Browsec VPN Review – Why We Do NOT Recommend It

Even on a mobile phone, similar issues plague the provider. Be aware that this is a new review, written in June 2021. This user says that the provider serves the purpose, although sometimes, the internet completely stops working. Of course, upon turning the provider off, it starts working again.

Is browsec vpn safe

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Browsec VPN Review – Why We Do NOT Recommend It?

Browsec VPN Review

Among dozens of VPNs on the market, there are tons of cheap options that seem attractive to new users. Browsec VPN is, at first glance, a very affordable provider that offers quite a lot for the price. Since it isn’t a very popular option on the market, we decided to test it out and see how well it fares. Before you buy/use it, we suggest you read our comprehensive Browsec VPN review for 2021.

What is Browsec VPN?

Browsec VPN is, obviously, a Virtual Private Network provider. The thing about this provider is that it’s based in Russia, which is an extremely bad place for owning this kind of company.

As some of you know, the country is known for excessive government surveillance and censorship, which jeopardizes privacy and online freedom. Moreover, Russia requires all VPNs that operate there to hand over the data if it’s needed.

This means that the company can, at any time, disclose your personal info to the government. Interestingly, Browsec VPN is a popular option on the Google Play Store, counting over a million downloads.

On the PC, this provider didn’t fare too well, especially with more demanding users. Before even starting our review, we want to mention that Browsec VPN didn’t exactly leave the most positive impression on us.

After all, our recommended option is always ExpressVPN, which is the best provider on the market. In the following review of Browsec VPN, you’re going to see why we don’t recommend it at all.

Compatible Devices and Ease of Use

Let’s start off with the supported devices. This is very important if you want to utilize the service on a multitude of devices at your home or workplace. On the website’s home screen, Browsec VPN shows what devices it supports:

Browsec VPN Devices

As we can see, not a whole lot of them are here. It’s definitely not a VPN for Roku, Apple TV, or Windows. Instead, for PC platforms, it comes in the form of a plug-in, supporting Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and other browsers.

If you plan on using it on mobile devices, that’s where you’re going to get a full-fledged app. Obviously, the provider puts more emphasis on the mobile platform, which isn’t necessarily bad if the product is nearly perfect.

Computers

In many cases, users will take advantage of VPNs on a computer. Computers are much more versatile than smartphones, despite allowing you to do pretty much the same stuff.

For computers, as mentioned earlier in our complete review, Browsec VPN didn’t put so much effort. Whether you’re using Firefox or Chrome, you can enjoy the app only within the browser.

We use Chrome and the installation process is very simple. First, you need to visit the website, click on the Chrome icon, and the site will take you straight to the Google Chrome Store.

Browsec VPN Setup 1

Here, just click on the Installation button on the right, and within 3 seconds, the app will be in your Chrome library. To open it, check your plugins right next to the search bar above. A single click on the Browsec VPN icon is enough to open it:

Browsec VPN App 1

Click on the green button that says Protect Me, and the app’s home screen will open.

Browsec VPN App 2

Browsec VPN is turned on by default. You can change that by clicking on the power button in the bottom-right portion of the app. To open the server list, click Change, next to the country in the image.

Browsec VPN App 3

Click on the server you want here and the app will automatically connect to it.

We can see that the app is very simple to use, so even if you’re a newbie, using it will be a breeze. That’s one good thing about it!

Smartphones and Tablets

If you’re not the PC guy or girl, you’re probably spending your time on a phone, cycling through numerous images and videos on Instagram or Snapchat.

Well, even for this purpose, you need a VPN to protect your privacy. Luckily, Browsec VPN provides an app for mobile devices, that looks exactly like this:

Browsec VPN Android

The image on the left shows how it looks on the Google Play Store. We used an Android phone for testing. It has 4.3 stars and 1M+ downloads – very enticing! Once you download it, the app will immediately thrust you into the home screen.

Open the server list by tapping on the country above, where you’ll see plenty of locations that the provider offers. To connect to a server you want, tap on the country, and use the connection button shown in the fourth image.

Browsec VPN really did a good job when it comes to optimizing its app. We usually use 5 or 6 photos to illustrate how the app works. This time, we did it in a single row of screenshots, implying how easy it is to use.

Other Devices

What you saw above is what Browsec VPN really offers. Don’t expect it to be a VPN compatible with Amazon Fire TV, routers, Chromecast, or gaming consoles. It’s really a bare-bones provider that offers nothing but web browsers and apps for mobile phones.

For the price, we expected a lot more from it. At this price range, other providers provide decent full-fledged apps, and not just browser extensions, as Browsec VPN does.

How Fast is Browsec VPN? We Checked Its Speed!

The provider didn’t leave a good impression on us from the get-go. Sure, its apps, or better said, extensions, are simple to use. But, you can’t make us pay for something that’s not a true VPN in every sense of that word.

These VPN extensions are known to provider piss-poor speeds, which made this test all the more predictable. Usually, the best providers on the market are usually the fastest one – ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, NordVPN, and so forth.

Can Browsec VPN parry? Well, let’s see. For the start, we need to mention that all providers reduce your speeds to some extent. Some do it by 10 or 20 percent, while some nail it to 80 or 90 percent – the difference is night and day.

When it comes to testing, we did 3 tests in the morning, 3 in the mid-day, and 3 in the evening, for 3 testing locations. Furthermore, we kept the best score and used the best location when that option was available.

Our physical location is the USA (non-VPN test), and we used these testing locations:

  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia

Without using a VPN, our native internet speeds are:

  • Ping: 11 ms
  • Download speed: 211.88 Mb/s
  • Upload Speed: 202.20 Mb/s

Now, when using Browsec VPN for this 2021 review, our ping, download, and upload speeds respectively, for 3 testing locations, were:

US Server: 67 ms / 78.84 Mbps / 80.93 Mbps

Browsec VPN Speed US

UK Server: 182 ms / 50.61 Mbps / 37.19 Mbps

Browsec VPN Speed UK

Australian Server: 578 ms / 10.72 Mbps / 2.31 Mbps

Browsec VPN Speed AUS

Looking at the results for this part of our review, we don’t even have to analyze them. Browsec VPN is obviously one of the slowest VPNs we tested. Even in our country, the speeds were simply atrocious, although we could browse on the Internet.

When compared to our native speeds, we see a significant reduction, especially on the Australian server, which cranked up our ping to 578 ms and upload speed to just 2.31 Mbps.

Beware that these were the BEST results we got. So, in the majority of cases, you’ll get the performance of the dial-up internet. If that’s what you want… well, go for it. We’d still recommend ExpressVPN – which is the fastest provider on the market.

How Good is Browsec VPN for Streaming?

A good streaming experience is characterized by excellent speeds and the ability to unblock streaming sites. Browsec VPN already failed the speed test, so be prepared to encounter lots of buffering, stuttering, and crashing while watching videos.

Our streaming test will start with Netflix, which is arguably the most popular streaming service.

Browsec VPN Netflix

The image above shows some good results – we unblocked it, right? Not exactly. You see, one show called Parks & Recreation is the US-exclusive title, and what you see above isn’t that show.

If we access Netflix and we don’t find it, that means that it can’t unblock Netflix US, which is exactly the case with the provider.

Nevertheless, let’s check other platforms, starting with Amazon Prime Video. Strangely during our review of Browsec VPN, we managed to unblock it successfully, which made us quite surprised.

Browsec VPN Prime Video

Another American platform, Disney+, obviously didn’t work. The login button didn’t work, so we couldn’t log in to our account.

Browsec VPN Disney+

As expected, HBO GO worked easily, although the streaming experience was a dumpster fire.

Browsec VPN HBO GO

Hulu, which started gaining popularity as of recently, also didn’t work. It immediately detected that we’re using a VPN and locked us out of the website.

Browsec VPN Hulu

For sports lovers, we tested DAZN, which didn’t work. You’ll have to get ExpressVPN instead to unblock it.

Browsec VPN DAZN

Lastly, we tested BBC iPlayer, a UK platform, which worked okay. We tried unblocking several shows and they worked well.

Browsec VPN BBC iPlayer

To conclude this section of our in-depth review, we can say that Browsec VPN is very bad for streaming. It can’t unblock Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and other platforms. Even when it unblocks a streaming site, you’ll be banging your head against the wall due to how slow it is.

Confidentiality, Security & Logs

Browsec VPN’s security and privacy are to be questioned because of the reasons we mentioned above. Let’s mention what we said again. The provider is based in Russia, which is already an alarming bit of information.

It’s not inside the 14 Eyes but to be honest, it’s worse than that. Russia is one of those anti-VPN countries that don’t respect your privacy and want to delve into every part of your life.

Surprisingly, the provider’s no-logging policy sounds quite benevolent.

Browsec VPN Privacy Policy

When you read it, you see that the provider actually doesn’t store any compromising information. The reason why it seems like it is because this type of information is mentioned nowhere. Where are the IP addresses, timestamps, location, etc?

They mention some aggregate information, saying that they can’t be used to identify you. But once again – what information is that? Honestly, the privacy policy doesn’t sound very genuine and it’s very short. We like short policies but when they go straight to the point and explain everything there is to explain.

This privacy policy is a far cry from what we just said. It’s basically useless. Feel free to read it right now and you’ll see what we’re talking about.

Browsec VPN IP Leak

Luckily, our IP leak test was successful, which is one small positive point for Browsec VPN in this review and test. We tested it with multiple locations and the situation was the same. What we didn’t like about it is that it doesn’t offer additional security features. There’s 256-bit AES encryption, HTTP, and IPSec proxy, but also a kill switch.

For those who think that’s enough, it actually isn’t. A few more features like OpenVPN, split tunneling, and Wi-Fi protection would be welcome, too. The provider implemented an automatic kill switch, which you can’t turn off or on.

Instead, it works automatically if the connections break. As for other security features, here’s what you can expect:

Browsec VPN Security Features

In one word – nothing special. You can use the VPN for WebRTC connection or change the timezone to fit your new location.

Can I Do Torrenting Safely With Browsec VPN?

Browsec VPN is, as we said, a browser-only app. This means that it protects your traffic inside the browser, and when you close it, your traffic is unencrypted. Logically, when you download torrents, the only part that goes through the browser is when the torrent file gets to your PC.

Immediately after that, it goes into your torrent client, which is out of the VPN’s reach. It’s not inside the browser, hence it’s not encrypted. This means that Browsec VPN isn’t great for torrenting. In fact, you can’t perform any torrenting activity with it.

And no, you can’t use a VPN while watching some content on Popcorn Time. Popcorn Time is an app and not an in-browser platform.

Can I Use Browsec VPN to Bypass Censorship?

These days, bypassing censorship is getting harder, as ISPs and governments have numerous anti-VPN measures at their disposal. When we talk about censorship, we think about China and its Great Firewall. This firewall blocks almost all the providers on the market, giving you minimal leeway to make a proper choice.

Browsec VPN is nowhere near bypassing the Great Firewall, as well as working in censored countries like the UAE, Russia, Iran, Iraq, and others. We recommend NordVPN for that purpose, with its obfuscated servers and rock-solid security.

Pricing and Plan Options

Despite bringing nothing significant to the table, Browsec VPN is a paid provider, although it offers a free version as well. This free version isn’t as good as Windscribe, so there’s no reason for you to use it. You can read our in-depth review of the Windscribe service and see why it’s a much better choice – even if you pay for it.

Let’s see how much will this VPN cost you and review the pricing.

Browsec VPN Pricing

The pricing you see above is relatively cheap. A monthly plan costs just $4.99, while a two-year plan costs $2.99 a month. The provider, interestingly, recommends an annual plan at $3.33 a month. Given what the provider offers, this isn’t a price that you want to pay for.

Surfshark, for instance, costs $1.99 for a 2-year plan, while CyberGhost costs just $2.75 for a 3-year plan. Both of these options are way better, yet cost less money. If you’re going to get a cheap VPN, these are the best options on the market.

Browsec VPN Payment Methods

Are you still going to buy Browsec VPN? Well, good luck to you. Here’s how you can pay – with PayPal, VISA, MasterCard, and American Express. If the product isn’t up to your expectations, which will probably be the case, you get a 7-day refund period.

Browsec VPN Money Back

To get a refund, just contact the provider and follow the instructions.

How Can I Contact Browsec VPN?

Being a small VPN, we were surprised during our review, to see that the customer support team is pretty good and knowledgeable. There are two methods you can use for contacting Browsec VPN:

Browsec VPN Contact

If you’re not in a hurry, you can use the email template from above. It’s very simple, which we like a lot. Just enter your name, email, and type in your message. After that, click Submit, and wait for a response. Usually, the provider will get back to you in one hour, and in some cases, it can be 3 to 4 hours, depending on how busy it is.

Live chat is much different. Here, you get a response pretty quickly – in a minute or less. We chit-chatted with the support a bit and it’s quite good. The support team is ready to help you and fix your VPN-related issues, almost like they know you’re going to have them!

The Special Functionalities

We mentioned earlier in our review that Browsec VPN lacks some special features or at least other features that would make it more secure and practical. Well, that was basically this paragraph, summed up in one or two sentences.

Don’t expect any special functionalities here, although you could, given the price that is higher than that of Surfshark. And Surfshark packs quite a lot of features that would give other providers a run for their money.

At this point, it’s already hard to recommend the provider to anyone, even less-demanding users.

Other Things You Should Know

There are still a few things we haven’t mentioned in our review, that you should know about Browsec VPN. Let’s go over them now.

Number of Servers

Browsec VPN Server Locations

Browsec VPN isn’t exactly the champ when it comes to the number of servers. However, if the information within the app is true, 600+ servers aren’t that bad. When the provider is smaller and not very popular, you can be happy to get 100 or 200 of them

But, the provider goes out of its way to provide more servers, which is always welcome.

Number of Countries

These 600 servers are scattered across 42 virtual locations, and not physical ones. That’s a bit of a bummer, but they had to cut some corners to make it more affordable.

Number of Simultaneous Connections

Browsec VPN Simultaneous Connections

If you want to protect multiple devices simultaneously, you’ll get up to 5 simultaneous connections on the same account. Even when using just browser extensions, one extension means one device, so you can protect 5 browsers maximum.

What Do Other Users Say About Browsec VPN?

As a less-popular VPN, Browsec doesn’t have many reviews on sites like Reddit and Trustpilot. Since it doesn’t exist on Trustpilot, we decided to check the reviews of it on Reddit, Google Play, and the Apple Store. Let’s check Reddit first.

Browsec VPN Reddit

This user obviously has a problem with how slow the provider is. In his words, when he turns off the provider, the video he watches buffers immediately. On the contrary, when it works, his video buffers forever.

That’s exactly what we experienced a few times during testing, and not just on YouTube, but on Netflix, as well!

Browsec VPN Google Play

Even on a mobile phone, similar issues plague the provider. Be aware that this is a new review, written in June 2021. This user says that the provider serves the purpose, although sometimes, the internet completely stops working. Of course, upon turning the provider off, it starts working again.

Browsec VPN Apple Store

On the Apple Store, the user reports a connection issue – once again. He says that the connection is really good, but the VPN fails to connect most of the time. In his words, it’s one of the worst VPNs he used and we couldn’t agree more!

Conclusion: Should You Take It?

Concluding this review is pretty simple, given what we got from this provider.

We saw that Browsec VPN isn’t worth paying for, and even as a free provider, it wouldn’t be a reliable option. The competition on the market is simply too strong and it’s overshadowed by much better options, both free and premium.

If you’re going to be a premium service, you have to offer apps for the PC and introduce more features. Otherwise, we can’t give a positive review of a product that’s not complete.

A bit more expensive option is ExpressVPN, but it’s also the best provider on the market. That’s our recommended alternative if you want a hassle-free web browsing and protection for ALL of your devices at home.

Browsec Review 2023 – Keep This in Mind Before Buying

Are you looking for a fast, free VPN with decent security features? Browsec claims to provide speeds up to 100 Mbps and a secure browsing experience. So, I put Browsec through a series of tests. Does it stand up to its claims? Yes, but with some caveats.

Browsec is a lightweight VPN that works through an extension on your desktop’s browser, with a customer base of approximately 8 million users worldwide and more than 4 million downloads and 25,000 reviews on Chrome. You can also add it to Firefox or Opera, and it has mobile apps for Android and iOS devices available on the Play Store or App Store.

Looking for a good VPN to keep you safe while browsing isn’t always easy, but my testing showed that Browsec provides decent connection speeds and security. However, the legal concerns and the fact that it is based in Russia shatter some of the promises regarding privacy.

After performing a series of tests, I can say Browsec VPN is easy to use, but streaming Netflix US and other platforms weren’t possible even on the premium servers.

Short on Time? Here Are My Key Findings

  • It works with BBC iPlayer and Funimation. However, Browsec can’t unblock Netflix US. Check out my streaming tests here.
  • Browsec provides fast speeds on premium servers. I had a great experience with the download and upload speeds on the premium servers, but the free ones were throttled. Take a look at my speed tests.
  • Present in 42 locations with 1,000 servers. The free version only has access to 4 servers and locations, but the paid version bumps it up to 42 locations. Check out my server coverage test.
  • It features 256-bit AES encryption with excellent security. However, only IPSec and HTTP protocols are available. My testing showed Browsec shielded my IP address and didn’t leak any WebRTC data. Check my results below.
  • Browsec logs data, and it’s based in Russia. According to its privacy policy, it can disclose your information if requested by the law. Check my take on Browsec’s privacy.
  • It works with 5 devices. But it will register every browser extension as a device. Using Browsec on 2 browsers on the same device will count as 2 devices. Check out my tests below.
  • 7-day money-back guarantee. You need to give reasons for your refund, but Browsec delivers on its 7-day money-back claims.
  • Browsec doesn’t allow torrenting. It doesn’t support P2P but has an automatic kill switch. Check out my torrenting results below.
  • Easy to use and install.Browsec has a simple one-click installation process and an easy-to-use UI.

Browsec Features — 2023 Update

5.5

&#x1F4B8 Price 2.99 USD/month
&#x1F4C6 Money Back Guarantee 7 Days
&#x1F4DD Does VPN keep logs? Yes
&#x1F5A5 Number of servers 1000+
&#x1F4BB Number of devices per license 5
&#x1F6E1 Kill switch Yes
&#x1F5FA Based in country Russian Federation
&#x1F4E5 Supports torrenting Yes

Streaming — Supports Funimation and BBC iPlayer (But Not Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+)

I don’t think streaming is Browsec’s strong suit as the decrease in speed makes for a bad experience with buffering, and many websites block it.

However, it was great to see that even the free servers could unblock BBC iPlayer and Funimation during my tests. The paid servers performed better because I managed to stream without any buffering issues. However, I couldn’t unblock Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max with neither free nor paid servers.

Unblocked: BBC iPlayer and Funimation

Browsec can unblock BBC iPlayer and Funimation, but the streaming can take a while on the free version due to slow speeds.

Screenshot of BBC iPlayer working

I was also able to stream shows from BBC iPlayer using Browsec

The premium UK server performed the best and provided a great streaming experience without any buffering.

Browsec also helped me unblock Funimation and Hotstar. However, the slow speeds and a lot of buffering kept me from enjoying my favorite shows.

Screenshot of Funimation working

Browsec can unblock Funimation with ease

Blocked By: HBO Max, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video

I was disappointed as Browsec couldn’t unblock websites such as Disney+ and Hulu, even with the paid premium servers. Disney+ didn’t load and displayed a black screen.

HBO Max didn’t fare well either. I connected to the US server, loaded up the webpage, and got a black screen. The same thing happened when I tried streaming Amazon Prime Video.

 Screenshot of Amazon Prime Video blocking the VPN

Amazon Prime Video also detects Browsec and restricts me from streaming content

Netflix US doesn’t work with Browsec as the webpage loads up but just pushes a “Remind Me” button when the show becomes available in your region.

 Screenshot of Netflix US not working on Browsec

I wasn’t able to access Netflix US on the free and premium US servers

Even as I tried accessing Netflix Japan, I couldn’t get around to Netflix’s error messages. I experienced the same issue when I tried Belgium, Hong Kong, Germany, Australia, and a few other countries.

Speeds — Fast Speeds, But Only With a Premium Subscription

Browsec claims speeds of up to 100 Mbps with any premium servers, and my test results were great. The free ones, however, were super slow.

My baseline results were 77.2 Mbps and 72.90 Mbps download and upload speeds with a ping of 4 ms.

Screenshot of my baseline network speeds without the VPN

My baseline speed results without being connected to any VPN

I connected to 3 different servers and noticed a massive difference between the free and the premium servers. The free server dropped to 1.75 Mbps and 1.55 Mbps download and upload speeds. That was devastating as it decreased by over 90%, which is painfully slow even for browsing.

Screenshot of the Speed Test on Browsec Free Servers

Browsec slows down the speeds on the free servers

To my surprise, the premium server performed well and increased my download speeds to 87.14 Mbps. But the slow 11.85 Mbps upload speeds didn’t meet the stage of my average upload speeds. The pings in both the free and premium servers were disappointing.

Screenshot of Browsec

The premium US and UK servers work great, but the free ones are slow

I also tried connecting to the Singapore server, and it was a big disaster. The speeds dropped by a lot, and the overall browsing experience turned slow.

My download speeds dropped to 5.38 Mbps, and my upload speeds dropped to 1.74 Mbps. Here is a complete list of all the servers I tested Browsec with:

Server Download Speeds Upload Speeds
Unprotected 77.22 Mbps 72.90 Mbps
US (Free Server) 53.22 Mbps (31% loss) 11.72 Mbps (83% loss)
UK (Free Server) 52.66 Mbps (32% loss) 8.18 Mbps (88% loss)
Netherlands (Free Server) 1.75 Mbps (97% loss) 1.55 Mbps (97% loss)
Singapore (Free Server) 5.38 Mbps (93% loss) 1.74 Mbps (96% loss)
Japan 22.79 Mbps (70% loss) 3.72 Mbps (94% loss)
Chile 1.65 Mbps (98% loss) 1.08 Mbps (98% loss)

Are Browsec’s Speeds Fast Enough For Gaming? Yes

I would recommend staying away from gaming if you’re on the free servers. However, with a premium account, gaming is possible. Since Browsec is a browser extension, you can play online browser games. I tried out a diep.io match, but I had to use the faster US server to play it smoothly.

Also, if you are a serious gamer with triple-AAA PC titles, then Browsec won’t even work for you.

Screenshot of Browsec while gaming

Games work only on the premium Browsec servers

Server Network — 4 Free and 42 Premium Locations

Browsec provides amazing premium servers but limits its free servers. The free version is limited to 4 locations, and the premium bumps it up to 42 locations.

The free VPN is limited to pre-selected servers in the US, the UK, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

On the other hand, paid users can access all the Browsec servers worldwide. The premium servers have locations such as Australia, India, France, South Africa, Turkey, Hong Kong, and Spain. But even with a premium subscription, certain regions such as South America are entirely excluded, and Asia is only partially covered. Also, most of these servers are virtual, meaning you might experience slower speeds.

Screenshot of Browsec with it

The premium subscription allows you access to 40+ server locations

All the servers are available to use on Android, but you need to create an account first before accessing them.

Screenshot of Browsec servers on the Android app

The Browsec Android app has 40+ premium server locations

Security — Solid With Strong Encryption

Browsec provides solid security and encrypts all your data using AES-256 encryption. The only difference is that mobile devices use IPSec/IKEv2 protocol, and browser extensions use HTTP Proxy over TLS. I also ran a test with the Virus Total tool to check if Browsec had any malicious files, which is crucial, especially when using a free VPN.

Screenshot of Browsec test with zero malware or viruses.

Browsec has zero malware or viruses as shown with the Virus Total scan

I’ve seen my fair share of free VPNs carrying malware, but Browsec didn’t have any. I also ran a DNS leak test to see if Browsec was leaking anything.

Screenshot of Browsec leak test

A leak test showed that Browsec doesn’t leak any data and spoofs my IP address

Running the IP leak test revealed that my IP was indeed hidden, and there was no WebRTC leak. The superb score continues as the DNS leak test was also negative. So, it’s great to see that Browsec will keep your data secure and safe without the fear of hackers getting into your device, even while using public WiFi.

I also looked at the mobile app permissions. That is necessary as most mobile VPNs don’t have a great reputation for protecting your data.

Browsec requires no extra permissions.

The app permissions Browsec requires on Android are acceptable and run in the background

Browsec doesn’t offer a kill switch, but it does have split tunneling, which you can access through its “Smart Settings.” Split tunneling can increase your speeds and provide greater privacy by making a list of websites you want to visit with the VPN on and without the VPN. Essentially, this feature lets you route some of your traffic through an encrypted VPN, while other sites can have direct access to the internet.

Screenshot of Browsec Split Tunneling Feature

You can use Browsec’s Smart Settings to access the Split Tunneling feature

All you need to do is click on the “Smart Settings” tab and then enter the URLs of the site that you want the VPN to be active on.

Privacy — Risky and Confusing

While Browsec is generally safe to use, it has some privacy concerns. Browsec states it does collect data but doesn’t use or sell it to third-party services. While it’s not based in any of the 14 Eyes countries, it’s still based in Russia, which has its own concerning factor. Interestingly, there is no About page on its website to find more info on the company itself.

Screenshot of Browsec

Browsec’s policy claims to collect user data

Browsec admits it can hand over if required by the law. That’s the case with many VPNs, even more expensive ones. It would be nice to see an independent logging audit done of the VPN, though. That would help clear up how much personal data is actually collected.

Screenshot of Browsec data gathering and usage policy

Browsec can share your data if required by the law

On the bright side, it does have an automatic kill switch. If you lose your VPN connection, you automatically disconnect from the internet, so your data is protected.

Torrenting — No Support For P2P

Browsec is limited to a browser extension with no desktop app. Because of that, it won’t work with torrent clients. If P2P file sharing and torrenting are essential to you, pass on Browsec and use other VPNs I found safe for torrenting.

Does Browsec VPN Work in China? No

Unfortunately, Browsec doesn’t work in China. I confirmed this by asking its customer support.

Response of Browsec

A quick query to the customer support team resulted in that Browsec is blocked in China

Like most VPNs, Browsec, too, won’t be able to bypass the “Great Firewall.” A Hong Kong server may allow some local coverage, but it is unlikely to work smoothly.

Simultaneous Device Connections — Free Allows for Unlimited Connections, Premium Works On 5 Devices or Browsers

The Browsec VPN extension can be installed on an unlimited number of devices, but this is only applicable to the free version. Moreover, initiating usage of the free version doesn’t require an account.

However, if you have a premium account, it only works on 5 browsers at a time. The extension worked great, and I ran it back to back on 3 devices to see if it would strain the performance. It worked flawlessly as I didn’t see any performance loss.

Device Compatibility — Works on Browsers and Smartphones

Browsec is specifically made as an extension or plugin for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera Browser. However, it’s not available on Safari, which instantly removes a massive chunk of users. Since it runs on browsers only, Browsec is not compatible with Amazon Fire Stick, Kodi, and Roku.

Alt Text: Screenshot of Browsec

Browsec’s extension running on the Chrome browser

As it doesn’t have a native desktop app other than mobile, you won’t be able to use it with PC games or other apps that don’t need a browser to run.

Screenshot of Browsec Mac app in development

Browsec is working on an app for Mac and Safari users

According to its website, the Browsec team is also working to develop a Mac-compatible app.

Installation & Apps

5.3

Set-Up & Installation — Straightforward

Browsec makes installing the extensions very easy. Google Chrome, Firefox, and other browser extensions have a speedy installation process.

The extension UI seems a little outdated, but the Android and iOS apps have a better-designed UI and work smoothly.

creenshot of Browsec

Browsec has a clean UI with the Android app

As soon as you install the extension, click on the “Protect Me” button, and it will be up and running.

Screenshot of Browsec

Browsec can be accessed and connected with a single click

You can also access the settings with a single click, turn off the VPN with the slider, and change servers within seconds.