ActiVPN Review 2024: Main Features Overview, Competitors, Installation
ActiVPN is a fast, easy and secure VPN which offers a number of benefits to their users. The VPN service, which was launched way back in 2011, is one of the fastest-developing VPNs at this moment and despite having a relatively tiny server pool, the VPN service provider has been able to offer a seamlessly anonymous browsing experience to their users worldwide. The VPN is registered in France, and is considered an ideal choice for gamers worldwide. The VPN, which was launched in Finland, has all the qualities for being in the same league as the top players in the VPN market. Here’s why ActiVPN might be your automatic choice for browsing the web anonymously.
| Location | France |
| No-log policy |  |
| Hiding IP | |
| Kill-switch | |
| Max connections | 5 |
| Total servers | 66 |
| Total countries | 32 |
| Compatible devices | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android smartphone, tablet and routers |
| TOR support | |
| Torrenting | |
| Netflix | |
| Does it work in China? | |
| Servers’ speed (overall) | Fast |
| Usability | Easy to use |
| Customer support | Ticket and email-based and chatbot support (along with setup guides, knowledge base, FAQs and one Reddit forum) |
| Website | https://activpn.com |
ActiVPN, developed by Privanet Securities Limited, was launched in 2011 in Finland. As of now, the VPN service is registered as a business entity in France. ActiVPN is a relatively new company, but it has been fast expanding since its inception and has been able to place 61 servers across different locations in 32 countries. The biggest plus of ActiVPN is its “low ping”, which makes it a natural choice for real-time virtual gamers. Although they state on their website that they don’t keep logs, in reality, the VPN does not allow illegal activities on the web. They use AES-CBC 256 encryption (PKI RSA 2048 bits), which is a decent encryption standard to rely on. Also, the AdBlocker that comes with the paid subscription plans block pop-ups and banners quite efficiently, which is one of the many reasons I liked this particular VPN.
Fortunately, the tiny server park of ActiVPN is under continuous expansion and each of the servers is optimized for anonymous browsing and P2P sharing activities. Their official website provides a fuller picture of their entire server part and you can find detailed information on each of the servers by visiting their website. At present, the VPN service provider has servers in United States of America, Spain, France, Japan, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Cuba, Germany, Romania, England, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Switzerland, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Algeria, Hong-Kong, Israel, India, Morocco, Mexico, Panama, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, South Africa, and Singapore.
While their server park is still small, some of the locations are really rare even for the top-rated VPNs. The service is considerably fast and secure and the desktop client is easy to install and launch. Read on to know more about ActiVPN’s logging policy, supported devices, installation plus much more.
ActiVPN Logging Policy
“We DO NOT keep any record of your browsing activities, connection logs, records of the VPN IPs assigned to you, your original IPs, your connection time, the history of your browsing, the sites you visited, your outgoing traffic, the content or data you accessed, or the DNS queries generated by you.
We want you to have the surety of knowing that we collect minimal data, the sole purpose of which is to operate our VPN service and keep it running smoothly. Our systems, processes, and servers are designed to not keep any sensitive/personally identifiable data. This is done by design to ensure that we have NO data to share, even when required by law to do so.”
ActiVPN clearly states on their website that they do not keep a track of your browsing activities, your connection logs, and even the new IPs assigned to you, not to mention your browsing history, your log-in and log-out time and the data or sites you access. The company only collects your email address and information about the payment method you used during sign-up. Since the VPN falls under the jurisdiction of France, it falls under EU data protection law General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 too, which means the company is legally bound to share your details with the concerned authorities if need be. However, since they do not collect sensitive information, there’s nothing to worry about as long as you are not doing anything illegal on the web. Remember that the company strongly advises against taking part in illegal activities online.
Is It Compatible With TOR Browser?
To secure a little more anonymity online, you can always pair a TOR browser with a VPN, besides clearing the DNS cache in your system registers permanently. Unfortunately, as an ActiVPN user, you need to religiously adhere to their Policy Of Use, and your account may get suspended if you perform illegal activities using the VPN. It is strictly prohibited to connect to the VPN service from a TOR browser exit node and if you face legal consequences, they might suspend your account for an indefinite period. Therefore, it’s best not to use ActiVPN with TOR browser.
Is Torrenting Allowed?
ActiVPN, however, does not restrict P2P sharing and torrenting. You can use Bittorrent as the torrent client. Therefore, if you want to share or download files via Bittorrent client, you can do that easily through any of their VPN servers.
Can You Access Netflix with ActiVPN?
With an active ActiVPN subscription, you can access all the top streaming sites and watch movies and videos of your choice and the list doesn’t just end at Netflix. Although not many VPNs would allow you to watch Netflix, apparently, ActiVPN still manages to allow access to all the top video streaming services, including Netflix, Pandora, ABC Player, Hulu, Amazon Prime, CBS, Dramafever, NBC, HBO, Fox, NFL, MTV, Spotify, MLB, Deezer, Rara, RTVNH, RTL, Sport1, Film1, Canal+, Arte, TF1, M6, Zattoo, as well as D8. The VPN allows unlimited switching of servers, and you should be able to unblock Netflix local content in US, France and Netherlands.
Does It Work In China?
The Chinese government uses sophisticated technology to block various sites and streaming services such as Facebook, Twitter, The NY Times, and even Instagram. Due to heavy and active blocking of VPNs by the Chinese government, it’s almost impossible to bypass the Great Chinese Firewall. However, some VPN solution providers have found a workaround for this curtain ban by the Chinese government and ActiVPN happens to be a member of this elite club of VPNs, despite being a much younger and smaller service. One of their servers is in Hong Kong, which still has free internet and liberal censorship laws, despite being a territory of China. Using their Hong Kong server, you can easily access the blocked websites in China.
To dig deeper into trending topics, Google Trends is the best tool to utilize and it is considered a treasure trove for search marketers worldwide. I decided to search with the keyword “ActiVPN” to gauge the overall interest level around the specific search term and the brand name wordwide for the last 5 years (2019-2024), but it seems ActiVPN is not a popular search term just as yet. The Big G not having enough search data for a specific search term means that not too many people look up the web for the search term or brand name. I think their search marketing team has a lot to work on in the coming years.
I found ActiVPN not very popular among users, there are no much talks about this VPN service on social media, forums and other sources. Nethertheless I tried to compare it with the nearest competitors (in it search range of course) such as HideIPVPN and SaferVPN. The last one shows better results than the two competitors – ActiVPN and HideIPVPN. On the other hand, I found ActiVPN a bit more popular than HideIPVPN according to the search trends.
Many people invest in VPNs just to access the popular social media sites in countries where these sites cannot be accessed otherwise. Like all good VPNs, ActiVPN also allows its subscribers to access Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and other social media websites without a snag. No matter where you are, you can instantly connect to one of their servers and access the social media sites of your choice almost instantly.
ActiVPN implies zero limitations on speed or bandwidth, which is one of the perks of using this VPN. It’s a low ping VPN, which means that the developers have carefully calibrated their efforts to remove the jitter and reduce the response time. If you use a lot of real time applications, such as massive multiplayer online games, do video chat and use Voice over IP, ActiVPN would perfectly fit the bill for you. It’s also uses anti-DDOS protection for authenticating traffic at the network level and for deflecting DDoS traffic at the network layer. You can play high-quality videos and stream videos in high quality with zero lags or hits.
ActiVPN is compatible with all the major platforms, such as Windows 7, Windows XP, Mac OS X, Linux, iPad, iPhone and android devices. You can also download and install it on gaming consoles and Smart TVs using DD-WRT routers. Although they do not provide a custom client for each of the device supported, you can avail step-by-step instructions on how to configure the VPN client on different devices. All the relevant information can be found on the main page of their website, which is a big plus for ordinary users. Also, ActiVPN offers information on their services in nine major languages including English and French. The desktop application is extremely easy to use and navigate through.
ActiVPN customer support options are severely limited, and they don’t even have a live chat option on the site. I was actually looking forward to chatting with a support executive to test how good they are at responding to customer queries, but I was disheartened to see that they don’t have that option in the first place. In fact, their customer support system is pretty old school. You have to click on the ‘contact us’ tab and write your query, fill in some information and send them the query using an online form. They promise to get back to each customer within two business days, which is definitely not the most convenient option for the average user. Their average response time, however, is 0 to 34 minutes and special circumstances might affect this average turnaround. With that being said, the absence of a live chat is totally unjustified, especially in a day and age when even the newest players in the VPN market consider it as a bare minimum. Also, if you have the patience, you can browse through their FAQ section which contains a few helpful articles.
1 Month
€9 /month- Billed 9 euro every month
2 Years
€2 /month- Save 78%
- Billed 54.99 euro every 24 months
1 Year
€3 /month- Save 67%
- Billed 39.99 euro every 12 months
The smallest ActiVPN plan, the monthly one, is actually the costliest plan to go for. To get the VPN license for five devices for one month, you have to shell out 9 Euro (equivalent to 10.20 USD). The one-year plan would set you back for 3 Euro per month (billed as 39.99 Euro or roughly 45.34 USD for full one year), which means you can technically save 67% if you go for the yearly plan. The two-year plan guarantees maximum saving as you just need to pay 54.99 Euro (or 62.34 USD) for buying the two-year subscription. ActiVPN payment gateway is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and your payment information will remain completely secure. You can also pay via Bitcoin, aside from credit cards and debit cards.
ActiVPN offers nearly everything that you would normally expect from a top-notch VPN such as Tor Guard or Adguard VPN. However, they don’t offer a free trial and there’s no way you can get a brief idea about the actual user experience since they do not have an active user forum or community. Their logging policy is rather sketchy, and there is not much information on the supported protocols. The server park, despite being small, can be highly useful for some users, as they have placed their servers quite strategically and there are a few rare locations/countries on their list too. The best part is that they run up-to-date VPN protocols for encrypting your traffic, which is possibly the biggest plus of this VPN. However, since they offer no free trial or guarantee a refund, you should carefully read user reviews before choosing this widely trusted VPN.
