SlickVPN Review 2024: Buyer Beware

SlickVPN is decent on paper, but riddled with issues and red flags when put into practice. The website is riddled with coding errors, the servers were spotty, and downloading the program file was super sketchy.

We believe that consumers need all the information to make good decisions, so we have everything we uncovered about SlickVPN below. This should help you evaluate the product yourself. We’ve also given you half a dozen suggestions on the best VPNs that are tested and proven.

SlickVPN review at a glance

Price	$4-$10/mo
Free version	No
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days
# of servers	150+ servers in 40+ countries
VPN protocol	IPsec, OpenVPN
Encryption	AES 256-bit
No-logs policy	No logs
Headquarters	United States

Our experience

After conducting our independent hands-on testing, we've concluded that SlickVPN is a software that should be avoided. There's no reason for anyone to choose this option over all the other VPN options that are available.

Last time we tested this product, we were unable to get it downloaded at all because it's not a verified Apple developer. We contacted support to get a refund and never heard back, despite their claims of a 30 day money-back guarantee.

It's been about a year since this experience, so we decided to try it out again. After paying for a month license, Windows Defender actually blocked the program file download because it detected it was a virus.

As you can imagine, we're security conscious people here. But after Googling for other people's similar experiences, we didn't see any major red flags. So as one last effort to actually test this software, we downloaded the previous version. It worked.

Once SlickVPN was installed, we were greeted with an outdated UI that had very few options.

You're not able to set up split tunneling, choose which protocol to use, or any advanced security options. The only real one you can choose is Leak Protection, which is their version of a kill switch. We were surprised to see the kill switch actually passed our tests.

One of the only plus sides of SlickVPN was the logs on the home page of the app. This was convenient to see what stage of connection the VPN was in. Unfortunately, so many of the servers didn't work that we'd mostly just see the app be in a constant loop of trying to reconnect.

We were unable to perform some of our tests because we were unable to connect to any servers in the United Kingdom or Australia. They were all destined to an infinite loop of trying to connect.

Choosing which server to connect to was a pain, since SlickVPN didn't suggest which ones is best for you based on location and you didn't even have the option to search for a country name. You could only navigate the list alphabetically.

This was about the only time we were happy that it only offers 150+ servers.

Sometimes the app would break and we weren't able to disconnect from the server it was trying to connect to. We had to end the service manually, but one time it blocked our internet access completely. We had to flush our DNS cache and restart our computer to be able to connect back to the internet.

Overall, the reliability, security, and performance of SlickVPN is in question. We would consider almost any other VPN over this one.

Who is SlickVPN best for?

• Not recommended

SlickVPN’s website includes a lot of error codes, and when we tried to download the VPN agent, Apple blocked it as an unverified developer.

SlickVPN knows it’s unverified with Apple (it would've had to submit itself to Apple for verification), so we aren’t sure why it’s still charging customers and offering macOS and Windows downloads.

We definitely don't recommend trying to download this agent on Windows computers.

SlickVPN alternatives

Normally, we like to give some options in case the VPN we reviewed isn’t your cup of tea. However, this time we recommend that you go with another product completely. These are some of our favorites as well as being the best VPNs on the market. They have all of the features we like, and you actually can download them without triggering your antivirus. Bonus!

SlickVPN prices and subscriptions

SlickVPN’s price of $10/mo is pretty reasonable compared to competitors, but there are lower yearly plans out there if you want to save money on a VPN.

It’s also worth noting that SlickVPN doesn’t have an upcharge for various features. There’s only one tier of service with SlickVPN, so the price differences are only based on term length.

Plan	1-month plan	6-month plan	1-year plan
Price per month	$10/mo	$5/mo (billed every six months)	$4/mo (billed annually)

SlickVPN features

SlickVPN is able to hide your IP and offers a few working servers for you to switch locations. Unfortunately, that's about it.

Server count and countries

• 150+ servers in 40+ countries

You don’t need to have thousands of servers available to you to be a good VPN, but this is a low count when compared to other options on the market. For example, popular VPNs like NordVPN advertises 6,800+ servers in 111 countries. 

The low count was even worse in our testing, since at least half of the servers in each country just refused to connect. That highlights one of the reasons having a large amount of servers is so important.

No-logs policy and headquarters

• Slick VPN logs policy: No logs
• SlickVPN headquarters: Florida, United States

SlickVPN claims a no-logs policy, and there’s no information in its privacy policy that would indicate otherwise. We did appreciate the section regarding children’s privacy, saying the company would delete children’s information if a parent felt their child had provided it to SlickVPN.

Since SlickVPN is located in the United States, it’s headquartered within a Five Eyes country (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The U.S. is notorious for spying heavily on its citizens, so privacy aficionados don’t recommend VPNs located within its borders. The company is headquartered in Florida, which recently gained notoriety for its increased collection of digital data on individuals within the state.

While the no-logs policy goes a long way toward protecting users’ privacy, local laws could order SlickVPN to turn over any information stored on its servers — including billing information — to law enforcement.

SlickVPN test results

We test VPNs for DNS and WebRTC leaks, which are ways that hackers can see your personal information online through the exchange of data you perform just by using the internet. We also test speed and the ability to unblock streaming services.

SlickVPN did surprisingly well on the tests, though it's important to keep in mind that we were only able to test servers that actually worked. This ended up being less than half of the servers we tried to connect to.

Speed tests

• Speed test results: Passed in countries we could actually connect to

When we were able to connect to a server, the speeds were actually pretty decent. Unfortunately, getting to the point where you're actually connected has way too many obstacles in the way for the speeds to matter.

From a Windows laptop located in Canada, we tracked our speed without the VPN connected as a baseline. We then tracked the speed when connected to an American, Canadian, United Kingdom, and Australian server.

Below are the results. Please note that we were unable to find a U.K. or Australian server that worked.

Test type	No VPN connection	Canada to Canada	Canada to U.S.	Canada to U.K.	Canada to AU
Download speed	178.14 Mbps	74.57 Mbps	68.88 Mbps	N/A	N/A
Upload speed	54.68 Mbps	50.23 Mbps	48.6 Mbps	N/A	N/A
Latency (ping)	15 ms	47 ms	93 ms	N/A	N/A
Download speed % difference	N/A	-58%	-61%	N/A	N/A
Upload speed % difference	N/A	-8%	-11%	N/A	N/A
Latency % difference	N/A	213%	520%	N/A	N/A

Though these results may seem drastic just by the numbers, they actually aren't that bad. You can expect some amount of speed loss when connected to a VPN server, and losing about 50% of our speeds is consistent with a lot of other speed tests we've done.

Netflix tests

• Netflix test result: Passed in U.S. and Canada, failed in U.K. and Australia

One of the main reasons people want a VPN is to be able to unlock geographically restricted content, especially on streaming services like Netflix.

In order to make sure VPNs do what we want them to, we try to access four different Netflix catalogs: American, Canadian, U.K., and Australian.

American Netflix worked fine, and we were able to get access to Canadian Netflix through the Vancouver server. Unfortunately, we were unable to connect to the Toronto server and the Montreal server was blocked by Netflix.

We were also unable to connect to any U.K. or Australian servers at all.

	U.S. to U.S.	U.S. to U.K.	U.S. to Canada	U.S. to AU
Did it work with Netflix?

DNS leak tests

• DNS leak test results: Pass
• WebRTC leak test results: Pass

One of the major security features of a VPN is to be able to keep your internet traffic anonymous. This usually means the VPN connection will not leak any identifying information about your internet connection, including things like location, real IP address, and more.

Two major categories of info that can be leaked by an improper VPN is DNS and WebRTC. In order to test and make sure VPNs are hiding your information correctly, we open up Browserleaks.com while connected and see if it detects any leaks.

Despite the sketchiness of their service, SlickVPN was able to pass both these tests with flying colors.

Kill switch tests

• Kill switch test results: Pass

In what was the most surprising result yet, SlickVPN was also able to pass the kill switch test.

A kill switch is a kind of fail safe that VPNs offer. This option will cut off your internet connection in the event that you suddenly lose access to the VPN server. This is meant to keep your IP address being accidentally leaked if the VPN server were to malfunction and you were still connected to the internet.

We test kill switches by going to IPleak.net and switching servers while its running. If our real IP shows up in between the old and new server, the kill switch failed to hide our information.

When switching from a server in British Columbia to one in New Jersey, our real IP based in New Brunswick didn't show up. This indicates SlickVPN was able to stop our internet from leaking even while switching between servers.

You can enable the kill switch by going to SlickVPN's Preferences tab > Networking then checking off the Enable leak protection box.

SlickVPN compatibility

SlickVPN claims compatibility with various devices and operating systems:

SlickVPN’s noted compatibility:

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Routers

SlickVPN customer support

SlickVPN offers support through online guides and email. You can get in touch by sending an email to support@slickvpn.com, using the Contact Us page, or signing in to your account and submitting a ticket.

The lack of live chat or phone options is disappointing, and the Contact page has some broken code on it which makes us question how well it works.

When we were unable to install the program last time we tried to test it, we had used the form to request a refund. We never heard back.

FAQs

Bottom line: Is SlickVPN good?

SlickVPN isn’t good. A trustworthy VPN would be verified with the Apple store, considering it advertises compatibility with macOS and iOS. Also, reliable VPNs offer multiple forms of customer support, a working website, and a clear list of features for potential customers.

If you’re looking for one of the best VPNs, we suggest NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN.

We also like CyberGhost and Private Internet Access (PIA). All of these offer advanced features and solid security. Whatever you decide, you should absolutely be using a VPN, especially if you use public Wi-Fi or want to access geo-restricted content.