Rocket VPN is a Russia-based VPN platform that's built on a small server network, but nonetheless provides a capable anonymity service at prices most users will like. In its own words, it “was launched to provide reliable and flexible VPN services to users around the world”.
Price
Rocket VPN services are available through four packages at some very affordable rates.
The most expensive one is the Bronze plan that is charged $9.99/month. It is followed by the Silver plan charged $14.99 every 3 months (equal to $5/month) and the Gold option for $19.99 every 6 months (equal to $3.33/month). Finally, the Platinum package carries the largest discount (75%) and is charged at $29.99/year (equal to $2.49/month).
Accepted payment methods include PayPal, credit/debit cards, Alipay, UnionPay, MIR, Qiwi, Apple Pay, and others.
Rocket VPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, but only if you cannot connect to its VPN servers or use all the VPN connections in your package. However, you can also try it out for free thanks to the 24-hour trial, just pay attention to the pop-up in the lower-right corner that will give you the code to activate it.
Under one account, users can connect up to 5 devices and run the VPN on them simultaneously.
The vendor also has dedicated solutions for companies and corporations accompanied by a personal VIP manager, so make sure to contact this provider if you’re looking for such a solution. Prices for corporate clients start at $29.99/month, with a setup fee of $69.99.
Alternatives
Rocket VPN provides excellent speeds at low prices, but if a large server network and nicely designed native apps are what you're after, you might want to consider ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, or CyberGhost. However, do note that these alternative services are likely more expensive.
Streaming
Unblocking geographically restricted streaming content provided by today’s popular VOD platforms like Netflix and BBC iPlayer is the reason many users seek out a VPN to begin with.
Rocket VPN is proud to offer its users access to such content through certain VPN servers.
About the company
The company operating this VPN is called RocketVPN Network and is located in Moscow, Russia. It offers its users access to a rather small number of servers - only 20 units - but nicely spread out across the world, in Singapore, the USA, Germany, India, The Netherlands, France, the UK, Russia, Japan, Estonia, Canada, Australia, and Ukraine. You can see all the servers and their uptime on the website.
Privacy and encryption
The website doesn’t contain information about what encryption is used exactly, but the Privacy Policy states that “all personal information, public and private keys, passwords are stored in encrypted form using reliable cryptographic algorithms. Appropriate security measures are taken to protect this information from unauthorized access, unauthorized alteration, destruction or disclosure of data.”
We are also told that the platform deploys the industry-standard connection protocols - PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN. Thanks to the level of privacy and security facilitated by these protocols, Rocket VPN can guarantee your perfect anonymity, when browsing or exchanging large files via P2P clients.
The vendor’s Privacy Policy is very short and doesn’t say anything about logging, except that any personal information collected is used for the purposes of better understanding your needs, conducting business, personalizing communications, improving service and providing a quality experience for users of the site and services.
The provider also states that it doesn’t “transfer, sell, or rent your personal information to third-party companies or others, except for providing the products or services you have requested.” It is good to have this guarantee, but we would prefer if these claims were verified by an independent auditor.
Support
RocketVPN provides access to its services via a device's built-in VPN settings, as well as third-party software (SoftEther for Windows) and config files that can be downloaded on the website. Supported platforms include Windows, Android, iOS, and Mac. Detailed instructions for setting up this solution on them are available on the website.
If you still require support from a member of the team directly, you can get it 24/7/365 through live chat, email, or contact form, and there’s even remote assistance available via AnyDesk (the AnyDesk app is bundled up with the SoftEther app for Windows). Oddly, though, our email message bounced and we are yet to get a response to a query sent via the contact form.
Speed and experience
Rocket VPN isn’t the easiest VPN to use, primarily due to its lack of native apps. However, follow the instructions on the website and you’ll be ready to use it in no time. We did as the instructions guided us and soon were able to test download speeds against our 52.61 testing connection.
The first stop was in The Netherlands, where the VPN server gave us a very strong 19.95Mbps. We then tried a server based further from our physical location, in California, but still got a very good 8.91Mbps. A server in Japan performed worse, delivering only 0.41Mbps, which is slower than you would hope for.
Verdict
Despite the lack of native apps, detailed information, thousands of servers, or flashy extras, Rocket VPN does a great job considering how little it costs on a monthly basis.
It also provides assistance every step of the way, delivers above-average download speeds, allows torrenting, and unblocks geo-blocked streaming content.
With a few improvements, Rocket VPN could compete a little more effectively with industry giants.
