Windscribe VPN Review 2025: Pros and Cons

Windscribe promises solid privacy features, unlimited device connections, and a generous free plan. But how does it stack up in 2025’s crowded market? In our latest tests, we put this service through its paces — evaluating its streaming performance, speed across its network, and unique features like R.O.B.E.R.T. Whether you’re streaming Netflix or securing sensitive data, this review dives into whether Windscribe delivers the value you need. Jump to our speed test results to see how it performed from servers in Seattle to London.

Windscribe’s definitely has some things going for it, but can it hold its own against top competitors like NordVPN or Surfshark? To find out, we put it through its paces. With fresh data from our hands-on testing, this review guides you through Windscribe’s strengths and limitations to help you decide if it’s the right VPN for your needs in 2025.

Introduction to VPN services

A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is an essential tool for anyone looking to browse privately and securely in today’s digital world. By encrypting your internet connection, a VPN shields your online activities from prying eyes, whether you’re at home, at work, or on public Wi-Fi. Windscribe VPN stands out as a top-rated service, offering users unrestricted and private access to websites and content across the globe. With Windscribe VPN, your physical location is masked, making it much harder for corporations and other entities to track your browsing habits or collect your data. For improved privacy, ad blocking, and access to restricted content, it is highly recommended to add Windscribe to your browser or device.

What sets Windscribe VPN apart is its commitment to comprehensive privacy protection. The service is packed with advanced privacy features, including robust ad-blocking, tracker-blocking, and malware protection, ensuring that your online experience is both safe and private. Windscribe also offers a free proxy for anonymous browsing and blocking intrusive ads at no additional cost.

Windscribe allows users to spoof or customize their browser's language settings and browser's time zone, enhancing anonymity and helping bypass content restrictions. Whether you’re using Windows, Linux, or browsing on your mobile device, Windscribe VPN provides seamless support across all major platforms, so you can enjoy private access wherever you go. Dedicated mobile apps are available as well, ensuring comprehensive protection for your privacy on smartphones and tablets.

For those new to VPNs or simply looking to try before they buy, Windscribe offers a free plan with limited data. This makes it easy to experience the benefits of advanced privacy and unrestricted access without any upfront commitment. Whether you’re looking to secure your internet connection, access blocked websites, or simply browse privately, Windscribe VPN delivers a reliable and user-friendly solution.

For this Windscribe review update, I tested both the Windows and Linux VPN app. Both apps were user-friendly and simple to use, while also having some nice features (developed by Windscribe Limited).

Here is the Windscribe Windows VPN app I tested. when in normal use, the app appears in its compact mode:

If you want to manually select the location that the app will connect to, you click the down arrow to the right of Locations at the bottom of the app. It expands and displays a list of all possible locations, like this:

Clicking the three lines (the hamburger icon) in the top-left corner of the app will open up additional options and features for you to select. You can select startup options, auto-connection, customize notifications, and also modify the layout of the app. Windscribe allows you to customize or block the app’s ability to send notifications, enhancing privacy and reducing interruptions.

Overall I like the look and feel of the Windscribe apps. They are simple, clean, and intuitive. The features are presented in an elegant list, making it easy to find and use each option. Although I did not test the Windscribe mobile apps for this review, they look similar to the desktop apps. Windscribe’s privacy tools are also available on mobile, ensuring protection across all devices. Right now (August 2025), the Android app has an impressive rating of 4.7 stars and 185,000 reviews, while the iOS app has 4.6 stars and over 29,000 reviews.

Key features and benefits

Windscribe VPN is packed with features designed to deliver unrestricted and private access to the internet, no matter where you are. At its core, Windscribe offers comprehensive privacy protection, combining advanced privacy features with user-friendly tools that go far beyond basic protection.

The proxy browser extension is another highlight, providing a quick way to block ads, trackers, and malware while you browse. Unlike most proxy extensions, Windscribe’s extension also prevents WebRTC leaks — a common privacy risk — and offers advanced privacy features like user agent spoofing, GPS location spoofing, and browser time zone masking. These tools help you mask your digital fingerprint, making it much harder for websites and corporations to track your activity.

Customization is at the heart of Windscribe’s privacy tools. You can tailor block lists and whitelist specific sites, giving you control over what gets filtered and what doesn’t. This level of customization is rare among VPNs and proxy extensions, making Windscribe a top choice for users who want to fine-tune their privacy settings.

Windscribe VPN’s strict no-logs policy ensures that your browsing history, data, and identifying information are never tracked, stored, or sold. This commitment to privacy, combined with the ability to circumvent government censorship and corporate tracking, makes Windscribe a powerful ally for anyone looking to browse privately and securely.

If you ever need help or want to suggest new features, Windscribe makes it easy to send support tickets directly through their official site. With its blend of advanced privacy, unlimited data, and cross-platform support, Windscribe VPN stands out as a comprehensive solution for anyone serious about privacy online.

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Speed, connectivity, and VPN servers

Speed and connectivity are critical factors when choosing a VPN. Windscribe achieved some good speeds during our testing, and some that were not very good. In one test, it was competitive with leading services like Surfshark and Proton VPN, while in others, it was disturbingly slow. Let’s look at the specifics. Note that all tests were conducted using WireGuard for the fastest speeds.

Windscribe offers servers in 69+ countries and over 134 cities. It also provides more proxy extensions and proxy locations than most proxy extensions on the market, giving you a wide range of options for privacy and content access.

As usual, we started our speed tests with Seattle, the city closest to our speed test facility. Windscribe turned in a disappointing 338 Mbps download speed. Top VPNs like ExpressVPN are more than twice that fast when connecting to a server in Seattle.

Next up was Los Angeles. This test surprised us, since the result (773 Mbps)crushed the Seattle results. In fact, this is one of the fastest results we have seen in our lab for any VPN service.

We followed this up by connecting to one of Windscribe’s New York VPN servers. This result (508 Mbps) was decent, but not quite up to the speeds returned by the top VPNs.

Our last test (as usual), was a long-distance connection to one of the Windscribe VPN servers in London, England. Unfortunately, this result was horrible, delivering only 190 Mbps on our 1,000 Mbps test rig. That is less than half the speed delivered by top services. Windscribe's network includes more server locations than most proxies, enhancing its ability to unblock geo-restricted content and maintain privacy.

The choice of VPN protocol significantly influences connectivity speeds, with WireGuard typically delivering superior performance. Windscribe can also adapt or spoof request headers, such as User-Agent or geolocation data, to help bypass restrictions and improve privacy.

Streaming and torrenting

Can Windscribe run with the big boys when it comes to handling streaming and torrenting? Here’s what our testing showed.

Windscribe is effective at unblocking popular streaming platforms, letting you watch your favorite shows and movies from anywhere. In addition to streaming, Windscribe can unlock content and restore access to blocked content, including news sites that governments block content based on geographic or political reasons. Windscribe VPN masks your IP address and geolocation, enabling private, unrestricted access to blocked or geo-restricted content across various countries. This means you can enjoy unrestricted access to information and entertainment, no matter where you are.

Below, we highlight key features and how each feature solves common user concerns such as privacy breaches, geo-restrictions, and online tracking.

Streaming

Windscribe can unblock content from Netflix and most other streaming services. It masks your IP address and location, allowing you to access geo-restricted streaming content. And thanks to its support for WireGuard, it can usually deliver HD content without problems. But given the results of our speed testing as discussed earlier, you will want to test with the specific server locations you will be using to make sure that downloads are fast enough for your specific situation.

While Windscribe can unblock the streaming services you want to see, you may need to test different server locations to find one that works consistently. It now supports streaming on all servers, meaning you no longer need to look for WINDFLIX branded servers to stream successfully.

Torrenting

Successful torrenting requires a VPN that is secure enough to keep your identity secret while uploading and downloading. For torrenting to be practical, it also requires a VPN that is fast enough to do P2P transfers in a reasonable time. Windscribe is secure enough and, importantly, does not keep identifying logs, ensuring your torrenting activity remains private. But as our speed tests showed, it may or may not be fast enough, depending upon which servers you need to connect to. So test thoroughly during the refunding period.

Most servers are capable of torrenting, although you need to avoid using the few locations that are marked with the phrase P2P crossed out in the locations list. Indonesia is one such location, as you can see here:

Overall, Windscribe’s streaming and unblocking capabilities are commendable.

Security and privacy

Here are some of Windscribe’s top features for a secure and private experience:

It blocks ads, trackers, malware, and intrusive content—basically all this crap—so you can browse without worrying about unwanted interruptions or privacy threats.

Firewall

The Firewall feature prevents your data from getting exposed if the VPN connection fails for any reason. It functions like a VPN kill switch by preventing any data from flowing outside the VPN tunnel. Windscribe also allows you to configure DNS settings within the VPN desktop app. Below you can see key connection features such as the Firewall Mode options, Connection Mode, and DNS settings in the app.

R.O.B.E.R.T.

Another cool feature is R.O.B.E.R.T. The acronym stands for Remote Omnidirectional Badware Eliminating Robotic Tool. That name may be quite a mouthful, but I have to say that the feature does quite a bit of blocking. It can block ads, malware, social networks, and much more. You can configure R.O.B.E.R.T. from within the app, as shown below:

R.O.B.E.R.T. comes with several pre-defined filter lists, which will block the following categories of URLs:

• Malware
• Ads + Trackers
• Social Networks
• Porn
• Gambling
• Clickbait
• Other VPNs
• Crypto

This is a pretty robust filter feature similar to the TrackStop filter, which we covered in the Perfect Privacy review. However, one cool aspect of R.O.B.E.R.T. is that it (he?) is customizable. In other words, you can create custom white-lists for domains or IP addresses as well as custom block-lists.

To customize R.O.B.E.R.T's settings, you select the Manage Custom Rules option at the bottom of the list in the app. This takes you to the company website, where you can create the rules. If you want a good VPN ad blocker solution, this could be an option to consider.

Split tunneling

Split tunneling allows you to control which traffic goes through the VPN's servers, and which goes direct to the internet. This lets you do things like connect directly to your online bank account (banks frequently block VPNs), while still protecting all the rest of your traffic at the same time.

Port forwarding

Port forwarding lets you connect to resources in your internal network from outside. This connection is protected by Windscribe's secure, private servers, which even shield you against DDOS attacks.

More privacy tools

• MAC address spoofing
• Browser time zone spoofing
• User agent and browser language spoofing
• Cookie Monster, which deletes cookies when you close the browser tab
• WebRTC Slayer to prevent WebRTC leaks

And speaking of leaks…

Leak testing

I ran Windscribe through a round of basic VPN tests and checks to identify any issues. The test results were good. I did not find any leaks.

Here I'm testing the Windows app for IP address leaks and DNS leaks:

Encryption

Windscribe uses OpenVPN with an AES-256 cipher with SHA512 auth and a 4096-bit RSA key. The browser extension uses TLS 1.2, ECDHE_RSA with P-256 key exchange and an AES_128_GCM cipher. It also supports the WireGuard VPN protocol. WireGuard is much faster and more reliable than legacy protocols, while also upgrading your security. We've found that VPNs with WireGuard can really outperform those using legacy protocols, as you can see in the NordVPN vs ExpressVPN speed comparison.

Windscribe audits

Windscribe has undergone multiple independent audits to evaluate its desktop and mobile apps, as well as its software stack. While a formal third-party no-logs audit hasn’t been conducted, a recent legal case in Greece proved their no-logs policy. The founder faced trial over a user’s violation of Greek law, but after nearly two years, the case was dismissed due to Windscribe’s lack of user data, confirming their commitment to privacy.

Installation and configuration

Setting up this service is straightforward. After signing up, download the application from their website and run the installer. This simple step makes it accessible even to non-tech-savvy users.

Once installed, you can log in with your username and password and press a prominent button to start the connection. The process is user-friendly with clear prompts. Initial configuration includes enabling the kill switch and split tunneling for enhanced safety and functionality.

Usability and interface

Windscribe is designed with user experience in mind, making it easy for you to get started and customize their setup. The proxy browser extension is quick to install and intuitive to use, allowing you to reach key features and settings with just a few clicks. Whether you’re looking to change your proxy location, block ads, or adjust privacy settings, the extension puts everything at your fingertips.

The desktop VPN applications for Windows and Linux are equally user-friendly, featuring a clean interface that makes connecting to VPN servers and using advanced options like split tunneling and port forwarding straightforward. You can easily switch between servers, customize notifications, and tailor the app’s behavior to suit their needs. For those who prefer browsing on the go, Windscribe’s mobile app offers a seamless and secure experience, ensuring your data stays protected wherever you are.

To help you make the most of their the service, Windscribe provides detailed documentation and step-by-step tutorials. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned user, you’ll find plenty of resources to guide you through setup and customization, ensuring you get the best possible experience.

Pricing and refund policy

Windscribe plans	Price
1-month	$9.00/month
1-year	$5.75/month
Build a Plan	$1.00/location/month

Windscribe’s refund policy has key limitations you should know before subscribing:

• 7-day refund period: Refunds are only available within 7 days of purchase.
• Direct purchases only: Refunds apply only to subscriptions bought directly from Windscribe, not third-party sites like StackSocial.
• Data usage limit: Refunds are void if you exceed 2 GB of data (or 10 GB if you provide an email during signup).

The pro plan offers unlimited data, access to all server locations, and advanced features, making it a significant upgrade over the free version.

While the 7-day refund period is short, it’s better than no refunds (like TunnelBear). Windscribe encourages testing its free version before committing to a paid plan, a common trend among free-trial VPNs.

Support and customer service

Windscribe takes customer support seriously, offering multiple channels to ensure you get the help you need. Whether you prefer reaching out via email, submitting a support ticket through the website, or using live chat, Windscribe’s support team is responsive and knowledgeable, ready to resolve issues and answer questions promptly.

In addition to direct support, Windscribe provides a comprehensive knowledge base and FAQ section, covering a wide range of topics from troubleshooting to advanced configuration. This self-help resource lets you find quick solutions and learn more about the service at your own pace.

Conclusion

This is a good basic service with a unique personality. It is suitable for most use cases, and has worked fine for us over the couple of days spent working on this review. My biggest concern is the uneven speed test results we saw during testing. If you plan on doing a lot of streaming or torrenting, you would be well served to test the specific services and servers you want to use, before committing to a full subscription.

But if speed is not a primary consideration, and you like the idea of a colorful, irreverant, basic VPN, Windscribe could be worth a try.