AirVPN Review 2025: Is It Legit? Is It a Scam?

Review Summary

While other VPNs may try to persuade you with discounts or flashy features, AirVPN appeals to your better nature by proclaiming itself to be “run by activists and computer hackers in support of internet freedom, anonymity, and against surveillance.”

An important security hole is that the Windows installer for AirVPN includes computer viruses.

Also, both users and employees have stated on the service’s website that it cannot be utilized to circumvent streaming service geo-restriction constraints.

This VPN is not recommended at all. If you are looking for services of the highest quality, you should consider using NordVPN.

To learn more about this service, keep reading our review or download the app right now.

AirVPN Review 2025: Summary

AirVPN At A Glance

AirVPN, an Italian company, launched in 2010 as a free VPN service, and the company continues to offer open-source products that reflect this history.

As time has passed, it has expanded and evolved and now features premium paid content and features.

It still uses the OpenVPN protocol, which hasn’t changed much.

Even though AirVPN has received more upgrades and improvements than any other service, it is still restricted to using only one protocol, as WireGuard is not yet available.

Additionally, AirVPN has remained true to its stated hacktivism, anti-censorship, and internet-improvement tenets.

This is supported by a stack of (maybe) fascinating literature about the provider’s security, protocols, DNS, and other features.

On the other hand, AirVPN doesn’t go out of its way to delight users who need a VPN to access geo-restricted content, including Us Netflix or UK BBC iPlayer, since we could not get any streaming unblocking to function in our tests.

Read on for more details about AirVPN’s favorable characteristics, such as its speed, security, and apps, or use the navigation bar to skip forward to any part of our thorough AirVPN review that interests you.

Speed

What AirVPN provides is described clearly on its website. You can instantly compare the ping times of several AirVPN servers.

If you experience a substantial slowdown or something else isn’t to your liking, you may quickly and easily let AirVPN know. They effectively use feedback from customers to refine their offerings.

A couple of things can be said about speed:

• The speed was the same when we connected to a local server (one that was physically near our office) as when we used our standard connection.
• The download speed was cut in half while using a remote server.
• We did not even realize that a VPN was active in the background during normal use.

The overall speed of AirVPN wasn’t as good as we’d hoped, but the local servers performed admirably.

Speed During Daily Use

Naturally, we also manually evaluated AirVPN. We could surf the web conveniently while linked to a local server.

There were significant delays in loading web pages, and we frequently encountered buffering issues while watching movies on YouTube.

The results were the same when we attempted this while linked to the US-based servers. Using AirVPN, even downloading files, was a slow process.

Ease Of Use

The user interface of AirVPN is somewhat complicated and may put off inexperienced users. That’s because its intended audience isn’t typical, and its instructions reflect that.

The system required us to log in after downloading the testing program to generate our AirVPN review. From here, You could choose between the server the service suggested and one of our choosing.

We did not find the interface to be user-friendly. At the bottom and in the middle of the screen, you’ll notice a lot of numbers that keep flashing.

The numbers represent the IP address, transfer rate, and public network from which the user is leaving the network.

You may find the VPN servers, logs, statistics, speeds, and countries listed on the left.

Most of this VPN’s features require some familiarity with technology, so be warned. For example, it takes expertise to set it up to function in China.

However, it would help if you didn’t let that get you down. To help you get started, AirVPN provides a wealth of tutorials and screenshots.

More than that, though, if you ever get stuck, you can always contact customer service for help.

Alternatively, you could post your query on the discussion boards.

Security

Currently, the most secure setup is the OpenVPN protocol with AES-256 encryption. AirVPN supports this connection and provides a wide range of UDP and TCP options.

Furthermore, we found no evidence of DNS or IP address leakage.

But there was some unusual behavior that made us wonder. As we noted before, our speed testing website reported that the New York server was situated in Accra, Ghana.

The same thing happened when we tried testing the Brazilian server, which claimed to be making a connection to the United States capital.

We followed our data to the New York server, and it turned out it had to go via a few different European countries to get there.

Concerned, we contacted AirVPN, which noted that it was odd that our ISP had set its default routing to go through Europe in this case.

Furthermore, the appellation of one of the European IP addresses revealed the New York server’s ISP, M247. We contacted AirVPN about it but didn’t get a response for days.

Though we can’t be sure, the ISP probably employs a virtual server or is rerouting traffic through another site.

This isn’t an issue with AirVPN itself but rather with one of the several Internet service providers (ISPs) that make up AirVPN’s network.

Small Server Park

The official website shows AirVPN has 237 connections in 20 different countries. The 80 systems they had in 16 countries one year ago pale compared to this.

However, although AirVPN lacks a kill switch, they include a “Network Lock” that serves a similar purpose.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) now typically include a kill switch as an additional layer of protection.

If a kill switch determines that your access is no longer private, it will immediately cut you off from the service. Network Lock is another feature offered by AirVPN.

Compatible With Computer Systems, Mobile, and Modems

The needs of VPN users have evolved beyond simply protecting their anonymity online. Streaming media is now a common way to utilize the service.

Many people nowadays still prefer watching shows and movies on their televisions, even in this age of high-tech streaming devices.

While AirVPN is not compatible with gaming consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One or streaming apps like the Roku or FireTV, it can be utilized with a wifi connection to encrypt all of your online traffic.

This long list includes not just desktop and mobile OSes but also browsers and many router brands. It’s wonderful that the TOR network is highlighted too.

Connectivity to this private browser is restricted or forbidden by many virtual private networks.

While it would be great if more smart gadgets were supported in the future, AirVPN still boasts a good selection that can safeguard your data both online and off.

Bypassing Censorship

The OpenVPN connection over SSL is presently the only method of connecting to a VPN server in China, as it encodes your OpenVPN ‘fingerprint’ so that it cannot be detected.

This is straightforward on a PC but trickier on a mobile device.

To use AirVPN outside of China on smartphones, you must download and install OpenVPN files and configure them manually.

The website provides detailed instructions for doing so. When it comes to getting over censorship blocks, AirVPN fails miserably in countries like Turkey, Iran, and China.

This is because it provides extra obfuscation capabilities, like SSH/SSL connection and exposure to Tor via the VPN, which sets it apart from the competition.

As a result of AirVPN’s restricted server network, users may be forced to access the server in a region far from their own, which can significantly reduce their connection speed.

Torrenting

All servers in the AirVPN network are not compatible with P2P file sharing. There are no settings to adjust or hurdles to leap through.

You can start torrenting when you sign up for a VPN server. By configuration, AirVPN’s kill switch prevents any data from leaving your gadget if the Vpn service suddenly fails.

In this approach, you can avoid transferring data over the internet in an unprotected form. A kill switch is a lifesaver if you require to depart your connection unsecured.

Torrenting performed smoothly and quickly in our tests. As not all the AirVPN servers support torrenting, it becomes difficult to know which one to choose.

Maybe the server with the best speed fails to support torrenting in your area.

Split Tunneling

Split tunneling, also known as selective routing, gives you the freedom to send some of your Internet traffic through the VPN and some through your regular ISP.

It’s a standard among today’s VPN services, making them more appealing to users.

You can often define traffic by IP address, username, or program with VPNs that allow split tunneling.

Considering you probably won’t always know the hostnames or IP URLs a certain app connects to, being able to route traffic depending on the app is highly useful.

You can only specify which traffic goes via which channel in AirVPN by specifying an IP address or domain.

While it serves a purpose, it’s constrained by not allowing app-specific traffic routing.

But when compared to split tunneling features of other VPN providers such as NordVPN, AirVPN fails to deliver the required performance.

This really takes away some users that require this feature.

VPN Over Tor

We found that AirVPN, along with NordVPN, is the only service that provides VPN connectivity via the Tor network. On the other hand, NordVPN is the best in the business.

AirVPN has a considerably tougher time identifying you if you pay through anonymous means (such as correctly mixed Bitcoins) and connect to one of their servers using a VPN.

Using a VPN in conjunction with Tor allows for a level of confidentiality that is not normally achievable when using a VPN.

Consequently, it is generally considered the ideal approach to merge the privacy-enhancing features of VPN and Tor.

However, AirVPN is a critical wheel component that could be vulnerable to attack.

Last but not least, unlike other providers offering a “transparent bridge” to use Tor over VPN, AirVPN does not include any installation guide for the Tor browser.

VPN Protocols

A virtual private network (VPN) protocol is a sequence of procedures for your VPN connection to secure and tunnel your data across a secured network.

The implications of various protocols on your network’s speed, safety, and dependability vary.

Unlike many other VPN services, AirVPN only supports the OpenVPN protocol.

OpenVPN, such as AirVPN, is free and open-source, improving security by letting anybody check the code for flaws and ensuring there are no hidden backdoors or harmful scripts.

OpenVPN is well-suited for use with various current gadgets and provides a satisfying compromise between speed and safety.

The default protocol is UDP, although TCP support allows for greater durability.

Pricing

As far as VPNs go, AirVPN has reasonable rates. You can choose from 3, 6, or 12-month memberships.

Our coupon codes for AirVPN can give you a further discount.

• If you’re like many others, you’d rather subscribe to a short-term plan on an on-demand basis, and the three-day plan’s $2.22 price tag is perfect for you.
• A monthly membership costs $7.76, which is high compared to other VPNs, but if you sign up for a three-month plan, your monthly cost reduces to $5.54.
• Paying for a year’s worth of service costs just $54.33, making the monthly cost just $4.52.

You don’t need to commit to a more expensive plan with a longer trial period to gain access to advanced features, including OpenVPN and P2P; they’re included in every single one of our plans.

Support

Email and community-based support forums are available for users of AirVPN to access when they need assistance with technical issues.

If you send them an email, they will respond to you within 24 hours with a thorough response to your inquiry.

The crew consists of experts that will do whatever it takes to assist you.

As everyone who has used a VPN knows, such is not the situation with most firms, whose customer care departments frequently lack the requisite skills.

Does AirVPN Work In China?

Previously, AirVPN had servers in Hong Kong, but it pulled them in response to China’s strict monitoring policies.

Due to the country’s extensive censorship measures, only a limited number of VPN services are operational within China.

The Chinese government strongly desires to monitor its citizens’ every digital move.

Customers in China can access AirVPN’s servers in a method that will go undetected by the Chinese government.

ISPs in China cannot identify your VPN usage if you employ the OpenVPN protocol over SSL.

This is straightforward on desktop apps, but smartphone nodes must load OpenVPN configuration files into an OpenVPN client app.

If you need assistance, AirVPN provides online support documentation.

In Summary, the best VPNs in 2025 are;

Review Verdict

This review contains useful information, such as a rundown of the service’s key features and setup guidelines.

As a word of caution, though: AirVPN is not a service to be used by those without any prior experience with virtual private networks.

Among all of the VPNs we review, AirVPN is one that comes across as one of the most forbidding and unpleasant.

Repairing this is possible, and doing it with NordVPN is recommended.

Thanks to its massive user base’s overwhelming approval, NordVPN has become the undisputed leader in the VPN industry.

Users are talking about the service, appreciating its quick transfers, online security, online streaming, solutions to torrenting, and user-friendly internet usage capabilities.