VPNArea doesn’t have a big name in the VPN arena. It’s rarely featured in “top” reviews for anything, and it gets little attention from most reviewers. However, after testing this service thoroughly, we found it to perform very well.
| JURISDICTION | Based in (Country) | Bulgaria |
| Eyes alliances | No | |
| Internet’s foe | No | |
| LOGGING | Logs Traffic | No |
| Logs Bandwidth | ||
| Logs Timestamps | ||
| Logs DNS Requests | ||
| Logs IP Address | ||
| ACTIVISM | Anonymous Payment Method | |
| Takes Bitcoin | ||
| PGP Keys | ||
| Meets PrivacyTools IO Criteria | ||
| Gives back to Privacy Causes | ||
| LEAK SECURITY | 1st Party DNS Servers | No |
| OpenVPN | ||
| Supports IPv6 | ||
| OBFUSCATION | Supports Multihop | |
| Supports Obfsproxy | ||
| Supports TCP Port 443 | ||
| Supports SOCKS | ||
| Supports SSL Tunnel | ||
| Supports SSH Tunnel | ||
| PORT BLOCKING | Auth SMTP | |
| P2P | Allowed on some servers | |
| SPEEDS | US Server Average % | 0 |
| Int’l Server Average % | 23.72 | |
| SERVERS | Dedicated or Virtual | |
| SECURITY | Strongest Data Encryption | AES-256 |
| Default Data Encryption | AES-256 | |
| Strongest Handshake Encryption | ||
| Weakest Handshake Encryption | ||
| AVAILABILITY | # of Countries | 55 |
| # of Connections | 8 | |
| # of Servers | 186 | |
| Linux Support (Manual) | Yes | |
| WEBSITE | # of External Trackers | 1 |
| 5 persistent cookies | ||
| 5 proprietary APIs | ||
| Self-issued SSL certificate | ||
| B grade server SSL rating | ||
| PRICING | $ / Month (2-Years Pricing) | 3.21 |
| $ / Connection / Month | 9.90 | |
| Free trial | No | |
| Money-back guarantee (Days) | 30 | |
| ETHICS | Contradictory logging policies | |
| Falsely Claims 100% Effective | Yes | |
| Incentivizes Social Media Spam | ||
| POLICIES | Requires Ethical Copy | Yes |
| Forbids Spam | Yes | |
| Requires Full Disclosure | No | |
| AFFILIATES | Give Full Disclosure | No |
| Practice Ethical Copy |
Overview
VPNArena is a service from Bulgaria. It has good performance and privacy features. The speeds are also excellent, as it’s one of the fastest networks we’ve tried recently.
Now that the Netflix/VPN combo has become all-important, this VPN offers several Netflix streaming hubs you can access anytime. In addition, it’s suitable for torrenting (the network includes many dedicated P2P servers that make your torrenting experience smoother, especially with large files). And those users who want a static IP address can have it for a very competitive price in several spots around the globe.
It offers ad-blocking and anonymous payment options and sticks to a strict no-log policy.
The company’s background
VPNArena’s parent company is Offshore Security EOOD. It’s been around since 2012, so it’s a bit of a surprise that a VPN this good hasn’t gathered more market momentum.
Bulgaria may not be the most tech-savvy country you’ve ever heard about, but it’s a good privacy jurisdiction. It doesn’t belong to any of the “Eyes” alliances, and it’s not a close partner to the US or the UK, which are heavily committed to citizen surveillance and have persuaded their allies to follow suit.
As VPN-friendly jurisdictions go, Bulgaria is one of the best options in Europe.
Pricing and refunds
VPNArea offers three plans: monthly, yearly and biyearly. The respective prices are 9.90, 4.13, and 3.21 monthly.
The prices for VPNArea are slightly below the market average in each of the three plans. So this is a vendor that offers a service above the average for a competitive price. Take NordVPN, for example, a superior VPN provider that charges the average fee. VPNArea is slightly cheaper, and the service is not so far from NordVPN’s, so you can expect value for your money.
Unless you want a static IP, all three plans will give you the same features. Unfortunately, that’s unavailable for plans longer than a year.
The only piece of data you must provide to subscribe is an email address. If you pay with Bitcoin or any other anonymous payment options, you don’t need to give away any more personal data.
Here’s a rare feature in VPNs: you are allowed to share your account with others. Other vendors prohibit this. VPNArea enables you to do it, which means you could share the cost with other users.
There are two refund policies available: the monthly plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee; the yearly and biyearly plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
VPNArea apps
The app coverage in the VPNArena menu is extensive. It covers all the major players and some more exotic options too.
