AirVPN Review 2024: Before You Buy, Is It Worth It?

Inconsistent but Fairly Quick on Nearby Servers

If you’re looking for a stable connection, AirVPN’s reasonably large network should be sufficient. And while its speeds aren’t mind-blowing, it’s considerably quicker than the majority of VPN services. I was still able to play games, watch videos, and surf the web without any problems.

Speed Test Results

The results of my server speed tests revealed that AirVPN was reliable for both download and upload speeds. However, picking the right server is crucial for optimal performance.

To set a baseline for my experiment, I first ran a speed test on my home connection, recording download speeds of 50 Mbps and upload speeds of 420 Mbps. Then I went with the client’s recommendation, which was Belgium. The speeds were good, achieving 34 Mbps download speed and 23 Mbps upload speed. With the Netherlands connection, download speeds slowed to 32 Mbps and upload speeds to 13 Mbps.

When I switched to a server in the United States, my download and upload speeds dropped by 42% and 57%, respectively. Subsequent evaluations showed that the service could be relied upon in Japan, the UK, and throughout Europe. There was a degree of inconsistency in the outcomes, but the performance was still passable overall.

Is AirVPN Fast Enough for Gaming? Yes!

If you connect to a server that is geographically close to you, even the fastest games will run smoothly. Using servers that are thousands of miles away can cause significant performance drops, making it difficult to overcome the effects of high ping.

AirVPN’s average speeds are satisfactory for establishing connections to servers located at a distance, but the service has a notable impact on your latency. For instance, connecting to a server in Japan caused my ping to exceed 100, resulting in occasional lag that affected my gameplay.

That said, it worked fine overall. There were no significant drops that prevented me from playing, and picking a server close to my location made it much easier to maintain a constant connection.

Server Network — Several Options and Unlimited Switches

There are over 200 servers spread across 20+ countries in AirVPN’s lean network. AirVPN’s few servers are more likely to become overburdened during peak usage times, in contrast to CyberGhost’s extensive presence in 94 countries. Having more server locations means you’ll be more likely to find one nearby, increasing performance and location spoofing options.

A major drawback in comparison to some of the competition is the lack of server locations outside of North America, Europe, and Asia. AirVPN does have an Australian routing server, but it does not have any servers in Oceania, Africa, or the Middle East.

In addition, the AirVPN service has routed servers in the US, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Canada, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. When you use AirVPN with a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu, for instance, the service will send your location data through its dedicated routing servers. However, you will need to make use of AirVPN’s private DNS to access the routing servers.

If you’re having trouble choosing a server, the provider’s website and client application both feature a comprehensive server status page that shows real-time data about each server. By clicking on any server, you can see detailed statistics, including historical bandwidth graphs, available codes, and even latency between that server and others. Given how uncommon it is in the VPN industry, I applaud AirVPN for giving its users complete server transparency.

Security — Impenetrable Protection at a Great Price

If you want complete command over the safety of your network, you should look into AirVPN’s more advanced features because they are sure to pique your interest. The security structure is fully customizable, with strong configuration options and sufficient safety measures.

The security features of AirVPN include:

• Military-grade encryption – On the OpenVPN control channel, AirVPN employs AES-256 GCM encryption with 4096-bit RSA keys and HMAC SHA384. The widely-used AES cipher is replaced by the supposedly three-times-faster CHACHA20-POLY1305 cipher on the WireGuard channel. With perfect forward secrecy, the encryption key is rotated every 60 minutes to prevent data from being decrypted using an old key.
• Two solid protocols – AirVPN supports both the OpenVPN and Wireguard protocols. AirVPN supports running OpenVPN over TCP port 443 to bypass VPN blockers, and you can even encrypt OpenVPN protocols with SSL to avoid deep packet inspections. Wrapping a code in SSL makes it appear as regular traffic, enabling you to access content in countries with firewall restrictions.
• Network lock (kill switch) – This feature will automatically disconnect you from the internet in the event that there is a disruption to your network connection. The kill switch, along with all of the other features, can be configured to your exact specifications. There are options for blocking incoming and outgoing traffic, allowing certain IP addresses to bypass the kill switch, or allowing some types of traffic, like DNS queries, to continue using the network.
• Tor Integration – The app also incorporates Tor Browser, which provides an additional layer of privacy and allows you to browse the internet anonymously. You have the option of configuring Tor over a VPN or VPN over Tor, depending on your preference.
• Split Tunneling – With this feature, you can specify which connections should use the secure VPN tunnel and which should bypass it. It’s ideal for activities that require a lot of bandwidth but are relatively safe, such as streaming and gaming.

Given the extensive security features offered by AirVPN, I have little reason to doubt the safety of its servers, and I successfully tested many of them to confirm this to be the case. After I had successfully established a connection, I went to ipleak.net to perform the necessary leak tests. As is obvious from the results presented below, AirVPN did not exhibit even the slightest sign of an IP or DNS leaking at any point during my tests.

I experienced no DNS leak problems even without enabling the Network Lock feature. The client effectively blocks IPv6 and WebRTC leaks when Network Lock is enabled. Additionally, AirVPN proves to be quite dependable, as I seldom encounter VPN disconnections while using it.

Privacy — No Logs, No Worries

AirVPN is perfect for anyone who values privacy and wants to keep as much of their online activity under wraps as possible. As per the company’s policy, no records of user activity, session lengths, connection timestamps, originating IP addresses, or VPN IP addresses, are kept. That’s the sort of reassurance you should expect from your VPN provider.

The company does, however, collect some necessary technical information to set up and maintain your VPN connection. These details are only kept in RAM for the duration of the session and are never written to disk or any other permanent storage. Data is handled entirely by automated systems and deleted as soon as it is no longer needed to fulfill its original purpose.

Creating an account with AirVPN doesn’t even necessitate a working email address. So long as the email address follows standard email address format, a temporary email address can still be used. According to its privacy policy, AirVPN deletes all payment notifications it receives so that it does not store any of your personal information. It is also worth mentioning that AirVPN maintains its own DNS servers, thus keeping your personal information safe by limiting the parties that your data has to go through.

The fact that AirVPN has its headquarters in Italy and is a member of the 9-14 Eyes Alliance, a network of intelligence-sharing nations, is cause for concern. The company, however, has made it clear that the service is subject to EU law, contrary to the 14-Eye agreement. Regardless of future data retention laws, AirVPN will not have any personally identifiable information to disclose since it doesn’t log anything.

Stay safe with AirVPN

Torrenting — Supported

AirVPN allows torrenting and other P2P file sharing with no throttling or bandwidth limits. The VPN’s inclusion of a kill switch and leak protection makes it a safe and secure choice for torrenters. Advanced torrenters will also appreciate AirVPN’s port forwarding, which supports up to 20 simultaneous port connections.

Just bear in mind that sharing content that is copyrighted is typically prohibited. Even if you’re hiding your IP address behind a VPN, you could still face legal consequences for torrenting non-public domain content.

Does AirVPN Work in China? Yes, With a Little Work

AirVPN support confirmed that there are a few manual configuration options to get the VPN working in China, like using separate entry and exit IP addresses. While TCP organizes your data before it transmits it, AirVPN’s UDP helps ensure it won’t take too long. Even though it’s quick, it is still thorough when weeding out potential viruses or other compromising data between you and the servers or sites you use. On AirVPN forums, users have created detailed guides to assist you.

Beyond its ability to get past the Great Firewall of China, AirVPN has pretty good security and should provide fast speeds. Countries with internet censorship, such as Iran and Turkey, still don’t seem to prevent AirVPN from working, thanks to its access to TOR and additional tunneling through SSH and SSL. Ensure you look at the available server locations as speed may be an issue if there are no local servers in your area.

Only a small number of VPNs are still operational in China because non-government-approved VPNs are forbidden there. Still, no one seems to have ever been fined for using them. China’s government instead employs cutting-edge technological measures to prevent access.

Try AirVPN risk-free

AirVPN offers support through FAQs, Email ticketing system, and extensive forums. I contacted AirVPN’s customer support team as part of my evaluation of its customer service. I was astonished to get a response to my question just three minutes after sending it. While the email support team was polite and eager to help, their responses are often so technical that users who aren’t experts in the field may have trouble following them.

The AirVPN support ticket system does not require you to provide a real email address as responses will populate on the site. If you do provide an email address, you will receive an email when your ticket is answered and the option to view the response directly on the AirVPN site.

Numerous official and unofficial guides covering all aspects of the VPN’s setup, configuration, use, and troubleshooting can be found in the community forums. However, some of the more sophisticated terms may be beyond the comprehension of newcomers. Whether it’s a member of the AirVPN community or a member of the AirVPN support team, someone is always on the message board ready to help you out.

Try AirVPN risk-free