PureVPN Review 2024: Is PureVPN Safe and Worth It?

Speed — PureVPN Provides Fast Connections for All High-Bandwidth Activities

All PureVPN servers tested were fast enough to support activities like UHD streaming, torrenting, and browsing without lags.

Speed Test Results

I tested PureVPN’s servers in multiple locations using its default automatic protocol selection setting on a macOS device from Malaysia. My baseline speed without a VPN connection averaged 120.27Mbps. This was fast for all online activities, such as streaming and video calling.

Since PureVPN doesn’t have a server in Malaysia, I connected to the next nearest location in Singapore — less than 200 miles from me. I had hoped to stay above the 100Mbps range, but it dipped below that with a 24% loss. Still, PureVPN was more than 3 times faster than the 25Mbps required for streaming Netflix in UHD without buffering.

Since all VPNs become slower the further away a server is, I tested servers in other locations as well. Unsurprisingly, the farthest servers in New York (9,000+ miles from me) saw the biggest drop in speeds — 41%. But although Melbourne is nearer to me, PureVPN’s London servers were faster, so there’s a bit of inconsistency.

Is PureVPN Fast Enough for Gaming? Only With a Few Servers

Besides PureVPN’s speeds, I also tested its ping rate with Speedtest.net to make sure it’s suitable for competitive gaming. Ping measures latency, or how long it takes for your commands to manifest in the game as an action. It’s measured in milliseconds and the lower it is (below 100ms is needed), the better your gaming performance.

PureVPN’s macOS and Windows apps have built-in latency detectors. This is useful to see at a glance which server is the best to play without lag. It’s not turned on by default on macOS, so you have to activate it first in advanced settings.

My base ping rate was around 25ms, but it jumped to more than 40ms after connecting to a Singapore server. Since it was below 50ms, it was still great to play Call of Duty: Warzone, without any lags. Other servers within Southeast Asia also kept my latency within 50ms. But beyond that, with servers in Japan and Hong Kong, it went above 100ms and caused delays.

The latency results from Speedtest.net varied from PureVPN’s built-in tests, but I suspect the external tool is more accurate. This is because I could see the difference in my game’s performance. I also found some PureVPN virtual servers unsuitable for gaming — the latency in Vietnam servers, another nearby location, exceeded 400ms.

Server Network — Includes 6,000+ Specialized, Virtual, and Physical Servers in 65 Countries

According to a customer support agent, PureVPN owns and operates all its servers to protect your privacy and keep them performing at an optimal level. Going through its server list, I was pleasantly surprised to see many more specialty servers than it had before, marked with abbreviations:

• QR — Quantum resistant servers
• P2P — Torrenting servers
• PF — Servers with port forwarding
• V — Virtual servers

Unlike many other VPNs, PureVPN makes it clear within its apps which ones are virtual servers. When you click the tab marked ‘V,’ the list automatically excludes the physical servers. These are great if you need an IP address in a country with restrictive VPN and privacy laws. Since they’re not physically located in the country, they’re not subjected to its data retention laws.

I counted a total of 25 countries with PureVPN virtual servers, including China, Russia, Egypt, Afghanistan, and India. Other VPN providers have pulled out of these markets altogether to avoid compromising on their no-log policies.

However, I found some virtual servers had very high latency even though they were not too far from my location, like in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Other nearby servers in China, the Philippines, and Brunei had good latency.

Torrenting — Dedicated P2P and Port Forwarding Servers for Fast and Safe Downloads

Among PureVPN’s specialty servers are P2P and Port Forwarding (paid add-on) servers. They’re available worldwide, but if you want to use a server with both P2P and Port Forwarding, these are only available in Europe — the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Turkey.

Port forwarding opens your device to more incoming connections from seeders, so you can download files faster. But this can be risky, since you can’t be sure who’s connecting to you or their motives, which is why many VPNs don’t provide this feature. Port forwarding also lets you access your PC or internet-connected device from anywhere in the world.

Unlike many other VPNs, you can’t download torrents using PureVPN’s regular servers — you have to connect to one of its P2P servers in 36 countries, mostly in Europe and South America. Surprisingly, they’re not available in the US, UK, Canada, or much of Asia. I tried its P2P servers in Brunei and downloaded a 1.2GB public domain file in less than 2 minutes.

China — PureVPN Doesn’t Work in China

When I spoke to PureVPN’s support staff via live chat, they confirmed that PureVPN doesn’t work easily in China. You have to manually install OpenVPN on your device, and even after that, only 2 servers in the UK and Hong Kong might work. My team in China tested these, and they were still blocked.

For a regular user, the setup can be quite technical and not worth the effort, especially when there’s no guarantee that it’ll work. ExpressVPN is a far more reliable VPN for China, and it doesn’t include any tricky installation or configuration.

Security Features

Encryption — Advanced Encryption Protects From Future Attacks

PureVPN uses AES 256-bit encryption to hide your activities from online spies. Even if a pro hacker uses a brute-force attack, they’ll have to try a staggering number of combinations, which would take billions of years to crack the encryption.

It also offers Quantum-Resistant Encryption Keys, which prevent your encrypted data from being cracked with more powerful quantum computers in the future. This was initially rolled out to a handful of servers but is now available in almost every country. You can use this encryption with the specialty servers marked ‘QR.’

VPN Protocols — Uses Some of the Most Secure Tunneling Protocols

Protocols decide how data is transmitted securely and without interruption between your device and a VPN server. Over the years, many secure and lightweight options have been established, so I was happy to see them on PureVPN’s list:

• WireGuard — enhances speed without sacrificing security and has a smaller code base than OpenVPN. I recommended it for smooth streaming and online gaming.
• IPSec / IKEv2 — provides fast speeds and quick reconnections that are good for mobile devices, but have a higher chance of being blocked by networks and firewalls.
• OpenVPN — established and reliable, with 2 versions — UDP and TCP. UDP is faster but more likely to be flagged by networks, while TCP is slower and has better security (ideal for P2P file-sharing).

Kill Switch — Available on All Apps

PureVPN has an internet kill switch on Windows, Mac, Android, and Linux devices. It was activated automatically on Windows, but not on my Mac, so I had to activate it manually. During tests, PureVPN’s kill switch disconnected my internet successfully to avoid data leaks when my computer lost the VPN connection.

Leak Protection — Keeps Your Data Within the Encrypted Tunnel at All Times

I tested multiple PureVPN servers around the world to make sure they didn’t accidentally leak my IP address while I was connected. After 20 tries with no IP leak, I was convinced that PureVPN’s servers were secure enough to hide my location.

Besides IP address leaks, PureVPN also protects against:

• IPv6 leak — blocks all IPv6 traffic that can be accidentally exposed, and ensures your device only uses IPv4 to maintain privacy.
• DNS leak — routes your DNS queries through PureVPN’s own encrypted servers, preventing ISPs from seeing your browsing activity.
• WebRTC leak — protects your real IP address from leaking when making video or audio calls on a browser.

Split Tunneling — Available on Windows and Android Apps

PureVPN’s split tunneling lets you pick which apps connect to the internet through the VPN and which ones use your local network. It’s great for multitasking — I used it while torrenting to protect my traffic with the encrypted connection while my emails went through my regular WiFi connection.

Split tunneling can also give you a speed boost, as no unnecessary data is encrypted by the VPN. While it’s not compatible with PureVPN’s WireGuard protocol, you’ll find your speeds are still reliably fast.

Extra Features — Obfuscation, Multiport, and Domain Fronting

These are PureVPN’s features for overcoming network firewalls:

• Obfuscation — PureVPN recommends you switch your protocol to OpenVPN UDP to get past anti-VPN blocks. While it worked on a school network, it didn’t work in China.
• Multiport — switches to the best open port available to access websites and online platforms that are blocked by an ISP.
• Domain fronting — connect to a VPN with an alternate domain name that’s not blocked by the ISP to overcome network firewalls.

Paid Add-Ons

Besides port forwarding, PureVPN has other useful features that you can add to your subscription for a small monthly fee:

• Multi-login — connect 10 more devices to PureVPN simultaneously, on top of the 10 you’re allowed with the regular plans.
• Dedicated IP address — provides an exclusive IP address that’s not shared with other users to lower the risk of being blacklisted or blocked by online platforms.
• Dedicated server — offers exclusive hosting, where the entire server’s capabilities and IP addresses are within your control.

Features Not Supported — Ad-Block, Malware Protection, and Multihop Connections

For a VPN that provides state-of-the-art features like Quantum-Resistant Encryption Keys, which most VPNs lack, I was quite surprised PureVPN doesn’t have ad or malware blockers. In recent years, I’ve seen many VPNs add or fortify these features within their apps to help you browse the internet safely. I hope to see PureVPN join their ranks in the near future.

Multihop is another capability PureVPN lacks, but I found this understandable — it’s not necessarily a critical feature for the average internet user. Overall, PureVPN is very secure with all the essential features you need to stay safe online, plus a few more.

Privacy Features

Improved No-Log Policy — Improved Privacy Policy is Transparent and Trustworthy

PureVPN has significantly improved its data privacy in recent years. After cooperating with the FBI in 2016 and using logged data in a cyberstalking case, PureVPN has since become a no-log VPN. My research shows the VPN doesn’t collect or store personally identifying data about you.

While it still collects some data (like general locations or length of your session), this cannot be traced back to you. Rather, this data is used to monitor and improve the service and is standard for a VPN — all top VPNs record some data to keep operations running smoothly.

Anonymous Payment Methods — Doesn’t Accept Cryptocurrencies

Although its support page and other review sites claim that you can subscribe to PureVPN using cryptocurrencies, this is no longer true. I didn’t see the option when I tried to pay, so I consulted its support team. The agent confirmed that all the payment methods available now require you to disclose some identifying details, such as a credit card number or name.

When I asked why, the representative said it was because PureVPN couldn’t apply the 31-day money-back guarantee on payments made with cryptocurrencies. It didn’t quite make sense, as the option would still be beneficial for those who value privacy, but I didn’t press further.

Company Jurisdiction — Based in the British Virgin Islands, a Privacy Haven

In 2021, PureVPN relocated its headquarters from Hong Kong to the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Although Hong Kong is beyond the reach of Eyes Alliances, many were still apprehensive about the influence of China on data privacy. By relocating, PureVPN placed itself within a jurisdiction that’s much more privacy-friendly.

The BVI is outside any intelligence-sharing alliances, so it’s an ideal base for privacy-focused services. Additionally, companies located in the BVI are not required to log or store user data, ensuring your privacy.

Independent Audits — Verified No-Log Policy

In 2019, PureVPN voluntarily underwent an independent audit to verify its no-log status and ran a huge marketing campaign to detail its reformed policies. Since then, PureVPN has become an “Always-on Audit” VPN — this means the leading audit firm KPMG can conduct surprise audits of PureVPN at any time, without giving prior notice.

In every audit so far, PureVPN has been found to be a no-log VPN service — it doesn’t record or store your IP address, assigned VPN IPs, connection times, or online activities.

The only problem is that PureVPN doesn’t publish full audit reports — it only says whether or not it passed the audit. This was surprising, since many other VPNs I’ve evaluated publish full audit reports for everyone to view. Given PureVPN’s past, this doesn’t work in its favor, and releasing a full report will give it a better shot at reassuring potential users.

24/7 Live Chat — Knowledgeable Support Agents Respond Within Minutes

I generally had a good experience dealing with PureVPN’s support representatives via live chat. I talked to at least 3 different agents during the course of my research, and all of them responded quickly and provided honest and useful answers. The questions I asked were about using PureVPN in China, its server network, P2P servers, and more.

If I had to pick something to complain about, it’d be the fact that I had to speak to a bot before I got transferred to a real person. It was annoying, but not really a major issue, as I still managed to get the help I needed quickly.

Phone or Email Support — Email Responses Take a Few Hours

On PureVPN’s support page, you’ll find a form to get in touch and an email address. If you must use 1 of these 2 methods, I recommend you use the email address as it’s faster to get a response. I never heard back when I sent the form, but my direct email was replied to in 9 hours. The answers were helpful and to the point.

To get an immediate response, contact PureVPN via its live chat.

Online Resources and FAQs — Lots of Educational Articles, Guides, and Tutorials

You can find articles on any VPN-related topic on PureVPN’s blog — for beginners just easing into using VPNs, these are helpful resources. There are also extensive guides for manual installations, router setups, and more. These provide clear instructions that are easy to follow. The only thing is that I didn’t see any option to change the language of the instructions.