AirVPN Review

In all our years of dealing with VPNs, we have seen a relatively small number of VPNs that provide as much features and options as the Italian AirVPN. They proudly state that they were set up by “hacktivists and activists,” which guarantees that you’ll enjoy top-notch privacy whichever way you look at it. They also offer state of the art encryption and security measures while also providing fantastic features that further enhance your privacy (VPN over SSL and VPN through Tor, for instance). It’s certainly one of the fastest and most stable VPN services out there and yet their subscription renewal rates stand pretty low – it seems that many people try their services but come to dislike them in time. Why? We have no idea. Read this AirVPN review to learn more.

Interface

Although the instructions and explanations AirVPN offers are usually too technical for most users to understand, setting up the software is not that complicated, so we believe you should be able to do it rather easily and quickly. The instructions include useful screenshots, which can be of great help in case you find that the text instructions are not that easy to follow.

The client itself is appealing to the eye and as simple as you need it to be. You should have absolutely no problem switching between servers, navigating through the menus, and accessing the most important features. If you are an advanced user, you may be happy to learn that AirVPN’s Eddie client brings you an incredible amount of information on each server.

Performance And Reliability

Although it is based in Italy, AirVPN offers multiple servers in 19 different countries. There are servers in Europe, the US, Canada, and Hong Kong. This might not seem like a lot, but it does cover the most popular locations.

The funny thing about AirVPN is that it supports OpenVPN and nothing else. Hacktivists that they are, they regard PPTP and even L2TP/IPsec as too insecure. While IPSec is one of the most secure protocols, OpenVPN is definitely the winner. It is also considered the best VPN protocol available for commercial use up to date. Seeing as OpenVPN is now able to run on all major platforms, this is unlikely to be a problem for most users (unless you have a Blackberry or Windows Mobile, in which case you’re out of luck).

Multi-Platform

In addition to their Eddie desktop client, AirVPN provides set-up instructions for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. It also supports various routers, including DD-WRT, Tomato, AsusWRT, pfSense, and TOR. The services available are flawless – we have tested their OpenVPN for Android while doing research for this AirVPN review and couldn’t complain about a single thing. The app quickly reconnects when the device moves between routers or switches from mobile to WiFi connections and there are absolutely no DNS leaks.

Features

As we have mentioned before in this AirVPN review, this company offers strong encryption, it is compatible with a rather wide range of platforms and operating systems, and it can be used on up to 5 devices at the same time. AirVPN ensures complete anonymity with strong encryption and Perfect Forward Secrecy, shared IP addresses, and zero-logs policy. It also offers you the possibility to pay using BitCoin, so you never have to share any of your personal data.

It features DNS leak protection and the Android version can act as a killswitch, which is rather useful. It also protects you from WebRTC and IPv6 leaks and Logjam hacker attacks. You get to enjoy unlimited bandwidth and unlimited server switches. There are no maximum speed limits while the minimum speed limit is 4 Mbit per second for both download and upload (worst case scenario). Unlike some other VPN services, AirVPN allows P2P sharing. This is sure to make torrent users very happy, as there are absolutely no limitations in terms of sharing data between peers.

All in all, AirVPN offers an incredible range of features you are unlikely to find in other services of this kind. It ensures absolute protection and anonymity, with its only downside being the fact that the technical language they use in their instructions and explanations may be difficult to understand, especially if you are a first-time user.

Security And Privacy

AirVPN does not keep any logs and only offers shared IP addresses, which guarantees the highest level of privacy. Due to the fact that it only supports OpenVPN, AirVPN implements Perfect Forward Secrecy, which maximizes the security of OpenVPN, and uses 4096-bit Diffie-Hellman keys, refreshed hourly. Furthermore, AirVPN uses AES-256 cipher with SHA-1 HMAC authentication for its data channels. Control channels are encrypted via AES-256 GCM and CBC with SHA-384 HMAC and SHA-1 HMAC respectively.

Thanks to all this, AirVPN is virtually immune to pretty much everything. It protects you from the latest and most advanced hacker attacks, including the recently discovered Logjam attacks. Unlike many other VPN services, it is immune to the recent “port fail” vulnerability, thanks to its use of separate entry and exit IP addresses on each of their VPN servers. On top of that, AirVPN is also able to protect its users against the WebRTC bug.

Support

When it comes to technical support, AirVPN provides support through email and forums. If you choose to contact them via email, you can expect a detailed answer to your question in less than 24 hours. The staff is highly professional and made up of experts who can help you resolve any issue. If you have used a VPN before, you probably know that this is not the case with most VPN services out there, whose support teams often lack the necessary knowledge.

As far as the forums are concerned, although they offer a wealth of information, they are not too likely to be of use to beginners. The discussions are filled with advanced tech talk, making them hard for beginners to follow.

Pricing Options

You can get AirVPN for around $8.3 per month, although you should know that the usual discounts apply for bulk purchases, which means you’ll pay only around $5.9 per month if you opt for a 3-month or a 6-month subscription, or around $5.3 per month with an annual subscription. You can also order a 3-day free trial and you can buy a 3-day subscription for $1.2 if you’re impatient. The main currency on their website is Euro, so keep in mind that the prices you pay may be slightly different from the ones shown here, due to exchange rate fluctuations.

AirVPN Pros & Cons

As we wrap up this AirVPN review, here’s a quick overview of the features that wowed us and the aspects of the service that could use some improvement.