Avast SecureLine VPN has the pedigree of a leading antivirus company behind it and offers basic VPN protection, astonishing download speeds (within context), and a notably diverse array of server locations. But it lacks the privacy tools we've come to expect among the best VPNs and lacks a monthly subscription plan. The company also gathers a surprising amount of information on its customers.
When you're connected to a VPN, it creates an encrypted tunnel between your computer and the VPN company's server. No one, not even someone on the same network as you, can see what you're up to, and neither can your Internet Service Provider (ISP)—which is good, because they have enormous insight into what you do online. Out on the web, spies and advertisers have a harder time tracking your movements as your true IP address is hidden behind the VPN server.
How a VPN Works
How Much Does Avast SecureLine VPN Cost?
When we review VPNs, we focus on the cost of a monthly subscription. For most companies, that's the core of their pricing, and we feel it's a better way to compare products' prices. We can't do that with Avast, however. SecureLine VPN only offers subscriptions for intervals of one year, two years, and three years. That's a problem, since we advise our readers to not start with a long-term subscription and instead sign up at the cheapest, shortest level so they can test the VPN at home. Avast does offer a seven-day free trial that requires no credit card, but it's still not ideal.
That one-year subscription for SecureLine VPN will cost you $55.08. That's a competitive price, and well below the $66.07 average we've seen across the VPN services we track. The two- and three-year plans cost $105.36 and $158.04, respectively. Note, however, that once the two- and three-year terms end, you'll be moved to an annual plan.
Similar Products
Proton VPN
NordVPN
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ExpressVPN
IPVanish VPN
PureVPN
Mullvad VPN
IVPN
Hide.me VPN
You can make your purchase with Avast using major credit cards or PayPal. Many VPNs now accept crypto currency as a semi-anonymous payment option. Editors' Choice winners Mullvad VPN and IVPN both accept cash payments sent to their respective HQs for a truly anonymous experience.
Still, it's a little difficult to swallow such a hefty up-front cost, especially when the VPNs we track charge, on average, $9.89 per month. There are also many VPN companies that offer more features than SecureLine VPN and still charge less. Mullvad VPN, for instance, costs just 5 euros per month ($4.97 at time of writing). If your wallet is feeling a bit light, consider one of the cheap VPNs we've reviewed.
Nothing is cheaper than free, and there are some free VPNs that are worth consideration. ProtonVPN has the best free subscription we've seen, as it places no limit on your bandwidth. It's also our overall top-rated VPN.
What Do You Get for Your Money?
A SecureLine VPN subscription lets you connect up to ten devices simultaneously. That's double the average we've seen across the industry, and makes a strong value argument for Avast. A family or device-heavy household should be easily covered. It is worth noting, though, that an increasing number of VPN providers are moving away from these controls. Atlas VPN, Avira Phantom VPN, IPVanish VPN, Editors' Choice winner Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN all place no limit on the number of simultaneous connections.
(Editors’ Note: IPVanish VPN is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)
Beyond basic VPN protection, Avast SecureLine VPN has little to offer. Many VPNs include split tunneling, a feature that lets you route some website and app traffic outside the encrypted VPN connection. It's particularly useful for low-security but high-bandwidth needs like video streaming or gaming, and also for secure sites that block VPN connections, like online banks. Avast only includes this feature in the SecureLine VPN Android app. We'd like to see it arrive on other platforms as well.
Nor does SecureLine VPN support multi-hop connections. This feature lets you route your web traffic through two VPN servers, so you can be assured that your connection isn't being spied on. CyberGhost VPN, ExpressVPN, and Hotspot Shield VPN are a few of the services that offer this feature.
A very, very few VPNs provide direct access to the free Tor anonymization network. Tor bounces your traffic through several volunteer nodes, making it much harder to track you online. It also lets you access hidden Dark Web sites. While you don't need a VPN to connect to Tor, it can be a useful feature. Avast SecureLine VPN does not include this feature ProtonVPN and NordVPN are among the very few VPNs that provide split tunneling, multi-hop, and access to Tor via VPN.
Avast SecureLine does not offer additional add-ons to subscriptions. On the one hand, that simplifies the shopping experience. But it's worth noting that other companies, like TorGuard, offer much more with their subscription add-ons. That company offers static IP addresses, which are supposed to be less likely to be blocked by websites, and other goodies for additional fees.
One new trend among VPNs is the addition of full-fledged antivirus products. NordVPN now bundles malware protection with its VPN subscription and Surfshark One adds antivirus for an additional fee. We tested both of these to evaluate their malware squashing chops and weren't impressed. Avast, on the other hand, is our top-rated choice for best free antivirus software, although it's distributed separately from the VPN.
Curiously, many antivirus companies that offer a VPN do not bundle it with their other offerings. Avast bucks this trend and includes the SecureLine VPN in product suites, including Avast One. This provides antivirus, VPN, and other tools for $99.99 per year for five Windows devices. Alternatively, you can spring for the $139.99 family edition that extends coverage to 30 devices.
Using a VPN doesn't guard against all dangers. Malicious ads, malware, and other network attacks can still harm your computer and steal personal information. We highly recommend using antivirus software to keep your computer protected from all angles, enabling two-factor authentication to prevent account takeovers, as well as using unique and complex passwords on every site and service with the help of a password manager.
What VPN Protocols Does Avast SecureLine VPN Support?
There's more than one way to make a VPN connection, although not all are created equal. Our preferred option has long been OpenVPN, which is open-source and therefore picked over for potential vulnerabilities. WireGuard is the open-source heir apparent, and increasingly the standard in the VPN industry.
When we did our hands-on testing with SecureLine VPN, WireGuard was only available as a beta feature. The company tells us WireGuard is now fully supported—in fact, it's the default option—for its Android and Windows apps and that macOS support is forthcoming. We look forward to retesting these apps soon.
At the time of our last evaluation, Avast used OpenVPN for its Windows and Android apps, and IKEv2 for its macOS and iOS apps. The company's proprietary Mimic protocol was available on all platforms. A company representative told us that Mimic uses established cryptographic technology, and is designed to make VPN traffic appear to be merely HTTPS traffic to avoid being blocked.
How Many Servers and Server Locations Does Avast SecureLine Have?
In general, we give preference to VPNs with many, varied server locations. Geographic diversity increases the odds of always finding a server nearby when traveling and offers more choices for spoofing your location.
Avast SecureLine grants access to servers across 36 countries, which is respectable if below the 52 country average. Most of them are in Europe, however. While most VPN companies ignore Africa and South America, Avast has SecureLine VPN servers in Brazil and South Africa. That's excellent, although we would like to see even more server locations added. ExpressVPN, by comparison, offers servers in 94 countries.
Sometimes it can be useful to have VPN servers in regions with repressive internet policies. Avast no longer has VPN servers in China or Russia, but does offer them in Turkey. Notably, it has maintained a presence in Ukraine.
Avast offers about 500 servers with SecureLine VPN. CyberGhost VPN leads among the services we track with over 7,000 servers. Overall server count does not necessarily correlate to better performance, though. In fact, it's more likely a reflection of customer demand.
Many VPNs make use of virtual servers. These are software-defined servers, meaning that a single hardware server can play host to numerous virtual servers. While not necessarily a problem, sharing servers with other clients could put the security of the servers at risk. Such concerns are not an issue with Avast SecureLine VPN. The company only uses "bare metal" servers that are not shared.
There's also virtual locations to consider. These are VPN servers that are configured to appear somewhere other than where they are physically located. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but we prefer VPNs that clearly mark which locations are virtual. This is also a nonissue, as SecureLine VPN does not use virtual locations.
While the company says that its VPN infrastructure has never been hacked, it notes that it would quickly disclose the event. The company tells us it makes use of full-disk encryption on all its servers, and uses several other industry standard safeguards for its infrastructure. Some companies, such as ExpressVPN, go further and have moved to RAM-only servers which are wiped immediately whenever power goes down.
Your Privacy With Avast SecureLine VPN
If it decided to misbehave, a VPN would have enormous insight into what you see and do online. That's why it's important to understand what information a VPN collects, and how it protects that information.
Avast does a good job of making it easy to find the company policy that relates to VPNs, and that policy is very easy to understand. The company deserves credit for that. It clearly states the company does not store your true IP address, DNS queries, browsing history, or the contents of transferred data. That's as it should be.
The document goes on to outline what the company does gather. Avast is very transparent about these operations, and while they're not always the best privacy practices, none of it seems malicious. Avast does log a timestamp of connection, which it says is necessary to curb abuse. To monitor its service and plan improvements, Avast says that it logs the amount of data transmitted (but not the content), and a portion of your IP address. The company also logs the IP address of the VPN server you use, which the company says helps identify when services are not available. A company representative tells us that this information is deleted on a rolling 35-day basis.
Several VPN companies gather far less information. Mullvad, notably, does not even have an account system nor does it store data to process subscriptions. Instead, you're issued a lengthy ID number, making it very difficult to correlate VPN activity to an individual. Avast should strive to gather and retain even less information.
The company says that it only generates revenue from the sale of subscriptions. That's good, as you don't want a VPN to monetize your user data.
Regrettably, Avast has already monetized its users' data. Early in 2020, the company was caught selling anonymized web usage data that had been harvested with Avast's browser plug-in. A PCMag investigation found that while Avast claimed this information had been anonymized, it could be linked back to individual Avast users. Notably, the company's antivirus product was used in this scheme, not the VPN. Avast has since shut down this data gathering operation. That's good, but the incident leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Trusting any VPN company is already difficult, and trusting one that so recently engaged in this kind of brazen behavior (even though its VPN was not involved) is harder.
Avast SRO, the company behind Avast SecureLine, is headquartered in the Czech Republic and operates under Czech law. The company says that it has provided limited data to law enforcement in the past in response to legal requests. The disclosure is acknowledged in the company's Transparency Report, which we located only after asking a company representative. We're happy to see that this page is updated much more frequently, and that the amount of responses to legal data inquiries has dropped substantially. That's not bad, although none would be better.
Note that Avast SecureLine VPN, AVG Secure VPN, and HMA! VPN are all owned by the same company. While HMA! VPN operates on its own infrastructure, Avast and AVG-branded VPNs share the same back end.
Avast also maintains a warrant canary that includes the notable assurance that the company has not built a backdoor into its system that would grant access to encrypted information. That's great, and I'd like to see more companies make similar assurances.
Many VPN companies have begun releasing third party audits of their services, in order to establish their security bona fides. While not every audit is useful, it's a good trend overall. TunnelBear has released annual audits for several years. Avast SecureLine has not yet undergone a public audit. It should do so.
Hands On With Avast SecureLine VPN for Windows
Avast offers SecureLine VPN apps for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. It does not offer apps for Linux, but does provide support for installation on some streaming devices. We'll update this review with hands-on testing for those platforms soon.
We tested the Windows client on an Intel NUC 11 (NUC11PHKi7C, 'Phantom Canyon') desktop running the latest version of Windows 11. Interestingly, the app made us authenticate using an activation key, found on our Avast account page. This saved us the trouble of having to enter the username and password.
The app started up with a quick tutorial on the first use that showed off SecureLine VPN's core controls. The app is built around a single window with a prominent toggle switch in the center to activate the VPN connection. We like this simple, straightforward interface. We also appreciate the snazzy purple color scheme of the app. That said, it can't beat the marriage of simplicity and friendliness found in Editors' Choice winner TunnelBear VPN.
To switch servers, you can peruse a list of the countries Avast SecureLine VPN serves. Server locations earmarked for P2P traffic and streaming are clearly labeled. A number next to the location indicates the number of cities in that region. A list down the side lets you narrow down the server list by continent or function. It's very straightforward, which we appreciate. That said, you cannot select individual servers, as you can with NordVPN and others.
Many VPNs build their server picker around a map, which is both more visually appealing and helpful when you need to find a server near a specific location. Avast SecureLine VPN doesn't include this tool.
What few features are available with SecureLine VPN live in the Settings. From here, you can activate the Kill Switch, which suspends your internet connection in case the VPN accidentally disconnects. You can also make your device available to local network devices, and select a VPN protocol. As noted above, WireGuard was listed as a beta option in the version of the app we used, but should be the default option now.
When using a VPN, you want to ensure that the service is adequately hiding your information. Using the online DNS Leak Test Tool, we confirmed that SecureLine VPN was not leaking DNS requests and did change our IP address. Note that we only tested one server; other servers may not be properly configured.
Netflix blocks VPNs in order to prevent people from spoofing their location and watching videos that aren't available in their real location. Although we were able to stream Netflix content while connected to US-based SecureLine VPN servers, we were only able to access a small portion of Netflix's library. We tried several of the servers that Avast earmarked for streaming but the issue persisted. That might change at a moment's notice, however.
Speed And Performance
Using a VPN will slow down your internet connection because your traffic has to go through more fiber and more machines to complete its journey. To get a sense of the impact a VPN has, we use an automated version of Ookla's Speedtest tool and find the percent change between results taken with and without the VPN running. See How We Test VPNs for more on PCMag's testing procedures and their limitations.
(Editors’ Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)
Avast SecureLine VPN generated some truly bewildering results. In our testing, it showed a 6% improvement for download Speedtest results. That means that downloads were slightly faster with the VPN than without. In terms of real numbers, we measured a median 816.38 Mbps baseline speed and had a median download result with the VPN of 865.49 Mbps.
The seemingly miraculous download results weren't replicated in the rest of our testing. We found that Avast SecureLine VPN slowed upload Speedtest results by 68.7%, which is well above the median we've seen across products. Avast SecureLine VPN also increased latency by an eye-popping 2,774.9%.
We were surprised by these results, so much so that we reran our baseline and VPN tests four times. The results were persistently consistent, which is confusing. We do feel confident that SecureLine VPN will have minimal impact on your downloading speeds. However, it's unlikely that you will get the same results we did. Networks are fickle things, and performance is dictated as much by the product as when you connect and even where you're connecting from. And taking these results at face value does not necessarily look good for Avast SecureLine VPN either, as the rest of its scores were lackluster at best.
You can see how Avast SecureLine compares to the top fastest VPNs out of the nearly 40 we've tested thus far in the chart below.
Speed, however, probably shouldn't be your primary concern. Instead of looking at something as unreliable as speed, we encourage readers to consider cost, value, and privacy protections when choosing a VPN.
Fast, But Unbalanced
A frequent complaint about VPNs is that consumers aren't sure who to trust because of how new the industry is. SecureLine VPN doesn't have that problem, since many consumers already know and trust the Avast brand. There's also a lot to be said for the simplicity of the SecureLine VPN app, which gets you up and running quickly, and offers servers in regions ignored by most competitors. And although we're not thrilled Avast doesn't offer a monthly subscription for SecureLine VPN, its annual cost is very competitive.
What will likely turn the most heads is SecureLine VPN's download Speedtest scores. Avast deserves credit for that, and it's safe to say that this VPN is likely to have little negative impact on your download speeds. But networks are finicky, and you shouldn't expect the startling results we saw. It's also worth noting that the rest of SecureLine VPN's Speedtest scores didn't look as enticing.
Our biggest concern with Avast SecureLine VPN is the same we have for its sibling product (and sharer of infrastructure) AVG Secure VPN: Neither has released a third-party audit of its policies and infrastructure. We don't believe that Avast is trying to hide anything, but releasing an audit is in line with the company's other transparency efforts, and will help build customer confidence in a rapidly changing industry.
For now, we continue to fully endorse our Editors' Choice winners: Proton VPN, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, NordVPN, Surfshark VPN, and TunnelBear VPN.
Avast SecureLine VPN boasts eye-popping Speedtest scores and a snazzy interface, but it lacks features found among the best VPNs, has a hefty up-front cost, and has yet to release a third-party audit.
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