RUSVPN Review

Is RUSVPN Good for Streaming?

Many VPN users download a VPN service to access geo-restricted content on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and more.

Unlike most VPN providers, RUSVPN isn’t shy about making strong claims about its unlocking capabilities. The website includes a long list of streaming sites that it claims to unlock, including Netflix, Facebook, Spotify, BBC iPlayer, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Amazon Instant Video, Google, CBC, HBO Go, Linked In, Reddit, NBC, Instagram, and more.

Unfortunately, during testing, the VPN did not offer reliable access to all of the geo-restricted sites that it claims to, which is disappointing.

How Much Does RUSVPN Cost?

RUSVPN prices are relatively reasonable when compared to the paid subscription plans offered by most other VPNs. As with most VPN services, the rolling monthly contract prices are the most expensive- at $9.99 a month. However, if you are happy to commit for longer, you’ll get quite a good deal. On the annual plan, RUSVPN costs $4.99 a month, and on the three-year plan, the VPN comes in at just $2.99 a month.

Admittedly, it is not the absolute cheapest VPN on the market – Surfshark comes in at just $2.49 a month on its 2-year plan – but it is relatively good value for money. There is a decent range of payment options to suit most users with a choice of credit cards, Bitcoin, and more. There is no standard free trial, although you will get 7 days free on mobile devices. This is enough time to test the service that RUSVPN offers and make a decision before committing to a paid plan.

Unfortunately, RUSVPN does not offer a risk-free money-back guarantee. Although the VPN claims to offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, you’ll only receive a refund if you’ve used less than 500Mb of data, which is an extremely small amount. This means that the money-back guarantee is arguably worthless as it is necessary to use much more data than this to test how RUSVPN performs.

Does RUSVPN Have a No-Logs Policy?

There is a no-logging statement on the RUSVPN official website wherein the VPN claims not to collect data relating to VPN usage. The company explains that the VPN is based outside of the 5, 9, and 14 Eyes Surveillance Alliances. Therefore, it has no obligation to store activity logs, connection timestamps, user IP locations or addresses, or other personal user information. The VPN claims to offer 100% protection.

However, the statement includes a range of worrying, ambiguous statements. Just because the provider has no ‘obligation’ to store user activity data, does not necessarily mean that they don’t actually store any data.

The VPN’s privacy policy offers some more information about its logging processes. The provider states that it operates a non-permanent connection log that stores internal IPs and random names, although this information is securely removed after a few hours. The VPN also states that it ‘strictly and purposefully do not write down any information,’ it does not monitor or store browser activity data, and that the VPN can’t link your activities back to you.

Although this may sound positive, RUSVPN’s privacy policy lacks essential detail, and it does include some strange, ambiguous details that are concerning. Thus, we are still unsure about the safety of RUSVPN’s service and would like to see an independent security audit to offer more clarity. Until it does so, we are left to accept the company’s claims on trust alone.

Is RUSVPN Safe?

RUSVPN appears to protect your internet connection, personal data, and real IP address with OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP protocols. However, there is, unfortunately, no way to choose your desired option, which is disappointing. This means that you have no way to select the secure OpenVPN protocol over the outdated, insecure PPTP protocol.

The RUSVPN app offers the option to have the VPN automatically connect and activate and deactivate a kill switch, but we would recommend leaving the kill switch on at all times for private internet access. Kill switches work by cutting your internet connection if the VPN fails for any reason. This ensures that no unencrypted information or your real IP address will ever become exposed. Unfortunately, the kill switch did not work as reliably as we would have liked.

Is RUSVPN Fast?

A fast internet speed and a stable connection are essential for users that want to stream or game in high-definition. Therefore, we tested performance as part of this RUSVPN review. The VPN connects rather slowly and, during testing, took over 20 seconds to establish a server connection, which is much more than most.

Once connected, the VPN’s performance was disappointing, too, with average speeds of between 40 and 60Mbps on a US server connection. We would recommend utilizing the free version to run RUSVPN and test how fast it performs in your region. A fast download and upload speed are essential for almost every user.

Does RUSVPN hHave a Windows Client?

Setting up RUSVPN is not as simple as we would like. During testing, when we tried to install RUSVPN, we experienced several issues. Typically, when you sign up for a RUSVPN account, you’ll receive a receipt email, as well as a welcome email containing the details of your account. Follow the instructions in the welcome email to download the RUSVPN clients.

There are RUSVPN apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Chrome and Firefox extensions. The Windows client offers a simple user interface that operates in a simple way to most other VPN clients. The interface displays your current IP address and location and offers a list of available VPN servers. During testing, the client recommended the US server by default.

Settings are elementary, with little more than an auto connection option and the ability to activate or deactivate the client’s kill switch. The VPN seems to support L2TP, PPTP, and OpenVPN protocols, but it is impossible to choose your desired option. During our tests, the VPN never selected OpenVPN, the best and most secure protocol, which is disappointing.

Does RUSVPN Have an Android App?

RUSVPN delivers a decent Android app that comes with a similar interface as the Windows version. There are no additional settings, but the Android kill switch does seem to be more reliable than the Windows one.

Does RUSVPN Have Good Customer Support?

Unfortunately, RUSVPN does not offer live chat support, which is disappointing considering that almost every premium VPN comes with 24/7 live chat support. The RUSVPN website does offer the option to fill in a web form, but it may take a significant amount of time to receive an answer to solve technical problems.

Is RUSVPN a Good VPN Service?

RUSVPN is a Russian-based VPN product that makes some strong claims. According to its website, RUSVPN offers a reliable, unlimited, and secure service. Although the VPN does offer some interesting features, it cannot compete with the best VPNs due to performance issues and a worrying logs policy.

The RUSVPN app comes with access to 390 VPN servers, which is relatively small compared to most other VPNs on the market. However, the servers are spread over an impressive 50 countries worldwide.

There is decent app support though, RUSVPN supports Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, Wi-Fi routers, and browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. There is also the option to manually set up the paid service on other operating systems thanks to OpenVPN configuration files.

Unlike many others in the VPN industry, RUSVPN makes some strong claims about its geo-unblocking abilities and offers a long list of streaming sites which it claims to unlock, including Reddit, Instagram, LinkedIn, NBC, CBC, HBO GO, Amazon Prime, Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, and more. However, in reality, the VPN’s streaming performance is disappointing.

Subscription prices are relatively reasonable at $2.99 a month on its two-year plan. However, there are cheaper options on the market. For example, Surfshark offers an excellent VPN product that will set you back just $2.49 a month; Surfshark delivers unlimited simultaneous connections, super-fast connection speed, powerful Windows client and well-designed mobile apps, reliable automatic kill switch feature, helpful customer support team, OpenVPN protocol support, and a host of other powerful security and privacy features.

Unfortunately, even RUSVPN’s money-back guarantee is disappointing. Even though the provider claims to offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, the terms and conditions reveal that only users that have transferred less than a tiny 500Mb of data will qualify for a refund.

RUSVPN Alternatives

The RUSVPN is not the absolute best VPN on the market. Therefore, we would recommend looking elsewhere if you are concerned about your internet privacy. Surfshark, for example, offers a secure VPN product for an even lower subscription price.

Surfshark delivers unlimited simultaneous connections, excellent performance during speed tests, reliable customer support, wide operating system support, secure tunneling protocols, powerful streaming performance, and a host of other impressive features. The VPN comes in at just $2.49 a month if you’re happy to commit for 2 years, too, making it one of the cheapest on the market.

And, unlike RUSVPN, Surfshark comes with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to test the service before committing to a paid plan.

Author Cliff Durward

Hi, I'm Cliff. I'm based in Cleveland, Ohio, with my wife and two kids. I have a keen interest in cybersecurity and have been writing about it for around a decade now. Due to my background in computer science, I am familiar ...
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