Hola vs VyprVPN: The showdown

In one key way, Hola and VyprVPN are extreme opposites of each other. VyprVPN owns and operates all of its servers, which is not common in the VPN industry. Hola uses servers in its network, but relies heavily on the bandwidth of the subscribers to its free plan. Unless you upgrade to one of Hola’s expensive plans, you must allow other Hola users to share your internet connection. You get to use other people’s internet connections, too.

We’ll evaluate the security of Hola’s peer-to-peer connection-sharing network; and compare prices, features and benefits, speed, privacy, security, and customer relations to help you determine which of these two VPNs is better. Both the free and paid offerings from Hola will participate in this competition versus VyprVPN.

Highlights

Hola vs VyprVPN pricing

Hola offers a free plan and two paid plans: “premium” and “ultra.” With Hola’s ultra plan, you have access to about 50 percent more servers, your service is faster, and you can simultaneously use more devices with the service (20 vs. 10). With the premium plan, you are limited to HD video quality for streaming, while the ultra plan enables 4k (highest resolution) streaming.

Hola’s ultra plan is twice as expensive as VyprVPN’s highest rate and about 240 percent higher than VyprVPN’s lowest rate. Both VPNs have much higher than average prices.

Both VPNs occasionally run promotions that give you a much better deal. While VyprVPN’s one-year rate is somewhat competitive, other VPNs charge much less if you’re willing to sign up for two or three years. At the moment, VyprVPN’s lowest monthly rate is triple what the cheapest VPNs charge with their longer-term deals.

The price of Hola’s free plan is sharing your internet connection, no privacy protections, and security risks. The premium and ultra plans also have benefits that are stripped from the free version, but also have no additional privacy protections.

Hola vs. VyprVPN features

Both services can be used with the four most popular operating systems, but neither works on Linux or Chrome. Hola works with an impressive variety of entertainment devices.

VyprVPN allows 10 simultaneous device connections, which Hola matches with its premium plan. Hola’s free plan is limited to one device. Many VPNs only allow five simultaneous connections, but if your router is one of them, you can easily exceed that cap.

Hola and VyprVPN both enable split tunneling, a feature that lets you bypass the VPN when you need a website to know who you really are. Neither VPN bundles many extra features. Leading VPNs, such as NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN often give you protection against malware, ad-blocking, and other useful capabilities.

Hola’s unique bonus feature is its own Chromium-based browser. The idea is wonderful, but since Hola tracks you, you aren’t getting a browser that is much more secure than Chrome or Edge. At least it doesn’t serve ads and Hola won’t sell your personal data. Without privacy features, the Hola browser isn’t as valuable as secure free browsers, such as Brave and Vivaldi.

Streaming & Netflix comparison

Both Hola and VyprVPN are very good for streaming video, but Hola’s free plan limits you to standard definition video quality (SD is usually 480i or 480p) and its premium plan limits you to high definition video quality (HD is usually 720p, which has to be considered low resolution in 2022). Computer monitors most commonly have 1080p resolution, but many people have much higher resolution monitors (2k or 4k). The best smartphone displays have 2k or 4k resolution. VyprVPN enables 4k streaming, but Hola only allows that with its ultra ($30/month) plan.

Hola’s peer-to-peer network is an advantage for unblocking location-blocked content. One way the streaming services identify and block VPNs is by the heavy volume of traffic coming from individual servers. With Hola, you can use a third-party personal IP address in the country you need. However, Hola was not always reliable for accessing Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video in our tests.

The issue with Hola’s free plan is not whether you can access a streaming service, as you probably can. The issue is whether you can stand the low-resolution video. Even most of the cheap webcams many of us bought during the early stages of the pandemic have 720p or 1080p resolution. If you spend much time watching videos on TikTok or YouTube, you may be satisfied with the video-quality cap on Hola’s free plan. Other people will expect DVD quality or better.

VyprVPN’s unblocking ability is exceptional. It made our list of the “7 Best Streaming VPNs.”

China

VyprVPN is among the minority of VPNs that actually work in China. Hola does not work in China.

China and other censorial countries do not allow VPN use, because they do not want their citizens exposed to content critical of their governments, free speech, porn, or religious content that is in conflict with the official religion. As a result, VPNs and China are engaged in a technological war with constant leapfrogging. No VPN can guarantee it will continue to work in China, but kudos to VyprVPN for succeeding so far.

Comparitech’s Paul Bischoff recently completed extensive tests of VPNs in China. He rated VyprVPN as the fourth best VPN for use in China.

Government VPN blocks apply to visitors as well as citizens. If you plan to travel to a censorial country, you want a VPN that will let you access the internet.

Setup and interface

Both VPNs have desktop and mobile apps that are easy to understand and use. Their desktop and mobile apps are similar enough that you can use both without any confusion.

Both have simplistic designs. VyprVPN’s mobile app has all the functions that the desktop version has. In user reviews, people have a variety of complaints about both VPNs, but setup and interface issues are rare.

Neither Hola nor VyprVPN has an advantage in setup wizards or user interfaces. Both are very good.

Servers and performance

The number of countries where both VPNs have servers is misleading. Both VPNs are forthcoming about where you can get IP addresses. Neither seems to be revealing where they operate physical servers.

VPN customers can get an IP address for a virtual or physical location. In Hola’s case, they can also get one from another Hola customer.

A virtual server is a server that is in one physical location, but is using an IP address assigned to another location. VyprVPN acknowledges that it uses virtual servers, but it doesn’t tell you where they are or even what percentage of its servers is virtual. A study completed in December 2019 found that some VPNs either fail to acknowledge that some of their servers are virtual servers or have very high percentages of virtual servers. VyprVPN was the worst offender: more than half of its servers were virtual servers. ExpressVPN and NordVPN were found to be the most forthright VPNs in the study.

VyprVPN has grown since then and added many servers. The percentage of virtual servers could be much lower now, but before choosing the service, you should find out if this VPN literally has a server near you. If you are far from a VPNs nearest server, your connection will be slow.

Hola’s website lists 212 locations with “super powerful servers,” and almost all of them are countries. The world only has 195 countries by most counts. Because Hola says its list of countries have servers, it does not appear to be including the vast network of the personal computers of its users. Major VPNs with extensive global networks of servers list fewer than half as many locations, so Hola’s list is either astounding or misleading.

For example: with a population of 18,200 and rock peaks comprising much of its 189 square miles, Palau seems like an unlikely place for a server farm. If Hola has a server there, it is most likely a virtual server.

Regardless of where Hola actually has servers, you very possibly can use the connections of other Hola users in all 212 of those locations. That means you can use an IP address from anyplace you virtually want to be. Remember that many isolated places do not have broadband internet service.

Subscribers to Hola’s ultra plan can access all of its servers. Subscribers to the premium plan can access two-thirds of its servers. Subscribers to the free plan can access one third of its servers. All Hola subscribers can also access the internet connections of all subscribers to Hola’s free plan. Therefore, Hola can be considered to have a larger network than VyprVPN does.

With Hola’s free version, you must share your bandwidth, and you are mostly limited to the peer-to-peer network. Hola says you only share when your connection is idle, and only up to 100 MB per day.

Both Hola and VyprVPN list servers in India on their websites. That may not be current information, as many VPNs have been removing their servers from India due to government restrictions.

Measuring Hola’s speed is arbitrary. You could be connecting to a Hola server or to any of millions of devices owned by Hola users. Some Hola users may have DSL or dial-up connections. Most ISPs sell several different plans that allow customers to pay more for faster service. When you connect to Hola, you may or may not get a fast connection, especially if you need to connect to a device in a specific country.

We tried to measure Hola’s speed and got the extremely mixed results you would expect. On average Hola did well in our tests.

Hola’s speed is also dependent on which of its plans you use. Hola says you get “basic” speed with the free plan, “fast” speed with the premium plan, and “ultra fast” speed with the ultra plan. Those speed differences could easily be engineered by dedicating the fastest services to the ultra plan and letting users of the free plan oversaturate usage of the servers they are allowed to access.

With a paid plan, you get faster speed, more simultaneous connections (at least 10 versus one), faster customer support, and higher streaming-video quality.

We tested VyprVPN’s speed using servers on three continents. VyprVPN’s average download rate was 258 Mbps, which is very good, and considerably faster than it was in our previous tests. However, it did not make our brand new list of the dozen fastest VPNs. Because of its very good speed and excellent unblocking ability, VyprVPN ranked fifth on our list of the best VPNs for streaming.

If you’re impatient, speed matters all the time, because it determines how quickly every website you visit loads. If you are patient enough to use the internet on your phone or through a wifi connection, speed only matters a lot for streaming or downloading large files (e.g. torrenting). Hola doesn’t allow torrenting. Also, Hola’s speed varies by plan.

If you want to visualize the difference in speed between Hola and VyprVPN, picture an adult racing a small child. The child is running a straight line. The adult is zig-zagging far to the left and far to right of the line. The adult has an injury that makes him or her able to move much faster when zagging to the left. The child (VyprVPN) is trying to win the race. The adult (Hola) will not mind if the child wins.

Security comparison

VyprVPN has a full complement of security features. VyprVPN’s recent addition of the WireGuard protocol is a welcome addition. It enhances speed and security.

VyprVPN gives you private DNS on each server, ensuring your ISP can’t snoop on your browsing history. Its apps let you use a third-party DNS server if you prefer. We experienced no DNS leaks in our most recent tests.

Hola provides very little information about its security measures or it doesn’t offer much. Reviews that claim Hola’s free service lacks encryption are inaccurate, or perhaps out-of-date, as the company assures us all plans include encryption. The security measures Hola mentions are insufficient when compared with VyprVPN or any leading VPN.

Hola tracks all your internet activity with all of its plans. They do not have any security features to prevent others from tracking you as well. Most VPNs don’t prevent Microsoft, Google, and social media sites from tracking you if you use their products, but Hola lets anyone with the right technological knowledge track you.

With Hola’s premium and ultra versions, you don’t have to share your bandwidth and you can also access Hola’s full server network. That is more secure than letting unknown third parties access your internet connection.

Sharing your internet connection with strangers, as you must with Hola’s free version, poses significant risks. A person using your connection can engage in activities that are illegal in your country. You may be the person to suffer the consequences.

Botnets are another risk with Hola’s free service. In the past, Hola allowed its users’ bandwidth to be used for DDoS attacks.

VyprVPN does not let strangers share your internet connection; Hola requires that with its free plan.

Privacy

VyprVPN is owned by Golden Frog, a Swiss company. Switzerland does not require that VPNs collect any personally identifiable information, and VyprVPN doesn’t. Its no-logs policy has been independently audited. VyprVPN touts privacy as a major asset, and every indication verifies that.

Hola is at the opposite extreme. It proudly touts that it won’t let users get away with doing anything suspicious, monitors all traffic to enforce that, and tracks and records all user activity. Hola says it does not sell your information.

Some VPNs finance their free offerings by selling personal information and selling advertising, so Hola is not the most invasive. The concern with Hola is that its paid plans give you no more privacy than its free plan does. Companies such as Facebook and Google harvest your personal information in return for free use of their products and services. Hola will collect information from your social media sites even if you are paying for service.

Neither of these VPNs accepts anonymous payment options, such as cryptocurrency. That is the only way VyprVPN compromises your complete anonymity. However, paying with a credit card gives you the security of being able to contest a charge if you have a problem with the service or with getting a refund.

Configuration

With Hola’s plans, you connect to servers or other people’s internet connections. When connected to a server, you are using its shared IP address. When connected to a peer, you are using the IP address of that person’s device. If you are trying to connect to a website that blocks VPNs, the private IP address is a very useful benefit.

Shared servers increase your anonymity because websites can’t easily distinguish you from the other users of the same server. However, some free VPNs let too many people share each server, which slows traffic. Hola’s unique method of operation makes that less of a concern than with other free services. Yet, VPNs that offer free and paid plans are undoubtedly happy to have their non-paying customers be frustrated with slow connections, as that gives them a motivation to upgrade.

A static IP address is only necessary for receiving incoming connections, as you would if you were operating your own server. You can use the NAT firewall in your router with a VPN that uses protocols that allow it, as VyprVPN does. The firewall filters traffic between your devices and the internet. It’s an important layer of protection against malware.

Customer service

VyprVPN is much easier to reach for support, although its response times are slow compared with those of the best VPNs. Several users report that its live chat is just a decision tree of automated responses.

Hola’s only support is through filling out a form on its website. That form is used for tech support, customer service, or requesting a refund.

VyprVPN has fewer than 300 user reviews on Trustpilot. Trustpilot considers its 3.6/5 rating “average,” but the best VPNs have “excellent” ratings. A disturbing 21 percent of VyprVPN customers rate the VPN as “bad.” A lot of the complaints are about billing issues. Quite a few people say VyprVPN didn’t meet their expectations. User ratings on ResellerRatings are much better (average 4.51/5), but the newest review is from late 2019.

In about 1,200 user reviews on Trustpilot, Hola fares much better. Its 4.5/5 rating is “excellent,” according to Trustpilot. Although 10 percent of users rate service as “poor” or “bad,” Hola easily trumps VyprVPN in that regard. CyberGhost, PrivateVPN, Hotspot Shield, and IPVanish are among the best VPNs with excellent ratings on Trustpilot and very few unhappy customers. Only three percent of users rate CyberGhost and IPVanish as having bad service. Fewer than two percent of customers rate PrivateVPN as poor or bad. Compare that with 29 percent of VyprVPN’s customers.

Given that Hola’s Trustpilot rating come from a mix of people using the free and paid service, it may benefit from many free users with modest expectations and no billing problems.

VyprVPN has a well-organized website. It lacks a search box on its home page and buries its support link at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, information is easy to find in the support section. Help articles include screenshots and brief instructions. Videos and more depth would be welcomed by some users, but the content is good.

Hola’s website is difficult to navigate. It also buries the support link. Hola’s knowledge base is limited to 79 FAQs. How-to content is limited to setup guides. The search tool produced few relevant results in our tests. Hola does have setup guides with screenshots, which are very helpful.

Hola vs. VyprVPN: The winner

VyprVPN’s greatest assets are its commitment to privacy and its unblocking abilities. The unblocking strategies enable it to work in China and with all the major streaming media services. It’s also fast and secure. This VPN appears to be growing very quickly and user reviews imply customers are sharing in its growing pains. That and a limited distribution network with physical servers in an unknown number of places are the only concerns prospective customers should have with VyprVPN. If VyprVPN’s prices are an issue for you, wait for a deal or check our list of the best VPNs, most of which are cheaper.

While VyprVPN is great for streaming and torrenting, streaming is also Hola’s greatest strength. Hola bans torrenting. While Hola will get you access to locked streaming content as well as any VPN can, its video quality will be subpar unless you subscribe to Hola’s very expensive ultra plan.

Hola’s greatest weaknesses are security and privacy. It offers little security and collects and saves lots of information about you. That applies to all three of Hola’s plans. Hola is only suitable for people who don’t mind having a VPN engaging in activities like harvesting information from their social media sites.

Comparing Hola and VyprVPN: Our methodology

We evaluated and compared these two services in:

• Server networks: Both Hola and VyprVPN make it very difficult to know how many actual server locations they have. Bigger server networks allow you to be able to access more content. They increase the likelihood of finding a server near your physical location, which enables faster speed. Hola relies on peer connections as well as servers, and we evaluate the value of that.
• Speed: Using a VPN slows your internet connection. The fastest VPNs, VyprVPN included, make little difference. Hola presents unique challenges because no sample test can be considered representative. We conduct our speed tests on VPN servers in three continents.
• Unblocking: People use VPNs to bypass blocked content and geographic restrictions. Websites and countries with restrictions are currently engaged in a battle with VPNs. We test all VPNs with popular streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+ to determine whether they can successfully overcome blocking attempts.
• Security: We review encryption methodology, connection protocols, the availability of kill switches in apps, protection against data leaks, and extra features (such as Hola’s own web browser).
• Privacy: We review logging practices, data collection, government requirements in the VPN’s home country, the possibility of anonymous registration, and company history regarding privacy.
• Ease of use: Every VPN creates apps for some or all of the major operating systems for computers and smartphones. Creating user-friendly apps, as Hola and VyprVPN do, takes care, time, money, and continual refinement. Those apps must be backed with good tech support and other customer service, including a helpful website, multiple methods of contact, and quick responsiveness. We test, review, and compare all those factors.
• Value: Price is part of value, but what you get per dollar determines value. VPNs try to make oranges to oranges price comparisons difficult, but we find ways to make comparisons. We look for money-back guarantees and test their credibility. We note upselling practices and report any unsavory business practices. We also report extra features that competing VPNs do not routinely offer. Even though Hola has a free tier, price is still a consideration because you do make sacrifices in return for the service.

If you’d like to know more about the specific tests we run on VPNs like Hola and VyprVPN, check our full VPN testing methodology.

Hola or VyprVPN FAQs

See also:

• HolaVPN vs Hotspot Shield
• NordVPN vs HolaVPN
• ExpressVPN vs VyprVPN
• HMA vs VyprVPN