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It’s not easy to find a reliable free VPN, but these services do exist, as long as you know where to look. The issue is that countless free VPN providers have flooded the market, enticing users in with the promise of a high quality service without paying a cent! But our research suggests that this is rarely the case.
To help you make a safer, more informed decision, VPNOnlineFree.com’s experts have put together this guide on the best free VPNs – and the worst.
The Best Free VPNs: Detailed Comparison
In the list below, our privacy experts analyze each of their favorite free VPN providers in detail and explain why they made it into the top 5.
hide.me free offers fast speeds, a 10GB data allowance & 5 free servers hide.me is an awesome Malaysian VPN provider has an absolutely mind-blowing free service. Free users get access to servers in five locations – and they are all extremely useful for unblocking content (USA East, USA West, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Canada). Admittedly, if you require a server in a specific country you will need to try a different recommended fre VPN, but if these location suit you, then Hide.me is well worth installing. Free users also get a whopping 10 GB data allowance per month, with connection speeds of up to 80 Mbps. That means this free VPN can be used for streaming, video conferencing, and other data intensive tasks. When reviewing hide.me, we found this VPN to have a strong privacy policy, robust encryption, and loads of advanced VPN features. For this reason, we can strongly recommend hide.me as free VPN. Windscribe free offers a mammoth 10GBs per month & 10 free servers Windscribe has always been one of our favorite free VPNs. Compared to some other free services, Windscribe gives more– 10GB data allowance per month! This is pretty amazing because Windscribe is actually trying to encourage people to buy its premium service. What’s more, this VPN has strong encryption and keeps zero logs – making it fantastic for privacy. With unlimited simultaneous connections permitted, this VPN is truly outstanding. ProtonVPN free is unlimited in usage, has decent speeds & offers 3 free servers ProtonVPN is a superb service by the developers of Proton Mail. It is a secure and the only service on the list that is a truly free and unlimited VPN. However, speeds are capped and get even slower when the free servers are congested (which is often because it is highly popular). On the other hand, ProtonVPN is a useful service ideal for avoiding censorship and accessing restricted content. Free users get access to servers in the Netherlands, Japan, and the USA. Well worth installing if you need a slowish free VPN. TunneBear free offers limited usage but a quality service with 19 free servers TunnelBear VPN is a free service that constantly impresses people. This VPN is super-secure and even opened up its software to a third-party analysis last year. The outcome? Security researchers found the VPN to be secure and reliable. It also keeps no logs. Unfortunately, The service is restricted to just 500MB per month. Despite this, it is brilliant for locations with severe censorship and where privacy is essential. It is perfect for securely unblocking news. Hotspot Shield free offers an extensive server network for free users Hotspot Shield is an awesome free VPN that has helped millions of people in their time of need. It was the most used VPN during the Turkey coup and the Arab Spring. Users get free access not only to the VPN but also a Chrome extension. The free service permits connections to the US only, but the extension permits connections to 14 countries (but not the US). The result is that Hotspot Shield users can unblock content in 15 countries for free! What’s more, Hotspot Shield’s free plan lets people have 500MB of download use per day. That is a massive usage allowance considering it is free.1. Hide.me
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2. Windscribe
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3. ProtonVPN
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4. TunnelBear
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5. Hotspot Shield
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Why are these the best free VPNs?
The VPNs in the list above were selected by VPNOnlineFree.com’s experts, who carefully reviewed every free VPN they could get their hands on. All of the VPNs we recommend are transparent about how they handle user data. They also provide up-to-date encryption that can be trusted to protect your privacy and hide your internet activity at all times.
During our research, we considered the following attributes:
- Encryption availability and implementation
- Privacy policy and data handling
- Server locations and availability
- VPN speeds and performance levels
- Reputation and history
- Relationships with third parties such as advertising and marketing firms
All the free VPNs that we selected for you offer a plan that is completely free. None of them require you to hand over your credit card details to download and use their service.
For more information, check out our free VPNs explained video:
How Does A Free VPN Work? | TunnelBear, Hotspot Shield & More | ProPri…
Are free VPNs safe?
There is a lot of negative press when it comes to free VPNs. Most comparison sites urge consumers to stay away from them. At VPNOnlineFree, we also used to primarily dissuade people from using free services (and we still recommend being extremely careful when picking a free VPN). That's because there are a lot of terrible free VPNs out there that take advantage of their users' data for their own gains. About 95% of the free VPNs available on the market are either useless or even dangerous.
The providers on this page offer genuinely excellent, safe and free services.
The benefits of free VPNs
A free VPN is a useful tool for people who need access to online information or websites that are blocked. They are not as robust as a premium VPN, meaning they cannot handle data intensive tasks. But, if you are just after extra privacy and security when surfing the web, a free VPN can be a great help.
What can a free VPN be used for?
A free VPN can:
- Access blocked news websites
- Get enhanced security on public Wi-Fi
- Most free VPNs offer multi-platform support including VPN apps for Android and iOS VPNs
- Access websites from foreign countries (bypass geo-restrictions)
- Access apps that are blocked on your local app stores (such as the Google Play store)
- Protects your login and passwords
- Stop cybercriminals stealing your credit card details
- Protect against the KRACK vulnerability
- Stop your ISP and the government, from keeping tabs on what you do online.
In addition to this, when you travel overseas for business or pleasure, a VPN will let you access websites from back home and allow you to:
- Use online banking services that are restricted to your home country
- Log in to online services that are only available in your home country
- Watch regionally restricted online TV channels while you are on vacation
Free VPN restrictions and limitations
It's important to know that free VPN services come with certain limitations compared to their premium cousins. This is because the trustworthy free VPN plans we recommend in this article are designed to tempt users into eventually upgrading to a paid (unrestricted) subscription.
But, as long as you are aware of these differences between the two offerings, a free VPN can be a hugely powerful and useful tool – both on mobile and desktop.
So, let's look at some of the trade-offs with a free service. A free VPN service will:
- Cap the amount of data you are allowed to download via the VPN
- Limit the bandwidth (connection speed) making your internet too slow to stream, etc
- Only provide access to a few server locations (that many people use and become congested – causing more connection speed problems)
- Limit what you can do with the VPN ( cannot unblock Netflix and disallows torrenting)
- May not provide full customer support because you are a free user
Free VPNs that you should avoid
If you use one of VPNOnlineFree.com’s recommended free virtual private networks, you do not need to worry about privacy and online security. But this is not true of every free provider.
During our research for this page, we scoured the policy terms of all the free providers we could get our hands on – and we're shocked by some.
Here are some free VPNs that you should avoid at all costs.
| VPN | Why avoid? | Extra info |
|---|---|---|
| Hola | Can sell data to third parties* Shares emails with marketing partners. Sells traffic data to sister firm. Shared anonymized data to third parties. | Fraudulently steals & resells user bandwidth through sister company Luminati. DNS and WebRTC leaks detected. |
| Betternet | Can sell data to third parties.* Allows advertisers to cookie users' browsers. Displays targeted advertising. Parent firm can access all data. | Lets advertisers track and log user data. IP Leak in Chrome browser extension. Contains 14 tracking libraries in total (according to CSIRO report). |
| Psiphon | Can sell data to third parties.* Allows ad partners to track users. Displays targeted advertising. | Shares data with their advertising partners. Shares data with third-party affiliates and partners. Shares all data with parent company. |
| HoxxVPN | Can sell data to third parties.* Isn't a VPN (it's a ShadowScos proxy service). DNS and WebRTC leaks. Tracks user activities and works with authorities. | Keeps logs and sells them to third-party partners. Shares data with third-party affiliates and partners. |
| SuperVPN | Willing to disclose information to authorities. Reports of it being infected with malware. Tracks user activities and works with authorities. | Extensive access to user's sensitive information. Stores session logs in the UK and US. |
| ArchieVPN | Reports of being heavily infested with malware. | Performs real-time analysis (claims this is for troubleshooting only). |
| Onavo Project | Can sell data to third parties.* Uses user info for advertising and marketing. Displays ads to users. | Belongs to Facebook. Shares and sells user data with third parties. |
| HatVPN | Has no available privacy policy. Reports of being heavily infested with malware. Invasive app permissions | Could be doing anything they want with user data. Developed and based in China. |
| VPN by Apalon | Invasive app permissions. Shares data with third parties for marketing purposes. | Displays ads. In-app purchases. |
| Private Pipe VPN | Shares data with affiliate partners. Displays targeted ads on websites. | Confusing privacy policy (claims no logs, but contradicts this claim). |
| Tuxler VPN | Can sell data to third parties*. Uses logs to target ads at users. | Shares user browsing data with advertising firms. |
| GO VPN | Can sell data to third parties*. Admits to using customer data to build out their database. Displays targeted ads through the platform. | Belongs to Chinese firm Talking Data. Willing to sell usage logs to third parties and partners. Extremely invasive app permissions. |
| Hexatech | Can sell data to third parties*. Allows advertisers to track and log user data. Advertisers can access user data whenever they want. | Created by Betternet (belongs to a marketing firm). Displays ads to users. |
| TouchVPN | Can sell data to third parties*. Adds Cookies, Pixel Tags and Web Beacons to user browsers. | Shares anonymous data with third parties. |
| Faceless.me | Doesn't work. The privacy policy is too ambiguous to be taken seriously. | Has no support if you have concerns or questions. |
| FinchVPN | Can sell data to third parties*. Reports of being heavily infested with malware. | N/A |
| Cross VPN | Reports of being heavily infested with malware. | N/A |
| VPN OneClick Free | Reports of being heavily infested with malware. Outdated PPTP encryption on Android. | Based in the UAE. |
| Flash Free VPN | Invasive app permissions. | Uses 11 third-party tracking libraries. |
| Fast Secure Payment VPN | Reports of being heavily infested with malware. | N/A |
| sFly Network Booster | Reports of being heavily infested with malware. | N/A |
| IP-Shield VPN | Contains third-party tracking software. | N/A |
| WiFi Protector VPN | Uses 5 tracking libraries. | N/A |
| TigerVPNs | Fraudulently steals and resells users bandwidth. | N/A |
| Private WiFi | Appears to have poor or no encryption. | N/A |
*according to the privacy policy
How a free VPN works
The free VPN app connects your device (such as a PC, Mac or smartphone) to a server run by the VPN provider. All data that travels between your device and the VPN server is encrypted to ensure that no-one else can see it. The VPN server acts as a gateway to the internet, and all your internet data is routed through it. As a result, your real location is concealed, and you can pretend to be elsewhere.
If you're new to VPNs, you can get up to speed quickly with our handy guides for beginners:
Free VPN servers
Some providers advertise connections to free VPN servers. This is to differentiate between the number of servers available on the premium (paid) plans and the free plan. Some VPNs that offer a free plan restrict access to free users to only a smaller selection of free servers. For all intents and purposes, however, a VPN with free servers is exactly the same as a “free VPN”.
FAQs
Can I get a free VPN for Android or iPhone?
Can I use a free VPN for unblocking Netflix and other streaming sites?
No. Free VPNs lack both the ability to unblock netflix and other streaming sites and the speed to steam content reliably. If this is your goal, we would recommend using a cheap VPN service instead. Just make sure it works with your desired streaming service.
Can I sign up to a free VPN anonymously?
Most free VPNs will not require any details from you. However, if you are asked to create an account you can sign up using a fake name and a ”burner” email. This will give you more anonymity when you use the VPN. However, the VPN provider will know your real IP address; which can be tied to you. This is why it is important to subscribe to a trusted free VPN with a strong privacy policy (like the ones in this guide).
Are there any free VPNs that support Linux?
Yes. Some VPNs we have recommended provide setup guides for getting the VPN working on Linux. So, if you need a free Linux VPN – this article has you covered.
Will a free VPN work in China?
China actively blocks VPN services, which means that getting hold of a free VPN can be tricky. However, if you can access the website and download the software, you will be able to use a free VPN in China. If you download and install one of the VPNs in this guide before going to China, you will be able to use the free VPN when you go to China. Alternatively, if you are already in the country, then you can request a direct download from the VPN provider, and they might just be able to help. For more details on this topic, check out our China VPN article.
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