CyberGhost VPN quick infoOur ranking: 4.3 stars out of 5
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CyberGhost VPN has a formidable server fleet spaning 100 nations and 125 areas, an inexpensive beginning worth, and specialised servers for streaming, torrenting, and gaming. It additionally helps Home windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Android and Apple TV, and even gaming consoles.
Whereas its sophisticated firm historical past might trigger some concern, the general VPN bundle you get with CyberGhost makes it a worthy VPN alternative of the yr.
CyberGhost VPN pricing
| Plans | Value |
|---|---|
| One month | $12.99 per 30 days (14-day money-back assure) |
| Six months | $6.99 per 30 days (45-day money-back assure) |
| Two years | $2.03 per 30 days (45-day money-back assure) |
Whereas some VPNs supply completely different options at different worth factors, CyberGhost’s pricing is easy. It offers three costs relying in your most popular service size — both one month, six months, or two years. The month-to-month choice is billed each month, whereas the six-month choice is billed each six months at $41.94 and the two-year choice is billed for the primary two years at $56.94 then yearly thereafter.
By way of affordability, you’re going to get probably the most out of your cash with their two-year plan. At $2.03 per 30 days, CyberGhost is likely one of the most inexpensive VPN choices out proper now. That is very true as soon as we have in mind the variety of servers you get at this worth. Take into account, nevertheless, that this contract locks you in for 2 years so that you gained’t have the pliability of with the ability to swap suppliers shortly.
Should you’re trying to check out the VPN for a month, CyberGhost VPN’s $12.99 is on the pricier finish in comparison with its opponents like Proton VPN, with its one-month Plus plan at present priced at $9.99 per 30 days. You additionally don’t get CyberGhost VPN’s in-house NoSpy servers without spending a dime with the one-month plan.
With that, I do want that CyberGhost provided not less than a one-year choice for its paid plans as an alternative of its six-month subscription. This is able to give customers extra leeway with price and fewer of the time dedication. Annual plans are additionally normal choices for many VPN suppliers. In my opinion, having a one-year choice would assist CyberGhost present a greater one-to-one pitch in opposition to its competitors.
Evaluating it to different VPNs, Surfshark’s mid-tier One subscription for one yr is priced at $3.39 per 30 days, whereas NordVPN’s Plus plan is $5.49 per 30 days. At $6.99 per 30 days for under six months, I really feel like CyberGhost might look like much less of a discount when what different VPNs have to supply.
CyberGhost VPN does have a reasonably beneficiant free trial program. For Home windows and macOS customers, you will get a 24-hour free trial with out offering any cost or bank card data. Android customers even have entry to a three-day trial, whereas iOS customers get free seven-day entry.
Whereas the 24-hour Home windows and Mac trial is brief, accessing all of the premium options with out handing off any monetary data is a worthwhile trade-off.
Is CyberGhost VPN secure?
CyberGhost VPN provides all of the industry-standard safety protocols we anticipate from an honest VPN in 2023. It has the OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard protocols, in addition to AES-256 encryption. It additionally has a kill swap, DNS leak safety, and break up tunneling functionality.
On its web site, CyberGhost boasts that its headquarters are based mostly in Romania — a rustic with robust privateness legal guidelines. It is a huge plus for customers who’re cautious of presidency interference. Nonetheless, it’s price noting that CyberGhost is owned by Kape Applied sciences, previously Crossrider. Crossrider had previously been related to malware and adware controversies earlier than it bought CyberGhost again in 2017.
Whereas CyberGhost has maintained that it acts as an unbiased entity of Kape, the corporate historical past is essential to say with regards to safety and privateness.
CyberGhost does have a no-logs coverage, which states that they don’t log consumer information equivalent to shopping historical past, IP addresses, session durations, and the like. This no-logs coverage has been confirmed by an unbiased audit carried out by Deloitte in 2022.
In April 2024, CyberGhost accomplished a second unbiased audit of its server community and administration methods. The evaluation was carried out by Deloitte Audit Romania, which stated that it discovered no proof to conclude that CyberGhost’s “configuration of IT methods and administration of the supporting IT operations” weren’t in accordance with its No-logs Coverage No-Logging Safeguards.
I commend CyberGhost for persevering with its dedication to present process third-party audits. I particularly respect how current their newest audit was, offering an extra layer of confidence to customers serious about buying a CyberGhost subscription at present.
The VPN service additionally frequently publishes quarterly Transparency Reviews that cowl police requests and malicious exercise reviews they obtain. That is an admirable stage of transparency that undoubtedly provides to CyberGhost VPN’s general credibility.
With its sophisticated historical past, potential customers could also be hesitant to think about CyberGhost VPN at first. Nonetheless, I do really feel that the corporate is doing sufficient to alleviate safety considerations clients might have.
Key options of CyberGhost VPN
CyberGhost VPN offers an alluring bundle of options for its worth, making it a stable alternative. Let’s check out some key options one after the other.
In depth server community
CyberGhost VPN has one of many largest server suites out there at present. On the time of publication, it had servers from 125 areas unfold out over 100 nations.
The massive server fleet provides customers a greater likelihood of getting a high-quality server expertise. Whether or not it’s having a server close to your location to get sooner speeds or having extra entry to geo-restricted content material, CyberGhost’s intensive community is certainly a worthwhile characteristic.
That is very true if you buy CyberGhost with their $2 plan, providing you with a discount bundle that’s onerous to refuse.
Specialised servers
CyberGhost VPN provides three specialised servers for a few of the most typical VPN use-cases. It categorizes servers into three teams: For Gaming, For Torrenting, and For Streaming.
I personally like the extent of element CyberGhost goes into when offering what precisely every server is greatest for.
For instance, it reveals what streaming service a selected server is greatest for — a small element that I believe many customers will discover extraordinarily useful. If you’d like a VPN that makes specialised servers easy, CyberGhost ought to be on the prime of your record.
Good Guidelines panel
CyberGhost has a built-in “Good Guidelines” panel that permits you to automate completely different actions you need the VPN to do based mostly on completely different prompts.
For instance, you’ll be able to set CyberGhost to routinely connect with a selected server upon boot up or have it open an app of your alternative as soon as the VPN is related. It is a highly effective useability characteristic that shall be excellent for many who desire a VPN that may be tailor-made for a selected want or workflow.
RAM-only server expertise
CyberGhost VPN makes use of RAM-only servers that retailer server information on random entry reminiscence as an alternative of onerous disks. Due to this, when a server is unplugged, all information is totally erased.
This offers an extra layer of safety that many privateness fanatics will respect, particularly since CyberGhost itself designed a system that makes it troublesome for them to retailer consumer information. That is one other plus of CyberGhost’s no-logs coverage.
CyberGhost VPN velocity and efficiency
In my testing, CyberGhost VPN carried out very well. I used to be capable of get good velocity and stability with a number of Chrome tabs open, taking part in 1080p YouTube movies, and utilizing Google Suite apps for work.
The story was the identical when it got here to hurry check outcomes. For uploads, CyberGhost VPN recorded solely a 12.67% drop in velocity in comparison with my web service supplier — which could be very spectacular since most VPNs wrestle with sustaining good add velocity. For downloads, CyberGhost carried out even higher because it was truly 9.1% sooner than my ISP. In real-world utilization, I skilled little or no discount in velocity and was completely proud of CyberGhost’s general efficiency.
I did discover that switching from one server to a different took longer than I anticipated. Possibly that’s a trade-off with the VPN’s huge server fleet, inflicting the longer than typical switching. Regardless of this, I’d say that is extra of a private nitpick since I didn’t expertise any dropped connection at any time when I switched to a brand new server throughout my testing.
For DNS leaks, I ran CyberGhost VPN and numerous its servers from completely different areas via a public DNS leak software. I skilled zero leaks all all through.
SEE: SMB Safety Pack (TechRepublic Premium)
CyberGhost VPN servers and areas
CyberGhost provides servers from 125 areas unfold out in 100 nations. For the time being, CyberGhost VPN doesn’t present the precise variety of servers it has in its server community. Nonetheless, third-party reviews estimate it to have round 9,000-11,000 at any given time.
In 2023, I stated CyberGhost had one of many largest server fleets obtainable. Whereas that is still true in 2024, I need to acknowledge that competing VPNs have caught up on this regard. NordVPN has elevated its server fleet from 60+ to 111 nations in a yr, whereas ExpressVPN has elevated its community from 94 to 105 nations as nicely.
That is good for customers, as extra VPN choices have a big server suite to supply. Nonetheless, it additionally implies that competitors amongst suppliers is harder since server fleet measurement is getting nearer and nearer.
Shifting on from its server community, CyberGhost has specialised servers for streaming, gaming, and torrenting, respectively — a characteristic that may profit customers looking out for these particular use circumstances.
Lastly, CyberGhost additionally provides NoSpy Servers, that are servers housed inside the firm’s Romanian headquarters. Which means the servers, and the info they carry, are protected by CyberGhost personnel themselves and can’t be accessed by third events. CyberGhost additionally says that NoSpy servers use extra premium {hardware}, present higher speeds, and have larger bandwidth.
Sadly, you do have to buy not less than a six-month plan to get entry to CyberGhost’s NoSpy servers as this isn’t obtainable on the one-month plan.
Whereas extra security-focused servers would spherical out CyberGhost’s VPN servers extra, there may be sufficient selection right here to fulfill lots of people’s VPN wants.
CyberGhost VPN ease of use
For consumer expertise, I discovered CyberGhost to be a blended bag. Whereas its app design isn’t my favourite, I had zero points with it throughout testing.
I actually respect CyberGhost’s handy categorization of specialised servers. This makes it simple to seek out the very best server attainable for widespread VPN use circumstances, and I consider ought to be an ordinary factor achieved by all VPNs.
On the opposite finish, I do assume CyberGhost can do a greater job of organizing its different menus. Particularly, I discovered its use of a number of Settings pages a bit complicated. There’s a settings web page for the primary VPN, Basic settings on your dashboard, and Privateness settings for privacy-related options. In my opinion, these toggles might both be grouped collectively on one web page or be extra unfold out in separate, particular person tabs in the primary dashboard for a extra intuitive expertise.
CyberGhost VPN professionals
- Giant fleet of servers from 100 nations, 125 areas.
- Specialised servers for gaming, torrenting, and streaming.
- RAM-only servers that forestall information logging.
- Inexpensive two-year subscription.
- Customizable Good Guidelines panel for automated actions.
- Free trial.
- Capability to attach as much as seven gadgets with one subscription.
- 45-day money-back assure.
- Simple-to-use app.
CyberGhost VPN cons
- Difficult firm historical past.
- Lack of extra security-focused servers.
- Desktop interface could possibly be extra intuitive.
- Expensive month-to-month subscription.
- NoSpy servers unavailable in a one-month plan.
How good is CyberGhost VPN?
CyberGhost VPN’s giant server fleet will profit many customers who need flexibility when it comes to velocity, reliability, and entry to geo-restricted content material. It’s very onerous to argue in opposition to servers throughout 100 nations for under $2 a month (with their two-year plan), to not point out the truth that it’s excellent for customers who’re particularly searching for a VPN to stream, torrent, or recreation.
Whereas CyberGhost VPN is hampered by its controversial firm historical past, its spectacular server fleet, specialised servers, and beneficiant free trial choices make it a VPN that most individuals ought to undoubtedly contemplate.
CyberGhost VPN alternate options
CyberGhost VPN has a novel set of options that make it a stable VPN service. Nonetheless, these options will not be the right combination for you. We’ve listed a number of alternate options beneath which will suit your wants higher.
| Proton VPN | NordVPN | Surfshark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning worth (annual) | $4.99 per 30 days | $4.59 per 30 days | $2.99 per 30 days |
| Server community | 9,000+ servers in 112 nations | 6,800+ servers in 111 nations | 3,200 servers in 100 nations |
| Spotlight characteristic | Based mostly in privacy-friendly Switzerland; open-source VPN | Quick efficiency and quite a lot of security-focused options equivalent to anti-malware safety | Inexpensive paid plans throughout the board; quick VPN efficiency |
Proton VPN
If you’d like a VPN that prioritizes safety in opposition to authorities interference and illegal information requests, Proton VPN ought to be your best choice. Based mostly in Switzerland, Proton operates beneath strict Swiss privateness legal guidelines that add an extra layer of privateness and safety on your private or confidential information.
To be taught extra, take a look at our full Proton VPN evaluate.
NordVPN
For extra security-focused options, you’ll be able to take a look at NordVPN. It has robust third-party testing, privacy-centered server sorts, and a novel encrypted file-sharing system that may fulfill even the strictest privateness wants. It additionally has built-in anti-malware risk safety, which makes it a dependable all-around safety platform.
To be taught extra, take a look at our full NordVPN evaluate.
Surfshark
For VPN customers who need a number of gadget help, Surfshark is likely one of the greatest. It provides an infinite variety of simultaneous connections that gained’t have you ever worrying about exceeding a selected gadget restrict. It additionally has robust encryption and privateness options for these searching for extra safety.
To be taught extra, take a look at our full Surfshark VPN evaluate.
How I evaluated CyberGhost VPN
My evaluate of CyberGhost VPN concerned a complete evaluation of its options, price, and real-world efficiency. I used CyberGhost VPN hands-on with their 24-hour free trial on my private Home windows machine.
For velocity, I used Ookla’s public Speedtest to measure obtain and add speeds. I additionally ran CyberGhost via DNSLeakTest a number of occasions to verify for any drops in its DNS leak safety.
Lastly, I scored CyberGhost VPN on all the pieces from safety protocols to pricing based mostly on an inner algorithm to get a ranking of 4.3 out of 5 stars. In my scoring, I checked out CyberGhost VPN each by itself and in relation to different VPN companies obtainable at present.