VyprVPN: our opinion on the Swiss VPN that owns its servers

In the VPN market for more than 14 years, VyprVPN has stood out through an approach that can be described as very healthy. Unlike the vast majority of providers, the Swiss company owns its servers. Obviously, there are fewer of them, but VyprVPN is able to control its entire infrastructure without adding an intermediary in the loop. An advantage serving the confidentiality of your personal data.

But, what about the other features of the service? Let’s dig into all of this in our full VyprVPN review. If you want to read another review, go to our comparison of the best VPNs in 2024.

In short: our opinion on VyprVPN

VyprVPN interface: no real desktop app, translation could be improved

VyprVPN is a service to be placed in the family of companies that have not taken the trouble to develop a desktop version worthy of the name. Like Mozilla VPN or CyberGhost, the program presents itself neither more nor less in the same trappings as on mobile… with the frustrations that this can cause. In particular: the impossibility of resizing the window, which is and will remain a simple, somewhat narrow rectangle.

To immediately get rid of the app’s shortcomings, just take a look at the screenshot above to see that the translation of the different functionalities is random to say the least. It would be absurd to hold VyprVPN too harshly, but, all the same, for a service on the market for more than 10 years, and what’s more, it’s billed at 10 euros per month, we’re not asking for the moon.

At least it’s easy to find your way around. Navigation within the app is divided into three main sections. In “Customize”, you access all the options offered by VyprVPN. Choice of protocol, automatic connection, activation or deactivation of the Kill Switch… There is even a menu dedicated to changing DNS.

Small originality of VyprVPN: a control panel allows you to view the data downloaded and uploaded since the connection to the selected server was established.

Finally, the “Servers” pane gives access to the drop-down list of all the servers offered by VyprVPN. No frills here, the servers are arranged by country and in alphabetical order. There are no servers specifically dedicated to streaming or torrenting, for example. Simplicity is the watchword. A breakdown, one could say, which already says a lot about VyprVPN’s lack of features.

Without any surprise, we find an absolutely identical interface on mobile… except that the translation here seems better. The same options described above are in the program, and the operation is unchanged.

What’s the point of having VyprVPN? The main characteristics

Here are the main promises made by VyprVPN:

Main Features of VyprVPN

Daily use

Once installed, the application works in such a way that you forget its presence quite quickly. All you have to do is select your server or click on the quick connection button for it to take place and you can get back to your day. However, we must point out that, unlike other competing services, the connection can sometimes take many seconds.

People concerned about their online privacy are recommended to enable the feature to launch the VPN at session startup. It is a practical parameter to relieve yourself of an action to be done.

VyprVPN and SVOD

We wrote above that the list of VyprVPN servers cannot be sorted to easily access servers dedicated to video streaming. This is absolutely not a barrier to accessing geolocated catalogs on your devices.

The first time, I just had to select the first American server that came up so that I could automatically view the exclusive and geofiltered content of certain major streaming services – a warning, however: SVOD platforms are opposed to using a VPN to access their service.

This ease of access applies to both VyprVPN’s desktop and mobile app.

VyprVPN servers

As we have said, VyprVPN is certainly not the service with the greatest variety of servers. We quickly see this when looking at the list of servers (available here): few countries offer several, with the exception of the United States and Australia.

This is the bet that the Swiss company has chosen to make by preferring quality to quantity. With the sovereignty of its infrastructure anchored to its body, VyprVPN favors total control of its server park over rental which, while it allows more choice, is done in exchange for an accentuated dependence of the company on third parties.

Kill Switch, offensive protocol: VyprVPN bonuses

Kill Switch

We give VyprVPN a favor by counting on offering a Kill Switch as an advantage. These days, few virtual private network services do without it! As a reminder, this is a feature that allows VyprVPN to completely cut off your device’s Internet access if the VPN signal is lost.

A security feature, it ensures that no unencrypted data can pass through your network.

Chameleon, the offensive protocol

This is perhaps the best asset of VyprVPN, at least for certain people with very particular profiles. In addition to the WireGuard protocol, the most modern and effective for everyone today, VyprVPN lists its in-house protocol called Chameleon in its options. A very appropriate name, in that it is a so-called obfuscation measure.

Behind this barbaric term lies the act of blurring the lines by sharing false information about oneself online. In the case of a VPN, it will be a matter of making web browsers and access providers understand that we are not really using a virtual private network.

Thanks to Chameleon, you can access the Chinese web, which is normally impractical for those who do not live in the country. To put it another way, and even more simply, the Chameleon protocol is preferred in cases where, for one reason or another, the use of a VPN is detected and refused (at university for example).

Security audit, bug bounty: the security advantages of VyprVPN

Security audit

VyprVPN makes a big deal about being an advertised no-log virtual private network provider. Allegations that he obviously had certified via an audit (still dating from 2018), which can be consulted at this address.

It is nevertheless important to specify that the various VyprVPN applications are not open source, that is to say whose insides can be consulted, unlike those of Proton VPN. Open source is often considered a good guarantee of transparency, even if everything is not always publicly exposed.

That being said, the audit referenced above looked at VyprVPN’s applications and found nothing wrong with their security. Good news, which is likely to reassure, even if this type of analysis is never able to verify everything. Above all, auditing is no longer very young, while VyprVPN has evolved since then.

Data protection policy

In VyprVPN’s privacy policy, available at this address, the service publisher provides a layer on the non-logging of the service. It is claimed that the user’s IP address is never recorded, let alone shared with third parties, and connection start and end times are not transmitted to VyprVPN.

Apart from the information provided to VyprVPN when registering for the service, no unnecessary, and therefore potentially sensitive, data is accessible to the company. VyprVPN nevertheless retains the information used during your registration. The company is also required by law to cooperate in the event of legal solicitation.

Bug bounty

As of the day these lines are written, in early 2024, VyprVPN does not have any bug bounty program, which allows IT security specialists to be paid when they find a vulnerability. A weakness compared to other VPN providers who have implemented precisely this type of reward.

How much does a VyprVPN subscription cost?

VyprVPN is one of the most expensive services of this type on the market, and this is partly because the company does not offer a long-term subscription plan that could lower the bill. Like Mozilla VPN, you can only subscribe monthly, for 10 euros, or annually for 60 euros (i.e. 5 euros per month).

Find the plans at VyprVPN by following this link.

Subscribe for free to Artificielles, our newsletter on AI, designed by AIs, verified by Numerama!

Some links in this article are affiliated. We’ll explaine everything here.