AVG Secure VPN Review – Connect and Forget, But Nothing More

Here’s a quick look at the different features of AVG Secure VPN:

The first thing that I noticed about AVG Secure VPN is how limited its server list was. It has 50 server locations around the world, but these locations are all within major metropolitan centers like the UK or Germany. This is great if you need to access geo-restricted data in these locations.

However, it’s hard to feel impressed—especially when comparing it to competitors like Cyberghost VPN, which has an impressive 11,000 server locations worldwide. The reason why this is a sticking point for me is that more servers generally mean more opportunities to access more content, especially if you’re trying to fine-tune your connections by connecting to a server closer to you.

To AVG’s credit, they immediately draw attention to the servers that are best supported by their VPN network. You’ll notice that most of these servers are in Europe, but not a lot of information is given otherwise. It’s like AVG Secure VPN is just asking you to trust it whenever you connect to any given location—and given how inconsistently it performs, I personally found it hard to take it as its word.

A stronger point in AVG’s favor is that they set aside specific servers for streaming and torrenting, which is great if you’re looking to access Netflix or other streaming services. But aside from allowing P2P connections, it lacks specific servers for gaming—which is a shame, as games are often region-locked too.

If you’re a casual user who’s determined to use AVG Secure VPN, you can just use the options that the application gives you and be done with it. If you’re looking for a closer look at what exactly AVG Secure VPN can do for you, here’s what I’ve discovered

AVG Secure VPN uses two of the most common VPN protocols—WireGuard (ChaCha20) and OpenVPN (AES 256)—allowing you to switch freely between them. These protocols and their encryptions are industry standard, which means you can rest easily knowing that your data is being properly protected and kept private.

AVG also uses a proprietary protocol called Mimic, which works by having your connections mimic regular HTTPS traffic. This is supposed to help you bypass systems that specifically look for VPN connections and block them, though from testing it seemed to perform the same as its WireGuard and OpenVPN connections.

While I can’t complain about the security protocols and encryptions used by AVG Secure VPN, I can’t say the same for how it logs user data. It logs almost everything you do through the application: successful connections, timestamps of your connections, and even the IP addresses you end up using. This policy alone means AVG isn’t the most privacy-centric of VPNs; if you’re particularly concerned about the privacy of your data, this may be a dealbreaker for you.

However, AVG says that they don’t keep logs of anything else like browsing history. They also claim not to analyze the content of the traffic coursed through their service. It has a kill switch to protect your data to protect your connections, though that’s honestly just to be expected from any VPN.

Overall, AVG Secure VPN fulfills all the basic security needs of a VPN, though it’s less appealing in terms of how they handle user data.

Most people usually get VPNs to stream geo-blocked content, so I was expecting that AVG Secure VPN would do a swell job here. In that regard, the service did its job well; I was able to connect to Netflix, Hulu, BBC, and even HBO Max.

Speeds were fairly decent as well, as I was able to watch Netflix without buffering. However, what I did find somewhat annoying was the hit-or-miss when it came to connecting. AVG Secure VPN works well—when it actually works as intended to unblock geo-restricted content. Netflix was a particular issue; sometimes I’d be able to connect to a server and stream as usual, and sometimes Netflix would just lock me out altogether.

A possible reason for this inconsistent connection is the relatively limited number of servers available for streaming. AVG does set aside specific servers to help you find the optimal places for the fastest speeds; but with most of their servers being in Europe, optimizing connections can be difficult.

Ultimately, I found the best way to use the streaming capabilities of AVG Secure VPN is to hope that the content you want to access has a streaming server specifically set aside for it. Otherwise, you might find unblocking region-locked content inconsistent, depending on which country you can access.

Torrenting was a better experience for me, as I could get steady downloads even on non-P2P servers. Admittedly the speeds themselves were more questionable; I would sometimes dip to single-digit MB/s for larger files, but I couldn’t detect any dropped connections.

What might turn off would-be torrent users is the small number of dedicated torrenting servers. Most of them are in the US and Europe, so if you’re looking to connect to any regions outside of those two areas, you’ll find that your speed will suffer. Fortunately, AVG does seem to secure P2P traffic, which helps keep your connections private.

I already didn’t have high hopes for AVG Secure VPN’s gaming performance when I saw the small server pool—and my fears were justified. Without a dedicated server list set aside from gaming, I experienced absolutely horrendous speeds—dropping to as much as 50% of my usual speed and reliability even if the games weren’t that demanding.

While it’s not impossible to do so, I would not recommend AVG Secure VPN for gaming. The speed you lose when you connect to any server (even ones optimized for you) doesn’t create a good experience when gaming, even if you aren’t playing competitively.

AVG Secure VPN has applications for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. There are virtually no differences between the applications—except for the one supported by Android, which is the only one that offers split tunnelling.

Admittedly, this is one of the strange things about the AVG Secure VPN that I couldn’t really understand. Split tunneling has become a mainstay of many VPNs, and it’s especially great for users who want more flexibility and control over how their traffic is routed. However, this being only available on the Android app made little sense to me, especially considering almost all the other VPNs offer it as a default option on any device.

Confusing decision about split tunnelling aside, I did appreciate that the design and interface between apps remained fairly consistent. AVG has a strong branding (and you can definitely tell that their VPN interface borrows heavily from their antivirus suite) and its decision to primarily adopt a landscape-based UI may be favorable for some users who don’t like the vertical layout of other VPNS.

Another strong point for AVG is that it allows you 10 different devices on a single account, which can make it more appealing for large families or setups that have plenty of devices. You can get your money’s worth if you want to use AVG as a single be-all end-all way to protect all your devices.

It’s this no-fuss approach that’s admittedly one of the strongest selling points of AVG Secure VPN in my opinion. If you want a VPN that you can install, activate, and forget, AVG’s simple navigation and setup may be just for you. But if you want more options, features, or even control over your connections, you’d best look somewhere else.

Internet coursed through VPNs will always lose a little bit of their base speed and connectivity. Whenever I test a VPN, I always check for how much difference there is between my normal speeds and connectivity versus when I have a VPN enabled. In this area, AVG Secure VPN has room for improvement.

What I liked was that the difference between my actual upload and download speeds wasn’t that noticeable, which means that for casual browsing, I’d have a smooth experience. Where things started to be a little more difficult was with the latency of my connections: I’d get occasional stuttering in my connections, especially when accessing servers that were far away from my location.

This was already poor performance in its own context, but it became terrible when I put it next to VPNs like NordVPN or Express VPN. The speeds and reliability of the connections were like night and day; and even if I didn’t notice anything too objectionable when I was testing AVG Secure VPN on its own, the differences in speed became more apparent once I measured it against any of its competitors.

Overall, I’d suggest that anyone determined to use AVG Secure VPN should just settle for casual internet browsing, accompanied by streaming and torrenting on the most compatible servers. It can provide you with a basic level of protection but don’t expect anything too impressive about its speed and performance.

AVG Secure VPN offers one, two, and three-year subscription plans: a steep investment compared to other VPNs that have monthly pricing. While they do have a money-back guarantee, I found that this type of pricing model may be too much of an ask considering its relative lack of features and inconsistent performance.

AVG does offer the standard 7-day free trial like all its software products, and their money-back guarantee is generous at 30 days. They offer a hefty discount for the first time you sign up for their services, but the lock-in period of an entire year or more makes me less likely to recommend this to anyone still on the fence about what they’re looking for in a VPN.

AVG has allotted an entire webpage for its VPN’s FAQs, but that’s about it. It offers some basic troubleshooters and explanations about how to set it up, but the number of steps required to diagnose your problem to find the appropriate solution may frustrate less tech-savvy users. It also takes a bit of work to find the sections for device-specific concerns—which is always a concern for VPNs that have apps on multiple devices and operating systems.

I’ve found that the most reliable way to get help on anything AVG Secure VPN-related is to simply go straight to the AVG customer support portal, which is helpfully linked at the bottom of the FAQ page. However, this also runs into the usual issues you’d face with customer teams like slow response times and having to go through automated chatbots.

I personally feel like having a dedicated customer support team for its VPN product would be better for AVG, but that’s unfortunately not the case. There are just too many other concerns that your query will have to compete with, and there’s always that feeling that you could’ve just solved it by yourself once your ticket comes through.

Overall, I’d say that AVG Secure VPN doesn’t leave its users in the dark about how to use its service, but they miss the mark on making this information readily available to a user without talking to a customer representative.

AVG Secure VPN does offer specific troubleshooters, but I had to click through several different links before I could even find anything close to the queries I wanted. To their credit, the troubleshooters themselves are well-written and informative, but the issue is actually finding them.

Some of the more helpful topics I found include:

• Checking your real location is hidden
• Installing AVG Secure VPN
• Troubleshooting slow internet connection
• Troubleshooting the “We’ve got something” error
• Activating AVG Secure VPN

Despite this trove of information, I would simply suggest contacting customer support immediately if you have any issues. I found navigating for the specific troubleshooter I wanted took too long and required too many steps; a consideration that sadly doesn’t take new users in mind.

Based on my testing, there is only one good pro for using AVG Secure VPN: it works exceedingly well if you’re already using the other AVG software products like their antivirus. It works well for any casual VPN user, despite its slowdowns in speed—and is relatively easy to navigate.

Otherwise, I’d be hard-pressed to find any good reason to recommend AVG Secure VPN if you’re not an AVG user. The dips in speed, performance, and pricing make it somewhat inaccessible to new users, and the way it handles user data won’t sit well with users who value their privacy.

Having recently reviewed Cyberghost VPN, I chose to put it as benchmark to measure AVG Secure VPN against. However, the results weren’t that promising.

Overall, AVG Secure VPN just underperforms versus the middle-of-the line VPNs like Cyberghost. I have no doubt that the differences in performance will be even wider if I were to compare it with industry leaders like NordVPN or Express VPN.

AVG VPN is a well-known service, but Reddit discussions reveal widespread dissatisfaction with its performance, security, and marketing practices. Users frequently report slow speeds, disconnections, and concerns over AVG’s aggressive upselling tactics.

Key Takeaways from Reddit Users

Reddit Complaints on AVG VPN’s Speed & Stability

Many users experience frequent disconnections and slow internet speeds, which cause problems with streaming and social media usage.

“It keeps clogging, and I have to turn it off and on just to get videos to load.”

Common issues reported include frequent VPN disconnections requiring users to toggle it off and on, and significant speed drops that hinder video streaming.

Read the whole discussion on Reddit AVG vpn Connection Issues

Reddit Opinions on AVG’s Marketing Tactics

Reddit users criticize AVG for using pop-up warnings that alert free users about their exposed IPs, which many believe is a scare tactic to push premium subscriptions.

“This is just a tactic to upsell you their VPN. No need to worry.”

Concerns about AVG’s marketing include frequent warnings that may exaggerate privacy risks and make some users feel pressured to upgrade.

Read the whole discussion on Reddit AVG Concerning Marketing Tactics

Reddit Discussions on AVG VPN & Torrenting

Users report difficulties torrenting even with AVG’s premium VPN, with many questioning its effectiveness for P2P activities.

“A better question would be why are you using AVG VPN?”

Common complaints include poor speeds for torrenting and limited configuration options to improve performance.

Read the whole discussion on Reddit Can you Torrent with AVG VPN?

Reddit Takes on AVG Secure Browser

While AVG Secure Browser is not malware, Reddit users argue that it provides little value and is part of AVG’s upselling strategy.

“AVG/Avast use a lot of scareware tactics for upselling and are not known for privacy.”

Why users avoid it:

• Considered unnecessary software with no real privacy benefits.
• Linked to AVG’s broader marketing tactics.

Read the whole discussion on Reddit Is AVG Secure Browser safe?

🔹 Suggested alternatives: 

Privacy-focused browsers like Brave, Firefox, or LibreWolf. NordVPN for consistent speeds and better torrenting suppor, or Mullvad for strong privacy. ProtonVPN for a transparent, no-logs VPN with a free plan.

Overall, I’d say you should only consider AVG Secure VPN if you’re already fully committed to other AVG products; otherwise, there are cheaper options with more features. The performance gap is even more noticeable if you choose premium VPNs and their features such as NordVPN.

Inconsistent speeds, lack of features, and overall pricing make me give AVG Secure VPN a 6 out of 10. It’s by no means an incomplete product; it’s just difficult to compare it to the competition, especially if you account for the occasional hiccups you get when using it. Top that with a less-than privacy-friendly user data policy, and you have a VPN that shows that it’s made by an antivirus company first and VPN company second.