PrivateVPN
A low-cost, Sweden-based VPN focused on streaming and ease of use, now owned by web-hosting group Miss Group.
privatevpn.com ↗- Jurisdiction
- Sweden (fourteen eyes)
- Founded
- 2009
- Owner
- PrivateVPN Global AB
- Best price
- $2.00/mo
- Devices
- 10
- Free tier
- No
Best for
- · Budget-conscious users who commit to a multi-year plan
- · Streaming and casual torrenting
- · VPN beginners who want simple apps and hands-on setup support
Not ideal for
- · Users needing audited, court-proven no-logs assurances
- · Privacy maximalists who want a jurisdiction outside the 5/9/14 Eyes
- · People who require open-source clients, RAM-only servers, or multihop
- · Users needing leak-proof defaults (IPv6/kill-switch leaks reported)
Strengths
- ✓Very cheap on the long-term plan at about $2/month (36-month term; official site promo around $1.86/month)
- ✓Explicit zero-logs policy covering traffic, DNS, timestamps, IP and bandwidth, stated verbatim in the privacy policy
- ✓Strong at unblocking streaming services (Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc.) and allows P2P on all servers
- ✓10 simultaneous connections and beginner-friendly apps with free remote setup help
Weaknesses
- ✗No-logs policy has never been independently audited (confirmed absent from 2026 VPN audit trackers and vpnMentor's 2026 review)
- ✗Based in Sweden, a 14 Eyes intelligence-sharing country
- ✗WireGuard requires manual configuration rather than being natively selectable in the apps (native support listed as 'coming soon')
- ✗Small network (~200 servers), no RAM-only/diskless servers, no multihop, and closed-source clients; reviewers report IPv6/kill-switch leak issues (e.g. IPv6 leak on Linux, kill-switch leak during server changes)
- ✗Owned by web-hosting conglomerate Miss Group (PE-backed by Perwyn) rather than a small in-house team
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
| Based in | Sweden |
| Eyes alliance | 14 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | PrivateVPN Global AB |
| Conglomerate | Miss Group |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | None kept |
| Bandwidth | None kept |
| Source IP address | None kept |
Official privacy policy states verbatim: 'we do not collect or store logs of your activity, including no logging of browsing history, traffic destination, connection time stamps, DNS queries, IP addresses (neither allocated IP nor connected IP), data content or bandwidth.' The provider stores only account email and password. The policy has not been independently audited.
| Anonymous signup | No |
| Accepts cash | Unknown |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Unknown |
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | Stealth VPN (Shadowsocks-based obfuscation) |
| Multi-hop | No |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | No |
| Port forwarding | Yes |
| P2P / torrenting | Yes |
| IPv6 | Unknown |
| Data cipher | AES-256 |
| Handshake | RSA-2048 |
| Open-source clients | No |
| Independent audits | None |
| Transparency report | No |
| Court / seizure-tested | Unknown |
PrivateVPN claims it has never been able to hand over usable user data when approached by law enforcement, but there is no documented, independently verified server-seizure or subpoena case confirming this.
| Simultaneous devices | 10 |
| Countries | 63 |
| Servers | 200 |
| Linux support | GUI app |
| Month-to-month | $8.99 |
| Best $/mo | $2.00 |
| On plan | 36 months |
| Free trial | None |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Free tier | No |
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | Unknown |
Launched around 2009 as PrivateVPN Global AB (Sweden, company reg. 559282-2182) and ACQUIRED BY MISS GROUP in 2022, the draft's 'small in-house team' framing is outdated. Miss Group is an international web-hosting group (30+ brands, 700k+ accounts) majority-owned by private-equity firm Perwyn (since 2020); reports in early 2025 indicated Miss Group was being prepared for sale, but no completed onward acquisition (e.g. to team.blue) is confirmed as of mid-2026. No-logs policy is NOT independently audited and there is no documented court/seizure test. WireGuard is offered but reviewers consistently report it is manual-config only and not selectable in-app as of 2026. Crypto (Bitcoin) is accepted, but signup requires an email so it is not fully anonymous. Refund window is 30 days. A free trial is NOT reliably available: a 7-day no-card trial via support gift code is referenced by several 2024-2025 sources, but it is intermittent/on-request and was reportedly discontinued in 2022; vpnMentor and Top10VPN's 2026 review pages list 'no free trial', hence freeTrialDays set to 0 with low confidence. Monthly price varies by region/promo: observed $9.29 (official prices page), $9.90, and $11.99 (vpnMentor), the listed $8.99 could not be confirmed on a primary page and should be treated as approximate. Cheapest per-month is the 36-month plan at ~$2.00 ($1.86 on the official site's current promo).
Sources
- PrivateVPN official privacy policy (verbatim no-logs statement, Swedish jurisdiction, company reg. 559282-2182) ↗
- PrivateVPN official 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee page (30-day refund terms) ↗
- PrivateVPN official pricing page (monthly $9.29; 36-month ~$1.86/mo) ↗
- Miss Group press release via Cision, 'Miss Group acquires fastest-growing private VPN provider' (2022 acquisition) ↗
- Anecta, Miss Group acquires PrivateVPN (2022; Miss Group PE-backed by Perwyn, 30+ brands) ↗
- webhosting.today, 'Miss Group prepares for sale' (Jan 2025; Perwyn majority owner) ↗
- vpnMentor PrivateVPN review 2026 (active in 2026, no independent audit, manual WireGuard, $2/mo, 30-day refund, no free trial) ↗
- Top10VPN PrivateVPN review (200 servers/62 countries, manual WireGuard, closed-source, no diskless servers, IPv6/kill-switch leaks, Miss Group 2022 acquisition, $2/mo 36-month) ↗
- vpnMentor, how to get a PrivateVPN free trial (intermittent on-request 7-day no-card trial; discontinued 2022, sometimes reoffered) ↗
- GreyCoder / VPN audit trackers 2026 (PrivateVPN absent from list of independently audited VPNs) ↗
Last verified 2026-06-17. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.