Astrill VPN

A paid VPN for expats, sold directly in US dollars

Astrill VPN is a standalone, paid VPN service, not part of a wider security suite. Its about page says Astrill was founded in 2009 and describes it as "a registered Liechtenstein company focused mostly towards travelers and expats," and the homepage pitches it at "expats and international professionals." The site says that after its first year in business Astrill expanded to the US and EU markets. It does not name the legal entity behind the brand beyond that description, and it names no parent company or sister brands.

On who can buy it, everything is sold directly from the site. The pricing page shows plans in US dollars, the homepage says "Bitcoin accepted," and the page does not list the other payment methods it takes. The site offers its own apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and routers, and does not link to any app store, so the site does not say whether its mobile apps are listed in the Apple or Google stores in every country. There is a separate business offer with its own pricing, and a router option that ships hardware: the signup form includes a router shipping address with a long list of destination countries. The site does not say that any country is excluded from buying the service.

Trust: what Astrill says about logs and who stands behind it

The site does not name an independent audit of its logging policy. The footer links a bug bounty program, but the site does not describe any external review of the servers or apps.

What the provider does say about logging is short and firm. The features page states: "We keep no logs of our user's online activity and we believe in absolutely unrestricted Internet." It adds that "the very design of our VPN server software does not allow us to see which clients accessed what websites even if we wanted to," and that "no logs whatsoever are stored on VPN servers after connection is terminated." A blog post on what a VPN hides repeats the claim in broader terms, saying the service does not track or store IP addresses, browsing history or traffic logs. These are the provider's own statements. The full privacy policy is linked from the footer, and the site's main pages do not spell out what account or payment data is retained, or for how long. The signup page does promise that users "can always request immediate deletion of all data related to your account from member zone."

On jurisdiction, the only statement is the Liechtenstein registration quoted above, attributed to the about page. The about page also calls Astrill "the leader in the global personal VPN market, helping millions to stay safe online," which is the company describing itself; the site gives no figure behind "millions."

Apps, stealth protocols and the server network

The protocol line-up is where Astrill puts its weight for restrictive networks. The features page lists OpenVPN plus three protocols it describes as its own work: OpenWeb, StealthVPN and "modified version of Wireguard," which it says were "perfected to hide the fact you are using VPN." The homepage describes StealthVPN as "designed to make VPN traffic harder to identify on restrictive networks." The site says OpenWeb, StealthVPN and its WireGuard version are "available only with our software." A blog post also names IKEv2, SSTP and L2TP/IPSec among supported protocols. The site does not name any specific country where these protocols are said to work.

App features include Smart Mode, which sends only international websites through the VPN and lets local sites load on the real IP; an application filter that chooses which apps use the tunnel; a kill switch and App Guard that block traffic for chosen apps if the VPN drops; VPN sharing from a Windows, Mac or Linux computer to phones, consoles and TVs; Onion over VPN for .onion sites; and port forwarding, which the site says helps P2P apps "such as torrents." Multi-hop is available to VIP customers and, per the VIP page, works only with the OpenWeb protocol in Astrill's own software.

The network is given as "142 cities across 56 countries" on the homepage and features page, while the pricing and about pages say "50+ countries" and the blog post says "over 58 countries." The site says it runs dedicated servers rather than virtual ones and links to speedtest.net results, but its own pages publish no speed figures. The site does not name streaming services the VPN works with.

Plans, add-ons, devices and support

The pricing page shows three personal plans. The 1-month plan is $30.00 per month, paid every month. The 1-year plan is shown at $15.00 per month, with $180.00 billed every year (a struck-through $360.00 beside it) and a "Save 50 %" label. The 2-year plan is shown at $12.50 per month, with $300.00 billed every 2 years (a struck-through $720.00) and "Save 58 %." The site does not say whether a plan renews at the same price.

Add-ons change the picture. A private IP gives a static address used by one customer on selected servers, with all ports forwardable on some of them; its price is not shown on the page. The VIP add-on gives access to extra servers the site lists in Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, Japan, Singapore, Korea and China, plus prioritized traffic on all servers. VIP traffic is sold in bundles of 100 GB per month, selectable up to 1,000 GB, and resets on the 1st of each month; standard servers keep working when the quota runs out.

The device limit is stated two ways. The pricing page says "connect unlimited devices in your household" and the homepage lists "unlimited devices at home," while the features page says "every personal VPN plan allows you to connect up to 5 devices in your household simultaneously" and "every plan includes 5 simultaneous connections in one household." The more specific of the two figures is 5 at a time. Support is offered by live chat, email and phone, which the site says is available "24 hours per day without any exceptions." A refund policy is linked in the footer, but the page does not state a refund window, and the site shows no free plan or trial. The features page says there are 85,701 customer reviews, which is the provider's own count.

What the site leaves open, and who it suits

Several questions stay unanswered on the site itself. There is no named audit of the no-logs claim, only the provider's statement. The company is described as registered in Liechtenstein, but no entity name or address appears on the page. The country count varies between 50+, 56 and 58 depending on the page, and the device limit reads as both unlimited and 5. Renewal pricing, the refund window and the price of the private IP and VIP add-ons are not printed. And the claim that StealthVPN is harder to detect is the provider's description, with no test or named country behind it on the site.

What the site does make clear is its focus: proprietary obfuscation protocols, split routing between local and international sites, round-the-clock chat, email and phone support, Bitcoin payment and a router option for whole-home setups. Astrill suits expats, travelers and remote workers on filtered networks who value those tools and are willing to pay the monthly rate shown for them. It suits less well someone who wants a named audit, a published refund window or a clearly stated device count before paying.