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

FlowVPN Offers Excellent Speeds on Nearby and Distant Servers

Despite not being that well-known, FlowVPN offers performance at par with some of the premium VPNs out there. I used the Ookla speed test to see its performance on nearby, mid-range, and distant servers and found that it provides excellent speeds on both nearby and distant servers.

Speed Test Results

Before moving on to the speed test, you must know that I frequently travel between North America and Southeast Asia. At the time of testing, I was in Pakistan, which means servers in the US were distant from my location. It’s important to mention this, so you have a clear idea of which servers were nearby, mid-range, and distant for me.

I started the speed test by measuring my speed without connecting to the VPN, and I got speeds of 10.74Mbps. Since FlowVPN doesn’t have servers in Pakistan, I connected to a server in India to test its performance on nearby servers and got speeds of 10.48Mbps, an impressively small drop of 2.4% from my baseline speed.

Next, I connected to a mid-range server in Cyprus and got amazing speeds of 10.28Mbps. I was expecting the speeds to drop more drastically, but they didn’t, and I was quite impressed by that. However, my ping increased to 172ms, which means the data took a bit longer to transfer to and from my location. This latency would have a significant impact on online gaming, especially for fast-paced titles.

Although FlowVPN provided exceptional speeds on nearby and mid-range servers, the real test was how it performed on distant servers. I connected to a server in Australia and got speeds of 9.30Mbps, which means my speeds dropped only by 13.4%. That’s not bad at all, considering most other VPNs I’ve tried before gave me more than 20% speed drops on nearby servers.

I also liked FlowVPN’s Smart Connect feature, which automatically connects you to the fastest server based on your location. For me, the closest and fastest server was in India. You can also sort the servers by ping if you click the Ping tab beside the VPN Location tab.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by FlowVPN’s speeds on both nearby and distant servers. For a lesser-known VPN, FlowVPN exceeded my expectations throughout the performance tests.

Server Network – Decent Server Network but Limited Server Options

FlowVPN has servers in 60+ countries most of them in North America, Europe, and Asia. Despite a decently spread-out server network, I found that it doesn’t have servers in restrictive countries like China and Russia. I also found that most countries only have one server, which can be limiting if you’re looking for more options.

FlowVPN’s servers are well spread out around the world, which makes this VPN great at getting past geo-blocks when you’re traveling. One thing I found odd about it, though, is that it picked up my location in Pakistan, but after I connected to the US server, the blue drop pin hovered in the United States even when I had disconnected the VPN. I even restarted the app, but the issue persisted.

You can sign up for a 5-day free trial and test it out yourself completely risk-free. The thing I really liked about FlowVPN is that it doesn’t restrict you from accessing all its servers and premium features in the free trial, something I’ve seen many other VPNs do.

Overall, FlowVPN’s server network is decent, looking for more server options in each country even for avid VPN users. However, if you’re, I highly recommend you check out ExpressVPN as it has over 3,000 servers in 105+ countries.

Security – Doesn’t Offer Airtight Security

FlowVPN provides standard protocol options, yet disappointingly, it does not quite measure up when it comes to encryption, thus creating a vulnerability in its security defenses. The difference between the types of protection FlowVPN provides and the strength of its encryption creates a big problem for its overall security.

The safety measures provided by FlowVPN are:

• Solid encryption – FlowVPN offers AES 128-bit encryption, which is weaker than the usual 256-bit encryption used by other VPNs.
• Standard protocols – I found that it can use various security protocols like IPSec, Wireguard, SSH, PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN, and IKE v2 protocols. However, I was curious as to why I couldn’t find these options when using the FlowVPN app on my Mac. I tried connecting to several servers in various countries and realized the app automatically picks the most suitable security protocol. In most of my attempts, it chose IKEv2.
• NAT firewall – this provides an additional layer of security by blocking unsolicited incoming connections from the internet. The NAT firewall helps prevent unauthorized access and potential threats, such as hackers or malicious attacks, by only allowing established and requested connections to pass through while blocking all others.

I couldn’t find a kill switch button in FlowVPN’s app or any information about it in its Knowledge Base. To confirm if they have one, I contacted customer support but didn’t receive a response. Without a kill switch, there’s a risk of your real IP address being visible if the VPN connection fails, potentially enabling tracking or interception of your online activity. So, if you can’t compromise on airtight security, FlowVPN isn’t the right choice for you.

Given the lack of robust security in FlowVPN, I took it upon myself to conduct tests specifically targeting IP and DNS leaks. During my tests, I connected to multiple servers across various locations, such as Canada, the US, and Australia. I am pleased to report that none of these servers exhibited any IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks.

Privacy – Questionable At Best

FlowVPN doesn’t have a no-logs policy officially, but it claims to protect users’ data as per “regulatory and legislative requirements.” I found this statement vague, to say the least, but I decided to read its privacy policy before jumping to conclusions. Its privacy policy left me even more confused.

From the moment you create a user account, FlowVPN says it can keep track of many types of your data. This data can include things like details of your subscription, your connecting IP address, authentication requests, and information about your sessions, such as your assigned IP, when you connected, and how long you stayed connected.

I also found that FlowVPN tracks your cookies, which means it keeps track of what you’re doing online. However, it claims that it doesn’t share this data with third parties. At this point, I found this hard to believe because it hasn’t undergone any independent audits so far.

Reading FlowVPN’s privacy policy raised some major red flags for me. It’s certainly not a privacy-focused VPN and may store your data, and, in some cases, even share it with third parties.

Since FlowVPN is based in the UK, a Five Eyes Alliance member, your privacy is at risk because it doesn’t have a no-logs policy. Its privacy policy claims that FlowVPN reserves the right to share your information as per UK laws, but at least I was relieved to know it’ll ask your permission first.

Torrenting – Doesn’t Support Torrenting

One thing I immediately noticed after using FlowVPN’s Mac app was its lack of torrenting servers. Most VPNs I’ve used before have a small torrent sign beside some servers, indicating which servers support torrenting. Before jumping to any conclusions, however, I decided to check FlowVPN’s website and found that FlowVPN prohibits torrenting on its servers.

FlowVPN monitors your activity to check if you are torrenting on any of its servers, which I found quite privacy-intrusive.

After reading FlowVPN’s terms and conditions, I didn’t try torrenting on any of its servers, and I won’t recommend you to do it either. For one, it’s a violation of FlowVPN’s terms, and allegedly, if FlowVPN catches you torrenting, they’ll cancel your subscription immediately.

Does FlowVPN Work in China? Yes, but Only With Approved ISPs

It’s rare to find a VPN that works in China, and while FlowVPN doesn’t have any servers in China, I was unsure whether it works there. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any colleagues in China who could try using FlowVPN there. So, I went to the VPN’s website again for some answers and found that FlowVPN works in China but only via approved ISPs, namely TieTong.

I was still not convinced, so I contacted customer support about this. I filled out the query form on its website and submitted a ticket, but, unfortunately, I didn’t get a response from them.

Getting past China’s Firewall is no easy feat, and I’ve seen very few VPNs live up to the challenge. If you’re traveling to China, there are a handful of great options you can choose from.

Keep in mind that it’s illegal to use a non-approved VPN in China. However, the Chinese government hasn’t punished any tourists using a VPN there. Instead, it focuses on technologically blocking VPNs.

I wasn’t impressed by FlowVPN’s customer support, mainly because it doesn’t have a live chat option even for subscribers. Instead, it offers a ticket system and a Knowledge Base.

First, I opened the Knowledge Base to see how comprehensive it is. I found that it’s sufficiently detailed and covers most of the basic questions customers might have. There are only a couple of articles, and most of them are troubleshooting guides or features of the VPN.

Next, I filled out the form on FlowVPN’s support section and submitted a ticket. Oddly, I didn’t get any email notification that my ticket had been submitted. There wasn’t any ticket history on the client dashboard either, so I was totally in the dark. I waited for more than 24 hours and didn’t get any response from the support team.

I also checked my spam folder, but I never received a response from the customer support team regarding my ticket. Overall, FlowVPN’s support is barely adequate, and you may be left hanging for a long time before you get a response.