CyberGhost Review

Overview

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, humans invented the internet. No longer did curious minds have to spend hours on end in poorly-lit libraries, reading hundreds of pages just to uncover a single fact. But then, people started misusing this gift. Hackers, marketing companies, and even governments have played a part in making the internet unsafe.

The need for privacy and security resulted in the creation of VPNs. Now, CyberGhost is far from being the first VPN in history, but it is the first service of its kind to publish public transparency reports, thus earning itself the title of the most trustworthy VPN on the market. 

Further proof of CyberGhost’s success is seen in its 36 million users worldwide, or Ghosties as the CyberGhost website refers to them. The many features and reliability of the service have certainly not gone unnoticed.

Main Features

First and foremost, let’s take a look at the main features provided by CyberGhost.

Hide IP

Your IP is your computer's address. You wouldn’t just give out your address to a stranger on the street, so why would you do so on the internet? Aside from your location, individuals and companies can use your IP to monitor your online activities. With a CyberGhost account, you can connect to more than 7,200 servers and browse without a care in the world.

Encryption

It’s extremely easy for internet service providers to collect information about the kind of websites you visit and how often you do so. Some ISPs are required to collect data by their countries’ laws, and some do it to make a profit by selling it to advertising companies. So, just hiding your IP address doesn’t seem to be enough sometimes.

CyberGhost gives you that extra layer of protection with AES 256-bit encryption. Encrypting your data refers to transforming your information into code, and this particular code is nearly impossible to crack.

WiFi Protection

Perhaps one of the best VPN services of today’s generation is WiFi protection. That’s because public WiFi is kind of like a public bathroom - convenient when you’re out and about, but you’d rather use your own if you’re close to home. WiFi in coffee shops, airports, and the like usually aren’t well-protected, which is almost like an open invitation for hackers and their ill-intentioned tricks.

Secure Connection

Having your personal information bought and sold is never pleasant, but eCommerce has opened the door to crimes involving companies directly taking money from people. Bank account details, financial information, and even confidential phone calls can be easily protected once you download CyberGhost and activate it.

No Logs

After you become a Ghostie and connect to one of the many servers available, CyberGhost leaves you to your own devices. No information regarding your online life will be recorded. 

Speed

It’s unavoidable: Using a VPN will slow down your internet speed. Therefore it’s vital that you find a VPN service that minimally affects it. CyberGhost isn’t known for its spectacular speed, but we wanted to test it out ourselves.

In order to conduct a CyberGhost speed comparison, we went to speedtest.net and measured the speed of our regular internet. Here is our baseline:

Then we connected to several of CyberGhost servers, and these were the results:

The numbers didn’t drop as much as we’d expected them to based on the impressions we’ve heard and read about, especially regarding upload speeds. Reaction times (ping) naturally depend on the server’s distance from you; the further away, the slower the ping.

All in all, we believe you won’t have any significant internet speed issues while it’s turned on. If upon reading this CyberGhost review you decide to get this VPN and your internet does become noticeably slower, try checking your original connection speed, the quality of your hardware, the distance of your chosen server, and the number of users sharing it. A VPN might not be the only reason your internet is slow.

Server Selection

As we’ve already mentioned, Ghosties can connect to more than 7,200 servers located in 90 countries. This is one of the main reasons that CyberGhost is considered one of the best VPN providers. A large number of servers affects your access to online content and your overall experience. 

The more servers there are, the lower the chances of them getting overloaded. The consequence of overloading would be that your browsing speed would go down or that you might not be able to connect to a particular server at all.

If you need your VPN for streaming, you can rest assured you’ll be able to bypass the geo-restrictions of almost any website in the world.

Overall Privacy and Security

CyberGhost’s success in being the best VPN for privacy and security is partly because its headquarters are in Romania, meaning that it operates under Romania’s privacy laws. Due to this, CyberGhost has no problem enforcing its no-logs policy.

You’ll be happy to know that there’s even more to CyberGhost’s protective capabilities than is listed in the Features section. This company also offers:

• DNS leak prevention
• OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard®, and L2TP protocols
• Automatic kill switch

User Experience

One of the first things you’ll read in almost any CyberGhost review is how easy it is to use. The interface is intuitive and uncluttered – perfect for VPN novices.

To activate this VPN, all you need to do is press the big, clearly marked power button. It will automatically connect to the “best location,” which is the nearest reliable server. 

To manually select a server, just click on the yellow tab on the lower-left side of the window - it will expand, and you can choose any server off the list or look through ones that are optimized for torrenting or streaming.

What makes Cyberghost some of the best VPN software we’ve seen is that it provides all the crucial information you need to pick out a server. The current distance and load of servers are displayed on the right of the dashboard, and you can even see the individual servers in a given location.

The ‘connection features’ tab lets you block ads, malicious websites, and online tracking. It also turns on HTTPS redirecting and data compression.

More experienced users can mess around with the ‘Smart Rules’ tab to fully customize CyberGhost to their needs. 

You can use the CyberGhost app across multiple platforms:

• Desktop – Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Mobile – Android and iOS
• Browser – Chrome and Firefox
• TV – Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Smart TV
• Consoles – Xbox 360/One and Playstation 3/4
• Routers

The app is well-adapted to every one of these platforms. Although not all of its features are available on every platform, the efficiency remains intact throughout.

As one of the most popular streaming services, Netflix has a very complex VPN blocker – an understandable policy considering that it is a subscription-based service. However, traveling abroad can interfere with your viewing options. With CyberGhost, your Netflix account can travel with you wherever you go. You may encounter some glitches with a few of the servers, but in the end, this VPN software will get you to your desired content.

CyberGhost is not shy about its torrenting features, as you can see from its “for torrenting” tab. You are free to try connecting to the servers that aren’t on that list, but odds are you won’t be able to use them for this purpose. The explanation for this is that CyberGhost prevents torrenting on servers that would be considerably slowed down because of it and servers located in countries with strict no-torrenting laws.  

To review CyberGhost and its torrenting suitability, we combined it with μTorrent. The results were exceptional regardless of the server we selected from the “for torrenting” list.

Recommended Apps

We wanted to recommend a few CyberGhost VPN apps we found interesting and useful.

Mobile app

Be honest, do you go anywhere without your phone? We google, stream, and pay our bills on these little devices. Just imagine if all the vulnerable information you carry around with you got stolen by hackers while you’re browsing the net on your phone. Instead of worrying about phone hacking, just take the necessary precautions and protect yourself.

Your Ghostie account grants you access to high-quality VPN protection for your mobile phone. The customization of this app is slightly reduced, but we don’t necessarily find that to be a bad thing. After all, when you’re on the go, you don’t want to spend an entire hour configuring a single app. 

One of the things we love about the CyberGhost mobile app is that it allows you to decide which apps on your phone use the VPN and which don’t. We’re also impressed with how well-organized it is. Tabs for streaming-friendly servers and your favorite locations are positioned at the very top of the screen, sparing you the effort of having to look for them manually.

Fire Stick and Fire TV

CyberGhost reviews rarely focus on Fire Stick and Fire TV, but it’s worth noting that Amazon’s products are another area where this software shines. Where some VPNs require complicated workarounds, CyberGhost was custom-made for the Fire Stick and Fire TV. We found this noteworthy and potentially relevant to all readers outside of the United States who are curious about Amazon Prime’s content.

Gaming Consoles

Privacy, availability, and speed are just some of the benefits of using VPN services while gaming. 

Over the past couple of years, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have become far too common. Because of this, many gamers have opted for a Cyberghost subscription, knowing that spending a few dollars on VPN protection is likely to pay off at some point.

If you’re a video game enthusiast, you’re aware that the cost of certain games can vary depending on the country you’re in. Not only that, but some games might not even be available to you because of your location. As a Ghostie, you can forget about those limitations and enjoy any game anywhere without overpaying. Just be careful if you’re buying Steam games, as Steam has been known to ban people trying to get around regional pricing through VPN.

Customer Support

If you have a question, CyberGhost’s help center will most likely have the answer. Unfortunately, as several CyberGhost VPN reviews have pointed out, some of the answers might be out of date. After confirming, we set out to see if CyberGhost makes up for this with quality live support, and we were not disappointed.

There are two ways to contact the customer support team: live chat and email. The reply to our live chat inquiry came quickly, and the advice we received was detailed yet easy to understand.

For the sake of faster email response times, CyberGhost has several email addresses that are assigned to different departments. To find them, all you have to do is look at the contact page on cyberghost.com.

Pricing 

If you’re scouring the internet to find the most inexpensive VPN, you can end your search right here. Considering everything we’ve discussed so far, we can freely conclude that CyberGhost offers superb value for your money. 

You can pay via credit card, PayPal, or even cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is included as a payment method for users that wish to remain as anonymous as possible. 

All pricing packages include protection for up to seven devices and 24/7 live customer support, along with no restrictions regarding server access and platform availability. Excluding the cheapest plan, you also receive a one-time license for the PC repair tool Restoro and the option of connecting to NoSpy servers (servers that are even more private, faster, and with extended bandwidth).

CyberGhost pricing plans follow a simple rule: the longer your subscription, the lower your monthly cost.

Discounts and Free Options

Using the internet is a big part of student life. So is living on a budget. CyberGhost is aware of that. That’s why it gives out discounts to all of its student Ghosties.

Students aren’t the only demographic CyberGhost deems worthy of special treatment. Journalists and members of NGOs or other organizations advocating for internet freedom and security also qualify to receive a free CyberGhost VPN.

Before committing to a CyberGhost VPN pricing plan, you can try it out by downloading a one-day trial. The trial is an excellent representation of the possibilities that lay a payment away. You will have to deal with a single inconvenience during your trial  – a pop-up window will occasionally appear, informing you that there are no free user slots and that you have to wait to connect to a specific server.

If you aren’t satisfied with a one-day trial, you can extend it by recommending CyberGhost to your friends. Note that paying users can take advantage of this deal too. For every friend who uses the invite, both of you gain 30 free days. 

Money-back Guarantee

To get a CyberGhost refund, you just have to apply for it within a 14- or 45-day period, depending on the package you’ve signed up for. When it comes to money-back guarantees, CyberGhost has a no-questions-asked policy, which means you needn’t worry about a pushy sales representative nagging you to reconsider.

Final Impressions

Affordable prices and numerous features are what we like to see on any top 10 VPN list. And that is undoubtedly what places CyberGhost on almost every single one. The free trial could be longer, and the help center could use some attention, but few competitors can rival CyberGhost’s money-to-quality ratio in a direct VPN comparison.