Betternet VPN Review 2022
Wanna see the performance options of Betternet? In particular,
- How quick IPVanish download and upload speed?
- What’s about ping?
- How well does it work on streaming platforms, i.e. Netflix?
- How good is it for torrenting?
- Are there differences in these options for different regions?
Answers to all these questions are here, in this Betternet Review.
Our tests include connection tests, speed tests (download speed, upload speed test, ping), torrenting, streaming. Besides, the review contains information on DNS leaks, routers best for Betternet, browser extensions, devices and operating systems, TV, and finally – customer support report.
Our key finding about Betternet
 | Country of Incorporation | USA |
 | Number of Countries | 10 |
| Number of Server Location | 10 |
| Number of Servers | 80 |
 | Price | free for the USA |
 | Download Speed | avg. 40.63 Mbps |
 | Upload Speed | avg. 17.73 Mbps |
 | Dedicated IP | Yes |
 | Multiple Devices | 5 |
 | Netflix | Yes, unblocked successfully (for the USA only) |
 | Torrenting | Yes |
 | Operation System | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS |
 | Browser extension | Chrome, Firefox, Edge |
 | Does it work in China | Yes |
 | Free Trial | Yes, full refund within 45 days |
 | Live Chat Support | email only |
Servers and Locations
There are 10 servers locations in 10 countries. Mainly, the servers are placed in highly developed countries: UK, USA, Canada, Japan, France, Australia, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands. There are NO servers in Africa and South America. Besides, there are NO servers in Turkey, China, and Vietnam.
There are 80 geographically localized servers. It means that users potentially will get less download and upload speeds.
| Betternet | Industry average | |
| Number of Countries | 10 | 60 |
| Number of Server Locations | 10 | 120 |
| Number of Servers | 80 | 1000 |
The number of servers is essentially less than the industry average. The network of servers is small. It is worse because it decreases download and upload speed. Besides, as far as there are no servers in Africa and South America, the download and upload speeds are minimal there.
Speed Tests
VPNs tend to slow down the upload and download speed. In rare cases, it increases, if the user is geographically close to the server. But in this case, there are few servers, so the VPN only slows down the download and upload speed, as well as increases ping.
We tested Betternet for the Americas (both – North and South), Europe, and the Asia Pacific. We present download, upload, and ping speeds in this section. The upload and download speeds are measured in Mbps.
Download speed
Totally we tested 71 downloads with different countries worldwide. In particular, 15 downloads for the Americas, 26 downloads for Europe, and 30 downloads for the Asia Pacific.
| Header Label | Americas | Europe | Asia Pacific |
| Number of tested countries | 15 | 26 | 30 |
| Failed tests (number of countries) | 0 | 2 (Serbia, Montenegro) | 0 |
| Average Download speed | 7.903 Mbps | 10.41 Mbps | 40.63 Mbps |
| Min Download speed | 3.13 Mbps (Argentina) | 2.53 Mbps (Lithuania) | 5.24 Mbps (Algerie) |
| Max Download speed | 18.18 Mbps (Uruguay) | 57.7 Mbps (UK) | 152.38 Mbps (Australia) |
| No VPN | 147.37 Mbps | 147.37 Mbps | 147.37 Mbps |
The average speed for the Americas was 7.903 Mbps, for Europe β 10.41 Mbps, and for Asia Pacific β 40.63 Mbps. There was significant variation in these data across countries. In particular, the minimal download speed for the Americas was 3.13 Mbps (Argentina), for Europe β 2.53 Mbps (Lithuania), and for the Asia Pacific β 5.24 Mbps (Algeria). The maximum download speed for the Americas was 18.18 Mbps (Uruguay), for Europe β 57.7 Mbps (Spain), and for the Asia Pacific β 152.38 Mbps (Australia).
The quickest connection in the world was 152.38 Mbps (Australia, Asia Pacific). The average download speed for all tested countries was 20.76 Mbps.
Betternet Download speed
| Header Label | Country | Download |
| Slowest | Lithuania, Europa | 2.53 Mbps |
| Quickest | Australia, Asia Pacific | 152.38 Mbps |
| Average (all countries) | – | 20.76 Mbps |
| No VPN Connected | – | 147.37 Mbps |
Betternet Download speed compares to no VPN (for regions)*
.
| Header Label | Betternet | No VPN avg | Difference |
| Quickest | 152.38 Mbps | ||
| Slowest | 2.53 Mbps | ||
| Average (all countries) | 20.76 Mbps |
*Note: We’ve tested, reviewed, and ranked many top VPNs and selected the top ten that are worth your purchase. To do this, we carefully studied their features, market reputation, feedback, and prices.
Upload Speed
The next speed tests were provided for upload speed. Upload speed is more important for streamers. We’d like to note that often download speed is bigger than upload speed.
Totally we tested 71 downloads with different countries worldwide. In particular, 15 downloads for the Americas, 26 downloads for Europe, and 30 downloads for the Asia Pacific.
| Header Label | Americas | Europe | Asia Pacific |
| Number of tested countries | 15 | 26 | 30 |
| Failed tests (number of countries) | 0 | 1 (Montenegro) | 0 |
| Average Upload speed | 15.44 Mbps | 15.31 Mbps | 22.0 Mbps |
| Min Upload speed | 11.33 Mbps (Brazil) | 0.82 Mbps (Norway) | 2.18 Mbps (China) |
| Max Upload speed | 17.76 Mbps (Canada) | 18.84 Mbps (Italy) | 33.36 Mbps (Singapore) |
| No VPN | 33.83 Mbps | 33.83 Mbps | 33.83 Mbps |
The average upload speed for the Americas was 15.44 Mbps, for Europe β 15.31 Mbps, and for Asia Pacific β 22.00 Mbps. There was no upload speed less than 11.33 Mbps in the Americas. The minimal upload speed for the Americas was 11.33 (Brazil), for Europe β 0.82 Mbps (Norway), and for the Asia Pacific β 2.18 Mbps (China). The maximum upload speed in the world was 33.36 Mbps (Singapore, Asia) β close to the no VPN usage upload speed.
Betternet Upload speed
| Header Label | Country | Download |
| Quickest | Singapore, Asia Pacific | 33.36 Mbps |
| Slowest | Norway, Europe | 0.82 Mbps |
| Average (all countries) | 17.73 Mbps | |
| No VPN Connected | 33.83 Mbps |
Betternet Upload speed compares to average (for regions)*
| Header Label | Betternet | No VPN avg | Difference |
| Quickest | 33.36 Mbps | ||
| Slowest | 0.82 Mbps | ||
| Average (all countries) | 17.73 Mbps |
*Note: We’ve tested, reviewed, and ranked many top VPNs and selected the top ten that are worth your purchase. To do this, we carefully studied their features, market reputation, feedback, and prices. The figures below depict test data in the context of regions and countries.
The main reason why a VPN connection will always be slightly slower than your unsecured Internet connection is obvious: before you connect to the Internet, you go through an intermediate stage, processing data using a VPN server.
Ping time out
When using a VPN for online games, you should remember that the response time will not primarily be affected by speed, but by ping. Ping is the number of milliseconds (if seconds, then it’s very bad) your server and/or your device takes to complete one data exchange cycle.
Betternet ping speed, ms
| Header Label | Americas | Europe | Asia Pacific |
| Quickest | 183 (Canada) | 186 (Italy) | 15.68 (India) |
| Slowest | 367 (Uruguay) | 254 (Iceland) | 386 (South Africa) |
| Average | 284.93 | 228.72 | 147.66 |
| No VPN connection | 16 | 16 | 16 |
Betternet ping speed compared to other VPNs
| Header label | Country | Ping |
| Quickest | India | 15.68 ms |
| Slowest | South Africa | 386 ms |
| Average | All countries | 209.81 ms |
| No VPN connection | All countries | 16 |
Betternet ping speed compared to the industry average
| Header Label | Betternet | Other VPN avg | Difference |
| Quickest | 15.68 ms (India) | 65.83 ms | -420% |
| Slowest | 386 ms (South Africa) | 65.83 ms | +586% |
| Overall | 209.81 | 65.83 ms | +319% |
Betternet outperforms the other VPNs in ping speed by the quickest of 209.81 ms.
DNS Leak Test
A DNS leak is a vulnerability that allows third parties to gain access to your online activities. Typically, your device connects to the Internet through an ISP-provided DNS server. As a consequence, the provider has access to all your activities. This, of course, threatens your privacy, and the best way to protect yourself from this is to use a VPN.
| No VPN connected | VPN connected (Betternet) | DNS leak test |
| 172.253.237.2 (Central, Hong Kong) | 67.220.182.196 (Piscataway, United States) | Good |
| 172.253.237.4 (Central, Hong Kong) | – | |
| 172.253.4.1 (Central, Hong Kong) | – | |
| 172.253.5.2 (Hong Kong) | – | |
| 172.253.6.4 (Hong Kong) | – | |
| 173.194.93.1 (Taipei, Taiwan) | – |
Our DNS leak test was successful with Betternet. NO DNS leaks were detected.
Streaming
Unfortunately, Betternet does not work outside the USA (in particular, it does not work in the UK, Japan, and South Korea). In our tests, the test speed in the USA was 720 p. This way, this VPN makes it possible to watch Ultra HD (4K).
Netflix
VPNs should unblock the streaming platform. We selected Netflix to be tested because Netflix is one of the most popular platforms. We considered the following options: Library, Streaming buffer, Streaming quality. We selected one country from each region. The table below shows our testing data.
We only were able to unblock the USA library. This way, the libraries in Europe (UK), Asia Pacific (Japan and South Korea) were not unblocked – so our attempts here were not successful. For the stream buffer (for the USA only), it took 11 seconds to start a video with the quality of 720p HD.
| Header label | Betternet – Library | Betternet – Streaming buffer | Betternet – Streaming quality |
| Americas | |||
| United States | yes | 11 | 720p |
| Europe | |||
| United Kingdom | NO | – | – |
| Asia Pacific | |||
| Japan | NO | – | – |
| South Korea | NO | – | – |
Betternet does not work with Netflix. Netflix blocks Betternet (outside the USA).
Torrenting
Torrent (as the P2P protocol) has simplified the access to large files, including films, videos, etc. And now Torrent trackers are the main platforms for obtaining free content.
Betternet is supported by all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. It is not supported by Linux.
You can even install the Betternet app directly on your router!
BitTorrent with Betternet
In this section, we present data for BitTorrent. To test Betternetβs torrenting performance, we used BitTorrent to download the movie of 3.5 GB. Here we observed the download speed of 416 kB/s with only 0.578 seeders. So, the 3.5 GB file was completed within 2h 35 min. We were disappointed with this result.
BitTorrent with Betternet
| Header Label | File size | Seeders | Download Speed | Time |
| Betternet | 3.5 GB | 0.578 | 416 kB/s | 2h 35 min |
| Other VPNs | 1.85 GB | 0.878 | 2.1 Mbps | 11 min |
uTorrent with Betternet
To provide the close conditions, we downloaded the file of the same size (3.5 GB) for 2h 26 min. There were 0.466 seeders and we observed a download speed of 502 kb/s.
uTorrent with IPVanish
| File size | Seeders | Download Speed | Time |
| 3.5 GB | 0.466 | 502 kb/s | 2h 26 min |
uTorrent with other VPNs
| Header Label | File size | Seeders | Download Speed | Time |
| Betternet | 3.5 GB | 0.466 | 502 kb/s | 2h 26 min |
| Other VPNs | 1.85 GB | 0.219 | 2.1 Mbps | 22 min |
Router
Betternet has no native apps for routers.
Browser extension
Betternet maintains extensions for Chrome (not maintained for the guest and anonymous modes) and Firefox.
Devices and Operating Systems
The premium subscription allows simultaneous usage of 5 devices, but the free version – for only 1.
Betternet supportΡ for the following devices:
- Windows Computers
- Mac desktops
- iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads, and iPods with iOS 12 or above
- Android phones and tablets (only unrooted/unmodified devices) with Android 5.0 or above.
TV
Betternet is compatible with the following smart TVs:
- Disney+;
- Hulu;
- HBO Max;
- BBC;
- iPlayer;
- Amazon Prime Video.
Price
The free download is possible only for the USA.
The Premium subscription plan envisages 2 offers:
- Subscription for 1 month – $12.99 per month;
- Subscription for 12 months – $71.88, which is $5.99 per month..
| Plan | Betternet | Industry Avg | Difference |
| 1 month | US$12.99 | US$9.00 | +44% |
| 12 month | US$5.99 | US$5.00 | +19.8% |
Betternet price is higher than the industry avg. It does make sense since it offers way more servers and the speed is faster.
Discount
There is no discount for Betternet purchases.
Free Trial
The free download is possible only for the USA.
All Betternet subscribers can request a refund within 45 days from the purchase
Customer support
And some words on customer support. Betternet provides email customer support only.
| Header label | Betternet | Industry AVG | Difference |
| Connect to an agency | – | 10 second | – |
| Reply speed | – | 15 second | – |
| Quality of the answer | – | Good |
Conclusion
Betternet provides a very limited scope of services, the benefits are possible mainly for the USA. There are only 10 countries of servers location. It does not work with Netflix (outside the USA). the customer support is provided only by email.