hide.me
A long-running, Malaysia-based VPN with a feature-rich client, an unlimited-data free tier, RAM-only servers, and an independent 2024 no-logs audit by Securitum.
hide.me ↗- Jurisdiction
- Malaysia
- Founded
- 2012
- Owner
- eVenture Ltd
- Best price
- $2.69/mo
- Devices
- 10
- Free tier
- Yes
Best for
- · Privacy-focused users who want a non-Eyes jurisdiction plus an audited no-logs policy and RAM-only servers
- · Users wanting a capable free VPN with unlimited data before paying
- · Torrent/P2P users (P2P allowed, multihop, dynamic port forwarding)
- · Households needing multiple simultaneous connections (10)
Not ideal for
- · Users who require fully open-source desktop/mobile clients for independent verification
- · Those who want a provider with a documented court-tested no-logs record
- · Buyers unwilling to commit to a multi-year plan for the lowest price
- · Anyone needing static/fixed port forwarding
Strengths
- ✓Strong privacy posture: Malaysia jurisdiction (outside 5/9/14 Eyes), no-logs policy independently audited by Securitum (2024), RAM-only servers, transparency reports since 2012, and VPN Trust Initiative re-accreditation (2025)
- ✓Feature-rich apps: WireGuard/OpenVPN/IKEv2, system-wide kill switch (StealthGuard), multihop, split tunneling, obfuscation, SmartGuard DNS ad/tracker blocking, and dynamic port forwarding
- ✓Genuinely usable free tier with unlimited data (limited locations and one connection)
- ✓Crypto payments (including Monero) and email-only signup support relatively anonymous accounts; 10 simultaneous connections
- ✓Linux CLI, OpenWRT and Ubuntu Touch clients are open source (GPL-2.0) on the eVenture GitHub org
Weaknesses
- ✗No-logs audit cadence is light, one true no-logs audit (Securitum 2024) plus a mobile (MASA) assessment and a 2015 DefenseCode audit; not audited annually like some rivals
- ✗Main desktop and mobile apps are not open source, only niche Linux/router/Ubuntu Touch clients are public, limiting independent code verification
- ✗Month-to-month price is high ($11.99); the cheap rate requires a ~2-year commitment
- ✗No documented real-world court/seizure test of the no-logs claim; static port forwarding is not offered
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
| Based in | Malaysia |
| Eyes alliance | Outside 5/9/14 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | eVenture Ltd |
| Conglomerate | n/a |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | None kept |
| Bandwidth | Some |
| Source IP address | None kept |
Per its privacy policy, hide.me does not log originating IP addresses, browsing/traffic activity, DNS queries, or connection timestamps. It retains only an account email (stored encrypted) and aggregate monthly data (bandwidth) usage; the in-session randomly generated username and connected server are erased every few hours. The no-logs policy was independently audited by Securitum in June 2024, which also examined the RAM-only server infrastructure.
| Anonymous signup | Yes |
| Accepts cash | Unknown |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Unknown |
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | n/a |
| Multi-hop | Yes |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Yes |
| Port forwarding | Yes |
| P2P / torrenting | Yes |
| IPv6 | Unknown |
| Data cipher | AES-256-GCM (OpenVPN/IKEv2); ChaCha20-Poly1305 (WireGuard) |
| Handshake | RSA/ECDH with Perfect Forward Secrecy |
| Open-source clients | Partial |
| Independent audits | 3 |
| Transparency report | Yes |
| Court / seizure-tested | Unknown |
hide.me has published transparency reports since 2012 stating it has never held customer data to hand over in response to legal/government requests, and it was re-accredited by the VPN Trust Initiative in 2025. There is no documented server seizure, raid, or subpoena that has publicly tested the no-logs claim in court, so the claim is audit-supported (Securitum 2024) but not court-tested.
| Simultaneous devices | 10 |
| Countries | 90 |
| Servers | 2500 |
| Linux support | GUI app |
| Month-to-month | $11.99 |
| Best $/mo | $2.69 |
| On plan | ~2-year plan (billed ~$69.95 every 2 years; sometimes promoted ~$2.59/mo on a 27-month deal) |
| Free trial | None |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | No overclaiming |
Independent audits
- Securitum· 2024 · No-logs policy audit (June 2024) confirming the no-logs policy is correctly applied; the assessment also covered the RAM-only/diskless server infrastructurereport ↗
- App Defense Alliance (MASA)· 2023 · Mobile Application Security Assessment, authentication, information handling, encryptionreport ↗
- DefenseCode Ltd (Leon Juranic)· 2015 · Early security/privacy audit certifying no-logs operationreport ↗
The official hide.me domain and Wayback Machine were not directly fetchable from this environment, so figures were cross-checked across multiple reputable 2026 reviews (SafetyDetectives, vpnMentor, Cloudwards, WizCase, Top10VPN, VPNOverview, Gizmodo) plus the eVenture GitHub organization. CHANGES FROM DRAFT: technical.ramOnly upgraded unknown→yes (RAM-only/diskless confirmed by Cloudwards, VPNOverview, WizCase, Top10VPN, and reportedly covered by the Securitum 2024 audit); transparency.openSourceClients upgraded unknown→partial (eVenture GitHub publishes GPL-2.0 Linux CLI, OpenWRT, Ubuntu Touch clients and a SoftEther fork, but main Windows/macOS/Android/iOS apps remain proprietary); audit scope and realWorldNoLog refined to note RAM coverage and the 2025 VPN Trust Initiative re-accreditation. Server/country counts vary by source (2026 reviews cite ~90–91 countries / ~2,100–2,600 servers) and are approximate. Monthly price shows minor source variance ($9.95–$11.99); $11.99 is corroborated by SafetyDetectives, Top10VPN, WizCase, and vpnMentor. Best long-term price is sometimes promoted as low as ~$2.49–$2.59/mo on a 27-month (24+3 free) deal; the ~$2.69/mo 2-year figure (billed ~$69.95) is used as the conservative standard rate. Encryption ciphers are standard protocol defaults rather than provider-confirmed in this research.
Sources
- SafetyDetectives, hide.me VPN Review 2026 (audit, RAM-only, pricing $11.99/$2.59, 10 connections) ↗
- vpnMentor, Hide.me Review 2026 (no-logs, MASA audit, payments, owner eVenture) ↗
- Cloudwards, Hide.me VPN Review 2026 (RAM-only confirmed, $2.69/2yr billed $69.95, 30-day refund, eVenture, Malaysia non-Eyes) ↗
- Top10VPN, Hide.me Review 2026 (RAM-only/diskless, no open-source apps, no court/seizure test, $11.99 monthly) ↗
- VPNOverview, Hide.me VPN Review 2025 (RAM-only servers, Securitum 2024 covered RAM structure, VPN Trust Initiative 2025) ↗
- WizCase, hide.me Review 2026 (diskless servers, eVenture independent of rivals, 30-day refund) ↗
- hide.me VPN (eVenture) GitHub organization, open-source Linux CLI, OpenWRT, Ubuntu Touch clients (GPL-2.0) and SoftEther fork ↗
- Gizmodo, Hide.me Review 2026 (pricing cross-check, jurisdiction, crypto payments) ↗
Last verified 2026-06-17. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.