What is VPNHub?
VPNHub is a virtual private network (VPN) service from AppAtomic, a subsidiary of MindGeek, the company behind the Pornhub online adult entertainment empire. Privacy is, in online culture terms, a logical extension of the desire to get your rocks off without someone peering over your virtual shoulder, so it’s a fairly logical business move, particularly as MindGeek has also developed geo-locking age verification systems for use in the UK if the much-discussed mandatory adult content blocking ever happens.
Related: Best VPN
VPNHub – Features and usability
Although VPNHub is one of the newest entrants to the industry and has a very bare-bones website and online user interface, its desktop client is easy to use and it offers a decent range of features.
AppAtomic states that it connects no traffic logs of user activity when connected to its VPN, although it’s neither been put to the test in court or had an independent audit carried out to confirm its privacy credentials.
You can choose from a selection of endpoints in 51 territories, including a few less common endpoint locations such as Cyprus, Costa Rica, Taiwan and the Philippines. By default, the VPN tunnel will automatically attempt to reconnect if it goes down for any reason. You can also enable a kill switch to prevent any traffic from being sent when the VPN connection goes down. This is particularly important for the privacy-conscious and those on insecure public internet hotspots.
The application can be configured to start and connect when you log in to your computer, while more unusual options include a Scramble feature that attempts to hide the fact that you’re using a VPN from your ISP, or anyone else who might be looking at your traffic.
You can also view logs and switch between the default IKEv2 protocol and my preferred, highly secure OpenVPN protocol – we typically stick with defaults for testing, and have done so in this case.
VPNHub – Performance
| Endpoints/VPN | UK | Netherlands | United States |
| VPNHub HTTP | 145.76Mbps | 80.72Mbps | 123.44Mbps |
| VPNHub FTP | 174.96Mbps | 101.72Mbps | 133.58Mbps |
VPNHub’s UK and US performance is extremely good over both HTTP and FTP, although we got below-average performance from its Netherlands endpoints in this month’s tests.
In the UK, it was among the top four performers, with outstanding throughput of 145.76Mbps (18.22MB/s) over HTTP and 21.1MB/s downloads via FTP.
In the Netherlands, that dropped to a disappointing 80.72Mbps (10.09MB/s) HTTP speed and 12.7MB/s for FTP. Note that our tests are carried out on connection far faster than typical UK home internet provides, so these are the upper thresholds of performance.
On that note, US performance was genuinely excellent at 123.44Mbps HTTP and 17MB/s over FTP. That’s good enough for the highest quality streaming and extremely fast downloads.
That streaming quality will come in handy for U.S. Netflix, which did not detect VPNHub. Horror film specialist Shudder also allowed access to US content, but if you want to watch UK streaming TV while connected to a UK endpoint for privacy purposes, you’re out of luck: both BBC iPlayer and All 4 noticed the VPN connection.
Related: What is a VPN?
Should I buy VPNHub?
While you can often expect to pay for performance, VPNHub is conspicuously expensive for what’s on offer. Yes, its connection speeds are generally good – assuming the low Netherlands speed to have been a blip in testing. But it’s not great for streaming, and there’s no audit or legal history to back up its no-logging claims.
Despite this, its subscriptions cost £12.51 per month or £75.03 per year; almost as much as established top-tier rival ExpressVPN, more than NordVPN, and much more than Private Internet Access, all of which have better security pedigrees and similarly quick performance.
A seven-day free trial is available but, unlike most VPN providers, VPNHub demands your payment information up front and will automatically bill you after seven days if you don’t cancel your subscription, so it’s got more in common with services that offer a money-back guarantee.
Disappointingly, although VPNHub heavily advertises this free trial, the offer is only available on smartphones. Desktop users have to subscribe to VPNHub Premium, and even that only works under Windows and macOS, so if you want a VPN to use on your router, NAS or Linux desktop PC, this isn’t it.
Verdict
VPNHub’s performance, features and service are all good. However, it’s expensive and doesn’t provide any features or documentation that allow it to be used with minority operating systems or hardware such as routers. We’re also not keen on free trials that demand payment information up front.
However, its real problem is its pricing. NordVPN provides a similar but faster service with better streaming for a less, while Private Internet Access is faster and almost half the price, although it can’t reliably perform Netflix region-shifting.
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