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 5 of 68 in the register
Malaysia · Commercial VPN
Exits in 57 countries
No demand on the public record
Security
Usability
Rank 8 of 68 in the register
United States · Commercial VPN
Exits in 20 countries
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
Notes
On the record as a whole.
Pricing has no plain 12-month tier; the closest analogue to an annual plan is a 13-month term (12 months plus 1 bonus month) billed 54.99 USD, recorded in U04b with this note per the schema's first-term rule. A 26-month term (24+2 bonus months) also exists at 69.99 USD but is not the annual plan the field asks for. C05_payment_anonymous also lists Visa/Mastercard/Amex/PayPal on the same page; only the Coinpayments crypto option is anonymous-adjacent.
C07b_site_trackers is a self-hosted/proxied Plausible-style analytics script served from hide.me's own domain (data-api https://hide.me/api/event) rather than a third-party domain; coded as analytics since it is still a distinct analytics product, not a first-party log.
U07_protocols refresh (2026-09-14) found SoftEther added to the protocol list alongside WireGuard, IKEv2, SSTP and OpenVPN; SoftEther is third-party open-source software (not hide.me's own protocol) with a published, reviewable implementation, so it is coded vendor_open rather than proprietary.
Recent changes
1 change logged, on 14 Sep 2026
1 change logged, on 13 Sep 2026
Open questions
Still open on this record.
Ultimate beneficial owner. eVenture Ltd. is named and registered (Malaysia, LL09685) with a street address, but no individual owner or parent structure is disclosed anywhere in the provider's own documents; M09, M11 and the owner-jurisdiction channel stay unknown.
Seizure and court-record history. The transparency report states law-enforcement requests received nothing to hand over every year since 2013, which supports P02_disclosure_history, but no single dated seizure or court order is documented with its own record, so P01_seizure_event and P03_court_record stay unknown rather than the favourable none_known/unable_to_produce a P12 event would earn.
Mandate-country hosting. hide.me offers exit locations in three countries this catalogue's mandate table flags (AE, TR, VN); none of the three country pages state whether the hardware there is physical or virtual, so C09b_mandate_hosting is unknown.
Circumvention and streaming claims. The pricing page advertises undifferentiated "Streaming Support" and the site offers no measured circumvention evidence, so U06_censorship_circumvention, U12a_p2p_allowed and U12b_streaming_works stay unknown rather than resting on marketing copy.
Audit history before 2024. The provider's own pages assert an audit "back in 2015" and describe audits as routine, but only the 2024 Securitum PDF could be located and opened; V09_audit_regularity and V10_audit_count are scored on the one document actually read, not the claimed series.
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.
14 Sep 20261 changes
Protocols offeredU07_protocols
wireguard, ikev2, sstp, openvpn changed to wireguard, ikev2, sstp, openvpn, vendor_open
13 Sep 20261 changes
Security scoresecurity.score
25 changed to 24
By circumstance
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | — not established | Allowed yes |
| Streaming | — not established | Reachable yes |
| Devices at once | 10 | 4 |
| Under censorship | — not established | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 3 United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Vietnam | None |
| Hosting in those countries | — not established | — the question does not arise |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | — not established |
| Secret orders | — not established | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalent |
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | hide.meDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse | OVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.518 | 0.329 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.040 | 0.323 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.149 | 0.227 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.125 | 0.200 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.146 | 0.104 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 0.050 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 28 | 24 |
hide.me and OVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team and both placed in the Insufficient band: hide.me scores 28/100 for security, OVPN 24/100. The 4-point gap opens widest on Integrity — “Has it been caught saying one thing and doing another?” — taking 4% from hide.me and 32% from OVPN.
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 28 insufficient · rank 5 of 68 | 24 insufficient · rank 8 of 68 |
| Usability | 81 out of 100 | 62 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 77% usability 75% | 70% usability 100% |
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Session metadata session_metadataBhide.me · | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableBovpn.com · |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAhide.me · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBovpn.com · |
| IP allocation model | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_option | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_option |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required noBhide.me · | 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_verifiedAhide.me · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBovpn.com · |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | No third-party SDK noneBplay.google.com · 2 sources · | Crash reporting crashBapps.apple.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analytics | Analytics analytics |
| Who owns the hardware | Owned by the provider owned | Owned by the provider owned |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 3 United Arab Emirates, Turkey, VietnamBhide.me · | NoneBovpn.com · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseBovpn.com · |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | No such mandate noBhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | — not established | — not established |
| Persistent device identifier | None held none | None held none |
| Weakest protocol still offered | SSTP sstpBhide.me · | — the question does not ariseBovpn.com · 2 sources · |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | — not established | — not established |
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
| How the report is published | The full report is published full_pdfAhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
| Subject of the audit | The no-logs claim itselfAhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sampleAhide.me |
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | — not establishedno source published | No seizure on record none_knownBovpn.com · |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_known | No disclosure on record none_known |
| Court record of compelled production | — not establishedno source published | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produceBovpn.com · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Pulled its servers out rather than comply withdrew_physicalBhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
| Transparency report |
| hide.me | 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 | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_fundedBhide.me · |
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | eVenture Ltd. (eVenture Limited), registered in Malaysia under registration number LL09685Bhide.me · | OVPN Inc.Bovpn.com · |
| Where the company sits | Malaysia MYBhide.me · | United States USBovpn.com · |
| Year the service launched | 2012Bhide.me · | 2014Bovpn.com · |
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) |
| hide.me | OVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 10 Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, Browser extension, RoutersBhide.me · | 6 Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, RoutersBovpn.com · |
| Countries with an exit | 57 countriesBhide.me · | 20 countriesBovpn.com · |
| Paying monthly | $11.99 per monthBhide.me · | $12.00 per monthBovpn.com · |
| — not establishedno source published |
| Auditor name | Securitum (Pawel Rozanski, Maciej Szymczak)Ahide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Auditor category | A security specialist security_specialistAhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Assurance standard | Another standard otherAhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2024-06-07Ahide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Audit cadence | One-off one_offAhide.me · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Total published audits | 1Ahide.me · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableAhide.me · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Client source code published | Some clients partialBgithub.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | — the question does not ariseno source published | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
fresh_with_numbersCurrent, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers |
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Requests received | 9Ahide.me · | 0Bovpn.com · |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | — not establishedno source published | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentBeff.org · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 0 No demand on the public recordAhide.me · 2 sources · | 1 documented demandBovpn.com · |
|---|
Paid subscriptions only paid_onlyBovpn.com · |
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Claims total anonymity or military-grade encryption yes | Claims total anonymity or military-grade encryption yes |
|---|
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | — not establishedno source published | 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 high payout high_payoutBhide.me · | A standard payout standardBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| App store declaration | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy |
|---|
Mass: 10 million users or more massBhide.me · |
| — not establishedno source published |
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | — not establishedno source published | PangoBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | None disclosedBhide.me · 3 sources · | A portfolio of other appsCen.wikipedia.org · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | — not establishedno source published | USBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Owner group | independentBhide.me · 2 sources · | pangoBsupport.ovpn.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | 2012Bhide.me · 2 sources · | 2023-05-08Bovpn.com · |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | The group's principal brand principalBhide.me · | A brand the group acquired acquired_brandBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | Separate infrastructure separate | Separate infrastructure separate |
|---|
| Paying yearly | $54.99 a year at renewal, billed onceBhide.me · | $59.88 a year at renewal, billed onceBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | A free tier with limits limited_freeBhide.me · | No free tier noneBovpn.com · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | — not establishedno source published | Claimed to work claimedBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 5 WireGuard, IKEv2, SSTP, OpenVPN, A vendor protocol with published sourceBhide.me · | 3 OpenVPN, WireGuard, An obfuscated protocolBovpn.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On every platform all_platformsBhide.me · | On desktop only desktop_onlyBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 10Bhide.me · | 4Bsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_onlyBhide.me · | No account needed no_accountBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| P2P allowed | — not establishedno source published | Allowed yesBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | — not establishedno source published | Reachable yesBsupport.ovpn.com · |
|---|