Shadowsocks review: score, privacy and prices

1.57

out of 10not in the main ranking (too little published data)
Free / mobile app median 2.3

  • Free / mobile app
  • Jurisdiction:not stated, alliance not disclosed
  • Owner:no
  • Data completeness40%
  • Checked2026-10-15
  • Free plan
  • Open-source apps

In 10 seconds

Strongest against its segment

  • Censorship bypass3.8 vs 0.5
  • Platforms and support3.8 vs 2.8
  • Security and protocols2.1 vs 1.2

Weakest against its segment

  • Privacy and jurisdiction0.0 vs 2.7
  • Price and fair terms1.2 vs 3.4
  • Network and streaming0.0 vs 1.7

Compare Shadowsocks side by side with other VPNs

How the score adds up

Six sub-scores, each against the median of Free / mobile app services in the main ranking (80 services). Open a line to see which published facts earned points and which were missing or not disclosed.

Shadowsockssegment median

  • Privacy and jurisdiction30% of the score · segment median 2.70.0
    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 1.22.1
    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 0.53.8
    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 1.70.0
    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 2.83.8
    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

Shadowsocks pricing

Shadowsocks does not publish a paid price we could read. Free plan: Yes free software, self-hosted. 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 Shadowsocks publishes

Every fact we collected about Shadowsocks, 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
No
Related brands
  • shadowsocks-rust
  • shadowsocks-android
  • ShadowsocksX-NG
  • shadowsocks-windows
  • go-shadowsocks2
  • Outline (third-party)
Surveillance alliance (5/9/14 Eyes)
Not stated
Website languages
EN
Right-to-left languages
No
Currencies on the site
none
Prices depend on country
No

Plans, prices and add-ons
Plans
free open source
Cheapest price a month
0
Monthly plan
Not stated
Lifetime plan
Not stated
Family plan
Not stated

Discounts and programmes
Student discount
Not stated

Limits and restrictions
Devices at once
Not stated

Free plan
Free plan
Yes free software, self-hosted
Free data
Not stated
Ads in the free plan
No

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
Not stated
Account-number login
Not stated
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
P2P servers
Not stated
Obfuscated servers
Not stated

Network features
RAM-only servers
Not stated
IPv6
Not stated
Dedicated IP
Not stated
Static IP
Not stated
Residential IP
Not stated
Double VPN / multi-hop
Not stated
Tor over VPN
Not stated
SOCKS5 proxy
Yes local SOCKS5
Smart DNS
Not stated

Protocols and encryption
  • WireGuard✕ No
  • OpenVPN✕ No
  • IKEv2✕ No
  • L2TP/IPsecNo
  • SSTPNo
  • SoftEther✕ No
  • Own protocolShadowsocks (own open protocol)✓ Yes
  • VLESS / Reality✕ No
  • VMess✕ No
  • Trojan✕ No
  • ShadowsocksAEAD, AEAD-2022/SIP022✓ Yes
  • Hysteria2Not stated
  • TUICNot stated
  • NaiveProxyNot stated
  • obfs4Not stated
  • AmneziaWGNot stated
  • PPTP✓ No
Other protocols
SIP003 plugins: qtun (QUIC), ech-tls-tunnel (WS over TLS+ECH)
Encryption
AEAD ciphers; AEAD-2022
Perfect forward secrecy
Not stated
Post-quantum encryption
Not stated
Manual configuration files
Yes ss:// URI (SIP002); SIP008 online config
Open-source apps
Yes https://github.com/shadowsocks (shadowsocks-rust MIT; ShadowsocksX-NG GPL-3.0; shadowsocks-android; shadowsocks-windows; HarmonyOS client)

Censorship and blocking
Obfuscation (stealth mode)
Yes designed to bypass firewalls; plugins
Countries it claims to work in
Not stated
Mirror sites or Telegram channel
Yes IPFS download mirror; forum discourse.shadowsocks.org
Calls in the UAE
Not stated

Security
Kill switch
Not stated
DNS leak protection
Not stated
Split tunnelling
Not stated
Ad and malware blocker
Not stated
Two-factor sign-in
Not stated
Security audits
Not stated
Bug bounty
Not stated

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
  • Windows✓ Yes
  • macOSShadowsocksX-NG✓ Yes
  • Linux✓ Yes
  • iOSthird-party clients✓ Yes
  • Androidshadowsocks-android✓ Yes
  • Android TVNot stated
  • Fire TVNot stated
  • Apple TVNot stated
  • ChromebookNot stated
  • Smart TVNot stated
  • RoutersOpenWRT✓ Yes
  • NASNot stated
  • Raspberry PiNot stated
  • Game consolesNot stated
Browser extensions
Not stated

Speed, streaming and gaming
10 Gbps servers
Not stated
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
Not stated
Email / tickets
No
Phone
Not stated
Telegram
Not stated
WhatsApp
Not stated
Discord or forum
Yes discourse.shadowsocks.org; GitHub issues
Server status page
Not stated

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.

  • Google Play

    3.27 of 5, smoothed

    From 800 collected reviews (raw average 3.23; all VPNs 3.90). Last 90 days: 3.50 from 4.

    The company replied to 0 of 328 negative reviews (1–2 stars).

Ratings shown on the platforms themselves: Google Play 4.2 (66.5K ratings).

Reviews per month, last 12 months

  1. Nov ’252 reviews, average 3.0
  2. Jan ’261 reviews, average 5.0
  3. Feb ’262 reviews, average 3.0
  4. Mar ’261 reviews, average 5.0
  5. Apr ’261 reviews, average 5.0
  6. May ’261 reviews, average 1.0
  7. Aug ’262 reviews, average 5.0
  8. Sep ’262 reviews, average 2.0
Bar height: number of reviews collected that month. Full-colour bars: months with an average of 4 stars or more; pale bars: below 4.

49 Reddit and forum threads mention Shadowsocks (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.

  • Google Play · 1★ · 24 Sep 2026

    تطبيق فاشل عندما أردت استخدامه لم يعمل أبدا كان يبدا في العمل اما الآن لم يعد يعمل تطبيق فاشل لا يستحق أي أي علامة أتمنى إصلاح الخلل في هذا برنامج

  • Google Play · 3★ · 07 Sep 2026

    In this, you cannot view the content of blocked websites and OTT platforms from other countries. It does not connect, does not encrypt it and does not provide…

  • Google Play · 5★ · 07 Aug 2026

    أنه تطبيق جميل جدا يقوم بتخزين النت

Rankings by user reviews

Reviews of similar VPNs

Questions about Shadowsocks

Answers built from what Shadowsocks publishes. Open a question to read the details.

Shadowsocks coupons and discounts: official prices and promo terms

Shadowsocks publishes no promo code on its own site in what we read, so we list none. We never invent codes or copy them from coupon sites; below are the official prices.

Discounts on the official site

Promo codes
Not stated
Sale running when checked
none seen
Checked
2026-10-15

In our rankings

Shadowsocks appears on 83 topic pages. Its place on each:

Show all 83

Similar VPNs

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Tools for Shadowsocks

Sources and changes

Collected 2026-10-15.

Website
https://shadowsocks.org
Pages checked
https://shadowsocks.org; https://shadowsocks.org/doc/what-is-shadowsocks.html; https://github.com/shadowsocks

    Something wrong or out of date? Report an error

    When (UTC)FieldWasNow
    2026-10-16rank_consumer370369