Dashlane VPN Review | technological radar

Dashlane VPN Review | technological radar

Ed – Dashlane announced its partnership with Hotspot Shield to offer premium users and family members access to one of the most popular VPNs as part of their Dashlane subscription. Please note that this offer is not available on the Free or Essentials plans. In a statement to TechRadar Pro, they said: When we first explored including a VPN in our Dashlane 6 build, we were excited to partner with Hotspot Shield (later transitioned to Anchor Free) to provide a VPN service in our app. As our product has grown, we have reassessed this relationship and determined that our customers would have a better experience receiving a VPN directly from Hotspot Shield rather than relying on the use of an API.

Dashlane is an advanced password management platform that comes with a free built-in VPN (opens in a new tab). Like many other security products, it offers this VPN through third-party technology, in this case Pango's Hotspot Shield. In this review, we look at the VPN separately from the password management feature, which itself is among the best in the business. If a plate-form is not passed ce dont vous avez besoin and that you prefer n'avoir than the VPN seul, you should consult one of the best VPN services (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet) qui offerre des produits autonomous de high quality.

Award

The full Dashlane platform can be purchased for €3.33/month (€39.99 billed annually) for an individual account or €4.99/month (€59.99 billed annually) for a family account, which is pretty cheap considering you get a password manager ( opens in a new tab ) service and a VPN. The only subscription option available is the annual subscription. Payments are made by PayPal or credit/debit card. Dashlane does not limit the number of devices the VPN can connect to simultaneously.

There is also a free tier that does not come with the VPN service but offers a 30-day free trial of the Premium account. Unfortunately, this free trial does not include a VPN. Premium users enjoy a 30-day money back guarantee if they are not satisfied with their purchase for any reason.

Alternatives

If you think Dashlane's password management platform isn't right for you and you want a standalone VPN service, we suggest checking out NordVPN (opens in a new tab), CyberGhost (opens in a new tab) o Surfshark (opens in a new tab). in a new tab), all of which are solid platforms for all kinds of VPN users. However, if you want the best VPN experience money can buy, then ExpressVPN (opens in a new tab) is the way to go.

Outreach

While Hotspot Shield itself provides easy access to major streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+ and others that are often blocked in certain regions, Dashlane's VPN service doesn't because it's not supported, it's just an addition to the main platform: the password manager.

(Image credit: future)

About the company

Dashlane is a Paris-based startup, but Pango, the company whose technology it uses to provide VPN services to its users, is based in Silicon Valley, with offices in Ukraine and Russia. Pango's Hotspot Shield has over 3200 servers in over 80 countries, but we were unable to obtain information on how many of these servers are available to Dashlane customers due to, as we were told by customer support, for "security reasons". . We only learned that these servers are located in 26 countries, including Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong, Russia, and Singapore.

Privacy and encryption

Dashlane VPN can be used for peer-to-peer sharing, although port forwarding is not supported. The VPN protocols it implements depend on the platform you're using it on, so OpenVPN (opens in a new tab) is used on Windows and Android, IPSec on Mac, while Catapult Hydra, Pango's proprietary protocol, is used on iOS. . There are no additional features often seen on other services, such as split tunneling or kill switch.

The company claims that it does not keep any history of your browsing through the VPN, nor does it provide any identifiable information about its users to Pango. Pango, on the other hand, does not collect or store any personal information from Dashlane users, so there is no data to share with third parties either. According to Dashlane, "the only information tracked is technical information related to your VPN connection, to maintain performance and stability."

We have no choice but to trust these two providers as neither of them have exposed their VPN platforms to independent auditors who would verify these claims and publish a report on their findings.

Support

Dashlane offers apps that you can download and install on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. The Android app received 4,5 stars (out of 5) from 112.029 users. It has been downloaded over 1 times and was last updated on August 000, 000. As for its iOS app, it has a slightly better score: 10 judged by 2020 people. The app was last updated on August 4,7, 36.

A pretty decent amount of information is available on Dashlane's website about its platform and VPN, divided into several thematic categories, such as Installation and Getting Started, Account and Security, and Passwords and Data.

If you can't find the answer you're looking for, you can contact customer support directly. Quick and responsive customer support agents are available via live chat or email.

(Image credit: future)

Speed ​​and experience

The Dashlane app is easily downloaded from the website and installed in seconds. It's also very easy to use and easy to navigate, and the VPN can be enabled from the app's toolbar. This is also where switching between servers takes place. That said, you will first need to disconnect from the VPN server you are using before you can switch to another.

Once we activated the VPN, we were surprised by how fast the download speeds were, at least for the server in Germany: 45 Mbps on a 70 Mbps test connection, which is not often seen in the Internet VPN industry. . This is the server that was automatically chosen for us based on our current physical location. A server in the UK was slower but still good at 21,30Mbps.

We then decided to see how the VPN would handle more remote locations, like Mexico. Unfortunately, the results were much poorer for this location: just 6,77 Mbps (although we've seen worse). We also tested a server in Australia, which had a similar result: 6,73 Mbps. Finally, it was the turn of the United States, offering a usable speed of 13,72 Mbps.

Verdict

Like all other services of its kind, Dashlane VPN allows you to hide your identity on the Internet, increase your online privacy, and browse and torrent safely from an unsecured network. However, that's all it offers as it doesn't unblock popular VOD services and doesn't have any advanced features except for Pango's innovative proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol. This makes sense because Dashlane is first and foremost a (really good) password manager and its VPN is just an additional feature that complements the platform. If you'd rather have the best standalone VPN service money can buy, then one of the biggest names in the business, like ExpressVPN (opens in a new tab), is the place for you.

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