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Privately held Malaysian company. Publishes little about its ownership beyond the company name.
Public-source facts, not yet checked against primary documents. How we verify.
Lab test pending: score uses public, checkable data only. How we verify.
Verdict
hide.me is a Malaysian provider outside the intelligence alliances with a Securitum no-logs audit, a free tier that needs no account, port forwarding, multi-hop, and a 26-month plan around $2.70 a month. It is smaller than the majors, its ownership disclosure is thin, its long-plan renewal price is not clearly published, and it pays less affiliate commission than the big brands — which is why it is rarely reviewed. A solid budget pick with a genuine audit; not a privacy benchmark.
Best for
Budget users who want an audited provider outside the alliances, free-tier users who do not want to register, and torrenters who want port forwarding cheaply.
Not for
Users who want a long audit history, a large network, or a clearly published renewal price.
222 most recent reviews across 5 storefronts, 2015-08-20 to 2026-08-31. Listing rating 4.53★ from 7,560 ratings. Version 6.1.4, released 2026-06-12.
62
Billing complaints 9.5%Sentiment worsening last 90 daysCritical complaints 27%
Billing & auto-renew
9%
Connection drops
7.2%
iOS integration
6.8%
Slow speeds
6.3%
Customer support
6.3%
Crashes & bugs
6.3%
Praised: reliability
5.4%
Streaming blocked
5%
★★☆☆☆ “HOWEVER other days, it just breaks the whole WiFi?” App Store reviewer, 2026-07-18
★☆☆☆☆ “This vpn not open on iPhone 6 fix please” App Store reviewer, 2026-07-15
★☆☆☆☆ “Not worth downloading it’s not allowing me to access the pages I want” App Store reviewer, 2026-07-13
★★★★★ “It works great for like YouTube and Google.” App Store reviewer, 2026-07-22
★★★★★ “I've been using this VPN for a while now, and it's been reliable.” App Store reviewer, 2026-07-14
Themes tagged by keyword rules; percentages are share of sampled reviews mentioning the theme. Full breakdown · Method.
Streaming and censorship status
Streaming
NetflixWorks
BBC iPlayerUnreliable
Disney+Unreliable
HuluUnreliable
Prime VideoUnreliable
Restricted countries
ChinaUnreliable
United Arab EmiratesWorks
RussiaUnreliable
IranUnreliable
TürkiyeWorks
Basis: user reports and provider statements; our own checks pending.
Why you have not heard of it
hide.me has been around since 2012, has a real audit, and prices its long plan among the cheapest on the site. It is rarely recommended because its affiliate programme pays less than the big brands’, and most VPN rankings are affiliate-funded. This site publishes what each provider pays on the disclosure page precisely so that the difference is visible.
Ownership, jurisdiction and audits
eVenture Ltd, Malaysia, privately held. Malaysia is outside the intelligence alliances and has no data retention obligation for VPNs. Securitum audited the no-logs policy in 2023 with a published summary; DefenseCode audited apps and infrastructure earlier. Apps are closed source. Ownership disclosure is limited to the company name, which this site marks as needing improvement.
Protocols, network and features
WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Bolt, a proprietary TLS-based protocol for speed and restricted networks. Around 2,400 servers in 55 countries. Port forwarding. Multi-hop. Split tunnelling. A kill switch. Stealth Guard, which limits selected apps to the VPN. Ten devices. Live chat support. The free tier needs no account.
What it costs, honestly
Plan
Intro
Renewal
True cost / month over 3 years
Monthly
$9.95
$9.95
$9.95
1 year
$59.95
$59.95
$5.00
26 months
$69.95
not clearly published
unconfirmed
Free
$0
—
$0
The yearly plan is honest. The 26-month plan’s renewal is not clearly stated, and this site does not guess. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.
Streaming and censorship
User reports have Netflix working; iPlayer, Disney+, Hulu and Prime are inconsistent. In the UAE it works; in China intermittently; in Russia and Iran intermittently.
The iPhone app
This month’s App Store analysis has a small sample of 220 recent reviews, so the score is noisy: mid-table, with billing questions as the top complaint theme and a billing flag raised. The listing rating is 4.53 stars from about 7,500 ratings. Full breakdown.
Who it is actually for
Someone who wants a real audit and a jurisdiction outside the alliances at a budget price, and who does not need the largest network or the most reliable streaming. At around $2.70 a month on the long plan it undercuts every audited provider except PIA, and unlike PIA it is not US-based or Kape-owned.
The free tier deserves a separate mention. No account, no email, and a data allowance that is generous next to TunnelBear’s 2 GB — it is the easiest way to try a VPN without giving anyone anything. It does not unblock streaming and it is throttled, but for airport Wi-Fi it is enough, and it comes from a company that has had an auditor confirm it keeps no logs, which almost nothing else in the free category can say.
The reservations stay on the record: thin ownership disclosure, an unpublished renewal price on the long plan, and a single audit rather than a programme of them.
What we have not tested
Speed and leaks. Published tests put hide.me’s WireGuard and Bolt mid-pack. Our own tests are pending; the speed dimension is excluded from the score until they land.
Assembled from public sources; confirm operating entity, jurisdiction and audit history against primary documents.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns hide.me?
eVenture Ltd, a privately held Malaysian company, founded 2012. It publishes little about its ownership beyond the company name and address, which this site notes as thin. No outside investors are disclosed.
Is hide.me safe?
Securitum audited the no-logs policy in 2023 and found no logging; DefenseCode audited earlier. Malaysia is outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes and has no VPN data retention requirement. Apps are closed source. No incidents on record. The thin ownership disclosure is the main reservation.
Is the free tier really free?
Yes, and it needs no account: a handful of locations, throttled speed, and a data cap that is generous by free-tier standards. Same no-logs policy as paid. It does not unblock streaming.
How much does hide.me cost?
Premium is $9.95 monthly, about $60 a year, or about $70 for 26 months ($2.69 a month advertised). The yearly plan renews at the same price; the 26-month plan's renewal is not clearly published, so our calculator marks it unconfirmed. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.
Does hide.me work in China?
Sometimes, with its Bolt and obfuscated options; intermittent in reports. It works in the UAE.
Does hide.me keep logs?
It says no, and Securitum confirmed it in 2023. Account email and payment records are kept as with any subscription.
