Lantern Review & Test 2024: Keep in Mind Before Buying

Lantern tells you from the start that it isn't a VPN. It's an open-source proxy that claims to give unrestricted access to sites while routing all your other activity through your local IP address. Lantern also states it's better and faster than a VPN altogether. Can it be true?

After conducting a full review of Lantern to see what it really offers, I can confirm that you should stay away. Lantern isn't forthcoming with information, so it doesn't tell you how many servers it has, where they are, what security protocols it uses, or even what features it offers. For access to a worldwide server network that protects your online privacy, check out this list of the best VPNs available.

Lantern makes it possible to access some platforms and stream in standard definition, but the proxy only offers random locations. This means you never know which country it will connect to, and that makes it a terrible choice for streaming. That’s not to mention the fact that its servers sometimes give you an IP in a different country than you expect.

Luckily, we were able to find a member of our global team that got an actual IP address in their respective country. This allowed them to test out Lantern’s capabilities. Unfortunately, it was a hit-or-miss experience.

Lantern worked with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but there were long load times and pixelated videos. This proxy service couldn’t be tested with Disney+, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Max, or other popular platforms because they weren’t offered in our tester’s country. That’s the main problem with trying to stream with its randomized servers.

Overall, I can’t recommend Lantern to anyone for streaming, especially since it’s not secure. It only offers proxies, so your connection isn't encrypted. With the right VPN, it’s possible to safely access all the most popular platforms from anywhere. We recommend you check out our list of the best VPNs for streaming for secure connections while binge watching.

Speed is one of the only areas where Lantern really impressed me.

My base speed without a VPN started at 14.38 Mbps download speed and 12.69 Mbps upload speed.

When I connected to a Lantern server in the Netherlands, my download speed barely decreased at all and stayed steady at 14.19 Mbps, which was enough for me to browse the web without any lagging.

My upload speed actually increased by over 39%, so I was able to make fast, high-quality WhatsApp calls.

But, I must mention that we can’t guarantee you’ll get speeds this fast. Since Lantern only offers automatic connections, you can’t rely on it to consistently offer nearby servers. This actually posed a big problem for us in our next set of tests.

Lantern might work well for gaming on occasion, but you never know what server you’ll get. As you saw in my speed tests, there were times when Lantern gave me decent ping results. This is the most important measurement when you’re trying to play online with minimal lag.

Ping lets you know how long it takes your data to travel. You want your ping below 85ms when you’re playing games, so there’s no delay between your inputs and your character’s actions. Unfortunately, when I started testing Lantern with a fast-paced online shooter, I couldn’t get it to connect me to a nearby server.

I ended up trying to play with its German server, but my ping rate was over 300ms, and I couldn’t even load a match. So, while you may get lucky and find a fast server close to you, it’s just too much hassle for me to recommend Lantern for gaming. You can easily find a nearby server with great ping rates if you test out one of our top VPNs for gaming.

Who knows? Lantern has an automatic server selection feature, which is great for finding the best servers for performance. But—and it's a big one—it doesn’t let you pick your own server.

I’ve never seen this before in a VPN. However, Lantern isn’t actually a VPN—it’s a proxy. But if you can't choose a server yourself, how do you rely on it to access specific websites or social media platforms? It all comes down to chance.

I tried several connections and was assigned servers in the US, the Netherlands, and Germany. Lantern might have servers in more than these 3 countries, but your guess is as good as mine.

Another thing that disturbed me was the fact that the German server gave me an IP in the assigned country, but I had DNS servers in the UAE. I even had some websites show up in Arabic, which isn’t helpful when you’re supposed to be connected to a German location.

So, you can’t pick your server with Lantern, and you can’t rely on it to give you the location listed. Because of this, I recommend always doing leak tests after connecting, just to make sure. However, you’ll be better off if you try a VPN with a vast network of reliable servers you can actually choose.

Although Lantern does work for P2P sharing, I wouldn’t recommend it, and here’s why.

It’s a proxy, not a full VPN, so you can’t be sure that you have maximum security while you're transferring and downloading files.

You also can’t pick which proxy you connect to. So, you’ll have a hard time getting reliably fast speeds since you never know when Lantern will set you up with a distant location.

For these reasons, I'd avoid Lantern for any kind of P2P sharing. If you want to torrent, go with one of these top vendors; they guarantee your security and offer consistently fast speeds.

There are no details whatsoever on Lantern’s site or app about what level of encryption it uses to secure your data and online traffic. It doesn't even disclose what security protocols it supports.

After contacting support, I still don't know, since no one even got back to me. All Lantern does say is that it’s “secure".

Although, Lantern is open-source software, meaning its source code can be viewed and scrutinized by anybody. This makes me think it's highly unlikely the company would place malicious code that could pose a threat to security. Also, you have the choice to opt-out of its analytical data gathering process, which it says it uses to help improve its service.

When you visit a geoblocked site, you're protected with HTTPs, but anything else you do is completely unencrypted. Because remember, it's not a full VPN service.

Lantern won’t log any of your identifiable information as long as you use Lantern Pro. That’s good, but I’m disappointed at the information it collects from its free service. It’s also frustrating that it’s so hard to get responses from support because I needed more information about its independent audits to know if they’re legit.

Does Lantern Keep Logs? Yes (With the Free Version)

Lantern collects free user’s IPs to “limit abuse.” It claims it’s impossible for them to associate a Lantern server IP with these personal IP addresses. One of the big drawbacks of using a free proxy or VPN is that they’re rarely privacy-friendly. However, collecting your IP is quite egregious, even for a free service.

Although it states it will never examine your browsing history, I’d be worried about my IP leaking, so I’d recommend avoiding its free proxies.

On the other hand, its privacy policy for paid users states it will never collect your IP address. Lantern doesn’t even record timestamps. It only stores the information given to them during sign up (like your email address), and diagnostic information it needs to keep its services running. For example, it records data about crash reports and device types.

While I like Lantern Pro’s policies, they’re a little hard to trust after what it admits to storing from free users.

Was Lantern Audited? Yes

Lantern states on its website that it undergoes “constant security audits.” Sadly, there’s no way to verify this. I reached out to ask about which third parties perform audits. I also asked about what aspects of Lantern get audited; is it just its server infrastructure? Do the auditors make it sure it follows its privacy policy?

I couldn’t find any verifiable information about these audits because support never responded to me. There also isn’t any easily accessible information about them online. This makes me suspicious because the best VPNs are very open about who performs their audits, and they even release the results publicly.

Based in The United States

Lantern’s headquarters are in Los Angeles, USA (within the 5 Eyes Alliance). That’s an agreement between several governments where they promise to share information about their citizens. This means Lantern would be required to hand over data if the government asked for it, which is one more reason you should never use its free service.

Does Lantern Work in China? No

Support staff never responded when I asked if Lantern works in China. Even if it did, I wouldn’t recommend using it there due to its lack of security features. It also doesn’t offer obfuscation, a feature that hides your VPN/proxy use. So, I’m doubtful it could work in restrictive countries.

While the Chinese government has banned several VPNs, there have been no publicly-reported cases of it going after the individuals who use them. My team and I are opposed to all illegal activities, so we urge you to read up on the local laws before using a VPN. To find a method that’s been proven to work, check out our list of the best VPNs for China.