Hotspot Shield VPN is a registered company of the United States of America, a country known to be part of the 5, 9, 14 Eyes alliance, promoting strict data retention laws. The service's counter-argument is the publication of an annual transparency report, according to which the provider has never disclosed information about users.
Set up a VPN on a router and connect up to 5 devices at once with a Premium account.
| Jurisdiction |
United States |
| Dedicated/static IP |
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| Simultaneous Connections |
5 |
Best to use for
China Hotspot Shield VPN users in China gain access to Google services, Viber, WhatsApp, and country-banned apps by connecting to secure servers with obfuscation technology. The connection takes place in one-click, without additional settings.
| Works in China (stealth-servers ) |
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| Obfuscated servers |
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| Unblocks Netflix US |
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In addition to accessing US and UK Netflix libraries, freely watch BBC iPlayer, Hulu, or Disney +.
Pricing and Plans
Hotspot Shield VPN develops on a freemium scheme: a free version is available with the demonstration of ads and limited traffic (500 MB per day), the number of servers (1 in the US), and speed (2 Mbps).
| min price |
$5.99 |
| max price |
$12.99 |
| max discount |
53% |
| Money back days |
45 |
| Free Version Available |
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| BitCoin accepted |
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| No Credit Card Trials |
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Paid subscriptions are divided into three groups: Plus from $6.99 per month, Premium for as little as $7.99 per month, and Family from $11.99 per month. The maximum subscription period is one year, which puts the service on par with ExpressVPN for the price.
Privacy & Security
The provider uses proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol based on Open SSL. It uses 128-bit AES encryption and supports AES-256. Kill Switch, DNS, and WebRTC leak protection is available, although there is no split tunneling.
| Integrated Kill Switch |
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| No Log Policy |
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| DNS leak protection |
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| Double VPN servers |
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| 256-Bit Strong Encryption |
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| Onion Over VPN |
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| Split Tunneling |
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Hotspot Shield is a conditional VPN without logs, while it collects information about the duration of sessions, the maximum speed, and domains connected during the session.
Servers and Speed
Access more than 1,800 servers of the provider across 80 countries. Regardless of the connection point, users will be able to use P2P connections by downloading files anonymously via torrents.
| Servers Number |
500+ |
| Servers in Countries |
24 |
| Blocks Ads |
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| Bandwidth Caps |
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| p2p Torrenting |
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The built-in ad blocker disables banners and tracking trackers in the browser. This feature does not work in the free version - it has ad inserts integrated into the client.
Customer Support
It helps solve problems via voluminous FAQ, which contains links to all kinds of malfunctions and connection problems on different devices. Separately, it answers questions regarding the 45-day money-back for subscriptions, account, and device management are provided.
When you need help from a specialist, use an email call or live chat with an operator.
You can download Hotspot Shield as a VPN for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Since 2020, Smart-TV support has appeared, and instructions for setting up a secure connection on routers with DD-WRT firmware have appeared. There is no connection for game consoles using SmartDNS.
| Android |
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| Chrome |
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| iOS |
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| Linux |
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| macOS |
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| Windows |
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Browser Extensions
Hotspot Shield VPN plugin is available for Chrome and Firefox. The extension works autonomously without the need for a client on a PC.
Stefany Anderson
