CyberGhost VPN review 2023: pricing and features

CyberGhost is one of the most popular VPN service providers. I really like that it lets me download torrents and access most of the most popular online viewing services, like Netflix and BBC iPlayer. CyberGhost also has the WireGuard protocol, specialized servers, a dedicated IP option, and a 45-day money-back guarantee, which is much longer than the 1-month guarantees that most other providers give.

But not everything is great. For example, the VPN apps for macOS and iOS have less features and could be faster, especially with such a large number of servers. In this CyberGhost VPN review, I’ll look at their service in detail to see if it’s worth your time. I’ll talk about how safe they are, how they handle privacy, what other features they have, how much they cost, and who uses them. This should give you a pretty good idea of whether or not becoming a ghost online is helpful.

CyberGhost: Pricing

A monthly account with CyberGhost VPN costs $12.99 a month, which is at the high end of the $10–$13 range that is standard in the business. Like always, if you stretch your subscription, you save money. If you sign up for a yearly plan, the price drops to $4.29 a month. If you sign up for two years, the price drops to $3.25 a month. And if you sign up for three years, the price is $2.29 a month for the first term (three years plus three months) and $2.48 when you renew.

That’s a good deal for the longer-term plans, but a few companies have even better deals. For only $2.03 a month, Private Internet Access protects you for three years and three months and includes a simple firewall. And Ivacy’s five-year plan is only $1.19 a month, which is very cheap. (That’s $78 up front for CyberGhost’s protection for two years and $71.64 for Ivacy’s protection for five years.)

When you upgrade to CyberGhost Security Suite, you get an antivirus program and a tool that checks for missing software changes. The monthly plan costs $5.65, and the three-year plan costs $1.29. That’s not much, but it is a pretty simple program. If your security is important to you, keep in mind that Avira, Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, and more now all have full-featured security packages that include VPNs.

CyberGhost Key Features Table

Because it possesses all of these capabilities, CyberGhost VPN is able to provide its users with a comprehensive solution that improves their online privacy, accessibility, and security.

CyberGhost: Servers and locations

CyberGhost VPN has about 9,400 servers in 91 different countries. So, it’s one of the companies that has one of the largest ships. In this way, CyberGhost isn’t as good as services like NordVPN or PureVPN. Europe has the best coverage, and the Americas come in second. The main point is that CyberGhost’s large fleet lets them cover places like Africa where VPNs aren’t as popular. Keep in mind, though, that some of their computers are virtual, which means they aren’t actually in the country.

This is true, for example, of Argentina, Portugal, Indonesia, and Egypt. All things considered, CyberGhost’s strong point is its large number of servers. This can be very helpful if you live far away from Europe, North America, or the Far East.

CyberGhost: Security and Privacy

CyberGhost VPN is a safe VPN service that protects your data with 256-bit AES security. This security is almost impossible to break, so even if someone else gets a hold of it, your information is safe from prying eyes. CyberGhost also has a strict no-logs policy, which means that it doesn’t keep any information about your online behavior, like your IP address, browsing history, or DNS queries. This means that CyberGhost can’t be forced to give your information to the government or law enforcement.

In addition to its strong security features, CyberGhost also has a number of privacy-focused features, such as a kill switch that will cut off your internet connection if the VPN connection drops and an ad blocker that will stop ads and trackers from running in your browser. CyberGhost is also based in Romania, which is a country that makes it easy to protect your privacy. Overall, CyberGhost is a safe and private VPN service that is a good choice for anyone who wants to keep their online information safe.

CyberGhost: Speed and Performance

We used SpeedTest’s website and command line app, nPerf.com, SpeedOf.me, and more to measure CyberGhost’s speeds from sites in the US and UK with 1Gbps connections. We checked the download speeds from each site at least five times, then again with a different protocol, and then did it all over again in the evening. With speeds between 540 and 730Mbps, WireGuard was faster than normal, which put CyberGhost in ninth place out of our last 20 speed tests.

(With 950Mbps or more, Surfshark, TorGuard, and Norton were in the lead). CyberGhost also works with the OpenVPN system, which is older but safe and very flexible. You might sometimes need to use OpenVPN to join, so we also test how well it works. And the results were good. The fastest speed we saw was 380Mbps, which is two to three times what we’ve seen from some companies.

CyberGhost: Compatibility

CyberGhost is a VPN service that works with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux, among other systems. It has apps that make downloading easy and interfaces that are easy to use on all devices. This wide range of compatibility makes sure that users are always safe and private, no matter what operating system they use. To sum up how well they go together:

CyberGhost is a good choice for users who want the same VPN performance on all of their devices because it works on multiple platforms.

CyberGhost: Streaming and Torrenting

Some VPNs make you work to get to streaming sites that are blocked. For example, if you want to watch US Netflix, you might have to try each US address in turn until you find one that works. CyberGhost doesn’t waste your time with any tricks like that. It has a Streaming tab on its app location lists with servers for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and other services.

The best service is for people in North America and Europe, but our app also showed servers in Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. These include RTL, MTV Finland, France TV, AI Play, and many more smaller area services. We started our tests by connecting to the BBC iPlayer site and found that it was easy to stream iPlayer material. We moved to the US Netflix server, which gave us the same freedom to browse and watch whatever we wanted. CyberGhost worked just as well with Netflix in Australia, Canada, and Japan as it did in the UK, where it didn’t work at all.

CyberGhost doesn’t allow P2P in all places, but you still have a lot of options. Choosing the “For torrenting” filter on our Windows app showed 70 P2P-friendly countries, which is more than most VPN companies support in total. We made sure this was true by connecting to three P2P-friendly places and getting a torrent from each of them without any connection or other problems.

In the Settings box of the Windows app, you can choose to automatically connect to your chosen CyberGhost server whenever you open your torrent client. This is one of the app’s extra features that can come in handy. When you get torrents from less trustworthy sites, you may leave yourself open to attack. CyberGhost’s malicious URL filter, which is another great update, should help block the most dangerous threats.

CyberGhost: Browser Extensions

In addition, CyberGhost provides free browser add-ons for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Opera. Therefore, if you are already a subscriber, there isn’t much benefit to utilizing one that you wouldn’t receive through the app that you can get from using one.

You have the option of selecting from the United States, Romania, the Netherlands, or Germany. The browser add-on can get around some of the more straightforward limitations, but you shouldn’t count on it to function with streaming websites. There are no additional features, and the only method of encryption for your traffic is SSL.

CyberGhost: Support

CyberGhost’s first line of help is its web guides, which explain how to set up the service on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Android, Linux, and other platforms. These do a good job of explaining important tasks, like how to install the Windows app, with pictures and helpful extra tips, like how to choose a strong password. But it doesn’t have as much depth or information as ExpressVPN or NordVPN.

The search tool for the knowledgebase isn’t very smart or helpful. It depends on you choosing the best keyword. For example, if you look for “speed” or “performance,” you’ll get very different results, and even if you do that right, the results don’t seem to be sorted by how useful they are.

A “Recent activity” panel seemed like a good idea because it shows which support documents have been added or changed lately. But as we scrolled down the page, we saw that CyberGhost had only added one story in the past year. It doesn’t look like the knowledgebase is going to get much better any time soon.

Still, this site has almost enough good information to help you with the basics. If that doesn’t work, you can talk to a real person via email or live chat if that doesn’t work. We started a live chat, and a support worker answered our question in just a couple of minutes. Even though we chose a somewhat technical topic about creating OpenVPN setup files, the agent knew right away what we needed and told us everything we needed to know.

CyberGhost: Pros and Cons

CyberGhost is a capable VPN service with a powerful Windows client, packed with features yet still user-friendly.

Final Words

As usual, CyberGhost is a great VPN. This is especially true for the normal Internet user who just wants to keep their privacy and safety online. The speeds are fast enough, and the interface is well made and easy to use. It also works with a wide range of streaming services around the world, and it promises (and keeps) the right things about privacy.

Is CyberGhost VPN a good VPN?

Most people agree that CyberGhost VPN is a good VPN service. It has a good image because it has a lot of great features, like a large network of servers in different countries, strong encryption protocols, a strict no-logs policy, and apps that are easy to use on different platforms.

CyberGhost also has servers that are optimized for streaming, torrenting, and games. This makes the experience better for users who have specific needs. But it’s always a good idea to think about your own needs and preferences before picking a VPN service, because things like server locations, speed, and customer support can vary depending on your needs.

How to use CyberGhost VPN?

Using CyberGhost VPN is straightforward. Here’s a general guide on how to use it:

1. Sign Up and Download
2. Installation and Setup
3. Choose a Server
4. Connect to the VPN
5. Disconnect and Reconnect
6. Troubleshooting