VPN Like Tiger VPN + Alternatives + Competitors + Similar VPNs

Tiger VPN is distinctive with its cute tigers. The VPN client has a friendly interface that is easy to use. They have an excellent server distribution; they give you Netflix with some servers; and they allow torrenting. Most importantly, they support the secure OpenVPN protocol and use high encryption that will ensure that your data is secured. There are many other VPN like Tiger VPN that offer similar and also your desired security and privacy features. These similar VPNs are known as the best Tiger VPN alternatives and competitors available. In this article, we shall explore all the Tiger VPN competitors and alternatives to help you choose the most suitable option.

Sadly, our lovely feline VPN does not have a kill switch to protect traffic from being exposed when the VPN loses connection; they leaked DNS; and they log sessions, and hold the records for too long (six months).

I also did not like that Tiger VPN allow only two simultaneous connection on the single month subscription, or that the live chat support service was actually a ticket service.

Who says tigers must only be wild and predatory. Who says the striped coat feline cannot be a protective hero. Well, go to www.tigervpn.com and you will see a super-hero tiger protecting his own by blocking off alien fire.

The aliens would include (but not limited to) hackers, cyber criminals, restrictive regimes, and nosy neighbours; and their attack would include (but not limited to) internet censorship and geo-restriction, identity theft, cyber fraud, and corporate espionage.

The super-hero tiger is Tiger VPN, and its mission is simple: to ensure that you surf the internet safely, and anonymously. TigerVPN is a VPN service provider located in the privacy friendly locale of Slovakia. Since coming on board in 2011, Tiger VPN has made a lot of improvement to ensure that they continue to give users privacy and security online. How will they fare in mid 2018? This review will aim to critically examine Tiger VPN to help you determine if they are really a superhero tiger offering bulletproof online protection, or if they are simply a circus tiger putting up an act. Tiger VPN is one of the top VPN services, but if you are not satisfied with privacy and security features, you may try out other alternatives that strongly compete with Tiger VPN. Below are other VPN like Tiger VPN:

VPN LIke Tiger VPN + Alternatives:

  • Hotspot Shield
  • NordVPN
  • Surfshark
  • ExpressVPN
  • Proton VPN
  • CyberGhost VPN
  • PureVPN
  • Private Internet Access
  • IPVanish
  • TorGuard

Packages and Pricing

Packages:

Tiger VPN has three plans – a monthly plan, a one – year plan, and a 3-years plan. Unlike the plans of many of the premium services in the market; Tiger VPN plans do not have the same features.

The plan billed every month (called the Zen Tiger) is priced at €11.99. Using this plan, Tiger VPN will allow you only two simultaneous connections on your account.

The plan billed every year (called the Hero Tiger) is priced at €80.99, which breaks down to €6.67 per month to give a 58% cost saving. This plan allows up to five simultaneous connections with one VPN account.

The plan billed every three years is priced at €99.00, which breaks down to €2.75 per month to give a 77% cost saving. This plan also allow up to five simultaneous connections with one account.

This model of having different number of simultaneous connections in different billing periods is unseen. With other VPN services, only free accounts suffer a reduction in number of simultaneous connections allowed; but for paid accounts, no matter your billing period (one month, one year etc), you are allowed the same number of simultaneous connections. This model put Tiger VPN at a disadvantage. Most of the other VPN services allow up to five simultaneous connections on their monthly deal; but our feline VPN service allows you only two.If you have multiple devices (up to three) that you wish to secure with your one VPN account, but do not want the long term commitment of a one year deal; you will have to look beyond Tiger VPN.

Brief Competitors Price Comparison

VPN service Month-to-month price Lowest advertised price Initial payment Brief comparison
NordVPN $14.99/month $3.49/month for 27 months $94.23 Strong all-round option for speed – streaming and security; supports 10 simultaneous devices. (NordVPN)
Surfshark $16.45/month $2.49/month for 27 months $67.23 Excellent value for families, since a single subscription covers unlimited devices. (Surfshark)
ExpressVPN $12.99/month $3.49/month for 28 months $97.72 User-friendly premium VPN with easy-to-use apps and up to 10 connections on its Basic plan. (ExpressVPN)
Proton VPN $9.99/month $2.99/month for 24 months $71.76 Privacy focused VPN with open-source applications & a limited free plan with unlimited data. (Proton VPN)
CyberGhost VPN $12.99/month $2.19/month for 26 months $56.94 Affordable long-term option with streaming focused servers & a 45-day guarantee on longer plans. (CyberGhost VPN)
PureVPN $12.95/month $2.15/month for 27 months $58.05 Low-cost long-term plan that includes the main VPN service & tracker or advertisement blocking. (PureVPN)
Private Internet Access $11.95/month $2.03/month for 39 months $79.00 Suitable for experienced users who want advanced settings – port forwarding & unlimited device connections. (Private Internet Access)
IPVanish $12.99/month $2.19/month for 24 months $52.56 Good household option with unlimited simultaneous connections & easy-to-use applications. (Security.org)
TorGuard $9.99/month About $2.50/month on the $29.99 annual offer $29.99 Better suited to advanced users who need features such as port forwarding – static IP pools and detailed settings. (TorGuard)
Hotspot Shield $12.99/month About $2.42/month with the $29 introductory annual plan $29.00 Offers a limited free version & fast – simple applications – but the annual plan renews at $95.99. (Hotspot Shield)

Verdict:

Surfshark VPN offers you the best balance of low pricing as well as unlimited devices. NordVPN is known as a strong overall choice for performance as well as security, while Proton VPN is attractive for privacy-conscious users and also for anyone that needs a free plan. CyberGhost, PureVPN, PIA and IPVanish provide you with some of the lowest long-term introductory prices. Which ever one you choose will be great for your online security. You may visit each of them to know more before subscribing.

Tiger VPN does not come cheap. Their prices place them as one of the most expensive VPN services in the market. Their one month deal and one year deal are relatively cost prohibitive; while their ‘okay-ish’ best deal involve a very long commitment (3 year).

Payment method

Tiger VPN allows the use of different payment methods. You can use credit cards, debit cards, PayPal or bitcoins. That our feline VPN support bitcoin transaction is a big plus to them, because bitcoin allow users to pay anonymously. The other methods entail the submission of card information which can be effectively used to track the individual; and privacy conscious users tend to avoid them.

Free Trial

Tiger VPN actually offers a free trial, but for some reasons, it is not mentioned on their website. However, when you download any of Tiger VPN client, you can given the chance to go for a free trial or jump straight into the paid plans.

Tiger VPN free trial is different from what we see in other services. Other services limit their free trials using time (some give very short time like 3 hours, others are more generous and give up to 7 days); but Tiger VPN limit their free trial by data. Tiger VPN allow you 500MB of usage free of charge, so that you can fully test the service before you move to the paid plan.

Money Back Guarantee

VPN services show that they are not just out to make money, but that they value customer satisfaction by having a money back guarantee. Tiger VPN has joined the carriage by giving a 7 days money back guarantee. This allows you to request a refund of your payment if you are not satisfied with the service.

To get a refund; you have to cancel your subscription and send a mail to Tiger VPN stating your desire to get refunded using the address help@tigervpn.com. Note that this must be done not later than 7 day from the time of making payment. However, you cannot get a refund if you did not make the purchase directly from Tiger VPN.

Tiger VPN’s 7 days window falls short of the 30 days that many VPN services give. However, it must be said that almost all of the services that give a 30 days window do not offer free trials. Tiger VPN’s 7 days money back guarantee on top of a free trial is generous enough.

Features

Devices supported:

Tiger VPN supports the major platforms in the market – Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS. They also offer steps for manually setting up the VPN on Linux and on DD WRT supported routers.

Ease of Use

The Tiger VPN client has a very clean and unclutterd interface that is easy to use. When you log into your account, a window will appear telling you that the VPN is now running in the task bar. Clicking the Tiger VPN icon in the taskbar will open a list of server locations. The list is pretty long because Tiger VPN has a good number of locations. You can scroll down the list to select a location, but if that is too tasking, there is a search button at the top of the list to enable you jump to the location you have in mind.

The first location on the list of server location is “recommended”. The “recommended server” feature allows you to be connected to the best performing server closest to you. By selecting “recommended server”, the VPN automatically determine the best server and connects you.

Selecting a location automatically connects you to the VPN. Your connection status will change from “disconnected” to “connection”; and above it, you’ll see the location you’re connected to.

Tiger VPN has a settings wheel on the main interface that opens to account settings, trouble shooting, and systems settings.

Karma

Tiger VPN is one of the few VPN services that have a customer loyalty program. Our feline VPN package theirs as “Karma Rewards”.

They challenge you to complete certain simple tasks  (such as writing a review, or liking them on social media platforms) in exchange for “Karma points” which can be redeemed for additional stuff on the service (such as extra connection). You can reach “karma points” in the settings page, under account settings.

The 30% Rule

Any distinctive thing about Tiger VPN is the claim to a 30% bandwidth reserve. According to our lovely feline VPN, their engineers built the service to always keep 30% of the bandwidth in reserve, so that they can automatically allocate more more bandwidth and resources.

Streaming

Streaming capabilities is measured these days by access to Netflix; this is because Netflix has been ruthless and quite successful in blocking VPNs.

Tiger VPN have shown a commitment to give users access to Netflix contents. When Netflix enforced “radical” measures to block VPN’s Proxies and others, Tiger VPN assured users that they will always find solution to Netflix geo-blocking; and later came up with a list showing the servers in their network that can unblock Netflix.

Tiger VPN still have a few servers that unblock Netflix. It must be said that you’ll only get a “working” server after a “connect-and-check” game of switching between servers and testing for Netflix. While Tiger VPN might not be the best VPN for getting Netflix, that even one of their servers can give you Netflix put them well above many VPNs that do not allow Netflixing.

Torrenting

File sharing (torrenting) is awesome; but when it is not immediately apparent that a particular content is legal to torrent, one could torrent illegally. If that happens, one could actually face copyright action; and in many instances the internet service provider (ISP) would throttle the network connection. Thus, it is wise to have a VPN to keep internet activity hidden and help users torrent safely.

Fortunately, Tiger VPN allows torrenting. In their words: “we keep you safe while torrenting… happy torrenting guys!“

However, Tiger VPN recommended specific locations for torrenting, stating that “the ISPs there are more permissive” for the activity. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that torrenting is allowed, but on certain servers you are on your own.

Server Networks

With VPN server networks, the more the merrier. With a large network, you have the chance to connect to, and appear in, a larger number of countries. This greatly enhances anonymity.

Tiger VPN has an impressive 300+ servers in an equally impressive 62 cities covering 42 countries. The server count is impressive because many of the premium VPN services only operate about half as many servers. Tigers coverage of 62 cities (in 42 countries) is very impressive because some of the few services that operate more servers do not cover that many countries. What some of these services do is to concentrate servers in a few cities. Tiger VPN do not do that; instead, they ensure that their servers are widely spread across the world. Having servers widely spread across the world offer users a lot of advantage. For example, anywhere you go in the world, you can be sure to get a nearby server; and nearby servers give better performance than distant servers.

Also, Tiger VPN is one of very few VPN services that have a truly global network; their network covers every region of the world – North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Middle East. Tiger VPN true global reach is a badge of honour; they know this and even offered the joke “We don’t have Antarctica, because it’s too cold for our Tiger“.

They even operate servers in countries with repressive government and strong internet censorship (such as Russia, China, and Turkey).

Another interesting fact about Tiger VPN server network is that everything is built, operated and managed in-house. This eliminate third party server providers and the security risks associated with such arrangements.

Privacy and Security Features

VPN Protocol and Encryption

Tiger VPN support the major VPN protocols: OpenVPN (UDP/ TCP), L2TP, IPsec, and PPTP.

By default, the VPN Windows, Mac and Android apps run on OpenVPN UDP which can be changed to OpenVPN TCP. The iOS app run on IPsec.

Tiger VPN does not allow a lot of customizations. You can can drop OpenVPN TCP to UDP in the settings page under “systems settings”, and you can also move from OpenVPN to L2TP; but that’s about all the configuration allowed. However, the OpenVPN protocol is usually recommended for use because it is the most secured of the bunch.

As per encryption, Tiger VPN uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit encryption. This is the highest level of encryption; and it the type used by top banks and government agencies to secure their online data. There is no doubt that your data with Tiger VPN is secure.

Logging Policy

Like every other VPN services in the market, our lovely feline VPN says that they do not keep logs. In their words: “Tiger VPN does not store any activity logs anywhere – period“

l noticed that ‘logs’ is modified with ‘activity’. “Tiger VPN does not store any activity log” suggested to me that Tiger VPN store logs other than activity logs.

Because many VPN services keep logs despite calling themselves no-log services, it is becoming rare to trust a VPN no-log claims. And here, the wording of Tiger VPN logging policy did not do jack to inspiring confidence.

Therefore, I decided to examine the privacy policy of our lovely feline VPN to know what logs (if any) are kept, and whether the logs kept (if any) should have a privacy conscious user worried.

To start, I have to say that Tiger VPN privacy policy, though long, is clear enough. The privacy policy starts with a categorized breakdown that will help you easily see all the information that the service collects and why they collect it.

As suspected, Tiger VPN maintain certain logs, some are okay, and some are not too okay. When you create an account; they collect account data (email address and password). When you make payments; they collect some form of payment info. When you reach out to them through the ticket service; they store your queries. All of these are not out of the ordinary; nd parallel what other VPN services do.

This is where some of the ugliness start. If one connects to a Tiger VPN server; a record of that session (start time, end time, and data transferred) is collected and stored. They claim that it does not allow them to single out any particular customer; but that its sole purpose is to provide troubleshooting and accounting, prevent abuse, and ensure network integrity. Note that the information is stored for six months. Six!

Tiger VPN also says they use cookies and similar tracking technologies, such as web beacons, affiliate links, pixels, and app identifiers to collect informaton about how you use their website and apps.

Conclusively, Tiger VPN may not keep activity logs, but they do keep connection logs, and for as long as six months. To the question of whether such logs can be used to personally identify a user or not; I can only say that “in the hands of whoever wants to identify you, a shred of evidence is better than no evidence”.

Security Leaks Protection

Since DNS leaks effectively destroys anonymity and reveal a user’s true location; a VPN that leaks DNS does not give bulletproof privacy.

Tiger VPN operates their own  DNS servers. By eliminating third party DNS servers and the associated privacy risks of such collaborations, one would expect Tiger VPN to give enhanced privacy by plugging DNS leaks. Sadly, Tiger Bear leaked DNS.

Kill Switch:

I like referring to the kill switch as a VPN side-kick. The VPN protects you online; but it can only do that when it is up and running. When it is down, you’ll be left unprotected and exposed to every online attack. That is when the side kick comes in; to ensure that you remain protected when the VPN is down.

Sadly, our lovely feline VPN does not have the kill switch feature. This means that when the VPN connection drops unexpectedly (which happens with all VPNs), you will still be transmitting traffic online, and your now unencrypted data and real location will be instantly exposed to any monitoring element.

All the effort at using a VPN to hide your location and encrypt your online traffic will be defeated in an instant. Therefore, it is safe to say that Tiger VPN will offer excellent security as long as their connection does not drop.

Speed

With respect to their speed, Tiger VPN says that they are “Faster Than Anything Else“. That would be in certain locations. Tiger VPN showed really fast speed with certain locations; but overall speed was significantly reduced because of the really poor performances of other locations.

Thus, on the whole, Tiger VPN is definitely not faster than anything else; their overall performance will place them at just above average. They performed more than many of the premium VPNs, but not so well as to be counted among the top speed performers.

Customer Care

Tiger VPN help center consist of; guides to help manually set up Tiger VPN without using the apps, and troubleshooting, which contains articles that provide helpful answers to the common errors, connection issues and any other issus that would prevent a smooth use of the service. These resources would help one solve problem personally without having to contact a customer representative of the VPN service.

However, if you desire such contact, Tiger VPN has the email/ ticketing service and the live chat service. I liked that the live chat was available even before signing up. However, when I tried the live chat service, I found that it was manned/ womanned by bots. I got a lightning fast response that they’ll get back to me in about 24 hours. Being that (i) my question was one that any support staff would know, and (ii) it required basically a yes/ no response without little or no qualifying remarks; I was certain that the live chat was not live. The VPN like Tiger VPN listed above are also its best competitors in the VPN industry; you can use one of them as an alternative or better replacement.

However, when the response do arrive, I found it to be detailed than necessary and especially helpful. It made the customer representative appear very knowledgeable.