Urban VPN Review

What is Urban Cyber Security?

There is not a lot of information online about the company behind Urban VPN, called Urban Cyber Security. However, what we do know is that Urban Cyber Security is the company that owns Urban VPN.

Interestingly, Urban VPN’s headquarters is in the United States, a country that employs strict data retention laws. Urban VPN mentions in its privacy policy that it logs activity and shares this if legally required to do so, which makes us think that it may follow US data retention laws.

The US is also a member of the Five Eyes alliance, meaning that it shares gathered information internationally with other countries. This is worth keeping in mind if you decide to use this VPN service since your VPN traffic could end up being shared internationally with third parties.

Is Urban VPN Safe?

We wouldn’t say that Urban VPN is one of the safest VPN services since it isn’t a zero-logging VPN and poses security risks.

Although the paid version of the Urban VPN service claims to be no data logging, there is no proof of this in Urban VPN’s privacy policy. This means your personal data could be at risk even though Urban VPN claims it doesn’t store, collect, or process data such as your browsing activity.

Moreover, Urban VPN only offers AES-128 bit encryption instead of the AES-256 bit encryption that many other VPNs employ to keep browser activities safe, which is not as reassuring, especially if you use the Peer-to-Peer system on public wi-fi networks. There is also a lack of quality security tools like a kill switch which is essential to ensure your internet connection is encrypted at all times and is cut off if the VPN connection fails.

Overall, we don’t rate Urban VPN as a safe service since there appear to be too many flaws in its privacy policy and data logging procedures. Other security risks include low encryption and a lack of security features for you to surf safely.

Where Are Urban VPN’s Server Locations?

A peruse of Urban VPN’s site will most likely leave you feeling confused as to how many servers Urban VPN offers and where in the world Urban VPN operates. We gathered that there are at least 84 server locations around the world, but the provider has not disclosed how many servers it offers.

Some of the countries where Urban VPN has international locations and operates its services include:

• The US
• The UK
• Canada
• Australia
• New Zealand
• China
• Iran
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia

As you can see, Urban VPN operates server locations in some of the most restricted countries in the world, which is highly impressive. If you’re based in China and want to bypass firewalls and geo-restrictions within the country, you can do so with Urban VPN, by connecting to a server in your desired location to browse anonymously under a VPN IP address.

Urban VPN also has decent server coverage in Africa and the Middle East, regions that don’t often receive a lot of attention from VPN services. Overall, we feel that Urban VPN provides a good number of server locations for both paid and free VPN users. While its server network doesn’t compare to NordVPN’s or Private Internet Access’ networks, it is still decent.

Is There a Paid Version of Urban VPN?

While this Urban VPN review mainly focuses on the free service offered by the provider, there is also a paid version available. However, the paid subscription options are hard to find on the website and are only available for Firefox users, which leads some customers to not knowing they exist.

With the Premium Urban VPN, customers get access to all server locations, unlimited data, and no speed limits, which doesn’t appear to be different from what free users get. However, the provider states that there is no data logging on the premium plan, although it doesn’t offer any more information.

Paid subscription plans

• The monthly plan costs just $3.49 per month, which is extremely cheap for a paid VPN. For comparison, ExpressVPN’s monthly plan costs $12.95.
• The annual plan works out at $2.99 per month, which is $39.95 per year.
• For 3 years, you’ll pay just $1.49 per month, which is $53.65 for the full 36 months.

As you can see, Urban VPN’s subscription plan options are incredibly cheap. However, we’d argue that higher-quality VPN products often cost more which begs the question: Why is Urban VPN’s Premium service so low-priced? We put it down to the lack of additional features and perhaps due to the VPN’s troubling privacy policy.

Free trial

There is a 7-day free trial for the premium version of Urban VPN, after which you will be charged. However, we’d argue that you can try out the free version first to get an idea of how the service works.

Many other free VPNs like Hotspot Shield and Tunnel Bear offer a watered-down version of their VPN service to entice users to make the move onto a paid plan. It seems as though there aren’t any major differences between the free and paid Urban VPN plans, so it makes sense to test the free proxy service first.

Money-back guarantee

On the premium plan, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee. Urban VPN states that its paid plans require no commitment and can be easily canceled at any time, which is great news.

Does Urban VPN Have a Business Plan?

Urban VPN offers a free business VPN service. There isn’t any more information about this on the provider’s website, and we’d advise looking at a different VPN if you want a VPN for your business.

Does Urban VPN Work in China?

Urban VPN has servers in China which suggest that the service works in China. Indeed, you can get a Chinese IP address and access Chinese websites with Urban VPN.

Likewise, users in China can use the community-powered VPN service to send their traffic via a different device and under a different IP address, enabling them to enjoy censored content in China.

Does Urban VPN Work on Streaming Sites?

Urban VPN claims to unblock the most popular streaming sites, including Netflix and Disney Plus. If these claims are true, unlimited bandwidth would enable users to access streaming sites often without any data limitations. We put it to the test to check whether these claims are true or not and if it can stream content from around the world.

Firstly, we tried to access US Netflix and were able to access the site with no issues. We then connected to a server in the UK to access British Netflix but were disappointed to find that we couldn’t get past the Netflix firewall.

We then tested out Urban VPN on other services like BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Video. Trying to access these platforms using one of Urban’s UK IP addresses failed. We then attempted to access Prime Video in the US, but it again failed.

Since Urban VPN advertises itself as one of the best VPNs for Disney Plus, we tried to access this in the US, and our attempt was successful.

We weren’t overly impressed with our attempts to bypass streaming service firewalls, but if you’re a fan of Netflix or Disney Plus, then Urban VPN will be a good option for you.

Is Urban VPN Fast?

VPNs are known to slow down your internet speed. However, Urban VPN promises unlimited bandwidth and ‘blazing VPN speeds’ even though free proxy VPNs are known to offer slower speeds.

We decided to run a speed test using various Urban VPN server locations to test whether or not it affected our download speed greatly. We started with a baseline download speed of 39Mbps, which is extremely fast. We first connected to a US server, and our download speed dropped to 33Mbps, which was quite a big difference.

We then connected to a server in Canada and noticed a further drop in speed to 31Mbps. In the UK, our speed was 30Mbps, which is good considering the physical distance from our original location.

Our ping remained fairly low throughout testing, which is good news for gaming. Overall, although the speeds did vary greatly from our baseline speed, there were by no means slow, and we didn’t experience any major buffering or lagging. Combined with unlimited bandwidth, this is good news for data-heavy activities. However, if you want breakneck speeds, then we recommend checking out a provider like ExpressVPN or NordVPN.

Is Urban VPN Easy to Use?

Urban VPN is straightforward to use because it lacks a lot of configurable settings and additional features in its apps. To connect to a server in a particular country, you simply need to access the server list in the Urban VPN app and tap your country of choice. You’ll be surfing the web under a local IP within minutes.

If you’ve installed an Urban VPN browser extension, you can easily change your server location through the add-on in the browser. You can click on the Urban VPN logo, and from here, you can connect to the VPN, switch on safe browsing and even activate the VPN’s built-in ad-blocker.

Does Urban VPN Have Good Customer Service?

As you’d expect with any free VPN product, the customer service on offer isn’t the best. While there is a knowledge base on the Urban VPN website, the information in this section doesn’t reveal much about using Urban VPN or what to do if an issue arises. Instead, it mainly focuses on subscription details.

There is email support and, and you can find a link to the email for the support team in the knowledge base. Disappointingly there is no live chat option on the website, meaning that you cannot directly chat with a member of the Urban VPN customer support team. Many other VPNs offer this feature, and we’d like to see Urban VPN add it to its offerings so that each Urban VPN user can get free access to help if they need it.

Is Urban VPN Worth it?

So, is Urban VPN worth using? Over 3,000 users have downloaded the VPN proxy from the Google Chrome Web Store, where the provider has a stellar 5-star rating. While we don’t deny that Urban VPN has some obvious benefits to its service (namely that it is free), there are many downsides that are too hard to ignore.

If you care about your privacy and personal data, and your main reason for using a VPN is to hide your browsing behavior, then Urban is not a good choice. Although it provides encryption that hides your browsing activity from your ISP, trackers, and websites, the provider itself logs a lot of identifiable information.

What’s worse, Urban VPN admits to sharing this logged information for business purposes. Overall, our experts don’t think it is worth the risk and we don’t recommend Urban VPN.

What Are Some Good Urban VPN Alternatives?

If you want a free VPN but don’t want to choose Urban VPN, then here are some alternative free Virtual Private Networks:

• ProtonVPN: ProtonVPN offers a great free VPN that includes no data limits and access to servers in Japan, the US, and the Netherlands. Better yet, all free users enjoy a no-logging policy and can rest assured that their internet activity won’t be monitored or stored on the network.
• Hotspot Shield: Hotspot Shield also has a free VPN, but this comes with many limitations. You can enjoy just 500MB of data per month and access to only one server in the US.

Author Madeleine Hodson

I’m Madeleine, and I'm a writer that specializes in cybersecurity, tech products, and all things related to the internet. I have a keen interest in VPNs and believe that everyone deserves internet freedom and security. I wr...
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