In this article, we are going to discuss about HotSpot Shield, which is considered as one of the best VPN services due to its wide range of amazing features. This article will contain three major sections through which you will be able to gain all information related to Hotspot Shield, and along with that, we will also highlight all the advantages and disadvantages of Hotspot Shield.
Hotspot Shield is developed by AnchorFree, which is a US-based company with its headquarter in California. It offers various amazing features like easy to use interface, robust security features, and last but not the least high-class performance and reliability.
It offers free services to their customers so you can easily use this VPN by just downloading the application in your Android devices or Computer. However, they have paid plans as well, which you can avail by investing a fair amount of money.
Majority of the users prefer the paid plans as they contain more features and also by selecting the premium version you can avoid the annoying ads which you will definitely find in the free version. Moreover, in the free version, you will get limited bandwidth which is generally 500 MB per day while on the hand within the premium plan you will get unlimited bandwidth.
Hotspot Shield offers four premium plans which are known as the 1-month plan, 6-month plan, 1-year plan, and the 3-year plan. Just like its competitors, HotSpot Shield also gives more offers on the long term plans and so it is always better to select the 3-year plan.
The 1-month plan and the 6-month plan cost $12.99/month and $8.99/month respectively, while on the other hand, the 1-year plan and the 3-year plan can be accessed by investing $5.99/month and $3.49/month respectively. It offers a 45-day trial period while most of its competitors offer only 30 days of trial period so this is a significant advantage.
The service comes with a unique feature known as Split Tunneling. Split Tunneling is a handy feature as because of this feature will always stop you from opening up a website with your IP Address exposed. It also comes with a Kill Switch feature through which kills the internet connection whenever the VPN connection drops and eventually ensures total security.
Hotspot Shield is a multi-platform VPN, so you will be able to use it on several platforms like Android devices, Windows OS, Mac OS, and also on iOS devices. It is also available as Chrome and Firefox extension which is an additional advantage.
Hotspot Shield allows you to connect at most five devices simultaneously from a single account and hence it allows you to secure multiple devices at the same point of time. Hotspot Shield premium plans provide almost more than 2000 servers across 25 countries.
Just like any other top quality VPN services Hotspot Shield allows you to access Netflix from any part of the world. However, all servers may not unblock Netflix successfully. Moreover, it also supports torrenting and other P2P activities.
In this section, we will show you all the advantages of Hotspot Shield so that you can utilize them appropriately while using HotSpot Shield in the near future.
User-friendly interface
Hotspot Shield has a straightforward interface, due to which you will be able to start working without facing any issue even if you are using it for the first time. It has a sleek blue design that always gives an attractive look.
Moreover, Hotspot Shield comes with one click connectivity option that helps you to get quickly connected to a proper server.
Top level security and encryption
Unlike various other high-quality VPN services, Hotspot Shield does not support any of the standard VPN Protocol like OpenVPN, IKEv2, or L2TP/ IPSec. Hotspot Shield, on the other hand, uses its own proprietary Catapult Hydra technology and fortunately, this unique technology is also as secure as any other standard VPN Protocols.
Basically, Catapult Hydra technology is based on TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.2 along with AES-128 encryption and 2048-bit RSA certificates for server authentication. Moreover, in Catapult Hydra technology keys are exchanged via Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman for perfect forward secrecy and hence provides additional security.
The service strictly does not store activity logs or connection logs and hence minimizes the chances of your secret data getting leaked.
Supports torrenting and other P2P activities
Just like any other quality VPN services, it supports torrenting, and hence you will be able to use torrent sites without facing any Geo-restriction issues. Other than torrenting it also supports other P2P activities which will enable you to share large files on the internet anonymously.
Few servers help you to unblock Netflix
As mentioned earlier some servers allows you to unblock Netflix. After trying out all the servers randomly, you will find that the US server will not allow you to unblock Netflix. However, you will be able to open Netflix with the help of the Canada server as they are compatible with Netflix.
But often these results may vary so you must always keep yourself updated regarding Hotspot Shield’s Netflix compatibility by visiting their website regularly.
45-day Money back guarantee
One of the main advantages is its 45-day money back guarantee policy. This is a handy feature of Hotspot Shield as most of its competitors offer only 30-day money back period.
Offers additional features
While using Hotspot Shield as a chrome extension, you will get some additional features which will eventually help you to block annoying ads, malware, and trackers.
Poor customer support facility
Hotspot Shield is indeed a top class VPN, but a significant drawback that you will generally face while using it is their poor customer support facility. Their customer support is below average because they don’t have live chat support so in most of the cases you have to wait for a long time to get the answers to your queries.
Does not support Bitcoin as a payment method
You can purchase the premium plans by transacting through Visa card, Master Card, American Express card, UnionPay and PayPal, but Hotspot Shield does not support payment through Bitcoin or other Cryptocurrencies which is a major drawback as nowadays a large section of people prefers to pay through Bitcoin.
After reviewing Hotspot Shield thoroughly, we can conclude that apart from below average customer support facility and slight speed issue this service is indeed one of the best VPN services present in the market.
| Ranking | Summary | Visit | |
| NORDVPN | #1 | The fastest VPN provider that can be used on up to 6 devices. Excellent to bet or navigate without interruption. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of NordVPN. | |||
| WINDSCRIBE | #2 | The perfect service for torrent and Netflix, offers high-level privacy and encryption features. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of Windscribe. | |||
| CYBERGHOST | #3 | Multi-platform and easy to use, this service has dedicated servers for torrenting and streaming. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of CyberGhost. | |||
| EXPRESS VPN | #4 | Easy to use, specialist in file sharing and perfect for Netflix content. Just a little expensive to be perfect. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of ExpressVPN. | |||
| HYDE MY ASS | #5 | Tons of servers, great support and economical pricing but stores activity logs. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of HideMyAss. | |||
| HOTSPOT SHIELD | #6 | Supports torrenting and other P2P activities with an user-friendly interface but poor customer support | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of Hotspot Shield. | |||
| IPVANISH | #7 | Very fast servers and robust security features but no video dedicated service. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of IPVanish. | |||
| PRIVATEVPN | #8 | No logs, lots of features but sometimes not that fast. | Discover |
| Feel free to read my detailed review of PrivateVPN. | |||
Not sure if using a VPN is a good idea? read the VPN for betting section.