Psiphon Review 2024: Is It Safe to Use?

Psiphon is a VPN and circumvention software for users in restrictive countries. It consists of two services — the VPN and the circumvention tool. The provider claims to work without issues in restrictive regions, but I couldn’t verify this claim since the customer reps never replied to my questions about the matter.

That said, I strongly advise against anyone using this service since it’s not secure. Psiphon claims to use encryption, but it doesn’t specify if it uses 256-bit AES encryption. Also, both of the provider’s services are missing a kill switch, which is an essential security feature. Plus, On top of that, Psiphon leaked my DNS data in my tests. Another serious drawback is Psiphon logs your browsing data, which is terrible for your privacy.

What’s more, the provider has tons of other issues. It imposes speed restrictions on its free version. You can pay to temporarily remove the restrictions, but your speeds on distant servers will still be slow. Psiphon’s VPN service barely works — every time I tried it out, it stopped working after 2–3 minutes of activity. I was unimpressed with the provider’s apps as they look and feel extremely outdated, its server network is very small, and its customer support is non-existent.

You honestly get much better value with other top competitors. For example, both ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access provide stronger security and privacy, have much faster speeds, and are way easier to use — and they both work well in restrictive countries.

Psiphon Full Review

I spent the past weeks testing Psiphon to see how it compares to other top VPNs. My conclusion is you should avoid this provider since it can’t protect your data and privacy.

Psiphon is mainly free to use and claims to work in restrictive countries, but that’s where the advantages end. Psiphon consists of two different services, a circumvention tool and a VPN — and the VPN barely works. In addition, the provider severely limits speeds on its free version. While you can pay to temporarily remove the speed limit, it’s not really worth it since the speeds on distant servers are still pretty slow.

Also, this service isn’t safe to use — it says it uses encryption, but it lacks essential security and privacy features, like a kill switch and a no-logs policy. Plus, its VPN also suffers DNS leaks. Other than that, its server network is really small, and its apps don’t have a user-friendly design.

Psiphon Features

Psiphon’s security is really poor. Even though it offers two types of services (a VPN and its circumvention tool), neither of them adequately secures your data.

For starters, Psiphon doesn’t make it clear if it uses 256-bit AES encryption, which is an industry-standard encryption cipher, for either of its services — it just vaguely claims that all traffic that goes through its servers is encrypted.

In addition, both of Psiphon’s services lack a kill switch — this is an essential security feature that protects you from traffic leaks if the connection drops. What’s more, Psiphon is also missing a no-logs policy. While it doesn’t store your IP address, it does collect information about your country and internet service provider (ISP). It also logs your browsing data, such as the sites you visit.

I find this completely unacceptable — all top VPNs on the market protect user data with industry-standard VPN security features, including 256-bit AES encryption, a kill switch, and a strict no-logs policy (many VPNs have had their no-logs policy independently audited and confirmed).

Psiphon also doesn’t use VPN protocols that other top competitors use, like WireGuard and OpenVPN. Instead, for its circumvention software, it uses the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol alongside a proxy setup. Unlike a VPN protocol, the SSH protocol doesn’t protect all internet traffic, just traffic from certain apps. For example, Psiphon routed my browser traffic but didn’t route traffic from my P2P apps. And, Psiphon’s VPN service only uses the L2TP/IPSec protocol, which is sadly outdated.

Psiphon also doesn’t say if it provides built-in protection against IPv6, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. I ran leak tests using both of its services. Its circumvention tool didn’t leak my data, but its VPN suffered DNS leaks — that means my ISP could see what websites I was browsing. I didn’t experience any leaks while testing its circumvention tool, but that doesn’t change the fact that the service is still missing important security features.

The provider also doesn’t say if it uses advanced security features, like RAM-only servers (every server reset wipes all data) and perfect forward secrecy, which changes the encryption key for each VPN session. I emailed Psiphon about this, but never received a response.

Psiphon also has a few extras, but they’re not very good:

• Split-tunneling. This tool is available on Android and Windows and normally lets you pick which apps or sites use the VPN and which ones don’t. However, Psiphon’s split-tunneling applies to both of its services, not just the VPN. On Android, it lets you exclude apps, while on Windows the feature only lets you configure Psiphon to not route traffic from websites in your own country and China, which isn’t very helpful. For comparison, Private Internet Access has a much better split-tunneling tool — it’s available on Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and it lets you split-tunnel both apps and sites.
• Obfuscation. This is a security feature that masks your VPN traffic, making it look like regular internet traffic. Psiphon only uses obfuscation via the SSH protocol that its circumvention service uses — Psiphon claims its obfuscation works in restrictive countries like China, but I couldn’t confirm this since its support reps didn’t reply to my emails.
• MalAware. Psiphon claims it automatically blocks connections to shady sites when you’re connected to its servers. On Android, it also has MalAware, which notifies you if your device tries to communicate with malicious IP addresses or domains. To be honest, I prefer NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro tool — in addition to blocking ads and shady sites, it also protects you from malware infections.

Overall, Psiphon’s security is really bad — it doesn’t say what encryption cipher it uses, it’s missing a kill switch, and it logs your browsing data. Plus, its VPN service leaks your DNS data, and its extra features are poorly implemented.

Psiphon Privacy & Security

Psiphon provides terrible privacy. It doesn’t collect your email address and claims it doesn’t log your IP address, but the provider logs data associated with your IP address and your ISP. Psiphon claims it discards your IP address.

In addition, Psiphon also collects your browsing history, so it knows what websites you browse. It also logs bandwidth usage and connection timestamps, though that’s not as concerning.

This lack of privacy is unacceptable. All top VPNs have strict no-logs policies that don’t collect your browsing history or log data associated with your IP address. Plus, most of them have also had their no-logs policies audited.

Psiphon is open-source, meaning anyone can inspect its code for security issues, and its code has also undergone a security audit in 2021. This hardly makes me trust the provider, though, as it still logs user data. If you’re looking for a better open-source alternative, try Proton VPN — all of its apps are open-source and have been independently audited.

Psiphon is located in Canada, which is part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances (a group of countries that share surveillance data). Even if Psiphon were located in a privacy-friendly country, I still wouldn’t trust it due to its terrible privacy policy.

Overall, I don’t recommend using Psiphon if you need to protect your privacy. It logs your browsing history, and it also collects data associated with your IP address.

Psiphon Speed & Performance

Psiphon lets you pay for a temporary speed boost, so I handled speed tests differently. I ran speed tests with the provider’s speed limits enabled and disabled. For each type of speed test, I tested local, nearby, and distant server locations — in total, I ran speed tests on servers in 15+ countries.

Overall, Psiphon’s restricted speeds are terrible, and its unrestricted speeds are only good on nearby server locations. There are way faster (and overall better) VPNs out there.

With the Speed Limits

First, I started with a speed test without being connected to Psiphon to see my baseline internet speeds. After that, I ran speed tests on a local server in my country (Romania), and these were my results:

Also, here are the speed test results when I used a distant server in the US:

Without the Speed Limits

Just as I did before, I first ran a speed test on my original internet speeds. After that, I again tested a server location in Romania (my country). The results were noticeably better than before:

And here are the results I got when running a speed test on a distant US server:

With restricted speeds, I experienced significant slowdowns on both nearby and distant servers — websites usually took more than 5 seconds to load, and I waited well over 10 seconds for HD videos on YouTube to load.

With unrestricted speeds, I maintained good connection speeds on servers in my country, but I still experienced noticeable slowdowns on distant servers — most websites loaded in around 6–7 seconds, and HD videos on YouTube took up to 10 seconds to load and also buffered frequently.

While my speeds were noticeably better on nearby servers, I still had to put up with annoying slowdowns on distant servers. So paying to remove the speed limits isn’t worth it.

Psiphon Servers & IP Addresses

Psiphon only has servers in 26 countries. Other top competitors have much larger server networks. For example, ExpressVPN has servers in 105 countries, and NordVPN has servers in 111 countries.

In terms of P2P support, I can’t confirm which servers allow torrenting. Psiphon doesn’t mention P2P support on its website, and the support reps didn’t reply to my questions about this. Also, since the VPN service barely works, I wasn’t able to test it while downloading torrents. The circumvention service doesn’t route my P2P app traffic.

I also find it annoying how you can only choose which countries you connect to if you use the circumvention service. If you enable the VPN service on desktop, you can’t pick which locations you connect to. You also can’t pick which locations to connect to on the mobile apps.

Overall, Psiphon’s server network is very small when compared to other top VPNs on the market. There’s no way to tell if the provider’s servers allow torrenting, and you can only choose which locations you connect to via the circumvention service on desktop.

Psiphon Streaming & Torrenting

Psiphon doesn’t have great streaming support. It works with Amazon Prime Video and Max, but it’s not compatible with other popular streaming services, such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+.

If you mainly want to use a VPN while streaming, I recommend ExpressVPN instead. It’s compatible with 100+ streaming sites, it’s much faster than Psiphon, and its apps are easier to use.

I don’t recommend Psiphon for torrenting. Its circumvention tool doesn’t automatically tunnel traffic from P2P apps, so it leaves it exposed — unless you manually configure your P2P apps to use the provider’s proxies, which is inconvenient. Psiphon’s VPN also isn’t good for torrenting since it doesn’t work. Even if it did, I wouldn’t recommend it since the provider is missing essential security and privacy features, like a no-logs policy and a kill switch.

If you need a good torrenting VPN, check out Private Internet Access. It allows P2P traffic on servers in 91 countries, it works with P2P apps without any issues, it has a kill switch and an audited no-logs policy, and it supports port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy connections, which are P2P-related features that might boost download speeds.

Overall, I don’t recommend using Psiphon for streaming or torrenting. It’s not compatible with most top streaming sites, and its circumvention service doesn’t tunnel P2P traffic — not to mention its VPN barely works (and it also wouldn’t be safe to use for torrenting even if it did work).

Psiphon Plans & Pricing

Psiphon is mainly free to use, and it also has paid subscriptions on mobile and a paid speed-boosting feature on desktop. The provider also doesn’t mention how many simultaneous connections it supports — I asked about this in an email, but I never received a reply. Usually, most top VPNs allow 5–10 simultaneous connections, and some (like Surfshark) even allow unlimited connections.

Psiphon’s free version provides unlimited bandwidth and allegedly works in restrictive regions — but I don’t think it’s worth using since it comes with restrictive speed limits (not to mention it’s also not secure).

On desktop, you can pay to temporarily boost your speeds for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month. To do that, you need to buy PsiCash (a virtual currency created by Psiphon). This is honestly very inconvenient.

On mobile, you can buy PsiCash to temporarily remove the speed limit, pay for a Time Pass that removes restrictions for 7 days, 30 days, or 360 days, or get a paid subscription. Psiphon has two subscription tiers: Basic, which limits speeds up to 5 Mbps, or Unlimited, which removes all speed limits.

If you purchase PsiCash, Psiphon accepts credit/debit cards, PayPal, and cryptocurrencies. Time Pass or a paid subscription works with the payment method that’s linked to your app store account. Psiphon also claims it provides refunds but doesn’t mention what time periods it covers.

Overall, Psiphon doesn’t provide good value. Its free version isn’t worth using, and its paid speed boosts and subscriptions aren’t worth it. You’re much better off just getting a top VPN instead.

Psiphon Ease of Use: Mobile & Desktop Apps

Psiphon has apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. I couldn’t confirm if it supports manual router setups, as I didn’t find any router setup guides on its site, and the reps didn’t reply to my questions about this. If you need a VPN with better cross-platform support, any of the providers on our top 10 list will do — most of them have apps for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, and smart TVs, and also come with router support.

Psiphon’s mobile apps aren’t good. While they work better than the desktop apps, the app design looks and feels extremely outdated. I like how there are explanations for most settings and features, but I find it annoying that you can’t choose which server location you connect to.

I’m not happy with the desktop apps, either. I tried out the Windows app and the interface looks like it hasn’t been updated since the early 2000s. The circumvention service works, but the VPN service stops working after about 2–3 minutes. Also, there’s a quick-connect tool that’s supposed to connect you to the fastest server for your location, but it always connected me to distant servers instead of the server in my country.

Overall, Psiphon’s cross-platform support and ease of use are pretty bad. It only has mobile and desktop apps, the app design is extremely outdated, and the VPN service on the Windows app never worked well for me.

Psiphon Customer Support

Psiphon’s customer support is terrible — you only get access to a support section. The provider doesn’t have live chat support. While it claims to provide email support, I have never received a reply to my answers.

The provider’s support library is very unhelpful. It only provides access to a few Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a few troubleshooting guides. There are no installation tutorials that show you how to set up and use the provider’s apps. I also rarely got the answer I needed from the FAQs, and its troubleshooting guides didn’t help me fix the issues I encountered with the VPN.

Overall, Psiphon barely provides any customer support. It lacks live chat support, its email support is non-responsive, and its support section only provides access to unhelpful FAQs and troubleshooting guides.

Is Psiphon Safe to Use in 2024?

No, I don’t think Psiphon is secure at all — it doesn’t specify what encryption cipher it uses, lacks a kill switch, logs your browsing data, and suffers DNS leaks.

On top of that, Psiphon consists of two services — a circumvention tool and a VPN. However, the VPN never worked well in my tests. The provider is mostly free but imposes very strict speed limits to the point where the service is almost unusable. You can pay to remove the speed limits, but you’ll still experience noticeable slowdowns on distant servers.

Also, Psiphon has a really small server network, its apps are not user-friendly and the customer support is basically non-existent.

To be honest, there are much better VPNs on the market in 2024, which actually provide strong security and privacy, have fast speeds, and are also easy to use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Psiphon safe?

No, Psiphon doesn’t say what encryption cipher it uses, it’s missing essential key features like a kill switch, the VPN leaks DNS data, and the provider also collects your web browsing data. If you want to secure your data, get a good VPN like ExpressVPN, which is very secure, very fast, and feature-rich.

Is Psiphon a VPN?

Psiphon is circumvention software that includes access to a VPN. Unfortunately, its VPN barely worked in my tests — every time I used it, it always stopped working after around 3 minutes. Even if it worked well, I still wouldn’t recommend using it since it lacks essential security and privacy features, like a kill switch and a no-logs policy. If you’re looking to use a VPN, any of the providers on our list of the best VPNs in 2024 will provide significantly better value than Psiphon.

Does Psiphon work in China?

Psiphon claims its circumvention software works very well in restrictive countries like China. However, I unfortunately couldn’t confirm if this is true, as the provider’s email support reps never replied to my questions. To be honest, even if Psiphon works well in China, I still wouldn’t recommend using it since it can’t protect your data and privacy.

Instead, it’s better to get a top VPN like ExpressVPN — this provider consistently works without issues in restrictive regions like China, and it also protects your data with industry-leading security and privacy features.

Is Psiphon free?

Psiphon has a free version, but it comes with very restrictive speed limits. In my tests, I experienced huge slowdowns on both nearby and distant servers. While you can pay to temporarily remove the speed limits, it’s not really worth it — while the speeds on nearby servers are good, you’ll still experience noticeable slowdowns on distant servers. If you’re looking to use a free service, check out our top choices.