CyberGhost VPN review

CyberGhost is one of the original and best-known VPN services for consumers. Although its ownership has changed over the years, it is one of the best choices for anyone looking for a VPN in 2023.

It’s a particularly good choice for unblocking streaming services because, not only is it good at doing so, but because of its inexpensive multi-year subscription plans.

And even if that’s why you really want a VPN – to unblock Netflix, Disney+ and other services – CyberGhost has now rectified one of the less-great aspects of the service, and has recently had an independent audit of its infrastructure, focusing on its no-logs policy.

This report is freely available to anyone, not just CyberGhost subscribers. And while you probably won’t want to read it, it’s a reassuring demonstration that this VPN is trustworthy.

Unblocking

• Works with Netflix, iPlayer, Disney+, Amazon Prime and more

For many people, a VPN is simply a means to watch streaming services or shows and sports not available in their country. In our tests we had no issues watching US-exclusive titles on Netflix from our UK location. We also tested that iPlayer was accessible from France and found that, initially, it wasn’t.

That’s because, on the day of testing, the server marked as being optimised for iPlayer wasn’t working properly and even the BBC website wouldn’t load when connected. However, trying a server optimised for ITV – another UK-based streaming service – iPlayer worked just fine, as did ITV X.

Unblocking streaming services is one of CyberGhost’s real strengths

CyberGhost doesn’t just provide a list of countries: you can also use the Streaming list to easily connect to servers that work to unblock specific streaming services on specific devices. For example, you can choose a US server optimised for US Netflix for those watching on an Amazon Fire TV, or another for Hulu on Android TV.

Other servers promise to unblock ESPN+, NBC, HBO Max while in the UK, there are servers for iPlayer, ITV, Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Note that Prime is slightly different from other services as you can’t unblock a different region, because the library available to you is dictated by your Amazon account. Using CyberGhost (or any VPN) allows you to watch Prime when abroad as if you were at home, otherwise you’ll be faced with a much reduced selection.

Unblocking streaming services is one of CyberGhost’s real strengths.

Servers & apps

• Over 7000 servers
• 116 locations
• 90 countries
• 22 owned & operated NoSpy servers

Depending upon where you look on CyberGhost’s website, you’ll see it has over 6,000, 7,000 or even 9,700 servers. The company really needs to ensure consistency here, but the fact is, even 6,000 servers is a lot. A lot of these are in the US and UK, but there’s also a good spread in other continents including South America and Africa.

As ever, there’s not a lot of point in choosing a VPN service based on these figures if you’re only ever going to use US or UK servers. It’s more important that these servers are fast and secure. And, as you’ll see later, CyberGhost’s are.

CyberGhost’s apps no longer let you see details about each server such as its current load, ping or anything else, but you can at least pick specific locations for any country that offers more than one server. CyberGhost says it took the decision to remove the details to streamline the apps and offer a better user experience.

However, in the Windows app, however, you can see the ping for servers in the For Gaming list as well as for each of the NoSpy servers. And (for all locations) you can see how far they are from your real location in kilometres.

On mobile, you don’t have separate lists for downloads or NoSpy, but you can choose Romania from the list of countries to connect to a NoSpy server. There’s no dedicated tab simply because of space contraints.

There’s a kill switch built into the Windows, Mac, iOS and Android apps, but you won’t find any settings for it on your iPhone or Android device: it runs in the background and can’t be disabled.

The kill switch is turned on by default in the Windows app, and will pop up a message telling you to close any ‘sensitive’ apps before clicking the Unblock Connection button, which is useful as it means you’re protected from an unexpected disconnection from the VPN server. DNS leak protection is also on by default.

CyberGhost’s Windows app used to have a section titled Connection Features which included an ad blocker, a malicious website blocker, forced HTTPS for all sites and data compression. These have been combined into a single Block Connect feature in version 8, found under the Privacy Settings menu.

For some reason, CyberGhost likes to split up the settings into three different places in the Windows app instead of keeping everything together. It says that it is going to redesign the Settings menu in future to address this.

But for now, if you click the settings cog, you find options to launch the app when Windows starts, choose a dark or light them and choose what happens when you close the app.

The VPN settings you might be looking for are actually under Privacy Settings (or Settings > VPN), including selecting which protocol to use, and a few advanced options that most users won’t ever need. What’s missing is split tunnelling, the ability to choose which apps use the VPN connection and which don’t.

There is a Smart Rules section, which is useful for auto-connecting the VPN to your chosen server when you launch it, and then launching a specific app. There is also a separate option to auto-connect the VPN when you manually launch a specific app, which is really handy so you never forget to connect it when, for example, you’re downloading torrent files.

Under Exceptions, you can only enter websites that shouldn’t pass through the VPN tunnel. This is useful for any sites that don’t work properly (such as online banking which already use encryption).

Split tunnelling is also missing on iOS and Mac (a pretty common thing among consumer VPN services) but it is present on Android.

The Mac app is almost identical to the mobile apps, making the Windows app seem like a supercharged version – great if you mainly want a VPN for Windows.

Another main feature of the mobile apps is the option to choose whether or not to let the VPN protect Wi-Fi connections, a prompt which appears when your phone connects to a new Wi-Fi network.

In addition to these four apps, you can also install CyberGhost on Android TV and Amazon Fire TV devices. There are also browser extensions available for Chrome and Firefox, but these use proxy servers, not VPN servers, so aren’t good if you’re after privacy – only unblocking.

There’s Linux support, too, but no GUI, just a command-line interface.

Although support for Apple TV and games consoles is listed alongside the other operating systems, it’s great to see that CyberGhost is completely honest that it isn’t possible to use a VPN on these devices. It suggests changing DNS settings to unblock streaming services, and is clear that your web traffic won’t be encrypted.

NoSpy servers

Like most VPN services, CyberGhost rents the vast majority of its servers. But at its HQ in Romania it has its own data centre which it owns and operates. It calls the servers here ‘NoSpy’ and says they offer better speeds, better security and have ‘super high premium hardware’.

You can access these servers as long as you’re on at least a one-year subscription (or you can pay extra on a rolling 1-month plan).

The implication is that the other servers aren’t as secure and, in CyberGhost’s own words, are not “isolated from third-party meddling”. Using NoSpy servers “drastically reduces the risk of exposure and interference from external actors”.

However, the company does says that it runs its own custom operating system for a “fully secure environment” and has “extra security measures” in place for all rented servers.

When we queried CyberGhost about this, a spokesperson explained that all servers – included rented ones – run in RAM only, are fully encrypted and have no ties to databases or management infratructure. “CyberGhost VPN is built in a container-like style, ensuring there’s always safe isolation between the nodes in our fleet. A compromised node can’t be used to access other servers or core resources. Furthermore, we have additional server authenticity tests in place to eliminate the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks. We also use self-managed DNS servers to ensure complete end-to-end protection.”

That last part is important, as not all VPN services run their own DNS servers. Sometimes, using third-party DNS servers means those lookups aren’t encrypted and can mean your activity isn’t hidden.

The server setup, though, is quite typical among reputable VPNs so it’s no riskier to use CyberGhost’s rented servers than any of NordVPN or ExpressVPN’s servers.

Privacy policy & company info

• Romanian HQ
• No-logs policy (now audited)

Romania is outside the “14-Eyes” group of countries that share intelligence, which is a good thing for a VPN.

CyberGhost also has a no-logs privacy policy which is outlined on its website.

This means that your activity is completely anonymous: neither your ISP nor CyberGhost has any idea what you do, or when you do it when connected to the VPN.

If you dig deeper, you will find that CyberGhost does, in fact, do some logging. However, this is anonymous data that it claims is used to understand the demand for servers in particular countries and whether connection attempts were successful or not.

Plus, you’re now presented with the ability to opt out of this collection when you first launch the apps: it’s no longer enabled by default.

And the good news is that all of this has been checked out by a third-party company, Deloitte, which found that CyberGhost really does do what it says.

It’s worth mentioning that the privacy policy clearly states “we may communicate your Personal Data to a member of our group of companies (this means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company, KAPE TECHNOLOGIES PLC, and all its subsidiaries”. This can include “your name, address, e-mail address, username and payment information which you submit to us voluntarily when you order or subscribe for our Services”.

However, you don’t have to provide any of that (except an email address, which you could set up just for your VPN account) if you pay by Bitcoin.

Performance

CyberGhost took its sweet time to implementing WireGuard, but the protocol is now available across all of its apps.

This is especially important if you have a fast internet connection, which is quickly becoming the norm in many countries. We tested the service from San Francisco using gigabit broadband with that speed available for both downloads and uploads. When we ran the tests, OOKLA’s SpeedTest reported a download speed of 941Mbps and an upload of 949Mbps.

This table shows the speeds we saw using both OpenVPN and WireGuard. Of course, this is just a snapshot of performance on a single day and speeds do vary. It’s still a good indication nevertheless, and we were impressed overall with the speeds on WireGuard, even if they do vary quite a bit from server to server.

	OpenVPN (down/up)	WireGuard (down/up)
Auto-pick (Best Server Location)	221/109	817/815
London	110/18	349/495
Japan	449/39	666/462
New York	315/20	Not tested

In our testing we had no issues with the VPN disconnecting unexpectedly and, upon running our usual DNS and IP leak tests, we saw nothing untoward: CyberGhost passed with no issues.

Pricing

CyberGhost offers a 45-day money back guarantee, which is one of the longest among its rivals. If you pick the one month subscription, it’s expensive at £9.99 / $12.99 but this drops sharply for longer subscriptions.

The best deal is the multi-year option which, at the time of review, was £2.49 (inc VAT) / $2.48 per month, with two months added at the end for free. CyberGhost is naughty (like most of its rivals) and counts those ‘free’ months as paid when it calculates the monthly price in order to make it look lower.

There’s a worse gotcha: like many rivals, the company hikes renewal prices when your subscription ends. This means you’ll pay the same price as you did initially, but the subscription will run for just a year instead of two, making it twice as expensive.

See the best deals from CyberGhost.

Similar to other VPNs, CyberGhost offers extra features you can add to your subscription. One of these is a Security Suite for £1.50 / $1.29 per month, which gives you Intego Antivirus and an automatic software updater for Windows devices. Intego is another brand owned by Kape, so this is a way for it to sell you another of its products, albeit at a discounted rate.

Even if you don’t go for that, you’re allowed to use your CyberGhost account on up to seven specific devices simultaneously, so it’s good value if you have that many on which you need a VPN. Just note that you can only have the apps installed on seven devices, too. If you try to install it on an eighth, you’ll be prompted to remove one of the existing devices from your account.

Also note that VPN subscriptions aren’t paid per month. It’s a one-off payment every two years (or however long you subscribe for). As well as PayPal, Google Pay and cards, which aren’t anonymous, you can pay with BitPay, which is.

If you do go for bitcoin, just note you cannot currently purchase any add-ons such as antivirus, dedicated IP or password manager.

Verdict

CyberGhost is better than ever thanks to its audit which is hugely reassuring and means you don’t have to take its word for it that it doesn’t log your activity while you use the service. Plus, it does a great job at unblocking streaming services, and offers great speeds.

Related articles for further reading

• How to hide your IP address
• What is a VPN and why you need one
• How to speed up a VPN
• Best VPN services (plus free options)
• Best VPN deals