TechRadar Reviews

Ratio Four: one-minute review

The Ratio Four is a drip-coffee machine focused on smaller batches. That means it fulfils a valuable niche in the market, meaning it’s perfect for anyone who’s only likely to want a few cups of coffee at a time.

Rather than leaving your brew stewing for hours over a heating element, it allows you to quickly whip up a small batch of coffee on demand and not waste as much as with some traditional drip machines. While it may not be optimum for offices or big families, it’s great for couples or coffee fans that are flying solo.

And its smaller capacity has an extra benefit: its footprint takes up far less space on your counter than many of the best coffee machines. Instead it cuts a sleek figure on your counter, with its clamp-shaped form and smoky-colored glass carafe looking right at home in any kitchen. The only exception for me is its water tank. While I understand that helps it keep its size down, I’m not biggest fan of the way it’s hooked up to the machine with an umbilical cord pipe – I much prefer the built-in tanks of the more premium Ratio Six and Ratio Eight.

Using the Ratio Four couldn’t be easier. Once I’d filled the water tank, all I had to do was slip a compatible filter into the filter basket, grind my beans to a medium-coarse grind and pour them in. Pressing the single button on the front first runs a bloom cycle to pre-wet and stir up the grounds – a step many traditional drip machines skip – then the Ratio Four gets to work running water through your grounds to fill the carafe with sweet Costa Rican crude.

So how did my coffee turn out? Once I found the optimum grind for the Ratio Four, it made very solid coffee – it wasn’t too bitter and there was at least a hint of some of those volatile flavors that make speciality coffees so fantastic. But I wouldn’t say it packed the rich bouquet I associate with wonderfully extracted coffee and I’ve definitely experienced pour-over and pressure extracted coffees that expressed more character out of similar beans.

That doesn’t mean the Ratio Four isn’t worth it though. Pour-over coffee requires developing the knack for it, while many of the best espresso machines require you to spend much more and spend a lot of time cleaning. When you need a couple of cups of tasty coffee in mere minutes, the Ratio Four is definitely worth your time.

(Image credit: Future)Ratio Four review: price and availability

• Launched November 2024
• Retails for $279

Launched in November 2024, the Ratio Four is available now. It retails for a list price of $279 (around £205) – unfortunately, unlike its larger stablemates the Ratio Six and Ratio Eight, it’s not currently available in the UK. So those based on that side of the pond might have to content yourself with drip machines like the Sage Luxe Brewer Thermal or Ninja DualBrew Pro instead.

While the black version featured here isn’t currently available on Amazon, the white colorway is and looks just as classy. For that price, you’re getting pretty much everything you need included – such as the carafe and filter basket – but the one exception is compatible Ratio or Melitta filters so I’d absolutely recommend you grab some at the same time if you’re going to purchase the Ratio Four.

(Image credit: Future)Ratio Four review: specs

Type

Automatic drip machine

Dimensions (W x H x D)

10.6 x 7.5 x 11.5 inches / 26.9 x 19.1 x 29.2cm

Weight

24.18lbs / 10.97kg

Water reservoir capacity

20.3 ounces / 0.6l

(Image credit: Future)Ratio Four review: design

• Sleek, attractive styling
• Perfect for just one or two cups
• Water tank looks less elegant

For some reason, not every brand seems to have gotten the memo about coffee maker design. Some manufacturers seem to think that just because an appliance is bulky, that means it has to be squat and utilitarian. Fortunately, Ratio is way ahead of the crowd here: all of its drip coffee machines are gorgeous and the Four is no exception.

Despite measuring in at 10.6 x 7.5 x 11.5 inches / 26.9 x 19.1 x 29.2cm, this coffee maker looks pretty sleek to my eye. Both its matt black finish and bracket-shaped form meant it cut a bold silhouette in my kitchen and stood out among all the chrome and squat boxes of my other appliances.

As the smallest product in Ratio’s range, the Four’s water tank only contains 20.3oz / 0.6l, which is approximately enough for two full mugs. There aren’t a whole lot of drip machines that cater to this size, so it makes it a great choice for individuals or couples. However, that does mean that if you want to brew enough for family brunch or your coworkers’ coffee order, you’ll probably want to size up.

(Image credit: Future)

The water tank is the one area I’d dock this machine some style points – the discrete reservoir and hose hookup here looks a little goofy to me, like it's connected to the device with an umbilical cord. Personally, I prefer the built in tanks of the more premium options.

By their very nature, drip coffee machines are far simpler affairs than espresso machines, so you won’t get a whole lot in terms of accessories here. But you will of course get everything you need – the packaged carafe is nicely made, with its darkened, heat-proof glass of the carafe gives it a smoky, sophisticated look. And it comes with its own filter basket, although you can swap in your Hario V60, Kalita Wave or Origami basket if you prefer.

Beyond this, you’re on your own. So to get the right coarseness of grind – pre-ground is unlikely to give you either the freshness or precision you’ll need here – you’ll want to pick up a coffee grinder. It’s also worth getting some compatible, flat-bottom filter papers: Ratio sells its own but the Ratio Four is also compatible with Melitta filters if those are more convenient for you.

• Design score: 4.5/5

FutureFutureFutureRatio Four review: performance

• Quick to use and clean
• Easier than pour over to get consistent results
• Flavor is good but not top tier

If you’re looking at automatic drip-coffee machines, your biggest priorities are likely to be speed and convenience. And I’m happy to say that the Ratio Four offers both of these things in spades.

Larger drip-coffee machines can sometimes take between 5 and 10 minutes to brew but, thanks to the Ratio Four’s smaller batch-sizes, it often takes far less than this. While the first brew I did took around 1 minute 52 to bloom and 5 minutes 16 for the total pour, once the boiler had warmed up, this time shrank considerably. My final brew took 1 minute 29 to bloom and 4 minutes 28 for its total pour time, so pretty much bang on what I’d expect.

So how easy is it to use? All told, I felt the process was pretty straightforward. Once you’ve ground your beans, you just insert a compatible filter, fill it up and top up the tank, then you’re good to go. Press its single button and it’ll automatically bloom and brew your coffee. Compared to the more finicky process I’ve come to expect from pour over or my espresso machine, using the Ratio Four is a breeze.

And it achieves decent results… as long as you’re willing to experiment a little with dialing in the right grind. While you’ll be broadly fine with a medium-coarse grind – somewhere between sand and sea salt in texture – I found brewing a few test batches allowed me to really zero in on the right grind for the machine and filters I was using.

(Image credit: Future)

Case in point, for my first batch I set TechRadar’s Mazzer Philos testing grinder to 100 (on a scale of 0 - 140). While the initial bloom of the grounds seemed to go well, the resultant pour looked a little weak to my eye – something I confirmed when I tasted it. Honestly, it was insipid, tasting indistinguishable from a stewed french press. Back to the grindstone then.

This is where I went down a bit of a rabbit hole. I brewed about eight more batches, dialing the grind down 60 microns at a time, producing more flavorful brews each time. I did eventually hit a sweet spot of richness and acidity but this came at a finer grind than I expected and didn’t quite produce the flavor-forward caffeine hit I was looking for. Don’t get me wrong: it makes for a tasty cup of joe but I honestly feel like pour-over or an espresso machine would have extracted more of those mouth-watering floral flavor notes I was hoping for.

But barring a little grind calibration, I have to hand it to the Ratio Four for being incredibly easy to use. And it’s similarly easy to clean. All I had to do was bang out the used filter and grounds into the bin, wash up the filter, carafe and water tank, wipe down the shower and it was good to go again. Compared to espresso machines, with their milk-encrusted steam wands and silt-clogged portafilters, it’s much easier to get the Ratio Four looking spotless.

All in all, the Ratio Four makes good coffee while being simple to operate. It probably ekes a little bit more flavor out of your grind than a standard drip coffee and it’s cheaper and far easier to use than the best espresso machines – although it can’t reach the same heights of flavor either.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Ratio Four?

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

Few coffee machines at this price are going to make a better brew. But many pour-over setups are a fair bit cheaper and more expensive espresso machines will likely give you better results.

4/5

Design

Stylish and sleek, although the separate water tank looks a little silly. A perfect size if you just want two cups of coffee, although this means it might be less good for families or workplaces.

4.5/5

Performance

Incredibly easy to use and clean afterwards. After you’ve properly calibrated your grind, it can produce tasty coffee – but if flavor is your biggest priority, you may find other setups more rewarding.

3.5/5

Buy it if…

You want pour-over style coffee without the hassle
With its bloom cycle and the way its shower agitates the grind, the Ratio Four gets you much closer to pour-over quality without you needing to spend ages honing your technique.

You’re tired of boxy kitchen appliances
As with all of Ratio’s coffee machines, this cuts a gorgeous silhouette. The umbilically connected water tank aside, this stylish machine will look seriously classy on your counter.

Don't buy it if…

You want the best possible tasting coffee
While the Ratio Four provides a tasty brew, I don’t think it can quite hit the heights of an exquisitely executed espresso or perfect pour over. So if you want truly exceptional coffee, I think it’s worth the extra expense or practice.

You want coffee for your whole house or office
The Ratio Four’s whole niche is that it provides small-batch drip coffee. That’s fantastic for individuals or couples but, naturally, if you want to serve more people, a bigger drip machine will suit you better.

Ratio Four review: also consider

Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal
Breville’s machine is everything a drip-coffee machine should be. It’s simple to use, has a well-designed interface and produces great-tasting coffee. But it has a few tricks up its sleeve as well: it’s both able to keep your java warm for hours without stewing it and produce authentic cold brew with far less mess. Read our full Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal review.

Ninja DualBrew Pro
This chimera of a device combines two easy-brew coffee-making methods in one handy gadget. Not only can it create a batch of drip coffee anywhere from 4oz to 55oz but its included K-cup adapter means you can also use pods to fire out a quick espresso instead. It can’t quite rival a dedicated espresso machine but it sure makes up for that in convenience. Read our full Ninja DualBrew Pro review.

How I tested the Ratio Four

• Tested it over a week
• Made around 8 - 10 batches of coffee
• Have several decades of experience making coffee

I tested the Ratio Four over the course of a week. As it’s exclusive to the US and I’m testing in the UK, I used a voltage transformer to step down our 240V mains power to 120V. I exclusively used fresh roasted beans ground right before brewing to ensure as much of the delicate flavor profile was preserved as possible.

When it came to testing, I brewed around 8 - 10 batches of coffee at a range of grinds from coarse to medium, covering a much wider range of grinds than would usually be used for drip coffee. I followed the exact grounds to water ratio suggested by the manufacturer. I created multiple batches one after another, then made sure to compare the results to see how variations in the grind affected the finished results.

In terms of my experience, I’ve been drinking coffee on a daily basis for over two decades. My go-to brew methods are espresso using my Breville Bambino and cold-brew extracted at room temperature over 18 hours then filtered through a fine mesh. However, I’ve used an enormous array of coffee making devices over the years, from the Aeropress to a stove-top moka pot.

• First reviewed: February 2026
• Read more about how we test

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro: Two-minute review

It’s a competitive world out there for the best cheap headphones — OneOdio should know, it’s contributed a fair few options. And with its most recent pair of budget blowers, it’s offered yet another fantastic-value headset with just a few rough edges.

The OneOdio Focus A1 Pro are the cheapest pair of headphones we’ve tested yet from the budget brand, and that’s really saying something. They cost just $35 or equivalent, undercutting the 4.5-star-rated OneOdio Focus A6. If you’re looking for a pair of headphones that’ll last you well, and really don’t want to spend much money, they’re a hit.

Last you they will, because they offer a battery life that reaches up to 70 hours, which is fantastic for the money. They’re also lightweight and easy to tote about, and these perks will likely be big draws to buyers on a budget.

My favorite element of the Focus A1 Pro is the audio quality: these headphones sound better than anything else I’ve tested under $50. That’s obviously a low bar, but the OneOdio easily clears it, with music sounding natural and bright with a decent sound stage.

When buying budget headphones, there’s always a big risk that you’re buying tat that’ll end up in landfill (or a box to take to your local recycling center) by the end of the month. I’m happy to report that the OneOdio certainly aren’t that… but they have a few issues too.

Lots of the weakest elements of the A1 Pro are things I’ve seen in other OneOdio headphones, such as the Focus A5 (which I only awarded three stars, in my review).

These new cans don’t have a tie-in smartphone app, and nor do they offer many of the features that an app would help open the door to. Most vitally, there’s no equalizer, which many consider an imperative feature for products such as this. The ANC performance is also weak, with the passive padding of the cups doing the lion’s share of the work in stopping surrounding sounds from distracting you. Now, we can easily argue that it would be churlish to expect these things for such a lowly fee, but it's my job to tell you what you'll be getting here if you click 'buy'.

I also found these cans a little uncomfortable to wear over longer periods of time, partly due to their rather tight clamping force, and partly because they sit somewhere between on-ears and over-ears. Your poor flappers are going to get a little crushed.

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future)

• Released on January 20, 2026
• Sells for $34.99 / £43.99 (roughly AU$85
• On sale in UK and US, not Australia

You can pick up the Focus A1 Pro for $34.99 / £43.99 (roughly AU$85, but unlike many other cans from the company, they don’t yet seem to be on sale in Australia).

You think that makes them some of the cheapest headphones worth considering? Wait until you hear the actual price; within two weeks of the release date of January 23, I’d already found them discounted. Only by a couple of dollars or pounds, but it's still something, and OneOdio promises continued price cuts through the year.

The headphones were announced on January 20, 2026, and released shortly afterwards.

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Specs

Drivers

40mm

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Battery life (ANC off)

70 hours

Weight

200g

Connectivity

Bluetooth 6.0

Frequency response

20Hz - 20kHz

Waterproofing

N/A

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• 70-hour battery life
• ANC is resoundingly light-touch
• No app

In what might come as a shock to headphone buyers in the year 2026, the Focus A1 Pro don’t have a smartphone app. Of all the features this rules out, an equalizer is the biggest: if you don’t like OneOdio’s mix, you'll have to lump it.

You do still get multipoint pairing, as well as a low-latency mode for gaming which is enabled by double-pressing the ANC button. But this department more than any other shows why the headphones are so cheap.

Talking of ANC, it’s not very good, but coupled with the natural passive noise cancellation of the ear cups, it’ll remove the top layer of annoying noise. When I was on public transport, I could still hear every screech of noisy rails or honk of nearby vehicles, but it was a little less onerous than normal.

(Image credit: Future)

I personally took to keeping the ANC off, though, and it was for battery reasons. With ANC off, you get 70 hours of listening time, which is solid stamina. For context, if you listened for about three hours and 20 minutes every day, you’d only have to charge every three weeks.

That figure drops substantially with ANC on; OneOdio’s figures alternate between quotes of 40 or 50 hours, and the truth is likely somewhere in between. I’d rather have the longer listening time than the scant improvements this particular ANC solution brings.

I was surprised to read that the OneOdio has Bluetooth 6.0; it’s rare among headphones I’ve tested recently in having this enhanced standard. Not once in testing did I have any connection issues.

• Features score: 3.5/5

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Sustainable build
• Comfortable to wear
• Incredibly handy joystick controls

The Focus A1 Pro are, by and large, your standard headphones: big, black band with an ear cup at each end, that give you music. No-one was expecting OneOdio to reinvent the wheel for $35.

They weigh 200g, and while they have a few little design flourishes that differentiate them from your average budget cans (some curves and patterns in the appearance, for example), they do feel cheap. The build is plastic-heavy and some of the moving parts can wobble or creak a little bit.

You don’t get a carry case with the Focus, and I was a little scared to transport them in my bag, as they feel a tad fragile. They also have no IP rating. That said, during my testing month, they sustained no damage whatsoever.

(Image credit: Future)

I’ve so far refrained from classing these as over-ears or on-ears, as they sit haphazardly in the middle of both. Forget Goldilocks’ messaging, though, because it’s not ‘just right’ either. They sit a little weirdly on the head, for me.

The pads, while soft, crush your ears a little over time; this was noticeable when listening for longer sessions, as my ears would get a bit achey. The rather tight grip of the cans doesn’t help here either. I also never quite figured out exactly how to wear them, due to this over/on dilemma.

On the right cup, there are some touch controls (volume up and down, power, ANC; the basics) as well as the USB-C port. These don’t stick out too much, so finding them by touch can be tricky. It took a little while for pressing these to become easy and natural. There’s no 3.5mm jack for wired audio; these are wireless or nada.

• Design score: 3.5/5

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Sound quality

• 40mm driver
• Crisp, natural audio
• Max volume could be higher

(Image credit: Future)

I’ve been positive about the Focus A1 Pro and that’s not going to stop now, but let’s get one thing straight: these are budget cans, and when I say they’re ‘good’, I mean ‘for the price'.

OneOdio has kitted out the headphones with 40mm dynamic drivers using PET diaphragms; so far, so budget.

Unlike many other budget headphones, the brand hasn’t fallen into the ‘more bass is more gooder’ trap — there’s a fairly natural-sounding V shape with distinct trebles in vocals, and bass that’s as rounded as you can hope for at this price point. I was surprised when songs like Starlight by Slash and Miles Kennedy offered layered instrumentation and palpable timbre, as it’s not something I’d expect for the cost.

(Image credit: Future)

Naturally, the mids can fall through the cracks, so you can’t expect the whole band to show up. And when you get songs with lots going on, instruments blur together; Clarity by Vance Joy doesn’t quite live up to its title.

I’ve been constantly mentioning the price in this scene, and it’s to cover my back. Audiophiles won’t like these cans, as the mixing is messier than it would be on pricier options. But if you compare these to other offerings at the price, they’re nothing short of wonderful.

I would’ve liked to see the Focus A1 Pro manage a higher max volume, though. At full blast, the audio could mostly compete with a busy-ish road I was walking down, but Nigel Tufnel would malign the lack of any 11 to turn your music up to for that harder hit. Even when at home, anything below 50% volume was hard to hear.

• Sound quality: 4/5

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

• Great sound for price
• Some rivals may beat in certain departments

The OneOdio Focus A1 Pro are fantastic for the price. They sound far better than you’d expect from budget cans, and I’ve tested rivals for twice the price which don’t hold a candle.

That’s not even touching on the solid battery life, the hardy connection or the useful-for-gamers latency mode.

If you look hard enough, you can probably find rival cans with better ANC, a comfier fit or an equalizer, and I’d like the OneOdio even more if it offered these. But for the price, it’s hard to knock the Focus for its absences.

• Value: 4.5/5

Should I buy the OneOdio Focus A1 Pro?OneOdio Focus A1 Pro score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

There’s no app and ANC isn’t great, though the battery life and connection are solid.

3.5/5

Design

For cheap earbuds, they look better than most, but have a few rough edges (literally).

3.5/5

Sound quality

These cans sound great for the price, with clearer audio and neater sound spacing than you’d expect.

4/5

Value

If you’re on a budget, these can’t be beaten

4/5

Buy them if…

You're on a tight budget
These headphones have been designed for people who don't want to pay for premium, or even mid-range, options.

Battery life is an important factor
The 70-hour battery life is going to be handy for all kinds of use cases.View Deal

You need lightweight headphones
Don't like a big helmet on your head? These are lighter than some alternatives I've tested.View Deal

Don’t buy them if…

You need something durable
The OneOdio feels a little fragile, and I don't imagine they'll stand up to some rough-and-tumble use.

You need heavy-duty noise cancellation
The ANC on these guys isn't fantastic, though it's better than nothing.

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro review: Also consider

OneOdio Focus A1 Pro

Soundpeats Cove Pro

OneOdio Focus A6

Drivers

40mm

40mm

40mm

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Yes

Yes

Battery life (ANC on)

70 hours

95 hours

75 hours

Weight

200g

251g

240g

Connectivity

Bluetooth 6.0

Bluetooth 6.0

Bluetooth 6.0

Waterproofing

NA

IPX4

NA

OneOdio Focus A6
These high-rated budget cans cost a touch more than the A1 Pro, but app access is the headline improvement.
Read our full OneOdio Focus A6 review

Soundpeats Cove Pro
These slightly pricier alternatives have a solid build and impressive feature set, though they don't sound as good. (Our review on the Cove Pro is currently in the pipeline; when we publish it, you'll be the first to know!)

How I tested the OneOdio Focus A1 Pro

• Tested for 1 month
• Tested at home, on walks, on public transport and the gym

(Image credit: Future)

I used the OneOdio Focus A1 Pro for the best part of a month before writing this review, so they got a lot of use.

For most of the test period, the headphones were paired with my Android smartphone, though I also used them alongside an Android tablets at several points.

Testing was done streaming music, watching TV shows and playing games. I tested the headphones in various interior settings, while out and about, and during gym sessions.

I've been tested audio gadgets for TechRadar for years, including several previous OneOdio headphones and earbuds.

• First reviewed in February 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless: one-minute review

The Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless is a controller compatible with both Xbox Series X|S and PC. It’s an unabashedly premium product at $189.99 / £199 / AU$349 but, for that price, it’s wonderfully responsive, beautifully designed and comes with a good array of accessories.

First off, the Raikiri II feels beautifully well built. It feels solid and substantial, yet it’s ergonomically designed. Elements like the rear buttons are perfectly placed under your fingertips to make them easy to access without shifting your grasp, while its textured grips meant it never once slipped in my hands. Its RGB lighting is also tastefully done, just subtle enough to not detract from its sleek appearance and coming with plenty of customizable options.

Both the thumbsticks and shoulder triggers are staggeringly accurate, thanks to Asus’s decision to use TMR sensors in each of them. Not only do I relish not having to worry about the dreaded stick drift anymore but I found them astoundingly precise, giving me spot-on control over everything from acceleration in racing games to aiming in FPSes. The fact that the shoulder triggers can be toggled to using micro-switches is just the icing on the cake – smashing parries out against the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has never felt so satisfying to me.

This awesome sensitivity and precision is further supported by the Raikiri II’s blisteringly fast connectivity, which rivals that of many of the best Xbox controllers. Not only does it offer an absurdly rapid 1,000Hz polling rate but its 2.4GHz wireless connection and USB-C connectivity each trim input latencies down to just 3.5ms and 2.3ms. Naturally, it also offers Bluetooth connectivity but, honestly, I found the former options so fast that I’d opt for those every time.

Thanks to Asus’s Gear Link software, you can also customize a lot of the Raikiri II’s functionality. On top of basic options like button remapping, you can also set discreet response curves and deadzones for each thumbstick, as well as start and end points for each of the shoulder triggers. There’s also the option to tweak how intense the controller’s rumble settings are and map the pad’s four rear buttons to various functions.

While you can save all of these settings to one of five profiles, this does come with a pretty serious caveat. When playing on Xbox, you can only switch between them using the Gear Link software, meaning hooking it up to your laptop or desktop each time. To me, this feels like a pretty major oversight – can you really class this Raikiri II’s Xbox edition, if a key part of the functionality is inaccessible to Xbox gamers?

This one misstep aside though, the Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless is a seriously impressive controller. While I think PC gamers will get even more out of it than those on Xbox, it’s still a fantastically responsive pad on either platform, offering some features I’ve not seen on many other products, like those TMR triggers. Yes, it’s relatively pricey at $189.99 / £199 / AU$349 but, if you’re looking for a trailblazing premium controller, it’s a great option.

(Image credit: Future)Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless review: price and availability

• Launched December 10, 2025
• Retails for $189.99 / £199 / AU$349
• Offers a lot of accessories for that price

Having launched on December 10, 2025, the Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless is available now. You can pick it up for $189.99 / £199 / AU$349, putting it firmly up the premium end of the Xbox controller market.

In return for that spend, though, you get a whole heap of functionality, plus a range of connectivity options: Bluetooth, a 2.4GHz wireless dongle or wired USB-C connectivity. On top of this, it also comes with a carry case, USB-C cable, charging dock and replacement thumbsticks, so it’s a very decent package for the price.

(Image credit: Future)Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless review: specs

Price

$189.99 / £199 / AU$349

Compatibility

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC

Connection type

Wireless (2.4GHz dongle), Wired (USB Type-C), Bluetooth

Battery life

Up to 50 hours

Features

TMR thumbsticks, dual-mode triggers, microswitch buttons, 1,000Hz polling rate (via wired connection / 2.4GHz wireless)

Software

Asus Gear Link (PC)

(Image credit: Future)Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless review: design and features

• Long-lasting TMR sticks
• Excellent dual-mode triggers
• Attractive, ergonomic design

Over the years, I’ve built up quite the grisly mausoleum of dead controllers, both Xbox and otherwise. Eventually, the dreaded stick drift has claimed every single one. So it’s a relief to know that won’t happen with the ROG Raikiri II’s drift-resistant thumbsticks.

Asus has opted for TMR sticks here, which it says are not only more accurate but consume less power than Hall-effect alternatives. While it’s difficult to assess what kind of longevity you’ll get out of them, from the second I held the ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless in my hands, the thumbsticks felt incredibly responsive and enabled me to make surgically precise movements in a variety of games.

But perhaps even more than the Raikiri II’s thumbsticks, I really fell for its dual-mode shoulder triggers. When set to their micro-switch triggers, I found they were lightning fast to activate, making them perfect for hammering the trigger in FPS games. Meanwhile, their full-range TMR sensor mode is a real rarity on console controllers – we’ve certainly not tested many with that functionality here at TechRadar Gaming – and it gave me really wonderfully precise control for games like Forza Horizon 5.

At first, I found the clicky feedback of the micro-switch face buttons took a little getting used to, as I’m more familiar with the spongy softness of the Xbox Wireless Controller buttons. But once I’d adapted to their novel feel, I was fully converted – they activate seriously quickly and offer such an immediate response that you know almost instantly when you’ve hit your target.

Its extra rear shortcut buttons are perfectly placed, sitting right under where your middle and ring fingers naturally grab the pad. And they’re wonderfully versatile. Not only are they great if you want to set up extra macros in game but being able to set a couple as shortcuts for the shoulder buttons saved me ever having to switch my grip during sessions of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which reduced my response times in game significantly.

When it comes to looks, the controller styles itself after the recent Xbox ROG Ally X, riffing off design elements like its subtle decal. It also mimics its textured grips, which I definitely found made it easier to keep hold of the pad without them ever feeling rough. In fact, its matt plastic build always feels pleasantly tactile to the touch, while the whole device feels just substantial enough to avoid flimsy or hollow.

And while I know that for some people RGB lighting on a controller is an unnecessary gimmick, I have to admit that I’m completely suckered in by the ROG Raikiri II’s lighting. Partly this is because it’s relatively subtle and restrained, limiting itself to a strip down either side and the central ROG button, and it’s fully customizable, allowing you to decide quite how much you want to lean into full-blown esports styling.

Finally, the ROG Raikiri II has an impressive range of connectivity options. On top of Bluetooth, it also has 2.4GHz wireless connectivity via a dongle and a USB-C wired connection. These latter two are particularly impressive, offering an 1,000Hz polling rate and trimming input latencies to just 3.5ms and 2.3ms respectively, meaning you should easily get the drop on most of your enemies in game.

(Image credit: Future)Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless review: performance

• Blisteringly fast response times
• Brilliantly customisable
• Custom profiles can’t be changed on Xbox

With its 1,000Hz polling rate in PC mode, it’s safe to say I was expecting the Raikiri II to respond to inputs rapidly. And it did not disappoint. Even when playing fast-paced FPSes like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, I couldn’t detect the least hint of lag over its low-latency 2.4GHz RF connectivity or USB-C cable.

But it’s not only its connectivity that make for lightning fast gaming – those dual-mode shoulder triggers are a literal game-changer. When I first tried them out while playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the difference compared to my previous budget controller was immediately appreciable. Especially when using them in their micro-switch trigger mode, I suddenly found myself going from fumbling three-quarters of parries to nailing them 80% of the time. Those triggers respond fast and I certainly found it had a palpable impact on my game play.

And with Asus’s Gear Link software you can tweak things even further to get the kind of performance you need for each game you’re playing and save them to one of five customized profiles. You can access this tool by hooking up the Raikiri II to your PC and accessing it in your browser.

This method does come with an unfortunate wrinkle, however. As it's browser-based, there’s no way to access it on the fly from your Xbox and the controller doesn’t offer any way to switch between profiles as you play. That means you can only ever access one tuning at a time on your console before you need to return to a PC to switch things up – which is a weird choice to make for a controller that literally has ‘Xbox’ in the name.

Honestly, that’s a bit of a shame as, otherwise, the Gear Link software offers really granular control over the responsiveness of your controller. For example, I was able to set one of my profiles with very quick response and shallow range for its triggers, making it really easy to fan the hammer when trying to gun down opponents on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Conversely, for Forza Horizon 5, I set the right trigger to activate over its full range, giving me really precise control over the throttle so I could better manage my speed during cornering.

And that’s just the beginning. You can also set independent custom curves for each of the TMR thumbsticks, enabling you to tweak how fast they respond the further they’re moved, as well as set the size of their deadzones. While playing Doom, I set the left stick to have a rapid curve and kept the right one set as linear – as a result, I was able to close the gap between Doom Guy and all those demons far quicker, without having the camera whip round too violently.

The Gear Link software also unlocks a bunch of other customization options. You can change the intensity of the controller’s vibration haptics, which I imagine is very useful for people who have sensory processing problems or find it difficult to grip on to a controller that’s vibrating too fiercely.

It also unlocks some aesthetic tweaks for that RGB lighting. You have the option to set each zone up separately, whether you want it in solid color, breathing, reacting to button presses or color cycling. My personal go-to though? It definitely has to be battery mode, which allows you to set the lighting to specific colors for different battery levels – I can now get a precise sense of how much juice my pad has left at just a glance, which is a lifesaver.

Overall, I found the performance of the Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless to be seriously impressive. Don’t get me wrong: there are some odd choices along the way, especially the lack of a hotswap button for saved profiles on the Xbox. But if you’re not flipping through different genres at the drop of a hat or you’re playing on PC, it's an incredibly responsive controller with a great level of customizability.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless?Buy it if…

You want lightning fast response times
With 1,000Hz polling on PC and clicky micro-switch buttons, the Raikiri II will cut your reaction time in games down to an absolute minimum.

You want a high-level of customizability
With Asus’s Gear Link software, you can tweak a wide array of settings on the Raikiri II, whether that’s thumbstick curves, trigger activation ranges, vibration intensity or key mappings.

Don’t buy it if…

You have a massive Xbox games library
Despite the name, I honestly don’t count Xbox gaming as one of the Raikiri II’s strong suits, thanks to the lack of hotswitching between profiles. If you want to jump between different Xbox control schemes at the click of a button, you’ll be disappointed.

You want a cheap controller
If you’re hoping for a budget pick, this ain’t it. While it offers high-end features, they come at a premium price of $189.99 / £199 / AU$349, so if you want to save some cash, you might want to look elsewhere.

Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless review: also consider

Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless

Razer Wolverine V3 Pro

PowerA Fusion Pro 3

Price

$189.99 / £199 / AU$349

$199.99 / £199.99

$79.99 / £79.99

Compatibility

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC

Connection type

Wireless (2.4GHz dongle), Wired (USB Type-C), Bluetooth

Wireless (2.4GHz dongle), Wired (USB Type-C)

Wired

Battery life

Up to 50 hours

12-13 hours

N/A

Features

TMR thumbsticks, dual-mode triggers, microswitch buttons, mappable back buttons, 1,000Hz polling rate (via wired connection / 2.4GHz wireless)

Hall effect thumbsticks, circular D-pad, microswitch buttons, two-way trigger locks, Razer mouse click paddles, 1,000Hz polling rate (via wired connection on PC)

Mappable back buttons, three-way trigger locks, impulse triggers, dual rumble motors, volume dial, one-touch mic mute

Software

Asus Gear Link (PC)

Razer Controller App (Xbox and PC)

PowerA Gamer HQ App (Xbox and PC)

Razer Wolverine V3 Pro
Not only does the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro offer a similarly premium build, it also offers the same dual-function triggers, drift-resistant thumbsticks and mappable rear buttons as the Raikiri II. On top of that, its floating D-pad provides super smooth action and it comes in cheaper than Asus’s controller. Literally, the only downside is its more unadventurous looks.

Read our full Razer Wolverine V3 Pro review

PowerA Fusion Pro 3
Want a slightly more affordable controller than either of these pro-level pads? Then the wired Fusion Pro 3 is worth checking out. Despite rocking trigger locks, mappable buttons and swappable thumbsticks, it comes in at just $79.99, which is a bit of a bargain. The drawback? It’s no longer available for those in the UK.

Read our full PowerA Fusion Pro 3 review

(Image credit: Future)How I tested the Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless

• Tested it over two weeks
• Used it on both Xbox and PC
• Created multiple custom profiles

I tested the Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless over a period of several weeks. I tried it out on both the Xbox Series X and on PC and tried it out on a wide range of genres, from RPGs like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, FPSes like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and racing games like Forza Horizon 5.

Not only did I try the Raikiri II using all three connection methods – 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth and wired – but I used the Asus's Gear Link software to tweak all of its available settings. That included creating multiple profiles with varying trigger ranges, thumbstick curves and button assignments.

In terms of my testing experience, not only am I TechRadar's reviews editor, with experience of reviewing a wide array of gadgets, but I've been gaming for 35 years. That's across a wide range of platforms, including PC, consoles and gaming handhelds, meaning I've got loads of experience in gaming across a wide range of genres.

• First reviewed: February 2026
• Read more about how we test

Onyx Boox Note Air5 C: One-minute review

I’ve been a fan of the Boox Note Air series of epaper tablets since I first tried the Note Air 2, and the Note Air5 C — announced in October 2025 — continues the tradition of solidly built devices that work well.

The headline act here is an updated operating system. It’s the first epaper tablet to run an Android 15-based software and Boox has promised that the device will receive three years of support, much more than previous iterations.

The second thing that’s new here is the pen. It ships with the Boox Pen 3, which is unlike anything I’ve seen from the Chinese ereader maker. It continues to have the felt tip-like writing experience, but unique is the storage space for three replacement nibs on the top, covered by its own cap. Sadly this top cover is loose and pops off easily.

Lastly, the Note Air5 C features a set of pogo pins on its rear that allows it to attach seamlessly to the optional keyboard folio from Boox, and there’s a pair of buttons on the magnetic side for page turns or volume adjustment.

That’s all that’s new here — nothing really groundbreaking except the software upgrade. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the Note Air5 C, like its predecessors, is solidly built and performs well. It just doesn't feel very different from other Boox devices and, if I was asked to recommend a 10-inch e-notebook, I'd probably pick the lighter (albeit grayscale) Boox Go 10.3 or the reMarkable Paper Pro for its color display (although you won't get Android's versatility).

There are a few other small issues that I think is important to note: while the screen light is great at its brightest, it's comparatively darker at low and mid levels. The magnet to secure the pen to the side of the tablet is also not very strong — the only position where it secures well covers the bottom page-turn button, but even that isn’t great.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 CPU used here helps the device perform well, but I found some lag when using the on-screen keyboard. There's a much more significant lag when using the optional keyboard folio, which makes touch typing annoying. You might also experience some ghosting, particularly if the document you're perusing is image-heavy.

While my complaints aren't serious, I think they diminish the Note Air5 C’s overall value and make it harder to recommend over its own Go 10.3 sibling, or the reMarkable Paper Pro if color is important.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)Onyx Boox Note Air5 C review: Price & availability

• Released October 2025
• Available now for $529.99 / €529.99 / AU$919
• US and European price includes folio and box of 5 replacement nibs; Australian price is for device and stylus only

If you’re in the US or in the UK, (or anywhere in Europe for that matter), the Boox Note Air5 C is well priced, especially when purchasing directly from the Boox Store where it’s bundled with a folio case and a box of five replacement pen tips. And given there are three spare nibs on the top of the new stylus itself, that’s a lot of spare tips for the price.

In Australia, however, it’s a very expensive prospect as you only get the tablet and the Boox Pen 3 — no extras are included.

In contrast, the reMarkable Paper Pro, which is also a 10-inch color e-notebook, starts at $579 / £559 / AU$929 with a basic Marker and no additional extras. However, it uses a better color display (a customized version of the E Ink Gallery 3 technology that no other ereader maker is currently using), so the saturation is much better. On the flip side, the Android-running Note Air5 C gives you more freedom on the apps you can use and is the more versatile device.

Then again, if you can forgo the color display, a monochrome epaper tablet would be a lot cheaper. For example, you can get the Boox Go 10.3 for around $410 / €420 / AU$699 (US and European price includes the folio and extra nibs), and it’s a fantastic e-notebook that’s lighter than the Note Air series. Even the Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) would be a cheaper buy and I love its bright, monochrome display.

• Value score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)Onyx Boox Note Air5 C review: Specs

Display type:

E Ink Kaleido 3

Screen size:

10.3 inches

Resolution:

300ppi (2560 x 1920 pixels) in b/w; 150pp (1240 x 930) in color

Processor:

2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 690

Frontlight:

Yes (warm and cold)

Storage:

64GB (expandable)

Battery:

3,700mAh

Speaker:

Dual (stereo)

Water protection:

None

Software:

Android 15

Connectivity:

Wi-Fi (2.4GHz + 5GHz); Bluetooth 5.1 USB-C

File support:

20 document, 4 image, 2 audio

Dimensions:

225 x 192 x 5.8 mm (8.9 x 7.6 x 0.23 inches)

Weight:

440g / 15.5oz (without case and pen)

Onyx Boox Note Air5 C review: Design & display

• Solid build, but heavy to hold for long durations
• Newly designed pen with spare nibs on the top
• Customizable page-turn buttons
• Excellent 10.3 E Ink Kaleido 3 display, but colors can appear muted

Physically, the Note Air5 C is identical to the previous two generations, with a couple of minor differences. As I’ve already said, that’s not a bad thing, as the overall design is still nice and the device is solidly built. So solid, in fact, that the Note Air series is on the heavier side when it comes to 10-inch epaper tablets.

For context, the Boox Go 10.3 weighs 375g and the ViWoods AiPaper tips the scales at 370, but neither of them have frontlights. In contrast, the Note Air 4C weighs 420g and the 5C comes in at 440g. It’s not the heaviest e-notebook — the reMarkable Paper Pro is 525g — but it’s not the most comfortable to use in one hand for long periods of time.

Despite being on the heavier side, I like the Note Air series’ metallic chassis and glass screen. While that makes the tablet cold to the touch (especially in winter months), it also makes it a hardy device. That said, there’s no waterproofing here.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

There are only two design differences between the Note Air5 C and the previous 4C and 3C generations. One is a set of pogo pins on the rear to connect to the optional keyboard folio, and the other is a pair of small buttons on the magnetized edge of the device for page turning or volume adjustments.

I’ve been waiting for a large-screen ereader with page-turn buttons but this placement means the device can’t be used single-handed — you will need one hand to hold the device via the larger bezel and use the other hand to press one of the buttons on the opposite side. In my time with the Note Air5 C, I never once found the need to use the buttons, but the long-press functionality can be set to various functions that can prove handy for some users.

However, if you have the supplied stylus — called the Boox Pen 3 — secured to the side of the tablet, it covers the lower button. Place the stylus lower and the magnetism just isn’t strong enough for a secure hold.

Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadarSharmishta Sarkar / TechRadarSharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar

I have to take some time to describe this new pen too. It has an interesting design where, instead of an eraser on the top, three replacement nibs can be stored vertically. They’re covered by a cap with a side clip — much like an actual pen — but sadly the cap is loose and pops out easily. You also need to replace it carefully, and correctly, to avoid damaging the nibs. As thoughtful as the design is, I think the cap would have benefitted from being clipped into place rather than sliding on and off. Despite the addition of the spare nibs on the top of the stylus, the pen is well balanced, lightweight and lovely to write with on the Note Air5 C.

I should also mention that the most secure way to stow the stylus is to use a folio cover, but the one I was sent for this review didn’t have a loop. Instead, it had a removable flap that I found very annoying to use. Even the keyboard folio designed for the Note Air5 C has the same flap and it’s just as annoying there as it comes off easily or shifts position with the merest of touches.

Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadarSharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar

Going back to the tablet itself: there’s a USB-C port, a microSD card tray and dual speakers on the edge opposite to the page/volume buttons, while the top edge houses a power/sleep button that’s flush with the body. The power button is also a fingerprint scanner and I didn’t find its placement very intuitive — I kept expecting the button to be on the corner, but it’s placed slightly away and I kept having to feel for it.

As expected, one bezel is thicker than the other three, with the top corner of the bigger bezel featuring the Boox branding. Small orange strips on three of the edges add some trim to the device, and the same orange surrounds the USB-C port.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

This chassis encloses a 10.3-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 screen with LEDs under the glass panel for a frontlight. The light can be adjusted for both brightness and temperature, although keep in mind that warmer (yellow) light will affect the colors displayed on the screen. While this won’t affect those of us who mostly read and write in black and white, fans of comics, manga and graphic novels — or anyone using the color inks to mark up documents — may find colder light the better option.

At its brightest, the frontlight is excellent, but dip it a little bit and the difference is quite dramatic, with the screen appearing darker than expected, but this is a common feature among Boox's color epaper devices like the Go Color 7 (Gen II).

The display, with a monochrome resolution of 300ppi and color resolution of 150ppi is standard, is good. Text is sharp and clear for reading, while colors are good… in the context of being an E Ink display, not compared to an LCD screen. That said, they are relatively muted compared to the reMarkable Paper Pro, which uses the E Ink Gallery 3 screen technology that no other epaper device has yet adopted.

• Design & display score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)Onyx Boox Note Air5 C review: Software & user experience

• First 10-inch epaper tablet to adopt Android 15
• Boox promises three years of software support
• Good native apps, but complex user interface

Where the Note Air 4C runs on Android 13, Boox has adopted Android 15 for the 5C. Running a later version of Android means the newer epaper tablet will get better software support — and Boox has promised three years of security updates — and there’s better app compatibility too.

It’s important to note, however, that my review of the 5C’s software is based on the firmware it was running at the time of writing (v4.1.2) and the experience could change slightly depending on what future firmware versions add. The current software fixed a major issue the tablet suffered from at launch (and one I experienced as soon as I started using it) — being unable to write comfortably along the four sides of the screen in the native Notes app.

Android OS & apps

The custom version of Android 15 running on the Note 5C doesn’t feel very different from the software on older Boox devices as the company has its own user interface overlaid on the operating system. Boox has done a lot of work over the years to simplify its interface, making it cleaner and easier to use, but there’s still plenty to wrap your head around.

That said, I love the look of the default home screen on Boox’s larger tablets, which has a box for your books, another for notes, below which are the apps — both native and those downloaded from the Google Play Store — and, finally, a few icons to access the native library app, a bookstore (with titles that are available in the public domain), the folders within the device’s storage section, and all settings.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Unlike older Boox devices, the Google Play Store is preinstalled and all you need to do is sign in to download any app. While you won’t be using video streaming services, you can download audio platforms — the built-in speakers are fine, but I’d highly recommend pairing Bluetooth speakers or headphones instead. You can also download some mobile games — I played a bit of Two Dots and it wasn’t too bad — but I suspect most users opting for a device like the 5C would want reading and productivity apps.

You can install Gmail, for example, to access your emails or install KoReader or Moon Reader instead of using the native NeoReader app. Personally, I use the Kindle and Kobo apps to access my existing purchases and get new content, but I also like Instapaper (for reading web articles offline) and Libby (to borrow library books), but the choice is yours.

However, I’ve found the native apps to be more than enough for most users. Not only will you get a full-featured library and notes applications, but there’s also a browser, music player, calendar and a gallery. There are a couple of applications to help you transfer files — although you can use Google Drive and/or Dropbox for easy cloud transfers. Wired transfers are possible on Windows PCs and, as a Mac user, I stuck with the OTG support on the USB-C port that allowed me to plug in a portable SSD.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Swipe down from the top right of the screen to open the Control Center and you’ll find plenty more options there, including buttons for taking screenshots and splitscreen view. This is also where the volume and light control sliders are, but Boox introduced buttons for some preset light options in 2025 and, honestly, I don’t like either the Bright or the Soft settings. I choose custom and make adjustments as I need them — something I did in my Boox Go 7 review as well.

There’s a long list of settings to get through as well, but what’s irksome about the Boox interface are the smaller hidden menus that you need, especially in the native reading app. Unless you’ve already used a Boox device previously, you’ll likely miss them, or you’ll stumble upon them when you’re looking for something specific to change. Ironically, this is a massive improvement over the previous versions of the UI but, if you’re a first time Boox user, be prepared to be patient while learning your way around.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Reading experience

While I had issues with how text rendered on the 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 screen in my Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II) review, thankfully none of that affects the Note Air5 C. Reading, whether you’re using the native NeoReader application or you’ve downloaded a third-party app, is a pleasurable experience. Text is sharp and there’s a wide variety of font sizes to choose from.

What I like about the open Android ecosystem of Boox tablets is the ability to sideload any font I like — I’m partial to Amazon’s Bookerly — and use that in the native library app for any sideloaded DRM-free content.

Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadarSharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar

As an avid reader who has used the Boox Go 10.3 as well, I’m pleased to say that the text contrast on the 5C is better, which adds clarity and makes for a better reading experience over the monochrome sibling. Plus, the frontlight on the 5C makes a difference — if you want more contrast, you have to set it to high brightness with no warmth. Adjusting the light temperature can have an effect on the clarity via the contrast, but at no point did it make the text look fuzzy or unreadable. It’s a marked improvement over the Go 10.3 which uses the E Ink Carta 1200 display technology.

Colors, while not as saturated as on the reMarkable Paper Pro due to the difference in screen tech being used, are not bad and I found book covers looking good. However, my favourite graphic novel series, The Sandman, looked washed out compared to when I was reading it on my Kobo Libra Colour or even the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II. I’m not much of a comic or graphic novel reader, so the muted colors didn’t really bother me as I’m very used to looking at the frames in black and white on a monochrome ereader.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

If you need to make notes on ebooks in the native reading app, you can either scribble or type, and there are menu options within the app to help you do so. These get saved automatically in the document you’ve annotated and you should see them when you open it again. You can use colored ink to write, but all typed text will be grayscale. Highlights can be in a variety colors too.

Overall, the Note Air5 C makes for a lovely ereader, but its weight can make it uncomfortable for using beyond, say 30 to 40 minutes, and if you leave the folio on, that’s added bulk to take into consideration. Whether you’re reading in bed or sitting up, this is definitely a two-handed device.

• Reading score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)Writing & typing experience

The Note Air5 C offers one of the best writing experiences I’ve had. The Pen 3 is designed to offer a felt-tip experience, which is smooth, and there’s just enough friction to make it feel like you’re writing on paper. You can even hear an almost-audible scratch on the screen that you’d hear when scribbling with pen and paper.

However, if you’ve used an epaper writing tablet without a frontlight before — like the Boox Go 10.3, ViWoods AiPaper or the reMarkable 2 — and decide to move to one with a light, you might find the gap between the pen and its stroke a little disconcerting. This gap is due to the LEDs occupying the space between the top glass and the actual E Ink layer below — but you get used to it very quickly, so this isn’t a complaint, merely an observation.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I found no lag between pen movement and the mark appearing on the screen, although there were occasions when the device didn’t register a pen stroke — a page refresh usually fixed this issue, although I did restart the device a couple of times when a simple refresh didn't work.

Despite that, the overall writing experience is excellent. Typing, on the other hand, not so much.

Whether you’re using the on-screen keyboard or you’ve opted to purchase the optional keyboard folio, there is a lag. The former is the faster option with only the slightest lag, but using the physical keyboard is slow and makes touch typing difficult. I tested the Note Air5 C with a Logitech wireless Bluetooth keyboard and found the lag is slightly less compared to Boox’s own keyboard folio. This allows for a better touch-typing experience in my opinion.

In fact, my experience typing on the 5C was so slow that I stopped using physical keyboards and stuck with the on-screen one when necessary (like inputting a password).

• Writing & typing score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)Onyx Boox Note Air5 C review: Performance

• Smooth and fast performance overall
• Some ghosting, but mostly when viewing image-heavy documents
• Disappointing battery life, but standard for an Android device

Boox doesn’t reveal what specific processor it uses in its devices. To determine that, I downloaded the CPU X app — a free download from the Google Play Store — and this told me there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chip inside doing the heavy lifting.

This chip is also in use in the smaller Boox Go 7 ereader and works well there, and is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 680 in the original Boox Go 10.3. So, does it make the 5C the better device? To answer that, I began by first benchmarking the CPU, something I’ve done for previous Android-based epaper tablets because it’s easy to install the Geekbench 6 app on them.

The single-core score for the Note Air5 C recorded was 576, while multi-core was 1424. In comparison, the Boox Go 10.3 scored 403 and 1261 respectively, while the ViWoods AiPaper produced a result of 299 and 1114 from its MediaTek MT8183 CPU.

To be honest, these numbers don’t really mean much for devices like ereaders and e-notebooks — it’s how well the operating system has been implemented that will make or break the performance. For instance, despite a lower score, I found the ViWoods AiPaper to be the better device compared to the Boox Go 10.3 in real-world use because of how well the Android 13-based OS had been implemented.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

On the Note Air5 C, the Snapdragon 690 chip doesn’t really make much of a difference in overall performance when compared to the Go 10.3, although it’s a lot better compared to the Note Air 3, which was the previous device in this series that I have experience with.

Other than the typing lag I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve had no other significant issues with the 5C: apps open quickly and none crashed during my testing, page turns are quick and any adjustments — like brightness or volume — happened instantly. Ghosting can still be a problem for some users though, and I found it to be particularly noticeable when reading image-heavy documents and books.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The only reason I would opt for a non-Android e-notebook like the Kindle Scribe or the Kobo Elipsa 2E would be for the battery life. As I expected, the 3,700mAh battery doesn’t last very long as Android is a power-hungry OS.

You might find yourself charging the device every 3 to 4 days, depending on how much you use it and what some of your settings are. During my testing, I found that an hour of reading at mid-brightness and some warmth to yellow the screen dropped battery life by 2%. An hour of notetaking will drop it quicker — in my case, about 8% at the same light settings with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off.

Bump the frontlight to full brightness (and no warmth) and those battery drops for the same amount of use increases to a 5% and 10% respectively. If you have Wi-Fi turned on at all times, expect a touch more battery use, but it’s not a significant drop. If you happen to use some apps, like the browser or the music player, the battery will drain faster.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Long story short, prolific use will get you 2-3 days on a single charge, which can be extended to about 5 or 6 days if you use the device for maybe 30 minutes every day.

Topping up the battery is also a bit of a time investment — it took 2 hours and 3 minutes for my review unit to go from 16% to full, and that’s when plugged directly into a GAN wall charger using a high-quality USB-C to C cable. In my experience, this charging rate is slower than the 4,100mAh capacity battery in the ViWoods AiPaper, but about the same rate as the Boox Go 10.3 (which also uses a 3,700mAh battery).

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Note Air5 C?

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

It’s well priced, but expensive compared to grayscale e-notebooks.

4 / 5

Design & display

Solidly built with a good display, but there’s not a lot that’s actually ‘new’ about it physically.

4 / 5

Software & apps

The first Android e-notebook to run on an Android 15-based OS, it will get a few years of updates. The UI, however, still remains relatively complicated.

4 / 5

Writing & typing

Using the new stylus on this device is a wonderful and smooth experience, but there’s a lag when typing, whether via a physical keyboard or the on-screen one.

4 / 5

Reading

Clear text with very good contrast, but some colors appear muted, especially when compared to the similarly priced reMarkable Paper Pro.

4 / 5

Performance

Good general performance, but nothing that stands out from the competition.

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You want to upgrade from a much older Boox Note series tablet

If you're using an older Note series tablet, the 5C is a worthy upgrade, with software and performance enhancements that make a huge difference to usability.

You want a color e-notebook that offers an open ecosystem

There still aren't too many 10-inch epaper tablets with a color display — if that's an important consideration, the 5C is cheaper than the reMarkable Paper Pro and there are perks to using an Android device.

You want a versatile epaper tablet

One of the perks I mentioned above is the ability to download apps from the Google Play Store to make the most of your e-notebook. And that can make such a device very versatile indeed.

Don't buy it if...

You want more saturated colors displayed on the screen

While book covers look fine, I found some others appearing washed out on the 5C. Moreover, the ink and highlight colors are a lot better on the reMarkable Paper Pro, if you want more saturation.

Battery life is important

Android epaper tablets don't offer good battery life. If that's a major criteria, you should opt for a Kindle or Kobo writing tablet instead.

You don't need a plethora of features

There's a lot you can do with the Note Air 5C, or other Android e-notebooks, but this could be overkill for many users. If you want a more streamlined UI and don't need third-party apps, you could save money by opting for smaller e-notebooks like the Kobo Libra Colour, or larger grayscale ones like the Kindle Scribe.

Also consider

If you're unsure whether the Boox Note Air5 C is right for you, there are other options to consider. However, keep in mind that any such device with a color display will be expensive, while monochrome options can save you some cash.

reMarkable Paper Pro

If it's a color display on a 10-inch e-notebook that's got your attention, then there's none better than the reMarkable Paper Pro. It's the only epaper tablet using the E Ink Gallery 3 screen tech and it offers a simple, streamlined interface that has absolutely no distractions.
Read our in-depth reMarkable Paper Pro review for the full details

Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024)

Given the Colorsoft version of the Kindle Scribe still isn't widely available, I think the second-gen Scribe is still a worthy option with a grayscale screen. The ambient light sensor makes a huge difference to usability (I love it!) and it's arguably the nicest screen I've written on.
Read our full Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review to learn more

ViWoods AiPaper

It's a frightfully expensive Android e-notebook, but I much prefer its interface to Boox. It's also the thinnest large-screen epaper tablet I've tested. It works wonderfully well and has more native apps than Boox as well. If money's no object, I couldn't recommend this highly enough, albeit no color screen here.
Read my in-depth ViWoods AiPaper review to find out more

How I tested the Onyx Boox Note Air5 C

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I've been testing and writing about ereaders and epaper tablets for nearly a decade now, and have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to E Ink devices. That puts me in an excellent position to compare and just new devices coming into the market, just like the Boox Note Air5 C.

As with any new epaper device, I first go through all the settings options to ensure I have the tablet set up the way I like it, as it becomes my person device for a few weeks. Having done that, I connected the 5C to Wi-Fi and logged into the Play Store.

Plugging my 2TB Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD into the USB-C port, I was able to access a bunch of ebooks I keep as test files for my ereader reviews, plus a few PDFs. While this was the primary way of transferring files during my testing, I also signed into Google Drive to download some old notes I had saved from an older Boox device. I also used BooxDrop, which has some EPUBs stored in the cloud, that I could transfer to the 5C. These were the methods I tested for file and font (Bookerly specifically) transfer.

I spent about an hour each day over four weeks reading, but I spent a lot more time taking notes, including for this review — the Note Air5 C essentially became my e-notebook for work and for personal use. I tried annotating PDFs and some DRM-free ebooks as a test, but I also used the on-screen keyboard, the Boox keyboard folio made specifically for the 5C and a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard as part of my review process.

I kept tabs on battery use in 1-hour blocks, but I also changed settings to see how it affected battery usage. And, finally, I timed how long it took to charge when I allowed it to drop below 20%.

Read more about how we test

[First published February 2026]

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 offers 124 server locations spread over 100 countries. This puts it near the top of the pile when it comes to global coverage. Competitors like NordVPN might serve a wider variety of countries (118), but CyberGhost certainly isn't lacking global coverage.

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Most of these servers are based in Europe, with 11 locations in the USA, though CyberGhost also covers Central and South America, Asia, and Africa. We were pleasantly surprised to see servers in regions that are often neglected by other providers, such as Kenya, Bolivia, and Costa Rica. The fact that CyberGhost boasts server coverage in censorship-heavy countries like China and Russia is especially noteworthy.

CyberGhost does make use of a lot of virtual servers, and they don’t appear to be specifically flagged in the apps, so you don’t always know if you’re connecting to a server that’s actually where it appears to be. For example, CyberGhost appears to host its Cyprus and Egypt locations in Romania, which is significantly further away than we see with most providers, who typically use a Mediterranean location such as Marseille.

If you live somewhere that's missing a local server, CyberGhost does claim to take requests for new server locations, so you can always try asking for one. We can't confirm whether these requests are taken seriously or responded to, but you lose nothing by trying!

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 last round of speed testing, achieving a blistering 950+ Mbps when using the WireGuard protocol, which is why it’s quite disappointing to see its average speeds drop in our latest tests. We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US.

CyberGhost’s UK WireGuard performance was consistent with download speeds of 672Mbps in our first session and 676Mbps in our second, for an average of 674Mbps.

How we perform speed tests

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

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.

CyberGhost’s Ireland to US WireGuard testing gave us download speeds of 407 Mbps in our first test, then 405 Mbps in the second, for an average of 406 Mbps.

CyberGhost’s OpenVPN speeds have suffered as well, dropping from 460 Mbps in our last set of tests to 199 Mbps. This is still a decent speed compared to its competitors, with Proton VPN returning slightly faster results at 202 Mbps and NordVPN 179 Mbps. Unless you must have the absolute best OpenVPN performance, we wouldn’t let this result put you off CyberGhost.

We did find that CyberGhost's connection times remain brisk, clocking in at about a second, and its connections are both consistent and stable, but it’s disappointing to see this be another place where it appears to be backsliding compared to the competition.

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

The midrange VPN provider market is a hotly contested one, with lots of great providers both free and paid jostling for position. VyprVPN is a provider that you might not be immediately familiar with, but it’s been around since 2010, which is longer than some of the biggest and best VPNs in the market.

We last reviewed VyprVPN back in 2023, and found it to be a decent enough option, but there were some caveats we hoped that the provider would improve. Has anything changed in the two years since? Sadly, yes, and not for the better, with a number of features being removed or limited.

We’re going to look at whether this venerable VPN provider is still one you should trust with your online privacy.

Features

VyprVPN is not the most feature-packed provider on the market, but it has enough to satisfy users who need a basic product to keep them safe online.

There’s public Wi-Fi protection, which will automatically boot the VPN if you connect to an unsecured network, very useful for business travellers and people on holiday, as the free hotspots in hotels, airports, and cafes are often frequented by opportunistic cybercriminals.

Android and desktop users get a far wider range of features and customization options than their iOS counterparts. The iOS client features almost no additional features, not even a kill switch, which will cut your internet connection in the event of your VPN dropping out, making sure that you don’t leak any unprotected information.

Some features are standard across all apps, such as public Wi-Fi protection, the ability to automatically reconnect the VPN if the connection is dropped, a choice of VPN protocols including IKE v2, OpenVPN, WireGuard and VyprVPN’s own “Chameleon” obfuscated protocol which is designed to be used in environments where VPN use is heavily monitored and/or blocked.

(Image credit: Shaun Rockwood)

There’s also the option to choose between an “Advanced” connection, where you pick the server you want to connect to each time, or “Quick Connect,” where the VPN automatically picks a server from a region you choose in advance. Keep in mind, however, that there’s no way to pick a UK server with this option. Presumably, it gets lumped in with the “Europe” region.

Non-iOS users get more options, including the ability to have the app automatically start and connect when the device boots up, ensuring that you never end up browsing the net unprotected.

They also get split tunneling, which VyprVPN calls “Connection per App.” It allows you to select which apps connect to the VPN and which don’t. This is especially useful when you want one app, such as Netflix, to connect to a VPN server of your choice, while another app, like your banking app, uses your local connection without the VPN.

Android VPN users can also choose the DNS server they want to use, including VyprVPN’s open zero-log VyprDNS, which is purpose-built from the ground up to defeat internet censorship and protect users from DNS man-in-the-middle attacks.

Plus, unlike other DNS servers that log personally identifiable information such as IP addresses, websites visited, and geolocation data, VyprDNS employs a zero-knowledge approach, so you don’t have to worry about trading your privacy for extra access.

Features score: 4/10

Server network

VyprVPN currently offers 73 different locations around the world, and it’s impressive that the provider continues to increase its total server count. Since our last review, VyprVPN has boosted its network to more than 700 servers.

While this still doesn’t compare to the likes of ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or Proton VPN, which offer thousands of servers across hundreds of locations, VyprVPN nevertheless covers all the major regions. It provides a solid spread of countries across North America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, Central and South America, Asia, and even the Middle East.

Where VyprVPN further struggles compared to other providers is that almost all of these countries only have a single server. This means if you really need to access a particular piece of geo-locked content in, for example, the UK, and that particular server doesn’t work for you, then there are no other locations to try.

The only exceptions to this are the USA and Australia, which both have multiple locations – 8 in the USA and 3 in Australia.

Server network score: 4/10

Apps

One area where VyprVPN really deserves praise is the effort it has put into offering dedicated apps for both major and minor platforms. In addition to the mainstays – Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android – it also provides apps for smart TVs, routers, Chromebooks, Anonabox, and even Blackphone. Even better, it backs up this wide range of apps with plenty of helpful tutorials, so regardless of your device, you'll get set up quickly and easily.

Some VPN providers spend a huge amount of time on their Windows app to the detriment of other platforms, but VyprVPN has done a good job of making sure that all mobile platforms match their desktop counterpart.

The macOS and mobile apps look and feel almost identical to the Windows version, right down to the color scheme and layout.

Linux users are, as often happens, left with only a CLI setup option rather than an app, and even then, it’s tailored for only specific versions of Ubuntu. So, if you’re a Linux novice, you might be better off elsewhere.

The Apple versions of the app are rather bare-bones compared to the other options – disappointing news for folks on the hunt for an iPhone VPN. Some of that is down to Apple restricting access to the underlying operating system rather than any fault on the part of VyprVPN, but Apple isn’t entirely to blame here.

Other offerings from companies like Sufshark offer automatic connection, a kill switch, and even an Apple-friendly form of split-tunneling/whitelisting, so there are plenty more functions that could be here, but VyprVPN has seemingly chosen not to include them.

VyprVPN has done a good job of keeping its app clean and simple to use on all platforms, though the blinking snake eyes and pulsing ring while connected won’t be to everyone’s taste and can be rather distracting if you leave the app on screen.

That said, it’s underwhelming that VyprVPN doesn’t offer browser extensions. These have become a common feature among VPN providers and give users a simple way to boost their digital privacy while browsing.

Apps score: 5/10

Ease of use

VyprVPN’s apps are easy to use and some of the best beginner VPNs we've come across. There are two buttons, one showing the location you’ve picked, and the other that says Connect/Disconnect, and that’s it.

It’s not quite as foolproof as the big, friendly power button that so many other providers use, but it’s nice and straightforward.

It would have been nice to see a convenient drop-down of locations to pick from; instead, this is on a separate tab. That said, if you click on a new location, then it automatically connects the VPN, which is nice to see and makes trying out new servers a simple process.

(Image credit: Shaun Rockwood)

The settings screen is cleanly laid out, with a small explanation for what each setting does to help newer users understand just what they’re changing, though, for some reason, the automatic reconnect description seems to be truncated on iOS devices, with the last word missing.

There’s even a small icon in the top right of the screen that shows you useful information about your VPN connection, including the status, how long you’ve been connected, what your VPN IP address is, and how much data has been uploaded and downloaded, which can be very useful for those traveling overseas on a data-limited connection.

Ease of use score: 6/10

Speed and performance

To measure how a VPN provider stacks up in the real world and where it places in our fastest VPN rankings, we measure download speeds multiple times, with multiple speed test sites and apps. These include SpeedTest, Cloudflare, and Measurement Lab, used across multiple sessions in US and UK locations.

VyprVPN’s WireGuard speeds were remarkably solid for much of our testing. We regularly saw speeds over 600 Mbps when connected to the UK, USA, Europe, and even the Japanese location, which is quite impressive as servers in Asian locations are often substantially slower than those in the Western parts of the world.

The same can’t be said for VyprVPN’s OpenVPN speeds. While it’s accepted that OpenVPN will always be slower than WireGuard, the results we saw were still far slower than we would expect.

UK speeds often dipped below 40 Mbps, US servers returned around 40-60 Mbps, and Asian speeds fluctuated between 25-40 Mbps. These results are similar to what we saw the last time we reviewed this provider, so while there’s been no improvement, the speeds haven’t gotten any worse, either.

(Image credit: Shaun Rockwood)

To put these speeds into context, 4K streaming, for instance, requires connection speeds of 25 Mbps. So while you could stream high-def content with VyprVPN, you wouldn’t be able to do too much else without potentially encountering problems with buffering or the image quality suffering.

Connection speeds are important for downloading and streaming media, but another important factor is latency or “ping”. Your ping is a very important factor in online gaming as it measures the time it takes for data to travel from your device to the game’s server and back again. In other words, this is the amount of time it takes the game to fire your weapon after you click your mouse or tap on the screen.

Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms), and you want to always try and connect to a server that offers you the lowest ping possible. The lower your ping, the faster your in-game actions are received by the server, resulting in smoother and more accurate gameplay. If you’ve ever been in a multiplayer game and seen someone jerking when they move or seeming to teleport back and forward, that’s someone with a very high ping suffering from what’s commonly known as lag.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

Unblocking streaming services in other countries with VyprVPN is a bit of a mixed bag. We had some success in testing, with VyprVPN working with Disney+ in both the UK and the US.

Amazon Prime Video was a bit more hit-and-miss in both the US and the UK. We could stream most content, but not all. We had similar problems the last time we reviewed this provider, and it looks like these issues still persist. We had no luck with Netflix UK/US, too, and BBC iPlayer simply refused to load. All in all, VyprVPN isn't a viable streaming VPN.

VyprVPN fares better as a torrenting VPN. There are no specific servers for streaming or torrenting, so you can use whichever is closest to you. In testing, we were able to access common torrenting sites and download torrent and magnet files without issue. Connection speeds while downloading torrents were fine. Nothing spectacular, but they were quick enough to get the job done.

Unblocking score: 4/10

Privacy and Security

While better than some of the lesser-known VPN providers out there, VyprVPN could do a whole lot better when it comes to the security and privacy of its users. It’s a good thing to see it offering up-to-date VPN protocols, like WireGuard, as well as giving users the ability to choose from a variety of other options to fit their needs.

The WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 protocols are supported across all platforms, and VyprVPN even has its own custom VPN masking protocol called Chameleon that can help bypass aggressive VPN blocking. VyprVPN even has its own private DNS servers you can use to make sure you’re leaving as little of a digital footprint as possible.

Unfortunately, that’s all the VPN offers. There’s no malware or ad blocking, no antivirus, no website filtering, no TOR over VPN, or even multi-hop servers.

VyprVPN does, at least, protect user data with strong encryption capabilities. It supports the industry-standard AES-256 encryption with Perfect Forward Secrecy. This is a technique that ensures that a different encryption key is used every time a connection is made, so even if an attacker did somehow obtain an encryption key, they would only be able to access data in that particular session before the key was rendered useless.

However, there are no signs that VyprVPN is planning to roll out post-quantum encryption, which has quickly gone from being a nice-to-have feature to an essential one. It’s especially important given the growing threat of quantum computers, which may eventually be powerful enough to break current encryption standards, as well as the risk of cybercriminals using store-now-decrypt-later attacks.

The company has also undergone a third-party audit, which was carried out by Leviathan Security. We always love to see a VPN provider willing to undergo an audit, as it shows the provider is serious about its privacy claims. It is, however, a shame that VyprVPN hasn’t had another audit carried out since this was completed back in 2018. That’s 7 years ago, and a lot has changed in that time.

It’s worth noting that a VPN audit confirms that a provider did not log any data during the audit period, which can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. However, it doesn’t prove that the VPN hasn’t logged data in the past or won’t do so in the future. That’s why we always vouch for VPNs that regularly submit their no-logs policies for independent audits, preferably once every year.

Privacy and security score: 5/10

Track record

The biggest change with VyprVPN happened back in 2023. The company is now owned by Certida and is incorporated in the USA. Previously, it was based in Switzerland, so this is a loss in terms of user privacy and consumer protection.

The company also didn’t make any real effort to inform its users about this change, with nothing being published on the website to reflect the change of owner or location.

This seems to have gone hand-in-hand with a reduction in the level of service the company offers, with apps and support for NAS devices and routers vanishing from the company website (although the support portal still has manual setup instructions for routers) along with a reduction in the number of simultaneous connections for new users, dropping from 10 to 5, and URL filtering disappearing from the app as well.

All this means that while the price has remained unchanged, you’re paying the same amount for fewer features.

Track record score: 4/10

Customer support

VyprVPN has a dedicated support portal, where a knowledge base provides setup instructions, troubleshooting guidance, and specific advice for various device types, but it’s not the most coherent or up-to-date offering we’ve ever tried to use.

For example, on the front page there’s a link to the 'VyprVPN forum', but when you click on it, you get an 'Error 404: Page Not Found' error message. That dead link has been there since we last reviewed this VPN provider in 2023, suggesting there’s not a lot of active maintenance of the support site going on.

The rest of the support portal is quite well stocked with helpful content, though it would be nice to see the articles go into more depth to help users troubleshoot their problems. Some of the articles are little more than a couple of lines long, with not even a screenshot to help beginner users find their way..

If you can’t find what you need on the portal, there’s an AI support bot that can help out and point you to useful support topics. If you’d rather not use it, then you also have the option to send a message to the support team to ask for help, or to chat live with a support engineer if you need assistance then and there.

Customer support score: 1/10

(Image credit: Shaun Rockwood)Pricing and plans

VyprVPN offers three straightforward price plans. There are no other tiers, and you don’t get any additional features if you pay more money. Its prices are comparable to other mid-range VPN providers such as Proton or Windscrib,e and it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide it’s not the right option for you.

• 2 years - $72
• 1 year - $48
• 1 month - $5

(Image credit: Shaun Rockwood)

On the sign-up page, there’s some confusion over what you get for your money, with the main VyprVPN page stating you get 10 simultaneous connections, but the “Choose a plan” page states it’s only 5. On reaching out to support for clarity, we were informed that users who have signed up previously get 10 connections while new users get only 5.

This is not clearly stated anywhere on the main VyprVPN page, and even checking the support portal leads you to an article that tells you to contact the support team to verify how many connections are included in your subscription. This information should be front and center and clearly stated. It shouldn’t be something we have to dig to try and find.

Pricing and plans score: 5/10

Should you use VyprVPN?

As a VPN provider, VyprVPN’s overall offering is fine. It’s solidly average, and that’s both a strength and a weakness. If you need a VPN that won’t break the bank and has decent abilities for torrenting and unblocks the streaming sites you use, as well as offering adequate download speeds, then VyprVPN has you covered.

The problem is that so do dozens of other providers, some of which cost less and offer better features.

VyprVPN doesn’t do enough to make itself stand out in a market crowded with providers all eager for your money, and lets itself down in a number of ways. The features it offers seem to have diminished over the years rather than evolving; it’s unclear about the things it supports, and it doesn't make enough of an effort to keep its website up to date with accurate information about its product offering.

To sum up, VyprVPN isn’t a bad VPN, but it’s not a particularly good one either.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

FastestVPN is a cost-effective VPN solution based in the Cayman Islands, which makes it a solid choice for privacy-conscious users. However, in our testing, we found that while the service offers decent functionality and has come a long way in terms of privacy, features, and app usability, it still underperforms when compared to today's best VPNs.

That’s not to say FastestVPN isn’t worth considering, though. In addition to its sub-$1 two-year introductory plan, its lifetime VPN plan at just $40 is something you’ll rarely find elsewhere. It also boasts an audited no-logs policy and apps for all device types, and unblocks most popular streaming platforms with ease. Read on to see whether FastestVPN is worth your time.

Features

FastestVPN offers a standard suite of VPN features, along with a few less-common extras.

Even though it has a relatively small pool of servers, it’s impressive that FastestVPN offers P2P-optimized servers, allowing you to download and upload P2P files with increased security. Combined with its port forwarding feature – which can further boost download and upload speeds – FastestVPN is a solid option if you’re looking for a torrenting VPN.

Other than that, there’s also an ad blocker that enhances your online experience by ensuring you’re not bombarded with frustrating and potentially malicious ads. FastestVPN is also one of the very few VPNs to offer extra device logins for an additional fee. While it comes with 10 simultaneous connections by default, you can add more devices for $4 per device if you want to share the love.

Other add-on options include a dedicated IP and port forwarding, both of which are extremely reasonably priced. Admittedly, most VPNs don't provide port-forwarding, but some generous services (like Private Internet Access) offer it for free.

Plus, regardless of the plan you choose – monthly, yearly, or the exclusive lifetime plan – you’ll also get two years of free access to the FastestPass password manager, which helps improve the security of your online accounts and reduce the risk of identity theft by creating and safely storing highly secure passwords.

Features score: 5/10

(Image credit: FastestVPN)Server network

FastestVPN has over 800 servers spread across 49 countries, with over 100 locations to choose from. While there are plenty of servers across Europe, as well as access to the US, Japan, Australia, and Canada, it's not particularly comprehensive across the Middle East, Africa, or Asia.

So, while it might not be the first choice for users in some of these countries, the good news is that all the popular streaming locations you’d expect are easily accessible.

The provider also recently rolled out a double VPN feature, which, as the name suggests, routes your internet traffic through two servers instead of one, adding an extra layer of encryption and security to your data.

Admittedly, FastestVPN is nowhere close to the thousands of servers offered by industry leaders like NordVPN, Surfshark, or ProtonVPN. However, it’s also worth considering that FastestVPN doesn’t have the same volume of users as these top providers. Still, I’d like to see the service add more servers and locations.

Server network score: 6/10

Apps

When you jump into the FastestVPN downloads page, you're immediately presented with nearly twenty different platforms to choose from. FastestVPN supports fully-fledged apps on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, as well as browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.

For everything else like routers and TVs, there are setup guides available on the support site. There's a download link for Linux, too, but it just takes you to the features page. You'll have to read the support blog and use a third-party client – which can be tricky if you're not a tech-savvy Linux user.

Apps score: 8/10

(Image credit: FastestVPN)Ease of use

For me, this is where FastestVPN disappoints. When you boot up the VPN, you're immediately presented with the full app. However, trying to actually use it bounces you over to the login screen.

It's slightly confusing, but once you're through it only takes one click to connect to your nearest server. Even though it's easy enough to read and navigate, the actual app looks a little rough compared to some of its closest competitors.

Unfortunately, trying to use FastestVPN for the first time on a Mac testing machine brought up some issues with the app. After trying to connect to the DVPN servers for testing, the app shut down and wouldn't restart even after a reboot. I couldn't replicate this issue on any other platform, but if you're hunting for a bulletproof Mac VPN app, you might need to look elsewhere.

Ease of use score: 6/10

(Image credit: FastestVPN)Speed and performance

Despite its name, FastestVPN doesn't quite live up to the "fastest VPN" claim.

Using a 100 Mbps connection with Ookla Speedtest for monitoring, I recorded an average download speed of 58.25 Mbps and 14.82 Mbps upload on my nearby server. Connecting to US East dropped those speeds down to 37.94 Mbps download and 11.89 Mbps upload.

During my tests, I found that download and upload speeds were inconsistent, especially over long distances. While nearby servers in the U.S. and Europe provided solid speeds that easily let me stream shows with no buffering, I found that connecting to servers in Asia and South America delivered significantly lower performance.

These speeds don’t match up to our top VPNs, but they'll still suffice for most activities. If you need a VPN for gaming, torrenting, or HD streaming, then FastestVPN isn't a bad choice.

Speed and performance score: 7/10

Unblocking

FastestVPN might not be the fastest, but it's fast enough to stream high-quality video. That's great because there's plenty you can unblock with its help.

To test a VPN's unblocking claims, we skip all of the marketing material and go straight to testing the top streaming sites. We check out multiple different Netflix regions (the US, Canada, UK, Japan, and Australia) as well as Amazon Prime and Disney+. We even check out some regional providers, like BBC iPlayer and ITV, too.

Everything we threw at FastestVPN worked. Not only did FastestVPN pass all of the usual tests, but it even picked up Hulu and HBO. I didn't encounter any lag or buffering while loading up any of the streams I tried out, which makes FastestVPN an all-around great option as a streaming VPN.

The only downside is that FastestVPN has a smaller location pool, meaning you might be out of luck if you're looking to unblock more obscure streaming providers.

Torrenting also works pretty well on FastestVPN's dedicated P2P servers, and the inclusion of port forwarding means you'll be able to connect to the full swarm whenever you're torrenting.

Unblocking score: 9/10

Privacy and security

FastestVPN doesn't have the extensive suite of security tools you'd see from a provider like NordVPN or Surfshark, but it does cover the basics.

It offers all the VPN protocols you’d expect from a top service, including OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2, allowing you to choose the best option for your specific use case. On top of that, all FastestVPN apps have been audited and use the highly secure, industry-standard AES-256 encryption.

That said, it has yet to announce support for post-quantum encryption, which is becoming increasingly important as it protects your data against the threat of quantum computers and Q-Day.

Digging into FastestVPN's privacy policy revealed that the VPN commissioned its first no-logs audit in 2023 from Altius IT, a California-based auditing company with over 30 years of experience. The full report makes for illuminating reading. You can check it out yourself via the provider's site and the link included at the bottom of the page.

The only information FastestVPN logs is the date you connect to the VPN service and your email address. While this is certainly excellent and in line with what we expect from a private VPN, the provider hasn’t undergone another audit since. Ideally, a VPN should regularly submit its no-logs policy for independent verification.

Even if law enforcement does come asking for the little information that FastestVPN holds onto, it's headquartered in the Cayman Islands. This puts it far outside of the jurisdiction of Five Eyes nations while retaining strict data laws with a national data privacy policy comparable to GDPR.

Privacy and security score: 8/10

Customer support

FastestVPN offers 24/7 live chat support as the first port of call for any technical issues. All of the support staff I contacted via live chat were supportive and helpful, although I was sometimes left waiting around a while for a response. Email support is available, though slower than live chat, typically responding within 24-48 hours.

The knowledge hub is well-organized, containing useful tutorials and FAQs for common issues. There's also a pretty comprehensive set of manual setup guides if you're trying to get FastestVPN working on a router or Linux.

The only issue here is that the site itself looks slightly archaic, and some of the articles mentioning older protocols are clearly outdated.

Customer support score: 8/10

(Image credit: FastestVPN)Track record

For a vendor with nearly a decade of experience, FastestVPN has a relatively uneventful history.

No traffic breaches, no huge exploits, no scandalous lawsuits. Instead, it's a VPN that has been slowly but steadily reinventing itself over and over into what is now a decent service. Maybe it isn’t at parity with top-tier VPNs, but WireGuard integration and a no-logs audit put it above a big chunk of the industry.

However, FastestVPN's reviews don't quite paint the same story. Some of the reviews I read complain about the lifetime plan running out or having other subscription issues, although it seems like the support team is pretty good at catching these complaints and rectifying them.

Track record score: 8/10

Pricing and plans

At $5 per month, the monthly plan is more affordable than most discounted VPNs. But the annual plan – which is really a two-year plan, since it gives you one year free with your first annual purchase – brings the price down even further to $0.83 a month. It then renews at $19.95 every two years.

This is absolutely fantastic value for a VPN that covers the basics. That said, FastestVPN goes one step further by offering a unique lifetime plan, which seems to be truly unlimited.

There are also plenty of payment options, from PayPal and debit/credit cards to crypto – the latter allows you to sign up for FastestVPN completely anonymously, which can be especially handy for users in regions where VPN usage isn’t well received.

Pricing and plans score: 9/10

Should you use FastestVPN?

FastestVPN is a strong budget option for those looking for basic security, privacy, and content unblocking without breaking the bank. It's not the fastest VPN, despite its name, and it doesn't have the largest server network. That said, its affordability and core privacy features make it a solid choice for if you're a casual VPN user who's willing to compromise on some performance for a significantly lower price point.

However, if you require a VPN with high-speed performance, global streaming access, or advanced security tools, premium services like ExpressVPN or NordVPN may be better options.

FastestVPN alternatives

1. NordVPN – from $3.09 per month
The best VPN overall
There's no better VPN in the industry if you need a fast and secure provider with global server access. With a variety of security and performance features, including a built-in virus scanner and double-hop servers, NordVPN is great value for money.View Deal

2. ExpressVPN – from $6.67 per month
The best VPN for beginners and the most secure
ExpressVPN offers fantastic blocking capabilities with a nearly unparalleled set of locations to choose from. ExpressVPN guarantees high-speed obfuscated connections with its own proprietary VPN protocol, Lightway, as well as a high-quality server bank and audited no-logs server technology.View Deal

3. Proton VPN – from $3.99 per month
A superb all-round VPN and online security alternative
Proton VPN is the best free VPN out there, with a truly unlimited bandwidth plan across three different locations. Built by the minds behind Proton Mail, Proton VPN also provides a range of privacy-first features which make it a great choice if you're concerned about your internet data. The standout of these is Secure Core, which allows you to chain your VPN connection through multiple servers for better security.View Deal

FastestVPN FAQsAre all VPNs required to have a no-logs audit?

No, most VPNs do not provide proof of a no-logs audit. FastestVPN is one of the few VPNs on the market to have contracted a third party to audit its privacy policy.

HP OmniBook 7 Aero two-minute review

There’s a lot to like with the HP OmniBook 7 Aero, from its portability and somewhat unique look to its surprisingly robust performance. I would definitely recommend it as one of the best laptops out there for anyone wanting a lightweight Windows laptop to take on the road.

I also appreciate the port selection offered, as the best Ultrabooks typically come pretty limited in this department, usually limiting you to two USB-C ports. Digital nomads will like the quality of the webcam as well as the fact that it has a physical shutter. Really, it doesn’t feel like the thin and light nature of the HP OmniBook 7 Aero compromises on too much to get to its size or price point.

That said, there are a few things I'm not overly fond of. The keyboard is adequate, but with its low travel, it can get fatiguing during long writing sessions.

(Image credit: Future)

And even though the port selection is pretty good, HP decided to put both USB-C ports on one side, which is a little annoying when you need to plug into the wall on the other side. That might be a nitpick, but it's something that’s been a concern for many a laptop, including some iterations of the MacBook Air, and it’s a concern here.

Still, the pros make the HP OmniBook 7 Aero a good laptop to recommend for those looking for a lightweight, Windows laptop that works well, and it isn’t trying to look like a MacBook.

HP OmniBook 7 Aero: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? Starting at $949.99 (about £710 / AU$1,420)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US and Australia

The HP OmniBook 7 Aero’s price tag is reasonable, if a little high, for what’s on offer. If I weren’t impressed by its light weight and solid performance, I would think this would be more of a $600 computer, but a starting price of $949.99 (about £710 / AU$1,420) seems appropriate. Upgrading the CPU, RAM, storage, and screen ends up with a slightly harder to stomach $1,399.99 / AU$2,998 (about £1,040) price tag.

Looking at the competition, these prices aren’t outrageous, though it’s worth noting that, first, HP will regularly discount their laptops so it’s worth waiting for a sale (it’s 44% off the base configuration at the time of writing, for instance), and that, second, other comparable laptops are around the same price or even a little less, not to mention also regularly discount their laptops.

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, which impressed me with its solid performance and portability, starts at $949.99 (about £760 / AU$1,470). That’s a laptop with a better battery life and higher resolution at the lowest configuration that I actually felt was a little overpriced.

And if you’re not married to the Windows ecosystem, the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) is not only a strong choice thanks to its strong performance and great battery life, but the fact that at its base configuration is just a better computer than the base configuration of the HP OmniBook 7 Aero. Apple, however, does not offer quite the same discounts that HP does.

• Value: 4 / 5

HP OmniBook 7 Aero: Specs

Internally, the HP OmniBook 7 Aero only offers a few options for customization. You get either a six core AMD AI 5 340 CPU with integrated AMD Radeon 840M graphics or an eight core AMD AI 7 350 CPU with integrated Radeon 860M graphics.

The choices for RAM are either 16 or 32 GB (and you can only choose the higher RAM with the higher CPU), while the storage also comes in just two flavors: 512GB and 1TB (though there are a few different choices in terms of specific type of SSD).

There’s also a choice between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E wireless configurations, though the latter, more expensive option comes with Bluetooth 5.3 instead of 5.4.

HP OmniBook 7 Aero base configuration

HP OmniBook 7 Aero review / max configuration

Price:

$949.99 (about £710/ AU$1,420)

$1,399.99 / AU$2,998 (about £1,040)

CPU:

AMD AI 5 340

AMD AI 7 350

Graphics:

AMD Radeon 840M Integrated graphics

AMD Radeon 860M Integrated graphics

RAM:

16GB

32GB

Screen:

13.3-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, 400 nits

13.3-inch diagonal, WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, 400 nits

Storage:

512GB M.2 SSD

1TB M.2 SSD

Ports:

1 USB Type-A 10Gbps signaling rate; 1 USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate; 1 HDMI-out 2.1; 1 headphone/microphone combo; 2 USB Type-C 10Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery 3.1, DisplayPort 2.1, HP Sleep and Charge)

1 USB Type-A 10Gbps signaling rate; 1 USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate; 1 HDMI-out 2.1; 1 headphone/microphone combo; 2 USB Type-C 10Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery 3.1, DisplayPort 2.1, HP Sleep and Charge)

Wireless:

Realtek Wi-Fi 6 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4

Realtek Wi-Fi 6E (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.3

Camera:

5MP IR camera with temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones

5MP IR camera with temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones

Weight:

<2.2 lb

<2.2 lb

Dimensions:

11.70 x 8.31 x 0.65 in (front); 11.70 x 8.31 x 0.69 in (rear)

11.70 x 8.31 x 0.65 in (front); 11.70 x 8.31 x 0.69 in (rear)

The only spec-related option externally comes in terms of two screen options. Both displays are 13.3-inch anti-glare 400 nit screens, but one has a 1920x1200p WUXGA resolution while the other has a sharper 2560x1600p WQXGA resolution. You can get this laptop in either Ceramic White or Glacier Silver.

HP OmniBook 7 Aero: Design

• Attractive, light, and petite
• Keyboard has a pretty short travel
• Good port selection, though placement could be better

I have to say… I really like the way the HP OmniBook7 Aero looks. The Ceramic White colorway of my test unit is attractive in a way that doesn’t automatically make it look like HP was trying to copy Apple.

While the material is not machined metal, it is a very durable-feeling plastic that is still sturdy, and probably helps with the cost of the laptop. I can’t comment on the silver colorway other than to mention that HP does not mention that it uses machined aluminum for it, so it might look a little more like a MacBook, but it will still feel different.

I also appreciate how absolutely petite this laptop is. It has a 13.3-inch screen, weighs in at just over two pounds, and is a little over half an inch thick at its thinnest. Throwing it in a backpack to cart around doesn’t put any pressure on my back, not to mention it’s often the lightest device in my backpack.

(Image credit: Future)

Speaking of the screen, it has a very impressive accuracy of 0.29 delta E (closer to zero is better and under 2 is considered accurate) as well as a 112% sRGB color coverage. Its 79% DCI-P3 color coverage is not quite as good, though, so keep that in mind if you plan on doing any photo editing with HDR.

As such a diminutive laptop, I do find that the keyboard is more serviceable than amazing. This is particularly true for the keyboard as it has a fairly short travel – short enough that I notice it when typing out more than just an email. The trackpad is at least a little better as it is as responsive as one could ask. It handles gestures well as well.

With a 5MP IR camera, I do find the webcam to reproduce a sharp, smooth image – I don’t get any choppiness as long as I have a strong internet connection – plus it has those useful effects on hand, such as blurring the background, reorienting the eyes so that they seem to look at the recipient and not the camera, and automatically reframing when one moves their head. More importantly, it comes with a physical privacy shutter.

(Image credit: Future)

One thing that smaller laptops like the HP OmniBook 7 Aero often sacrifice are the ports, usually offering just a handful of USB-C. Luckily, this laptop bucks that trend. There are, of course, two USB-C ports that support power delivery and DisplayPort 2.1, though they are unfortunately on just one side of the laptop. But there are also two regular USB-A ports, a headphone jack, and an HDMI port. Not bad for such a little guy.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

HP OmniBook 7 Aero: Performance

• Surprisingly robust performance
• Has enough power for AI
• Audio quality is just okay

Despite the fact that the HP OmniBook 7 Aero fits more into the light and portable category of laptops, aka Ultrabooks, its performance is surprisingly robust. There’s no discrete graphics, but the integrated Radeon Graphics were enough to run some computer games, not that you should really consider this for a gaming laptop.

I managed to run Indiana Jones and the Great Circle off Game Pass at low settings without any latency, lags, or stutters. I also managed to run Cyberpunk 2077, though that got low enough frame rates to not want to use this laptop to play it.

HP OmniBook 7 Aero: Benchmarks

Here's how the HP OmniBook 7 Aero performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark: Fire Strike: 6078; Time Spy: 2732; Night Raid: 24031; Steel Nomad: 396

GeekBench 6.5: 2825 (single-core); 12137 (multi-core)

25GB File Copy: 13.26

Handbrake 1.9.2: 6:08

CrossMark: Overall: 1837 Productivity: 1695 Creativity: 2141 Responsiveness: 1477

Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p high): 25.368 fps; (2560x1600p high) 15.895 fps; Storm (1080p medium): 42.843 fps; (2560x1600p medium) 26.997 fps

Web Surfing (Battery Informant): 8:51:07

Of course, the fans go full blast when running any demanding task, and the keyboard does pass on some of the internal heat. But again, this really isn’t a laptop meant for these kinds of heavy-duty tasks, even if there’s more power here than expected.

Also, be aware that it can get a little hot if pushed hard. This is a fairly thin laptop after all. We registered temperatures of up to 103.8F between the G and H keys when really pushed into overdrive.

For productivity work, this means that the HP OmniBook 7 Aero can keep up with internet hounds and research junkies. If you need 20 tabs open at once, you won’t have to worry about slowing this laptop down. I found it to switch tabs instantaneously even with that many tabs open.

(Image credit: Future)

On the AI side of things, whether you find CoPilot+ useful or not, it’s here and works relatively quickly. I was more limited by the speed of the server the laptop was engaging with more so than the laptop itself when generating an AI image thanks to the CPU’s 50 NPU TOPS.

Lastly, the audio quality is not bad for a lightweight laptop like this, though nothing to write home about. There’s no low-end so audio can come off as a little thin, but the detail is decent. I do recommend using some headphones for any serious listening.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

HP OmniBook 7 Aero: Battery life

• Battery life is long enough for a full day’s work, but just barely
• Fast charging capabilities make up for smaller battery

With a battery life of 8:51:07 (according to our battery benchmark), the HP OmniBook 7 Aero is both underwhelming compared to many of the light and thin laptops out there – some are reaching times of over 15 hours – and still more than enough battery life for most people.

Since it can reach almost nine hours on a single charge, it still has plenty of juice to get one through an entire day of work without needing to find an outlet.

(Image credit: Future)

Once you do find an outlet though, its fast charging capabilities make up for that small 3-cell, 43 Wh battery. If turned off, the laptop will recharge up to 50% of its battery in 30 minutes. That’s pretty impressive.

• Battery life: 4 / 5

Should I buy the HP OmniBook 7 Aero?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

The price is about what one would expect for this kind of laptop, though its value goes way up when on sale.

4 / 5

Design

It’s thin, light, comes with a privacy shutter, and, most importantly, looks a bit unique.

4.5 / 5

Performance

This lightweight laptop can somewhat overdeliver when it comes to performance.

4.5 / 5

Battery

The battery life is good enough, but underwhelming when compared to the competition.

4 / 5

Average rating

Its portability and performance set it apart from the more middle-of-the-road act-like-a-MacBook laptop that comprise its competition.

4.5 / 5

Buy it if…

You want a very portable laptop

The HP OmniBook 7 Aero is so light and thin that when I throw it in a backpack, I barely notice that it’s there. If you want a laptop that travels easily, this one will more than do.View Deal

You want robust performance in small package

While this isn’t going to go head-to-head with a gaming laptop for any kind of heavy-duty performance, it does better than one would expect on what looks to be a lightweight laptop (in terms of specs).View Deal

You want a laptop that looks a little different

The white version of this laptop at the very least is a somewhat unique-looking laptop, making it attractive for anyone tired of the machined metal laptops all trying to look like but not be a MacBook.View Deal

Don’t buy it if…

You want a really long battery life

The almost nine hour battery life is enough to get through the day, but it’s underwhelming compared to the other options out there.View Deal

You type all day

The shallow keyboard does fine for basic use, but if you’re typing up reports or articles all day long, it can get fatiguing. There are other portable laptops with better keyboards.View Deal

Also Consider

If our HP OmniBook 7 Aero review has you considering other options, here are two laptops to consider...

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is a little bigger than the OmniBook 7 Aero with its 14-inch screen, but it’s just as portable. It also comes with a 1600p screen, snappy performance thanks to its Snapdragon CPU, and quite the long battery life.

Read our full Dell Inspiron 14 Plus reviewView Deal

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4)

The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) is, like just about every MacBook Air before it, the trendsetter for Ultrabooks, setting the standard in laptops trying to strike a balance between performance and portability. It also has a very long battery life and is cheaper than its previous iterations.

Read our full Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) review View Deal

How I tested the HP OmniBook 7 Aero

• Tested for a couple weeks
• Used it for work, gaming, and streaming
• Messed with its AI capabilities

I used the HP OmniBook 7 Aero for a couple weeks. I used it for work, including typing up this review (along with the requisite online research). I used it to stream video. I even did some semi-serious gaming. I played around with the AI as well.

After spending time with the HP OmniBook 7 Aero, it’s clear that this is meant for those that want a Windows laptop that works great on the road.

I’ve spent the last few years reviewing tech gear for gaming and otherwise, where I’ve gotten a feel for what to look for and how to put a piece of kit through its paces to see whether it’s worth the recommendation.

First reviewed February 2026

The 30th anniversary of Bandai Namco’s acclaimed role-playing game (RPG) series, Tales of, has been going quite smoothly.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Release date: February 26, 2026

With titles like Tales of Xillia and Tales of Graces f getting the remaster treatment, newcomers can experience the series’ rich past on recent consoles. The latest arrival is Tales of Berseria Remastered, an updated game which originally released in 2016 and marked a new direction for the series in more ways than one.

Its drama, charm, and thrill hit just as hard as they did back then, making it an apt title worthy of remastering.

Leaning on the edge

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Despite being a prequel to Tales of Zestiria, the game takes on a rather different tone. Following Velvet Crowe, a hellbent half-human half-Daemon, as well as a ragtag team of misfits, you’ll travel the many islands of Midgand to hunt and kill those who wronged you. The game is a revenge story through and through.

Here, those darker elements are on full display, with monstrous beings, death, and wanton destruction around every corner. It can be a bit overbearing, especially if coming off titles like Xillia or Graces f, but it still keeps that signature charm.

Best bit

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

The combat here works extremely well, as it evolves the LMBS system into a more open action experience. Being able to move around freely and customize your moves makes a world of difference and gets you more involved. Plus, letting you switch between characters more easily gives you more room to explore gameplay styles.

As a newcomer, it was very surprising just how well a darker tone fits the Tales series. Usually one for bright colors and adventure over adversity, Berseria highlights a much more twisted tale, not straying away from killing or violence.

Even still, the cast of characters, like the tactful Eizen to the ever-frustrating-yet-lovable Magilou, bring levity to situations, albeit with underlying brooding beneath it. The party does rank among the franchise’s best, as the chemistry and dynamic mesh extremely well, both feeling like a well-oiled machine and separate entities all their own.

While returning fans know the story beats, newcomers will enjoy the direction the story takes and the journey they’ll go on. It can be a bit heavy with its edgy themes, but underneath it all is a tale of trust, family, and emotion. The many twists and turns will get you on the edge of your seat and are paced out quite well, so there are rarely any dull moments.

One of the highlights for me was a surprising one: the performances from the game’s cast. With the material being as deep as it is, the cast does a fantastic job. Much praise goes to lead Christina Vee, who brings the broken Velvet to life with finesse and grace. Other standouts include Erika Lindbeck’s hilarious Magilou, Benjamin Diskin’s adventurous Rokurou, and Taliesin Jaffe’s determined Eizen.

In open waters

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Fortunately for fans of long RPGs, Berseria Remastered has got you covered. With its story taking roughly 35-45 hours, not counting grinding or side missions, it covers a lot of ground. Lots of that time is spent exploring the many regions, fighting enemies, and diving into its intense story. Luckily, it’s time well spent, as what’s on display is entertaining and gripping, especially the skits towards the middle and end of the title.

Like Tales of Arise, the game allows you to walk freely on the battlefield, not restricted to a single line like past titles. The Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS) is still present, as when you attack, you run towards the highlighted opponent. However, you can walk around and avoid attacks more easily. As someone who enjoys that style, Berseria’s combat was a joy to play and explore. Crafting attack sequences with simple button presses also allows you to string some great combos for you and your party.

As always, the Tales series excels in crafting intricate landscapes, with Berseria doing just that. Many of the regions, like Loegres and Maclir Beach, look incredible and showcase the game’s great artistic direction. Plus, with Motoi Sakuraba’s impeccable score (much love to Velvet’s Theme), the world comes to life beautifully.

Smooth sailing

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Despite Berseria being released in 2016, the many quality-of-life improvements this remaster brings help it shine much brighter. Many of the additions go to the game’s map, which is more maneuverable thanks to better movement speed and easy-to-find guide markers. Autosave and quick save are also lifesavers when a save point is nowhere to be found.

Graphically speaking, the updated framerate and fidelity really make some of Berseria’s landscapes and cutscenes shine. It can still feel like a mid-budget 2016 game, with blocky textures or unvaried backdrops, but when it shows its creativity it looks great. Bringing in a lot more polish than Xillia, characters and battles look and feel great to interact with.

Unfortunately, character customization, especially with skills and upgrades, feels bare-bones and inflexible. Compared to Xillia’s Lillium Orb or even Arise’s upgrade system, there’s not much wiggle room to craft characters the way you’d like to. While characters are well-tuned to combat, with some more magic-based and others physical-based, it does feel like it can go deeper.

In short, Tales of Berseria Remastered took risks that, since 2016, have paid off, and we see that with this remaster. From open combat to a mature tone, it wasn’t afraid to go in a different direction. While it isn’t perfectly done, seeing it in a new light thanks to the remaster is a great way to see the versatility of the franchise and what may hold the key to future installments.

Should I play Tales of Berseria Remastered?Play it if...

You love a good revenge story
Vengeance is a dish best served cold, and Tales of Berseria Remastered does so with style. The rage and determination Velvet has are all on display, and it fuels every inch of the narrative. Fortunately, it’s a plot you can get behind and one not afraid to make you question things.

You enjoy your RPGs with long stories
A long RPG isn’t rare, but when you have it done as Berseria does, it’s a blessing. Its vast open world and gripping storytelling keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

Don't play it if...

You’re looking for something more light-hearted
While Tales of Berseria Remastered has some nice and fun moments, it does tend to lean towards mature subjects like death and killing. It’s not overt most of the time, but it relies a lot on focusing on the dark side of humanity and religion.

Accessibility features

Much like other remasters in the series, there are a few accessibility functions to adjust and tune, like difficulty. You can customize your playthrough via button mapping and the addition of map markers, as well as switching between English and Japanese audio at any time. Despite that, the lack of colorblind modes is a bit disappointing.

How I reviewed Tales of Berseria Remastered

I played Tales of Berseria Remastered for around 40 hours, finishing the main story with some side content. I also explored many of the islands and beat some of the optional bosses.

There is multiplayer available for battles, although I did not test it out for the review. I played the game on a base PS5 with the DualSense Wireless Controller and HyperX Cloud 3 wired gaming headset, all on a Roku 4K TV. If you played the recent Tales of remasters like Xillia and Graces f, you’ll find a lot of similarities in the upgrades here.

First reviewed February 2026

GetResponse was founded in 1998 by an entrepreneur named Simon Grabowski, making it one of the oldest email marketing software in existence. For reference, Google was founded in that same year and popular apps like FaceBook and Instagram didn’t even exist back then. 

The company formed out of Grabowski's need to send emails to multiple subscribers and started as Bizmaker, later renamed Implix, and again, GetResponse. By 2003, the company employed 6 people and by 2010 employed 100 people. In 2012, the company released mobile apps for iOS and Android, which helped boost its popularity. 

Today, GetResponse has grown well beyond basic email marketing into a capable all-in-one platform, with solid automation, a website builder, and a growing suite of AI tools. It's especially well-suited to small businesses and content creators who want multiple marketing channels under one roof. Pricing scales up quickly once you need advanced features, but there's genuine value at every tier.

(Image credit: GetResponse)GetResponse: Plans and pricing

Plan

Starting Rate (Billed Annually)

Starting Rate (Billed Monthly)

Free

$0/month/1000 contacts

$0/month/1000 contacts

Starter

$15.58/month/1000 contacts

$19/month/1000 contacts

Marketer

$48.38/month/1000 contacts

$59/month/1000 contacts

Creator

$56.58/month/1000 contacts

$69/month/1000 contacts

MAX

Custom pricing

Custom pricing

GetResponse offers a free plan alongside three paid tiers — Starter, Marketer, and Creator, plus an enterprise-level offering called MAX. All plans are scaled by contact list size, with options ranging from 1,000 up to 100,000 contacts.

The Free plan supports up to 500 contacts and allows 2,500 newsletter sends per month. It includes a basic website builder, signup forms, and limited landing pages (capped at 1,000 unique visitors per month). Emails sent from the free plan carry GetResponse branding, which you can only remove by upgrading. You also get a 14-day free trial of all premium features when you first sign up.

The Starter plan starts at $19/month (billed monthly) for up to 1,000 contacts, with unlimited email sends, autoresponders, AI email generation tools, and unlimited landing pages. It's a strong entry point for solo marketers and small businesses getting their feet wet with automation.

The Marketer plan, starting at $59/month for 1,000 contacts, is where GetResponse's full automation power becomes accessible. You get advanced event-based workflows, contact scoring, web push notifications, ecommerce integrations, and multi-user access for up to three team members.

The Creator plan starts at $69/month and is aimed at content creators and online sellers. It adds webinars for up to 100 attendees, an AI course builder, paid newsletters, and support for up to five users — all on top of everything in the Marketer plan.

For larger businesses, GetResponse MAX (enterprise) offers dedicated support, SMS marketing, single sign-on, unlimited users, and transactional email. Pricing is custom and requires contacting the sales team directly.

You can save 18% by paying annually for a 12-month plan, or 30% by committing to 24 months.

(Image credit: GetResponse)How does GetResponse use AI?

GetResponse has integrated AI tools across several areas of its platform, making it one of the more AI-forward options in the email marketing space. The most prominent is its AI email generator, which can produce both copy and design in one go.

Rather than starting from a blank canvas, you describe your campaign and it drafts a complete email with layout, images, and text included. We found the AI a useful starting point, even if you'll want to refine the output before sending.

But the AI Campaign Generator goes a step further. Give it a business description and a goal, and it can spin up a full marketing funnel, including landing pages, email sequences, and calls to action. It's not a magic button, but for marketers short on time or ideas, it meaningfully speeds up the setup process.

For ecommerce users, GetResponse offers AI-powered product recommendations that analyze each customer's browsing history, preferences, and purchase behavior to surface relevant products automatically in both emails and on your website. It's worth noting this feature is only available on the MAX plan however, putting it out of reach for most users on standard tiers.

Content creators on the Creator plan also get access to the AI Course Wizard, which can transform your existing content like blog posts, documents, and other materials into a structured online course in roughly 30 minutes. There's also an AI website builder that generates a personalized website for you to customize.

Across the board, AI in GetResponse is practical and production-focused rather than experimental, which feels like the right fit for its core audience.

GetResponse: Features

GetResponse has grown far beyond a straightforward email tool. Today it bundles email marketing, marketing automation, landing pages, a full website builder, webinar hosting, sales funnels, ecommerce integrations, and an AI course creator into a single platform. For a solo entrepreneur or small team, that kind of consolidation is a genuine time-saver.

The email marketing toolkit remains a standout. You get a drag-and-drop email editor, a library of hundreds of responsive templates, unlimited autoresponders on all paid plans, and a range of segmentation options to personalize your messaging. Automation workflows let you build branching sequences triggered by user behavior, purchases, link clicks, or custom tags.

GetResponse also earns points from us for its conversion funnel tools. Unlike most email platforms, it ships with pre-built funnel templates for lead magnets, product launches, and webinars, tying landing pages, emails, and checkout flows into a single system. Webinar hosting for up to 100 attendees (Creator plan) is still a relatively rare feature in this price range.

The platform's integrations cover popular ecommerce and CRM tools, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Stripe, and PayPal, with Zapier extending the reach to thousands of third-party apps. The one notable gap for power users is the absence of a full-featured CRM with pipeline management, though. GetResponse handles contact scoring and segmentation well, but it's not a replacement for a CRM.

(Image credit: GetResponse)GetResponse: Interface and in use

Getting started with GetResponse involves simply creating a new account by entering your name, email address and a new password. Complete a short questionnaire about your marketing goals and land in the main dashboard — no credit card required for a free account. New users also unlock a 14-day trial of all premium features, giving you time to explore the full platform before committing to a paid plan.

The dashboard itself is clean and easy to navigate, with a left-side menu that lets you jump between modules divided into campaigns, automations, landing pages, and more. The drag-and-drop email editor is the centerpiece: you can add blocks, preview on mobile, and test links without having to leave the editor.

There's a slight learning curve if you want to build complex automations, but the visual workflow builder helps considerably. But one design choice worth flagging: some advanced features like the full automation builder or webinar tools are tucked away in plan-gated areas, which means you might not discover them until you upgrade.

GetResponse: Support

GetResponse offers support through live chat and email, and both channels are accessible to free and paid users alike. Chat is available in English during extended hours (7 AM–11 PM on weekdays and 7 AM–9 PM on weekends, GMT+1), with a 24/7 chatbot covering off-hours queries. Email support is available round the clock in English, Polish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian for an international user base.

There's no phone support, which remains a notable omission, especially for users running time-sensitive campaigns. That said, GetResponse's Help Center is well-stocked with guides, tutorials, and API documentation covering most common scenarios. Live webinars run regularly and often include hands-on demos for platform features, which we find more useful than static documentation for complex tasks like automation setup.

MAX plan subscribers get an elevated support experience: a dedicated Customer Experience Manager who acts as a single point of contact, familiar with your business and marketing goals. For enterprise users managing large lists or complex workflows, that kind of personalized support is a meaningful differentiator.

GetResponse: The competition

An industry leader in the email marketing space, but that doesn’t mean that GetResponse is the right option for all. 

Constant Contact remains a popular competitor, which is quite ideal for those needing a simple, beginner-friendly platform without being overwhelmed with a ton of advanced features. Prices start at a competitive $12 per month, with the email marketing tools complemented by the platform’s excellent landing page builder. 

Another option worth considering is MailChimp. For over two decades, it has been providing industry-leading email marketing solutions, with its service continuing to improve every year. It has an excellent “free forever” plan with streamlined integrations such as a creative assistant, marketing CRM, and a website builder.

GetResponse: Final verdict

Putting this all together, there’s plenty of reasons that GetResponse gets lauded as the number-one email marketing platform worldwide. This is because it is affordable, offers a great free trial, and has excellent customer service. 

The drag-and-drop email builder is great for novices, while still remaining a powerful option for creating highly customized emails. The free forever plan is also worth mentioning for a smaller business just starting out. 

The bottom line is that if you’re looking for a competitively priced email marketing program that’s backed by a suite of other tools, GetResponse easily makes it to the short list of contenders worth looking at. 

We've listed the best online marketing services.

If you feel it is time to upgrade your shared hosting to one of the best VPS providers, Bluehost looks like a good place to start. With its managed VPS offering, you potentially get the benefit of the performance boost that comes with a VPS without the headache of supporting the website software yourself.

To find out if Bluehost’s managed VPS option is as attractive as it looks, we’ve evaluated it, comparing the plans and pricing options, the server infrastructure, and features. We also assessed performance of Bluehost VPS hosting with benchmark tools, and spent some time with its site building tools, which are aimed at anyone launching a small business website.

How does a managed VPS differ?

(Image credit: Christian Cawley)

A Virtual Private Server plan typically comes in two flavors: managed, and self-managed. The former means the host will provide assistance with issues such as setup or implementing updates of security software, while the latter leaves everything up to you.

If you have experience of managing web servers on a day-to-day basis, the self-managed option is probably more appropriate. For everyone else, a managed VPS is the smart alternative, particularly if you’re scaling up from shared or cloud hosting.

NOTE: Bluehost offers self-managed VPS and managed VPS plans. These are closely positioned on the site’s menu, so be careful which one you select!

Bluehost plans and pricing

(Image credit: Christian Cawley)

Three managed VPS plans are available from Bluehost: Standard NVMe 4, Enhanced NVMe 8, and Ultimate NVMe 16. Each plan is more expensive than the previous, with a growing server hardware spec. The names relate to the spec – for example, Standard NVMe 4 reflects a server with 4GB RAM. All servers have virtual CPU cores (as expected with a VPS) and NVMe storage.

Plans are available as a monthly rolling deal, or for 12 or 36 months with appropriate discounts. These plans come with free cPanel (depending on selected term), and Let’s Encrypt SSL is included. A premium SSL certificate is available, but at extra cost, as is Sitelock security. Unmetered bandwidth, and two dedicated IPs are included in the price, and all plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Building a website with Bluehost

Creating a website means first manually attaching the domain with the hosting, something that may seem unfamiliar if you're used to shared hosting, as it doesn't typically require customer input.

(Image credit: Christian Cawley)

Two options are available for building a website. You can install WordPress and use the included WP builder, or employ Sitejet. This is a cPanel-based solution that is useful for a quick start, but (certainly based on its implementation at Bluehost) results in somewhat generic sites. However, the website editor offers good control over the layout, and compared with WordPress, Sitejet is a simpler solution for quickly creating an attractive website for your business.

Speed and performance

We installed a WordPress site on our Bluehost VPS and ran a couple of benchmarking tests, first with WordPress Benchmark (a plugin you can install in WordPress) and then with YABS (Yet Another Bench Script).

WordPress

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

7.87

Random binary data operations

9.15

Recursive mathematical calculations

8.92

Iterative mathematical calculations

10

Floating point operations

9

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

8.54

Local file copy and access speed

8.77

Small file IO test

9.95

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

8.44

Simple queries on a single table

10

Complex database queries on multiple tables

10

Object cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

WordPress core

Shortcode processing

8.19

WordPress Hooks

10

WordPress option manipulation

9.84

REGEX string processing

8.92

Taxonomy benchmark

9.8

Object capability benchmark

9.78

Content filtering

5.7

JSON manipulations

10

Network

Network download speed test

10

Overall

8.8

Bluehost support for VPS customers

Various support options are available, from a dedicated telephone team to live chat. There is also an AI-powered chatbot, although I found this didn’t provide accurate information regarding Bluehost’s VPS plans.

I ran into some problems with the hosting. The instructions for this did not match what I was seeing, so I spoke to a support assistant (following a brief and fruitless chat with the BLU chatbot, which left a lot to be desired when I asked it about setting up a website, too). Unfortunately, the agent seemed too concerned with delivering cookie cutter answers than delivering a swift answer to my specific concerns.

Bluehost also provides a searchable knowledge base and a free WordPress course in conjunction with Yoast, the SEO company that is part of “the Bluehost family.”

Final verdict

Bluehost’s features and helpful customer support make its Managed VPS plans extremely attractive. I’ve used VPS hosting several times over the years, and seen it evolve from the self-managed options to the state where more hosting companies offer managed options.

Meanwhile, the testing demonstrates that Bluehost’s Managed VPS is ideal for WordPress hosting. While there is a considerable difference in price between the two options, its Managed VPS is priced as a logical progression from its higher performance WordPress shared hosting for their business. That makes it a smart option for anyone looking for first-time VPS hosting.

When it comes to best web hosting and website management, there is no shortage of options. The vast majority of companies out there offer affordable services that are good enough to get the job done. For us, Kinsta is the standout choice for agency hosting.

Kinsta is a cloud-based hosting solution providing services for WordPress websites. They provide access to high-performance servers and features such as staging environments, automatic backups, enterprise-level Cloudflare integration, and more.

Kinsta also includes quality security features such as DDoS protection, SSL certificate with wildcard support, and malware scanning and removal.

• Want to try Kinsta? Check out the website here

From the main website, you can access Kinsta’s official blog. It’s easy on the eye and filled with a myriad of articles, most of which are related to WordPress and software development. In addition to this, Kinsta offers a fresh and video-packed YouTube channel and relatively active presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

(Image credit: Future)Kinsta features

Kinsta offers high-end CPUs, as well as global availability, thanks to its infrastructure built on a powerful cloud network. By using these top-of-the-line CPUs, you are guaranteed that your website will be up and running faster than ever before.

To further improve your website's speed, Kinsta also offers a global content delivery network with over 300 locations worldwide. This allows Kinsta to deliver fast pages and serve cached assets from your visitors’ closest location.

Kinsta also comes with built-in application performance monitoring (APM), a custom-designed tool specifically for WordPress sites. We used this feature to identify potential issues or bottlenecks slowing our site during our hosting service test.

Kinsta's DevKinsta feature provides a comprehensive development environment that makes it easy to develop applications locally on your computer. DevKinsta includes many helpful features, such as version control that allows developers to roll back to previous versions of their code if needed, easy debugging with Xdebug integration, and deployments to production servers with just one click.

With the new Kinsta Cloudflare integration, we leveraged a wildcard SSL certificate to secure our subdomains with a single certificate. A wildcard SSL certificate secures both a root domain and its subdomains. This contrasts with other certificate types, which require listing each subdomain on the certificate.

As part of its Cloudflare integration, Kinsta offers customers a unique benefit - reserved IP addresses. Reserved IPs are unique IP addresses assigned to each Kinsta customer site. These IP addresses are reserved exclusively for that customer and ensure that other sites on Cloudflare's network will not share the DNS A-record IP address. In some cases, this can cause problems if a service blocks a spam site that shares the same Cloudflare IP address as your site.

We were also impressed by the Kinsta Brotli Compression Tool (a lossless compression format supported by all major browsers that achieves higher compression ratios than gzip).

Kinsta also released a tool called Edge Caching. This is an incredibly powerful tool for WordPress websites that can significantly reduce the time it takes to serve cached HTML to site visitors. Edge Caching is included free with all Kinsta plans, and no additional plugins are required.

Kinsta’s Edge Caching works by saving your website/page cache to Cloudflare’s global network of over 260 data centers. When site visitors load your website, cached responses are delivered from the location closest to them, helping reduce latency and improve loading times.

With the help of the Early Hints, you can further enhance site speed. Early hints is a modern web standard that defines a new 103 HTTP status code. Enabling this web standard on your site gives your site visitors’ browsers the chance to download certain resources in advance or in parallel with others. This results in faster page rendering.

A curiosity of Kinsta’s hosting, but one that we found made sense, is the apparent lack of a temporary URL for checking that the site runs accurately. However, this feature can be easily turned on and off and lasts around 60 minutes when enabled. Given that a site doesn’t need to be seen by the public or crawlers before launch, this is useful.

For web hosting services in Australia, Kinsta CDN is available in six Australian cities, namely Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.

(Image credit: Future)Is Kinsta easy to use? 

We find Kinsta easy to use - from signing up to navigating through the dashboard. The web host provides you with an intuitive dashboard that makes hosting your website easy. The dashboard let us quickly access all the features and settings in one place, which makes it simple to manage our website’s performance and security.

With Kinsta, you can set up and manage multiple websites from one account. Kinsta also has a number of helpful features that make managing your website easier. All these features are designed so that even those who aren’t tech-savvy can easily manage their website without too much hassle.

As a fully managed WordPress hosting provider, Kinsta's prices are higher than other web hosts (Image credit: Future)Kinsta plans and pricing

Kinsta offers plans ranging from $35/month to $ 1,700/month. All plans include free wildcard SSL, CDN, staging, and unlimited migrations. Kinsta offers two pricing models for its plans: visit-based and bandwidth-based. In visit-based plans, the plan is defined by the monthly sum of unique IP addresses seen each 24-hour period. While bandwidth-based plans are defined by the amount of data in gigabytes (does not include content served by CDN and Edge Cache, and does not count bandwidth used by staging sites)

But what do you get when you purchase one of these plans? The Single plan starts at $35/month and includes 1 WordPress site, 10 GB of storage, 125 GB of free CDN, and 35,000 visits per month or 20 GB server bandwidth. The Single plans scale with each step up, providing more site visits or server bandwidth, storage, and CDN bandwidth. Each Single site plan denotes the support amount of visits or bandwidth . The plans go up to 1,250,000+ visits or 500GB+ server bandwidth, 15 GB+ storage, and 1,000 GB CDN bandwidth.

Multiple-site plans support multiple WordPress installs. Each plan name denotes the number of WordPress installs supported. Each multiple-site plan supports multisite network and site cloning. For WP 2 ($70/mo), you get 2 WordPress installs, 70,000 visits or 40 GB server bandwidth, 250 GB of CDN bandwidth, and 20 GB of storage. As the plans increase in price, so do the resources, site visits, and number of WordPress installs. The WP 40 plan ($450/mo) supports 40 WordPress installs, 60 GB of storage, 1,500 GB of CDN, and 75,000 monthly visits or 500 GB server bandwidth.

Kinsta also offers an Enterprise Plan for multiple sites, which starts at $675/month and includes 60+ WordPress installs, 100+ GB of space, 1,250,000+ visits or 750GB+ server bandwidth, and a 30-day backup retention.

All the above plans come with unlimited free migrations and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you are not satisfied with the service, you can request a refund. Select plans on Single and Multiple-site tiers also include a one-month free trial.

Agency Hosting

Kinsta’s Agency program is targeted, price-wise, at established digital agencies. The Agency 20 plan ($284/month with annual billing), which we tested, offers support for 20 WordPress installs, so potentially 20 clients. It also includes an extra site, for your agency. 500,000 visits or 250GB server bandwidth , 50GB of storage, and 1,000GB CDN storage make this an attractive starting point, but Agency 40 ($375/month with annual billing) and Agency 60 ($563/month under the same terms) are also available, with corresponding increases in installs.

These plans also include white labelling and access to beta tools. Backups, advanced caching, and migrations are also included with these packages, along with that all-important developer support. Several tools are available here, from easy site cloning to Git integration and access to the Kinsta API.

Kinsta speed and experience

Kinsta argues that users will almost certainly see “faster page load times, along with back-end (WordPress dashboard) speed” when hosting with them. Faster than what, we asked ourselves. Faster than the average speed, faster than lightning, or faster than Superman?

In any case, we ran tests on Kinsta's Single plan and Agency 20. One test was to create a benchmark of core WordPress performance metrics, and the other was to measure their performance under load.

Latest results

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WordPress benchmark test

Single Site

Agency

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

6.68

6.62

Random binary data operations

8.27

8.22

Recursive mathematical calculations

7.32

7.3

Iterative mathematical calculations

8.62

8.54

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

9.74

9.41

Local file copy and access speed

9.61

9.42

Small file IO test

10

10

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

9.18

8.92

Simple queries on single table

9.92

9.79

Complex database queries on multiple tables

8.63

7.94

Object Cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

0

Network

Network download speed test

10

10

Overall

Your server score

8.2

8

Kinsta performed well on its core benchmarks and maintained these scores across both its Single and Agency plans. We noted especially high scores in file and database performance, which bodes well for WordPress sites, especially those with high transaction rates, such as eCommerce stores, membership-based sites, or large-scale enterprise websites.

Siege test (Single Site Plan)

Concurrent visitors

5

9

15

Transactions

9954

6681

2025

Availability

99.67

99.2

100

Elapsed time

299.9

299.17

299.33

Data transactions

32.69

24.17

7.32

Response time

0.16

0.38

2.21

Transaction rate

30.19

22.33

6.77

Throughput

0.11

0.08

0.02

Concurrency

4.87

8.51

14.93

Successful transactions

9054

6681

2025

Failed transactions

30

54

0

Longest transaction

2.25

2.36

2.39

Shortest transaction

0.13

0.13

1.15

Siege test (Agency Plan)

Concurrent visitors

5

9

15

Transactions

8484

13580

3846

Availability

96.37

96.36

94.94

Elapsed time

299.43

299.19

299.3

Data transactions

91.72

145.90

42.4

Response time

0.17

0.18

0.18

Transaction rate

28.33

45.39

12.85

Throughput

0.31

0.49

0.14

Concurrency

4.87

8.11

2.32

Successful transactions

8164

13068

3846

Failed transactions

320

513

205

Longest transaction

1.33

39.76

0.08

Shortest transaction

0.09

0.08

0.11

Under increasing load, Kinsta was a mixed bag in performance. However, we noted that although some transactions failed, Kinsta's servers seemed to handle load balancing well. That means its servers should be well-optimized to ensure that your website visitors encounter more or less similar experiences, rather than facing wildly varying transaction times. This is highly crucial to high-performance websites and not something you fix on your own.

Kinsta security

Kinsta is one provider that offers quality security measures (in our opinion), including SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates. An SSL certificate is a type of digital certificate that provides encryption and authentication for data sent over the internet. It helps protect user information, such as credit card numbers and passwords, from unauthorized access by malicious third parties.

More essentially, sites at Kinsta are containerized. That means everything required to run your site is within your container, including the entire tech stack. This isolation means that as long as you can secure your website, nothing else that's happening to other sites on Kinsta can affect you.

Kinsta uses Cloudflare's infrastructure to provide wildcard SSL certificates with 128-bit or higher encryption as well as 2048-bit RSA keys. Kinsta says its servers are also constantly monitored 24/7 for any signs of suspicious activity or hacking, which is good to know. Kinsta also offers a 99.9% SLA-backed uptime guarantee.

There's also a Malware Security Pledge in which Kinsta's dedicated Malware team will help restore a site in the event of an attack. The team monitors all sites, and its services are free for all Kinsta customers.

Customer support

You'll find plenty of how-to guides in Kinsta's knowledgebase (Image credit: Future)

Kinsta offers knowledgeable sales representatives who can help you find the hosting plan that best fits your website or project.

If you want a deeper dive into all of Kinsta’s features, consider scheduling a personalized demo with one of its experts. This is an excellent way to get familiar with Kinsta's powerful dashboard and hosting features, as well as ask any questions that come up during the process.

We had a few questions about our website and contacted Kinsta through its question form on the website. They got back to us the next day with answers tailored specifically to our hosting dilemma.

Kinsta’s support team is available 24/7/365 via live chat in the MyKinsta dashboard, so you can quickly get help. You can also open tickets here if you ever have any issues with your site. Additionally, Kinsta has beefed up localization in its customer support by making help available in 10 languages.

As noted, we also tried Kinsta’s Agency 20 plan, arranging for a site to be migrated via a backup. The support operative who took ownership of this task completed it within a couple of hours, a timescale that included not just scanning the ZIP file for potential issues, but also fully migrating it and testing the site.

We later ran into an issue trying to point a domain at the hosting. This requires a bit more clicking and settings configuration than with other hosts (switching nameservers is just one aspect of this), but while I found this baffling at first, the support team member who walked me through it helped me solve it within 15 minutes.

Kinsta also offers free webinars to its customers (Image credit: Future)

There are more than a few self-help options including regularly updated documentation, free e-books, free webinars, a newsletter and a blog we mentioned before, and everything is dedicated to bringing knowledge about WordPress to its users. In addition to this, Kinsta’s YouTube channel is filled with step-by-step guides and the new ones are coming out on a week-to-week basis at the very least.

As an alternative, you can reach Kinsta’s “timely and knowledgeable” support via email and chat.

Kinsta alternatives

Much like Kinsta, Flywheel is a fellow US-based host specialized in “top-of-the-line” managed WordPress hosting solutions. Both of them strive to be beginner-friendly, offer well-rounded, feature-packed packages and are on the high-priced side of the spectrum. However, Kinsta’s least expensive solution starts at a whopping $30, half as much as what is offered by Flywheel. Therefore, if the price is the key criterion (since both hosts are competent) for you, you could save some bucks by going with Flywheel.

Bluehost is one of the most popular hosting options on the market today, even when it comes to managed WordPress hosting. In comparison with Kinsta, Bluehost has a myriad of hosting types and options besides WordPress and its WordPress plans are well-structured and suitable for newcomers. If you are, however, looking for premium managed WordPress options, you might find yourself at home with Kinsta.

DreamHost is a US-based provider supplying WordPress-optimized hosting solutions and related services, including a domain registration, which is something you won’t get with Kinsta. Another thing they don’t provide is a website builder and you’ll have that as an option with DreamHost. What is more, in addition to offering more hosting options, DreamHost has more pocket-friendly plans, so you’ll save some money as well.

Although HostGator does not specialize in WordPress hosting, it has a few rather attractive solutions on the offer. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a premium fully managed WordPress hosting (and you are ready to shell out the money) Kinsta might be a better pick. If you would rather have something simpler and more on the affordable side, HostGator is an excellent choice.

WP Engine is also a great alternative as it offers a wide range of services, from shared hosting to managed WordPress hosting and dedicated servers. WP Engine is known for its fast speeds and reliable uptime, as well as its excellent customer service and support team.

SiteGround is another great option if you’re looking for an alternative to Kinsta. This provider offers a variety of hosting plans that range from shared hosting to VPS and cloud solutions. SiteGround also has excellent customer service and support, which makes it a great choice if you need help getting started or have questions about how to use their services.

Is Kinsta right for you? 

Kinsta offers a range of features to help businesses get up and running quickly and easily, including easy scalability, managed updates, automated daily backups, and 24/7 support.

Kinsta offers a range of features to help businesses get up and running quickly and easily, including automatic scaling, managed updates, automated daily backups,SSH access, WP CLI, a powerful API, Application Performance Monitoring, and 24/7/365 support in 10 languages, with a response time within a minute and 98% client satisfaction.

Kinsta also prides itself on its performance and reliability - It’s caching technology ensures websites load faster than ever before; this helps keep visitors on your site longer which can lead to increased conversions.

Kinsta FAQsIs Kinsta only for WordPress?

Kinsta is mainly known for managed WordPress hosting but also offers other types of hosting including static and database hosting

Do I need a security plugin with Kinsta?

Technically, you don't need a security plugin at Kisnta. Their servers are robust, and they have proactive monitoring and malware removal services. However, we prefer to err on the side of caution and advise you to assess your site's security requirements in case you need anything beyond what Kinsta covers.

Omnisend is a platform for e-commerce business owners to market to their customers. You can use it to send bulk messages via email or SMS to entice subscribers to buy your product.

Omnisend began in 2014 as an email marketing platform named Soundest. Three years later, it changed its name, and in 2018, it added SMS marketing features. In 2019, Omnisend became one of the top-five marketing apps on Shopify and in 2020, the company opened a U.S. office.

This platform serves over 100,000 customers worldwide and employs over 180 people at three offices.

Omnisend: Plans and pricing

Plan

Starting Rate

Free

$0/month

Standard

$16/month

Pro

$59/month

Custom

Contact sales

Omnisend offers four tiers: Free, Standard, Pro, and Custom. The Free plan lets you send up to 500 emails per month to a maximum of 250 contacts, and includes access to the full Omnisend feature set — a generous offering for new or small stores. However, all outgoing emails carry the Omnisend branding until you upgrade.

The Standard plan starts at $16/month for up to 500 contacts and scales automatically as your list grows. It gives you 12x your contact count in monthly email sends, unlimited web push notifications, and live chat support. The Pro plan starts at $59/month and unlocks unlimited email sends, a monthly SMS credit equal to your plan cost (e.g., $59/month gets you roughly $59 in SMS credits), advanced reporting, and priority support. Larger teams with high-volume needs can also reach out for a custom enterprise quote.

Pricing at Omnisend is contact-based rather than email-volume-based, which means your monthly cost will rise automatically as your subscriber list grows. New subscribers can save 30% on their first three months by paying upfront at signup.

How does Omnisend use AI?

In 2025, Omnisend launched a comprehensive AI suite aimed at reducing the manual workload of email marketing while improving personalization at scale.

Their centerpiece is the AI Email Writer, a generative tool that drafts complete, branded email campaigns based on a short prompt. The system draws on your brand's tone of voice, logo, fonts, and colors to produce output that feels consistent with your existing marketing without requiring manual style configuration.

Alongside the Email Writer, Omnisend introduced a Subject Line Generator that produces multiple high-converting subject line options based on historical performance data from millions of campaigns. There's also a Preheader Generator that works in tandem, helping you optimize the short preview text that appears alongside subject lines in email clients. Both tools support A/B testing.

On the personalization side, Omnisend added an AI-Powered Product Recommender that analyzes each subscriber's browsing and purchase history to automatically insert relevant products into emails. Initially available for automation workflows, the feature is being extended to standard campaign sends. It works with Omnisend's existing Dynamic Content Personalization system, which already supported showing or hiding content blocks based on subscriber attributes.

Perhaps the most useful AI addition for growing teams is the AI Segment Builder, currently in beta. Rather than building audience segments by manually configuring filters, you can describe the audience you want in plain language. For example, "customers who bought jeans last winter" or "subscribers who haven't opened an email in three months" will generate the corresponding segment automatically.

AI tools are available across all plans, including the free tier.

Omnisend: Features

(Image credit: Omnisend)

Omnisend is one of the more feature-complete marketing platforms in the ecommerce space, covering email campaigns, SMS, web push notifications, automation workflows, segmentation, forms, and landing pages — all from a single dashboard. Its depth is especially apparent for Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce users, who benefit from native one-click integrations that automatically pull in product catalogs, order data, and customer behavior without any manual setup.

Email marketing sits at the core of the platform. You get a drag-and-drop builder with roughly 350 pre-made templates, a Product Picker that lets you insert store items directly into emails, and built-in discount code generation that syncs automatically with your connected store. Omnisend also supports campaign A/B testing, a Campaign Booster that automatically resends to non-openers with a fresh subject line, and a click map that visualizes engagement by geography.

Moreover, Omnisend ships with a solid library of pre-built workflows like welcome series, cart abandonment, browse abandonment, post-purchase follow-ups, birthday messages, and more. All of these workflows can be customized via a no-code editor. Each workflow also supports multi-channel branching, so a single automation can send an email, wait for a response, then trigger an SMS or push notification depending on how the subscriber behaves.

But the platform could stand to improve its reporting flexibility for Standard plan users, who have less access to segment-level analytics and historical data compared to higher tier subscribers. The template editor also has some design constraints that more experienced marketers may find limiting.

Omnisend: Interface and in use

(Image credit: Omnisend)

Getting started with Omnisend is straightforward. You can register using an email address, a Shopify account, or a Google login. Then the onboarding flow walks you through connecting your ecommerce store right away. Once connected, Omnisend begins pulling in your product catalog and customer data automatically, so you can start building campaigns without any manual data entry.

This platform also received a notable interface refresh in May 2025, with a redesigned sidebar, updated icons and typography, and a general reduction in the number of clicks required to complete common tasks. Now, the experience feels cleaner and more modern than it did at launch.

Navigation is divided into logical sections like Campaigns, Automations, Audience, Forms, and Reports — with most features discoverable without consulting documentation. That said, the email editor can still feel a little rigid for users who want to build highly custom layouts, as some content blocks limit design flexibility.

For new users, the learning curve is fairly gentle. Pre-built automation templates and guided setup flows do most of the heavy lifting, and the platform's help documentation is thorough.

More advanced features like dynamic content personalization and custom segmentation take a bit more time to master, but they don't require technical skills. Overall, Omnisend strikes a reasonable balance between being approachable for beginners and capable enough for growing ecommerce teams.

Omnisend: Support

One of Omnisend's most frequently praised qualities is the accessibility of its customer support. Unlike many competing platforms that restrict live support to paid subscribers, Omnisend offers 24/7 live chat support to all users, including those on the free plan. This is a meaningful differentiator for small stores or early-stage businesses that want a safety net while they're learning the platform.

For paid users spending $400 or more per month, Omnisend assigns a dedicated Account Expert who can assist with onboarding, migration from other platforms, and ongoing campaign strategy. This tier of support is primarily relevant to larger operations, but it's a reassuring option to know exists. Standard and Pro subscribers also get priority access to the support queue and access to a growing library of on-demand video training, live workshops, and email marketing guides.

Beyond direct support, Omnisend maintains a comprehensive help center, an active community forum, and a blog that frequently covers best practices, platform updates, and ecommerce strategy. User reviews across platforms like G2 and Capterra consistently highlight the support team's responsiveness as a standout feature, which is a useful signal for businesses that depend on fast resolution when something goes wrong.

Omnisend: The competition

There’s no shortage of email and SMS marketing platforms competing with Omnisend, but two notable examples are MailChimp and Klaviyo.

MailChimp is an effective email marketing platform tailored for broad usage, while Omnisend is designed primarily for e-commerce users. Klaviyo is built primarily for e-commerce businesses like Omnisend and offers similar features, but it's more expensive.  

Omnisend: Final verdict

(Image credit: Omnisend)

If you own an online store and want to market products to existing customers or potential customers as easily as possible, Omnisend is an ideal tool. You can create different types of campaigns and send them using email, SMS, or push notifications. Afterward, you can get detailed reports to monitor the performance of your campaigns and make adjustments where needed.

Yet while the 2025 update helped modernize the interface, we still think Omnisend's editor needs some UI improvements to compete with other modern no-code tools in this space.  

We've listed the best online marketing services.

HostMetro is quite a novel player in the web hosting market. Although the founders of the company had a significant amount of prior experience in this business, HostMetro was launched in 2012 in the US. Not surprisingly, their main office is situated there, in Chicago specifically. Curiously, they specialized in shared hosting solutions only. Their main aim (as they claim) is to provide affordable, easy to create, manage and maintain websites and hosting accounts. Apart from the US, HostMetro has managed to develop a considerable customer base in the UK, India and Taiwan.

Their one-and-only data center is deployed in Elk Grove Village (near Chicago) and, according to them, it offers network connectivity, redundancy in power and day-and-night security monitoring. To provide all of its users with a consistency of high speed, HostMetro’s network infrastructure features 10GB per second connections, which is always good to see. In addition, to further guarantee reliability and speed, their servers are run by dual quad-core Intel processors that possess 96GB of RAM and support RAID-protected storage and SSD drivers on their MySQL database servers.

• Want to try HostMetro? Check out the website here

HostMetro’s main website feels modern, refreshingly original in its visual design and (as you'd expect) user-friendly. All information about the company and their products are presented in a clear manner, and while it doesn’t go into details at times, it does provide a decent amount of information on everything required.

Even though HostMetro lacks an official blog, their social network accounts (Facebook and Twitter) seem to be doing well, creating new content on a day-to-day basis.

• Also check out our roundup of the best shared hosting

HostMetro keeps things simple with just two shared hosting plans (Image credit: HostMetro)Plans and pricing

When HostMetro declared it will provide affordable pricing, it seems they weren’t exaggerating, since their hosting plans start at quite attractive $2.95 per month. Additionally, the prices are fixed from the moment of sign up, so there are no additional (nor hidden) fees nor price hikes upon renewal to shake you up. In addition to the basic shared hosting plan labeled as “Mega Max”, there is an advanced one called “Super Max',' as well as one for those who want to try out email hosting.

All of these plans share a number of common features including: unlimited email hosting and email accounts; a plentiful of disk space and bandwidth; a domain registration and website builder, both of which are charge-free.

The billing cycle is somewhat flexible and users can choose to be charged on an annual, biennial or triennial basis, and they can do it by using all major credit cards or PayPal.

If HostMetro’s services don’t meet your expectations, there is a money-back guarantee which can be granted upon request within 30 days from the original purchase.

Yes

No

Small business hosting

Colocation hosting

Linux hosting

Free hosting

E-commerce hosting

Managed hosting

Shared hosting

Video hosting

WordPress hosting

Managed WordPress Hosting

Email hosting

Dedicated hosting

Website builder

Cloud hosting

Bare metal hosting

Green hosting

Reseller hosting

VPS hosting

Windows hosting

Ease of use

Users moving from another host should know that HostMetro provides charge-free website migration services, but with certain limitations. First, the size of the website mustn’t exceed 3GB, which is needlessly inflexible although it is above the average website size. Second, all site transfers need to be requested within 30 days from creating an account with HostMetro, which is another thing you should bear in mind.

Creating an account with HostMetro is rather refreshingly uncomplicated in terms of one’s user experience. The first decision you’ll have to make is related to your domain: do you want to register a new one (which is free of charge for new users), transfer an old one (given that you have it) or update your nameservers while leaving it with your current manager. After this, you’ll be asked to choose a billing cycle and, if you didn’t intend to commit for a year at least, you might be bummed out by the lack of option for monthly billing. On the bright side, whatever you decide, the price will be locked (due to price lock guarantee), so you won’t have to worry about unpleasant cost-related surprises.

Two additional features you can choose while on this page are Anytime backup (which will cost you $19.95 annually) and an SSL certificate. This might be a letdown if you, like many of us, are used (i.e. being spoiled rotten by other providers) to getting this completely free of charge even with the cheapest plans. With HostMetro it will take $20 for each year, which is good to have in mind in advance. However, ID Protection is cost-free, for a year at least.

To finish creating your account you’ll be required to provide a considerable number of personal information, create a password and select a method of payment, after which you’ll proceed to apply it.

HostMetro allows you to manage your site using the industry standard cPanel (Image credit: cPanel)

Since industry standard cPanel is provided with all (and when we say “all”, we mean “both of”) HostMetro’s shared hosting plans, you won’t have much choice in the matter. Nevertheless, because there is a consensus that cPanel is one of (if not the one) most user-friendly option out there, this is a bright spot. From there, WordPress is one-click away, as well as other helpful applications. Alternatively, HostMetro includes a website builder with all of its plans.

We used GTmetrix to measure the uptime and response time of our HostMetro site (Image credit: GTmetrix)Speed and experience

Although HostMetro doesn’t promise much about the speed, GTmetrix, a test that monitored speed performance of their main website, has presented us with remarkably promising results. What is more, GTmetrix conclusively rated the performance with an A (97%), which is something we seldom see. The time it required to complete load the page, the requests, total blocking time, largest contentful paint and all other core web metrics were all above the average. Hence, the positive results we got were hardly surprising.

As for uptime, HostMetro offers a 99% guarantee (which is not much), and has a policy to grant one free month of hosting to every customer, provided that their annual uptime falls below the guaranteed percentage. However, after observing the uptime of HostMetro’s main website for a month, UptimeRobot failed to record any downtime at all, presenting us with a flawless performance. Fortunately, those with no such luck  can still get a free month as an apology.

Support

Looking for help on HostMetro’s website will introduce a couple of options and, more importantly, cartoonishly cute Mega Man’s long lost brother, which is (we assume) their incomprehensibly underutilized mascot. On the other hand, HostMetro’s support team is available round-the-clock and can be reached in a number of ways: by email, support ticket, live chat and telephone. The latter is, however, open during the working days only and from 8AM to 8PM (CST).

You can find answers to common web hosting problems in HostMetro's knowledgebase (Image credit: HostMetro)

As an alternative, all are invited to visit HostMetro’s knowledgebase, which features more than 200 articles on various subjects divided into 18 different categories (cPanel, database questions, e-commerce, FTP, security and so on). Among these, there is a category entitled “Video Tutorials” and it provides more than a 100 step-by-step video guides covering many important issues related to cPanel and website management, which is quite commendable. Whether you are a complete beginner or a veteran webmaster, we are sure you’ll find HostMetro’s knowledgebase pretty handy.

The competition

Dedication to shared hosting is one of the traits that HostMetro shares with its fellow US-based host known as PowWeb. While HostMetro offers two plans of different sizes, PowWeb puts forward its one-and-only hosting plan. Although PowWeb includes an SSL certificate with the plan, the price hike after the initial phase might catch you off guard. No such problem should occur when dealing with HostMetro, since the prices are locked following the sign up process.

Like many of its competitors dedicated to shared hosting, One.com tries its best to provide everything to meet the needs of its customers. Despite that, when it comes to customer support One.com falls short in comparison to HostMetro. In addition, while One.com aims to be newbie-friendly, they don’t offer free domain registration, while HostMetro does.

In comparison to HostMetro, HostGator has much more to offer, both to individual bloggers and various sized businesses. Both hosts are beginner-friendly and offer several self-help options, but HostGator adds a free SSL certificate even with the cheapest plan and a 45-day money back guarantee to boot.

Bluehost is another US-based host and one that can offer the same and more in comparison with what HostMetro can. Both of them are beginner-friendly and entry-level shared hosting plans with both hosts being uncannily similar together with their available billing cycles. Even so, more ambitious users are more likely to find a permanent home for their websites with Bluehost, since it offers more hosting types and definitely more than two different-sized hosting plans.

Final verdict

HostMetro is among the very few web hosting providers that offer a price-lock guarantee, so their customers wouldn’t have to suffer an unpleasant surprise of facing a price spike after the initial period. Even popular hosts like Bluehost might strike you with the price spike that doubles the amount you originally paid, if you happen to forget about that fact. HostMetro’s hosting solutions are somewhat limited, but they are also feature-packed and can provide everything that is necessary for a simple website or a small business. Those who are trying to find something more ambitious will have to keep searching and (perhaps) take a look at hosts such as HostGator, Bluehost or Dreamhost.

• We've also highlighted the best web hosting

HostRocket might not be as famous as some of the bigger companies in the industry, but they have been around for more than two decades, which presents a considerable experience in the field. Founded in 1999 and located in an area known as New York’s Tech Valley (Clifton Park) today they provide web hosting services to approximately 50,000 websites from their US-based data centers. On top of that, HostRocket offers services such as dedicated server, reseller, collocation, e-commerce and application hosting to a large number of customers from all parts of the world. 

Being a private company, HostRocket has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings, and all without usage of venture capital, funds from outside investors or bank loans. Right from the start, they put a great emphasis on achieving a perfect balance between quality and affordability of their services. Although it all sounds good, HostRocket’s main website in its current state doesn’t inspire much confidence. Its layout, bleak color palette and overall style, together with a rather rough presentation of their services, feel outdated, uninspiring and not very user-friendly.

• Want to try HostRocket? Check out the website here

HostRocket’s customers are able to choose between four data centers, of which three are in the USA (each in New York, Chicago and San Jose), and the last one is found somewhere in the Netherlands.

The “About” section of the website provides a decent amount of information regarding the company and its data centres. However, HostRocket doesn’t have an official blog at the moment.

Unless you sign up for an annual or biennial plan, there will be extra setup fees included (Image credit: Future)Plans and pricing

In comparison to other international providers, HostRocket’s prices for most of its plans are well above average. Fortunately, pricing of the most basic entry-level plan doesn’t fully fall into this category and will get you a free domain name as well. However, as the website is not intuitive enough nor is the presentation of their services linked to hosting, you might find yourself disoriented more often than not.

The monethly shared hosting plan costs $12.56, but the charge will drop significantly if you choose an semi-annual plan ($9.43 per month) or even more so with an annual one ($8.38 for each month). As if this wasn’t enough, all plans shorter than the annual have additional setup fees, which can considerably drive up the price.

With each of these you will gain unlimited website storage, bandwidth and websites as well as unlimited e-mail accounts, all of which sounds pretty good. 

All of HostRocket’s hosting plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, which will give you plenty of time to make a final decision. 

As for the types of payment, HostRocket accepts credit cards exclusively.

Yes

No

Shared hosting

Website builder

Small business hosting

Free hosting

Colocation hosting

Green hosting

E-commerce hosting

Video hosting

Managed hosting

Managed WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting

Email hosting

Linux hosting

Windows hosting

Dedicated hosting

Cloud hosting

VPS hosting

Bare metal hosting

Reseller hosting

Ease of use

After selecting a hosting plan and its billing cycle, you’ll need to register a new domain (which is free for the first year) or to transfer an existing one to HostRocket. After this, you can check out the details regarding your plan and confirm the billing cycle once more, before proceeding to their shopping cart. If you have selected anything below the annual billing, this is where you notice that setup fees can cost one a small fortune, $29.99 at this point. If you’re lucky enough to have a promotional code, you may validate it here and apply it to your order. 

Creating an account with HostRocket is a simple yet needlessly lengthy procedure when taken with the checkout process as a whole. After providing HostRocket with your personal data and coming up with a password, you can go ahead and select a card type with the required information, as it is the only available method of payment. In addition, if you want to receive marketing notifications via SMS, you may choose so by leaving a checkmark.  

Once the entire process is finalized, you’ll have to wait an hour or two before being able to enter your newly-created website. After finally logging in to HostRocket's site, you’ll find yourself in a completely standard account management from where you can see your plans, domains and tickets, among other things.

You can manage your HostRocket site using cPanel and install additional apps using Softaculous (Image credit: cPanel)

Clicking on your hosting account will make a simplified control panel pop up. This panel will allow you to manage e-mail accounts and fire up a dedicated File Manager which is used to upload files for the website you want to create. As an alternative, if you are somewhat accustomed to cPanel, you can log into it and manage all aspects of your website from there. Using Softaculous you can have more than 250 applications installed without a hitch (such as WordPres, PrestaShop, Drupal, Joomla, Magento and more) and get things moving.

We used GTmetrix to measure the uptime and responsiveness of our HostRocket site (Image credit: GTmetrix)Speed and experience

As usual, we monitored the performance speed of HostRocket’s main website with the help of a test made possible by GTmetrix. And, to our satisfaction, it showed rather positive results. To completely load the page, it required merely 3.7 seconds, which looks even better in comparison to the average result of 8.1. Additionally, it took 51 requests, which is, again, pretty good in contrast to the average of 89. In the end, GTmetrix concluded that HostRocket’s website is worthy of a firm B (82%).

HostRocket promises a modest 99.5% of uptime and, according to UptimeRobot, is likely to deliver on its promise. The above mentioned test run for more than a month and recorded just one instance of downtime that lasted for 4 minutes. Thereby, the uptime in general was 99.98%, which is a bit better than promised. As for response time oscillations, there were barely any except for the referenced one, leaving an impression of stability.

Support

When customer support is concerned, HostRocket's landing page features a “Support” menu which can take you to account management, knowledgebase, an option to submit a ticket and a choice to “contact them”, which is essentially the same as submitting a ticket. In addition to this, customers who choose a dedicated, reseller or colocation hosting type may get in touch with the support team via telephone which is available from 9 AM to 9 PM. However, there is a personnel at your disposal day-and-night in case of emergency. Additionally, there is a so-called “FAQ System”, but going for it will merely take you to their knowledgebase.

HostRocket's knowledgebase has loads of tutorials on common web hosting issues (Image credit: HostRocket)

HostRocket’s knowledgebase is well organized into ten relevant categories and all of them are packed with a number of articles. However, if you can’t see what you’re looking for among them, there is an option to browse through the base by using the search box. The articles themselves are written in straight-to-the-point manner and seem to be helpful enough. Five of them are highlighted as the most popular ones and they cover some important topics for newcomers, such as creating an index page using .htaccess files, domain registry, creating e-mail accounts, using control panel and uploading files to one’s website. 

Overall, HostRocket’s customer support seems to be very informative and helpful, so the only thing that is really lacking in that department (apart from the official forum) is the absence of live chat feature.

The competition

TMDHosting is one of HostRocket’s US-based competitors and an ambitious one to boot. Both of them offer free domain registration for first-time users, but each additional domain registration with HostRocket will cost as much as $20 for each year, which is twice the amount than what is found with most providers, TMDHosting included.

Hostgator includes all the essential features with all its plans, such as: SSL certificates, SpamAssassin and automatic backups, which isn’t something HostRocket will provide you with. Another good thing is HostGator’s website builder, which all users are entitled to without any charge. On the other hand, HostRocket does provide virtually unlimited everything (storage, bandwidth, websites and e-mail accounts) with its hosting plans.

While HostRocket tries to target all businesses regardless of their size, HostDime is more geared towards larger businesses and their needs. Although the latter can also supply a small business with everything, too much of a good thing might not be equally good for the budget.

Bluehost is another well-known host which offers a whole array of services, features and options in general. However, it doesn’t provide a monthly billing for its plans (which HostRocket does) although, honestly, these plans tend to be on the expensive side.

Final verdict

Truth be told, having in mind the fact that HostRocket hosts over 50,000 websites at this moment is a testament to their reliability and good performance. Their plans, for the most part, include many unlimited features and offer a decent value for money, yet there are exceptions. Their shared hosting isn’t bad in itself, but customers who go for a monthly or semi-annual billing system, will be taken by surprise with the charge for additional setup fees. 

Although HostRocket represents a pretty fair price-performance ratio, there aren’t many things that make them stand out among competitors like Bluehost, Hostgator or DreamHost. All of them can get you this and better without breaking the bank.

• We've also highlighted the best web hosting

GL.iNet Slate 7: 30-second review

GL.iNet has a good reputation for router technology, and its mainstream home-office products, like the Flint 3, are widely revered. Alongside the Flint 3, GL.iNet has the Slate 7, a travel router that takes the best aspects of its larger brother and condenses them into an easy-to-carry portable access point.

With two 2.5 GbE LAN ports, you can connect this device to a hotel's wired network and then get up to 2.1 Gbps of wireless bandwidth on the 5 GHz band to connect phones and laptops.

If that seems like a security nightmare, the Slate 7 offers options for WireGuard VPN or OpenVPN, protecting your systems from local intrusions. The firmware on the Slate 7 is OpenWRT 23.05 (customised), which supports up to 5,000 plugins, allowing you to tweak the router for specific purposes.

Where most travel routers aren’t suitable for wider applications, the Slate 7, with its dual 2.5GbE LAN ports, could be a quick fix for a small office that needs WiFi, as it can easily connect to a cable router and the internal network without compromising the speed of either.

The limitations of this design are that it doesn’t support 6GHz bandwidth, which is part of the full WiFi 7 experience, and it can’t work as a MESH router with the Flint 3.

But unless those technologies are part of your network plans, then the Slate 7 is an inexpensive solution that ticks plenty of other useful boxes, making it an obvious candidate for our best Wi-Fi routers collection.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GL.iNet Slate 7: price and availability

• How much does it cost? $170/£151/€174
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? You can get it directly from GL.iNet, and it is also available from Amazon and other online retailers.

Direct from the maker, the GL.iNet Slate 7 costs only $169.99/£150.99/€173.99, and is currently offering a bundle deal if you buy it alongside the Flint 3 router in Europe or the USA. That bundle costs $358.99 in the USA, and €347.98 across Europe.

Alongside the Slate 7, GL.iNet has a travel pouch for the router that’s only £11.99 in the UK, and a SIMPoYo uFi (SP-N150C4) Plug & Play 4G USB Dongle for just €23.52/£21.89, but that’s not offered in the USA.

It can be bought via Amazon.com and other online retailers, and the prices are remarkably close to those of the maker. However, GL.iNet is currently offering the Slate 7 on Amazon.co.uk for only £117.29, which is a fantastic deal.

For those buying in bulk from GL.iNet, some cost reductions can be had. As an example, buy ten of these, and you can get a 6% saving, and smaller discounts are available for 3 and 5 packs.

Considering the cost of some travel routers that only offer Wi-Fi 6, the Slate 7's price seems reasonable, especially since it can operate as a standard AP, a wireless bridge, repeater or a wired bridge.

However, TP-Link has released the remarkably similar TL-WRR3602BE portable travel router, which sells for $99 on Amazon.com. But that router only offers a single 2.5GbE LAN port, and its second port is only 1GbE.

Netgear also offers the Nighthawk M7 Pro Mobile Hotspot, which provides 5G or 4G LTE service, but it costs £900 in the UK and, while cheaper in the USA, doesn’t work with all 5G or 4G carriers.

Overall, there are cheaper options, especially if you reduce expectations by using WiFi 6, but for a Wi-Fi 7 solution, the Slate 7 can justify its asking price.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• Value score: 4/5

GL.iNet Slate 7: Specs

Feature

Specification

Model

GL-BE3600 (Slate 7)

CPU

Qualcomm Quad-core @1.1GHz

RAM

1GB DDR4

Storage

512MB NAND Flash

WiFi Bands

688 Mbps (2.4GHz)

2882 Mbps (5GHz)

WiFi Standard

IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be (Wi-Fi 7)

Ethernet Ports

1x WAN 2.5GbE
1x WAN/LAN 2.5GbE

USB Port

1x USB 3.0

Antennas

2x Foldable External Antennas

Operating System

OpenWRT 23.05 (customised)

VPN Support

WireGuard (490 Mbps) & OpenVPN-DCO (395 Mbps)

Modes

Routing, AP, Wireless Bridge, Wired Bridge

Power Input

5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/2.5A over USB-C

Power Consumption

Less than 8W (without USB demands)

Dimensions

130 x 91 x 34 mm

Weight

295g

GL.iNet Slate 7: design

• Simple but elegant
• Highly portable
• Lots of useful modes

We’ve seen other Wi-Fi hardware makers go to extremes to make their products stand out in a remarkably competitive market. But the GL.iNet stuck firmly to the practicality proposition with the Slate 7, making it effectively a small 130 x 91 x 34 mm box with a gullwing antenna at either side and all the ports on the rear. The front has a small touchscreen that you can use to navigate a basic menu and view the router's status.

Power comes via USB-C, and it can be powered by a laptop since it draws only about 8W when no USB devices are attached. A small 30W PSU is included in the box, and on the EU model, adapters for four different power outlets are included: USA, UK, Europe, and Australia.

Since this PSU is similar in spec to those most people use for phones, a hardcore traveller could reduce the number of these devices they carry. Even with the PSU, this solution is less than 400g, and can easily fit alongside a laptop in hand luggage.

On the rear of the Slate 7 are two 2.5GbE LAN ports, and these, combined with the wireless capabilities, allow it to be an access point, a bridge, a Wi-Fi repeater, or even a controlled failover between two broadband providers.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

There is also a USB 3.0 port, though I never got the full 5Gbps performance I expected when connecting storage to it. What this port is useful for is adding a 5G or 4G dongle, expanding the capability to include distributing a mobile comms connection to multiple devices. When you consider how expensive some dedicated 5G routers are, and how inexpensive a 5G dongle can be, this might be the optimal combination.

From a hardware perspective, the only thing missing here is a battery, as we saw on the Puli AX, also by GL.iNet. But, as the designers chose to power this using USB-C, it can steal power from a laptop, a phone or a small power station easily.

One clever, but almost hidden feature is that when you push the antennas into their upright position, underneath the left one is a ‘Mode’ button, which you can set to toggle VPN services or other network functions quickly. That’s far more convenient than having to open up a phone or computer to switch modes. That’s something that some users will be doing on a regular basis, and the button could become a massive time saver.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Design score: 4/5

GL.iNet Slate 7: In use

• Easy install
• OpenWRT
• No Mesh

Using the device is purely a matter of plugging in the power and any Ethernet connections you need, if any, and selecting the mode you want from the touchscreen. Once the router is configured, the screen can display QR codes for phones, tablets, and laptops to connect without having to enter complicated passwords. It’s exactly as straightforward as you might expect, and there is a phone app if you want to be taken through the configuration process with some support.

Like the Puli AX and Flint 3, this router is built on a customised version of OpenWRT, a Linux project for embedded devices. This tailored version of OpenWRT 23.05 with support for over 5,000 plug-ins makes it ideal for advanced users who want granular control over routing, VPNs, and network behaviour.

The only blot on this landscape is that you can’t install vanilla OpenWRT on this router, as the firmware has been configured specifically for this hardware platform, making it markedly less Open in the process.

What this firmware does offer is the ability to failover in various ways, enabling the two 2.5GbE ports (one each of WAN and LAN) to support two broadband services to handle the failure of one of them. In addition, although I didn’t test this, I’m confident it can failover to a 4G or 5G service via a USB dongle if the wired connection goes down. Many of these features are normally on desktop routers but rarely on travel hardware.

Internet access is also possible via a Wi-Fi repeater mode with an existing service, or via USB tethering to a phone or laptop with mobile comms capability.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

And, like the Flint 3, this router doesn’t mesh with other GL.iNet routers. This was a complaint I made about the Flint 3, and the Slate 7 has exactly the same problem.

If you don’t think this is a big deal, consider a common scenario: you have a Flint 3 or another router running most of your Wi-Fi, but you use the Slate 7 to create a local hotspot in your office. In an ideal world, the two would Mesh, so that devices would seamlessly move between them as you moved around the building, but that’s not an option.

Then, if you took the Slate 7 on a road trip, it wouldn’t impact the local Wi-Fi network, and it would slot back in when you returned. Why GL.iNet didn’t implement Mesh on these devices is a mystery, and it would be a huge story for those covering Wireless networking if they fixed this.

According to resources, OpenWRT does support mesh via 802.11s or batman-adv, but this isn’t implemented in the GL.iNet interface. This isn’t a new issue, as neither the original Slate AX or Beryl AX had Mesh either, and the Flint 3 also lacks it.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• In Use: 3.5/5

GL.iNet Slate 7: Performance

• Lacks 6GHz
• Lacklustre USB 3.0

Performance results are consistent, and present the Slate 7 as a workmanlike travel router that makes the most of the technology stuffed in it.

On 5GHz, real-world wireless speeds reach a limit of about 2.1 Gbps, which is strong for a travel router, given the theoretical bandwidth of 3400 Gbps across all bands.

If you use a VPN, that amount can be significantly reduced, with as little as 100 Mbps on OpenVPN, but WireGuard VPN throughput typically sits just above 500 Mbps, a trade-off that most travellers would live with to be safe on the road.

The performance of WireGuard and OpenVPN channels on routers is heavily determined by the SoC's speed. Many desktop routers built around OpenWRT 23.05, but with a more powerful SoC, can hit 1,000MB/s or better. But, since this router might be battery-powered, the chip in it was chosen for power efficiency and not breakneck WireGuard performance.

This hardware supports Multi-Link Operation (MLO), but since it lacks support for the 6GHz band, using it doesn’t tend to provide much in the way of speed gains, though it does enhance stability somewhat. Those operating this router in a hotel room wouldn’t notice the difference, I’m confident.

There is a good argument that selling the Slate 7 as a Wi-Fi 7 router when it doesn’t support 6GHz is, at best, overselling and, at worst, misleading. I’d temper that position by saying that this platform does support 4K QAM and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for improved efficiency and speed over older standards, though if this router had a 6GHz band, it would be rated much higher than the BE3600 that it is currently.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

One place it doesn’t perform well is with the USB 3.0 port, which doesn’t deliver the bandwidth it should. File transfers from storage devices stalled at 132MB/s in my tests, even with external SSDs rated for 1,000MB/s or higher.

Since USB 3.0 should be at least 500MB/s, being a 5Gbps technology, but on this hardware, it looks like it's capped at closer to 1Gbps, which is disappointing. It’s worth saying that I’ve reviewed desktop routers with ‘Blue’ USB 3.0 ports and discovered they only support USB 2.0 transfer speeds (40MB/s), so the performance on this router is better than some.

Overall, the Slate 7 performs well with Wi-Fi 5 and 6 clients, but without 6GHz support, it can’t match the performance of a proper Wi-Fi router.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

(Image credit: GL.iNet)GL.iNet Slate 7: Final verdict

I like the Slate 7 more than some other products I could mention, mostly because it focuses on its core functionality and offers the features and flexibility that frequent travellers are looking for.

Being easy to carry and deploy is important for those on the move, and by using WireGuard VPN, you can keep communication secure even if the local hotel network is compromised.

If this design has weaknesses, many of them are the same that I noticed on the Flint 3, and as they share a firmware platform, that’s not a huge surprise. Ironically, if the Flint 3 supported Mesh, so would this router, and that would be a major selling point for both. For whatever reason, GL.iNet didn’t include Mesh, and it makes the Slate 7 slightly less useful for those who want to use one in the office to extend their network. You can still use it as a range extender, but that’s not the same as the smooth handover connections that Mesh can give you.

Of the eight travel routers GL.iNet currently sells, this is the one I’ve been most impressed with so far. However, I’ve yet to see the Mudi 7 (GL-E5800). a 5G NR Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 Travel Router, as it's only due to be released later this year,

There are cheaper options around that work perfectly well, but the thinking and functionality that’s in this one make it worth the extra cost when you are far from the office and need equipment that works.

Should I buy a GL.iNet Slate 7?GL.iNet Slate 7 Score Card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Agressively priced for the specification of this small device

4/5

Design

Compact, solid build with handy touchscreen

4/5

In Use

Easy to use and highly flexible but lacks Mesh

3.5/5

Performance

Strong on 5GHz & WireGuard; 'Wi-Fi 7' branding oversells it

3.5/5

Overall

Best-in-class travel router with a few caveats

4/5

Buy it if...

You want Wi-Fi 7
There are better Wi-Fi 7 routers available, most of it costs much more than this, and it isn't portable. However, you might find that those clients who are Wi-Fi 5 or 6, don’t get substantially more performance. And, Wi-Fi 7 clients can’t use 6GHz.

You want dual 2.5GbE in a travel package
No other travel router at this price point offers two 2.5GbE ports with failover, and you need to spend much more than this on a desktop router that offers more than one 2.5GbE port.

Don't buy it if...

You don’t have Wi-Fi 7 clients
Without the right hardware on the client end, there is little point in going with a Wi-Fi 7 router. However, if you intend to upgrade at some point, then it might be worth the investment.

You want to use Mesh
The lack of proper Mesh support in this design is a showstopper for many. It can work as a repeater, but that’s not the same in a crowded wireless environment.

For more connectivity solutions, we've reviewed the best business routers

While the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S26 series has the phones world abuzz, it’s the unveiling of the company’s new audio products which is turning earbuds fans’ heads. The flagship new 'Buds' vying to feature in our best earbuds guide are the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, which have just been released alongside their non-Pro counterparts. They are, depending on your persuasion, the follow-up to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, or the latest rival to the AirPods Pro 3.

As early leaks all-but confirmed, these buds have seen a design change, using a new version of what Samsung calls its ‘blade’ design to create a sleek and understated-looking model. I don’t know how much Marvel’s sword-wielding vampire-fighter had to do with the change, but it’s just the most readily-apparent of the several changes and upgrades coming to this new iteration.

At an early event I got to test the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, as well as their non-Pro sibling, and since then I’ve been listening to them non-stop for the past week. That’s not enough time to write a full review (though rest assured one is coming), but below you’ll find my early impressions on this new pair of premium earbuds.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Announced on February 25, 2026
• Selling for $249 / £219 / AU$399
• Matches AirPods Pro 3 in price — which is likely deliberate

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro were unveiled on February 25, 2026, and they’re due to go on sale at the beginning of March.

To buy the new buds, you’ll have to shell out $249 / £219 / AU$399. That’s certainly a high price for earbuds, marking them as premium options, though it’s worth noting that this is the same launch price as the previous model.

Let’s put that in context: the latest AirPods Pro 3 cost $249 / £219 / AU$429 so it’s a similar price in most places, but Samsung undercuts Apple in Australia. The standard Galaxy Buds 4 go for $197 / £159 / AU$299, so they’re naturally cheaper, but you’re getting an open-style bud for that price.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• New 'blade' look, old 'blade' traits gone
• Feel solid in the ear
• Annoying eartip problem returns

Changes to the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are evident from the outset: they come in a clamshell-style charging case which is transparent in its lid, so you can admire the buds at will – it’s much easier to slot the buds into than the 3 Pro’s case was. It feels a little smaller but thicker, from my recollection of the last buds, though I can’t confirm that – either way, it was easy to slot into my trouser pockets.

The buds themselves have seen a redesign, and now have a brushed-metal edge which is lovely and understated. I’m personally a big fan of earbuds that aren’t bedecked in the company’s logo, and could proudly walk around without feeling like a Samsung billboard.

(Image credit: Future)

Some more changes: Blade Light? Gone. Color-coded buds so you know at a glance which side of the case to put them in? Gone. Proprietary eartip-locking system which stops you using third-party tips, and makes them incredibly hard to remove? Sadly not gone, despite this finickity system causing so many problems in the Buds 3 Pro that they were delayed. I needed to switch the tips when I first received the buds, and was fearful of doing so given how easily I could have accidentally broken them. I can't understand why Samsung has left this big problem in place.

I switched out the tip because the buds’ fit didn’t feel solid, and changing to the biggest option didn’t remedy that. However, the only times they've actually fallen out is when I took them on a run; I'd say they're fine for everyday use, then, but aren't runners' buds.

Other than that, they’ve felt pretty reliable, even when I walked around with the buds at weird and irregular angles to test out one of their features (don’t tell my editor, who threatened to write a column calling out all the people who wear earbuds wrong). I was surprised by how much much I liked the on-stem touch controls too: swipe for volume, pinch for play/pause. Nice and convenient, and with a responsive ‘click’ for the latter too, reminding me of the Nothing Ear (a) which have a gold star in this department.

@techradar

♬ Straf (Theme) - Weval Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Solid ANC
• App is chock-full of features
• New live translation and head gestures

I remember being blown away by the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s ANC, and from early tests, it’s just as strong here. I’ve mostly been listening on the standard ANC mode, at full power, but there’s an Adaptive mode that I’m getting ready to try next. If there’s a flaw, it’s that Ambient mode seems weaker than on other buds I’ve tested, in that it lets through too much.

Like any good premium earbuds, there are plenty of app features in the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. I spent a good long while playing around with tools like an earbud fit test, a 5-band equalizer with various presets, an Ultra High-Quality mode, 360 audio and setting up neck stretch reminders.

(Image credit: Future)

The app also offers an adaptive sound mode, which offers a hearing test to create a bespoke sound profile – it’s simpler than the alternative offered by many rivals, and didn’t have an audible impact on my music. I must say, I’m not convinced by this one.

New features to the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro include head gestures to answer or reject calls, however I didn’t get to test this, due to no-one calling me in the test week (it’s 2026 – I don’t get many calls full stop). AirPods Pro-style Live Translation is also here, and thanks to an upcoming trip, it’s something I hope to test soon for the full review.

There's also the feature I referred to earlier in the article: adaptive casting, so the buds will recognize how you're wearing them and adapt playback accordingly. In short, if you're wearing the buds wrong, they'll play music slightly differently to atone for it. Perfect for all those people you see on the train who have the stems vertical (or horizontal).

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Driver improvements offer better-defined bass
• Support for high-quality music
• Sounds great, with refined V-shaped audio

There's an audible change afoot in the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro; they have a slightly bigger driver, and according to Samsung this brings bass boosts. In my testing, this doesn’t mean more bass, but better bass.

Lower-frequency instruments don't dominate the other tracks as much as in rivals, but sit better alongside them, with better definition and timbre. It feels more natural, and less like a filter slapped over music.

Beyond that, these sound similar to the previous-gen model: really, really good, with a gentle V-shaped sound. Sharp treble, wide sound stage, high quality of tracks supported. Expect a more detailed and nuanced analysis when the novelty has worn off, but to praise them simply: I used them for hours on my return trip from covering the Bristol Hi-Fi show, and didn’t find them as much of a sad comedown as I expect any other earbuds would be (to clarify, I'd spent the days listening to speakers and hi-fi systems that cost hundreds of thousands, in any currency you like).

I should note, I did much of my listening on a Samsung phone, which allows for the company’s Ultra High Quality Sound feature – it compresses then decodes music up to 24-bit/96kHz. This made music sound distinctly better than it might on another device, as illustrated by the fact I also tested alongside a different Android phone which also sounded great, but not quite as high-quality.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

The big question for expensive earbuds like these, is how well they justify that high price tag. I can't deny that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro sound great, but the earbuds world is a competitive one, and you can get a great pick without paying much.

I think it's the feature department that'll sway me either way: it's what set many buds apart, and if the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro tools prove useful over the coming weeks, it'll help make the price make sense.

How I tested

(Image credit: Future)

So far, I've been listening to the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro for the best part of a week, mainly using it for music streaming. I tested it for a time on my Realme phone, listening to Spotify as I would any other pair of headphones. I also spent a few days with it paired to a Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus, listening to high-res music and testing its various features. I will repeat this split for the remainder of the testing process, to see how well the buds work for Samsung and non-Samsung users.

I've tested plenty of other earbuds in the past, including options from Samsung and its companies including the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, original Galaxy Buds and some picks from AKG, Bowers & Wilkin and JBL (yes, all owned by Samsung).

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: February 2026

Commodore 64 Ultimate: One-minute review

The Commodore 64 Ultimate is a modern recreation of the classic home computer from the 1980s. It’s a tremendous achievement, taking me straight back to my childhood with glee, and also making me wonder how on earth seven-year-old me had the patience to truly figure it out. Using it is wondrous and occasionally frustrating and slow, but for fans of that era, it’s hard to resist (assuming money isn’t an issue).

It’s so much more than just an emulated machine like if you’ve Nintendo Classic Mini or the PlayStation Classic. It provides compatibility with most of your old Commodore 64 hardware if, like me, you’ve kept a huge box of cassettes, cartridges, and joysticks, but you can also go online to download some games too.

Capturing that nostalgia has some downsides that are only truly apparent now that we’ve moved forward. Loading times are slow, albeit not as slow as back in the day, while knowing what commands to hit on the keyboard isn’t as intuitive as it once felt. However, a comprehensive manual goes some way to helping you remember how you used to do things, and ensures newcomers aren’t left in the dark.

Think of this as like a project rather than a brief flirtation, and you should be delighted with the Commodore 64 Ultimate. I enjoyed rediscovering how to complete simple routines in BASIC, but also playing old favorites, even if they weren’t exactly games I’d still play for dozens of hours anymore.

It’s a fantastic love letter to the computer that sent me down a lifelong path of loving technology, but it also reminds me how far we’ve come. At times, you’ll find yourself a little frustrated by a system that doesn’t feel as logical as it once did, but if you were here back at the start, you’ll always return for more. Just be ready for a bit of a learning curve.

(Image credit: Future)Commodore 64 Ultimate: Price and availability

• List price: $349.99 (around £260 / AU$524)
• Currently available for preorder for March / April 2026
• Beige and Starlight variants available

The Commodore 64 Ultimate is currently available for pre-order directly from Commodore. At the time of writing, it’s expected to ship in March or April 2026. The standard Beige variant is $349.99 (around £260 / AU$524) while the more futuristic-looking Starlight model is an extra $50, and the Founder’s Edition with 24K gold-plated badges is $549.99.

I went with the Beige version as it looks nearly identical to the one from my childhood (more on that in a moment), but even that model is pretty expensive compared to other retro games consoles and machines.

Of course, it’s far more than just an emulator, given it works with your original hardware, but this isn’t impulse buy territory. I’d think carefully about whether this is a novelty product for you or something that you truly plan on using for a long time to come.

Fortunately, if you’re like me and kept your old collection, you won’t have to worry about buying new games, joysticks, or a cassette deck. If you’re starting from scratch, there’s a USB stick full of games included, and an extra supply of games is available online via the computer’s storefront for free.

Commodore 64 Ultimate: Specs

Commodore 64 Ultimate

Price

$349.99 (around £260 / AU$524)

Weight

5.6lb / 2.56kg

Dimensions

16 x 8 x 3in / 400 x 200 x 70mm

Extras

Integrated Ultimate-II+ functionality with tape emulation and DMA loader, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, 2 x Game Controller Ports

CPU

AMD Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA

RAM

128MB DDR2 RAM

Video

HDMI 1080P at 50Hz PAL or 60Hz NTSC Analog via DIN-8: CVBS, S-Video, or RGB

Compatibility

Commodore 64 cassettes, disks, cartridges, ROMs

Controllers

Serial Port Joystick/DB9 controller

Commodore 64 Ultimate: Design and features

• Matches the original aesthetic well
• Traditional interface paired with more modern menu system
• Works with original accessories and games

The Commodore 64 Ultimate is an instant nostalgia trip if you owned the original. Even the box design is similar. Open it up, and you’re presented with a USB drive disguised as a cassette tape along with a wire-bound User Guide which looks a lot like the one I gazed over in wonder as a kid. The computer itself also looks nearly identical to the original, right down to the power switch on the side and all the ports possible.

Such ports include the modern essentials like USB and HDMI, but also older connectors for adding your original cassette deck, your joysticks, or a disk drive. It also works with C64 cartridges if you have any of those lying around.

It’s all plug and play, which is great if you’ve got an old collection ready to try out again, tapping into a similar model as the Atari 2600+. It also even sounds like the Commodore 64 from what I remember, with a bit of a creak as anything loads coming from the sound chip.

(Image credit: Future)

The Commodore 64 Ultimate’s user interface is just like how you might remember, too, which is both good and bad. Back in the day, there was no drag-and-drop, and everything was done through a keyboard with arrow keys that needed the shift key to switch between directions. That’s replicated here, and it takes a hot minute to remember the old ways.

To offset that aged way of doing things, there are menus to navigate. It’s still a little awkward, but it opens up more functionality, such as being able to go online to download community-made games or access bulletin board forums.

There’s a ton of depth to these menus, so if you like to tweak and adjust settings, you’re in luck. This is a far more feature-rich model than the original it’s taking after. How far you want to go mostly depends on your enthusiasm. It can still be a relatively plug-and-play device if you just want to download games.

(Image credit: Future)Commodore 64 Ultimate: Performance

• Loading times are faster than the OG but still slow
• Overclocking options
• BASIC is just how you remember it

Remember when the Commodore 64 would take 10 minutes or more to load a cassette, then sometimes simply fail? Those days are gone with the Ultimate! That doesn’t mean it’s fast, though. The processing power is there, but presumably, waiting around for a game to load is there to remind you of the simpler times.

That goes for whether you’re loading a tape image from USB or online, so this isn’t an old media issue. In the long term, I plan on adding a Tapuino to make it easier to load my original cassettes, but you don’t actually need anything extra besides what’s in the box.

Going online is as simple as connecting any other device to your network, and in no time, you can search for games or browse bulletin boards. While I never found my new favorite game through these methods, it was fun to take a look.

Curiously, you can dive into a menu and activate turbo boost to improve performance from 1MHz to 64MHz with a RAM expansion unit, increasing RAM to 16MB, which feels mind-boggling for a Commodore 64 machine.

My favorite part about using the Commodore 64 Ultimate actually has nothing to do with gaming performance, though. I loved coding in BASIC again. It was my first time programming anything, and also arguably when my programming knowledge peaked. The wire-bound manual guides you through the early stages of BASIC, and digging out a few old books and magazines with programs was a ton of fun.

Variety is where much of the joy comes from with the Commodore 64 Ultimate. It’s truly a whole home computer rather than a restrictive games emulator. Being able to switch between playing some old games and discovering new ones online, or simply coding something, gives it tremendous depth compared to something like the C64 Mini that came before it.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Commodore 64 Ultimate?Buy it if…

You loved the Commodore 64 the first time around
The nostalgia factor is huge here, but made better. It has everything you’d expect from the original, but with improvements like an HDMI port and internet connectivity for downloading new games.

You want a fun new tech project
The Commodore 64 Ultimate has enough depth that you won’t spend one afternoon with it. You can work on some coding projects, play a huge number of games, and track down old but compatible hardware.

You want to escape the modern world
The Commodore 64 may go online, but there are no notifications, no ads, no distractions. This is still a very purist experience, and it’s rather nice to leave the digital world behind for a time.

Don’t buy it if…

You’ve never used a Commodore 64 before
Without the nostalgia, I’m not convinced this would be a very exciting passion project. It’s hard to go back to the old days if you don’t remember them from before.

You want simplicity
The moment you reach for the escape key and realise there isn’t one is when you remember how much has changed. It’s a little daunting at first, so it won’t be for everyone.

You want a cheap project
This isn’t a cheap piece of hardware, and that shows in the quality of it. Throw in the need for joysticks and other original hardware to get the most out of it, and the Commodore 64 Ultimate could end up pretty expensive.

Also consider...

Not sure if the Commodore 64 Ultimate is the retro hardware for you? Here’s how it compares to two similar products.

Commodore 64 Ultimate

Atari 2600+

Commodore 64 Mini

Price

$349.99 (around £260 / AU$524)

 $129.99 / £129.99 / AU$269.95

$79.99 / £69.99 / AU$149.95

Weight

5.6lb / 2.56kg

1.3lb / 0.59kg

0.82lb / 0.38kg

Dimensions

16 x 8 x 3in / 400 x 200 x 70mm

10.6 x 7 x 2.8in / 269 x 178 x 71mm

9.8 x 7.9 x 2in / 250 x 200 x 50mm

Extras

Integrated Ultimate-II+ functionality with tape emulation and DMA loader, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, 2 x Game Controller Ports

CX40+ Joystick with DB9 connector, USB-C, Light-up Atari logo

USB flash drive with disc, cartridge, and casette ROM file compatibility, Dual USB-A ports, THE Joystick (microswitch joystick)

CPU

AMD Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA

Rockchip 3128 SOC

ARM A20 SoC

RAM

128MB DDR2 RAM

256MB DDR3 RAM

64KB

Video

HDMI 1080P at 50Hz PAL or 60Hz NTSC Analog via DIN-8: CVBS, S-Video, or RGB

HDMI (widescreen support)

HDMI (720p 60Hz output; full width/4:3/CRT filter options)

Compatibility

Commodore 64 cassettes, disks, cartridges, ROMs

Atari 2600 and 7800 game cartridges

Games on board, plus games via USB port

Controllers

Serial Port Joystick/DB9 controller

CX40+ JoystickS

THEJoystick

Atari 2600+
If your childhood was all about the Atari 2600, check out the Atari 2600+ model which is a lot cheaper than the Commodore 64 Ultimate and still allows you to use old cartridges as well as new. The latter can get quite expensive but it’s more plug and play friendly than the C64.

Read our full Atari 2600+ review

C64 Mini
The C64 Mini is a great alternative if you simply want to play some old, curated games in ROM form and maybe dabble in some programming. It’s less complete than the Commodore 64 Ultimate, but it’s more accessible for the less tech-savvy amongst us.

Read our full C64 Mini review

How I tested the Commodore 64 Ultimate

• Tested for about 20 hours
• I used it solely out of the box, and I also added my own original joystick and cassette deck to play games
• I also spent time using it to code simple programs in BASIC

I used the Commodore 64 Ultimate after digging out my old collection of C64 games and hardware. Unfortunately for me, not all the cassettes survived their time untouched, and one joystick was temperamental at best, but it gave me an opportunity to see how well the new and old hardware worked together.

I also went online with the Commodore 64 and browsed through seemingly every menu within the original user interface. I downloaded new games to play to see how well that experience worked, and I spent substantial time typing out BASIC programs and reveling at how easy it was, and feeling some lovely nostalgia to child me who thought they could rule the world because they knew a little BASIC.

The Commodore 64 Ultimate is very different from other retro machine comebacks, so I mostly focused on comparing it to the original machine.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed January 2026

Resident Evil Requiem is quite literally a game of two halves.

Its dual protagonists, newcomer Grace Ashcroft and series veteran Leon S. Kennedy, both represent disparate aspects of the long-running survival horror franchise brought together to appease fans of tense first-person exploration and resource management and bombastic third-person action, respectively.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2 / PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: February 27, 2026

An intriguing formula which, on paper, should offer something for all kinds of Resident Evil lover and this is certainly true throughout the game’s strong first half. Navigating wonderfully designed, interconnected environments filled with mysterious puzzles to scrounge for resources while dodging prowling horrors, as Grace is a consistent delight, punctuated by the refreshing moments where you can briefly let loose as Leon and tear through zombie hordes with an almost unlimited supply of guns and ammunition.

Unfortunately, this careful balance is upset by the overwhelming number of sequences in the action camp later on. They’re still a blast to fight through, even as the plot becomes increasingly bizarre, but I still found myself hoping for more of the serious scares experienced early on.

Spencer Mansion memories

(Image credit: Capcom)

It’s clear that Resident Evil Requiem is intended to be a celebration of the series, smartly blending elements from almost every entry thus far. Grace inherits not only the first-person perspective of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, but also the classic puzzle-solving of the original Resident Evil and its immediate follow-ups. The Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, the first section where you play as Grace, is a showstopping example of this formula at its best, with some of the greatest level design in Resident Evil history.

The whole area is an unsettling blend of tight corridors and small rooms, with objectives that require you to carefully scour your surroundings as you match keys with their respective locks, decipher secret codes, or collect other important items. Moving forward is always intuitive, and I never found myself scratching my head, wondering what to do next, in part because there are often multiple possible ways to progress with what you have on hand.

Rooms like the ornate banquet hall and the facility's expansive main foyer also echo the iconic design of the Spencer Mansion, a tasteful throwback for long-time fans, while a barrage of new enemy types keep things feeling fresh and prevent you from ever getting too comfortable. The new viral strain at the heart of this game's outbreak gives us some of the most intelligent zombies yet, repeating phrases that often hint at ways to counter their unique behaviours.

(Image credit: Capcom)

A zombie obsessed with turning off the lights, for example, can be lured out of your path by the flicking of a distant switch in order to preserve valuable ammo. Even if you do choose to go guns blazing, a handful of powerful horrors like the kitchen's huge, mutated chef can only be taken on with ample reserves of equipment. Successfully down them and you're treated to a deluge of goodies, namely collectible coins that can be spent on useful upgrades, appropriately rewarding those players prepared to take the risk.

Saving is restricted to set points where you can access a typewriter in dedicated safe rooms, adding an extra layer of tension even if, in reality, their plentiful nature means you're never really short of opportunities to use them.

Despite this safety blanket, as Grace, you're never really out of harm's way, as you’re perpetually on the run from an invincible foe. A terrifying, long-limbed woman, she appears in both scripted scares and more dynamic moments where she stalks you through the building.

She has a good range of possible behaviors, like suddenly reaching under tables to grab you if you make too much noise, or prowling towards your path after catching a whiff of your scent as you creep by. The creature is easy to outsmart if you make liberal use of distraction items like glass bottles, but the persistent dread that she might appear around any corner is hard to shake.

Your fear is reflected in Grace, who is an incredibly relatable protagonist compared to the emotional brick wall that was 7 and Village’s Ethan Winters.

Her trembling hands and haggard breaths are a brilliant contrast to Leon’s quippy confidence, and she’s endearingly awkward in the many stunningly animated cutscenes, too. Her desire to discover the truth of her mother’s grisly murder eight years ago is also a compelling hook that drives you to push on in spite of the horrors that you face.

Back in '98

(Image credit: Capcom)

It’s a shame, then, that she practically vanishes from the story at the halfway mark as the focus turns almost entirely towards Leon. Returning to the ruins of Raccoon City in some surprisingly hefty semi-open-world sections, it’s an unrelenting bombardment of combat gauntlets, boss fights, and cinematic action sequences.

Some moments, like a rocket launcher motorbike chase that extends up the side of a collapsed building, are certainly reminiscent of the much-derided over-the-top events of Resident Evil 6, while others feel like something you’d watch stone-faced in one of the franchise’s many terrible live action movies.

(Image credit: Capcom)

Throw in heaps of gratuitous fan service and an unsatisfying ending that leaves loads of unanswered questions (presumably for the sake of setting up future sequels or DLC), and it left me yearning for a tighter, more self-contained, and emotionally impactful experience.

That’s not to say that these moments are ever dull, though. To developer Capcom’s credit, while events may veer unapologetically into the camp and ridiculous, I was practically on the edge of my seat, wondering what on Earth could possibly happen next.

It definitely helps that Resident Evil Requiem is never boring to look at. This is a visually stunning game that really pushes the envelope with environmental fidelity, beautiful ray-traced reflections, fluid animation, and even subtle character details like strands of hair or droplets of blood and sweat. Yes, even on Nintendo Switch 2, despite some noticeable cutbacks to resolution and the odd framerate stutter.

I enjoyed my playthroughs thoroughly, but I can’t help but wish that Capcom was a little bolder with the plot. After more than 30 years, surely now is the time to be moving the series forward decisively rather than constantly harking back to the past?

Should I play Resident Evil Requiem?Play it if...

You love classic Resident Evil
If you love the classic trilogy, or even newer entries like Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, then the Grace segments of Requiem make it well worth playing. You’re getting a decent chunk of old-fashioned puzzle solving and survival horror exploration here, even if it does skew towards action near the end.

You prefer the more bombastic action
If you loved the action-packed events of Resident Evil 4, the Leon sections here feature some of the best third-person combat in the series so far.

Don't play it if...

You’re not up to date with the story so far
The strong reliance on fan-service and call backs is going to really diminish the experience for those that aren’t long-time Resident Evil fans. If that’s you, my recommendation is to start with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard or the Resident Evil 2 remake and then play through the rest of the series before reaching this one.

Accessibility features

Resident Evil Requiem has multiple difficulty levels, including a Casual mode that’s designed to be more forgiving as well as Standard (Modern) and Standard (Classic). Standard (Classic) restricts your ability to save during Grace sections, requiring a consumable ink ribbon item each time.

The game has a dedicated accessibility menu with a suite of available options geared towards visual, auditory, motion sickness, and physical accessibility. On the visual front, you can customize the HUD and text size, plus subtitle presentation and size.

For auditory needs, you can enable closed captions with optional speaker name display, while motion sickness settings allow you to adjust camera wobble, motion blur, and turn on a dot in the middle of the screen to focus on.

Physical accessibility options include the options to disable repeated inputs in favor of holding a button, turn of vibration, and configure your controller layout.

(Image credit: Capcom)How I reviewed Resident Evil Requiem

I played more than 20 hours of Resident Evil Requiem on Nintendo Switch 2, my primary platform for review, in which time I completed the game and then began a second run. I tested it almost exclusively in handheld mode, relying on the Joy-Con 2 controllers and the system’s built-in speakers.

I then tested the PC version on my system from retailer Scan. It features a compact Corsair 2000d RGB Airflow case, Asus ROG Strix B860-I Gaming Wifi motherboard, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU, a 2TB WD Black SN770 SSD, 32GB of DDR5 Corsair Vengeance RAM, and an Nvidia 5070 Ti manufactured by Asus.

This proved more than capable of running the game on maximum graphics settings with full path tracing enabled at 1080p 60fps. On PC, I relied on my Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro mouse and Cherry XTRFY K5V2 keyboard, plus an Astro A20 X gaming headset for audio.

I’m a long-time Resident Evil fan and have played almost every entry (most on more than one occasion). Yes, I’ve even subjected myself to the likes of Operation Raccoon City and Umbrella Corps.

Throughout my time with Requiem, I compared my experience to the other games (particularly Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, the remakes of 2, 3, and 4, Village, and the original three games) plus the wider survival horror and action horror genres.

First reviewed February 2026

The Synology DS725+ is an odd placement. It is a great device for most, don’t get me wrong, but with a seemingly downgraded Network port, the same CPU as a past model, no PCIe expansion port to upgrade to a 10GbE network port, and still an expandable storage option, it makes this a hard device to suggest, even while it’s a great device on it’s own.

As a device, not looking at models from the same company or family, this would probably score a bit higher. But knowing that other models exist at a similar price point from the same reputable company with better features, this score gets knocked a bit.

But with that said, the last thing I will say, with other products in mind, is that the DS723+ may be the better option for you if you need the 10GbE option or want it in the future; however, not everyone will want or ever really need that kind of speed. So, it depends on what you are going to use this NAS for.

Synology DS725+: Price and availability

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The Synology DS725+ without drives sells for $499, giving you an empty case ready for whatever drives you want. You can choose to add just one drive, or fill both bays, and you can also fill the M. 2 NVMe slots. If you want more storage, you can grab an expansion DX525 unit and add 5 more bays, bringing the total to 7.

It's widely available right now direct from Synology and online retailers like Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Synology used to require Synology-branded drives for compatibility, but they have recently opened this up to allow for non-Synology drives, just noting that not all will function the same.

For example, I have 2 Synology M.2 drives in my NVMe slots for caching, and for my main drives, I have 2x 8TB Seagate IronWolf NAS Internal Hard Drives, giving me a total of 16TB of storage, plus the 800GB of caching. This option was cheaper than the Synology-branded drives, and so far, I have had no issues.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )Synology DS725+: Unboxing and First Impressions

Synology is one of those companies that has simple packaging, and at this point in my life and professional career, I appreciate that. No need for flashy packaging, just let me get to the product and let the product speak for itself. There are some nice foam inserts to help ensure the enclosure doesn’t get damaged, along with the power brick and cable, some RJ-45 LAN cables, drive bay screws, a key, and the guide.

This enclosure is super minimal, and with the NVMe slots under the device, the overall footprint is pretty small. I was able to add this to a small rack pretty easily, even though this is a desktop model, not a rack-based model. For this current setup, a rack system works well, but for the future, I want the flexibility of putting this on a desktop, making this formfactor perfect for me.

I was able to get things set up pretty quickly, not having to follow any instructions other than confirming the best way to connect to the NAS for the first time. Setup all occurs over at find.synology.com, which I've also used for my other Synology drives, and I was good to go.

For this setup, I have the Synology DS725+ 2.5GbE network port plugged into a Zyxel network switch that also has two media computers connected, and that switch is connected to my LAN. I also have a redundant network line for any potential failover running from the 1GbE port directly into the building.

Once I got that squared away and installed all four drives, I plugged in power and booted it up, then visited find.synology.com to install DSM and set the parameters I wanted. The setup was pretty straightforward, and there were no spots where I felt confused or unsure about what to choose. It probably took about 15-20 minutes from unboxing to using and syncing files.

Synology DS725+: Design & Build Quality

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The physical design of the Synology DS725+ is pretty simple, and I like that. It’s not trying to be flashy. I do wish Synology would adopt more ports on the front for file transfer, as other companies like UGREEN do, but it’s not the end of the world by any means.

For this kind of storage, I understand why they don’t make it the primary focus, as the user base would probably be those who are not in the media space or have other ways of ingesting footage. Though I was able to easily ingest SD cards via an adapter, which was a fun surprise.

This is the kind of NAS you can, of course, tuck away if desired or keep on your desk, and you won’t feel bad about it at all, as it looks clean and sleek with its matte dark grey/black colorway and minimal lighting and badging.

Speaking of the looks, the build quality is great on this; there are no loose pieces or elements that feel cheaply designed. Everything feels quality without feeling so nice that I shouldn’t use it. Sadly, again, there is no expandable PCIe Gen 3 port, but there is an expandable USB-C port on the back for an expansion bay if desired down the road.

One thing that was updated since I received this unit and started testing is that Synology now allows all drive types again. While I do understand the backlash Synology was getting for this move, I see it as a lot like Apple's walled garden.

Yes, there may be part of it that is for trying to make users spend more on their products, but Apple is very particular about what can and will go into their devices, so they can have more control of the outcomes, producing a reliable experience which they could not ensure with products they do not design.

I think Synology was trying to ensure the best performance by only allowing its drives that meet its standards and performance expectations, not just any drive. However, now you can add just about any drive. Synology just notes that it may affect your performance, so make sure you do some research before choosing a non-Synology drive.

Synology DS725+: In use

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

I’ve had this drive up and running in my team’s media area for several weeks now. Its primary use is as a media server, hosting RAW video and photo files, communicating with a DaVinci Project Server, and working as a sync between Macs and Google Shared Drives, as well as other media folders scattered about. We rely on the cloud sync functionality to keep everything in check, uploading and downloading as needed.

Synology’s DSM 7 software is so easy to use that I can connect to it and work from my iPhone, my iPad, my Mac, or just interact with the file server through Finder. It is incredibly easy to set up and work on.

Right now, I have one volume containing all 16TB of my storage drives, and then both of my NVMe drives are set to cache that volume, making for one big drive that can work as fast as I need it to. I may add another set of drives through the expansion bay in the future and set up another volume, or I may split this volume over time depending on usage, but what’s great is that Synology makes that super easy.

If media storage is not what you need this for, this is even better as a file server, acting as your source of truth, a RAID server that can backup your critical files, or even work as a hybrid with a cloud service, backing up your cloud files, your computer files in the field, or perhaps taking what you store on a more expensive, but sometimes more convenient cloud service, pulling it down to your cold storage Synology backup, and freeing up your more convenient cloud service storage. Either way, this system is fantastic for all types of storage management.

Synology DS725+: Final verdictCollin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future Collin Probst // Future

I’ve only touched on the DS725+'s capabilities, which speaks to just how capable it is. However, circling back, its product placement is a bit odd. So, if you are looking for a great NAS for your business professional use, then you should probably check out the DS725+ as well as some of the other DS systems that Synology offers, but if you find a great deal, and you are ok with a 2.5GbE max port, then you should absolutely consider grabbing the DS725+ for your business or use case.

As most things do, this purchase comes down to the right deal and the right use, but at the end of the day, Synology is still highly respected in this space, and for good reason. They make great gear, even if some of it is oddly positioned against its brothers and sisters.

For more storage solutions, we've tested and reviewed the best NAS devices you can get.