RusVPN Review [2024]: My Honest, No BS Opinion (2024)

RusVPN is famous for its free, no-registration-required VPN extensions for Chrome and Firefox.

The provider also offers a robust premium all-around VPN service that allows you to unblock restricted apps and sites while also keeping your internet activities anonymous.

In this RusVPN review, I’ll let you know whether the service is worth your money and time.

To do so, I had to thoroughly examine the different aspects of the VPN:

• Is RusVPN safe to use?
• Are its connections fast?
• Does it work with Netflix?
• How about its ease of use?

I’ll be answering these questions and more.

But first, here’s a quick overview of RusVPN.

RusVPN is a VPN service that’s owned and operated by Iron Media Group Ltd, a limited liability company that has its headquarters in the Commonwealth of Dominica.

The VPN was launched in 2017.

Fast forward 3 years later, and RusVPN has grown into an all-around service with over 338 servers.

These are spread across 37 countries in 5 continents: 25 countries in Europe, 2 in North America, 7 in Asia, 2 in Africa, and 1 in Oceania.

In total, RusVPN has over 200,000 users worldwide.

Its features include bank-grade AES 256-bit encryption, an internet kill switch, live chat support, and unlimited data usage.

"Any person who has gathered information about you can do unpleasant and unacceptable things. However, there is a way out - RusVPN! Thanks to our reliable ciphers, it is impossible to extract your information online."

- RusVPN

The provider offers both a subscription package and a free proxy service.

You can run the VPN on a wide range of platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and routers.

When getting a VPN, it’s always essential to scour through the fine print carefully and make sure the logging policy is as advertised.

RusVPN maintains a transparent privacy policy and there weren’t any notable red flags with their practices.

RusVPN does not monitor or record what you do online.

That includes the search queries you make and the websites you visit.

That said, the provider does run a temporary connection log to solve technical problems and improve the quality of their service.

However, this shouldn’t worry you since all the connection data they collect is anonymous and is not tied to your real IP address.

And although the provider does still require some personal information during sign up, they limit this to your email address.

I was pleased to see that they do not process payments internally, which adds an extra degree of anonymity.

Instead, the company uses a third-party payments company –Atrix Group Ltd– based in Northern Ireland.

Another great thing about RusVPN is that they accept anonymous payments via Bitcoin.

As mentioned earlier, RusVPN is located in the Commonwealth of Dominica. The country lies outside the 14-eyes jurisdiction and does not have mandatory data retention laws.

And recently, the small island nation passed the Protection of Personal Data Act, which resembles the GDPR in that it mandates providers to be clear about the type of data they collect.

In case the data retention laws change and the government compels them to log activity data, RusVPN has vowed to immediately notify their users and change jurisdiction.

In the world of VPNs, this is as good as it can get.

RusVPN protects your internet traffic with industrial-strength encryption and best-in-class protocols.

However, despite being quite secure, it lacks several security features that you should expect from a top VPN.

RusVPN comes with OpenVPN protocol paired with AES-256 encryption.

At the moment, this is the best combination for privacy and security in the VPN industry.

AES 256-bit is robust and protects against virtually every online threat there is, including brute force attacks and man-in-the-middle attacks.

It can secure your online transactions and keep you safe when connected to public Wi-Fi networks.

The one thing you’ll notice straight away with RusVPN is that it does not allow you to customize its security features.

For instance, you can’t switch between UDP and TCP, and to use L2TP or PPTP, you’ll need to reconfigure the VPN from scratch.

Still, I was pleased with the overall safety of the VPN. Some of the extra security features you get with RusVPN include:

• DNS leak protection: Prevents your internet traffic from traveling outside RusVPN DNS servers, ensuring your DNS address and search queries stay private.
• Automatic kill switch: If your RusVPN connection drops, this feature immediately blocks your internet access, stopping your IP and browsing history from being exposed to your ISP and other prying eyes.

Even the best logging practices and most robust encryption count for nothing if your IP and DNS information is leaking.

With your IP, ISPs and government authorities can track and keep tabs on your browsing behavior.

That’s why it’s important to first ensure your VPN is leak-free.

I tested RusVPN multiple times to see if it is as private as it claims to be.

It passed all the tests with flying colors.

There were zero IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks.

I’ve included screenshots of the test results below.

For reference, I was connected to a UK server, and as you can see below, my public IP address was 78.129.241.63.

RusVPN has 338+ servers in 37 countries around the world. This is quite a small network, especially when you compare it to providers like Surfshark and NordVPN that have thousands of servers in hundreds of locations.

That said, RusVPN’s server network is widespread and features locations in five continents.

It covers regions in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, which are often overlooked in favor of the Americas, Europe, and Oceania.

RusVPN is one of the few VPNs that work in China. It reliably bypasses the Great Firewall of China allowing you to access censored sites and services.

And in China, that’s a lot. Almost all western media outlets are blocked and that includes sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Quite notably, RusVPN provides servers in China, allowing you to obtain a local Chinese IP.

With VPNs, what you gain in privacy often comes at the cost of speed.

But that doesn’t mean you should settle for a sluggish VPN.

With the right VPN, you can enjoy fast and secure connections.

RusVPN does well in regards to performance.

Their connections are good and although the impact on speed was noticeable, it wasn’t frustrating and I was able to stream HD and even 4K videos without interruptions.

Still, RusVPN was no different when it came to consistency. Speeds varied from server to servers, but generally, the VPN was reliable.

I tested numerous servers in different countries and different continents and I’ve included the results below.

Baseline:Ping 12 ms / 96.04 Mbps Download / 47.19 Mbps Upload

While RusVPN isn’t exactly an all-around fast VPN, it did extremely well when connected to nearby European locations.

The UK servers were by far the fastest but I was also impressed by the US servers. In both countries, the reduction in speed (download) was less than 35%.

In comparison, Asia and Oceania servers had a sharper drop, with the Australian server giving less than half of our baseline speed.

Still, things felt decently quick but for the best performance, you should connect to the server nearest to you.

RusVPN is competitively priced.

Their pricing structure is simple and all subscription plans come with similar features.

As with most VPN providers, you’ll get the best value with the longest subscription.

Options include 1-month, 1-year, and 3-year plans.

RusVPN also offers a free subscription for use with their proxy service.

As mentioned, RusVPN offers both free and paid subscriptions.

The month-to-month is priced at $9.99/mo, which is fairly reasonable.

However, it’s their longest subscription (3-years) that steals the show.

At $2.99/mo, it’s extremely affordable and on par with the best-priced options out there.

RusVPN supports many of the standard payment options. You can pay via:

• PayPal
• Visa
• Mastercard
• Web Money
• Bitcoin

RusVPN does not have a free trial.

However, you can test their paid service free-of-charge for a month by taking advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee.

They also provide an excellent no-credit card-needed free proxy subscription, which provides you with access to all their servers and locations.

RusVPN does not have any dedicated streaming servers but the standard servers proved to be up for the task.

I tested the VPN with multiple streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer,HBO, and Amazon Prime Video.

Netflix remains the most popular streaming service right now. Its library boasts thousands of movies and TV shows from across the world.

Unfortunately, due to licensing and copyright agreements, some of the content is geo-restricted and may not be available in your country.

But with a capable VPN, you can spoof your IP address and access any Netflix version, including American Netflix, from anywhere in the world.

RusVPN works reliably with Netflix US.

I tried the two available US servers and both unblocked the streaming service. I was also able to access Japan, Germany, Sweden, UK, and Canada Netflix.

Besides Netflix, RusVPN also unblocked Hulu, BBC iPlayer, HBO, and Amazon Prime Video.

Torrenting is legal in many countries across the world.

However, downloading copyrighted content isn’t and can result in DMCA notices from your ISP, and in some cases, you can be fined or even jailed.

But if you’re using a safe VPN, you should be fine. Your ISP won’t be able to see what you do online and if any copyright trolls are lurking in your torrent swarm, they too won’t be able to identify you.

RusVPN is an ideal choice for torrenting.

It supports P2P traffic on most of its servers and does not have bandwidth restrictions or data caps.

Security-wise, the VPN is robust and can keep you safe when connected to a torrent swarm.

The last thing you probably want is to get a VPN only to find out later you can’t use it with your favorite device.

Although RusVPN isn’t the best in terms of compatibility, it supports all the primary devices and then some.

They offer customs apps for:

• Windows
• macOS
• Android
• iOS

You can also set up the VPN on Linux and routers.

Additionally, they offer free proxy extensions for Chrome and Firefoxbrowsers.

While this is commendable, I would like to see them add support for Amazon Fire TV, Android TVs, and other smart TVs.

RusVPN supports the industry standard 5 simultaneous connections per subscription, which is more than enough for most people.

If you use more than 5 devices at a go in your home or office, you can set up the VPN directly on your router. This will enable you to protect all connected devices.

RusVPN has plenty of customer service options. Notably, the provider offers live chat support, which when available is both fast and reliable.

If you catch them online, you can get a response in less than three minutes.

Unfortunately, their live chat support is not available 24/7 and as such, responses can sometimes take hours.

Their representatives are friendly and quite helpful. Besides live chat support, you can contact them via email and support tickets.

The provider also has an extensive knowledge base section, filled with FAQs and setup and troubleshooting guides.

They also maintain a blog that’s full of informative articles.

RusVPN is simple and straightforward to set up and use.

Once you’ve installed the app, you can establish a connection with a single click by tapping the prominent “Connect” button on the home screen.

The app has a minimalist design and the interface is quite easy to navigate.

RusVPN offers little in the way of customization.

You’ll find the few available configurations in the Settings window, which you can access by clicking the ‘gear icon’ on the top right corner.

Fortunately, there is auto-connection, which allows you to quickly and easily re-establish your connection.

Other options include the internet kill switch and auto-start up (Run with Windows).

In terms of aesthetics, RusVPN still has a lot of work to do. But overall, the application feels smooth.

Interesting Reads:

Yes, I recommend RusVPN.

RusVPN is a mid-tier that is rapidly climbing the charts.

It’s quite easy to use and comes with native apps for almost all primary devices.

But that’s not the only arrow this VPN packs in its quiver.

I was pleased with its encryption capabilities, strict zero-logging policy, as well as the fact that it works seamlessly with Netflix.

Although RusVPN doesn’t offer much outside of the basic features, its low prices make it an attractive option.

Check it out, and let me know what you think in the comment section below.