CyberGhost is a VPN company that has been around for more than a decade. The parent company is located in Bucharest, Romania, but the domain is registered in Paris, France. In this review, we’ll discuss the benefits and our impressions about the service. We’ll also take a look at CyberGhost’s performance tests.
Prices and Discounts
Often times, the price of a VPN is important. However, the most expensive ones are not always the best option. CyberGhost does a good job of both by providing a high-quality service at a price you will like. They offer unlimited plans with 3 different options. As with most services, the longer you sign up for a product the cheaper it becomes. If you decide to get the service month by month, you will pay $12.99 per month. Your 6-month pricing is $47.94, so your price per month is $7.99. If you plan on getting the full year, you will also get an additional 6 months free. The total is $63 which works out to $3.50 a month.
Payment wise, CyberGhost offers quite a few different payment options. Those include PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JBC, Diner’s Club, PayNearMe, Bitcoin, and more. Using PayPal will help you manage subscriptions. On the other hand, Bitcoin provides you with a good way to obtain some anonymity.
45 Day Risk-Free Money Back Guarantee
The CyberGhost team wants you to fully test out their service. That is why we are glad to see that they offer one of the longest guarantees in the community. Since you get 45 days, you will have plenty of time to test out the software and explore all of the features available.
Features
Now, it is time to go through the various features of the service. Sometimes the features can help you make the final decision when choosing a provider. Cyberghost offers many great features that make the service a good value.
One of our favorites is the Automatic Kill Switch option. If your service disconnects, the automatic kill switch will stop all internet traffic until it re-connects. That way, your data will not be compromised or unprotected if something happens. We also like that you may have 5 simultaneous connections on the same account. Unlike some providers, CyberGhost allows them all to be the same protocol. That is helpful if you want to protect the whole family. It also means that no one is under-protected. Other features like you see here let you block ads, malicious websites, online tracking, provide an extra speed boost, and more.
Another interesting part of this service is the option to choose your purpose. As an example, you can choose to unblock streams as you see in the picture below. When you choose it, you can select from several popular channels from different parts of the world. If you see one you like, simply click the icon. It will automatically connect you to the best server for the site and take you to the one you chose.
We also like the app protection it offers so it will protect you across all platforms. While there are other features to this service, we could not help but notice that the high speeds. Speeds are definitely important for downloading content. If you participate in torrenting behavior (p2p), there are specific servers set up for it. CyberGhost seems to have all the standard features we would expect in a higher priced service.
Server Locations
The CyberGhost VPN service is quite large. According to their website, they have more than 3000 servers in 59 countries. That means you will usually find more than one server in each location. If you will be traveling to a different country, CyberGhost VPN will be ready to help you. Now, we’ll take a look at where these servers are.
- North America – USA and Canada.
- South America – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica.
- Europe – Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
- Asia – India, Israel, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
- Africa – Kenya and South Africa.
- Oceania – Australia and New Zealand.
We understand you may not need to use some of many of those locations, but it is nice to have them available. We are glad to see they also offer multiple locations in many countries like the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and more.
Performance
Locations are good for any VPN service, but speed also matters. No matter what you are using your VPN for, speeds are important. When encrypting a connection, there is always a slight speed loss. Typical numbers range anywhere from 10%-25% loss to be normal. In the image below, you see that our results were in the lower end of that range. We speed tested the UDP and TCP versions of the OpenVPN protocol (the best option) and found that both were right in line with each other. However, we only show the OpenVPN UDP speed test below.
Security and Privacy
Most of the time, VPN providers will offer several encryption protocols that will protect you. CyberGhost VPN offers the protocols of OpenVPN (TCP and UDP), L2TP, and IKEv2. Whenever you can, OpenVPN should be used. The others will work as well, but OpenVPN tends to be faster. CyberGhost VPN is highly focused on privacy. All of their encryption protocols are at the AES-256 bit encryption level. We also like the fact that CyberGhost has a very solid no logs policy
Support
The CyberGhost VPN team offers several different support channels. Those include a knowledge base, a ticketing system (through Email), and even an online chat (available Monday through Friday from 10 AM – 5 PM (GMT+2). You will also find an FAQ section for your frequently asked questions.
When we contacted the online chat team, we found them to be friendly, knowledgeable, fast, and accurate.
Compatibility
CyberGhost VPN supports many types of devices. However, they offer specific apps for the following operating systems.
Operating Systems:
- Windows – 7 or newer
- Mac OS X 10.7 or newer
Mobile Devices:
- iOS – 9.0+
- Android 4.0+
Support for other devices may be found including set up guides for routers, Kodi boxes, Linux, and others.
Sign Up Process
Signing up for CyberGhost VPN is easy and the company breaks it into 3 steps. Step 1 is to choose the plan you want. Step 2 is to choose your payment method. The 3rd step is to complete your payment.
As you see, there is not much to getting started. Other than payment information, the only information you need to provide is your email address. Of course, clicking on the payment type you wish to use will expand the box. Again, if you want our discounted rate, be sure to complete your order for CyberGhost through our site.
How to Use CyberGhost VPN for Windows
Though using a VPN is easy, we will take you through the steps, step by step. As we mentioned earlier, CyberGhost’s goal is to make everything compatible no matter which version you are using. Because of that, you will show you the Windows version first. Begin by downloading the software. Once you do so, select the purpose based on what you want to do.
No matter which option you choose, you can set the individual options as in the image below.
Inside the option you choose, hit the start button and enjoy. If you wish to change any of the settings, they may be found at the top of the screen where it is labeled. Here are the things you may change while there.
General
- Automatically run at startup
- Run this profile at startup (list of the purposes)
- Install beta updates
- Language (default is English)
Exceptions
- Add Host/IP
Proxy
- Enter Proxy Information
Connection
- VPN Protocol – choose from OpenVPN, L2TP, IKEv2
- Prefer TCP instead of UDP connections (OpenVPN only).
- Force using Cyberghost DNS-Servers
- Disable IPv6 connections outside VPN
Wi-Fi
- Default action for unknown Wi-Fi networks (choose your protection)
App Protection
- Add protected apps
- Select Connection Profile
After tweaking everything you want to, your screen will look like the one you see above. CyberGhost makes everything easy to use.
How to Use CyberGhost VPN for Android
To use CyberGhost VPN for Android, you need to go to Google Play Store. Next, do a search for CyberGhost, install, and open.
Once you have opened it, select the 3 horizontal lines by the word CyberGhost and click Login. Next, enter your credentials.
Now, all you have to do is choose the purpose, hit start, choose your country, and you are ready. You will the same types of notifications you saw in the Windows version.
How to Use CyberGhost VPN for Mac
Using Cyberghost VPN on the Macintosh is a similar experience to what we have spoken of earlier. After downloading and opening the software, you will see the beginning screen as you see below.
All of your settings are located above. If you want to change the “Simulated Country”, click and the button and select it.
You are now ready to enjoy the Macintosh version like you normally would.
How to Use CyberGhost VPN for iOS
If you plan on using iOS, CyberGhost VPN is easy to use there as well. Simply search for CyberGhost in the store and download it. Once you open it, you will see some very simple controls. Be sure to toggle the controls on or off if you want to change them. Now, just click the start button. You can also choose your country from these sets of screens.
That is all there when using the different versions. Of course, you will need to enter your credentials to take advantage of everything. All of the apps are straightforward and easy to use. They are also designed to give you a similar experience across all devices. That is why we did not go into as much depth as we did with the Windows version.
Favorite Features for CyberGhost VPN:
- Strict no logs policy
- P2P friendly
- Nicely priced
- Excellent support
- Straightforward interface
- Apps for all operating systems as well as support for others.
Thoughts to make CyberGhost VPN better:
- Add more countries
- Give more protocol options
- Make connections faster and more stable
- Add more features
- Add more P2P servers
Final Thoughts
To wrap this review up, CyberGhost VPN is a good product at a reasonable price. Everything seems easy to use and since the sections are arranged by purpose, you will have no problems meeting your goals. When we contacted the support team, we found them be very friendly, quick, and knowledgeable. If you are looking for a fast and torrent friendly option to use, we suggest you check this one out.