AVG Secure VPN review

AVG Secure VPN is a decent tool that does a good job protecting your real IP address It also supports torrenting, uses high-class encryption, and has simple-to-use apps.

This VPN provider has excellent transparency policies, simple and easy-to-use apps. However, it lacks in some areas that market-leading providers offer.

There are plenty of other VPN options, such as NordVPN, that, unlike AVG Secure VPN, provide you with more security features as well as better performance.

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After all, is AVG Secure VPN good and safe? Let’s find out in this AVG Secure VPN review, where we’ll cover its features, functions, applications, and how it differs from other industry leaders.

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AVG Secure VPN pros & cons

Speed performance: how fast is AVG Secure VPN?

Even though the speeds of AVG Secure VPN weren’t the most consistent I’ve seen, they could be quite impressive. I got especially good download speed results when using the OpenVPN tunneling protocol:

Unfortunately, even though the download speeds with OpenVPN were among the best ones I’ve seen, the upload speeds could use some improvement. In fact, the speed drops were really sharp, varying from 15% to 97.2%.

Meanwhile, the results were a bit more inconsistent when the Mimic protocol was in use:

Even though, on average, the upload speeds were better, there were some troubles with download speeds when connected to remote servers like Australia. Also, the ping was pretty high, even going from 1 to 300 half the time.

All things considered, AVG Secure VPN is a pretty speedy service with some latency issues. The speeds are definitely good enough for streaming, but might be too inconsistent for gaming.

Streaming: Does AVG Secure VPN work with Netflix?

Unfortunately, AVG Secure VPN isn’t the best choice for streaming. It failed to unblock the UK and US libraries of Netflix - I was only able to see the international library.

As for Hulu, I didn’t get much success either. The only streaming platforms I was able to unblock were BBC iPlayer and Youtube. While it’s still something, I wouldn’t recommend AVG Secure VPN for those who need a VPN for geo-blocked content.

Is AVG VPN good for torrenting?

You won’t make a mistake choosing AVG VPN for torrenting. It offers a few specialized torrenting servers in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and three different locations in the US (Miami, New York, Seattle).

I used a couple of these servers to test the VPN’s torrenting capabilities. Even though my download speeds capped out at ~7MB/s (which wasn’t great according to my standards), you might not even notice a difference if you have a slower internet speed in the first place.

Also, the speeds when using a non-P2P server pleasantly surprised me. That’s because I got basically the same speed as I would get when torrenting without a VPN (32-34 MB/s).

However, because of this, I checked if my P2P traffic was leaking outside of the P2P tunnel. Luckily, I couldn’t find any leaks, which means torrenting with AVG Secure VPN is completely safe.

AVG Secure VPN features

The selection of features offered by AVG Secure VPN is quite scarce in comparison to other VPN providers like Windscribe or NordVPN. There’s only a kill switch, some auto connect settings, as well as a number of P2P and streaming servers.

Kill switch

A kill switch is there to protect your real IP address when the VPN connection gets suddenly disrupted. In other words, the VPN will automatically shut down your internet connection once the VPN connection is compromised.

If this sounds unnecessary to you, you can simply disable the feature in the Settings section.

Auto-connect options

AVG Secure VPN offers some options for configuring your VPN connection. For example, you can set the VPN to turn on automatically when connected to the internet. You can also mark networks as either public or private, making the VPN connect to public networks automatically.

Is AVG VPN safe?

AVG Secure VPN is a generally safe service. It operates in the Czech Republic (which is a privacy-friendly jurisdiction) uses AES-256 encryption, and includes OpenVPN, one of the safest tunneling protocols.

However, there’s something to keep in mind. Even though the privacy policy of the VPN is pretty solid (aside from timestamp tracking), the policy of AVG itself is pretty eyebrow-raising, as they even collect IP addresses.

The company claims that the general privacy policy doesn’t apply to the VPN, but I’d be careful about using AVG VPN in oppressive countries.

Tunneling protocols

Having already reviewed Avast SecureLine VPN, I noticed that both services use the proprietary Mimic tunneling protocol (which didn’t surprise me that much, as both VPNs are owned by the same company).

Keep in mind that there’s not much known about its security, and we only tested its speeds (which varied from good to average). If you want to use a 100% safe tunneling protocol (who wouldn’t?), you should go with OpenVPN instead, as it is also available for the users of AVG Secure VPN.

You see, OpenVPN is a staple protocol in the VPN industry. It’s stable, fast, and secure. There are actually two versions of it (UDP and TCP) but it’s not clear which version is implemented by AVG VPN. On the other hand, knowing that Avast uses OpenVPN UDP (the faster version), it’s safe to assume that AVG does the same.

Logging policy

AVG VPN has a completely identical privacy policy as Avast SecureLine VPN. So, if you trust one service, you should automatically trust the other one, and vice versa.

So, the data AVG VPN doesn’t collect includes:

• Your original IP address
• Your browsing history
• DNS queries
• Transferred data (images, emails, etc.)

However, there are a few types of information that AVG VPN does collect. In case your livelihood depends on VPN usage, you should be aware that the following data will be kept in the company’s servers for quite a while:

• Connection timestamps
• The amount of data transmitted
• Connection events (like disconnection or attempts to connect)
• Application events (uninstallation, auto-connection)
• Crash reports generated by the user

Depending on the type of data, it can be stored from 35 days to 2 years.

Servers and locations

AVG Secure VPN doesn’t have an impressive server fleet. Honestly, it’s a bit humble, counting only 700 servers in 36 countries, most of the servers being in the US and Europe.

Actually, the tool’s server fleet is basically the same as the one offered by Avast SecureLine VPN.

There are also specialized servers for P2P connections and streaming, which is a pretty nice addition. However, the streaming servers struggle with most streaming platforms.

Plans and pricing

No matter which AVG VPN plan you buy, you’ll get 10 simultaneous connections, which is quite generous. The cheapest way to get the tool is to buy a long-term version (for example, the three-year plan is the least expensive on a monthly basis).

The very first thing that caught my eye was the fact that the price changes drastically after the subscription expires. Keep an eye for auto-renewal so that you don’t pay an outrageous amount of money by accident.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to buy the service for one month only. On the bright side, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee that will give you enough time to test the product and get your money back in case you’re not satisfied with AVG VPN.

Free version

There is no fully free version of the AVG Secure VPN. However, there is a 7 day free trial that doesn’t require any payment details on their desktop apps, but does require you to provide your Apple Pay or Google Pay details when signing up on mobile devices with auto-renewal enabled.

The trial version offers all the features of the paid one, so it’s a good way to check whether this service truly fits your needs.

Interface and ease of use

AVG Secure VPN offers applications for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. There is no possibility to use the app on Linux, even through the Command Line Interface. Additionally, there are no browser extensions, apps for smart TVs, or a router app. In other words, AVG VPN is as simple as it gets.

Desktop

The interface of the desktop applications (Windows, Mac) is nice and simple. While it is rather intuitive, I find it a bit inconvenient that there’s no search function to find a country to connect to - you have to go through the list manually. Also, there aren’t that many features available, which makes the service good for beginners but not sufficient for advanced users.

Overall, even though the tool’s design is simplistic, I really like the tiny green sparkles that appear once you connect to a VPN server.

Mobile

The mobile apps have the exact same functionality as their desktop counterparts, including the specialized servers, auto-connect options, and the choice between OpenVPN and Mimic.

However, keep in mind that the iOS application doesn’t have a kill switch.

Customer support

AVG Secure VPN doesn’t offer a lot of customer support options. Those who are having a problem can look for answers in a community forum or read through the knowledge base.

However, if you’re unable to deal with the issue yourself, you’ll need help from a customer support assistant. In that case, you can send a support ticket to the staff. You can find the link in the Support & Help section of the VPN app.

Is AVG Secure VPN any good?

AVG Secure VPN is a simple tool for users with simple needs. It lacks lots of features like split tunneling, obfuscated servers, or SmartDNS. In other words, those who are looking for more than mere IP protection will be disappointed with the service.

All things considered, even though I didn’t have high expectations for AVG VPN, the tool still didn’t manage to exceed them. You might expect that from a VPN created by an antivirus company - usable, but not that special.

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