VPN providers
Windscribe privacy rating
VPN service from Canada with a limited free plan, open-source apps and browser extensions, and WireGuard, IKEv2 and OpenVPN support.
Summary
Windscribe scores 81 out of 100 (grade B) on the VPN providers criteria. It meets 8 of 12 criteria: no ads or data sales, independent audit, transparency report, TLS configuration, audited no-logs policy, anonymous payment, open-source apps and modern protocols. It partly meets open source, no trackers or telemetry and security headers. It does not meet tells users about requests. It is based in Canada: Five Eyes member. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+ and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B+.
Score 81 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
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Partial
Open source Weight 3 of 3
Is all the source code needed to run the product public?
Apps are open source. The server side is not.
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Partial
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
The website uses self-hosted Piwik analytics and no third-party trackers. The Android app has no known trackers on Exodus.
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Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Funded by paid plans. The ethics page rules out targeted advertising and selling user data.
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Yes
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
Full Packetlabs report on the server infrastructure and no-logs configuration.
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Yes
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
Live counts of DMCA and law enforcement data requests and how many were complied with.
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No
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
No published policy on notifying users about data requests.
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Yes
Audited no-logs policy Weight 3 of 3
Has an independent audit confirmed that activity and connection logs are not kept?
Packetlabs reviewed the no-logs policy on the VPN servers and confirmed the logging issues it found were fixed.
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Yes
Anonymous payment Weight 2 of 3
Can an account be created and paid for without an email address, name or card?
Sign-up needs only a username and password. Monero and cash are accepted.
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Yes
Open-source apps Weight 2 of 3
Are the apps for every platform open source?
Desktop, Android, iOS and browser extension source code is published.
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Yes
Modern protocols Weight 1 of 3
Is WireGuard (or another modern audited protocol) supported?
WireGuard is supported alongside IKEv2, OpenVPN and Stealth.
Automated tests
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Yes
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade A+
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Partial
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B+ (80/100+)
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Not tested yet
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Not tested yet.