Atlas VPN boasts of being among the few premium VPN services that offer a free version. It has robust security features, zero ads, a no-logs policy, and unlimited data. On the other hand, the paid packages are reasonably priced, making the VPN a great budget-friendly option.
It is a relatively new provider founded in 2020. The VPN has come a long way within a short time and now competes with more established services. Atlas VPN was initially available as a mobile app but has recently introduced desktop apps.
In this unbiased review of Atlas VPN, we’ll look at its different aspects like the performance, unblocking capability, user interface, and much more in detail.
| Jurisdiction | United States |
| Lowest price | $1.89 |
| Logs | Zero-logs policy |
| Support | FAQs, email |
| Torrenting | Yes |
| Unblocks sites | Yes |
| Server locations | 43 countries |
Atlas VPN pros and cons
Here are some of the Atlas VPN’s strengths and weaknesses:
Pros:
- Robust encryption
- Automatic kill switch
- Free version
- P2P support
- Unblocks most streaming platforms
- Two-factor authentication
- Web filters
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Small server network
- No live chat support
- Only a single protocol option
- Headquartered in the US
Speed and performance: How fast is Atlas VPN?
Almost all VPNs will slow down your connection, but some can mitigate the speed loss. I measured the baseline speeds in different locations and calculated the drop-off percentage to get the most accurate picture.
Baseline: ping – 15m/s, download speed – 83Mbps, Upload speed – 22Mbps
| Location | Ping (m/s) | Download speed (Mbps) | Upload speed (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 19 | 61 | 20 |
| US (LA) | 89 | 81 | 12 |
| US (NY) | 76 | 78 | 9 |
| US (FL) | 92 | 72 | 11 |
| Spain | 102 | 32 | 8 |
| Germany | 17 | 75 | 21 |
| Australia | 121 | 22 | 7 |
| Singapore | 114 | 33 | 12 |
| India | 132 | 28 | 10 |
| Sweden | 24 | 56 | 19 |
As the table above shows, the upload and download speeds you get will mainly depend on where you are. For example, the speed reduction with US and UK servers is less than 10%. However, with remote servers like in India and Australia, the connection slowed by over 70%. On the other hand, the ping rate increases as the distance gets further.
Atlas VPN servers are not the fastest in the industry. Making the matter worse, the provider does not offer a variety of tunneling protocols. This is a significant issue considering other services such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN give you more protocol options and better speed. Nonetheless, Atlas VPN is relatively new, so it will take some time to catch up.
Streaming: Does Atlas VPN unblocks Netflix?
The most significant selling point of most VPNs is the ability to bypass streaming sites’ restrictions. Therefore, this is one of the crucial things for a VPN service to get right.
We started by testing geographically restricted videos on YouTube when doing this Atlas VPN review. For example, some NBA and MLB highlights are only accessible in the United States. Connecting to US servers enabled us to stream blocked content and much more. Next, I tried the UK servers and accessed sites such as BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, and a few others.
Our subsequent test was Netflix. It is currently the biggest streaming platform and has very tough VPN blocks. Fortunately, Atlas VPN unblocks several libraries, so you can install it and access your favorite Netflix content in different regions.