Home   >   Reviews

UltraVPN Review 2024: Is UltraVPN Good Enough?

9.0
5th out of 376 VPNs

Last updated: August 1, 2023

If you’re in the market for a VPN, you may have come across UltraVPN. Now, while you’re not likely to see this VPN listed as number one on the average VPN review list, it does always seem to make an appearance somewhere in the lineup.

UltraVPN has more than 100 servers spread across the continents — from Canada to Hong Kong, to South Africa. Like all good VPN services, UltraVPN uses top security and privacy measures, such as military-grade encryption, a kill switch, and a zero-logs policy to ensure that users’ online activity is secure at all times.

Keep on reading as we review this VPN service to determine whether UltraVPN’s features make it a good first choice for you, or whether you should just keep this VPN in your back pocket for a rainy day.

Features We Analyzed in UltraVPN

When analyzing and evaluating a VPN, there is some important information to take into consideration before deciding if the VPN can adequately support your online activity. Here are the features we assessed when researching UltraVPN for this review:

☑️ Speed: How fast is UltraVPN? Are you able to access streaming and browsing without buffering and lag? We performed speed tests to give you the scoop.
☑️ Privacy and Security: Is your VPN connection keeping your online information and IP address private and protected online? Is there top-notch data encryption? What about a kill switch to kill the internet in case your VPN connection cuts out suddenly? And what about your private activity? Does this VPN service keep any logs of users’ activity that could be potentially harmful to the user?
☑️ Streaming: If you are using a VPN to access geo-restricted streaming sites — like Netflix, Hulu, or BBC iPlayer — it is important to make sure this VPN is strong enough to get through these sites’ geo-blocks consistently, and with buffer-free streaming.
☑️ Torrenting: Torrenting is something that could put you at risk if the VPN you choose does not give you a secure connection. For torrenting, we wanted to check to be sure that your actual IP address would be hidden online, safe from hackers and third parties. On top of this, it’s important to know if your VPN will support torrenting on all of its servers?
☑️ Server Network: Does your service offer server locations in a wide range of countries throughout the world, ensuring a speedy local connection from anywhere? Are these server locations in the countries you are trying to access? (For instance, if you want to be able to watch Netflix US, you will need to make sure you have servers located in the US.)
☑️ Usability: Is your VPN connection compatible with the Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android app? Is UltraVPN easy to use if you are a VPN novice? Is there a way to access live-chat customer support if users have any questions that need to be answered immediately?
☑️ Price: What is the cost per month? Does this service provide good value for your money? Is there a refund policy?

Keep on reading to learn more about these important UltraVPN features, and to determine whether this VPN service might be worthwhile for you.

Speed

One of the first things anyone looks for in an effective VPN is the quality of its internet connection. Whatever you plan on doing online — whether streaming, gaming, torrenting, or browsing information — it is important that you are able to do it without lag, buffering, or annoying delays.

A factor that often plays into VPN speed is the number of servers offered by a particular service, and the server reach. A VPN with servers in a large span of countries will give users around the world more of a selection of close-by servers. The rule of thumb for servers is that the closer they are to your actual location, the less distance your traffic has to travel, and the faster your speeds will be. On top of this, a larger server list often means less crowding on the available servers, and, therefore, better speeds.

If you want to access geo-blocked content, like the US Netflix library from the UK, you will need to access a server in the country that will support this connection — in this case, the US. So, even though you are connecting to an overseas server, your connection still has to be fast enough to give you seamless streaming because what good are all those US Netflix shows if you can’t watch them smoothly?

To test UltraVPN’s speeds, we performed our own speed tests.

Before connecting to the UltraVPN app, our base download speed in the UK was 20.31 Mbps. When I connected to a local UK server, my download speed decreased to 18.44 Mbps, which is still a perfectly adequate speed for streaming smoothly.

I then connected to a server in the US. This connection was further away, so, as expected, my speed decreased further. The UK to US download speed was 13.53 Mbps. With these speeds, users are still unlikely to have any trouble with the quality of their streaming service when using UltraVPN

Privacy & Security

Any time you use a VPN, you should always be concerned about the privacy and security features. Is your data being protected adequately? Is there a chance that your private identity and data could be exposed while using this VPN?

Is UltraVPN safe?

This service is based in the United States, which is a privacy-unfriendly country located in the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. UltraVPN does have a no-logs policy, so, in theory, there should never be any user data logged to hand over to authorities if ever requested. The problem is, when we looked at its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, this is what we found:

UltraVPN Privacy Policy

This implies that your private information could potentially be used in order to defend UltraVPN if need be. So, is your data really safe with UltraVPN? There really is no clea-cut answer.

Encryption

Like the other top VPN providers, UltraVPN encrypts your data with military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, so even if prying eyes manage to get their hands on your traffic, it will all be completely indecipherable.

Security protocols

When you open the UltraVPN app, you can customize your VPN protocols, choosing between TCP, UDP (OpenVPN), and IKEV2.

Kill Switch 

UltraVPN has an automatic kill switch that protects your encrypted traffic from being exposed in the event that your VPN suddenly cuts out. This way, you are never left browsing the web unprotected. You can enable or disable this feature in the app.

IP & DNS leak test

Does UltraVPN offer adequate DNS and IP leak protection?

A leak is when your IP addresses, traffic, or data slip through even though you are connected to your VPN server. This could leave you vulnerable on the web, even when you think you are protected. When we performed the leak test using UltraVPN, we did not find any IP or DNS leaks.

Does UltraVPN have an ad blocker? 

No. UltraVPN doesn’t have an ad blocker, so if you want to use one, you will need to use a browser extension or third-party ad-blocker app.

Logging policy

Unfortunately, UltraVPN does log some of your information. According to their Privacy Policies, UltraVPN logs user IP address, device information, location, but they do not keep any activity logs. Here is what we found in UltraVPN’s Privacy Policies:

UltraVPN Logging Policy

On top of this, if you are going to use UltraVPN, you should be aware that it is based in the United States, which is part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. If you trust that UltraVPN does not log any of your activity then this should not make a big difference because no incriminating data would exist to be handed over if requested by the authorities. The problem is, we found this paragraph in the Privacy Policies:

UltraVPN Privacy Policy paragraph

Streaming

Now, it is common for businesses to market themselves using rose-colored glasses, but UltraVPN outright claims on its website that it can “Unlock the Whole Web,” which is a pretty tough claim to back up.

Unlocl the Whole Web

So, we did an UltraVPN review of the popular streaming sites to see which ones UltraVPN succeeded in unblocking, and here are the results:

☑️ Hulu: Very Unreliable
☑️ Disney+: Yes
☑️ Netflix: Yes
☑️ BBC iPlayer: Very Unreliable
☑️ HBO GO: Yes

Torrenting

If you are planning on using your VPN for torrenting, UltraVPN may not be the best bet.

Based on their website alone, it was hard to gather any information on UltraVPN’s torrenting capabilities or policies.

Unfortunately, reaching out to their customer service did not help answer these questions. I did manage to get an answer after way too much legwork, in my opinion. It seems that UltraVPN supports P2P sharing without restriction. You have to wonder, though, if that is the case, why not make that more clear?

Server Network

UltraVPN is a small VPN compared to the other top VPN services. It currently has 34 servers in North America, 43 servers in Europe, 26 servers across Asia, 3 in Africa, 8 located in South America, and 2 located in Oceania. Combined, this is only 116 servers located in 90 countries around the globe, compared with the thousands of servers other VPNs offer.

UltraVPN server network

Does UltraVPN Bypass the Great Firewall of China

UltraVPN is not currently able to break through the Great Firewall of China.

If you are planning a trip to China and looking for a VPN that can take on China’s heavy restrictions, you will be better off going with a service like ExpressVPN or NordVPN, both of which have a proven track record of getting past China’s censorship.

That being said, the best VPN companies are always trying to improve their features and services, so if you stay tuned for our next UltraVPN review, we will keep you posted on whether UltraVPN has fixed this issue and is now able to bypass China’s go-blocks.

Cross-Device Compatibility

While UltraVPN claims “One VPN, All Your Devices,” UltraVPN offers compatibility with Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android app. It does not mention other platforms and device

Number of Simultaneous Connections

UltraVPN allows users to connect 3 devices simultaneously to a single user account.

Pricing

UltraVPN has three different subscription options, offering the most competitive price for its 12-month plan. Here are the prices for an UltraVPN subscription:

$2.99 per month for 12 months — Start Now!

$4.99 per month for 6 months — Start Now!

$6.99 per month for 1 month — Start Now!

If you are hesitant to commit to 12 months for a VPN you have never tried, there is no reason to be; UltraVPN offers a 7-day free trial with limited servers, as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can lock in the cheapest price and still change your mind if need be.

Unlike some other VPNs, UltraVPN does not give you the option to pay with Bitcoin. Instead, you can use PayPal or a credit card.

Does UltraVPN have a free version?

UltraVPN does not offer a free version, but it does offer a 7-day free trial with only some server options. During this free trial, you can connect to servers in Germany, France, Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Romania.

Refund Policy

UltraVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out with no strings attached for a few weeks before committing long term.

Support

UltraVPN offers 24/7 live-chat customer support, which is a must these days. When I contacted this live chat the first time, I was not pleased with their generic response that didn’t quite answer my question; but when I tried a couple more times, they were more impressive, so all is forgiven.

You can also contact UltraVPN via email, by opening a support ticket, or by calling on the phone (for billing issues only).

Conclusion

Overall, UltraVPN is a decent VPN, but it doesn’t give you as much value for your money as other VPNs. While our top choice is always ExpressVPN — the premium VPN on the market — ExpressVPN costs a few dollars more per month than UltraVPN, but it offers more than 3,000 servers in over 94 countries, which is much more of a range than UltraVPN. ExpressVPN can unblock all of the popular streaming services, bypass China’s Great Firewall, and it is renowned for its speed and reliability.

If you want a parallel comparison, we can take a look at Surfshark. Surfshark is actually cheaper than UltraVPN, at only $2.49/month, and it offers many more perks — like unlimited simultaneous device connections, power to unblock Chinese geo-restrictions, and a much more clear cut privacy policy.

Here are some of our UltraVPN pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Can unblock streaming services
  • 256-bit encryption
  • Easy to use
  • Kill switch
  • 30-day refund guarantee
  • 24/7 live-chat customer support
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Works on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS

Cons:

  • A fewer number of servers
  • Keeps some logs
  • Can’t unblock BBC iPlayer
  • Only 3 simultaneous connections
  • Can’t get through China’s Firewall

Privacy Alert!
You are exposing yourself to the website you visit!

Your IP address

Your IP adderss is exposed. vpn Websites can use it to identify you.

Location

, ,

Internet service provider (ISP)



Honesty and trasparency - our two core values - make the internet a friendly place. Our reviews are written by users themselves, and are not influenced by VPN companies. When you purchase a VPN, we sometimes earn affiliate commissions that support our work. Here is an explanation of exactly what we do and how to support our work.