Astrill Reviews

With some very specific and useful functionality working best in a Windows environment, the Windows client of Astrill is the main highlight of the service. The 7 last used servers are automatically placed on top of the list. You can further customize your client by hiding the servers you don’t use by right-clicking on its respective name. You can also do a quick search for suitable servers, but in the Windows software only.

Web Cache

Astrill’s OpenVPN privacy protocol comes with an embedded Web Cache. This feature keeps track of your most accessed web contents, thus providing more speed if you use them repetitively. It is designed for you to tunnel through browsers or applications. You can manually select which ones you intend to bypass, and then enjoy a VPN trip. It is available on Windows Vista, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Linux Ubuntu.

Since Web Cache is aimed at memorizing data (which might include browser and application data), you cannot use Web Cache and Application Filter at the same time. The filtering options can be customized very specifically. You can add which domains you intend to always access via VPN. However, you need to specify IP addresses or IP blocks to do this, so we advise that you have an adept knowledge on how to accomplish this.

Advanced streaming features

In OpenWeb mode, you also get access to an Ads Blocker feature. If turned on, it will automatically block advertisements – let it be video streaming pop-ups, or just dating website scams. Speaking of streaming, Astrill also has a Media Recorder option that enables you to save streaming videos and music unto you’re your device. The downloaded files are playable with VLC or Appian FLVPlayer. Be reminded though that sites that use protected streaming like BBC and Hulu are resistant to this feature. To further support video streaming, the client also comes with a Video Accelerator technology that provides extra buffering for any streaming site. Emphasized even more is the YouTube Burst mode option, speaking for itself.

Astrill’s network spans a large number of countries and locations; 242 servers with unlimited switches and 256-bit encryption are located in 54 different countries spread around the globe. The company’s privacy policy and terms of use state plenty of information regarding what you may and may not use the service for, but isn’t all too clear on which logs Astrill is keeping of its customers.

It’s important to note that any package you buy comes with a shared IP rather than a dedicated IP, so you will be sharing IP addresses with other users. You can purchase a dedicated IP along with other add-ons advertised as “extra features”. If you are from China, you are required to enable a special Smart Mode. When activated, only blocked sites are visible and accessible on your end. Furthermore, this option is only available with the OpenWeb privacy setting; OpenVPN though functions the same way by default. The only differences between the two are speed and safety. OpenWeb is faster and OpenVPN is safer.

There is a built-in speed test function coming with Astrill’s client that works perfectly fine, but that didn’t keep us from performing our usual speed tests. We were satisfied either way: agile as a fox and steady as a rock, Astrill produced good results. The built-in speed test is available through the Help menu. To further boost your connection’s performance, there is a Speed Optimizer tool available, but only on Windows. After enabling it and rebooting your computer, you should experience some increase in speed. As for us, we have chosen to do all our tests in the OpenVPN environment without activating extra features to illustrate a standard connection worldwide.

OpenWeb protocol works in major web browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Google Chrome. The mode itself is designed to provide more speed. Still, as we mentioned above, our speed tests were done with the Open VPN protocol, which is next on the list. OpenVPN provides SSL encryption (AES or BlowFish). P2P usage is recommended while using this solution as it is safe while still maintaining a good connection speed. Their Third choice, StealthVPN has 2 layers of encryption and is not available by default; it must be purchased as an extra add-on. It is the safest, but the least quick of the three. P2P connections are also recommended here. To reiterate, servers that are marked with a start next to their name support Port Forwarding and BitTorrent. If you run your VPN on OpenVPN, it automatically supports port forwarding, too.

Speaking of which we were instructed to use the port range 40000-49999 for port forwarding while enabling UpNP or NAT-PMP in your Torrent program.

Astrill provides a good range of device support. In the case of operating systems, Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP are supported, with Mac OSX, Chrome OS and Ubuntu Linux also available. All of the above come with a client, though in the case of Chrome OS their private client needs to be configured.

Mobile and other devices are also part of a neat selection. Android smartphones and tablets along with the iPhone and iPad are all available with their respective native applications, while Windows Phone, Blackberry (on IKEv2), the rarely supported Synology NAS, Kindle Fire, AppleTV, Boxee, all require manual setup. Routers are also welcome, with DD-WRT (comes with an applet), Tomato and ASUS Merlin (another rare pick) all supported.

If you encounter difficulties accessing content from mobile devices, you can activate OpenWeb connection sharing to bypass this issue. It does require some simple configuration beforehand.

Interestingly, Astrill doesn’t offer a one-month plan like most providers do. Instead, next to a 7-day free trial, their minimum duration is 3 months at $9.98 per month. This might be somewhat discouraging, as standalone 30-day subscriptions cost this much. You can also sign up for half a year; in that case, your monthly fee will be $6.66. Things get a little more interesting with longer durations: so far, none of the packages offered anything extra. The annual one does, however: for $5.83 per month, StealthVPN for PC, Mac and Linux is included for free. This is not that bad, but Astrill also offers service over a two-year time period. It does cost more, with $6.25 monthly. However, their TP-Link WR703N router and ProAddon is included for free with this plan. ProAddon includes StealthVPN, RouterPro VPN and two devices can be connected simultaneously.

As mentioned before, there are some extra features available, or ones that are advertised as such. These are available in the following manner: a NAT Firewall for $5, A Home Plan, letting you use Astrill’s services from up to 5 different devices (from the standard 2) for $5, StealthVPN for $2, VPN Sharing for $1, Crypto-Plus that unlocks many more encryption options for $2 and Private IPs for $5 a piece.

The pricing structure is the only aspect of Astrill that balances on a razor’s edge. It is not necessarily fair towards everybody, as there are some functions that can be only accessed via certain machines and these restrictions are not based on the machines themselves, but rather they are sales strategies. A slew of payment options is supported including all popular credit and debit cards, PayPal, Web Money, CashU, wire transfers, BitCoin, AliPay and many others. Next to offering a 7-day free trial to new customers, Astrill’s strict but clear money back policy offers refunds to customers who are unable to get the service working for them technically within a week’s time.

Astrill has good customer service overall; your options are extensive, perhaps one of the best around. The information provided is also sufficient, but nothing outstanding. Still, interacting with the staff is a positive experience overall.

With a very comprehensive and user-friendly set of features, great device support and even better software support, Astrill is a good quality VPN service. There is a great choice of countries and locations to access using a speedy connection on the various different protocols you get to choose from. Avid media streamers will be happy to use unique state of the art streaming features like Video Accelerator and Web Cache to further improve streaming speed. While prices and the less flatteringly arranged extra add-ons can discourage you a bit, you should also consider what you get for your money. Should you want to enjoy the company’s splendid customer support through one of the many channels offered, you will realize why Astrill charges a prime price for its service.