WE put Atlas VPN through its paces for a good week to see if it matches up to the ever-growing number of VPN services out there.
From trying out speeds in various locations, to checking over security, our in-depth review has you covered.
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DEAL ALERT
Get 83% off Atlas VPN
The VPN provider is currently offering 83% off its monthly price. While a monthly subscription will normally cost you a recurring £8.09, if you purchase a 3-year+3-month subscription now, that drops to just £1.35 a month (though you’ll pay a one-off cost of £52.63).
Atlas VPN is actually quite new to the scene, having only launched in 2019.
It describes itself as “freemium” because you can actually use some of its apps and functions for free, with a pretty generous data cap.
For the full unfettered experience and wider selection of locations, you’ll want to go premium – and thankfully the prices are on the low end.
It’s also worth noting that Atlas VPN was bought by rival NordVPN last year, and there are definitely some lessons we hope Atlas will take from its new, more experienced parent, which we’ll explore later.
We have tested this VPN on a Mac but it’s available on all the usual platforms, including Windows, iOS and Android, as well as Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.
Don’t forget to check out our other reviews for Surfshark, NordVPN and CyberGhost VPN if you’re still deciding.
And if you need some more help, have a read of our best VPN apps article or best VPNs for Netflix round-up.
Atlas VPN review: at a glance
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With a cost of living crisis on our hands, price is more important than ever and thankfully Atlas VPN is on the cheaper end – if you’re prepared to pay three years upfront.
Fortunately, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied, so this takes the risk out of buying an annual deal.
One of its stand out features is the unlimited number of devices you can have connected simultaneously, which is something not all VPNs offer, making it even greater value for money.
In a short space of time, Atlas has managed to win over more than 6million users worldwide.
The user interface is less thrills compared to other VPNs around but still fit for purpose.
And Atlas’s limited privacy auditing is also a downside we hope they’ll improve under NordVPN’s ownership.
Tested: August 2022, macOS Monterey 12.4.
Pros
- Low price long-term subscriptions
- 30 day money back guarantee
- Unlimited simultaneous device connections
- Speedy servers
- Owned by NordVPN
- Quick 24/7 live support chat
Cons
- Basic user interface
- Small number of servers
- Fewer locations
- Limited privacy audit testing
What is Atlas VPN?
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As mentioned previously, Atlas VPN is one of the younger VPN services around, having only launched in 2019.
But that hasn’t stopped it attracting 6million people in such a short space of time.
The company is based in Delaware, USA – therefore its Terms of Service are in accordance with the state laws of Delaware.
Atlas was acquired by NordVPN owner Nord Security last year, which is a good sign of where the service is at and how well it will grow.
The firm has only undergone one independent privacy audit in its short life, and this was only for its iOS app.
Atlas has become pretty well known for its free offering, which is quite generous with its data, though locations and features are very limited.
How much does Atlas VPN cost?
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- Atlas VPN, £8.09 per month – buy here
- Atlas VPN, £2.42 per one year (save £68.06) – buy here
- Atlas VPN, £1.35 per three years (save £262.88) – buy here
Atlas VPN is one of the cheapest VPNs you will find.
As is pretty standard, the longer you’re willing to pay upfront, the better value you get.
So you can get a pretty good deal for three years.
Thankfully, there’s a 30 day money back guarantee, so you can give it a good spin yourself and get a refund if it doesn’t live up to expectations.
Annoyingly, there’s no simple cancel button, you have to either email support or use the live chat option.
Having tried the live chat, they are pretty responsive though – and it’s open 24/7.
Those who subscribe through Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or PayPal can cancel themselves if they need to, so that’s something to consider.
It’s important to point out that Atlas’s cheaper prices come at the cost of a far fewer servers compared to rivals, with only 750 or so – big competitors are well into the thousands.
Atlas VPN: server and server locations
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Atlas VPN’s server count currently stands at over 750 across 44 locations.
When counting by country, the number is 38.
Most of them are in Europe, with the rest of the list including Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
You can choose from a handful of states in the US: Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey, New York and Phoenix.
You can’t choose servers by city, nor can you choose from a selection of servers, like some of the big hitter VPNs around.
But you can choose locations specifically designed for streaming fast in 4K, of which there are 12 countries currently supported.
There are some even tougher privacy options, albeit not supported for many locations.
SafeSwap is one of them, which allows you to access the internet from several IP addresses at any one time – this is only available in Singapore, the Netherlands and the USA.
The other is called MultiHop+ where you can connect via multiple different VPN servers in North America or Europe.
Atlas VPN: security and privacy
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From the get-go, when you download the app and install it, there’s a declaration about privacy.
Atlas says it “collects a minimum amount of data to provide a fast and reliable VPN service”.
Specifically, it collects application usage data – this includes data on app events like changing the application settings, as well as the date and time you connect or disconnect from their VPN.
Device data, such as device category, device model name, OS version, language, time zone, coarse location, install source and traffic source are collected too.
Despite this, Atlas VPN says it has a no-log policy and assures users it will “never store or track your online activities”.
“While using Atlas VPN your domains, applications will never be associated with your device, IP address or email,” the firm claims.
From a security standpoint, Atlas uses AES encryption standard with 256-bit keys, which is considered state-of-the-art at the time of writing, as well as ChaCha20-Poly1305.
It offers two types of VPN protocols, IPSec/IKEv2 and WireGuard.
An independent security audit has been carried out by VerSprite but only on its iOS app.
The probe concluded there were “just a few Medium-to-Low risk issues, which proved fruitless to compromise the privacy of the users”.
Atlas VPN: speed and performance
The Atlas VPN user interface is pretty clean and tidy but basic compared to other VPNs around.
There’s no map, for example, which is pretty customary on rival apps.
That has its benefits on the memory side of things, as it only takes up 52MB of RAM power went connected.
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We carried out speeds tests from randomly selected locations and the results were pretty fast.
All came in way above 100Mbps, versus our 224Mbps with no VPN on.
Upload speeds largely held up too.
Below you can see a breakdown without the VPN, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and Spain.
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We gave Netflix a whirl from each location and found content streamed smoothly with few buffering issues.
There was the occasional bump when a stream started but that’s not much different to life away from VPNs.
If you’re hoping to game using Atlas VPN, be warned, as the ping count isn’t very low (remember, the lower, the better to avoid lagging).
We didn’t test it on any games, so be sure to give it a spin yourself early on to see.
How many devices can be supported on Atlas VPN?
One of Atlas VPN’s star selling points is its unlimited device usage.
You can use the service across all your gadgets, simultaneously.
This is a lot more than the likes of NordVPN, which is limited to six and CyberGhost with seven.
However, Surfshark also offers an unlimited number of simultaneous connections.
Atlas VPN: is it any good?
Atlas VPN is a growing young service with lots of promising features to shout about.
The speeds are strong and stable considering the cheap price.
And the fact it offers unlimited simultaneous connections across all your devices is a real perk.
But it still needs to build up its country count and we want to see more independent privacy audits for added reassurance.
Hopefully, with the might of NordVPN now behind it, we could see much more of that coming.
- NordVPN, from £1.35 per month – buy here
How we test VPN services
Our experts at The Sun use Ookla to test the speed of the VPN services we review. We are based in London, and currently testing speeds via Wi-Fi. All tests are conducted using the same machine and at the same distance from the router.
We test and review each VPN using the same processes, and judge them by the same criteria each time.
These criteria are price, server quality and location, security and privacy, speed and performance, and number/type of supported devices.
All of our reviews are editorially independent and free from bias.
Make sure you know your country’s laws and regulations if you’re unsure about how you’re using a VPN service.
Enjoyed our Atlas VPN review? Then why not have a look at our pick of the best VPNs for Netflix in 2022.
We also recently tested out another VPN service – don’t miss our Private Internet Access VPN review.
For additional tech recommendations, feel free to check out our dedicated Sun Selects Tech page.
