This is one of those questions we get a lot. People install Avast antivirus and after some time, the app prompts them to get the VPN as well. Now, they’re wondering how good that VPN app is and can an antivirus maker make a good VPN. The short answer to this question is YES, but not because Avast can make a great VPN but because they bought one — though we’re sure they could also make a good VPN by themselves if they would put in enough resources into it.
Avast VPN is HMA or HideMyAss
Avast’s VPN is called HMA or HideMyAss but it wasn’t something the company has developed from the ground up. Instead, it acquired AVG Technologies in 2016 which itself acquired HMA in May 2015 for a cool $40 million. By that time, HMA was one of the biggest VPN providers on the market with its fairly popular “donkey” icon appearing on millions of computers around the world.
However, it is worth adding that HMA wasn’t always that good and was collecting too many pieces of information for our taste. Those data points were anonymized but we didn’t like it anyway — considering there are other solutions that didn’t (and still don’t) collect any data at all.
That all changed in May 2020 when HMA announced a new privacy policy and effectively turned itself into a true zero-logs VPN provider. That, in case you wonder, is just the way we like it and was one of the reasons why we decided to interview HMA’s Commercial Director – Andrei Mochola. You can read that interview from here.
What makes Avast VPN great?
As noted above, HMA has been around since 2005 making it a 15-year-old product. In this world, that’s like a century.
It was started by Jack Cator on a random afternoon when he decided to build a web proxy website as a way to get round his school firewalls only to discover that a huge number of people were after the same kind of tool.
Since then, the HMA team grew, making a number of adjustments and tweaks to deliver a great experience. HMA’s apps look great and are equally easy to use, offering thousands of servers to its customers. All other best VPN practices are included as well, including support for top protocols, unbreakable encryption, kill switch, split-tunneling, leak protection, and so on. Also, HMA apps work across devices — including computers, smartphones, tablets and more.
Like many other popular VPN apps, HMA offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, making it risk-free for users to try it out. In other words, if — for some reason — you determine that HMA doesn’t work for you, feel free to ask for your money back. It’s that simple, so check it out. 😉
Pros
Cons
- Big network with servers across the world
- Fast download and upload speeds
- Great for streaming (Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc)
- 7-day free trial option
- Strict money-back guarantee