If you are looking to hide your IP address, you might want to employ a company named Hide My IP. This VPN service dates back to 2006, and the VPN is registered to My Privacy Tools Inc. Before we get too far into this, you have to understand one thing.
Hide My IP is a Smart DNS and not a VPN. There are some serious differences we need to go over to distinguish the two. We will handle that further on down the article.
For now, let’s help you better understand Hide My IP.
Understanding Hide My IP
First things first, this service is based out of the United States. That means that Hide My IP operate under US jurisdiction which is part of the five eyes surveillance alliance. This means that if the government cracks down and wants Hide My IP to hand over its information, it will have to.
But it’s not all bad.
Since Hide My IP is a DNS proxy and not a VPN, you’ll experience faster download and upload speeds. During our research, we found that Hide My IP checks out positive in a lot of areas.
Similar to DNS proxies, you hope to see a sizable server package, and you’ll get that with Hide My IP. This service has servers on six out of seven continents.
So far, Hide My IP brings a lot to the table. We just hope that its encryption and protocol are secure enough to protect your IP.
Pricing of Hide My IP
One of the best things about Hide My IP is its price. The service is incredibly affordable, even for the month to month plan. This is great if you don’t have a large budget to pay for a year all at once. It offers a monthly, quarterly, and yearly payment plan. None of the features change from plan to plan, and it offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
Here is a general breakdown of Hide My IP’s pricing:
- One month – $4.95 per month
- Quarterly – $2.93 per month (quarterly payment of $8.79)
- Yearly – $2.91 per month (yearly payment of $34.95)
What We Like About Hide My IP
Now it’s time for the good stuff. And there is a lot to like about Hide My IP. Overall; it’s an excellent service with many useful features.
Sound DNS
If your requests to a DNS server can be seen by outsiders when using a VPN or DNS proxy, then it means you have a DNS leak. Therefore, anyone monitoring the DNS server will be able to see the IP addresses and names of the websites you visit. This is obviously not what you what when you are seeking increased privacy online.
If you would like to learn more about DNS leaks and how they occur, we have put together an in-depth guide on the topic.
During our research, we observed many tests and everything checks out okay with Hide My IP. Throughout the entire leak test; we did not notice any DNS leaks.
Speed Baby
We have tested many VPNs and rarely do we see a service that is quite this fast. Hide My IP gains a lot of speed from not being a full VPN, but we still did not expect the results we got. We experienced around a 15% drop in download speeds and a 60% drop in upload speeds.
Yes, we would have liked to see a better upload speed, but overall, these results are solid.
Torrenting is OK
All that speed we were talking about comes in handy if you want to download large files. The best way to download these types of files is through torrenting. Due to the dangers of opening up your computer to large, sometimes unknown files, as well as the possible legal consequences, many VPN services do not allow torrenting. However, Hide My IP allows torrenting on all of its servers. Although it is not on our list of best vpns for torrenting at all. You can also browse adult and casino sites on it too.
The Perks
You get a decent number of perks with Hide My IP. It provides an excellent server package with servers in 123 locations all over the world. This is nothing compared to some VPNs that offer thousands of servers that are located in every continent, for example Nordvpn and Expressvpn.
Another perk is that you can have five simultaneous users on its premium plan. Many services only allow you to have one user, which is problematic if you have more than one computer in your house.
Lastly, it has a built-in kill switch, which is always a great feature in our eyes. A kill switch protects you in case you lose connection to the server. When you disconnect from the server, it opens up your real IP and DNS for whoever to see. The kill switch drops your internet connection right as that happens so no one can find your real location.
What We Dislike About Hide My IP
Unfortunately, now we have to talk about everything we didn’t like about Hide My IP. Let’s be honest, it has a lot of great features, but there is the elephant in the room to address.
DNS vs. VPN
Hide My IP is not a full VPN; it is a DNS proxy. A DNS is only required to relocate some of the information tied to your internet connection; whereas a VPN will transfer all of it. As a result, you don’t get the same level of encryption and protection from a DNS proxy as you do with a VPN. The only advantages to a Smart DNS are the speed and compatibility.
If having top-notch security and anonymity are most important on your list then you will want to walk past Hide My IP.
Good Ol’ Logging
If you were looking to drive a nail into the coffin, this should do it for you. Hide My IP logs everything we hoped wouldn’t get logged. If you check out its FAQ page, it says that it does not keep content logs of web browsing activity.
However, once you make your way into its privacy policy, you find out otherwise.
Here are some of the things it logs:
- Name, address, email, IP address, payment info, preferences, and communication via the support team
That’s not too bad but wait – there’s more.
It also logs “information relating to your use of our websites.” That sounds like it logs your browsing activity.
Hide My IP also goes on to say that it will turn over any information when prompted to do so by law enforcement — not good folks.
Our Verdict
We wanted to like this service. Some good things are sitting on the surface, but as you dig in deeper you find the truth behind Hide My IP. You can’t use something that you don’t trust and if Hide My IP is logging so much information, is it really a good choice as a privacy tool?
You’re not anonymous with Hide My IP, and that is the reason we would not recommend using this service.
If you want to learn more about VPN services that will protect your identity at all costs, check out our review of the best VPNs.
Disclosure: Blokt strives to provide transparent, honest reviews, and opinions. The writer of this article is a user of the product(s) or service(s) mentioned in this article and was not influenced by the respective owners.
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