Some companies have a loyal following, then there is the CyberGhost community. This is a VPN that gives their community of “Ghosties” a feature-rich solution that provides typical expected features of a mainstream VPN alongside many others. An example with specialized servers optimized for certain activities, Ghosties get to use a YouTube Live server or Hulu server in specific regions. CyberGhost is a big name on the market globally and boasts an impressive 15 million loyal users across 10400+ servers in over 100 countries.
Pros&Cons
Pros&Cons | Check Positive and Negative Sides
Features Table
Features Table Summary
| Headquarter | Bucharest, Romania |
| No-log policy |  |
| Kill switch | |
| Included # devices with 1 license | 7 |
| Server locations | 100 countries |
| Number of servers | 10400 |
| Torrents support | |
| Netflix support | |
| Split tunneling | |
| Multi-hop (VPN chaining) |  |
| Encryption type | AES-256 |
| Customer support | 24/7 email, chat |
| Trial version | |
| Money-back guarantee | 1 month plans – 14 days money back guarantee 6 months and greater – 45 days money back guarantee |
| Website | www.cyberghostvpn.com |
About the company
A Few Words About Kape Technology
Let’s briefly cover Kape Technologies. As mentioned previously, Kape Technologies was previously known to the world as Crossrider. Those wanting to protect their secrets or anonymize their online presence may be hesitant to do so with a company with a reputational risk. Those users willing to forego the Kape Technologies conglomerate have a host of other options. However, there has been a significant amount of trust established with continuous reports of nothing released to the authorities by CyberGhost VPN or any other VPN provider.
Features Overview
In-Depth Features Overview
Location
The headquarters of CyberGhost VPN is, 44°26’39.0”N 26°06’04.7”E, Bucharest, Romania.
Their official mailing address is: CyberGhost S.R.L. 68 Polona St., District 1, 010494, Bucharest, Romania
CyberGhost keeps a heavily public presence by way of routing business through their Romanian headquarters. Their location in Bucharest is particularly nice for those trying to be anonymous as the laws in Romania expressly forbid CyberGhost S.R.L. from releasing information to authorities. CyberGhost is outside of the 5/9/14 Alliances.
There is a transparency report that dives into the number of requests they receive from authorities. CyberGhost was the first in the VPN industry to ever start providing transparency reports. My personal take here would be that I prefer this method of transparency over that of say, ExpressVPN (a partner company in the Kape Technologies conglomerate), where there is no public transparency for leadership. I can see who the founders and leadership are, alongside an exact location (they even provide coordinates).
CyberGhost’s no-log policy
When Ghosties say no logs, they mean NO logs. Here’s their statement:
We’re fully committed to our No-Logs policy. We believe in privacy-by-design and it’s baked into everything we do. Our motto is that the best way to protect your data is not to store it in the first place.
And not only from prying eyes. CyberGhost VPN doesn’t even know what you’re doing when you’re connected to our servers.
We change your IP address and encrypt all communication, providing you ultimate anonymity.
Cyberghost VPN
Automatic kill-switch
The kill switch is used to create a logical “wall” between you and the internet when your VPN connection is not connected. See here what happens if a VPN connection drops.
The basics:
- All incoming and outgoing connections are blocked by CyberGhost
- The IP of the login system at CyberGhost remains open, allowing your computer’s VPN client to locate a VPN server
- The reconnect dialog is presented, so yyou can either unblock all connections and browse without a VPN or start a new connection to a CyberGhost server
VPN router
CyberGhost does provide you with a router application or a way to install the application on your router, thereby making all internal traffic encrypted. To use this automatic kill-switch with not just your app, but your router.
VPN encryption
CyberGhost uses the familiar AES-256-bit encryption method. This method for encrypting has a key length of 2265 or 1.2 x 1077 possible combinations to break a single encryption key. AES-256 is considered the industry standard by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Most governments worldwide use this encryption standard to protect their data.
NoSpy Servers
There is a data center dedicated to the sole mission of keeping data isolated from third-party “meddling” and outside of the 5/9/14 eyes alliances. This means there is absolute control at the CyberGhost team level of who can access, control, and operate the NoSpy servers. These servers are rated as super high premium hardware with dedicated uplinks. CyberGhost’s NoSPY servers are killswitch connected to ensure any slight disconnections put everything on hold.
Servers’ Speed Summary
Cyberghost VPN Server Speed Tests Summary
| Location | Distance (km) | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) |
| USA San Diego (No VPN Connected) | 0 | 944 | 36 | 9 |
| USA Los Angeles | 178 | 449 | 34 | 50 |
| USA New York | 3880 | 405 | 35 | 75 |
| UK London | 8789 | 287 | 35 | 136 |
| Ukraine Kyiv | 10215 | 384 | 9 | 182 |
| Hong Kong | 11808 | 500 | 34 | 162 |
| Austrailia Sydney | 7364 | 462 | 35 | 168 |
Speed & Bandwidth
Check Server Speed Tests & Bandwidth
My benchmark before testing – No VPN – 944 Download Mbps / 36 Upload Mbps
Speed loss from your local ISP is good if it is around 30% or above. My speed is conducted straight from my modem with link aggregation removed, thereby creating a single connection from my desktop computer to modem to WAN connection. This speed was on a gigablast connection showing an average of 944 MBps download and 36 MBps upload.
From the screenshots below, CyberGhost falls into the average loss of 56% based on my small sample but please do not discount the loss here. Despite the distance from San Diego to Hong Kong, the download speed increases.
For whatever Virtual Private Server you are looking to use to accomplish your task, there are specific servers labeled for your use case.
DNS Leak Tests
DNS Leak Tests at dnsleaktest.com and cyberghostvpn.com
I performed some DNS leak tests to confirm whether my DNS information or the CyberGhost VPN information was exposed. Please see the screenshots indicating there was no DNS leak, starting with the CyberGhost DNS leak test.
CyberGhost vs Competitors
CyberGhost VPN Compared to the Competition
CyberGhost has stayed pretty even over the years, comparable to their industry sibling ExpressVPN surging ahead to the second spot behind NordVPN. Even their other sibling Private Internet Access, Ltd is slightly below in the trends. Ghosties appear steady and provide little turnover as features continue to come out and differentiate the CyberGhost product suite from typical VPN providers.
An aspect that I would use against this product suite is the fact that the applications seem to still need further testing and debugging. While there is steady consistency in speed/bandwidth, there is, at first glance, numerous user interface issues and difficulties that require some simple troubleshooting. Based on other reviews as well, this product can stand up as a daily VPN if you are on the more experienced side.
Conclusion
Should You Consider CyberGhost VPN?
CyberGhost VPN has provided some of the most innovative features, anonymized their clients, and created a culture of Ghosties in the process. Users can go completely anonymous with a NoSPY server and there is an application available for almost all mainstream operating systems. A thorough review of CyberGhost VPN reveals numerous features, pros / cons, speeds, trends, and FAQs, I will admit that this product offering has a few misses I can overlook, starting with their business dealings at the top, down to the bugs in a few of the applications. These “misses” can be overlooked because the business operates openly and communicates the product in a very effective way. If you’re looking to anonymize your life and save some money in the process, this may be one of the best options on the market.
