VPN buying can really feel like a horribly difficult course of. There are many choices to think about, and you will usually end up scrolling by prolonged comparability tables to discover a plan that works for you.
KeepSolid’s VPN Limitless does issues otherwise. The web site would not overwhelm you with options or technicalities, no less than initially, as an alternative specializing in the important thing advantages of pace and privateness.
Browse the positioning and you will find a number of particulars, however they’re largely targeted on the important thing fundamentals. The service provides 400+ servers in 70+ areas throughout 45+ nations, as an illustration. It helps 5 simultaneous connections, and has software program for an enormous vary of platforms. Which means not simply the standard Home windows, Mac, iOS and Android: there’s additionally a Home windows Cellphone app, a Linux consumer, and browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome.
There’s torrent assist on 5 servers solely: Canada, France, Luxembourg, Romania, and a single location within the US.
The product construction is easy. There are three major plans with an identical options, which solely fluctuate by how they’re billed. The Economic system plan is $9.99 (£eight) for a single month, the Skilled plan is $four.17 (£three.35) per thirty days over a yr, and the Infinity plan offers you lifetime protection for a one-off $149.99 (£120). (As we write that is described as a ‘time restricted supply’ with an everyday value of $499.99, or £400.)
VPN Limitless does have some elective extras. You will get a static IP or your personal private VPN server from $14.99 (£12) a month. If the five-connection restrict is simply too restrictive, paying $zero.99 (£zero.80) a month will get you one additional machine, and $5.99 (£four.80) provides 10 gadgets.
The Household plan offers entry for as much as 5 customers and 25 gadgets from solely $eight.33 (£6.65) a month, a tremendous deal in the event you’ve three or extra folks to cowl. Needless to say whereas VPN suppliers sometimes permit as much as 5 gadgets to be linked at one time, most of them particularly say these can solely belong to the identical particular person. The Household plan permits for protecting people, every of whom will get their very own account, login and machine assist.
Sounds tempting? Then, excellent news: KeepSolid supplies a 7-day free trial to get you began, and in addition a 7-day money-back assure for a little bit additional safety after you’ve subscribed.
Privateness
KeepSolid’s privateness coverage explains that there is not any logging of your particular on-line actions, such because the web sites you go to or the information you obtain.
There’s some session logging, together with the date of each connection session and the whole bandwidth used. That is not best, however it’s commonplace, both.
The corporate says shoppers might ask you if they will acquire information on program use. The privateness coverage states this will likely “embrace your KeepSolid ID; the connection try time; the connection sort; the encryption sort; the machine sort, and so forth.”
Recording primary stats on program operations is frequent. There’s an issue right here with the inclusion of your ID, which implies the info is now not nameless. The suggestion that the consumer “might ask” for permission signifies that you will have an opportunity to decide out, however this will likely not occur by default, so it’s going to be essential to examine any settings.
Whereas shopping the small print, we seen a small plus level in KeepSolid’s truthful utilization coverage. Most corporations use these to scare you with obscure warnings about not utilizing the service “an excessive amount of”, however KeepSolid really places a determine on what “an excessive amount of” is likely to be: 900GB a month. Even in the event you move that restrict, the worst that may occur is your speeds is likely to be restricted. That appears very reasonable to us, and even in the event you disagree, it is good to have an organization which spells out what its insurance policies actually imply.
Efficiency
KeepSolid helps a variety of cost strategies, together with playing cards, Bitcoin, Amazon and extra. Even higher, in the event you go for PayPal you then get an additional 5% low cost off the whole, for instance chopping the price of the Skilled plan to $three.96 (£three.15) a month.
We handed over our money, and moments later an e mail arrived thanking us for the “early buy” of the VPN, and saying that “as agreed” the corporate was extending our subscription by 10%. We hadn’t seen any point out of a contract extension, however free stuff is at all times welcome and we weren’t about to complain.
KeepSolid’s web site and welcome e mail doesn’t level you to any setup guides, however it’s not tough to determine the method for your self. Click on the Downloads hyperlink, select a platform – iOS, Android, Mac, Home windows, Linux, Home windows Cellphone, Apple TV and a catch-all Chrome and Firefox extension – and comply with the directions.
It is at all times attention-grabbing to see how shoppers are doing on their particular person app shops. KeepSolid was performing typically very properly once we checked, with three stars for the Mac app, however round 4 stars for every part else, and all shoppers have been up to date throughout the final six months.
No matter you select, setup appears comparatively straightforward. We grabbed a replica of the Home windows consumer, downloading and putting in it inside a number of seconds.
The interface is bulkier than most shoppers, and would not make the very best use of house. The opening display screen shows your location on a world map, as an illustration, however you’ll be able to’t pan round it, zoom in/out, or click on a location to attach. It is only a static picture.
A separate Servers tab shows all obtainable areas together with their workload, and features a Search field that can assist you discover a explicit metropolis. It is simple sufficient to make use of, however once more takes extra space than most shoppers to offer you fewer options. You possibly can’t browse by continent, as an illustration, there is not any approach to change the type order, and there is not any Favorites scheme to focus on your most commonly-used servers.
Poke across the consumer for some time and you will discover a second group of settings, bizarrely tucked away within the Account part. Right here you’ll be able to change your protocol from OpenVPN to ‘KeepSold Sensible TCP’ or ‘KeepSolid Sensible UDP’, which seem like enhanced variations of OpenVPN with additional safety. We’d have appreciated the power to determine whether or not the common OpenVPN choice used UDP (for pace) or TCP (for reliability), however that is not an choice right here.
There are not any different vital settings or options. You possibly can’t management whether or not the consumer reconnects when it launches. There isn’t any kill change to forestall your id leaking if the connection drops. There isn’t any IPv6 leak safety, and no approach to modify program conduct, for instance, to show notifications or not.
We had some points with connecting and switching between servers. When you click on on any server within the checklist, ever, KeepSolid connects to it instantly with out asking for affirmation. We discovered it straightforward to do that by chance, and it appears to us that the usual Home windows conduct – single click on to pick an merchandise, double click on to carry out an motion on it – could be extra intuitive. However in the event you’re pleased with the only click on strategy then it is definitely straightforward to make use of, and the shortage of “do you actually wish to join?” affirmation messages could also be a bonus.
We did not have any considerations about KeepSolid’s efficiency, which our assessments* confirmed was wonderful all over the place. Native UK servers managed 36-44Mbps obtain speeds. Close by European nations – France, Netherlands, Germany – frequently reached 40Mbps. Stockholm could not fairly match up with a mean within the low 30Mbps, however it was by no means decrease than 28Mbps.
Connecting to the US made surprisingly little distinction, with the New York server averaging round 40Mbps. Even Australia delivered speeds of 5Mbps, sufficient for us to stream primary HD video with out problem.
Sadly, regardless of the triumph of the pace assessments, the assessment ended with an issue. Each ipleak.web and dnsleak.com confirmed a possible DNS leak. This will likely not apply on all programs and platforms, however in the event you trial the service we might suggest checking it out for your self.
Last verdict
KeepSolid provides nice efficiency for a low value, and shoppers that run on virtually every part. The DNS leak and the shortage of a kill change are going to be an issue for a lot of, but when your wants are easy – unblocking web sites, say – it might nonetheless be a sensible choice.
*Our testing included evaluating normal efficiency (shopping, streaming video). We additionally used speedtest.web to measure latency, add and obtain speeds, after which examined instantly once more with the VPN turned off, to examine for any distinction (over a number of rounds of testing). We then in contrast these outcomes to different VPN providers we have reviewed. After all, do be aware that VPN efficiency is tough to measure as there are such a lot of variables.