Atlas VPN Review 2024

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Our Verdict

Atlas VPN provides excellent value for money as well as a free plan

From our in-depth testing, we rate Atlas VPN as one of the best VPN services on the market. It particularly sets itself apart from its competitors by offering a generous free plan.

Atlas VPN’s customer service could be better, and its network is on the smaller side compared to some other VPN providers, but it remains a standout with its affordable pricing and impressive security features.

Pros

  • Free plan
  • WireGuard protocol
  • SafeSwap servers
  • Unlimited devices
  • Solid performance

Cons

  • Higher renewal rates
  • Small server network
  • App could be improved

DISCLAIMER: On the 25th of March, AtlasVPN announced that they will be discontinuing their services as of the 24th of April, 2024. All current AtlasVPN users will be migrated to NordVPN free of charge.

In our Atlas VPN review, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the VPN provider and its security capabilities.

Many VPN providers say they prioritize security, but few have the features and tools that Atlas VPN offers. Atlas VPN is one of the best VPN service providers around. It offers freemium services with something for everyone, including its signature Shield package, SafeSwap servers, the WireGuard protocol, and the option of split tunneling.

What is Atlas VPN?

Atlas VPN is a relatively new virtual private network (VPN) provider, having been founded in 2019. However, it is one of the best VPN service providers today and is committed to growth as it continues to build its network.

Today, it has over 1,000 servers in more than 45 countries in Europe, the Americas, and the APAC region. Who owns Atlas VPN? In 2021, Atlas VPN merged with Nord Security, and today, it has over six million users.

Atlas VPN Plans & Pricing

Atlas VPN offers both free and paid plans. If you opt for the premium plan, you can choose from a monthly, annual, or three-year commitment.

Plans Atlas VPN Price Features
Free plan $0/month 4 server locations
Premium – Monthly $11.99/month with 14-day money-back guarantee 45+ server locations
Premium – 12 months $4.08/month with 30-day money-back guarantee 45+ server locations
Premium – 36 months + 6 free $1.70/month with 30-day money-back guarantee 45+ server locations

Atlas VPN offers a free plan for users on a budget or for those who want to test its services before making a purchase.

The main difference between the free vs paid VPN is that with the free plan, you only have access to four free server locations – Amsterdam, Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York. What’s more, you only get 5GB of data per month, while premium accounts have no data caps.

With paid plans longer than one month, you get a 30-day money-back guarantee. Crypto payments are accepted for a fully anonymous transaction. You can also get a discount of up to 83% off if you are a student, recent graduate, teacher, first responder, healthcare worker, or member of the military in the U.S. and U.K.

Is Atlas VPN Safe and Secure?

Atlas VPN plans come with a range of security features to help keep your online activity secure and private.

Encryption

Unlike many VPNs, Atlas VPN offers multiple types of encryption. It includes both Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit encryption and ChaCha20-Poly1305 for symmetric encryption and verifying and authenticating data.

Together, they provide superior protection without slowing down your connection or affecting performance.

Tunneling Protocols

Atlas VPN provides some of the best VPN protocols available, with both WireGuard and IKEv2/IPSec tunneling protocols on offer.

These protocols are designed to deliver high security without sacrificing speed. WireGuard tends to work better for those in countries with severe internet restrictions, but IKEv2/IPSec is supported on a wider range of devices and is widely trusted and accepted.

Logging Policy

Atlas VPN is located in the U.S., where it is covered by the Five-Eyes Alliance, an international security intelligence-sharing group. However, Atlas has an audited no-logs policy, meaning it doesn’t maintain or share your data. In 2021, it completed its first independent security review by VerSprite for its iOS app.

Atlas VPN Features

AtlasVPN Enabled
AtlasVPN enabled

Atlas VPN plans come with a long list of features that put it alongside the best VPN providers.

Servers

Atlas VPN maintains a smaller network than most VPN providers, with a little over 1,000 servers. Still, they are geographically dispersed, with locations in 45 countries spread across Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

If you’re using the free plan, you’re limited to servers in Amsterdam, Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York. Premium users benefit from a significantly larger network, as well as faster speeds from exclusive 10Gbps servers.

Simultaneous Connections

When you’re an Atlas VPN user, you don’t have to worry about the number of devices in use, as you can connect unlimited devices to your account. Atlas also allows unlimited data for all of the devices in your household.

Kill Switch

A network kill switch is a key part of Atlas VPN plans. If you lose your VPN connection, Atlas will immediately suspend all online activity until your connection resumes if the kill switch is enabled.

This ensures you’re never left vulnerable when using the web if your connection slips. Atlas VPN’s kill switch is available for PCs, laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

Split Tunneling

Atlas VPN's Split tunneling feature
Atlas VPN’s split tunneling feature

Sometimes, you don’t need all your traffic to be encrypted. Split tunneling allows you to pick and choose which data travels through the VPN tunnel.

You can choose to have sites or apps travel outside the VPN, such as your calendar or Airbnb, allowing you to access a full-speed, local internet connection. This feature is currently only available for Android users.

MultiHop+

Atlas offers MultiHop+, a double VPN security feature. This allows you to access multiple VPN tunnels for double encryption and enhanced privacy.

This makes it virtually impossible to track your activity, as it’s spread across a series of servers rather than just one. MultiHop+ servers are currently available for North America and Europe.

SafeSwap servers

Going one step further than MultiHop+, SafeSwap allows you to switch through IP addresses to keep your real IP address and location hidden and untrackable.

It regularly swaps IP addresses, and it works on a single VPN server, so you don’t have to worry about changing servers, overloading your system, or dropping your connection. Atlas VPN has SafeSwap servers in Amsterdam, Singapore, and Los Angeles.

Shield

Atlas adds another layer of protection on its Premium plan with its Shield feature. While you browse the web, it works as a third-party tracker and malware blocker.

With this in place, it will be far harder to track information about your online activities. It also protects your devices from potentially harmful viruses.

Data Breach Monitor

AtlasVPN Extra Security
AtlasVPN extra security features

The Data Breach Monitor tracks the dark web and alerts you if your personal details are published online following a data or privacy breach. The feature can protect you in the event of a hack and give you enough time to change your settings before your accounts are accessed – something that’s very valuable given the prevalence of cyber crime.

Details it can track include your email address, logins, passwords, addresses, social security number, and financial details.

Atlas VPN Performance

AtlasVPN Dashboard
AtlasVPN Dashboard

Our team conducted in-depth testing of Atlas VPN’s performance and its impact on connection speeds. First, we measured an unencrypted connection to provide a benchmark.

We then accessed different servers around the world with AtlasVPN and measured the impact on the connection speed. This was repeated three times a day to ensure we had a rounded picture of the VPN’s performance.

Our results put AtlasVPN on par with broadly average VPN performance. Downloads ran at around 44% to 50% of an unencrypted connection and uploads at 19% to 27%. This was slower than Surfshark and NordVPN, however, which ran at 73% and 71% for download speeds, respectively. Check out our guide to the fastest VPNs for more detailed analysis.

Atlas VPN Compatibility and Ease of Use

Atlas VPN offers compatibility with a wide range of devices, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV. The VPN doesn’t support any routers, however.

WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSSmart TVs

Atlas VPN for Windows

Atlas VPN is one of the best VPNs for Windows. Getting started is easy, and you don’t have to worry about adding an extra device, given you get unlimited simultaneous connections.

Atlas VPN for macOS

Atlas VPN supports macOS, and you can still use both WireGuard and IKEv2/IPSec protocols on Mac.

Atlas VPN for Linux

You can also download Atlas VPN for Linux. Atlas VPN works as a secure client for i386 and x86_64 systems. At present, it’s only available for Ubuntu, but support for other distributions is coming soon.

Atlas VPN for Android

You can download the Android app for Atlas VPN to protect your phone on public Wi-Fi and get greater security.

Atlas VPN for iOS

Atlas VPN is also available for iPhone. Simply download the iOS app to get instant protection.

Atlas VPN for Smart TV

There’s even a dedicated Atlas VPN app for your smart TV. You can get access to 4K speed-optimized servers that are designed to work with Fire TV, Fire Stick, Apple TV, and Android TV to provide you with greater flexibility. Setup is quick and easy, and you’ll get unlimited bandwidth.

Is Atlas VPN Good For Streaming on Netflix and Other Streaming Services?

Atlas VPN is one of the best VPNs for streaming online and also among the best VPNs for Netflix. There are servers specifically optimized for streaming and gaming, which helps to ensure fast connections, and the service is able to unlock the Netflix libraries for the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Italy.

The service offers easy unblocking for popular streaming apps like Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and BBC iPlayer. Even better, Atlas VPN works directly on your phone or TV, so you can watch shows on your preferred device.

Is Atlas VPN Good For Torrenting?

Atlas VPN supports P2P connections and is among the best VPNs for torrenting. Its security features are great for torrenting with SafeSwap and MultiHop+ servers, and the kill switch protecting your identity, while split tunneling means you can make the most of your connection.

The entire network is marked as being P2P friendly, and the fact that Atlas offers a free plan makes it that much better – Atlas VPN torrenting is a first-class experience.

Is Atlas VPN Good For Gaming?

Atlas VPN didn’t win our vote as the best VPN for gaming, but it’s still a reasonable choice with its global server network. The extra security features help prevent snooping and doxxing, and the connection should be enough to ensure smooth gameplay.

Atlas VPN vs. Top VPN Competitors

To see how Atlas VPN stacks up against the competition, here’s an overview of the best VPN providers.

VPN Starting price Top 3 features Simultaneous connections Number of servers Server locations Free plan available
Atlas VPN $1.70/mo. for 36 months Unlimited connections, unlimited data, free plan Unlimited 1,000+ 45+ Yes
ExpressVPN $6.67/mo. for 12 months Unlimited bandwidth, Lightway protocol, Aircove router 8 3,000+ 105+ No
NordVPN $3.39/mo. for 24 months Excellent compatibility, large network, money-back guarantee 6 6,000+ 60+ No
Surfshark VPN $2.29/mo. for 24 months Unlimited connections, ad blocking, double VPN Unlimited 3,200+ 100+ No

How to Use Atlas VPN – Quick Guide

You may not be sure how to set up and use a VPN if you haven’t completed the process before. Fortunately, Atlas VPN offers one of the best VPN apps around, significantly simplifying the process.

To download Atlas VPN, follow these steps.

  1. Download the software

    After signing up for your plan from Atlas VPN, choose the right app for your device and download it. Installation takes a little under a minute. Then you can find the AtlasVPN icon on your desktop sidebar or your mobile device screen.

    <strong>Download the software</strong>
  2. Log in

    Enter your login details to reach the dashboard.

    <strong>Log in</strong>
  3. Connect

    Click the Connect button to be automatically connected to the best server for your location. At this point, you can also choose a specific server for your requirements and access settings to turn on the kill switch and change your VPN protocol.

    <strong>Connect</strong>

Atlas VPN Customer Support And User Reviews

Atlas VPN offers 24/7 customer service with live chat, but there’s no phone support, as with most providers. The website does stand as a helpful resource, though, with easy navigation and helpful, clear information. Furthermore, canceling your account is also fairly simple.

In testing, we found customer support to be polite and knowledgeable about the product, and they were able to very quickly resolve a simple issue in live chat. However, Atlas VPN reviews on TrustPilot are mixed, with the provider receiving a mixed rating of 3.8 out of 5.0 overall.

A screenshot of a positive review from Capterra.
Capterra Atlas VPN review

Individuals and business owners praised the platform for its intuitive interface and high-quality security features. Many users also had compliments for the platform’s customer support.

AtlasVPN Review TrustPilot
Trustpilot users praise AtlasVPN

Users also noted that while the product was affordable, it compared well with premium products. Where customers had negative reviews, they typically related to struggling to be able to achieve or maintain a stable connection.

How We Tested Atlas VPN

All our VPN reviews are based on in-depth, hands-on testing, following a standardized assessment methodology. There are several factors we considered in our AtlasVPN review.

  • Features – We analyzed several key Atlas VPN features, such as its network kill switch, split tunneling, and SafeSwap server network, to explore how it protects and secures user activity.
  • Performance – Our team roadtests the VPN service to assess its performance and reliability.
  • Usability – Some users may be new to a VPN, so we look for user-friendly VPN software with a simple interface that is easy to follow and plenty of support options.
  • User feedback – We combine our own experiences with those of everyday users to get an in-depth look at the customer experience that Atlas VPN delivers and how users find the product in the long run.
  • Price – Budget is a key consideration, so we compared Atlas VPN’s pricing and features against other VPN service providers to provide context on where it sits in the competitive field.

Our Other VPN Guides

Our team have put together a wide range of resources on the best VPN and cybersecurity products today. Check out these guides for more on the best VPNs:

FAQs

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Atlas VPN vs NordVPN – which is better?

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Does AtlasVPN keep logs?

Lena Borrelli
Technology writer
Lena Borrelli
Technology writer

Lena Borrelli is a contributor to Techopedia where she specializes in all things tech-related. She has spent several years within the tech space, first working for a web marketing company and now as a freelance writer for her company, LilyMarie Creative. Her work has most recently been published on sites like Forbes, ZDNET, TIME, ADT, Android Police, and Home Advisor.

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