VPNArea review: An underrated VPN with notable service

Aliu Isa Last updated: September 20, 2022 Read time: 10 minutes Disclosure
Facts checked by Abeerah Hashim

We found VPNArea to be a safe and reasonably priced VPN with a robust network that is slowly making its way in the industry with advanced features.

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 Email
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.