Reviews

Astrill VPN sets itself apart from the big names in our best VPN rankings by offering specialized features that bypass internet restrictions. However, it's not cheap, and prices start at an eye-watering $30 per month.

There's a reason for the hefty price tag, though. Astrill VPN targets a niche market of folks who need advanced obfuscation technology rather than more casual users.

Astrill VPN's proprietary protocols are designed to bypass network restrictions, making it one of only a handful of reliable China VPNs. However, its dated interface, limited global server coverage, and high price point make it a tough sell if you’re looking for basic protection or streaming capabilities.

Features

Astrill VPN distinguishes itself with a specialized feature set designed primarily for unblocking websites in particularly restrictive internet environments. Beyond standard AES-256 encryption and DNS leak protection, Astrill offers two proprietary VPN protocols: OpenWeb, which disguises VPN traffic as regular web browsing, and StealthVPN, an advanced obfuscation protocol engineered to bypass sophisticated censorship systems through deep packet inspection avoidance.

We found that both are significantly faster than the industry darling, OpenVPN, but they cover your browsing traffic first. This means that you'll have to fiddle around with settings if you want OpenWeb to cover all of your internet connection and not just your browser.

Astrill VPN's premium tier offers a VIP package with multi-hop connections and priority servers (limited to 100 GB monthly per server), as well as optional dedicated IP addresses for more reliable access to services that block shared VPN IPs.

Both features require additional payment beyond the standard subscription. Business plans that include centralized management capabilities for organizations with 10+ users are also available.

The client includes customizable split tunneling for routing specific apps or websites through or around the VPN, and an "App Guard" kill switch on desktop platforms that can selectively block the internet connection for specific applications when disconnected. Unfortunately, this feature is absent from the iOS and Android apps.

Astrill’s "VPN Sharing" feature allows your primary VPN device to function as a VPN hub for other connected devices, essentially acting as a proxy for devices that can’t load a full VPN client onto them. Pretty handy if you’ve got IoT devices you’d like to keep protected. There’s also support for ASUS Merlin and DD-WRT routers with a control applet that simplifies VPN management.

Despite these strengths, Astrill VPN lacks increasingly common features like Smart DNS for streaming devices. There is an ad-blocker available with the OpenWeb protocol, although this seems to be an instance of AdBlock Plus baked into the app. We found that the biggest issue with Astrill VPN is that the service limits you to just 5 simultaneous connections (with only one router connection permitted), which feels particularly limited compared to competitors offering 8-10 devices (or Surfshark’s unlimited connections).

Features score: 4/10

Server network

Astrill VPN's server network is somewhat modest compared to the likes of NordVPN. The service offers strong coverage across the United States, with servers spanning both East and West coasts as well as several states in between. There’s also decent representation in Western Europe, including multiple locations in the UK, France, and Germany.

However, Astrill VPN’s coverage of Africa, Asia, and South America leaves plenty to be desired.

One unusual aspect is that Astrill VPN is among the few VPNs still offering servers in Russia. That’s a double-edged sword given the potential security risks that have led many providers to withdraw from the country. Considering that these are physical servers, not virtual ones, you may wish to think twice before connecting.

The real issue we had with the servers while testing out Astrill is that server labeling is inconsistently applied, with some locations clearly marked by city while others are just labeled with numbers. Frankly, it’s a confusing experience when you’re trying to place your pin on the map.

Server network score: 6/10

Apps

Astrill VPN provides clients for all major platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

The Windows, macOS, and Linux clients feature a minimalist, black-and-white interface that feels decidedly dated with a design reminiscent of the early 2000s. The desktop app is surprisingly compact, occupying just a small corner of the screen and remaining tethered to the taskbar by default. While this space efficiency might appeal to some users, it can feel cramped and limited compared to modern VPN interfaces.

The Windows client provides the most comprehensive feature set, including the unique "App Guard" kill switch that allows users to specify which applications should lose internet access when the VPN disconnects. While this is useful for isolating specific applications like torrent clients, it’s less intuitive than the system-wide kill switches offered by other VPN providers.

The mobile VPN experince is somewhat more modern, particularly on Android where the app features a dark blue interface that feels more contemporary than its desktop counterpart. The core functionality remains similar with a large connect button, protocol selection, and server menu.

That’s where the positives end, however, as both the iOS and Android apps feel like a cut down version of the full Astrill app. Notably, the iOS app lacks WireGuard support, offering only TCP and UDP connection options for OpenVPN. While both mobile apps provide options to keep the VPN connected when the screen is off and auto-reconnect if the connection drops, they lack the proper kill switch feature that's available on desktop platforms.

Apps score: 5/10

Ease of use

Despite its dated appearance, Astrill VPN provides a relatively straightforward user experience. The installation process is simple, and the main dashboard, while not visually impressive, places essential functions front and center making it difficult to miss the primary connect button.

The client also has a built-in speed test tool that allows you to check ping times and connection speeds to nearby servers before connecting, which is a useful feature for optimizing performance. However, our testing revealed discrepancies between Astrill VPN's internal speed measurements and actual performance when connected.

Advanced configuration options are accessible through dedicated menus, including privacy settings for DNS leak protection and WebRTC leak fixes. The organization is logical, if not particularly elegant, making it functional but lacking the polish of VPN providers like ExpressVPN.

Ease of use score: 7/10

Speed and performance

Astrill VPN delivers adequate, if not exceptional, performance for everyday browsing and streaming. In our testing, we recorded speeds of around 56 Mbps while connected to Astrill's UK VPN server over OpenWeb, compared to 70 Mbps on our test connection without a VPN.

That’s a 20% speed reduction. With WireGuard, this rose to 60Mbps, whereas our OpenVPN speeds were only 45Mbps.

The service's built-in speed test tool suggested performance comparable to our base connection speeds, but our real-world testing with independent tools showed this to be somewhat optimistic. Nevertheless, the speeds we achieved are more than sufficient for 4K streaming on services like Netflix, which requires only about 25 Mbps.

How we perform speed tests

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We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US. We’re expecting big things out of NordVPN, as both of these servers have a 1 Gbs connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.

Connection times are almost instantaneous through OpenWeb and StealthVPN, though we found they were unusually long through OpenVPN. You also can’t change your location without disconnecting from OpenVPN first, which made testing servers for our streaming setup a tedious process.

The VIP package promises enhanced speeds through priority servers and we found this was the case, boosting our download speed to 68Mbps. However, given the additional cost on top of an already premium price, the standard servers should be adequate for your needs unless you’re specifically looking for one of today's fastest VPNs.

Speed and performance score: 5/10

Unblocking

Astrill VPN has mixed streaming capabilities based on our recent testing. The service successfully allowed us to access US Netflix, but our experiences with regional Netflix content was a mixed bag. Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch content in Canada, UK, Japan, or Australia, so it's not exactly the best Netflix VPN on the market.

The VPN's performance with other streaming platforms is inconsistent. Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+ worked on the American servers we used, although we had to go through multiple server locations before finding one that works. We also found that BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video simply wouldn’t work no matter what we did.

When Astrill VPN does successfully connect to streaming services, the video quality is generally good. We were able to stream in HD and 4K without significant buffering. However, we did find that loading times when using the base tier of Astrill VPN could occasionally be a little longer than we’d like.

For torrenting, Astrill supports P2P on many of its servers (marked with a star in the server list) and delivers reasonable speeds. The port forwarding feature available with StealthVPN enhances torrent connectivity, though the lack of a kill switch on mobile platforms is a significant drawback if you’re looking for the gold standard of torrenting VPNs.

Unblocking score: 3/10

Privacy and Security

On the technical side, Astrill VPN offers strong encryption through AES-256 standards and supports multiple protocols including OpenVPN, WireGuard, and proprietary offerings: OpenWeb and StealthVPN.

The latter two are specifically engineered to bypass sophisticated censorship systems in restrictive regions like China. The desktop applications feature comprehensive leak protection, with our testing confirming no DNS, IPv6, or WebRTC leaks when using the WireGuard protocol. Astrill VPN also provides built-in leak testing to check whether you’re exposed, but we’ve used third party tools to verify the results.

Astrill VPN makes strong claims about its privacy practices. Based in the privacy-friendly Lichtenstein (outside the Five Eyes surveillance alliance), Astrill should be well-positioned to protect user data.

As far as data retention goes, Astrill VPN states clearly in its privacy policy that it does not collect or store users' internet traffic, immediately deleting it from servers and removing IP addresses from connection logs as soon as sessions end. It claims to use RAM-only servers, which should completely wipe all networking data as soon as they’re unplugged. Therefore, if Astrill VPN’s servers are seized it’s unlikely law enforcement would be able to find any useful information about the provider's users.

However, we’ve found several concerning statements in the privacy policy. The service keeps records of users' last 20 connections, including connection time, duration, country, device type, and application version. While Astrill VPN claims this data is kept strictly for support purposes and is deleted after 30 days (or upon request), this is a level of logging that we’re not completely comfortable with.

Perhaps more worrying is that Astrill VPN's privacy policy hasn't been updated since May 2018. That’s an exceptionally long period without revision in the VPN world. Additionally, Astrill VPN has not commissioned any third-party audits to verify its privacy claims, making it difficult to independently confirm its practices.

Privacy and Security score: 3/10

Track record

Astrill VPN has been operating since 2009, making it one of the oldest active VPN providers in the industry today. It has traditionally positioned itself as a specialized VPN provider with a focus on bypassing censorship. In particular, Astrill VPN has built a reputation for consistently working in heavily restricted regions like China, where many VPN providers struggle to maintain reliable access.

However, Astrill VPN has not been as proactive as its competitors in demonstrating any security claims through independent audits or transparency reports. We’re also unimpressed with their current privacy policy, which has been gathering cobwebs since 2018.

At the very least, we can say that Astrill VPN has maintained a relatively low profile for the last few years. It hasn’t suffered from any major security incidents that we’re aware of, although without an independent security audit it’s difficult to say how secure its server architecture really is.

While Astrill VPN has made some notable contributions to the VPN industry with not one but two different proprietary obfuscation protocols, we get the sense that the service is a little outdated and hasn’t quite kept up with the modern feature set you’d get from a top-tier VPN.

Track record score: 4/10

Customer support

One thing we can’t fault Astrill VPN for is the level of customer support on offer. Astrill VPN claims that it provides 24/7 live support. This matches up with our experience, as we found that all of our interactions with Astrill VPN’s support were resolved very quickly by knowledgeable support agents.

Beyond live assistance, Astrill VPN maintains an extensive knowledge base in wiki format that goes well beyond basic setup instructions. The documentation covers everything from standard installation guides to advanced topics like DNS cache flushing, third-party client setup, router configuration, and even tutorials on BitTorrent and remote desktop support.

There are also plenty of video tutorials on the site in addition to written documentation. We found they were easy to follow and clearly showed how to activate individual features on Astrill VPN, which might be necessary given that the UI can be a little intimidating at first glance. Overall, top marks for customer support, arguably on par with some of the top-tier VPNs out there.

Customer support score: 10/10

Pricing and plans

Astrill VPN's pricing structure is significantly steeper than industry standards, starting at $30 per month for a monthly subscription. Even ExpressVPN, which is one of the most expensive options that regularly features on our best VPN lists , starts at only $15 monthly.

Longer subscriptions reduce the monthly cost somewhat: a one-year plan brings the price down to $15 per month ($180 annually), while a two-year commitment costs $12.50 monthly ($300 billed every two years). Even with these discounts, Astrill VPN remains substantially more expensive than competitors offering similar or better features.

The "VIP" add-on package increases costs further, adding $10 per month for just 100 GB of data on priority servers and multi-hop connections. We should point out that many competitors, including Surfshark, offer multi-hop in their standard packages for no additional charge. Astrill VPN does also offer private IPs as an add-on from $5 per month, which is a pretty reasonable price for your own dedicated IP that only you can use.

On the plus side, Astrill VPN does offer a wide range of payment options including major credit and debit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, and Bitcoin and Monero. It’s always good to see cryptocurrency payment options which provide a little bit more privacy when purchasing a VPN subscription, especially given that Monero is considered nigh-untraceable.

Pricing and plans score: 5/10

Should you use Astrill VPN?

After some extensive testing, we've concluded that Astrill VPN occupies a very specific niche in the VPN market. If you’re consistently encountering VPN blocks from your ISP or at your workplace, Astrill might work where other VPNs don’t thanks to an almost swiss army knife-like set of VPN protocols and options.

Similarly, if you’re working in a heavily censored region of the world like China, Astrill VPN is definitely worth checking out. There are also a few server location options, like Russia, that you won’t find on most VPN server lists, although that’s up to you to decide whether that’s a good thing or not.

Unfortunately, you’re paying a heavy premium to get access to these features. If you’re not interested in obfuscation, there isn’t much else there that justifies Astrill VPN’s $30 a month base price.

The dated VPN interface doesn’t exactly help matters either, and you might find yourself hitting against the upper limit of Astrill VPN’s simultaneous device connections pretty quickly. We’ve found that providers like ExpressVPN or NordVPN offer more polished experiences with broader server coverage at significantly lower price points.

Overall score: 52/100

Astrill VPN alternatives

1. NordVPN – from $3.39 per month
The best VPN overall
NordVPN is one of the most secure VPNs you’ll find on the market. The massive network of 7,200+ servers across 118 countries ensures you'll always find a fast connection nearby, too. It’s perfect for preserving your internet privacy, as an independently audited no-logs policy and Panama jurisdiction means your data is kept truly private. Subscriptions start at $3.39/month (2-year plan), backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

2. Surfshark – from $1.99 per month
The best cheap VPN (and also the fastest)
Surfshark offers unlimited simultaneous connections on a single subscription, making it perfect for households with multiple devices. Nexus technology adds multi-hop capabilities through all 100+ locations on Surfshark’s server infrastructure, as well as a rotating IP feature that keeps internet services from being able to track you. Surfshark delivers premium features at a budget-friendly $1.99 per month on its 2-year plan. Every subscription includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

2. ExpressVPN – from $4.99 per month
The best VPN for beginners and the most secure
When speed and reliability matter most, ExpressVPN delivers. ExpressVPN uses the proprietary Lightway protocol to offer lightning-fast connections perfect for streaming and gaming across 105 countries. User-friendly apps make protection simple on everything from smartphones to routers. While pricier at $4.99/month on a two-year plan, what you get is a premium service with 24/7 live chat support, as well as a hassle-free 30-day money-back guarantee just in case you’re not happy with the service.View Deal

CyberGhost has been on the VPN scene since 2011 and, as you'd expect from a veteran, has built a solid service with a reliable roster of core VPN tools. Despite this, however, you won't find CyberGhost listed in our shortlist of the best VPNs overall – despite its impressive speed testing results and unblocking performance.

So, where does it fall short? Throughout our testing, we found that CyberGhost just isn't as proactive as the big dogs. There's a lack of new, innovative features, and its ad-blocking tool has plenty of room for improvement. Keep reading, and we'll dig into the good, the bad, and the ugly to see where CyberGhost stands amongst today's competition.

Features

CyberGhost won't be taking home any awards for new and novel VPN features, but the tools it does offer are all solid and secure.

Kicking off with the basics, we were glad to see that CyberGhost has its very own kill switch, which will cut the existing internet connection if the VPN drops out. This prevents IP leaks – and the kill switch works well in tandem with the DNS leak protection as a safety net, running in the background to catch mishaps before they happen. Unfortunately, unlike NordVPN’s, this kill switch is not configurable, which may disappoint power users looking to tailor their VPN experience.

We think that the Wi-Fi protection feature pairs up nicely with this set, too. It's a simple on/off toggle to activate and, once enabled, it'll let you know about changes to the internet connection and warn you if you're not currently connected to a VPN server.

You can tell the VPN what to do depending on the security status of the new network you connect to, too. For instance, prompting CyberGhost to ask before connecting to a server if the network is secure, or always joining a server if it's unsecure. This is pretty nifty, as it'll ensure that you don't accidentally expose identifiable details when switching from your home network to public Wi-Fi.

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CyberGhost has its very own split tunnelling functionality called Exceptions. Here, you're able to list the sites that don't use the VPN's encrypted tunnel. They'll be routed through your original internet connection instead – and you may want to add your online banking to this list, for example, or streaming services you use to keep up with local sports.

Another VPN staple is the connect-on-launch tool. There's some limited customizability, here, too, as we were able to select the server that the VPN automatically connects to and even nominate an app that'll launch, too. It's a nice time-saver that worked like a charm when we tested it, connecting to a US server and launching the Netflix app in one fell swoop.

The built-in ad, malware, and tracker blocking tool was surprisingly effective when we tried it out in real time. We found that it blocked 83% of ads – which is pretty impressive for a VPN tool, but it's not as powerful as a full-blooded ad-blocking solution. Ultimately, we don't recommend using it in place of one of today's best ad-blockers.

We attempted to access 156 common trackers with the tool, too, and saw that the app blocked 149, which is seriously impressive. These results put CyberGhost on par with Windscribe and Private Internet Access.

CyberGhost's malware blocking results weren't quite as rosy, as it only managed to block 55% of a set of 412 malicious URLs. Still, it's enough to be useful in a day-to-day context.

While it's encouraging to see that CyberGhost has stepped into the ad, malware, and tracker blocking, the VPN has fallen behind in other cybersecurity arenas. ExpressVPN, for example, boasts its own password manager, ExpressVPN Keys; NordVPN has an identity theft protection service; and Surfshark's Alternative ID tool can generate an entirely new online persona for you before you can sneeze, to reduce the risk of becoming embroiled in scams and data breaches.

CyberGhost, by comparison, doesn't bring any features of this calibre to the table. This won't be a deal-breaker for everyone, but when other providers are making such notable strides, it's a shame to see CyberGhost at the back of the field.

Features score: 5/10

Server network

CyberGhost has an impressive network of more than 11,500 VPN servers in 100 countries. This puts it squarely at the top end of the pack when it comes to coverage. NordVPN may only have 7,000 servers in total, but it serves a wider variety of 118 countries. Still, there's not much in it, and CyberGhost certainly isn't lacking global coverage.

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As is the case with most VPNs, the European region takes the lion's share of servers, though CyberGhost does its best to cover Central and South America, Asia, and Africa, too. We were pleasantly surprised to see servers in famously neglected regions, too, including Kenya, Bolivia, and Costa Rica. The fact that CyberGhost boasts server coverage in the high-censorship regions of China and Russia is especially noteworthy.

Finally, we think it's pretty cool that CyberGhost takes server requests. So, if you live somewhere that doesn't have a local CyberGhost server, it's worth asking for one. We can't confirm whether these requests are taken seriously or responded to, but the squeaky wheel gets the oil, right?

Server network score: 9/10

Apps

CyberGhost's apps straddle a fine line between sleek and somewhat threadbare. The VPN is compatible with pretty much every platform out there – Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, smart TV, and consoles included. Unfortunately, the Linux edition of the CyberGhost app is command-line only, and there's no indication of whether a GUI upgrade is in the cards. If that's a deal-breaker, you'll want to invest in Surfshark or PIA’s Linux VPN, instead.

As is the case with most of today's top VPNs, CyberGhost has its own browser extensions. Folks using the Chrome and Firefox browsers can add the tools in a few clicks, though it's worth remembering that the extensions only encrypt browser traffic and not the traffic of other apps you might be using on your device. Sadly, there's no extension for Microsoft Edge.

CyberGhost's apps have a distinct visual flair. We think that the black and gold looks awesome, and the Windows edition of the app looks like it could even be native to the platform. There's an emphasis on readability and open space that we find refreshing, and the screen isn't jammed with statistics, social media links, or flags. There's room to breathe, making CyberGhost a pretty solid VPN for beginners.

The desktop offering is intuitive and easy to navigate. Basic tools and settings are clearly labelled, and there are only three extra features to take note of – the ad blocker, DNS leak protection, and kill switch.

The mobile VPN apps look even better in our opinion, especially when using them in the portrait orientation. They're just as easy to navigate as their desktop counterparts, too, with simple tabs to tap on, though they are somewhat on the small side.

Unfortunately, the iOS and Android apps are light on features, especially compared to NordVPN and PIA's feature-rich and customizable offerings.

We were particularly irked by CyberGhost's device limit. Unlike ExpressVPN, CyberGhost doesn't issue a certain number of simultaneous connections, and instead limits the number of devices, total, that you can install the service on. Users have 7 device slots, and installing the VPN on a device consumes a slot. If you reach the 7-device limit, you'll need to unlink a device before you can install it on another, which is an extra bit of legwork that the majority of the competition just don't make you do.

Apps score: 6/10

Ease of use

CyberGhost's apps might not be full to bursting with a cavalcade of tools, but they're nice and easy to use. For some folks, this will be more important, and we had no trouble getting the VPN set up on our Windows 11 test machine and iPhone 13 mobile.

We found that it was easier to create a CyberGhost account and select a plan as the first step in the process, then download the corresponding app for the device you're using after logging in to the My Account page on the CyberGhost site.

Initially, the Windows installer failed to initialize, though it worked like a charm upon the second attempt. The installation process itself was quick and painless after accepting the usual terms and conditions.

Once we'd logged into the app, which is compact and stylish, we were greeted by a big one-click connect button, which is exactly what we like to see. A lot of VPN users won't need to explore any further than this homepage, as hitting the button will pair you with a speedy local server, allowing you to go about your day-to-day browsing with increased peace of mind.

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On the other hand, we found that it was easy to dictate which server CyberGhost connects to when clicking the connect button, and the full server list expands into a larger window with a single click. From here, we were able to favorite locations and check out the full roster of specialized streaming, torrenting, and gaming servers.

Our sole quibble with the CyberGhost Windows UI is that the settings are split into three discreet menus, each with a different icon in a different part of the app. We believe that it'd be better to merge these options into a single tab, reducing the amount of clicking around required to find specific tools and configurations.

We're happy to report that CyberGhost is a straightforward and sleek iOS VPN, too. Downloading the app from the App Store is a breeze, and we were prompted to log in, as usual, before seeing the home page and quick connect button.

The iOS and Android apps have access to dedicated IPs, protocols, and a mobile-exclusive connection checker. This is a nifty little extra that ensures that your network connection is stable and configured correctly, and it was responsive when we put it to the test - which is something to keep in mind if you run into issues and need a place to begin your troubleshooting.

Ease of use score: 8/10

Speed and performance

CyberGhost blew us away during our most recent round of speed testing, achieving a blistering 950+ Mbps when using the WireGuard protocol.

This effectively maxed out our 1 Gbs connection, and means CyberGhost is one of the fastest VPNs in the business, on par with the likes of Surfshark. We were also pleased to see that speeds didn't waver massively depending on the server we connected to – regardless of whether the location was near or far in relation to our UK home base, CyberGhost's performance remained stable and steady.

How we perform speed tests

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We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US. We’re expecting big things out of NordVPN, as both of these servers have a 1 Gbs connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.

Its OpenVPN performance wasn't quite as red hot, coming in at 460 Mbps, but this is par for the course. OpenVPN isn't as lightweight as WireGuard, consisting of more lines of code, and is usually favored by folks who want to prioritize security over speed.

Still, CyberGhost's result breezes past NordVPN's OpenVPN 173 Mbps performance, which is something to keep in mind if you know you'll be relying on the protocol most of the time.

As a final cherry on top, we found that CyberGhost's connection times are brisk, clocking in at about one second. That's a great result – who wants to spend time tapping their fingers and waiting for a VPN to connect, after all?

Speed and performance score: 10/10

Unblocking

We put VPNs through the wringer when it comes to unblocking streaming services, and part of that testing involves determining whether the VPN in question can access various Netflix libraries in the US, UK, Japan, Canada, and Australia, Disney+, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, 10Play, 9Now, and Channel 4. It's a tall order – but CyberGhost achieved a perfect score.

We didn't encounter a single obstacle when investigating these streaming platforms. Netflix loaded instantly, every time, and we were able to catch up on multiple WWE replays without a single buffering hiccup or drop out. This kind of reliability is seriously impressive, and makes CyberGhost a solid VPN for Netflix.

As we mentioned earlier, CyberGhost is a certified speed demon, too, and the content we access loaded in crisp HD, every time. After all, Netflix itself says that 4K streaming only requires a 25 Mbps connection – and CyberGhost brings 950+ Mbps to the table.

We're also glad to see that CyberGhost has its own Smart DNS service. This allows folks with consoles and smart TVs to enjoy the VPN's unblocking power, too, though it's worth noting that the Smart DNS tool won't encrypt your traffic like a full-blooded VPN.

CyberGhost is a decent torrenting VPN, but not at the top of our recommendations. The provider doesn't make a big song and dance about it, but it does offer P2P-optimized servers, listed under the "For downloading" tab in the server menu. These servers span 80 countries, which is plenty to choose from, and should help you find a nearby connection point to help maximize performance. Unfortunately, unlike PIA, CyberGhost doesn't come with port forwarding, which reduces the number of seeders you can connect with.

Unblocking score: 10/10

Privacy and Security

CyberGhost users have three VPN protocols to choose from – OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2.

As we touched on earlier, OpenVPN is your go-to if you value security over speed, whereas the speedy WireGuard protocol is a favorite of gamers and avid streamers. IKEv2, on the other hand, is ideal for mobile users, as it can handle changes in network connections without disrupting the VPN connection. Of course, if you can't make up your mind, you can always let CyberGhost choose a protocol on your behalf.

In addition to DNS and IP leak protection, which help keep your identifiable details out of the hands of third-party snoopers, CyberGhost lets you choose a random port. This makes it easier to use the VPN in airports and hotels, for example, as they usually restrict traffic to HTTPS.

CyberGhost is headquartered in Romania, which will register as an immediate green flag for privacy purists, as the country has no mandatory data retention laws and isn't a part of the notorious Five Eyes Alliance.

Because Romanian law doesn't force CyberGhost to record or store user data, it means that, if pressed by the authorities to hand that data over, the VPN couldn't, as it wouldn't have any data to fork over in the first place.

CyberGhost doubles down on its commitment to user privacy with a solid no-logs policy that ensures that no records are stored that could link users to their network activity. We investigated the policy and found that it was refreshingly easy to follow. It's not stuffed with techno-babble, and it takes the time to explain each term in plain, parsable language. Sure, it's on the lengthy side, but we'd take a long, simple policy over a short and impossibly dense one.

The provider even invited cybersecurity firm Deloitte to comb through this no-logs policy back in January 2024. Deloitte gave CyberGhost a big thumbs up, confirming that the VPN doesn't have an appetite for identifiable details and logs. Ideally, CyberGhost will repeat the audit at some point this year, and make the report accessible to everyone.

Privacy and security score: 7/10

Track record

In addition to the 2024 Deloitte audit, CyberGhost claims to be the very first VPN to publish a quarterly transparency report way back in 2011. These reports are published in the spirit of transparency and detail how many DMCA complaints the VPN has received, as well as the number of police requests for user information.

The reports can be difficult to find, but CyberGhost does an excellent job of cutting through the statistics for the layperson, highlighting figures that have risen or fallen in the period between reports.

CyberGhost's owner, formerly known as Crossrider, has raised concerns over the years. The company acquired CyberGhost in 2011 and was previously associated with malware distribution – essentially the antithesis of a VPN service.

Crossrider rebranded as Kape Technologies in 2017 and has since brought PIA and ExpressVPN into the fold. This murky past has deterred more than a handful of users but, since then, Kape Technologies has taken steps to promote transparency and trust with its continued transparency reports and independent audits.

Finally, on a brighter note, we love to see that CyberGhost launched a bug bounty program in 2022. Any expert who sniffs out a vulnerability in the service can earn up to $1,250 for their trouble.

Track record score: 7/10

Customer support

Right off the bat, we were glad to see that CyberGhost offers 24/7 live chat support. This means that, if you do encounter a hiccup here and there, you won't have to wait until business hours to begin troubleshooting the issue with in-house experts. Alternatively, there's the option to raise an email ticket via the support page.

You'll need to choose the right keywords to find what you're looking for in CyberGhost's knowledgebase (Image credit: CyberGhost)

If you prefer doing your own problem-solving, you'll be glad to see that CyberGhost has a well-stocked library of guides, tutorials, and articles. The setup guides are some of the best we've come across. They're illustrated with up-to-date screenshots, have simple and easy-to-follow steps, and cover most platforms – though Surfshark's guides are slightly more detail-rich, and are supplemented with handy YouTube tutorials.

Customer support score: 7/10

Pricing and plans

CyberGhost is a budget-friendly provider and, in fact, with prices on par with Surfshark, one of the best cheap VPNs on the block. Of course, you'll bag the biggest bargain by picking up a multi-year plan and paying upfront.

A 2-year CyberGhost subscription comes in at $2.19 – identical to Surfshark – and includes an extra 2 months of coverage for free. You'll be billed $56.94 for 2 years, then yearly from then on out.

NordVPN pricing

- 1-month plan: $12.99/month

- 6-month plans: $6.99/month

- 24-month plans: $2.19/month

If you're looking for a shorter-term commitment, you can opt for the 6-month plan at $6.99 ($12.99 upfront), or a one-month plan at $12.99. All CyberGhost subscriptions are covered by an especially generous 45-day money-back guarantee, giving you over a month to put the provider through its paces to see whether it's the right service for you.

You can pay for your CyberGhost plan using PayPal, Bitcoin or credit card, and more (Image credit: CyberGhost)

Oh, and if you fancy adding a dedicated IP to your plan, it's a simple add-on of $2.50.

We're impressed by the number of trials CyberGhost serves up, too. In fact, it has some of our favorite VPN free trials. Windows users can enjoy a 24-hour trial, Android users get a 3-day free trial, and iOS loyalists win big with a 7-day free trial. Better yet, none of these trials demand that you hand over any financial details.

Pricing and plans score: 9/10

Should you use NordVPN?

There are plenty of good things about CyberGhost. It's wickedly fast, unblocks every streaming platform you can think of, and is one of the cheapest providers in today's market. So, if you're an avid streamer, or spend a log of time plugged into online games, CyberGhost could be your holy grail – if you don't mind dealing with the pesky 7 device limit.

However, if you're looking for a VPN that's on the cutting edge of cybersecurity ingenuity, then CyberGhost won't cut it. Its basics are in order, but its functionality doesn't extend far beyond basic, and it doesn't seem like that's going to change any time soon.

NordVPN and Proton VPN, on the other hand, continue to innovate and release new tools and features, and may be better alternatives for true advocates of internet privacy.

Overall score 78/100

CyberGhost alternatives

1. NordVPN – from $3.39 per month
The best VPN overall
NordVPN is, frankly, the total VPN package. It's stacked with privacy-boosting features that reach beyond the bread-and-butter basics, and its Threat Protection suite effectively shooes away ads, trackers, and malware. NordVPN knows how to have fun, too, with a reliably quick performance and flawless access across all streaming platforms. It's hard to pinpoint an area where NordVPN falls flat – though CyberGhost's apps are arguably easier to navigate. Want to see for yourself? Make good use of the 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

2. Surfshark – from $2.19 per month
The best cheap VPN (and also the fastest)
Surfshark goes toe-to-toe with CyberGhost when it comes to rock-bottom prices, but stuffs a ton of tools into the offering that CyberGhost can't match. The Alternative ID feature spins up an entirely new persona you can use in place of your real details, and subscribers get unlimited simultaneous connections they can use to protect all of their gadgets – or share the love with family and friends. Check out Surfshark's blistering speeds and minimalist apps with a handy 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

3. ExpressVPN – from $4.99 per month
The best VPN for beginners and the most secure
ExpressVPN is our go-to recommendation for VPN newbies, and boasts a foolproof installation and setup process. This intuitive experience extends through its apps, too, regardless of which platform you're using. While CyberGhost has ExpressVPN beat in terms of speed and price, ExpressVPN's offering is polished and places emphasis on security, with rock-solid encryption. Take the service for a risk-free test drive with a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

Windscribe's free plan is one of the most popular options on the market – and it currently sits in the #3 spot in our best free VPN rankings. With plenty of monthly data, a decent spread of servers, and a long list of security tools, it's easy to see why.

However, Windscribe Free falls short when compared to premium alternatives, including the paid Windscribe plan. If you want a free VPN that'll add an extra layer of security to your browsing sessions, well, it'll do the job nicely, and even toss in an ad and malware blocker for free.

If you want a robust VPN with sleek apps and access to servers around the globe, you might be disappointed. Keep reading, and we'll dig into Windscribe Free's offering in more detail.

Features

Windscribe Free gives users 10 GB of data per month to use as they see fit. This is fairly generous and should be enough to get you through four weeks, but it will run out quickly if you use Windscribe Free for streaming or online gaming. However, there is the option to post on X for an extra 5 GB a month or upgrade to unlimited data for $3 a month.

If you’d rather not shout Windscribe Free’s praises from the rooftops or provide an email during signup, you’ll still receive 2 GB of data a month. It’s a great option for the more privacy-conscious who find themselves in need of a reliable free service.

We were also glad to see that Windscribe Free offers unlimited simultaneous connections. That means you can share your login details with friends and family without worrying about how many people are using the VPN at any one time. The same goes for Windscribe’s paid plans, too, if you choose to upgrade.

Windscribe Free Windows app (Image credit: Windscribe )

Windscribe Free does a good job of ticking off all the core VPN features you'd expect to see. The kill switch, called Firewall, is front and centre on the Windows, Android, and Linux apps, and we found it incredibly easy to toggle on (or off).

The firewall is set to "Automatic" mode by default. This activates the firewall whenever you connect to a Windscribe Free server, ensuring that you remain protected if the VPN connection drops out, but it deactivates when you manually disconnect from the server.

For folks who want maximum protection, it's possible to toggle the firewall to "Always On". This blocks the internet unless you're connected to the VPN. We didn't find this to be hugely convenient, but it did guarantee that we couldn't use the internet without first being protected by Windscribe.

The same goes for Windscribe Free’s auto-connect feature, which we were able to customize, alongside the split tunneling functionality. The latter is a nice addition that’s often neglected by other free providers.

Windscribe Free's version of split tunneling is far more configurable than a lot of the competition, though it currently isn't available on iOS. There are two modes to choose from: "Exclusive" allows users to build lists of apps that won't route traffic through the VPN tunnel, which is how most split tunneling tools work.

"Inclusive" works slightly differently, and lets you build a list where only the apps on it will have their traffic routed through the tunnel. It's a real time-saver if you only intend to use Windscribe Free for a few specific purposes (like unblocking streaming platforms) and aren't hugely concerned about your privacy.

The star of the show is Windscribe Free’s ad and malware blocker, R.O.B.E.R.T. There are no hidden fees here as it’s included in the app and works quietly in the background to clean up your browsing sessions. During testing on our Windows 11 Chromebook machine and iPhone 13, we found that it was effective at steering us away from malicious domains and removing invasive ads.

During our review process, we assembled a list of 50 brand-new malware-hosting links and pitted Windscribe Free against them. The provider successfully blocked 46% of these threats - a decent result that beats some dedicated antivirus tools. VIPRE Antivirus Plus, for example, only blocked 34%, but Bitdefender managed to stop 80%. Still, this underscores the fact that you shouldn't rely on Windscribe Free as your sole security tool.

We were intrigued by Windscribe Free's claim that none of its tools are hidden behind a paywall. That's not the norm, after all, and we just had to put the boast to the test. Windscribe Free says that its premium and free users have access to the exact same roster of tools and, well, we found that this is mostly true.

For a start, free users miss out on port forwarding, which is readily available to paid users. You'll also need to pony up for a subscription to take advantage of Windscribe's full server network spanning 69 countries - and not the meagre 10 that free users have access to. Similarly, some advanced aspects of R.O.B.E.R.T are only available to paid users.

Features score: 7/10

Server network

Free VPNs don’t offer as many servers in as many places as premium VPNs – and Windscribe Free is no exception.

All of Windscribe Free's servers run entirely on RAM. This ensures that no files are left to linger in its storage for too long. Better yet, Windscribe Free had its server setup audited in 2024 to confirm that user privacy is adequately protected.

There are currently 10 countries to choose from: the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.

This puts Windscribe Free on par with our top-rated free VPN, PrivadoVPN Free. The server distribution is heavily weighted towards Europe, which may be an issue for folks in Asia, Africa, or South America looking for a nearby VPN server to connect to in order to maximize their performance.

Windscribe Free's server location list (on Windows 11) (Image credit: Windscribe )

We think that including a free server in Hong Kong is a pleasant surprise, as very few VPNs typically offer servers in or around China, even if they charge a subscription fee. It’s also nice to see that Windscribe Free lets users actually choose which server location to join, unlike Proton VPN Free.

During testing, we found that Windscribe’s Free servers didn’t suffer from any discernible congestion, as the VPN doesn’t shunt free users into specifically designated free servers (which could cause slowdown).

Plus, Windscribe Free makes it perfectly clear which servers are restricted to paid users in the app, marking them with a star icon.

Server network score: 4/10

Apps

Windscribe Free is available for all of today’s most popular platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, and even Linux. In fact, we found Windscribe Free's Linux GUI to be one of the best on the market. It looks and feels just like the other desktop apps.

Additionally, Windscribe Free is compatible with Fire TV and Apple TV, and has browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Windscribe Free doesn't support routers, however, and you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan to download the necessary configuration files.

During our day-to-day use, we found Windscribe Free’s apps to be basic and serviceable. The core features, like the on/off switch and server list, are easy enough to navigate, but the layout proved to be unintuitive – especially compared to the polished offerings from PrivadoVPN and Proton VPN.

We did enjoy that the experience remained similar across all platforms, although there are a handful of key differences to point out. The iOS app, for example, lacks split tunneling, and the Mac app doesn't support split tunneling for apps (meaning you can only exclude specified IP addresses or hostnames).

Finally, Windscribe Free's Android and iOS apps don't have a standard kill switch/firewall, but they do come with an Always-On VPN option, which works in a similar way.

Apps score: 7/10

Ease of use

Windscribe Free’s apps, while easy enough to set up and navigate, were not our favorite to actually use.

We found that the installation process was a piece of cake, however. Simply download the Windscribe Free app from the website, run through the installation wizard, and log in with credentials when prompted.

Windscribe Free opens as a small tile, similar to ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, and clicking on options, like the server list or settings, expands dropdown menus and new tabs to explore.

We found this to be relatively easy to navigate through – the large on/off button makes connecting to a server nice and quick, and it was great to see that Windscribe Free clearly states how much data remains for the month (and gives users the option to upgrade to a paid plan).

Some of the visual elements of Windscribe Free look pretty snazzy. When we chose a location, for example, the background of the app changed to a hi-res flag, and the location list drops down like a physical panel when you click or tap it.

During our testing process,, however, we did notice areas where the UI was not as intuitive as it could (or should) be – on both desktop and mobile.

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Windscribe Free's settings menu displayed on a Windows 11 machine. (Image credit: Windscribe)Image 2 of 3

Windscribe Free's settings menu displayed on a Windows 11 machine. (Image credit: Windscribe)Image 3 of 3

Windscribe Free's available protocols, as displayed on a Windows 11 machine. (Image credit: Windscribe )

For a start, changing VPN protocol isn’t signposted clearly. You need to tap or click the protocol to choose which one you use, and this might seem obvious, but VPN newbies may be unaware that this text is a clickable element at first glance.

Similarly, there’s an odd gap between the “Firewall” text and the actual toggle switch, which had us wondering, at first, if it was something else that wasn’t labeled.

Finally, Windscribe’s settings could be grouped more intuitively. Currently, users have to do a lot of scrolling to check out all of the options and toggles which, on a mobile device, gets tiresome quickly – especially when we were just looking for one setting in particular.

These are small design quibbles, but today’s top VPNs have truly mastered the art of crafting consumer-friendly apps that don’t raise these questions, which puts Windscribe Free on the back foot in terms of ease of use.

Ease of use score: 6/10

Speed and performance

Windscribe Free impressed us during our in-house performance tests. We recorded respectable speeds of 496 Mbps using the WireGuard protocol, marking it as one of the quickest free services available today. As you might expect, however, Windscribe's premium version was faster, clocking in at 785 Mbps.

We found that these speeds correlated to a smooth, seamless browsing experience where we forgot that Windscribe Free was even running in the background. This was the case regardless of whether we were connected to a local UK server or a transatlantic US server. This kind of consistency is fantastic, and even the lowest speeds we recorded, of 466 Mbps, are more than the average user needs for a stress-free browsing session.

One thing to note is that Windscribe Free did take over five seconds to connect to a server when we began our testing process. Subsequent connections only took a fraction of a second, however, which is what we’d expect to see, so we can’t totally knock the service.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

Free VPNs typically struggle when it comes to accessing streaming platforms, as they don’t have the resources necessary to evade VPN bans and blacklisting. Plus, with limited monthly data caps, free services aren’t all that suited to movie marathons or binge-watching.

The good news is that, for us, Windscribe Free accessed Netflix without any hiccups at all. We were able to browse through the UK, US, and Canada libraries without waiting an age for the page to load.

Similarly, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ worked like a charm alongside smaller regional services, including BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, and YouTube.

The picture quality of these streams was high-quality, too, and we didn’t experience any dropouts or stuttering, which is in large part due to Windscribe Free’s excellent speeds.

However, as mentioned earlier, streaming in HD or 4K gobbles up a lot of data, so you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to really enjoy Windscribe’s streaming capabilities (and its dedicated Windflix servers).

If you're looking for a solid VPN for torrenting, however, Windscribe Free doesn't quite achieve a perfect score. While the service allows P2P traffic across all of its free servers, the port forwarding tool is reserved for paying customers, which means you may run into issues when seeding files.

Unblocking score: 7/10

Privacy and Security

Windscribe supports a variety of VPN protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2. WireGuard uses ChaCha20 encryption, and OpenVPN and IKEv2 use AES-256 encryption. The WSTunnel (OpenVPN over web sockets) and Stealth (OpenVPN over SSL) are also included in the mix, and are designed to bypass VPN detection.

We were able to switch between them easily – although the app did fail to connect at first when using the WireGuard protocol. After switching to IKeV2 and back again, however, the issue resolved itself.

This selection of protocols is pretty par for the course, and we found we had the best overall experience with WireGuard, as it’s a fantastic blend of speed and security.

OpenVPN is a better pick for the security-conscious, though you can expect slower overall speeds. IKEv2, as it automatically reconnects, tends to be the option of choice for mobile VPN users.

During testing, we found Windscribe Free’s R.O.B.E.R.T. tool to be especially effective. We didn’t encounter any ads while going about our day-to-day browsing while it was enabled.

It won’t take the place of a dedicated ad-blocker, but it’s a nice additional layer of security that can help save that precious data by preventing ads from loading and eating it up.

R.O.B.E.R.T. is also customizable, though we found that free users can’t tweak it quite as much as its paid counterparts. For example, R.O.B.E.R.T. allows free users to create just 3 custom rules for blacklisting sites and IPs, and customizable blocklists can only contain ads and malware, and not the adult content, cryptocurrency, social media posts, and more that paid users can add to the mix.

Windscribe’s censorship circumvention tool claims to be able to evade VPN blocks in highly restricted territories – though the service is cagey about how it actually works.

We appreciated that Windscribe Free offers other options for privacy purists, like the ability to pay with cryptocurrency. Plus, users have the option of whether to hand over an email address or not during sign-up. This gives users more control over how much identifiable data they hand over to the VPN.

Finally, Windscribe Free is quietly preparing for a post-quantum world by boosting its KEM (Key Encapsulation Mechanism) in TLS and OpenVPN protocols. In Windscribe's own words, this means: "Our encryption covers more than a 14-year-old boy with a bottle of Axe body spray".

Privacy and security score: 7/10

Track record

Windscribe Free abides by a clear no-logs policy that, refreshingly, is easy to read through and digest. It makes it clear that the VPN isn’t interested in collecting or storing identifiable data.

However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Back in June 2021, two Windscribe servers were seized by Ukrainian authorities, though the VPN asserts that it has: "[....] no reason to believe that the servers were compromised or that there was any unauthorized access before seizure."

Given that, on the disk of these two servers, there was an OpenVPN server certificate and private key, a bad actor could feasibly impersonate a Windscribe VPN server and capture and decrypt traffic. This is, however, extremely unlikely, and Windscribe Free invited third-party auditors to comb through its infrastructure to confirm its safety.

This is exactly what we like to see, but this audit took a seriously long time. Windscribe intended to complete the audit in 2021, but the full audit wasn't released to the public until the summer of 2024.

It is also worth noting that, according to recent release notes, there's a "known issue" with the Circumvent Censorship feature – where it does nothing when using the TCP protocol. That could be a major issue for folks living under an oppressive regime who were drawn to this tool, and we'd prefer it if Windscribe Free warned users about the issue when they select TCP and enable Circumvent Censorship. Currently, the only way to figure out that this hiccup even exists is by reading the release notes, and not everyone is going to do that.

Windscribe is headquartered in Canada, a country that’s part of the infamous Five Eyes Alliance, an intelligence-sharing network. Windscribe claims that this “doesn’t matter”, but given the scope of past NSA surveillance, it’s something that users should decide for themselves.

Track record score: 6/10

Windscribe explains that there's no long-term logging, save for what's necessary to work out data usage (Image credit: Windscribe)Customer support

Windscribe Free offers all of the most common avenues of customer support you’d expect from a VPN: live chat, email ticketing, FAQs, and a knowledge base.

During testing, our first port of call was Garry, Windscribe’s AI chatbot. It was able to point us in the direction of well-written articles related to our problem. When it comes to responses from the support team beyond Garry, however, Windscribe warns that it ‘aims’ to reply to your initial ticket within "24 hours", and that "Free users might wait a little longer than Paid users."

Windscribe has also built a chatty userbase in its years of operation, and users have the option of joining the conversation on Reddit and Discord if they want to do some community troubleshooting.

Customer support score: 6/10

Pricing and plans

Windscribe Free doesn't cost a penny, though users have the option to upgrade at any time.

A monthly subscription costs $9.00, which makes the yearly plan a better budget-saving option at $5.75 a month. Windscribe also lets users create their own plan, if they're so inclined, charging $1.00 a month per location.

These prices are pretty steep. Even ExpressVPN, the most expensive VPN in our top rankings, comes in at $4.99 per month (for a 2-year plan). Ultimately, if you're after a feature-rich VPN service that can handle ads, trackers, and malware, it's worth checking out NordVPN, instead, which costs just $3.09 per month if you pick up a 2-year plan.

Pricing and plans score: 4/10

Should you use Windscribe Free?

Windscribe Free is a decent free VPN that has your back if you need VPN protection for absolutely no cost. The addition of R.O.B.E.R.T., a wide selection of server locations, and speeds that rival premium providers make it a fairly tempting option – but it’s let down by its apps.

We found Windscribe Free’s interface to be clunky, especially on mobile, which could be a deal-breaker for VPN newbies looking for the best VPN for beginners. In that case, you’d be better off with Proton VPN or PrivadoVPN, both of which offer more user-friendly apps.

However, if your main use case is scrolling through social media, checking emails, and other day-to-day activities, Windscribe Free will serve you well, so long as you're not using it for anything mission-critical.

Overall score 60/100

Windscribe Free alternatives

1. PrivadoVPN – from $1.11 per month
The best free VPN overall
PrivadoVPN is our favorite free VPN. It packs a lot of functionality into its free plan – and, like Windscribe, is able to reliably access streaming platforms. Add sleek apps into the mix, as well as a 10 GB monthly data allowance, and you have a free service that truly ticks every box.View Deal

2. Proton VPN – from $4.49 per month
The best secure free VPN
Proton VPN Free can't quite keep up with PrivadoVPN Free when it comes to streaming, but if privacy is your main concern, you'll want to check out its full roster of tools. It's also worth noting that Proton VPN doesn't impose a monthly data cap on its free users, meaning you won't have to ration out your browsing, and a recent update made its Windows and mobile apps even easier to use. What's not to like?View Deal

3. Surfshark – from $2.19 per month
The best cheap VPN (and also the fastest)
If you're open to a paid commitment, Surfshark is a stellar choice that won't break the bank. In exchange for as little as $2.19 a month, you'll have access to servers dotted all over the globe, a full security suite, and the fastest speeds we've ever recorded in our in-house testing. As a result, Surfshark is one of the very best Netflix VPNs on the market. You can try Surfshark out in your own time, risk-free, with a handy 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

Windscribe Free FAQsWhere is Windscribe based?

Windscribe is headquartered in Canada. From a privacy perspective, this raises concerns due to the country's involvement in the Five Eyes Alliance intelligence sharing network. Windscribe's free and paid plans both adhere to a no-logs policy, however, though we'd like to see the provider invest in a third-party audit of the policy and its apps.

How to get free Windscribe data?

Windscribe Free gives users 10 GB of data per month. However, it's possible to claim an extra 5 GB of monthly data by posting about the service on X.

On paper, Hide.me Free boasts an impressive offering – unlimited data, customizable tools, and a truly free VPN that’s more than just a trial. There are a handful of limitations – par for the course for a free VPN – but Hide.me Free’s strong core features and server array are strong counterpoints.

Ultimately, if you're on the hunt for a free service that has your privacy in mind and will watch your back as you go about your usual browsing, Hide.me Free has the right features and pretty nifty apps.

Features

Hide.me Free, like its premium counterpart, gets the VPN basics right. We were impressed when tried out the number of VPN protocols available and found IKEv2, OpenVPN, WireGuard, SSTP, and SoftEtherVPN. We also liked that we could select a “fallback protocol”, which the VPN used if our first choice failed to connect – which it didn't, incidentally.

However, the availability of these protocols varies depended on the platform we tried, which were Windows, Android and iOS.

Platform

WireGuard

OpenVPN

IKEv2

SSTP

SoftEther

Windows

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Mac

❌

✅

✅

❌

❌

Android

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

iOS

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

IPv6 support
All of Hide.me Free’s apps boast full IPv6 support, which is a leg up on other free providers that offer a vague checkbox feature claiming to prevent IPv6 leaks – if they address it at all.

Hide.me Free is the only free service on our list that allows users to connect using IPv4, IPv6, or both. If you’re unfamiliar with IPv6, this won’t matter that much, but if you are – and if your ISP allows you to use IPv6 – Hide.me Free will work with it right out of the box with no risk of IPv6 leaks.

Still, this is way more control than we see even from the likes of our best VPN overall, NordVPN.

Auto-connect
Hide.me Free’s auto-connect tool is one of the best we’ve ever tested, too. Available on desktop apps and Android and iOS, we enabled it with a simple toggle we could further customize it to allow us to select different actions when connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi, secured Wi-Fi, or Ethernet networks.

The options for each are: “Connect or Disconnect”, “Ask what to do”, or “Ignore Network”. This is a nice array of options. So, if security is your primary concern, you could configure the auto-connect tool to ask whether you want Hide.me Free to automatically connect whenever you join an unsecure network – like the free Wi-Fi you find in cafes, airports, and hotels – so you don’t accidentally join a dodgy hotspot that lacks encryption or, in the worst case scenario, is a bogus connection monitored by a data-hungry bad actor. This is especially useful for folks who commute to work or have a vacation on the cards.

Each time the app made one of these automated decision, it then added the name of the network and the decision it made to a list. That's better reporting than most VPN apps, which typically expect you to maintain that list yourself or manually add networks to a trusted list as you access them.

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(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Split tunneling
We were glad to see that Hide.me Free offered split tunneling for Windows, Mac, and Android, though the feature is currently missing from iOS. Like the auto-connect tool, Hide.me Free’s split tunneling is highly customizable, allowing users to pick and choose which apps or sites use the VPN tunnel and which don't.

So, using the split tunneling tool, you could route traffic headed to your streaming app/site of choice through your regular internet connection, and not the encrypted Hide.me Free tunnel.

This will reduce the amount of traffic the VPN has to deal with on its limited data budget and ensure that you can actually enjoy your content without any buffering or lag.

Kill switch
Hide.me Free has a reliable kill switch that we weren't able to trip any time we tampered with the VPN protocol software to cause it to disconnect. It never registered any leak of our real IP. That's a must for any credible free VPN.

The kill switch is available on all platforms, including iOS, unusually. It’s not always easy to find, though – it’s named “Network Protection” in the Android settings, for example.

In addition to a simple on/off toggle, users can also configure a script inside the app that’ll launch whenever the kill switch is triggered (cutting your internet connection) or disabled. You could use this to create an alert warning you that the kill switch was triggered, or forcibly close a process or launch an app.

Why is this useful? Well, imagine that you always leave your VPN on at home, connected to a nearby server. What happens if that connection drops out? Usually, a VPN will display a notification to let you know, but what if you wanted something else to happen?

If your VPN is connected to a local network, you might want to send a notification to other devices connected to it or, to prevent communication across a now unsecured connection, you might want to close some apps and programs. Hide.me Free makes this possible via scripts – a series of commands that give you more control over how the app responds to a kill switch failure.

Other features
Hide.me Free also boasts obfuscation – but we found that it was pretty basic. Still, it might help you establish a secure VPN connection if you live in a privacy-unfriendly country (like China or Russia) where VPNs are routinely sniffed out and blocked. If you’re looking for the most reliable VPN for China, Hide.me Free probably shouldn’t be your first choice, but it may help with less intensive VPN blocking, and we’re glad that the option is there for free users.

The lock setting allows users to lock the VPN app whenever it’s minimized or after a specified number of minutes has passed. It works like a mobile device App Locker: select a PIN and rest assured that, without this PIN, nobody will be able to unlock (and interfere with) your VPN.

It might seem like security overkill, but it ensures that friends, family, and other nosy individuals can’t happen across your device and adjust your VPN settings. You wouldn’t want a sibling to disconnect the VPN while you’re torrenting, right? Network Lock puts a stop to this kind of meddling.

As mentioned earlier, Hide.me Free gives users unlimited data to play with – there are no monthly caps and no hard limits. Admittedly, that’s a huge bonus that means you won’t have to carefully ration out your VPN usage over the month. Hide.me Free does have its hangups, however, that mostly hinge around the differences between its free and premium plans.

Missing features and hangups
Hide.me Free users are limited to a single simultaneous connection. That means only one person, on one device, can use the VPN at any given time. This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to free VPNs, although Windscribe Free is a notable exception to the rule, offering unlimited connections for free and paid users.

Free users won’t find support for port forwarding or SOCKS5 proxy, either. There’s no option for TOR over VPN, and multi-hop is restricted to paid users.

On a more technical note, Hide.me Free also lacks support for downloading OpenVPN or other manual configuration files (like WireGuard keys). This makes it a lot more difficult to use the VPN with a router. Lots of routers work with OpenVPN but, more often than not, they also require a configuration file that tells them exactly how to set up the connection and the IP address of the server they’re trying to access. Without this file, we can’t recommend Hide.me Free as a fully-fledged router VPN.

Features score: 7/10

Server network

We were unable to discern the total number of VPN servers in Hide.me Free’s network but, as free users are restricted to a small subset of locations, this isn’t a huge stumbling block.

Hide.me Free gives users access to servers in 7 countries: Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, USA. It is worth noting that Hide.me claims that free users have 8 locations to choose from but, on our Windows testing machine, we only saw the 7 listed above. Singapore is often listed as a free location, but during our testing, we saw it marked as Premium-only.

We took a closer look at the free locations to determine whether the listing in the app matches the likely real location of the server. We’re happy to say that all 7 locations are accurately listed, although the Finnish servermay be in Estonia.

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(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

As with other VPNs, Hide.me Free allows users to add servers to a favorites list for easy access and set specific servers as the default, so the VPN automatically connects to them when the big “Connect” button is clicked or tapped. It’s a nice time-saving measure we’re glad to see included.

One notable aspect of Hide.me Free’s server array is that 6 of its 7 locations are based in Europe, with the 7th being in the US. Lots of free VPNs have blank spots on the map, so this isn’t entirely surprising, but today, we find that most top-rated free VPNs have at least one server location in Asia.

For example, Windscribe Free has coverage in Hong Kong, and Proton VPN Free has servers in Japan. Extending the range of the server network benefits everyone, giving folks outside of Europe access to nearby servers, improving their overall browsing experience, and offering people elsewhere the opportunity to location-hop and check out a new region of local content.

Servers score: 6/10

Apps

Hide.me Free is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. This is a decent spread, and it’s nice to see that Hide.me doesn’t neglect its Linux userbase. We were also glad to see that Hide.me Free has its very own Firefox, Chrome, and Edge browser extensions, too.

There are also Hide.me Free apps for Apple TV, Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV. We’d like to laud this selection, but it is, unfortunately, irrelevant, as the free version isn’t quick enough to keep up with HD streaming.

Overall, nothing major is missing from Hide.me Free’s app offering, which is impressive for a free service, as are the three browser extensions.

The only hiccup to note is that the missing access to the OpenVPN files means that it's not going to work as a VPN for your router.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

First things first, we were impressed that Hide.me Free doesn’t require any registration or sign-up to use. We simply downloaded the app from the provider's website and followed along with an installation wizard. In fact, across all platforms, we didn’t run into any trouble when installing Hide.me Free.

The more we dug into Hide.me Free’s usability, however, the more cracks appeared. We installed Hide.me Free on a device that we’d previously used the paid edition on, and it automatically logged in, presumably because it didn’t remove our old credentials when uninstalling.

The dashboard warned us that our plan had expired and that it was time to upgrade, and there was no obvious “use free version” button – or even a hint that a free version existed.

Eventually, we double-clicked a server location in the location list, and a new “Trial Expired” screen appeared. It gave us the option to “Downgrade to a free plan”. When we hit downgrade, we were finally able to use Hide.me Free.

Of course, most users won’t be affected by this issue as they’ll be installing the app on a device that hasn’t used Hide.me before. Still, if you’re one of the unlucky few who has, it’s an unnecessary hassle. Hide.me could make life way easier by offering a “Downgrade” button to everyone with an expired plan rather than forcing them on a digital goose chase.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

We also experienced an odd quirk where, once the app had installed and displayed the “Finished” page, the app launched immediately. Most VPNs wait until you’ve closed the page to do this, so the app appeared before we’d even closed the installer. It’s odd, but it didn’t cause any issues.

Once the Hide.me Free Windows app was up and running, we were greeted by a quick tutorial that introduced us to all the most important sections of the app. If you’re an experienced VPN user, this won’t be all that useful, but anyone on the hunt for a good VPN for beginners will appreciate the easy-to-digest signposting.

Overall, we found Hide.me Free’s Windows app to be rather overcomplicated. It looks more like an operating system desktop than a simple app. The dashboard is designed to be customizable – it can contain all kinds of widgets that users can edit and reposition to suit their needs.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

One widget displays the currently-selected location and connect button, another holds the map of Hide.me Free’s locations, and a third contains your account information. There are even widgets listing your favorite servers, streaming servers, account information, a “Privacy Search” button that allows you to make searches from within the app, and a long list of links to Hide.me Free’s social media channels.

It’s a great idea in theory, and we always like to see customization, but it’s also almost entirely unnecessary. We didn’t need the dashboard to constantly tell us that we were using the free version, and we didn’t find ourselves needing immediate access to Hide.me’s X account. Plus, there’s already a link to the map view in the left-hand sidebar, rendering the one in the dashboard redundant.

We didn’t see any massive benefit to the dashboard. If anything, it actually makes the app look worse than the competition because the widgets have fixed sizes, meaning there’s a lot of wasted white space. Compare that to the super-compact Windscribe Free VPN UI which takes up no more room on desktop that it does on mobile.

Still, there are plenty of ways to avoid the dashboard. Clicking the “Locations” option in the sidebar takes you to a simple location list. From here, you can double-click any free location to join a server and, once you’re done, double-click again to disconnect.

When we tried Hide.me Free on iOS, we found that the layout is much more conventional, which was a plus for us. The iOS app is well-designed and works similarly to premium mobile VPNs. Joining a server is as easy as tapping the “Connect” button, and users have the option of selecting “Best location” to choose another free location.

Regardless of the platform we used, Hide.me Free did a good job of underscoring which features are available to free users and which aren’t. We selected the SmartGuard ad blocker, for instance, and the app warned us that our experience was “restricted”.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Digging into Hide.me Free’s advanced tools, we found that they’re organized unusually. Almost every other app we’ve tested puts options like auto-connect and split tunneling in a settings menu, but Hide.me Free lists them (and other significant tools) in their own Features menu. If you’re used to diving into the settings to find these things, you might miss them at first, but it’s nothing a bit of exploration can’t fix.

Hide.me Free’s actual settings menu is nice and easy to parse. It mostly consists of simple on/off options. The technical settings, however, are laid out a little differently across platforms, which can make it difficult to find the specific setting you’re looking to tweak.

Fortunately, Hide.me Free’s menus have a search box – which we found rather unique. It’s a great addition to the mix that makes hunting down tools quick and easy, so long as you know what you’re looking for. So, if you’re searching for a DNS setting but can’t find it, just type “DNS” into the search box, and Hide.me Free will display every setting that includes “DNS”.

During our testing, when we went about our regular browsing, we encountered a lot of CAPTCHA tests. These tests went on for a long time, too, often cornering us into 7 or 8 rounds of selecting the squares containing motorcycles or chimneys. This ground our browsing to a halt – and given that Hide.me Free also throttles speeds, it makes for a less-than-ideal everyday experience.

More CAPTCHAs usually means that the IP addresses on Hide.me's free servers aren't as fresh as they might be – either through age or the number of customers on those free servers using them – and that's not a great sign.

Finally, when we weren’t using Hide.me Free and made a big change to our network configuration (by connecting to a second VPN, for example), the Hide.me Free dashboard would suddenly appear. We hadn’t clicked on it or switched to it – it simply popped up.

We can only assume that the Hide.me Free Windows app thinks it’s solely responsible for our network settings and, if something changes, it’s the app that’ll take charge. It doesn’t matter all that much, however. We simply minimized the dashboard and went about our business as usual. It’s another small interface irritation, however, and it could become seriously frustrating if it happens regularly.

Ease of use score: 5/10

Speed and performance

We put Hide.me Free's speeds to the test using our 1 Gbps connection and the WireGuard protocol. The service achieved pretty decent results, clocking in at 415 Mbps on our Windows machine and 25 Mbps on Android.

While this isn't quite as quick as Proton VPN Free and Windscribe Free, both recording 900 Mbps, it's still more than you need for easy-breezy day-to-day browsing.

How we perform speed tests

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US, using a 1 Gbps connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.

It is worth noting that, during the course of our hands-on testing, we did notice inconsistencies in Hide.me Free's speeds. Initially, our testing machine reported that we had been throttled to a measly 1 Mbps, but subsequent testing proved more fruitful.

It's uncertain whether this vacillation in results will repeat but, if it does, it could cause issues for free users attempting to use Hide.me Free to stream, torrent, or check out social media feeds – as 1 Mbps just isn't enough to keep up with resource-intensive activities.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

As part of our real-world tests, we tried streaming Netflix and YouTube, and were successful on both occasions. The only caveat here is that we were forced to reload Netflix before the page loaded fully, and we did experience some buffering when initially tuning in to content. After about five minutes or so, however, the experience settled and remained smooth.

We'd still recommend looking to a paid service for the most reliable access to today's top streaming platforms (and smaller regional services), but Hide.me Free impressed us by holding its own.

Hide.me Free isn’t our first-choice torrenting VPN, either, despite the fact that all of its free servers appear to support P2P activity. You’re better off with PrivadoVPN or Proton VPN. Hide.me Free also lacks a port forwarding option – you’ll have to subscribe to the paid version to check it out.

Unblocking score: 6/10

Privacy and security

Hide.me Free uses AES-256 and ChaCha20 via WireGuard. There are a lot of protocols to choose from when you open up the app, though we typically recommend WireGuard, thanks to its blend of speed and security. We’re also glad to see that Hide.me Free ditched less secure options, like L2TP, a long time ago.

We also believe that Hide.me Free is geared more towards technical users and folks who want to learn about VPN technology and cybersecurity. This is most visible in the provider’s blog, where the company regularly posts in-depth articles covering essentials like encryption.

Digging into Hide.me Free’s server infrastructure, there was no real technical detail to be found, but the Network page on the provider site claims that: “Our servers are hand-picked, security-hardened and self-maintained… To protect our users’ privacy, we control and run a self-managed VPN network without any involvement of outsiders. Every server stores sensitive cryptographic keys in a temporary storage to minimize attack surface.”

Terms like “hand-picked” and “security-hardened” don’t raise any eyebrows. “Self-maintained” and “self-managed without any involvement of outsiders”, however, does. It seems unlikely or, worse, misleading. Unless Hide.me Free is running its own data centres, others will, at least, have physical access to the servers.

Servers storing keys “in a temporary storage” fit with them being RAM-based. We suspect that, if it’s true, Hide.me Free would simply claim as much. Instead, perhaps the provider means that the keys are stored in a folder of temporary files, which is always emptied when the server closes or starts.

Hide.me Free hasn’t implemented full post-quantum encryption, but it has achieved a degree of quantum resistance with its custom dynamic WireGuard configuration. Currently, Hide.me is working to deliver a better and more complete post-quantum solution.

Hide.me Free generates a random username and an internally-assigned (not public) IP address when users connect to a server. Any data related to their session links solely to that ID. The company says that this means usage data remains anonymous and unconnected to your real, public IP address.

Like a lot of VPNs, Hide.me Free’s apps include crash reporting and related telemetry features which might send app usage and troubleshooting information back to the company. This data is anonymized and not linked to you personally. It helps Hide.me determine if a lot of users are having problems connecting to a certain country – not that you, in particular, are.

Finally, as a cherry on top, Hide.me had its no-logs policy successfully audited in 2024. This is a good foundation to build on, and we’d like to see the service commit to annual audits of its policies, apps, and servers.

Privacy and security score: 6/10

Track record

Hide.me was founded over 13 years ago and is currently based in Labuan, Malaysia, and owned by a Malaysia-based IT security company, eVenture Ltd. The provider also has a second office in Zagreb, Croatia, according to its LinkedIn page.

The VPN makes some impressive claims, including that it was the first BSC VPN to offer IPv6 and WireGuard support, and that it was one of the first services to implement WireGuard in a privacy-friendly way.

In mid-2024, Hide.me published the results of a privacy audit conducted by Securitum. The security consultancy inspected server configurations, interviewed Hide.me staff, reviewed deployment procedures, and more. Hide.me didn’t publish the full report, unfortunately, and instead published a summary of the results. The good news is that the summary still contains plenty of detail.

Overall, the audit was positive with Securitum stating: “As a result of the audit, it was confirmed, that declared by Hide.me no-logs policy is indeed applied, and the audit did not reveal any issues on VPN container that could lead to a compromise of user privacy.”

We’re happy to see Hide.me invest in its transparency, but there’s more that could be done. We’d like to see Hide.me undergo more regular audits of different types (covering the provider’s apps, for example) and publish the full report afterwards.

The only blemish on Hide.me’s record we found was a Mac app bug discovered in 2019. The bug possibly allowed a privilege escalation, a type of exploit that malware could use to acquire extra rights on your system, perhaps infect your device, or cause other issues. This is bad as security vulnerabilities go, but it’s not uncommon; NordVPN had three of these reported in 2018.

Track record score: 7/10

Customer support

A lot of free VPNs don’t offer customer support to their user base. The good news is that Hide.me Free bucks this trend, and customers have access to 24/7 technical support.

There are also community forums. These are a handy resource for folks who prefer to do their own troubleshooting, and other users are generally happy to share their own experiences and ideas that you simply won’t hear from customer support. Unfortunately, these forums aren’t as active as they could be, so you may end up waiting a while for a response.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Hide.me Free’s support site contains a huge number of detailed articles, which is great, but there’s not a lot of material for beginners. The FAQ page warns that “port 25 is blocked for security reasons”, for instance, but doesn’t attempt to explain what port 25 is, why it matters, or why a user should care.

Fortunately, if you have any burning questions or want to clarify your confusion, free users get full access to the Hide.me Free support team. We opened a live chat session, reached position 1 in the queue, and an agent joined us within seconds. When we raised an email ticket, we received a helpful reply in under half an hour, which is impressively quick – and a much faster response time than we’ve seen with many paid VPNs.

Customer support score: 8/10

Pricing and plans

As Hide.me Free is the limited version of the full-fat Hide.me subscription, the plan naturally comes with notable omissions that are only available to paying customers. These include:

• Access to 91 server locations
• 10 simultaneous connections
• Port forwarding
• SOCKS5 proxy
• SmartGuard ad, tracker, and malware blocker
• Bolt "Fast Proxy" technology (speed booster)
• Multi-hop

A 2-year plan comes in at $2.69 a month - which makes Hide.me's premium offering one of the more reasonable options on the market. Still, Surfshark has it beat at $1.99 a month and a long list of innovative security-boosting tools. In comparison, Hide.me doesn't quite stack up.

Pricing and plans score: 5/10

Should you use Hide.me Free?

Hide.me Free does a decent job of holding its own against other free providers on the market, but the truth is that you can get a lot more for nothing elsewhere. The clunky Windows dashboard really lets the service down – other providers do it better.

On the other hand, if you can handle having a single device connection and deal with a few hiccups during setup, Hide.me Free’s customizable tools and features are some of the best on the market.

Being able to use the service without handing over an iota of personal information is an impressive plus, too. So, if you’re looking for a free VPN that’ll have your back during your day-to-day browsing, with an audited no-logs policy, Hide.me Free could be worth investigating.

Overall score: 64/100

Hide.me Free Alternatives

1. PrivadoVPN – from $1.11 per month
The best free VPN overall
PrivadoVPN is our favorite free VPN - and its premium version is one of the best options on the market. It's a much more reliable pick than Hide.me Free when it comes to streaming and, as an added bonus, it even offers P2P-optimized servers in 10 countries. The only downside to keep in mind is that PrivadoVPN Free caps users' data to 10 GB per month - which won't go far if you regularly stream, torrent, or game online.View Deal

2. Proton VPN – from $4.49 per month
The best free VPN
Proton VPN Free is a seriously security-first service that packs a ton of nifty tools into its free package. You won't have to deal with ads, you'll have access to a top-notch kill switch, and sleek apps for all platforms. Proton VPN Free doesn't impose any caps, either, giving you unlimited data to play with.View Deal

3. Surfshark – from $2.19 per month
The best cheap VPN (and also the fastest)
Surfshark is a premium provider, sure, but it's also the very best cheap VPN we've ever tested. For a measly monthly fee, you get a massive raft of functionality – unbeatable speeds that are ideal for streaming, torrenting, and gaming, ad and tracker blocker, and unlimited simultaneous connections. Plus, you'll be covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, letting you try the VPN in your own time before committing to a subscription.View Deal

If you need a fast and fully featured multifunction printer at a sensible price for your business or home office, I’d recommend the Xerox C235. It’s a mid-price printer retailing around $400 (£275), which is at the affordable end of Xerox’s own laser line-up.

With a print rate of 24 pages per minute (22ppm outside the US) it’s faster than any inkjet and it comes with strong security features, a large touchscreen and a high monthly print volume that all suggest it would function well as a workgroup printer in a shared office. It’s a compact desktop design capable of holding 50 sheets of letter or A4 paper in its ADF (automatic document feed), another 250 sheets in its main tray, and a single sheet in its multi-purpose tray.

There’s frustratingly little toner in the box, but high-yield cartridges for this model are available and they’re fairly economical, so if it lives up to Xerox’s usual standard for print quality, this could be a very safe purchase. Let’s find out.

Xerox C235: Design and buildImage 1 of 3

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Specs

Type: color laser 4-in-1 printer

Functions: Print, copy, scan, fax

Connectivity: Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi

Data storage slots: USB Host

Max print speed: 24ppm

Max paper size: A4/legal

Print quality: 600 x 600 dpi

Apple AirPrint: yes

Consumables included: 4 toner cartridges (500 black; 500 color)

Dimensions/Weight: 411 x 349 x 344 mm (WxDxH)/19.4kg

This conveniently compact MFD (multifunction device) weighs almost 43lbs or 20kg and it feels as sturdy as Xerox’s more expensive machines. The desktop design is small enough to share your desk, but too big and heavy to sit on a shelf or stow away after use. The main tray at the bottom can hold 250 sheets of paper and, unfortunately, you cannot add paper cassettes to this mode. The single-sheet multi-purpose tray is at the front for easy access and the 50-sheet ADF sits on top, above the scanner.

The large 7.1-inch touchscreen display is angled upwards for easy viewing and beside it is a USB Host port for printing from, or scanning to a flash memory drive. Connections for an Ethernet, fax modem and USB data cables are at the rear with the power cable port. It’s a very familiar form factor and its two-tone off-white casing with rounded-off corners looks functional rather than stylish. It’s your typical Xerox design.

Xerox C235: Features & specifications Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

This variant of the Xerox C235, or C235dni comes with all the features essential for use in a shared office and a couple of extras. That includes duplex printing, scalable copying, a fax facility, a multi-purpose input for single print jobs, integrated Wi-Fi with AirPrint and Chromebook compatibility, and some strong security software. The extras are a color touchscreen interface and USB Host port for walk-up printing from a thumb drive. Note that the C235dw variant has no fax facility.

I can think of a few features that I’d like to have seen at this price. There’s no Bluetooth or NFC connectivity, for instance, no automatic two-side scanning, and only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi (not 5GHz). To be fair, it’s almost the same feature set as the slightly more expensive Canon imageCLASS MF743Cdw. However, Canon beats this Xerox on three key points. With a maximum print speed of 24ppm (timed using letter-sized paper), the Xerox is slower, and it cannot be upgraded by adding paper cassettes as you can with the Canon.

It also ships with way less toner. The setup cartridges that come with the Xerox yield a measly 500 black pages and 500 color, compared with Canon’s 2,300 black and 1,200 color pages.

Xerox C235: Setup and operation

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

I had no problem setting up the Xerox C235. The printed quick start guide is clear, but it’s unlikely you’ll need it. The four cartridges come pre-loaded, so it’s simply a case of removing all the orange packaging tape, loading your paper and plugging in.

The printer’s touchscreen display will tell you when to input the date and your Wi-Fi password. Alternatively, you can download the helpful iOS/Android app called Xerox Easy Assist, which will connect you to your Wi-Fi network without bothering with passwords.

The conveniently angled touchscreen interface is a lot smaller than those found on Xerox’s more expensive models, but it is sensitive and makes the Xerox C235 an easy printer to operate. The paper tray slides smoothly and the multi-purpose slot is handily located at the front.

Xerox C235: Performance

The print quality is up to Xerox’s usual high standard, with uniformly bold and precise pages of text emerging reliably and promptly every time. For a laser printer, it’s rather slow to print, but it’s faster than the best inkjet printers and probably fast enough for any small to medium sized business. It also produces a finer finish than any inkjet when it comes to printing crisp characters on plain paper.

The Xerox C235 is also good at producing eye-catching color documents, maps and line drawings thanks to its vivid colored toner. Glossy photo paper for laser printers is harder to find than inkjet photo paper, but it is available and Xerox has a paper setting to support it. In fact, it is better than most lasers at recognizing paper types with 17 different presets to choose from.

But like nearly all laser printers, the print resolution is limited to 600 x 600 dpi and it’s not able to deliver the enhanced resolution and fine detail needed for photography. It’s good enough for printing handouts and mixed media documents, but the dots that make up the images will always be visible.

The ADF proved perfectly capable of pulling in piles of documents and copying them as single-sided or duplex duplicates, and it was hard to tell the copy from the original. Without the ability to duplex scan, however, did mean turning each document to copy the other side. If you want automatic 2-sided scanning, you’ll need to step up to the Xerox C325, or Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw.

Xerox C235: Consumables

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

The CPP (cost per page) for this printer is about average for a laser printer at around 3 cents (2p) per black page, and 12 cents (9p) per color page. That’s for standard yield cartridges. The setup cartridges in the box contain considerably less toner and will only yield up to 500 pages per cartridge. That seems pretty mean at a time when most ink tank printers are shipping with enough bottled ink for around 10,000 pages.

Xerox C235: Maintenance

Being a laser printer, you won’t need to worry about it drying out if left unused, but you will need to change the drum cartridges as they run out and replace the waste toner container when prompted by the printer. This container costs around US$20 (£18) and Xerox reckons it’s good for around 30,000 prints.

Xerox C235: Final verdictImage 1 of 1

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

The Xerox C235 put in a strong enough performance to justify its US$400 (£275) price tag and proved itself a reliable and easy to operate multifunction printer. Xerox has come up with a solid and compact design that would fit well in any home or small office and given it the features it needs to serve a workgroup in a small business.

It’s a pity there’s no scope to upgrade the 250-sheet paper capacity and the miserly amount of toner in the supplied setup cartridges is annoying, but the rest is all good. The touchscreen makes it easy to use, the front-loading multi-purpose tray and USB Host port are very convenient and the print quality is excellent.

For more print solutions, I've comprehensively tested the best small business printers and best home printers.

Marshall Kilburn III: two-minute review

The Marshall Kilburn III is the latest entry in the brand's mid-sized Bluetooth speaker range, aiming to combine huge, impactful audio with a pleasingly portable design. It’s also a model that hopes to outdo its predecessor, delivering far superior battery life, refined looks, and revamped acoustics. But that all comes with quite a bump up in price. So, is the Kilburn III truly worth the additional spend?

Well, given the truly swathing improvements across the board, I honestly believe that the answer is "yes". Some of the upgrades here are totally game-changing, none more so than the boost to battery life. The Marshall Kilburn III can offer 50 hours – yes, 50 hours – of playtime, which is more than double its predecessor, at just over 20 hours. That bolstered battery life means that the Kilburn III has more playtime than any other Marshall speaker – and far more than the majority of competition in this size and price category.

What really makes this model stand out – even compared to some of the best Bluetooth speakers – is its stellar audio performance. But let me be clear, other enhancements, such as an IP54 dust- and water-resistance rating, sleeker overall build and a premium gold control panel all come together to make the Kilburn III so much better than its predecessor, the Marshall Kilburn II.

Yes, the Kilburn III has fully reengineered acoustics, as well as bolstered 360-degree stereophonic sound. And the results from these adjustments are astonishingly good. This speaker served up incredibly clean, impactful bass, fantastically expressive mids, and energetic treble. No matter the genre of music you throw at it – it could be classical, it could be house, it could be rock – the Kilburn III nails it all, with beautifully full-sounding, omni-directional audio that’s seriously addictive.

It's also super-easy to adjust sound to your taste, either using the tactile knobs on top of the speaker, or via the Marshall app. The companion software opens up a number of EQ presets, a five-band equalizer, and even Placement Compensation, which optimizes audio for your space. It really is so easy to forge a sound that’s tailored to you, wherever you’re listening.

There are a bunch more features to unlock, too, such as battery preservation, Auracast, and charging bank functionality – which enables you to charge your phone through the Kilburn III’s USB-C port.

Arguably, though, the biggest draw of this model is its stunning looks. We’ve come to expect boundless beauty from Marshall over the years, with its eye-catching retro, amp-inspired design work translating beautifully into the world of speakers, headphones, and now even soundbars, following the launch of the five star-rated Marshall Heston 120. And it's no different with the Kilburn III.

Unlike the Kilburn II, gorgeous golden details used here for the logo and the controls really hammer home a premium feel. Pair that with neat speaker grilles on the front and reverse sides, pleasant knob and switch controls, as well as a red velvet-infused strap, and you’re looking at a masterclass in design.

The catch, as I flagged earlier, is that you’ll have to splash a fair amount of cash for the Kilburn III’s services. It will set you back $379 / £299 / AU$599 – which is by no means cheap. And it's also $80 / £50 / AU$100 more than the Kilburn II cost at launch. Having said that, the improvements are seismic and this is a model that's right up there with premium rivals such as the Sonos Move 2 and Bose SoundLink Max.

All in all, the Marshall Kilburn III is an exemplary Bluetooth speaker that absolutely aces everything that matters most. Amazing sound? Check. Luxury looks? Check. And a tasty set of features? Also, check.

Sure, if you want an option that’s perfect for taking to the beach, its IP54 durability may not quite do the trick, and I’d point you in the direction of our best waterproof speakers guide. But if you want a true statement piece with class-leading battery life and audacious audio, this is one of the best Bluetooth speakers on the market.

(Image credit: Future)Marshall Kilburn III review: price and release date

• $379 / £299 / AU$599
• Launched in May 2025

The Marshall Kilburn III first released at the end of May 2025, almost seven years after its predecessor, the Kilburn II. It has a list price of $379 / £299 / AU$599, which is $80 / £50 / AU$100 more than the Kilburn II at the point of release. But the price reflects a slew of improvements, which I’ll tackle in depth below.

You can grab the Kilburn III in either Black & Brass or Cream, but the variant you select should have little to no impact on the price you pay for the speaker.

Marshall Kilburn III review: specs

Weight

6.2lbs / 2.8kg

Dimensions

10.7 x 5.9 x 6.7 inches /

273 x 150 x 169mm

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.3, AUX

Battery life

50 hours

Speaker drivers

1x 30W woofer; 2x 10W full ranges

Waterproofing

IP54

(Image credit: Future)Marshall Kilburn III review: features

• Effective Placement Compensation
• Nifty companion app with decent EQ options
• Colossal battery life

The Marshall Kilburn III has many of the key features you’d be looking for in a modern Bluetooth speaker. You get all the basics, such as multi-point connectivity and fast-pairing, but there’s so much more to unlock in the Marshall app.

For instance, there’s Placement Compensation, where you can state if the speaker is positioned close to an edge, a wall or corner, and the speaker will adapt its audio output accordingly. I tried all of the different calibrations and found that the adjustments all make a significant difference, so ensure that you have the right setup for your space.

There are also some tasty EQ options to sink your teeth into. Yes, gone are the days of simply making adjustments to the bass and treble; Marshall has included a five-band equalizer here, enabling you to make a custom EQ that's to your taste. Alternatively, you can pick from a number of presets, such as bass, mid, and treble boost.

Some other nuggets include: battery preservation options, such as the choice to lower charging speed if temperature is outside the ideal range; Auracast broadcast tune-in; and M-button customization, which enables you to alter the function of the "M" shortcut on the speaker’s control panel.

The bottom line is, all of the crucial features are present – and super-easy to play around with in the Marshall app. Although, there are a few omissions that you’ll find on rival speakers.

For instance, there’s no built-in mic for high-quality, hands-free calling, something you’ll find on a model such as the Sony ULT Field 3. In addition, there’s no multi-speaker pairing (ie. no JBL PartyBoost equivalent), so if 100% volume isn’t enough or you want to create a multi-room setup over Bluetooth, it may be worth checking out a larger option in our guide to the best party speakers. I don’t typically keep multiple units of the same speaker at hand, and I prefer to keep calls more private, meaning neither of these missing features bothered me all too much.

Perhaps the best feature of this speaker, though, is its ridiculously long battery life. It delivers 50 hours of playtime, which is far, far more than most rivals in its price and weight class. Even the brilliant JBL Xtreme 4 can only just knock out 30 hours with PlayTime Boost active. Combine that with the ability to charge external devices via the speaker’s USB-C port, and you’re looking at a true powerhouse.

• Features score: 4.5/5

(Image credit: Future)Marshall Kilburn III review: sound quality

• "True" 360-degree stereophonic sound
• Incredible bass output
• But overall sound is still brilliantly balanced

I was lucky enough to have the chance to try the Kilburn III out early at Marshall’s HQ in Stockholm, Sweden, so I already had a decent idea of this speaker’s talents. However, having spent a bit more time with it at our music testing room at Future Labs, I have realized that the Kilburn III is even better than I’d first thought.

One of the first things that struck me about this speaker was its booming bass output – something I also loved about the brand’s Heston 120 soundbar. When blasting Keep That Groove by Vitess, the pumping low-end was translated ultra-cleanly, with no noticeable distortion or muffling. Bass didn't ever overpower synths or vocals, and I didn’t even feel the need to activate the Bass Boost EQ mode!

The Kilburn III treated me to clear audio, even when I pumped out the tunes seriously loudly. For instance, when playing One-Winged Angel by Nobuo Uematsu, the piercing strings, ominous bass drums, and fear-inducing vocals culminated beautifully, never outshining one another. This is in part thanks to the Kilburn III’s dynamic loudness tech, which automatically adjusts bass, mids, and treble, so you don’t lose out on any detail.

Speaking of which, the Kilburn III is able to put up a pleasingly intricate performance, even though it lacks any "hi-res" Bluetooth codec support such as LDAC or aptX Adaptive. Leading sax from In The Pocket by Eric Darius danced through our testing room, sounding tonally accurate and unrestricted, resulting in a nuanced and expressive interpretation of the track. And thanks to the speaker’s "true" stereophonic sound, it didn’t matter where I was listening from – I got full-sounding, clear audio at every angle.

Even instrument separation surprised me after throwing on Vantablack by Intervals, with in-your-face electric guitar sounds well defined in the mix, even with a deep, powerful bassline and thrashing drums running throughout.

I really did throw a huge variety of tracks at the Kilburn III, and I was truly blown away by its ability to effortlessly handle anything sent its way.

With an all-action rock banger such as Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz, intertwining guitars sounded satisfyingly forward, with drums expertly positioned for a next-level listening experience. And with an upbeat dance track – something perhaps not associated with Marshall – such as A Fresh Energy by Gaskin, pumping bass was never lethargic, while higher-pitched percussive elements came through with incredible vibrancy.

The Kilburn III really is a Jack of all trades…but it's also a master of each one.

• Sound quality score: 5/5

(Image credit: Future)Marshall Kilburn III review: design

• Stunning amp-inspired looks
• Excellent physical controls
• IP54 waterproofing is better, but nothing special

I already own the Marshall Stanmore III and have always adored the way it looks in my living room setup. I just love the retro feel of the amp-inspired design Marshall uses for its speakers, so you won’t be shocked to hear I very much like the look of the Kilburn III.

It has a premium-looking faux leather outercasing, stunningly finished speaker grilles on its front and reverse side, a gold-plated control panel, and sleek handle that has a red velvet underside. I didn’t so much like the white logo and black control panel on the Kilburn II – but this new model feels far more high-end, and it's one that is going to look like a true statement piece in any living space.

When I spoke to Marshall about the Kilburn III, that sense of the speaker being a "statement piece" was strong in the mind. I was assured that the speaker wasn't meant to compete with the company's rugged models – think the Marshall Middleton or Marshall Emberton III. And that may explain its sort of "meh" waterproof rating.

The Kilburn III is just IP54 dust- and waterproof-rated, meaning it's only really protected against splashing water, not water jets or full on submersion. Of course, a lot of portable Bluetooth speakers are now IP67-rated – sometimes higher – so if you’re looking for the most rough-and-ready model around, you should probably look elsewhere.

Regardless, there are other design aspects of the Kilburn III of which I am a fan. First of all, the tactile knobs on top of the speaker are incredibly effective and well built. You can alter volume, bass, or treble levels with these. There’s also a pin control, which makes a return from other Marshall models, for switching the speaker on or off. Perhaps the most interesting physical control, though, is the "M" button, which can be set to a variety of functions – such as sifting through EQ options – via the Marshall app.

On the reverse side of the speaker, you'll also find a USB-C port to charge the speaker or external devices, as well as a 3.5mm AUX port if you want to indulge in wired listening.

• Design score: 4.5/5

(Image credit: Future)Marshall Kilburn III review: value

• More expensive than its predecessor…
• …but a seismic improvement across the board
• Well-priced against rivals

I’ve flagged it a couple of times in this review, but the Marshall Kilburn III is significantly more expensive than its predecessor. Given the sheer scale and breadth of improvements, though, I think it’s totally worth it.

Battery life is much improved, it has a more premium design, and the re-engineered acoustics have taken the revamped Kilburn to new heights. Even around that $400 / £300 / AU$600 zone, it sounds well-worth every penny.

And even against some similar-sized competitors, I wouldn’t consider the Kilburn III to be overpriced. For instance, 2024’s JBL Xtreme 4 launched at $379 / £329 / AU$499, and after testing both models side-by-side, I'd give Marshall’s effort the slight edge sonically. Of course, given its age, you can often find the JBL Xtreme 4 on sale now, though.

On top of that, this model is cheaper than the Bose SoundLink Max at the point of release, which often still goes for the full $399 / £399 / AU$599. So, the Kilburn III is far from the priciest in its weight class.

• Value score: 4.5/5

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Marshall Kilburn III?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

Some small omissions can’t overshadow amazing battery life and in-app functions.

4.5/5

Sound quality

Beautifully balanced audio even at high volumes, no matter the listening angle.

5/5

Design

Attractive amp-inspired design with gorgeous golden details.

4.5/5

Value

A price bump over its predecessor, but sounds, looks, and feels well-worth it.

4.5/5

Buy it if...

You love the Marshall aesthetic
The Kilburn III stays faithful to the traditional Marshall aesthetic with its retro-looking amp-inspired design, adding a golden control panel and logo, upgraded tactile knobs, and a pin-style power switch, to make the Kilburn III a real beauty.

You need plenty of battery life
Arguably the most impressive aspect of this Bluetooth speaker is its outrageously long battery life. With 50 hours of playtime, depending on listening volume, there's more than enough juice to keep the party running into the next day…and maybe the day after that, too.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
The Marshall Kilburn III is an expensive speaker, and significantly pricier than its predecessor. Of course, I think there's enough to justify that hike; but if you’re on a budget, consider models such as the Anker Soundcore Boom 2 and the Marshall Kilburn II – both of which we’ve tested and enjoyed.

You want a big, powerful party speaker
The Kilburn III can get pretty loud, displaying great bass output given its size. But for gigantic, yet talented, sound, nothing beats the Tribit Stormbox Blast 2. It can even double up as a karaoke machine – what more could you want?

Marshall Kilburn III review: also consider

Marshall Kilburn III

JBL Xtreme 4

Bose SoundLink Max

Price

$379 / £299 / AU$599

$379 / £329 / AU$499

$399 / £399 / AU$599

Weight

6.2lbs / 2.8kg

4.63 lbs / 2.1kg

4.7lbs / 2.1kg

Dimensions

10.7 x 5.9 x 6.7 inches /

273 x 150 x 169mm

11.7 x 5.9 x 5.6 inches / 297 x 149 x 141mm

4.7 x 10.4 x 4.1 inches / 120 x 265 x 105mm

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.3, AUX

Bluetooth 5.3

Bluetooth 5.3

Battery life

50 hours

24 hours (plus up to 6 hours more with Playtime Boost)

20 hours

Speaker drivers

1 x 30W woofer; 2 x 10W full ranges

2 x 30W woofers, 2 x 20W tweeters

2 x 89mm transducers, 1 x 23mm transducer, 2x passive radiators

Waterproofing

IP54

IP67

IP67

JBL Xtreme 4
I still rate the JBL Xtreme 4 as one of the best party speakers around. I used it for comparison testing against the Kilburn III, and it still displays that clear, responsive, impactful sound that I remembered from last year. This model is a little more rugged, boasting an IP67 waterproof rating. On top of that, it can be found on sale fairly regularly now, so you should be able to grab it for less than the Kilburn III. Read our full JBL Xtreme 4 review.

Bose SoundLink Max
If you want big, bold, balanced audio, the Bose SoundLink Max is a top-tier option. Again, this one’s IP67-rated, so it’s a little better protected against the elements. It’s gorgeous, too, much like the other speakers in the SoundLink line – but there’s a severe drop off in battery life when you compare this to the Kilburn III. On occasion, you can find the SoundLink Max for $100 / £100 off, so if Bose has your heart, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for a sale. Read our full Bose SoundLink Max review.

Marshall Kilburn III review: how I tested

(Image credit: Future)

• Tested for one week
• Mainly used in our music testing facility at Future Labs
• Predominantly tested using Tidal

I tested the Marshall Kilburn III over a week-long period, making use of its full set of features, playing hours of music, and assessing all aspects of its design. I mainly used the speaker in our music testing room at Future Labs, so that I could judge audio quality in an isolated, controlled environment.

When blasting tunes, I mainly used Tidal, but I occasionally played songs over Spotify too. As always, I started the testing process by streaming tracks from our carefully curated TechRadar reference playlist, but I also listened to a ton of tracks from my own personal library. I ran a comparison test with the JBL Xtreme 4 to assess aspects such as sub-bass output, instrument separation, and sonic detail.

I’ve tested all sorts of audio equipment during my time at TechRadar, from flagship headphones such as the Sony WH-1000XM6, through to home cinema products such as the Marshall Heston 120. I’ve reviewed an array of speakers along the way from brands such as Sony, JBL, and, of course, Marshall. As a result, I’m more than familiar with the Kilburn III’s rivals, as well as what it takes for a speaker to stand out in a highly competitive market.

• First reviewed: July 2025
• Read more about how we test

ScalaCube has long been one of the best Minecraft server hosting options available. It offers a selection of products, all the features you could need, and some easy one-click install solutions.

In our ScalaCube review, we explain exactly why this host holds such a large share of the market. The cheapest plan costs less than a cup of coffee, while there are extensive options for those with more ambitious plans and a growing community. What more could you need?

ScalaCube plans and pricing

ScalaCube has nine different subscription options, covering different budgets. For American and European servers, Premium plans range from $2 to $96 a month for the first month, renewing at $5 to $192.

The cheapest plan comes with 768MB RAM and 10 player slots. That plan won't suffice for most needs but there are mid-range options such as 6GB RAM and 100 player slots for $18 per month (increasing to $36), right up to the $96 plan which has 600 player slots and 32GB RAM.

A dedicated IP costs a $20 one-off fee with automated backups costing a $10 one-off fee.

ScalaCube features

ScalaCube focuses on Minecraft hosting, and its products are backed by a suite of premium features. Some of the most notable are listed below.

One-click modpack installation

With ScalaCube, you will have access to one-click installations for more than a thousand modpacks. These include standard packs, Spigot, PaperMC, CurseForge, and more. You can also create and upload your own custom modpack if you would like to.

Server monitoring

On your ScalaCube dashboard, you will find a monitoring tab that enables you to keep track of your server’s RAM and storage usage. You can use this to help you decide whether or not you’re using the correct plan for your needs.

Interface and in-use

To start with ScalaCube, simply select the plan you want to sign up for and work through the checkout process. This is very straightforward, and you shouldn’t have any issues. The main dashboard is simple but easy to navigate and familiarize yourself with.

ScalaCube’s main dashboard is intuitive and easy to navigate (Image credit: ScalaCube)

One thing worth noting is that ScalaCube’s servers can take a significant amount of time to deploy. Expect to wait at least ten minutes, but this could stretch to an even longer period of time in some cases. 

The server management dashboard is packed full of a great selection of tools, including a backup system, FTP/SSH access, and a Minecraft launcher. Installing a new game server takes just a few clicks, and it’s a very straightforward process in general.

The server management dashboard is packed full of tools (Image credit: ScalaCube)Support

ScalaCube’s customer service is limited to online ticketing. You need to be signed in to your account to submit a ticket, and this is done from your main dashboard. The support team is only active from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (GMT+2). 

There are a number of self-help resources available via the support page. Here, you will find dozens of Minecraft tutorials outlining how to create your server, the best ways to configure it, and various other popular actions.

ScalaCraft has many tutorials to help you get started (Image credit: ScalaCube)Alternatives to ScalaCube

ScalaCube is a top-rated Minecraft host, and its free plan stands out as one of the best we’ve seen, but there are numerous alternatives worth considering. 

For example, Hostinger offers powerful Minecraft hosting at much lower prices than ScalaCube, making it a great option for those on a tight budget. Setup is very straightforward, and you will benefit from the Game Panel, which enables you to create a new server in just a few minutes. There are numerous server types, and prices start at just $4.99 monthly (on a 24-month plan) for 4GB RAM and 1 vCPU core.

Another popular option is MCProHosting, which enables you to host and switch between multiple games on the same server—a feature that ScalaCube doesn’t have. This makes it a great choice for those who like to switch between Minecraft and other games such as ARK, CS GO, Starbound, and Rust. 24/7 support is available if you run into any problems.

Final verdict

Overall, ScalaCube presents as one of the best Minecraft hosts available. Its free plan is great for those looking to create their first server, while its premium options cater to users of all skill levels. There are some small flaws, like limited customer service. But overall, there’s a lot to like here, and we’d highly recommend giving ScalaCube a try.

Further reading on game server hosting

We've got in-depth on all you need to know about the best Minecraft server hosting. For other games, check out the best game server hosting currently available.

MSI Titan 18 HX AI: Two-minute review

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

When I think "gaming laptop," I think of a portable machine with just enough juice to squeeze out 60 FPS in modern titles at medium settings. The MSI Titan 18 HX AI, however, seeks to break that mold and offer something closer to a desktop replacement, boasting a tagline of "total dominance."

With enough power under the hood to crank out 90+ FPS in fairly demanding titles like NBA 2K25 and Black Myth: Wukong, the MSI Titan 18 HX AI lives up to its name. It's a behemoth of a laptop, weighing in at 7.93 lbs (3.6kg) and sporting an RTX 50-series GPU.

It's not going to live out of your backpack - it's going to sit still on your desk and look pretty doing it. But it does offer much more portability than a traditional desktop PC.

As for that massive 18-inch display, it's a joy to game on. The miniLED 4K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate offer the perfect balance between high refresh rate competitive gaming and high fidelity story gameplay. You're probably not going to hit 4K and 120 FPS in most titles, but the ability to pick is enough for me, especially on a laptop.

There are only a few areas I wish the Titan 18 HX executed differently - namely, the trackpad and cooling system. While the trackpad is a nice size, I found myself muttering under my breath at the accidental inputs and unclear distinction between left- and right-clicks far too often.

As for the cooling system, I can tell you with complete certainty that this is not a fanless laptop. If you've ever heard a jet engine whirring up, you have a good idea of what the MSI Titan 18 HX AI sounds like under load.

And then there's the price. There's no beating around the bush; this system is going to cost you an arm and a leg. But when you consider the hardware on offer in a (somewhat) portable machine, that price point starts to make more sense. Still, it's a tough pill to swallow.

When all is said and done, the MSI Titan 18 HX AI is an incredibly performant machine with a few scant drawbacks and a price point that makes it perfect for a select few.

MSI Titan 18 HX AI: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? Starting at $5,799.99 / £5,999.99 / $11,799AU
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? US, UK, and Australia

With great power comes great...asking prices. You get what you pay for with the MSI Titan 18 HX AI, and you get quite a bit. At a starting price point of just under $6,000, with options to upgrade the CPU, RAM, and display for a higher premium, that's going to prove a very high barrier to entry for most.

Frankly, you can find a lot of the best gaming PCs on the market well under that price point and still have some cash left over to get yourself a gaming handheld or decent gaming laptop.

But if you're set on a top-of-the-line laptop, you'll have to pay for it.

It looks like the only model available in Australia is the MSI Titan 18 HX AI Dragon Edition Norse Myth, which features the same set of specs along with a unique graphic on the lid and trackpad.

• Price: 2.5 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX AI: SpecsMSI Titan 18 HX AI A2XWJG: Specs

Price

Starting at $5,799

CPU

Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 200HX series

GPU

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU, 24GB GDDR7

RAM

Up to 96GB DDR5-6400

Display

18-inch UHD+ (3840x2400), MiniLED, 120Hz

Storage

3x M.2 SSD slot (NVMe PCIe Gen4), 1x M.2 SSD slot (NVMe PCIe Gen5)

Ports

2x Thunderbolt 5, 3x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2, 1x SD Express Card Reader, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack

Wireless

802.11 be Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth v5.4

Camera

IR FHD (1080p, 30 FPS)

Weight

3.6 kg (7.93 lbs)

Dimensions

404 x 307.5 x 24-32.05 mm

MSI Titan 18 HX AI: Design

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

• Big and bulky
• Clean aesthetics
• Noisy fans under stress

In terms of design, the first thing you'll notice is how large this laptop really is. It's not afraid to take up space, and at 7.93 lbs (3.6kg), there's some serious heft to it. It's not making our list of the best thin and light gaming laptops anytime soon, but it was never trying to.

Instead, the MSI Titan 18 HX AI's design lends itself more to a desktop replacement than a portable gaming rig. Don't get me wrong, it would still be far easier to lug this laptop around in a large backpack, tote, or suitcase than a traditional gaming PC. But I wouldn't opt for a Titan if you're planning to take your gaming laptop to and from college or a friend's house.

Imposing size aside, the Titan 18 HX looks great. It features an understated black and grey design with subtle accents like an MSI logo on the clamshell lid and light texturing on the speakers and chassis. If you have to have your RGB, you'll be happy to know the Cherry mechanical keyboard is per-key customizable.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

Speaking of the keys, this is one of the first gaming laptops that didn't make me want to break out my own typing piece. It does come with a high-pitched metallic pinging sound on some keys that I'm not crazy about, but the typing feel is quite springy and satisfying. Plus, you get a full-sized keyboard with a tenkey numpad and function keys here, which is a big plus for quick adjustments and games that utilize a lot of inputs.

Moving to the port selection, you've got a Kensington security slot, two USB-A 3.2 Gen2 ports, and an SD Express card reader on the left side. On the right, you get two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, another USB-A 3.2 Gen2 slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Around the back side, there's an HDMI 2.1 port, an RJ45 slot, and a slot for your 400W power adapter.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

Overall, that's a really solid port selection you'd be hard-pressed to complain about. I love seeing the USB-A and USB-C combo here as a lot of PC peripherals (including the best gaming mice) still use that tried and true USB-A connection.

Now, for something I wish were a bit different: the cooling. When I tell you these fans are loud, it doesn't quite do it justice until you've heard them yourself. I had to raise the volume of the game I was playing multiple times just to hear over the whir required to keep that RTX 5090 cool.

This is only when the laptop is under load, so if you're just browsing the web or listening to music, you get a pretty noise-free experience. But this is a gaming laptop after all, and unless you're sticking to Stardew Valley (in which case, don't shell out for this laptop), those fans are going to make themselves known.

• Design: 4 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX AI: Performance

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

• Outstanding 1080p and 1440p performance
• Solid 4K capabilities
• Offers fast-paced, competitive gaming and gorgeous story gameplay

Performance is the name of the game for the MSI Titan 18 HX AI. With an Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX processor, RTX 5090 laptop GPU, and a whopping 64GB of DDR5 RAM (upgradeable to 96GB), this laptop is the heavyweight main event of the evening.

MSI Titan 18 HX AI Benchmarks

Benchmark

Score

Geekbench 6.4 Single Core

3,046

Geekbench 6.4 Single Core

22,082

Crossmark Overall

2,269

Crossmark Productivity

2,033

Crossmark Creativity

2,757

Crossmark Responsiveness

1,760

25GB File Copy Transfer Rate (MB/s)

2,636

3DMark Fire Strike

40,374

3DMark Time Spy

22,437

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

15,621

3DMark Time Spy Extreme

11,644

3DMark Speed Way

6,094

3DMark Steel Nomad

5,530

3DMark Port Royal

15,289

Assassin's Creed Shadows (Ultra High, 1080p)

54 fps

Black Myth: Wukong (Cinematic, 1080p)

59 fps

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra, 1080p)

71 fps

Metro: Exodus (Extreme, 1080p)

93 fps

Monster Hunter Wilds (Very High, 1080p)

87 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Very High, 1080p)

196 fps

Total War: Warhammer III (Ultra, 1080p)

220 fps

Web Surfing Battery Informant

2:16

PCMark 10 Gaming Battery Test

1:37

I've been on a sports sim kick lately, with titles like NBA 2K25 and Rematch dominating my playtime. While 2K25 is fairly demanding, the Titan chewed through it like nothing, easily spitting out 90-120 FPS at 2K resolution. Rematch, on the other hand, is pretty lightweight, but that just means the 120Hz display can really shine.

I also ran the MSI Titan 18 HX AI through synthetic benchmarks and tested it in several triple-A games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth: Wukong, and more, which you can check out in the chart above.

Performance definitely takes a hit at 4K, but many of the games are still playable at around 30-70 FPS. Plus, if you tweak a few settings and use upscaling where available, you can definitely land a sweet spot between decent frame rates and gorgeous 4K visuals, even without Frame Generation.

You'll also get a solid rendered FPS at 4K with DLSS 4, so Multi-Frame Generation won't introduce the kind of noticeable input latency that it would on less powerful devices, so feel free to turn it on and maximize the capacity of the 120Hz display when you can.

• Performance: 5 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX AI: Battery life

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

Considering this is a gaming laptop with a 50 series GPU, Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and a massive 120Hz display, the battery life here is actually pretty passable. Not to mention that with a machine this bulky, it's going to be plugged in most of the time anyway, so battery life isn't a big concern in my eyes.

It's not going head-to-head with the Razer Blade 16 anytime soon in terms of battery life, so if you're looking to game on the go at 4K without a power bank or outlet nearby, forget it.

But it does buy you about an hour and a half from full charge to dead under moderate stress (at 60Hz with RGB off), and if you need to break it out of your bag to send a few quick emails and watch a little Netflix, it'll get the job done.

• Battery life: 3 / 5

Should you buy the MSI Titan 18 HX AI?MSI Titan 18 HX AI scorecard

Category

Notes

Rating

Value

While you do get a lot of horsepower with the MSI Titan 18 HX AI, the price tag isn't pretty. You're looking at well over $5,000 for a gaming laptop here, even if you do get a mobile RTX 5090.

2.5 / 5

Design

Gripes are far and few between when it comes to design - I wish the trackpad was a bit more consistent, and the fans get very loud under load. But you get a fantastic port selection, gorgeous display, satisfying keyboard, and sleek aesthetics.

4 / 5

Performance

This is where the Titan 18 HX really shines. You can crank the settings at 1080p or 1440p, and even get a respectable 60FPS at 4K with some settings tweaks.

5 / 5

Battery Life

It's a powerful gaming laptop, so you shouldn't expect all-day battery here. But for the hardware under the hood, it's actually pretty decent.

3 / 5

Final score

Overall, the MSI Titan 18 HX AI is a fantastic desktop replacement that offers more portability than a traditional tower PC.

4 / 5

Buy the MSI Titan 18 HX AI if...

You need more portability than a tower PC
While "portable" isn't one of the first words I would use to describe the MSI Titan 18 HX AI, it is definitely easier to move than a traditional tower PC, monitor, and peripherals setup.

You want paramount performance from your laptop
There's serious power packed into this gaming laptop, including an RTX 5090, Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, and 64GB of DDR5 RAM.

Don't buy it if...

You're looking for something affordable
While the MSI Titan 18 HX AI is many things, affordable is far from one of them. You're going to have to pay for what you get here, and there are plenty of gaming laptops at half the price or cheaper.

You need to move your laptop often
While the Titan offers some semblance of portability, it wouldn't be my first pick for tossing in a bag and taking to work or a friend's house.

Also consider

MSI Vector A18 HX A9W
The Vector A18 HX A9W is like the Titan's little brother. It still packs a punch in the performance department, but at half the asking price.

Read our full MSI Vector A18 HX A9W review

Razer Blade 16 (2025)
The Razer Blade 16 (2025) is our top pick of the best gaming laptops for a reason - well, several reasons actually. It also comes equipped with an RTX 5090, but comes in at nearly $2,000 cheaper.

Read our full Razer Blade 16 (2025) review

How I tested

• I used the MSI Titan 18 HX AI for over three weeks
• Gaming, media, and everyday browsing
• Our suite of gaming laptop benchmarks, including synthetic and in-game

I used the MSI Titan 18 HX AI A2XWJG as my primary gaming system for three weeks. I played several different titles, including NBA 2K25, Rematch, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. I also put the Titan to the test with everyday browsing and media enjoyment on YouTube, Max, Gmail, and more.

We put the Titan 18 HX through its paces in our suite of gaming laptop benchmarks, including synthetic tests and in-game benchmarking.

If you want to learn more about how we test our laptops and desktops, check out this page.

• First reviewed July 2025

Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller: one-minute review

After around 15 hours with the Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube controller, I can safely recommend it if you’re looking for an authentic retro experience on the console. This is a pin-sharp, accurate recreation of the original pad, and thus is ideal if you’re planning to dive into those classic GameCube games as part of your Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription.

It’s a faithful revision, but that doesn’t mean the purple wonder hasn’t been modernized in some ways. You’re getting wireless connectivity here - a key selling point of the original GameCube’s Wavebird controller back in the day. Battery life also seems to be incredibly impressive; after around 15 hours of play, its battery indicator on the Switch 2’s ‘Controllers’ menu appears about half full. As such, I estimate you’ll get around 25-30 hours of life before needing to charge it up again.

Still, ‘authentic’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘perfect’, and there are definitely some more improvements I’d like to have seen, even if purists would cry foul. The controller’s d-pad is still far and away its weakest element, being incredibly small and fairly mushy to the touch. And while I do enjoy those pressure-sensitive triggers, they certainly do feel clunky in comparison to the best Nintendo Switch controllers of today.

The only other real downside to talk about is availability. That’s because the Switch 2 GameCube controller is only available brand new via Nintendo’s online store, which requires a Nintendo account to log in and buy products.

On top of that, you’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to be eligible for purchase. This will be a hurdle to some, but if you’re planning on buying the controller for its intended purpose, then you’re likely to already be subscribed to Nintendo’s online service.

(Image credit: Future)Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller review: price and availability

• $64.99 / £58.99 / AU$89.95
• Available exclusively via Nintendo’s online store
• A Nintendo Switch Online-subbed account is required for purchase

The Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube controller released the same day as the Nintendo Switch 2 console (June 5, 2025), and is available to buy now for $64.99 / £58.99 / AU$89.95.

While this is a good deal cheaper than the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller ($84.99 / £74.99 / AU$119.95), keep in mind that the use case for the GameCube pad is more limited, as it’s primarily designed for the Switch 2’s GameCube Nintendo Classics library.

As mentioned above, there are some hoops to jump through in order to buy the GameCube controller for yourself. It’s only available through Nintendo’s online store, which you’ll need a Nintendo Account in order to make purchases from. On top of that, Nintendo is limiting purchases to those who have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

While that’s an annoying limitation, it does make some sense. The Switch 2’s library of GameCube titles can only be accessed through Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack tier. Thus, if you’re buying the controller for that reason, you’ll probably already have a subscription to the online service.

Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller review: Specs

Price

$64.99 / £58.99 / AU$89.95

Weight

7.4oz / 210g

Dimensions

5.5 x 3.9 x 2.6in / 140 x 100 x 65mm

Compatibility

Nintendo Switch 2

Connection type

Wireless

Battery life

Around 25-30 hours

(Image credit: Future)Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller review: design and features

After the Sega Dreamcast, the Nintendo GameCube was my childhood system from that sixth generation of consoles (yes, I’m old, shut up). I spent those days playing hundreds of hours of amazing titles like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2, F-Zero GX, and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. As a result, I’m deeply familiar with the original GameCube controller, and it’s one of my all-time favorite gamepads.

In my eyes, then, the Switch 2 version of the GameCube controller had a lot to live up to. And I’m happy to report that this is very much the same controller, albeit with some modernities to make it more usable as a contemporary pad. Aside from the obvious wireless connectivity, that includes the introduction of Home, Screenshot, and GameChat buttons, as well as a small ‘ZL’ button that sort of acts as a left trigger for regular Switch and Switch 2 games (in addition to accessing the quick menu for the GameCube Classics library).

Otherwise, this is practically identical to the original controller, sans the wired port being replaced with a USB-C port. The analog stick, C-stick, d-pad, and that iconic-yet-unorthodox face button layout are all exactly where they should be, and all feel very similar to that 2001 pad.

Nintendo has even gotten the smaller details right. Like how the face buttons feel ever so slightly loose in the places, not so much as to feel flimsy, but enough where they can rock around under your thumb. It’s a weirdly tactile feel that I’ve always enjoyed. Elsewhere, the left analog stick has all the right contours, bearing the same grippy feel as the OG version. Fear not if you were after authenticity, then this is a GameCube controller through and through.

(Image credit: Future)Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller review: Performance

With all that in mind, design-wise, it should come as no surprise that the Switch 2 GameCube controller feels as good now as it did back then, even with my larger adult hands. Its curved design is a blessing even among contemporary controllers, and during play, my hands still rest comfortably around its grips with index fingers wrapping snugly over the triggers.

I primarily tested the Switch 2 GameCube controller with its relevant Switch Online game collection. At the time of writing, that meant plenty of gameplay in F-Zero GX, Soul Calibur 2, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Super Mario Strikers. Aside from some slightly noticeable input lag in Wind Waker (which is a problem with the emulation, as I’ve experienced the same with the Switch 2 Pro Controller), the GameCube pad performed excellently through wireless play.

It is also worth noting that the controller is natively compatible with Switch and Switch 2 games. That means you can use it for some of the best Nintendo Switch 2 games, including Mario Kart World, Street Fighter 6, and Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. But that doesn’t mean I’d recommend it.

There are two layers to my reasoning here. The first and rather obvious one is that the GameCube’s button layout is drastically at odds with the standard Switch format. On the GameCube controller, you have the A button in the middle, with B, X, and Y all orbiting it. If you’re dead set on using the GameCube controller for Switch 2 games, you’ll need to rely on in-game controller settings to form a more comfortable layout.

Additionally, the pad’s triggers register bumper inputs (L and R on Switch 2 Pro Controller, and Joy-Con 2), while the Z and ZL buttons are the triggers by default. That essentially means the placement has swapped around, which is more than a little awkward.

(Image credit: Future)

That’s where my second point comes in. The Switch 2 does not currently support GameCube controller button mapping from the Home dashboard, as it does for other official pads. This is a bit of a weird omission, and one I hope gets patched in somewhere down the line. Ultimately, though, I am happy that Nintendo at least offers GameCube controller compatibility as an option.

There are other control-related issues, but these are legacy problems at the very least. The triggers will definitely feel a little too clunky for some, and the d-pad is still far too small, rugged, and mushy-feeling. Would I have liked to have seen some improvements in these areas? Sure, but given my attachment to the original GameCube controller, I’m similarly hesitant to introduce any sweeping changes from a purist perspective.

Lastly, the controller at least seriously impresses in the realm of battery life. I tested the GameCube controller for around 15 hours, and while I didn’t fully drain the tank, I ended up using about half, according to the Switch 2’s controller menu. With that in mind, I’d estimate the pad houses anywhere between 25-30 hours of battery life, a similarly impressive number to that of the Switch 2 Pro Controller.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller?Buy it if...

You want that authentic GameCube experience
Switch Online’s GameCube library is set to grow each month. The controller is the best way to play these games in a faithful manner, and means you won’t have to fiddle around with the button layout on the Switch 2 Pro Controller or Joy-Con 2.

You want the full suite of official Switch 2 accessories
There’s already a decent handful of official Switch 2 accessories available to buy, including the Switch 2 Pro Controller and the Switch 2 Camera. The GameCube controller is another quality Switch 2-compatible product from Nintendo, and shouldn’t be missed if you’re after the lot.

Don't buy it if...

You’re not a GameCube enjoyer
Quite simply, if you’ve no interest in the Switch 2’s GameCube library, there’s little reason to own the controller. While its native Switch and Switch 2 game support is nice, it isn’t designed around them, thus its relatively awkward button layout could cause issues there.

Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller review: Also consider

The Switch 2 GameCube controller is a pretty specific piece of kit, made for a very specific set of games. Here are some alternatives in case you’re having second thoughts.

Switch 2 GameCube Controller

Switch 2 Pro Controller

8BitDo Ultimate 2

Price

$64.99 / £58.99 / AU$89.95

$84.99 / £74.99 / AU$119.95

$69.99 / £59.99 / AU$90

Weight

7.4oz / 210g

8.3oz / 235g

8.7oz / 246g

Dimensions

5.5 x 3.9 x 2.6in / 140 x 100 x 65mm

5.8 x 4.1 x 2.4in / 148 x 105 x 60mm

5.7 x 4.1 x 2.4in / 147 x 103 x 61mm

Compatibility

Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC

Connection type

Wireless

Bluetooth, USB Type-C

2.4GHz, Bluetooth, USB Type-C

Battery life

Around 25-30 hours

Around 40 hours

10-15 hours

Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller
Simply the best Nintendo Switch 2 controller available right now. Sublime build quality and best-in-class battery life make it a must-own for every Switch 2 owner.

Read our full Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller review

8BitDo Ultimate 2
A superb upgrade over the original model, the Ultimate 2 brings drift-resistant TMR sticks, remappable extra buttons, trigger locks, and some lovely RGB ring lights around the thumbsticks. A solid, cheaper option overall if the Switch 2 Pro Controller is pricing you out.

Read our full 8BitDo Ultimate 2 review

How I tested the Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller

• Tested for approximately 15 hours
• Played a range of GameCube classics and Switch 2 games
• Compared to the Switch 2 Pro Controller in terms of feel, performance, and battery life

I tested the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller for around 15 hours total, primarily using it for its intended purpose of playing with Nintendo Switch Online’s GameCube library. I also mixed in testing with some Switch 2 games, including Mario Kart World, Street Fighter 6, and Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Results were admittedly mixed here, as the GameCube controller’s button layout isn’t best suited for more modern titles.

I primarily played on my LG CX OLED TV, and compared its performance with GameCube games to that of the Switch 2 Pro Controller. Both are well-suited, though I did find myself having to tweak button settings for the latter to better suit the control schemes of titles like F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur 2. With the GameCube controller, I didn’t have to worry about this as the controls are all mapped as intended.

First reviewed July 2025

Read more about how we test

Netgear Nighthawk RS100: One-Minute Review

There’s an old saying about the zeal of the convert, and Netgear certainly seems to have changed its ways – or perhaps just its management – in recent months.

After establishing itself as the Apple of the Wi-Fi world, with a series of stylish but expensive routers and mesh systems, the company has recently brought out a number of more affordable products, culminating in the new Nighthawk RS100, which is not just Netgear’s most affordable Wi-Fi 7 router, but also more affordable than many of its rivals too.

Inevitably, though, that low price involves some compromises, and like several of the less expensive Wi-Fi 7 products that we’ve seen recently, the RS100 is a fairly basic dual-band router.

This means that it supports just the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands, and omits the high-speed 6.0GHz band that is also available with both Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. Even so, the RS100 provides Wi-Fi speeds of up to 3.6Gbps, which is still more than fast enough for most home broadband services.

One of the other advantages of Wi-Fi 7 is that the RS100 should also be more reliable than older routers when connecting to lots of computers, mobile devices and other smart devices within your home simultaneously.

That makes it a good, affordable Wi-Fi upgrade for many home users who may still have older computers and mobile devices that don’t need the full speed available with tri-band routers that also support 6.0GHz Wi-Fi.

(Image credit: Future)Netgear Nighthawk RS100: Price And Availability

• How much does it cost? $129.99/£129.99/ AU$259
• When is it available? Now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Product prices are wildly erratic all over the world at the moment because of he-who-shall-not-be-named. But, at the time of its launch, the RS100 was priced at $129.99/£129.99 and we were pleased to see that – unlike many Wi-Fi 7 products – it’s also available to our friends down under for AU$259.

That makes the RS100 a full $100 less expensive than the RS200 that we reviewed from Netgear recently. The RS200 is also a dual-band router, but it’s faster, with a top speed of 6.5Gbps.

Even so, the 3.6Gbps of the RS100 should still be perfectly adequate for most home broadband connections. Netgear also states that the RS100 can connect to as many as 50 devices simultaneously, and can cover areas of up to 2,000sq.ft, making it a good option for most small and medium-sized homes (although regions outside the US may quote an area of 1,500sq.ft due to differences in regional regulations).

• Value: 4/5

Netgear Nighthawk RS100: Design

• Compact design
• 2.5Gb Ethernet for broadband connection
• 4 Ethernet ports for wired connections

Unsurprisingly, the RS100 shares the ominous-black-obelisk design of other Nighthawk routers, although it’s actually quite a bit smaller than other models in the range.

The RS100 stands just 184mm high, 66mm wide and 122mm deep, so it’s easy to set it up on any convenient shelf or desk without taking up too much space.

That’s partly because the relatively modest speed of the RS100 only requires two internal antennae, compared to four antennae in the RS200 and RS300 models that we have reviewed recently.

(Image credit: Future)

However, one sign of cost-cutting is that the router’s black plastic casing does feel a little flimsy, so it’s probably a good idea for parents to place it somewhere that’s out of reach for curious little hands.

Netgear hasn’t cut too many corners, though. The RS100 provides a 2.5Gb Ethernet port for your broadband connection (WAN), along with four Gigabit Ethernet ports to provide wired (LAN) connections for a PC or games console if required.

The only minor compromise here is the lack of a USB port that would allow you to connect a USB storage device (or printer) to your network, but that’s not a major problem at this price.

• Design: 4/5

Netgear Nighthawk RS100: Features

• Easy to set up and use
• Poor parental controls
• Useful diagnostic tools

As always, Netgear makes it very easy to get started. You can just plug in the power supply and connect the RS100 to your existing router, and Netgear provides a QR code for downloading the Nighthawk app, and a second code that connects you to the new RS100 network.

But, reflecting the router’s low price, the Nighthawk app is a bit basic when it comes to providing additional features. The app automatically merges the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands into a single network, which keeps things simple for home users, although more experienced users might prefer an app that provides more detailed control over their network settings.

(Image credit: Netgear)

There are some basic diagnostic tools, such as a speed test to check network performance, and you have the ability to create two guest networks for visitors, or to block network access for individual devices. However, there are no parental controls available within the app, and the information on Netgear’s website indicates that the RS100 isn’t currently compatible with Netgear’s Smart Parental Controls subscription service.

Security features are also fairly limited, as you get just a one-month trial of Netgear’s Armor security service, but then have to pay $99.99 (around £75 / AU$150) per year to continue using the service.

To be fair, most rival manufacturers offer software subscription services as well, but there are other routers that still provide better parental controls and other features within their apps free of charge.

• Features: 3/5

Netgear Nighthawk RS100: Performance

• Dual-band Wi-Fi 7
• 3.6Gbps maximum speed
• 2.5Gbps Ethernet for broadband connection

Netgear Nighthawk RS100: Benchmarks

Ookla Speed Test – Single merged network

Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps/150Mbps
Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps/150Mbps

20GB Steam Download –Single merged network

Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps
Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps

The lack of support for the 6.0GHz frequency means that the RS100 is very much an entry-level router, but Wi-Fi 7 is so ridiculously fast that the router’s relatively modest 3.6Gbps should still be more than fast enough to handle most domestic broadband connections.

My aging office router struggles even with a modest 150Mbps broadband connection, and can only manage a speed of around 120Mbps even for devices that are in the same room as the router.

And, at the rear of the building, I actually have a ‘deadspot’ where the Wi-Fi signal is so unreliable that I end up using powerline adaptors to provide a wired network connection instead.

(Image credit: Future)

The RS100 solved all my network problems, though, immediately allowing devices in the same room to hit the maximum 150Mbps for both the Ookla Speed Test and game downloads on Steam. The router’s speed did dip slightly as I walked with our laptop along the corridor to the deadspot in the back office, but quickly recovered again and hit 150Mbps once more for both tests.

So, while the RS100 is no speed demon, it can still provide a worthwhile upgrade for many people who own an older router that only uses Wi-Fi 5 or 6, and my only real complaint is the lack of parental controls and additional features within the Nighthawk app.

Should you buy the Netgear Nighthawk RS100?

Category

Verdict

Score

Value

It’s very much an entry-level dual-band router, but the RS100 does provide a very affordable upgrade for owners of older routers.

4/5

Design

The plastic casing feels a little flimsy, so you’ll need to keep it on a safe shelf or desk. The hardware features are up to scratch, though, with 2.5Gb Ethernet for your broadband connection and four gigabit ports for wired connections.

4/5

Features

The Nighthawk app is easy to use, but it’s a little threadbare, especially when it comes to parental controls, and Netgear’s habit of trying to sell you additional subscriptions remains irksome.

3/5

Performance

It’s relatively slow for a Wi-Fi 7 router, and the lack of 6.0GHz support could be a deal-breaker for more demanding users, but a speed of 3.6Gbps will still be a welcome upgrade for owners of older routers.

3.5/5

Overall

It’s undeniably a basic, entry-level router, but at this price the RS100 is one of the most affordable Wi-Fi 7 routers currently available and worth considering if you’re still using an old router provided by your ISP.

4/5

Buy it if...

You’re on a budget
It can’t match the speed of more expensive Wi-Fi 7 routers, but the RS100 can handle most domestic broadband connections with ease.

You have a lot of gadgets
Millions of people are still using computers and mobile devices that only support Wi-Fi 5 or 6, so they really don’t need to splash the cash on a cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7 router.

Don't buy it if...

You’re a gamer
The RS100 is a basic, dual-band router and lack support for the high-speed 6.0GHz band, so it’s not the best option for gamers who need fast and reliable network coverage.

You're a parent
The Nighthawk app doesn’t provide any free parental controls and – at the moment – doesn’t even support Netgear’s separate Smart Parental Controls subscription service.View Deal

Netgear Nighthawk RS100: Also consider

Netgear Nighthawk RS300

It’s twice the price, but at 9.3Gbps the tri-band RS300 is more than twice as fast as the RS100, and will be a good option for owners of new computers and mobile devices that support Wi-Fi 7 and the 6.0GHz frequency band.

Eero 7

Mesh wi-fi systems that support Wi-Fi 7 are still fairly expensive, but the Eero 7 is one of the more affordable options for larger homes that need a far-reaching mesh system.

Netgear Nighthawk RS100 vs its competition

Router

Netgear Nighthawk RS100

Netgear Nighthawk RS300

Eero 7

Price (as reviewed)

$129.99/£129.99/ AU$259

 $329.99/£299.99/AU$649

$349.99 / £349.99

Wi-Fi Type

Dual-band Wi-Fi 7 (2.4GHz, 5.0GHz)

Tri-band Wi-Fi 7

Dual-band Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi Speed

3.6Gbps

9.3Gbps

1.8Gbps

Connectivity

1x 2.5Gb Ethernet (WAN), 4x Gigabit Ethernet (LAN)

1x 2.5Gb Ethernet (WAN), 2x 2.5Gb Ethernet (LAN), 2x Gigabit Ethernet (LAN), 1x USB-A (3.0)

2 x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 1 x USB-C port

Processor

Quad-core 2.0GHz

Quad-core 2.0GHz

Quad-core 1.1GHz

Memory

1GB RAM

2GB RAM

1GB RAM

Storage

512MB NAND Flash

512MB NAND Flash

4GB Flash

Dimensions

184 x 66 x 122mm

249 x 150 x 102mm

130 x 130 x 64mm

• First reviewed: July 2025

Action adventure title Donkey Kong Bananza harnesses the powerful Nintendo Switch 2 hardware to offer a gigantic, open-ended world with dazzling destruction that lets you bash, smash, and crash through practically anything.

Its seemingly endless stream of hidden collectibles and secrets makes exploration especially rewarding and ensures that each of its many massive layers presents tens of hours of entertainment, even after the credits roll.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: July 17, 2025

It feels like a true follow-up to 2017’s ground-breaking Super Mario Odyssey, with everything that made that game so enjoyable dialed up to the max. That includes an attempt at more elaborate storytelling, though unfortunately this is the one area where the overall package falters. Its basic plot is enhanced by compelling voice acting, though it feels a tad rushed - especially when the action kicks into overdrive towards the end.

This isn’t a dealbreaker by any means as the beautiful visuals and wonderfully expressive animations ensure that every cutscene is still thoroughly enjoyable, and ultimately does little to detract from what is undoubtedly one of the very best Nintendo Switch 2 games right now.

Go bananas

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Set in a labyrinthine subterranean world beneath the distant Ingot Isle, you would be forgiven for thinking that the environments in Donkey Kong Bananza would be nothing more than a series of dark caves. Although it’s true that the story starts in a rather cramped, conventional mineshaft, this quickly gives way to a string of bright and colorful locations that wouldn’t look out of place in a Super Mario game.

The themes of each one aren’t anything that you haven’t experienced before, an ice world or a poison jungle is hardly uncharted territory, but are nevertheless elevated by some imaginative flair. The ice world, for example, is styled like a massive freezer drawer, its rolling snowing hills covered with colorful scoops of ice cream and mounds of densely packed chocolate sprinkles, while the poison jungle is home to a fancy egg-shaped hotel. It’s admirable that, after all these years, Nintendo can still find ways to make such well-worn concepts feel exciting and fresh.

The distinct animal residents of each world contribute to this too, and there are plenty of non-playable characters (NPCs) to chat to on your travels that dispense everything from useful tips to interesting worldbuilding and occasionally little jokes or references. The end result are stages that you desperately want to spend as much time as possible in, which is easy to do given the sheer volume of collectibles here

Best bit

(Image credit: Nintendo)

There’s plenty of variety, with some levels featuring their own memorable segments. A favorite is a full-on racing minigame which sees DK and Pauline facing off against Diddy and Dixie Kong on the back of a charging rhinoceros.

Donkey Kong Bananza is densely packed with hidden goodies, the most significant of which are the Banandium gems. These crystalline bananas are Donkey Kong’s favorite snack, and can be found absolutely anywhere, buried beneath mounds of earth, hanging from the top of undersides of hard-to-reach ledges, and so much more.

You’re practically always within a few meters of a new gem, highlighted on screen every time you use a sonar-like clap, and it’s impossible to resist the temptation of going after each and every one.

Most of the time, this involves exploiting the fully destructible terrain, tearing through layers of material with immensely cathartic punches. Building tunnels is as simple as mashing the B button for a downward hit or pushing Y for a forward attack while walking in the direction that you’re facing. X targets the surface above you, ideal for breaking up through to the surface once you’ve reached your destination.

The destruction is absolutely glorious, and your efforts are rewarded with constant bursts of gold that you can hoover up and later spend on constructing hideouts (little rest points that allow you to restore health easily), placing things like barrel launchers that let you traverse more easily, or in at a vendor that sells useful items like health boosts.

Monkeying around

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Early on, you’re introduced to the young Pauline, who accompanies DK throughout much of his adventure. The pair have a great chemistry, with plenty of amusing facial expressions to chuckle at, though the overall plot, which follows DK and Pauline’s quest to reach the magical core buried deep beneath the surface, is sloppy at times.

The main antagonists, three employees of the sinister mining group VoidCo, don’t get a huge amount of screen time, and a dramatic reveal in the final hour is sudden and unexpected, but as a result seems almost shoehorned in.

Still, I was never bored by the events unfolding on screen as they’re conveyed with some beautifully animated cutscenes. In fact, every aspect of Donkey Kong Bananza is absolutely stunning and brimming with remarkably complex effects.

Materials are all heavily stylized, but just lifelike enough to look believable. Every hit on a surface spawns realistic debris, and you can frequently set off complex chain reactions as more destructive materials, such as explosive gold chunks, interact.

In addition to providing plenty of charming interactions as the pair explores, Pauline also has her own destructive special abilities based on her singing. She can clear magical purple obstacles placed by VoidCo and, if you’ve managed to accumulate enough gold, trigger a powerful Bananza transformation.

This morphs DK into another giant animal, be that a flying ostrich that allows you to float for a short amount of time or a racing zebra that can sprint over collapsing surfaces.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Each one is unique with some creative skills and can be enhanced, alongside your base abilities, by investing points into the robust skill tree. To quickly rack up skill points, granted for every five Banandium gems consumed, I’d recommend pursuing the challenge levels.

These are accessed via little doors strewn throughout each world, and are all memorable and unique. Highlights for me include a full-on 2D section in the style of Donkey Kong Country Returns, complete with a few cool easter eggs to discover, and the many combat challenges that have you using all of your moves to try and defeat a set number of foes within a strict time limit.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The clothing system is also surprisingly important. Like Super Mario Odyssey, you can outfit your protagonists with a wide range of eye-catching options using a currency acquired in each level (fossils embedded in rocks), though this time around, each item of clothing can provide powerful bonuses too. Experimentation is encouraged, and you can upgrade certain clothing to dramatically enhance its effects if you're relying on it frequently.

Investing in your gear can make a big difference when it's time to face off against one of the powerful bosses, usually found at the end of each layer. Encounters are well-designed, taking full advantage of the destruction system and each Bananza transformation. It’s a shame that some are repeated a couple of times later on, which certainly diminishes the novelty, but the repeats are at least well spaced out so as not to become annoying.

This all comes together in a game that is a delight to pick and play, and almost impossible to put down. Donkey Kong Bananza is a brilliant showcase of the power of the Nintendo Switch 2, thanks to its crisp visuals and showstopping destruction, and the hundreds of collectibles will provide tens of hours of entertainment even after the credits roll for those willing to put the time in.

It’s a worthy Super Mario Odyssey successor in almost every regard, and if Nintendo can keep this level of quality up with future Nintendo Switch 2 releases, it’s clear that the console will have a long and successful run just like its predecessor.

Should I play Donkey Kong Bananza?

(Image credit: Nintendo)Play it if…

You want hours and hours of fun
With loads of levels and hundreds of hidden collectibles, Donkey Kong Bananza is a massive adventure that can easily provide hours and hours of entertainment. Pick it up if you want a Nintendo Switch 2 title that’s going to last you a very long time.

You crave bombastic destruction
The destruction system in Donkey Kong Bananza is particularly impressive, letting you smash your way through almost the entire world. It’s a great showcase of what the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware can do.

You loved Super Mario Odyssey
Hailing from the same development team, it shouldn't come as much surprise that Donkey Kong Bananza shares a lot in common with Super Mario Odyssey. If you loved that high-quality Nintendo Switch platformer, then you’re going to adore this.View Deal

Don’t play it if…

You expect the best story around
Although entertaining, the story here could be better. The main antagonists don’t get much screen time, and a big reveal feels out of place.

Accessibility

Donkey Kong Bananza has some accessibility features. This includes an assist mode, which makes the game easier overall. Camera controls can also be adjusted with inverted options.

Your main actions can also be tweaked with a variety of button presets. Subtitles are enabled by default and featured throughout though the size, font, and color cannot be adjusted.

How I reviewed Donkey Kong Bananza

I played almost 20 hours of Donkey Kong Bananza on Nintendo Switch 2. During that time, I reached the credits of the main game and made a fair dent in hoovering up many of the available collectibles.

I relied on the Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode for the majority of my playtime, though I also tested it in docked mode with a 4K TV and the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. For audio, I used the console’s built-in speakers and a pair of Final VR500 gaming earbuds.

First reviewed July 2025

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There's a lot to consider, but next we'll look at some of these hosting types, find out what they offer, what they don't, and whether they could be a good choice for you.

Shared hosting 

Shared hosting is a system where your website and many others are stored on the same web server. Sharing both resources and costs means shared hosting can be slow, but it's also very cheap, and can be a good choice for smaller sites.

InMotion Hosting's shared hosting starts with its Core plan (from $2.24/mo for first time buyers) This includes a free domain and supports two websites, provides 100GB of storage and unlimited bandwidth. The plan only comes with 10 email addresses (most accounts have no limit) but it allows you to host two websites, where other starter plans often allow only one. There's free SSL, malware protection and 1-click WordPress installation, while the excellent cPanel has everything you'll need to manage your site.

The Launch Plan only support 25 websites but Power and Pro plans are unlimited. They handle as many email addresses as you need, and have some unusual speedup features including ultra-fast NVMe storage, for instance, something we rarely see with shared hosting.

Billing isn't as flexible as we'd like. The top Pro plan has a monthly payment option, but everything else is only available in one, two or three year terms. (There are similar issues with other ranges.)

Unsure about signing up for long-term contracts? Us too, but InMotion Hosting offers more protection than most with a 90-day money-back guarantee (three times the industry standard 30 days), plenty of time to be sure if this is the right package for you.

Prices before and after renewal for a three year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

Core

$2.24

$11.99

Launch

$3.59

$14.99

Power

$3.59

$18.99

Pro

$8.09

$25.99

WordPress hosting with In InMotion Hosting (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)WordPress hosting

WordPress is the world's favorite website creator, a one-stop tool which can build anything from simple personal sites to busy web stores and the most heavy-duty business-critical projects.

InMotion Hosting's shared plans have an automatic WordPress installer, good news if you're just looking to learn the basics. But its specialist WordPress hosting range goes further, with server-level speed optimisations, extra security to keep hackers at bay, automatic WordPress updates and more.

Prices start at only $2.62 a month over three years ($12.49 on renewal) for the WP Core plan. It's limited to two websites and ten email addresses, and there are no backups, but InMotion Hosting suggests a WP Core site could handle 20k visitors a month, more than enough for many users.

The $15.49 a month WP Launch plan adds offsite backups, and support for unlimited websites and email addresses, and enough resources to support 50k visitors a month, making it our budget pick.

These are capable plans, fairly priced, with the power to handle (at the top of the VPS range) perhaps a million visitors a month. But the WordPress-specific features are much the same as you'll find with other providers. If you're after real WordPress power, WP Engine offers genuinely Premium themes, intelligent updating, smart performance optimizations, page speed testing and more.

There are also managed plans. Fully managed starts from $200/mo and supports 250,000+ monthly visits. It's built on a VPS server and comes with a fully dedicated account manager.

Prices before and after renewal for a three year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

WP Core

$2.62

$12.49

WP Launch

$3.97

$15.49

WP Power

$3.97 (really)

$19.49

WP Pro

$8.47

$26.49

InMotion's plans have lots of features as standard (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)VPS hosting 

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is a mid-range option which gives your website more server power, for a little extra cost. You're likely to see better and more consistent speeds, with fewer of the slowdowns that often happen with shared hosting.

InMotion Hosting has five VPS plans. These start at $4.49 a month over three years for a plan with 4 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD storage and 2 vCPU core server, and range up to $111.99 for 32GB RAM, 460 GB NVMe SSD storage and 32 core system.

Although these prices are more expensive than some, that's because they're stuffed with valuable features. Every plan gets a free migration, at least two dedicated IPs and a choice of control panel. They're fully managed (InMotion Hosting support can help with updating your VPS and troubleshoot any server issues for you), and all plans come with Launch Assist, two hours with their expert System Administrators to help you set up and optimize the server, migrate a previous site, whatever else you need.

These are powerful products which could work for many levels of user. The 4 GB plan is ideal for mid-range sites which have outgrown shared hosting, or demanding projects which need more resources (a busy photography site where users can explore many image galleries, for instance.) Upgrading to a more powerful VPS may help with sites where consistent performance is critical - a web store where just a brief slowdown might drive customers away - or if you need to host multiple sites on the same server.

Pricing before and after renewal for a three year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

VPS 2 vCPU

$4.49

$13.99

VPS 4 vCPU

$9.99

$16.99

VPS 8 vCPU

$19.9

$46.99

VPS 12 vCPU

$31.99

$76.99

VPS 16 vCPU

$44.99

$111.99

Minecraft server hosting

Like Hostinger, InMotion Hosting doesn’t promote its Minecraft Server Hosting offerings as much as it does its other services, but it’s worth checking out. Eight different plans are available from the minimal Grass server which is $6 per month and offers 2GB RAM, right up to its hefty Netherite server for $185 and providing 32GB RAM.

All server plans take less than five minutes to set up, include a dedicated IP address, full access to files, and 99.9% server uptime. There’s also DDoS protection and 24/7 server support. A 7-day money-back guarantee is a good way to try things out.

Its game control panel is reasonably intuitive to use and clearly laid out, so you can easily pick out different mods or types of server.

It’s these kind of things that ensure InMotion Hosting feature in our look at the best Minecraft server hosting.

Dedicated hosting 

Opt for dedicated server hosting and your site gets the full power of a server all to itself. No more unexpected slowdowns because a neighboring site is suddenly really busy, because there are no neighboring sites: the server is entirely yours. If you're running a large business-critical site, where speed matters, even when you're really busy, dedicated hosting is a must-see.

InMotion Hosting has five dedicated hosting plans. These begin at an affordable $69.99 a month for a managed 4 core/ 8 thread, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD system, and range up to a hugely powerful plan that provides Xeon E-2388G chips with a 8 cores/ 16 threads , 128 GB DDR4 RAM and 2x34TB NVMe RAID-1 storage. That'll cover most sites and requirements, but if you're unhappy, a 'Build your own' plan allows you to choose whatever CPU, RAM, storage and other features work for you.

These aren't the lowest prices around, but as with other InMotion Hosting products, that's because the company isn't skimping on the server specs. There's a 1Gbps network connection, for instance; unmetered bandwidth; at least 50GB free backup space; free cPanel and WHM licenses, free SSL, free website migrations, and more.

It's good to see that InMotion Hosting now offers a data center in the Netherlands, as well as the US, a welcome performance boost if your main audience is outside of North America.

Overall, InMotion Hosting's dedicated products offer a capable full-featured service which can handle some of the most demanding business and speed-critical tasks.

Pricing before and after renewal for a one year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

Aspire

$35.00

$69.99

Essential

$99.99

$99.99

Advanced

$169.99

$169.99

Elite

$219.99

$219.99

Extreme

$249.99

$249.99

InMotion Hosting's website builder solution (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)Does InMotion Hosting have a website builder?

InMotion Hosting includes the BoldGrid WordPress Website Builder for free with all its plans. Choose a prebuilt starter site from 200+ industry-specific designs, drag-and-drop blocks (text, pictures, videos, forms, more) onto the page, and you can customize them with your own text and photos just like any other editor.

BoldGrid is easy to use, and a handy site-creating alternative if regular WordPress feels a little too intimidating. But it doesn't have a lot of features, and is really only suitable for creating small-scale sites.

HostGator's Gator website builder is also simple and seriously cheap (from $3.84 a month), but even the most basic plan supports a tiny web store and email campaigns. At the top of the market, Wix has great templates, stacks of features, an intuitive editor, and the power to handle almost any web task.

Surplus control panel options (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)How easy is InMotion Hosting to use? 

InMotion Hosting's customer account panel looks more appealing than most, with the usual text links replaced by 30+ colorful cPanel-like icons. Unfortunately, many of these are for functions you'd use rarely, if ever. Add another credit card; buy or transfer in a new domain; buy a Sucuri website security package; read InMotion Hosting's GDPR statement. These should be tucked away in a menu, not permanently taking up valuable screen real estate as though you might need them every day.

There's a separate set of icons for each hosting package you have, but they share a similar problem. There are some useful shortcuts, for example to launch cPanel, or Softaculous to install WordPress or hundreds of other apps. But many of the others are less helpful. How often do you think you'd use functions like 'Request Email Limit Exemption' or 'Simple CSR Request for 3rd party SSL', for instance?

Fortunately, you don't have to spend long in the account panel. One click launches Softaculous, you can have WordPress ready to go within a minute or two, and the excellent cPanel has all the email, file, database and other management tools you need to get your site running smoothly.

InMotion Hosting GTMetrix performance (Image credit: GTMetrix)How fast is InMotion Hosting? 

We began our performance tests by signing up for an InMotion Hosting shared plan, then setting up a simple WordPress website based on a standard template.

Next, we measured our server's uptime by using monitoring service Uptime.com to check the site every five minutes over 14 days. InMotion Hosting managed a perfect 100% uptime, with a speedy server response time of 0.340 seconds (that's third fastest in our last 15 tests.)

We measure website speed by using GTMetrix to access a test page, and calculate how long it takes to load the main content (a figure technically known as Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP.) The lower the LCP, the more snappy and responsive your site feels.

InMotion Hosting scored an LCP of 0.610 seconds, fourth fastest in our recent tests, and less than half the time of budget shared plans from Domain.com (1.5 seconds) and iPage (1.6 seconds).

Results of InMotion Hosting's load time of a single page (Image credit: K61)

Measuring the load time of a single page is useful, but we also use k6 https://k6.io to discover how a site performs when it has 20 visitors accessing a page at the same time.

Our server did a good job, handling a peak of 20 requests per second without difficulty, and averaging a mid-range but very acceptable 15 requests per second.

These are positive results, but keep in mind our site was hosted on a shared plan. Our figures can't tell you how InMotion Hosting's VPS, dedicated or other plans might compare to the competition.

What is InMotion Hosting's support like?

InMotion Hosting offers 24/7 US-based support via phone, email and live chat, a web Support Center, a customer exclusive Knowledge Base and community forums.

Their website has a 5,000+ articles, guides and tutorials on the full range of hosting topics, way more than you'll see with most providers. The search engine doesn't do a good job of sorting its results by relevance, so it might take some scrolling to find what you need, but there is a lot of detailed and helpful content to explore.

They also have a Customer Exclusive Knowledgebase which is constantly being updated with new guides. Customers must be logged into their AMP to access the knowledgebase.

Ticket support wasn't the fastest we've seen, with replies to even relatively basic product queries taking around four hours. These typically pointed us in the right direction, though sometimes didn't have all the details we'd expect.

Fortunately, live chat gave the best results. We found responses were speedy and helpful, and the agents were able to give us useful answers to any extra questions we asked.

Final verdict

Whether you're a total website newbie or a big business running a huge and high-traffic web store, InMotion Hosting has a fast and feature-packed product which can help. A must for your web hosting shortlist.

InMotion Hosting FAQsWhat payment types does InMotion Hosting support?

InMotion Hosting accepts payment via credit or debit card, PayPal and U.S. purchase order or check.

Does InMotion Hosting offer refunds?

InMotion Hosting has a '100% satisfaction guarantee' which promises your money back if you ask for it within a very generous 90 days.

There are some exceptions. There's 90 days of protection for all shared hosting, 6 month and longer VPS and reseller hosting packages. But dedicated servers and monthly-billed VPS and reseller plans get 30 days.

Most hosts only give 30 days across the range, though, so even taking the small print into account, InMotion Hosting tramples over the rest.

InMotion Hosting uptime performance (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)Does InMotion Hosting have an uptime guarantee?

InMotion Hosting's website doesn't quote an uptime guarantee for shared hosting. Most hosts do a little more, typically claiming 99.9%, and with some explanation of how this is calculated and the compensation you might get if this isn't met.

The company looks to do better with VPS hosting, claiming each VPS is on a server 'with 99.99% uptime.' It doesn't use the word 'guarantee', though, and there's nothing in the small print to explain how this 99.99% is calculated or guaranteed.

Confusingly, the website quotes two figures for dedicated servers. At the top of the page it says servers are on a '99.99% uptime Tier 1 network'; at the bottom, it says current network uptime is 99.999%. Again, there's no mention of a guarantee.

We prefer hosts to offer more clarity, and offer compensation if expected uptime isn't met. For example, Scala Hosting's Uptime Guarantee says customers get all their monthly fees back if unscheduled downtime is greater than 1% (that's more than around 7 hours 18 minutes).

Where are InMotion Hosting's data centers?

InMotion Hosting has two US-based data centers in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. Even shared hosting users can choose which data center should host their website.

cPanel is included (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)What is my InMotion Hosting IP address?

If you need to connect your InMotion Hosting site to a domain managed elsewhere, it can help to find your web server's IP address.

To locate it, first log into the InMotion Hosting account management panel.

Scroll down and find your hosting plan in the list (it'll appear under your domain name).

Find and click your plan's cPanel icon (probably top left in the list.)

Your server IP address appears in the General Information panel on the left, in the 'Shared IP Address' box.

If you can't see a General Information panel, click the Server Information link, and look for the 'Shared IP Address'.

What are InMotion Hosting's nameservers?

InMotion Hosting's nameservers are ns1.InMotionhosting.com and ns2.InMotionhosting.com.

Cancel plans from the account panel subscriptions area (Image credit: InMotion Hosting)How do I cancel an InMotion Hosting product?

Point your browser at www.InMotionhosting.com, click Login top-right of the page, and log in using your regular InMotion Hosting credentials.

Click Billing, My Subscriptions.

If you see a red cross to the right of the subscription you'd like to cancel, click it and fill in the cancellation form. Your plan will remain active, but it won't renew and you won't be willed again.

If the Cancel column includes the text 'Set to Manual Renewal', the plan already has its 'auto-renew' setting turned off. You'll still receive email reminders just before the subscription is due to end, but if you're not interested, you can just ignore these and leave the account to expire.

We've used and tested 140 hosting providers and Hostinger ends up being top for a lot of our recommendations because they cater to home users that have little to no web hosting experience all the way to seasoned web-devs.

For this review, we used the most basic web hosting plan and a VPS to see if Hostinger offer the tools and reliability beginners and web-devs need alike . We built a test site, explored their custom control panel, tested support, monitored speeds, uptime, and compared our results with the best of the competition.

What we found was a service easy for complete beginners to use but with the tools and flexibility to keep more experienced customers happy.

In my latest round of testing I put Hostinger up against some cheaper hosting options to see if the extra price was worth it. After I got the test test results back I can say with confidence that the small amount extra for Hostinger is worth it to make your site function faster for website visitors.

Editor's note

Update: April 2025

Hostinger's cloud hosting plans now feature auto-scaling and geo-redundancy earning it the right to be included on the best cloud hosting page. This has also changed my recommendation for Hostinger as best for beginners to best overall which will be reflected on my best web hosting guide shortly.

(Image credit: Hostiner)Hostinger: The pros

Ease of use

When I started building websites, if you had zero experience and wanted a website you'd go to a place like Squarespace or Wix because they offered an easy to use website builder and hosting all in one. They were a bit more expensive but if you didn't want to pay for a web developer they were still much cheaper. Hostinger has changed the game as you can use Hostinger's website builder, AI tools, and guides to easily create and host a website at a much lower cost.

Cost

If you went with a website builder such as Wix you'll be paying $17 a month and if you want to add features to your site like taking bookings or payment you'll need to fork out even more. At Hostinger you can start from as little as $2.49 a month with very little restrictions. It's unlikely you'll need to upgrade your plan unless your site get more use. You won't need to pay more for features that you want. Plus, you get a website builder with Hostinger too. After renewal the most basic Hostinger plan is $11.99 a month still making it cheaper than Wix and Squarespace at $16 a month.

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(Image credit: Hostinger)

Feature packed plans

Hostinger’s plans are well priced and stuffed with features, many of which are chargeable extras elsewhere. Page speed monitoring, malware scanning, and analytics are all nice extras for beginners. There are also drag and drop website builders alongside AI builders and AI tools to manage website optimization and troubleshooting.

The more advanced plans like cloud the cloud hosting plans include auto-scaling and geo-redundancy for maximum flexibility and reliability.

Excellent uptime

Reliability is one of the most important elements in any quality web host. A provider can offer as many other features as it likes, but if your site is down all the time, most of your visitors will disappear.

We measured Hostinger’s performance by setting up a test WordPress website, then using Uptime.com to monitor its speed and any downtime from multiple locations around the world.

Although our site was hosted on Hostinger's most basic shared hosting plan, it still managed an excellent 100% uptime record over 10 weeks of monitoring.

Fast load times

We measure website load speeds with help from GTmetrix, which accesses a test page and reports how long its main content takes to load (a value called Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP). A low LCP means your website begins to appear on the screen more quickly, keeping visitors happy.

Hostinger scored here with a speedy LCP of 0.607 seconds, the second fastest result in our last 15 tests, just behind HostGator.

One-off load speed checks are important, but we also like to see how a site performs when it's busy. To do this, we use the stress-testing service k6 to unleash 20 virtual users on our site and measure what happens.

Hostinger's results showed it could handle 15 requests per second throughout the test. That’s similar to other providers, but very acceptable for shared hosting, and if you’re opting for a more high-powered cloud or VPS plan, you should be able to handle even more visitors.

Low starter prices

Hostinger’s prices start at just $2.49 a month for the four year Premium hosting plan (renewing at a still very reasonable $7.99 on the first renewal).

Not keen on signing up for such a long time? Switch to the annual plan and it’s still well priced at $2.99 a month and $11.99 on renewal.

The pricing can be a bit confusing and renewal prices can change based things like whether you have auto-renew enabled. You can ignore the countdown timer on the page as it's always refreshing and the prices stay the same. However, we do recommend that you take more time to look at the long term cost of your plans.

(Image credit: Hostinger)

Data centers in nine countries

Sign up with many web hosts and they’ll give you storage space in a data center but they won’t tell you where it is, or give you any choice of locations.

That could be bad performance news if, say, your target audience is in California but your website is hosted in a data center halfway around the world.

Hostinger has data centers in nine countries: the USA, UK, France, Netherlands, Indonesia, Lithuania, Singapore, India and Brazil.

That's far more than most hosts, and it’s especially good to see a service which doesn’t purely focus on North America and Europe.

There is one catch though, some plans don't support all the data centers. The Shared, Cloud and WordPress plans are available everywhere, but Hostinger's VPS plans can't be hosted in Netherlands, the UK, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Check the small print of individual plans to find out more, or take a look at Hostinger's 'Where are your servers located?' support document.

Quality custom control panel

Hostinger doesn't offer cPanel (an intuitive server and site management platform) to its shared hosting users, opting to provide its custom hPanel platform, instead. Custom control panels make us wary, probably because most of them are underpowered in the extreme, but hPanel is a rare exception.

It looks similar to cPanel with server details (location, IP address) in a sidebar, and colorful icons representing features in categories such as Domains, Emails, Files, WordPress and more.

Most functions are accessible to even novice users. Creating an email address, for instance, is as easy as entering the address and a password. Advanced features like importing existing emails, to setting up SPF and DKIM records (to authenticate emails and protect against phishing) are just a click or two away too.

Hostinger: The cons

Confusing prices

With three different subscription lengths and each one having a different renewal cost, it can be hard to work out which plan is best for you. Keep in mind when calculating long term costs. After the reduced renewal price the monthly fee will revert to the monthly cost of $11.99.

There are significant discounts to be had for longer plans but are you really going to need that plan for 48 months? Check your business plan and pick a subscription length not just based on price but one that might come up for renewal when you're about to out grow your hosting plan.

Performance restrictions

Any site that does any kind of image processing or has big databases will find low performance because disk read/write speeds are throttled and memory is not that generous. Any static site will be fine but performance of sites that have user accounts and to some extent eCommerce sites will be affected.

No telephone support

Hostinger say that telephone support just slows down getting things done and that they've been able to fix issues faster by removing this option. If you really care about speaking to a human via a voice call there are other hosts that offer phone support but they are more costly.

(Image credit: Hostinger)Hostinger: Tested

We've put Hostinger through its paces to see how well it copes and how easy it is to use. Our testers are industry experts that have extensive experience in a range of web hosting scenarios so we can give a reliable and comprehensive review on everything Hostinger claims to be.

On the whole, we found a web hosting service that's easy to use and performs well for the majority of users.

Hostinger hPanel (Image credit: Hostinger)Using Hostinger

Hostinger has put a lot of effort into making their shared hosting experience as seamless and beginner friendly as possible. From the moment you sign up, Hostinger walks you through every step with very clear and easy to follow instructions that can help beginners get their website up and running.

There's more for experienced users too. With the inclusion of additional features such as page speed monitoring, malware scanning, and analytics, they’re really making sure that you can manage every aspect of your website directly from Hostinger’s hPanel. This really goes above and beyond the industry standard control panel cPanel and it does a good job of hiding away any of the techy stuff that can be confusing, presenting everything in a logical manner.

Hostinger guide you through every combination of scenarios - building a fresh website vs migrating an existing one, doing it yourself vs getting a developer to do it - they really caters for everyone. They’ve even customised the Wordpress admin panel to ease the transition from their own control panel to help newbies get to grips with Wordpress.

Wordpress is by no-means difficult to use, but if you’re not familiar with it then it can be overwhelming and their customisations are a really nice touch. Overall impressions are very high.

Hostinger have developed a new AI troubleshooter that can automatically detect errors (403, 404, 500, 503, etc) and suggest fixes making hosting even easier than before. Currently the tool works 42% of the time but it's improving every month. It also only takes one minute to use so it's not an added inconvenience if it doesn't work, you can just go through the usual support channels.Hostinger is a genuine alternative to Wix and Squarespace. The getting started process is really well thought out. It covers every eventuality including, transferring your website from another host and installing WordPress.

Extras such as malware scanning, page speed monitoring and analytics are great for beginners who wouldn’t know how to set up third party tools such as google analytics

There's an AI website builder if you don't want to use WordPress but if you do it's very easy to personalise WordPress, add content, and configure performance improving settings like automatic caching.

When it comes to their VPS offerings, you’ve very much on your own. VPS tend to be aimed at people with experience setting up and managing servers and, in exchange for far more performance for your money, you will need to know how to run and manage the server yourself.

One click installers

Hostinger really shines here. There are a bunch of different things you can one-click install, most are a bit useless but there’s not much harm in having the choice. Some plans include staging versions which let you test changes to your website on a cloned version of your website. Perfect for beginners that are afraid of breaking their live site. There's also automatic updates which is a fantastic feature.

Hostinger's performance

We used Uptime.com to monitor our test website from multiple locations around the world, logging response times and any downtime.

Our test site was hosted on Hostinger's most basic shared hosting plan, but still managed a solid 99.96% uptime record over 10 weeks of monitoring.

Uptime.com recorded a response time range of 171ms to 1.73s, with an average of 382ms, over the last seven days of testing. Starter shared hosting plans typically manage 200-400ms with an average peak of 700-800ms, so Hostinger is a bit on the slow side when it comes to response times.

Page load times matter too, though, so we used Dotcom Tools' Website Speed Test to measure our site performance from 16 locations around the US and Europe. This time the results were much better at 878ms, putting it in the top 25% of providers.

One-off load speed checks are important, but we also like to see how a site performs when it's busy. To do this, we use the stress-testing service k6 to unleash 20 virtual users on our site and measure what happens.

Hostinger's results showed some drops in performance at peak load, but that's what we would expect for a shared hosting package. Overall, it was able to handle 15 requests per second throughout the test, a typical result for most providers.

These are broadly positive results, and show Hostinger performs better than most budget hosts. But keep in mind that our figures are based on testing a shared plan, and if you're opting for VPS, cloud hosting or any other product, your experience may be very different.

A mixed story, then, but keep in mind these are comparisons based on the cheapest shared hosting plan from each test provider. Some of those plans cost 5x to 10x the cost you could pay with Hostinger, so on balance we think the company did reasonably well.

Hostinger's GTmetrix grade showing 100% performance (Image credit: Future)Hostinger's performance metrics

LPC

Uptime

Response time

Page requests

Hostinger

0.607

99.96%

0.382

15

Average across top hosts

0.720

99.98%

0.300

14

Hostinger's support is entirely text based (Image credit: Hostinger)How good is Hostinger's support?

Unusually for a top hosting provider, Hostinger doesn't have telephone support. There's 24/7 live chat, though, and email or ticket support if you prefer.

We opened a ticket asking how we could install WordPress on a subdomain. That's not a complicated technical issue, but it's more involved than a simple product question, and gave us a better chance of getting an interesting response.

The reply arrived only 17 minutes later, just about as speedy as we could expect for ticket support. (Who needs live chat, anyway?)

The text used more jargon than we’d like, but was accurate and included all the detail we needed to figure out a solution.

Live chat is also available whenever you need it. We never waited more than a couple of minutes for a response, and agents were just as quick at identifying our issues and coming up with relevant and useful advice.

A web knowledgebase is on hand if you prefer the DIY approach. We'd recommend ignoring the Search box (it does a poor job of finding the best articles), and just browse the categories further down the page. There are hundreds of articles arranged into topics such as hPanel, cPanel, DNS, SSL Certificates and more.

These articles are often short, and not always organized or presented as you'd expect. The site does have plenty of useful advice on carrying out specific tasks, though, even when they're not about Hostinger's own services.

If your domain is managed by another registrar, for instance, most hosting providers don't give you any real advice on how to modify DNS records. But Hostinger has separate articles for managing DNS at Bluehost, GoDaddy, IONOS, Namecheap, HostGator, SiteGround, WordPress.com, DreamHost’s, and many more: 30+ providers in total.

There's clearly work to do here, but Hostinger scores well in most areas, and overall delivers a far better quality of support than most budget providers.

What sort of hosting plans does Hostinger offer?

Hostinger offers affordable shared hosting for small to medium low-traffic sites. VPS hosting and cloud hosting give your website more resources for extra speed, making them suitable for more demanding, business-critical sites. (How demanding? A good VPS can run a WordPress site with hundreds of thousands of visitors a month.)

Hostinger is also one of the few big hosting names to offer pre-configured Minecraft server hosting from under $10 a month.

• Hostinger is also top of our best Minecraft server hosting list

Shared hosting

Shared hosting works just as the name suggests: your site is stored on a web server along with many others, and everyone shares the server costs and resources. It's cheap and relatively easy to use, and although this is the slowest hosting type, shared plans may still be able to handle sites with tens of thousands of visitors a month.

Hostinger's shared hosting starts with the Premium plan. It's well priced at $2.49 a month over four years ($7.99 on renewal, then the standard $11.99 monthly price), and has some welcome features including free SSL, easy WordPress installation and management.

The Business plan comes at an affordable $3.99 a month ($8.99 on renewal, then the standard $13.99 monthly price). There's support for 100 websites and 100 email addresses, a free domain, and unlimited bandwidth are also available with the Premium plan. This plan comes with more (200 GB) and faster (NVMe instead of standard SSD) storage, free CDN for faster loading speeds, daily and on-demand backups, WordPress AI tools that help you create bespoke content and troubleshoot issues, Amazon Affiliate plugin for WordPress, and enhanced DDoS protection, to name a few.

On top of what the Business plan offers, the Cloud Startup plan adds a dedicated IP for increased security and enhanced control, as well as more power (100 PHP workers instead of 60 with the Business plan, 3GB RAM instead of 1.5GB, 1024 IOPS limit instead of 256), up to 2 million files and directories (inodes), and support for up to 300 websites. It starts at $7.99 a month for 48 months and renews at $19.99 a month before switching to the standard $24.99 a month. We recommend Hostinger's cloud hosting plans for WooCommerce users so they can enjoy the performance they expect.

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VPS hosting 

Signing up for VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting gets you a private area in a web server with your own system resources. This automatically gives any VPS a speed advantage over shared hosting, and the more resources your plan includes (CPU time, RAM, storage space) the faster it's likely to be.

Hostinger offers four VPS plans. The first is $13.99 a month for 1 vCPU core, 4GB RAM, and 50GB NVMe storage. The higher end plan is $59.99 a month for 8 vCPU cores, 32 GB RAM, and 400GB NMVe storage. All these plans are on offer at a discount when you purchase plans of long durations. For example, the basic plan is $4.99 a month instead of $13.99 if you get a 24-month subscription.

The range is fair value, but it won't work for everyone. One reason Hostinger's prices are low is that their VPS plans are unmanaged. That means Hostinger doesn't monitor the operating system, set up the firewall, install security patches or do anything similar: you're left to manage the server's system software yourself. That's manageable for experts, but if you're not one, Hostinger has over 60 one-click templates, so clients can install top control panels and applications with ease. Also, VPS AI Assistant provides answers and guidance for VPS clients.

All VPS plans have 1000 Mb/s network speed which facilitates high-performing websites, smooth streaming, and fast data transfers.

A new feature from Hostinger for VPS servers is Vibe sysadmin. You can create an MCP server that acts as the link between an AI coding assistant and the VPS server. This can help you perform system administration like maintenance and automation more easily.

Cloud hosting

If Hostinger’s shared hosting isn’t powerful enough for your needs, its cloud hosting packages might help. They come with up to 20x more resources and come with a dedicated IP address, ensuring fast performance, great stability, and maximum security. But they’re also just as easy to use as the shared range.

There are three cloud hosting plans available: Cloud Startup, Cloud Professional, and Cloud Enterprise. They all offer unlimited bandwidth, free SSL, a free domain, daily backups and a dedicated IP address, and can host up to 300 websites on the same account.

The Cloud Startup plan includes 200GB of NVMe storage, 3GB of RAM, and 2 CPU cores for $27.99 billed monthly or $7.99 for a 48-month subscription. Other subscription durations are available too at varying discounts.

The Cloud Professional plan increases these to 250GB storage, 6GB RAM and 4 CPU cores, and remains reasonably priced at $47.99 a month (discounts are available for different subscription lengths).

Opting for the Cloud Enterprise plan gets you 300GB storage, 12GB RAM ,and 6 CPU cores for $69.99 a month or $29.99 for four years. The major difference between the Cloud Enterprise plan and the Cloud Professional plan is that Enterprise is more suitable for larger eCommerce businesses.

Does Hostinger have a website builder?

If you don't have a website yet, and WordPress seems a little intimidating, a website builder may be the easiest way to get started. Typically, they'll have a gallery of pre-built website designs you can use to get started. Adding pictures, videos, maps and other page elements is as easy as dragging and dropping, and customizing the content with your own text and photos works much like any editor.

Hostinger has its own website builder, which comes with unmetered traffic, unlimited free SSL certificates, web hosting, up to 100 websites, free domain, free email, ecommerce features, plus more.

We found it to be a simple and straightforward tool that we could use right away. No need to spend an age scrolling through feature lists, comparing plans or wondering what you can afford: just hand over your email address to create an account and you can start building right away. In fact, now you can generate your own, unique website with Hostinger's AI in less than a minute.

The editor is relatively basic, but the online shop’s what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor will give you tools to create detailed descriptions with HTML titles.

Hostinger website builder has two plans: Premium Website Builder and Business Website Builder. The entry-level plan costs $2.99 per month for a 12-month period and is a decent website builder for personal use and small sites. But, if you want more, the Business plan costs $3.99 per month for a 12-month period and offers eCommerce features and AI tools to write articles, generate images, and even whole sections for a website.

Does Hostinger provide Minecraft server hosting?

Hostinger Minecraft server hosting price plans (Image credit: Hostinger)

Hostinger offers Minecraft server hosting, even though it's not as obvious as its other hosting options.

Setting up a server isn’t quite as straightforward as Hostinger’s 1-click WordPress installers, but it’s not difficult either. The support site has tutorials on how to get your server running, find and install mods, tweak key settings and change your server type (options include Official, Spigot, CraftBukkit, Paper, Forge and more.)

Plans start with a small-scale 4GB RAM, 1 CPU package for $4.99 a month for a 24-month period, ranging up to $19.99 for a 24-month term, which offers 32 GB RAM, 8 vCPU cores, and 400 GB NVMe storage.

All plans include a malware scanner and a dedicated IP to protect your server from DDoS attacks, while automated backups keep you safe from just about everything else. Its AI assistant -- Kodee -- is a stand out feature as it'll help answer many common questions along the way. It's easily one of the best Minecraft server hosting options for most people.

Can you build a web store with Hostinger?

Hostinger has two options for eCommerce clients: WordPress clients can pick a managed WooCommerce plan, and eCommerce Website Builder is perfect for simple online shops.

As we’ve discussed above, Hostinger Website Builder can create web stores with up to 1000 products, and supports 20+ popular payment types. It’s not very configurable, but it’s easy to use and could be enough to run a simple home business.

The alternative is to sign up with one of Hostinger's other hosting plans, then install a specialist ecommerce platform. WooCommerce is probably the best-known option. It's a hugely capable WordPress plugin, which can be easily installed on any Hostinger plan, and includes all the product cataloging, inventory managing, payment taking and worldwide shipping integrations you need.

This really does give you the power to build a world-class web store, and handle most of it on your own. Hostinger will not only help with the hosting but also provide expert WooCommerce support for managed WooCommerce hosting clients.

Up and coming

Performance boost
This feature will enable you to boost the performance of your site to be able to cope with the traffic generated by promotions and seasonal peaks for longer periods of time.

Finer grained control

In the future you will be able to grant access to specific sites so you can better manage permissions and security.

Broken link checker

This tools helps you discover broken links on all pages and posts and will give you a detailed report on all URLs, link text.

Automatic optimization

Hostinger's range of AI tools is set to get even better after they release a site optimization tool that will suggest things you can do to help speed up your site.

There isn't a fixed date on when these features will be released. When they are we will jump in and give them a whirl.

Final verdict: Is Hostinger right for you?

Hostinger is really good for complete beginners and very basic websites and the VPS plans are good value. If you’re either a complete beginner or experienced enough to handle your own server through their VPS offering then Hostinger are good for you. Anyone that has enough experience to not need the help with the shared plans won't be getting their value for money and if you are not an expert at VPS then using Hostinger VPS packages might be slightly out of your league.

How we test

Hostinger was tested and reviewed by Lewis Wright who has years of experience in web hosting and infrastructure. He tested the features and usability of the basic shared plan and a VPS plan, assessed the performance, and compared the plans with hosts that offer similar packages.

Meet the authorsHostinger FAQs How big is Hostinger?

Hostinger is an experienced Lithuanian hosting provider with almost 900 employees and more than 2.5 million subscribers around the world.

Datanyze' Web Hosting Market Share report ranks Hostinger in 35th place, used by around 20,000 companies, for 0.45% of the hosting market.

Does Hostinger register domains?

Hostinger isn’t just about web hosting; the company can also help you find and register your perfect domain.

First year prices are reasonable, with .com’s available from $9.99, and some domain names are discounted to $0.99 in the first year (.cloud, .shop and so on).

Renewal prices can be more expensive than some. Shop domains are $0.99 in year one, but $34.99 afterwards, and Porkbun.com renews .shop domains at around $25 a year.

Hostinger domain registration has its plus points, though, including free domain privacy to hide your details from spammers. If you’re after a domain, it’s worth a look.

What payment types does Hostinger support?

Hostinger accepts payment via credit card, PayPal, Google Pay, Alipay and Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via CoinGate.

Does Hostinger have an uptime guarantee?

Hostinger has an uptime guarantee of 99.9% per month, similar to many other budget hosts.

If Hostinger doesn't hit that target, you can contact the company and request a credit of 5% of your monthly hosting fee.

Capping your compensation at 5% is one of the least generous guarantees around. Other hosts typically give you much more. For example, ScalaHosting promises to credit users with a free month of hosting if its uptime drops below 1% (that's around seven hours and 18 minutes of downtime).

Where are Hostinger's data centers?

Hostinger has data centers in the USA, UK, France, Indonesia, Netherlands, Lithuania, Singapore, India and Brazil. That's far more than most hosts, and they're also more widely spread (many hosts barely step outside of the USA and Europe).

The advantage of having a lot of data centers is that more users can choose to host sites close to their audience, for the best possible performance. Another advantage is that their in-house content delivery network (CDN) covers all data centers on 4 continents. It automatically caches website’s content across other servers, loading up to 40% faster for end-users and minimizing pressure on the main server.

There's just one potential catch: some plans don't support all the data centers. The Shared, Cloud, and WordPress plans can be hosted in all eleven, but Hostinger's VPS plans can't be hosted in the Netherlands, the UK, Indonesia, and Singapore DCs.

Check the small print of individual plans to find out more, or take a look at Hostinger's 'Where are your servers located?' support document.

What are Hostinger's nameservers?

Before using an existing domain with your web hosting, it may be necessary to point the domain to Hostinger's nameservers.

The hPanel, Shared and Cloud plans use the nameservers ns1.dns-parking.com and ns2.dns-parking.com.

The cPanel nameservers depend on the plan and host a client is using.

How does Hostinger compare to other web hosting service providers?

Hostinger is cheaper than Bluehost, and by comparison, offers roughly the same amount of features in its shared hosting plans. While Hostinger has strong features and pricing, it doesn't have 24/7 telephone support like GoDaddy.

Hostinger also offers its web hosting and website builder services as a combination plan unlike other popular web hosting providers that will make users buy website building services separately.

When comparing Hostinger to popular web hosting solutions from SiteGround, Hostinger's shared plans are not an overall bad choice. It offers the same unlimited bandwidth and storage for the premium plans, an easy hPanel control system, free website migration, free domain for a year, and a better performance with 1.5s average page load time.

How do I cancel a Hostinger product?

Log into Hostinger's hPanel.

Click Hosting in the menu at the top of the screen, then click Manage.

Scroll down and click Deactivate Account.

Choose whether to cancel your hosting account immediately, or when your subscription expires, and click Continue to complete the cancellation process.

Does Hostinger offer refunds?

Hostinger has a 30-day money-back guarantee covering its hosting plans and some other products. These include SSL certificates, often excluded by other hosts.

It's good to see Hostinger's policy covers renewal fees as well as your original purchase, something else we don't see with all hosts.

There's a final bonus in a limited four day warranty for some domain registrations and domain name transfers (see the official Refund Policy for the list.) Sure, four days isn't long, but most hosts don't offer any domain-related refunds at all.

We've also teamed up with Hostinger to offer a full refund for a year's hosting in Amazon vouchers.

Can I build a WordPress site with Hostinger?

Yes. Hostinger have a wide range of tools and optimizations for WordPress. Hostinger has further rolled out several features, including a WordPress Compatibility Checker, which looks for compatibility issues between PHP and WordPress versions, plugins, and themes. Plus, the Hostinger Amazon Affiliate plugin and theme for WordPress help launch an affiliate marketing website much faster and easier.

There is also a new hosting infrastructure for WordPress that makes WordPress hosting 30% faster so in the near future we will need to re-do our speed tests.

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There are ample means by which you could learn about the fascinating intricacies of feudal Japan. Still, Koei Tecmo presents the option for a doubly steep learning curve with the latest addition to its turn-based grand strategy RPG series, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition (a repackaged edition of the initial 2023 game released for Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5).

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: PS5 (Complete Edition); PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, (original edition)
Release date: June 5, 2025

In this Nintendo Switch 2 game (also available on PlayStation 5), you play as a contemporary daimyō, acting as a Japanese feudal lord ruling over a province during the turbulent Sengoku period. There’s the option to follow the story of the series’ titular character, Nobunaga, head of the Oda clan, but you can also play as a host of other historical leaders from the era.

So, what is Nobunaga’s ambition? Oh, just the small feat of unifying Japan; a contentious matter among those he wished to suppress to achieve his dream. Your objective in Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is to help realize this vision – whether or not you’re playing as the man himself – by developing your lands, conducting diplomacy, and, of course, a healthy dose of feudal warfare as you strive to dominate the various territories of Japan.

Along the way, you’ll also encounter cutscenes reimagining famous battles from the time, as well as rumors from your various officers, which reflect the era’s propensity for near-constant drama and gossip among its magnates.

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

It’s a game that struggles to find its footing; in one part, it’s a gruelling uphill battle to learn complex political systems, heightened only by the game’s stunted UI and some slightly half-baked gameplay mechanics that I accidentally manipulated to win the game in less than a minute (more on that later).

On the other hand, there is something intangibly captivating about this historical part-fiction. Combat mechanics are satisfying, there’s a fulfilling base management system, and great care and attention have been paid to injecting the game with ample historical education and context-based events to keep things interesting. It’s just so brutally difficult that any enjoyment I could find is as yet out of reach.

I played over 30 hours of the game (it felt like at least ten of those were spent reading endless text boxes and tutorials) before I got to a point where I was happy upping the difficulty to medium.

Naturally, I instantly lost, and another ten hours later, I’m still in the throes of learning the next level of strategy required to win past dumb-dumb difficulty; but I’m comforted to read online that I am one of so, so many gamers to say the same.

Humble beginnings

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

You begin the game by selecting a date from 1543 to 1614 and then choosing a clan to play as. Each begins the game with different setups: alliances, provinces, and officers, which you’ll take custody of and command as you grow your control of Japan.

There is a tutorial, but as you may expect if you’re familiar with the genre, it’s pretty bare-bones, covering only the fundamentals you’ll need to get started and win a campaign on the easiest settings. After that, you’re on your own, left to unpack the other 70% of the game that the tutorial scarcely mentions.

It’s worth noting that, as the game advises, you’ll want to pick one of the easier levels first, not least because the tutorial can almost sabotage you at higher difficulties. I mistakenly jumped straight in at a medium difficulty level and followed the tutorial religiously, which led me straight into war with a far more powerful enemy.

You’ll want to start your game by checking out your territories, each of which consists of a castle and counties that contribute to resource production. Each district has a farm and fair that you can harvest to increase your monthly earnings, as well as slots for settlements that offer different benefits.

The castle county also has a town square that you can develop with various facilities. That’s not always down to you to decide, though; the art of Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening, really, is delegation.

Rise above your station

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

The first port of call, then, is assigning dominion over your lands to your officers. Officers can make or break your strategy; they’ll make judgment calls for you within their lands, though you can give guidance and structure if you want to micro-manage. You’ll recruit more and more as the game progresses through covert operations and recruitment drives, and you can choose which ones to hire based on how well their unique traits, skills, and relationships mesh with your strategy.

Each castle will need a Lord stationed from your more senior officers, and then you’ll want to assign dominion to counties to ensure the land is worked efficiently. As your Lord’s station improves, they’ll be able to pick up the slack and manage counties within their territory, too.

Officers will also recommend actions and make suggestions for how to engage in military or covert operations, which you can choose to accept or decline; but lean too far and you may find they’ll start acting on their own accord or lose loyalty towards you. As the fearless leader, you’ll also have your own castle; this can be managed autonomously by Substitutes instead.

Occasionally, they’ll even want to barter with you, whether because their loyalty has dropped low enough that they wish to part ways or because they’re offering a boon in exchange for land holdings. In each trade, you’ll need to hit a certain point value to secure the officer, and if you really want what they’re offering, you can up the ante to ensure they stick around for longer.

I found this mechanic to be a bit frustrating, given that I rarely seemed to have much to barter with, and when I did, it either drastically overdelivered or underdelivered.

Overall, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening’s staff management mechanics are pretty satisfying and well-rounded. The game does well to give you tips and pointers in this department, and you can really affect the game’s outcomes with your staffing decisions. Unique traits of officers really can drive the game, especially when it comes to battle mechanics and officer proposals.

A council of your peers

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Another core tenet of running an effective kingdom is consulting your council. However, much of this council management is left unexplained, and as the game gets pretty tied up in its own Sengoku-specific vocabulary, it’s hard to even find the help you need within game guides.

User guides online are fairly scant, too, but I can understand why. I can’t see myself pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into learning this behemoth of a strategy game and then spelling it out for the next player for free, either.

Policies are the backbone of progress in the game, and one of the areas I enjoyed the most during my playthroughs; they allow you to unlock new features, better delegation, and strengthen your forces. However, you’ll want to wait until you have excess gold before setting up any new ones, as some are pricey.

From the council menu, you can also bestow accolades to your officers, which increases their abilities and can even grant them special effects. These are earned by achieving significant accomplishments like clan targets and demonstrating loyalty.

You can also choose to give gifts of treasure to your officers to improve their stats and loyalty, marry them to an eligible Hime, and grant titles earned by appeasing the Imperial Court from this menu.

As you grow your lands, you’ll also want to divest more responsibilities onto your officers by heading to your council and setting up a new province to be ruled over by a regent.

These run fairly autonomously, and especially on harder difficulties, the choices you make to staff these regions can make or break your game; choose a warmongering Lord and you stand to lose a fair few allies.

Friends we made along the way

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

With your ultimate goal being unification, you might want to make some friends in high places, so you’ll need to put on your diplomacy hat and send your highest officers – or your daimyō – as a diplomat to rack up some goodwill with your neighbors, including a monthly gold stipend to woo them.

Once you’ve built trust, you can ask them to be your allies and help you in combat, negotiate peace between warring territories, or even solidify your alliance through marriage. You’ll also want to conduct diplomacy with powerful entities like the Shōgun and the Imperial Court, the latter of which can offer you official posts in exchange for (costly) diplomatic activities to help you improve your prestige.

I’ve mentioned vassals already; once you’re allied with a smaller clan that may want or need protection and acknowledges you as a superior force, you can ask them to become your vassal and effectively join your territory. In time, and especially under pressure, your vassals might decide to just absorb themselves into your clan altogether, but either way, these relationships count towards the end goal of unification.

Do be warned, though, if you don’t want to cheese the game too much; there’s at least one clan scenario you can play where the goal territory is occupied entirely by allies, meaning you can just load a new save, vassal-ize your allies and win before you’ve even assigned your first officer.

Generally speaking, the diplomacy in Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is a good enough system, though you’ll want to really think about which allies make the most sense based on your goals; some allies may end up getting in the way of your expansion or be more trouble than they’re worth when enemies come knocking at their doors.

That being said, diplomacy lacks the intricacy required to offer a rewarding alternative to war. One frustration I found was that you seemingly can’t make a country with existing vassals your own vassal. I say seemingly because in the rafts of game guides available within the software, I can’t for the life of me find an alternative other than straight-up demolishing the vassal and then building relations with your target nation, at which point it’s likely better to just chip away at the territory of theirs that you want.

It’s also really frustrating that you work so hard for what can often be so little; it can take anywhere from two to six months even to accrue enough goodwill for reinforcements, and you don’t always get the all-out assault you want.

Considering it’s six to ten months to achieve enough goodwill for an alliance, too, you can wipe out a senior officer all year-round with diplomacy if you’re not careful, leaving their civil affairs at home unmanaged.

What are we doing today, brain?

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Okay then, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening – if it’s war you want, it’s war you’ll get. It’s nigh-on impossible to dodge combat for an entire save, so if you enjoy a pacifist playthrough, you might be better off with a more flexible strategy game like Sid Meier's Civilization 7.

Once you’ve chosen an enemy's castle as your target, your castles will start amassing soldiers and readying supplies for war, indicating preparedness with a little flame icon next to the castle town(s) selected as your militarization base. Once completed, you’ll direct troops to march, choosing from various strategies suggested by your officers as to the route taken as well as which, if any, provinces you control will join the fray. You can also conduct covert operations to spread rumors or incite revolts across enemy territory and weaken forces, or just raze or destroy target castles to help with upcoming battles.

En route, you’ll undoubtedly encounter enemy units, and if your senior commanders or daimyō are on the field, you’ll be able to trigger a battle event. Instead of passively watching the unit counters trickle down in an autonomous head-to-head, you have the opportunity to command each of your troops yourself with the assistance of your officer’s recommendations, and broadly speaking, I’d recommend doing so if you really want to cut down their troops.

Battling is generally quite fun, especially when the game throws you a historical fight sequence with a good lore drop.

Best bit

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

After hours of trial and error in higher difficulties, followed by more hours of learning the ropes in lower difficulties, I returned to the scenario that had me stumped to begin with and opted to manually control my troops for a challenging siege that I won in the first try. Nothing beats that feeling.

There are a few ways to win here: destroy the enemies’ path to escape, decimate their forces, or crush their morale with consecutive defeats on the field. Some battlefields also have strategic key points, and controlling these improves your armies’ standings and morale, too.

Battling is fun, but Siege encounters are a bit trickier. Maps are slightly more complex, and if you don’t manage to launch your attack on the castle before it’s finished preparing for your attack, you’ll have an even harder time as you encounter traps and barricades. These can be brutal, especially in the early stages, and if you don’t follow your officers’ advice to always bring three to five times the units your enemy has – and I’d really recommend you aim high.

If you want to skip these siege sequences altogether, you can – and they can be a little tedious if you mostly want to auto-play – but then you miss out on the authority mechanic. Winning battles will earn you authority, which can mean anything from lands submitting themselves to you to new (or fallen) alliances.

A beautiful mess

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

So, that’s gameplay covered, but what about the actual user experience of the game?

I mentioned already that the user interface is a little disappointing, and that point stands; crowded menus, unclear navigation, and clumsy controls make an already challenging game downright frustrating. It’s a shame, because the game itself isn’t bad, aesthetically. Sure, the map and menus are all dated, but the splash art is delightful, the music is immersive, and the voice lines are delivered with conviction and minimal cheese.

The standard button layout is really confusing and unintuitive, especially for navigation and menu access, but the biggest crime is the UI clarity and visibility. Battle and siege interactions play out on an unzoomable field, and when more than three or four units on each side are on the battlefield, it’s nigh-on impossible to see where your forces start and your enemies end, which can make manual controls for retreating and resting troops hard.

Thankfully, some of these complaints are deftly handled by having the Switch 2 as my platform of choice for this review; mouse mode makes navigating through rafts of menus and directing your troops far smoother than using a controller. In fact, I’d say unless you’re used to how the games lay out their UI on a controller, it’s the de facto way to enjoy Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening (outside of a PC, of course).

Still, there’s just a lot of chaos in the game and abundant quick fixes that could be made to streamline the interface. For example, annoyingly, if you want allies to send reinforcements as you march to battle, you’ll have to head to the alliance interface instead of conducting from your marching orders screen, which can often mean they arrive long after or before your troops.

Generally, automation and management are fine, but more options to issue mass directives for castle or province management would really help to reduce time spent clicking through various menus.

Not easy to love

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Over time, I grew to really enjoy Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening. It’s an addictive uphill slouch for infrequent strategy players, but even for the more experienced, the work needed to fully learn the game might come as a blow.

Had I not needed to play it for this review, I might just have given up after the third or fourth false start, but having to persevere has earned the series a new fan. I can’t, in good conscience, rate it more highly than I have; it’s just too messy and inconsistent, and too many parts of the game stick out like a sore thumb for their shallowness when compared to the richness and complexity elsewhere.

Winning feels good, though, and not just because it’s despite the issues the game presents. Even on easier modes, nothing is handed to you on a platter, and you need to engage with the game’s source material and setting to reap the many rewards of playing Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening. If you’re up to the challenge, this game will bring it.

Should I play Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening?Play it if…

You love grand strategy
As far as strategy games go, this one has got most others beat with the sheer amount of micro controls, all while also giving you plenty to do at a macro level. View Deal

You enjoy battle tactics
War mechanics in this game are rich and fulfilling, offering a few different ways to play and clear direction to victory. Provided you can read the UI. View Deal

You want to keep coming back for more
There is so much replayability to Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening; not only to beat your own runtime, but also to play all the various clans across the years.View Deal

Don't play it if…

You hate a steep learning curve
Hoo boy, this is not the game for you. From controls all the way to core functions in the game, it’s a long road to knowing how to play.View Deal

You want more ways to win
Diplomacy plays a role in the game, yes, but I’ve yet to find a way you can achieve Nobunaga’s Ambition without at least a little bloodshed.View Deal

You can’t tolerate bad UI and UX
From confusing button layouts to nonsensical menus to its weak tutorial and hard-to-parse interfaces, sometimes Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is physically tiring in its poor design. View Deal

Accessibility

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is far from an accessibility-first game, but there are some features of note.

The difficulty is adjustable to a fairly granular level; different scenarios offer different star ratings, but you can also head to settings before starting a scenario to adjust AI difficulty and behaviors right down to how clans form alliances.

You can also opt to spend more of the game delegating and focusing on macro controls if the micro management proves challenging.

Mouse controls are a boon to the game’s unwieldy AI, and could double as useful alternatives for those who can’t use Joy-Con control layouts. There are no specific audio accessibility features, nor are there colorblind or graphics settings.

How I reviewed Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening

I played Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition on the Nintendo Switch 2, racking up over thirty hours of gameplay. In that time, I set up multiple campaigns in different scenarios and difficulty settings, playing through to the victory scenario in each and trying all of the various features.

While using docked mode, I was playing on a 4K TV with the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. I also tried handheld mode using the Joy-Con 2 controllers and used mouse mode.

I love a good strategy game, clocking in over 250 hours playing Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 (and that’s only on one console where I own it!) and reviewing strategy games like Age of Empires 4.

First reviewed July 2025

iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo: two-minute review

The Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo feels like a missed opportunity given iRobot's recent restructuring and slew of new upgraded floor bots. The unique dust compactor is an intriguing concept – the bot houses an oversized internal dustbin with a motorized paddle that compresses all debris, theoretically negating the need for a large self-emptying dustbin dock. However, in practice it's messy to deal with and ultimately impractical, especially if you have shedding pets in the home.

Granted, the 205's suction performance is acceptable enough – although not up there with what you'd get with one of the best robot vacuum on the market – its halfhearted mopping system is extremely outdated and when the mop pad is fitted, it prevents the robot from traversing rugs or carpet. The 205 is also a much noisier machine than any other robot vacuum cleaner I've thus far reviewed. And while its newly-adopted LiDAR navigation is clearly better than the company's previous V-SLAM camera-based incarnations, it also feels erratic and unsophisticated, at least when compared to other LiDAR systems.

I used to be a massive fan of iRobot products but I'm absolutely dumbfounded by how poorly its latest machines have behaved. The Roomba Combo 10 Max was mostly disappointing but I actually think that the Roomba 205 is worse. It's just so frustrating to use and requires too much intervention from the user. I wish I could recommend this model but it just doesn't perform as you'd expect for a robot vacuum cleaner in the year 2025.

(Image credit: Future)Roomba 205 DustCompactor review: price & availability

• List price: $469.99 / £399
• Launch date: March 2025
• Availability: Widely, including US and UK

With a list price of $469.99 in the US and £399 in the UK, the iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo sits towards the top of the mid-range price bracket. Note that at time of writing, there's a $170 discount in the US.

Given all the peculiarities with this machine, if you don't mind making a little more space for a simple, small-bodied, self-emptying dock in your home, I would recommend doing some research on other models in the same price range. For instance, the Roborock Q5 Pro+ has a list price of $699.99 / £499.99 but can often be picked up for a similar price to the Roomba 205, and offers far more reliable performance.

Alternatively, if a small dock is the priority and you're not dealing with huge amounts of dust, it could be worth considering a model without dust compression. There are a number of cheaper options in this category, for example, the Dreame D9 Max Gen 2, which costs $299.99 / £219 at list price and impressed our reviewer.

If you're hellbent on going for the Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo simply because of its unique bin system, by all means go ahead. But make sure your home is on the smaller side and with no rugs or carpet to block its path when the mopping pad is attached.

• Value for money score: 2.5 out of 5

Roomba 205 DustCompactor specs

Max suction:

Not stated

Robot size:

14 x 14.1in / 35.9 x 35.8cm

Robot height:

4in / 10.1cm

Dock dimensions (W x D x H):

3.5 x 5.9 x 5.3in / 9 x 15 x 13.5cm

Dust bin volume (onboard):

~ 1.5L

Water tank volume:

0.25L

Base type:

Charge only

Max noise level:

78dB at 5ft

Roomba 205 DustCompactor review: design

• Hybrid robot vacuum and mop with internal dust compression
• Compact, charge-only dock that refuses to stay put
• Only one rubber roller rather than iRobot's usual double rollers

Given the financial troubles that have besieged US brand iRobot during the past few years, it's good to see that the company has since restructured itself and developed a new range of robot vacs and mops entirely from the ground up. However, in design terms, I feel that the Roomba 205 is a pale shadow of its forebears like the Roomba ‘i' and ‘j' series, and especially the excellent S9+ (for my money, by far and away the best robot the company ever made).

The USP for the Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo I'm reviewing here is that it's equipped with an extra large onboard dustbin (about 1.5 liters) with an internal motorized plastic paddle that swings back and forth to compact all detritus towards the back of the bin, thereby creating more space for subsequent cleaning sessions. That means it can offer a large dust capacity without the need to make space for a large auto-empty dock.

iRobot states a period of about 60 days before the bin needs emptying but I can see it filling up with dust and hair within a week or so if you have shedding pets in the home (this is not one to consider if you're on the hunt for the best robot vacuum for pet hair). On the plus side, you will never need to buy any extra dust bags.

(Image credit: Future)

From an aesthetics point of view, the 205's dock is almost invisible in a room so I can see the appeal of a back-to-basics approach like this. However, from my tests I've found that emptying the bin myself has been quite messy and not especially pleasant (I'll get into this more in the Performance section).

Personally, I'm not sure such an innovation is necessary, either. The are models on the market that have petite, unobtrusive self-empty docks equipped with large dustbin bags – I'd happily sacrifice those few more inches of floorspace for the relative ease of this setup.

Another drawback of iRobot's solution is that the 205's titchy dock is so light in weight that it shifts around when the robot is docking and this often causes the robot's contacts to fail to connect with the dock. It's even worse when the dock is placed on carpet – I tried this the first time I used the 205 and it failed to dock at all; the charging base simply refused to stay put.

(Image credit: Future)

Let's take a look at the unit itself. The Roomba 205 is roughly the same width as most robot vacs but a bit taller, which means it might not reach under some low furnishings.

Flip it over and you'll notice that the 205 has only one rubber roller brush, which is a bit strange considering that iRobot invented the twin roller brush that so many high-end robot vacs use these days. I'm not sure why, but this roller brush tends to clatter across my hard wooden floors and jitter over one of my Persian-style rugs as if it were on a corrugated surface, which is distinctly annoying.

iRobot doesn't list any of its robots' suction power in Pascals so it's difficult to tell how powerful it is in comparison to other bots on the market. But, hey, you can take it from iRobot that it's ‘70x the suction of the older 600 series', whatever that means. Incidentally, you get three levels of suction power with this unit – Light, Normal and Deep.

The 205 also comes with the obligatory side spinning brush for flinging wayward debris along edges into the path of its suction. However, unlike many newer (and perhaps pricier) robovacs with side brushes that automatically articulate outwards when traveling along edges and in corners, the 205's side brush is firmly fixed in position.

(Image credit: Future)

The 205 DustCompactor's mopping system comprises a simple mop pad with its own 250ml water container above it. The user takes charge of filling the tank and washing the pad – the dock won't help with this, as is the case with some bots.

For mopping, the robot will simply drag the pad along the floor. You can set the amount of water that's dispensed but just don't expect any miracles, especially when it comes to deep stain removal. This kind of basic mopping setup isn't unusual setup for an affordable robovac, and for general day-to-day floor cleaning it does pass some muster.

Me? I've removed it entirely because I've since discovered that the robot refuses to cross rugs or carpet if the mopping pad is attached, but more on that in the Performance chapter.

(Image credit: Future)

Given that iRobot has refused for years to include LiDAR as part of its navigation system, even when every other manufacturer and their dogs have, it's refreshing to note that the company has at last seen fit to include LiDAR navigation on the 205.

However, while most bots have their LiDAR turret in a raised puck their top surface, to allow a full 360-degree view, here iRobot has hidden it behind a narrow slot just above the camera, thus restricting the view to around 180 degrees. Thankfully the camera provides backup, although it's not AI enabled like so many models these days.

Setup

The iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo arrives in a small box containing the robot, its tiny charging dock, a clip-on side brush and rear mop mount. Initial setup was relatively easy but only once I'd discovered that the old iRobot Home app isn't compatible with this model, so I downloaded the newly upgraded Roomba Home app instead.

All went according to plan until it connected to my Wi-Fi and then proceeded to automatically download the latest firmware update. That's normal, I thought, but then a warning popped up saying that ‘Roomba is having some trouble updating and to make sure Rosie (Rosie?) is docked with a good Wi-Fi connection'.

‘Rosie' was docked and the internet was fine so I waited a while, then got impatient and restarted it. It sprang to life again and gave the impression it was ready to work, so I commanded it to and it proceeded to spin round on its dock for about a minute, entangling itself on its own power cable.

(Image credit: Future)

I took it off the dock and placed it on the floor, whereby it started spinning again. At this point I thought I'd been handed a dud so I took it to a different area downstairs, plugged it in and left it to fully charge. Lo and behold, when I launched the app again, it showed the ‘start mapping' screen which suggests it was updating all along, only without any icons or progress bars to tell me so.

Anyway, I tapped the mapping button and it proceeded to map my entire floor plan efficiently and – because the roller brush was turned off – without getting caught on any rugs. The upshot of all this is that if you decide to buy a Roomba 205, just be patient and let it fully charge and complete its first firmware update, even if it says it's having trouble connecting, before trying to request any cleaning.

• Design score: 2 out of 5

iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo review: performance

• Decent vacuuming but emptying is messy
• Woeful mopping and won't ride over carpet with mop attached
• Below average obstacle avoidance

After a confusing setup, the 205 started behaving as expected and mapped my open-planned, four-room downstairs area surprisingly quickly, even if it did create nine different rooms that I had to merge in the app. This is common with most robot vacs when mapping open-plan environments though it has to said that nine divisions is a record for me.

Also, for a LiDAR-equipped robot, the detail of its mapping in the app is lamentable and way behind the likes of Roborock, which displays every nook and cranny instead of just a basic overview of one's floor plan.

(Image credit: Future)

Since it's been running, the 205's LiDAR-based navigation has been mostly okay though I have had one or two issues where it has either got stuck while trying to cross a loose rug – a common issue with some models – or suddenly stopped dead next to a kitchen cupboard for no apparent reason. With most other robot vacuum I've tested, I've learned their working methods to some degree, but this model's navigation process remains largely a mystery to me.

Obstacle avoidance

As mentioned above, the Roomba 205's LiDAR is tucked under a slotted housing so it doesn't appear to give the robot a full 360–degree view. There is a camera on the front, however, and this seems to help with its obstacle avoidance. In my test I placed the usual assortment of dog toys in front of it, plus the obligatory phone cable. It carefully avoided the first two large toys but simply snow-ploughed all the others. As expected, it also rode over the phone cable and then dragged it along behind it for a while.

(Image credit: Future)

In the pantheon of obstacle avoidance, the Roomba 205 isn't the worst I've seen but it's not that great either, and clearly not a machine to have running around if you have (for example) a non-house trained puppy in the home.

Vacuum performance

Let's take a look at the vacuuming performance. There are few niggles to note up top. Firstly, as noted above, the Roomba 205's rubber roller made quite a racket as it trundled across my wooden hard floors. But perhaps worse than that was the monotonous high-pitched sound of the suction motor, which was clearly audible from meters away. I measured the sound waves at an average 78dB from five feet away and at an annoyingly high-pitched frequency of 660Hz.

Aside from the noise issues, the side sweeping brush fell off twice during my tests, despite being firmly connected before setting off.

(Image credit: Future)

To get an objective ideal of this bot's suction powers, I ran TechRadar's standard vacuuming tests. This involved sprinkling debris of different sizes – specifically, flour, muesli and rice – on the floor and assessing how efficiently the robot picked it up. Here, the Roomba 205 was pretty decent, though it did leave traces of flour in the cracks.

(Image credit: Future)

However, when I later went to the dock to grab a photo of the robot returning after a standard cleaning session, I noticed a small scattering of rice and muesli that it had deposited in front of the dock from its previous cleaning test, which suggests it never fully sucked all the rice and muesli into its bin and instead simply held some of it in its brush housing. This anomaly hasn't repeated itself on subsequent tests, so hopefully it was just a glitch.

(Image credit: Future)

I then proceeded to run the same tests on carpet. This proved to be quite a challenge, because although the app has a menu item called ‘furniture and zones' under the heading ‘routines', nothing happens when you tap it. What it should do is provide an editable square that can be expanded or contracted over a specific cleaning area.

In the end I opted to select ‘spot clean' which was equally tricky because the map for each room is very basic and cannot be expanded so it takes trial and error to find the exact spot that relates to a specific area. Anyway, I'm pleased – indeed surprised – to report that the 205 collected all evidence of rice and muesli though, like other robots I've tested using this method, it did leave some flour marks behind.

Dust compactor performance

Moving on to the unusual bin system. While the Compactor's paddle does indeed push all detritus to the outer edges of the bin, I found that emptying it has been quite messy and not especially pleasant.

Firstly, the lid of the robot's bin doesn't open anywhere near wide enough, so I couldn't find a practical solution for emptying its dusty and hairy contents into my average-sized Brabantia kitchen bin without some of the contents spilling all over the floor. Worse, my model has a sticky bin latch so I've had to be doubly careful when trying to open the bin lest its contents end up all over the floor and my clothing.

(Image credit: Future)

iRobot states ‘up to 60 days' of cleaning before the dustbin requires emptying but my test model required emptying after just eight days of vacuuming. I should add that I have two Labradors and two cats that regularly shed hair and my home is also surrounded by woodland and farm fields so it's dustier than most urban environments.

Mopping performance

Onto the mopping. First things first: if you have any rugs or carpet dividing your hard floors, this may be the last hybrid robot you want, because it will not traverse any rug or carpet when the mopping pad is fitted. I first thought that it was the small protruding lip at the bottom of the mop mount that was catching on my rugs but it transpires that the unit has a carpet sensor on board that, in my case, refused to allow the robot to proceed the moment the front half of the robot touched the rug.

It did do its darnedest to head over the rug en route to the hard floor kitchen, but after 10 minutes of trying at every conceivable angle, it eventually announced that it was unable to continue cleaning before returning to the dock, having not performed the assigned mopping task. I can't believe that I'm the only household in the world with rugs scattered over hard flooring but what I do know is that, for me, this model has proved to be as useless as a chocolate teapot when it comes to complete household cleaning without any human interjection.

(Image credit: Future)

Anyway, having failed to ride over my rugs, I resorted to carrying the bot to the kitchen so it could perform a spot clean on a spill of milk. I had to make several attempts at this because, as I had discovered for the carpet vacuuming test, the app's map is so unrefined that it's almost impossible to select a specific cleaning spot. Anyway, I eventually spilled some milk in its path and it duly soaked up the milk leaving no signs of it. But then I expected that – much like I'd expect a single swipe with a paper towel to do the same thing.

In its favor, it did also mop the rest of the area quite effectively, leaving only a damp swathe that dried up quickly. I then had to pick the robot up again and place it near its dock so it could get back to charging.

It's not unusual for a budget robot vacuum to have this kind of simple mopping setup (not including the refusal to pass over carpet – that is very unusual). More advanced bots will have pads that vibrate, rotate or press down to dislodge dirt, but you might need to pay a little more for this kind of setup.

• Performance score: 2.5 out of 5

iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo review: app

• New app for this current range of Roombas
• Very basic with incomplete menus and unrefined maps
• Frustrating and slow to use

The new iRobot Home app was recently launched as a replacement for the older app that's now been renamed iRobot (Classic). Having used it extensively during the past week I can report that there's a lot of work to be done on making this app more user-friendly. Firstly, it's slow to send commands to the Roomba 205 and some user inputs cause a spinning cog wheel to pop up on screen while it sends its signal.

Perhaps I'm too used to Roborock's fully comprehensive app but I found the iRobot Home app to be too simplistic and, at times, very irritating to use. For instance, the floor plan maps it creates are so basic it's difficult to tell where one room ends and another begins. Also, its Spot Clean function is almost impossible to use since you can't expand the map in this menu and the little spot cleaning square it provides can't be placed exactly where you need it.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: iRobot)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: iRobot)

Although the app allows you to create routines and standard cleaning schedules, and make adjustments to both vacuum power and water amount for mopping, you can't create any specific cleaning zones, like in front of the dog bed or a specific rug. Bizarrely, there is an option to select ‘Furniture and Zones' but when you click on this function, nothing at all happens. I'm sure iRobot will be adding improvements to this app going forward but, as it stands, it's woefully inadequate.

• App score: 1.5 out of 5

Should you buy the iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo?

Attribute

Notes

Rating

Value

Mid-friendly price, but performance issues make it a poor investment. Other cheap bots work much better.

2.5 / 5

Design

Hybrid robot vacuum and mop with internal dust compaction and a simple, small dock. An intriguing idea let down by multiple design flaws.

2 / 5

Performance

Decent vacuuming but mopping is basic, and navigation and obstacle avoidance are mediocre at best. Noisy and glitchy in use.

2.5 / 5

App

Overly simplistic, buggy and irritating to use, the new iRobot Home app needs a serious overhaul.

1.5 / 5

Buy it if...

You absolutely do not want a large dock
The Roomba 205's dust compactor system means it can hold more dust than most bots with charge-only docks.

Your home has a simple layout
The 205's basic navigation means it's best suited for simple floor plans.

Don't buy it if...

You have pets
The compacting bin will fill too quickly with hair – if you have shedding pets, it's worth investing in a bot that comes with a self-empty dock.

You want hands-off cleaning
You will need to empty the bin and clean the mop yourself here, and I experienced various issues that required manual intervention in use.

It's at full price
Although not expensive within the market, there are similarly priced (and indeed, cheaper) robovacs that offer much better performance.

How I tested the iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo

As is the way with all TechRadar tests, we live with the product for as long as possible, observing its day-to-day functions and generally appraising it from afar. We then get down to some serious testing while making copious notes on the product's performance.

In the case of the iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo, I had it installed at home for just over a week while I observed its navigation behaviour. I then proceeded with my vacuum, mopping tests on both hard floor and carpet using a variety of household ingredients in order to replicate a real-world scenario. I then tested its obstacle avoidance system using some dog toys and the obligatory phone cable.

I should add that this particular review took me a lot longer to complete than usual because the machine in question failed to behave as I expected. Hence, I had to spend extra time repeating tests to make sure its previous hiccups weren't just one-off glitches.

Read more about how we test robot vacuum cleaners

• First reviewed July 2025

Asus ROG Flow Z13: Two-minute review

This year has seen some of the best gaming laptops and gaming handhelds ever made hit the market, which means it can be hard to decide which device you want to pick up for your on-the-go gaming needs.

However, what if you were to take both device categories and smoosh them together? You get the Asus ROG Flow Z13: a high-performance gaming tablet which, unlike other gaming tablets on the market, actually allows you to play ambitious AAA titles and achieve not just playable but good frame rates, all while staying cool and quiet.

(Image credit: Future)

The downsides, which stop this device from achieving a perfect score, is the battery life not being great when gaming. However, it does last a decent amount of time when using it for general browsing or watching videos.

It’s also very expensive, coming in at over $2,000, which means this device is not for those who are on a budget, with gaming laptops in the same price range delivering much higher performance.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? $2,099 / £2,199
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Only available in certain regions

Coming in at $2,099 / £2,199, this is an exceptionally expensive device in terms of gaming tablets. However, with alternatives unbale to offer a similar level of performance, it's hard to compare price-wise with other gaming tablets.

More similar alternatives are products like the Asus ROG Ally X, the gaming handheld from the same company, which comes in at $799 / £799 and provides you with the same kind of performance.

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is available in certain regions including the UK and US, however unfortunately it cannot be picked up worldwide.

• Value: 3 / 5

Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: Specs

This gaming tablet from Asus ROG Flow Z13 comes in one iteration in 2025. You get an AMD CPU with a built-in NPU and GPU paired with 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD making for a powerful machine.

Price

$2,099 / £2,199

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI MAX 390 12-Core Processor

Graphics

Integrated

RAM

32GB DDR5

Screen

13.4-inch WQXGA IPS 180Hz 100% DCI-P3 Screen

Storage

1TB SSD

Ports

1x USB-A, 2x USB-C with DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm Audio Jack, 1x MicroSD Card Reader

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

13MP camera and 5MP IR camera

Weight

2.65lbs (1.20kg)

Dimensions

11.81 x 8.03 x 0.51-inches (30 x 20.4 x 1.30cm)

Unfortunately you only get a 1TB SSD with no way to expand the storage, so you may have to invest in an external hard drive if you’re planning on installing large games.

There are other iterations of the Asus ROG Flow Z13 from previous years if you’re looking for other specifications.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: Design

• Very portable
• Fantastic design
• Good selection of ports

One of my favourite parts of the Asus ROG Flow Z13 is how compact it is, as you’d expect from a gaming tablet.

This is a device you can take pretty much anywhere, chucking it into any bag, even a small handbag thanks to how small it is (measuring 30 x 20.4 x 1.30cm). Compared to many gaming laptops that weigh around 3kg, the Asus ROG Flow Z13 comes in at just 1.2kg, perfect for taking your device on the go.

In terms of style, you get a simple and sleek tablet with a detachable keyboard and trackpad. There’s a small window on the back of the device that allows you to view some of the components inside, which is a really nice touch.

(Image credit: Future)

While it doesn’t have an OLED screen - something that did shock me initially - the Asus ROG Flow Z13 still has a pretty nice display. It won’t blow you away by any means, but it has a great color range and an exceptional refresh rate for a tablet at 180Hz.

There are a fair amount of ports on the Asus ROG Flow Z13 , including USB-A, two USB-C ports (either can be used for charging), HDMI, an audio jack, and a microSD card reader. This is great for those who are hoping to use other gaming peripherals with their device as there are plenty of options to plug in.

(Image credit: Future)

The included keyboard is extremely slim, and while I usually despise tablet keyboards, this one wasn’t as squidgy as alternative options. It made for a satisfying typing and gaming experience, however for those playing competitive titles, I would recommend opting for an external gaming keyboard for those precise responses.

• Design score: 5 / 5

Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: Performance

• Gaming performance is impressive
• Overall user experience is great
• Quiet when in use

Benchmarks

These are the results of our benchmarking tests for the Asus ROG Flow Z13:

3DMark: Night Raid: 36,307; Fire Strike: 11,230; Time Spy: 4,634
GeekBench 6: 2,162 (single-core); 11,575 (multi-core)
CrossMark: Overall: 1,417; Productivity: 1,241; Creativity: 1,760; Responsiveness: 1,100
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 63; (1080p, Low): 122
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 73; (1080p, Low): 93
Dirt 5 (1080p, Ultra): 39; (1080p, Low): 80
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 6 hr 4 min
TechRadar movie test: 5hr 55 min

In terms of performance, the Asus ROG Flow Z13 delivers some pretty good framerates for a gaming tablet, however considering the price point, I was actually expecting more.

While for the most part, you get above 60 fps when playing in 1080p at Ultra graphics presets, equivalently-priced gaming laptops would likely be delivering significantly better performance, as they can make use off more powerful hardware without having to fit it into a tablet-like form factor.

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 stayed very quiet the whole time I was using it. Even when putting it through its paces, like running AAA titles at Ultra, I was barely able to hear the device which makes it perfect for using on the go so you’re not disturbing everyone around you.

(Image credit: Future)

As you’d expect, due to how quiet it was, it also stayed very cool which is great for a tablet as it means you can still hold it and use the touchscreen as intended without worrying about burning your hands and fingers.

The speakers are pretty good, however as always I would recommend plugging in and using a headset to ensure the best gaming experience. For watching videos and movies, the speakers are absolutely perfect since you don’t need the directional precision.

(Image credit: Future)

Outside of the actual performance I was getting in-game, using the device itself has been a very pleasant experience. I enjoyed typing on it, and I found it easy to switch between tablet and laptop mode by just removing or flipping the keyboard back.

One downside for me was the built in trackpad, I found it a little bit slow in terms of responsiveness, while fine for browsing and general use, I obviously opted for a gaming mouse when playing.

• Performance score: 3.5 / 5

Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: Battery life

The battery life of the Asus ROG Flow Z13 is actually surprisingly great, surpassing even some of the highest-performance and more expensive gaming laptops I’ve tried recently.

When benchmarking the battery, I was able to get around sixhours of usage, which is more representative of watching videos on the device rather than gaming. When gaming on the Asus ROG Flow Z13, I found I got closer to four hours of battery, with AAA games draining the device even faster.

For example, when playing Cyberpunk I only got around an hour of half of game time before the device shut off, which certainly limits how portable this device actually is, no matter how thin and light it might be.

• Battery life: 3 / 5

Should I buy the Asus ROG Flow Z13?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Price

This is a very expensive device, but it’s hard to compare to alternatives as it's so unique.

3 / 5

Design

You get a sleek and stunning device which is lightweight and has an excellent range of ports.

5 / 5

Performance

This tablet delivers great performance while staying cool and quiet however laptops at a similar price point would surpass this easily.

4 / 5

Battery life

While delivering a better battery life than some gaming laptops on the market, it's significantly reduced when gaming.

3 / 5

Total Score

This unique gaming tablet can be used as a more traditional laptop, and offers impressive performance and a fantastic and innovative design. Its high price and compromised battery life prevent it from being perfect, however.

3.5 / 5

Buy it if...

You want a portable gaming device
This is super lightweight and compact, making for a great on-the-go gaming device.

You want something cool and quiet
Even when put through its paces, it stays very cool and quiet.

You’re looking for good performance across AAA titles
I got decent frames in all of the titles I tested out, including AAA titles at 'Ultra' graphical settings.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
You do get a decent battery capacity here, but it won’t last you very long when gaming.

You want a long-lasting battery
You do get a decent battery capacity here, but it won’t last you very long when gaming.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: Also consider

Asus ROG Flow Z13

Razer Blade 14 (2024)

MSI Katana 15

Price

$2,099 / £2,199

From $2,199.99 / £2,149.99 / AU$3,999

$999 (about £785 / AU$1,543)

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI MAX 390 12-Core Processor

AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS

Intel Core i7-13620H

Graphics

Integrated

Nvidia RTX 4060 - RTX 4070

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 - 4070

RAM

32GB DDR5

16GB DDR5 - 32GB DDR5

16GB DDR5 - 32GB DDR5

Screen

13.4-inch WQXGA IPS 180Hz 100% DCI-P3 Screen

14-inch QHD+ 240Hz, 2560 x 1600p, up to 100% DCI-P3, Factory calibrated, Calman Verified

15.6-inch FHD, IPS-Level 144Hz

Storage

1TB SSD

1TB SSD

1TB SSD

Ports

1x USB-A, 2x USB-C with DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm Audio Jack, 1x MicroSD Card Reader

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A , 2 x USB4 Type-C Ports with Power Delivery and Display Port 1.4, Charging supported with 20V USB-C chargers with PD 3.0 (100W), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x Power port, 1 x 3.5mm combo jack

1x USB-C 3.2, 2x USB-A 3.2, 1x USB-A 2.0, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm Combo-Jack

Weight

2.65lbs (1.20kg)

4.05 lbs (1.84kg)

4.96 lbs (2.25 kg)

Dimensions

11.81 x 8.03 x 0.51-inches (30 x 20.4 x 1.30cm)

12.23 x 8.97 x 0.70 inches (310.7 x 228 x 17.99mm)

14.13 x 10.20 x 0.98 inches (359 x 259 x 25mm)

Here are some alternatives if the Asus ROG Flow Z13 doesn't sound right for your needs:

Razer Blade 14
You can grab this powerful gaming laptop which provides you with immaculate performance regardless of if you’re looking for stunning visuals or high frame rates all packed into a compact and stunning chassis, then the Razer Blade 14 is a great option.

Read our full Razer Blade 14 review

MSI Katana 15
For those not looking to spend too much, then the MSI Katana 15 is a great budget option for those who are looking for a powerful gaming laptop. You can pick it up at less than $1,000 and still get decent AAA performance in 1080p.

Read our full MSI Katana 15 review

How I tested the Asus ROG Flow Z13

• Tested for two weeks
• Used for work and for gaming
• Ran benchmarks

I spent two weeks using the Asus ROG Flow Z13 as my everyday laptop for work and leisure. I was sure to use the device all day for my typical workday, and then also used it for gaming in the evening.

I took it on the go with me to different locations where I needed to work to see how it would feel outside of my workstation. As well as using it every day, I also benchmarked the laptop using a range of different benchmarking software and in-game benchmarking tools for a range of titles.

• First reviewed: July 2025
• Read more about how we test

Insta360 Mic Air: two-minute review

Following in the footsteps of DJI, Rode, Saramonic, Hollyland and more, Insta360 brings us the Insta360 Mic Air, a compact, inexpensive wireless microphone designed with video creators in mind – particularly those who use the Insta360 X5 or Insta360 Ace Pro 2 action cameras.

The button-sized, ultra-lightweight Mic Air transmitter (aka the TX) can connect wirelessly to either of the above Insta360 cameras, either replacing or teaming up with the on-board mics. The idea is that it adds an instant upgrade to sound quality, offering 48kHz / 24-bit audio, optional noise reduction, and a furry attachable shield to cut down on distracting wind noise.

Having tested the Mic Air on a typically breezy day on the English coast, I’m very happy with the results. With the windshield carefully attached, the noise from occasional strong gusts was completely removed, as the video below illustrates. I say “carefully” because Insta360 has opted for a slightly unconventional method for attachment: the shield is mounted on a rubber ring that slips over the sides of the TX, and some care must be taken to ensure that it’s sited directly above the mic grille.

There’s also a form of noise reduction available, accessed by double-tapping the TX’s power button. It’s fairly effective, helping negate background drones and hums without overly distorting the final audio. You can also adjust the mic’s gain in the X5 or Ace Pro 2’s menu screens, and there’s an on-screen indicator while you’re recording to give you an at-a-glance view of the current gain.

Connected directly to the X5 or Ace Pro 2, the Mic Air has a short range – about 30 to 50m. But add the receiver (or RX) and things get a lot roomier, with the theoretical range going up to 300m (the real-world results are less thanks to interference and obstructions).

Note – at launch, the Mic Air is compatible with the X5 and Ace Pro 2 only. Insta360 says a firmware update is coming for the X4, while the Go 3 / 3S won't be compatible with it. The X3 and the Ace Pro aren't compatible either, but could be further down the line.

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The receiver, which is also tiny and lightweight, has a USB-C connector that enables you to plug it into smartphones, tablets, laptops and other products, such as Insta360’s Flow range of smartphone gimbals. It then establishes a wireless connection with the transmitter, so that when you hit the record button on your device the audio recorded comes from the transmitter rather than your device’s own microphone.

I still use an older iPhone model with Lightning, so I wasn’t able to test this method on my smartphone (Insta360 has told me that a Lighting version is a definite possibility for the future). While I understand the decision not to offer a Lightning option at launch, it does leave some people out of the loop, as does the lack of a 3.5mm output for connection to cameras. Some other small, affordable mics, like the DJI Mic Mini and Fulaim X5M, offer wider connectivity.

I did, however, put the Insta360 Mic Air through its paces hooked up to an Android tablet, and found the audio quality a huge improvement over that offered by the built-in mic. You don’t have to use it just for video capture, either – it would also improve the quality of voice notes and recordings, Zoom calls, and anything else that requires the use of a mic.

The Mic Air RX attached to a tablet. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

One thing Insta360 has done really well with the Mic Air is offer a variety of mounting options. In the box there’s a button magnet, which lets you attach the TX to thin clothing, as well as a clip magnet that can grip onto collars, lapels, bag straps and even cap brims. I’ve seen those with virtually every wireless mic I’ve reviewed, but here there’s also a magnet pendant, so the user can wear the TX around their neck. It’s nice to have that extra option.

The magnet also comes into use when recharging the TX battery, locking it into position on its charging plate. The charging plate uses USB-A, which surprised me a little in 2025 where USB-C is ubiquitous, but I doubt many people will struggle to find somewhere to plug it in.

On the subject of the battery, the TX offers about 10 hours of use on a full charge, which is a little less than the DJI Mic Mini’s 11.5 hours, but still very respectable.

Insta360 Mic Air and DJI Mic Mini. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Insta360 Mic Air: specs

Dimensions:

26.9 x 26.9 x 11.6mm / 1.3 x 1.3 x 0.6 inches (TX)

Weight:

7.9g / 3.7oz (TX)

Range:

Up to 300m

Connectivity:

USB-C

Bluetooth:

Yes

Battery:

Up to 10 hours

Noise cancelling:

Yes

The Insta360 Mic Air and its accessories all fit into a great puck-shaped, zip-up carry case. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Insta360 Mic Air: price and availability

The Insta360 Mic Air is available now, with two options available. For buyers who own an Insta360 X5 or Ace Pro 2 camera and just need a mic transmitter to connect to it directly, the Mic Air Transmitter package costs $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$89.99. It comes with a single TX unit, charging base, button magnet, magnet pendant, clip magnet, windshield and carry case.

For those in need of more flexibility, there’s the Insta360 Mic Air (1 TX + 1 RX bundle), which includes all of the above plus one USB-C Receiver unit that can plug directly into smartphones, tablets, computers and more. This costs $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$129.99.

Insta360’s pricing seems very fair to me, although recent price drops have seen the DJI Mic Mini (1 TX + 1 RX) bundle fall to just $89 / £59 / AU$199, or £78 / $139 with a Lightning adapter. That’s probably a better deal than Insta360’s, if you can find it.

Should I buy the Insta360 Mic Air?

The Insta360 Mic Air next to the company's X5 360 camera. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Buy it if...

You want to boost your X5 or Ace Pro 2's audio
Buying a single TX unit will hugely improve your action-camera audio at a low cost and with very little fuss.

You want the most mounting options
With a clip, button magnet and pendant in the box, there's no shortage of ways to wear the Mic Air.

Don't buy it if...

You need a flexible wireless mic
An RX unit adds some versatility, but with no 3.5mm or Lightning connectivity, the Mic Air isn't particularly versatile.

You want an all-in-one package
Unlike most rivals, you can't buy the Mic Air in a 2x TX, 1x RX and charging case bundle. In fact, there's no charging case accessory at all.

Insta360 Mic Air: also consider

DJI Mic Mini

The shrunk-down version of DJI’s ubiquitous wireless microphone is slightly more flexible than the Insta360 Mic Air, thanks to its RX unit supporting a 3.5mm input that lets it connect to cameras. In many other respects it feels similar, and the way it seamlessly works with certain DJI products mirrors the Mic Air’s compatibility with Insta360’s own most recent cameras.

Read our in-depth DJI Mic Mini reviewView Deal

Boya Mini

It might be 16-bit only and very plasticky, but the Boya Mini is still the best super-cheap wireless mic we’ve tested. It’s refreshingly quick and easy to set up and surprisingly reliable, and everything, windshields included, fits into the charging case for easy transport. You can pick up a full two-mic set (2x TX, 1x RX and the charging case) for less than one Mic Air TX.

Read our in-depth Boya Mini reviewView Deal

How I tested the Insta360 Mic Air

• I used it for one week
• I tested it with an Insta360 X5 camera and Android tablet
• I used it indoors and outdoors

I tested a full production version of the Insta360 Mic Air over the course of a week, using it both with the Insta360 X5 and my OnePlus Pad Android tablet. With the X5, I went outside on both calm and windy days, vlogging with the setup as a means to test its wind-negating and noise-reduction capabilities.

First reviewed July 2025

The United States continues to experience a severe identity fraud problem, which has become increasingly expensive due to modern digital threats. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 1.1 million identity theft complaints in 2024, representing a 9.5% increase from the previous year. The total financial losses from fraud and identity theft reached an alarming $12.7 billion according to recent statistics. The statistic illustrates how our digital convenience comes with a price, as it makes us more susceptible to advanced cybercriminal activities.

The rising importance of digital identity protection services has transformed them from optional extras into fundamental necessities because of the widespread nature of identity theft. The conventional methods of protecting our data, such as using strong passwords and being careful with information sharing, no longer provide adequate protection. The growing complexity of cyber threats necessitates that individuals implement robust defensive strategies to safeguard themselves against potential security breaches. The growing awareness of identity protection has motivated people to seek dedicated solutions that safeguard their personal data and identity.

The cybersecurity company Bitdefender leads the way with its innovative solutions, among others. Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection provides a comprehensive suite of services that track and detect identity theft, while also offering recovery support to affected users. The service offers three primary features, including continuous web-based personal data monitoring, identity theft alerts, and post-incident recovery assistance.

This review examines Bitdefender to help you determine if it represents the correct solution for your needs.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection: Plans and pricing

Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection operates on an annual subscription model, making it accessible for users who prefer a straightforward payment structure. Although prices can fluctuate depending on ongoing promotions, the typical cost for the first year hovers around $39.99. Following this initial period, the subscription automatically renews at a standard rate, often around $79.99 per year. For those seeking more flexibility, a monthly subscription option is generally available for about $7.99.

It’s important to note that this service is designed for individual use, meaning it generally covers one person’s identity. For families or groups looking to monitor multiple identities, it may be necessary to explore Bitdefender's more comprehensive offerings. Options like "Identity Theft Protection Standard" or "Premium" plans provide a broader range of features, such as credit report monitoring and identity theft insurance, which can cover losses of up to $1 million or $2 million, in addition to restoration services. For users seeking the most extensive protection, Bitdefender's "Ultimate Security" bundles might be worth considering.

Understanding that users should have confidence in their purchase, Bitdefender offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for its Digital Identity Protection service. This feature allows users to try the service risk-free, reassured that if it doesn’t meet their expectations, they can receive a full refund within the specified timeframe.esn’t offer any short-term subscriptions or free trials.

You can contact Bitdefender directly for a full refund within 30 days of starting a new subscription (Image credit: Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection)Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection: Features

Through Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, you receive complete online security for your personal information that extends to dark web monitoring with alerts about potential security threats. This solution enables users to understand their digital identity footprint and receive step-by-step protection instructions.

The core monitoring system uses Personalized Breach Monitoring, which generates individualized intelligence about data breach effects on your identity. Through advanced data processing, the system generates risk scores by analyzing multiple elements from data breach events. The platform performs Dark Web Threat Monitoring through continuous website scans that include black market chat rooms and blogs to identify illegal personal information sales. Bitdefender delivers immediate warnings about compromised credentials and potential account takeovers so users can act right away.

The Smart SSN Tracker system provides alerts when an unfamiliar name, alias, or address shows up with your Social Security Number, indicating possible fraud. The service also includes Social Media Identity Monitoring, tracking Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram accounts for violent content, profanity, and discriminatory or cyberbullying posts.

The system protects against financial and medical forms of fraud. The Medical ID Fraud Protection service enables users to check medical benefits statements for unauthorized usage of their medical benefits. The Fraud Alert Reminders system sends rapid warnings to users when their identity appears in applications for new credit cards, wireless devices, utility payments, check reorders, mortgages, and car loans, thus enabling users to identify fraud at its early stages.

The premium features of this service provide Bank & Credit Card Activity Alerts that notify users about charges, withdrawals, and balance transfers above their defined limits. Additionally, Investment Account Alerts detect early warning signs of deposit fraud, withdrawal fraud, duplicate transactions, and balance transfer fraud in 401(k), brokerage, and financial accounts.

The Change of Address Premium feature sends alerts to users about unauthorized USPS mail redirections, which criminals often use to steal financial documents. The Premium version of Court Records Monitoring searches millions of criminal, court, and public records to protect your identity from unauthorized use. The Sex Offender Registry Monitoring Premium feature actively monitors sex offender registries for both illegal identity misuse and when sex offenders move near your location to use your personal information fraudulently.

Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection provides Identity Threat Alerts to deliver information about significant data breaches, identity theft cases, and emerging identity theft legislation. The service includes Lost Wallet Protection, which enables quick credit card, debit card, and ATM card replacement and cancellation in case of identity theft. Moreover, it offers 24/7 U.S. Customer Support staffed by specialists who help users resolve and restore their digital identities. The service also shows your digital footprint through visualization and provides actionable education, presenting tailored identity protection advice based on detected risks.

Bitdefender makes it easy to track and visualize your digital footprint (Image credit: Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection)Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection: Interface and in use

The Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection interface enables users to manage their digital identity through a web-based dashboard, accessible via Bitdefender Central online. This platform allows users to monitor their online identity risks without requiring any local software installations. The platform offers users complete control over their digital privacy through its centralized management system, making it easy to protect personal information.

The dashboard shows users' essential digital identity components after they complete the login process. The "Digital Identity Protection Score" stands out as a key feature that provides a numerical value indicating your current level of privacy protection. The score functions as a fundamental tool that helps users determine their level of online exposure. The "Digital Footprint" area displays users' publicly accessible information, enabling them to assess their data vulnerability.

The interface contains specific sections for monitoring "Data Breaches" while enabling users to perform "Impersonation Check" operations. The "Data Breaches" section notifies users about potential information breaches, and the "Impersonation Check" verifies that your identity remains protected from unauthorized usage.

The dashboard navigation becomes simple because it features clickable tabs at the top, including "Dark Web Monitoring," "Data Brokers," and "Event History." Users can explore each specific part of their online presence by using the tabs on the interface. The "Dark Web Monitoring" feature of the platform performs real-time checks on illicit online marketplaces to identify any personal data that matches your information. Through the "Data Brokers" section, users learn about the personal information collection and sales operations of data broker companies, while also receiving guidance on controlling their data visibility.

The Bitdefender interface presents complex information in an efficient and structured manner. The platform utilizes visual components, including risk maps and graphs, to help users easily understand complex information. The platform's user-friendly interface displays your data risk locations alongside recommended actions to mitigate those risks. The platform enables users to access simple one-click features that help them contact companies to remove data and protect compromised accounts, thus providing quick solutions.

The platform includes real-time alert systems that enable users to quickly handle digital identity threats. Through its complete set of tools, Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection enables users to track sensitive information and detect data breaches while providing active protection for their online presence. Through its user-driven digital identity protection system Bitdefender delivers a safer online experience to users.

The Bitdefender interface enables you to quickly visualize data and view suggested actions (Image credit: Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection)Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection: Support

Like several other identity protection companies, Bitdefender includes a rather comprehensive support page with solutions to frequent inquiries regarding the settings and functionality of the program. If you require assistance with Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, start by visiting the Support Center.

Bitdefender offers several other options beyond the answers available in the Support Center. You can contact the company’s support team directly via a choice of phone, email, or live chat.

Although there are no specified hours for live chat assistance, English-language phone support is offered around-the-clock. The Bitdefender support system may be able to address any issues you run through, however we never received an answer to a question that was quite simple.

The Bitdefender Support Center contains detailed articles on a number of topics (Image credit: Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection)Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection: The competition

The identity protection services from Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection compete with various established players and emerging companies that offer comprehensive protection against identity theft, credit monitoring, and cybersecurity services. The market consists of two main groups of competitors, which include traditional antivirus companies that are extending their identity protection services alongside specialized identity theft protection services.

The market is dominated by two leading competitors: Norton LifeLock and Aura. Norton LifeLock provides established identity protection services through its Norton 360 antivirus suite, which combines real-time threat detection with VPN and identity restoration features. Aura has established itself through its comprehensive feature set, which includes dark web monitoring, public records tracking, financial transaction alerts, three-bureau credit score monitoring, AI-based spam call/text blocking, and identity theft insurance benefits. Aura provides quick fraud detection capabilities alongside family-oriented subscription plans.

Identity Guard operates as a major competitor through its comprehensive identity theft protection system, featuring AI alerts, password management, and secure browsing capabilities. IDShield stands as a powerful option because it delivers comprehensive identity theft protection through its social media monitoring and unlimited fraud resolution services, which utilize the expertise of private investigators. IdentityForce provides an extensive feature set that includes advanced fraud monitoring, together with robust child protection capabilities.

The broader security packages of cybersecurity companies, such as McAfee, Avast, and Kaspersky, include identity monitoring and protection features. The primary focus of these companies on antivirus and malware protection has led them to develop dark web monitoring, password managers, and secure VPNs that deliver comprehensive digital security solutions. The anti-malware solution provider Malwarebytes has developed identity protection features in addition to its core malware defense capabilities.

New identity protection services, such as NordProtect from NordVPN developers, provide identity protection through their cybersecurity suite, which includes data leak monitoring and cyber extortion coverage features. The market is undergoing ongoing evolution, as providers actively enhance their monitoring capabilities with rapid alert systems and comprehensive recovery services, while bundling these tools with other cybersecurity products to increase consumer value.

Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection: Final verdict

The digital world presents identity fraud as a significant security concern that users must address. The Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection system offers comprehensive services that track and warn users about identity theft, while also helping them recover their stolen personal data.

Bitdefender offers its services through annual subscriptions, which provide ongoing personal data monitoring, identity theft alerts, and post-incident recovery support. The system includes Personalized Breach Monitoring, which provides customized risk scores, and Dark Web Threat Monitoring, which detects the sale of illegal personal data. The system fights financial and medical fraud through its Smart SSN Tracker and Medical ID Fraud Protection tools.

Users can handle their digital identity through Bitdefender Central's user-friendly web dashboard, which shows their "Digital Identity Protection Score" and "Digital Footprint." Users can easily manage their data removal and account protection through the platform's simple interface.

The Digital Identity Protection service from Bitdefender comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, but it exists mainly for individual users. The "Identity Theft Protection Standard" and "Premium" plans of Bitdefender offer credit report monitoring and identity theft insurance to families who need these features.

The competitive market featuring Norton LifeLock and Aura does not deter Bitdefender from offering its complete feature set and excellent customer support, which makes it an attractive choice for identity fraud protection.

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Our series on identity theft protection apps will evaluate the features, pricing options, competition, and also the overall value of using each app. However, these are not full hands-on reviews since evaluating identity theft protection apps is almost impossible. It would require several months of testing, purposefully hacking accounts to see if the protection app works, handing over personally identifiable information, performing multiple credit checks, and risking exposure of the reviewer’s personally identifiable information.

There is finally an identity theft prevention program that is worth your time and money among the multitude of options available. This is particularly noteworthy since MyFico is the consumer arm of the company that created the FICO credit score, which has been an industry standard for more than 25 years.

MyFico places a strong emphasis on your credit score and credit reporting, offering a wide range of educational content as well as detailed information about your credit situation. The mobile app presents this information in a vibrant and easy-to-understand manner, boasting a more polished appearance than most of the applications we've tried. Although this product is typically priced higher than others, it meets all the criteria for a high-quality offering.

First and foremost, the user interface (UI) is simple and easy to navigate. This is crucial because a clumsy and unappealing UI can make any program difficult to use. Quickly finding the features you need can help you protect yourself against criminals or hackers attempting to steal your personally identifiable information, which makes identity theft protection essential. MyFico's colorful display of credit scores includes pop-up alerts that notify you of potential risks.

Like many other products, the app offers $1 million in identity theft protection, although some of the more basic competitors provide similar coverage. Additionally, a credit score simulator is available, allowing you to see how various actions, such as taking out a new auto loan, may affect your credit score. The organization behind MyFico is well-known and reputable. Overall, this is an effective and intelligent product for monitoring your online presence.

MyFico: Plans and pricing

MyFICO offers a range of plans to help consumers monitor their credit and identity, with pricing structured across different tiers. The Free Plan provides basic coverage, including a FICO Score 8 based on Equifax data, monthly Equifax credit reports, and 24/7 credit monitoring.

For more comprehensive coverage, MyFICO has three paid subscription tiers that automatically renew each month:

Advanced Plan: Priced at $29.95 per month, this plan offers three-bureau coverage (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) with credit reports and FICO Score updates every three months. It includes comprehensive credit monitoring, FICO Score monitoring with alerts, and identity monitoring. Additionally, it provides $1 million in identity theft insurance and 24/7 identity restoration. Features like the FICO Score Simulator and "How Lenders View You" analysis are also included.

Premier Plan: This top-tier plan costs $39.95 per month and offers the most frequent updates, providing three-bureau credit reports and FICO Scores (including versions for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards) on a monthly basis. Similar to the Advanced Plan, it includes proactive credit report monitoring and alerts, identity monitoring, up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, and 24/7 identity restoration. All paid plans feature FICO Score 8 and may include additional versions of the FICO Score.

Please keep in mind that all subscriptions automatically renew and are non-refundable

MyFico has one of the best looking identity theft protection apps we've seen yet (Image credit: FICO)MyFico: Interface

MyFico truly stands out in the realm of identity theft prevention software, especially when compared to many other programs that often resemble outdated tax software from a decade ago. One of its most notable features is its vibrant, user-friendly credit score indicator, combined with a sleek, modern design that makes the mobile app particularly appealing to users.

The app boasts an intuitive layout, allowing users to easily navigate and access key features. Checking your credit score is a swift and straightforward process, while delving into potential credit issues or assessing identity theft notifications is just as seamless. This accessibility is vital in a landscape where timely intervention can make a significant difference.

One of the app’s standout components is its credit score simulator. Unlike traditional calculators that offer limited insights, MyFico's simulator operates more like an interactive wizard. It allows users to explore various financial scenarios—like purchasing a home or a car—illustrating how these decisions might affect their credit score. This foresight equips users with the knowledge they need to make informed financial choices, ensuring they can assess whether it’s wise to move forward with significant purchases.

While MyFico comes with a higher price tag than some of its competitors, the simplicity and effectiveness of its interface can be well worth the investment. If this user-friendly design helps you tackle potential identity theft issues or prevent future credit complications, the cost becomes a minor consideration compared to the peace of mind it offers.

In contrast, other identity theft protection apps, although they may offer impressive features, often fall short in usability. Their cumbersome and outdated interfaces can make it challenging for users to locate and utilize these tools effectively. MyFico’s sleek design and robust functionality set it apart, making it a superior choice for anyone serious about safeguarding their identity and maintaining their credit health.

Figure out how your purchasing decisions will affect your FICO score with the service's FICO Score Simulator (Image credit: FICO)MyFico: Features

MyFICO offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to empower you with knowledge and protection over your credit and identity. With MyFICO, you receive FICO Scores and credit reports from all three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. This is essential because 90% of top lenders rely on FICO Scores. By reviewing your reports from all three bureaus, you can identify discrepancies and errors that may be negatively impacting your scores.

Additionally, MyFICO provides credit monitoring and alerts, continuously tracking significant changes such as new accounts or inquiries. This allows you to quickly detect potential identity theft or fraudulent activity and take immediate action if necessary. You will also benefit from FICO Score monitoring and a history graph, which visually displays your score's progression over time, helping you understand how your financial decisions impact it.

One particularly helpful tool is the FICO Score Simulator, which enables you to explore "what if" scenarios, such as how paying down debt or applying for a new loan could affect your score. This feature empowers you to make informed financial choices before taking action.

Beyond credit monitoring, MyFICO offers identity monitoring by scanning the dark web and public records for your personal information. If your information is compromised, you will receive alerts. In the unfortunate event of identity theft, you are protected by identity restoration services and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. This coverage includes 24/7 access to specialists who can assist you in recovery and provide financial protection for related expenses.

Finally, MyFICO provides valuable credit education and customer support to help you understand the complexities of credit and offer assistance whenever needed. Together, these features give you a complete picture of your financial health, proactive protection, and the tools to confidently manage your credit and identity.

You can find answers to common problems by visiting MyFico's Support Center (Image credit: FICO)MyFico: Support

Users who are facing problems can get assistance from the MyFico support team. A direct toll-free number is provided, along with what appears to be an email address but, upon selecting it, directs the user to a support portal. The business is open Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 6 PM and on Saturday from 7 AM to 4 PM PST. There are no choices for faxing or chat.

Additionally, there are articles categorized by subjects such as "Why did my FICO Score change?" and professional credit education. A discussion board, ebooks, or video content are not current options.

MyFico: The competition

While MyFICO is the official consumer division of FICO and offers direct access to the widely used FICO Scores, several strong competitors provide comprehensive credit monitoring services, often with different focuses.

One of the most prominent competitors is Credit Karma, which stands out for offering free credit monitoring services. Unlike MyFICO, which primarily provides FICO Scores, Credit Karma uses the VantageScore® model (generated from TransUnion and Equifax data). Credit Karma also includes features like credit-building tools, financial management resources, and personalized offers for credit cards and loans, making it a popular choice for those looking for free and expansive credit oversight, though it's worth noting they share user data for marketing purposes.

Another significant player is Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus. Experian offers its own free credit monitoring service, providing access to your Experian credit report and FICO® Score. They also have a unique feature called Experian Boost, which allows users to potentially increase their FICO Score by including on-time payments for utilities, phone bills, and streaming services. While MyFICO also offers FICO scores, Experian's direct connection to one of the bureaus and its Boost feature offer a distinct advantage for some consumers.

Beyond these, other services like CreditWise by Capital One (free, offering TransUnion VantageScore and credit report monitoring), SmartCredit (offering three-bureau reports and scores with credit-building tools), Aura, Identity Guard, and LifeLock provide various levels of credit monitoring and identity theft protection. These often bundle credit monitoring with more robust identity theft insurance, fraud alerts, and even digital security features, catering to users who prioritize comprehensive protection beyond just credit score tracking. The key distinction often lies in the specific credit scoring model used (FICO vs. VantageScore), the number of credit bureaus monitored, and the inclusion of additional services like identity theft protection or financial management tools.

MyFico: Final verdict

We have a strong appreciation for the user-friendly interface and the extensive range of features provided by the MyFico service. One of the standout advantages of this platform is the reassurance it offers; you won't have to worry about navigating the murky waters of obscure identity theft companies. MyFico is backed by a well-established brand known for its credibility and trustworthiness, which is a significant advantage in the realm of financial protection.

An effective starting point for monitoring your financial health is by checking your FICO score, as it serves as a crucial indicator of your creditworthiness. Keeping an eye on this score allows you to make informed decisions regarding your credit history and potential discrepancies that may arise.

Additionally, we appreciate that even the most basic plan includes identity theft insurance, providing peace of mind in the unfortunate event of fraud. This proactive approach to identity theft protection is a considerable benefit for individuals looking for comprehensive security. Moreover, if you ever find yourself needing assistance, MyFICO's customer support is available around the clock, ensuring that help is always at hand whenever you may need it.

While we consider the MyFico solution to be robust and reliable, it is worth noting that we believe services like Norton LifeLock and IdentityForce edge it out, as they deliver a wider range of features at a more competitive price point. These alternatives provide enhanced options that cater to varying needs and budgets, making them worthy contenders in the landscape of identity protection.

We've also highlighted the best identity theft protection

OneOdio OpenRock S2: Two minute review

I’ve tested so many of the best open earbuds recently that they’ve almost started to blur into one, but I’ve never forgotten two of the first open-ears I tested for how unique they were. One of these was the OneOdio OpenRock S – and it has finally seen a successor in the OneOdio OpenRock S2. But the thing is, it’s quite a different proposition.

The OpenRock Pro and OpenRock S were pretty big and bulky open-ears compared to what we’re seeing in 2025 but they were perfect for outdoor adventures or running thanks to their absolutely huge battery life, rugged design and solid, robust, inflexible design.

For better or worse the OpenRock S2 aren’t like the first-gen model but keep closer to current market trends in terms of design and feature set. I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but these new buds could be more appealing to a wider audience so I can understand the change.

These are slightly more affordable alternatives to most of the other major open earbuds we’ve seen this year, the majority of which sit just north of the $100 / £100 / AU$200 price line. I’d recommend them to people who want decent open-ears but don’t need the very best audio, fully-rounded feature set or long-lasting batteries.

The S2 are lightweight buds with a more flexible design and much smaller carry case, so won’t take up so much space in your bag or on your head than the last-gen model. I did find that this design presented a few issues with fit though, as the buds would sometimes move position on my head or get stuck on my ear’s antitragus, and I found myself missing the older buds’ design.

Another downgrade is a battery life in that it's roughly half that of the predecessors, but other areas compensate: OpenRock finally has a phone app for its earbuds, which wasn’t the case upon the release of the previous-gen buds.

The sound profile is warm with a clear focus on bass, with tech from the company emphasizing bass not to give it extra oomph, but to ensure you can even hear it in this form factor (which often loses it). They’re good options if you’re looking for something to work out with.

If you were put off by the original OpenRock’s rugged, chunky look and huge carry case, thinking it a bit too much of a fringe option for you, you’ll definitely think the S2 an interesting new pair of earbuds. But if those traits were the entire selling point of the originals for you (as they were for me), the S2 just don’t have that uniqueness.

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: Specifications

Component

Value

Water resistant

IPX5

Battery life

8 hours (earbuds), 32 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 6.0

Weight

7g / Charging case: 58g

Driver

12mm

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Released in June 2025
• Costs $98.99 / £79.99 / AU$154

The OneOdio OpenRock S2 went on sale in June 2025, officially marking the second generation of OpenRock’s sports-specific open-ear headphones.

You can pick up the buds for $98.99 / £79.99 / AU$154 , so they’re cheaper than their predecessors, which released in October 2023 for $99 / £89 (roughly AU$150) although price cuts have seen the OpenRock S go for half that.

That also puts the OpenRock S2 as some of the most affordable open earbuds to come out this year, a good option for cost-cutters. You can find some competitors below, but let me speak plain: the options worth buying are all about $130 / £100 / AU$200.

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Small and lightweight case
• Lightweight buds, slightly wobbly design
• Hard-to-press physical buttons

Having tested previous OpenRocks, I was expecting a similarly huge carry case (relatively – earbuds cases can be like boxes of dental floss now) for the S2, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a much smaller pebble-shaped holder which weighs just 58g and easily fits in a hand.

While it’s made from a fairly brittle plastic that doesn’t feel like it’d survive much of a battering (I didn't try any drop tests), the speckled pattern on it makes it more distinctive-looking than the vast number of its rivals I've used.

The earbuds themselves are also smaller and more svelte than previous offerings from the company. They weigh just 7g each and are made up of a small bud, a thin rubbery sports loop and a larger counterweight/battery pack that sits behind your ear.

Evidence of how easily-bendable the hook is. (Image credit: Future)

As stated, I’ve tested loads of open-ears and these have got to be some of the most comfortable, thanks to how small and lightweight they are. Often I’d completely forget I was even wearing them.

Despite being comfortable, the fit isn’t reliable, likely due to just how thin, flexible and wobbly the sports loop is. When running, working out or sometimes even walking, the driver housing near my ear would wobble or change position a little, which can have a big knock-on effect on audio quality.

Another thing to criticize on the design front is the touch controls. On-ear controls, be they touch capacitive sensors or physical clicking buttons, are a hard thing for companies to get right, but the S2 is possibly the worst example yet on an open earbuds design.

The button is on the bottom of the counterweight, so if you want to pause your music, you have to press upwards — which shoves the thing straight out of your ear. Now that’ll stop your music! The solution is to hold the bud in place with your other fingers or hand to keep it in place, but this is a much more convoluted process than, say, picking up your phone and pressing ‘pause’.

• Design score: 3.5/5

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• 8-hour battery, 32 hours from case
• New app with extra features
• Reliable connection via Bluetooth 6.0

OpenRock has seriously cut the S2’s battery life from its predecessor, which is a big shame. You’re now looking at a lasting power of 8 hours per bud, or 32 hours when you factor in the case, which is about average for open-ears but far short of the 19/60-hour life of the OpenRock S. It’s a shame to see a downgrade like this from one of the S’ best selling points.

As with most open earbuds, there’s no noise cancellation here; in fact, the form factor makes it easy to hear surrounding sounds. In truth, the buds’ relatively low max volume means that often, you might not even hear your music over the surrounding din in built-up cities, say.

The OpenRock S2 work alongside the OpenRock phone app which brings a few extra features. The most important one of these is the equalizer, which has three presets (Rock Mode, Relax Mode and Boom Mode, a graphic of the equalizer curve being the only way you’ll know what any of them do) and a seven-band custom mode.

(Image credit: Future)

This was a little infuriating to use as every time you change profile, music quickly flickers off and back on, so repeatedly tweaking the sound creates a strobe-like effect.

The app offers a few premium features like Spatial Sound, a way to adjust the left-right balance of music, a Hi-Res Mode and Multi-Point Connection. Some expected features appear like the ability to customize touch controls and there are two rarer ones: the ability to set an alarm to let you know you’ve been listening for a set amount of time, and a maximum volume limiter (ironic, given what I said about the volume).

Throughout testing, I found the OpenRock S2 quick and easy to connect to my phone, and reliable at maintaining a connection.

• Features score: 4/5

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

• 14.2mm driver
• Bass tech returns for warm sound profile
• Low max volume, can be hard to hear

Each bud of the OpenRock S2 has a 12mm driver. It supports LDAC, AAC and SBC codecs, the former once you enable it via the app. The buds sound decent for their cost, though they’re not the best open-ears for audiophiles.

A selling point of OpenRock’s first-gen open-ears is back here: TubeBass, which boosts low-end sounds to fix a common complaint of the form factor, that thumping rhythms can be lost in the gap between earbud and ear canal.

(Image credit: Future)

TubeBass works well in ensuring the S2 is one of the better open-ears for bass fans, ensuring that you hear the bump of a bass guitar, synth or double bass in your chosen song. It makes the buds useful for people who listen to lots of workout songs, though obviously they don’t compare to any over-ear or in-ears which will deliver far more bass.

The bass isn’t overwhelming though, so it doesn’t drown out the treble in sounds. The overall sound profile of the buds is undeniably warm though, so guitars are crunchy and brass can be punchy but vocal lines lack some sparkle and sharpness through the upper mids and trebles. Mids can also be lost in songs, even rockier ones that enjoy extra ‘oomph’ from their rhythm guitars.

The soundstage is fairly limited, combining instruments into a bit of a thick lump at times, but this isn’t as damning as it sounds because the kind of nuance that a detailed soundstage can offer can also be quickly lost in open-ears when surrounding sounds get in the way.

• Sound performance score: 3.5/5

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

OpenRock’s decision to price these as more affordable than most other open-ears from major brands was a smart one. It makes them tempting as an alternative to top options from brands like Nothing, Huawei and Honor, for people who want to save money.

The S2 isn’t so fantastic value for money that it’s an instant must-buy, but they still provide lots of bang for your buck. That’d be doubly true if a discount ever comes to them to reduce the price a little further, especially for US buyers.

• Value score: 4/5

OneOdio OpenRock S2 review: scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

It's an affordable option that doesn't have the feature set of rivals (or predecessors) but isn't that much of a downgrade.

4/5

Design

Much more lightweight and svelte than before, perhaps too much so.

3.5/5

Features

Most of the features you need are present, even if some have seen a downgrade from past models.

4/5

Sound

A warm sound profile that'll appeal to people working out, though it has its limitations.

3.5/5

OneOdio OpenRock S2: Should you buy them?

(Image credit: Future)Buy them if...

You want something lightweight
Both the buds and the case of the OpenRock S2 are easy to wear or carry due to their light nature.

You're on a budget
One of the most affordable options around right now, the OpenRock S2 will appeal to people looking to save.

You like your bassy, fiery sound
The OpenRock S2 won't offer you sonic perfection but instead a sound profile that lists to the warm, bassy and fuzzy.

Don't buy them if...

You'll listen in busy areas
The low max volume of the OpenRock S2 makes them unsuitable for use in busy and noisy areas, where they'll compete with other surrounding sounds.

You need rugged earbuds
The unique appeal of past OpenRock buds is lost here with a shorter battery life, looser design and less-protected carry case.

Also consider

Component

OpenRock S2

Earfun OpenJump

JLab Epic Open Sport

OpenRock S

Water resistant

IPX5

IPX7

IP55

IPX5

Battery life

8 hours (earbuds) 32 hours (total)

11 hours (earbuds) 42 hours (total)

7 hours (earbuds), 30 hours (total)

19 hours (earbuds), 60 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 6.0

Bluetooth 5.3

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

7g / Charging case: 58g

8g / Charging case: 67g

16.8g / Charging case: 49.6g

12g / Charging case: 132g

Driver

12mm

14.2mm

14mm

16.2mm

Earfun OpenJump
One of the other affordable open earbuds you might want to consider comes from Earfun, and they're cheaper in the US but pricier in most other places. These buds don't sound as good but their equalizer has plenty more customization and they last longer.
Read our full Earfun OpenJump review

JLab Epic Open Sport
These contemporary open-ears sound a little better than the OpenRock, however their features don't quite match especially in the battery life.
Read our full JLab Epic Open Sport review

How I tested

The OpenRock S2 underwent roughly two weeks of testing in order to write this review, and as the introduction implies they're just the latest in a long chain of open-ears I've been testing.

During the review period the buds were connected to an Android smartphone and I generally used them for music on Spotify but also occasionally for calls, games, TV show streaming and listening to voice notes. This took place on runs, at the gym, on walks around my neighborhood and at home.

I've been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar since early 2019 and have used a huge range of tech. This includes other open-ear buds as well as past earbuds from OpenRock and other headphones from parent company OneOdio.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: July 2025