CyberGhost VPN in 2023: Review

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CyberGhost review 2023

This is a complete and detailed review of CyberGhost VPN. Before we start, we are an independent site with complete editorial independence, and all the reviews are done by our experts with extreme testing.

Nowadays, online security has become one of the most vulnerable aspects of our lives. According to a report, there are 30000 websites hacked every day around the globe. This means the data that those sites were supposed to protect could not even protect themselves. So if you are not paranoid about your privacy, your data might already be leaked or will soon leak. A VPN can help you prevent it.

A Virtual Private Network or VPN is like encryption of digital activities. I think the only way to protect our privacy is to not share any data, but 99.99 sites use data. Most of these just misuse these and collect information that is sold to advertisers. The only alternative is to give them some altered data so they don’t disturb us and no harm is done to our privacy. This is exactly what a VPN does. Click here to read what is a VPN and why you need VPN in 2023.

CyberGhost VPN is among the top VPNs in the market, with many features and excellent service. The VPN is also great for securing our privacy and at this price, it has no competition. So in this article have explained in detail what you receive with the Surfshark VPN and whether is it worth your money.

Remember, there is no perfect VPN. Every product has its own strengths and weakness. You should look carefully at what are you looking for in a VPN and we can only help you. Now let’s start the review.

Specs

Number of Servers 9797+
Countries 91
Protocols WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec
Data Limit No limit (Unlimited)
Logging policy No Logs Policy
Jurisdiction Romania
Concurrent connections 7
Streaming compatibility Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer
Netflix Libraries 6
Torrenting Permitted
Money-back 45-days Guarantee
Overall Rating -
★★★★★ 4.5/5

Pros

  • Verified No-logs policy
  • Massive 9800+ servers globally
  • Addons like -antivirus
  • Best at this price
  • Great interface in all devices

Cons

  • Unreliable on streaming
  • OpenVPN not in mac and iOS
  • Confusing verified policies
  • Expensive monthly plan
Monthly|
$12.99/mo best for trial
Get Deal
6-months|
$6.99/mo. or $41.94 | 49% Off
Get Deal
2 Years|
$2.19/mo + 2 months free | 83% Off
Get Deal
Monthly
$12.99/mo
6-months
$6.99/mo. or $41.94
49% OFF
2-years
$2.19/mo. + 2 months free
83% OFF
Table of Contents

Protocols and security encryption

CyberGhost VPN offers three protocols–OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2/IPsec. All three protocols are widely used and have their own strengths. WireGuard is the latest protocol with only 4000 lines of code. It is nearly 2 times faster than OpenVPN and most VPNs are moving toward it however it is not much experimented with and thus less reliable. OpenVPN is one of the most used VPNs and thus has been fully experimented upon. IKEv2 is more oriented towards mobiles and thus gives better performance in short-distance connections.

The WireGuard should be better in normal cases where you need more speed from a VPN. In cases you need extra security, you can prefer OpenVPN and when your mobile connection is unreliable, IKEv2 will work like a charm. The VPN also offers the option to choose UDP and TCP in the OpenVPN protocol.

CyberGhost supports both AES-256 GCM in OpenVPN and IKEv2 while using ChaCha20 for WireGuard. Both of these encryptions are the most advanced and military graded and even the most powerful super-computer cannot brute force it. Encryption is how the data is seen if someone else tries to steal it. It is a very complex process and cannot be cracked.

Ns, CyberGhost also supports all protocols but there is no modified or unique protocol of its own. Nord VPN has Nordlynx and Express VPN has Lighway, both of these are usually better than the normal version of open source. However, the VPN does offer all the protocols mostly all devices.

Servers and locations

CyberGhost has officially the highest-known servers of any VPN. CG boasts over 9771 servers at 117 locations in 91 countries. The servers are more impressive than the countries as Surfshark had servers in 100 countries while HMA has servers in 190+ countries, still, the feat of 9771 servers is a big number. PIA may be the only one with more servers but they have not officially shared the exact numbers.

 Having more servers is good but that is not enough for a VPN. The thing I like about CyberGhost is the premade lists of servers for different catagories. You can see premade lists of servers for Netflix, Crunchyroll, etc. We will discuss these in the streaming section. It even has servers listed as gaming servers, dedicated servers, and no-spy servers.

 The number of servers is also an inconsistent factor in the case of VPNs as many VPNs use Virtual servers. Virtual servers are configured through software to act somewhere else while the physical part is somewhere else. This indicates that one physical server can be converted into many virtual servers.

 Virtual servers are not bad, however, a company should disclose the exact figures and maintain complete transparency Earlier CyberGhost used to mark its virtual servers but now there is no such mark. This may also be due to the installation of NoSpy servers.

 RAM-only servers

 CyberGhost has installed RAM-only or diskless servers to stop any data from being stored. A RAM-only server does not have storage or disk to store information in the first place. So even if third parties like server providers try to misuse or steal data, they get nothing in their hands. This policy amplifies the no-log policy.

 The company does not own the server network. They rent their servers from third parties and that is the reason they created NoSpy servers which are owned by them.

 No-spy servers

No spy servers CyberGhost

 The NoSpy servers are secure servers that are based on a privacy-friendly jurisdiction and are directly maintained by the company. These servers are based in Romania and are located inside the headquarters of CyberGhost. These servers use better hardware and are directly monitored by the staff of the company. These servers also have high bandwidth as claimed by the company.

 This concept is similar to the secure-core servers of Proton VPN, however, they were used for multi-hop, while CyberGhost doesn’t even offer multi-hop features.

Speed and Performance

A VPN always slows down the speed of the internet connection. This is simply because of the way a VPN works. A VPN encrypts your data and decrypts it 2-3 times per request. Sometimes if you choose a distant server, the traveling also increases a lot. The VPNs also create a tunnel of fake traffic which is also done on every request. These processes just take microseconds but can be increased to seconds and when calculated on all the requests, boom you have a slow connection.

 A VPN needs to be fast to conduct properly and that’s why we test the VPNs regularly and keep updating their status. We used the WireGuard protocol for speed testing.

 The first thing was many times the VPN shows a problem in connecting. This may be our problem but we still reported the problem with the VPN. The speed was a lot better than the connection time. It showed an error 2 times before connecting successfully. After that, however, it did not happen again. It still was not a good experience nor a good impression.

 The speed has nothing to complain about. It was not as good as Nord VPN or Surfshark, but still a lot better than many of the VPNs. The speed results were above average making it faster than 64% of the VPNs.

The download speed decreased by 22% while the upload speed dropped to 29%. This when compared to many VPNs, is still an impressive speed, however not as compared to Nord but their price is also different.

We can say, the VPN is fast but not the fastest. You can use it for HD streaming without buffering and easily use it for normal usage. Remember, if you need a VPN based on speed, please look into Nord VPN or Express VPN. If looking for a bit cheaper, the overall Surfshark would be the best option. Speed is only one criterion and you should seek other criteria before deciding.

Surfshark speed test
Check Price

Note: You should use WireGuard or Auto select protocol option to ensure the best speed possible.

Streaming and Accessing restricted content

A while back, CyberGhost was starting to become blocked by many websites and the users were complaining. This was then noticed by the company and then steps were taken. The company then assigned special servers for streaming and even provided pre-made lists for users to directly stream.

CyberGhost streaming server list Netflix

However, the company is still not fully able to unblock streaming libraries. This is because companies like Netflix are always at war with VPNs. They keep blocking the IPs to keep everything in check. This leads to users not being access to Netflix which is kind of irritating.

Explore the best VPNs for Netflix in 2023, handpicked and tested.

Streaming is one of the popular cause for why many people buy VPNs. If the VPN is not accessing libraries, what is the use of even giving the option?

The company gives the option of nearly 15-18 Netflix libraries but in our test, it accessed only 8 libraries which is the average number for all VPNs.

This VPN was even unreliable in BBC iPlayer which mostly all the good premium VPNs access easily. However, this disturbance was only noticed twice out of 20 times.

To be brutally honest, if you want to use VPN for streaming, I would suggest you go for Express VPN and if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, Surfshark will be best for you. However, if you want access to many servers and the US Netflix and 3 others will be enough for you. You can go towards CyberGhost.

Privacy Policy and Data

 A VPN is a powerful security tool and if the security tool itself exploits our data, we can say R.I.P. to our privacy. That is why we must be very careful while choosing a VPN and understand its privacy policy. It might be hard or boring for many, so we have analyzed it in this section.

A glimpse of the privacy policy of CyberGhost

 CyberGhost follows an N0-logs policy. In layman’s terms, CyberGhost does not collect any connection or usage data from the users. Usage Data is your activities tracked while connection data means tracking the sites and services visited with time. We always want a VPN to commit to a no-logs policy.

 However, this does not mean it has no record of users as then how would they recognize their users. It is much more complicated but we are here to simplify it. There is some personal information that according to VPN is necessary for your account and service to run properly. This includes your email, payment status, etc. The company is sure that none of this information is sold or shared with third parties. CyberGhost even does not store payment information which is one step ahead of privacy.

 The privacy policy has a summary on top but as we go deeper, the language gets complicated. There is still no mention of any unnecessary data collected. The VPN claims,’ The activities and data are NOT monitored, recorded, logged or stored by us.

 Like all other VPNs, CyberGhost VPN also collects aggregate data of crashes, successful connections, diagnostics, etc to improve their services. This is nothing to worry but CyberGhost even gives the option to opt out of this service. This data can never be traced back to your account or device.

The company claims to collect the following personal information which is not related to our accounts:

      • (i) to Website usage information, such as IP address (captured and stored in an anonymized format), approximate location (country only)
      • (ii) transaction information, items purchased, the price paid, billing method, partial credit card information, chargeback requests, and cancelled orders.

 The company also maintains a transparency report updated quarterly, that reports any warrants or requests by authorities. As per the transparency report, we can even see DMCA and malware complaints and this is the best and most real form of transparency. The company assured that none of these complaints could be of any help as there was no data stored.

 Verified third-party audits

 Recently in December 2022, the company underwent an independent audit for its no-logs policy. The audit was done by Deloitte, one of the biggest auditing companies. CyberGhost passed the audit and the no logs policy was verified. 

 This here is an excerpt from the privacy policy of the VPN,

excerpts from the report cannot be shared with our readers directly. This is to ensure none of the audit results are taken out of context and misunderstood.

This made us a bit worried and we checked the reports and found that it was not nothing to hide there. The report was hard to understand for a normal person, but our security experts completely analyzed it. There was nothing to worry about.

 Note– Privacy is a matter of personal opinion and search for other options until you are satisfied.

Note – Privacy is a matter of personal opinion and you can also watch for other options until you are completely satisfied.

Jurisdiction and Parent Company

Jurisdiction is another thing that affects a VPN’s privacy policy. No matter how much a VPN claims to be private, it will have to bend against the laws of the country in they operate. We cannot trust VPNs that are a part of 14 eyes or any other intelligence treaty.

Fortunately, CyberGhost operates under the jurisdiction of Romania. Before you worry, Romania may be a part of the EU, but it is the only state that did not accept the EU’s Data Retention Policy which was completely exploitative. At least it did not accept the mass data collection policy in the name of a law that was basically for surveillance.

CyberGhost jurisdiction Romania

Like every other VPN, the company will have to open up with the orders of the local courts and authorities, but for this special purpose, the RAM servers are installed which do not keep any logs to have nothing to share.

Parent company

CyberGhost was started in 2011 under CyberGhost S.A. in Bucharest, Romania. The VPN was free initially and then went on to premium. The VPN 2017 was acquired by Crossrider, currently known as Kape Technologies. Kape is among the biggest VPN company owning Express VPN, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate.

Crossrider did not have a good history of trust. It was then, an adware company that used to develop SDKs (Software Development Kits). The company then developed a platform that can directly be monetised through injection techniques. The platform was then being used for spamming and it also created a lot of opportunities for not just ads but also harmful malware.

The company shut down the platform in 2016 and then went in the privacy line by acquiring CyberGhost. This deal was initially heavily criticized by the public and then however Kape was formed. The company changed its whole reputation and working. Since then, Kape has only been active in the field of privacy and now has a great share of the market.

However, CyberGhost cleared that they do not share their infrastructure with any other Kape company and are completely independent. Privacy is a very important matter so you should always look in detail.

Note: This VPN service offers a wide range of protocols to choose from.

Features

CyberGhost does offer many features but they are nowhere near VPNs like Nord and Surfshark in this matter. Remember, most of the features of VPN are just to fool non-tech users into buying what is rather useless in most cases. You don’t need many features that you are never going to use for a higher price. This gives a false taste of quality. Always seek what you need and not what can be offered.

The VPN offers many features but most of them are related to blocking ads and malware. Let’s discuss all the features:

Dedicated IP

CyberGhost dedicated IP address

A dedicated or Static IP means assigning a new IP address only for you. Normally, every time we connect to a VPN, a new IP address is assigned which is also used by many other users. This sometimes leads to a ban from many sites as they suspect this traffic is a computerized attack.

A dedicated IP helps you by assigning a new IP. CyberGhost provides IP through a token system, this is to ensure that even CyberGhost does not have any record or store of which static IP were you assigned.

Wifi Protection

The VPN asks us every time we connect to new wifi ie we want to start it. This is very useful if you connect to public wifi as they are one of the most vulnerable networks. You can also select other networks like your house or work wifi.

Exceptions (Split tunneling)

This is the split tunneling of CyberGhost. You can here mention the sites and apps, you want to avoid your VPN working upon. This will exclude them from the encrypted traffic and will make a normal one.

Privacy Settings

Privacy Settings

DNS block: This feature blocks the domains known for ads, trackers, and malware. This feature blocks many notorious websites but not all.

Prevent DNS leaks: Just like Express VPN, CyberGhost has its DNS server, which means even the DNS requested is not sent to any third party, protecting us from DNS leaks.

Kill-switch: This feature automatically terminates the network when the VPN gets disconnected due to any issue. This removes the chances of accidental IP exposure or leaks.

Private Browser

CyberGhost private browser

CyberGhost has developed its own private browser. It is a chromium-based browser that runs on Duck Duck Go, a private search engine. The browser has built-in blockers for ads, blockers, and malware. There is also one button to clear all history and it automatically gets deleted once closed.

Autonomous Data Usage

CyberGhost Anonymised data setting

All the VPNs collect aggregated and anonymous data for app improvements and reports. This is mostly non-traceable but it should be our right to decide. This is true in the case of CyberGhost.

There is an option where you can even choose to not share even anonymized and aggregate data. This feature gives a vibe of trust.

Torrenting

Torrenting servers CyberGhost

The VPN not only permits torrenting but also had special torrenting servers. These servers can be seen by selecting the torrenting servers list. Torrenting includes P2P transfer which is completely different from regular server transfer.

As torrenting has multiple seeders, the download speed is much slower than normal downloads. So we would definitely not want a VPN to make it slower. However, the CyberGhost is efficient in torrenting and gives better than average speed while torrenting.

Earlier, CyberGhost used to show the percentage load on servers, however, now it shows the distance from the server or you can let the app select the best server for you.

Price and Value

As with all other VPNs, CyberGhost offers three types of plans: monthly, 6 months, and 2 years which currently offers 2 months extra.

The cost of the monthly plan is $12.99/mo which exceeds the cost of the most expensive Express VPN. The 6 monthly plan costs $41.94 or $6.99/mo. The 2-year plan costs around $2.19/mo or $56.94. This includes the 2 extra months currently being offered.

The change between the cost of monthly and 2 years is massive. While the Monthly plan is among the most expensive plan, the long-term plan makes the VPN one of the cheapest premium VPNs.

Is it worth it?

We value money differently for everyone and our opinion is personal, meaning you should always see if the price and value offered to satisfy your needs. Due to the huge pricing gap, we can get two opinions.

The monthly plan is definitely not worth it. If you have that much to spend, you can choose some other best VPNs from this list. No doubt, CyberGhost is a great VPN, but still lacks behind when compared to other giants.

The 2-year plan is definitely a bargain. The long-term plan makes it the cheapest VPN with this many features and options. There is no doubt that the company is sacrificing some prices to get long-term users. Even if you take a long-term plan, there comes a 45-day money-back guarantee which is great. You can take the longer plan and if it does not suit you, you can always have your money

Note: We always recommend testing the service before committing to long-term plans. You can always commit when you are sure of it.

Offers

There are no other offers currently as CyberGhost is already giving a big discount on long-term plans.

Free trial: You can get a 30-day free trial through this offer. This way you can check if the VPN suits you. If you do not like the service, you can get a refund with no questions asked. this way you can even enjoy a premium VPN for free.

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Payment MethodsCyberGhost Payment methods

Two other payments accepted are:

    • Google Pay 
    • Apple Pay

CyberGhost does not allow any payment method that is completely anonymous like cash payment.

Device Compatibility

CyberGhost VPN has applications for the following devices:

      • Windows
      • Mac
      • iOS
      • Android
      • Linux
      • Router
      • Chrome OS

It can also connect to gaming consoles and other entertainment devices thanks to its option to connect to a router or smart DNS feature:

      • Apple TV
      • Amazon Fire TV
      • Chromecast
      • Nintendo
      • PlayStation
      • Roku
      • Xbox

CyberGhost in Windows

The application can be installed from the dashboard where you can also manage your accounts. The application does take a handful of time to install as it is a bit heavy application.

You can log in with your email and password. The quick connect button is on the right side. CyberGhost has the server list and options on the left. You can minimize the list and options leaving only the quick connect button with one option to choose the best server.

In the center, there is a list of servers, this includes the list you chose from the left side. On the extreme left, you can find options for settings and account management. There is also a Privacy setting at the bottom of the page.

We conducted DNS leak tests and webRTC tests and there were no leaks found on the application. The kill switch worked effectively. There were no leaks in DNS.

CyberGhost in Android

CyberGhost in Android

CyberGhost can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. After installing, you can use the email ID and password to log in.

The App is dark and plain. There is one quick option and then the server connection or the best location option. All the options and settings appear when you click the settings icon at the top right. There you can see the user mail and subscription on top.

Below there are some options to choose from. You can select split tunneling, kill switch, haptic response, dedicated IP, and protocol from here. You can also see the option of WiFi setting here which is similar to windows.

We ran the DNS leak tests and webRTC tests to ensure that there were no leaks while connecting the VPN. There were no leaks found.

CyberGhost in iOS and macOS

CyberGhost iOS version can be downloaded from the app store. The app runs similarly to the android version. The default protocol for iOS is IKEv2 but you can also switch to WireGuard.

The speed and visualization were also similar to Android. The platform worked without any lag or nuisance. There is however one small thing, some features like split tunneling are not available on iOS and Mac. Note that no VPN allows split tunneling on iOS as iOS has a different configuration that makes it impossible.

There were no DNS leaks or webRTC leaks found on any devices. The Kill switch worked effectively and there were no leaks while changing servers.

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