Luobo Cloud reviewed after three months of daily use

Disclosure first: the links here are affiliate links. I earn a commission and your price is unchanged. See the affiliate disclosure.

That does not buy a favourable write-up. The shortcomings are in the second half; skip ahead if that is what you came for.

Why I stopped using free nodes

Not because they were slow. Because they failed at the moments that mattered.

March: sending a client an 800 MB file. The node died at 80%. Re-sending took two hours and they waited overnight.

That was the third incident. The first two were a meeting that dropped halfway and a long AI conversation that vanished mid-answer.

The arithmetic: six months on free nodes averaged 30 minutes a week hunting, testing and swapping — two hours a month. The entry paid tier is ¥29, about four dollars.

Two hours a month to save four dollars is a bad trade at any hourly rate I would accept.

Full working: Do free nodes actually save money?

The plans

Three groups:

The multiplier, which you need to understand before buying

Different routes deduct at different rates:

• Standard nodes: 1× — 10 GB moved, 10 GB gone
• Optimised nodes, standard group: 2× — 10 GB moved, 20 GB gone
• Optimised nodes, premium group: 1.5×

So a "300 GB plan" is not 300 GB of use. Running exclusively on optimised routes in the standard group, it is 150.

Which tier

My advice: take the cheapest tier monthly for one month and measure your actual usage. Do not start with annual billing.

My first month on 300 GB came to roughly 180 GB with browsing, AI tools and some video. Heavy 4K viewing means starting at 600 GB or above.

Measurements

500 Mbps residential fibre, Windows 11, Clash Verge Rev, single node pinned.

Latency and throughput, Japanese route

The 21:30 row is the point. A free node measured 1.2 Mbps at the same minute. Side-by-side comparison: Free VPN vs paid service.

Stability

• 10-minute ping: 0.2% loss
• 12 hours connected, no drop
• Disconnects in 6 hours: 0

AI tools

Logged in first attempt. Three 800-word responses, all completed without breaking.

This is what I care about most; free nodes broke two out of three.

Streaming

Netflix and Disney+ play, 4K works. YouTube 4K is smooth.

Caveat: unblocking depends on the specific route, and not every node handles every platform. You cannot see this before signing up, since the route list is hidden from visitors.

What works

1. It holds at peak. That is the whole purchase. Every service looks good at noon; 8 to 11 pm is the test.

2. One subscription, every platform. Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and routers from a single link. Four devices in parallel here with no conflicts.

3. Prices are public. The full table is readable without an account, which is unusual — most providers make you register first.

4. Allowance resets on your purchase date, not the first of the month. Buying mid-month costs you nothing.

5. Support answers. Tickets and live chat both replied within half an hour during working hours; an overnight ticket was answered the next morning.

What does not

1. Visitors cannot see the route list.

Prices yes; which nodes exist, which protocols, what unblocks what — account required.

I understand not publishing node details. It still leaves you buying with incomplete information.

2. The traffic multiplier is under-emphasised.

The rule is documented, but behind a disclosure you have to open. Miss it and you will assume 300 GB means 300 GB.

I did, in month one, and ran out early.

3. The headline speeds are ceilings, not floors.

150 / 300 / 600 / 1000 Mbps are maximums, dependent on route and time. I measured around 200 Mbps on the Japanese route, not the 600 the tier advertises.

Standard practice across the industry, and the page does say "actual route determines this" — which is an admission in itself.

4. The custom tier is not self-service.

The ¥666 plan requires a ticket describing your use case first. Reasonable for a bespoke product, heavy for an individual.

5. The trial is hidden.

There is one — the address page offers new users 1 GB of Hong Kong trial data, valid for 24 hours.

You will not find it anywhere on luoboyun.app. I went looking for a trial on the main site, found nothing, and paid the ¥29. Only afterwards did I notice the landing page had one.

Sign up through the release page if you want to test first. A gigabyte over 24 hours is enough to run the full test — latency, throughput, packet loss — provided you do the 9 pm re-test.

Who it is not for

• Occasional lookups only — free nodes will do, see Free proxy nodes
• You need a dedicated IP — that means the ¥666 tier
• You will not buy without seeing the full route list — it is not shown to visitors
• Very tight budget — ¥29 is still money; exhaust the free options first

Getting started

1. Sign up via the release page and claim the 1 GB trial — 24 hours, enough to test properly
2. If it holds up, buy — monthly, entry tier, for the first month
3. Copy the subscription link from the dashboard
4. Import it: Clash Verge Rev setup or Shadowrocket setup
5. Run the full test from How to actually test a free node — including the 9 pm retest

If month one disappoints, you are out ¥29. That is an acceptable price for finding out.

To compare against other providers first, read how to choose one on protocol support, and do not decide on price alone.

Read next

• Free VPN vs paid service: seven measurements
• Do free nodes actually save money?
• SS vs VMess vs Trojan vs Hysteria2
• Free proxy nodes: where they come from