Astrill VPN Review

Premium Quality VPN Run by True Experts

The Seychelles-based VPN service took the industry by storm when it was first launched. It offered in-house software made and run by cryptographers, security experts, network engineers, and senior programmers. Our research for this Astrill VPN review further revealed that the VPN service is among the most stable and reliable ones in the industry. But what makes Astrill VPN stand out from the rest? Let’s find out.

Security and Privacy Features

Let’s start with the most crucial aspect of any VPN service — security and privacy. Astrill VPN offers many advanced features that will keep you safe every step of the way while making sure your online activities remain private.

Smart Mode

We’re kicking off this Astrill VPN review in earnest with the Smart Mode feature. Unlike most VPN services that assign you a foreign IP address, Astrill VPN lets you use the internet with regional IP addresses. That means your internet speeds will be fast enough, while your personal IP address will stay hidden to protect your privacy. In other words, there will be no signs that you are using VPN. That is the reason why you can also use Astrill VPN in China.

Kill Switch

Regardless of how stable the VPN connection is, it can still fail. That is why almost all VPN services now offer the kill switch feature that will stop internet traffic and prevent data leaks until your VPN connection is reestablished. Astrill VPN reviews, however, pointed to some issues with this feature. Even though most of the time it works as intended, some users had reported that the kill switch failed to activate when they lost connection to the VPN server. Note that the kill switch is available only for Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you use Astrill VPN for Android or iOS, you will not be protected during a VPN connection drop.

VPN Sharing

Most Astrill VPN reviews claim that the service’s VPN sharing feature is among the top in the industry, and we couldn't agree more. Since not all devices are compatible with VPN software, you need an alternative way to protect your privacy. Astrill’s VPN sharing feature enables you to configure your network settings and automatically protect all your devices on your local network.

Port Forwarding

Also known as Port Mapping or Port Tunneling, this feature enables you to access an internet-enabled device or service from anywhere in the world. Astrill’s port forwarding lets you forward the traffic coming to the VPN’s IP and port combination and then redirect it to your own connected device on the same port.

WireGuard Protocol

Unlike most protocols, which are either focused on security or speed, with WireGuard, you can enjoy both benefits in one place. Astrill VPN reviews confirm that the service’s WireGuard protocol offers lightning-fast connection speeds and state-of-art security.

Torrenting

While Astrill VPN does support torrenting, you need to connect to one of the few P2P-enabled servers to download content. This is not an ideal solution, but it is still better than some VPNs that completely block torrenting. For those of you looking to download torrents from time to time, Astrill VPN can be pretty useful. That said, if you are looking for a VPN specifically for torrenting, Astrill VPN reviews suggest that it is not the best option and that you might be better off with some other VPN services tailored to make your torrenting experience enjoyable.

To paint a better picture of why we wouldn’t recommend it, let’s compare Astrill VPN vs NordVPN. The former only has a handful of P2P-enabled servers, which means you have limited choices. This smaller network means that you might have to connect to farther away servers for torrenting, and with that, lose speed. On the other hand, Nord VPN has many torrenting-optimized servers worldwide, enabling faster download speeds just about anywhere.

Speeds

We tested the speeds of many VPN services for this Astrill VPN review, and we discovered that this is the area where the VPN service lacks compared to its alternatives. Even though Astrill VPN comes with WireGuard, a protocol known to boost speeds while keeping security high, it still lags behind some rivals.

That said, Astrill VPN did provide us with satisfactory speed results, and as long as you use it for browsing, it should be fast enough to keep up with your pace. In the battle of Astrill VPN vs ExpressVPN, however, the latter is the clear winner, outspeeding the rest of the services we tested.

Streaming

Our Astrill VPN review shows that this service manages to unblock all streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max. Moreover, the Astrill VPN Netflix solution is among the best in the industry, offering almost all libraries worldwide, not only the US one. On the flip side, it might take you some time to find a server that will do the job correctly. This is the reason why we’d recommend looking elsewhere if you want a VPN primarily for streaming.

Note that some Astrill VPN reviews suggest using the OpenWeb protocol for better success in unblocking the streaming platforms you want. The company suggests the StealthVPN protocol for streaming, but it seems that it would either take too long or be unsuccessful in finding a good server.

Device Compatibility

Even though the Astrill VPN server list is small, it still provides stable and reliable connections and decent speeds worldwide. The VPN service offers native apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and routers. The most popular Astrill VPN app is the one designed for Linux. Unfortunately, there is no Astrill VPN Chrome extension at the time of writing this Astrill VPN review, and we do not recommend using Astrill VPN on FireStick either. The reason for the latter is that Astrill VPN is not available on the Amazon App Store. That said, you can still download the app through third-party installers.

Astrill VPN allows only up to five simultaneous device connections, but this can be bypassed if you use the Astrill VPN routers setup. Once you configure your network settings, all your home devices can be protected through your WiFi.

Customer Support

Astrill VPN offers 24/7 email and live chat support, FAQ page, Astrill Wiki, and a massive collection of manuals and video tutorials. Moreover, their FAQ page is available in over 10 different languages. The customer support team has some of the fastest response times in the industry, confirmed by many Astrill VPN reviews. Whether you contact them via email or live chat, your question will be answered in short order.

Pricing

Astrill VPN offers a limited free version for Android and premium plans for personal and business use. There is also a 7-days free trial, but it is not available in all countries.

Astrill VPN Free

During our research, we found a free Astrill VPN app exclusively for Android users. It covers only one device, doesn’t allow protocol selection, and has a limited server count. Moreover, the free plan is unavailable in some countries, the same as the Astrill VPN free trial. We recommend contacting support for availability inquiries.

Astrill VPN Personal

In this section of our Astrill VPN review, we will take a closer look at the Personal plans. As we already mentioned, the Astrill VPN price is much higher than most of its alternatives. In fact, priced at $20/month, there’s no Astrill VPN alternative on the market with higher pricing for a monthly VPN plan. The long-term plans aren’t cheaper either, with the six-month and the one-year plans priced at $15/month (billed $90 every six months) and $10/month (billed $120 every 12 months), respectively. 

All Personal plans include 24/7 customer support, VPN servers in over 50 countries, unlimited bandwidth and server switches, and OpenVPN, StealthVPN, OpenWeb, and WireGuard protocols.

Astrill VPN Business

Lastly, in the pricing section of our Astrill VPN review is the business plan. The pricing depends on the number of accounts, starting with 10 users for $1,080/year to 200 users for $19,020/year. If you are looking for a business account, we recommend contacting support for more detailed pricing information.

The Business plans include 24/7 business support, VPN servers in over 50 countries, free 100 GB of data on VIP servers, and OpenVPN, StealthVPN, OpenWeb, and WireGuard protocols.

Our Verdict

What makes Astrill VPN stand out from the rest are a few advanced features, most notably the smart mode, which will mask your IP and help you avoid raising any suspicion that you are using a VPN service. It also comes with decent speeds, reliable connections, and full streaming support. On the other hand, our Astrill VPN review showed that the VPN service is costly, has a smaller server network, and has below-average speeds in some parts of the world. We still believe that the pros outweigh the cons and that Astrill VPN will keep you safe if you can afford it, especially if you are looking for a business VPN.