CyberGhost was founded in 2011 in Bucharest, Romania by German entrepreneur Robert Knapp. In 2017, it became the first VPN acquired by Kape Technologies (then Crossrider) for approximately $10 million. Romania's jurisdiction is a genuine advantage: the country has no mandatory data retention law for VPN providers and falls outside the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes alliances.
Kape's history bears repeating for each of its VPN properties. The company operated as Crossrider from 2011 to 2018, running a browser extension platform that monetized through ad injection. Google, Symantec, and MalwareBytes all flagged Crossrider software as potentially malicious. The 2018 rebrand to Kape was explicitly to escape association with past activities. Kape's majority owner, Teddy Sagi, served jail time for securities fraud. Co-founder Koby Menachemi served in Israel's Unit 8200 signals intelligence agency. Most critically, Kape purchased the VPN review sites vpnMentor and WizCase in 2021 — platforms that now rank Kape's own VPNs in their top positions. vpnMentor's 9.7/10 rating for CyberGhost must be evaluated with this context.
The technical infrastructure is solid. The server network is the industry's largest at 11,690+ across 100+ countries, with dedicated categories for streaming (50+ platforms), gaming, and P2P. However, approximately 40% are virtual locations — many South American servers are physically located in Miami, for instance. NoSpy servers in Romania are self-owned and operated, providing an extra-hardened option for privacy-conscious users.
Deloitte conducted no-logs audits in 2022 and 2024 under the ISAE 3000 standard. Both confirmed that server configurations align with the stated no-logs policy — no IP addresses, browsing history, DNS queries, or traffic data is retained. The 2024 audit expanded scope to cover incident management and the dedicated IP token system. Quarterly transparency reports, published since 2011, consistently show zero data surrendered to law enforcement.
RAM-only servers with full-disk encryption ensure data is wiped on every reboot. Protocol support includes WireGuard, OpenVPN (AES-256-CBC with RSA-4096 handshake), and IKEv2. The built-in content blocker caught 83% of ads in TechRadar testing. A vulnerability disclosure program processes bug reports quarterly, with valid findings patched promptly.
Speed performance is competitive on nearby servers: vpnMentor measured 203 Mbps in Dallas against a 218 Mbps baseline. Long-distance performance degrades more than top competitors — Engadget recorded 34 Mbps to Johannesburg with 632 ms latency, and ProPrivacy averaged 63.9 Mbps overall. CyberGhost is consistently slower than NordVPN and Surfshark in head-to-head comparisons.
Streaming is a strong suit. Independent testing confirms access to 15+ Netflix regional libraries, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, ESPN+, and DAZN. Dedicated streaming servers are labeled by platform. P2P torrenting works well on optimized servers, with vpnMentor downloading a 1.1 GB file in under two minutes.
The critical gap is obfuscation. CyberGhost cannot bypass deep packet inspection in China, Iran, or Egypt. For users in heavily censored countries, this is a disqualifying limitation. Split tunneling is unavailable on macOS and iOS. OpenVPN is not available on Apple devices. IPv6 leak protection is not automatic on all platforms and must be configured manually. The kill switch cannot be disabled on most platforms except Windows.
Pricing is aggressive on introductory terms: the 28-month plan runs $2.03-$2.19/month. However, renewal pricing roughly doubles to approximately $4.79/month — a pattern common across Kape properties. The 45-day money-back guarantee on plans of six months or longer is the most generous in the industry. Payment options include credit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and cryptocurrency.
Customer support via 24/7 multilingual live chat receives positive marks. The maximum of seven simultaneous connections, while adequate for most users, trails the unlimited connections offered by Surfshark and PIA.
Independent reviewers (TechRadar 3.9/5, ProPrivacy 4.1/5, Engadget 83/100) consistently rate CyberGhost as technically competent but unremarkable, with the Kape ownership and lack of innovative features keeping it behind NordVPN, ProtonVPN, and Surfshark in editorial recommendations.