AdGuard VPN Review 2024: Before You Buy, Is It Worth It?

Good Speeds on Short-Distance Servers

AdGuard VPN offers faster speeds on short-distance servers, but it may struggle when connecting to servers located farther away. In my testing, the best performance was seen on servers in the US, UK, France, and other European locations. However, servers located in remote countries such as Australia and Singapore may experience lower-than-average performance.

It is worth noting that AdGuard VPN has a higher latency level, which may make it less suitable for gaming. If you’re looking for a VPN to use for gaming, I recommend checking out CyberGhost instead. Its gaming-optimized servers make it one of the best VPNs for COD: Warzone and other fast-paced games.

Speed Test Results

AdGuard VPN was impressive particularly on short-distance servers. To assess the impact of AdGuard VPN on internet connection speed, I conducted tests with and without the VPN. First, I checked my download and upload speeds without the VPN, and the results showed an average download speed of 28.51 Mbps and an average upload speed of 15.24 Mbps. Then, I decided to put AdGuard VPN to the test by trying it out on servers in the US, UK, France, and Australia.

There was a 27% decrease in local connections within the United States and a 30-35% reduction in speeds for connections between the United States and Europe. It is important to note that these reduced speeds may only be noticeable when downloading large files or for those without a stable base connection.

Outside of North America and Europe, the performance of AdGuard’s connections wasn’t as consistent. For example, I experienced a 78% decrease in speed when I connected to Australia from the US. This may cause issues with downloading files and streaming video.

In Asia, servers had even slower speeds, with over 90% loss in Hong Kong and Thailand, resulting in speeds as low as 1-2Mbps. This may make regular web browsing and accessing media-heavy websites such as Facebook and Instagram difficult due to timeout errors.

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Server Network — Limited Server Offerings

AdGuardVPN’s server network covers 50 countries and over 65 locations, allowing you to choose the server that best fits your needs and make your connection appear to be from any desired country. There are totally 1000+ servers available, covering many popular server locations including the United States, Europe, and Asia. With a subscription to AdGuard VPN, you can access all available locations and unlock content while protecting your online activity from being monitored.

Unlike other VPNs that provide recommendations for servers based on specific tasks such as streaming, gaming, and torrenting, AdGuard VPN does not offer any guidance on which servers are the fastest to use. Instead, it redirects you to the appropriate servers based on your needs. This approach is more user-friendly since it eliminates the need for you to switch between different servers for various purposes. For instance, if you are downloading a torrent file, AdGuard VPN will redirect your traffic to special servers situated in the DMCA-free zones.

Furthermore, the list of server locations not only shows the available servers but also their corresponding ping numbers. These ping numbers can help you identify the quickest and most suitable server for your specific needs. By choosing a server with the lowest ping time, you can ensure a fast and efficient connection.

Security — Industry-Standard Encryption

AdGuard VPN has implemented several security measures to ensure the protection of its users. However, the effectiveness of these measures may vary in different areas.

These features include:

• Military-grade encryption – AdGuard VPN utilizes robust encryption capabilities to protect your data. Specifically, they have chosen to use AES-256, which is widely considered the best encryption method currently available.
• Protocol – AdGuard VPN uses proprietary HTTPS (TLS) and HTTP/2 as transport protocols, making it harder to detect the use of a VPN. However, these custom protocols aren’t open source and have not been tested as thoroughly as more established options.
• Kill switch – The kill switch is a feature that blocks internet access if the VPN connection is lost. It is a standard feature in the industry designed to protect your internet protocol address in the event of any technical issues.
• Split tunneling – AdGuard’s split tunneling function allows you to selectively use a VPN connection. This can be useful for tasks that don’t require strong privacy protection, as it allows for normal connection speeds and can save on bandwidth usage. With split tunneling, added applications will work normally without the encryption and speed throttling that often comes with a VPN connection.
• Auto start – The auto-start feature allows the VPN to automatically start when you turn on your device, meaning you don’t have to manually start the VPN every time. This can be helpful for those who rely on the VPN for security or privacy, as it ensures that your connection is always protected.
• Website safelisting – AdGuard also provides a Website safelisting feature that allows you to fine-tune your protection based on specific web addresses. This feature functions similarly to split tunneling, but it operates on a website level rather than on individual applications.
• Subnet exclusions – This function allows you to specify regular network routes for a specific address on your network, such as a printer. It is recommended, however, that this task be handled by a network administrator, particularly if you are not very tech-savvy.
• SOCKS5 proxy – This function provides a random IP address for interacting with others but does not encrypt your network traffic. This results in generally faster connections since encryption is not used. It is important to note that this feature works on the application level, meaning you must manually set it up in the settings of each individual application in order to use the SOCKS5 proxy.
• Custom DNS – AdGuard VPN also gives you the option to customize your DNS settings. While custom DNS servers can offer faster connections, web filtering, ad blocking, phishing protection, and other benefits, they can also undermine the privacy aspect of using a VPN. In general, you don’t need to customize your DNS if you’re using a privacy-respecting VPN.

To ensure that AdGuard VPN is able to effectively hide my IP address, I conducted various leak tests on its servers. The results of these tests showed that AdGuard is successful in preventing any leaks from occurring.

Additionally, this test also demonstrated that AdGuard protects against WebRTC leaks. If AdGuard had not taken measures to secure it, my IP address would have been visible in the Public IP address section through the WebRTC leak. While AdGuard effectively handles WebRTC leaks, it is important to note that this is a browser-based vulnerability and even a well-functioning VPN may still potentially leak your IP address through WebRTC.

Privacy — Not 100% Log-Free

AdGuard VPN promises to protect your online privacy, and it is transparent about the type of data that it collects in its privacy policy. The service is designed to collect only the necessary data to provide a functioning service. This includes your email address, data usage statistics, and the type of device you use to connect. It’s important to note that even the most reputable VPNs collect similar data. However, this data does not reveal personal information.

More importantly, AdGuard VPN does not track your browsing data, metadata, source IP address, VPN IP address, or DNS queries. In other words, your online activity remains private and secure.

The Cyprus-based headquarters of AdGuard VPN is advantageous from a privacy standpoint because it is not subject to data retention, logging, or monitoring by any of the 14-Eyes regions. Additionally, AdGuard VPN supports Bitcoin as a payment option, further demonstrating their dedication to customer anonymity.

It’s worth noting that AdGuard VPN has not undergone a third-party audit like other VPN companies, so we are just taking their word for it. If maintaining anonymity is crucial to you, consider trying ExpressVPN instead, since it has been externally verified to keep no logs.

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Editor's Note: Transparency is one of our core values at WizCase, so you should know we are in the same ownership group as ExpressVPN. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.

Torrenting — Supports P2P File Sharing

AdGuard VPN is well-suited for torrenting and P2P file sharing, and it performs best when connected to servers that are located near you. AdGuard VPN provides unlimited bandwidth, ensuring a fast and consistent speed for downloading large files.

In addition, the company places a high emphasis on customer privacy by keeping minimal logs of activity. While they have a limited number of servers, our testing showed that AdGuard VPN maintained a stable connection, making it a reliable choice for torrenting.

Please note that my team and I do not condone illegal torrenting. It is important to check the rules and regulations in your country and make sure that the torrents you download are copyright-free.

Does AdGuard VPN Work in China? Yes!

Even though I was unable to test it myself, I received confirmation from the support team that the service works properly in China. AdGuard’s representative stated that it uses a custom protocol that can easily blend in with normal traffic, making it difficult for Chinese censorship to detect and combat. The representative also mentioned that the service can only maintain a limited number of servers in China and therefore concentrates on a select few to allow Chinese users to effectively evade censorship. Additionally, due to this custom protocol, it is among the few VPN providers that operate in Russia despite facing repeated blockades.

If you’re planning to travel to China or need a VPN service that works within the country, it’s important to have a backup plan in case your primary choice is unavailable. ExpressVPN is one of the few VPNs that reliably work in China, making it a smart choice for those in need of a VPN service in this region.

Although it is wise to be cautious when using a VPN in China, there have been no known cases of the Chinese government punishing foreigners for using one. The government tends to block VPNs technologically rather than targeting individuals who use them.

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AdGuard VPN offers a range of efficient and helpful support options, including email support and an FAQ section on their website. I personally tested the email support service and was pleased to receive a response within a few hours.

In addition to the FAQ section, the company also has a forum and a large knowledge base with numerous online tutorials on how to set up the VPN on various devices. However, there is no live chat option, which is a feature that is commonly offered by other services and typically provides fast customer service.

Despite the absence of live chat, AdGuard VPN’s email support and online resources are sufficient for addressing most questions and issues. The email replies were prompt, and the FAQ section, forum, and knowledge base provide a wealth of information on various topics. Overall, AdGuard VPN’s support offerings are satisfactory, even if they do not include the convenience of live chat.

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