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

Speeds Drop Exponentially With Distance

FastVPN dips your speeds on mid-range and distant servers. You can expect a drop of over 20% even on nearby servers, whereas top VPNs minimize losses and retain near-baseline speeds. At best, I’d use FastVPN for casual browsing. Data-intensive tasks like UHD streaming only make sense if you have fast internet with high baseline speeds.

Speed Test Results

Before running FastVPN’s speed tests, I recorded my ping and baseline download and upload speeds. Then, I used FastVPN’s nearby, mid-range, and distant servers and measured the impact on the above metrics. I used WireGuard to give FastVPN a fair advantage, as it was faster than OpenVPN and IKEv2 on the 40 servers I tested.

Based on my scores, FastVPN started with a massive drop of 32% on a mid-range server in Turkey. The servers in London cut my speeds by half, while the one in Dallas used up two-thirds of my baseline. The dips increased exponentially with distance, even on streaming servers. When I used a server in Australia, my speeds had dropped by 76%.

If you have slow internet, your best bet is to try FastVPN’s nearby servers. Given my test results, they still might not be enough for UHD streaming. Due to my high baseline, this didn’t apply to me, but your experience could be very different. It’s better to use a top VPN like ExpressVPN, which provides blazing-fast speeds even on distant servers.

Is FastVPN Fast Enough for Gaming? Only on Local Servers!

Fast-paced gaming is only possible using FastVPN’s local or nearby servers. Even on local servers, my ping went from 24ms to 76ms — a 3-fold increase. Reliable VPNs never increased my ping by more than 15% on nearby servers. Despite that, I played CS:GO online and took sniper headshots with ease.

On distant servers, I had frequent ping spikes. The frame drops made playing CS:GO nearly impossible — the enemy put me down before I could even fire. If you’re a true gamer, I suggest these top VPNs for playing fast-paced games like Call of Duty: Warzone. They provide fast speeds and low ping even in far-off locations.

Server Network — Decent Global Coverage

FastVPN has 1,000+ servers in over 50 countries, some of which are rented from IPVanish. Its network is well-distributed across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, so you’ll find a nearby connection no matter where you are. I was happy to see servers in Eastern Europe. However, it neglects the Middle East and Africa, with 1 server in the UAE and South Africa.

You can check the load and ping of all servers to find the best one at a glance. I tested 10 servers and compared their actual ping to those listed. The difference was minimal on nearby servers, but some distant connections in Canada had a ping difference of around 10%. Streaming servers had comparatively lower ping but didn’t show the load.

FastVPN has streaming servers in only 3 countries, which can be limiting. In contrast, CyberGhost has optimized connections for streaming, torrenting, and even gaming. The ones for streaming are clearly labeled to work with specific platforms. CyberGhost’s streaming servers were super fast, much faster than FastVPN.

Security — Good Enough to Protect You From Snoopers

FastVPN has all the essentials to keep you anonymous on the web. It uses military-grade encryption to turn your traffic into unreadable code, making it inaccessible to snoopers. However, some security features vary across apps, so I always had to double-check if I was fully protected. Here’s what FastVPN offers:

• Auto-Protect — activates FastVPN automatically when you join a network to ensure your IP address and data always stays hidden.
• Kill switch — disconnects you from the internet if the VPN server drops to prevent accidental data leaks (it’s disabled by default, so you’ll have to turn it on manually).
• Network Detection Notification — asks to activate the VPN after detecting available networks to join.
• Trusted WiFi Networks — lets you add secure WiFi networks to a ‘trusted’ list and works with Auto-Protect to compare other networks with the trusted ones.
• Split tunneling — gives you the flexibility to use a VPN with some apps and not others so you can encrypt your browsing traffic and still use local services like Uber Eats.

None of the 25 FastVPN servers I tested leaked my data. I ran IP address and DNS leak tests, and FastVPN passed all of them. My DNS requests and IP address remained within the VPN tunnel, invisible to third parties. Next, I used FastVPN’s browser extension and did a video conference with my team — the leak test tool didn’t detect any WebRTC leaks.

The biggest downside is that the kill switch is only available on FastVPN’s Windows app. Similarly, the Mac app lacks split tunneling. Its iOS and Mac apps let you choose between the WireGuard and IKEv2 protocols, while the Windows and Android apps additionally include OpenVPN. On Windows, OpenVPN’s ‘Scramble’ feature obfuscates your traffic.

I couldn’t tweak advanced settings or select a protocol using streaming servers. I was at least expecting flexibility in protocol selection, but FastVPN takes away granular control once you’re in streaming mode. However, this is good for beginner users who don’t know the optimal settings that offer a good speed-security balance for different tasks.

Overall, FastVPN has all the necessary security features. However, it doesn’t include useful extras like an ad, tracker, and malware blocker. If you’re uncompromising on security and privacy, ExpressVPN should be your first choice. It has post-quantum protection, capable of withstanding quantum computer attacks that can theoretically break 256-bit encryption.

Privacy — No-Logs Policy but Isn’t Entirely Reassuring

FastVPN’s privacy policy says it doesn’t record your data. However, it’s written in a vague, non-transparent way. It creates a VPN-specific user ID and tracks some data to ensure you’re an authorized user. It says it shares data with an “upstream provider” but didn’t mention any third parties affiliated, which raised some concerns for me.

Next, I entered the ‘Log Details’ tab and found that FastVPN tracked all my activities. I immediately toggled it off, even though the description said these logs help the VPN provide better service. This made me skeptical about FastVPN’s no-logs claims. I wasn’t even sure if turning this feature off would stop tracking my VPN usage.

Unfortunately, FastVPN’s no-logs policy hasn’t been audited, nor does it clearly say that it uses RAM-only servers. It’s based in the US, part of the 5 Eyes Alliance known for online surveillance. I’d rather use ExpressVPN because of its regularly audited no-logs policy and its privacy-friendly location in the British Virgin Islands.

Torrenting — Supports Torrenting on All Servers

FastVPN supports P2P activities on all servers, but be careful torrenting files since it’s in the US and doesn’t have a transparent privacy policy. I downloaded The House I Live In, a 2.5GB public domain movie, and recorded the increase in download time from my baseline of 4 minutes without using FastVPN. The results were as follows:

Only the nearby server in Dubai yielded acceptable performance, though a 50% increase in download duration is a lot by my standards. On the London and Sydney servers, the download time doubled and tripled. A mere 12 minutes may not feel like a lot, but a 30GB file would take hours to download on distant servers.

I wasn’t quite satisfied with FastVPN’s torrenting performance, but it does the job on nearby servers. Just ensure never to download pirated material, as it could violate copyrights and land you in legal trouble. I don’t condone using a VPN to break any laws or terms of service.

Does FastVPN Work in China? There’s No Guarantee

FastVPN doesn’t have obfuscated servers. However, its Windows app includes a ‘Scramble’ feature that obfuscates your traffic on the OpenVPN protocol. This hides the fact that you’re using a VPN by disguising your data as regular non-VPN traffic. My colleague used this feature on his workplace WiFi, which blocks social media sites and allows him to log in to his Instagram.

That said, FastVPN might not be powerful enough to work in China. Chinese censorship uses machine learning, Deep Packet Inspection, and other advanced tools to identify VPN traffic. FastVPN suggests using its US West Coast servers in Los Angeles and San Jose. If it doesn’t work, you can pick VPNs that reliably work in China.

FastVPN’s customer support channels include a 24/7 live chat and an email-based ticket system. Unlike top brands like ExpressVPN and CyberGhost, FastVPN’s support is only available to subscribers. If you have questions before subscribing, you have to consult its knowledge base or submit a ticket through its website.

It took me 2 minutes to submit my ticket, and I asked about the feature differences across FastVPN’s Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android apps. The support team emailed me in 11 hours, detailing the features of each app in an easy-to-understand chart form.

After subscribing to the monthly plan, I contacted its live chat support and asked about FastVPN’s ‘Scramble’ feature. The support agent replied immediately, explaining that it’s an obfuscation feature on the OpenVPN protocol. When I asked if it would let me use FastVPN in China, the support agent was honest and said that it’s not guaranteed.

Overall, my customer support experience was pleasant with FastVPN. However, it should consider extending live chat support to non-subscribers so they can have their questions answered personally before subscribing.