers work with top sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime. I also tested hide.me’s regular VPN servers, but they don’t work with popular streaming sites. Other top VPNs (ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access) allow access to streaming sites on all servers.
The provider also has Multihop servers, and I really like how it lets you choose whichever entry and exit server locations you want — Surfshark provides something similar via its Dynamic MultiHop feature, though you get more variety than hide.me since you can choose entry and exit servers from 100+ countries.
Overall, I’m happy with hide.me’s server network — it’s pretty big, it allows P2P traffic on all servers, and it has dedicated streaming servers for popular streaming sites in 15+ countries.
hide.me Streaming & Torrenting
hide.me is great for streaming — it works with Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. You can also access smaller streaming sites like Rai TV, VRV, and Sony Crackle.
That said, I think ExpressVPN is much better for streaming — it works with 100+ streaming platforms, which is also why it’s one of the best streaming VPNs out there.
hide.me is also great for torrenting — all servers allow P2P traffic and it works with top torrenting apps (I had the fastest speeds with uTorrent). hide.me also has port forwarding, which lets you connect to more peers to get faster speeds. In my tests, port forwarding provided a 5–10% speed boost.
Overall, hide.me is really good for streaming and torrenting. It works with popular streaming sites like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime. Also, hide.me supports torrenting on all servers and works with popular P2P apps.
hide.me Plans & Pricing
hide.me has a free plan, monthly plans, and annual plans. It allows 10 simultaneous device connections with 1 account, which is above the industry-average of 5–7 devices.
The free plan is one of the best out there. It’s ad-free, has speeds as fast as the paid plan, allows torrenting, and comes with a no-logs policy. But it doesn’t have streaming support or port forwarding, you can’t use WireGuard, and you’re limited to servers in 5+ countries. Also, you can only connect 1 device, and you get 10 GB of data per month. If 10 GB is not enough for you, try ProtonVPN’s free plan since it allows unlimited data.
The provider’s prices start at $3.84 / month, which is pretty affordable. That said, its long-term plans are more expensive than Private Internet Access and CyberGhost VPN’s long-term plans, and those VPNs provide better value.
Payment options for hide.me include credit cards, PayPal, and cryptocurrencies, and all plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
hide.me Ease of Use: Mobile & Desktop Apps
hide.me has apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android TV, and Fire TV, and browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. The apps are easy to install, intuitive, and bug-free.
The Android app has more features than the iOS app, but I like that the iOS app has a kill switch (some VPNs don’t have a kill switch on iOS).
The desktop apps are user-friendly but don’t look as good as the mobile apps — for example, the ‘Connecting…’ animation is laggy. But the interface is easy to navigate and all settings and features have quick definitions, so you know what they do. That said, there are better VPN apps for both Windows and Mac.
Overall, hide.me has easy-to-use apps for most platforms, and the iOS app even has a kill switch.
hide.me Customer Support
hide.me provides good customer support, including 24/7 live chat, responsive email support, and a comprehensive support library. However, it doesn’t offer any setup guides for its apps.
I really like hide.me’s support section. It has tons of useful FAQs, and troubleshooting guides that are easy to follow. I often didn’t need to contact customer support because hide.me’s support guides answered my questions.
When I tested the live chat support, I was usually connected to a rep in under 10 seconds. The reps always provided me with good answers.
Overall, I really like hide.me’s customer support — it has an in-depth support library, there’s 24/7 live chat, and email support is very responsive.
Is hide.me Safe & Fast in 2023?
hide.me is very secure, really fast, easy to use, and it works with top streaming sites. It protects your data with industry-standard security features, including a no-logs policy that’s been independently audited. And it also has advanced security features like full leak protection, Multihop, and perfect forward secrecy, and extra features like split-tunneling.
Honestly, hide.me is a great VPN with only a few drawbacks. Its long-term plans are pricey and there’s no ad blocker (most top VPNs have this).
You can connect 10 devices simultaneously with 1 hide.me account. hide.me also has a really good free plan and paid monthly and yearly plans, and it provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is hide.me free?
Yes, hide.me has a free plan, which is pretty good — it allows torrenting, provides access to servers in 5+ countries, and comes with strong security and fast speeds. But you don’t get port forwarding or streaming support, and you’re limited to 10 GB of data per month and 1 device.
But I still recommend getting its paid version instead, as it provides access to more perks — good streaming support, up to 10 connections, and access to all servers and features.
Does hide.me work with Netflix?
Yes, you can watch Netflix with dedicated streaming servers in 15+ countries, including the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, France, and Turkey. hide.me also works with BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.
That said, I think ExpressVPN is better for Netflix, as it can access the platform on all of its servers, and it also works with 100+ other streaming apps.
Is hide.me good for torrenting?
Yes, hide.me is very good for torrenting. It allows P2P traffic on all 2,100+ servers, and works well with top torrenting apps like uTorrent and qBittorrent. The download speeds are very fast, and it has port forwarding. hide.me also has an independently audited no-logs policy, a kill switch, and full leak protection, so it’s safe for torrenting.
Is hide.me safe?
Yes, hide.me is a very safe VPN — it has bank-grade encryption, a strict no-logs policy that’s been audited, and a kill switch. It also comes with advanced security features like full leak protection, RAM-only servers, perfect forward secrecy, obfuscation, and double VPN connections.
