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KeepSolid’s New York-based VPN Unlimited is one of the best VPN providers right now, even though it has a comparably small network of just over 400 servers across some 80 countries. VPN Unlimited also has faster performance and support for modern VPN protocols such as WireGuard, plus cheap long-term pricing options. So, is this the top VPN provider for your requirements? Our VPN Unlimited review covers everything you need to know.
Features
VPN Unlimited has one of the smallest server networks of any VPN provider we have seen, with just north of 400 servers. But to be honest, they are spread over more than 80 locations, including in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. The most significant disadvantage of the small network is that there aren’t many servers available for big cities like Los Angeles or London.
Partly because of this, the P2P support on the network of VPN Unlimited is limited. You can only torrent on five servers spread across the US, Canada, France, Romania, and Luxembourg – but we appreciate that it’s possible at all.
But we appreciate that it’s possible at all. However, VPN Unlimited goes further than that when it comes to connection protocols. The platform offers the standard options, including IKEv2 and OpenVPN, but it also offers the newer WireGuard protocol in Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android clients.
VPN Unlimited even has its protocol based on OpenVPN, which it calls KeepSolid Wise. Wise is designed to encrypt your VPN connection, making it more difficult to detect in countries that restrict VPN usages, such as China and Iran.
Another notable feature offered by VPN Unlimited is a DNS firewall. This is standard for many high-end VPNs, but it is nice to see that this is implemented on a relatively affordable platform. Essentially, the firewall uses DNS addresses to block access to malicious domains and thus further secure your connection.
VPN Unlimited review: Privacy
VPN Unlimited protects your privacy by using only the strongest VPN protocols. That means standard OpenVPN, the standard protocol on both mobile and desktop apps. This uses AES-256 encryption for industry-standard security levels. And if, for some reason, it doesn’t meet your needs, there’s no problem: IKEv2 is available as a capable fallback protocol for most clients.
The apps also offer KeepSolid’s proprietary Wise technology. This takes the core protocol OpenVPN, blurs and obscures it a bit, and perhaps routes it a bit differently from a regular connection. While this may reduce speed a little, it can help you bypass VPN detection and blocking systems used in countries like China so that you can connect from almost anywhere.
There is more good news in the app‘s ability to automatically connect to the VPN when you have access to an unreliable network, so you are always protected.
The Windows client also doesn’t have any specific ‘DNS leak protection settings,’ but they didn’t seem to be necessary after all. We performed checks on IPLeak, DNS Leak Test, DoILeak, and others, and found no sign of DNS, WebRTC, or other data leaks.
VPN Unlimited review: Logging
VPN providers understand that potential customers are curious about their logging policies. Most try to immediately make this clear on the website, with phrases like ‘Zero Logging!’ prominently displayed in reassuringly large fonts. The VPN Unlimited website does not bother to emphasize the logging procedures, and the front page does not mention the problem at all.
The privacy policy provides a general description of the personal information collected when you visit the website or use KeepSolid’s apps. These include IP addresses; device name, code, manufacturer, and language; time zone, connection time, and Wi-Fi network name; and the total amount of traffic for each session, along with session data.
A quick check of our VPN Unlimited web console revealed slightly more identifying information. For example, a device console not only recorded that we’d connected from a Windows 10 system. It also saved the name of the computer and even the name of our Windows user account. If no activity is registered, it can’t help anyone connect an Internet action to your account. However, we still feel a little uncomfortable with a third party holding that level of information about our devices.
Apart from these minor concerns, there’s no sign that VPN Unlimited is taking any logging liberty with your personal information. However, we want more reassurance than words on a website. Other providers are increasingly using third-party audits to verify their no-logging claims – TunnelBear has annual independent audits of its apps, infrastructure, website, and more – and we hope VPN Unlimited will do the same very soon.
VPN Unlimited review: Performance
KeepSolid performed well during our speed tests. Our nearest UK servers managed 60-70Mbps on a 75Mbps fiber broadband line, about 5% to 6% lower than our regular non-VPN speeds.
Repeating our speed tests from a U.S. location gave us excellent results at 200-300Mbps on a 600Mbps line. That’s significantly higher than the 130-150Mbps we saw in our last evaluation, a real performance, especially with the Internet and VPN traffic considerably higher due to coronavirus closures.
Connecting to remote servers from the UK yielded good results. Most European servers reached 60-65Mbps, U.S. servers managed 55Mbps and more, and most less common locations also performed well (Libya consistently achieved 40-60Mbps).
The only exception we noticed was Malaysia, which for us was almost unusually slow at about 1-2Mbps. However, most VPNs have one or two bad performers, and slow speeds don’t necessarily apply to everyone for us. If you’re closer to the server, your experience can be very different.
We tried switching from OpenVPN (our preferred protocol for testing) to WireGuard, but the results were mixed: sometimes a bit faster, sometimes a bit slower. However, WireGuard is currently in beta, so we are not going to draw any conclusions yet.
We also used geolocation libraries and ping checks to confirm their real locations. This is important because some providers use virtual servers that are not in the countries they claim, but we have not found any site related tricks here. Each VPN Unlimited server appears to be in or close to its advertised location.
VPN Unlimited review: Streaming support
A good VPN not only gives you a new virtual location but also ensures that your identity is sufficiently undetectable to access all kinds of obstructed content. To get a feel for unblocking a VPN, we connect to the British and American servers and check if BBC iPlayer, US YouTube, US Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ give us access to their content.
The VPN Unlimited apps simplify server selection by highlighting the recommended iPlayer, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and other locations on their regular server lists. This is much more convenient than the average VPN, where you may have ten or more U.S. servers to choose from, but you can try them one after the other until you find which one (if any) works with your preferred content provider.
We chose the UK server recommended for iPlayer access, and it worked fine. Out of curiosity, we tried the other UK server, and it let us in. Most VPNs give US YouTube access, which was also the case here, with VPN Unlimited bypassing YouTube’s geoblocking with all its servers.
US Netflix is the gold standard for unblocking content, but VPN Unlimited passed the test without any problems. The recommended US server gave us instant access to the service, and when we tried a handful of other US servers, they worked as well.
Amazon Prime Video didn’t work for us; the site detected the VPN and demanded that we shut it down. But VPN Unlimited ended up at a high level and brought us into Disney+ on our first attempt.
This situation can change weekly or even daily, and there are no guarantees that you will see precisely the same results. But right now, KeepSolid is doing better in unblocking than many competitors, and even if problems arise in the future, the client’s ability to mark recommended servers will make it easier to find a location that works for you.
VPN Unlimited review: Pricing and plans
VPN Unlimited charges $9.99 per month if you sign up for a month-to-month plan, but the price drops to just $5 per month if you sign up for an annual plan. For most, however, the best option is to pay $2.78 per month for a three-year plan.
There is also the offer of a lifetime plan for a one-time payment of $199. While this may seem tempting, many users cling to a two or three-year plan, so enrolling in a Lifetime plan is an option we probably wouldn’t recommend. At the current price, you’d have to keep using VPN Unlimited for more than five years to see any advantage over the three-year plan – which is a pretty good value in itself – and who knows if the provider will still be good in that time (or, if you touch wood, still around).
However, if you choose to pay via PayPal, for some reason, you will get a 10% discount on whatever plan you choose. If you don’t use Bitcoin to buy a plan, we recommend PayPal to get the most out of that discount.
With these basic plan options, you can use VPN Unlimited on up to five devices, but you can pay extra if you need coverage for 10. If you go for that, a month costs $14.99 per month, and a year costs $7.99 per month. The way VPN Unlimited handles additional devices is a little different from most other VPN providers – and not in the right way. You don’t pay for five simultaneous connections, but you do pay for the ability to use VPN Unlimited on five different devices at different times.
If you’ve used all five/ten of your assigned connections and need to add the VPN to a new device, you’ll need to remove it from an old device first. The VPN Unlimited browser extensions also count towards this limit, even if they are on a computer on which the desktop client is installed, and you can only uninstall the software once a week.
Compared to how almost all leading VPN providers deal with this, it’s very annoying – ExpressVPN, for example (not to mention virtually any other service), allows for five simultaneous connections. That means you can have the VPN installed on as many devices as you want, but only five at a time. Surfshark is an application that will allow you to connect to as many devices as you want, but only five simultaneously.
VPN Unlimited review: Customer support
VPN Unlimited offers 24/7 support via email and live chat. We were impressed with the speed with which the email responses came – a technician contacted us in less than 10 minutes about a setup question. Unfortunately, we were not very happy with VPN Unlimited’s documentation center. The tutorials are structured like FAQs, and many of the troubleshooting guides are just a few sentences long. It’s a good thing that the customer service team is so quick because it’s a bit difficult to help yourself with this documentation.
Final word
KeepSolid VPN Unlimited is an excellent VPN at an affordable price. The platform’s server network may be small, but it manages to cover most of the world and offers powerful performance. What’s more, we like the fact that this provider includes multiple connection protocols and a DNS firewall, so you can be flexible in the way you use the VPN – plus many devices are supported.
The biggest problem we have with VPN Unlimited is how it deals with multiple devices, which can be a real hassle, and sharp torrents might find the limited P2P friendly servers a bit of a disadvantage. However, it’s one to consider, and if you’re in it for the long term, that life plan could offer unparalleled value.