We would like to count page views and clicks with Google Analytics, which sets cookies in your
browser. It is how we learn which pages are worth writing. Nothing loads until you choose, and
declining costs you nothing on this site. What we collect.
Swiss-registered; leadership overlaps with the former Anonymizer team. No public audit of the no-logs policy yet.
Public-source facts, not yet checked against primary documents. How we verify.
Lab test pending: score uses public, checkable data only. How we verify.
Verdict
PrivadoVPN has the lowest two-year intro price of any provider we track, a 10 GB monthly free tier that is genuinely useful, and a Swiss registration outside the intelligence alliances. It also has no independent no-logs audit, no obfuscated protocol, a small network, a renewal that is two and a half times the intro, and one of the lower-scoring iOS apps in our analysis. A reasonable budget or free-tier choice; not a provider to trust with anything that matters until an auditor has looked at it.
Best for
Free-tier users who want 10 GB a month with a country choice, and budget users who want the cheapest paid plan and do not need obfuscation.
Not for
Privacy-motivated users, travel to censored countries, or anyone who wants an audited no-logs claim.
227 most recent reviews across 5 storefronts, 2021-04-26 to 2026-08-31. Listing rating 4.00★ from 734 ratings. Version 4.0.1, released 2026-08-20.
51
Sentiment worsening last 90 daysCritical complaints 33.5%
Crashes & bugs
11.9%
Connection drops
9.7%
iOS integration
7.5%
China / censorship
6.6%
Slow speeds
6.2%
Privacy concerns
5.7%
Customer support
5.3%
Billing & auto-renew
4.4%
★★☆☆☆ “Overall the sale price was much lower than competitors.” App Store reviewer, 2026-08-06
★★☆☆☆ “Able to connect but can’t watch any programs” App Store reviewer, 2026-07-08
★☆☆☆☆ “Granted, I was using the free version to try it out.” App Store reviewer, 2026-05-21
★★★★☆ “App launches but doesn’t work after they ban the ip that privado use or something” App Store reviewer, 2026-05-18
★★★★★ “I really hope the developers add Hysteria2 and Reality support in future updates!” App Store reviewer, 2026-01-18
Themes tagged by keyword rules; percentages are share of sampled reviews mentioning the theme. Full breakdown · Method.
Streaming and censorship status
Streaming
NetflixWorks
BBC iPlayerUnreliable
Disney+Unreliable
HuluUnreliable
Prime VideoUnreliable
Restricted countries
ChinaBlocked
United Arab EmiratesUnreliable
RussiaBlocked
IranBlocked
TürkiyeWorks
Basis: user reports and provider statements; our own checks pending.
Swiss, young, and cheap
PrivadoVPN launched in 2019 from Zurich, run by Privado Networks AG, with leadership that overlaps the team behind the older Anonymizer service. Switzerland is one of the better jurisdictions available: outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes, with no data retention obligation for VPN providers and a legal system that has repeatedly narrowed surveillance orders against services like Proton.
What Privado has not done is have any of that checked. There is no published independent no-logs audit, no security audit of the apps, and no transparency report. For a provider whose entire pitch beyond price is its jurisdiction, that gap is the review.
The free tier, which is the good part
Ten gigabytes a month across roughly a dozen locations, no ads, and the same privacy policy as the paid plan. When the cap runs out you drop to a single limited free server rather than being cut off. Speeds in user reports hold up better than most free tiers, and it occasionally unblocks US Netflix within the cap. Alongside Proton’s uncapped tier and Windscribe’s 10 GB, it is one of the three free VPNs this site is willing to name.
Protocols, network and features
WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2. No obfuscation of any kind, which rules out China, Russia and Iran. Servers in around 48 countries; the total count is not published in a way we can verify. Kill switch, split tunnelling, ad and tracker blocking, and a SOCKS5 proxy. Ten devices. P2P allowed on most servers. No port forwarding, no multi-hop, no router firmware.
What it costs, honestly
Plan
Intro
Renewal
True cost / month over 3 years
Monthly
$10.99
$10.99
$10.99
1 year
$35.88
$59.88
$4.32
2 years
$47.76
$119.76 (2 × yearly)
$3.49
The two-year intro at $1.99 a month is the cheapest advertised rate on this site. The renewal is two and a half times that, which is better than NordVPN’s or Surfshark’s multiple but still a jump worth a calendar reminder. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.
Streaming and censorship
User reports have US Netflix working reasonably often and Disney+, Hulu, iPlayer and Prime inconsistently. The small network means flagged addresses are replaced slowly. No censorship capability at all: blocked in China, Russia and Iran, working in Turkey and partially in the UAE.
The iPhone app
This month’s App Store analysis has a small sample of about 230 recent reviews, so the score is noisy. It sits in the lower half, with crashes and connection failures as the leading complaint themes and a listing rating of 4.00 stars from around 730 ratings — the second-lowest rating of any app we track. Full breakdown.
What would move it up this site’s rankings
An independent no-logs audit, published in full. An obfuscated protocol. A published server count. In that order. The jurisdiction and the free tier are already good; the evidence is what is missing.
What we have not tested
Speed and leaks. Our own tests are pending; the speed dimension is excluded from the score until they land.
Assembled from public sources; confirm operating entity, jurisdiction and audit history against primary documents.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns PrivadoVPN?
Privado Networks AG, registered in Zurich, Switzerland, and founded in 2019. Its leadership overlaps with the team behind the older Anonymizer service. It is privately held; individual ownership is not published in detail.
Is PrivadoVPN safe?
There is no independent audit of its no-logs policy, which is the main gap. Switzerland is a good jurisdiction — outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes, with no VPN data retention — and there are no incidents on record. Safe enough for public Wi-Fi and streaming; not evidenced enough for a privacy-critical use.
Is the free tier really free?
Yes: 10 GB a month across a dozen locations with no ads and the same policy as the paid plan. After the cap it drops to a limited free server rather than cutting you off. It is one of the three free tiers this site is willing to recommend, alongside Proton and Windscribe.
How much does PrivadoVPN cost?
About $48 for two years ($1.99 a month advertised), renewing at about $120 for another two years — roughly $3.49 a month across the months that buys. The yearly plan is about $36 renewing at $60. Monthly is $10.99. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.
Does PrivadoVPN work in China?
No. It has no obfuscated protocol, so it is detected and blocked in China, Russia and Iran. It works in Turkey and partially in the UAE.
Does PrivadoVPN keep logs?
It says it keeps no activity or connection logs. Nobody independent has verified that, which is why this review holds the claim at arm's length.
