iodine review: score, privacy and prices

1.44

out of 10not in the main ranking (too little published data)
Mesh / self-hosted median 2.5

  • Mesh / self-hosted
  • Jurisdiction:not stated, alliance not disclosed
  • Founded2006
  • Owner:none
  • Data completeness47%
  • Checked2026-10-15
  • No email to sign up
  • Free plan
  • Open-source apps

In 10 seconds

Strongest against its segment

  • Censorship bypass2.4 vs 0.5
  • Security and protocols2.1 vs 1.8
  • Privacy and jurisdiction1.0 vs 2.3

Weakest against its segment

  • Network and streaming0.0 vs 2.8
  • Price and fair terms1.2 vs 3.4
  • Platforms and support1.7 vs 3.9

Compare iodine side by side with other VPNs

How the score adds up

Six sub-scores, each against the median of Mesh / self-hosted services in the main ranking (None services). Open a line to see which published facts earned points and which were missing or not disclosed.

iodinesegment median

  • Privacy and jurisdiction30% of the score · segment median 2.31.0
    What earned points
    • No-logs policy +2
    • Independent no-logs audit +3
    • No-logs confirmed in court +1
    • Warrant canary +1
    • Transparency report +1
    • Sign-up without email +1.5
    • Account number sign-up +0.5
    • Stores connection IP (penalty) −3
    • Public incident (penalty) −2
  • Security and protocols20% of the score · segment median 1.82.1
    What earned points
    • Kill switch +2
    • DNS leak protection +1.5
    • RAM-only servers +1
    • Post-quantum encryption +1
    • Perfect forward secrecy +0.5
    • Security audit +2
    • Open-source clients +1.5
    • 2FA +1
    • Multi-hop +1
    • Bug bounty +1
    • Only PPTP / L2TP (penalty) −2
  • Price and fair terms15% of the score · segment median 3.41.2
    What earned points
    • Free plan +1.5
    • Free trial +1
    • Trial without a card +1
    • Crypto payments +1
    • Cash payments +0.5
  • Censorship bypass15% of the score · segment median 0.52.4
    What earned points
    • Stealth / obfuscation +2
    • VLESS / Reality +1.5
    • Trojan +1
    • Hysteria2 +1
    • Shadowsocks +1
    • AmneziaWG +1
    • obfs4 +0.5
    • TUIC +0.5
    • NaiveProxy +0.5
    • Mirrors or Telegram channel +0.5
    • VoIP in the UAE (claimed) +0.5
    • Manual configs +0.5
  • Network and streaming10% of the score · segment median 2.80.0
    What earned points
    • 10 Gbps servers +1
    • Dedicated IP +0.5
    • Port forwarding +0.5
    • MENA locations +0.5
    • Torrenting allowed +1
  • Platforms and support10% of the score · segment median 3.91.7
    What earned points
    • Routers +1
    • Browser extensions +0.5
    • Split tunneling +1
    • Ad / tracker blocker +1
    • 24/7 live chat +2
    • live chat +0.5
    • Support on Telegram +0.5
    • Status page +0.5

iodine pricing

iodine does not publish a paid price we could read. Free plan: Yes fully free, ISC. Market median across the main ranking: €3.13 a month.

Refunds, trial and payment

Refund window
Not stated
Free trial
Not stated
Auto-renewal
Not stated
Payment methods
Not stated

Everything iodine publishes

Every fact we collected about iodine, as the provider and reviewers state it. Empty fields are left out; key fields we could not find say “Not stated”. “Partial”: only on some platforms, servers or plans.

Company
Legal entity
Not stated
Registered in
Not stated
Parent company
none
Founded
2006
Surveillance alliance (5/9/14 Eyes)
Not stated
Website languages
EN

Plans, prices and add-ons
Cheapest price a month
0
Monthly plan
0
1-year plan, total
0
1-year plan, a month
0
2-year plan, total
0
2-year plan, a month
0
Lifetime plan
Not stated
Family plan
Not stated

Discounts and programmes
Student discount
Not stated

Limits and restrictions
Devices at once
Not stated
Data limit
No
Speed limit
No DNS-limited

Free plan
Free plan
Yes fully free, ISC
Free data
Yes unlimited (self-hosted)
Free devices
unlimited
Ads in the free plan
No
Other free plan terms
self-hosted server required

Payment and subscription
PayPal
Not stated
Cryptocurrency
Not stated
Cash
Not stated
Gift cards
Not stated
Auto-renewal by default
Not stated
Email needed to sign up
No
Phone needed to sign up
No
Account-number login
Not stated
Identity check (KYC)
No
Money-back guarantee, days
Not stated

Free trial terms
Trial length
Not stated
Card needed for the trial
Not stated

Server locations
Countries
Not stated
Servers
Not stated
Server countries
Not stated
Middle East and North Africa
Not stated
Virtual locations
Not stated
Own servers
Yes self-hosted
P2P servers
Not stated
Obfuscated servers
Not stated

Network features
RAM-only servers
Not stated
IPv6
Partial server listens on IPv6; tunnels IPv4 only
Dedicated IP
Not stated
Static IP
Not stated
Residential IP
Not stated
Double VPN / multi-hop
No
Tor over VPN
No
SOCKS5 proxy
No
Smart DNS
No

Protocols and encryption
  • WireGuard✕ No
  • OpenVPNuses OpenVPN TAP driver on Windows only✕ No
  • IKEv2✕ No
  • L2TP/IPsecNo
  • SSTPNo
  • SoftEther✕ No
  • Own protocoliodine DNS tunnel (NULL/TXT/SRV/MX/CNAME/A records; raw UDP mode)✓ Yes
  • VLESS / Reality✕ No
  • VMess✕ No
  • Trojan✕ No
  • Shadowsocks✕ No
  • Hysteria2✕ No
  • TUIC✕ No
  • NaiveProxy✕ No
  • obfs4✕ No
  • AmneziaWG✕ No
  • PPTP✓ No
Other protocols
IP-over-DNS
Encryption
none (password auth only)
Perfect forward secrecy
No
Post-quantum encryption
No
Manual configuration files
Yes CLI
Open-source apps
Yes https://github.com/yarrick/iodine

Censorship and blocking
Obfuscation (stealth mode)
Yes DNS tunneling (bypasses DNS-only firewalls)
Countries it claims to work in
Not stated
Mirror sites or Telegram channel
Not stated
Calls in the UAE
Not stated

Security
Kill switch
No
DNS leak protection
Not stated
Split tunnelling
Not stated
Ad and malware blocker
No
Two-factor sign-in
Not stated
Security audits
Not stated
Bug bounty
No
Certifications
No

Privacy
No-logs policy
Not stated
Independent no-logs audit
Not stated
Transparency report
Not stated
Warrant canary
Not stated
Anonymous sign-up
Not stated

What the privacy policy says is collected

Yes: collected. No: not collected. Partial: kept briefly or only in part. Not stated: the policy does not say.

  • Connection IPNot stated
  • Session timesNot stated

Apps and devices
  • WindowsTAP driver✓ Yes
  • macOS✓ Yes
  • Linux✓ Yes
  • iOS✕ No
  • AndroidREADME-android◐ Partial
  • Android TV✕ No
  • Fire TV✕ No
  • Apple TV✕ No
  • Chromebook✕ No
  • Smart TV✕ No
  • RoutersNot stated
  • NASNot stated
  • Raspberry PiLinux arm✓ Yes
  • Game consoles✕ No
Browser extensions
No

Speed, streaming and gaming
10 Gbps servers
Not stated
Speed test in the app
No
Netflix
Not stated
BBC iPlayer
Not stated
Disney+
Not stated
Prime Video
Not stated
Gaming features
Not stated
Torrenting
Not stated

Support
Live chat
No
Live chat 24/7
No
Email / tickets
No
Phone
No
Telegram
No
WhatsApp
No
Discord or forum
GitHub issues
Support languages
EN
Response time (claimed)
No
Help articles
README
Video guides
No
Server status page
No
Uptime guarantee (SLA)
No

For teams and business
SSO / SAML
Not stated
Admin panel
Not stated
Zero-trust access (ZTNA)
Not stated

What users say

Reviews never change our score. Ratings are smoothed: a source’s average across all VPNs counts as 50 extra reviews, so a few five-star reviews cannot outrank thousands.

  • Trustpilot

    4.56 of 5, smoothed

    From 200 collected reviews (raw average 4.79; all VPNs 3.66). Last 90 days: 4.83 from 90.

    The company replied to 0 of 10 negative reviews (1–2 stars).

  • App Store

    3.57 of 5, smoothed

    From 1 collected reviews (raw average 5.00; all VPNs 3.54).

  • Google Play

    3.75 of 5, smoothed

    From 4 collected reviews (raw average 2.00; all VPNs 3.90).

    The company replied to 0 of 3 negative reviews (1–2 stars).

Ratings shown on the platforms themselves: Trustpilot TrustScore 4.8 (803 reviews); App Store (US) 4.22 (18 ratings); Google Play 3.6 (11 ratings).

Reviews per month, last 12 months

  1. Feb ’2621 reviews, average 4.71
  2. Mar ’2618 reviews, average 4.67
  3. Apr ’2618 reviews, average 4.94
  4. May ’2615 reviews, average 5.0
  5. Jun ’2617 reviews, average 4.65
  6. Jul ’2623 reviews, average 4.61
  7. Aug ’2626 reviews, average 4.96
  8. Sep ’2636 reviews, average 4.72
  9. Oct ’2626 reviews, average 4.85
Bar height: number of reviews collected that month. Full-colour bars: months with an average of 4 stars or more; pale bars: below 4.

52 Reddit and forum threads mention iodine (titles and search snippets only).

Latest reviews and related rankings

Latest reviews

Short excerpts with a link to the original. We do not reproduce reviews in full.

  • App Store · 5★ · 12 Oct 2022 · US

    Awesome!

  • Google Play · 1★ · 21 Nov 2023

    Most recent update disabled notifications so I never know when I'm getting queries now

  • Google Play · 1★ · 15 Feb 2023

    Doesn't log in consistently have to follow separate links to get in

  • Google Play · 5★ · 14 Feb 2022

    Excellent, streamlined, easy to use interface, very dependable, no glitches. Pixel 6 pro

  • Trustpilot · 5★ · 15 Oct 2026 · GB

    This is a 1st class company

    Original review

  • Trustpilot · 5★ · 14 Oct 2026 · GB

    Always good prices and fast delivery…

    Original review

  • Trustpilot · 5★ · 14 Oct 2026 · GB

    Excellent as always

    Original review

Rankings by user reviews

Reviews of similar VPNs

In our rankings

iodine appears on 1 topic pages. Its place on each:

Similar VPNs

Also similar to iodine

Closed services iodine replaces

Services that shut down or moved, for which this is one of five live alternatives.

Tools for iodine

Sources and changes

Collected 2026-10-15. No changes recorded since the first import.

Website
https://github.com/yarrick/iodine

    Something wrong or out of date? Report an error