PrivadoVPN
Iceland-based VPN known for an unusually generous free tier and cheap long-term plans, but with no published independent audit.
privadovpn.com ↗- Jurisdiction
- Iceland
- Founded
- 2019
- Owner
- Privado Networks ehf. (Iceland)
- Best price
- $1.11/mo
- Devices
- 10
- Free tier
- Yes
Best for
- · Budget users wanting a low-cost long-term VPN
- · People who need a capable free VPN for light/occasional use
- · Streaming and general privacy on multiple devices
- · Casual torrenting/P2P
Not ideal for
- · Threat models requiring independently audited, court-proven no-logs guarantees
- · Users who need open-source clients or a native Linux GUI
- · Anyone needing port forwarding or multihop
- · Fully anonymous signup (email is required)
Strengths
- ✓Genuinely useful free tier (10 GB per 30 days, full AES-256, kill switch, split tunneling, P2P, one device)
- ✓Very cheap long-term plans (around $1.11/month on the 2-year plan) with 10 simultaneous connections
- ✓Privacy-friendly jurisdiction after 2026 move to Iceland (outside 5/9/14 Eyes and EU data-retention rules)
- ✓Solid core feature set: WireGuard/OpenVPN/IKEv2, own DNS, kill switch, split tunneling, OpenVPN 'Scramble' obfuscation, and reliable Netflix unblocking
Weaknesses
- ✗No published independent no-logs or security audit, no transparency report, and no warrant canary
- ✗Never court-tested by a documented seizure or subpoena, so the no-logs claim is unverified
- ✗Closed-source apps and no native Linux GUI (manual/CLI setup only)
- ✗Retains some account-level metadata (bandwidth, billing records, diagnostics) and lacks advanced privacy features like multihop and port forwarding
Protocols & encryption
The tunnelling protocols this service offers and the cryptography behind them.
WireGuard
ModernA modern, lean protocol (~4,000 lines of code) that is fast and easy to audit. Its cryptography is fixed and state-of-the-art, with no weak options to misconfigure.
- Data cipher
- ChaCha20-Poly1305
- Key exchange
- Curve25519 (ECDH)
- Integrity
- BLAKE2s
OpenVPN
TrustedThe mature, widely-trusted open-source standard. Flexible and heavily audited over two decades, though slower than WireGuard.
- Data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Key exchange
- RSA-4096 / ECDH
- Integrity
- SHA-256 / SHA-512 HMAC
IKEv2 / IPsec
TrustedA fast, stable protocol that reconnects quickly when you change networks, so it is popular on mobile. Built natively into most operating systems.
- Data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Key exchange
- Diffie-Hellman (ECP)
- Integrity
- SHA-256 / SHA-384
- Stated data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Stated handshake
- unknown
- Perfect forward secrecy
- Yes
- Post-quantum resistant
- No
- RAM-only servers
- Unknown
- Kill switch
- Yes
- First-party DNS (leak protection)
- Yes
- IPv6
- Unknown
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
| Based in | Iceland |
| Eyes alliance | Outside 5/9/14 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | Privado Networks ehf. (Iceland) |
| Conglomerate | n/a |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | None kept |
| Bandwidth | Some |
| Source IP address | None kept |
Markets a 'zero-log' policy: per its Privacy Policy (eff. 1 May 2026) it does not retain browsing history, traffic destination, data content, VPN-session IP logs, or DNS queries. It does keep account data (email, username, hashed password; ~30 days post-deletion), payment/billing records (kept ~7 years under Icelandic bookkeeping law), and aggregate per-account/plan bandwidth counters, plus self-hosted Sentry crash reports (~1 yr) and anonymous aggregate app statistics. Independent reviewers (Top10VPN) note the account/bandwidth metadata means this is 'not a no-logs privacy policy' in the strictest sense, and the claim is unaudited. No connection-timestamp retention is described in the policy, so 'timestamps: none' is inferred rather than explicitly stated.
| Anonymous signup | No |
| Accepts cash | Unknown |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Unknown |
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | n/a |
| Multi-hop | No |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Unknown |
| Port forwarding | No |
| P2P / torrenting | Yes |
| IPv6 | Unknown |
| Data cipher | AES-256-GCM |
| Handshake | unknown |
| Open-source clients | No |
| Independent audits | None |
| Transparency report | No |
| Court / seizure-tested | Untested |
No documented server seizure, raid, or subpoena has tested the no-logs claim; no warrant canary. No published independent no-logs or security audit as of June 2026 (confirmed by Top10VPN, vpnMentor, Security.org and PCMag/Wikipedia).
| Simultaneous devices | 10 |
| Countries | 50 |
| Servers | 500 |
| Linux support | CLI / config |
| Month-to-month | $10.99 |
| Best $/mo | $1.11 |
| On plan | 24 months |
| Free trial | None |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | Unknown |
Founded 2019 as Privado Networks (originally Zug, Switzerland). In early 2026 it relocated its legal home/data controller to Iceland (Privado Networks ehf., Garðabær near Reykjavík), citing Switzerland's proposed March 2025 OSCPT surveillance/data-retention amendment; new ToS/Privacy Policy effective 1 May 2026, with the Swiss AG and a Delaware LLC retained only as payment processors. Some official marketing pages remain stale: the No-Log feature page still says 'PrivadoVPN is based in Switzerland' and cites Swiss consumer-protection law, contradicting the Iceland legal entity. Server count (~500+) and ~50 countries (67 cities) are vendor/reviewer figures, not independently audited; Security.org confirms physical (not virtual) servers, so RAM-only is effectively absent but not vendor-stated. PrivadoVPN is bundled with Usenet brands (Newshosting, UsenetServer, Tweaknews, Easynews) and reportedly absorbed Newshosting's prior VPN; historically these shared WLVPN infrastructure. However, no source establishes a single named parent conglomerate that owns PrivadoVPN (Highwinds-era brands like IPVanish went to Ziff Davis, a separate lineage), so conglomerate is left blank. Crypto is accepted via BitPay (BTC/ETH/LTC and others). AES-256-GCM is standard for its WireGuard/OpenVPN here, but the exact handshake/key-exchange details were not verified.
Sources
- PrivadoVPN Privacy Policy (data controller: Privado Networks ehf., Iceland; eff. 1 May 2026; logging/retention detail) ↗
- PrivadoVPN official Pricing page ($10.99/mo; 24-mo $1.11/mo; free 10GB/30d; 30-day money-back; 10 connections) ↗
- PrivadoVPN No-Log VPN feature page (STALE: still references Switzerland and Swiss consumer-protection law) ↗
- TechRadar: PrivadoVPN's new Terms of Service make its move from Switzerland to Iceland official ↗
- TechRadar: 'Our users deserve better' – PrivadoVPN set to leave Switzerland on privacy grounds ↗
- Top10VPN PrivadoVPN review (logging is 'not a no-logs policy'; no audit/transparency report/warrant canary; never court-tested; closed-source; Iceland no Eyes; independent ownership) ↗
- vpnMentor PrivadoVPN review (Scramble obfuscation; no port forwarding; no third-party audit; PayPal/cards/crypto BTC-ETH-LTC; free 10GB/1 device) ↗
- Security.org PrivadoVPN review (hundreds of physical servers in 50 countries; IKEv2/OpenVPN/WireGuard; no IP logging; unaudited) ↗
- VPNCompare PrivadoVPN review (Iceland move + Privado Networks ehf.; BitPay crypto; CLI-only Linux; 50 countries/67 cities; free-tier features; no public audit) ↗
- Wikipedia: PrivadoVPN (released 2019; operates under Iceland law as of 1 May 2026; PCMag noted no third-party audit) ↗
Last verified 2026-06-17. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.