CactusVPN

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CactusVPN is one of the most trusted Virtual Private Network (VPN) service provider which based in Canada and had been operating ever since 2011. With the continuous growth and positive respond from its customer around the globe, CactusVPN has established itself as one of the well-regarded brand in the VPN market. Besides offering VPN they were also involved in providing proxy solution and SmartDNS services to its customer.


CactusVPN



VPN service is essential for user whom concern about their privacy and security while using the internet. Besides providing online anonymity it also acts as a solution for content censorship imposed by ISP in which user having trouble to access certain website due to geographical restriction.




CactusVPN ensure user online activity is secured by encrypting the connection received and delivered which help to protect the data and information being sniffed and intercepted by unauthorized party. With VPN, you can now rest assure that no one will be able to spy on you even while on the most unsecured connection such as public Wi-Fi network.




Access any website anywhere and anytime without having to worry about your identify being tracked. With VPN you can now enjoy watching your favourite show and listening to music on your favourite website that have geographical restriction such as Netfilx and Spotify.  



Features



Enjoy browsing the internet at fast speed with CactusVPN dedicated server that is constantly maintained and improved which aim to provide user with best security and experience. Currently there is a total of 20 VPN servers in 9 different country for you to choose from.







CactusVPN provide the best security encryption so that user traffic would not be breached and intercepted by unauthorized party while at the same time ensuring that the connection speed will not be affected by in the process. There is a total of 5 different protocol user can choose from depending on their needs






Simply download the user-friendly application provided and start connecting in just a few steps! CactusVPN application are available for Window OS, mac OS, iOS and also mobile Android. Within the application user are able to customize and enable features such as DNS leak protection easily. User also can manually set up VPN connection with other OS/devices such as Ubuntu.




Other worth mentioning features:

-          No logging of user activity.
-          Unlimited bandwidth and speed
-          Shared static IP
-          Free proxy server
-          Multiple simultaneous connections up to 3 connections at a time are allowed.
-          24 hour no restriction trial account available. No credit card required.
-          30 day money back guarantee



SmartDNS
With CactusVPN apart from the VPN user will also able to enjoy its SmartDNS service which is accessible within the application.

So what is the difference?

In comparison to VPN, a SmartDNS does not provide encrypted connections and it doesn’t mask user IP address of the device used while browsing a website. SmartDNS is widely used to bypass geographical restricted website and to access blocked content due to the fact that it doesn’t affect the connection speed which is ideal for user who would like to stream video site.



Feature



Here is the list of server available for SmartDNS users:




The Application


Download and install the program from the website and install it to your system. It is advised to permit the setup file to be run in administration rights.




The main user interface is as shown in the image above. Input your user credential obtained during registration and sign in. There is 2 different tab which you can used to login to either its VPN or SmartDNS services.




Upon signing in user will be presented with the screen as shown above. From there you can choose server location and your preferred VPN protocol used to connect to the server. Each different protocol provide different specification and user should select an appropriate one which best suit your needs. The difference between each protocol is shown in the table below






Click on the “Sort by speed” button to sort the server list with the best speed from your location. Simply click connect and enjoy browsing anonymously!




From the setting list user can customize the behaviour of the application easily. Several setting are available to make such as to run at system start-up and auto connect is available to help enhance user experience.




The App Killer tab allow user to add application to be shut down automatically when the connection drop or in case the VPN got disconnected.




User who encounters difficulties can easily submit ticket via the Support tab within the application.


SmartDNS



Above display the SmartDNS interface. There isn’t much to set apart from to select the website region and also the DNS server. Just click on the big green button to enable the Smart DNS easily.



Note that in the setting tab user can choose the update frequency of IP address in time interval.



Smart DNS can also be easily turned on via the system tray icon and also several option are accessible from there directly.


Speedtest


Note that the speed test is done with PPTP protocol connection


Image above showing speed test result with CactusVPN Korea server enabled.


Image above showing speed test result with CactusVPN Australia server enabled.


Pricing






Final Verdict


CactusVPN is based in Canada which is a pretty safe location to be used for various purposes. The pricing plan is also flexible and reasonable. The App Killer feature is especially useful for users who use VPN for downloading torrent. The application is also neat and users friendly which can be set up easily even for inexperience new user.


Pros:
-          Decent server speed
-          Easy application setup and usage
-          Application Killer feature
-          Zero logging policy
-          Free 1 day trial without credit card
-          Quick support with live chat available from website
-          Accept Bitcoin as medium of payment for privacy


Cons:
-          Rather limited VPN server and country available to choose from
-          Allow only 3 simultaneous connection and between different device user not allowed to use the same server
-          No kill switch feature