PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall vs NetUtils
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall
This app offers robust privacy protection by blocking trackers across your device and encrypting your internet connections. It provides a firewall to control network access and detailed statistics on blocked trackers, enhancing your online security and data control.
- Device-wide tracker protection
- Real-time tracker list
- Stats dashboard
- Firewall for custom blocking
- Encrypts HTTP and DNS traffic
- Bulk import/export firewall rules
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Trackers follow you everywhere — in apps, browsers, and emails — building profiles that advertisers and data brokers sell, and AI-powered attackers weaponize. PrivacyPro blocks them, encrypts your connections, and gives you total control over what companies get your data. HOW IT WORKS PrivacyPro uses SmartVPN technology — a focused tunnel that targets the unencrypted connections most likely to leak your data, without rerouting the ones that don't need it. Known tracker domains are prevented from loading. Unencrypted HTTP traffic gets encrypted before it leaves your device, so it's safe even on untrusted networks. DNS lookups are encrypted so your ISP, carrier, and Wi-Fi network can't see what sites and apps you're using. — Blocks trackers at the DNS layer in every app and browser — Encrypts your HTTP traffic in transit, protecting in-app data and background requests — Encrypts every DNS lookup so your ISP and Wi-Fi network can't snoop — Leaves your HTTPS traffic alone, so the connections that are already secure stay fast WHY SMARTVPN, NOT A REGULAR VPN A typical VPN reroutes everything through a remote server, slowing your connection, breaking some sites, and changing your IP whether or not it matters. SmartVPN only encrypts the traffic that actually needs encryption — HTTP and DNS. HTTPS traffic passes through normally. The result is privacy without the friction. FREE — Device-wide tracker blocking, always on — Real-time list of trackers trying to collect your data — Stats dashboard: see what was blocked, on which sites, plus time and data saved PREMIUM Everything in Free, plus: — Firewall: block any domain on your own terms — HTTP traffic encrypted in transit to protect sensitive data on insecure networks — DNS lookups encrypted through our tunnel — Bulk import/export of firewall rules WHY DISCONNECT — No logs. We don't see, store, or sell your data. Ever. — Full control. Block or allow any tracker. — Built by Disconnect, the industry standard for tracker protection. Our technology powers tracker blocking in Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge to help protect 350M+ users worldwide. — Awards: SXSW Interactive Innovation Award (Privacy & Security), Popular Science Best of What's New, The New York Times' favorite privacy app. ONCE ON, IT STAYS ON Connect once and PrivacyPro runs in the background. Reconnects automatically when you switch networks. Close the app and use your device normally, protection stays active. ABOUT DISCONNECT We've spent 15 years building the world's most-deployed tracker classification dataset. Firefox, Edge, and consumer privacy products around the world ship with our work inside them. PrivacyPro is that intelligence in your hand, with the firewall and encryption tools to act on it. Take back your privacy. Start free. PRIVACY POLICY https://disconnect.me/privacy TERMS OF USE https://disconnect.me/terms SUPPORT support@disconnect.me
NetUtils
This app provides comprehensive network utility tools, including ping, WHOIS, and DNS lookups. It offers detailed host and device information, website reputation, and contact details, aiding cybersecurity professionals and website owners.
- Network connectivity status
- Host and device information
- WHOIS data lookup
- DNS information retrieval
- Domain and IP reputation
- Website contact and categorization
- Ping utility
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The all-in-one Network Utility application! • Network connectivity status • Network interface information • WiFi information • VPN information • Host information • Google Web Risk Information* • WHOIS information from WhoisXML API* • DNS information from WhoisXML API* • Domain and IP reputation information from WhoisXML API* • Website contact information from WhoisXML API* • Website categorization information from WhoisXML API* • IP geolocation information from WhoisXML API* • Ping utility • Device information • View page source * Purchase, subscription, or API key required Information used by cyber security professionals, payment processors, law enforcement, website owners, and domain investors. Find ties to cybercrime and enhance your cyber defense. This information could be particularly useful in mitigating phishing and other malware-enabled attacks. ► WHOIS Information (Subscription required or bring your own API key) ◆ Get registrant name, organization, e-mail address, registration address, registrar information, creation date, expiration date, updated date, domain availability, domain age, and much more. ◆ Real-time WHOIS data, ensuring that only the most up to date and accurate information is available ▸ Check domain names availability and to track domain registration changes. ▸ Ensure reliable and secure domain name ownership transfer and management. ▸ Protect your intellectual property and to check potential trademark infringements. ▸ Learn about your competition and identify investment opportunities. ▸ Identify all the connected domains, websites and IP addresses associated with fraudulent activities and criminals. ▸ Identify new business and partnership opportunities and to locate potential buyers through the contact details provided in the Whois records. ▸ Obtain more insights on your user base with statistical analyses, helping you create better marketing strategies and campaigns, focus on the right customers, and cater to formerly untapped markets ► DNS Information (Subscription required or bring your own API key) A domain has a number of records associated with it, a DNS server can be queried to determine the IP address of the primary domain (A record), mail servers (MX records), DNS servers (NS nameservers) and other items such as SPF records (TXT records). ◆ Displays the DNS information critical for identifying who is hosting a particular domain name or website. ◆ Determine the Mail Servers for Particular Domain You might use this API to find out what server(s) accept email for a specific domain (by doing an MX record lookup). ◆ Determine the IP address of the primary domain (A record), mail servers (MX records), DNS servers (name servers) and other items such as SPF records (TXT records). ◆ Determine whether the domain restricts who can send email - You might use this API to determine the SPF record for a domain (by looking up the TXT record for the domain), to see if the domain tries to restrict who can send email using the domain ► Reputation Information (Subscription required or bring your own API key) ◆ Instantly audit your or someone else’s domain or IP address with Domain Reputation API. The tool uses hundreds of parameters to calculate reputation scores. ► Contact Information (Subscription required or bring your own API key) ◆ Get well-parsed contact information from 235+ million active domain names without the hassle and expense of web scraping or doing manual research. ► Categorization Information (Subscription required or bring your own API key) ◆ Use our machine learning engine to scan a website’s content and meta tags. Our lookup extracts text to classify the site and assign the top IAB categories applicable to it with associated confidence scores aided by language processing. ► Web Risk (Purchase required or bring your own API key) ◆ Check URLs against Google's constantly updated lists of unsafe web resources Open source: https://github.com/twodayslate/NetUtils
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: NetUtils at 100% against PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall's 54%. NetUtils also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall's advantage is ratings volume (1K vs 4). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and NetUtils sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
NetUtils holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall has 1K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall's written reviews are positive against 100% of NetUtils's.
PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall ships an update every 2 months, NetUtils every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall | NetUtils |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (1K ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 54 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Disconnect | Zac Gorak |
Customer experience
PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall
NetUtils
Bugs and requests
PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall
Reported bugs
4 issues- Blocking functionality stops working after updates
- VPN profile not removed properly on uninstall
- Crashes on launch for some users
- Incompatibility with iOS 16
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to whitelist specific sites or apps
- More detailed reporting and analytics
- Landscape mode support on iPad
- Automatic updates without user intervention
NetUtils
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall
- SmartVPN with Secure Mode7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- SmartVPN with Secure Mode7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Premium Toolbox$9.99
NetUtils
- Whois XML API Data - Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
- monapi.io Data - Monthly3 Days trial$1.491 Month
- Whois XML API Data - Yearly7 Days trial$10.491 Year
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- monapi.io Data - Yearly3 Days trial$14.991 Year
- Google Web Risk API Data$0.99
- Whois XML API Data$199.99
- monapi.io Data$249.99
Questions
Is PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall free?
Is NetUtils free?
Which has better reviews, PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall or NetUtils?
Do PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall or NetUtils have ads?
Which is updated more often, PrivacyPro SmartVPN & Firewall or NetUtils?
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