VPN Unlimited review
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Learn moreVPN Unlimited is a relatively new service provider on the market, and is yet to gain the popularity to break through. Its potential lies in its ability to unblock streaming services, support for torrenting, and a reasonable price. It also offers a 7-day free trial.
Yet, VPN Unlimited lacks a solid foundation to become one of the leading VPNs. It logs quite a lot of user data and is based in a country that isn’t privacy-friendly (the US). This is especially inconvenient if you need a VPN for privacy.
If that’s the case, there are certainly much more privacy-concerned VPN services that also come with loads of features, such as NordVPN.
In this KeepSolid VPN Unlimited review, we’ll cover features, pricing, security, and everything else that’s important to make a purchasing decision in-depth.
NordVPN | VPN Unlimited | |
⭐ Rating: | ||
🥇 Overall rank: | #1 out of #41 | #31 out of #41 |
🖥️ Servers: | 6,800 + servers in 111 countries | 500 + servers in 56 countries |
📖 No logs policy: | No logs | IP address, country, and more |
💵 Price: | From $2.99/month | from $4.99/month |
🔥 Coupons: | NordVPN Cyber Monday 74% OFF | VPN Unlimited coupon 20% OFF |
🔒 VPN protocols: | OpenVPN, WireGuard (NordLynx), IKEv2/IPsec | WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN (UDP), KeepSolid Wise |
🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and more | Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube |
🖥️ Platforms: | Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, iOS, Amazon Fire Stick, Fire TV |
📥 Simultaneous connections: | 10 | 5-10 |
💁🏻 Support: | Knowledge base, FAQs, email, 24/7 live chat | Knowledge base, email, 24/7 live chat |
VPN Unlimited pros & cons
We spare no effort to test the products & their features. All information is gathered by our in-house research team & fact-checked by our team of experts. Discover the ins and outs of our testing procedures.
Speed and performance: how fast is VPN Unlimited?
- Baseline: 1 ms, 300 Mbps download, 300 Mbps upload
Location | WireGuard | IKEv2 | OpenVPN (UDP) | KeepSolid Wise (UDP) |
US (NY) | 109/256/43 | 107/160/6 | 103/75/22 | 112/45/22 |
US (FL) | 144/274/107 | 139/239/6 | 135/39/12 | 148/50/97 |
US (LA) | 183/282/161 | 188/233/16 | 175/68/34 | 179/46/47 |
UK | 47/239/271 | 48/271/32 | 41/82/29 | 42/62/28 |
Germany | 31/73/80 | 35/115/12 | 36/46/7 | 37/41/8 |
Japan | 275/65/9 | 369/165/1 | 282/57/8 | 309/44/1 |
Singapore | 259/141/90 | 263/155/2 | 199/30/5 | 225/28/1 |
Australia | 315/13/1 | 316/8/1 | 313/26/1 | 311/59/8 |
India | 169/15/2 | 168/4/5 | 168/13/6 | 161/27/3 |
Argentina | 268/9/5 | 273/7/1 | 270/1/1 | 317/1/1 |
When it comes to speeds, VPN Unlimited gives inconsistent results. Luckily, you can expect good ones when using the WireGuard protocol, at least. On average, I got 150 Mbps download and 77 Mbps upload, which is 50% and 74% drop-off, respectively. However, I was surprised by the results from Germany because the numbers were significantly lower when compared to the UK or even Singapore, even though I ran my test from Europe. Moreover, I was shocked by the poor performance in Australia, India, and especially Argentina.
Switching to the IKEv2 tunneling protocol resulted in an identical download result, but the upload dropped to 12 Mbps, reducing the speed by 96%. I still got worse than expected results from Germany, but at least they were faster than with WireGuard. Despite the much bigger latency, Japan's download increased from 65 Mbps to 165 Mbps after switching the protocol.
As expected, the results with OpenVPN (UDP) went down considerably. On average, the drop-off was 79% for download and 91% for upload. The latter was surprisingly better than what IKEv2 could offer. For some reason, VPN Unlimited has decided to skip OpenVPN (TCP) support, but those speeds are usually nothing to write home about.
You can also choose the KeepSolid Wise protocol, which acts as a Stealth VPN feature to prevent censorship in countries with restricted internet access. Naturally, I thought the numbers would be lower than those of regular OpenVPN. It turned out to be untrue – an 85% drop for download and 90% for upload means the differences are negligible.
To sum up, VPN Unlimited is pretty fast as long as you stick to WireGuard. All other protocols massacred the upload, leaving 10% of your original speed at best. However, if you're interested in download only, IKEv2 can be a solid replacement. And since the obfuscated KeepSolid Wise performs similarly to regular OpenVPN, there's almost no point in using the latter.
Streaming: does VPN Unlimited unblock Netflix?
You can use KeepSolid VPN Unlimited to unblock multiple Netflix libraries. However, that doesn't guarantee your favorite country will always be accessible. I personally had success with the US, UK, and Japan. For the best streaming quality, use the WireGuard protocol.
Platform | Status |
Netflix | ✅ (US, UK, Japan) |
BBC iPlayer | ✅ |
Youtube | ✅ |
VPN Unlimited also unblocked BBC iPlayer and YouTube for me. And, if you cannot watch your favorite streaming platform, don't forget to try multiple servers, even if they're not under the Streaming tab. As a matter of fact, you don't even need the app because a browser extension would suffice.
Unfortunately, this VPN doesn't come with Smart DNS – you need to purchase it separately. The plans range from one month to ten years, but all have a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Finally, you can use this service with Kodi, even though it doesn't offer a dedicated app. You should be cautious, though, because VPN Unlimited is registered in the US and logs more than the bare minimum. This means you might get into trouble with copyrighted content.
Is VPN unlimited good for torrenting?
Torrenting with VPN Unlimited is possible but limited. To start with, you get to choose from 5 servers only. If that wasn't enough, all of them are either in Europe or North America, so users from other continents might expect a drop in performance.
Additionally, I experienced connection drops more than a few times. Therefore, torrenting without a kill switch turned on is not recommended.
This service doesn't offer a free SOCKS5 proxy. While it does have split tunneling, this feature works on Android only, so that's not much help for P2P fans.
VPN Unlimited features
Trusted networks
Chances are you're using a VPN only while connected to public wifi. This feature allows you to whitelist your home network. When you're back, the VPN will be turned off automatically.
This feature is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. You can also toggle it on or off when you want to stay connected to the VPN.
Split tunneling
Split tunneling allows you to choose which apps will connect to the VPN and which ones will use regular internet access. This is very convenient because if you only use VPN Unlimited for P2P protection, the app will start up automatically whenever you open your torrenting client.
You also won't have to slow down your connection in case you're planning to watch something from your local Netflix library. Unfortunately, split tunneling is available on Android only.
KeepSolid DNS Firewall
What separates VPN Unlimited from the rest of the pack is its DNS Firewall – a rare feature among VPN providers. It allows you to block certain content types, such as gambling, malware, or even fake news.
Additionally, you can add any domain of your choosing. There's also an option to blacklist only a particular subdomain. My personal setup was to block everything except adult content, which worked just fine.
Is VPN unlimited safe?
While it’s nowhere near the advanced security standards of such services as NordVPN, for the most part, VPN Unlimited is a safe VPN service. Their AES-256 encryption and tunneling protocols leave little room for doubt. However, this provider gets a bit lousy with the privacy part. Let's take a closer look and find all the pros and cons.
Encryption
Just like the rest of the industry, VPN Unlimited uses the AES 256-bit cipher. It's also used in banks and military organizations all over the world because of its strength. To make an example, brute-forcing such encryption would take more than a lifetime using the most powerful computers.
Tunneling protocols
VPN Unlimited has a wide selection of tunneling protocols to offer. Moreover, each one is available on every major platform. However, based on the speed test results above, you might need only one.
WireGuard – the next-gen protocol that offers improved performance and security. 2020 was the year when most premium VPNs started implementing it, and KeepSolid was among them. The result? Your best option until you visit China.
IKEv2 – favored by mobile users because of its ability to seamlessly switch between a cellular and wifi connection. In the case of VPN Unlimited, it also provides WireGuard-like download numbers, but the upload remains limited.
OpenVPN (UDP) – for some reason, the company has decided to omit the TCP version, which provides more stability. On the other hand, UDP is usually favored because of its speed. In any case, you'll need this protocol only if the two above cease working.
KeepSolid Wise – this is an in-house Stealth VPN protocol for use in China and other countries with restricted VPN use. Basically, it's a modified OpenVPN, but this time it comes in both UDP and TCP forms. You will probably need the latter only if the former fails to do its job.
Kill switch
A must-have feature for every VPN, a kill switch ensures that your IP and current location don't leak in case of a VPN connection failure. You will still find more than a few providers who somehow decide to skip implementing it on some devices. Most of the time, that's Apple products.
Luckily, VPN Unlimited is an exception to this rule, offering it on all major platforms. However, when it does kill your internet connection, you might have some trouble getting back online. During my tests, I had to restart my system a few times to disable the kill switch.
Logging
Privacy is one of the bigger issues with this service. To start with, VPN Unlimited is based in the United States, one of the most privacy-unfriendly countries on Earth. For example, the US is a founding member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. Even though there are no data retention laws in the US, the government can still ask any company to start logging and keep that data for 180 days.
The second privacy issue is in the logging policy. Although VPN Unlimited claims they are a no-logs provider, in truth, they log more than the minimum. That includes your IP address, country, device name and code, web traffic amount, and session dates.
Additionally, KeepSolid collects data from third parties and publicly available sources. The most troublesome part, however, is this – while you're online, all data can be linked with your session.
Servers and locations
KeepSolid VPN Unlimited offers 500+ servers in 56+ countries. While the spread is good, the number of servers could be higher.
Regions | Number of countries |
The Americas | 7 countries |
Europe | 34 countries |
Africa, Middle East, and India | 6 countries |
Asia Pacific | 8 countries |
Another option would be to increase the quality. At the moment, VPN Unlimited uses some virtual servers, which tend to perform worse than the bare-metal ones. Moreover, from all 500, only 5 are P2P-optimized, and all five are either in North America or Europe.
Based on the server spread, I can say that VPN Unlimited gives extra attention to Africa, the Middle East, and India in favor of Asia Pacific. On the other hand, the numbers are simply too small to make any far-reaching conclusions.
Plans and pricing
Plan | Price |
1 month | $9.99/month |
1 year | $4.99/month |
Lifetime | $199.99 |
VPN Unlimited offers only three plans. The monthly and the annual offers are decently-priced, but the real value is in the Lifetime option. That's if you're planning on living at least 4 years more and expect this VPN to still be around. Otherwise, it's safer to take the year-by-year route – even the provider marks it as the "Best choice."
You can also add Passwarden password manager. However, it's not currently on our list of best password managers. The best thing is that it comes really cheap for the shortest plans, increasing the price by 10% only. Unfortunately, that changes to 50% for the Lifetime plan.
Another option is to increase the number of simultaneous connections from 5 to 10. This changes the monthly price to $14.99/month and the annual price to $7.49/month. Lifetime subscribers get it for free if they take Passwarden as well.
One of the best things about VPN Unlimited is its 7-day free trial. Just have in mind that it's available on their website only, meaning it won't work in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Additionally, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you'll have plenty of time to test the service.
Payment options include credit cards, PayPal, and BitPay. The latter means that you can buy VPN Unlimited anonymously.
Interface and ease of use
VPN Unlimited has apps for all major platforms. There's also a client for Amazon Fire Stick & Fire TV devices and browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. Additionally, you can manually configure this VPN on Kodi, routers, and NAS. Just don't forget that the performance will be worse if you install it on your router. That's because the hardware is inferior to your computer or smartphone.
Desktop apps
Windows
While the app looks nice and works well, there was a couple of annoying moments. For starters, the server list lacks consistency – in some cases, the format is city-country, other times, it's country-north/east/west/south. Furthermore, the US servers are grouped by state.
What's more, expect to find lots of upselling, which is rare among premium VPNs. You'll be offered to get a dedicated server, extend your subscription, and add extra features. In my case, all these promotions encouraged me not to buy anything and think twice about exercising the money-back guarantee.
On the bright side, you can check every server's ping, but I'd prefer to have it done automatically because now you have to disconnect first. Also, the Windows version has the most features, although there are not so many of them anyway. Basically, those unique options are Stop DNS leaks and Trusted Networks.
macOS
As it often is, the macOS app has fewer features than its Windows counterpart. Basically, you're left with the DNS Firewall.
The sideload and the App Store versions are virtually identical, which is a good thing. Also, you can choose the dark theme which looks pretty neat.
The best thing is that all tunneling protocols are available. Quite often, the macOS versions lack OpenVPN, not to mention WireGuard. But with VPN Unlimited, you get to choose whichever option you want.
Finally, the macOS app looks and feels similar to the Windows client. Therefore, you won't have to learn how to use it from scratch.
Linux
You get the app for Debian/Ubuntu (32-bit & 64-bit) and Linux Mint (64-bit). Unfortunately, installing it wasn't easy. I followed the instructions on their website but couldn't get all dependencies installed. Finally, I used the included package installer, and everything went well.
VPN Unlimited for Linux has a graphical user interface, which is quite rare even among premium providers. Even more, the app looked just like the Windows version.
I also liked that the WireGuard tunneling protocol was available. In addition to that, I could choose from IKEv2, OpenVPN, and KeepSolid Wise (UDP & TCP). The features available were Stop DNS Leak, DNS Firewall, the kill switch, and Trusted Networks.
Mobile apps
VPN Unlimited for Android and iOS look just like the desktop versions. In fact, it's probably the opposite, because the design is clearly mobile-oriented.
The Android version has all the features of the Windows client. The kill switch, however, is the native always-on option, available on Android 8 (Oreo) and later.
One unique feature changes your login to a face or fingerprint scan. Usually, such biometric authentication is more than welcome. But come to think of it, if your smartphone is stolen, a VPN is the least of your concerns.
The second Android-only feature is split tunneling. This allows you to choose which apps will use the VPN tunnel and which ones will connect straight, without encryption. Split tunneling can be useful if, for example, you want to see local prices in e-shops and stream Netflix US simultaneously.
Moving on to the iOS version, we find it with the dark theme, just like the macOS app. Unfortunately, you get only two features – Trusted Networks and DNS Firewall. Another limitation is allowing the kill switch only with the IKEv2 protocol. That's a shame because WireGuard is supported.
Browser extensions
You can choose from browser add-ons for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. That's a solid selection, considering that many VPNs will give you the first two only.
Once more, you'll find plenty of ads for extra features or products. The only two things to toggle are WebRTC protection and KeepSolid Wise stealth protocol. Sadly, once you choose the latter, you get a message about installing the desktop app.
I liked that the browser extension can unblock Netflix US and BBC iPlayer for you. Unfortunately, the Chrome add-on was updated in March 2020 and had a total of 100,000+ downloads only.
Customer support
VPN Unlimited offers a live chat, 24/7 email support, and a knowledge base. The majority of premium services offer a 24/7 live chat, which is the quickest way to get your questions answered. But for now, you'll have to be in the right timezone at the right time to make use of it.
On the bright side, their 24/7 email support was speedy. I sent a question about canceling my subscription and got an answer in less than 20 minutes, which is pretty impressive. On their website, you can find a pledge to answer within one hour, which is faster than most competitors.
Finally, there's a knowledge base where you'll find an extensive FAQ and manuals for installing apps, streaming, payments, and manual configuration. There are even instructions for Windows Phone, which is deprecated almost universally. All articles are well-written and cover most issues that you may encounter.
Is VPN Unlimited any good and worth getting?
In short - yes, VPN Unlimited can be great for Windows and Android users. Other apps work just fine but often lack features, which means less bang for your buck. Luckily, most of them support all tunneling protocols, including WireGuard and the KeepSolid Wise stealth protocol. But if you want exceptional speeds and feature-rich apps on all devices, services like NordVPN is what you should opt for.
As for VPN Unlimited apps, even though the Lifetime plan might seem like the best option, consider that it starts to pay off after 4 years only. Instead, I'd recommend the yearly subscription. You also can test the waters with their 7-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee.
To sum up, you get good speeds, solid security, but a bit too much logging, especially for the US-based provider. The apps are not rich in features, so more experienced users might miss a free SOCKS5 proxy or split tunneling on desktop apps. Torrenting is pretty limited as you get just 5 servers to choose from.
As for streaming, it will unblock more than a few Netflix libraries. BBC iPlayer and YouTube should also work. Unfortunately, Smart DNS costs extra.
The apps are well-designed and easy to use, but that also has to do with the lack of options to toggle. Finally, customer support lacks a 24/7 live chat but replies to emails pretty fast. In the end, it's decent, but you should rather opt for a high-quality VPN with a long-term subscription.
More on VPN providers from Cybernews:
TorGuard review: how good is this VPN?
Ivacy VPN review: would we recommend using it?
Hide.me VPN review: how good is its security?
FAQ
Is VPN Unlimited free?
No, but you can try it for seven days for free. There's also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Who owns VPN Unlimited?
VPN Unlimited is owned by KeepSolid, a company based in New York, US.
Does VPN Unlimited work in China?
It's not among the best VPNs for China, but it may work. It has a stealth protocol named KeepSolid Wise that helps against censorship and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
Is VPN Unlimited trustworthy?
It depends. VPN Unlimited uses military-grade encryption, offers lots of secure tunneling protocols, and has a reliable kill switch. However, the company is based in the US and their privacy policy could use some improvement.
Comments
Thanks for the comment. Some other VPNs offer lifetime plans, but you have to be aware that it’s their and not your lifetime. So if you believe that KeepSolid Unlimited is here to stay, get the Lifetime subscription. After all, you’ll start getting benefits only after spending those $200, which translates into 4 years.
Based on what I’ve found about your router, I doubt it will work with any VPN. That’s because it has its own Fritz operating system that supports only its own VPN.
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