AzireVPN Review
Azire VPN comes off as a fairly decent, if not average, provider. We found the WireGuard protocol it uses interesting because of the supposedly greater security features. Those who are new to WireGuard, or coding in general, might become confused with how to set up the protocol.
AzireVPN Review Summary
Azire VPN is a provider that started in 2012. Its main draw is its use of the open-source WireGuard VPN protocol. The site says that the new protocol provides greater security to users and more efficient operation.
We found the option an interesting one in our Azire VPN review, but we had an issue with how the company implements it. The site also has a very small network, with just 24 servers. This considerably limits the potential of the new protocol’s usage.
We like the way Azire VPN’s logging policies work which go beyond the usual declarations. Outside of these features, this VPN does come as an average provider. If you want more functionality, we suggest you check out our top recommendations for better options.
AzireVPN Features
One distinct feature that Azire VPN has is that it uses the new WireGuard VPN protocol. WireGuard is an open-source protocol that is claimed to offer greater security due to its Linux kernel support. This makes it work better with the cryptographic algorithms used to secure VPNs.
The company also says that the WireGuard protocol is designed with roaming functionalities. You can transition between 4G and Wi-Fi networks without having to change settings. This makes WireGuard useful for those who travel a lot and use their mobile devices on the bus, subway, or wherever else there are no public Wi-Fi networks, but they still want a secure connection.
Using this protocol does require some setup before you can run it. The site requires you to run the provided script to enable WireGuard and connect to the VPN tunnel.
While this is not hard to implement, we hope that Azire VPN will eventually provide a simpler implementation. This might also be a concern for some who are not used to running external scripts when using VPNs.
Aside from WireGuard, Azire VPN offers some standard but still noteworthy features like:
- OpenVPN and SOCKS5 support
- Public and shared IP addresses
- Full IPv6 support
- P2P support
- Unlimited bandwidth
These features make the provider a fairly decent option for most common VPN applications.
AzireVPN SERVERS & COUNTRIES
Azire VPN only has 24 servers covering six different countries, including:
- Canada
- Norway
- Spain
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- United States
This is not the smallest VPN network we have encountered, but it still cannot compare with the likes of ExpressVPN. This provider has a network with thousands of servers, giving you more location options for use in specific situations.
Azire VPN claims that all its servers are completely under its supervision. This includes having its own team that installs the software needed to run the servers. Azire VPN also claims that all the external and internal storage devices are removed from the servers, and the ports are sealed. This might sound extreme but is still a good assurance about the level of security it can provide.
Reliability & Speed Tests
Azire VPN does not provide any speed information on its website. This can be particularly problematic when you are planning to use the WireGuard protocol since you won’t be able to quickly tell how much it would differ from other protocols. Until we are able to test the provider, we suggest that you be careful about the kind of speeds you should expect from this provider.
The reliability of Azire VPN’s connections is still subject to our testing. One thing that we would want to see more of is how well the roaming abilities of the new protocol works. You should also keep in mind that Azire VPN’s small network impacts its overall reliability, especially in traffic-intensive applications.
Pricing and Payments
Azire VPN has the following plans:
These plans are within the middle range of the typical prices of VPN providers. You can pay using the following options:
- Cash transfer
- PayPal
- Swish
- Credit card
- Cryptocurrencies
We like that there is a large selection of payment options available. We just wish the site has an online currency converter for easier reference. You also need to create an account before you can make an initial purchase, which is slightly cumbersome.
Support
Azire VPN mainly provides customer support through email. You can send your questions and inquiries to support@azirevpn.com, or through a contact form. There is also an option to send an encrypted email to pgp@azirevpn.com using the PGP key provided by the site.
For self-help purposes, Azire VPN has several installation guides as well as dedicated guides for using its WireGuard feature on different platforms. It also has some quick testing tools for detecting DNS and webRTC leaks.
POLICIES & LOGGING
Azire VPN states on its main page that it does not keep any logs. The site says that it runs all its servers without any storage devices to prevent the storage of user data. It also claims to restrict access to the server cores, preventing traffic monitoring. With some improvement to their server numbers, we could put it on our No-logs VPN Provider list one day soon.
The site says that it only uses a payment identification number to keep track of payments, with the processor handling the transaction independently. Do note that this number is stored for reference for six months before being deleted. On the other hand, email correspondence with the support team is stored for three months.
Expert Recommendation
Azire VPN comes off as a fairly decent, if not average, provider. We found the WireGuard protocol it uses interesting because of the supposedly greater security features. Those who are new to WireGuard, or coding in general, might become confused with how to set up the protocol.
As our Azire VPN review shows, the thing that really weakens this provider is its small network. This makes getting an optimized connection hard because of the limited options available. We recommend that you check our top recommended providers to find better options and larger networks.
AzireVPN User Reviews
Very stable, great connectivity and speed
I have been using AzireVPN for few months now and really enjoyed it so far. No dns leak, Full IPv6 support- I checked dns leak several times and it never reveals it(both Windows&Mac). I haven’t experienced any connection problems with Openvpn program. Furthermore, no logs policy is great and never experienced low speed so far. Overall, very consistent company so far. I only use Swedish location don’t even use England&U.S ip’s(these 3 are only available locations) but this is more than enough for me. Keep up the good work!
Good VPN
The own app for Mac leaks, but not so if using Tunnelblick or similar Mac clients. One more server on continental Europe would be nice. The US & UK servers are useless for me and the Spain is due the distance slow.
Very good service
VPN works without any problem, so far. You have to have a little technical insight (it is not plug and play. But maybe that has changed). The staff is excellent and fast. IPv6 is supported. My Android mobile phone also.
Great speeds, security, support and uptime
One of the few VPN services I’ve tried that really allowed me to make the most out of a 500/500Mbit connection. Considering their security and the support (especially via IRC), the value on the 1-year subscription seems hard to compete against – especially if you use some 20% off code or similar.
Didn't even bother to test the WireGuard protocol
I’ve been using Azire for a couple of months now, and gotta say that it has worked perfectly for myself (save for a couple of very small downtime moments, as per usual with pretty much every service in existence).
Legit, why even bother writing a review without at least trying out what the service has to fully offer? Google “TunSafe” and please try using that together with WireGuard and you’ll see much better results
Best wishes.
Running AzireVPN with Wireguard on Windows
I signed up initially for a month (only 5 euros) using AzireVPN’s OpenVPN connection and was astounded at the download speed achieved by the end of a session which has been between 1.8GiB and 2.1GiB measured daily over a period of a week. In layman’s language that’s 1.933GB/s and 2.255GB/s respectively! I used the data converter at convert-me.com to get accurate results since I’m not familiar with “GiB” rates. I mentioned “end of a session” because initial connection rates were much lower and could be measured in KB/s. It seems to be the case in that respect that it takes about 30-40 minutes to build up the the higher rate for some reason or other.
What I found a bit laborious though was having to login every time I wanted to use the VPN. I use a password manager so it was admittedly just a case of copy/pasting my 132 bit login password, but I would have liked to see an option to have my login remembered to make life a little easier.
Clicking the “Connect” button takes about 15 seconds to actually connect, but that’s also been the case with other VPNs I’ve tried.
After a couple of weeks of using Azire’s OpenVPN I decided to try their Wireguard server and WOW! What a difference that makes! Instant connection and no username or password required! Wireguard is definitely the future and having tried it once I can honestly say I’ll never go back to using OpenVPN. In fact, I’ve just extended my subscription for two years. At just 78 euros, that’s good deal.
I’m located in the Netherlands and Azire doesn’t have a server in this part of the world unfortunately and I’m forced to connect to the UK one as being the nearest as the crow flies so to speak. That impacts anonimity in the respect that sites can see that you’re not located where you purport to be according to your IP address. However, a simple workaround is to change your Time Zone to GMT in this particular case (just click the clock in systray, click “Change date and time settings” and then select another zone from the menu).
The tunnel for Windows used to connect to a Wireguard server is developed by Tunsafe.com and the setup is really simple. All you need to do is to download the installer, create a Key Pair on the Tunsafe site and then drag & drop one of the AzireVPN’s CONF files into the Tunsafe UI and confirm you want to import it.
Tunsafe also has a Kill Switch which prevents any IP leaks by blocking all Internet traffic if the connection fails. In any event I also disable WebRTC in Waterfox the latter of which can leak your real IP.
Wireguard seems to be just as fast as OpenVPN has been although there’s no direct way of measuring it via the systray icon in the same way as using the OpenVPN systray menu.
I’ve fired a couple of questions at Azire’s support and they’ve come back to me with a comprehensive response within 24 hours so no complaints there.
All things considered I think AzireVPN is a good company. Connection speeds are outstanding and support is professional and responses detailed rather than being glossed over in the way they were at my previous VPN and I recommend them without hesitation.
Did you test Wireguard?
Just wondering what protocol you were employing when you got that IP leakage? If you were using the client software, then I assume it was OpenVPN, which then begs the question of whether you encountered the same leak across different operating systems?
I tried out their Wireguard servers a while back. Got decent speeds (a bit over 80% of my max), but if it’s Wireguard you’re looking for, I’d still recommend Mullvad. Really hope Mullvad gains more traction among VPN providers and operating systems.