With so many premium VPNs promising rock-solid security, uncompromising privacy, and excellent performance, we have probably twice as many free VPNs promising the same. Hola VPN is perhaps one of the best examples of this as it’s one of the better VPNs in terms of performance.
It offers unlimited bandwidth and is actually capable of unblocking geo-restricted streaming platforms. But is Hola safe and secure? Well, that’s a completely different story. Free providers aren’t exactly known for taking care of your privacy and making sure you’re anonymous online.
The provider has been operating for years and its shady business practices and intrusive logging are very concerning for many users. Today, we’ll analyze its service from a security standpoint and answer the question of the safety and security offered by Hola VPN.
If you’re thinking about using this Virtual Private Network and you’re serious about it, I strongly recommend reading this article carefully, from start to finish. You will see that this provider isn’t as great as it makes itself to be, so consider this article a disclaimer and a fair warning.
Is Hola VPN Safe to Use? Security Features Examined
Let’s start this security analysis by going through all the security features that Hola VPN has to offer. By that, I mean security features we can find in the applications. All of its applications are identical on each platform, so you get pretty much the same features across the board.
256-bit AES Encryption
Not long ago, I wrote a review of Hola VPN where I explained everything you need to know about this provider. In this review, I talked about the fact that it comes with 256-bit AES encryption which I actually really like.
If you’ve heard about this encryption, you know it’s used by premium providers such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN as well. Currently, this is the highest level of encryption a Virtual Private Network user can get and it’s so strong that it’s virtually unhackable.
Even the most skilled hacker will be unable to breach it as it would require millions upon millions of tries, making this the most secure encryption in the world. Hola VPN uses it as well and it’s applied once you connect to one of its servers, or better said, peers – more about that in a minute.
Automatic Kill Switch
The last VPN-related feature that the provider offers is a kill switch. It’s called App Kill Switch in the application and it’s here to shut down your internet connection if you lose the connection with the service. This is done to prevent potential IP and DNS leaks which could endanger your online privacy.
With the few connection issues I’ve had with this provider, I found that this kill switch works rather well. It immediately shuts down your internet connection if the VPN connection is compromised, making sure IP and DNS leaks are out of the equation.
P2P Technology: How Hola VPN Works?
Hola VPN is very poor in terms of features, so we don’t get P2P servers, Double VPN, ad-blocker, and other advanced functionalities we get with other services like CyberGhost, for example. However, before moving on with this analysis, I feel obligated to explain how this provider works.
You see, Hola VPN is unique but in a bad way. It’s not really a Virtual Private Network in the literal sense of that word because it uses P2P technology to give you access to the internet. You’re not connecting to real servers but you’re rather hijacking other people’s IP addresses.
It relies on P2P technology which means sharing your idle resources with the other members of the network, also called peers. If you want to get an IP address from Spain, for instance, you’ll get the IP address of a Spanish user of Hola VPN who will (willingly?!) share his idle resources with you.
You’ll then use his IP address to go online and do whatever you want. By agreeing to its terms and conditions, each user receives the same treatment. Thus, someone can get YOUR IP address and do the same, which is extremely dangerous if that person performs illegal activities online.
That’s why both security features I mentioned are obsolete and irrelevant here. They will secure your connection, that’s true, but you get no privacy, as your IP address can still be hijacked by other users and used for any purpose they want.
Does Hola VPN Store Logs? Analysis of Its Privacy Policy & Jurisdiction
Speaking of privacy, the answer to the question “Is Hola VPN safe and secure?” becomes even more interesting and definitely more negative. This service is a prime example of a free Virtual Private Network that has no respect for your privacy and treats you like a means of getting more money through your personal data.
Where Is the Company Based?
Let’s start with its jurisdiction. Hola VPN isn’t based in an off-shore location like NordVPN or ExpressVPN. Instead, it’s based in Israel, which isn’t a country within the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance. However, Israel is speculated to work with the 5 Eyes countries closely.
What does this mean? It means that the country engages in data retention and surveillance and potentially shares the collected information with the 5 Eyes countries, such as the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
These are just speculations, however, and we can’t 100% confirm these practices.
Is Hola VPN Safe in Terms of Logging Practices?
We can confirm that Hola VPN is NOT safe in terms of logging and taking care of your personal information. If you take even a 5-second look at its privacy policy, you’ll see this important section at the beginning.
Here, you can see which information the company collects. It’s evident that it stores pretty much EVERY bit of data it can get its hands on. There’s your IP address, billing information, applications installed on your device, browsing history, and many other bits of information.
To me, it’s very alarming that, if you register for Hola VPN through a social network account, they will know your home address, personal description, friends list, and everything else related to your social media profile.
The last paragraph here shows you that the provider stores logs of your browser type, web pages you visit, and even access times, dates, and time spent on these pages. Without a shadow of a doubt, it has one of the most intrusive logging practices I’ve ever seen.
It stores virtually everything about its users. From browsing history to personal data – everything is here! Not to mention Hola VPN’s connection with the company called Bright Data, also called Luminati previously. It’s a well-known proxy service with the largest number of IP addresses in the world.
It’s easy to see guess where these IP addresses came from, knowing Hola VPN’s involvement with this company. However, I must applaud Hola VPN for being open with its users. Before installing and using it, the provider will openly warn you about how it works and which information you’re sharing.
That way, you can decide whether or not you want to use it. This, however, doesn’t eliminate its guilt and I still think it’s one of the worst providers you can even consider using.
IP & DNS Leak Tests
Is Hola VPN safe to use? If you’re still asking yourself this question, you might be wondering if we detected any IP and DNS leaks during our testing. Well, the good news is that the provider is secure enough that it produced zero leaks in our tests.
We did two IP leak tests by using a US IP address from Hola VPN. I’m located in Europe, by the way, and I used two websites for this purpose. One website is ipleak.net where I got amazing results using Hola VPN – take a look:
Another website I used is called browserleaks.com and here, the provider showed great results as well.
It’s clear that you won’t experience any IP or DNS leaks while using Hola VPN, which is good news, albeit, vastly overshadowed by the fact that the provider itself is far from being safe and secure.
So Is Hola VPN Safe to Use?
Judging by the overall analysis of this provider, we can, for the final time, ask the question – is Hola VPN safe and secure? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is NO. It has some qualities in the form of unlimited bandwidth and the ability to unblock streaming platforms.
However, taking a look at its security and privacy, we can see that the provider has taken a nosedive. Sure, there’s bank-grade encryption and a kill switch but the fact that we’re talking about a huge P2P network that the company takes advantage of is a gigantic red flag.
The provider allows for zero privacy because of this but also because of its intrusive logging and shady business practices. We do NOT recommend using Hola VPN at all if security and privacy are important to you, despite the aforementioned qualities.
Instead, if you want a safe and secure provider that won’t compromise your privacy, my #1 recommendation is NordVPN. In fact, why don’t you check out my NordVPN test and review? After reading it, I’m sure you’ll be more than willing to try it out and claim a 65% discount for the 2-year plan.
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