Hidemy.name VPN Review 2024 — Read This Before Buying

HideMy.Name markets itself as being a VPN you can trust. At first glance, it seems to have some excellent privacy and security features — but can it live up to the best VPNs I've tested?

I wanted to see if the VPN was as strong at streaming, speeds, and server network as it is on online safety — unfortunately, the service failed in many of my test areas. It might keep your online activities private, but it can’t help you with much else.

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Streaming — Weak Compatibility and Poor Quality

Hidemy.Name can’t safely access most streaming platforms. Plus, its speeds are also a big problem while streaming. With the services my international team and I watched, there were always issues with buffering and bad picture quality.

Works With: Netflix and Max

Hidemy.Name can access Netflix and Max from anywhere, but the quality is terrible. During our tests, speeds were so slow we could only stream in SD, often with pixelated images. Buffering and long load times were also ever present.

Doesn't Work With: Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+

There was no way to safely stream the platforms listed above. We tried multiple troubleshooting techniques like switching protocols, disconnecting and reconnecting, or switching browsers. Unfortunately, none of these alleviated the problem, and support staff couldn’t give us any additional tips.

The top VPNs can securely access all of these platforms from anywhere. Plus, they maintain fast speeds so you can quickly load videos in HD or 4K and stream with minimal buffering. To stay safe while you enjoy your favorite content, I recommend you try out one of the best VPNs for streaming.

Speeds — Extremely Slow on Most Servers

HideMy.Name VPN’s speeds are shockingly slow on both local and international servers.

During my speed tests, I looked at:

• Download speed — this measures the amount of data you can receive from the internet to your device per second. Faster download speeds mean you have less buffering during streaming.
• Upload speed — shows how much data you can send through your connection at any given time.
• Ping — refers to how long it takes for your device’s data to reach its intended location and come back again. Unlike speed readings, the higher your ping, the worse the lag. Ping of under 150 ms is usually required for gaming online (though under 100 ms is preferable). Any higher and the lag makes gameplay very difficult.

Local Speeds

I started my tests with a base reading of 37.04 Mbps, an upload speed of 9.31 Mbps, and ping of 19 ms. A base reading means the speeds I had on my own home connection without a VPN being used.

My download speed dropped by 63% on the nearest server I tested, which was a really bad result. When you connect a VPN, you can usually expect a 10-20% drop in your download speed. You should also get better speeds on servers close to your real location, so my tests got off to a bad start.

After trying a few other servers in countries that are located close to me, I found that none of them gave me decent speeds. The Netherlands server had a drop of 93%, which was really dreadful.

The results of my tests on local servers showed drops of up to 93%

Speeds of less than 25 Mbps make streaming in HDR or 4K impossible. All of the servers I tested would have likely given me buffering and lag if I’d been able to connect to streaming platforms with them.

Ping results on these servers weren’t dreadful, and if the Mbps was higher they might have allowed me to game and download large files. However, there were still large ping jumps of 221% (19 to 61), which is not what I expect from nearby servers.

Long Distance Speeds

Unsurprisingly, my speeds were also bad when I tested distant servers. The US and Canada servers performed a little better than the locations that were closest to me. This was a surprise as the US is 7500km away from my location. That said, the outcomes were still quite poor, with the best performing server (Canada) giving me over 40% speed loss.

When I tested servers even further afield, in Australia and India, my speeds fell so much it would have been impossible to stream or download anything.

The VPN’s India and Australia servers gave me dreadful speeds

The ping rates on the farthest servers were also very bad. Almost none of the long-distance servers I tested gave me ping low enough for gaming.

Here is a rundown of all of my server tests:

Because of the extremely bad results on all of the servers tested, I can’t recommend HideMy.Name VPN for its speeds. Though the US and Canada servers performed better than local servers, drops in speed of 40%+ are still way too much.

Instead, I suggest you try one of these superfast VPNs. These services give you reliable connections,with speeds fast enough for all online activities.

Are HideMy.Name’s Speeds Fast Enough for Gaming? No

A combination of low download speed and high ping makes these servers unsuitable for gaming. During my tests, even the servers closest to me dropped my Mbps by 63%, and increased my ping. On servers far away from me, my ping rose so high that gaming would be impossible — even if the download speeds were better.

This is unfortunate as HideMy.Name promotes the fact that the servers give access to PSN and Xbox Live. Sadly, this feature is rendered pretty useless by slow connections.

If you need a good VPN for playing onlin, why not try one of these gaming VPNs, which are proven to give high speeds and low ping?

Server Network — Small, Mostly Across Europe

HideMy.Name VPN has 162 servers in 46 countries. This is a small network in comparison to others I’ve tested, like ExpressVPN.

It’s best to choose a VPN that has a large server network because there’s a better chance there will be a fast server close to your location. When there are fewer servers, congestion caused by overcrowding can happen. This could explain why I got such bad speed results with HideMy.Name.

The server locations are:

Often, a VPN will provide a number of locations within each country. However, the only HideMy.Name locations that feature more than one server option are the US, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and the UK.

There are no optimized servers for activities such as streaming, P2P file sharing, or gaming.

You can request a dedicated IP address upon subscription by contacting support. A dedicated IP address is one that only you can use, unlike the other servers which can have hundreds of people connecting at the same time. Purchasing a dedicated IP address gives you extra privacy, security, and performance.

Although it is good to see sometimes overlooked locations in the locations list (such as Israel, South Korea, and Egypt), HideMy.Name VPN’s server distribution is just too small for me to recommend it. Instead, try one of these VPNs — all of them have thousands of locations across the globe.

Security — Keeps Your Devices Safe

HideMy.Name’s security features are good and should keep your devices safe. This is a rundown of its security features:

Encryption and Protocols

HideMy.Name uses AES-256-CBC cipher as standard. This is the highest encryption level available and almost impossible to hack. It would take someone a few hundred years to decrypt your traffic. It’s also great against brute force attacks, as the keys are extremely long. That means your online activity, location, and identity should stay hidden.

You can change your level of encryption too. For example, AES-128 is faster than AES-256, but not as secure. A cool feature is that HideMy.Name provides warnings with its least secure options. For example, I chose to switch from AES 256-bit encryption to BF-CBC — out-of-date encryption — and the VPN warned me that I wouldn’t be as safe online.

The VPN also lets you choose between OpenVPN, L2TP/PPTP, and IKEv2 security protocols. I always used OpenVPN, as it’s the industry standard and is both fast and secure.

I appreciated how much control you get in the settings area

Activating the Chameleon technology function may give you greater access to geoblocked websites, particularly in restricted areas. Chameleon scrambles OpenVPN metadata, which means it hides your VPN traffic. This helps you get around firewalls or access sites and services that might block VPNs.

IP, DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6 Leaks

I used an online leak test tool and I detected no IP, WebRTC, or DNS breaches on any of the servers I tried.

A DNS leak allows your ISP to see your internet activity. Additionally, if there was a cyberattack during an IP and WebRTC leak, your real IP address would be revealed. That means your data and devices would be at risk. It’s reassuring that HideMy.Name protects against these kinds of leaks.

My location and online activity were always kept hidden

Kill Switch

There’s also a kill switch to protect your privacy. It isn’t automatically enabled, but you are given the option to activate it in your settings.

You can also leave the kill switch off, but I wouldn’t recommend it. A kill switch kicks in if your VPN fails, disconnecting you from the internet completely. This stops malware attacks, IP address leaks, and your data from being exposed to third parties.

I tested HideMy.Name’s kill switch by disconnecting the VPN while a web page was loading. My internet immediately shut down and only started working again when I reconnected the VPN. This showed me that my data and devices were secure.

Auto Connect

The auto-connect option launches the VPN every time you go online. This is a handy feature if you frequently use public WiFi, as it ensures you’re instantly protected. You can also turn off this setting if you’d rather keep control over when the VPN kicks in.

Because of the features included in all subscriptions, I can recommend HideMy.Name for its security. It uses secure protocols and settings that are designed to protect you online.

Privacy — Doesn’t Keep Connection Logs

HideMy.Name VPN seems to have a solid no-logs policy. There is a lot of information on the company’s website, covering all bases. This shows a level of transparency that is reassuring for a VPN.

The policy has a lot of information about user data

The only information retained by the VPN is your email address, which may be used to send promotional emails unless you choose to unsubscribe. This is a fairly standard requirement; most VPN subscriptions need a valid email address in order for you to sign up.

Apart from that, your browsing activity is not monitored or logged and there is no way of linking any data back to your personal IP address.

Location

HideMy.Name is based in Belize, which is technically outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. However, the website states that it “operates under British Law.” Since the UK is in the 5 Eyes Alliance, this means HideMy.Name may be legally required to hand over data to the government should they request it.

But, as this VPN has a strict no-logs policy, it is unlikely they would have any information to give even if they were asked.

Warrant Canary

The company also has a warrant canary, which is a guarantee that HideMy.Name has never shared user information with any form of government body. This is not a usual step for a VPN company to take, and shows that it is dedicated to proving its user trust.

This, coupled with its no-logs policy, means that this VPN appears to be a company that keeps your data secure.

Torrenting — Allowed on All Servers

You are allowed to torrent using HideMy.Name VPN’s servers.

You can use HideMy.Name to torrent, but the VPN suggests you respect your country’s laws

Like myself, HideMy.Name doesn’t condone torrenting copyrighted files, so always be sure to double-check the files you download and make sure you adhere to your own country’s laws. The VPN’s torrenting policy also requests that users are mindful about leaving files open after download to avoid server congestion.

Because of this VPN’s no-log policy and good security protocols, I believe it is safe to torrent with. However, as they are governed by UK law you may wish to proceed with caution.

My main concern about torrenting with HideMy.Name is server speed. Torrenting may be safe with the VPN, but the drops in speed I recorded made file sharing pretty much impossible. If you need a VPN that gives you fast uploads and downloads on reliable servers, try one of my top choices for P2P sharing.

Does HideMy.Name VPN Work in China? Unlikely

It is very unlikely that HideMy.Name VPN works in China. This is due to China’s very strict firewall and constant monitoring and blocking of VPN IP addresses.

I wanted to double-check whether this is the case for HideMy.Name, as some VPN providers can and do work in China. The customer support rep confirmed my suspicions:

Getting a VPN to work in China is extremely difficult

Because of this, I can’t recommend this VPN for use in China. But you can get other VPNs that have been proven to bypass China’s blocks.

Simultaneous Device Connections — Only 5

You get 5 simultaneous device connection with all its subscriptions. This isn’t a big number, but it allows you to install it on routers, so you can get unlimited connections from it. I tested it on my Windows laptop, iPhone, and MacBook and I didn’t experience any slowdowns, so the 5 connections are useful.