Astrill Review
Astril is both a personal and business VPN service offering OpenWEB, OpenVPN and Layer2 VPN. They currently have 80 VPN servers across several different countries and cities.
While Astrill isn’t a bad choice – we would instead recommend that you instead try either our favorite ( see HideMyAss Review) or you take a look at our list of Best VPN Providers because as of late we have been receiving many complaints about Astrill. Read the technical review for more details or ..
Click here to see our recommended VPN provider lists
Astril Speed Test
 |
 |
Overview of Provider
Astrill is an Australian company that hosts over 43 VPN servers worldwide. The reason that people choose to go with Astrill is because in general having a VPN can protect your privacy and your personal information online. You will be less likely to worry about your data getting stolen by a hacker because with Astrill or a simliar service you will have more security and in addition your ISP won’t even know what sites your visiting or the data that you’re providing.
Astrill Speed Test
The speeds on Astrill are slower than or close to those that you will find with other VPN services. Download speeds of 2.27 MBs and upload speeds of 1.49 MBs were clocked with the Astrill VPN when using a 15 MBs upload and download connection based in the USA. In comparison to other types of VPN services, Astrill is a bit slower than the competition.
Astrill Pricing Plans
There are three packages available from Astrill. You can buy a plan that will be active for 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months, and they are marked accordingly – Package 3, Package 6, and Package 12.
You can also choose between personal VPN and business VPN.
Pricing is as follows:
Personal Plans
- Package 3 = $25.95 USD or about $8.65 per month
- Package 6 = $39.95 USD or about $6.65 per month
- Package 12 = 65.95 USD or about $5.50 per month
Business Plans
(Note: All plans are for one year, and come in small, medium, or enterprise packages)
- Small = $1200 USD per year or $120 per month
- Medium = $5,000 USD per year or $500 per month
- Enterprise = $20,000 USD per year or $2,000 per month
Astrill Setup and Tips on How to Use Astrill
Astrill is rather easy to use because you will only need to complete two steps before you will be online with your VPN server. Simply download and run the application, and you will be able to protect your files and your computer with just a click. Astrill is called a plug and play application for a reason.
Astrill Server Locations
Astrill has 10 servers in the United States, 3 servers in the UK, and 2 servers in Ireland and the Netherlands. Astrill also has a server in Canada, Germany, Portugal, France, and Australia. One of the 3 UK servers is optimized for China. Astrill has servers in 44 countries not as good as some other competitors but not bad either.
Astrill vs. the Competition
Astrill is a well-designed product with some good features but they are not competitive on price or quality. Also, as of late we have been getting some negative comments about the company and their management.
Conclusions about Astrill
While we like their software and the ease of install we suggest you instead check out other providers – example Overplay has better software and HideMyAss (our favorite) has perhaps the best prices for the amount of servers, ip addresses and features.
Share This Webpage
No 
Does Astrill work with Nigerian ISPs
Astrill has an affiliate program with attractive commissions. After siging up, they said that they are no longer able to use Paypal to send my payment (despite still advertising it on their site). They then claimed they were having trouble sending the commissions to my bank. Eventually they were able to use Alert Pay to make small payments. Astrill eventually changed the conditions of the affiliate program (several times) without notifying me or other affiliates. They then erased my login credentials, and still owe me a sum of 2,232 USD, which they refuse to pay, and refuse to acknowledge this situation. Most emails are ignored, and those that are responded to make no mention of this sum of money, and if it will be paid or not. In addition, they are rude and short-spoken, but that’s beside the point.
Extremely inconsistent connections. Most of there servers will work for a short time then totally shut you down. I have to constantly change servers when using Astrill, and while they have a lot, sometimes it is hard to find one with more than 10 Kbps flow.
I’ve used Astrill for a few years now (needed here in China). I left it after the first year, but then switched back when China cracked down on VPNs as my other one couldn’t cope with being blocked, and Astrill could.
That said, I agree with the above comment. Just lately I’ve had to switch out various servers (mainly the US ones) until I’ve found one that works for more than five minutes.
Not as good as it used to be.
I have had unending problems with Astrill and their customer support have proved worthless, which was the same treatment I received from their tech support. Astrill loses connection multiple times an hour, the 43 servers they boast of do not all connect, and in fact most of the time only 2-3 of them are worth even attempting, depending on your location. In short, I can’t recommend that you try something other than Astrill more highly.
I just almost finished 12 months with Astrill. I have had nothing but issues. When I initially paid there was a problem and they closed down the account as fraudulent, probably because my Paypal account has a UK address and I live in China. I instead created a new account and got a relative in the UK to pay from there and it was sorted. The speeds were often pathetic and switching servers made no difference at all. The tech support was really bad compared to other vpn providers and they seemed more concerned with deflecting any possibility their vpn was the problem even though I was having no issues using other free trials elsewhere.
It could be coincidental but one has to wonder……
When it did work it worked well but this was to random and I was not the only one in China to complain about this. 2.7 appears to have fixed a few things but this could be coincidental and it may have just been working well again when I installed the new beta.
My biggest gripe now is that just prior to my 12 months expiring they have accused me of my account being linked to a fraud scheme and terminated it. No real details or evidence just their word and goodbye. I had 4 months to go on top the the 12 as I had used their invite a friend system and gained them 4 new customers giving me a free month as a gift. Funny how after alomst 12 months of service, account expiring on the 16th of March and today being the 3rd, that they choose now to decide there is fraud connected with my account
As far as I am concerned they can STICK their free 4 months where the sun doesnt shine. Reading some of the comments posted from other users plus people I know around my city I am glad to be moving on to another company. The tech support are often quite rood and condescending and seemingly quite happily lead you into an argument when all you were doing is seeking help, trying to use what you have paid them for.
I wouldnt recommend this vpn to anyone unless you enjoy being talked to like you are stupid, risk having your service cut without any notice based on their word they have evidence for soemthing you know cannot be you and enjoy having to constantly change servers as the speed just stops.
Stick it Astrill. You had and conveniently LOST my business. Give yourselves a big hearty round of applause. Great job, Well done all. NOT
I used Astrill for about 10 months from the U.S. I was going to pay for another year when my 1 year approached. But recently Astrill changed all that. I could not log in (error #399). I tried to reset my password on their site. It said it changed and sent me an email confirmation but I still couldn’t log in. I contacted the web support. Mark curtly replied that I should contact level 2 support. He completely ignored my requests for a hint of what might have gone wrong (ignored for about 10 minutes). Level 2 support got back to me in about 1/2 a day. Here is what they sent:
–
Hello,
Your account has been automatically suspended, because you have logged on from a computer connected with one of the accounts involved in a fraud scheme. The computer you kept logging on from is connected to over 112 other accounts, this is considered account sharing and is against Astrill Terms of Service.
Your account has been terminated due to Astrill Terms of Service violation, under section 5. Use of the Services by you
–
So my last message from them is one in which they claim I was stealing their service which just isn’t true. I got no warning, no explanation, no attempt at helping me figure out what had gone wrong.
Up until then, I was perfectly happy with their service. It had a few glitches, but all VPNs do. But I won’t put up with being treated this badly from someone who is taking my money.
As a followup to my post dated March 9: Approximately 48 hours before the March 9 post I had sent Astrill a possible explanation with screenshots of why they might think I had been stealing their service. I told them I would give them 24 hours to give me back my account. Well it turns out that I was right — using a Parallels VM inside of a Mac seemed to set off their alarm bells. Unfortunately for both Astrill and ME, they completely ignored me for over 2 WEEKS! I have since found another VPN provider. I verified beforehand that this VPN provider does not mind my VM setup. This is just too little, too late, Astrill.
For those who are shopping for a VPN service, I would like to share with you the e-mail that I received from Astrill over two weeks too late:
-
Hello,
We have learned that virtual machine caused your account to be suspended.
Your account is now fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
You can use your Astrill VPN account now. If we have refunded you already, you will need to place a new order from Members section (link deleted by Ed).
Best regards,
Astrill Support
-
I hadn’t had a problem with them until I started inviting my friends to join (they offer 1 month for free for every friend that joins). The problem is, it didn’t seem to work. We contacted them and the customer service staff was very “brief” and passive-agressive, which made me very uncomfortable about contacting them, especially because I was helping them to get new customers!
Finally, to get the real proof, I created one account for my friend using the invitation link, in front of me, and it didn’t work – meanwhile I had another friend that was waiting to join but he said he contacted the staff and they told him there was no invitation from me (even that I had sent it more than three times), so the whole thing was a confusion.
I contacted them again and, after a long time chatting with the staff, the guy left the chat room and called me a dumbass! No joke, I have the printscreen and it is as rude as that. I mean, I have never seen customer service like that, it is outrageous. After I evaluated his service, he sent me an email apologising, saying that he was “arguing with his colleague about my problem”, offering me three months for free, like that was going to make a difference at that point. Now I’d much rather go for a refund, but that will make me go through the pain of contacting them again, which I really don’t want to.
In a nutshell, their product is not bad, works on ipad and PC, good speed and ok price, but as a service business they are, in my point of view, the worst company I have ever seen!
I normally wouldn’t complain so much about a service or product, but this situation even made me find a website to review them and hope it helps people to think twice before buying it – because I should have had!