- Take control and select what websites and what applications are tunneled over VPN and what goes over your residential IP. With Astrill VPN you can use Website and application VPN filter on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and routers.
- Beware of Astrill. As of October 15, 2016 all links on the Tips for China website that were pointing to Astrill will now land on this page instead. It appears that Astrill has banned my affiliate account without telling me. I don't know when this happened or what the reason is, but when I log into my Astrill account the affiliate account is gone.
Request a Callback. Leave a Message. Knowledge Base Search our Knowledge base Thank you for ordering a new Live Chat Voucher. Your Voucher is ready to use now. Please select it from your active chat window (hit. Astrill VPN protocols that work in China While the servers and your ISP are the two main factors determining connection speed and stability, protocols are also important, especially when it comes to China.
This is our review of Astrill VPN based on our real tests from China. In addition to our Astrill VPN review, we have also reviewed a number of other VPN services. If you are looking for a reliable VPN services to be used in China, Please also read our list of Best VPNs for China.
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Pros:
- Fast speed
- Many servers available in many countries
Cons:
- A big target for China's VPN blocking. Recently often get blocked.
- Have to pay extra fee to get some of the advanced features.
- Below average customer support
Starting Price: $5.83/mo
Free Trial: 7 days
Simultaneous Connections: 1 computer and 1 handheld device (upgrade available)
Website:
About Astrill VPN:
Founded in 2009, Astrill VPN is a well-known VPN provider with a large number of worldwide server locations and it supports all common VPN protocols. In the recent years, Astrill became quite popular in China.
Astrill VPN for China:
Probably because of its popularity in China, apparently Astrill VPN has become a target for VPN blocking. As a result, The main domain astrill.com is not accessible from China at this moment. Its alternative domain getastrill.com is also blocked in China. If you want to sign up from China, you might have to first use another VPN service to visit Astrill VPN's website, or you can sign up from a country where it's not blocked. However, once you've signed up and downloaded its VPN client, you can use Astrill VPN from China.
When used in China, Astrill VPN is usually pretty fast. However, recently Astrill users in China have seen more and more outages, probably due to stronger blocking. For example, on March 4 2016, many Astrill VPN users from China found they could no longer connect to their VPN service. Many received a message from AstrillVPN saying 'Due to increased censorship in the upcoming 10 days, VPN service might not work well in China. We expect everything will get better after March 14. You will be compensated for the time service is unavailable when the issue stop.'
In February 2016, when Astrill was again having connection problems, many Astrill VPN users received an angry message from Astrill (see picture below), blaming their customers for the blocking and calling their customers stupid:
Many Astrill users in China became upset about this message.
Features:
Astrill has servers in a large number of countries it offers three major connection types: OpenWeb, OpenVPN and StealthVPN. OpenWeb is for web browsing only (traffic from desktop applications won't go through VPN). OpenVPN is for both browsers and desktop applications. StealthVPN is Astrill's customized version of OpenVPN, designed specifically for China users to avoid blocking (StealthVPN requires additional cost of $2/mo unless you pay for 1 year). In addition to VPN services, Astrill also sells routers with VPN built in.
Astrill offers a couple of handy features to improve user experiences. Its Video Accelerator is designed to speed up video streaming. Its Application Filter allows users to specify which applications will go through VPN and which not. Astrill also provides a Site Filter function, which can be used to specify which site(s) you want to (or do not want to) tunnel through VPN. This feature is potentially helpful to speed up connection speed for loading local websites.
For simultaneous connections, Astrill VPN's basic account allows only 1 computer and 1 handheld device to be connected at the same time. However, If you purchase the ProAddon ($5/mo), you can connect 2 devices of any type simultaneously. If you purchase the Home Plan Addon ($5/mo), you will be able to have 5 simultaneous connections.
In addition to common VPN protocols, Astrill offers a customized version of OpenVPN, called StealthVPN, that is designed specifically for China users to avoid blocking.
Unlike most VPN providers we have tested, Astrill VPN has a few servers located in Mainland China. For this reason, Astrill VPN can also be used to get a China IP address from outside of China (VPN into China).
Astrill VPN's Price & Free Trial:
Astrill offers 3 plans: $29.95 for 3 months (equivalent to $9.98/mo); $39.95 for 6 months (equivalent to $6.66/mo) and $69.95 for 1 year (equivalent to $5.83/mo). Regular VPN users can use Astrill VPN on only one device at the same time.
When you sign up for Astrill, you will find they try to sell you additional add-on services that cost more. For example, their Home Plan allows you to use up to 5 devices at the same time at an additional cost of $5/mo; Their StealthVPN service (for avoiding blocking in China) costs $2/mo or free with 1-year plan; Their VIP add-on ($10/mo) provides servers connected directly to China providers for better speed and lower latency.
Astrill offers a 7-day free trial for users to try out their VPN service.
VPN Software:
Astrill provides software for many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS, Android etc. We downloaded their desktop client for Mac OS. The installation process was straight-forward and the software interface is clean.
With the desktop software, you can connect/disconnect to VPN and also change servers and switch connection methods. However, we found their settings menu is a little messy with many options showing together that it might confuse regular users. Sometimes it's hard to find where to go for certain options.
When the Astrill VPN client software is running, an icon will stay on the menu bar (or called system tray on Windows), and it will indicate whether you are currently connected or not.
Connections & Speed Test for Astrill VPN:
Is Astrill VPN stable enough and fast enough to be used in China? For this test, we used a Mac from Guangzhou, China. Our ISP is China Telecom. Without VPN, we could get a download speed of around 19.83Mb/s. Below is the SpeedTest.net test result without connecting to VPN. Please note: this speed only reflects the speed for visiting local websites within China. International speed would be much lower than that. we show this result only to give you a rough idea about how fast our current ISP is:
Then we used Astrill's Mac desktop client to connect to their USA server (China Optimized 3) using the StealthVPN protocol. we got a download speed of 12.87Mb/s, which is a decent speed.
However, we encountered a number of connection failures with or without using Astrill's StealthVPN protocol. A number of servers are not responsive and cannot be connected to. When using StealthVPN, which is designed specifically for preventing blocking in China, we saw less connection problems. But keep in mind that you must pay another $2/mo to get StealthVPN unless you subscribe their 1-year plan, which includes StealthVPN for free.
Customer Service:
On Astrill's website, there's a link for chatting with customer support live. When we started the chatting window, we were told to wait in line and the waiting time was around 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes had passed, we were shown a message suggesting us to leave a message instead. As a result, we weren't able to chat directly with Astrill VPN's customer service representative at all.
Astrill VPN Review Conclusion:
Astrill VPN is one of the most popular VPN providers for China. However, maybe due to its high popularity, it might have become a target for blocking in China. Currently its website is blocked in China. You can use another VPN service to visit their website to sign up. Once you have signed up, you can use Astrill VPN from China. Astrill VPN's connection speed is very fast, but you might encounter occasional connection failures if you use Astrill in China. Astrill does offer a solution, StealthVPN, to address blocking issues in China, but users have to pay more to use it. If you do want to use Astrill, we'd suggest you pay the extra fee to use their StealthVPN protocol. If you are looking or an Astrill VPN alternative, you can see our list of Best VPNs for China or try the VPNs listed below:
Astrill VPN Alternatives:
If you are looking for a VPN to be used in China, you have some other choices besides Astrill VPN. At VPNdada.com, we test and compare VPN services from different providers from China and recommend the best ones. Based on our test results, we recommend the following Astrill VPN alternatives:
1. ExpressVPN (Top Choice)
2. VyprVPN
Access Astrill Website In China
3. PureVPN
4. 12VPN
Browser Selection
Browser Selection helps you to select which browser will tunnel thru Astrill Application
1. Click SETTINGS
2. Click Browser
3. Select Internet Browser you want to tunnel
4. Click OK
Site Filter
Site Filter is one of the Openweb features that will give you options which sites you want to go through VPN.
1. Site Filter feature is under the SETTINGS Menu.
2. Once you click on the Site Filter feature, you will see it is set to 'Tunnel all Sites' mode as default.
3. Site Filter modes, click on the drop down arrow button to show the Site Filter modes such as 'Tunnel all sites', 'Tunnel only these sites' and 'Exclude these sites'.
Tunnel all sites
This mode will allow all sites to go through VPN and is highly recommended for privacy protection.
1. To choose Tunnel all Sites mode, click on SETTINGS menu then choose Site Filter.
2. By default it is set to Tunnel all Sites mode.
3. Click OK, now all sites will go through VPN.
Tunnel only those sites
This mode will allow you to specify the only site/s you wish to go through VPN.
1. Click on the SETTINGS menu and choose Site Filter.
2. Click the drop down arrow and select Tunnel only these sites.
3. Enter the site you want to tunnel only via VPN (Example: google.com)
4. Click OK to save.
Exclude these sites
Exclude these sites, this mode will allow you to exclude site/s to go through VPN.
1. Click on the SETTINGS menu and choose Site Filter.
2. Click the drop down arrow and select Exclude these sites.
3. Enter which site/s you do not want to tunnel through VPN, for example google.com.
4. Click OK to save.
Ads Blocker
Ads Blocker is used to block annoying ads. It works in all browsers. Ads Blocker consists of a set of rules which are compatible with Ad Block Plus for Firefox.
1. Ads Blocker is under SETTINGS.
2. By clicking Enable Ads blocker, you can specify what ad you want to block or you can simply click Block useless sites.
3. Click OK to save the settings.
Smart Mode
Smart Mode (a.k.a. GFW Mode) is made specifically for customers in China with a goal to accelerate web surfing. When Smart Mode is enabled (in the Settings Menu), only blocked sites will be opened through Astrill servers, while all other sites (local sites) will be loaded directly.
1. Click on the SETTINGS menu.
2. Click on Smart Mode to enable the feature.
3. If you click on the SETTINGS menu again, you will see that Smart Mode is already enabled.
OpenWeb Options
Under Openweb options, you are allowed to choose which port combination you want to use or you can test which port combination will work best for you.
1. Click on SETTINGS and then choose Openweb Options.
2. In Tunnel mode, you can choose whether to tunnel only web browsers (Browsers) or all applications (All Apps).
Starting Price: $5.83/mo
Free Trial: 7 days
Simultaneous Connections: 1 computer and 1 handheld device (upgrade available)
Website:
About Astrill VPN:
Founded in 2009, Astrill VPN is a well-known VPN provider with a large number of worldwide server locations and it supports all common VPN protocols. In the recent years, Astrill became quite popular in China.
Astrill VPN for China:
Probably because of its popularity in China, apparently Astrill VPN has become a target for VPN blocking. As a result, The main domain astrill.com is not accessible from China at this moment. Its alternative domain getastrill.com is also blocked in China. If you want to sign up from China, you might have to first use another VPN service to visit Astrill VPN's website, or you can sign up from a country where it's not blocked. However, once you've signed up and downloaded its VPN client, you can use Astrill VPN from China.
When used in China, Astrill VPN is usually pretty fast. However, recently Astrill users in China have seen more and more outages, probably due to stronger blocking. For example, on March 4 2016, many Astrill VPN users from China found they could no longer connect to their VPN service. Many received a message from AstrillVPN saying 'Due to increased censorship in the upcoming 10 days, VPN service might not work well in China. We expect everything will get better after March 14. You will be compensated for the time service is unavailable when the issue stop.'
In February 2016, when Astrill was again having connection problems, many Astrill VPN users received an angry message from Astrill (see picture below), blaming their customers for the blocking and calling their customers stupid:
Many Astrill users in China became upset about this message.
Features:
Astrill has servers in a large number of countries it offers three major connection types: OpenWeb, OpenVPN and StealthVPN. OpenWeb is for web browsing only (traffic from desktop applications won't go through VPN). OpenVPN is for both browsers and desktop applications. StealthVPN is Astrill's customized version of OpenVPN, designed specifically for China users to avoid blocking (StealthVPN requires additional cost of $2/mo unless you pay for 1 year). In addition to VPN services, Astrill also sells routers with VPN built in.
Astrill offers a couple of handy features to improve user experiences. Its Video Accelerator is designed to speed up video streaming. Its Application Filter allows users to specify which applications will go through VPN and which not. Astrill also provides a Site Filter function, which can be used to specify which site(s) you want to (or do not want to) tunnel through VPN. This feature is potentially helpful to speed up connection speed for loading local websites.
For simultaneous connections, Astrill VPN's basic account allows only 1 computer and 1 handheld device to be connected at the same time. However, If you purchase the ProAddon ($5/mo), you can connect 2 devices of any type simultaneously. If you purchase the Home Plan Addon ($5/mo), you will be able to have 5 simultaneous connections.
In addition to common VPN protocols, Astrill offers a customized version of OpenVPN, called StealthVPN, that is designed specifically for China users to avoid blocking.
Unlike most VPN providers we have tested, Astrill VPN has a few servers located in Mainland China. For this reason, Astrill VPN can also be used to get a China IP address from outside of China (VPN into China).
Astrill VPN's Price & Free Trial:
Astrill offers 3 plans: $29.95 for 3 months (equivalent to $9.98/mo); $39.95 for 6 months (equivalent to $6.66/mo) and $69.95 for 1 year (equivalent to $5.83/mo). Regular VPN users can use Astrill VPN on only one device at the same time.
When you sign up for Astrill, you will find they try to sell you additional add-on services that cost more. For example, their Home Plan allows you to use up to 5 devices at the same time at an additional cost of $5/mo; Their StealthVPN service (for avoiding blocking in China) costs $2/mo or free with 1-year plan; Their VIP add-on ($10/mo) provides servers connected directly to China providers for better speed and lower latency.
Astrill offers a 7-day free trial for users to try out their VPN service.
VPN Software:
Astrill provides software for many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS, Android etc. We downloaded their desktop client for Mac OS. The installation process was straight-forward and the software interface is clean.
With the desktop software, you can connect/disconnect to VPN and also change servers and switch connection methods. However, we found their settings menu is a little messy with many options showing together that it might confuse regular users. Sometimes it's hard to find where to go for certain options.
When the Astrill VPN client software is running, an icon will stay on the menu bar (or called system tray on Windows), and it will indicate whether you are currently connected or not.
Connections & Speed Test for Astrill VPN:
Is Astrill VPN stable enough and fast enough to be used in China? For this test, we used a Mac from Guangzhou, China. Our ISP is China Telecom. Without VPN, we could get a download speed of around 19.83Mb/s. Below is the SpeedTest.net test result without connecting to VPN. Please note: this speed only reflects the speed for visiting local websites within China. International speed would be much lower than that. we show this result only to give you a rough idea about how fast our current ISP is:
Then we used Astrill's Mac desktop client to connect to their USA server (China Optimized 3) using the StealthVPN protocol. we got a download speed of 12.87Mb/s, which is a decent speed.
However, we encountered a number of connection failures with or without using Astrill's StealthVPN protocol. A number of servers are not responsive and cannot be connected to. When using StealthVPN, which is designed specifically for preventing blocking in China, we saw less connection problems. But keep in mind that you must pay another $2/mo to get StealthVPN unless you subscribe their 1-year plan, which includes StealthVPN for free.
Customer Service:
On Astrill's website, there's a link for chatting with customer support live. When we started the chatting window, we were told to wait in line and the waiting time was around 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes had passed, we were shown a message suggesting us to leave a message instead. As a result, we weren't able to chat directly with Astrill VPN's customer service representative at all.
Astrill VPN Review Conclusion:
Astrill VPN is one of the most popular VPN providers for China. However, maybe due to its high popularity, it might have become a target for blocking in China. Currently its website is blocked in China. You can use another VPN service to visit their website to sign up. Once you have signed up, you can use Astrill VPN from China. Astrill VPN's connection speed is very fast, but you might encounter occasional connection failures if you use Astrill in China. Astrill does offer a solution, StealthVPN, to address blocking issues in China, but users have to pay more to use it. If you do want to use Astrill, we'd suggest you pay the extra fee to use their StealthVPN protocol. If you are looking or an Astrill VPN alternative, you can see our list of Best VPNs for China or try the VPNs listed below:
Astrill VPN Alternatives:
If you are looking for a VPN to be used in China, you have some other choices besides Astrill VPN. At VPNdada.com, we test and compare VPN services from different providers from China and recommend the best ones. Based on our test results, we recommend the following Astrill VPN alternatives:
1. ExpressVPN (Top Choice)
2. VyprVPN
Access Astrill Website In China
3. PureVPN
4. 12VPN
Browser Selection
Browser Selection helps you to select which browser will tunnel thru Astrill Application
1. Click SETTINGS
2. Click Browser
3. Select Internet Browser you want to tunnel
4. Click OK
Site Filter
Site Filter is one of the Openweb features that will give you options which sites you want to go through VPN.
1. Site Filter feature is under the SETTINGS Menu.
2. Once you click on the Site Filter feature, you will see it is set to 'Tunnel all Sites' mode as default.
3. Site Filter modes, click on the drop down arrow button to show the Site Filter modes such as 'Tunnel all sites', 'Tunnel only these sites' and 'Exclude these sites'.
Tunnel all sites
This mode will allow all sites to go through VPN and is highly recommended for privacy protection.
1. To choose Tunnel all Sites mode, click on SETTINGS menu then choose Site Filter.
2. By default it is set to Tunnel all Sites mode.
3. Click OK, now all sites will go through VPN.
Tunnel only those sites
This mode will allow you to specify the only site/s you wish to go through VPN.
1. Click on the SETTINGS menu and choose Site Filter.
2. Click the drop down arrow and select Tunnel only these sites.
3. Enter the site you want to tunnel only via VPN (Example: google.com)
4. Click OK to save.
Exclude these sites
Exclude these sites, this mode will allow you to exclude site/s to go through VPN.
1. Click on the SETTINGS menu and choose Site Filter.
2. Click the drop down arrow and select Exclude these sites.
3. Enter which site/s you do not want to tunnel through VPN, for example google.com.
4. Click OK to save.
Ads Blocker
Ads Blocker is used to block annoying ads. It works in all browsers. Ads Blocker consists of a set of rules which are compatible with Ad Block Plus for Firefox.
1. Ads Blocker is under SETTINGS.
2. By clicking Enable Ads blocker, you can specify what ad you want to block or you can simply click Block useless sites.
3. Click OK to save the settings.
Smart Mode
Smart Mode (a.k.a. GFW Mode) is made specifically for customers in China with a goal to accelerate web surfing. When Smart Mode is enabled (in the Settings Menu), only blocked sites will be opened through Astrill servers, while all other sites (local sites) will be loaded directly.
1. Click on the SETTINGS menu.
2. Click on Smart Mode to enable the feature.
3. If you click on the SETTINGS menu again, you will see that Smart Mode is already enabled.
OpenWeb Options
Under Openweb options, you are allowed to choose which port combination you want to use or you can test which port combination will work best for you.
1. Click on SETTINGS and then choose Openweb Options.
2. In Tunnel mode, you can choose whether to tunnel only web browsers (Browsers) or all applications (All Apps).
3. In Port, port is set to 443 by default. You can change it to 80, ALTA or ALTB (alta and altb can be random port assigned by server) and see which one works for you.
Astrill Website Blocked In China
4. In Protocol, ver2 (version 2) is for users where ISP throttles torrents and unknown traffic. Some antivirus software is confused with Openweb ver2 protocol, so it will break it. In such case, you can use ver 1 (version 1).
5. Auto Tunnel Apps. When this option is enabled, Astrill will use system-wide Network Redirector Component to tunnel web traffic from applications automatically. No need to set system proxy. This option works with all major web browser.
6. Set System Proxy. Sets system global proxy automatically when Astrill is enabled. This affects all applications which use system proxy setting. This option is disabled by default. In case 'auto tunnel apps' does not redirect your application automatically, try to enable this option.
7. Show logo in Firefox. This shows Astrill logo in Firefox address bar when Astrill is enabled.
Advanced Options
Advanced options will allow you to toggle on/off settings and features.
1. Click on SETTINGS and then choose Advanced...
2. Keep connection – This option lets you keep connection even when you switch to another Astrill server (from drop-down list) or when you turn Astrill OFF (using ON/OFF button). This is especially useful when you are downloading a file and want to switch to another server. Normally Astrill would disconnect all connections thus your download would be aborted. With this new option you can change this behavior.
3. Auto Clear Cookies - This option, when checked, will tell Astrill to clear all browser and Flash cookies whenever you switch to another sever or turn Astrill ON or OFF. This is very useful for some web sites which remember you using cookies, so even if you are using VPN, they will know your default location. Left 4 dead nes downloads. We have also added an option to the tray/context menu 'Clear Cookies' which you can use to manually clear all cookies whenever you wish. This is very convenient too as it clears nasty Flash Cookies which are normally very hard to remove (you would need to go to Adobe web site to do that). When we are at explaining how sites tracking your location by cookies, let's mention that some sites (like syfy.com) track your timezone as well ! Thus even if you are using VPN, that site will show you are not in USA and will not let you watch any videos. This is very easy to fix – just set your system timezone to let's say UTC-8 which is California time zone. (you might need to restart browser or refresh the page – Ctrl-F5)
4. Stream Flash Directly – This option tries to stream flash videos directly (without VPN). Some sites don't check location when streaming (Hulu is an exception tho). Thus using this option you can speed up your video streaming but usually our VPN is very fast thus you will not notice any difference.
5. HTTP Keep-Alive - This option will keep connection with our server across browser request. Normally you should keep this enabled for faster surfing speed. If you have a lot of tabs open in a web browser or a lot of tabs with facebook and you see frequently 'Too Many Connections' error, try to disable this option.
6. Click OK to save changes.
Astrill China Site
