Hide.me VPN: Easy-to-use Mac and iPhone VPN with a free tier

Hide.me is a great VPN for all Apple platforms that's easy to recommend at this price.

- BY LLOYD COOMBES

Hide.me is a VPN that ticks just about any box you can ask of it. There's a free plan (fave. co/4ntwi5m) to try (although it's very limited), and it's just as good at unblocking Netflix libraries from the other side of the globe as it is at keeping your data obfuscated.

It's super easy to use, meaning anyone can log in and get started, but it also has a bevy of more advanced features that include split tunneling and multihop connections, among others. All of this combines into a feature-rich VPN that's ideal for just about anyone, but with the added bonus of a device limit of 10 (double some of its rivals), 24/7 live chat, and a really slick interface.

In truth, our only gripe is a relatively low server count (although from our testing, these do tend to be where they say they are), which spoils the fun somewhat. There are still well over 2,500 of them, but with some rivals in our Best VPN for Mac (fave.co/3Ao3N0D) test, breaking the 7,000 mark for the same price, it’s pretty much the only area of improvement we’d suggest for what is otherwise a fantastic VPN.

Hide.me has more advanced features like split tunneling, multihop servers, and more.

FEATURES AND APPS

As with many VPN services we've been testing, Hide.me is available on pretty much any device, with native apps for Windows, Mac, iPad, Android, and iOS.

We're focusing on the Mac app today, and as with many of its contemporaries, it's got a main application window and a Menu bar icon you can use to quickly access it.

The initial setup is much less focused on providing you with a whole range of options and simply getting you using the app quickly, and I appreciated how straightforward the process was.