CactusVPN is, as the name suggests, a VPN provider. It is committed to providing both online privacy and security. Thanks to its robust and high-speed VPN servers, CactusVPN implements military-grade encryption to keep you completely anonymous on the web.
I passed along some interview questions to CactusVPN’s CEO, Sergiu Candja, who was kind enough to answer them for this review.
Back To The Beginning
CactusVPN was built and established by three friends in Moldova. The business quickly gained traction and grew in popularity. Sergiu explained more about the beginning of the company:
“CactusVPN got its start back in 2011 in Moldova when three friends who shared a common background in eCommerce decided to start a business together. Our core philosophy revolved (and continues to revolve) around three main aspects: security, privacy, and transparency.
All three of us had the same goal in mind: giving people a way to use the Internet freely and safely. That, and being honest with them – which is why we ran and continue to run CactusVPN following a family-run business model: we and our customers know each other and deal with each other on a personal level.
By 2013, CactusVPN grew much more than we initially expected, so we decided it was time to start expanding our “family” by hiring new people. That allowed us to continue delivering personal and prompt customer service”.
Top-Notch Customer Support
Speaking of customer service, CactusVPN currently boasts fifteen pages of reviews on its website, an overwhelming number being exceptionally-positive. Many reviews describe how speedy, reliable and simple the software is.
Another common theme amongst reviews is the “amazing” support customers received. I asked Sergiu what his personal opinion is on CactusVPN’s customer support. Here’s what he told me:
“A review coming from me would be a bit unfair, so I like to let our customers do the talking for CactusVPN. Whenever we read their reviews, we always notice a trend: they all love our customer support.
That’s actually what I believe sets us apart from other VPN providers. Just like them, we offer 24/7 support, and live chat is available. But here’s the thing – since we’re a small provider, we have a – shall we say – special attitude towards our users. We developed a very close relationship with them, and we do our best to offer a personalized customer support experience to each one of them”.
Sergiu went on to tell me what aspect of CactusVPN he is most proud of:
“The thing I’m most happy about is the fact that we haven’t lost our clients’ trust in our service (not even once) for the past nine years we’ve been active. CactusVPN has actually never been involved in a data breach or privacy scandal that could endanger our users’ privacy”.
In addition to being able to submit a ticket to CactusVPN’s support team, customers can read through the setup tutorials, guides and FAQ’s to help them get to grips with the software.
CactusVPN's Greatest Strengths
CactusVPN is a great web tool that works hard to set itself apart from competitors. According to Sergiu, the company has three core strengths. Here, he explains what these are:
“In no particular order, I believe that this is what CactusVPN is best at:
- We have a very customer-centric business plan.
- Even though we’re a small provider, we offer high-end security: powerful encryption, seven protocols (including WireGuard), DNS leak protection, DNS over HTTPS, a kill switch (both system-level and app-level), zero logs.
We react very fast to new developments in tech (we just added WireGuard, for instance)”.
Features, Plans And Pricing
CactusVPN customers will enjoy lots of excellent and handy features. These include:
- Hiding your IP address
- Hiding your geo-location
- Securing your online data across all Wi-Fi networks
- Complete online privacy from governments, advertisers, hackers and even ISPs
Furthermore, customers can gain other benefits such as optimising their SEO efforts, and bypassing firewalls.
Another great feature is that CactusVPN unblocks geo-restricted websites. This means that customers can access content that is normally only available in other countries. CactusVPN unblocks geo-restricted content from more than 340 websites including Netflix, Prime Video, BBC, Nickelodeon and Disney Plus.
Sergiu told me about CactusVPNs plans, which ones are the most popular amongst customers, and why:
“Right now, the monthly and annual plans are the most popular ones. Here’s a quick breakdown of what kinds of users like each plan:
The monthly plan – People who travel often get this plan a lot since they need a VPN to unblock streaming sites and get content in their own language abroad. This plan is also popular with people interested in using a VPN or Smart DNS to only watch a specific title or show on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu (so it’s short-term entertainment).
The annual plan – The users who get this plan use a VPN on a daily basis. According to some of them, they use VPNs for all sorts of activities: surfing the web on public WiFi, online banking, unblocking content, saving money, and much more”.
Paying monthly will cost you $9.99/month, while paying annually will cost you $54.99/year. There are also two other options available; three months for $23.99 and two years for $94.99.
All plans include access to the software on unlimited devices, as well as unlimited bandwidth and speed.
Surprises Instore From CactusVPN
I asked Surgiu if there are any plans for the future of CactusVPN that he is able to share with us. He told me:
“Yes, at the moment we’re focusing on two main developments:
- Adding WireGuard support in all our apps.
- Expanding our server network.
We have more surprises in store for our users, but these are the ones we can share with the public for now”.
Lastly, thank you to Sergiu for sharing all this information with me. I think that CactusVPN provides an invaluable service and does a great job at implementing cybersecurity and keeping customers safe online. I’m looking forward to seeing future developments from the company, including what the “surprises” are that Sergio mentioned.