X-VPN Review – Is It Safe in 2024

How do you choose a decent VPN provider if this kind of technical space is not within your competence? Would you dive into hours of learning about virtual private network settlement or prefer to get the essentials of it in a structured, clear form? If you choose the second point, then our team is here to assist you with this question.

Our dedicated resource contains comprehensive intelligence about free VPNs. We understand that, primarily, consumers do not know much about specific technical stuff immanent to this topic and barely want to get into it. We keep this in mind while creating reviews to present the information in a friendly form that is not jumping over your head.

Except for the service, VPN is also a business. Often, providers display bright and expressive information on their front pages to engage users in a competitive market. And it is not a rare case when these promotional texts do not reflect what is going on under the hood. After having read our theses, you will get a real idea about each vendor.

Free web access and online privacy are rights that should be available to everyone, but they are not always achievable without proper knowledge. Our materials will help you realize what you may receive from one or another provider and if it does suit your needs.

Pros

• No registration
• Strict privacy policy
• Easy to install
• Compatible with many platforms

Cons

• Mobile apps contains a lot of ads
• Download speed on Windows is low
• Download speed on macOS is low
• Download speed on Android is low
• Download speed on iOS is low
• Only one auto server is available 
• Deprecated protocols
• Short free sessions

X-VPN Features

Different VPN services can embed divergent functionality in their system. Our current provider offers over 8,000 servers in 60 countries, including equipment specifically optimized for streaming platforms and gaming.

The company developed software for plenty of platforms, and we are going to observe a part of it in the current review. The official website says that they included ten protocols for the free edition, and one more protocol of their own development is available for the paid plan. Also, they provided their apps with some additional security features like Kill Switch, Split Tunneling, and others.

What of these features work for free? Our task is to check which equipment is available for the unpaid edition and what qualities are prepared for the paid subscription.

Privacy and Logging

Personal data protection is one of the valuable benefits that an encrypted network can offer. Aside from reliable technical implementation, there is a component of the provider’s privacy policy. In other words, VPN services can gather users’ sensitive data on their own and even share it with outside parties.

In this section, we are going to observe the main provisions of the X-VPN privacy policy page. Do not rely on this case as something that will be similar to other providers. Each company describes their unique approaches and methods of work in this document.

As we see, they claim not to store a user’s IP address or browsing history, including DNS queries, and not to disclose personal data to third parties, even in the event of a legal request.

By the way, the second point contains the phrase ‘DNS queries’. It is just domain sites’ names. For example, if you visit https://www.google.com, the domain name is ‘google.com’.

They decided to pay users attention to the fact that they are able to protect consumers’ data from governments and have not disclosed it yet.

“Necessary information for product development” is a fuzzy phrase that indeed should reveal more details of what exact necessary information it is. Seeing that every VPN provider has its own software architecture, the data they need to collect for service provision is different.

From first glance, it might seem innocent, but we have seen many times how, under the shadow of similar phrases, a whole pack of vulnerable users’ data was hidden. It is better to read the document until the bottom to reveal all the intricate nuances.

The screenshot above tells that X-VPN collects emails in case when a user decides to create an account. And they do not obligate you to provide a real email for this purpose. Also, they collect a list of technical information, and all the data is really technical and does not imply personal identifying details.

The provider claims not to store credit cards when users make payments. They log some technical data around payments for troubleshooting and providing VIP services, but it does not include valuable private assets.

While surfing the web, you always encounter cookie pop-ups. Cookies are small pieces of textual data that a website stores on a user’s device in order to fix particular information about the user. And as we have previously said, these cookies can involve any kind of user information. In the event of an ongoing provider, he retains a randomly generated ID that does not have any relation to real user data.

We think that it is a good practice to limit children’s usage of virtual private networks. But the screenshot about the age restrictions explains to us that, in parallel with this point of view, the provider does not bring in precautions to detect children. And here the question is born. How do they provide services only for adults if their system does not detect when a child uses the product?

During the investigation of the current privacy policy page, we did not find dubious moments that prove in favor of an unqualified approach towards users’ data. Whereas this block does not contain more insights, we are switching to the following part.

Speed Tests – How Fast is X-VPN

Your satisfying online experience basically depends on the speed of your internet connection. If it is fast, then the process flows seamlessly and calmly; otherwise, you might get a lot of nerves when the connection speed is low.

Any VPN software influences the internet service provider’s (ISP) speed and does it differently. There is no approximate scenario for this count. Every encrypted network is a unique unit with its own individual adjustments, and a lot of details in a scope create an overall performance, including speed capabilities.

We made speed tests for all the distributions of the current vendor and composed them in a structured form with clear descriptions. Usually we do such tests for two locations: the first one is the USA, and the second is an arbitrarily selected server from the European region.

It is not always the case when companies provide many locations for the free edition; then we work with what we have. The tests were conducted under the same conditions for each platform, meaning that the ISP and the speed tester are always the same.

The main indices that we are focusing on are:

• a download speed;
• an upload speed;
• ping time;

The download index responds to the velocity of the content consumed by your local machine from the internet. The upload indicator shows your speed for pushing content from your device to the internet. The ping time means the latency of the data packages responding from the opposite side; this marker is especially valuable during live-time events like gaming, online meetings, or online calls.

This block has three subdivisions devoted to desktop app testing, browser extension testing, and mobile testing. The desktop party is going to be first in the row. 

PC Test

X-VPN issued applications for several operating systems that are used on desktops. And now we will show you the results of macOS and Windows’s programs.

MacOS

The first screenshot illustrates the connection speed capabilities of our internet service provider. The indexes are:

• download speed is 82.7 mbps;
• upload speed is 84.6 mbps;
• ping time is 4 ms.

Considering that the free plan implies just one location, the speed test is also one. The indexes are:

• download speed is 22.1 mbps;
• upload speed is 57.7 mbps;
• ping time is 20 ms.

The download speed has been cut by nearly 73%, the upload speed decreased by 32%, and the ping time increased from 4 ms to 20 ms.

The result of this autoserver is palpably below the average line. The download index deterioration is very high and will not let users feel confident, especially connected to the cellular network. The upload index is pretty good but did not reach the moderate level. 

The ping time response is normal; however, be careful at live events that involve video content because the download speed may not manage to cope with the traffic.

Windows

The initial connection speed of the ISP on Lenovo.

The indexes are:

• download speed is 88.96 mbps;
• upload speed is 88.98 mbps;
• ping time is 2 ms.

The Windows’s application as well provides only one location for the free plan. The indexes are:

• download speed is 54.18 mbps;
• upload speed is 57.99 mbps;
• ping time is 17 ms.

The download speed suffered a loss of 39%, the upload speed was downgraded by 35%, and the ping time increased from 2 ms to 17 ms.

In contrast to Macbook, the application designed for this operating system set up better, but objectively not good enough. Maybe on home Wi-Fi with a decent speed, everything will be okay.

Nonetheless, when you connect to some publicly available spot in a cafe, for example, this VPN can make it unavailable to surf the internet in an encrypted environment. The ping time suits the real-time events with the condition that the speed capabilities will let it go.

Browsers’ Extensions Test

From the variety of browsers, X-VPN preferred Google Chrome, which is the only compatible browser at the moment.

The top image depicts how fast the ISP is. The indexes are:

• download speed is 57.99 mbps;
• upload speed is 59.95 mbps;
• ping time is 5 ms.

The bottom image demonstrates results with the VPN turned on. The indexes are:

• download speed is 42.48 mbps;
• upload speed is 49.14 mbps;
• ping time is 20 ms.

The download speed loss is about 27%, and the upload speed is nearly 18% lower. The ping time has increased from 5 ms to 20 ms.

From the tests that we have just seen, this is the best one. The upload speed is in the range of affordable values, the ping time is okay, and the only thing is that it would be nice to see the download index lower than it is now.

Mobile Test

Nowadays, mobile devices are an integral part of our day-to-day lives. A specific role pocket gadgets play in terms of internet usage. Mobile phones are always with us, and a high volume of traffic permanently goes through them.

X-VPN developed applications for the two most popular platforms: Android and iOS. We conducted speed tests on either operating system, and in a minute, you will see it below. Similarly, with desktop apps, the provider offers just one auto-server for free, so the velocity check is also one for each operating system.

Android

The indexes are:

• download speed is 79.4 mbps;
• upload speed is 74.5 mbps;
• ping time is 2 ms.

The indexes are:

• download speed is 32 mbps;
• upload speed is 92.7 mbps;
• ping time is 17 ms.

The download speed decline is nearly 60%, and the upload speed upgrade is around 24%. The ping time has increased from 2 ms to 17 ms.

So the Android’s application has an interesting adjustment. The download capacity incurred high deterioration and definitely will cause lags when you use a cellular network. However, we can observe an opposite situation with upload potential; it grew tangibly and will do a good job if you need to load content to the web. 

The ping time is suitable for live-time events, but it makes sense if the ISP speed is fast; download speed may not allow seamless flow with low swiftness.

IOS

The indexes are:

• download speed is 37.6 mbps;
• upload speed is 37.9 mbps;
• ping time is 3 ms.

The indexes are:

• download speed is 15.9  mbps;
• upload speed is 34.3 mbps;
• ping time is 19 ms.

The download speed got worse at 58%, and the upload speed fell on 9%. The ping time has increased from 2 ms to 19 ms.

Android’s application has similar manifestations as iOS: download capability is bad, but the upload result is good. The ping time response is good and will let you enjoy smooth live-time events if the ISP speed is fast.

About Safety – How Secure is X-VPN?

Various providers choose distinctive strategies regarding security opportunities, depending on the operating system. Some enterprises fill with divergent optionality for their mobile and desktop applications; others tend to create a united safeguard functional set for either direction; and someone goes with different features for each independent platform.

In this particular case, we met a united structure for all the apps with minor distinctions. An exception is the Chrome extension, which has individual configurations. 

We will take an example of Windows’s app and describe all its features. Then, in order to avoid duplication of the information, you will see a piece of text devoted to small differences immanent to the specific platform.

The protocols’ list is longer than we can see now. Developers decided to make the app unresizable, and that’s why we did not show the whole list, but we will describe it.

Here is the full set of available protocols:

• TCP
  • Transmission Control Protocol delivers the data in the correct order, without errors. It is a good solution for safe data delivery and web surfing. Nonetheless, the protocol entails high overhead and long latency. Hence, live-time events work worse under TCP.
• TLS-3
  • This protocol is available only for the premium subscription, and we assume that it is a TLS 1.3 version. The TLS-3 protocol does not exist as a derivative of the TLS specification.
• UDP
  • The User Datagram Protocol does not have an error-checking mechanism, but it is rapid. A benefit is swift data package transmission, and a drawback is possible data loss. This protocol is well-built for real-time events because of its short latency. It is not the right choice when data integrity matters, but it is good when speed is a main value.
• TLS
  • Transport Layer Security is a cryptographic protocol that creates a secure tunnel, providing encryption, data integrity, and authentication.
• HTTP
  • Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a common protocol that is used for transferring data on the web between clients and servers. It is vulnerable by its nature because it does not have a security layer.
• TLS-2
  • We do not know what they mean under the “-2” postfix. Maybe it is a TLS 1.2 version. There is no TLS-2 protocol at the moment. TLS editions go from 1.0 to 1.3.
• FTP
  • The File Transfer Protocol itself does not provide encryption for data transfer. It means that files and credentials can be intercepted. Once the VPN tunnel is established, FTP sessions can be initiated over the secure connection.
• SMTP
  • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a base for seamless email message delivery. Nevertheless, it requires complementary security measures to ensure solid protection for your emails.
• TCP-2
  • There is no such standard as a TCP-2 protocol. This is what they wrote in the description of it: “an upgraded version of TCP, which improves security, but the connection success rate may decrease.”
    
    So, it’s a kind of their own development, but they do not explain how exactly it is done.
• HTTP-2
  • There is no HTTP-2 standard. In the present context, it is their own upgrade, and there is no information on how exactly they did it.
• HTTP-3
  • There is no HTTP-3 standard. In the present context, it is their own upgrade, and there is no information on how exactly they did it.
• OpenVPN-UDP
  • An open-source protocol is widespread for establishing encrypted tunnels between devices. OpenVPN is compatible with distinctive encryption algorithms. High flexibility enables it to be compatible with various operating systems, and it can cooperate with UDP or TCP protocols, in this particular case with UDP.

From all the listed options, we can mark only 4 items as having true functionality in relation to security:

• TCP;
• UDP;
• TLS;
• OpenVPN.

HTTP, FTP, and SMTP are the protocols that define the way of data transmission and do not imply safety aspects. These are general technologies widely used in various web areas, but we do not understand their place among the VPN protocols.

Besides the set of protocols, X-VPN offers a Kill Switch feature in the free version.

The encrypted connection may be unstable, and there is a risk that data transmission will go directly through the internet service provider’s network. The Kill Switch feature prevents data transfers through the ISP if the VPN network is cut off suddenly.

Now a few details about the distinction on other operating systems. MacOS repeats the functionality; the Android platform provides the same set of protocols but does not provide the Kill Switch option; the iOS application also inherits all the protocols and does not offer Kill Switch for free.

The Google Chrome extension has a very different configuration and does not imply protocols at all. Current software proposes Kill Switch and Spit Tunneling options. The Split Tunneling feature enables you to define what data will go through the VPN and will be transmitted through the ISP. In terms of the browser extension, Split Tunneling helps to distribute specific domains.

Concluding the information, we can say that half of the protocols do not have any relation to security. Such protocols as UDP and TCP are considered to be deprecated; only the OpenVPN protocol is up-to-date technology and has a competitive rate.

Desktop Apps

Here we are going to be talking about general traits and the visual implementation of desktop apps.

The main screen is divided into two logical parts: on the left side is a menu bar, and on the right is the main functional area. The right space contains three interactive elements:

• Turn on/off button;
• Location field;
• Protocols field.

On the menu bar, there are two items called “For Game & Video” and “For BitTorrent.” These are fields that encompass dedicated servers for gaming, streaming services, and torrenting. The ‘Features’ tab includes the Kill Switch function, and the ‘Support’ tab contains a scope of items related to the corresponding item.

On the first launch, the application proposes that you create an account with an email, or just skip this step if you prefer to try the free plan. Also, we did not recognize the bandwidth restrictions, but the connection cuts off from time to time, and you need to reconnect manually.

The macOS program has the same visual representation and equal functionality. Everything that we described for Windows’s app is identically reflected here.

Mobile Apps

As you can see, both iOS and Android have a single design. On the left of the current screenshot is an Android app, and on the right is an iOS one. 

The main screen contains seven interactive elements: a hamburger menu icon in the left upper corner, a notification icon closely on the right of the hamburger menu, the turn on/off button, location field, protocols field, advanced features field in the bottom, and one more icon as well in the bottom that has different meanings for each platform.

The talk is about the left-bottom icon. On Android’s app, it embodies some ‘Private Browser’ that is available for the paid version, and on iOS app developers located there a list of servers that are better optimized for specific geos.

Almost all options are blocked for the free version, excluding the ‘Stable Connection’ switcher. This option helps to initialize a more stable connection by sacrificing the speed capability. Mobile-free software is available due to advertisements that periodically appear. The band width limitation is absent; however, the timeline of one session is very short, and you often need to reconnect. 

Browser Extensions

The main screen contains eight interactive elements: a hamburger menu icon in the left upper corner, an advanced features icon in the right upper corner,a  central turn-on/off button, a location field under the button, and a footer bar of four more icons.

The two icons on the right in the footer indicate features available for the paid plan. The first icon in the row activates the ‘Stable Connection’ feature, which is described in the previous section about mobile extensions. The second icon powers up the Kill Switch option.

On the screenshot, you can now see five options; however, the full list consists of eight points; you just need to scroll down. The last three options are:

• IP Checker enables the user to see all the information about his current IP address.
• Password Generator automatically blocks all trackers when you browse.
• The WebRTC Leak Test checks if your browser is exposing IP to the website you visit.

Performance

The macOS application could not manage to cross the line of a moderate result. Especially the download index incurs significant impact. The Windows’s application copes better; however, the downgrade of the download and upload indexes is above 30%, which is not considered to be low.

Chrome’s extension showed a good upload index and a ping time response; the download speed a little exceeded the affordable point.

The performance of mobile apps has similar traits. The download index for both platforms has downgraded a lot, but the upload index holds a good position, especially on Android.

All the distributions offer just one auto location. A weird thing is that you cannot even find out in the app what exact server is working now, only with third-party tools that can define the server’s IP. That set of protocols available for free is outdated and does not ensure strong protection nowadays.

Work in Highly Restricted Countries

There is no information about this question on the provider’s sources.

Server’s locations

The answer is very short: just one autolocation was determined for the free plan, and you can not even know it exactly without auxiliary tools.

What Bonuses Does the Paid Version Offer, and How Much Does It Cost?

It is a common pricing practice to decline the total sum with the condition of a subscription period. The best actual offer for you can be $4.79 per month if you are ready to pay $71.99 for a twelve-month subscription.

After purchasing a paid plan, you are able to use all the locations, including gaming and streaming-optimized servers. The official website said that the network counts 8000+ servers across 60 countries.

In the previous sections, you saw that the advanced features tab has items with the ‘Premium’ label. So, your mobile applications will get a Static IP function, a Split Tunneling function, a Fast Connection bar, and a Double VPN function.

Additionally, X-VPN will provide you with their private Everest Protocol, which possesses some extra secure features, as they say.

About Support

On the website, in the footer, there is a block on the right devoted to support. Applications also have a support field inside the general settings tab that leads you to a screen with several options.

On the website, you can also open a ‘Help Center’ link that contains a lot of predefined useful topics.

Also, the live chat option is available for consumers, and it works.

We received an answer in the live chat in a matter of minutes, but we do not know if there is a chatbot on the backside or real live support. Users also have the ability to write a letter via email, and we checked it too.

We wrote them a letter and got an answer in less than an hour.

The support service is flexible and gives users various options to solve their questions. You are able to use the FAQ section, the support help center page, the website and app’s live chat, or email live correspondence.

X-VPN Review: Final Verdict

The current provider has a strong no-log policy, but the security protocols of the free edition are deprecated and do not ensure strong enough data protection. 

The situation where you periodically need to refresh the connection causes some inconvenience. Another big concern is that only one location is available, and the application does not depict any data about this server. 

Speed tests are different from app to app, but in general, there were no such cases when we could definitely affirm really good results. Sometimes there were bad results, sometimes moderate.

This VPN may suit some specific goals, but in general, it has substantial drawbacks in the free edition and can not provide a full-fledged service.