Bitdefender VPN Review

Bitdefender Background

Now with those quick hits out of the way, let’s talk a bit about what kind of company Bitdefender really is. Founded in Romania in 2001, Bitdefender is one of the oldest VPN companies we’ve reviewed. Lucky for us, being based out of Romania means that they’re not subject to the privacy jurisdictions of Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes. On top of all of this, Bitdefender is trusted by some of the biggest tech companies in the world, like Microsoft, NETGEAR, and the Linux Foundation. All of this to say that we see Bitdefender as trustworthy, and other than one of their updates breaking some Windows PCs back in 2010,1 they have a solid reputation with users across the world.

As for the VPN, there has been no indication so far of BItdefender not being trustworthy. We like its Romania location in particular – that means it’s out of the reach of the international communication monitoring alliance called the 14 Eyes. Because of that, Bitdefender is free to maintain a “no logs” policy. That means it won’t log your IP address and the websites you visit while you’re connected to the service; that’s the bare minimum we expect from top-tier VPNs.

DNS and WebRTC Leak Tests

WebRTC stands for Web Real-Time Communications, a standardized collection of technologies that permits web browsers to communicate back and forth with each other directly. There are a vast number of positives of using WebRTC, everything from helping Teladoc control a user’s microphone and video camera straight from the browser to bringing Fortnite back to mobile devices.2 On the negative side, any devices using WebRTC need to know each other’s private IP addresses. Browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Microsoft Edge default to having WebRTC active, so we need to make sure our VPN locks down our WebRTC. We were happy to find that there were no WebRTC leaks while using Bitdefender.

DNS is another potential leak-point for VPNs. DNS stands for the domain name server, a database of public IP addresses tied to hostnames. So, instead of an IP address that reads 176.13. 69.63, the DNS would show as Facebook.com. It’s essential to test for DNS leaks because a device might send DNS traffic outside of the VPN tunnel, thereby compromising any potential connection. Fortunately, our tests indicated no DNS leaks, either. Security is our chief concern (heck, it’s even in the name of the site) so the lack of WebRTC or DNS leaks makes Bitdefender a secure option.

TV Time!

Considering it’s the 21st century, watching TV doesn’t just include cable anymore; rather, streaming and torrents are the way of the future. One of the most common reasons why people use VPNs is to access geo-protected content from services like Netflix, Hulu, BBC, and HBO. While using Bitdefender, we had no problem getting onto our favorite streaming sites. Even though some VPNs are blocked by Netflix’s firewalls, that’s not the case with Bitdefender.

Bitdefender also made it easy to torrent anything we wanted from our favorite hosting sites. P2P sharing went off without a hitch and with their fast download and upload speeds across Mac and Windows, we were able to download massive files with ease.

Split Tunneling and Multi-Hop

Split tunneling and multi-hop are VPN features that are nice to have, but not really necessary. Bitdefender didn’t have those features when we first tested it, but we’re happy to report that it does now. Here’s what they do:

• Split tunneling: Split tunneling splits your device’s network so that some traffic goes through the VPN while others use the normal internet without encryption. You’ll get to choose which app and website’s traffic uses the unencrypted network, which is useful for apps and websites that don’t work well with VPNs.
• Multi-hop: VPNs normally encrypt traffic once; multi-hop allows VPNs to double that encryption for extra privacy. Instead of going through one server, your traffic will pass through two servers. The extra security, however, comes at a price of slower speed.

Encryption Methods and IP Addresses

AES, or Advanced Encryption Standard, is used for encrypting and decrypting data flowing through VPNs. Bitdefender goes above and beyond the typical AES of up to 256-bit, the highest standard most commonly used today, by also including RSA and SHA 256 encryption. RSA and SHA are older and slower encryption methods, but even the U.S federal government trusts SHA for encryption. For speed and VPN optimization reasons, we decided to use AES-256, but the availability of other encryption methods provided us with the optionality we look for in VPNs.

Recap

A reputable company with a long history, Bitdefender’s only major red flag was the logging of IP addresses, not ideal for the privacy-minded. However, their middle of the road pricing for dynamic IP addresses and Netflix access at solid speeds gets them some major points in our book.

If you’re looking for a straightforward VPN that could potentially turn into a full cyber security system, Bitdefender might just be for you. However, if security and features like multi-hop are at the top of your list, there’s a good chance you can find something better. Take a trip over to our best VPN list to find the perfect match.