• The main difference between CyberGhost and hide.me is that CyberGhost has a cheaper long-term plan, but hide.me offers a completely free VPN.
• If you need a dedicated IP address, opt for CyberGhost as hide.me doesn’t provide this feature.
• Although hide.me has a lot to offer, we consider CyberGhost to be the better VPN. It offers more server locations, cheaper pricing and a longer money-back guarantee. 

Facts & Expert Analysis: hide.me and CyberGhost

• hide.me Protocols: We’re happy with hide.me’s decision to phase out a raft of obsolete protocols due to security issues, including PPTP and L2TP/IPsec. 
• Speed Tests: CyberGhost is the faster VPN, though their speed tests were close. Given its specialized servers, you’re more likely to have a smooth experience with demanding tasks such as streaming and torrenting.
• Parent Companies: CyberGhost is part of the Kape Technologies family, though we couldn’t find any evidence of direct interference by the parent company. Meanwhile, hide.me is owned by eVenture Ltd., a Malaysia-based company.

Comparison Winner

www.cyberghostvpn.com

$2.37 / month

(save 81%) (All Plans)

Visit CyberghostReview

We found that CyberGhost was the best VPN in this comparison for a couple of reasons. Not only does it give you more servers to choose from, but it’s also the more affordable premium VPN of the two. However, hide.me gives CyberGhost a good run for its money in terms of key features, geo-unblocking ability and buffer-free streaming, plus offering a free plan. 

Editor’s Choice

www.cyberghostvpn.com

$2.37 / month

(save 81%) (All Plans)

Visit CyberghostReview

As an integral part of any good VPN service, a kill switch cuts off your internet connection when your VPN connection drops. This protects your data and online activity from being exposed to your internet service provider (ISP) or anyone else.

You can easily access hide.me’s kill switch through the
main settings.

CyberGhost buries its kill switch within its privacy settings on all its desktop and mobile apps. Meanwhile, hide.me’s kill switch is available only on Mac and Windows apps, but it is easier to locate within the main VPN settings. 

Split tunneling is a useful feature that lets you handpick which apps and websites go through your VPN connection and which are accessed through your normal, unprotected connection. For example, this would allow you to hide your torrenting activity behind a VPN while using your unprotected connection for regular browsing. 

CyberGhost’s desktop apps offer split tunneling under the “exceptions” tab in the “smart rules” setting.

Both CyberGhost and hide.me limit split tunneling capabilities — hide.me only offers it onWindows, Mac and Android, and CyberGhost restricts it to Windows and Android only. In CyberGhost’s desktop apps, setting up split tunneling is done through the “smart rules” feature, whereas hide.me has a simple split tunneling option found in its settings.

Both VPN providers have dedicated apps for all of the following devices and operating systems: 

Each one also offers free browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, and they can even be configured for SmartTV setups such as Android TV, Apple TV and Amazon Firestick. Both VPNs can be installed on routers as well. 

Both CyberGhost and hide.me VPN offer live chat and email as support options, along with useful knowledgebases for self-guided troubleshooting. 

hide.me VPN has an official support forum, though it’s not utilized well.

In this comparison, hide.me is the only one that offers an official community support forum, though CyberGhost does have a subreddit. Unfortunately, neither resources are well maintained.

In head-to-head speed tests, CyberGhost and hide.me turned in widely varying results, but there’s no clear winner. In general, hide.me has faster download speeds, while CyberGhost has faster upload speeds and lower latencies. This suggests hide.me is better for general browsing activities, while CyberGhost is superior for live streaming and gaming.

Let’s take a look at CyberGhost’s average speed performance first:

Download Speed (Higher is better)

Upload Speed (Higher is better)

Latency (Lower is better)

Source: Cloudwards VPN Speed Test. We test daily. Data from 04/16/24 to 05/14/24

Data for region: AllUSUKAUBRSASG

Its low average download speed is mainly due to inconsistency. It’s incredibly fast in some times and places, but lags in others. On the other hand, upload speeds stayed quite steady, never varying for us beyond a 1 Mbps range. Latencies, which are important for gaming and other live activities, also averaged lower than hide.me (remember, for ping, lower is better).

Now let’s examine how hide.me performed. 

Location:Download (Mbps)Upload (Mbps)Ping (ms)

Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. (unprotected)	58.53	5.86	18
USA (fastest)	56.04	5.56	25
UK	54.49	5.48	303
Brazil	51.54	5.14	398
South Africa	31.66	3.89	669
Singapore	39.55	2.08	519
Australia	48.74	5.30	332
Average:	47.00 (80%)	4.58 (78%)	374 (2078%)

When averaged across the entire world, hide.me is much faster on average. Our practical experience bore this out, as static web pages and video worked more smoothly than they did on CyberGhost.

Having simultaneous connections means you can protect multiple devices with a single VPN subscription. hide.me’s Premium plan triumphs in this area, allowing you to connect up to 10 devices compared to CyberGhost’s seven. If you want other VPN suggestions, read our best VPNs for multiple devices guide.

Simultaneous Connections

Number of Simultaneous Connections	1 (free version) 10 (premium version)	7

hide.me keeps its actual number of VPN servers close to its chest, revealing only that it has IP addresses in 89 different server locations across six continents. CyberGhost offers 11,800 servers in its 100 locations, a good sign that its resources aren’t spread too thin.

Region:

Total Countries	55	100
The Americas	7	18
Europe	31	45
Asia-Pacific/Other	17	37

While both providers are among the most affordable VPNs on the market, CyberGhost narrowly wins out as the cheaper of the two. Its best deal costs $2.37 per month (two-year plan), compared to hide.me’s $4.58 per month (one-year plan). 

However, hide.me’s free plan is where this VPN triumphs, earning it a reputation as one of the best free VPNs around. In contrast, CyberGhost has no free plan. CyberGhost’s brief free trial is limited to 24 hours on the Mac and Windows apps, three days on Android and seven days on iOS. 

If you opt for the premium version of either VPN and change your mind later, hide.me offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. CyberGhost goes one step further with a 45-day money-back guarantee on subscriptions longer than six months. On monthly subscriptions, the CyberGhost refund guarantee period lasts 14 days.

Plans & Features

Free Plan
1-Month Price	$9.95 per month	$12.99 per month
6-Month Price	$2.69 per month	$6.99 per month
12-Month Price	$4.58 per month	N/A
2-Year Price	N/A	$2.37 per month
Dedicated IP	N/A	$2.50 per month

In terms of quantity alone, hide.me has more VPN protocol options than CyberGhost. However, a closer look reveals that CyberGhost proactively abandoned support for SSTP due to concerns about its security. 

CyberGhost establishes a secure connection using protocols that VPN experts regard as safe.

Beyond that, both VPN services are pretty similar, offering AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption as well as support for industry-standard VPN protocols. You can read our most secure VPN guide for more options.

Protocol:

OpenVPN	Y – All	Y (Windows and Android)
IKEv2	macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android	macOS, Windows, iOS
WireGuard	macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android	macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
SSTP	macOS, Windows, Linux, Android	N
SoftEther	macOS, Windows, Linux	N