Hotspot Shield Review 2024

About Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield is a VPN company based out of Redwood City, California. It started in 2008 and at last count, they had over 1,800 servers offering several thousand different IP addresses. Hotspot Shield servers are distributed in over 80 countries in different regions throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa.

Those numbers matter because the size of a VPN’s server network affects its performance. Put simply, a VPN with more servers can create more tunnels, so congestion is less likely. As a result, the chances of you getting good speed from Hotspot Shield is high. Not to spoil anything, but Hotspot Shield is one of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested.

>> Related: Speed of Top VPNs Compared

Location is also of significant importance, and unfortunately, Hotspot Shield’s California roots puts it at a disadvantage. The U.S. is a founding member of the Five Eyes alliance. Members of this alliance have policies in place for gathering, monitoring, and sharing of communication intelligence; great for neutralizing threats of terrorism, but puts citizens at greater risk of government overreach.

For example, if the government sees you as a national security threat and finds out you’re using Hotspot Shield, they can request your VPN usage data. If Hotspot Shield logs the websites you visit, that information can easily fall into the hands of the government. With that power, government agencies and politicians can use legal loopholes to monitor and find fault in whistleblowers, activists, journalists, and political rivals.

Fortunately, Hotspot Shield understands the risks, and as you’ll see below, it has a watertight logging policy that prevents its servers and apps from collecting and subsequently sharing information with anyone outside the company.

Is the logging policy effective? According to Hotspot Shield, it received 56 government requests in 2018, but it hadn’t been able to produce any data because of the privacy policy.

That being said, a lot of VPN companies have taken up the practice of getting their privacy policies audited by third party security firms. For example, CyberGhost had Deloitte Romania take a look at its privacy policy and practices in May 2023.1 Audits help verify the inner workings of VPN companies and whether or not they follow their own policies, so it’s a good way for VPNs to prove their trustworthiness. As of the time of writing, Hotspot Shield is yet to submit its privacy policy to an independent audit.

Hotspot Shield Features

Moving on with our review, let’s talk about Hotspot Shield’s features. When we test VPNs, there are certain features we look for in relation to how secure VPNs are and how convenient they are to use. Here’s what we found out about Hotspot Shield.

Will Hotspot Shield Log My Data?

Data logging is a major concern when it comes to choosing a VPN. If a VPN logs your IP address, for instance, and the government asks it to provide the IP addresses that accessed a certain server at a certain date and time, they’ll be able to tie your browsing activity back to you.

That’s not good, and is a particular worry for VPN companies in the United States as discussed above. Fortunately, Hotspot Shield has a “no logging” policy just like many other VPNs. The scope of logging policies differ, however, so let’s look at Hotspot Shield’s in particular to get a clearer picture of how much privacy it provides.

Looking at Hotspot Shield’s privacy policy, the data it collects is pretty standard, such as diagnostic data like device and app versions and request timestamps. Once in a while, it may also request that you rate its services, but your response will not be tied to your account in any way.

There are a couple of important points to consider regarding Hotspot Shield’s data collection practices.

First, Hotspot Shield does record your IP address at the beginning of each session, but it encrypts and deletes it at the end. This information is not linked to your browsing activity, ensuring your privacy. We saw a similar practice from Surfshark, one of our heavy favorites because of its affordable subscriptions and user-friendly apps. You can read our Surfshark review for more information.

Secondly, Hotspot Shield also keeps a record of your bandwidth usage and the servers you’ve accessed, but these data points are collected anonymously. They are not tied to your account and to your real IP address, so even if Hotspot Shield has this information, they don’t know it’s from you.

Would it be fair to label Hotspot Shield untrustworthy because of those data collection practices? Not really. The company is forthcoming about what it collects and how it protects the collected data, and that’s a good sign. However, it might seem that it collects more data than necessary, and if you think that and that it might put your privacy at risk, it would also be perfectly understandable if you choose not to use the service. It’s all about how much data you’re willing to share.

Does Hotspot Shield Have A Kill Switch?

If Hotspot Shield’s data collection practices don’t bother you, let’s move on to the inner workings of the VPN, starting with its features. The first thing you should look for when shopping for a VPN is the kill switch feature. In VPN terms, a kill switch is a built-in mechanism that blocks all traffic. That’s critical, because without it, your device will switch over to an unencrypted network without you knowing, exposing your online activity moving forward.

Fortunately, the kill switch is a common VPN feature. Hotspot Shield has it, and it’s turned on by default. Moreover, all its apps, from the Windows and macOS desktop versions to the mobile app versions, offer a kill switch.

One time, while we were testing Hotspot Shield, our Wi-Fi dropped which resulted in our VPN connection dropping as well. When the Wi-Fi turned back on, Hotspot Shield didn’t reconnect automatically. Instead of letting us browse the internet unprotected, the Hotspot Shield VPN app blocked our internet connection to prevent us from browsing. That’s the kill switch in action right there.

Does Hotspot Shield Offer Split Tunneling?

Split tunneling lets you route some traffic through your ISP and some through the VPN. Think of it as using VPN on some apps on your computer or smartphone, and using the regular internet on others. For instance, you can simultaneously use your VPN to watch Netflix shows abroad and browse local news articles without a VPN.

The free version of Hotspot Shield doesn’t include split tunneling, which is unfortunate because split tunneling could lower your VPN bandwidth usage. When you turn on the free VPN, all your device’s traffic goes through the VPN server, including traffic from bandwidth-heavy apps. For premium accounts, though, split tunneling is available under the name Smart VPN.

How did we use it? We commute to work daily, and so we need local traffic and weather services. We also like to browse the internet while on our commute. On our Androids and iPhones, we set Smart VPN to allow our traffic and weather apps to bypass the VPN, while all other apps continue to get VPN access. That way, we can access local traffic and weather updates (no VPN) and protect our browsing and change our IP address (with VPN) at the same time.

Can I Use Netflix with Hotspot Shield?

Hotspot Shield is one of the few VPNs we’ve tested that have servers optimized for Netflix. And they’re not just for Netflix either. There were servers optimized for Disney+, YouTube, Amazon Prime, and practically any popular streaming platform. Take note that they’re accessible to premium accounts only, though.

For the free version, only some of the servers did work for Netflix. But given that Hotspot Shield offers only a few server locations to free users, they are most likely going to be detected and blocked anytime. You see, Netflix and other streaming platforms are constantly trying to keep VPNs and proxies out, so we don’t recommend using the free version for streaming.

Hotspot Shield Encryption

Encryption is one of the key features of VPNs. It’s what keeps your browsing data private. We’re happy to share that Hotspot Shield meets the industry standard encryption – 256-bit AES. That goes for the premium and free versions, so no matter which Hotspot Shield version you use, you can almost be certain your browsing data is safe. Even experts say it would take current supercomputers millions of years to crack 256-bit AES.

Hotspot Shield Protocols

Internet protocols determine how data packets are dispatched across a network. You can think of protocols as the different routes cars can take to get between their origins and their destinations.

You could take a government highway to get to your safe house in the woods, but then security cameras might have recorded you. Or you could take back roads the whole way, but it might take you days. This is the kind of trade-off you often face between security and performance.

Hotspot Shield, however, developed its own VPN protocol that delivers fast speeds and impressive security.

Hydra

Hotspot Shield bucks the trend of VPNs using popular VPN protocols like SSTP or OpenVPN. Instead, it uses its own proprietary protocol, Hydra.

Hotspot Shield specifically developed Hydra because it found that popular protocols like IPSec and OpenVPN are bound by performance and latency challenges. Hotspot Shield claims that Hydra:

• Has a faster connection to VPN servers
• Uses less bandwidth when transporting data through encrypted tunnels
• Offers connection speeds 2.4 times faster for long-distance connections, compared to OpenVPN

As you will see in our Hotspot Shield speed test results below, there is some truth to these claims. Hydra, and by extension, Hotspot Shield, indeed performed incredibly fast. And when it comes to data security, Hydra did prevent our IP address from leaking out.

But is Hydra better than more widely used, open-source protocols like OpenVPN? We don’t think so. At best, it’s a good alternative that provides about the same speed and security as OpenVPN. However, it’s new and it’s proprietary, so it will take a lot more real-world testing to convince us, but kudos to Hotspot Shield for trying to innovate.

WireGuard

In addition to Hydra, Hotspot Shield offers the WireGuard protocol, which is a lighter and faster alternative to OpenVPN. Users can choose between Hydra and WireGuard, and although both protocols are good, WireGuard is more widely implemented in the VPN industry, so chances are, it will work in more situations.

That said, both protocols are secure, so you can switch back and forth freely depending on what works best for you.

Hotspot Shield Free Version

Whenever you hear the words “free VPN”, a little alarm should go off in your head. VPN companies have to make money somehow, in order to pay for their servers and infrastructure. And the saying “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product” holds true for most free VPNs. This often means they are giving your data to advertising partners or other third parties; not ideal if you care about privacy.

Free VPNs from reputable companies like Hotspot Shield, however, can prove useful for internet users on a budget. And surprisingly, the free version is quite capable. It no longer has a speed limit, so you can enjoy internet speeds up to 1 Gbps. If your internet is fast, you may even be able to stream or download with Hotspot Shield Basic (free).

That being said, there are a few caveats. For starters, you can only connect one device at a time. The premium version, on the other hand, lets you connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.

You can also access only one virtual server location, so you technically do not have access to Hotspot Shield’s entire network. Specifically, you won’t be able to access servers optimized for streaming and online gaming.

You also have to be wary of the bandwidth limit. Free users can only use 500 MB of data per day, although if you’re on an Android or iOS device, you can watch ads to surpass the limit.

Lastly, the free plan plan doesn’t include these features that are available on any of the paid plans:

• Anti-phishing
• Kill switch
• Smart VPN

Still, even with all the limits, Hotspot Shield’s free VPN can provide some level of protection. You’re still connected to a VPN tunnel, which is encrypted, so even if you can access only one location and there’s a bandwidth limit, you can make it work. The free Hotspot Shield VPN is particularly useful for students on a budget.

Testing Hotspot Shield

There’s only one way to find out if Hotspot Shield’s proprietary Hydra results in faster speeds: real-world speed tests of Hotspot Shield Premium. Additionally, we tested whether Hotspot Shield was impervious to DNS and WebRTC leaks.

Speed Test

Like most people, internet speed matters to us. After all, what’s the use of a secure connection if all we can do online is stare at a blank screen while we wait for our favorite shows to buffer?

Now, there are many factors that can affect a VPN’s speed. There’s your distance from the VPN server, your real-time internet speed, your device’s performance, and so on. So rather than just compare speed readings, what we do is measure the average speed we experience while connected to a VPN and compare it with our actual internet speed at the same moment.

For all our internet speed tests, we use a Macbook Pro running macOS X Catalina as well as a Lenovo Thinkpad running Windows 10. For better stability, we connect our laptops to our router via an Ethernet cable.

Download Speed Tests

As you can see, Hotspot Shield Premium decreased our download speed by around 30 percent on Mac and 18 percent on Windows. While Hotspot Shield performed slightly better on Windows in this category, we’re impressed with the performance on both systems. The speed loss on Mac and Windows was barely noticeable.

We did another test, this time comparing the speed of VPNs, and Hotspot Shield performed even better in the download speed category. In fact, Hotspot Shield recorded the smallest percentage of download speed loss at just three-percent.

Upload Speed Tests

Next, we tested the difference in upload speeds with and without the Hotspot Shield Premium. In this case, the Windows connection performed a little worse with a decrease of 26 percent compared to only 0.2 percent on Mac.

Ping Speed Tests

Finally, we looked at the ping, or latency, in milliseconds. In this category, Hotspot Shield was quite slow.

We saw a ping increase of 540 percent for Windows and 430 percent for Mac. That’s bad news, especially if you’re playing online games competitively, but not so much if you’re browsing or streaming. Overall, besides ping, these are among the fastest speeds we’ve seen from VPNs.

DNS Leak Test

DNS leak tests are important to make sure your device is sending all DNS traffic through the VPN tunnel. If it’s not, then you have a DNS leak, which means your ISP and, possibly, hackers, can still see your real IP address. This type of leak can also happen if you configured your VPN manually, if an attacker got control of your router, or if you chose to do a manual DNS setup.

We used a DNS leak test tool to see if Hotspot Shield had any DNS leaks. And the result? Well, the IP address that the leak test tool detected was from the Bahamas, and we were nowhere near there when we performed the tests. That means that Hotspot Shield successfully shielded our IP address from DNS leaks.

WebRTC Leak Test

Do you want to use a VPN with Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Opera? Then you need to know about WebRTC leaks.

WebRTC, otherwise known as Web Real-Time Communication, is a collection of standardized technologies that allow web browsers to communicate with each other directly rather than going through intermediate servers. WebRTC allows for faster speeds for video chat, live streaming, and file transfers. Who doesn’t want that?

Well, there are some security issues that arise from the fact that WebRTC needs your public IP address. Let us explain the difference between public and private IP addresses.

Private IP addresses are what local networks use to identify each other. When you connect a laptop to a router, for example, the router assigns a private IP address to it. Now, private IP addresses aren’t unique, thus, are not traceable; two different networks can assign the same private IP address to two different devices.

Public IP addresses, on the other hand, come from your ISP. They’re globally unique and no two devices can share the same public IP address. Public IP addresses allow users to access the internet directly.

Now, when you’re using a VPN, it should hide your public IP address and block leakage such as WebRTC leaks. A simple WebRTC leak test would tell you if there are leaks; if the IP address on the test tool matches your public IP address, then your VPN is not doing its job. Fortunately, when we tested Hotspot Shield, it didn’t reveal our public IP address.

Hotspot Shield Subscription

So now that you know what Hotspot Shield Premium has to offer, the real question is… what’s it gonna cost you?

Options

Hotspot Shield Premium Price Plans

Hotspot Shield offers three different subscription options: Basic, Premium, and Premium Family. Premium and Premium Family share the same VPN features.

However, Premium only gets you one VPN account which can support up to five devices. Premium Family, on the other hand, gets you five VPN accounts that you can share with family members. Each member gets the same features as Premium: A VPN they can use on five devices. So if we do the math, that’s like having five Premium subscriptions for $19.99 per month, only $7 more expensive than the Premium individual plan. That’s a pretty nice deal, and it’s perfect not only for families, but even a group of friends or roommates.

You can choose to pay for Hotspot Shield every month or every year. Like with most VPN services, the monthly price gets lower as your commitment increases. If for some reason, you don’t like Hotspot Shield Premium, you can get a refund using the company’s 45-day money-back guarantee.

Manual Configurations

Hotspot Shield has native apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux devices as well as a browser extension for Chrome. On smart TVs, Hotspot Shield is available for Fire TVs and Android TVs. However, for routers, you need to configure Hotspot Shield manually.

Hotspot Shield Customer Support

Hopefully, you won’t need to use Hotspot Shield’s customer support, but just in case, here are the details on how you can troubleshoot problems.

Features

Hotspot Shield has 24/7 support via live chat, but there’s a catch. You can only access the live chat support if you’re a Premium or Premium Family account holder. If you are, then good! All you need to do is sign in with your account on your browser.

If you’re using the free version, however, or if you have questions before buying services from Hotspot Shield, your only options are Hotspot Shield’s email ticket support and knowledge base. Waiting to hear back after submitting a ticket can take days, but fortunately, Hotspot Shield’s knowledge base covers a wide range of topics, so hopefully, you can get your answers from there.

The Hotspot Shield App

Hotspot Shield has changed its Android and iOS apps quite a bit lately. Search for “Hotspot Shield VPN” app on the App Store and Google Play store, that’s the updated app for the VPN. The Android app holds a 4.3 out of 5 score. The iPhone app holds 4.5 out of 5.

These are excellent ratings, which shows that users enjoy using the Hotspot Shield app. Of course, we tested it ourselves on an iPad that we use for browsing and research, and we liked the app’s no-nonsense approach. On the homepage was a single power button that connected us to the nearest server automatically. There were no other buttons and no settings to tinker with when connecting.

Of course, if we wanted to change our locations or use a different server, we could pull up the server list from the bottom of the screen and select which server location we wanted to connect to. The best part is that there were options to connect to servers that Hotspot Shield optimized for gaming and streaming, perfect for when we wanted to catch an episode or two of “The Office” during our breaks.