PrivateVPN vs Hotspot Shield At a Glance
PrivateVPN
While PrivateVPN offers reliable online protection, it comes up short in a few important services. That said, if you’re looking for reliable VPN protection instead of looking to unblock global content, PrivateVPN could be the provider for you.
While the provider comes up lacking in the global server coverage and app support areas, it delivers fast, well-protected connections.
Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield delivers fast, well-encrypted connections from a large global server network. The VPN provides reliable access to geo-fenced content.
The provider’s comprehensive privacy and security protections keep your online activities incognito.
Choosing a VPN
When choosing a VPN, you’ll want to carefully investigate how well a VPN provider performs in each service category before deciding which one is right for your needs.
I’ll be rating two VPN providers, PrivateVPN and Hotspot Shield. I’ll test how well both VPNs perform in each service category, before declaring a winner for that service. Once I’ve tested both providers, I’ll add up the scores and declare a winner.
Once you’ve read this article you’ll have more than enough info to make an informed decision.
PrivateVPN vs Hotspot Shield Features
Okay, it’s time to take a look at all the VPN features you should mull over before laying down your hard-earned cash for a VPN subscription.
Connection Speeds
No matter what your favorite online activities are, a fast connection is your best friend. This is especially true if you enjoy streaming video, playing games online, or downloading and sharing files.
I perform VPN connection speed tests on a regular basis. Here’s how I do it:
- All speed tests are performed on a North American Windows server with a gigabit Ethernet connection.
- I connect to VPN servers located in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Hong Kong, at three different times of the day.
- The Windows version of the VPN providers’ apps is used for testing and are configured to connect using the Wireguard protocol when available.
- I run the Speedtest app after connecting to each VPN server location, exiting the Speedtest app following each speed test.
While both providers delivered more than adequate speeds, one provider delivered triple the speeds of its competitor.
PrivateVPN’s were reasonably fast, coming in at 40 Mbps.
Hotspot Shield’s download speeds measured in at 127 Mbps.
While both providers deliver more than enough bandwidth for streaming video, gaming, and file sharing, you’ll likely be happier with Hotspot Shield’s speed.
Your connection speed experience will differ from mine, depending on your usual unprotected connection speeds, your geographic location, and the location of the VPN server you select.
Average Connection Speed Winner: Hotspot Shield
| Provider | Avg. Connection Speed | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 127 Mbps | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 40 Mbps | Visit Site |
Pricing
It’s an expensive world out there, and we’re all looking for ways to save money. That may lead you to concentrate on finding a cheap VPN. However, you’ll find that bargain basement VPNs may not provide the protection and features you need. This makes it important to consider a provider’s true value.
Hotspot Shield offers a free tier of VPN service. However, the free service has some severe limitations, including data caps, bandwidth throttling, limited access to servers, and more.
Hotspot Shield’s paid tier’s monthly fee comes in at around the price of a foot-long sub when you opt for an annual subscription. The provider has a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Meanwhile, a month of PrivateVPN will cost about the price of a microwave burrito at your local gas station if you go with the three-year plan. The provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
I don’t post exact VPN prices in my articles, because VPNs change their pricing on a regular basis, so any pricing info can quickly become outdated. Visit the VPN providers’ websites for their most current pricing.
Pricing Winner: PrivateVPN
| Provider | Money-Back Guarantee Period | Link |
| PrivateVPN | 30 Days | Visit Site |
| Hotspot Shield | 45 Days | Visit Site |
Privacy
When you go online without a VPN, you leave a trail of virtual breadcrumbs that outsiders can read and determine what you’ve been up to online. This makes a VPN’s privacy features an important consideration.
The following should always be considered when researching a VPN’s privacy protections:
- Is the provider located in an online privacy-friendly country?
- Does the provider save user logs on its servers?
- Does the provider accept Bitcoin or other types of cryptocurrency?
U.S.-based Pango owns Hotspot Shield. While the provider does not log your traffic data or browsing activity, a cryptocurrency payment option is currently not available.
Swedish VPN provider PrivateVPN also doesn’t log user traffic data or browsing activity, and accepts cryptocurrency to keep your subscription payment info undercover. (Especially when you use a disposable email address to sign up.)
Privacy Winner: PrivateVPN
| Provider | Privacy Ranking | Site |
| Hotspot Shield | 4.5 | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 5.0 | Visit Site |
Security
In addition to wanting a look at your activity logs, there are also plenty of bad guys, government types, and other nosy folk that would love to track you while you use the internet. A VPN provider’s connection protection can keep your current travels incognito.
Hotspot Shield protects its users’ connections well, using military-grade encryption. Connection protocols (depending on the app) include OpenVPN, Wireguard, and IKEv2 (IPSec). Kill switch protection is available on the provider’s Windows app.
Meanwhile, PrivateVPN also uses military-grade encryption. Its connection protocols include OpenVPN over UDP/TCP, L2TP/IPSec, IPSec, PPTP, and IKEv2. The provider also offers kill switch protection, as well as a “Stealth VPN” feature that disguises your VPN usage as normal browsing activity.
Security Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Overall Security Score | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 5.0 | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 5.0 | Visit Site |
Simultaneous Connections
I am fairly confident that most of my readers own more than one connected device, and that they use multiple devices at once. This is why it is important to find a VPN provider that has a large simultaneous connections allowance.
Hotspot Shield allows up to five devices to be connected at once to its servers on a single account. (25 devices, five for each family member account if you subscribe to its Premium Family tier.)
PrivateVPN users are allowed to simultaneously connect up to 10 devices to the provider’s servers.
Simultaneous Connections Winner: PrivateVPN
| Provider | Simultaneous Connections Allowed | Link |
| PrivateVPN | 10 | Visit Site |
| Hotspot Shield | 5 | Visit Site |
Streaming Support
On those multiple devices I mentioned above, you probably view content from multiple streaming services. Without a VPN, you’re not getting all that you could be out of your streaming subscriptions. (Streaming services restrict their content to certain countries. This is where a VPN proves useful.)
A VPN has the ability to temporarily assign a new IP address to your internet-capable device. This fools the rest of the internet into thinking that you and your device are connecting to the internet from another geographical region, providing access to content that might normally be limited to viewers in that area.
PrivateVPN delivers access to a good number of streaming services, including Netflix US, Netflix UK, Hulu, Disney+, and more.
Hotspot Shield also provides access to a large number of streaming services, including Netflix US, Netflix UK, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Twitch, Disney+, and others.
Streaming Support Winner: PrivateVPN
| Provider | # of U.S. Streaming Services VPN Unblocks | # of International Services VPN Unblocks | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 6+ | 5+ | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 9+ | 5+ | Visit Site |
BitTorrent Support
BitTorrent is arguably the best way to share files with other internet users. Unfortunately, while file sharing is legal in most countries (many reputable organizations use P2P to share files among employees), many ISPs will throttle or block your internet connection if they detect file sharing.
This is because it’s illegal to share copyrighted materials, including movies, music, and games, leading the entertainment industry to put pressure on ISPs to prevent sharing of copyrighted files. This has led ISPs to throttle or block file sharing, whether the files are copyrighted or not.
Luckily, a VPN has the power to encrypt your internet connection, while temporarily assigning a fresh IP address to your internet-connected device. This means your ISP can’t see what you’re doing online or trace your P2P activity back to you.
Hotspot Shield allows BitTorrenting activity on its server network.
PrivateVPN also allows BitTorrenting activity on its network, while recommending that P2P users connect to its Sweden servers.
BitTorrenting Winner: Tied
| Provider | # of Countries Where VPN Allows BitTorrents | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | All of them | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | All of them | Visit Site |
Global Server Coverage
As I mentioned in the Streaming Support section, many streaming services try to make sure that their content is only accessible from certain countries. This is what makes it important to find a VPN with a large global server network. The larger the network, the more access you’ll have to content around the globe.
Also, look for providers with multiple servers stationed in each country, as that helps ensure that a single server won’t be overloaded by being hit by too many users at once.
Hotspot Shield’s global server network boasts 1,800+ servers located in over 80 countries around the world.
PrivateVPN has 200+ servers stationed in 63+ countries.
Global Server Coverage Winner: Hotspot Shield
| Provider | Server Count | Countries | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 1,800+ | 80+ | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 200+ | 63+ | Visit Site |
Multi-Platform Support
You likely have multiple connected devices, and they’re likely all running different operating systems. That makes a VPN provider’s multi-platform app support an important consideration.
PrivateVPN’s device support could stand some improvement. The provider‘s native app support is limited to the iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows device platforms. It also lacks any type of browser support. The service can also be manually set up on Linux devices and select routers.
Hotspot Shield’s native app support includes options for iOS, macOS, Android, Android TV, Amazon Fire, Linux, and Windows devices. The provider is also compatible with select routers. (Pre-configured routers can be had from Flashrouters.com.) Extensions are available for the Chrome browser platform.
Multi-Platform Support Winner: Hotspot Shield
| Provider | Platforms Supported | Browser Extensions? | Router Support? |
Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 7 | Yes (Chrome) | Yes – Manual setup, only on Hotspot Premium. | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 4 | No | Yes – Manual setup. | Visit Site |
Customer Support
While both of these VPNs are easy to use and provide reliable protection, you’ll likely still have an occasional question.
Hotspot Shield’s customer service department offers 24/7 live chat, email support, a “contact us” form, searchable tutorials, an FAQs section, and a searchable support library.
PrivateVPN’s customer support is made up of a live messaging option (not 24/7), email support, and a non-searchable FAQ support section.
Customer Support Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Customer Support Rating | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 5.0 | Visit Site |
| PrivateVPN | 5.0 | Visit Site |
And The Winner Is…
Both Hotspot Shield and PrivateVPN provide comprehensive VPN services, and both offer excellent online security and privacy However, we need to name an overall winner.
PrivateVPN is the champion this time around, thanks to coming out on top in the Pricing, Privacy, Simultaneous Connections, and Streaming Support arenas.
Hotspot Shield proved to be the victor in the Connection Speeds. Global Server Coverage, and Multi-Platform Support columns.
It was a tie when it came to Security, BitTorrent, and Customer Support.
For more information or to purchase a subscription, visit PrivateVPN.
