Psiphon VPN Review | You Need to Know Everything

Psiphon is a common name when it comes to VPNs. The fact that it provides its services free of cost adds on to make it a familiar name.

It is a free tool which is helpful in circumventing censorship. So it must be able to fulfill its purpose which it claims to have.

But the question here is whether Psiphon is really a good option to rely on. Does it deliver their services as good as they are claimed?

The company, Psiphon has said that it is involved in striving yo deliver what best can be delivered. They are making their services as fast and easy as possible. They try to make Psiphon the most circumventive option.

However, it is unfortunate that the claims that the company makes and the truth according to our assessment do not completely align with each other.

The two different services that are provided on the Psiphon desktop as well as mobile app are the VPN service and the proxy technology of circumvention. We have tested both the services.

In this article we have tried to answer crucial questions which you might have. Some of the questions which you will get answered here are:

• Does Psiphon protect your safety online?
• How fast is Psiphon?
• Can it be used in China?
• Is the app user-friendly?
• Does it work with site such as Netflix or sites for torrenting?

What You Must Know Before Paying Premium To Psiphon VPN

However, if you are going to buy a VPN, then you must know there are better options available to you which provide far better services.

So, if you are to spend your money, then it is recommended that you properly explore all the possible options and then select the one that not only provides you better services and more features but is also worth the money being spent.

The Positives Of Psiphon VPN

While it is not a particularly feature-rich service, it has many merits. For providing services to the users without any charge it works well and is definitely worth giving a try.

It is a very good choice for those users who are choosing a VPN for the first time and not sure if getting a VPN is worth spending money or not.

Given below are the most common benefits you get with Psiphon VPN.

• You can get the app for free for your android, windows as well as iOS devices.
• You will not be required to use an email address in order to get started.
• For the users in China, it is an functional proxy tool.
• Its open source code is helpful in increasing transparency.
• You can even unblock BBC iPlayer.
• You can connect multiple devices simultaneously, even on the free version.
• It is known to have wide device compatibility, and that too across almost all major devices.
• Setting-up and installation process is very quick and easy.

The Not-So-Good Of Psiphon VPN

• It’s server network is very small.
• The speeds are very slow.
• It does not have an app for Linux, macOS, or routers.
• It does not work with torrenting or even Netflix.
• It says explicitly that it should not be considered a privacy tool.
• It does not have a VPN kill switch.
• It is known to leak DNS requests.

Logging and Jurisdiction

Psiphon – not private

Psiphon was made an independent corporation in 2007. It is a free app and does not require the users to provide any payment information or details related to email in order to use it.

Logging policy

It collects all the detailed connection logs but it is explained in detail in Psiphon’s extensive privacy policy.

Following are the information collected by Psiphon :

• Connection timestamps
• Session count as well as duration
• Opted connection protocol
• ISP of the user
• Aggregated server data
• Total transferred bytes and bytes which are transferred for particular domains
• Region codes

It does inspect the domain names but does not require the full URL from its users.

It contains ads and also shares the statistics with some sponsors for them to know how often the users visit their sites through Psiphon and from which regions.

It keeps the data for maximum90 days and then discards it. Usually the logs are used for troubleshooting.

Even though it has started that no information is shared to any other party, it’s advisable to not choose this in case the user needs a very high level of privacy.

Speed & Reliability

Slow VPN speeds. Even slower Proxy speeds.

Psiphon does not allow the users to choose any VPN server in particular counties while using the services of Windows VPN.

When tested it was found that the speed was 1Mbps up and 5Mbps down which is really slow and wouldn’t even allow general browsing if it gets a bit slow.

This speed becomes quite good in case Psiphon connects the user to any of the nearby VPN servers which is not guaranteed.

Getting the paid premium versions of Psiphon provides the users with really good speed but the price of the premium plans are quite expensive.

It is not made for streaming in HD, gaming, torrenting but if the need of the user is unblocking censored sites then slow speed is not really an issue.

Streaming

Psiphon – not meant for streaming

Psiphon is not a good choice among the various VPNs available for streaming. When tested it was found out that this VPN did not work out for Netflix and many other such platforms.

It works with very few streaming platforms but does not satisfy the user as it’s speed is too slow to work out for streaming.

Torrenting

Psiphon – not really good for private torrenting

Psiphon does not work well for torrenting because it is not a very private tool and hence not safe for private torrenting.

Psiphon’s privacy policy is a bit intrusive and it does not provide the users with necessary tools for security which keeps them safe during torrenting.

Security and other features

Psiphon – very strong encryption but lacks other security features

Psiphon works transparently and clearly states that it does not protect or increase the user’s online privacy and thus not a good option for the users needing high privacy.

The main goal of Psiphon is accessing the blocked content via SSH+ proxy service, hence the apps do not provide the users with many  advanced settings for privacy.

It also does not have a VPN kill switch feature which helps in preventing the IP address of the users from getting exposed in case there is a connection drop.

When tested it was found out that there have been many leagues through this VPN which leads to the users personal data being exposed to other parties.

Bypassing Censorship

Proxy services work in China, but VPN services do not work in China.

It has been said by the Psiphon’s president that around 200,000 users of China use it’s services everyday. But they use it’s proxy services and not the VPN services because this VPN is blocked in China.

Accessing it through the proxy servers is the only option to use it as they provide some additional obfuscation layers (SSH+). But it is not safe overall as it cannot protect all the apps.

One major reason for Psiphon proxy services being used in countries such as China is that it provides the users with simple ways for downloading the software from the countries which have blocked the VPN websites.

This VPN allows the users to receive all the downloads of their choice and bypass the blocks of the government.

Prices Of Psiphon VPN Plan

Most of the Psiphon VPN users prefer to choose the free services plan because of some downsides associated with this VPN.

There is no limit on data transferring on the paid as well as on the free plan, although in the free version your speed will be capped at 2 Mbps and you will also be seeing a good amount of ads.

The paid upgraded plans of Psiphon VPN cost android users more than iOS users.

The ad-free upgraded plan will cost an iOS user $2.99 per week, while for android users will have to pay $4.99 for a week.

You can pay monthly, which is $9.99 for both Android and iOS.

For iOS users, there is an yearly plan where you can save about 20% on buying the plan for one whole year. In terms of months, it will cost you $8.33 each month.

However, in case you are willing to spend around $45 for getting premium services of a VPN, it’s advisable to spend that money on better VPNs like NordVPN or ExpressVPN as they provide much better services and are completely safe to use.

Conclusion

Psiphon VPN, like all VPN services, is the product that routes all users’ internet traffic through a remote server run for customer’s good convenience. What attracts most customers is the fact that Psiphon VPN is available free of cost.

Psiphon VPN is praised for not requiring an email address to be able to use, it’s ability to unblock BBC iPlayer, and open source code among others. However, after investigating the major internal working processes of Psiphon VPN services, we can say that it is not the best option available at your hand. There are several options, such as NordVPN or ExpressVPN which work a lot better than Psiphon VPN and in addition, provide more features.

If you take the safety and security of your data very seriously the this might not be the right option for you, especially not the free version.

But if you are going to spend your money on paying the premium, you might as well want to take some time to discover other options which provide better services at the same price.

It is recommended that you invest in some better VPN services such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN famously known for their strong security features and their enormous network services.

Frequently Asked Questions