CyberGhost VPN Review: A Very Easy-to-Use VPN Service

“A user-friendly VPN service known for its strong security features and extensive server network, offering users enhanced online privacy and the ability to bypass geo-restrictions with ease.”

Virtual Private Networks or VPNs have become an essential tool in today’s digital landscape for several reasons. Firstly, VPNs enhance online privacy and security by encrypting your internet connection, making it difficult for hackers, governments, or cybercriminals to intercept and monitor your online activities. This encryption helps protect sensitive information, such as login credentials, personal data, and financial transactions, especially when using public Wi-Fi networks, which are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

VPNs enable users to bypass geographical restrictions and censorship. By connecting to servers in different locations around the world, users can access content and websites that might be blocked or restricted in their region. This is particularly valuable for individuals seeking unrestricted access to global information, streaming services, or social media platforms. They are also crucial for maintaining anonymity and preserving digital freedom. They shield your real IP address, making it difficult for websites and online services to track your online behavior. This empowers individuals to express themselves freely, access uncensored information, and protect their privacy in an era of increasing online surveillance and data collection.

There are a plethora of VPN services in the market right now and choosing the right VPN service is crucial to ensure your online privacy, security, and overall satisfaction with the service. CyberGhost VPN is of the more popular VPN services available today. Boasting a whooping 9000+ servers in over 90 countries, it is one of the extensive VPN service that we have encountered. What about its performance? What safety and security features does it offer? What VPN Protocols does it support? How about the cost? This is the review of CyberGhost VPN Service. Here, we will take a look at different aspects of this VPN service such as ease of usage, user interface, special features, speeds, and many more. Continue reading the review to find out more about our thoughts and impressions of the CyberGhost VPN Service.

IN THIS ARTICLE

• Initial Setup
• UI Experience
• Safety and Security
• Speed Test
• Other Features
• Specifications
• Price
• Final Verdict

Initial Setup

While CyberGhost VPN has support for several devices and platforms, we will discuss the installation and setup in Windows system for this review. That said, installing CyberGhost VPN is relatively a simple process. Just download the executable and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you install the application, you can launch it and continue setting up the VPN service.

If you already have an account with CyberGhost VPN, you can use those credentials (registered e-mail ID and password) to log in with CyberGhost. Once you log in, you can immediately start the VPN service by clicking on the large “power-button” style icon. If you observe just below this button, it says connect to “Best server location”. This means CyberGhost VPN will choose the best possible location based on your network situation. If you don’t have a particular location in mind, you can simply leave this option as is. This way, you will have a secure connection with all the benefits of a VPN service such as data encryption, hiding IP address, etc. But you will miss out on your desired location.

Instead of CyberGhost VPN choosing the best location for you, you can manually select a preferred location. For this just click on the “Best server location” option. This will bring out a list of all available locations of CyberGhost VPN servers. If you click on the arrow on the left, it will expand the CyberGhost VPN UI into a large window.

UI Experience

With the expanded UI, you get to explore a lot more functions and features of the CyberGhost VPN. The first thing that we liked about CyberGhost VPN is its segregation of servers for different applications. On the left, you can see different ways to sort servers such as Favorites, All Servers, Gaming, Torrenting, Streaming, etc. Based on your typical use case, you can select a server that is optimized for that application. This way you can connect to the best server depending on your usage.

There are settings to change the privacy-related stuff such as blocking ads, trackers, and malware, preventing DNS leaks, automatic kill switch, etc. You can also apply different rules and exceptions. On the bottom left of the app, there is a settings button that helps you further customize the service. For example, you can manually set the VPN Protocol that the CyberGhost VPN uses.

Apart from the three major desktop platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux), CyberGhost VPN is also available for iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Browser Extensions (Chrome and Firefox), and Gaming Consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch).

You can install the CyberGhost VPN extension on your browser to get VPN only on your browser. If you install the app on your computer, you can get VPN for all the applications in your computer. CyberGhost supports up to 7 devices at a time. So, you have to carefully pick the devices where you want to use VPN. There is another way to access VPN services for all the devices in the network. It is through installing VPN on a router. Many modern routers support this feature and we tested it on our ASUS “Merlin” based router. The setup procedure was very simple and it worked as expected.

Safety and Security

CyberGhost VPN prioritizes user security and privacy. It employs strong encryption protocols to secure internet connections, making it difficult for third parties to intercept or monitor your online activities. CyberGhost VPN uses AES-256 bit encryption, which is considered one of the most secure encryption methods available. This encryption ensures that your internet traffic is highly secure and virtually impossible for unauthorized parties to decipher. One of the fundamental aspects of online privacy is the no-logs policy. CyberGhost VPN has a strict no-logs policy, which means they do not record or store any information about your online activities. This commitment to privacy ensures that your browsing history, connection timestamps, and IP addresses remain private and cannot be traced back to you. CyberGhost VPN is transparent about its privacy practices and has undergone independent security audits to verify its no-logs policy.

CyberGhost includes a kill switch feature in its applications. This feature automatically disconnects your internet connection if the VPN connection drops unexpectedly. It prevents your data from being exposed to your ISP or any potential threats during a VPN interruption.

Further enhancing your online anonymity, CyberGhost VPN has built-in DNS and IP leak protection. This ensures that your DNS requests and IP address are not leaked to your ISP or other third parties. The VPN can be set to automatically connect and protect your device when you join unsecured or public Wi-Fi networks. This proactive approach helps safeguard your data in potentially risky environments.

Speed Test

VPN speed tests allow users to assess the performance of their VPN service. By measuring the download and upload speeds while connected to a VPN server, users can determine whether the VPN is providing a satisfactory level of performance for their needs. This is particularly important for activities like streaming, online gaming, or downloading large files, where speed is crucial.

Coming to the CyberGhost VPN Service, we are actually impressed by the speeds we were getting. Initially, we performed a standard speed test on our system with a 300 Mbps ISP plan. We connected to the local ISP server and the results were Download: 292.62 Mbps and Upload: 286.39 Mbps.

Now we turned the CyberGhost VPN on and connected to one of the local servers in a neighboring city. The Download Speed was 280.87 Mbps and the Upload Speed was 274.83 Mbps. This means you can get very good speeds in the same geological location but with the benefits of VPN.

Next, we connected to the “Best server location”. This again connected to the same server in the neighboring city. So, the speed results were similar. Now, we manually set the locations and connected to different servers all around the world. Here are the speed test results for your consideration.

Server	Download	Upload
US (LA)	175.57	114.56
France (Paris)	232.91	141.71
Germany (Frankfurt)	248.73	143.22
UK (London)	228.88	136.63

We performed all these tests without modifying the VPN Protocol. But CyberGhost VPN gives you additional control over the selection of the protocol. If you select the “CyberGhost VPN” tab under the settings, you can change the default VPN protocol, which is set to “Automatic selection”, to one of the three from OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. If you prioritize security and versatility, OpenVPN is a solid choice. Even when we set the protocol to Automatic, CyberGhost uses OpenVPN most of the time.

If you need fast and reliable connections, especially on mobile devices, IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange version 2) may be the best option. It is known for its quick connection establishment and is often used on mobile platforms that frequently switch between networks (e.g., from Wi-Fi to cellular data).

If you want a lightweight and efficient protocol, WireGuard is a newer protocol that offers excellent speed and simplicity. It is gaining popularity, especially for users who value performance and ease of use.

Other Features

CyberGhost VPN offers a feature called “Smart Rules,” which allows users to customize and automate certain VPN behaviors and configurations based on specific conditions or triggers. Smart Rules provide users with more control over their VPN experience. The “Wi-Fi Auto-Connect” rule allows you to set specific Wi-Fi networks where CyberGhost VPN should automatically connect. For example, you can configure the VPN to connect automatically when you join an unsecured or public Wi-Fi network, enhancing your security in potentially risky environments.

Using the “App Protection” rule, you can specify which apps or programs should trigger the VPN to connect automatically when they are launched. This is useful for ensuring that certain apps always use a secure VPN connection. You can create exceptions for specific websites or domains that you want to access without going through the VPN. For example, you might want to exclude your online banking site from the VPN to avoid any potential access issues.

The “Block Connections Without VPN” rule ensures that all internet traffic is blocked when the VPN is not connected. It helps prevent data leaks and ensures that your online activities are protected by the VPN at all times. CyberGhost VPN allows users to create custom rules based on specific triggers, such as connecting to a particular Wi-Fi network, launching a specific app, or visiting specific websites. These custom rules enable users to tailor the VPN’s behavior to their specific needs.

CyberGhost VPN includes a built-in ad, tracker and malware blocker as part of its security features. The ad blocker prevents intrusive and annoying ads from appearing while you browse the internet, creating a smoother and less distracting browsing experience. It also blocks websites and content that are known to contain malware or malicious scripts. This adds an extra layer of security to protect your device from potential threats.

DNS (Domain Name System) leaks can occur when your DNS requests are not properly routed through the VPN tunnel, potentially revealing your true IP address to third parties. CyberGhost VPN configures your device to use its own DNS servers when the VPN is active, ensuring that DNS requests are resolved through the VPN tunnel rather than your ISP’s DNS servers. An automatic kill switch is a crucial feature that helps protect your data privacy by disconnecting your internet connection if the VPN connection drops unexpectedly. When you enable the automatic kill switch option, it monitors the VPN connection. If the VPN connection drops for any reason, the kill switch immediately cuts off your internet connection. This prevents your data from being exposed to your ISP or other potential threats.

Specifications

Price

There is only one plan with CyberGhost VPN but with three durations. The monthly subscription costs $12.99 while the 6-month subscription will cost about $6.99 per month. If you want to commit for long time, then the 2-year plan is probably the best one as it only costs $2.19 per month. Both the 6-month and 2-year subscriptions come with 45-day money-back guarantee while the monthly plan has 14-day money-back guarantee.

Final Verdict

Overall, we really liked the VPN experience with CyberGhost VPN. Installing and using the software (on Windows) is very simple and you can start the VPN with just a single click. It uses AES-256 to encrypt all your internet data. This ensures a secure internet connections without the possibility of third-party interception or monitoring. When you combine this with CyberGhost’s no-log policy, they assure your data stays private.

There are several useful features such as automatic kill switch, content blocker (ads, trackers, and malware), and DNS-leak prevention. Additionally, you can setup different rules and exception with the CyberGhost VPN app to invoke apps or bypass certain websites (very useful for banking-related websites).

The UI of the app is simple and easy to use. You can keep everything to automatic and let CyberGhost do the best job or manually select the servers and VPN protocols, if you want a fine-grained control. There are no tiers in the subscription plans, only time durations. The longer you commit to their plan, the cheaper it becomes.

If you are looking for a no non-sense, simple to use VPN service for protecting your privacy and encrypting your data, then CyberGhost VPN is a decent choice.