HMA VPN 2023 Review: Is It Secure & Easy to Use?

In addition to industry-standard security features like a kill switch, 256-bit AES encryption, and a strict no-logs policy, HMA VPN also offers:

• Split-tunneling.
• IP Shuffle.
• Dedicated P2P servers.
• Tor over VPN.

However, there are a lot of issues preventing HMA VPN from competing with the top VPNs on the market — it lacks advanced security features like perfect forward secrecy and RAM-only servers, it doesn’t work with a lot of popular streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu (despite having dedicated streaming servers), it doesn’t work in restrictive countries, its quick-connect feature is buggy, it’s overpriced, and its customer support is terrible.

HMA VPN allows up to 10 simultaneous connections, offers multiple monthly and yearly plans, and backs all plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

HMA VPN Full Review

I spent a few weeks testing and researching HMA VPN to see if it’s secure, fast, and easy to use.

HMA VPN secures your data with industry-standard features, offers extra features like IP Shuffle and Tor over VPN support, has easy-to-use apps for all of the major platforms, and maintains good speeds on nearby and distant servers.

But there are a lot of things I didn’t like about HMA VPN — it lacks advanced security features, doesn’t work with top streaming services, doesn’t have obfuscation tools, is pricier than most VPNs, and has terrible customer support.

Overall, HMA VPN is an intuitive VPN that is good for secure browsing and torrenting, but it falls short in too many other areas for me to rank it as one of the best VPNs in 2023.

HMA VPN Features

HMA VPN has the following industry-standard VPN security features:

• 256-bit AES encryption. HMA VPN uses bank-grade encryption to secure your internet traffic.
• No-logs policy. HMA VPN’s no-logs policy has been independently audited and confirmed, but the audit report hasn’t been released to the public.
• Kill switch. This feature disables your internet access if the VPN disconnects to prevent accidental exposure of your data (available on Windows and macOS).

I also really like the App Kill Switch, which allows you to deny specific apps (like torrent clients) from accessing the internet if the VPN disconnects. This way, it will prevent you from torrenting if you lose the VPN connection, but you can continue your other online activities undisturbed. And I really like that HMA VPN automatically connects to a VPN server when you open apps that you assign to the App Kill Switch.

HMA VPN uses 2 VPN protocols: OpenVPN (Android and Windows) and IKEv2/IPSec (iOS and macOS). While both protocols are very secure and have good speeds (IKEv2/IPSec is faster than OpenVPN), I’d like to see HMA VPN add WireGuard in the future (like Private Internet Access and Proton VPN). In addition to having great security, WireGuard is much faster than IKEv2/IPSec and OpenVPN.

I like that HMA VPN includes built-in IPv6, DNS, and WebRTC leak protection on all devices. Many other top VPNs like VyprVPN make you manually disable IPv6 and WebRTC, so it’s nice to see that HMA VPN handles everything for you in the background.

HMA VPN supports The Onion Router (Tor) on all of its servers — you just have to download the free Tor browser and connect to a VPN server before browsing the Tor network. Tor over VPN connections normally slow down your speeds because of the multiple levels of encryption, but I was impressed that Tor websites loaded in 2-3 seconds with HMA VPN. Although it was easy to browse the Tor network with HMA VPN, I still prefer to use Proton VPN, which lets you browse Tor sites in normal browsers like Firefox and Chrome (you don’t need to download and use the Tor browser).

HMA VPN also has other extra features, including split-tunneling, IP Shuffle, IP Refresh, and a built-in speed test.

Split-Tunneling

Split-tunneling lets you choose which apps go through the VPN tunnel and which apps go through your local network. HMA VPN’s split-tunneling works well (but it’s only available on Android) — I tested it by downloading a file while connected to a Czech server, and I watched content on YouTube through my internet service provider’s (ISP’s) network. I was able to securely and quickly download the file and watch my favorite videos at the same time without experiencing slowdowns.

However, HMA VPN only lets you split-tunnel apps, while top competitors like Proton VPN and Private Internet Access provide better flexibility because they also let you split-tunnel IP addresses. That basically allows you to exclude specific websites instead of an entire browser. Also, those providers provide more convenience because they support split-tunneling on more devices — Private Internet Access has split-tunneling on Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and Proton VPN supports it on Android and Windows.

Overall, HMA VPN has good split-tunneling, but only on Android. I’d like to see HMA VPN add this feature at least to the Windows app in the future — it’s rare to find split-tunneling on macOS and iOS. On the plus side, HMA VPN’s split-tunneling works well, there are no bugs, and it’s very easy to use.

IP Shuffle

HMA VPN’s IP Shuffle feature lets you choose how often the VPN app changes your IP address during the VPN session (very few VPNs offer this). IP Shuffle will assign you a new IP address from the same server location (country and city) you’re connected to.

I really like how customizable this feature is — you can pick from 5 different intervals (30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, and daily), or you can manually enter any length of time you prefer. It’s a good feature because it provides more security by making it harder for someone to track your location. IP Shuffle is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

HMA VPN recommends enabling the kill switch to avoid traffic leaks when you use IP Shuffle — this is because you’re actually disconnected from the VPN for a few seconds when HMA VPN changes your IP.

That said, VyprVPN’s proprietary Chameleon protocol does something similar but is much more convenient — it refreshes your IP address throughout the VPN session (so you don’t need to enable any settings on your end), and it does that without disconnecting you from the VPN server, which provides better privacy.

Overall, HMA VPN’s IP Shuffle feature changes your VPN IP at specific intervals, making it very difficult for someone to monitor it.

IP Refresh

HMA VPN’s IP Refresh gives you a new VPN IP address with 1 click — without having to disconnect and then reconnect to the VPN server. IP Refresh is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

Unfortunately, HMA VPN’s IP Refresh feature didn’t work very well — I tested this feature with popular streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime to see if it would help me avoid detection, and even after 10 IP refreshes, I still was denied access to those sites.

VyprVPN has a similar feature — its proprietary Chameleon protocol automatically refreshes your IP during the VPN session. But it works better because it can access most streaming sites (except Disney+).

Overall, HMA VPN’s IP Refresh feature is very convenient, but it’s not very good.

Built-In Speed Test

HMA VPN has a built-in speed test that lets you test specific locations to find the fastest server, but its results are overinflated. I tested this feature alongside a third-party speed test from Ookla, and HMA VPN’s speed test was not accurate. HMA VPN’s speed test said I would have the fastest speeds (200 Mbps) with a server in nearby Austria rather than with a server in my home country (Romania). I tested the Austrian server using Ookla Speedtest, but my speeds were actually 31% slower than on the server in Romania.

I think ExpressVPN’s built-in speed test is much better — it’s very accurate and always recommends the fast servers based on your location. I ran multiple speed tests with ExpressVPN’s speed test tool, and my download speeds were always similar to my results with Ookla’s Speedtest.

Overall, HMA VPN’s built-in speed test is convenient and easy to use, but it displays higher speeds than what third-party speed tests show.

HMA VPN Privacy & Security

HMA VPN has a clear no-logs policy — it doesn’t log your IP address, online traffic (visited sites and downloaded files), bandwidth, and timestamps. HMA VPN only logs your email address for communication purposes.

HMA VPN is headquartered in the UK, which is part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances (a group of countries that share surveillance data). But HMA VPN’s no-logs policy has been independently audited and verified by cybersecurity company VerSprite — so even if UK authorities requested user data, HMA VPN wouldn’t have anything to hand over. But I’d like to see HMA VPN publish the results of the audit for full transparency (like ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, and TunnelBear).

Overall, HMA VPN has a transparent and straightforward no-logs policy that has been independently audited and confirmed (but the audit results are not public).

HMA VPN Speed & Performance

I ran speed tests in 60+ countries in all regions of the world where HMA VPN has a server to determine my average VPN speeds. I experienced a 94% slowdown, but I live in Romania, which has very fast internet speed tests. While I had big slowdowns on very distant servers in Japan, Australia, and Mongolia, I still had good speeds on local servers in Romania and servers in Europe and the US. My colleague in the US also performed speed tests to get a fairer sense of HMA VPN’s speeds — on average, he experienced a 37% slowdown, which is above average.

I started with a speed test of my local network to get a baseline for my speeds:

I then used HMA VPN’s quick-connect feature (Lightning Connect), which automatically connected me to the fastest server based on my location. Instead of connecting me to a server in Romania, I was connected to a server in neighboring Hungary. My speeds decreased by 94%, which is a lot. Even so, websites and HD videos loaded instantly. However, 4K videos loaded in 5 seconds, and I experienced minor buffering while skipping through them.

I also manually connected to a server in Romania, and my speeds were faster than on the Hungary server (I was not happy that Lightning Connect failed to connect me to the fastest server). My 4K videos loaded instantly and didn’t buffer while I skipped through them.

Next, I tested a VPN server in the US. I experienced a 93% slowdown. Websites and HD videos instantly loaded, but 4K videos took 5 seconds to load and buffered frequently. But I didn’t experience any freezes during Voice over IP (VoIP) calls.

Finally, I ran a speed test on a Japanese server and experienced the biggest slowdown — websites loaded in 5 seconds and HD and 4K videos took 10 seconds to load (and they buffered very frequently). My VoIP calls took longer to connect, and I even experienced dropped calls.

Internet speeds in Romania are very fast, so it’s not fair to compare my results to what people from other countries might see. That’s why I asked my colleague in the US to also run some speed tests.

First, my colleague in the US ran a speed test while connected to his local network to get a baseline of his speeds.

Next, he used Lightning Connect and was connected to a server in New York. He experienced a 15% drop in speed, which is really good, and he was able to browse, torrent, stream, and play video games as if he wasn’t using a VPN. My colleague manually connected to a couple of other nearby servers — 2 out of the 3 servers were faster than the server he was connected to via Lightning Connect, but the difference was only between 5-7% (it still shows Lightning Connect is not very accurate).

He then connected to a server in France, and his speeds were reduced by an average of 14%, which is even slightly less than the decrease he experienced when connected to a local VPN server in the US. He noticed a very minor slowdown during his online activities — websites took up to 3 seconds to load, and YouTube videos started in 1-2 seconds.

Finally, he connected to a server in Australia, which is one of the most distant servers from his location. While his speeds were reduced by 71%, my colleague reported that he had similar speeds for browsing, streaming, and playing video games as he did in France.

Overall, my colleague and I had the fastest speeds with HMA VPN on local servers (in Romania and the US), but our speeds remained fast even on the most distant servers. But I experienced noticeable slowdowns while connected to very distant servers in East Asia. If you want blazing-fast speeds on both local and distant servers, I recommend trying ExpressVPN instead, as it’s the fastest VPN in 2023.

Also, I didn’t like that the quick-connect feature failed to connect me to the fastest server — top competitors like ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, and Proton VPN all have quick-connect features that accurately connect you to local servers, which provide the fastest speeds.

HMA VPN Servers & IP Addresses

HMA VPN has 1,000+ servers in 220+ countries and 290+ locations. While other VPNs have more servers (ExpressVPN has 3,000+ servers, and CyberGhost VPN has 7,400+), HMA VPN provides the most countries and locations. This makes it very easy for just about any user in the world to find a nearby server to get good speeds.

I like that HMA VPN shows the cities for some countries, but I wish it would also show the server load percentage or latency, which is how many active users are connected to a server and how long it takes the internet signal to travel from your device to the server, respectively. That information makes it easier to determine which servers have the fastest speeds. Proton VPN displays the server load percentage, while Private Internet Access displays the latency.

I’d also like to see HMA VPN offer better P2P support. It allows P2P traffic on servers in only 6 countries, including in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic — users in other parts of the world won’t be able to connect to nearby servers to get fast download speeds. When I tried torrenting on HMA VPN’s non-dedicated P2P servers, my downloads stalled. While I had pretty fast download speeds with HMA VPN (I downloaded an 18 GB file in 25 minutes while connected to a P2P server in the US), I prefer to use other VPNs for torrenting, like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, which both let you torrent on all of their servers and have faster speeds.

HMA VPN has dedicated streaming servers in the US, the UK, and Germany. But when my team members from the US and the UK tested them, these servers didn’t work with Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+. We also tested non-dedicated streaming servers, but they didn’t work either. If you’re looking for a VPN that can consistently access streaming sites, I recommend ExpressVPN.

Unfortunately, HMA VPN doesn’t have dedicated IP addresses (IP addresses that are only assigned to you). If you need a dedicated IP, Private Internet Access and CyberGhost VPN offer them for a small additional cost, and PrivateVPN offers free dedicated IPs.

Overall, HMA VPN doesn’t have as many servers as other VPNs, but it has servers in tons of countries around the world to provide almost any user with a nearby server location for fast speeds. While the dedicated streaming servers don’t work with streaming apps, HMA VPN supports P2P traffic on servers in 6 countries.

HMA VPN Streaming & Torrenting

HMA VPN is able to access BBC iPlayer, but it can’t access Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Hulu — my team members and I were unable to watch streaming content while connected to HMA VPN’s dedicated streaming servers. But we were able to access less popular sites like VRV, Pandora Radio, and Sony Crackle.

If you’re looking for an excellent VPN for streaming, I recommend ExpressVPN — it claims to work with 65+ streaming services and has super-fast speeds.

HMA is decent for torrenting — it allows P2P traffic, but only on servers in the US, the UK, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. In my tests, I had very good speeds for downloading files, and I was able to use all of the most popular torrent clients (qBittorrent, uTorrent, Deluge, and more). But HMA VPN doesn’t have port forwarding, which allows you to connect to more peers to get faster speeds.

My favorite torrenting VPNs are ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access — both providers allow torrenting on all servers, include excellent security and privacy features, and maintain very fast speeds.

Overall, HMA VPN is not good for streaming, but it provides decent good torrenting support. My team members and I weren’t able to watch Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, but my colleague in the UK was able to access BBC iPlayer. And while HMA VPN only allows P2P traffic in 6 server locations, it’s compatible with popular torrent clients, doesn’t suffer leaks, and has good download speeds.

HMA VPN Bypassing Censorship

HMA VPN doesn’t work in restrictive countries. It doesn’t have obfuscation tools that can overcome internet firewalls.

If you’re in a restrictive country, I recommend using ExpressVPN because it consistently bypasses VPN blocks.

HMA VPN Plans & Pricing

HMA VPN has paid monthly and yearly plans. It allows up to 10 simultaneous connections (if you need more, try TunnelBear, as it allows unlimited connections).

Its paid plans are affordable, but I personally think they’re overpriced — other top VPNs like ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, and Proton VPN are much more affordable and provide significantly better value.

HMA VPN accepts multiple payment methods, except cryptocurrencies, which offer more privacy. If you want a VPN that accepts crypto payments, I recommend ExpressVPN or Private Internet Access.

HMA VPN backs each purchase with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

HMA VPN Ease of Use: Mobile & Desktop Apps

HMA VPN has apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Apple TV, and Android TV. There are also browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, but they’re offered through a free proxy instead of the paid HMA VPN service. The free proxy’s privacy policy says it logs your IP address, so I don’t recommend that you use the browser extensions (ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access both have excellent browser extensions that are secure and don’t store user data).

I installed HMA VPN on my Android and iOS smartphones in 1-2 minutes, and it took 3-4 minutes to add HMA VPN on my Windows 10 PC and MacBook Pro.

Android

I really like HMA VPN’s Android app — it’s really well-designed, easy to navigate, has 1-click connections, makes it very simple to manually select a server, and all settings have explanations.

I also love the animated donkey logo that wears a different disguise every time you connect to a server — too bad the disguises don’t vary based on the country you connect to.

The Android app is the only one that has split-tunneling. Also, it comes with IP Shuffle, IP Refresh, full leak protection, and OpenVPN. There’s an Auto-Connect option that lets you configure HMA VPN to automatically connect to a server when you use unsecured WiFi, secured WiFi, and mobile data. And I like the Wi-Fi Threat Scan feature — it scans WiFi networks when the VPN is off and alerts you or automatically connects you to a server if it finds any threats.

That said, I don’t like how HMA VPN’s Android app is missing a kill switch (HMA VPN claims it has a kill switch for Android, but I didn’t find it even when I followed its step-by-step instructions). When I emailed customer support requesting more information, I never received a response.

To be honest, there are much better Android VPNs out there, like ExpressVPN and Proton VPN, which have more secure apps (that even have kill switches) with much better features.

iOS

HMA VPN’s iOS app is nearly identical to its Android app. The design is the same, and it’s just as easy to automatically and manually connect to a server. HMA VPN’s iOS app also has full leak protection, the IP Refresh and IP Shuffle features, and the automatic connection options for WiFi networks and mobile data.

The iOS app uses IKEv2/IPSec, which is secure and provides fast speeds. But it doesn’t have the Wi-Fi Threat Scan feature, split-tunneling, and the kill switch. That said, most VPN iOS apps don’t have split-tunneling and kill switches — ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access are some of the very few VPNs that have a kill switch for iOS, and TunnelBear is one of the only VPNs out there with split-tunneling on iOS.

Overall, there are better iOS VPN apps out there, but HMA VPN’s app is still easy to use and has good features.

Windows/Mac (Desktop)

HMA VPN’s desktop apps are similar to its mobile apps in design, except that they have a convenient side panel on the home screen where you can access the built-in speed test, monitor your data usage, and quickly enable or disable the kill switch and auto-connect features.

The desktop apps don’t have split-tunneling, but you get a kill switch, including the app-based kill switch. The apps also have full leak protection, secure protocols (OpenVPN on Windows and IKEv2/IPSec on macOS), and the IP Shuffle and IP Refresh features.

Even so, I think there are much better VPNs out there for Windows and macOS — for example, ExpressVPN’s desktop apps are even more intuitive than HMA VPN’s apps, and they’re also more feature-rich (they even have split-tunneling).

Overall, HMA VPN’s desktop apps are decent. There’s no split-tunneling, but the Windows and macOS apps have very good security features.

HMA VPN’s Apps: Is HMA VPN Easy to Use?

HMA VPN has very easy-to-use apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. The desktop apps are slightly different from the mobile apps, but it’s very simple to transition between them due to the intuitive design.

I like the desktop apps the most because they have a kill switch, IP Refresh, IP Shuffle, and auto-connect. But the Android app is also really good — it has almost the same features as the Windows app, but it also comes with split-tunneling.

That said, top competitors like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have much better mobile and desktop apps — they’re just as easy to use (if not more), but they provide better security and access to more features.

HMA VPN Customer Service

I was disappointed with HMA VPN’s customer support. While it offers useful setup tutorials, the FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and community forum do not meet the standards set by top VPNs. Furthermore, HMA VPN’s email support is subpar, and there is no option for live chat with a representative.

HMA VPN’s support guides are neatly organized, but some of them are outdated. What’s more, only some of the troubleshooting guides answered my questions — I had to reach out to a customer support rep to resolve my issues more often than I did with ExpressVPN and CyberGhost VPN.

The community forum is very easy to navigate and it’s simple to post a question, but I don’t think it’s helpful. HMA VPN customer support reps typically respond within a day, but they don’t fully answer the question left by the user, or they say a support ticket was created for the user — what’s the point of a community forum if the reps are only going to open a support ticket instead of answering the question that was asked? I really like VyprVPN’s community forum — the customer support reps always provide helpful answers.

HMA VPN’s email support is really disappointing. I sent the support team 10+ emails, but I only received a response to 1 email — and it took 3 days and the support rep only answered a part of my question. Many of the top VPNs like Private Internet Access and VyprVPN respond to emails within 2-3 hours and provide thorough and informative information.

HMA VPN says that it offers live chat, but it’s not available. When I clicked on the Help button and requested to speak to a live chat representative through the bot, the live chat window never opened. My only option was to leave a message and have the support reps contact me through email — but I didn’t want to do this because I hardly received a response from the email support team! ExpressVPN, and CyberGhost VPN have excellent 24/7 live chat that is easy to access, and the reps are responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable.

Overall, HMA VPN has lousy customer support. There are decent setup guides, FAQs, and troubleshooting articles, but its community forum is mostly useless, its email support is unresponsive, and there’s no way to contact live chat.

Is HMA VPN a Good VPN in 2023?

HMA VPN is only really good for secure browsing and torrenting, and there are significantly better VPNs out there in 2023, such as ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access.

HMA VPN has good security — it protects your data with 256-bit AES encryption, a strict no-logs policy (that’s been independently audited), a kill switch, and full leak protection. It supports torrenting on dedicated servers in 6 countries, and it also offers extra features like split-tunneling (only on Android), IP Shuffle (provides more privacy by changing your IP address during the VPN session), Tor over VPN.

That said, HMA VPN has some major drawbacks. It lacks advanced security features like perfect forward secrecy and RAM-only servers, it doesn’t work with popular streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime, its quick-connect feature doesn’t always connect you to the fastest server, it doesn’t work in restrictive countries, it’s pricier than most competitors, its customer support is terrible, and its live chat is unavailable.

HMA VPN allows up to 10 connections, has flexible payment plans, and backs all purchases with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does HMA VPN work with Netflix?

No, HMA VPN doesn’t work with Netflix. HMA VPN has dedicated streaming servers for Netflix, but they didn’t work during my team’s tests (we always got the proxy error message).

HMA VPN also can’t access other popular streaming sites like Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, and Disney+, but it does work with BBC iPlayer and smaller sites like VRV, Sony Crackle, and Pandora Radio.

If you need a VPN that consistently works with Netflix and other top streaming apps, I recommend ExpressVPN.

Is HMA VPN free?

No, HMA VPN doesn’t have a free plan.

I normally don’t recommend using free VPNs — they lack important security features, have slow speeds, set a limit on your data, and have buggy apps. But if you really want a free VPN, Proton VPN has the best free plan one out there — it’s very secure, comes with unlimited data, maintains good speeds, and provides access to servers in the US, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Is HMA VPN good for torrenting?

HMA VPN is P2P-friendly, but there are better torrenting VPNs out there. While HMA VPN has good download speeds and works with popular torrent clients, it only allows torrenting on servers in 6 countries (so it may be hard for some users to find a nearby server).

My favorite VPN for torrenting is ExpressVPN — it allows P2P traffic on all of its 3,000+ servers, has some of the fastest speeds in the industry, and works with all of the major torrenting clients.

Does HMA VPN keep logs?

No, HMA VPN doesn’t log your IP address or internet traffic (the sites you visit and the files you download), and its no-logs policy has been independently audited and verified.

My only complaint is that HMA VPN hasn’t published the results of the audit (unlike competitors such as ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, and TunnelBear).