ZenMate VPN review

ZenMate VPN is a hit-and-miss VPN service that will suit the needs of the average user. It unblocks some streaming platforms like Netflix, supports torrenting, and has a cheap long-term plan.

However, its selection of tunneling protocols is limited, the speeds aren’t all that impressive, and it’s based in a Five-Eyes surveillance alliance country.

If a fast and secure connection is what you’re looking for, there are many private VPN solutions that ensure exceptional speeds, such as NordVPN.

In this ZenMate review, I’ll throw some light on the service explaining its every aspect in greater detail. Streaming performance, features, security, apps, and customer support – all will be covered.

	NordVPN	ZenMate
⭐ Rating:	4.9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	3 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
🥇 Overall rank:	#1 out of #41	#40 out of #41
🖥️ Servers:	9,500+ servers in 149 countries	4,500+ servers in 91 countries
📖 No logs policy:	No logs	No logs
💵 Price:	From $3.09/month	from $2.22/month
🔥 Coupons:	NordVPN coupon 76% OFF	ZenMate coupon 80% OFF
🔒 VPN protocols:	OpenVPN, WireGuard (NordLynx), NordWhisper	IKEv2, OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
🍿 Streaming services:	Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and more	Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube
🖥️ Platforms:	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, browser
📥 Simultaneous connections:	10	Unlimited
💁🏻 Support:	Knowledge base, FAQs, email, 24/7 live chat	Knowledge base, FAQs, email, 24/7 live chat

ZenMate pros & cons

Speed performance: Is ZenMate fast?

Let's make it clear that VPNs don't have a speed - it's all about how much a VPN slows down your baseline connection. Connecting to the internet through a VPN server means your data takes a longer route to its destination and back. Then there's encryption, which also slows your connection down.

With that in mind, let's see how "fast" ZenMate actually is.

• Baseline: 1 ms/300 Mbps download/300 Mbps upload

Location	IKEv2	UDP	TCP
US (NY)	111/250/12	105/49/257	107/146/227
US (FL)	133/275/20	130/54/64	143/65/178
US (LA)	130/222/20	159/28/271	159/93/138
UK	50/273/46	49/44/236	44/224/284
Germany	39/292/56	37/83/77	36/187/42
Japan	295/236/4	279/17/166	312/38/40
Singapore	227/223/15	296/12/154	453/72/104
Australia	271/225/11	281/40/13	336/46/52
Lithuania	5/282/288	5/138/300	5/264/261
India	163/8/1	180/3/1	174/5/1
Argentina	273/3/3	281/2/2	333/1/0.2

The IKEv2 protocol offers good speeds. Despite having pretty steep drops in India and Argentina, the average download speed drops were only 30%. The upload speeds weren't as impressive, reducing the connection by 85% on average. However, the ping times were dramatically increased, so much so that it would be enough to exclude this option if you’re looking for a VPN for gaming.

Usually, it's quite easy to tell UDP and TCP apart. The latter is much slower, but in this case, ZenMate flipped the rulebook. The average TCP download speed drop is 65%, while the upload speed drops off by 60%. The results could have been better, but the results are somewhat skewed by the perennially-slow Brazil and India.

UDP speeds were poor across the board. The average UDP download speed drops were 86% and 53% for upload speeds. The same problematic locations played a role, and ping times were high.

Overall, ZenMate doesn't offer too much variety in terms of tunneling protocols selection. Their IKEv2 performs quite well. It should be your go-to if you want good download speeds and don't care about the upload.

Streaming: can I watch Netflix with ZenMate?

ZenMate has specialized servers for streaming. So, if you want to unblock a streaming service, that's what you'll be using. The labels indicate which platforms they are intended for.

Platform	Status
Netflix	✔️ with US Netflix
BBC iPlayer	✔️
YouTube	✔️

Using these servers, we managed to unblock US Netflix, but the experience wasn't smooth. The video buffered for quite a long time, and the streaming quality was reduced. However, the American Netflix library isn't the only one available via ZenMate, so you'll have plenty of options.

We also managed to unblock BBC iPlayer, but the experience was very similar to Netflix. It did unblock the video, but it took a while to load, and the streaming quality was poor. If you previously were used to the service without a VPN, you may notice the impact.

However, YouTube didn't pose any problems and we could enjoy videos without a flaw.

Is ZenMate good for torrenting and P2P?

Due to local regulations, torrenting is restricted on specific servers, but it does work. If you're looking for a VPN for torrenting, ZenMate should do the trick.

The connection speeds had a good start but then started stalling at ~4MB/s (32mbps). Due to the nature of P2P, this may have little to do with ZenMate.

ZenMate VPN features

Smart Locations

Smart Locations work like automated split tunneling. The feature automatically turns on VPN for select websites. That way, if you know that you'll be using Netflix only when connected through a VPN, you can enable smart locations. This saves a lot of time when you have to switch servers for particular uses. Sadly, it's only available on their browser add-on and Android.

On the downside, this is also something that could introduce DNS leaks. This is because of DNS Prefetching which is used to save time by caching frequently visited IP addresses. When Smart Locations is enabled, this could reveal your pre-cached DNS. Thus, the possible solutions include disabling DNS pre-caching or just sticking to the Zenmate desktop app.

Favorites

If you find yourself returning to the same server often, there is a favorites section. You can just click the star icon on the right side, and it will add the server to your Favorites tab. From there, it will be easy to find it for later use.

This is the most useful with streaming servers as it may sometimes take a while to find the right one for a service that you want to unblock. You can even add several of them for backup when the other ones are full.

Is ZenMate VPN safe?

ZenMate is a safe VPN from a technical standpoint. Where it fails to meet our expectations are the privacy policy and location. If you're looking for a secure VPN service, those can be a dealbreaker. Five Eyes country and the no-logs policy that notes the possibility that it could be overturned.

Encryption

Your connection is made private with the help of the AES-256-CBC cipher. This method uses private keys for traffic encryption and decryption. Meaning that you could send and receive the data, but it would remain incomprehensible to outsiders as they don't have private keys. Also, when you're connecting a server, authentication is processed with the help of the SHA-256 hash function.

Tunneling protocols

Tunneling protocols coordinate how your data will be sent via the VPN. Will it be faster but less secure, or will it be very safe but slower – it is up to you. Changing the tunneling protocol should be a conscious decision depending on your use case. With ZenMate, you get to choose from:

IKEv2 – one of the most common tunneling protocols. It works on a long list of devices out of the box and is pretty lightweight. Available on Windows and macOS apps.

OpenVPN (TCP/UDP) – an open-source protocol that is quite customizable. You can use UDP skipping additional data verification checks for speeds or TCP for slower speeds but stronger data integrity. Available for Windows, Android, and iOS apps.

Sadly, those two are all the options you get. There's no WireGuard, and no Shadowsocks or obfuscation. You're getting a pretty limited setup, which can be a security flaw in itself.

Kill switch

A kill switch is an additional safeguard when the link between your device and VPN server gets interrupted. We put them to the test to see how they would fare in real-life situations. The first test involves blocking IP addresses via a router to stop the connection. The second is killing the VPN processes from the device and checking how the app responds.

In the first test, the kill switch triggered as it should. It disabled our internet connection and started to reconnect in the background. The only issue was that it didn't give any notification about the killswitch being engaged.

When disabling OpenVPN processes, the app noticed these changes and created additional ones to reconnect. Though, when we killed the whole background process, ZenMate still indicated that we were connected despite losing access to the Internet. Only a computer restart resolved this.

So, you can be confident that ZenMate will have your back even in cases when the connection drops.

Logging

ZenMate is based in Germany, which isn't perfect. The country is part of the 14 Eyes surveillance alliance and is a member of the European Union. All of this is can be problematic if you're looking for privacy and anonymity.

The service itself promises no logs but the privacy policy seems to contradict itself. They state that: "The data controller shall process and store the personal data of the data subject only for the period necessary to achieve the purpose of storage, or as far as the European legislator grants this". So, their no logs policy could quickly be turned around if the EU/Germany's stance on data retention changes.

They also admit to collecting quite a lot of data from website visits and even using tracking pixels in newsletters. This isn't something that you'd want to find in your VPN's terms of service from a privacy standpoint.

ZenMate servers and locations

ZenMate has quite good server coverage. Now that they've joined forces with CyberGhost, their server fleet rose to 4,500 servers around 91 countries, thus covering much of the globe. So, you're getting quite a lot of server locations to choose from.

Region	Number of countries
Europe	41 countries
The Americas	9 countries
The Asia Pacific	16 countries
The Middle East and Africa	12 countries

Users who want to connect to Europe or the Asia Pacific will get the most countries to choose from. Even the Middle East and African locations aren't skipped - ZenMate truly offers more variety than you expect to see. Even countries like Saudi Arabia or Russia aren't skipped.

Plans & pricing

ZenMate has two distinct pricing plans: Pro and Ultimate. The only features that Ultimate users get are OpenVPN support and P2P network support (i.e. torrenting, etc.).

Version	Price
1-month Pro plan	$7.99
6-month Pro plan	$19.14 or $3.19/month
1-year Pro plan	$23.88 or $1.99/month
1-month Ultimate plan	$10.99
6-month Ultimate plan	$32.34 or $5.39/month
18 months Ultimate plan	$39.96 or $2.22/month

Price-wise, one month of Ultimate costs $10.99, 6 months is $32.34, and 18 months is $39.96. The amounts will be charged on purchase, though it still means opting for longer plans yields better savings.

The Pro plan changes the scheme: 1 month costs $7.99, 6 months cost $19.14, and the longest, yearly plan is $23.88. So, it's a good premium deal, albeit at the cost of some basic features like OpenVPN support.

The payment options include only credit cards and PayPal. So, once again, privacy-conscious individuals may be disappointed. If you were planning to pay for your subscription with cryptocurrencies, it also won't be possible here.

Still, there is a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, you'll have plenty of time to decide whether the service lives up to your expectations. They also have unlimited simultaneous connections, which is prety great value.

Interface and ease of use

Windows

One of the first things you may notice is that the app looks like a copy of CyberGhost's app, which isn't surprising anymore considering the providers have joined forces. We also found it strange that the server list displayed numbers of active users who are currently connected to it.

The UI sometimes feels poorly thought out. For example, it's impossible to select different regions within a country. So, if you want to connect to a specific part of the United States, you'll have no way to control it.

The connection itself lacks customization options. You can make the app start up on boot and automatically connect to a specific server. The only toggles are switching between IKEv2 and OpenVPN connections, enabling random ports, and disabling DNS and IPv6 leak protection (though, we strongly advise you not to disable them).

macOS

If you're an Apple user, your ZenMate experience will be more minimal than on Windows. The settings tab includes only General, Account, and Connections tabs. The latter is blank, Account shows your email and currently used device number, while General allows toggle to run at startup.

You can choose between different servers for streaming and torrenting. There are no other feature toggles or customization options.

ZenMate mobile apps

Android

The app seems pretty basic and has some UI flaws. For example, the font color clashes with the background, making it incredibly difficult to read. You can't access the server list while you're connected.

Overall, it feels like a poorly made clone of the CyberGhost app. It doesn't stand out in functionality or design choices.

iOS

The best way to describe ZenMate's iOS app is by imagining a single button with a country list. This is because those are the only things that you're getting on this app. There is also a settings menu, but it only shows your username, plan, active connections, and app version.

The iPhone app uses a slightly different font, which doesn't clash as much as it does on the Android version. However, this hardly solves the severe lack of features.

Browser extensions

ZenMate is one of the few providers that have more features on browser extensions than on the apps. It includes a stealth connection that removes your cookies and browsing history cache when you disconnect from the VPN.

There is a browser-level split tunneling feature called Whitelister. It can be activated for particular websites which you'd like to connect directly to. So, when you're visiting them, the VPN will be turned off.

Customer support

Like most services, ZenMate covers the basics with FAQs and guides on their customer support page. There, you'll find everything from common issues to the best workarounds.

If you prefer a hands-on experience, you can create a ticket via their support system. Though, their live chat seems to be the faster option. When we reached out to them, we were assigned a customer support agent almost immediately.

They answered all of our questions professionally, so we have to give credit where it's due.

Is ZenMate worth getting?

ZenMate is a mediocre VPN service, but it does a couple of things right. Its OpenVPN TCP version is well-optimized, its kill switch doesn’t fail, it supports torrenting and P2P connections, and pricing makes it one of the most affordable VPNs. Also, the customer support is helpful and quick to solve your problems.

This shows that with the right management, the service could one day be a top-shelf VPN like Surfshark or NordVPN.

However, while ZenMate has joined forces with CyberGhost, it lacks its own UI identity and unique features on its Windows app and other versions. The VPN falls short in tunneling protocols, and some essential features like split tunneling are missing from the apps. Their slow speeds don’t make their case any better.

Until these shortcomings are resolved, you can get a much better package with VPN service providers.

FAQ