Avast VPN: The Best VPN For You?

Avast VPN

When the most famous antivirus corporation Avast declared that they would be providing a VPN service, many people were excited at the outlook of the top-notch provider of cyber security making a way into the privacy space. Regrettably, Avast Secureline VPN has yet to be as good as expected. Its app (both on mobile and desktop) is almost featureless, only providing a few security protocols and program settings that privacy lovers wish from a trustworthy Avast VPN. 

So, what are the substitutes for Avast Secureline VPN? Are they good or not? Continue reading this guide to find your answer.

Is Avast VPN Good?

Is Avast VPN good? Well! To some extent. 

As far as connection stability and app performance are concerned, only some people can beat Avast VPN. With an average downloading speed of over 300 Mbps, it’s one of the fastest VPNs ever tested. 

Out of the VPNs we have tested based on streaming, Avast was one of the most effective VPNs for bypassing Netflix blocks. Moreover, speeds were fast enough to stream in 4K or HD without lag. Speed is the primary concern with other VPN services that deal with Netflix. If you want to enjoy a non-stop streaming experience, then Avast Secureline VPN is a preferable option. 

Additionally, the most dominant feature is that you don’t need to create an account or use a credit card to buy the service and we can say you have almost selected a perfect VPN recipe.

How Much Does Avast VPN Cost?

Cost of Avast VPN

While reviewing VPNs, we consider the cost of a monthly subscription. For many VPN companies, that’s the core pricing strategy, and we think that it’s the best approach to compare different products’ prices. Unfortunately, we can’t do so with Avast VPN. Secureline VPN only provides subscriptions for one year, two years, or three years. That’s the main issue as we suggest our audience not select a long-term subscription and instead go for the cheapest, short-term option so you can test the VPN at home. Although Avast provides a seven-day free trial with no credit card, it’s still insufficient. 

The one-year subscription for Secureline VPN will require you to pay $55.08. However, it’s a reasonable price and much less than $66.07, an average we have found across VPN services we check. The two and three-year plan subscriptions require $105.36 and $158.04, respectively. Moreover, you will be shifted to an annual plan at the end of a two or three-year term. 

You can buy Avast’s service by using major PayPal or credit cards. However,  many VPNs now support cryptocurrency as a payment method. It’s also hard to accept such a high up-front cost, especially when VPNs charge $9.89 monthly. Many VPN companies offer far more features than Avast VPN and are still affordable. For example, Mullvad VPN requires only 5 euros per month. You can purchase the cheapest VPN service available if you are out of budget. 

Nothing is more cost-effective than a free service and there are some free VPNs you can consider. ProtonVPN provides the best free subscriptions we have ever seen, implying no limit on your capacity. It’s also considered one of the top-rated VPNs in the digital world.

What Do You Get For Your Money?

You can connect the Avast VPN to up to ten devices simultaneously. It’s double the average we have found across other VPNs in the market and this feature makes Avast stand out of the crowd. A large family or a household with many devices should be easily covered with Avast. However, it’s worth considering that most VPN providers provide far more beneficial features than this. 

Avast Secureline VPN offers only some essential VPN protection. Many VPNs provide split tunneling, allowing users to redirect specific sites and app traffic from the encrypted connection of the VPN. It’s especially beneficial for activities that require low security but high bandwidth such as gaming or video streaming, and also for some websites that don’t allow VPN connections such as online banking services. Avast only provides this feature in its Android app. It would be good if it were available on other platforms too. 

Avast Secureline VPN also doesn’t support multi-link connections. This feature lets you divert your web traffic through two different VPN servers, so you can relax knowing no one can see your connection. ExpressVPN, CyberGhost VPN, and Hotspot Shield VPN are some VPN services that provide this feature. 

Only a few VPNs offer direct access to the free Tor re-identification network. Tor rebounds your traffic through many optional nodes, making it more difficult for strangers to track your online activity. It also allows you to access secret Dark Web sites. Avast Secureline doesn’t offer any feature like this. But NordVPN and ProtonVPN are prominent names that provide multi-hop, split tunneling, and access to Tor through VPN. 

Avast VPN doesn’t provide any additional services with their subscription. From one perspective, it simplifies the purchase experience. But it’s worth considering that some companies like TorGuard, give more benefits along with their subscription’s additional features. They provide their customers with static IP addresses, which are not easily blocked by websites, and some other services with additional charges. 

One of the latest features among VPNs is the inclusion of fully developed antivirus products. With its subscription, NordVPN now provides malware protection as an additional feature while SharkVPN offers antivirus techniques for some extra charges. We analyzed both of them to check their malware-crushing hacks and were unsatisfied. On the flip side, Avast is the best choice for the best free antivirus software, although it’s not available in the VPN subscription offer.  

Surprisingly, many antivirus enterprises that provide a VPN do not include it in their subscription plans. Avast VPN broke this Trend and consists of the VPN in product packages named Avast One. This offers antivirus, VPN, and other services for $99.9 per year on five Windows devices. You can also purchase a $139.99 family edition that covers up to 30 devices. 

Using a VPN does not protect you against all threats. Vicious ads, malware, and other online attacks can still damage your computer and breach personal details. That’s why we highly recommend using antivirus software to keep your device safe from all sorts of dangers, activating two-factor authentication to avoid account hacking, and setting lengthy and complex passwords on each account and service with a password manager.

What VPN Protocols Does Avast VPN Support?

What VPN Protocols Avast VPN Support

More than one option is available to make a VPN connection, although not all work similarly. Our favorite option for a long time is OpenVPN, an open-source VPN that can be selected to overcome serious threats. WireGuard is the following open source in line, gradually setting the trend in the VPN industry. 

When we tested Secureline VPN, WireGuard was only accessible as a test feature. The company guides us that WireGuard is now openly available it has become a default setting in the Android and Windows apps of AvastVPN and will also be seen in macOS. We are waiting to restest its apps on all these platforms soon. 

When we did our last evaluation, Avast used IKEv2 for its macOS and iOS apps while OpenVPN for its Windows and Android apps. The company’s ownership Mimic protocol was open for all platforms. A company’s agent assured us that Mimic uses advanced encryption technology and was created to make VPN traffic appear like HTTPS traffic to avoid being blocked.

How Many Servers And Server Locations Does Avast VPN Have? 

Generally, we prefer VPNs having different server locations. Geographic variation maximizes the chances of constantly locating a server around when traveling and increases the odds of faking your location. 

Avast Secureline provides access to servers in 36 countries, which is quite considerable even if below the 52-country average. However, most of their servers are operating in Europe. While most VPN companies don’t prioritize Africa and South America, Avast has servers in South Africa and Brazil. That’s good but we wanna see their more server locations. In contrast, ExpressVPN grants servers in 94 countries. 

Sometimes, having servers in areas with strict internet policies can be beneficial. Avast’s servers are no longer present in Russia or China but provide some in Turkey. Primarily, it has retained a presence in Ukraine. 

Avast provides almost 500 servers working with Secureline VPN, while CyberGhost appeared on the top with its 7,000 servers worldwide. Having more servers doesn’t mean a VPN performs well but primarily reflects customer demand. 

Many VPN services utilize virtual servers. These are dynamic servers, meaning a single hardware server can be used instead of several virtual servers. Well! It’s not an issue but sharing your server with clients can put the safety of your server at risk. However, there is no such danger associated with Avast VPN. This VPN company uses bare metal servers that cannot be shared. 

We can also consider virtual locations. Have you ever heard of virtual servers? These servers tend to appear somewhere other than their actual physical location. It’s not bad, but we consider VPNs that can spot the virtual locations. This is also a drawback, as Avast VPN does not work on virtual locations. 

While the company claims that its VPN framework, including its robust security measures, has never been hacked, it indicates that it would quickly report the incident. The company states that it uses full-disk encryption technology on all its servers and some other general safety techniques for its central database, making you wonder, “Is Avast VPN good for torrenting?” Some VPN companies, such as ExpressVPN, have moved further and have headed to RAM-only servers which are removed immediately whenever power cuts off.

Your Privacy With Avast VPN?

Your Privacy with Avast VPN

If it decides to take advantage, a VPN can sneak in to know what you search and do online. That’s why it’s essential to know what sort of data a VPN collects and how it guards that information. 

Avast makes it easy to find the company’s policy related to VPN, which is also easily understandable. The company deserves appreciation for that. It mentions that the company is not up to your IP address, DNS inquiries, browsing history, or the log of transferred data. That’s exactly according to Hoyle. 

The document further elaborates on what the Avast VPN company gathers. Avast is very transparent about its data policies. However, its procedures are not always the best privacy practices and don’t violate your online presence. Avast logs the date-time value of the connection, which it claims is necessary to avoid misuse. Avast says it records the amount of data transmitted (but not that data) and a part of your IP address to check its service and plan betterment. This company also records the IP address of the VPN server you connect to, which the company claims helps evaluate Avast VPN service availability. A company agent informs us this record is deleted after 35 days.

Many VPN companies collect far less information than this. In particular, Mullvad doesn’t even require an account or log information to process subscriptions. Instead, you are provided with a complex ID number, making it very hard to detect the VPN activity of an individual. Avast should work to collect and store even less information. 

The company claims that it only makes a profit from selling the subscriptions. That’s great, as you don’t like a VPN that capitalizes on your user data. 

Unfortunately, Avast VPN has already exposed its users’ information. In early 2020, the company was accused of selling non-identifiable web usage details recorded with Avast VPN’s browser extension. Here, it’s important to mention that Avast VPN’s antivirus product, not the VPN, was involved in this malicious activity. Avast VPN has stopped that data-collecting operation from that day. That’s entirely fair, but the incident left a wrong impression on the audience’s mind. Trusting any VPN service is already risky, but entrusting one involved in this kind of audacious conduct in the past is harder.

Avast SRO, the company regulating Avast Secureline, is in the Czech Republic and works under Czech laws. This company claims that it has exposed limited information to the security forces in the past in return for legal requests. This data exposure is accepted in the company’s Transparency Report, which we found only after investigating a company’s agent. We are glad that their transparency page is updated regularly and that the responses to lawful data interrogation have reduced considerably. It’s not bad in a scenario where none would be best. 

Remenber that Avast VPN, HMA! VPN and AVG Secure VPN are all under the influence of a single company. Although HMA! VPN world on its framework, Avast and AVG VPNs work on the same back end.  

Avast also regulates a warrant canary that involves the explicit assurance that the company has no backdoor in its system that can be used to access your encrypted information. That’s good and we would like to see more VPN companies make the same assurances. 

Several VPN companies have started issuing third-party audits of their service to establish the authenticity of their security. While not every audit is helpful, it’s a right tendency overall. TunnelBear has issued annual audits for many years. Avast Secureline has not yet released a public audit. Its reputation should do so.

Where Is AvastVPN Lacking?

Where AvastVPN is Lacking

Regrettably, with everything where Avast VPN performs well, there are some critical areas where it fails to win. The first and most prominent is the zero availability of customization options. You can’t set an ideal strategy, select a default server, or even enable a kill switch.

Netflix streaming with Avast Secureline VPN is good but it’s the only streaming service that VPN unblocks content for. And they only pour the Netflix Library for the United States. If you want to watch a series only available in Canada or the UK, you can’t access it. There is no need to mention that it’s also incapable of unlocking Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, or Amazon Prime. 

The next factor that Avast needs to improve is pricing. We were disappointed knowing the Avast VPN complex and confusing pricing plan in our complete evaluation and here’s a summary. 

Prices differ depending on how many devices you want to connect and where you purchase the Avast SecureLine VPN service, on desktop or mobile, and only two payment methods are available. You can buy a monthly or bi-yearly subscription for the mobile app or an annual subscription for the desktop version. However, the option to pay for service with PayPal is quite good.

Overall, there are a lot of benefits to buying Avast Secureline VPN service but there are a lot of areas where Avast VPN loses its charm too. So, here we have listed some VPNs that provide many features, benefits, and streaming services that Avast Secureline VPN does not.

Best For Streaming – CyberGhost VPN

Most VPNs claim to unblock streaming content, but only a few do so, and even fewer work for more than one service in different regions. 

CyberGhost VPN appears on the top when the discussion is about streaming services. CyberGhost makes it simple and fast to get linked with streaming websites like Hulu, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. It will allow you to flow multiple Netflix libraries from countries like Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands. 

Currently, Avast VPN can’t compete with premium providers like CyberGhost VPN in this regard. However, apropos of “keeping up”, Avast completely fades CyberGhost when it comes to speed. So, Avast VPN should probably be a good option if you only like to stream American Netflix.

Best For Extra Features – PureVPN

Best For Extra Features – PureVPN

When making the most of your dollar, no one can beat PureVPN in features. As per our review of their service, we came to know that PureVPN not only provides the basic features you can expect from an advanced VPN (DNS protection, kill switch, IPv6 leak protection, etc) but this company also offers a bunch of its proprietary features as well. 

One of the best conversions is Split Tunneling which allows you to decide which apps on your computer divert traffic through your standard network and which connect via VPN. Split tunneling is perfect for those who want to keep as little load on their VPN connection as possible. You can also convert your laptop or PC to a VPN-enabled hotspot, a quality specific to PureVPN. When speaking of extra features, Avast still has to add a lot.

Best For Security Customization – IBVPN

Almost any VPN is worth paying for if you can alter the encryption protocol you connect through. But IBVPN exceeds expectations regarding encryption and overall powerful security techniques. 

IBVPN has plenty of different encryption structures to select from. You can even use basic encryption protocols to protect your connection (128-bit AES to 512-bit). 

This service also provides the “double VPN” feature. Particularly, when someone succeeds in detecting your first IP address and wants to link it back to your actual identity, they will have to face another VPN node, making it digitally impossible for anyone to know how you are or where you are connecting from. 

Moreover, IBVPN makes connecting to the Tor network and Avast SecureLine VPN easy. If you want to strengthen your security protocols, connection options are available that automatically redirect your connection through Tor nodes. These measures keep you completely masked on an Onion-only connection.

On the other hand, Avast doesn’t provide you with security features of your own choice. IBVPN’s high proportion of security options makes even reputed providers like ExpressVPN quiver a bit in their boots.

Wrapping Up!

As we discussed in the intro, there are a few aspects that Avast goes very well with. The network reliability, speed, and US-based Netflix streaming are exceptional elements. 

By keeping this thing in mind, there are a lot of other VPNs that can go far beyond your expectations. Secureline is suitable for its services, but better options are available if you want an actual premium VPN. 

IBVPN is the best option for security lovers. PureVPN has got your back with its extra features. CyberGhost is a one-source option for all types of streaming.

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