George Miller
OysterVPN Review – A Value for Money VPN That Has the Potential to Disrupt the Market
OysterVPN is a fairly new VPN, launched in 2023, so you might not have heard about it yet. It is definitely no NordVPN or SurfShark, but it has robust core VPN features and great unblocking power.
Does it mean you should switch to OysterVPN anytime soon? Or there’s still a lot of room for improvement?
I tried to find an answer by downloading the Windows application and also adding the extension to Chrome.
Pros and Cons
- One of the cheapest VPNs on the market
- Comes with a Lifetime Plan
- Wide compatibility
- Unblocks Netflix US and a number of other streaming sites
- Only 5 simultaneous connections allowed
- Small server pool
OysterVPN – Great Value for Money?
What’s cheaper than Surfshark, barring the barrage of free and worthless VPNs that simply don’t cut it? If somebody had asked me this question about two years back, I would be frantically looking for answer. But now I have a definitive answer – Oyster is here!
Its monthly plan is way cheaper than that of SurfShark, and its one-year plan is also cheaper than the Surfshark 12-month plan (for comparison, look at the 1-month plan pricing of OysterVPN and SurfShark below).
Now, here’s the catch. OysterVPN only has 385+ servers in 34 countries as I write this.
The numbers might change in the future, but you cannot expect them to be in the same league as SurfShark in terms of server network, as the latter has got more than 3200 servers in 100+ countries.
Almost 10 times, right? And I am not talking about giants like NordVPN, which has got more than 8100 servers in almost every nook and corner of the world.
It doesn’t end there, though. OysterVPN servers are now owned by the Dublin, Ireland based company, Oyster Digital Solutions Ltd, as they rent the servers from other providers.
It has got reliable speeds on most servers (see my speed test results below), AES 256-bit military-grade encryption, good gaming servers, a no-logs policy, and it has got an app for every popular platform and operating system.
Sure, it’s the new kid on the block, and Wireguard protocol was added to its list of protocols only in January 2025, but Oyster has slowly but surely started to gain some traction on the market. Let’s see what the VPN offers and what it doesn’t.
OysterVPN – Features at a Glance
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
| No-Logs Policy |  |
| Kill Switch | |
| Included Number of Devices with 1 License | 5 |
| Server Locations | 34 Countries |
| Number of Servers | 385+ |
| Torrents Support | |
| Netflix Support | |
| Encryption Type | AES 256-bit |
| Customer Support | Email, Live Chat |
| Split Tunnelling | |
| Trial Version |  |
| Multi-Hop | |
OysterVPN – What Are People Saying?
I skimmed through popular social media sites like Facebook and found that OysterVPN has still not been able to garner positive reviews in great numbers. Yes, a handful of reviewers have mentioned getting decent speeds on local servers, and there’s appreciation for Oyster’s support of streaming services like Netflix and its built-in kill switch.
But then comes the flip side, and this is where OysterVPN’s reputation takes a hit. On Reddit, multiple threads call out the company for advertising a Linux GUI app that simply doesn’t exist — what you actually get is command-line setup instructions.
exist — what you actually get is command-line setup instructions.
That rubbed plenty of tech-savvy users the wrong way, and when some tried reaching out via live chat, they say they never got a straight answer. Others point to the fact that OysterVPN hasn’t gone through a third-party audit yet, despite claiming “complete privacy,” and that’s raised questions about transparency. On Facebook, there are also complaints about refund issues and customer support not following up quickly enough.
So, what’s the overall vibe? It seems while people like its affordability and the basics it brings to the table, the company is also facing pushback over trust issues and missing features. I feel that the company needs to clean up its act if it wants to win over more cautious users.
OysterVPN – What People Are Saying on Review Sites?
I headed over to sites like TrustPilot and Sitejabber and found a mixed bag of reactions about OysterVPN.
Plenty of reviewers highlight how easy it is to connect and how smooth the speeds feel once they’re logged in. Some users mention that streaming works well without the dreaded buffering, and some of them on Sitejabber even go as far as calling it a “must-have tool” because it lets them access content securely while on the road.
That said, the negatives are hard to ignore. Several reviews complain about connection drops or not being able to access certain services that OysterVPN claims to support. A couple of TrustPilot users also mention running into “cannot connect” messages on mobile devices.
OysterVPN – How Good Is the Speed?
VPN companies are known for making tall claims about their product performance, and OysterVPN is no exception. On its website, OysterVPN has been described as the “fastest VPN in the world”. I wanted to test whether the statement holds water or not.
I checked my normal internet connection before turning on the VPN. I got a download speed of 100 Mbps and upload speed of 100 Mbps, with barely any ping. So, my baseline was set. I decided to connect to three different servers and check the speed difference.
I fired up the Chrome extension and hooked onto a Los Angeles server. The download speed dropped to 28 Mbps, and upload speed went even further to 45 Mbps. Ping shot up to 370 ms. That was a dramatic change which I didn’t see coming, I must add.
Yes, I could still do browsing or casual streaming, but the drastic drop was something I never imagined. Then I connected to Ireland (Dublin, to be precise, where the company’s based).
This time, download sat around 21 Mbps, but upload actually spiked higher to 74 Mbps. Ping stayed way above my baseline, pushing past 260 ms, and I think gaming or making video calls might be heavily restricted at this speed.
OysterVPN Vs Competitors – Is It a Match to Market Leaders?
| Feature | OysterVPN | SurfsharkVPN | NordVPN | IPVanish |
| No-Log Policy | (Unaudited) |
(Audited by Deloitte) |
(Audited multiple times) |
(Audited by Leviathan Security) |
| Number of Servers | 385+ | 3,200+ | 8,100+ | 2,400+ |
| Number of Countries | 34 | 100+ | 111 | 75+ |
| Support Type | Email, Live Chat | 24/7 Live Chat, Email | 24/7 Live Chat, Email | 24/7 Live Chat, Email |
| Unblocks Netflix & Streaming | |
(Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, more) |
(Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Hulu, more) |
(Netflix, Disney+, ESPN, more) |
| Security Add-Ons | Kill Switch, Split Tunneling | CleanWeb (ad/malware blocker), Kill Switch, MultiHop, Split Tunneling | Threat Protection, Double VPN, Onion over VPN, Kill Switch | Kill Switch, Split Tunneling, Obfuscation |
| Torrent Support | |
(P2P servers) |
(P2P servers) |
(unlimited P2P) |
| Protocols | OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard (added 2025) | WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, NordLynx (custom WireGuard fork) | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 |
Should You Buy OysterVPN?
OysterVPN is a budget-friendly VPN, which happens to be its biggest plus, that has recently included WireGuard to its list of protocols. It works with a number of major streaming platforms, including Netflix. It also uses AES 256-bit encryption and offers split tunneling, among other things.
The sticking point is transparency. Its privacy policy is not really watertight, as it has not been independently audited yet. Also, some of its servers are dead slow and can be a Royal Pain.
It covers the bases very well though. Whether it’s about encryption standards or the most basic features like a kill switch, it packs in all the essentials. However, since it only supports 5 simultaneous connections, you might want to try it out for one month (effectively, you will get three months for the same price). There’s no free trial though.
