Unlocator VPN Review 2023

Unlocator VPN is a user-friendly VPN provider with some good security and streaming features. Its sleek website outlines some of these features and gives you a good idea of what Unlocator offers. However, before purchasing a subscription, it would be a smart move to verify whether Unlocator VPN lives up to the hype. This is what we aim to do in our Unlocator VPN review.

Our cybersecurity experts probed and tested Unlocator VPN across four key VPN categories: speed, safety, usability, and server network. This article summarizes our findings to help you decide if Unlocator is good enough or if you need to consider other VPN providers.

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Unlocator VPN Review: A Short Review

6.0

Subscribe if you:

• Are looking for robust AES-256 encryption for your data
• Don't want your IP to leak online and reveal your location
• Want a VPN to unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, Hulu, and other streaming services
• Value a VPN with a responsive and helpful customer support

Don't subscribe if you:

• Prefer a VPN with a large server network (Unlocator has only about 45 servers in 37 locations)
• Want a VPN with functional servers (some servers simply don't connect)
• Are after a cheap VPN
• Need a VPN mainly for torrenting
• Are looking for VPN with a strict no-logs policy (collects some sensitive user details.)

Unlocator VPN’s claim to fame is streaming, and our testing showed why. It can unblock various Netflix libraries, including American, Japanese, and German catalogs. It also uses military-grade encryption for your data and doesn’t suffer from DNS leaks. Beyond that, Unlocator VPN was a bit of a disappointment for us.

First, its speeds are inconsistent and especially poor for gaming. Our main gripe with Unlocator is that some servers don’t connect. We often had to change protocols to L2TP or OpenVPN to have any success with accessing its server network. Regardless, some of the servers didn’t work at all, no matter how much we tried. Moreover, 45 servers are not great for a premium provider.

Unlocator VPN is also not a reliable choice for torrenting and collects unnecessary information about your VPN use. On top of all that, it’s more expensive than many of the best VPN providers.

Overall, we gave Unlocator VPN a score of 6/10. Read our full Unlocator VPN review to learn more about this provider and our experience testing its features.

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Speed – How Fast is Unlocator VPN?

Unlocator VPN gave us mixed results regarding the speeds of its servers, with upload speeds suffering for nearby and distant servers. So, based on our Unblocator VPN review, we gave the provider a score of 6 out of 10 for speed.

Here’s what we discovered about Unlocator VPN:

• In most locations, Unlocator VPN retained less than 80% of our initial download speeds and only about 20% of our upload speeds. Pings were also high compared to top VPNs, especially on faraway servers.
• Despite the poor speed results, we didn’t experience lag while browsing the internet and streaming movies. However, uploading files took a while, and it was a bit of a struggle to play online games.

Speed test results for Unlocator VPN

We ran our Unlocator VPN speed tests from our headquarters in the Netherlands. We started by testing our download speed, upload speed, and ping without a VPN. This provided baseline values to help us gauge the extent of speed drops.

Next, we tested Unlocator VPN’s speeds in at least one country on every continent. This gave us a better idea of how Unlocator VPN fares across the board. We’ve summarized our findings in the table below.

Note:

Your actual speed values might differ based on various factors, notably your network settings, location, and internet speed. The values in the table below are there to give you an overall view on how Unlocator performs.

Server	Download (Mbps)	Upload (Mbps)	Ping (ms)
No VPN	204.35	246.96	3
Germany (Frankfurt)	152.27	101.38	14
United Kingdom (London)	193.35	52.91	19
France (Paris)	186.95	48.13	59
US East (Miami)	161.36	46.86	136
US West (Seattle)	153.71	49.36	142
Canada (Montreal)	169.38	32.46	213
Brazil (Sao Paolo)	134.02	16.09	203
South Africa (Johannesburg)	73.59	29.86	176
Japan (Tokyo)	93.06	20.16	217
Australia (Sydney)	47.74	16.38	397

You may have noticed that even though we ran our Unlocator VPN speed tests in the Netherlands, we didn’t include speed scores for this country. That’s because Unlocator VPN’s server in the Netherlands didn’t work, no matter how often we tried.

In fact, even for the server locations that worked, we needed to switch servers and protocols before recording any success. We’ll get more into this in the usability section of our review.

In terms of sheers speeds, Unlocator was a hit-and-miss. Most server locations, including nearby Germany, kept less than 80% of our initial download speeds. NordVPN, our fastest VPN service, maintained at least 95% of our initial download speeds in most locations while we were testing the provider.

Regarding upload speeds, Unlocator VPN is woeful. In many locations, Unlocator VPN retained only around 20% of our initial upload speed. These values leave this provider way behind in the race between the fastest VPNs on the market.

Furthermore, Unlocator’s pings were unusually high, making us suspect it is not the best gaming VPN, which will be proven a correct assumption later in our review.

Speed during daily use

The speed test values in the table above gave us a theoretical look at Unlocator VPN’s speeds. However, we then connected to Unlocator VPN while performing different activities to get a better idea of the VPN’s performance.

While connected to Unlocator, we visited various websites, including New York Times and BBC News. We didn’t notice any lag or delays while browsing those sites. We could also access Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram without any hold-ups.

Interestingly, streaming YouTube videos and watching some of the best Netflix shows were also a breeze. We didn’t encounter any stuttering or buffering wheels. For instance, we watched Our Planet, the popular docuseries, in HD without any challenges.

However, playing online games with Unlocator VPN was not quite as smooth. For example, Fortnite took a while to load, and we experienced quite a lot of buffering. We also tried uploading a 1GB file while connected to Unlocator VPN, but it took about 12 minutes. In comparison, NordVPN required only a few minutes to upload the same file.

Instead of Unlocator VPN, we recommend NordVPN if you are looking for fast download and upload speeds and low pings, which are perfect for any bandwidth-heavy activity.

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Safety – How Secure is Unlocator VPN?

To answer our most pressing question, “Is Unlocator safe?” we did a thorough review of its security features. We believe Unlocator VPN still needs to improve in this area, with our main concerns focusing on its privacy policy. Hence, based on our Unlocator VPN review, we gave it a safety score of 6 out of 10.

Here’s a summary of our findings:

• Unlocator VPN offers WireGuard, L2TP, and the OpenVPN protocol.
• The VPN service provider logs your personal and VPN usage information.
• Unlocator has a functional kill switch.
• It needs your email and password to create an account.

Protocols

Unlocator VPN employs AES 256-bit encryption, widely considered one of the most secure encryption ciphers used by banks and the military. Unlocator VPN pairs this protocol with the OpenVPN and L2TP protocols to offer top-notch encryption services.

If you choose the WireGuard protocol, you’ll use the ChaCha20 cipher, a more modern and faster protocol.

Below is a breakdown of each of the VPN protocols Unlocator VPN offers and what they are best for:

• WireGuard: Offers fast speeds, ideal for data-intensive activities like streaming in HD and gaming.
• OpenVPN (TCP/UDP): Provides the best blend of speed and security, ideal for activities like torrenting. TCP is ideal if security is your focus, but UDP is better for streaming, video meetings, and VoIP calls.
• L2TP: Good protocol for security, but it can slow down your speeds and is easily blocked by firewalls.

Logging and privacy

After reviewing Unlocator VPN’s privacy policy, we noticed that it collects more information than necessary. All VPNs gather a few details to render their services, but any VPN that logs sensitive data like your IP address and usage data is suspect.

The VPN collects the following information when you sign up, as we discovered during our Unlocator VPN review:

• Email address
• Name (If you use the affiliate link in your account)
• Address
• IP address
• Credit card information
• Crash reports, usability diagnostics, and connection diagnostics
• Personally identifiable data regarding your VPN use (Unlocator VPN doesn’t specify what these “usage logs” are, but they could be anything from your originating IP to your connection timestamps)

The most concerning aspect of Unlocator’s logging policy is that it collects usage logs. The company says it gathers these logs to “prevent abuse patterns from malicious usage of the service.” It doesn’t explicitly state how this happens, though. It would be better and safer for users if Unlocator didn’t gather such logs at all.

Kill switch

Unlocator VPN offers a kill switch on all its devices: Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

When you turn the VPN kill switch on, it will cut off your internet connection immediately if your VPN malfunctions. This is a key failsafe since it ensures that your location and traffic won’t be exposed even if your VPN disconnects.

Does Unlocator VPN leak your data?

Unlocator VPN didn’t leak our IP address, nor did it suffer from DNS leaks while conducting our tests.

We came to these conclusions by running multiple Unlocator DNS leak tests. First, we checked for IP leaks using our IP address tool. Thankfully, Unlocator VPN didn’t leak our original IP address.

We double-checked this using browserleaks.com. The test confirmed that the Unlocator VPN doesn’t suffer IPv4/1Pv6 leaks.

We also ran a DNS leaks test, and the results showed that the VPN service doesn’t leak your DNS requests when you browse the internet.

Your IP address could also leak when trying to establish an audio or video communication. This is known as a WebRTC leak. Again, Unlocator VPN doesn’t suffer from WebRTC leaks.

What information does Unlocator VPN need?

Unlocator VPN needs the following information if you want to create an account:

• Email address: Use a temporary email address for anonymity
• Country: Location your credit card is registered in
• Payment information: Credit card details

Unfortunately, Unlocator VPN doesn’t offer anonymous payment through cryptocurrencies. For that, you can choose either ExpressVPN or NordVPN — two of the best VPNs to buy with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

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Usability – How User-Friendly is Unlocator VPN?

Unlocator VPN isn’t the easiest VPN to use, mainly because of the issues we faced when connecting to its servers. Below is a snapshot of what we discovered during our Unlocator VPN review regarding its usability and why we gave it a score of 6 out of 10 for user-friendliness:

• Unlocator’s website is clean and organized.
• The apps are clutter-free, and the settings are easy to find.
• Unlocator’s servers sometimes don’t connect.
• Unlocator’s pricing plans are expensive.
• Customer support is fast and responsive.

Unlocator VPN’s website and installation process

Unlocator VPN’s website is neat and easy to navigate. All the important menus are available on the homepage.

Unlocator VPN has apps for all the major operating systems, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. It also has apps for the Amazon Fire TV, stick, and tablet.

Note that Unlocator VPN doesn’t have an app for Linux. If you’re using Linux, opt for Surfshark VPN. It’s the best VPN for Linux devices, thanks to its native Linux app and cheap pricing.

Installing Unlocator VPN on your device is straightforward, whether on mobile or desktop. Here’s how to install it on Windows:

1. Go to Unlocator VPN’s website and select the “Pricing” tab. Explore the available subscriptions and choose the best one for your needs. Be sure to choose the VPN plan, not the Smart DNS subscription.
   
   
2. Enter your email address and password, and click “Go to Secure Payment.”
   
   
3. Fill in your payment details and continue to checkout.
   
   
4. You’ll receive an onboarding email with a link to download the Unlocator app for your device. Alternatively, go to Unlocator VPN’s website and select the “Apps” tab.
   
   
5. Download the Windows app and follow the installation prompts.
6. Open the Unlocator VPN app and connect to a server.
   
   

Unlocator VPN’s appearance and ease-of-use

Unlocator VPN’s app is pleasant and user-friendly. The home screen is as minimalist as it gets: a large power button against a white backdrop. When you click the power button, it will connect to the fastest server.

Under the power button, you can change your server location. Click on the current or suggested server location, and it will reveal the entire server list.

Connecting to an Unlocator server is essentially a trial-and-error affair. Some servers connect right away, while others need multiple attempts or don’t connect at all. For example, each time we attempted to connect to the Amsterdam server, the connection attempt failed. We changed protocols but to no avail.

Finding the different Unlocator VPN settings is easy. Click on the “Settings” menu at the top-right of the screen to reveal the Settings tab.

The “Connections” tab lets you change your VPN protocol and activate the kill switch. You can also activate Unlocator Shield and the split tunneling feature. We’ll get into both features later on.

Under the “General” tab, you can set the VPN to launch and connect to a server on startup. By default, when you close the app, it will minimize to your Windows tray and run in the background instead of closing. You can change this by unchecking “Minimize instead of exit” under the “General” tab. We tried this, and it worked perfectly.

There’s a tools section that houses Unlocator VPN’s “What is my IP” tool. The last button under settings allows you to send a ticket to Unlocator VPN’s customer support.

Split tunneling

During our Unlocator VPN review, we were pleased to discover that the service offers split tunneling, which allows you to choose which apps go through the VPN tunnel and which ones don’t.

On Unlocator VPN, you can choose between two split tunneling modes. The first mode allows you to select the apps that will have VPN protection. The second mode, captioned “Inverted Mode,” will send all your traffic through the VPN except the apps you’ve selected.

We tested both modes with different apps, and on each occasion, the split tunneling feature worked as expected without any hiccups.

Unlocator Shield

Unlocator Shield is basically a kill switch. It prevents you from accessing the internet unless you’re connected to the VPN. Most VPNs have this feature integrated into their system-wide kill switch already.

Note that if you activate this feature, you won’t be able to use the internet without an Unlocator VPN server connection.

Pricing and payment methods

Unlocator VPN offers three pricing plans, as shown below.

Pricing plans

• Unlocator VPN Two years $4.99mth Deal View offer
• Unlocator VPN One year $6.99mth View offer
• Unlocator VPN Monthly $11.99mth View offer

At $11.99, Unlocator VPN’s monthly plan is reasonably priced. It’s just as expensive as PIA’s monthly plan but cheaper than the likes of NordVPN and Surfshark.

The Unlocator cost of its one-year plan is exorbitant, though. It costs $6.99 monthly, working out to $83.33 each year. However, some of the best VPNs with better features and performance are much cheaper. For example, Surfshark VPN’s one-year plan costs nearly half of Unlocator VPN’s plan: $3.99/month.

At $4.99/month, the two-year plan also sounds like it costs an arm and leg for what you get. Again, Surfshark offers far better pricing; you only need $2.30 monthly to get a Surfshark subscription for two years. If you’re on a tight budget, we recommend Surfshark over Unlocator VPN any day. We’ve broken down Surfshark’s pricing in our Surfshark review.

Unlocator VPN has a smart DNS service you can purchase starting from $2.99 per month for two years. Note that it’s only suitable for streaming and doesn’t encrypt your traffic.

You can pay for Unlocator VPN in the following ways:

• Credit/debit card: Mastercard, Visa, Maestro, Amex, Discover, JCB, Union Pay
• PayPal

Unfortunately, Unlocator doesn’t allow payments using Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. With cryptocurrencies, you’re not required to enter personal details that can be traced back to you during payment. If anonymity is your chief concern, download NordVPN, one of the best VPNs to buy with Bitcoin and other cryptos. It’s also the best VPN for trading cryptos.

How does Unlocator VPN’s money-back guarantee work?

Unlocator VPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans. To get a refund, send an email to support@unlocator.com. Be sure to send the email through the email you used to create your Unlocator VPN account.

We requested a refund after testing Unlocator VPN, and we received a confirmation of our refund in less than 24 hours.

The money appeared in our bank account three days after the refund was confirmed.

Unlocator VPN’s customer service

If you have any issues while setting up or using Unlocator VPN, you can look over their knowledge base. It’s full of articles that cover everything from setting up the VPN on various devices to troubleshooting guides.

We liked that the setup guides had annotated screenshots to provide a visual guide, although videos would have been even better.

If you need real-time support, you only have one option: sending an email. There’s no live chat or phone support. However, we were happy to discover during our Unlocartor VPN review that the email support agents are responsive, courteous, and helpful.

We contacted Unlocator’s customer support multiple times during this review, and we always received insightful responses within three hours.

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Server Network – Can Unlocator VPN Unblock the Internet?

Unlocator VPN can unblock all popular streaming platforms. Hence, its server network earns it a score of 6 out of 10 despite it not being as expansive as other VPN providers’ networks. Here are the reasons behind our scoring:

• The VPN has around 45 servers in 37 countries.
• It can unblock Netflix and other streaming services.
• There are no torrenting-specific servers, but you can get lucky with some of its servers.
• Unlocator doesn’t offer dedicated IP addresses.

Number of servers and locations

Unlocator VPN has about 45 server locations in 37 countries. This server network is scanty when you pit it against NordVPN (over 5,000 servers in 60 countries) and CyberGhost (over 9,000 servers in more than 90 countries).

Here’s a summary of Unlocator’s server spread:

• America: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America
• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
• Asia-Pacific: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom
• Africa: South Africa

Except for the US (five servers), the UK (three servers), and Canada (two servers), all countries have one server location each. This is inadequate, considering Unlocator VPN’s servers don’t always work.

For instance, if you want to unblock Netflix’s US library, you only have access to five Unlocator servers, which may is not that great. Comparatively, NordVPN offers nearly 2,000 servers in 16 locations. Talk of being spoilt for choice!

Unlocator VPN and streaming (Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, BBC iPlayer)

We were pleased to discover that Unlocator VPN can unblock all top streaming services. The table below shows all the providers we tested with Unlocator VPN.

Platform	Can Unlocator VPN unblock it?
Netflix	✔
Disney Plus	✔
Hulu	✔
BBC iPlayer	✔

We connected to Unlocator VPN’s Chicago server and attempted to access Netflix US. We got in on the first try and watched Netflix US-exclusive shows like Supernatural. We were also able to access Netflix libraries in the UK, Canada, Singapore, and Japan. This is impressive since many VPNs struggle to unblock Netflix.

Watching content on Disney Plus and Hulu was also straightforward. We had no issues accessing those platforms with Unlocator VPN on the first go.

Accessing BBC iPlayer was not quite as simple with Unlocator VPN, though. The servers marked “London 1” and “London 2” didn’t work. Only the server marked “London 3” gave us access to BBC iPlayer.

All in all, Unlocator VPN is a handy VPN for streaming, although you might need to sift through multiple servers.

Unlocator VPN and torrents

Unlocator VPN supports torrenting on its servers. When we contacted Unlocator VPN’s customer support, they indicated that the service doesn’t officially support torrenting, but we could download torrents while connected to servers in Germany and Canada.

We noticed that most of the servers in the US and the UK didn’t work with torrenting, though. We tried various torrenting fixes, including disabling IPv6 and enabling the kill switch, but to no avail. This is one of the reasons we didn’t consider this provider as a good contender in our best VPN for torrenting list.

Our conclusion is that although Unlocator VPN sometimes works for torrenting, it’s not a reliable choice. You might have to change numerous servers before getting any luck. Surprise, surprise, NordVPN is the best VPN pick for torrenting. It has streaming-optimized servers and fast speeds to ensure you can access the most popular torrenting sites.

Dedicated IP address

Unlocator VPN doesn’t offer dedicated IP addresses. A normal VPN subscription will give you a shared IP which can easily be blacklisted or flagged by websites, especially if someone has already used it for nefarious activity. For example, you might notice lots of CAPTCHAs if you’re using a VPN for online banking. In such cases, a dedicated IP is the ideal solution.

Since Unlocator VPN doesn’t have dedicated IPs, look the way of NordVPN. It offers dedicated IPs in many locations, including the US, the UK, France, Japan, Spain, and Canada.

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Our Experience With Unlocator VPN

Overall, Unlocator VPN is a useful option if you want a VPN to watch Netflix and other streaming services, as we discovered during our Unlocator VPN review. That aside, the VPN fails in many areas. Its server network is scanty, and many servers don’t work. You might have to change protocols to get them going.

Furthermore, Unlocator VPN logs sensitive user data. You never know where your information might end up. On top of all that, Unlocator VPN services are more expensive than better VPNs like Surfshark and PIA. As we mentioned throughout this review, NordVPN is a much better pick, thanks to its server fleet of more than 5,000 servers, fast speeds, and strict no-logs policy.

If you want to explore some other VPN providers, take a look at the reviews below:

• ExpressVPN Review: Expensive, But High-Quality
• CyberGhost VPN Review: A Fast and Affordable VPN
• TotalVPN Review 2023: Is It Any Good?

Unlocator VPN Review: Frequently Asked Questions

Still have a few niggling questions about Unlocator VPN? Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about Unlocator VPN. Click a question to reveal the answer.

Is Unlocator a good VPN?

Unlocator VPN is good for watching Netflix and other streaming platforms. However, some of its servers don’t work and its plans are relatively expensive. It also logs data that can be traced back to you in the event of a hack attack.

Instead of Unlocator VPN, opt for NordVPN. It has a large server network, fast speeds, and a strict no-logs policy.

Is Unlocator free?

Unlocator VPN is not free. You have to either purchase the monthly, yearly, or two-year plan. Here are the prices:

1. Monthly plan: $11.99
2. Yearly plan: $6.99 per month
3. Two-year plan: $4.99 per month

If you want a free VPN, we recommend Proton VPN. It’s one of the best free VPNs, offering unlimited data and servers in the US, the Netherlands, and Japan.

Does Unlocator work with Netflix?

Unlocator VPN can unblock Netflix with ease. We were able to unblock numerous Netflix libraries with Unlocator VPN, including the American, Canadian, Japanese and German libraries. The only downside is that not all servers work. You will have to change protocols to get some of them to unblock Netflix libraries.

What is Unlocator VPN and smart DNS?

Unlocator VPN is a VPN service that can encrypt your traffic and protect your privacy while browsing online.

Unlocator’s smart DNS reroutes your traffic and makes it appear as though you’re in another location. That’s why it’s a good choice for streaming. However, the smart DNS doesn’t offer any encryption or security features.

Personal Opinions of VPNOverview’s Experts

“Good for streaming but expensive with an unreliable server network”

6.0

Wisdom Sablah

Tech Journalist

Unlocator VPN offers some good features like a functioning kill switch and robust encryption. However, its servers are somewhat unreliable. We had to try multiple times or change protocols before getting Unlocator VPN’s servers to work and some of them didn’t work at all no matter how much we tried. Nevertheless, when we did connect to a working server we were able to stream content on platforms like Netflix with no lag. Unlocator VPN does offer some good features but they need to work on the reliability of their server network if they want to compete with premium VPN providers.

Deal

Get a 63% discount with the two-year subscription

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