UTunnel VPN Review: Good for Business and Personal Use in 2024?
Top VPN provider globally
UTunnel VPN is not your typical consumer VPN; instead, it's a VPN-as-a-Service solution. Although it is primarily targeted at companies wishing to protect their network and provide safe remote access, it is also a great candidate for regular users looking to set up their own private VPN server.
UTunnel has taken up the tough task to create a VPN solution that would please both individuals and business users. It’s not your typical consumer VPN; instead, it’s a VPN-as-a-Service solution. Although it is primarily targeted at companies wishing to protect their network and provide safe remote access, it is also a great candidate for regular users looking to set up their own private VPN server.
UTunnel offers a commendable feature set at a reasonable price, making it a good option, especially for small and medium businesses. Before we dig in, we want to remind you that some of the pros and cons are relevant to the B2C or B2B clients only. Therefore, we’ll be sticking to UTunnel’s segmentation, where its Basic plan is for the former, and the Standard plan is for the latter group of users.
In this UTunnel VPN review, we’ll look at its security, privacy, performance, and other key features.
Security and privacy
UTunnel VPN uses military-grade encryption and time-tested OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec tunneling protocols. Kill switch and leak protection, another two essential features, are also there.
Apart from that, here are some important security and privacy features that you get with UTunnel VPN:
- Two-factor authentication. Extra security with Google Authenticator and similar apps.
- Single sign-on integration (SSO). Log in easier with Google Workspace, Azure ID, Okta, and other identity providers.
- Inbuilt Web-filter. Block blacklisted sites and access from chosen countries, whitelist domains and IPs.
- Role-based access control. For managing users and user groups.
- User tracking. Logs are disabled by default, but you can turn them on if needed.
Business clients could also benefit from VPN traffic obfuscation feature(Stealth VPN). It’s great in countries where VPN usage is illegal or restricted and for accessing services that block VPNs. Finally, the Standard plan also offers split tunneling and external DNS servers.
UTunnel VPN features
In this section, we’ll discuss the features of UTunnel VPN, omitting the security and privacy traits which are already discussed above.
- Quick and simple configuration. The VPN setup process with UTunnel VPN is quite simple, allowing even novice users to set it up in minutes. You’ll also have access to simple instructions to walk you through the configuration and administration process. If this isn’t enough, you may get expert assistance right away.
- Cloud VPN Deployment that is fully automated. To enable you to deploy a VPN server easily on the cloud, UTunnel VPN is integrated with various prominent cloud providers. All you have to do is provide your desired cloud provider, data center location, and instance type, and the service will take care of the rest. DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, Linode, Kamatera, and UpCloud were amongst the cloud providers available. This gives you 30+ locations globally to choose from to set up your VPN server in just a few clicks.
- Setting up an On-Premise VPN is also simple. For your server, UTunnel VPN does not limit you to the cloud providers listed above. It provides a Bring Your Own Server (BYOS) option for setting up your on-premise server quickly and efficiently. This does not necessarily mean a server in your own data center. It may be a cloud server with any cloud provider, including Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle. To use this functionality, you’ll need an Ubuntu 20.04 server with a static IPV4 address.
- Organization account setup. You should create an organization account with UTunnel VPN to utilize business-centric features like Single Sign-On, automated user provisioning, and site-to-site tunneling, among others. Managing VPN users, teams, and various servers is also a breeze with the organization account.
- Split tunneling. A very useful feature for users utilizing the business VPN for secure remote access. Let’s you set an IP or a network that will use the VPN tunnel while the rest of the traffic goes straight to the internet.
- Site-to-site tunneling. Offices in remote locations can securely connect to the company’s main offices and VPCs with UTunnel’s site-to-site VPN setup.
- Use Custom DNS. UTunnel VPN allows you to quickly alter your DNS configuration to utilize your own DNS server, allowing your servers to function efficiently for your company.
All in all, that’s a pretty solid pack of features that UTunnel VPN provides. The only possible issue is the requirement to use Ubuntu for the physical servers.
Speed and performance: how fast is UTunnel VPN?
The answer to this question is simple. Everything depends on the actual server you choose for your company. As mentioned above, the servers could be at your own premises or any of the integrated cloud providers, like DigitalOcean, Linode, etc.
Based on your choice, there’s always a distance between the user and the server. The performance won’t suffer if both are in the same city or country. But if you’re connecting from another side of the globe, the ping and download-upload speeds will go down inevitably.
Tunneling protocols also play their part. Currently, UTunnel VPN supports OpenVPN (TCP, UDP) and IKEv2/IPSec. The UDP option is faster albeit less secure than TCP, but IKEv2 is what you should be aiming for.
Finally, some UTunnel VPN features can impact speed. Android clients can turn on Obfuscation which decreases performance but keeps VPN usage undetected. This feature is key in countries like China or Russia that use Deep Packet Inspection.
Interface and ease of use
First, let’s check what the UTunnel VPN Dashboard looks like. Here you will find a bandwidth graph updated every minute. There are also system stats with CPU and memory usage and the amount of data transferred.
Further below is the log with recent activities, such as log-ins and sessions. The sidebar displays user licenses, billing information, and open support tickets. You can click each element and take action immediately.
From the Dashboard, you can add servers, filter event logs by user or date, and setup 2FA, among other things. Overall, this web-based management system is well-designed and easy to use without a background in IT.
You can easily invite users and grant them access to your VPN on both personal and organization accounts. In the case of organization accounts, you can even create multiple user groups (or teams) and auto-provision VPN access to them easily.
Plans and pricing
UTunnel VPN has two pricing plans:
- Basic – $5.00/month
- Standard – $7.50/month
The main difference between these two is the number of features. The standard plan adds an external DNS server, router configuration, logging capability, live status, split tunneling, and priority technical support.
However, the customization doesn’t end here. Each plan can be with a cloud or on-premise server.
The price really depends on the number of user accounts. Small companies may not need more than a few users while larger ones might go over the upper limit of 50. Despite that, we’re pretty sure UTunnel would consider individualized options for enterprises.
Finally, those with their own servers are entitled to a 14-day free trial. And should you choose an integrated cloud VPN server, there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee.
VPN Client Applications
UTunnel VPN client is available on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux. Naturally, the interface and ease of use depend on your chosen platform. In general, all apps are simple and intuitive but lack polish, as the version numbers imply.
The only options available on Windows were toggling the kill switch and getting application logs. In the meantime, Mac users can’t change anything and are limited to the IKEv2/IPSec protocol.
Also, we didn’t like that after establishing a connection, the On/Off button becomes red and stays static, confusing the end-user.
In contrast, the iOS client brings a halo and shows connection time, indicating that you’re connected. iPhone users can also log in to UTunnel VPN using Touch ID.
As for the Android version, it differs from the rest of the pack with an option to toggle VPN obfuscation. Unfortunately, it lacks the IKEv2/IPSec protocol.
Customer support
At the moment of writing the review, UTunnel VPN was offering these support options:
- Support ticket
- Knowledgebase
- FAQ
The knowledgebase is well-structured and up-to-date. It covers a broad range of topics, such as server configuration, VPN client setup, or billing. You can also see the most popular articles on the right sidebar but clicking will change it to the table of contents.
Additionally, there are plenty of screenshots to illustrate the necessary steps in solving the issue. We also liked that the FAQ articles are part of the knowledge base, allowing to quickly find more relevant information.
However, the lack of 24/7 live chat is what bothers us most. Hopefully, UTunnel VPN addresses the issue soon. When you have business clients worldwide, a ticketing system is not the fastest way to solve issues, even with priority technical support (for the Standard plan).
Bottom line
UTunnel VPN is a viable option for small and medium businesses who need a simple but efficient way to protect their network. It’s also ideal for tech-savvy home or personal users who wish to set up their own VPN servers with minimal effort.
There are plenty of ways to customize the plans according to your needs. This provider lets you choose cloud or on-premise servers, the number of VPN accounts, and extra features, such as split routing or external DNS servers.
The only reason to ignore UTunnel VPN, at least for the time being, would be the need for 24/7 customer support. Other than that, we couldn’t find any reason you shouldn’t try this service, especially when there’s a 14-day free trial or money-back guarantee.
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