BitdefenderVPN Review

In terms of speed, BitdefenderVPN is nothing but a mediocre provider that clearly doesn’t break any records. Maybe one in server unresponsiveness. You’ll have enough firepower to surf the internet and maybe, just maybe, stream some movies.

However, the servers don’t allow you to engage in torrenting because the main company behind it, Bitdefender, is a self-righteous fighter for copyrights. You can go ahead and test your luck, but they’ll most likely throttle your speed immediately.

Netflix is also a no-go. Come on, did you think a no-name VPN would be able to connect you to Netflix when even the big boys in the industry can barely achieve that? You did, didn’t you?

Well, there’s no need to worry. While it’s true that Netflix’s stringent geo-blocking technology can make it challenging for many VPNs to grant you access to its international libraries, there are still some robust and reliable solutions out there.

In fact, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide detailing the best VPN for Netflix that can bypass these restrictions effectively and consistently.

Check out also my guide on unblocking Netflix for more tips.

As far as I can see, the performance is sub-par, so much so, in fact, that I can easily find you a better VPN with better speeds in McDonald’s parking lot.

The situation is so bad because most of the servers are too far away from each other. This slows down the speeds tremendously. Even more, they could get over-encumbered or crash at some point in time. Which, again, would point to a fuck-up.

Officially, Bitdefender has “extensive coverage using multiple virtual locations”, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Italy. However, I have been unable to find some more details regarding the rest of their servers. For some reason.

However, seeing how they’re at the beginning of their VPN career, the number of servers can’t be that large, to begin with. Regardless of the reason, I’ll keep this as a minus in my book.

Moreover, many users have complained that the servers aren’t even that secure in the first place. Which, when coming from a company born out of the need for cyber-security, does leave a sour taste in my mouth.

Ever heard of Hotspot Shield? If you have, then you know it’s infamous for retaining and selling its users’ data to the highest bidder for a bit of profit. Well, Bitdefender is based on the same engine, and it uses the same principles.

While this isn’t to say that they’re doing the same thing, it’s food for thought. I bet you can’t help but do the math, and the result isn’t what you quite expected.

With regard to the specific encryption protocols and security measures, I know as much as you do, which is exactly jack-shit. They aren’t doing a good job of keeping their users and potential clients in the loop.

When I checked the terms and conditions and the privacy policy, they said that their VPN doesn’t collect data and doesn’t forward it to any third parties. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard such a statement before finding out that they sell you out with no second thoughts.

The internet logs are essential, and it is precisely this aspect that they aren’t very clear about. For simplicity’s sake, we could assume that they aren’t keeping logs, but then again, is it worth it to risk?

This is about your privacy and personal data we’re talking about. I don’t think you go all in on a game of Russian Roulette. The results could be catastrophic. Better safe than sorry.

The confusing and unclear privacy policy and the uncertain encryption protocols work against them. And that works wonders for their overall trust, just in a bad way.

In terms of compatibility, Bitdefender can be used on almost all platforms, especially Windows. However, you can’t use it on routers or other similar devices, the reason being unknown. Despite using OpenVPN, something like router compatibility seems to be a smudge too difficult.

There’s no kill-switch included in the client, something which might or might not interest you. I’m saying it anyway. The lack of a kill switch just might make you lose important data and put you in immediate danger, but fuck that.

As for the client’s interface, if you’ve used any Bitdefender products before, you should also feel right at home with this one.

As you can see, a cool button says Activate Premium VPN. This is because you’re probably using the free version, which you automatically get if you subscribe to any of their other products.

However, the free version is filled with restrictions, and you can’t do much with it except maybe ignore it. You can definitely do that with no problems.

To access the premium version, just upgrade to the extra package. We’ll talk about the pricing in a second.

As for now, we still have to talk about the…

You can’t contact customer support. At least, I couldn’t do that at the time of the writing.

This is the contact page. If you don’t see any form that you can complete or any phone number, that’s because they aren’t there.

Moreover, even if you could somehow contact them, I seriously doubt they’d give you even the most basic of help. After all, this VPN is but one of their many products. They can’t be expected to offer quality customer support for all of them, now can they?

These are the available subscriptions:

Basic VPN – completely free with Bitdefender Total Security. You can presumably browse anonymously, and you also have secured Wi-Fi transactions. Also, you’re limited to 200 MB per day.

The monthly premium VPN plan – $6.99 per month

The yearly premium VPN plan – $3.33 per month ($39.99 every 12 months). This is also filed as the best deal, though I can’t vouch for that.

In the end…

Bitdefender is easily one of the most untrustworthy VPNs in the industry. Simply by being associated with Hotspot Shield destroys any kind of image that it might have had.

Speed-wise, the service is a wreck; the servers are so far apart that you wonder how they can communicate with one another in the first place.

In terms of security, we don’t even know what protocols they’re using because they chose to keep this a secret for some reason.

In the end, don’t fool yourself with Bitdefender. It will probably screw you from behind any time it gets the chance. If not that, at the very least, it’s a walking corpse in terms of performance.

Go with NordVPN instead. The Panama-based online security provider has one of the largest, if not the largest, server infrastructure in the industry. Coupled with military-grade encryption and excellent customer support, it makes ExpressVPN a true leader in the market.