CyberGhost VPN 2020 for Windows — Review & Test

81%

81%

Very Good

CyberGhost VPN is a solid VPN solution with advanced security features and comprehensive server list (60+ countries) and very well structured user interface.

Performance is quite decent and download/upload speeds are OK with some exceptions.

Priced at $11.99 per month is quite expensive, but you can get as low as to $2.75 with the 18-month subscription (billed $49.5) which is a great price.

• Features

  9
• Price

  7
• User Interface

  10
• Server Locations

  7
• Performance

  7
• Privacy Policy

  8
• Customer Support

  9
• User Ratings (4 Votes)
  5.5

With around 7 years of experience in the market, CyberGhost is well established in the VPN industry. CyberGhost is a Romanian-made VPN software with high built-in security features available on multiple operating systems, including Windows, iOS, Android, Mac, and routers.  Currently, CyberGhost secures and anonymizes the online presence of over 20 million users worldwide.

CyberGhost is focusing solely on VPN services and offers a multi-platform solution for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS devices, Kodi, Fire Stick and Android TV. You can also set up a custom VPN connection on other devices like Routers, Chromebooks or Raspberry Pis.

The great perk is that with a single CyberGhost subscription you can cover up to 7 simultaneous connections. Other vendors typically offer around 5 connections with some exceptions like IPVanish 10 or Windscribe VPN even unlimited.

When it comes to features CyberGhost is definitely the top tier of the VPN solutions. You can connect to more 3000+ servers in 60 countries. Your connection will be protected by OpenVPN protocol using 256-bit AES Encryption. And you will also get Automatic Kill Switch and DNS/IP Leak Protection. See the detailed features overview at the end of our review.

CyberGhost is quite pricey if you are looking for a monthly subscription. You will pay $11.99 per month which is basically the same price as for our most recommended VPN NordVPN. But if you are willing to invest a little bit more and get a longer subscription, you may save up to 77% with the 18-month subscription for $49.5 which is only $2.75 per month. That's a really good deal!

Or you can get a free 24 hours trial with no limitations.

Also, worth mentioning CyberGhost is supporting online freedom and fighting censorship in non-democratic countries by providing their services for free organizations that support research for journalists and access to the free Internet. Learn more about the CyberGhost Freedom program.

Overall CyberGhost is a great product with a straight-forward user interface. If you use VPN for specific actions like watching Netflix, BBC iPlayer or downloading torrents it may be the right product for you.

CyberGhost VPN Free Trial Download

As we mentioned you can try CyberGhost VPN completely for free for 24 hours with no limitations and no credit card is required.

How to get CyberGhost VPN Free Trial

Don't worry, it's just a little bit tricky, but far from complicated.

1. 1. Click this link Get Free VPN Trial
   2. Find & click the link “Or try it for free for 24h” below the main button
   3. Create an account and enjoy the Free Trial ?

The trial comes with no restrictions and works just like the full version.

Pricing & Discounts – How much does CyberGhost VPN cost?

CyberGhost VPN starts at $11.99 per month. If you decide to buy a longer subscription, you may get as low as to $2.75 per month with the 18-month plan (billed as $49.5). That's a really good deal and if you are happy with the product, seize it!

There is also a 6-month plan for $4.99 which will cost you $29.94.

All purchases come with the 45-day money-back guarantee which is definitely the longest guarantee period we have seen so far. So if you are not happy with the product you've got a plenty of time to cancel the subscription and get the full amount back to your account.

User Interface – Is CyberGhost VPN easy to use?

CyberGhost made a huge step forward with the new version 7.  The user interface is extremely well structured. You can find all information and required actions quickly.  Also, the design is beautifully polished.

The app has two faces. One for quick access containing the “standard” ON/OFF switch and another one for more specific settings, where you can, for example, pick the desired server or add some smart connection rules.

There are two different profiles, each designed for a specific use case:

• For downloading – Designed for anonymous torrenting using a wide selection of P2P servers.
• For streaming – Optimized for an online streaming experience of popular services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime or YouTube Red.

CyberGhost is packed with a set of useful features:

• Block Ads – helps you to stop annoying ads, banners, popup and video ads.
• Block Malicious Websites – it will filter and block malicious websites.
• Block Online Tracking – hides your digital footprint on the internet.
• Automated HTTPS Redirect – force your connection to HTTPS for security reasons.
• Data Compression – compresses images so you can keep your data costs under control, especially handy for mobile users.
• Smart rules – this features lets you set up different connection behavior for specific wi-fi.

In settings, you can set up program behavior on the Windows startup, app language, exceptions, and proxy. Also, you can change the VPN protocol (OpenVPN, L2TP or IKEv2) which is great. In the Wi-Fi section, you can adjust settings (never protect vs. always protect) for each of the networks you are connecting to.

Overall we are really pleased with the user interface. This one definitely belongs among the best we have tested so far.

Server Locations & Countries – Where can you connect?

In terms of server locations, CyberGhost VPN is rather in the top of the market. It currently offers 3000+ servers in 60 countries around the world. That is basically what also NordVPN offers, but far behind Hide My Ass VPN (190 countries) or PureVPN (141 countries).

As we already mentioned you can easily filter servers, so you can see right away which support P2P connection for torrenting or which should be used for streaming.  You can also order them by most empty/crowded or distance. That's really handy.

The full list of locations includes:

• Africa – Kenya, South Africa
• Asia Pacific – Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam
• Europe – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Belarus, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Moldova, Macedonia, Netherlands
  Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine
• India – India
• Middle East – Israel, Pakistan
• North America – Canada, United States
• South America – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica

Overall the coverage is very good and you will find most of the common countries there. With one exception – Russia. Unfortunately, Russia is missing which is a shame and is likely related to the Russian ban on VPN services. Although, most of the VPN services we have tested so far do have servers in Russia.

Does CyberGhost VPN Support YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO, Amazon Prime & BBC?

Yes, CyberGhost VPN does support all the major streaming sites (see the list below). Best way to access them is using the special category for streaming called For streaming which you will find on the left side in the expanded mode.

It's really easy, the only thing you have to do is to choose the right category and then select the server specifically optimized server for the service you need.

You can choose between following optimized servers for streaming:

• ?? United States – Unblocks Netflix, Hulu, Sky, Youtube, Crunchyroll, Youtube Red, MTV, ESPN, Pandora, FoX, CBS, Spotify and NBC
• ?? United Kingdom – Unblocks BBC – iPlayer, Sky, Netflix, BBC One Live, ITV, BBC Two Live, Eurosport and Channel 4
• ?? Germany – Unblocks Netflix, Youtube, ZDF, ARD, 7TV, Central, Sky.go and Zattoo
• ?? France – Unblocks Netflix, TF1, RTL, Radio France, RMC, Canal+ and Europe 1
• ?? Finland – Unblocks Yle
• ?? Brazil – Unblocks Globo, Sportv and Fox Sport
• ?? Spain – Unblocks Mediaset
• ?? Romania – Unblocks Telegram

Performance & Internet Connection Speed Test

In terms of performance CyberGhost VPN is quite good, but only when it comes to download and upload speeds. Unfortunately, pings seem to be a bit higher in some locations (e.g. the United States, Australia, and Brazil) which makes the interaction slower. Could be also because of the high user load which was more than 60% during our testing (other servers were around 30%).

Tested using a Windows app Speedtest by Ookla.

Customer Support

CyberGhost VPN offers several customer care channels. Probably the best one is the 24/7 online chat accessible through their website.

We have tested it and the agent was really helpful, fast and polite. However, he knew we were using Windows 10 machine – we'll get to this later in the Privacy section below.

Besides the online chat, you can always submit a support ticket, read one of the guides or FAQs. As with most of the VPN vendors, there is no phone number you could call.

We have also found this e-mail address support@cyberghost.ro, but not sure about the response time.

Privacy Policy & EULA – What kind of information is CyberGhost VPN collecting?

CyberGhost is claiming strict no logs policy. Reading through their Privacy Policy it looks true, but there are few areas to which you should pay attention. The beginning though sounds really good and makes sense:

“when using the CyberGhost VPN, the user's traffic data such as browsing history, traffic destination, data content and search preferences are not monitored, recorded, logged or stored”

“we don't have any logs tied to your IP address, connection timestamp or session duration”

CyberGhost collects personal data related to your account (name, address, e-mail address, username, and payment information) which is quite standard. However, they also collect IP address (captured and stored in an anonymized format), location (country only) and other transactional information.

Besides personal data, there are also non-personal data. These are being collected and may be also stored. It includes browser, mobile/desktop device, general properties, and metadata, OS version, preferred language, the date and time of your visit, the referring website. So that's probably how they knew we were using Windows 10 during the online chat.

Per the claim in the privacy policy, the personal data and non-personal data can't be linked together.

On the website, CyberGhost is using quite many third-party tools including Google Analytics, Facebook, Bing, Hotjar, Omniconvert and MixPanel for analytics/optimization. ZenDesk for online chat. All these are storing cookies in your browser. Also, they allow third-party behavioral tracking.

For payments collection, CyberGhost is working with Cleverbridge, PayPal, and Stripe.

“We may disclose your Personal Data to any member of our group of companies (this means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and all its subsidiaries)“

Besides, that CyberGhost will disclose your personal data when they receive a valid claim from the law enforcement. They used to be disclosing the number of request in the Transparency Report.

Jurisdiction wise company is located in Romania under entity Cyberghost S.A. CyberGhost is owned by KAPE PLC (ex. Crossrider) registered in London, United Kingdom and has roots to Israel.

Overall the most important thing is that CyberGhost doesn't log any traffic or other data during the VPN session. They had only one privacy issue in the past which was fixed with the new version 7.

To learn more about CyberGhost VPN privacy read their Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Transparency Report.

Conclusion – Is CyberGhost VPN worth $11.99 per month?

CyberGhost VPN is definitely a solid VPN solution with advanced security features (Kill Switch, DNS/IP Leak Protection, multiple VPN protocols) and great user interface. It's suitable for beginners but also for advanced users. It offers comprehensive server list (60+ countries) and works with tons of streaming services (Netflix, BBC iPlayer etc.) but doesn't have any servers in Russia.

Performance is quite decent and download/upload speeds are good with exception of servers in the United States and Brazil. The big advantage is the 24/7 online chat with helpful staff.

Privacy-wise CyberGhost is a big advocate of strict no logging policy. Although they actually do log some of your personal data and non-personal data. On top of that, they are using too many of the third party provider on their website (Google Analytics, Hotjar, Omniconvert, Facebook pixel, MixPanel, ZenDesk, Cleverbridge).

If you are looking for a use case specific VPN, CyberGhost is definitely a good option for streaming or torrenting.  CyberGhost currently offers 1-year licenses with extra 6 months for free for $49.5 ($2.75 p/m). That’s a really good deal so if you like the product, go for it!

Doesn't suit your needs? See also our list of top 5 best VPN providers for Windows PC.

Appendix – Detailed Features Overview

Protocols	OpenVPN, L2TP-IPsec, PPTP
Encryption	AES-256
Store Logs	No
Server Locations	60 Countries
P2P Connections	Yes
Simultaneous Connections	7
IP Addresses	Unknown
Compatibility	Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, Routers, Kodi, Fire Stick and Android TV
Kill Switch	Yes
Customer Support	FAQs, Ticket, Live Chat
Price for 1 Month	$11.99
Price for 1 Year (+6 Months for Free)	$49.5
Accepts Bitcoins	Yes
Free Trial	24 hours
Money-back Guarantee	Yes (45 Days)