Windscribe flaunts fast speeds, is quite
impressive for Netflix, and is ideal for torrenting. The mobile app is
restricted, and those looking for a secure VPN with excellent support might get
disappointed since it lacks the live chat feature here.
Pros
Excellent Speed
Unlimited parallel connections
Unblocks Netflix
Strong security
Enables P2P
Performs in China
Zero logs
Cons
Lacks Live Chat Support
Very Few Mobile Apps
Features and
pricing
Windscribe offers a free subscription,
and it’s quite impressive for a no-cost VPN, it is still pretty restricted as
compared to premium choices. The best thing is that you can get access to
servers in just 11 countries and get 10GB of bandwidth to play with a monthly
basis. You will not get any Open VPN configuration, but you stay protected by
IP address leaks and ad-blocking. P2P is enabled; however, you can’t expect
much from only 10GB of bandwidth per month.
Here is all you need to
know to decide if Windscribe might be the best VPN for you or not:
Apart from the free version, there is a
single paid version available for which you can be charged on a monthly basis
or annually. The monthly subscription will cost $9/month, but the annual
version comes with a steep discount of 55%, making it $4.08/month.
These prices are pretty average for a monthly
and annual subscription, right? Though many providers go beyond this and
promote even great discounts on two or three-year plans, you can’t expect the
same from Windscribe.
When you choose to pay, you’ll be amused to
find a variety of payment options like Bitpay, PayPal, PaymentWall, and most
importantly, credit cards. The ease to
pay with bitcoin will be quite beneficial for privacy-conscious users. If
you’ve got the free trial in your mind, then you will not be turned down by
this VPN. It provides a three-day money-back guarantee, the stingiest one can
get, especially when you compare it with most providers offering 14-day and
even 30-day guarantees.
The fact that enables offset is that an
account will make you connect to
countless devices at the same time. This is one of the best features barely
found in other providers as they tend to restrict the number at two to six per
account. We’ve observed other providers offer endless connections, so this
could be a way to help gain some initial fame. It won’t be a matter of surprise
if a limitation follows into effect down the road.
Windscribe apps are present for Windows,
macOS, iOS, and Android, and the VPN is configured for Linux and specific
routers. Browser extensions are present for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, but
they are HTTPS proxies that don’t provide similar security as a VPN.
Once signed up, you’ll get access to a network larger than 600 servers in nearly 50 countries all around the world. The paid subscription allows you to have unlimited bandwidth and allows P2P, so torrenting must not be an issue here.
When it comes to security, Windscribe is
quite competitive with having 256-bit AES encryption and the best forward
privacy. It also swanks a firewall which guards against any type of leaks like
DNS and IPv6. The firewall provides a more advanced option to a kill switch, so
don’t need a separate one. This is not it; you’ll get a plethora of protocols
available having Open VPN, IKEv2 and SOCKS, and Stealth (a version of TCP
running over OpenVPN).
You can combine the VPN and provide a suite
of extra privacy options along with the browser extensions which include
ad-blocking and “anti-social” settings.
Setup
and interface
Once you’ve set up your
Windscribe account, downloading and installing the apps is a no brainer. As per
Windscribe’s description, its apps are “minimalist clients,” which will become
popular among the beginners who prefer to keep it simple.
Desktop
Once you’re logged into the desktop client, you’ll discover that the
Windscribe app is very compact. The main screen displays your present IP no
matter your VPN is connected or not or whether or not the firewall is on. The
last one is Windscribe’s version of a kill switch and disconnects the internet
if the VPN connection is lost. You can easily switch it on or off from this
primary screen, which is a smooth feature not generally found in other VPN
clients.
The server list will get opened down on clicking the
location dropdown icon. You can choose a server depending on country and will
get by default connected to the optimal server for that location. To be more certain, you can click the arrow
to the right of the country name and check servers based on city, every server
has its own witty name.
Once you’re connected, the entire app will transit color
from gray to bright blue which is a smart way of telling you when you got
connected or if you’ve lost it.
You’re supposed to click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner and choose Preferences to access the settings menu. You then get the five tabs to choose from.
In the General screen, you’ll find easy startup settings and the choices to switch to another language (trust us, there are plenty available).
On the Connection tab, you can fix the firewall settings and change your protocol. There is also a place to enter your IP address manually. This can be requested from Windscribe if you’re facing an API connectivity error. This occurs if DNS requests are being blocked; let’s say by country or business firewalls.
You can configure a LAN proxy if needed on the next tab, labelled Proxy.
In the end, the Debug
will provide you choices for sending or viewing logs and disabling IPv6.
Mobile
The mobile application is appealing and well-designed but is very limited. The primary screen looks similar to the desktop version, with a power button and server location dropdown menu. On connecting to the server, the interface will turn bright blue.
You’ve to click the menu icon and select Preferences
to take you to your settings.
It must be labeled ‘Preference’ as it provides only
one option here and that’s too providing a manual API IP address. This app is
ideal for the beginners but might disappoint the advanced users.
Servers
and performance
Windscribe provides comparatively
a small network of servers including about 600 in more than 50 countries. These countries are mostly located in the
US, which is amazing for those looking to unblock the US, streaming services.
But what might make you amazing is the fact that it doesn’t need disconnecting
first, you can do so with simply clicking the one.
You can choose your server
depending only on a country or a particular city. All servers are ideal for use
with P2P file sharing except if they’re marked otherwise (a P2P icon with a
strike through it).
We checked some of Windscribe’s servers for
browsing, streaming, playing online games, and downloading files. The
experience was great overall. Connecting to and changing the servers was fast
and effortless, and we didn’t come across any dropped connection. Playing
online games got no glitch and streamed 1080p across different servers without
buffer.
