Are you considering buying either PrivateVPN or Hidemyass?
If yes then this is the PrivateVPN vs HMA comparison that you should read.
While PrivateVPN has the smallest collection of servers, HMA is the vpn with the largest geographical coverage.
But how does HMA compare with PrivateVPN in other aspects like speeds and advanced security features like ad and malware blocking?
In this PrivateVPN vs Hidemyass comparison we are going to compare these two vpns along the lines of their speeds, torrenting support as well as streaming capabilities among others.
I hope that by the end of this HMA vs PrivateVPN comparison you’ll be able to make a choice between these two vpns.
So let’s get started.
Here is a quick summary.
| PrivateVPN | Hidemyass | |
| Website | privatevpn.com | hidemyass.com |
| Servers | 150 | 1,000 |
| Jurisdiction | Sweden | United Kingdom |
| Streaming | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer | Netflix US, iPlayer |
| Speed | 4.3/5 | 3.9/5 |
| Torrenting | P2P servers | P2P servers |
| Kill Switch | YES | YES |
| Works in China? | YES | YES |
| Devices | 6 | 5 |
| Pricing | $ 2.55/month | $ 3.99/month |
About
PrivateVPN is a VPN company based in Sweden that provides you with secure internet access and the ability to access geo-restricted content on platforms like Hulu.
Click here for a detailed PrivateVPN review.
Hidemyass, on the other hand, is a UK based VPN service provider that enables you to access the internet securely including in restricted countries like China.
Here is a more detailed HMA review.
Server Collection
Which vpn has more servers between Hidemyass and PrivateVPN?
If a vpn has more servers, then it makes it easy for you to find an alternative server to connect to if you are not impressed say by the speeds of your current servers.
PrivateVPN only has a paltry collection of 150 servers that are distributed over 60 countries at the time of writing this HMA vs PrivateVPN comparison.
HMA, on the flip side, has more than 1,000 servers that are based in 190 countries that are also spread across different continents.
In fact, Hidemyass is the vpn with the widest geographical coverage… in terms of the total count of countries where they have a vpn server.
If you are looking for a vpn that will avail a server to connect to in almost any country that you may want to connect to or whose IP you may want to spoof then I recommend HMA.
Streaming
Streaming geo restricted content on popular entertainment platforms like Netflix and Hulu is the most popular activity among vpn users.
It therefore means that a vpn that can unblock the most streaming platforms will get a ton of users.
How does PrivateVPN vs HMA streaming capabilities compare?
PrivateVPN will enable you to use its servers to unlock various Netflix libraries in different countries like the US, UK and Germany.
In addition to Netflix, their servers are also able to stream content on Hulu, BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime among others.
All their streaming servers are labelled according to the platform that they unblock which makes it very easy to identify the right server for unblocking your favorite streaming platform.
HMA, on the other hand, is only able to unblock a few Netflix libraries and BBC iPlayer.
I was not able to use their servers to stream content on Hulu or Amazon Prime because their IPs are blocked on these platforms.
If you are looking for a vpn with better streaming support then I recommend PrivateVPN over HMA.
Speeds
In order to have a great browsing experience, you need to have a vpn with fast connection speeds.
But all vpns claim to be the fastest, so how do you know which one is really the fastest?
Let’s now compare PrivateVPN vs HMA speeds.
I tested the speeds of PrivateVPN and Hidemyass by connecting to three different servers based in the US, UK and Hong Kong.
I then used speedtest.net by Ookla to test for the ping, upload and download speeds before and after connecting to their servers and here is what I found out.
PrivateVPN has better speeds because I got an average download speed that was 86% of my original speeds.
HMA, however, performed dismally as I only got an average connection speeds of 78% of my before download speeds.
Clearly, PrivateVPN is a much faster vpn compared to HMA.
In addition to that, since HMA had less that 80% of my initial speeds, which I consider the minimum for a fast vpn, I would rate HMA speeds as rather average.
If you are looking for a vpn with fast connection speeds then I recommend PrivateVPN over HMA.
Torrenting
Do you want to be caught and sued in court for downloading copyrighted material?
Even though I don’t encourage copyright infringement, you should never let your guard too low as to download any torrent file without an a vpn.
It doesn’t matter whether ti is a copyrighted material or not.
Just protect yourself by hiding your real IP address so that your torrenting activities cannot be linked back to you.
How does PrivateVPN vs HMA compare in terms of their torrenting support?
PrivateVPN and Hidemy both allow P2P file sharing activities on their servers.
However, since not all their servers are optimized for torrenting, you first need to connect to special dedicated torrenting servers before you can start downloading torrent files.
These torrenting servers are access by going to server list and clicking on torrenting.
As we’ll discover below, though, HMA keeps logs of your IP address and so is not great for anonymous torrenting.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for anonymous torrenting then I recommend PrivateVPN.
Privacy Policy
Just like we already saw in the torrenting part, if you want to stay anonymous with a vpn, then you should ensure that they collect as little information about you as possible.
In particular, if a vpn collects your IP address then you should run.
Let’s now compare HMA with PrivateVPN in terms of their privacy policies to establish the vpn which offers true privacy online.
PrivateVPN and HMA are both based in countries that form part of the 14 eyes surveillance alliance countries that spy on their citizens and then share their personal information.
So Sweden and the UK are not great countries for a vpn that values true privacy.
That being said, PrivateVPN is committed to providing you private internet access and states in their privacy policy that they do not keep traffic logs.
HMA, however, does less than they should to make your internet adventures privacy.
If fact, according to their privacy policy, HMA keeps logs of your IP subnet mask, IP of the server that you connect to, your connection timestamps and the total data transmitted.
I believe that, in the right hands, this information can be used to tied you to certain activities on their servers.
If you are looking for a vpn that has a no logs policy then I recommend PrivateVPN over HMA.
Encryption and Data Protection
How do you ensure that your personal information is not been seen by malicious hackers out there?
Since these hackers can always sniff your packets using packet sniffing tools while they are being transmitted, you should ensure that it is impossible for them to see the actual information.
In order to guarantee your security, PrivateVPN uses both 128-bit and 256-bit encryption technologies to encrypt your data.
You’ll have the option to choose the encryption that you want to use in their app… even though 256-bit is more secure while 128-bit encryption is faster.
HMA, on the other hand, only supports 256-bit encryption in both their desktop and mobile apps.
In order to ensure that your data is securely transmitted, these vpns also use some of the most secure transmission protocols.
PrivateVPN supports OpenVPN, IPSec, L2TP, PPTP and IKEv2 connection protocols.
HMA currently also supports OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP vpn connection protocols and you have the option to choose your protocol of choice in their apps.
Overall, both HMA and PrivateVPN provide you secure internet access.
If you are looking for a vpn that will guarantee the security of your data while being transmitted online the either PrivateVPN or HMA is a great option.
Ad Blockers
Do you want to be able to block ads on most of the websites aht you visit?
This might be a familiar feeling especially when you visit those websites that are very aggressive with ads such that you have to keep scrolling through a number of ads just to read a rather short article.
Even though some of these websites use ads as their primary source of revenue, this aggressive advertising can sometimes be very intrusive and annoying.
Unfortunately, neither PrivateVPN nor HMA has an inbuilt ad blocker in their apps.
So you won’t be able to disable ads on these websites and block their scripts from tracking you and following you around the web.
Both vpns also lack a malware blocker that can protect your from known malware infected sites like phishing sites in case you visit them unknowingly.
If you are looking for a vpn with an ad blocker then I don’t recommend either PrivateVPN or HMA.
You should instead check out NordVPN or CyberGhost.
Dedicated IPs
If you need to access certain security sensitive applications remotely using a vpn then you need a dedicated IP.
With a dedicated IP, you’ll be able to whitelist your IP in these apps so that they can allow you secure remote access without being blocked.
In some instances, you may also need to connect to the internet using a familiar IP so that certain sites do not keep asking you for additional verification, thinking that your account was hacked.
This is especially the case because vpns will assign you a shared IP address that might have been used for hacking activities and got itself blacklisted no most sites before.
PrivateVPN has a dedicated IP feature in all their apps.
However, it functions more of like a static IP servers because it provides you servers that you can always use to connect to the internet if you always want to connect with the same IP address.
Since this feature is available to everyone, these IPs might still be used by other people.
HMA, on the other hand, does not have a dedicated IP functionality at the time of writing this HMA vs PrivateVPN comparison.
If you are looking for a vpn with static IPs then I recommend HMA over PrivateVPN.
However if you want an IP that is available only to you, then I recommend CyberGhost.
Kill Switch
Like we already saw earlier, a vpn will enable you to hide your IP and stay anonymous online.
It is important to remember that this is only the case as long as you remain connected to their vpn servers.
If your internet connection drops and your vpn app disconnects from the server, other apps that continue to access the internet make you vulnerable and may expose your real IP address.
So an internet kill switch ensures that anytime your vpn disconnects from the server, internet access is blocked for your entire device until it reconnects.
PrivateVPN and HMA both have a kill switch in their apps that will ensure that no application continues to access the internet after your vpn is disconnected.
A disconnection from the server could also occur when you are switching servers.
Thanks to this kill switch, all your internet traffic on your device is encrypted and channelled through your vpn tunnel.
So you’ll only be able to access the internet after the connection has been secured by your vpn.
If you are looking for a vpn with a kill switch then I recommend either HMA or PrivateVPN.
Split Tunnelling
Do you want to be able to split your traffic so that some are routed through your ISP and some through your vpn tunnel?
You may find yourself thinking of this in some cases where certain apps do not function as usually when connected to a vpn… maybe because of the strange vpn IP or because of the speed drops cause by the vpn connection.
For example, talk about your internet banking app that keeps asking for additional verification when you login with a vpn issue IP.
A split tunnel enables you to whitelist certain applications and exempt them from your vpn tunnel.
PrivateVPN, unfortunately, does not have a split tunnelling capability at the time of writing this PrivateVPN vs HMA comparison.
HMA, on the flip side, has split tunnelling in their apps that will enable you to specify certain applications whose traffic will be routed normally through your ISP while others go through your vpn.
You should know that the applications that are whitelisted in the split tunnel do not have their traffic encrypted by the vpn.
So they don’t enjoy the additional security and anonymity that a vpn provides.
The traffic on these apps is therefore transparent to your ISP.
Works in China?
If you are looking for a vpn that you can use in China then you need to take some time and do a little research.
This is because not all vpns will work in China, thanks to the great firewall of China that is great at detecting and blocking any vpn traffic that flows through it.
In order for either PrivateVPN or HMA to be able to work in China, they should be able to obfuscate their traffic and make them undetectable by the deep packet inspection technology of China’s firewall.
So how does HMA and PrivateVPN compare in terms of their abilities to work in China.
PrivateVPN and HMA will be able to work in China and access censored websites without being detected.
In order to use PrivateVPN in China, you need to activate its stealth vpn mode that makes its traffic undetectable.
HMA is also able to make its traffic look like normal https traffic and bypass the DPI technology of China’s firewall.
If you are looking for a vpn that works in China, then I recommend either HMA or PrivateVPN.
Pricing
As we near the end of this HMA vs PrivateVPN comparison, let’s now compare their best pricing plans to establish the cheaper vpn.
If you want to get the biggest discount for either HMA or PrivateVPN, you should always select their longest plans.
PrivateVPN has a 2 year subscription plan that sets you back $ 2.55/month while HMA has a 3 year plan that costs $ 3.99/month.
As you can see, HMA is a much expensive vpn even though it offers a longer 3 year plan than PrivateVPN 2 year plan.
If you are looking for a vpn that is cheap and will save you some money then I recommend PrivateVPN.
Payment Options
Will you be able to make payment for your vpn plan using Bitcoin?
Let’s finish this PrivateVPN vs HMA comparison in 2021 by looking at the payment options that each one supports.
The more payment options that a vpn supports the higher the chances that you’ll get a payment that works for you without being forced to reveal some information that you may not want to share with a vpn company.
For example, payment methods like Bitcoins do not require a billing address.
So you can give less identifying information about you by signing up with a disposable email and then paying with Bitcoins so that nobody gets to know who you are.
PrivateVPN accepts payments through PayPal, Bitcoin and all the major credit cars.
HMA, on the other hand, only supports payments through PayPal and credit cards but does not support crypto payments.
If you are looking for a vpn for crypto payments like Bitcoins, then I recommend PrivateVPN.
In Conclusion
I hope this PrivateVPN vs HMA comparison in 2021 has helped you learn about the pros and cons of these two vpns.
Are you now ready to make a choice between either PrivateVPN or HMA?
If you are willing to pay a little more for a vpn with the largest geographical coverage, unblocks both Netflix and iPlayer and works in China then I recommend HMA.
However, if you want a cheap vpn with excellent streaming capabilities, fast connection speeds and are sick of vpns that log your IP address and want to privacy online, then I recommend PrivateVPN.
Have you used either PrivateVPN or HMA before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
