Pros
- NAT firewall: The user can choose between Public or a NAT IPv4 address. This feature is included at no extra cost and makes the user feel safer on the network.
- IPv6 leak protection: The product supports IPv6. The users don’t need to worry about IP leaks or disable IPv6 on their devices when connecting to the network
- P2P file sharing: They allow P2P traffic on their servers, and the users can easily share content on their network
- Security: They emphasize a lot on the security. They set up and install the hardware on the servers themselves.
- No logging: They keep no log of the user’s data. They claim that their servers run without any hard drives to make sure that no data is collected.
Cons
- Swedish Jurisdiction: Sweden is one of the 14-Eyes countries and the chances the government surveillance can never be checked off completely.
- Number of servers: They have got only 22 servers in 5 server locations. There should be more servers to make sure there is a smooth flow of traffic across the servers. The number of server locations should also increase, giving the user more options.
- User interface: There is a scope for a lot of improvement when it comes to user interface. The ‘azclient’ is available only for OpenVPN protocol, and for WireGuard protocol the user needs to generate configuration files for every device.
- Not user-friendly: The user needs to have quite some knowledge of protocols and ports beforehand. The product is very complicated for a non-technical person looking for ways to maintain his privacy online.
Overview
AzireVPN is a product by Netbouncer AB which is based in Sweden. The product came into existence in 2012 and seemed to have improved continuously after that.
Sweden is one of the 14-Eyes countries, and this fact may make a lot of the users uncomfortable. 14-Eyes and the associated countries are known to internally share all the surveillance and monitoring data.
In 2017 they introduced WireGuard protocol in their service, and now it seems that they are trying to push it forward as the USP of their product. The official website of the product looks more like an advertisement front for WireGuard protocol.
| Quick Overview | |
|---|---|
| Protocols | OpenVPN, WireGuard |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, Linux, Andoird, Routers |
| Jurisdiction | Sweden |
| Logging | No Logging |
| Encryption | ChaCha20 |
| Connections | 5 Devices Allowed |
| Locations | 5 Locations |
| Servers | 22 |
| Netflix/P2P | P2P Available |
| Payment Options | Credit Card, PayPal, Cryptocurrencies |
| Support Options | Email Support |
| Pricing From | € 4/mo Billed For 3 Months |
| Guarantee | 7 Day Money Back |
| Free Trial | 24 hr Free Trial |
However, it also cannot be denied that WireGuard protocol is a very safe and a fast protocol.
The provider seems to be very proud and confident of the security and technological advancement of the product as it has been highlighted on the official website.
It is also worth noticing that they lack on a lot of fronts such as the number of servers, apps for devices and platforms.
It is pretty much evident that this review will be focused on weighing the pros against the cons. We will be discussing if the product is worth making the sacrifices on the user-friendliness front.
Servers
They have got 22 servers located across 5 different locations which are Canada, US, UK, Spain, and Sweden.
The fact that the number of server locations can be counted on the fingers of a single hand can already make a lot of people make up their minds against this product.
A higher number of servers not only helps reduce the traffic per server and gives the user an option to connect through more locations across the world, but it also says a lot about the popularity of the product.
They have tabulated all the server data separately for all the protocols on the official website. It shows the server location, ports available, hostname, protocols, and the number of servers.
They also claim that they set up and install all the hardware on the servers themselves and don’t involve any third party in the process. There is a small video on the official website which supposedly highlights this thing only.
They say that there are no hard drives installed on the servers to make sure that there is no data stored on the servers. All these measures are quite reassuring when it comes to safeguarding the user’s privacy.
They have their own DNS servers too which are in Sweden and the United States. WireGuard, OpenVPN, and Socks5 servers are in all the five locations.
Privacy Policy
When it comes to the privacy policy, it is natural to feel a bit more concerned about the security of the personal data. We carefully went through their privacy policy to make sure there are no loopholes.
The company is not bound by the law to log the user’s personal data. They have also employed a no logging policy, and none of the user’s data is collected.
They don’t keep track of user’s activity online when using their service. They don’t keep a log of timestamps and other information regarding the user’s connection/disconnection from the service.
They don’t keep track of the bandwidth, the user’s personal IP address and the IP addresses of the Azire servers that the user connects to while using the service.
They also don’t log the user’s DNS queries.
The information which they collect is also mentioned in their privacy policy. It includes the username and password of the customers. Providing them the email is optional, and the user can choose not to disclose his/her email.
There are cookies involved when someone visits their website, and other such non-personal data is collected.
The user can choose to not get into the payment logs by using bitcoins or other virtual currencies to make payments. However, the refund policy will not be applicable if one uses virtual currency to make payments.
The user is not eligible for a refund in case of one-month packages also.
The privacy policy seemed transparent and reasonable enough to us. The VPN provider made sure to take all the necessary steps to keep a user’s personal information safe. And one way to not lose things is by not having them at first place.
But, the fact that it comes from one of the 14-Eyes country, one can never be sure enough.
Connection Time Analysis
| Trial No | Canada | USA | UK | Spain | Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to establish a connection (seconds) | |||||
| 1 | 14.22 | 13.13 | 12.61 | 15.19 | 15.83 |
| 2 | 12.55 | 17.57 | 13.49 | 17.94 | 12.57 |
| 3 | 12.91 | 15.26 | 13.12 | 13.38 | 15.05 |
| 4 | 12.72 | 17.7 | 12.65 | 13.82 | 13.04 |
| 5 | 13.03 | 12.4 | 12.99 | 13.72 | 16.4 |
| Avg Time | 13.086 | 15.212 | 12.972 | 14.81 | 14.578 |
We did the connection time analysis for all the server locations. We were using ‘azclient’ which supports only OpenVPN protocol.
We can clearly see that the product is not lightning fast when it comes to connection time. Canadian and English servers performed better. But we can call them better only when we are comparing them with the servers of AzireVPN.
The average connection time above 10 seconds always has a room for improvement.
We also faced some sort of bug while reconnecting to the network the next day. We then had to reinstall the software again to get things back to normal. Sometimes these minor issues at crunch moments can be very irritating.
Speed Test
The speed test for this product turned out to be an interesting one. We got to see the speeds across the whole spectrum.
We used AzireVPN on a Windows device using the azclient. The issue with azclient is that it comes with OpenVPN protocol only.
When we conducted the test for all the locations on random ports, we got speeds ranging from 8% of the original speed to 93% of the initial speed.
We then tried changing the ports. The results were again random, and the servers in the same location over different ports showed very different speeds.
It is noteworthy that ping rates are almost the same for all the port options on the same server location.
For instance, if we take the Spanish server, we got a rabbit on one port and turtle on the other.
However, in the end, everything boils down to one question. Is this VPN service fast? Yes sir, it is.
It might take a few tries for a few users to obtain the high speeds, but once the user gets connected to the optimum server with the optimum protocol settings, this VPN service can indeed give some great internet speed outputs.
Security
AzireVPN has two protocols WireGuard and OpenVPN, and one proxy Socks5.
They have talked highly of WireGuard on the official website and seem very proud of it. However, the client that is available for download supports OpenVPN protocol only.
The user needs to download configuration files and a suite to use WireGuard protocol. These configuration files are different for various platforms.
Both the protocols are considered safe, and AzireVPN has rated WireGuard as the safer and faster option, and they recommend the users to choose WireGuard over OpenVPN.
Socks5 is majorly used to bypass geo-restrictions, and it is not encrypted.
When it comes to physical security, they have kept that base covered too. AzireVPN has mentioned that it doesn’t outsource even the installation of the servers.
They set up all the hardware themselves and don’t keep any hard drives on their servers to make sure there is no data storage at all.
They have emphasized a lot on the security of the servers as well the tunnels and security is one of the strong suites of this product for sure.
User Interface and Experience
The user interface is something which acts as a bridge between the user and the service. Having a great UI is detrimental to the success of such services.
In the case of AzireVPN, they have not been able to bridge the gap between the user and their product. It is not a case where the service is poor, but a good UI helps the user connect to the service.
They provide azclient for OpenVPN and no client for WireGuard. In the azclient user gets nothing but a box to put in the login credentials and gets to choose server location and ports.
There is no user interaction other than this. They did not include WireGuard in the client even though they spoke so highly of it on the official website.
The user needs to download configuration files and suite to run WireGuard on his/her device. The installation guides are not at all easy for a person to understand if he/she has limited knowledge of VPNs and how they work.
They need to come up with some apps or client that make the whole process of connecting to the VPN easy and fast for the user.
Even though they have protocols, ports, and dedicated servers to offer as choices, the user feels as if there are no options at all because there are separate and lengthy routes to make these choices.
AzireVPN needs to come up with a functional and user-friendly UI. The current situation is not promising at all, and a lot needs to be done in this department.
Platforms and Devices
They have very limited platform support, and they are far behind many of the VPN service providers when it comes to making the product more accessible.
OpenVPN supports Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and routers running on DD-WRT or pfSense.
WireGuard is available only for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, and routers running OpenWrt.
The app available for Android devices to run OpenVPN is experimental at the moment, and they themselves don’t recommend using it.
The overall picture in this area is also very bleak, and they need to come up with ways to make the service more accessible that too in a natural way and not the current way.
Customer Support
They don’t offer live chat support. Instead, the user can send them query tickets. One can expect a reply from them in a few hours if the timing of the query is in accordance with the office hours in Sweden.
The support page is also an essential part of customer support. Their FAQ page is quite informative and contains a lot of relevant questions, but they need to realize that the person on the other end may not be a tech expert or a geek.
The installation guides are not made for an average person in any way. They either need to omit the need for the user to go through installation guides for every device or make the guides simpler and easier to understand.
The inclusion of live chat can also be beneficial to the users who are now maybe trying to go through the complicated installation guide and trying to find the best server setting for their use.
Conclusion
We mentioned in the beginning that this review would be all about the pros weighing against the cons. So far, we have been unable to find a clear winner, and that is because a vital component was missing against which we needed to test the product.
That missing component is the user preference. And it can vary a lot from person to person.
There will be a lot of people who don’t care about user friendliness and prefer the available way to connect to a VPN, and there will be many who have no clue as to how to use this product.
Security and usability have poles-apart ratings. Connection time and internet speed also don’t fit inside the same bracket.
The product is technically sound and updated, but they need to bridge the gap between the user and the product.
Wondering why Azire a Swedish company is using an US DNS server for all locations. Foilhat