Over the coming weeks we are going to take a closer look at a number of VPN providers around the world. Sure, there are literally thousands of reviews all over the internet but beware, most of these are sponsored by the very same VPN companies that rank highest.

My first candidate is Proxy.sh (testing from the U.S.)

Introduction

I’ve been using Proxy.sh for years and while their network performance is not always the best, the connection has been reliable and their privacy policy suits my needs. On the other hand, they also appear to be one of the few VPN companies that doesn’t sponsor reviews.

Features

Let’s have a quick look at what they promise:

  • 52 Countries, 300+ Locations
  • No Logs
  • Strong Encryption
  • Support for TOR, ECC, XOR
  • Multi-Hop Technology
  • Transparency Report & Warrant Canary
  • Open Source Software for Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
  • Literally 100 ways to pay them (Bitcoin, CC, Bank Transfer, Paypal, …)
  • Plans starting at $5 / month

I’m not going to comment on these as it’s usually difficult to verify whether a provider sticks to it’s policies though I’ve found that Proxy.sh does a pretty good job. One thing we can verify is the overall speed of a VPN provider. Let’s have a look at how Proxy.sh performs.

Speed Test

Here’s how I’ve run these tests:

  • Our location is Ashburn, Virginia (AWS)
  • All tests were run against the same Speedtest.net host in Ashburn
  • I’ve run all tests around midnight, local time
  • I’m using the official Proxy.sh VPN client on a Windows host
  • The connection is established using OpenVPN (TCP 110 RSA)
  • We establish a connection to the individual ‘Hubs’, not a specific VPN server*

I leave it up to Proxy.sh to connect to the fastest server (it doesn’t appear to work as well as it should. Power users should pick a specific VPN server).

Without VPN

The connection speed without VPN is on average 477 Mbps DOWN, 631 Mbps UP with 1ms Ping. I’ve run 3 tests to get this average.

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest

Location: U.S. Arizona Hub

36.93 Mbps DOWN 7.55 Mbps UP 15 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest Arizona

Location: U.S. California Hub

5.31 Mbps DOWN 0.94 Mbps UP 133 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest California

Location: U.S. Florida Hub

11.80 Mbps DOWN 2.94 Mbps UP 55 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest Florida

Location: U.S. New York Hub

11.80 Mbps DOWN 2.3 Mbps UP 56 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest New York

Location: U.S. Washington Hub

4.04 Mbps DOWN 0.83 Mbps UP 170 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest Washington

Location: Germany Hub

19.67 Mbps DOWN 0.61 Mbps UP 199 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest Germany

Location: United Kingdom

3.59 Mbps DOWN 0.84 Mbps UP 151 ms

Proxy.sh VPN Speedtest United Kingdom

Conclusion

The speeds aren’t something to brag about and I will probably run these tests again in a couple of days just to be sure. Still, Proxy.sh is a good VPN provider with a solid feature set that only few can match. Their support is quite responsive, the connection usually stays up for days and very few VPN providers push transparency as far.

If you’d like to find out more about Proxy.sh, visit their website: Proxy.sh or via Proxy.sh affiliate link*. If you follow the affiliate link, you help pay for my VPN account. That’s it.

Next test: OVPN.se (coming soon)