Web unblocker Proxmate reveals subscription costs
Proxmate, the web unblocking service that enables you to access geo-restricted content on the Internet, revealed the service's subscription costs on the newly launched website.
The service, which was provided for free previously as a browser add-on for Firefox and Chrome based web browsers, announced in October that it would discontinue the free offer and turn into a subscription service instead.
The subscription costs was not revealed back then, only that existing users could take advantage of a limited offer to subscribe to the service for $0.99 per month.
Proxmate
It may come as a surprise to users who signed up back then that the new subscription costs match the limited offer for the time being.
Users who want to sign up for a Proxmate account can pay $0.99 per month or $9.95 per year for that. A fourteen-day trial is available for new and existing users as well that requires only an email address (and verification), but no other data.
The pricing page reveals that these may increase after the promotional period however. Monthly subscriptions are available for $1.95 then and yearly subscriptions paid in advance for $17.95.
Proxmate supports more than 200 channels at the time of writing. These include popular streaming services such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, CBS, Comedy Central, Spotify, Pandora, or Hulu to name a few. In addition to streaming services, it supports other web-based services that make use of geographic restrictions such as the Google Store.
The selection of channels is quite good, and there is an option to request new channels to be added to the service in case they are not supported yet.
Proxmate promises unlimited data transfer, no logging of browser activity, no ads, and lightning fast speeds.
So how competitive is Proxmate's offer?
While there are free services available that offer similar functionality, it is often the case that they are monetized in ways that are privacy invasive or restricted. Hola, a free for non-commercial use service for instance turns PCs into exit nodes and makes the bandwidth available to third-parties. It did inject ads as well on websites that extension users visited in the past.
Free TunnelBear accounts, to use another example, are limited to a monthly transfer rate of 500 Megabyte.
If you compare it to other paid geo-unblocking services, it stacks up quite well even if you consider that pricing will increase after a while. TunnelBear for instance is available for $49.99 per year and Media Hint $39.50 per year.
The Ghacks Deals offer Getflix gets you a similar service for a one-time payment of $39 (for life) which would be cheaper after the fourth year of usage, or approximately the same once Proxmate ends the promo pricing.
Web unblockers compete with VPN services as well. While VPN services are usually more expensive, they do support features that web unblockers don't. While you can use most to access geo-restricted content on the Internet, VPNs improve security and privacy while on the Internet, and may provide you with options to use other services that are blocked or monitored such as P2P or online shopping.
Now You: Do you prefer VPNs or Web Unblockers?