HideMyAss Review 2020

Based in the UK, HideMyAss, aka HMA VPN, dwarfs all the other VPN providers in the market with its commanding market share of over 20 million well satisfied customers from all around the world. Established in 2005, the VPN provider boasts of a well-established network of over 940 servers, located in over 190 countries. It’s one of the VPN services that I certainly had to do a review on, Is HMA actually worth your money? How does HideMyAss compare against other major VPNs such as ExpressVPN, NordVPN, IPVanish, and VyprVPN? We’ll begin this HideMyAss review with a brief outlook of its pros and cons.

HMA Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Free Anonymous Email
• Largest VPN Network
• Free Disposable Email
• 20 Million Active Users
• 30 Days Money Back Guarantee
• 940+ Servers, 350+ Locations

Cons:

• They Keep an activity log (Login & logout times – UK regulation)
• No Free Trial Available
• UK Based Provider
• A day’s wait for email response
• No live telephone support

With a service base that spans over 8 million subscribers per month, none of the other VPN services even come close to the level at which Hide My Ass operates. Let’s have a look at some of the reasons why this particular VPN provider is so popular:

HideMyAss VPN Pricing Plans

The pricing packages offered by HideMyAss Pro VPN are flexible enough to allow you to plan for your payment either monthly, semi-annually or annually. They have 3 pricing plans:

• $9.99 per month
• $7.66 per month for 6 months
• $4.66 per month for 12 months

For a service that has been there since 2005, their plans haven’t changed for a long while. This goes to show how much the company is committed to staying consistent.

HMA VPN Features

With over 121,060 active IP addresses, HideMyAss VPN is going to be the number one VPN provider for a while. Here’s a look at some of their most prominent features:

Secure IP Bind

This feature allows a user to bind particular applications, thus allowing them to only be connected to the Internet via VPN. In the event that there’s no active VPN connection, the application disconnects, preventing your real VPN address from being revealed. This feature is however only available to Windows users but Mac users can apply a secure IP bind by configuring their firewall.

HideMyAss Pro VPN allows you to monitor all connection processes through the connection log accessed on the Dashboard. You also get to fine-tune the HMA VPN connection through the “Diagnostics and Settings” tab from the Dashboard. Also, a new user can access the “Knowledge Base” as a resource for all they would need to know about the service.

Schedule IP Address Change

As the name suggests, this feature allows you to change your IP address to a new random IP at a set interval. While this feature greatly improves your anonymity, the only setback is the brief disconnection that happens every time your IP is changed.

Load Balancing

This feature allows users to enjoy the fastest server connection by automatically switching to a less loaded server based on a regional setting.

HideMyAss VPN Compatibility

HideMyAss provides it’s users with a wide array of supported platforms on which it’s VPN client can run on. This is for both stationary and handheld devices. The OS platforms include Windows, Mac and Linux for PC’s, and Android, Windows and iOS for handheld devices. For Linux though, a command line interface is the default for HideMyAss Pro VPN clients, but users can make a special request to get the alpha version, which happens to be a well customized service.

HideMyAss VPN Servers

As has been mentioned, HideMyAss VPN has an impressive record of servers distributed around the world, with 356 in the US and 300 in Europe. Their numbers in the US make them the largest server owners there, and the second largest in Europe.

HideMyAss Additional Features

Web Proxy

This free service has been an alternative for new users who are not quite familiar with the concept of IP masking and unblocking geo-restricted domains. Its heavy traffic does a lot to cut down on speed despite being a free service.

Anonymous Email

This feature allows you to send anonymous email to anyone through an email address you come up with by yourself. You can configure the email address to get deleted by setting a timer that dictates how long the address is to stay active.

IP – Port Proxies

HideMyAss provides it’s users with an up-to-date database of public proxies that you can use after a one off lifetime purchase of US$24.95. The list will be sent to you daily and sorted out with the fastest proxies first, and organized in terms of connection time, region location, proxy type as well as anonymity level.

File Upload

This nifty feature allows you to upload a file and protect it with a password. Users can share these files as long as they have the required password to open them. They can also specify that only the people using a specific IP address can access and download such files. Aside from this, there’s a self-destruct feature that’ll allow users to set a time upon which a specific file will auto-delete itself.

Privacy Software

You have a choice of 3 privacy tools that can be used to maximize your security online. They are:

• HideMyAss IP Checker: This plugin allows you to check what region your acquired IP address claims you’re in.
• HideMyAss Panic Button: You’re able to hide all your open tabs through one click of this button.
• HideMyAss Web Proxy: This is the button that activates HideMyAss’s free proxy service.

Security & Privacy

HideMyAss VPN provides 256-bit encryption through it’s OpenVPN and L2TP protocols, and a 128-bit encryption through it’s PPTP protocol. The OpenVPN encryption protocol for TCP and UDP both have 128-bit encryption but OpenVPN-UDP is said to offer better speeds and an ability to bypass more restrictions. The PPTP protocol comes with MS-Chap version 2 authentication while L2TP comes with a 3DES/AES algorithm.

Automatic Renewal and Money Back Guarantee

Automatic Renewal for HideMyAss VPN means that the service automatically renews itself by deducting the required service charge while the money back guarantees stipulates that if within 30 days a customer is not impressed with the level of quality of service, then they are entitled to a full refund of the payment they made.

User Friendly Website and Online Access Panel

As part of the unique customer experience, HideMyAss redid their website to include catchy terms and phrases that would appeal to any prospective client. The website is of a professional standard and quite easy to navigate through.

The site also provides for online access to the panel from which you’re meant to configure your connection; a smart little addition that the guys at HideMyAss sought to include.

HideMyAss SpeedTest

For the purpose of writing an objective review, we had to test out the VPN’s speed over different regional IP addresses. Our results were that there was a minor decrease in overall Internet bandwidth on both PPTP and OpenVPN protocol. We recommend using OpenVPN since it gives you good speed and ample security online. Here’s a snapshot of our results:

Customer Support For HideMyAss VPN

What most users may not find as appealing is the short 12 hours per day that the customer chat support facility is available. It really can be stressful when you run into an issue beyond your scope and have no one available to help.

The best resort to turn to would be the HideMyAss community where problems and solutions are discussed and exchanged.

HideMyAss VPN Conclusion

The remarkable customer base enjoyed by HideMyAss VPN is a clear indication that they do deliver on what they promise. The standards they keep are high enough for everyone to remain happy and low enough for the majority to afford.