HideMyAss, abbreviated as HMA is a UK-based firm that uses the famous slogan that says, ‘More VPN for your money’. With regards to user privacy, this company has been subject to lots of controversy. But they have also made several changes with high hopes of winning back their lost subscribers.
HideMyAss Review – Good VPN Option In 2020
Did HMA be successful in regaining its lost position and can you invest your money in this VPN providing company?
It is strong enough to compete with other competitor companies like CyberGhost, NordVPN or ExpressVPN? Let’s take a quick look at the review of HideMyAss VPN so that you may know how it works.
A summary of HMA
HMA or HideMyAss is one of the most famous VPN providers that boasts of having a large network of more than 1000 servers spread over a stretch of more than 190 countries. Some of the biggest strengths of VPN are impressive speeds, user-friendly interface and capability of eliminating geoblocks, even that of Netflix.
The latest update of HMA is its version 5. This new version includes auto-generated diagnostics mode, new features of design and many other things.
This is undoubtedly one of the most interesting update and the Lightning-mode is the most popular feature of this update. After this update, you can also connect to the closest and fastest server automatically and instantly.
HMA also offers sturdy security and you’ll be relieved to know that all their apps are safeguard by military grade encryption. In fact, the Android, Windows and Mac users enjoy added protection due to that smart kill switch.
This VPN also maintains a strict no-log policy for all of its compatible devices that are mentioned in their official website.
The only downside of HMA VPN service is that you don’t get an option to go for a month-to-month subscription.
Streaming and other services at HMA
HMA is a company that claims to offer an extremely effective VPN connection for bypassing all sorts of geolocation blocks, including Netflix that is infamous for its tough blocks.
This VPN network has 5 different specialty servers that are especially optimized for streaming and this ensures that you can watch your best stream HD content without any kind of buffering issues.
There are several users who have conducted streaming tests by connecting to the American servers of HMA. HMA’s three specialty streaming servers are located in America and hence this is indeed great for getting access to streaming content of US.
Users have reported that they were lucky enough to be able to stream Netflix on every possible server that they tried. The quality was also exceptional with no buffering or lagging issues.
They also tried BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. HMA could successfully unblock all the aforementioned streaming services through various servers.
Not even once were the users blocked. However, the only big platform that could not be accessed no matter what was Disney+. Though this is a rather new service yet other VPNs like NordVPN gives access to this too.
Pricing and plans of HMA
Once you head off to the official pricing page of HideMyAss, you will see that the company lacks on plans as they only have a 1 year and a 3 year option. However, actually, HMA has got other plans than the competitors and their plans are not too easy to be found on their website.
Their monthly plan is set at a price of $11.99 and this is well within the range of what you would expect from a top-notch VPN. On the other hand, they have 6-month plan that is much more expensive than what you’d like at $7.99 in a month.
The pricing will drop to $5.99 over a year, $4.99 over 2 years and $3.99 over 3 years. In case you seem to be satisfied with the services of the company, these are certainly not bad prices.
The Business Plans of HideMyAss allow you to support more connections at the same time. This is priced within the Family plan which is around $13 a month for 10 connections and $26 for 20 connections and $39 for 30 connections. If you need more, they also offer you tailored quotes.
No matter which plan you choose, they don’t accept Bitcoins but they do support PayPal and other cards. Through their 7-day free trial, you get a decent time span to test their services and this is something that you may not get with most other competitors. You have to enter your payment details and you will be billed automatically for the yearly plan as and when the trial ends.
In case you buy this VPN service and then you face some issues, you will be protected by the money-back guarantee within 30 days. This clause also had few annoying catches but they have now been eliminated. Now if you go through their small print, you’ll find it to be most generous than most other competitor providers.
Logging and Privacy of HMA
HideMyAss has too much to go through in the small print where there are 10 separate sections which are lengthy enough. What is the reason behind this cluster of words in the small print section?
This is mainly because HMA moved the main sections into different articles thereby making them easier to find. Most of them are written perfectly and structured clearly.
Once you go through their privacy policy, you’ll see that there is no logging of IP addresses, DNS queries or other details on the sites that you’re visiting or checking online.
However, there is some session logging. HMA records the timestamp of each session connect and disconnect, a subnet of the IP address that you used for connecting to this service.
A checklist of Pros and Cons of HMA
PROS
- Unblocks US and UK Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
- Fast speed for streaming.
- Allows P2P.
- Leverages strong encryption.
- User-friendly apps for the major OS-es.
- Live chat support.
- No-logs policy.
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
CONS
- Had privacy issues in the past.
- Slow servers at few places.
- Minimum term is 1 year.
- Doesn’t operate in China.
So, experts highly recommend HMA for a user that is looking for a trustworthy and reliable VPN connection. However, if you’re located in China, you have to continue your search.