As one of the most popular VPNs, Hide My Ass! (HMA!) is a service provided by Privax, a UK based company. In May 2015, Privax was acquired by AVG Technologies. As a result, the HMA! Pro VPN service was available to ABG’s global customer based. In this HideMyAss VPN review, we will cover HMA’s features, server locations, security, price, connection speed and customer support etc.
Website:
Summary:
- Pros:
- Large number of world-wide servers to choose from.
- 30 day money-back guarantee.
- Good customer support
- Cons:
- Keeps user logs
- Starting Price: $6.55/mo
- Free Trail: 30 day money-back guarantee
- Number of Simultaneous Connections Allowed: 2 devices.
Network & Server Locations:
HMA! has nearly 900 VPN severs in 300+ locations and 200+ countries. There’re more than 120,000 IP addresses available for their HMA! Pro VPN users.
Security & Privacy:
HideMyAss supports the following VPN protocols: OpenVPN (TCP, UDP), L2TP/IPsec and PPTP. It should be pointed out that HMA does keep some logs (including time stamp, amount of data transmitted, user’s real IP address and the IP address of the VPN server etc.). These data is stored for between 2 to 3 months. If privacy is your top concern or you’re looking for a no-log VPN provider, HMA! might not be your best choice.
Feature Restrictions:
For simultaneous connections, HMA! Pro VPN allows two devices to be connected at the same time. Here’s what HMA’s customer support told us: “Our service can be set up on any number of devices, but you can only connect 2 at the same time. This goes for virtual machines as well. You can use a combination of any 2 devices, be it 2 computers, or one computer and one mobile phone, etc. If you want to connect more than 2 devices, you can either create a new account, or purchase a bulk account package.”
For P2P/Torrent traffic, here’s what HMA told us: “HMA! Pro VPN does support Torrent as this is a legitimate technology for sharing data over the internet. However, we do not support the use of Torrent to share copyrighted material illegally. If you use our VPN service for such activity, you will probably cause us to receive DMCA notices from the copyright holders, who monitor Torrent trackers.”
Plans & Pricing:
HMA! Pro VPN’s price starts from $6.56/mo if you pay manually. If you pay every half year, the price is equivalent to $8.33 per month. If you go with month-to-month, the price is $11.52 per month.
HMA! Pro VPN’s Free Trial:
HideMyAss Pro VPN offers a 30 day money-back guarantee for users to test out their VPN service.
VPN Software & Supported Operating Systems:
HMA provides free VPN software for Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android, TV and supported routers. In addition, its VPN can be set up manually on the these operating systems and devices.
For our testing, we downloaded HMA’s client software for Windows. The installation process is straight forward and the software interface looks clean:
With HMA’s client software, users can connect/disconnect VPN, as well as to choose server locations and switch between different VPN protocols.
HideMyAss VPN Speed Test:
We did our VPN speed tests for Hide My Ass! Pro VPN using a computer located in New York, NY, USA. We used speedtest.net to measure the speed for ping, download and upload. Below is the details of our VPN speed test results for HMA!:
Without VPN Connection:
Ping: 13 ms, Download: 69.04 Mb/s, Upload: 11.80 Mb/s.
Connected to HMA!’s New York City server in the United States::
Ping: 16 ms, Download: 49.68 Mb/s, Upload: 8.53 Mb/s.
Connected to HMA!’s Los Angeles server in the United States::
Ping: 92 ms, Download: 28.49 Mb/s, Upload: 11.01 Mb/s.
Connected to HMA’s Dallas, TX server in the United States::
Ping: 60 ms, Download: 21.31 Mb/s, Upload: 7.32Mb/s.
Connected to HMA’s London server in the UK:
Ping: 81 ms, Download: 32.48 Mb/s, Upload: 10.91 Mb/s.
Connected to HMA’s Japan server:
Ping: 183 ms, Download: 11.08 Mb/s, Upload: 8.60 Mb/s.
Customer Support:
On HMA’s website, there’s a live chat window where you can connect directly to its customer support team. We tried using this method to get support and we were able to connect to a support representative immediately. We were able to get our questions answered using live chat.
HideMyAss VPN Review Conclusion:
As one of the most popular VPN providers, Hide My Ass! (HMA!) Pro VPN provides stable VPN connections, fast VPN speed, a large number of worldwide server locations and easy to use software. HMA does keep some logs. Its server locations cover more countries/locations than many VPN providers we have tested. If you are looking for a reliable VPN provider, HMA could be your choice.