Kepard is a small VPN provider that is located in Moldova. It is cheap and packed with several features needed to maintain privacy, security and anonymity while using the internet. Kepard can be used for internet browsing, online media streaming and file sharing as well. In this review, we will discuss the services provided by Kepard VPN based on testing their free trial.
The Website
Simple and user-friendly, Kepard’s website is very easy to navigate. It contains all the info needed to know the services they provide, including: compatibility with platforms, servers, pricing, free trial, troubleshooting steps, set-up guides, privacy policy, terms of service, encryption protocols, features, etc. The homepage gives you a brief summary about Kepard while their blog, news and F.A.Q sections envelope more details about this Eastern European VPN provider.
Pricing
According to the most recent news update on their website, Kepard offers the following price plans:
– 1 Month for $7
– 3 Months for $16
– 1 Year (12 months) for $42
Free Trial & Money-Back Guarantee
Kepard offers a 1-day free trial (400MB of data) through which you can get access to all the features of the premium subscription. In this way, you would be able to fairly evaluate the service and decide whether you would like to upgrade to premium accounts or not.
In the light of that fact, Kepard does not offer a money-back guarantee since you would get full access to their premium services for 24 hours completely free of charge. However, we would have preferred if the free trial was extended to at least 3 days to be able to fully evaluate the service and make sure that the connection is stable and reliable enough before making a purchase.
” There will not be given any refunds under any occurrences. In case of removing the accounts that infringed our Terms of Service no refund will be paid.”
Privacy
Much like popular VPN service providers in the market today, Kepard VPN partially keeps logs as clearly stated on their website. Their excuse is the increase in the rate of fraudulent activities on the internet, so they keep some logs for 3 days only. What is kept is the email address provided during the registration process, duration of VPN session and bandwidth. However, they do not keep traffic logs, so your browsing activities and what you do on the internet is kept private.
“Considering all the frauds happening on the internet we do have to keep logs in order to protect our business from abuse of using our services and for troubleshooting purpose. The logs are kept for 3 days.”
Furthermore, Kepard has a very strict policy regarding certain activities that are considered as violations to their terms of service, such as: P2P sharing on servers other than the Netherlands server, spamming, IP spoofing, using SSH and SMTP, hacking, abusive language, copyright infringement, and any other kind of illegal activity.
Kepard VPN Features
Even though Kepard does not provide advanced features for VPN lovers (such as: kill switch, its own DNS servers, DNS leak protection, ect.) but it does provide solid features that should be found in any VPN provider to guarantee online security and anonymity. In this section, we will go through the different features provided by Kepard VPN. Scroll down for more details.
Security
Kepard takes privacy and security very seriously, something that is very important when it comes to choosing a good VPN. The company relies on multiple trusted encryption protocols, such as: 128-bit Blowfish and AES 256-bit encryptions. Kepard also supports OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP encryption protocols.
NAT Firewall
As a means of strengthening its security levels, Kepard comes with a built-in NAT Firewall. A NAT Firewall acts as an additional layer of encryption by blocking any unwanted traffic while you are connected to Kepard VPN. This methods protects and defends your network against hackers, spammer or any peeping Toms.
Servers & Bandwidth
As previously explained, Kepard is a small VPN provider and so is its network of servers. It has only a handful of servers, but they are strategically spread across 9 important and popular locations, namely US, UK, FRANCE, NETHERLANDS, SPAIN, CANADA, GERMANY, SWITZERLAND and SWEDEN.
As for bandwidth, Kepard provides unlimited bandwidth without any restrictions to its premium subscribers. Therefore, through a network of servers that is well-branched across 9 major countries and unlimited/unrestricted bandwidth, you would be able to bypass any geo-restrictions and unblock any restricted web content whether for browsing or streaming videos online.
Compatibility
Kepard VPN is compatible with several major platforms, such as: Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android and iOS. This means that Kepard can be used on desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets.
P2P Sharing & VoIP
Peer-to-peer file sharing (torrenting) is permitted only on Netherlands servers. It is strictly prohibited as per Kepard’s privacy policy to use P2P on any other server.
In addition, due it fast speeds, Kepard supports VoIP apps such as Skype which makes it very good for business purposes, such as: conference calls.
Speed & Simultaneous Connections
We were surprised by how fast Kepard VPN since it doesn’t have a large network of servers. We tried several servers and the best one was France. We have been connected to it for hours even during writing this review. We didn’t face any interruptions, disconnections or any hassle of any sort.
As for using Kepard VPN with more than one device, you can use the service with 2 devices only. For example, on a laptop and a mobile phone.
Kepard VPN Client
We have subscribed to the free trial and downloaded the software on our Windows system. The installation process was very easy and took less than 3 minutes. After installing the application, you need to register your email address and password to activate your free trial.
We faced a problem at first right after signing up, we were unable to connect to any server because the encryption protocol was automatically set to PPTP.
After switching to OpenVPN, we were successfully connected to Kepard.
The interface is very basic and simple. Our only dislike is how the servers are displayed. Unlike the usual list of servers though which you can scroll and select the server you want, with Kepard it is different. As you can see in the image above, you need to click on the arrows to select a server. We found this inconvenient.
Otherwise, the connection speed was top notch and the performance was solid except for when we were connected to PPTP protocol.
Customer Support
You can only communicate with Kepard’s customer support team via 24/7 e-mail ticket support. To our disappointment, live chat support is not available, but the email support team was very responsive when we communicated with them. There is also a good F.A.Q section, a blog and an up-to-date news section.
Conclusion
Here is our final verdict:
Pros:
– Cheap
– Fast
– NAT Firewall
– 2 Simultaneous connections
– High-level encryption protocols
– P2P is allowed using the Netherlands server
– Reliable
– User-friendly
– Single click to connect
Cons
– Partially keeps logs
– Small network of servers
– Live chat support is not available
– Does not have a kill switch
– Does not have its own DNS server
– Does not have a DNS leak protection
