Hola VPN is one of the most unreliable free VPN services in South Korea we have reviewed so far. It doesn’t encrypt your connection, it logs all of your internet activities and later shares your information with outside parties. So, anyone who chooses to download it runs the danger of losing their online security, identity, and privacy in South Korea.
Hola VPN is unlike a regular VPN setup. It’s basically a peer-to-peer network that can help you access most blocked websites for free in South Korea.
While doing all the testing before writing this Hola VPN review in South Korea, we found it weird how Hola VPN stores users’ residential IPs and uses their bandwidth to power its network. Keeping these things in mind, we wonder if its paid version can be as reliable as other best VPN services. The way it works is pretty simple. So, if you wish to use Hola VPN paid version in South Korea, continue reading this Hola VPN review in South Korea.
In our opinion, if you’re going to pay for Hola VPN, we would suggest you stop and go for other paid VPNs like ExpressVPN or Surfshark, which come with actual servers, offer powerful VPN protocols, excellent unblocking ability, and keep zero logs as well. After weighing all the pros and cons, we’ve given Hola VPN a 3.2-star rating in South Korea. You can also check our list of the best free VPN services in South Korea that don’t keep logs.
Ranked #44 out of 56 VPNs
We have spent thousands of hours and days testing 160+ VPN services using our carefully curated testing process to recommend you the best VPN. Here are a few statistics:
- Total Hours of Testing1000+
- Weekly Speed Tests110
- VPN Services Reviewed160+
- Streaming Platforms Tested Daily50+
- IP & DNS Leak Tests Performed100+
- How Much we have spent on testing$30,000+
Hola VPN Review in South Korea: Key Findings
To thoroughly test the Hola VPN for its pros and cons, we used my 9-step rating criteria in this Hola VPN review in South Korea:
- Pricing – How much is Hola VPN in South Korea?
- Servers and Locations – How many servers does Hola VPN have?
- Security and Features – Does Hola VPN keep logs in South Korea?
- Speed and Performance – Is Hola VPN fast in South Korea?
- Streaming – Does Hola VPN work with Netflix in South Korea?
- Torrenting – Is Hola VPN good for P2P torrenting in South Korea?
- Installation Apps and Easy to Use
- Compatibility – Which devices can I use Hola VPN with in South Korea?
- Bypass Censorship – Does Hola VPN works in China?
- Customer Support – Is Hola VPN trustworthy?
Hola VPN Review in South Korea: Pros & Cons
- Simple installation and easy-to-use app UI
- Unblocks a few websites (mostly on its premium version)
- Logs all of your data
- Keeps track of your online activities
- No encryption on its free version
- Sells its free user bandwidth to the premium users
- Shaddy history
- Doesn’t work with Netflix
- Does not support torrenting
Pricing in South Korea– Rating: 6.5/10
In addition to the free version, Hola VPN offers a variety of subscription plans in South Korea, but there is still a risk of privacy because they still collect the data of its paid users. However, the only benefit of a premium plan is that your data is passed through safety protocols and is encrypted.
There are three subscription plans for Hola VPN in South Korea: Basic, Ultra, and Premium. The only version that is available for free is the Basic version, which only allows one device to connect at once and allows use for 30 minutes every hour. The Ultra plan is similar to Premium, with the exception that it offers 20 simultaneous device connections, unlimited bandwidth, 4K video quality along with city-specific servers. Moreover,
Hola VPN Plans | Basic | Premium | Ultra |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $0 | $7.49 /mo | $29.99 /mo |
Yearly | $0 | $3.89 /mo | $19.99 /mo |
3-Years | $o | $1.49 /mo | $7.99 /mo |
You have several payment options, including credit card, Google Pay, PayPal, Giropay, Alipay, Sofort, and iDEAL. Unfortunately, payments via bitcoins and online gift cards are not accepted.
Even though all of the plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee but none of Hola VPN’s plans are recommended because there are much better VPNs available in South Korea for the same price.
If you don’t find these prices to be affordable, which we do by the way, perhaps you might be interested in our cheap VPN services in South Korea.
Servers – Rating: 7.5/10
Hola uses an unusual server architecture that depends on users for exit points. This indicates that, despite its network’s propensity to be rather sizable and dispersed geographically, server locations may fluctuate.
Hola VPN has servers available in 190 countries, but neither the website nor its apps reveal the exact city locations. This is due to the absence of a dedicated server network for premium users in South Korea.
There’s no Auto Connect option to automatically select the best server. Additionally, it took me more than 15 seconds each time to connect to a server, which is quite slow.
If we talk about its free version in South Korea, Hola VPN operates on a peer-to-peer network powered by the community. Every time you connect using its free servers, you use someone else’s IP address while a stranger uses yours. We’ll also tell you about how it leaks your DNS address later in this Hola VPN Review.
This is extremely risky and goes against how a VPN works as your IP could be used for criminal behavior, and that activity will be linked to you. According to the website for Hola, if you don’t want to share your device’s resources with anyone else, you can choose the Premium edition in South Korea. Even so, you’ll continue to utilize Hola’s P2P network. It seems more like a low-cost substitute that will solely serve the interests of the firm, not the people.
So, why use Hola VPN and put your privacy at risk when you can use other top secure VPNs in South Korea?
Security in South Korea – Rating: 1/10
As we already told you at the beginning of this review, Hola VPN keeps logs. It clearly admits to logging your data in its privacy policy. Here’s a short snippet of the Hola VPN privacy policy:
We log data and this may include the following information – browser type, web pages you visit, time spent on those pages, access times and dates.
Additionally, there are no security features to protect your private information in South Korea, such as a kill switch or leak prevention. However, its Windows app does include one advanced feature and that is an Ad-blocker.
Security | Available in Hola free VPN |
---|---|
DNS Leak Blocking | No |
First-party DNS | No |
IPv6 Leak Blocking | No |
Supports TCP Port 443 | No |
VPN Kill Switch | No |
WebRTC Leak Blocking | No |
Advanced features | |
Ad Blocker | Yes (on the paid version) |
Dedicated IP | No |
Double VPN | No |
Smart DNS | No |
SOCKS | No |
Split Tunneling | No |
Encryption, Protocols & Basic Features
If you are thinking is hola VPN safe in South Korea? No, because Hola VPN doesn’t encrypt users’ internet traffic in South Korea. Instead, it utilizes a peer-to-peer network to mask your online identity. However, encryption is something we all want from a VPN service. Consequently, the lack of encryption means there is always a safety risk with Hola VPN.
Protocols | Available in Hola free VPN |
---|---|
IKEv2/IPSec | No |
OpenVPN (TCP/UDP) | No |
PPTP | No |
SoftEther | No |
SSL VPN | No |
TLS VPN | No |
WireGuard | No |
Proprietary | No |
L2TP/IPSec | No |
AES-128 | No |
AES-192 | No |
AES-256 | No |
Blowfish | No |
ChaCha20 | No |
Undisclosed | No |
If you opt for the paid version, however, you will get a few basic security features like IKEv2/IPSEC and strong 256-bit encryption. But even after paying a premium, you will still not get a basic feature such as a built-in kill switch in South Korea. This is where this VPN seriously lacks in features.
The only additional feature that Hola VPN offers is an Ad-blocker. This feature works as you would expect, however, I still feel like it lacks a lot of features for a paid service that costs $1.49/mo.
Moreover, it doesn’t operate at an OS level and only routes traffic exclusively within the web browser or app.
Leaks – IP, DNS, WebRTC & Virus Tests
Moreover, Hola’s free edition does not conceal your IP in any way in South Korea; rather, it allows users to share bandwidth and IPs. We have done several testing to see if this statement is true or not.
IP Leak Test:
First, we checked for any IP leaks. As you can see from the screenshot below, only a UK IP is being displayed and my original IP address is nowhere to be seen. Pretty good if you ask me.
DNS Leak Test:
Next, we checked for DNS leaks. As you can see from the screenshot below, it didn’t hide the DNS address.
WebRTC Leak Test:
We also checked for WebRTC leak and Hola VPN failed this test too. Even after multiple tests, Hola VPN didn’t hide my WebRTC leaks
Virus Test:
Last but not least, we checked if there were any viruses in its Windows client so we ran a virus test. There were no viruses found in their files.
Speed in South Korea – Rating: 2.9/10
Since Hola is more of a proxy service than a VPN, we won’t compare its speeds to those of the other free VPNs we’ve evaluated.
Hola employs an unencrypted connection in South Korea, resulting in reduced slowdowns but substantially greater risk, and only browser traffic is sent through the peer nodes.
Your connection speeds in South Korea can also be impacted by the node you’re connecting to. As a result, your internet speeds can be affected if the peer you’re using to route your traffic has slow connections.
In our most recent tests, Hola’s speeds across long distances somewhat decreased and its ping times rose, but that was to be expected. The speed and latency of a connection decrease with increasing distance travelled.
Here are the speed results when we connected to its nearby (US) vs faraway (UK) servers on a 20 Mbps base connection:
With the US location, we got slightly better speeds. On average, the US location managed to output at 14.41 Mbps download speeds. We managed to get decent speeds considering its whole infrastructure is P2P based
With the UK location. Again, the results were neither too impressive nor too bad. At max, the UK location pushed out 9.64 Mbps download speeds.
If you want VPNs that work best in the UK check out our blog on the best free VPN for UK in South Korea.
However, don’t get distracted by its fast speeds lack of encryption, and the security risks Hola free VPN poses. You can check our list of the fastest VPNs in South Korea with exceptional security features and fast speeds.
Streaming in South Korea – Rating: 2/10
Hola VPN’s free version is incompatible with well-known streaming services including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Hulu in South Korea.
We were unable to unblock services like BBC iPlayer or US Netflix using Hola Free VPN in South Korea.
However, when used the Hola premium version we were able to access Netflix and other streaming platforms in South Korea, which was quite unexpected for us.
Note: If you want to stream your favorite platform check out the best VPNs for streaming in South Korea without losing your online privacy.
Torrenting in South Korea – Rating: 0/10
We would suggest you stay away from using Hola free VPN in South Korea if you want to stay anonymous while torrenting.
Since Hola Free VPN does not offer connection encryption or a kill button. If your VPN connection drops, everyone will be able to see your actual IP address.
You can also see their claim on their official site making sure they block torrenting traffic:
Check out our list of the top free VPNs for torrenting in South Korea instead of using Hola VPN to download torrents.
Installation Apps and Easy to Use in South Korea – Rating: 7/10
Hola VPN download and installation is quite simple and easy to use in South Korea. Hola VPN extensions are also available for Chrome, Edge, or Opera. There is also an app available to be installed on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac. However, we didn’t find its app on Android devices.
We installed its windows app with just one click
Compatibility in South Korea – Rating: 6.5/10
Hola VPN offers free but unencrypted VPN apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices in South Korea. However, these are more like proxy browsers and not actual VPNs.
Since it doesn’t work like a VPN but as a proxy service, it only encrypts the traffic within the app and not the overall device traffic just like a web browser does.
Hola VPN Windows App
The Windows app of Hola VPN looks like your average browser. You open it up and you’ll see an option on the top right corner to pick country locations. In terms of user experience, the app is decently lightweight and quite fast in South Korea. That’s what you expect when the app doesn’t offer a lot of features.
Hola VPN macOS App
The macOS app is also similarly designed. It has the same browser-like look and feels and works just as fast. It too has the option to pick locations and that’s about it.
Hola VPN Android App
As for the Android app of Hola VPN, it boasts a simple design and looks more like a proper app than a browser. It is very easy to use and pretty fast too in my opinion. As for app rating, the Android app of Hola VPN has around 4.5 stars on Google Play Store.
Hola VPN iOS App
The iOS app also boasts a simple design. It has the same look and feels as the Android app and works just as well. As for ratings, the iOS app of Hola VPN has a 1.8-star rating on the Apple App Store.
Bypass Censorship in South Korea – Rating: 4.3/10
Since, there are no obfuscation features or stealth mode included with Hola VPN it will be impossible to bypass censorship in highly restricted countries like China, Russia, and Iran.
We also verified using its Shanghai server, and because the service lacks encryption and the Great Firewall uses DPI (Deep Packet Inspection), we couldn’t able to access content in South Korea that is restricted in China.
Customer Support in South Korea – Rating: 7.5/10
The customer support system of the Hola VPN in South Korea is quite weak. There is no live chat option on the website and you can only contact them through email. However, on its website, Hola provides unhelpful FAQs and other few resources to offer help support.
Customer Support | Available in Hola free vpn |
---|---|
Live Chat Support | No |
Yes | |
Email Support via Online Form | No |
Tutorial Videos | No |
Online Resources (FAQs) | Yes |
FAQs: Hola VPN Review in South Korea
Does Hola VPN sell your data in South Korea?
Yes, Hola sells data from your computer and network in South Korea to third parties under their commercial brand, Luminati.
Is Hola VPN completely free in South Korea?
No, Hola VPN is not completely free in South Korea. It offers a paid subscription-based business service called Luminati which offers multiple price plans.
Is Hola VPN a proxy?
Yes, Hola is more like a proxy than a reliable VPN service. It collects your data in South Korea and makes your bandwidth available to its premium users. It is not a good option because it does not employ secure protocols or encrypt data.
Why Hola VPN is removed from the Play Store in South Korea?
HolaVPN is removed from the Google Play Store in South Korea due to security and privacy violations. However, it’s still accessible via apps on a variety of operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and iOS, as well as through alternative browsers like Opera and Edge.
Alternatives to Hola VPN in South Korea
Although Hola VPN claims to be trusted by over 200 million users worldwide, It’s up to you to trust it with your privacy. If you don’t want to use Hola VPN in South Korea, you can check out some of the alternatives listed below:
- NordVPN Review in South Korea
- Surfshark Review in South Korea
- TunnelBear Review in South Korea
- ExpressVPN Review in South Korea
- CyberGhost Review in South Korea
- Proton VPN Review in South Korea
- Avast SecureLine VPN Review in South Korea
- VPN Proxy Master Review in South Korea
- Avast VPN Review in South Korea
- Opera VPN review in South Korea
Do We Recommend Hola VPN in South Korea?
No, we don’t recommend you use Hola VPN in South Korea. For the reasons mentioned in detail above, and for the risk that when you connect to its VPN service you put your online safety and privacy at risk in South Korea because it snoops on your internet connection, logs anything you do online, and later uses it for commercial purposes.
We also searched for whether Hola VPN is safe on Reddit, and all the comments we received were against this service. According to Redditors it’s not safe and should not be trusted.
With a conclusive Hola VPN review in South Korea, we are certain that it is one of the worst VPNs you could choose for any purpose, be it streaming, torrenting, or bypassing restrictions in South Korea.