UltraVPN Review 2026: An Honest Look at the Kaspersky Replacement

If you’ve recently noticed UltraVPN appear on your device where Kaspersky VPN used to be, you’re not alone. Following a US government ban on Kaspersky software, millions of users were automatically transitioned to UltraVPN, making it one of the most talked-about VPNs of the past year (not necessarily by choice).

But whether you inherited it or discovered it on your own, the question is the same: is UltraVPN actually good?

The short answer is: it depends on what you’re looking for. UltraVPN is affordable, genuinely easy to use, and passes the core privacy tests. But it’s slower than it should be, its server network is limited, and its renewal pricing is alarmingly high. There’s real value here for a certain kind of user, and real reasons to walk away for others.

This review breaks it all down.

What Is UltraVPN?

UltraVPN is a consumer VPN service owned by Fast VPN Pro LLC, a Panama-based entity under the Pango Group, which in turn falls under the Aura cybersecurity umbrella. Aura is a well-regarded US company known for taking digital privacy seriously across its product lines.

The VPN shares its core technology (specifically the Hydra Catapult protocol) with Hotspot Shield, another Pango property. This gives UltraVPN a genuinely solid technical foundation, even if the execution doesn’t always live up to what the protocol is capable of.

UltraVPN gained widespread attention in the US after replacing Kaspersky VPN following the Federal Communications Commission’s ban on Kaspersky software. Users who had active Kaspersky VPN subscriptions found UltraVPN installed in its place. That’s an unusual origin story for a VPN, and it’s worth factoring into how you think about the product. It was designed to quickly attract a large user base, and its simplicity reflects that mission.

Who Is UltraVPN For?

UltraVPN is a strong fit if you:

• Are new to VPNs and want something with a zero learning curve
• Just need basic privacy protection for everyday browsing and public Wi-Fi.
• Want to protect up to 10 devices without paying a premium.
• Are on a tight budget and happy to commit to an annual plan
• I am a former Kaspersky VPN user who wants to stick with what’s familiar.

You’re probably better off looking elsewhere if you:

• Stream a lot and need consistently fast speeds.
• Use Linux, smart TVs, or routers.
• Want advanced features like multi-hop, ad blocking, or obfuscation
• Plan to renew your subscription (the year-two pricing is a shock)
• Need anonymous signup options.

Pricing and Plans

UltraVPN keeps its pricing simple: there are two tiers and a few billing options.

Plan	First Year	Renewal Price
UltraVPN (VPN only)	$35.88/yr ($2.99/mo)	$99.99/year
UltraVPN+ (VPN + Antivirus)	$47.88/yr ($3.99/mo)	$149.99/year
Monthly (iOS/Android/macOS only)	$8.99/month	$8.99/month

The first-year price is genuinely competitive. At $2.99/month, UltraVPN undercuts most major VPNs and even beats NordVPN’s entry-level two-year commitment price in the first year. That’s a real draw, especially for budget shoppers.

The problem is what happens after year one. Renewal jumps to $99.99 per year, nearly three times the introductory price. This pricing structure is common in the VPN industry, but UltraVPN’s gap between the intro and renewal prices is wider than most. If you’re planning to use this long-term, factor the renewal cost into your decision from the start.

UltraVPN accepts credit cards and PayPal, but nothing else. There’s no cryptocurrency option and no Google Pay. For users who value anonymous payment, this is a real gap.

A 30-day money-back guarantee applies to all plans. There’s no free trial, but the 30-day window is generous enough to put the service through its paces before committing.

UltraVPN also offers a free plan, but with a significant catch: it’s only available on iOS. The free tier offers unlimited data (rare for a free VPN), but caps speeds at 2 Mbps and restricts you to US-based servers only. Usable for light browsing, not much else.

Get UltraVPN for $2.99/month (First Year Only)

Key Features

Hydra Catapult Protocol: The Standout Technology

UltraVPN’s biggest differentiator is its use of the Hydra Catapult protocol, a proprietary VPN protocol developed by AnchorFree and used by other major security brands, including McAfee and BitDefender. Hydra is built on OpenVPN principles but optimized for speed and stability, particularly useful when switching between networks (e.g., Wi-Fi to cellular).

In theory, Hydra should make UltraVPN noticeably faster than most VPNs. In practice, independent speed tests haven’t supported that promise (more on that in the Performance section). But the protocol itself is respected in the industry and is a more secure foundation than older options like IPSec/IKEv2, which UltraVPN also offers.

Up to 10 Simultaneous Devices

The industry average for simultaneous VPN connections is five. UltraVPN doubles that with 10 devices per account. For households or small teams, this is a genuine benefit. You can protect your phone, laptop, your partner’s device, and your work computer with a single subscription, without upgrading.

Kill Switch

UltraVPN includes a kill switch that cuts your internet connection if the VPN drops unexpectedly, preventing accidental exposure of your real IP address. On desktop (Windows and macOS), this is built directly into the app. On mobile, Android users need to configure it through the OS’s “Always-on VPN” setting rather than through the app itself, which is a slightly clunky implementation compared to what you’d get with NordVPN or ProtonVPN.

Split Tunneling

Both mobile and desktop apps support split tunneling, which lets you decide which apps or websites route through the VPN tunnel and which connect directly. This is useful for services that don’t play well with VPNs (mobile banking apps are a common example) or when you want to maintain local speeds for something like a video call while keeping your browsing private.

PassWatch Password Manager and Dark Web Scan

Every UltraVPN subscription includes two bonus tools: PassWatch, a browser-based password manager, and Dark Web Scan, a monitoring tool that alerts you if your personal information appears on dark web databases. These features are offered as paid add-ons by most competitors, so their inclusion adds genuine value to UltraVPN’s pricing equation.

AES-256 Encryption

UltraVPN uses AES-256-bit encryption across all connections, the same standard used by banks and governments. This isn’t unique to UltraVPN (virtually every reputable VPN uses it), but it’s worth confirming it’s in place.

Privacy and Security

No-Logs Policy

UltraVPN maintains a strict no-logs policy, meaning it claims not to collect or store any data related to your browsing activity, IP addresses, or session details. The company operates under Panamanian jurisdiction (via Fast VPN Pro LLC), which is considered a favorable jurisdiction for privacy. Panama has no data retention laws and sits outside the 5/9/14 Eyes intelligence-sharing alliances.

One practical signal that the no-logs policy is genuine: when India passed a controversial law requiring VPNs to log user activity, UltraVPN removed its physical servers in India and switched to virtual servers routed through Singapore. Companies willing to lose infrastructure rather than compromise user privacy tend to be more trustworthy than those who quietly comply.

Leak Testing

Independent testing confirms that UltraVPN protects against both DNS leaks and WebRTC leaks. In DNS leak tests, only the VPN’s IP address was detected, not the user’s real address. The same applied to WebRTC testing. These are the two most common ways VPNs accidentally expose user identity, and UltraVPN passes both.

What We Don’t Know Yet

UltraVPN has not yet undergone an independent third-party privacy audit. Competitors like NordVPN, Surfshark, and ProtonVPN have all invested in external audits that verify their no-logs claims. Until UltraVPN does the same, their privacy assurances rest entirely on their word and their corporate structure, which is reassuring but not verified.

Speed and Performance

This is where UltraVPN’s pitch runs into its biggest problem.

Given that UltraVPN uses the Hydra protocol (the same one that powers Hotspot Shield, one of the fastest VPNs on the market), you’d expect respectable speed results. The reality doesn’t match the expectation.

PCMag’s independent speed testing found:

• Download speed decrease: 65.57%
• Upload speed decrease: 71.27%
• Latency increase: 113.01%

Security.org’s testing found similar results, recording roughly a 60% drop in both download and upload speeds compared to baseline.

To put that in practical terms: if you have a 100 Mbps connection, expect to see around 35-40 Mbps while connected to UltraVPN. That’s usable for most day-to-day tasks: emails, browsing, and standard-definition video. But it’s noticeably worse than what Surfshark, NordVPN, or ExpressVPN deliver on similar connections, and it’s disappointing given the technology UltraVPN is built on.

For casual daily use, these speeds won’t be a dealbreaker. For 4K streaming, large file transfers, or low-latency gaming, they likely will be.

Streaming: Can It Unblock Netflix?

UltraVPN can unblock Netflix, with some caveats. PCMag’s testing found it successfully accessed Netflix libraries in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US, returning an “Open” result for each. The UK library, however, returned a “Limited” result, meaning either partial access or occasional blocking.

Other streaming platforms UltraVPN claims to support include Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video.

The caveat is speed. While UltraVPN can technically bypass geo-restrictions, its performance hit makes buffer-free 4K streaming unreliable. For standard-definition or 1080p streaming on a fast broadband connection, it’s workable. For consistently smooth high-definition viewing, the speed limitations make this a weaker choice than ExpressVPN or NordVPN.

There are no dedicated streaming servers, which means you’re relying on general-purpose servers to maintain consistent unblocking, which is less reliable than what premium streamers get with purpose-built streaming infrastructure.

Apps and User Experience

Desktop (Windows and macOS)

The Windows and macOS apps are clean, minimal, and genuinely beginner-friendly. Installation is fast: the interface is a single-screen interface with a connect button and location selector, and you’re up and running in under two minutes.

Protocol options on desktop include Hydra and IKEv2. You can access split tunneling settings and toggle the kill switch directly in the app. What’s missing is everything beyond the basics: no custom DNS, no auto-connect on launch, no multi-hop, no ad blocker. Advanced users will feel constrained.

Mobile (iOS and Android)

The mobile experience mirrors the desktop: the same minimalist design, same quick-connect functionality, same limitations. The Android app handles network switching gracefully, automatically re-establishing the VPN tunnel when you move between Wi-Fi and cellular.

The kill switch implementation on Android is a notable friction point: you have to enable it in Android’s built-in settings rather than the UltraVPN app, and once active, it blocks all internet access if the VPN isn’t running, with no option to configure partial blocking.

iOS users can access the free tier and have the option to use WireGuard as a protocol alongside Hydra and IPSec.

What’s Not Supported

UltraVPN doesn’t support Linux, routers, smart TVs, or browser extensions. If your household includes any of these devices, you’ll need a different solution for them. This is a genuine gap compared to more established VPNs that offer router-level protection to cover all devices on a network at once.

What I Liked

The price is hard to beat in year one. At $2.99/month on an annual plan, UltraVPN is among the cheapest full-featured VPNs available. For a first-time VPN user on a budget, that’s a real advantage.

Ten simultaneous devices are generous. Doubling the industry standard is a meaningful benefit for households and anyone who regularly switches between multiple devices.

Panamanian jurisdiction provides genuine privacy benefits. Operating outside the Eyes alliances and under Panamanian law means UltraVPN has structural protections that US or UK-based VPNs can’t offer.

PassWatch and Dark Web Scan add real value. Competitors charge separately for these tools. Getting them bundled into a $2.99/month subscription is a solid deal.

The apps are genuinely easy to use. No confusion, no manual configuration needed. If you’ve never used a VPN before, you won’t struggle with UltraVPN.

It passes DNS and WebRTC leak tests. The fundamentals of IP protection work correctly.

What Could Be Better

Speed performance is a real weakness. A 60-65% speed reduction is among the worst in the VPN category. Given that UltraVPN uses the Hydra protocol (which powers much faster services at the same parent company), this is disappointing and unexplained.

The renewal price is a trap. $2.99/month becomes $99.99/year after 12 months, nearly a 180% increase. Many users won’t notice until they see the charge on their card.

No independent privacy audit. A no-logs claim is only as credible as the evidence behind it. Until UltraVPN commissions a third-party audit, it’s working on trust alone.

The server network is limited. Roughly 1,300 servers across 18-25 countries are workable, but modest compared to NordVPN’s 6,500+ or ExpressVPN’s 3,000+. Fewer servers mean more congestion and less geographic flexibility.

No ad blocker, no multi-hop, no obfuscation. These aren’t luxuries at this price point. NordVPN’s Threat Protection and Proton’s NetShield are available in plans at a similar price range. The feature gap is notable.

No anonymous payment options. Credit cards and PayPal only create a paper trail that undermines the privacy pitch.

Mobile kill switch requires a workaround. Configuring it through Android’s OS settings is clunky and inflexible compared to how most modern VPNs handle it.

Alternatives Worth Considering

NordVPN: The most well-rounded option at a comparable long-term price. Faster, more servers, multi-hop, Threat Protection ad blocker, audited no-logs policy. Best for users who want the most features without compromising privacy. Try NordVPN

Proton VPN: Offers a genuinely free plan (no data limit, no speed cap) and a paid tier that’s competitive with UltraVPN. Based in Switzerland, with the strongest legal privacy framework of any VPN. Excellent for privacy-focused users. Try Proton VPN

Surfshark: Unlimited devices on a single account, strong speeds, effective streaming unblocking, and CleanWeb ad blocker. Comparable pricing to UltraVPN with a significantly better feature set. Best for families or households with lots of devices. Try Surfshark

Windscribe: PCMag Editors’ Choice and among the best value VPNs available. Includes a proper free tier with 10GB/month, ad blocking, and multi-hop. Worth considering if you want to try before you commit financially. Try Windscribe

Final Verdict

UltraVPN is a decent VPN for a specific type of user: someone brand new to VPNs who wants the simplest possible experience at the lowest possible first-year price. The privacy foundation is solid, the apps are genuinely easy to navigate, and the bonus features (PassWatch, Dark Web Scan, 10-device limit) represent real value.

But it’s not a VPN you’d choose if you know what you’re looking for. The speed results are among the worst in the category, the server network is thin, there are no advanced features, and the renewal pricing is a high hidden cost. Users who inherit it from a Kaspersky transition will find it functional. Users actively shopping for the best VPN available will find better options at roughly the same long-term cost.

Buy UltraVPN if: You want a dead-simple VPN for everyday browsing at a low first-year price, you need to cover up to 10 devices, and you’re not concerned about streaming performance or advanced privacy features.

Skip UltraVPN if: You need fast speeds, stream frequently, value independent security audits, use Linux or smart TVs, or plan to renew after year one.