Hotspot Shield Review 2026
Fast Catapult Hydra protocol, privacy questions
Hotspot Shield at a Glance
Hotspot Shield's proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol delivers some of the fastest VPN speeds available -- the same engine is licensed to Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and McAfee for their VPN products. The 80-country network and 10 device support are competitive.
The concerns are significant: US jurisdiction, parent company Aura's involvement in data analytics, a past logging controversy, and the closed-source nature of Catapult Hydra. The free tier offers 500MB/day with ads. Speed is the draw here, not privacy.
- Users who prioritize speed above all
- Users wanting a free tier for occasional use
- Streamers wanting reliable unblocking
Performance Scores
Privacy & Security
Pricing & Plans
Pros & Cons
- Extremely fast (Catapult Hydra)
- 80 countries
- 10 devices
- Free tier available
- Good streaming support
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- US jurisdiction
- Closed-source protocol
- Aura parent company
- Past logging controversy
- Privacy concerns outweigh speed benefits
Bottom Line
If speed is your only concern, Hotspot Shield is hard to beat. But for a privacy tool, the US jurisdiction, closed-source protocol, and Aura parent company are significant red flags.
Builder, tinkerer, privacy advocate. I believe privacy is a right, not a product feature.