PureVPN Review

With so many virtual private network (VPN) services out there to choose from, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to picking the best VPN service for you. Sure, there are the popular picks like household-VPN-name NordVPN or big-name competitor ExpressVPN, but there are other contenders like PureVPN that have their own unique features to consider.

PureVPN has some pretty loud hiccups, but there are still some shiny pros for those seeking a VPN contender.

Of the 13 VPNs we’ve reviewed, you won’t find PureVPN in the top three for cheapest VPN pricing, whether you’re looking at monthly, annual, or multi-year pricing models offered by some VPN providers. But it is the cheapest of our current top five.

The table below breaks down the three pricing options available from PureVPN.

As is the VPN pricing trend, the more you pay upfront, the better value you get overall. You also get a seven-day trial with the one-year plan, and this one-week trial also can be bought for $0.99 cents if you’re so inclined. That said, PureVPN does have a 31-day money-back guarantee on its plans, so you can use that as part of an extended trial, too, if you don’t mind ponying-up more cash initially. Still, the best value comes from the two-year plan with what breaks down to a $3.33 monthly fee.

Check out the table below to see how PureVPN compares to our current picks of the top five VPNs.

If you’re new to VPNs, PureVPN has a fantastic guided onboarding process, which tells you everything you need to know to get connected. When installing the software on a Windows computer, there’s even a pre-ticked option to install a PureVPN Chrome extension, and it’s great to see that PureVPN supports Windows versions right back to Windows XP.

Once the PureVPN software is installed, it does take a breath to load up, unlike other VPNs we’ve revied that start instantly. When it is open, tap the giant circle button in the middle of the screen to connect, then hit it again to disconnect. It takes about four seconds to connect to a server, and unlike other VPNs, you don’t usually have to wait extra time for your internet connection to catch up. Because disconnection also feels close to instantaneous, it means real-time online services like music streaming weren’t interrupted during our tests.

The PureVPN software shows the location you’re connected to, your current VPN IP address, and your upload and download speeds in relation to the online tasks you’re currently performing. If you were to just click connect, it’d find the best nearest server, but you can also click on the globe icon to find recommended servers, recent locations, and any favorites that you’ve manually starred. This screen also lets you browse locations by popularity or search for them. There’s also a handy support button for quick access to FAQs and live chat (it launches a browser), which is a nice in-app touch.

In terms of locations, PureVPN has the most of our current top five VPNs with more than 140 countries covered. Well, that’s the number that PureVPN claims; it was 118 by my count at the time of updating this review. That’s still a lot – the most out of our top five VPNs – but it’s not quite the “140+” claim.

As for servers, PureVPN is second only to CyberGhost for total number of servers as far as our current top five VPNs are concerned: PureVPN has 6,500+ and CyberGhost has 7,000+ (albeit only in 91+ countries). Even though PureVPN plays second fiddle to CyberGhost for server count, PureVPN is ahead for both the number of servers and countries compared to the other three VPNs in our top five. You can see the full PureVPN server list here. It is a shame that you have to disconnect from a server before connecting to another one on the PureVPN software (not the app), which involves unnecessary clicks.

That’s basically all great news so far, but what’s infinitely less great – particularly because this is meant to be a background companion designed to protect what you normally do online – is how PureVPN doesn’t always play nice with particular sites and services.

Further testing and research suggest that this is likely related to PureVPN’s heavy-handed treatment of peer-to-peer (P2P) services, which includes Slack but also is more commonly connected to torrenting. This PureVPN P2P support page flags US, UK, Canada, and Australia. While this could be seen as an admirable overextension to respect local anti-piracy laws, it does undermine the practicality of treating PureVPN as a background protector that doesn’t get in the way of your usual internet goings-on, including the abundance of legal P2P uses.

After the $0.99 trial period, the cost is equivalent to a more common $6.49 per month (1 year charged upfront at $77.88) —about what you would expect from other powerful VPN services but not as low as the annual plan for Private Internet Access (PIA), which works out to only $2.85 per month.

PureVPN takes out another top spot in comparison to its top-five peers by offering the most simultaneous connections for a single account. While most VPN services are going to struggle to compete with the unlimited simultaneous connections offered by Surfshark, PureVPN blitzes its nearest competitors by allowing for 10 simultaneous connections. Compare that to the seven on offer from CyberGhost, the six from NordVPN, and the five apiece for ExpressVPN and Hotspot Shield.

Below is a list of devices that officially support both the PureVPN app and manual configuration:

While there are a lot of expected devices in the app-supported list above, it’s great to see some love for devices like Kindle. And below is a list of devices that officially support PureVPN manual configuration only:

As you can likely tell from all the scrolling it took to reach this bit of text, that’s a lot of supported devices. Thankfully, there are configuration guides for a lot of these devices on this PureVPN support blog.

Because of how a VPN works, there’s no getting around the reality that your total connection speed will be slowed when using one. Depending on the VPN service, download and/or upload speeds will be partially or greatly impacted, while latency – the overall responsiveness of your connection – tends to take the most noticeable hit. The table below is reflective of speeds achieved with a Superloop NBN 100/40Mbps Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) connection when I tested PureVPN during the middle of the day (using Speedtest.net, and you can test your internet speed here).

In terms of speeds, PureVPN fares well in terms of connecting to Australian servers (Sydney was the recommended server). Latency effectively remained unchanged with acceptable percentage differences for download and upload. It starts to fall apart when connecting to other international servers, though.

Strangely, PureVPN’s recommended US server was in Phoenix, which bucks the trend of my recent tests that tend to default to a server that’s closer to the US West Coast. Connected to this server, it’s no wonder that the latency, as well as upload and download speeds, had massively noticeable percentage differences compared to the Sydney-based PureVPN server.

One of the use cases for a VPN is stepping around geo-blocked content, which is handy if you don’t mind running the risk of having your account banned (read the Ts and Cs) for a chance at streaming content from the US or other regions.

Below is a table detailing how PureVPN fared in my tests for the popular US and Australian streaming services that have a knack for sniffing out VPN connections.

Netflix, Max, and Hulu worked great with PureVPN, but Peacock had issues. While the webpage would load and trailers played in the background, clicking play on watchable content resulted in a VPN error. This was consistent across a handful of US servers I tested Peacock with. 

The next table grabs the hefty 34% best-case download difference for connecting to a PureVPN US server and applies it to the average typical evening download speeds (TEDS) for NBN providers across available fixed-line NBN speed tiers. The three columns on the right show how many simultaneous streams can be run on a single account for popular US 4K streaming services. Because Hulu has the option to upgrade to unlimited streams, it doesn’t tap out at the max limit of Netflix or HBO Max.

One of the bigger selling points of PureVPN is its commitment to its zero-logging policy, which effectively means the company’s dedication to your anonymity is aligned with the protective purposes of VPN software. PureVPN backs its zero-log policy so much that it’s established an always-on audit policy, meaning it can be audited at any time.

There’s a wealth of information and options inside your PureVPN login. This member’s area has typical account information, but it also has easy access to port forwarding, the help desk, as well as apps, and PureVPN browser extensions. Clicking on ‘Other Devices’ provides blog guides for connecting specific devices, even if some of these are just a blanket guide for connecting via a router.

Another big tick for PureVPN is it provides inbuilt protection against viruses, malware, botnets, and spyware, which is great for additional peace of mind and also sets it apart from competitors.

In terms of pricing, PureVPN is at the top of our current VPNs for monthly pricing, and also has competitive pricing if you fancy an annual or biennial subscription. PureVPN’s server count is second only to CyberGhost (6,500+ vs 7,000+) in this comparison, but it effortlessly has the highest server count. Even if it’s not quite 140+ by my count, it still easily clears the 94 on offer from the next nearest top-five competitor (ExpressVPN).

If you want a VPN that covers all or a lot of your critical devices, PureVPN’s generous 10 simultaneous connections offer greater versatility than a lot of other VPNs and all of our current top five. The auditable zero-log policy provides great peace of mind, while the VPN-level antivirus and anti-malware offer great security that other VPNs do not.

PureVPN would be a proper top-three contender if it wasn’t so aggressive with its anti-P2P steps that get in the way of regular internet usage on US and Australian servers in particular. None of the other VPNs that I’ve tested have this issue. It also doesn’t help that PureVPN is one of the slowest VPNs in our recent tests.

This is a tough one. On one hand, PureVPN has many admirable features, including 10 simultaneous connections, a robust zero-logging policy as well as VPN-level antivirus and anti-malware. It also covers a lot of countries and has a stack of servers. On the other hand, the P2P blocking on US, Australian, UK, and Canadian servers make PureVPN less of an invisible protector and more of a frustration whenever it blocks regular internet activity.

PureVPN isn’t the fastest or most consistent VPN, but if you want a VPN that offers a lot of devices with servers in 140+ countries, it’s worth considering.