We just completed our latest round of VPN test and, after comparing the latest and greatest providers on the market, we noticed that all the best VPNs today spend a lot of time and resources developing cutting-edge features to protect our digital privacy.
Well, PrivadoVPN is no exception, and while it has retained its standing as #1 free VPN, its paid plan includes some particularly cool but very effective and useful features that we would like to tell you about. Read on to find out the 4 PrivadoVPN features that impressed us the most.
Feature #1: Privado Control Tower
PrivadoVPN's Control Tower blocks ads, malware, and ransomware, making it an extremely handy feature to have in your online security toolkit, especially in today's day and age where cyberattacks are more common than ever.
Furthermore, Control Tower cranks up PrivadoVPN's value for money. The fact that you don't pay extra for access to the tool is pretty awesome – especially when you consider that PrivadoVPN is already one of the best cheap VPNs around.
Control Tower reduces the number of pop-ups and video ads,
By preventing third-party tracking, Control Tower protects you against targeted ads that may deceive you into clicking them and then redirect you to malicious websites (which can be well-thought-out phishing campaigns designed to harvest your personal information without your consent) or downloading infected files on your device.
Control Tower not only boosts your privacy but also enhances your online experience by reducing the number of pop-ups, video ads, and intrusive advertisements. This, in turn, results in faster loading times and reduced data consumption and ensures you can focus only on what you want to explore on the internet.
As part of our detailed PrivadoVPN review, we tested out Control Tower firsthand and found that it did a decent job at protecting us online. For instance, its ad-blocker scored 75% in our tests, with the average for other VPNs being 50-90%. Next, the tool was able to ward off around 90% of our test trackers – an impressive feat considering the usual range is 70-95%.
However, we wouldn't recommend using PrivadoVPN as your only source of web protection, but it's undoubtedly a great second layer of protection, i.e., on top of a specialist antivirus software.
Feature #2: Scramble
Scramble is a simple toggle on/off feature that's available alongside VPN protocols, including WireGuard and OpenVPN.
Switching it on will disguise and conceal your VPN traffic from snoopers (this includes ISPs and government surveillance agencies), allowing you to sidestep online censorship and access the internet irrespective of the restrictions placed on it by your region's government.
Popular apps such as Discord, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube are all blocked in China.
Scramble could help you get online in China, where the Great Firewall (a robust combination of rules, tools, and services used by the Chinese government) prevents people from bypassing the state's strict online controls.
Moreover, countries such as Russia, Belarus, Iraq, and North Korea, among others, enforce similar restrictions. With more and more governments imposing internet blackouts and restrictions (Mozambique and Mauritius being the most recent examples), Scramble could be a useful tool for folks trying to get back online.
Last but not least, using Scramble is straightforward, too – just go to Settings, VPN Protocols, select OpenVPN (with the protocol set to TCP), and then tick the Scramble box under it. Press Save to finish.
Feature #3: Parental Controls
VPNs aren't just for tech experts – they come in handy for parents who want to give everyone in the house, especially their children who are generally more susceptible to online dangers, a privacy boost.
It's worth mentioning that around 72% of children who access the internet have encountered at least one cyberthreat online. This may include inappropriate content, online bullying, and digital addiction, which are all worsening in the modern cybersecurity landscape.
PrivadoVPN's parental controls are simple but effective. All you have to do is install the PrivadoVPN app on your child’s device, head over to the Control Tower, and activate the Family Security functions.
From here, parents can pick and choose which websites (PrivadoVPN can also block access to drug paraphernalia and vaping stores), apps, and social media platforms their children can access, keeping them away from inappropriate content or interactions with dangerous people.
Even better, parents can set up content controls on virtually any device, including desktop PCs, tablets, and smartphones, as well as smart TVs. This will help you cover the entire spectrum of gadgets your child may use to access the internet.
Alternatively, you can also use PrivadoVPN parental controls to keep yourself (or your employees, family members, etc.) focused on their work and not be distracted by what's happening online on social media, Netflix, etc.
Feature #4: Free VPN plan
PrivadoVPN sits at the top of our best free VPN list, thanks to a jam-packed list of features that very few free providers can compete with.
For starters, you get 10 GB of data each month, but unlike other VPNs that simply do not work once you exceed your monthly data cap, PrivadoVPN puts you on its "over quota" mode and offers you unlimited data, albeit at speeds of just 1 Mbps.
Wondering which VPNs can keep up with your movie marathons and favorite shows? Check out our guide to the best streaming VPNs.
That said, for the first 10 GB per month, you'll enjoy lightning-fast speeds of 900 Mbps. This is great news for anyone who will be using PrivadoVPN Free to stream.
Speaking of streaming, it's one of the very few free VPNs that can actually unblock popular streaming platforms. We tested it out, and it comfortably unblocked US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus.
Another standout is the number of servers it offers. You get to choose between 13 servers in 10 countries, which is a lot more than most free providers. There's no dearth of essential privacy features, either, seeing as PrivadoVPN's free plan includes AES-256 encryption, a rock-solid kill switch, and split tunneling – and it also offers apps for all platforms.
However, no free VPN service is perfect, and in PrivadoVPN's case, it's the lack of an independent audit that nags us a little bit. We would certainly like to see the VPN undertake a third-party audit of its no-logs policy and apps to prove its privacy claims. Additionally, the free plan only allows a single simultaneous connection, as opposed to the paid plan's 10.
Bottom line
Although PrivadoVPN isn’t the biggest VPN on the block, it packs a lot of features into budget-friendly prices. In addition to a high-speed VPN, you get a robust blocker for ads, malware, and ransomware, obfuscation technology to hide the fact that you're using a VPN at all (great for bypassing internet censorship), and parental controls to protect young family members.
It's good to see that the best free VPN wants its paid offering to be on par with the industry's best. It's not perfect yet, but if it continues to develop features of the same caliber as the ones listed above, it could find its way into our best VPN rankings.
