What is SwitchVPN?

SwitchVPN is a VPN service developed in 2015 by CS Systems Inc., an Indian company which is currently based in the US. This provider has grown into a popular service with more than 220 servers all around the world, in 38 locations worldwide. While this number is not nearly close to the thousands of servers offered by leading providers such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN and others, SwitchVPN has managed to grow in popularity thanks to its appealing features and low prices.

You probably know by now what a virtual private network (VPN) is and what its benefits are. But just in case you need any type of info on these topics, check out this link: What does VPN stand for and is it worth all the hype?

What is the pricing of SwitchVPN?

SwitchVPN has 2 plans to choose from: SwitchVPN and SwitchVPN Plus.

The simple SwitchVPN plan is priced at $3.33/month (billed $39.95 every 12 months). With this plan, you can only connect up to 2 devices simultaneously, which is a bit below the average of 3, offered by most competitors.

SwitchVPN Plus is a bit more expensive, as it costs $5.82/month (billed $69.95 every 12 months). This plan allows you to connect up to 5 devices at the same time.

Both plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee.

As payment methods, SwitchVPN accepts all major credit cards, payments via PayPal and Bitcoin.

What are the main features of SwitchVPN?

A good VPN is defined by a few standard criteria:

• number of available servers and their locations
• available bandwidth (which should be unlimited)
• speed
• log policy (the provider should have a ‘zero logs’/’no logging’ policy)
• encryption/security tools (AES 256-bit encryption is to be preferred)
• torrenting policy
• the ability to unlock geo-locked content such as streaming websites (Netflix, etc.)
• to allow a high number of simultaneous connections on a single account (at least 3 is what you should aim for)

Read more on What makes a good VPN.

Now that you know what the most important features are in a VPN service, here is what SwitchVPN offers:

• More than 220 servers spread in 38 locations all around the Globe. SwitchVPN has servers in North America, South America (Brasil), Europe, Asia (South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia), New Zeeland, Australia
• Security: Up to 256-bit SSL encryption, NAT firewall, a kill switch feature, DNS leak protection
• Zero logging policy, meaning your privacy is protected
• Access to several VPN protocols, 5 to be more exact (OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2, SSTP, Socks5)
• SwitchVPN allows P2P (torrenting) on all their servers, via BitTorrent
• Available apps for all major operating systems: macOS, Windows, Android and more
• Up to 5 devices simultaneously (but only with their more expensive plan)
• It can unlock Netflix on a lot of their servers
• Unlimited bandwidth, which means you can stream, download and play games with no restrictions
• Great customer support via 24/7 live chat; response times are excellent; however, there is no phone support available

Main disadvantages of SwitchVPN

One of the drawbacks of SwitchVPN is its speed. Most tests revealed a below the average performance. That doesn’t mean SwitchVPN can’t be used for most activities such as streaming in HD, browsing, social media. SwitchVPN will do an excellent job in keeping you secure online, but you’ll most likely need more juice for watching something in 4K, playing online games and torrenting.

Another ‘con’ is the fact that SwitchVPN doesn’t offer phone or e-mail support. However, the live chat option works pretty much flawlessly and should cover most of your needs.

The number of simultaneous devices allowed is also a drawback of SwitchVPN. This provider only allows up to 2 devices with their cheaper plan and up to 5 simultaneous connections with their pricier one. Major competitors allow up to 6 devices at the same time or even more. Find out what are the best VPNs for connecting several devices simultaneously.

Lastly, the number of servers is much lower than with leading VPN providers such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and so on. While others have thousands of servers worldwide (over 3,000 in the case of CyberGhost and more than 5,000 servers - NordVPN), SwitchVPN is far behind, with just +200 servers. On the other hand, their number of servers keeps growing from year to year, so this is just ‘work in progress’.