Head to head
The gap
The security score is not a total of good things. It starts at 100 and eight channels each take a share of what is left, so one channel can settle a record on its own. Both records are drawn here on the same scale — the model’s own cap of 0.9 — rather than on a scale fitted to this pair, which would make every comparison look equally dramatic.
Line by line
Every field the contract publishes about a provider, in the contract’s own groups, including the rows where the two agree — a table that printed only differences would invent a disagreement, and one that printed only the interesting rows would be us choosing what is interesting. Open a group to read its rows; each one says how many it holds and how many of them the two records answer differently.
A green cell means the methodology itself prices that value below the other one, not that we prefer it. Rows the model does not price carry no mark at all: price is never marked, because nothing in the model says cheaper is safer, and neither is coverage, platform count or devices. Where a value was never established the cell says so instead of showing a zero.
What actually happened
Other pairs
Pairs within the top ten get a page — 80 comparisons in all. Records below that are not paired here: a comparison earns a page where the choice between the two is a real one, and that choice is made near the top of the register.
Security
Usability
Rank 10 of 68 in the register
Not published · Commercial VPN
Exits in 25 countries
No demand on the public record
Security
Usability
Rank 9 of 68 in the register
Romania · Commercial VPN
Exits in 91 countries
No demand on the public record
Notes
On the record as a whole.
The Securitum engagement (20 Apr–7 May 2026, nine person-days, whitebox) inspected four production servers across four of CactusVPN's ~25 listed server countries and the VPN client's connection behaviour (including a Linux app used for testing, which is not among the platforms the downloads page currently lists — apparently manual/legacy client access rather than a listed product).
The report is a bespoke Securitum security assessment, not an ISAE 3000 or SOC 2 engagement, so V07/V15 record that rather than guessing an assurance tier.
Pricing carries a renewal-rate guarantee: the annual ($70/yr) and 2-year ($95/2yr) plans are both stated to renew at the same locked price "for life," which is unusual among providers in this catalogue and is not a lifetime one-time-fee scheme (X07=no).
On the record as a whole.
Deloitte's third no-logs assurance report (the only one of three published as a full downloadable PDF rather than gated behind login or an email request to Deloitte) is a limited assurance, ISAE 3000 (Revised) engagement dated as of 31 October 2025 and signed 19 December 2025; it examines CyberGhost's description of its own no-logging controls on a sample basis, not the full fleet, and its conclusion is negative assurance ("nothing has come to our attention"), not a positive finding of no logs.
The privacy policy's non-personal-data list names the Google Advertising ID and gyro-sensor data under website-style language that only a mobile app can actually read.
Open questions
Still open on this record.
Jurisdiction. The about-us page says CactusVPN "started as a small company in Moldova" but that is company narrative, not a registration statement, and the Terms of Service state no governing law or incorporation country at all; the Securitum report names the client only as "Cactus VPN LLC" with no jurisdiction attached. M06 and the fields derived from it stay unknown until a registry record or an explicit jurisdiction clause is found.
Mandate hosting. All 25 countries in the published server list carry a data-retention mandate in this catalogue's own table, so C09b is not a narrow question here, but the server-locations page does not distinguish physical exit points from virtual ones for any location, and no per-country hosting fact was established this session.
App-level identifiers and store declarations. C07a, C12 and X12 stay unknown: no Play Store data-safety form or Apple privacy label was read this session, and the Securitum audit's whitebox scope covered server-side configuration and DNS/traffic handling, not what the mobile or extension clients transmit to app stores or analytics SDKs on their own.
Transparency and canary. No /transparency, /transparency-report, /warrant-canary or /canary path resolves on the site, and no such page turned up in the sitemap; that is an absence found by looking, not a sourced "none", so both fields stay unknown rather than being marked none.
Still open on this record.
Owner-group history. Kape Technologies, CyberGhost's parent since March 2017, traces back to Crossrider, an ad-injection SDK platform whose services were widely abused by adware and malware distributors before the 2016 pivot to VPNs. No documented lie or claim gap ties this history to CyberGhost's own conduct, but the adverse record is why this provider is catalogued at all rather than by a neutral selection rule.
Scale and reach are undocumented. No CyberGhost-specific user count could be sourced from the provider's own pages beyond "millions of customers," so M08_user_scale stands unknown, and no clean 12-month plan exists to price against U04b_price_yearly — CyberGhost sells only 1-month, 6-month and 26-month terms.
Client and build transparency are unexamined. No official CyberGhost source-code repository, reproducible-build attestation or standalone application pentest (Cure53's public index has no entry for CyberGhost or Kape) could be found, leaving V12, V13 and V14 unknown rather than a finding either way.
A disputed breach claim was not independently resolvable. A September 2024 third-party report alleged leaked CyberGhost account credentials; CyberGhost's own response denies a service-side compromise and attributes the credentials to user-side malware, but the underlying report could not be read in this session, so X09_incident_handling stays unknown rather than taking either side's account.
Two of CyberGhost's own pages disagree on its street address: the imprint names 70-72 Dionisie Lupu street, the privacy policy names 68 Polonă street, both in the same Bucharest district and both current pages rather than one being an archived leftover. Neither was treated as authoritative over the other, and the discrepancy is left for a future refresh to resolve rather than guessed at here.
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
No change logged on this record
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | CactusVPNDominant channel: Ignorance0 to 0.9, longer is worse | CyberGhost VPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.299 | 0.450 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.333 | 0.181 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.155 | 0.325 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.280 | 0.150 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.225 | 0.000 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.079 | 0.136 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.000 | 0.050 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 20 | 21 |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 20 insufficient · rank 10 of 68 | 21 insufficient · rank 9 of 68 |
| Usability | 66 out of 100 | 69 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 63% usability 100% | 76% usability 92% |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableBcactusvpn.com · | Aggregate counts only aggregates_onlyBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| RAM-only diskless servers | — not establishedno source published | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
| IP allocation model | Exit address shared between users sharedBcactusvpn.com · | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_optionAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required no | No, an email address is required no |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency through a processor | Cryptocurrency through a processor |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | — not establishedno source published | Install attribution attributionBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analytics | Analytics analytics |
| Who owns the hardware | — not established | — not established |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 2 India, RussiaBcactusvpn.com · | 7 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey, VietnamBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — not establishedno source published | Physical and virtual both mixedBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | — not establishedno source published | No such mandate noBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | — not establishedno source published | No such regime noBunikmind-holdings.com · |
| Persistent device identifier | — not establishedno source published | A resettable advertising identifier resettable_ad_idBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Weakest protocol still offered | PPTP pptpBcactusvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseBsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | Traffic passes through unaltered noneBcactusvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified |
| How the report is published | The full report is published full_pdf | The full report is published full_pdf |
| Subject of the audit | The no-logs claim itself · The infrastructureAsecuritum.com · | The no-logs claim itselfAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sample | A sample of servers sample |
| Auditor name | SecuritumAsecuritum.com · | Deloitte Audit S.R.L. (Deloitte Audit Romania) |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | No seizure on record none_known | No seizure on record none_known |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_known | No disclosure on record none_known |
| Court record of compelled production | No court record none_known | No court record none_known |
| Response to a national logging mandate | — not established | — not established |
| Transparency report | — not establishedno source published | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbersBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | — not establishedno source published | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausible |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | — not establishedno source published | No documented lie noneno source published · |
| Marketing against audit findings | No gap on record none | No gap on record none |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is stated and checkable clear | Ownership is stated and checkable clear |
| Adverse events on the owner group record | — not establishedno source published | A history of adware or malware adware_malware_historyCen.wikipedia.org · |
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_only | Paid subscriptions only paid_only |
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Claims total anonymity or military-grade encryption yes |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Cactus VPN LLCAsecuritum.com · | CyberGhost S.R.L.Bcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Where the company sits | — not establishedno source published | Romania ROBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Year the service launched | 2011 | 2011 |
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | — not established | — not established |
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Independent; founded and run by co-founders (Sergiu Candja, Pavel Bodeanu, and colleagues), who state they have refused outside buyout offersBcactusvpn.com |
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 7 Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Browser extensionBcactusvpn.com · | 9 Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Routers, Browser extensionBsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · |
| Countries with an exit | 25 countriesBcactusvpn.com · | 91 countriesBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Paying monthly | $15.00 per monthBcactusvpn.com · | $12.99 per month |
CactusVPN and CyberGhost VPN were assessed by the HushFleet team and both placed in the Insufficient band: CactusVPN scores 20/100 for security, CyberGhost VPN 21/100. They share an independent audit. The 1-point gap opens widest on Silence — “Ten years, millions of users and nothing on record?” — taking 23% from CactusVPN and 0% from CyberGhost VPN.
By circumstance
| CactusVPN | CyberGhost VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | Allowed yes |
| Streaming | Reachable yes | Reachable yes |
| Devices at once | unlimited | 7 |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | — not established |
| Exits in mandate countries | 2 India, Russia | 7 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Vietnam |
| Hosting in those countries | — not established | Physical and virtual both mixed |
| Company under a mandate | — not established | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | No secret-order regime on record none_known | — not established |
| Auditor category | A security specialist security_specialistAsecuritum.com · | One of the Big Four big4Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Assurance standard | Another standard otherAsecuritum.com · | ISAE 3000 isae3000Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2026-05-08Asecuritum.com · | 2025-12-19Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | One-off one_offAsecuritum.com · | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregularBcyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 1Asecuritum.com · | 3Bcyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableAsecuritum.com · | Aggregate counts only aggregates_onlyAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Client source code published | None noneAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | — not establishedno source published | A limited-assurance conclusion limitedAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Requests received | — not establishedno source published | 11Bcyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | — not establishedno source published | 0Bcyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | No secret-order regime on record none_knownno source published · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | — not establishedno source published | 0 No demand on the public recordBcyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
Makes no such claim noBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | Covered only on sites paid to cover it yesCcactusvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | No incident on record none_knownno source published · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standard | A standard payout standard |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| App store declaration | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Teddy Sagi, sole owner of Unikmind Holdings Limited (Isle of Man), which holds Kape Technologies plc — CyberGhost's parentBunikmind-holdings.com · 2 sources · |
| Other businesses of the owner group | None disclosedBcactusvpn.com · | Antivirus · A portfolio of other apps · A review directoryBkape.com · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | — not establishedno source published | IMBunikmind-holdings.com · |
|---|
| Owner group | independentBcactusvpn.com · | kapeBkape.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | — the question does not ariseno source published | 2017-03Bkape.com · |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | The group's principal brand principalBcactusvpn.com · | A brand the group acquired acquired_brandBkape.com · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | Separate infrastructure separateBcactusvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Paying yearly | $70.00 a year at renewal, billed onceBcactusvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier none | No free tier none |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimedBcactusvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 8 OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2, L2TP, PPTP, SSTP, A vendor protocol with published source, An obfuscated protocolBcactusvpn.com · | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2Bsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On every platform all_platformsBcactusvpn.com · | On some platforms partialBcyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | unlimitedBcactusvpn.com · | 7Bcyberghostvpn.com · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_only | An email address only email_only |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yes | Allowed yes |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Reachable yes | Reachable yes |
|---|
