ZoogVPN Review

ZoogVPN doesn’t collect any data that could be used to identify you. It does collect anonymized bandwidth usage to enforce its free version’s 10GB data limit and account information for maintenance, customer support, and sharing promotions.

To prove this, ZoogVPN actually reached out to us and showed us proof that the service refused to share customer information with government authorities. It has said it “consistently refused such requests.”

ZoogVPN is unable to share user information because it does not collect identifiable data.

While reassuring, it isn’t the same level of proof as a court case or server seizure, since they can’t be predicted or planned for.

In the meantime, we’d like the service to focus on improving its privacy infrastructure by adding diskless (RAM-only) servers.

Many top-tier VPNs like Mullvad have fully converted their server networks to prevent logging at a hardware level.

Similarly, our tests revealed that the VPN routes your traffic through Google DNS servers. While this isn’t a breach of anonymity as your requests are among thousands of others, it still isn’t as good as first-party DNS servers.

Free Version Sells Your Bandwidth

ZoogVPN’s free VPN claims to share the same privacy policy as its paid counterpart, but the fine print reveals two crucial differences.

On Windows and Android, the app may use Traffmonetizer SDK to route third-party traffic through your device and real IP address. This is a serious privacy risk, since your online identity is being hijacked by strangers.

Furthermore, the Android app includes ad-targeting, meaning your data is actively monetized rather than kept private.

Who Owns ZoogVPN?

ZoogVPN is owned by Zoog Services Single Member Private Company, which is incorporated in Greece, but is headquartered in Ukraine. A majority of its employees are also in Ukraine.

ZoogVPN is featured as a product of Softoria, a company registered in Ukraine, which also advertises data mining services.

Softoria’s management team is a mix of individuals from ZoogVPN, DataforSEO, and DataImpulse (a residential proxy network).

We reached out via email for clarification on its ownership structure and employees. ZoogVPN confirmed that Softoria and ZoogVPN are owned by the same person, but didn’t confirm who this person was.

ZoogVPN also explained that the company’s corporate structure is not detailed on its website, because of “threats from authorities and law enforcement agencies” and “dangers faced by those who advocate for online privacy, as seen in cases like Pavel Durov.”

ZoogVPN provides streaming-friendly servers in several locations. They’re marked with a play button symbol and can also be found under the ‘Streaming’ tab.

You can easily find out which servers are meant to unblock your favorite streaming service on ZoogVPN’s network status page.

But the truth is: they don’t always work. We used the ‘London 3’ server to stream shows like Industry, Doctor Who, and Love Island on BBC iPlayer and ITVX, with the same server failing to unblock UK Netflix or NOW.

In our experience, all of the UK streaming servers work with BBC iPlayer.

It was the same in the US, where we streamed Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO Max, but we couldn’t unblock US Netflix on any of the VPN’s streaming servers.

As for the video quality, ZoogVPN was at least fast enough for Full HD streaming and buffer-free videos.

Free Version Unblocks Very Few Services

ZoogVPN’s free plan doesn’t unblock as many services as its paid version, which is typical for a free VPN. Even if it worked, its 10GB monthly data cap runs out after roughly four hours of Full HD viewing.

The free US server location in Washington failed to unblock most streaming services, but it did occasionally access HBO Max. We used it ourselves to stream A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in HD.

In our recent tests, ZoogVPN’s free Washington server worked with HBO Max.

As you’d expect, the free tier doesn’t have access to any of the streaming-optimized servers.

ZoogVPN matched the performance of household names, like NordVPN and Surfshark, in our speed tests.

Our download speed never dropped by more than 15%, aside from when connecting to South Africa and Australia — the two farthest locations we test.

For a lesser-known product, these results are excellent and enable you to stream, browse, and video call without any buffering or lag.

Our download speed barely dropped while connected to a VPN server on the West Coast.

Ping times were a little less impressive, but this only affects online gaming.

Fast Speeds on Free Servers

In our tests, ZoogVPN’s free version was almost as fast as its paid counterpart. This makes ZoogVPN one of the fastest free VPNs around, with no sign of speed throttling.

For the best speeds, we normally suggest choosing a server that’s close to your actual location. However, since ZoogVPN only has free servers in 5 countries, a majority of people will not have a server nearby.

To mitigate this issue, we recommend switching to PrivadoVPN for twice as many free servers, or upgrading to a paid VPN.

ZoogVPN gives you a choice between two of the most secure connection protocols: OpenVPN (AES-256) and WireGuard (ChaCha20).

The free tier limits you to OpenVPN and the (relatively) weaker AES-128 encryption cipher. While AES-128 is still strong enough to encrypt your traffic, it is, in theory more vulnerable to brute force attacks.

We wouldn’t worry about this for the time being, but it’s poor to see a freemium VPN intentionally worsening its free VPN to force upgrades.

We’ve tested all of ZoogVPN’s protocols and encryption methods using Wireshark, a data packet analysis tool. Our results confirmed the encryption worked as intended:

ZoogVPN encrypted our online activity.

As part of our testing process, we also put the VPN’s kill switch through its paces. Our results were mixed.

On all platforms the kill switch activated successfully to prevent our real IP address from leaking, but on macOS, it failed to fire during a server change.

While this isn’t as compromising as an IP leak during a sudden connection drop, it’s still a security flaw that needs fixing.

We suggest you don’t use ZoogVPN on macOS for handling sensitive data.

Encryption and kill switch aside, there’s not much else to report on ZoogVPN’s security suite. The most critical omissions are open-source apps and post-quantum encryption (PQE).

ZoogVPN has one of the most extensive server networks outside of our top 10.

Virtually all of Europe is covered, save for its micro-states, and most of Asia is well-represented.

To be a bit nitpicky, there are some gaps in the Americas and the Caribbean. For instance, there aren’t any servers in Costa Rica, Jamaica, or Panama, but these locations are luxuries rather than essentials.

We’d also like to see further server locations added to Africa, though this omission is typical across the VPN industry.

The vast majority of ZoogVPN’s servers are bare-metal and physically located in the countries they claim to be, which improves connection speeds.

The free version of the VPN provides servers in 5 countries: Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, UK, and the US.

For a free VPN, this server coverage isn’t the worst and IP addresses from the US and UK are valuable for streaming. That said, Windscribe’s free VPN lets you connect to twice as many countries.

You can download ZoogVPN and start using it for free on all major platforms once your email address is verified. All versions of the app feature minimal features, just a choice of protocol, a kill switch toggle, and a few extra features on Windows and Android.

Here’s a more detailed look at the interface of each ZoogVPN application:

ZoogVPN’s premium version offers P2P servers optimized specifically for torrenting.

These P2P-friendly servers are clearly marked within the app’s server locations list. They span many countries including Canada, the US, and a handful of servers in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

We picked up a fast average bitrate when using these servers – 9.6MiB/s. This makes ZoogVPN almost as fast as ExpressVPN (9.8MiB/s) and NordVPN (9.8MiB/s), the best two VPNs on the market.

Although it works on Windows, the kill switch on macOS actually leaks your IP address when you change server locations. This presents a serious risk if you’re using the VPN for protection while torrenting.

ZoogVPN worked with every torrent client we test.

If you’re planning to purchase or use a free VPN for torrenting, we highly recommend checking out Private Internet Access or PrivadoVPN’s free VPN.

As it stands, there isn’t a straightforward way to use ZoogVPN on Apple TV or on any internet-connected devices that don’t support native VPN apps.

You have two choices: manually install the VPN on a router, which is difficult and limits you to one server location at a time, or upgrade to a better VPN.

For instance, Surfshark is just as affordable as ZoogVPN but includes a Smart DNS proxy, a dedicated Apple TV app, and unlimited simultaneous connections.

Obfuscated Servers

ZoogVPN has obfuscated servers and a feature called “Zoogshadowing” for bypassing online censorship. These tools can be effective, but they aren’t the most reliable over a long period of time.

Using ZoogVPN, we watched YouTube in China.

In our recent China tests with ZoogVPN, it took more than five minutes for the VPN to connect to a South Korean obfuscated server (KR – Seoul 2). However, once connected we were able to unblock YouTube and other censored websites.

While ZoogVPN’s paid version is sometimes able to bypass some firewalls, its free version isn’t as reliable in censored regions. We weren’t able to connect to a single server using ZoogVPN Free in China.