review Review

[qitorin 2]

Here are some thoughts about Airvpn how it compares to other privacy-centric vpns. What I find most valuable about this vpn-service is the fact of comprehensive selection of different features. On the good side -

- Airvpn has really featureful connection programs both on Android and on the desktop clients. After evaluating other supposed quality vpns (Protonvpn, IVPN, Mullvad) I have come to the conclusion that these other vpns do not offer similar degree of customization and combination of simplicity, automation and configurability. These other services do not seem to offer as good as a software suite for linux versus Airvpn. On top of that Android connection program by Airvpn is really good and provides for a great deal of features far and above basic Openvpn client. Furthermore the Airvpn suite provides for a really fast and light connection option packed with options.
- Other providers do not have similar degree of connection settings, resiliency and stats to select from. Port forwarding is really well implemented on top of device specific profiles and blocklists. And thankfully Airvpn saw fit to implement openvpn chacha20-poly1305 for a nice speedup for a more modest hardware and wireguard as an alternative protocol.
- Uptime is in my experience examplary and speeds are adequate most of the time.
- Airvpn is self contained if terms of forums and support and the ownership structure inspires confidence. They also seem to support other important projects in the field of privacy and security.
- Long contracts are really affordable if bought during discount period.
- Community seems to be rather helpful and forums are chock full of useful info.
- An ability to use different crypto currencies for payment.
- And once again - all the other features that are available across the board.


But there are some rather minor bad features in this service
- Possibly it would be beneficial to have an outside party to audit the service throughout and more transparency is always welcome.
- Unfortunately the server selection is rather small compared to some other vpns. This leads to more blocks and less geolocation possibilities.
- Maybe there could be more restrictive blocklists available as a custom option for those who do not mind some breakage.
- Desktop connection program is written with c# and is not native code, thankfully it is still fast and stable but possibly native program would be better. Unless it is considered to be more secure and maintainable as is.
- Current Openvpn3 suite for linux is no longer provided for plain old x86.
- Desktop client does not have dark theme or interface customization like the, admittedly, more important connection settings.
- Possibly it would be useful to have even more obfuscation such as obfs4 et al and/or port selection and testing for post-quantum crypto as well as openvpn-dco for speed.

Down the line and above all I would like Airvpn to get more coverage and users and subsequently more resources for overall operation be it software development or just server selection. Could this be possible through some guerrilla marketing or technical users proselytizing or some other means. But it is a shame such a wonderful service does not have more users to advance the service and all the causes it supports. But great big thank you to all involved for this wonderful service!

 

[Staff 10155]

Hello!

Thank you very much for your review.

Normally we do not comment reviews, but please allow us just a quick "interference" pertaining to the software development.
 

Quote

- Desktop connection program is written with c# and is not native code, thankfully it is still fast and stable but possibly native program would be better. Unless it is considered to be more secure and maintainable as is.

A lot has been done in the last years under this respect. Eddie Desktop edition backend is written in C++ (that's why you see it quite fast even in Linux or Mac), while AirVPN Suite for Linux and Hummingbird for Mac are natively built on their respective systems and written in C/C++. The OpenVPN3-AirVPN library never relied on C#, ça va sans dire,
Eddie Android app also got rid of C# since the early beginning and even the ancient 1.0 version was Mono-free.. The only C# leftover is the Eddie Desktop graphical interface at the moment, and even this last one might drop C# in the future.

Kind regards
 

[qitorin 2]

Here are some updates about Airvpn in general as a user about things that I still like about this service and some rather significant downsides Airvpn has as of late. First of all the connection programs for Android and Windows use are still top notch and full of useful features and are up to date. Unfortunately latest Linux version of the desktop program is a bit sluggish for some reason, maybe because it is native code or some such reason - unfortunately it is not as responsive as it used to be. On top of that no dark theme is available and I think that it would fit very well to dark themed operating system of this day and age overall. The Linux suite of programs deserves separate mention because it is full featured, very fast and light and continuously developed and in comparison the whole stack of programs Airvpn provides are of higher quality than it's closest competitors.
As a sidenote, I do wonder what happened to the rumored newer desktop connection program, is that still under development or is that false information?
What is particularly good about Airvpn is the fact that port forwarding is still available and is even developed further, instead of removing or limiting it like competitors have done. And the user visible client area in the website does provide very good relevant controls - downloadable connection settings and blocklists are a good addition to this service. Good development is that there are more users and awareness about Airvpn which is rightly deserved.

Greatest downside I have noticed lately is the persistent high load servers seem to have and the overall slowdown of service due to that. What I would urge Airvpn to do is to either increase the capacity of pre-existing servers and/or bring up more servers. It seems that the influx of new users has reduced the speed, latency and quality of Airvpn service - which for a long time was just excellent. And still think the server selection in quantity and geographical variety is rather limited when compared to other privacy centric vpn-services. Moreover I would hope that Airvpn would investigate circumventing site blocking on some level - most troublesome I find is the de facto monopoly video service, that being Youtube and it's crusade against VPN-services, which results in blocking most vpn exits. I would still like to see the Airvpn Android connection program on F-Droid app store.
Bare minimum of connection security in this day and age is Internet Condom they call quality vpn connection and I hope and assume Airvpn is still somewhat independent, and does advance good causes.
More exotic request would be investigate more private vpn protocols or integrating dual-hop into connection programs. In closing I do hope that this service has many years ahead, it is still good to have around.