iTop VPN review
Our Verdict
If you're looking for a gratis service for not-disquisitional tasks with a generous data cap, iTop VPN fits the pecker. But, while the paid plans offer plenty of avant-garde functions, it'southward difficult to recommend thanks to a number issues we found with its bones features.
For
- Decent free program
- Lots of added extras
- Long-term plans are cheap
- Can unblock BBC iPlayer and Disney+
Confronting
- Can't admission Netflix of Amazon Prime Video
- Kill switch isn't watertight
- Poor website security
- Doesn't disclose which protocols is uses
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
If you're looking for a free service for not-critical tasks with a generous data cap, iTop VPN fits the bill. But, while the paid plans offer plenty of advanced functions, it's hard to recommend thanks to a number problems we institute with its bones features.
Pros
- +
Decent complimentary programme
- +
Lots of added extras
- +
Long-term plans are cheap
- +
Can unblock BBC iPlayer and Disney+
Cons
- -
Can't access Netflix of Amazon Prime Video
- -
Impale switch isn't watertight
- -
Poor website security
- -
Doesn't disclose which protocols is uses
iTop VPN is best known every bit a costless VPN provider, and compared to some of the competition, information technology's actually quite a generous service. For this review, though, nosotros'll also be taking an in-depth expect at iTop'due south paid plans, and the interesting extra features information technology has tucked away.
The free programme offers 700MB a twenty-four hour period, which works out at 21GB a calendar month – more than Hotspot Shield, but less than ProtonVPN's unlimited gratis plan.
Paying users volition go 1,800+ servers spread across over 100 locations, which is a fairly decent range, with plenty of defended streaming and gaming servers, and a modest amount of P2P locations.
Equally standard you'll go carve up tunneling, iTop's Security Reinforce features (more on that later), plus tools for blocking malware, ads, and trackers.
To jump to whatever section of our iTop VPN review, click on the navigation bar at the meridian of the folio. Otherwise, simply go on scrolling to come across if iTop VPN tin can actually challenge the all-time VPN services on the market.
iTop VPN toll: how much is it, and is there a iTop VPN gratuitous trial?
Sign upward for a single month with iTop VPN and it'll cost your $eleven.99. That's quite expensive, just not quite the highest price nosotros've seen.
Every bit always, longer plans work out much cheaper. Sign up for 12 months and you'll pay $4.17 a month. Again, that'due south not extortionate for a mid-length plan, information technology'south withal not exactly what we'd call a cheap VPN.
Things get a lot more attractive when you expect at the 2-year plan (marketed at the time of writing every bit a Black Friday VPN bargain with 6 months free). That brings the cost down to a very reasonable $2.31 a calendar month, which is up at that place with some of the cheaper services available like Surfshark ($ii.49 a month) and Private Net Access ($2.03 a month).
You tin can pay with PayPal, card, and bank transfer, and auto-renewal can be disabled at this stage so yous can avoid beingness billed over again at the terminate of your plan should you desire to change provider.
Finally, you'll become a 15-day money-back guarantee on longer plans (non as generous as the standard thirty days), or vii days if you go for the monthly VPN programme.
How private is iTop VPN, and does information technology proceed logs?
VPN protocols are at the heart of every single VPN service, and determine how your information is trransferred, and how it's encrypted to keep you condom. Most providers utilize OpenVPN and WireGuard – both trusted and open up source – alongside others, but iTop seems to devious away from the norm.
Instead of using one of the tried-and-true protocols, iTop evidently sends your data through a proxy connection to the VPN server, encrypting it with its own custom protocol.
While custom protocols aren't necessarily bad – ExpressVPN'south Lightway and Hotspot Shield's Catapult Hydra are two trusted examples – iTop doesn't give united states of america whatsoever extra information at all on what the protocol is doing, or how it has been designed. It might be fine, just nosotros but can't tell.
Also, when were signing up to the service, iTop requested our name, city and Cypher code, which all seems pretty unnecessary since we'd already handed over our email.
Finally, iTop'southward website has a privacy effect of its own. Thanks to a poorly configured SSL certificate, nosotros were able to access certain parts of the site while using unencrypted HTTP. That puts us at take chances, and really not good class for a production whose 1 task is to encrypt information.
Does iTop VPN keep logs?
iTop claims to be a zero-logging VPN provider, and it tries to back this up in its privacy policy.
It claims: 'Nosotros do not log your activity while yous are utilizing the Services, including your browsing history, the bandwidth you used, or how long you connected to VPN servers. Nosotros practice not store your original IP accost or the server IP address that yous connect to.'
Nonetheless, cheers to the data limit on the free plan, this is impossible – bandwidth and device ID logs would be essential to achieve this.
Further down the page, we notice that iTop VPN collects 'operating system, device ID, Internet protocol addresses, browser blazon, browser language, referring/exit pages, clickstream data of our websites and our products or services, and the pages or features of our software or services accessed past you and the time spent at that place.'
While a lot of that could be to exercise with the website and non the apps themselves, it'southward not entirely clear – and clarity is essential when it comes to VPN privacy policies.
Finally, iTop hasn't undertaken any kind of independent audit of its policy, servers, or apps, and so while nosotros don't have any physical reason to distrust these claims, we do take to take the visitor'south word for it.
How fast is iTop VPN?
No one wants to deal with sluggish Internet speeds, and bully performance is often at the height of most people'southward shopping lists when information technology comes to picking a VPN. We tested iTop VPN in the UK and US on 1Gbps connections to see what it can actually offer.
In the Britain, we saw pretty standard speeds of 180-190Mbps. That shouldn't slow you downwards, but information technology's past no means a fast VPN. However, in the US iTop perked up a chip, delivering speeds of 360-400Mbps. We even saw one examination reach a massive 900Mbps, simply this wasn't repeatable and was dismissed as an outlier.
Compared to other VPNs using OpenVPN, that's quite impressive – ProtonVPN reached 460Mbps, while acme-rated provider ExpressVPN only only croaky 300Mbps.
Even so, compared to those services using WireGuard or other next-gen protocols, iTop lags behind. ExpressVPN's Lightway hitting effectually 600Mbps, and others similar NordVPN and IPVanish broke 800Mbps.
It'south also worth noting that nosotros can't tell exactly what protocol iTop VPN is using here. When we test just nigh every other VPN, nosotros know that while OpenVPN speeds might exist a niggling slow, we're still fully encrypted and safe. With iTop, who knows what information technology'south doing (or not doing) in the name of ameliorate speeds?
How proficient is iTop VPN for streaming and torrenting?
Having a streaming VPN is important for many users, and then it'southward a big office of what we test.
When we tried to access BBC iPlayer with iTop, we were pleasantly surprised, and nosotros got in straight way. We had the aforementioned result from Disney+, with the defended servers in New York and Los Angeles.
Even so, we weren't able to admission Netflix, fifty-fifty when we used the dedicated servers, and Amazon Prime number Video was also a no-go.
How practiced are iTop VPN'due south desktop apps?
Proficient app pattern is important, and while iTop's Windows VPN app isn't awful and offers some very interesting features, the nuts have been neglected.
Have the server list, for case. Near VPNs order their servers in some logical manner – perhaps alphabetically, or by ping time. Not here, though. iTop seemingly has no order to its servers, and although there is a search bar, information technology'southward not logical in the lsightest. You lot also don't get a Favorites or Recents tab, then you'll have to either search every fourth dimension, or memorize that mixed-up listing.
Also, when y'all hit the big ol' on/off push button, you'd expect to exist connected to a local server. Nope – from our UK base we were connected to Nihon, and and so Germany. Hardly ideal.
The good news is that iTop offers defended servers for a lot of different activities. There are options for Netflix, Disney+, PUBG, WhatsApp, Facebook, and a huge amount more. The quick access pane besides allows you lot to connect to a number of preset server selections to accept the fuss out.
And so, those features are smart, but in truth we would far prioritize a simple, effective and logical layout and feature-fix rather than and somewhat half-hearted principal product with lots of bells and whistles tacked on.
How skilful are iTop VPN'due south mobile apps?
On iOS, iTop'southward app is about equally bones as you can get – it's quite literally an on/off button, a drop-down for protocol pick, and a location list. It doesn't even have a settings menu.
Android is much the same, although you get split up tunneling, and a list of servers that's in a unlike order from both iOS and desktop. Not a biggie, but if you lot employ it across different devices, it could get abrasive.
What extra features does iTop VPN offer?
For the desktop apps, there's a remarkable amount of stuff to run through here.
To offset off, you'll get a kill switch. In our testing this worked most of the fourth dimension, although it did neglect when nosotros deliberately crashed the app. We as well didn't go a notification that this had happened, and then we could've been exposed unwittingly if this had happened in real life.
You'll get split tunneling which works as information technology should, directing your browser traffic, for case, through the VPN while leaving the residue untouched.
DNS Protection tin help to protect your DNS settings from outside modification. You'll also be able to choose from a number of public DNS providers like Google, Verizon, OpenDNS and more.
One feature that's missing is auto-connection on insecure Wi-Fi. Most VPNs offer this now, and then information technology'south a surprising omission.
Security Reinforce is an interesting addition, however. It volition scan your PC for not-optimal security settings in other apps, and will flag these and then you can adjust them. All the advice it gave was good, and it's a very useful characteristic.
Finally, Browser Privacy is another dainty feature with can automatically clean upwards your browser,
While all these features might exist useful, some aren't necessarily what y'all need in a VPN – but it'south overnice to encounter them. All the same, we'd definitely prioritize basic app features over these.
iTop VPN review: Final verdict
With tons of extra features that advanced users will get a kick out of, iTop is a pretty powerful VPN, and its free selection is worth considering. Even so, for those looking for true online privacy, we can't recommend the service thanks to its untestable and undisclosed protocols – and while the apps are powerful, they lack the polish and entry-level usability nosotros've come to expect from mod VPNs.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/itop-vpn-review
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