OysterVPN - A new player with good potential but still catching up

OysterVPN is a relatively new VPN provider made by Oyster Digital Solutions Ltd., which is based in Ireland—a jurisdiction outside the 5/9/14-Eyes intelligence alliance.

The company focuses on digital freedom, streaming access, and security for modern users who want to keep them masked. Its mission revolves around the aim to offer unrestricted browsing while still maintaining strong encryption and a zero-logs policy.

Take a look at OysterVPN’s key features before we uncover OysterVPN review with thorough testing:

Security & Privacy- Decent foundation with few gaps

The VPN tool focuses on user privacy with AES 256-bit encryption, DNS/IP leak protection and a strict no-logs policy. It supports major protocols including OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec and even the newer ones like WireGuard, which promises the fastest and most secure connection.

On paper, it ticks the right boxes and also the DNS and IP leak tests confirm clean results, meaning your identity does stay hidden while you are connected. The app includes a kill switch to protect you in the case the VPN disconnects and this also works effectively in the real world, as the connection drops instantly when the VPN is turned off via the application version of the VPN.

But the privacy policy still leaves some confusion even after the focus on no logging activity. It's because billing information is required during the sign-up, which is a basic foundation for showing if a company strictly follows no-log principle. A more transparent privacy policy and an independent audit would go a long way in creating trust.

Server Network—Limited reach, especially outside the West

Currently, the platform is offering around 350+ servers across the 30+ countries. While that might seem sufficient, the real issue stays in geographic distribution and network depth. Key regions like South America, parts of Europe, and Oceania remain missing and countries like Germany, Italy, and Portugal have limited server options.

Further, there is no indication of server load or utilization in the app, which makes it hard to choose which is the best-performing server at the specific point of time. Plus, even after the promises related to unlimited server switching, the actual performance may reduce due to the missing locations in the servers.

Speed & Performance—Quite inconsistent

VPN performance can make or break a user's experience. During the testing, the speed results were less impressive.

On a base (non-VPN) connection in New Delhi, speeds reached a healthy 27.9 Mbps download and 17.3 Mbps upload with 29 ms latency. However, after connecting to a New York-based OysterVPN server using WireGuard, the download speed was just 0.64 MBPS, a drop of more than 97%. However, the upload speed remained great at 17.9 Mbps.

While some nearby servers may give better performance, this test highlights an inconsistency in speed for the long distances. Such a drop will impact activities like HD streaming, large file downloads, and real-time gaming. Users who have slower baseline speeds may find OysterVPN completely unusable if they are connecting to far servers.

Streaming Access—Mixed Results with Popular Platforms

One of the biggest selling points of any VPN is its ability to bypass the geo restrictions on popular streaming services. 

In testing, streaming platforms like Hulu and HBO Max did become accessible while connecting through OysterVPN from India—a region where these services are typically geo-blocked. 

However, as mentioned in the previous section, the poor download speed will impact the streaming quality. Buffering delays and resolution drops will be noticeable at the peak hours. Or you might also have to keep switching servers until you find the good one that can deliver you a good watching experience.

App Experience- Simple UI but feels outdated

OysterVPN offers very wide platform support, as you can get it on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and browsers (Chrome and Firefox). There is also manual configuration support for routers and Linux via OpenVPN files.

However, during desktop app testing, the Windows app sometimes fails to connect to servers, freezing on the connecting option. The Chrome extension, on the other hand, connected smoothly without any issues.

Now the interface is minimalistic with a clear connect button, server list, and a simple settings menu. But the design feels outdated and lacks the polish that is found in the modern and mature VPN apps. For example, the user must disconnect before switching servers, and there are no advanced options like favorites, load indicators, or smart recommendations. The mobile apps are a bit more responsive but again lack a few features like obfuscation or advanced protocol selection. There is split tunnelling support but only Android and Windows have it, not the Mac or iOS versions.

Torrenting and Gaming- Solid Basics with Room for More

OysterVPN supports torrenting on all servers and aims that its networks are optimized for P2P. In real-world tests too, downloads were not unstable and there were no leaks detected. That is, there is no SOCKS5 proxy or built-in malware scanner for additional torrent security.

On the gaming part, the VPN offers DDoS protection and low pings on nearby servers. However, as seen with the speed drops, long-distance gaming might face noticeable lag. And there is also no dedicated gaming mode that optimizes the VPN tool for gaming.