AdGuard VPN Review 2026: Free Plan, Pricing and Privacy Gaps
Our AdGuard VPN review covers pricing, the 3 GB free plan, logging policy, missing audits, speed reports and alternatives, so you can decide if it is worth it.
By Simple Life Reviews · Updated
This review was researched and drafted with AI assistance from publicly available tests and owner reports, then run through automated fact and source checks and an editorial pass. We did not test the product hands-on. How we review
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Our rating
AdGuard VPN offers clean leak results, a working kill switch and fair long-term pricing, but no independent audit backs its no-logs claim and RTINGS found the policy keeps usage metadata and allows sharing with subprocessors.
Ratings by product
- AdGuard VPN
AdGuard is best known for its ad blocker, and its VPN leans heavily on that name. If you are searching for an AdGuard VPN review, you probably want two answers: is the VPN good enough to pay for, and can you trust it with your traffic? To find out, we read the leading independent reviews, compared the plans and refund terms on AdGuard's own site, and gathered every complaint those reviewers raised. This article covers the VPN only, not AdGuard's standalone ad blocker.
Verdict
AdGuard VPN suits people who want an inexpensive long-term VPN for everyday browsing, public Wi-Fi and some streaming, from a company with a long history in tracker blocking. Skip it if you need an independently audited no-logs policy, port forwarding for torrents, or low ping for online games far from Europe, because reviewers found gaps in all three. The free version is a fair way to try it before you pay.
Quick answers
- Is it free? There is a free version with 3 GB of traffic a month on 2 devices, according to AdGuard VPN. Paid plans remove the data cap.
- Is it safe? Independent leak and kill switch checks came back clean, but no outside audit verifies the privacy claims.
- Does it keep logs? AdGuard says it keeps no activity or connection logs, yet its policy does retain some usage metadata (details below).
- Cheapest plan with a refund? The annual plan. The monthly plan has no money-back guarantee.
- Who runs it? AdGuard Software Limited, headquartered in Cyprus.
AdGuard VPN at a glance
Here are the basics, each taken from the source named in the row.
| Feature | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| Maker | AdGuard Software Limited, headquartered in Cyprus (Tom's Guide) |
| Locations | 75+ locations, according to AdGuard VPN |
| Devices | Up to 10 at once on paid plans, 2 on the free version (AdGuard VPN) |
| Apps | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Android TV, plus Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera extensions (AdGuard VPN) |
| Other devices | Router, Linux, Apple TV, Xbox, PlayStation and Chromecast support listed by adguardvpnreview.com |
| Encryption | AES-256 with a proprietary protocol (adguardvpnreview.com) |
| Protocol | TrustTunnel only, developed in-house (RTINGS) |
| Independent audit | None published (RTINGS) |
How many servers? The sources disagree
Server counts change depending on who checked and when. None of these are our own measurements, and none of them line up exactly:
| Source | What it reports |
|---|---|
| AdGuard VPN website | 75+ locations (AdGuard VPN) |
| Tom's Guide (2023) | 65 locations in 53 countries (Tom's Guide) |
| vpnMentor | 800 servers in 70 countries, 65+ locations (vpnMentor) |
| RTINGS (2026) | Servers in 48 countries (RTINGS) |
| adguardvpnreview.com | 75+ locations across roughly 60 countries (adguardvpnreview.com) |
The practical takeaway: the network is mid-sized and spread across every continent, but smaller than the biggest names. If you need a specific country, check the location list in the free version before you buy.
Pricing
AdGuard sells 1-month, 1-year and 2-year subscriptions alongside a free version, per AdGuard VPN. Every paid plan has the same features; you only pay less per month by committing for longer.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Limits | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free (AdGuard VPN) | None | 3 GB of traffic per month, 2 devices | Not needed, this is the free version |
| 1-month | $11.99 a month (01net) | Monthly | 10 devices | No money-back guarantee |
| 1-year | $47.88 a year, which works out to $3.99/mo (01net) | Yearly | 10 devices | 30-day refund |
| 2-year | $71.76 every two years, which works out to $2.99/mo (01net) | Every two years | 10 devices | 30-day refund |
Refunds and cancellation. The money-back guarantee only covers annual and two-year plans bought directly from AdGuard. Requests made within 30 days are granted whatever the reason; after that, each case is decided at the company's discretion, renewals and upgrades get no partial refunds, and the money usually arrives within 5 to 10 business days (AdGuard VPN). The subscription switches off as soon as the refund goes through, and you ask for it by emailing support. If you bought through a reseller, that seller's own policy applies.
The two-year total is murky. 01net lists $71.76 every two years for the long plan. adguardvpnreview.com instead puts it at about $119 upfront, and its September 2026 capture of the euro storefront showed €2.69/mo for two years and €10.79 for one month, with VAT possibly added on top. Prices shift with region and promotions, so read the checkout total carefully before you pay.
The monthly plan is the expensive door. It costs far more per month than the long plans and comes with no refund. If you want a safety net, the annual plan is the cheapest refundable way in.
The free plan
The free version gives you 3 GB of traffic each month on 2 devices, according to AdGuard VPN. vpnMentor adds that verifying your email earns an extra 1 GB and adding a second device earns another, which beats TunnelBear's 2 GB allowance but trails Proton VPN, whose free offer has no bandwidth cap. The catch is speed and choice: Tom's Guide reports a 20 Mbps connection cap on the free tier, and vpnMentor says free users only get a handful of locations. Treat it as a trial or an emergency backup, not your daily VPN.
Security & data: is AdGuard VPN safe?
This is the part that decides whether AdGuard VPN belongs on your shortlist, so it is where we spent the most reading time.
Logging policy
AdGuard says it stores no activity or connection logs and gathers only minimal technical information that cannot be tied to what you do online. The fine print is less tidy. RTINGS went through the privacy policy and found that AdGuard records usage metadata covering 90 days of data usage, and that its data processing agreement lets data flow to subprocessors and to unnamed companies inside its corporate group. That clashes with the policy's promise not to share your data with other organizations. RTINGS also flags terms of service that force arbitration in disputes and give no clear timeline for deleting your data. None of this means your browsing is recorded, but more is kept than a plain no-logs claim suggests.
No audit and a single in-house protocol
The biggest gap is proof. RTINGS found no independent security or privacy audit, and points out that AdGuard's own TrustTunnel is the only protocol available, so you cannot fall back on a standard one if it misbehaves on your network; on the plus side, it accepts cryptocurrency, although sign-up still needs an email address and password. Tom's Guide lists the missing audit, closed-source software and proprietary protocol among its reasons to hesitate. vpnMentor answers its own audit question with a flat no. And adguardvpnreview.com says the lack of a published third-party audit is exactly where AdGuard trails privacy-first services such as ProtonVPN and Mullvad.
Jurisdiction and ownership
AdGuard VPN is run by AdGuard Software Limited, which Tom's Guide says was started in Moscow in 2009 by Russian developers and is now headquartered in Cyprus, an EU member that follows GDPR and, as far as that reviewer knows, belongs to no surveillance alliance like the 14 Eyes. AdGuard has told reviewers that most of its staff now work from Cyprus and that it keeps no data in Russia or on servers owned by Russian companies. Whether the Russian origin bothers you is a personal call, but the company is open about its history.
Encryption, kill switch and leaks
On the technical basics, reviewers agree it holds up. adguardvpnreview.com lists AES-256 encryption and a real kill switch, and saw no DNS or WebRTC leaks during its September 2026 session. vpnMentor found no leaks across 10+ servers checked over 3 days. A split tunneling feature, called Exclusions, lets you keep chosen sites or apps outside the VPN, which is handy for banking apps that dislike VPN addresses.
If you are also rethinking how your inbox handles your data, our Aqua Mail review looks at the email side of the privacy question.
Speed, streaming, gaming and torrenting
The numbers below are other publications' measurements, not ours. Results depend on the server, the distance and the tester's own line, and some of these reports are a few years old.
| Reviewer | What they measured |
|---|---|
| TechRadar (Nov 2023) | About 65 Mbps without the VPN, around 10 Mbps with it, on Windows (TechRadar) |
| Tom's Guide (Aug 2023) | 58.73 Mbps down and 23.18 Mbps up on a 100 Mbps line (Tom's Guide) |
| vpnMentor | Drops of 0.5% on nearby servers and 25% on distant ones, 43% in Australia and 52% in Japan (vpnMentor) |
| adguardvpnreview.com (Sep 2026) | Kept 46% of baseline download via Marseille and 68% via New York (adguardvpnreview.com) |
Read together, these describe a VPN that handles browsing, video calls and HD video on a decent connection but rarely ranks among the fastest. The most recent of those reviews also flags a repeated pattern of speed complaints after purchase, which is one more reason to try the free version on your own network before committing.
Streaming, gaming and torrenting: what reviewers found
| Reviewer | Streaming | Gaming and torrenting |
|---|---|---|
| vpnMentor | Netflix, Disney+, Max, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, ESPN and ITVX worked on paid servers; the free version failed with Prime Video | Pings above 100ms from Kenya, with the fastest Netherlands server above 155ms; a 798.2MB torrent took 9 minutes 38 seconds versus 4 minutes 35 seconds without the VPN |
| Tom's Guide | Called the unblocking results poor, though paid plans include US Netflix access | — |
| adguardvpnreview.com | BBC iPlayer played during its September 2026 session | — |
| 01net | The free plan offers no streaming; recommends ExpressVPN or Surfshark for wider catalog access | Pings of 40-80 ms on European servers; torrenting allowed on every server with no restrictions |
| RTINGS | — | Rated well for torrents, but no port forwarding, which can cap how many peers you reach |
| TechRadar | Works with streaming platforms | Torrenting supported |
The pattern is consistent enough to act on. On a paid plan, the major streaming services usually work, without any guarantee; the free version is not built for streaming. Gamers close to European servers may be fine, while players far away saw heavy lag. Torrenting works, but heavy seeders who rely on port forwarding have better options.
Does AdGuard VPN block ads?
Partly. The Android and iOS apps include built-in DNS protection that blocks ads and trackers, per AdGuard VPN. For thorough ad blocking across all your devices, AdGuard sells its ad blocker as a separate product.
Support
Support is the weak spot reviewers mention most. TechRadar notes there is no live chat or phone line and suggests ExpressVPN if you want those. vpnMentor says email is the only channel: its first question waited nearly 4 days for an answer, some follow-ups took more than 10 hours, and others came back in under 20 minutes. If you expect quick help when something breaks, factor that in.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Low long-term prices, with a money-back window on annual and two-year plans
- A free version that is genuinely usable for testing
- Clean leak results and a working kill switch across several reviews
- Built-in DNS ad and tracker blocking in the mobile apps
- Generous device allowance on paid plans
- Apps for major desktop, mobile, TV and browser platforms
Cons
- No independent audit of the no-logs claim
- Privacy policy retains usage metadata and allows sharing with subprocessors
- Only one proprietary protocol, TrustTunnel
- No refund on the monthly plan, which is also the priciest
- Email-only support, with slow first replies reported
- No port forwarding, uneven speeds and high gaming ping on distant servers
Who it's for
Good fit: people who mostly browse, shop, bank and watch shows, want protection on café or hotel Wi-Fi, and like getting ad and tracker blocking from a company that has done it for years. It also suits households with plenty of devices, and anyone happy to lock in an annual or two-year plan at a low price.
Skip it if: you need audited, verifiable privacy (journalists, activists, anyone with a serious threat model), you seed torrents heavily and need port forwarding, you play competitive online games far from Europe, or you want live chat help at any hour.
Alternatives
Reviewers repeatedly point to these when AdGuard VPN falls short:
| Alternative | Why reviewers point to it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Proton VPN | Its free offer comes with unlimited bandwidth, unlike AdGuard's capped free version (vpnMentor) | Free use without a data cap |
| Mullvad | Named alongside IVPN and Windscribe as easier to trust than AdGuard, given AdGuard's audit and policy gaps (RTINGS) | Privacy-first users |
| Surfshark | No limit on simultaneous connections and a 2-year plan at just above $2 a month (01net) | Big households on a budget |
Reviewers also bring up NordVPN and CyberGhost as faster or cheaper picks if strict privacy is not your top concern. And if a free plan is the main draw, our IceVPN review walks through another free option and its privacy trade-offs.
Our ratings
Overall: 3.5/5, because AdGuard VPN pairs clean leak results and fair long-term prices with a trust gap that RTINGS documents, namely no independent audit and a policy that keeps 90 days of usage metadata.
AdGuard VPN
AdGuard VPN, across its free and paid plans, earns 3.5/5: the annual and two-year plans at $3.99/mo and $2.99/mo listed by 01net are good value and the free tier is a fair trial, but email-only support, no port forwarding and uneven speed reports hold it back.
FAQ
Is AdGuard VPN safe?
For everyday use, mostly yes. Reviewers found working encryption, a functional kill switch and no leaks. The caveat is trust rather than technology: no independent audit backs the no-logs claim, and the privacy policy keeps some usage metadata.
Is AdGuard VPN free?
There is a free version with 3 GB of traffic a month on 2 devices, according to AdGuard VPN. It has fewer locations and slower speeds than the paid plans, so it works best as a trial or an occasional backup rather than a daily VPN.
Does AdGuard VPN keep logs?
AdGuard says it stores no activity or connection logs. However, independent reviewers found that the privacy policy still records usage metadata and permits sharing with subprocessors, as the security section above explains. No audit has confirmed what is or isn't kept.
Who owns AdGuard VPN?
The VPN belongs to AdGuard Software Limited, the company behind the AdGuard ad blocker. Reviewers report that it started in Moscow and later moved its headquarters to Cyprus, and the company says it keeps no data in Russia.
How fast is AdGuard VPN?
It depends on the server and your line. Independent reviews range from heavy slowdowns to small drops on nearby servers, as the speed table above shows. Try the free version on your own connection before paying.
Is AdGuard VPN good for gaming?
Only if you are close to its servers. vpnMentor saw pings above 100ms testing from Kenya, while 01net measured 40-80 ms on European servers and rarely noticed lag. Competitive players far from Europe will likely want a faster VPN.
Is AdGuard VPN worth it?
It is worth it if you want a cheap long-term VPN from an established privacy company and can accept the missing audit. Choose an annual or two-year plan rather than monthly, since only the longer plans come with a refund window. Skip it if audited privacy or port forwarding is a dealbreaker.
How do I cancel AdGuard VPN and get a refund?
Email AdGuard's support team within 30 days of buying a 1-year or 2-year plan on the official site and you get a full refund regardless of reason, per AdGuard VPN. Refunds usually take 5 to 10 business days, and the subscription stops once the refund is issued. Monthly plans and reseller purchases fall outside that guarantee.
