PrivadoVPN

A VPN sold as a security suite, with a free tier

PrivadoVPN describes itself as an "Online Security and Privacy Suite with VPN, Ad Blocker, Antivirus, and More." The VPN is the foundation, and around it the site sells Privado Sentry (a real-time antivirus, offered as an add-on), threat protection against phishing and malware sites, parental controls, a Smart DNS layer it calls Control Tower, and Email Relay, a service for disposable forwarding addresses. The pricing page describes PrivadoVPN as a "Switzerland-based company." The site does not name the legal entity that runs the service or who owns it.

On who can buy it, the site is built for an international audience. Its language menu covers English, German, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Greek, Indonesian, Russian, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Croatian, Spanish, Italian and both simplified and traditional Chinese, and a currency switcher offers US dollars, euros, British pounds and Swiss francs. Prices on the plan cards are shown in dollars by default. Apps are listed for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Fire TV, Android TV and tvOS, with browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Brave and a page for "everything else," including routers. The site does not name the payment methods it accepts, and it does not say that any country is excluded from sale.

The free plan is open to anyone with a verified email address. The no-log page says PrivadoVPN "doesn't ask for anything other than a verified email to sign up," and the homepage FAQ says the free plan needs "no credit card."

Trust: what the provider says about logs and Switzerland

The site does not name an independent audit of its logging policy, and none of its pages link to an audit report or name an auditing firm. What it offers is its own statement. The no-log page opens with "We will never collect records of your Internet activity because we believe nobody should," and under the heading "Personal Data Kept by PrivadoVPN" it answers "None. Zip. Zero. Nada." The provider states it does not record which IP addresses a user connects to while on its network, and it points readers to its privacy policy for the information it does collect to create and maintain an account. That policy is linked from every page, but the marketing pages do not spell out which account data it keeps. All of this is the provider's claim.

The Swiss argument is made at length and in the provider's own voice. The no-log page says the company is "registered in Switzerland" and lists its reasons for being based there: that Switzerland has strong consumer protection laws, that the subject of a data request must legally be told about it, and that the country "isn't part of any international surveillance agreements like the 14 Eyes Alliance." These are PrivadoVPN's statements about Swiss law, not something the site backs with a legal reference.

The About page adds that the team "has over 20 years of combined experience building and running secure infrastructure peered with major regional ISPs," and the no-log page says "we own a lot of our own equipment." The site does not say which equipment or where.

Apps, protocols, servers and features

The apps support OpenVPN, IKEv2 and WireGuard, which the About page says was added in November 2021. The feature list includes a kill switch that blocks traffic if the connection drops, split tunneling (added February 2022), IP leak protection covering DNS, IPv4 and IPv6, and a SOCKS5 proxy that paid users can set up in a download client. Encryption is given as AES-256.

The site does not publish a server count. The About page refers to "hundreds of VPN servers around the world," the plan cards say "Servers in Cities," and the no-log page lists server countries from Albania, Argentina and Australia through to Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States, including Brazil, India, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland. The features page mentions cities such as Amsterdam, Chicago, Hong Kong and London.

On streaming, the plan cards list "Streaming Support" and the features page says users can "access your music, video, and social media from anywhere in the world," but no page names a specific streaming service. On downloading, the site pitches the SOCKS5 proxy for "your favorite download client" and the About page says the free plan allows "site-to-site transfers," but the site does not publish a torrenting or P2P policy. Support is by chat or email, which the site says runs "at any hour, every day of the year."

Plans, prices and the free tier

The pricing page shows a 12-month, a 24-month and a 1-month plan, with prices in US dollars per month:

• the 12 Month Plan, labeled "12 Month Unlimited VPN + 3 FREE," at $1.33 per month, marked "Save 88%"
• the 24 Month Plan, labeled "24 Month Unlimited VPN + 3 FREE," at $1.11 per month, marked "Save 90%"
• the 1 Month Plan at $10.99 per month, marked "No Savings"

The page does not print the total charged up front for the longer plans, does not say what the "+ 3 FREE" adds, and does not state a renewal price. The antivirus is an add-on at $1.99 per month on the 12-month and 24-month plans. Every paid plan lists unlimited data, 10 connections, the ad blocker, threat prevention and parental controls, and the pricing page says a paid subscription can be used on "up to 10 devices." Every paid plan also carries a "30-Day Money-Back Guarantee." The pricing FAQ says there is no free trial.

The free plan gives 10GB of data every 30 days on 1 device. The homepage FAQ says it includes "access to 13 server locations," and the pricing FAQ says free users who run out can upgrade or "connect to one of our free emergency servers." The SOCKS5 proxy is paid-only. The About page says the company does not "serve ads to you either in our app or elsewhere on your device" and will not sell user data, which is how it answers the question of what the free plan costs the user. It does not otherwise explain how the free tier is funded beyond the paid plans.

What the site leaves open

Several things a careful buyer would want are missing. There is no named audit, so the no-logs promise rests on the provider's word and a privacy policy the marketing pages only link to. There is no named company or owner, only the statement that PrivadoVPN is Swiss-based and registered in Switzerland. The longer plans show a monthly rate without the up-front total or the renewal price. The site claims streaming support without naming a single service, and names no payment methods.

What it does settle is useful: a free tier with a stated data allowance and number of server locations, a choice of OpenVPN, IKEv2 and WireGuard, a kill switch and split tunneling, a SOCKS5 proxy for paid users, and a 30-day refund window on every paid plan. The About page also gives a dated history, from an April 2019 launch with Windows and Android apps to Mac and iOS apps in October 2020 and TV apps in June 2021.

It suits someone who wants to try a VPN on a free account before paying, or who wants a VPN, ad blocker and optional antivirus from one vendor and does not mind the 10-connection limit. A reader who needs an audited logging policy or a named operating company will not find either on the site.