Trust.Zone Reviews 2024 - Why 8.3 Stars?

Trust.Zone VPN states it has dedicated itself to customer privacy since it launched in 2014. Based in the Seychelles and using watertight privacy protocols, such as a no logs policy and an active warrant canary, it certainly lives up to its mission statement.

Although there is no doubt that its security and privacy features are strong, I was disappointed to find that it struggled to unblock most streaming platforms, and its speed performance was unreliable. It also has numerous problems on its Windows app.

If you want to use a reliable VPN that unblocks streaming platforms and gives you great speeds to watch without buffering, try one of my favorite premium VPNs instead.

Try Trust.Zone VPN Today!

Streaming — Can’t Unblock Most Platforms

Even when I used its self-proclaimed streaming-optimized servers, Trust.Zone VPN failed to unblock platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and others.

Even more, the constant speed drops on its long-distance servers wouldn’t allow me to watch anything without lag and buffering.

Unblocked: HBO Max, YouTube TV, ESPN

Trust.Zone VPN only managed to unblock HBO Max, YouTube TV, and ESPN. This was quite disappointing considering that the VPN promises to unblock any website.

Its US server unblocked HBO Max right away

Blocked by: Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Kodi

On every server I tested, Trust.Zone VPN failed to unblock Netflix. To be sure, I tried the US, UK, France, Canada, and Austrian servers, and all of them failed to bypass its blocks.

The UK server could not access BBC iPlayer either. Although I managed to get into the platform, once I selected a show, a warning banner came up at the top of the screen telling me the service only works in the UK due to rights issues. Since I was connected to a UK server, this was frustrating.

BBC iPlayer knew I wasn’t in the UK

Although the US server managed to unblock HBO Max, I couldn’t get access to Hulu. The streaming service blocked my attempts at the login screen and told me it knew I was using a VPN.

I couldn’t get past Hulu’s login screen with Trust.Zone’s US servers

I also tried to get into Amazon Prime video using servers in a number of different countries, but each time it knew I was connected to a VPN. This prevented me from watching any movies or shows, as APV does not allow the use of a VPN to watch its content. A good quality VPN sometimes manages to get past its blocks, but I had no luck with Trust.Zone.

There was no way for me to get past APV’s geoblocks

Even though Trust.Zone’s US server managed to get me into HBO Max, I can’t recommend it for streaming. Most of the platforms I tried blocked me right away or came up with an error telling me that I was using a VPN.

If streaming is a big part of your internet use, I recommend you use one of my top VPNs for streaming shows and movies from anywhere.

Speeds — Disappointing on Most Servers

Trust.Zone VPN’s speeds were generally slow on local servers, and its international locations gave me some interesting results. During my speed tests, I looked at:

• Download speed — this measures the amount of data you can transfer per second. Faster download speeds mean you’ll have less buffering or lag during streaming.
• Upload speed — indicates how much data you can send data through your connection at any given time.
• Ping — refers to how long it takes for your device’s data to reach its intended location. Unlike speed readings, the higher your ping, the more lag you have.

Local Speeds

I started my tests with a base reading of 48 Mbps, an upload speed of 26.09 Mbps, and ping of 3 ms. A base reading means the speeds I had on my own home connection without a VPN in use.

My download speed dropped by 18% on the local server I tested, which wasn’t too bad, and my ping stayed strong at 4 ms. When you connect a VPN, you can usually expect a 10-20% drop in your download speed. You usually have better results on servers close to your real location too.

The results of my first test were good

Normally in my tests, when I try countries in a similar geographical location to me, the results remain quite similar. But I tried a number of other servers in Europe and had much bigger speed drops.

I expected these nearby European servers to be faster

My tests on servers in the UK, France, Denmark, and the Netherlands all gave me quite similar results — my download speeds were slowed by around 70%. This is quite significant, as I would hope that my speeds would not drop by more than 20% with a VPN connected.

Speeds of less than 25 Mbps can make streaming in HDR or 4K impossible. All of the servers I tested would have likely given me buffering and lag if I’d been able to connect to streaming platforms with them.

Ping results on these servers weren’t terrible, and I would have been able to game and download large files. However, jumps of 1900% (3 ms to 60 ms) are not what I would have expected from fairly local servers.

Long Distance Speeds

Distance speed tests gave me mixed results. I was surprised to find that the US server only decreased my download speed by 17%, which was a good result. My ping shot up to 138, but that is common when connecting to faraway servers.

I then decided to try a server in Singapore, which was a distance of 9000 kilometers from my base location.

The VPN’s Singapore server gave me dreadful results

The Singapore server was the worst of all the servers I tried, giving me an 82% decrease in download speed, upload speed loss of 56%, and ping of 181 ms. This made online activities such as streaming, downloading files, and gaming pretty much impossible to do without annoying interruptions and buffering.

Here is a rundown of all of my server tests:

Because of the disappointing results on most local servers, I can’t recommend Trust.Zone VPN for its speeds. Though the US server gave me a surprising outcome, it was the only server that performed well other than the server located in my country.

Instead, I suggest you try one of the best VPNs for streaming. These services perform well in multiple countries, unblock most streaming platforms, and give fast speeds for lag-free viewing.

Are Trust.Zone’s Speeds Fast Enough for Gaming? Only on Some Servers

Only a few servers give you the ping you need for lag-free gaming. During my tests, I had exceptional ping on my home country’s server. A rate of 20 ms is considered outstanding, and so having 4 ms would have given me a seamless gaming experience.

Even though I wasn’t thrilled by the slower European servers, 50-100 ms is still considered to be low ping. These servers still allowed me to game with little lag or buffering. The US and Singapore servers were the furthest locations from me and gave me ping results that would make gaming almost impossible.

If you want to use a VPN for local gaming, you should be fine with Trust.Zone VPN’s servers. However, if you have friends in countries that are far away, or you're using a VPN to access bot lobbies, Trust.Zone VPN may not be the best choice for you. If this is the case, why not try one of these VPNs, which are proven to be the best for gaming.

Server Network — Very Small, But Well Distributed

Trust.Zone VPN has a pretty meager 189 servers in 96 countries. This is small by any standards. It’s best to look for a VPN that has a large server network because there’s a better chance there will be a server close to your actual location. When there are fewer servers, slowdowns caused by overcrowding are likely.

The server locations are:

Often, a VPN will provide a number of locations within each country. However, for the most part, Trust.Zone has 1 or a handful of servers in more popular locations such as the US.

It has a small bank of VIP servers too. These are located in India, Japan, Turkey, Israel, the UK, Russia, Italy, Spain, Poland, France, Australia, New Zealand, and the US (its New York location only). I couldn’t find any information about the difference between its standard servers and so-called VIP options.

There are servers that are optimized for specific purposes, such as streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, or Australian TV. However, when I tested its platform-optimized servers in my streaming tests, I was still unable to unblock most of them.

There is the option to choose a dedicated IP address. Unlike the other servers you connect to with the VPN, a dedicated IP means it is not shared with anyone else, and can only be used by you.

Due to its incredibly small network, vague assurances about VIP options, and non-performing optimized servers, I can’t recommend Trust.Zone for its servers. A small network means you’re likely to face congestion as everybody is trying to use the same locations.

Plus, if a VPN tells me I can access a platform on a particular specialized server, I would expect at least one of them to work. Try one of these top performing VPNs — all of them have thousands of locations across the globe.

Security — Keeps Your Devices Safe

Trust.Zone’s security features are generally good and should keep you safe. However, it tries to sell you extra addons that other VPNs offer by default, such as DDoS protection.

Encryption and Protocols

Trust.Zone uses AES-256-CBC cipher, SHA256 authentication, RSA-4096 handshake, and a 128-bit hash algorithm for encryption. This is the highest level available and impossible to hack. It would take someone a few hundred years to decrypt your traffic. Besides, it’s great against brute force attacks, as the keys are incredibly long.

As protocols, the VPN uses OpenVPN, L2TP, WireGuard, and IKEv2. The protocol selection is limited, but OpenVPN is the industry standard — it’s both fast and secure. L2TP alone is not secure and it’s usually paired with IPSec for that purpose, as IPSec is a security-oriented protocol. Therefore, L2TP alone is not a great choice.

WireGuard is the fastest protocol Trust.Zone offers, and slowly becoming the best in line. However, you can only use it through manual configuration. The WireGuard client is a little annoying — the moment you import the configuration files, all the servers are set up on your computer. This turned out to be an issue when I stopped testing Trust.Zone and had to manually remove all its servers from my network settings.

Manual setup can be found at the bottom of the list of compatible devices on the website

It’s pretty unusual to see WireGuard being utilized by a VPN company in this way. Often, it is automatically enabled on the VPN, because of its reliability and speed.

IP, DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6 Leaks

All of Trust.Zone’s servers I tested were fully secure. I ran it through a leak detector tool and no IP, WebRTC, or DNS leaks were detected on any of the servers I tried.

A DNS leak is a breach of your security that allows your ISP to see your internet activity. Not only that, if there was a cyberattack during an IP and WebRTC leak, your real IP address would be revealed. That means you would lose all the protection your VPN should provide.

There were no leaks in Trust.Zone VPN’s servers, meaning that your data is protected.

Each of its servers passed my leak test

Kill Switch

The VPN has a kill switch to protect your devices and privacy. It isn’t auto-enabled, but you are given the option to activate it at the point of installation. A kill switch kicks in if your VPN fails, disconnecting you from the internet completely. This stops malware attacks, IP address leaks, and your data from being exposed to third parties.

I tested this feature by disconnecting the VPN while a web page was loading. My internet immediately shut down and only started working again when I reconnected it. This proved my data and devices were secure.

Auto Connect

This auto-start feature connects the VPN every time you go online. It’s a reassuring feature if you’re always on the go and connected to public WiFi, as it ensures you’re automatically protected. You can also turn off this setting using the menu if you’d rather keep control over when the VPN kicks in.

Double VPN

A Double VPN is available, which is located in the Russian Federation. This is sometimes referred to as multi-hop. It means that you are connected to both a VPN server and an exit server, which changes the IP address before you close your connection. This gives users an extra layer of security as it is even harder for trackers, hackers, and other threats to monitor what you do online.

DDoS Protection

DDoS Protection comes for a fee with Trust.Zone, as it is a paid add-on. The VPN states in its pages that, like all VPNs, having a protected IP address safeguards you against DDoS attacks on all its servers as standard. However, you can also pay extra to have further unspecified protection.

The DDoS paid protection information is vague

From this information, I understand that Trust.Zone has a dedicated staff and technology that looks at algorithms to determine the probability of a DDoS attack and prevent it. However, what I don’t understand is how that is allocated only to the individuals who are paying the additional fee.

When you use a VPN, DDoS protection comes as standard as it applies to its individual servers. Trust.Zone doesn't have many servers to go around, so I find it difficult to see how its subscribers who are paying extra are given anything more than the ones who are not.

Port Forwarding

Trust.Zone recently introduced Port Forwarding to its client. This allows remote locations to connect to specific services within private networks or machines that are behind a firewall or NAT router.

Trust.Zone specifically recommends Port Forwarding to its BitTorrent users, because it increases speeds, allows incoming traffic to reach devices and apps on private networks, and gives remote access to your own PC while you’re in another location. The website gives step-by-step instructions on how to set port forwarding up with the BitTorrent client and Trust.Zone’s VPN.

Because of these features, I can recommend Trust.Zone for its security. It uses secure protocols and has features that are dedicated to keeping your IP protected.

Privacy — Brief Privacy Policy, But Good Track Record

Trust.Zone VPN appears to have a solid privacy policy, although it is a little brief. It states that it only keeps email information from the point of sign-up and that payment information is taken by the payment companies and inaccessible to the VPN.

Its policy is straight to the point but a little short on information

Some VPNs prefer to give more information about the potential personal information that can be stored, and the specific data that is definitely not retained. Trust.Zone simply reassures users by saying its goal is to “maximize privacy.” However, the rather vague policy may not be enough for customers who want to be positive they have full anonymity.

Location

Trust.Zone is based in the Seychelles, which is outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. The VPN’s location means it is not required to provide anybody with information about your internet activities, even in the event of a government request.

Warrant Canary

A warrant canary is a guarantee that the company has never shared information about its users with any form of government body. This is an unusual and reassuring step for a VPN to take, confirming that its policy has protected users in the past and should continue to do so.

You can find more information about its warrant canary on the website

This, coupled with its no-logs policy and company location outside of the 5 Eyes Alliance, means that Trust.Zone is a VPN that puts its customer’s privacy first.

Torrenting — Allowed on All Servers

You are allowed to torrent using Trust.Zone VPN’s servers. It offers unlimited bandwidth, so you’re not restricted in how many files you can download or upload.

You can use Trust.Zone to torrent as much as you like

Because of its strict privacy policies and its location outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance, Trust.Zone VPN is a good choice if you want to torrent. Since its kill switch isn’t auto-enabled, be sure to go into your settings and toggle it to on before you begin though. This will keep your IP and devices protected in the event your VPN connection fails.

I don’t condone torrenting copyrighted files, so always be sure to double-check the files you select to download and make sure you adhere to your own country’s laws.

Does Trust.Zone VPN Work in China? Yes

Trust.Zone VPN is dedicated to bypassing the so-called Great Firewall of China and ensuring its users can use its VPN.

Follow these steps to use the VPN in China

As with many VPNs, you may need to do some manual configuration to connect to nearby servers that work.

Simultaneous Device Connections — Up to 5

Device connections vary depending on which plan you choose. You can have 1, 3, or 5 devices connected at any one time. 3 is a fairly small amount for paying customers and would be limiting for those who want to stay safe on phones, computers, and games consoles or TVs.

Since Trust.Zone has such great device compatibility, it seems a shame that you can’t really make the most of it.