Hotspot Shield follows in the footsteps of ExpressVPN by offering five simultaneous connections for a single account, which isn’t as impressive as the six offered by NordVPN nor the seven from Cyberghost. NordVPN, for instance, also simplifies by prioritizing automated connection, then fastest servers, but you can also individually scroll through the servers in a country or location. Part of this feels user-friendly in terms of automation, but there’s also a sense that this obfuscates the comparatively low server count. This may be why Hotspot Shield simplifies this to allowing connection via location, rather than by the specific servers that may be in a single location. It’s worth noting that server count only tends to matter when problems arise in a particular location and there aren’t as many backup options. For context, NordVPN has 5,440 servers around the globe. Hotspot Shield advertises “80+ countries”, which translated to 85 at the time of updating this review, but its global server count of 1,800 puts it towards the bottom of the list of VPN services. You can also search for a country or city at the top of this screen. Tap or click on the location of the Hotspot Shield server you’re currently connected to, then select from a list of quick-access alternatives, or find the country you’re after by scrolling through the alphabetized list. Thankfully, switching servers is almost as easy as a one-tap connection/disconnection. Ideally, you want to connect to a Hotspot Shield server that has a load under 80%. You can see your data usage for the last 24 hours, the peak speed of your current connection, how you’re connected (wired or WiFi) as well as server information, which includes your current IP address, time connected, latency, and server load. While not essential, it’s a nice touch that Hotspot Shield offers at-a-glance information for your current connection.

Connecting to a server takes around five seconds, but leave a few seconds grace afterward to be fully connected. Open the Hotspot Shield app or software and hit that big power button to connect. That’s why it’s been my go-to VPN, but it also shouldn’t deter fledgling VPN users as it mirrors the user-friendliness of popular competitors like NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

As a more advanced PC user, I was drawn to Hotspot Shield for its main selling point: speed.

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