ZenMate VPN is a hit-and-miss VPN service that will suit the needs of the average user. It unblocks some streaming platforms like Netflix, supports torrenting, and has a cheap long-term plan. However, its selection of tunneling protocols is limited, the speeds aren’t impressive, and it is based in a Five-Eyes country.
In this ZenMate review, I’ll throw some light on the service explaining its every aspect in greater detail. Streaming performance, features, security, apps, and customer support – all will be covered. Let’s find out whether ZenMate delivers on its promises.
Speed: How fast is ZenMate?
So how about this claim of lightning speeds? Since ZenMate didn’t perform all that well on the speed front the last time I tested it, I was interested to see if it had improved.
While speed test results should be taken with a grain of salt, they do provide us with a decent method for comparing the speeds of various providers.
We use a gigabit connection and measure the download speeds of our test VPNs. Tests are carried out using three different test servers, in the US, Germany, and Japan. We repeat tests at three different times during the day, spaced a minimum of four hours apart.
The last time we tested ZenMate, it averaged out at around 32 Mbps which isn’t exactly impressive. This time, though, its average speed was more than ten times that, at 377 Mbps. For context,this places it among the fastest VPN providers on the market.
There was quite a high level of variance, though, with US servers delivering much higher speeds than those in Germany. Regardless, every server we tested was fast enough to handle multiple 4K streams simultaneously.
How private is ZenMate and does it keep logs?
ZenMate’s no-logs policy is a major selling point on its website, but it doesn’t offer much clarity on this point compared to some other VPNs that we’ve reviewed.
The privacy policy is incredibly long at more than 4,000 words, but it doesn’t provide very informative answers to key questions about their security practices. For example, it doesn’t mention anything about how ZenMate handles requests from law enforcement or what its no-logs policy means in practice.
These are particularly concerning omissions, given that ZenMate hasn’t been through an audit – and it’s worth noting that popular rivals ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and VyprVPN are just a few of the top providers that have had their privacy policies verified by independent security experts. Along with a clear statement of ZenMate’s logging practices, an external audit would go a long way toward building its credibility.
ZenMate has over 4700 servers in more than 80
countries. Most servers are concentrated in the US, UK, Germany, and Romania, although there are servers spread across North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Africa
Unlike other premium VPNs, you can’t connect to a server in a specific city. Instead, ZenMate automatically connects you to the fastest server in your chosen country. If you’d prefer to have full control over your server location, ExpressVPN is a better choice as you can drill down to a specific city.
Is ZenMate Any Good for Torrenting? (Yes)
It’s a great choice. ZenMate has torrenting-optimized servers for secure P2P file-sharing — just click on its For Torrenting tab in the VPN app. These servers are optimized for fast speeds and compatibility with torrent clients like BitTorrent, uTorrent, Deluge, and Transmission.
In my tests, I connected a torrenting-optimized server in the US and downloaded 2GB of public-domain books in just a few minutes. There are other servers in the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, and more.
You can also use the regular servers for torrenting — even though your speeds might not be as fast, you’ll be protected by ZenMate’s built-in leak protection, military-grade encryption, and no-logs servers.
Note: The torrenting-optimized servers are only available on the Windows and Mac apps.
Does ZenMate Work in China? (No)
Unfortunately, ZenMate doesn’t work in China. It’s also not a reliable VPN for countries with strict online censorship, including Turkey, Russia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. If you’re traveling to any of these countries and you need a working VPN, ExpressVPN uses proprietary obfuscation technology to help you browse freely and anonymously.
Security Features
ZenMate has all the essential features that I’d expect from a premium VPN. However, it doesn’t have a split tunneling feature on the VPN apps, nor does it offer the advanced WireGuard protocol on every device (only Android).
Military-Grade Encryption — 256-Bit Cipher
Your traffic is encrypted with an AES 256-bit AES cipher and authenticated every time an SHA 265 hash function. ZenMate also supports cipher suites with PFS (Perfect Forward Secrecy). These are some of the most powerful protocols for securely transmitting information across the internet.
