CactusVPN
Security
Usability
Rank 10 of 68 in the register
Not published · Commercial VPN
Exits in 25 countries
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
Security
Usability
Rank 8 of 68 in the register
United States · Commercial VPN
Exits in 20 countries
No demand on the public record
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
1 change logged, on 13 Sep 2026
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.
No independent audit. No third-party security, infrastructure or no-logs audit of OVPN's own systems was found on its site, in press or in help documentation; the closest adversarial test of its no-logs claim is the 2020 Swedish court proceeding, which is not an audit and does not speak to the current WireGuard/OpenVPN stack in detail.
Owner-group history predates OVPN's acquisition. The adverse finding behind this record's inclusion (X04) is a 2017 complaint against AnchorFree, Pango's corporate predecessor, over Hotspot Shield's ad-network data sharing — six years before Pango acquired OVPN. It was never adjudicated by the FTC, and OVPN's own infrastructure and policies are separately documented in this record.
Corporate structure split across two entities. OVPN's current Terms of Service and Privacy Notice name OVPN Inc. (Redwood City, California) as the contracting party, while OVPN's own help center names OVPN Integritet AB (Sweden, org. no. 556999-4469) as the operator. Both are described as under the same ultimate owner, Pango; which entity holds the infrastructure and legal responsibility for a given user was not resolved further.
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).
13 Sep 20261 changes
Security scoresecurity.score
25 changed to 24
By circumstance
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | Allowed yes |
| Streaming | Reachable yes | Reachable yes |
| Devices at once | unlimited | 4 |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 2 India, Russia | None |
| Hosting in those countries | — not established | — the question does not arise |
| Company under a mandate | — not established | — not established |
| Secret orders | No secret-order regime on record none_known | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalent |
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | CactusVPNDominant channel: Ignorance0 to 0.9, longer is worse | OVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.333 | 0.227 |
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.299 | 0.329 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.155 | 0.323 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.280 | 0.104 |
| 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 | 0.200 |
| 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 | 24 |
CactusVPN and OVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team and both placed in the Insufficient band: CactusVPN scores 20/100 for security, OVPN 24/100. The 4-point gap opens widest on Silence — “Ten years, millions of users and nothing on record?” — taking 23% from CactusVPN and 0% from OVPN.
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 20 insufficient · rank 10 of 68 | 24 insufficient · rank 8 of 68 |
| Usability | 66 out of 100 | 62 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 63% usability 100% | 70% usability 100% |
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| 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_linkable | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable |
| RAM-only diskless servers | — not establishedno source published | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBovpn.com · |
| IP allocation model | Exit address shared between users sharedBcactusvpn.com · | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_optionBsupport.ovpn.com · |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required noBcactusvpn.com · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBsupport.ovpn.com · |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency through a processor | Cryptocurrency through a processor |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAsecuritum.com · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBovpn.com · |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | — not establishedno source published | Crash reporting crashBapps.apple.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analytics | Analytics analytics |
| Who owns the hardware | — not establishedno source published | Owned by the provider ownedBovpn.com · |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 2 India, RussiaBcactusvpn.com · | NoneBovpn.com · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseBovpn.com · |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | — not established | — not established |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | — not established | — not established |
| Persistent device identifier | — not establishedno source published | None held noneBplay.google.com · 3 sources · |
| Weakest protocol still offered | PPTP pptpBcactusvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseBovpn.com · 2 sources · |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | Traffic passes through unaltered noneBcactusvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| How the report is published | The full report is published full_pdfAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Subject of the audit | The no-logs claim itself · The infrastructureAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sampleA |
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| 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_knownno source published · | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produceBovpn.com · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | — not established | — not established |
| Transparency report | — not establishedno source published | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbersBovpn.com · |
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale |
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | — not establishedno source published | No documented lie noneBovpn.com · |
| 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_historyAcdt.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 |
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Cactus VPN LLCAsecuritum.com · | OVPN Inc.Bovpn.com · |
| Where the company sits | — not establishedno source published | United States USBovpn.com · |
| Year the service launched | 2011Bcactusvpn.com · | 2014Bovpn.com · |
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | — not established | — not established |
| CactusVPN | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 7 Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Browser extensionBcactusvpn.com · | 6 Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, RoutersBovpn.com · |
| Countries with an exit | 25 countriesBcactusvpn.com · | 20 countriesBovpn.com · |
| Paying monthly | $15.00 per monthBcactusvpn.com · | $12.00 per monthBovpn.com · |
| — not establishedno source published |
| Auditor name | SecuritumAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Auditor category | A security specialist security_specialistAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Assurance standard | Another standard otherAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2026-05-08Asecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Audit cadence | One-off one_offAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Total published audits | 1Asecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableAsecuritum.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| 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 established | — not established |
|---|
| — not established |
| — not established |
| Warrant canary discipline | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Requests received | — not establishedno source published | 0Bovpn.com · |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | — not establishedno source published | 0Bovpn.com · |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | No secret-order regime on record none_knownno source published · | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentBeff.org · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | — not establishedno source published | 1 documented demandBovpn.com · |
|---|
yesClaims total anonymity or military-grade encryption yes |
| 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 · | Covered outside affiliate sites too noCcyberinsider.com · |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | No incident on record none_known | No incident on record none_known |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standard | A standard payout standard |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| App store declaration | — not establishedno source published | The store form matches the published policy matches_policyBplay.google.com · 3 sources · |
|---|
| 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 · | PangoBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | None disclosedBcactusvpn.com · | A portfolio of other appsCen.wikipedia.org · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | — not establishedno source published | USBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Owner group | independentBcactusvpn.com · | pangoBsupport.ovpn.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | — the question does not ariseno source published | 2023-05-08Bovpn.com · |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | The group's principal brand principalBcactusvpn.com · | A brand the group acquired acquired_brandBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | Separate infrastructure separate | Separate infrastructure separate |
|---|
| Paying yearly | $70.00 a year at renewal, billed onceBcactusvpn.com · | $59.88 a year at renewal, billed onceBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier none | No free tier none |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 8 OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2, L2TP, PPTP, SSTP, A vendor protocol with published source, An obfuscated protocolBcactusvpn.com · | 3 OpenVPN, WireGuard, An obfuscated protocolBovpn.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On every platform all_platformsBcactusvpn.com · | On desktop only desktop_onlyBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | unlimitedBcactusvpn.com · | 4Bsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_onlyBcactusvpn.com · | No account needed no_accountBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yes | Allowed yes |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Reachable yes | Reachable yes |
|---|