PureVPN is a VPN that has mixed reviews on the internet. My review is based on my experiences using PureVPN in New Zealand. Since New Zealand is basically at the end of the world internet wise, performance on VPNs can be very different than a review done in the states.
Free Trial
PureVPN does not offer a free trial. They do offer a paid three day trial for $2.50USD. This is not a good deal. I was not able to find any information on if your paid trial automatically renews or not. I did not sign up for the three-day trial.
PureVPN does offer a 31 day “no questions asked” refund policy. The truth of the matter is nowhere close to being no questions asked. Canceling is difficult with a lot of questions asked. Make sure that you leave several days for the cancellation to go through.
Pricing
The pricing of PureVPN does not seem bad when you look at the normal landing page, but it gets much cheaper. The first thing to do to get the cheaper price is to visit the normal landing page. Then wait. Within a couple of days, you should receive targeted adds for $11.88 for one year. If you have an ad blocker enabled, you will not get these ads.
PureVPN also appears on some US shopping portals. When you click through the shopping portal, you will get the regular landing page price. I was able to stack the cash back portal with the $11.88 offer. This might not work for you, but if you are comfortable paying the $11.88, I would give it a try. The portal I used was TopCashback, which had a 42% cash back offer. I first went to the targeted add for $11.88 and copied the URL. Then I went to TopCashback and clicked on their link which displayed the normal landing page. I then pasted the $11.88 URL and paid for the subscription. It did track with TopCashback, and I ended up paying $6.89 for 12 months.
Accessing VPN
| Mac | Windows | Android | iOS | Android TV | Roku | Browser Plugins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Yes | maybe | Yes | No | Yes |
PureVPN offers many apps that provide access without manually having to configure your computer. As of January 2019 their iOS app is not available in the app store, even though it was previously. They have stated that they are working on getting it approved.
Honestly, their apps are not very good. The macOS app has caused me to need to restart my computer. Sometimes when I use the FireTV app I have to disconnect from the internet on the FireTV to get it functioning again.
You are able to have 5 devices logged in with PureVPN from the same country at one time. This is average for VPN services.
Server Location
PureVPN lists over 140 countries that they have 2000+ servers in. They have 12 servers in New Zealand and about 80 servers in Australia.
Speed
| 8a | 10a | 12p | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | 12a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No VPN | 93.1 | 93.4 | 94.0 | 93.5 | 48.5 | 93.6 | 91.1 | 93.9 | 95.8 |
| PureVPN | 22.6 | 27.8 | 18.0 | 42.4 | 6.9 | 19.4 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 13.2 |
The speed table was done using standard USA servers, and it is evident that PureVPN is slow. I never noticed speeds to USA or European servers over 50mbps. There are times that PureVPN is so slow that you notice it on regular web browsing. It can also be too slow to stream videos. The speeds are so slow that I would not connect the VPN to a router unless you were planning just to use New Zealand servers.
One positive with PureVPN is that the New Zealand servers have fast speed. They almost always have download speeds of 80mbps or faster. The downside is that New Zealand servers are not helpful if you are trying to access location-based content like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.
Using PureVPN
Once you have installed your Windows or macOS app, you are presented with choices on what mode you want to use. Stream is usually the fastest mode and the one that I normally pick. There is a security/privacy mode too. There are numerous reports online of people having their DNS/IP address leaked while using PureVPN. PureVPN also claims they do not keep any logs, but in their terms, they say that they do keep records. There have also been media articles that claim that PureVPN has turned over information to authorities, something they couldn’t do if they did not keep any.
You then go to the login screen. The normal way to login is by location, but they also offer channels. If you plan on streaming video, select channel and choose the provider that you want to access the video, these specific servers are not blocked by the selected streaming service and in my experience offer fast enough speed, even from New Zealand, to stream video without buffering. You can access channels through the iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac app. You cannot access them through other ways, including the FireTV app.
Netflix Access
| Windows/macOS | Mobile Devices App | FireTV App |
|---|---|---|
| Yes via channel | Yes via channel | no |
Accessing Netflix is not straight forward with PureVPN. You cannot simply log into a country and have those servers access Netflix. Instead, you need to access the Netflix channel. There are many reviews online that state that you cannot access Netflix with PureVPN, many of those are reviews that occurred before they introduced channels or from people unaware of the channels. It took me over a week to figure out the channels.
Netflix does not work when using the FireTV app or when installed on Roku. This is a negative, since I want to be able to watch Netflix on my actual TV. ExpressVPN is the most consistent VPN for Netflix I have found.
Hulu Access
| Windows/macOS | Mobile Devices App | FireTV App |
|---|---|---|
| Yes via channel | Yes via channel | sometimes |
Hulu can be accessed using channels. When connected directly to servers by country (including the FireTV app), Hulu works typically, but not always. If you are on a server that does not work, you can disconnect and try to connect again to get a server that does work.
Amazon Prime Streaming
| Windows/macOS | Mobile Devices App | FireTV App |
|---|---|---|
| Yes via channel | Yes via channel | sometimes |
Like Netflix and Hulu you can access Amazon Prime content in New Zealand using the dedicated channels. If you do not use a dedicated channel, some of the servers work, and some do not.
FireTV App
The FireTV app is not very good. It does not have access to channels, and you cannot choose specific servers. I have also found that frequently the speed through the servers the app has access to is slower than the normal servers. I often end up with speeds too slow to use the app.
One positive is that sometimes you can watch Amazon Prime content using the app, which you cannot do with most VPNs. A strong negative is you can’t watch Netflix and only sometimes can watch Hulu and Amazon Prime, if the speed is fast enough to do anything.
Install on Router
PureVPN has instructions on how to set up a router. The speed can be so slow if you connect to an overseas server that your internet would grind to a halt.
How to Cancel PureVPN
The first thing that I would do when you sign up for PureVPN is cancel auto-recurring payments. If you signed up via credit card, email help@purevpn.com and request to cancel recurring payments. It took me a couple of hours to get confirmation that they were canceled. If you paid via another method, use this guide.
I wish canceling was as easy as turning off automatic payments. They advertise no questions asked, but it is not a questions free process.
- Use the request to cancel form. Filling out this form does not cancel your membership, it just starts the process
- Choose other for all options. The more accurate information you give them will be used as a sales pitch to get you not to cancel
- Wait for an email response. It usually tries to solve your problem
- Respond back to the email requesting to continue the cancellation. Ask for a refund (if you are within the 31 days).
- They may direct you to fill out a separate refund request form
- Continue following up until they actually cancel your membership.
- Feel success when your membership is actually canceled
Overall
All Around-D
Time and Place-B
| Grade | Does what I want without issues | Number of VPNs given ranking |
|---|---|---|
| A | 95%+ of the time | |
| B | 85-95% of the time | 2 |
| C | 75-85% of the time | 1 |
| D | 50-75% of the time | 2 |
| F | less than 50% |
I wanted to like PureVPN, I really did, but as an overall VPN it is not very good. You get what you pay for in this case. I was able to do very little with the FireTV app, and it frequently had glitches. It is too slow to be used on your router.
It does have a time and place even if it is not a good all-around VPN. If you go through hoops, you should be able to signup for ~$7-12 for one year, which is really cheap. You get a semi-functional VPN that works decently with computers and mobile devices streaming Amazon Prime. Since most VPNs do not work with Amazon Prime, it is a low price to pay to be able to download content onto mobile devices for use offline.
Our guide to VPNs covers all of the VPNs which we have reviewed in New Zealand.
