VPN Gate review: score, privacy and prices

1.02

out of 10#361 of 377 in the main ranking
Free / mobile app median 2.3

  • Free / mobile app
  • Jurisdiction:Japan, outside 5/9/14 Eyes
  • Founded2013
  • Owner:University of Tsukuba / SoftEther Corporation
  • Data completeness60%
  • Checked2026-10-15
  • No email to sign up
  • Free plan
  • Open-source apps

Red flag: Stores connection IP addresses. A red flag caps the score at 6.0.

In 10 seconds

Strongest against its segment

  • Censorship bypass1.0 vs 0.5
  • Security and protocols1.1 vs 1.2
  • Network and streaming1.4 vs 1.7

Weakest against its segment

  • Privacy and jurisdiction0.3 vs 2.7
  • Price and fair terms1.2 vs 3.4
  • Platforms and support2.3 vs 2.8
  • Stores session times
  • Stores connection IP addresses

Compare VPN Gate 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.

VPN Gatesegment median

  • Privacy and jurisdiction30% of the score · segment median 2.70.3
    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 1.21.1
    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 0.51.0
    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 1.71.4
    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 2.82.3
    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

VPN Gate pricing

No paid price published

  • 1 plan published · market median €3.13 a month
Full pricing breakdown

Everything VPN Gate publishes

Every fact we collected about VPN Gate, 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
VPN Gate Academic Experiment Project, University of Tsukuba (with SoftEther Corporation)
Registered in
Japan
Parent company
University of Tsukuba / SoftEther Corporation
Related brands
SoftEther VPN
Founded
2013
Surveillance alliance (5/9/14 Eyes)
none
Website languages
  • EN
  • JA
  • ZH-CN
Right-to-left languages
No

Plans, prices and add-ons
Plans
Free
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
Dedicated IP add-on
No
Port forwarding add-on
No
Double VPN add-on
No
Antivirus
No
Password manager
No
eSIM
No
Identity protection
No
Cloud storage
No
Other add-ons
No

Discounts and programmes
Student discount
Not stated
Referral programme
No
Affiliate programme
No

Limits and restrictions
Devices at once
Not stated
Prohibited by the terms
  • abuse (generic)
  • port 25 blocked
  • private address ranges filtered

Free plan
Free plan
Yes fully free, will NEVER be a paying service
Free data
Yes unlimited (no stated limit)
Free speed
not guaranteed (volunteer servers)
Free locations
all listed volunteer servers
Free devices
no limit stated
Ads in the free plan
No
Other free plan terms
no registration; outbound TCP 25 blocked

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
No no account
Identity check (KYC)
No
Money-back guarantee, days
Not stated

Free trial terms
Trial length
Not stated
Instead of a trial
free service
Card needed for the trial
Not stated

Server locations
Countries
Not stated
Servers
3137 volunteer relay servers listed (meta claims 6000+)
Server countries
Not stated
Middle East and North Africa
none seen in visible list
Virtual locations
No
Own servers
No volunteer-hosted
P2P servers
No
Streaming servers
No
Obfuscated servers
No

Network features
RAM-only servers
No
IPv6
Not stated
Dedicated IP
No
Static IP
No
Residential IP
Yes
Double VPN / multi-hop
No
Tor over VPN
No
SOCKS5 proxy
No
Smart DNS
No

Protocols and encryption
  • WireGuard✕ No
  • OpenVPN✓ Yes
  • IKEv2✕ No
  • L2TP/IPsecL2TP/IPsecYes
  • SSTPMS-SSTPYes
  • SoftEtherSSL-VPN✓ Yes
  • Own protocol✕ No
  • VLESS / Reality✕ No
  • VMess✕ No
  • Trojan✕ No
  • Shadowsocks✕ No
  • Hysteria2✕ No
  • TUIC✕ No
  • NaiveProxy✕ No
  • obfs4✕ No
  • AmneziaWG✕ No
  • PPTP✓ No
Other protocols
No
Perfect forward secrecy
Not stated
Post-quantum encryption
No
Manual configuration files
Yes ovpn files; L2TP/SSTP settings (vpn/vpn); CSV server list API
Open-source apps
Yes SoftEther VPN, http://www.softether.org/

Censorship and blocking
Obfuscation (stealth mode)
No
Countries it claims to work in
Not stated
Mirror sites or Telegram channel
Yes mirror sites list; use IPs instead of .opengw.net hostnames
Calls in the UAE
Not stated

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

Privacy
No-logs policy
No logs kept
Independent no-logs audit
No
No-logs proven in practice
No
Data retention
connection logs ≥3 months (central, SoftEther); packet header logs ≥2 weeks on each volunteer server
Shared with third parties
volunteer operators keep packet logs; SoftEther holds central logs
Transparency report
No
Warrant canary
No
Law enforcement requests
connection logs disclosed to police/prosecutors/courts on request; Japanese law victim disclosure of source IP
Anonymous sign-up
Yes no registration
GDPR / data protection officer
No

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.

  • Email✓ No
  • Connection IPsource client raw IP, central log✕ Yes
  • Session times✕ Yes
  • Bandwidthpacket/byte counts✕ Yes
  • Device infoclient software name/version/ID✕ Yes
  • App analytics✓ No
  • Crash reports✓ No

Apps and devices
  • Windows✓ Yes
  • macOSbuilt-in L2TP/OpenVPN✓ Yes
  • LinuxNot stated
  • iOSbuilt-in/OpenVPN✓ Yes
  • Android✓ Yes
  • Android TV✕ No
  • Fire TV✕ No
  • Apple TV✕ No
  • ChromebookNot stated
  • Smart TV✕ No
  • RoutersNot stated
  • NAS✕ No
  • Raspberry Pi✕ No
  • Game consoles✕ No
Browser extensions
No

Speed, streaming and gaming
Claimed speed
not guaranteed
10 Gbps servers
No
Fastest protocol (claimed)
No
Speed test in the app
No
Netflix
No
BBC iPlayer
No
Disney+
No
Prime Video
No
DAZN
No
beIN Sports
No
Shahid
No
OSN+
No
Gaming features
No
Torrenting
Not stated

Support
Live chat
No
Live chat 24/7
No
Email / tickets
No abuse email only
Phone
No
Telegram
No
WhatsApp
No
Discord or forum
Yes forum
Support languages
  • EN
  • JA
  • ZH
Response time (claimed)
No
Help articles
Yes FAQ, how-to guides
Server status page
No server list shows live status
Uptime guarantee (SLA)
No duration not guaranteed

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.

  • App Store

    3.49 of 5, smoothed

    From 1 collected reviews (raw average 1.00; all VPNs 3.54). Last 90 days: 1.00 from 1.

  • Google Play

    3.60 of 5, smoothed

    From 275 collected reviews (raw average 3.55; all VPNs 3.90). Last 90 days: 3.58 from 26.

    The company replied to 14 of 94 negative reviews (1–2 stars).

Ratings shown on the platforms themselves: App Store (US) 2.33 (6 ratings); Google Play 3.7 (4.5K ratings).

Reviews per month, last 12 months

  1. Oct ’253 reviews, average 5.0
  2. Nov ’256 reviews, average 3.83
  3. Dec ’251 reviews, average 5.0
  4. Jan ’263 reviews, average 3.67
  5. Feb ’268 reviews, average 3.75
  6. Mar ’261 reviews, average 1.0
  7. Apr ’2610 reviews, average 2.1
  8. May ’262 reviews, average 1.0
  9. Jun ’2617 reviews, average 3.24
  10. Jul ’2613 reviews, average 2.62
  11. Aug ’2610 reviews, average 3.8
  12. Sep ’266 reviews, average 4.33
  13. Oct ’265 reviews, average 1.8
Bar height: number of reviews collected that month. Full-colour bars: months with an average of 4 stars or more; pale bars: below 4.

46 Reddit and forum threads mention VPN Gate (titles and search snippets only).

All VPN Gate user reviews

Questions about VPN Gate

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

VPN Gate coupons and discounts: official prices and promo terms

VPN Gate 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

VPN Gate appears on 50 topic pages. Its place on each:

Show all 50

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

Tools for VPN Gate

Sources and changes

Collected 2026-10-15.

Website
https://vpngate.net
Pages checked
https://vpngate.net; https://www.vpngate.net/en/about_abuse.aspx; https://www.vpngate.net/en/about_faq.aspx

Something wrong or out of date? Report an error

When (UTC)FieldWasNow
2026-10-16rank_main352351
2026-10-16rank_consumer449448