ZenMate VPN Review 2023

When you look at ZenMate VPN, you’ll immediately notice its close resemblance to CyberGhost. They’re owned by the same company (Kape Technologies) and use the same UI. We even dubbed it “CyberGhost’s little brother” during our testing because it has fewer features than CyberGhost.

ZenMate was initially launched in 2013 and has since amassed more than 47 million users. Kape acquired it in 2018 and added it to its impressive roster that now also features ExpressVPN. Unfortunately, Kape Technologies is surrounded by controversy — so we wanted to see how that reflects on ZenMate (if at all).

Is ZenMate VPN safe? Do you need to configure ZenMate before using it? Check our conclusions and full hands-on test results in our full ZenMate review below.

ZenMate VPN: A Short Review

ZenMate is a well-known VPN owned by Kape Technologies. Now the owner of several VPN providers, Kape Technologies was associated with malware distribution in the past, so we’ll see how their reputation affects ZenMate’s privacy and security.

The provider supports OpenVPN and IKEv2, steering clear of cracked and unreliable protocols like PPTP. We would have liked to see WireGuard added to this roster, however. Both protocols use AES-256 encryption, which is the best cipher we currently have in the industry. Finally, ZenMate implements an ironclad no-logging policy but leaks DNS requests, which is a huge security issue.

The company operates 4,800+ servers across 80+ countries. Our speed test results ranged from good to great everywhere except in South Africa where our speed just plummeted. ZenMate allows torrenting and offers servers optimized for streaming and P2P downloading.

The desktop and mobile apps are very beginner-friendly since ZenMate uses CyberGhost’s UI. There’s a live chat support option on the site and the support team is very responsive and knowledgeable. The pricing is reasonable but you can’t pay with cryptocurrencies, which we don’t like. You can also take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full ZenMate VPN review below to find out all about this service and check the results of our extensive hands-on testing.

Specifications ZenMate VPN

💵 Price	From $1.51 a month
📱 Operating systems	Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux
💻 Connections	Unlimited
💳 Payment methods	PayPal, Credit card
🔒 Protocols	OpenVPN, IKEv2
📥 Torrent options	Torrenting allowed
📅 Money-back guarantee	Money-back-guarantee
📋 Logs	Zero logs
🎬 Works with

Deal

Try ZenMate VPN for just $1.51 per month

Visit ZenMate VPN

Speed – How Fast is ZenMate VPN?

Securing your internet connection with a VPN shouldn’t result in dramatic speed drops. Actions like browsing, streaming, and gaming should all feel seamless and lag-free.

This is why we thoroughly test the speed of the VPN services we review. Our ZenMate’s speed test results netted an 8.5 out of 10 for performance.

Here’s a short summary of our experience:

• ZenMate offers good speeds, even on distant servers.
• We didn’t feel any drastic speed drops during daily use.

Speed test results for ZenMate VPN

For this ZenMate VPN review, we tested its Windows desktop client from our headquarters in the Netherlands. After defining our benchmark speed (without the VPN), we tested various servers across the globe and compared the results.

Based on your location and connection speed, you might get different results. That’s why we recommend using the table below simply as an indicator of potential performance.

With that said, let’s take a look at the results of our ZenMate VPN speed test:

Surprisingly, ZenMate VPN tested better than CyberGhost. It performed quite well on nearby servers and even held its own on distant locations. Our speed only dropped to unacceptable levels in South Africa. On the American continent, our speed was basically cut in half, but that was still enough for decent performance.

Our upload remained stellar on all locations we tested. The connection times were also excellent. We were able to connect to any server in mere seconds.

Having said that, if you’re just looking for the fastest VPN out there, we would still recommend going with Surfshark.

Speed during daily use

ZenMate provided more than enough speed for regular day-to-day operations. We were able to stream some great Netflix shows and a ton of YouTube clips without a single buffer circle.

When it comes to online gaming, though, we recommend sticking to nearby servers. This especially goes if you’re into bandwidth-heavy online multiplayer titles. We played some games on MTG Arena while connected to a Dutch server and had zero lag or disconnects. We also downloaded torrents without any problems.

Since ZenMate is doing a great job at preserving your upload speed, you can also use it for safe video conferencing or to secure your Twitch streams.

Safety – How Secure is ZenMate VPN?

First and foremost, your VPN should anonymize your browsing and prevent online snoops from stealing your data. This is achieved by masking your real IP, encrypting your online activities, and adopting safe logging practices.

With that in mind, we gave ZenMate VPN a 5 out of 10 for security. Here’s a quick overview of its main safety mechanisms:

• ZenMate VPN supports OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols.
• It implements a good no-logging policy.
• It comes with an automatic kill switch.
• We did experience DNS leaks during our testing.
• The registration process only requires your email and payment info.

Protocols

The protocols supported by your VPN will largely determine its security, flexibility, and performance quality. They also affect its ability to deal with online censorship and access geo-restricted services from your location.

Here are the VPN tunnels supported by ZenMate VPN:

• OpenVPN: This is the most popular VPN protocol that offers a great combination of speed and security. ZenMate supports it on Windows, Android, and Linux.
• IKEv2: Just as fast as OpenVPN but less CPU-hungry. It’s available on Windows, macOS, and iOS.

If you’re just looking for a solid all-around protocol, we recommend going with OpenVPN. However, if mobile security is your main concern, IKEv2 is the better tool for the job. It’ll run smoother on weaker CPUs and has impressive reconnection capabilities. In other words, you can switch between mobile and Wi-Fi networks without ever disconnecting from ZenMate’s servers.

Both protocols use AES-256 to encrypt your traffic. This cipher is known as “military-grade” encryption but it’s also used by banks, hospitals, and other institutions that have a lot of sensitive data to protect.

Logging and privacy

ZenMate VPN was created by a company called ZenGuard, which is located in Germany. As a 14 Eyes country, Germany is not a VPN-friendly location. ZenMate also had a free version, which was widely criticized for leaking data.

Furthermore, ZenMate was acquired by Kape Technologies in 2018, which just added a new layer of concern for VPN users. Kape also bought CyberGhost in 2017, Private Internet Access in 2019, and ExpressVPN in 2021.

Kape Technologies (formerly CrossRider) famously created software developer tools that were used to distribute malware and ad injectors in the past. It’s worth noting that it’s difficult to gauge the responsibility of the company itself for these incidents, as its tools and platform were used by many third parties. Still, that poor reputation carried over to when CrossRider rebranded into Kape Technologies.

With all this in mind, we wouldn’t accept anything but a solid no-logging policy from ZenMate VPN. Fortunately, that’s exactly what it provides.

ZenMate only collects your email and payment info when you register. They do use some cookies and analytics tools when you visit their site, but all in all, they record nothing that could be used to mount a hack attack against you. You can always maximize your privacy by using a burner email and choosing PayPal as your payment method.

During the installation of the ZenMate VPN client, you’ll get a prompt to allow the collection of unspecified anonymous data. We don’t like the phrasing of your options here, since it looks like you won’t be able to install the client unless you agree to this. Thankfully, you can choose the “I want to opt out” option without interrupting your installation.

In conclusion, ZenMate is as close to a no-logging VPN as possible. It doesn’t record any harmful data, including your IP, online activity, connection timestamps, and other info that could identify you as an individual.

Kill switch

A kill switch is your last line of defense against data leaks when your VPN malfunctions for whatever reason. It will cut your internet access and prevent your real IP address and other information from leaking out.

ZenMate VPN comes with an automatic kill switch that worked perfectly during our testing. It can be found in the settings menu in the bottom-left corner of the client.

Note that ZenMate’s kill switch is enabled by default, so you don’t have to tinker with any settings to get the optimal protection before starting your VPN connection.

Does ZenMate VPN leak your data?

We experienced DNS leaks during our testing for this ZenMate VPN review. This means that online actors can intercept the communication between your browser and DNS and steal data from a DNS cache. This will allow them to get your real IP, see the sites you visit, and monitor your online activity.

We tested ZenMate from several different countries, including the Netherlands and Serbia. As you can see, we clearly saw our ISP DNS during our ipleak.net testing. Note that we had ZenMate’s DNS leak protection feature turned on for this test, and it did absolutely nothing.

This is a serious problem since ZenMate basically fails at providing essential VPN functionality. The main purpose of a VPN is to change your IP address and hide your traffic from prying eyes. With leaking DNS requests, however, ZenMate cannot ensure the safety of its users.

Its zero-log policy doesn’t mean much when your ISP can see what you’re doing online. The matter gets much worse when you realize that hackers can do the same with relative ease. Your ISP will hand your data over to the government when requested to do so and, at that point, you might as well not be using a VPN at all.

Apart from this egregious security issue, ZenMate is a pretty decent VPN, so we definitely hope they’ll fix it in the future. For the time being, we recommend sticking with security powerhouses like NordVPN.

What information does ZenMate VPN need?

Creating a ZenMate VPN account requires your email address and payment info. As we already mentioned, you can always create a new email without any personal identifiers.

However, ZenMate doesn’t support crypto payments so you won’t be able to take a fully anonymous route here. As always, we still recommend choosing PayPal over credit cards since credit cards reveal too much info.

If you prefer anonymous payment methods, we advise going with VPNs that accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Services like Mullvad also accept anonymous cash payments.

Usability – How User-Friendly is ZenMate VPN?

ZenMate VPN is a very beginner-friendly service without overly complicated menus and options. With that in mind, we gave it a 9 out of 10 for user-friendliness.

Here are the main points regarding its usability:

• ZenMate VPN’s website is clear and easy to navigate.
• ZenMate’s installation process is quick and simple.
• ZenMate’s clients are very beginner-friendly.
• You can try ZenMate VPN for free for seven days.
• ZenMate VPN has several payment methods, but no anonymous options.
• The customer service can be reached via live chat and is very responsive.

ZenMate VPN’s website and installation process

ZenMate VPN’s website is uncluttered, though oriented towards selling their service (like many other VPN websites). You’re immediately encouraged to purchase the service or make use of their seven-day free trial. The marketing tactics do get annoying after a while, especially the “time-sensitive” offers with ticking timers.

Clicking the “My Account” button in the top-right corner will open up the sign-up screen and allow you to activate the free trial. On the other hand, if you want to purchase a subscription right away, you can do so by clicking the “Buy Now” button right next to it.

After registration, you’ll gain access to your personal dashboard. Here, you can check your account info, monitor the used devices, upgrade/cancel your subscription, and contact customer support. Of course, not even your client area will be free of promotional “time-limited” offers.

ZenMate supports all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and many more. You can also download ZenMate browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.

For this review, we primarily tested the ZenMate VPN Windows app. The installation was quick and effortless without any unusual steps.

Here’s how to install ZenMate VPN and use its seven-day free trial:

1. Go to ZenMate VPN’s official website.
2. Click on “My Account” in the top-right corner.
3. Sign up with your chosen credentials.
4. Confirm your email to activate the free trial.
5. Access your personal dashboard on the site.
6. Download the installation file for your device.
7. Click on the downloaded file to start the installation.
8. Follow the on-screen instructions and complete the installation.

After registration, you’ll receive an email asking you to confirm your email address. This message might end up in your spam folder so be sure to check there, as well. Without clicking on the “Activate Trial” link within this email, you won’t be able to get your free ZenMate VPN trial.

Once you install the ZenMate VPN app on your device, you’ll get a login screen with some confusing wording. Namely, it mentions the username and password you supposedly received in an email, which never actually happens during installation. You define those credentials yourself while you’re signing up. Just use those, and you’ll be fine.

The company claims that you can install ZenMate on an unlimited number of devices. However, this number is capped at 99 in the personal dashboard, which is still beyond impressive.

ZenMate VPN’s appearance and ease-of-use

Since ZenMate uses CyberGhost’s client, we are talking about a very beginner-friendly VPN. Omitting some of CyberGhost’s advanced options makes it an even better gateway service. Naturally, power users won’t enjoy it as much.

The main screen of its Windows client only features a big on/off button with your last server underneath. The two icons in the top-right corner allow you to access the settings and the customer support menu.

Clicking on the arrows in the bottom-left corner will open up a list of the available servers, which can be viewed in four different groups.

The general settings menu behind the little cog icon allows you to:

• Autostart the app on system startup
• Pick a language
• Enable/disable the kill switch
• Submit anonymous usage data (we don’t recommend doing this)
• Define what the app does when you close the window
• Enable/disable the background processes when the app is not running

ZenMate VPN Windows app currently supports 11 languages, including, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, and Turkish.

All in all, the ZenMate app is pretty straightforward. There aren’t many extra options, making everything easy to find and activate.

Pricing and payment methods

Like many VPN providers, ZenMate offers two subscription packages with three different plans in each. The rule of thumb is, the longer the subscription you choose, the lower your monthly payment. Consequently, the three-year subscription costs only a few dollars a month.

ZenMate VPN’s Ultimate plans include:

• One month: $10.99/month (billed $10.99 every month)
• One year: $4.49/month (billed $53.88 per year)
• Three years: $1.51 per month (billed $59 every 3 years)

The Ultimate plans are available for all devices. However, if you want to use ZenMate only in your browser, you should opt for one of its Pro plans. These Include:

• One month: $7.99/month (billed $7.99 every month)
• Six months: $3.19/month (billed $19.14 every six months)
• One year: $1.99/month (billed $23.88 every year)

Apart from the supported platforms and price tags, there’s also one more difference between these instances of ZenMate VPN. Namely, the Ultimate plan offers optimized streaming servers in nine countries while the Pro package covers only two (the US and the UK).

Every purchase comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you aren’t satisfied with the service, you can get your money back within the first month. As we already mentioned, there’s also an unlimited seven-day free trial, which is a huge plus in our book.

We noticed that prices don’t always change according to the chosen currency. The price you pay in dollars is exactly the same as the one in euros. If the dollar’s worth is less than one euro, which it often is, paying in dollars is more beneficial.

ZenMate VPN accepts the following payment options:

• Credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, American Express)
• PayPal

As always, we recommend avoiding credit card payments and going with PayPal. We also hope that ZenMate will include crypto payments in the future and provide its users with an extra layer of privacy protection.

Customer service

ZenMate’s website features a decent FAQ section paired with some setup guides and troubleshooting manuals. If you can’t solve your problem there, you can contact customer support in a number of ways.

You can reach them on the site, through your personal dashboard, and even through your client.

If you have a problem that requires urgent help, you can also use the live chat option on ZenMate’s website. Here, you’ll first be sent automated links to pages on the ZenMate support site where you might be able to find the answer to your question. If you click on the “Live chat” option, however, you’ll be put through to a real employee who can help you with your specific query.

Server Network – Can ZenMate VPN Unblock the Internet?

The size of a VPN’s server network is very important. Having more servers at your disposal ensures better speeds and less server crowding. It also increases your chances of unblocking geo-restricted services like Netflix or BBC iPlayer, for example. ZenMate’s current setup got it an 8.5 out of 10.

Here are some points to keep in mind:

• ZenMate operates a bit under 5,000 servers in 80+ countries.
• It can unblock plenty of streaming services, including Netflix.
• You can use servers optimized for torrenting.
• ZenMate VPN doesn’t offer dedicated IP addresses.

Number of servers and locations

At the time of writing, ZenMate has a bit under 5,000 servers spread across 80+ countries worldwide. This is an extensive server network that can hold its own even against the giants like NordVPN.

The full list includes:

• Americas: Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Panama, the US, Venezuela
• Europe: Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK
• Asia: Armenia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macau, Mongolia, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, Vietnam
• Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa
• Oceania: Australia

On the official website, you can find a full list of ZenMate’s VPN servers. Here, you can see whether or not they support P2P file sharing and even the cities they’re located in. Lastly, you can check whether you’re using a physical or virtual server.

ZenMate features servers optimized for streaming and torrenting. Each streaming server has a tag that indicates which streaming platforms it supports. You can also create a list of favorites simply by clicking the star next to any server.
And lastly, ZenMate apps can also choose the best server location for you based on your physical location and connection speed.

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

ZenMate has servers optimized for streaming. These locations are designed to geo-unblock the best catalogs of popular streaming services.

This group of servers features locations optimized for specific streaming platforms and TV channels, including Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, and many more.

In the table below, you’ll see the results of our ZenMate VPN streaming test:

Since ZenMate’s performance with Netflix was so inconsistent, we asked their support for help. They informed us that they were experiencing some technical issues that caused some servers to stop working. These problems would soon be resolved. Although this wasn’t the case two days later, we assume it’ll be fixed in the future.

In conclusion, there are some problems with Netflix and ZenMate, but we expect that they will resolve these issues relatively quickly.

ZenMate VPN and torrents

ZenMate is a good VPN for torrenting. We were able to download files very quickly and easily when using the nearby locations. On distant servers, things started to slow down, but we were still able to finish our downloads fairly quickly.

Each server comes with some useful tags, including distance and load indicators. This allows you to pick the best option for you and avoid lag and server crowding.

You don’t need any additional options or settings for this. You just need to make sure that you use one of the servers under the “For torrenting” tab. In conclusion, if you can’t imagine a day without giving your uTorrent a spin, then ZenMate won’t disappoint you.

Dedicated IP address

Currently, ZenMate VPN doesn’t offer dedicated IP addresses. This means you can only use servers through which you share an IP address with multiple people.

An advantage of this is that it protects your privacy: if everyone uses the same IP, it’s more difficult, although not impossible, to track data traffic back to one person. However, without dedicated IP addresses, the likelihood that IPs are blocked by websites that reject proxies is much higher.

Our Experience with ZenMate VPN

ZenMate VPN is a very intuitive VPN that is easy for the average internet user to comprehend and navigate. Their website is direct-to-the-point, and software installation process is completed in no time at all.

The software itself is also user-friendly, although it has limited options. However, this is often a benefit for novice users or users who want to get started quickly without too much fuss. ZenMate’s VPN service is affordable (though not the cheapest), and it’s made more enticing by a 30-day money-back guarantee and seven-day free trial.

A big plus of ZenMate VPN is that it has separate servers for various streaming platforms, including Netflix and the BBC. There are also specialized servers for P2P traffic. By providing these specific servers, they make unblocking online content much easier, although the various Netflix servers don’t always work.

Finally, according to their privacy statement, ZenMate VPN doesn’t keep logs. Overall, ZenMate VPN is a very decent VPN that is especially useful for beginners and works with streaming and torrenting.