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CyberGhost offers great online privacy, thousands of servers with excellent international coverage, and feature-rich user-friendly software - all at a price that's hard to beat. With quick connection speeds to back everything up, anyone looking for a top-tier VPN provider need look no further.
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Pros
- Zero logging for maximum privacy
- Excellent server distribution with nearly 9700 servers in 100 countries
- Very fast connection speeds
- Works with US Netflix and BBC iPlayer
- Allows P2P torrenting
- Long 45-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Parent company with a questionable reputation
- Convoluted manual OpenVPN setup
- Doesn't work from China
Speed Tests
I’m never sure what sort of performance to expect from CyberGhost. Unlike just about every other VPN service, they have never been big about making fastest provider claims.
So could this be a quiet admission performance is not their strong suit? Well, not exactly.
With the notable exception of Australia, my CyberGhost speeds tests show their servers can more than hold their own. In fact, they’re currently one of the fastest VPN services around.
This didn’t always use to be the case.
CyberGhost did once have a reputation for being a bit of a slog. But, with recent work done to their software and some significant network upgrades, this is now one VPN provider to be reckoned with.
Before we talk specifics, please remember that I intentionally test with an internet connection that is much faster than what any VPN provider can match – hence the large discrepancy in speeds between the VPN and no VPN tests. I do so to get the best possible numbers for each server, ones that are not capped by my own internet’s speed limits.
In other words, the speeds you see are the maximums you can expect. Your actual results may be limited by your own connection.
So, if my test shows a speed of 100 Mbps and your internet can only reach 60 Mbps, somewhere in the 40 to 50 Mbps range is what you’ll likely get.
Performance Results
With the above mentioned exception of Australia, CyberGhost’s download speeds are consistently upwards of 80 Mbps, and often higher than 90 Mbps. For a consumer VPN, that’s very fast indeed.
And while the Australia result is far from breaking any records, performance is certainly good enough even for HD-quality streaming.
Uploads fare a little worse. But, for the most part, they’re still blazing.
Australia is again quite slow, as is North America – both the US and Canada. So, if upload performance in those regions matters to you, another provider may be in order (I again refer you to my fastest VPNs list and, more specifically, NordVPN).
For all other locations, CyberGhost delivers and then some.
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About CyberGhost VPN
CyberGhost has been around since 2011, which makes them one of the more established VPNs. As you can see in my review of the provider, they’re also one of the better ones.
Based out of Romania, they pride themselves on being big supporters of uncensored internet culture and freedom – a claim which they back by their excellent zero logging policy.
And with over 20 million users across the globe, CyberGhost is clearly doing plenty of things right.
Privacy and Security
Very few VPN providers do privacy as well as CyberGhost. Though their Privacy Policy is not the most accessible document – other VPNs do a much better job – once you struggle through it, you’ll find CyberGhost has committed to collecting no information whatsoever while you use their service. I quote:
- We do NOT know at any time which user ever accessed a particular website or service
- We do NOT know which user was connected to our CyberGhost VPN service at any given time or which CyberGhost VPN server IP they used
- We do NOT know the set of original IP addresses of a user’s computer
Unlike many other providers who claim zero logging, CyberGhost doesn’t even log any anonymous data. We’re talking about things like connection timestamps and duration or bandwidth usage, typically stored and used for network maintenance.
As already mentioned, CyberGhost calls Romania home. Since it’s a country widely regarded as very privacy friendly, that’s a good thing.
Despite being in the EU, Romania is not part of any intelligence sharing collaboration such as Five Eyes, Nine Eyes or Fourteen Eyes. This lack of cooperation means CyberGhost is out of the reach of the FBI, NSA, GCHQ and any other western intelligence agency you can think of (not that they collect data they can hand over in the first place).
During the signup process, the only piece of personal information required is an email address (and you can easily use a dummy account for this purpose). The service is payable for anonymously by using Bitcoin (though, of course, credit cards and PayPal are also accepted).
Encryption and Protocols
The encryption standards used by CyberGhost are as strong as they get.
By default, the client uses OpenVPN with an AES-256-CBC cipher and SHA256 hash authentication for the data channel, an AES-256 cipher, RSA-4096 key encryption and SHA384 hash authentication for the control channel, and ECDH-4096 key exchange for forward secrecy.
If you’re not sure what any of this means, the gist is you can be certain no one will be decrypting your data – we’re talking military grade encryption levels here.
OpenVPN is also a good default choice because of how fast it is.
Other supported protocols include L2TP/IPsec and PPTP.
My tests have also shown no DNS, IP or WebRTC leaks. These all appear to be effectively prevented by the client.
Features
All major platforms support the CyberGhost client software, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. While there is no specific software for these, CyberGhost is also easy to set up on Kodi, Linux, and many routers.
Feature-wise, everything you’d expect to be there is there, from a kill switch function to the ability to override DNS servers.
Other notable features include the ability to exclude specific website from using the VPN, random port selection, unsecured WiFi protection and split tunnelling. The latter can be very helpful if you want to squeeze even more performance out of CyberGhost’s already fast server network.
CyberGhost also expands beyond the realm of pure VPN functionality by offering an ad-blocker, malicious website protection, and data compression. I’m not sure how well it works in practice but in theory, the latter may be able to reduce your mobile data usage costs slightly.
All these features are off by default but are toggleable from the client with the click of a button.
My one pet-peeve with CyberGhost – and they’re not the only VPN provider to do this – is how drastically different the Windows and macOS clients are. The macOS client is also missing a couple of features, including split tunneling and WiFi protection.
Neither is a deal breaker, at least in my book, but it is something of which to be aware. On the flip side, I do actually find the Mac software a little less obtrusive and more intuitive to use.
Restrictions
CyberGhost’s service allows up to seven simultaneous connections. Every VPN provider has this type of restriction (mostly to protect their infrastructure from abuse), and the limit set by CyberGhost is one of the best around.
If you intend on using multiple devices at the same time, this is definitely something to consider.
P2P is allowed, but only on specific servers – clearly marked in the client – and there are no bandwidth or speed restrictions of any sort.
Customer Support
While I’ve heard mixed reviews about CyberGhost’s customer support, I have not had any issues with them.
Support can be reached 24/7 via live chat and is quick to respond. For more in-depth questions, there is also an email/ticketing system. Live chat is even available in German and French, though only during select times of the day.
CyberGhost VPN offers a substantial online knowledgebase. It includes installation and usage guides for all major platforms. There are also several troubleshooting sections as well as an FAQ.
If you’re thinking of taking the service for a test drive first, CyberGhost does offer an industry leading 45-day money back guarantee. That should give you plenty of time to evaluate and decide if this VPN is right for you.
Also, don’t forget to use one of CyberGhost’s coupon codes when signing up. You’ll end up paying significantly less per month if you decide to keep the service.
Server Locations
The number of servers a VPN provider runs is often a good indicator of a service’s robustness. For many users, it can also be the deciding factor.
In the server department, CyberGhost does not disappoint. At the time of this writing, they offer servers in countries.
Only a handful of providers have more servers, and the supported countries fall firmly in the top end of the range. For most of us, the CyberGhost VPN server list has everything we’ll ever need, especially when you consider how fast they are.