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Zenmate Review 2024: Is It Worth Trying?

7.1
9th out of 376 VPNs

Last updated: August 1, 2023

ZenMate has impressively been stepping up its game over the past few years, growing from a mere 1,000 servers in just a couple dozen countries to over 3,600 servers in almost 80 countries around the globe today.

If you plan on using a VPN to unblock commonly geo-restricted sites, like Netflix, ZenMate could be a great option for you. If you happen to be looking for a VPN, however, to use for your upcoming trip to China, you’re better off moving on to another provider.

Keep on reading as we review ZenMate to determine if this VPN is a worthwhile option for you. If you want to learn even more about ZenMate after reading this article, just click on any of the links on our site, and they will unblock the latest deals and promos for ZenMate VPN today.

ZenMate Speed:

When evaluating the ZenMate VPN, it is important to determine if the download speed and Internet connection speed are adequate for buffer-free streaming and seamless browsing.

The rule of thumb with VPNs is that the closer the VPN server location is to your actual location the better the VPN connection speed. That being said, the fact that ZenMate now has a larger number of servers that are spread throughout almost 80 countries around the world bodes well if you are looking to connect to local servers.

ZenMate server network

To thoroughly review ZenMate’s speed, we ran our own tests. On our first speed test, we connected to a local server from our location in the US. The base download speed was 26.43Mbps before connecting to ZenMate. After connecting to a local server, my download speed only dropped to 25.61, which was an insignificant drop, as far as I’m concerned.

Next, I tried connecting to a server in the UK from the US. In this case, my speed dropped more significantly to 12.52Mbps. Although there was more of a drop over this distance, this speed was still plenty fast for streaming and browsing online.

ZenMate Privacy & Security:

In terms of privacy and security, ZenMate has pretty good features and updated protocols. If you are looking to keep your IP addresses and activity safe and anonymous online, ZenMate uses military-grade encryption, a Kill Switch to protect your IP address and data from being exposed in case your VPN drops, and a no-logs policy so your IP address and personal identifying info will never be kept by your VPN.

ZenMate Kill Switch

Is Zenmate safe?

Overall, yes. ZenMate has top security and privacy features, like military-grade encryption, a kill switch, and DNS Leak Protection that will keep you safe and anonymous on the web.

Encryption

In terms of encryption, ZenMate’s mobile and desktop apps use AES 256-bit military-grade encryption while its browser extensions use AES 128-bit encryption.

Security Protocols 

ZenMate offers a selection of protocols for different situations — like OpenVPN, L2TP, and IKEv2. The OpenVPN option is considered the fastest and most secure of the protocols.

Identity Shield 

ZenMate’s Identity Shield feature helps ensure that your privacy and security have not been breached anywhere on the web. ZenMate does this by performing regular scans of the Internet to check to see if the email address you used to sign up for ZenMate has been used suspiciously online. If it finds that your privacy may have been compromised, ZenMate informs you.

Does Zenmate have an ad-blocker? 

At the moment, ZenMate does not offer a built-in ad-blocker, but you can use its free Chrome extension ad-blocker, called ZenMate Web Firewall. Based on user reviews, this blocker is effective and helpful.

ZenMate security features

Privacy Policy: Logs

While ZenMate has a no-logs privacy policy, if you are the type of person who wants to know that your VPN is also located in a privacy-friendly country, this is not the case with ZenMate.

ZenMate is based in Germany, which is a part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. If you trust ZenMate’s no-logs policy, however, this location should not matter because ZenMate does not keep logs to hand over if authorities requested them.

ZenMate Streaming:

In the ZenMate App, you can opt to use servers that are optimized for streaming with just one click.

On ZenMate’s site, it clearly states which streaming sites ZenMate is able to unblock, including:

Netflix (US, FR, DE, UK), YouTube, BBC iPlayer, HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video, and a slew of others.

ZenMate streaming

When we put these ZenMate to the test on the most popular streaming sites, here is what we found:

Did it unblock

☑️ Hulu — No
☑️ Amazon Prime Video — Yes
☑️ HBO — Yes
☑️ BBC iPlayer — Yes
☑️ Netflix US — Yes

All in all, ZenMate does live up to its claims, and it does seem to be able to unblock the bulk of the sites that people are often looking to access.

ZenMate Torrenting:

Back when ZenMate was pushing its free plan, it was not known as a great VPN option for torrenting. Nowadays, ZenMate seems to have joined the fold of the other popular VPNs that all support torrenting, even giving step-by-step instructions on how to unblock torrenting sites.

ZenMate torrenting

If you want to choose a good torrenting server, you can pick “For Torrenting” on the ZenMate VPN app to see the recommended list of torrenting servers in one click. There are server choices in North America, Asia, Europe, and even Africa. Since closer proximity to a server improves your speeds, the fact that you can find one in most of these continents is helpful.

Unfortunately, unlike VyprVPN, that has an independently audited no-logging policy, ZenMate’s logging policy is not quite as iron-clad, and it is not located in a privacy-friendly. Whenever you use a VPN for torrenting, every ounce of your privacy matters.

Does Zenmate Work in China:

In our book, the difference between a good VPN and a great VPN is whether or not it is strong enough to circumvent the Great Firewall of China.

While some smaller VPNs, like VyprVPN, have prioritized circumventing Chinese restrictions, ZenMate has not made this its mission. So, while ZenMate does have servers located in Hong Kong, this VPN service has a long way to go before it can be considered a great VPN for China.

ZenMate even states on its site that it does not take responsibility for the lack of service in China.

We are not responsible for the lack of service and are not liable to provide refunds. This Applies to China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.”

But, just because this VPN doesn’t work from China now doesn’t mean it won’t in the future, so make sure to read our next review for an update on this, as it does seem that ZenMate is consistently growing and improving its features.

ZenMate Device Compatibility:

This VPN service is compatible with a huge range of devices and platforms, including:

☑️ Windows client
☑️ Android
☑️ iOS
☑️ MacOS
☑️ Browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, and certain Chromium browsers
☑️ Linux
☑️ OpenVPN
☑️ And more

You can also install ZenMate on Smart TVs, gaming consoles, Raspberry Pi, and Ubuntu, using its OpenVPN.

Because ZenMate offers unlimited simultaneous device connections, you can actually be using the mobile apps on your Android or iOS at the same time as you are using Chrome, Firefox, and Opera — all on a single user account.

Number of ZenMate Connections:

Compared to our top 2 best VPNs on the market, ExpressVPN, and NordVPN, ZenMate comes out on top as far as device connections.

ZenMate lets you connect as many devices as you want to one VPN account, so you can protect an unlimited number of devices for just over $1.50 per month.

ZenMate User-friendliness:

If you’re a VPN newbie looking for an easy-to-use app, ZenMate is great.

The ZenMate app is clean and intuitive, clearly giving users settings that they can control with the toggle of a switch or with just one click.

For advanced users, ZenMate offers plenty of opportunities to customize the features and play around with configurations.

The only aspect of ZenMate’s usability that bothers me is its lack of live-chat customer support.

ZenMate’s Pricing:

The competitive price point of ZenMate may earn this VPN some bonus points in our book.

Here is the rundown of current deals for ZenMate VPN if you use the links in this review for the latest promos:

☑️ Month-to-Month Plan — $10.99/month
☑️ 1-year Plan — $4.49/month
☑️ 3-year Plan — $1.64/month

ZenMate pricing packages

Currently, the payment options are PayPal or Credit Card. There is no option to use Bitcoin at this point.

When signing up, the only initial information you need to provide is your email address, and ZenMate makes it clear that this information won’t be shared with anyone.

Does Zenmate have a free version?

ZenMate does offer a free version, but it has fewer resources than its paid version.

If you want to opt for the free version, you will be able to connect it to Microsoft Edge, Firefox, or Chrome. And instead of unlimited simultaneous connections that you get with the paid version, the free version only gives you the use of 1 device at a time.

With this free version, you will also only get access to servers in 4 countries, as well as slower speeds, no support for P2P sharing, no customer support options, and no OpenVPN.

ZenMate versions

Refund policy

If you are looking to try out ZenMate before committing to a long-term plan, like the most competitively-priced 3-yr option, you can lock in this great price and get your money back with ZenMate’s 30-day money-back guarantee.

ZenMate Support:

ZenMate does offer good customer support, but there is no live-chat option, which is a bummer.

I am not sure if it was just the luck of the draw, but the few times I reached out to the ZenMate support agent by email, I got a response from the support team within 15 minutes with thorough answers in a non-automated manner.

To keep up with the competing VPNs these days, though, live-chat service is a huge asset, since those live services offer a turnaround of sometimes 1 minute. While 15 minutes is impressive, it’s a long time to wait if you’re looking for immediate help.

Conclusion

Overall, we were impressed with the features we reviewed for ZenMate VPN, and we found that ZenMate VPN offers users good value for money.

If you are looking for a really affordable VPN, using ZenMate could be a good option for you. ZenMate pricing is extremely competitive, especially given the fact that it offers unlimited simultaneous device connections and a server selection of more than 3,600 servers in almost 80 countries worldwide.

In terms of the free VPN option, it is definitely much more limited than the ZenMate paid version, but based on our review, compared to other free versions, it seems to offer better privacy features.

If I could change one thing about ZenMate, I would tell them to add live-chat customer support, which is simply a must nowadays — even if their email response time was good.

Pros:

  • 3,600 servers in 79 countries
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Firefox, Opera, and Chrome browser extensions
  • 7-day free trial
  • Military-grade encryption, free ad-blocker, DNS leak protection, and kill switch
  • Very competitively priced
  • Ease of use
  • Supports P2P traffic on is servers
  • Unlimited simultaneous connections
  • Able to unblock Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and other popular streaming sites

Cons:

  • Won’t work in China
  • Won’t unblock Hulu
  • Inconsistent speeds
  • Privacy is inconsistent
  • No live chat customer service

Based on our VPN review, we would recommend going with the ZenMate VPN paid subscription since it is just over $1.50 per month and offers exponentially more than its free alternative in terms of server locations, streaming services, and even Internet speed.

We hope you enjoyed our ZenMate VPN Review!

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