StrongVPN

StrongVPN is one of the oldest VPNs, and many people praise it. However, its monthly offers don’t offer a money-back guarantee, and you may find it too expensive if you only need a VPN for a short time.

To determine whether it’s worth the yearly commitment, my team and I tested every aspect of StrongVPN, including speed, security features, and a thorough investigation of its privacy policy.

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend StrongVPN. It’s fast, great for gaming, and will keep you safe online and protect your privacy. However, it still needs to improve in a few areas to compete with the best providers. Our highest-ranked VPNs are on this list.

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Streaming — Excellent Quality, With Some Minor Issues

StrongVPN is capable of safely accessing major streaming platforms from anywhere. My international testing team and I were impressed at how much it’s improved in this area. Although we had to do some troubleshooting, we could eventually stream with minimal buffering in all of our tests.

Works With: Netflix, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, All 4, Crunchyroll, ITVX, and BBC iPlayer

We were able to watch the full US Netflix library with one of StrongVPN’s encrypted connections. Unfortunately, we could only view Netflix Originals during several of our tests. This version of Netflix removes its region-specific content, leaving you with much less to watch.

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Max was another platform where we had no issues streaming safely. On the other hand, we had to mess with a few settings to stream Amazon Prime Video or Hulu. At first, we tried switching from SSTP to the OpenVPN TCP (with scramble enabled). This should be StrongVPN’s best protocol option for streaming, but it was unsuccessful.

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Thankfully, we could watch Prime Video and Hulu once we used the Firefox browser. This was also the best bet to securely access BBC iPlayer. With that said, the load times were a bit longer with these platforms (up to 25 seconds).

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Overall, StrongVPN is becoming a good option for streaming in HD from anywhere. While some of the best VPNs require less troubleshooting, its performance here was commendable, especially since it used to have a lot more issues in this area.

Speed — Good Rates on Most Servers

StrongVPN isn’t the fastest, but its speeds should be adequate for most online activities. We were impressed that the results held up well across vast distances, and you’ll probably only experience severe drops on servers over 10,000km away.

Our dedicated speed expert in the US performed multiple tests with each server to get fair averages. They perform the majority of our tests from the same location with the same connection, so it’s easy to compare different providers. The SSTP protocol was used in the tests below since it offered the best rates.

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The top VPNs reduce speeds 10-20% on nearby servers, and StrongVPN falls within that range. However, one closeby server reduced our rates by double digits.

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Most VPNs drop your speeds up to 50% at long distances. So, StrongVPN performed pretty well. I do wish that it listed latency rates or server load (how crowded they are) in its location list. Many VPNs display these, so you can have a better idea of which server will give you the best speeds.

So, StrongVPN is relatively fast and a good option if you have a high base connection. However, if you’re starting at lower rates, you might want to check out our list of the fastest VPNs.

Gaming — Low Ping and Easy to Use on Gaming Devices

StrongVPN’s ping rates are good enough to play games without lag. Your ping rate lets you know how long it takes for your data to travel. It has to be under 85ms, or else there will be an annoying delay between your button pressed and your actions. This takes all the fun out of gaming because you can’t play competitively.

On the closest server to me, my ping rate was only 17ms. So, if StrongVPN has servers near you, it’s great for gaming.

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The VPN can’t be installed directly on gaming consoles, but you can set it up on your router to protect any device connected to your WiFi. Overall, StrongVPN is excellent for gaming. The only issue is its small server network that could prevent you from finding a nearby location. I’ve never found a VPN that allows you to game with low lag on a distant server.

Server Network — Missing a Few Popular Countries and Features

With 950+ servers in 30 countries, StrongVPN has a fairly small network. On the positive side, it offers a good amount of city-level locations and a very high number of IP addresses (which reduces overcrowding). But it’s also missing many countries other VPNs include. For example, you can’t connect to any country in Africa.

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It covers over 15 locations in the US, so US residents can connect to a server closest to them to get the best speeds. In addition to the US, StrongVPN has multi-city servers in the UK, Canada, Australia, and France.

All its servers are entirely owned and operated by StrongVPN. This is great, as it means that no third parties have access to your data, which enhances your privacy.

Plus, it basically only uses physical servers (except for one virtual location in India). Some VPNs have a ton of virtual servers, which are located somewhere other than the country listed. This could have helped StrongVPN add more countries, but I do appreciate that every server is actually as far away as you think it will be.

Besides offering more locations, I also wish StrongVPN still offered dedicated IP addresses. Many VPNs let you pay extra to get one, and they can be helpful, especially if you run a website. You can try a VPN with dedicated IP addresses and a larger server network in this list.

Security — Safe With Many Necessary Features

StrongVPN is a secure provider. It doesn’t offer as many security features as some of the best VPNs out there, but it has a strong basis with a wide range of security protocols and military-grade encryption.

The VPN also offers other features such as an automatic kill switch that cuts off your internet connection if the VPN connection drops. There’s also DNS leak protection that prevents your ISP from seeing which websites you visit. Split tunneling is available but only on Android devices. That’s too bad because it’s a useful feature that lets you exclude traffic from the VPN tunnel.

Additionally, StrongVPN supports multiple VPN protocols, including WireGuard, OpenVPN (UDP and TCP), IKEv2, SSTP, and L2TP, which offer varying levels of encryption and security to suit different needs and use cases. The only significant features it’s missing is an ad blocker and multihop. These would be nice, but they’re not necessary to keep you safe.

Military-Grade Encryption

StrongVPN uses AES-256 encryption to protect your vital data and improve your privacy and security online.

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This is currently the strongest encryption standard available, and it’s used by governments and militaries around the world to protect their sensitive data. All the top VPNs use this encryption level, so StrongVPN is in good company.

Kill Switch

StrongVPN offers a kill switch for its desktop apps, but not for mobile. It prevents data leaks by disconnecting your internet if the VPN connection drops, and it’s an essential feature to ensure you’re always protected.

Scramble

When enabled, the Scramble feature hides the fact that you are using a VPN, making it more difficult to detect and block your VPN traffic. This can be helpful when you need to access something like your banking app while you’re out of the country. Just be aware it will slow down your speeds significantly, and it only works with the OpenVPN protocol.

Privacy — Keeps No Logs, but Based in the US

StrongVPN offers a lot when it comes to privacy, but there are 2 issues it could resolve. The privacy policy is excellent, and I believe it won’t store any of your information. However, it’s located in one of the worst countries for privacy. The policy also hasn’t been audited, which is a great way for a VPN to prove it sticks to its claims.

Does StrongVPN Keep Logs? No

The only information StrongVPN logs about you is your payment information and your email. Both are required for creating your account. It doesn’t log or share any information related to your online activity, such as your browsing history, timestamps, or IP addresses.

Was Strong VPN Audited? No

Unfortunately, StrongVPN hasn’t been independently audited. The best VPNs undergo regular audits to prove their no-logs claims. Some also publish a warrant canary to warn users about any data requests the company has received. So, to be sure that StrongVPN really is a no-logs service, I’d like to see it publish a transparency report, or conduct a security audit.

Based in the US

StrongVPN is based in New York City, USA. This isn’t the most favorable location for VPN headquarters. Ziff Davis is the current owner of StrongVPN (they also own IPVanish), and they could be obliged to hand over your data if requested by law enforcement.

Additionally, since the US is part of the 5 Eyes Alliance, your data would not only be accessible to the US authorities, but also to the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. However, the VPN has a strict no-logs policy, so it wouldn’t have anything to share.

Does Strong VPN Work in China? Yes

Support stated it doesn’t work with its iOS app, but it regularly works with other operating systems. They recommend using the Scramble feature and claim that the apps can even be downloaded and installed in China.

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The Chinese government has banned many VPNs, but there have been no publicly-reported cases of them going after individuals for utilizing them. We don’t condone any illegal activities and strongly advise you read up on the local laws before deciding to use a VPN in China.

Torrenting — Good Speeds and Privacy Features for P2P

StrongVPN allows P2P transfers on all its servers. Since it also has a strict no-logs policy, robust security features, and good speeds on most servers, I can recommend it as a good choice for torrenting.

I could download the 1.62 GB file Night of the Living Dead in about 3 minutes with no VPN connected. With Strong VPN, I could finish the download in about 5 and a half minutes. So, the change in speeds was barely noticeable.

Torrents are legal in most countries, but downloading copyrighted files isn’t. You should only access torrents within the public domain to make sure you don’t break any laws.

The last thing I’ll say is StrongVPN doesn’t support port forwarding, which can potentially increase your downloading and seeding speeds. However, since my results were so good, it’s not a big concern.