If the only reason you want a best free vpn download is to have a little more protection on your laptop or mobile when utilizing public Wi-Fi every now and then, a freeware would suffice. And, with more people needing to work safely and keep amused at home, it’s no surprise that the number of best free vpn download users is expanding.
On this page, we’ve compiled a list of the greatest solutions accessible for download right now. We evaluated the capabilities of the best free vpn online to determine which will keep your online activities private without cost. Although ExpressVPN is our favorite premium VPN provider in the world, the best Free VPN online at the time is ProtonVPN, as we explain below.
But, if Free VPN online are so useful, how come, according to our recent survey, less than half of consumers prefer a freebie over a paid-for service? That’s because they do have limitations, and you should be aware of them because they could drastically limit what you were intending to achieve with your best free vpn download…
The Issues with Best Free VPN
best free vpn services may be free, but there is generally a reason for that: it means the provider will make a profit in some other way, either through invasive advertising or by selling your browser data to third-parties (rather defeating the whole drive for privacy in the first place).
Furthermore, free services tend to limit the amount of data you can use and the speed at which you can use it, making them completely useless for streaming video, torrenting, or providing an extra layer of dependable protection in your day-to-day online life. Also, don’t expect the kind of simple access support or server range that commercial providers provide.
So, before we go into our list of the best free vpn downloads, it’s worth noting that a paid-for version can cost as little as $2/£2 per month and provide significantly greater performance and protection.
We have reviewed over 200 VPN companies, both free and paid, and our current top suggestion is Express VPN free. Given the risks of utilizing free VPNs, we believe the price is well worth it; additionally, it comes with a no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee.
Even if you don’t know much about virtual private networks, you’ve probably heard of NordVPN free trial It advertises on television, supports sports teams, and has been a market leader for almost seven years. Nord isn’t nearly at the top of the list right now, but it’s still a wonderful service that only $3.30 each month.
Is it still too expensive? Then Surfshark VPN free is the place to be. It’s a wonderful, premium choice that’s amazingly simple to use and has become a TechRadar favorite, starting at just $2.49 USD per month. It provides the majority of the same features as the other top providers, but at a lower cost.
The best free VPN for 2021:
1. ProtonVPN Free
Our best ProtonVPN free download – get unlimited internet without spending a dime.
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux | 3 server countries | Unlimited data | No live chat support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
ProtonVPN
- ProtonVPN offers a free website visit.
- There are no monthly data limits!
- Surprisingly extensive feature set
- Excellent for privacy Speed throttling Limited support
ProtonVPN has moved to the top of our list of free VPN providers. While the fact that there are no limits on the amount of data you can use with your VPN is definitely the standout feature, there’s a lot more to like.
But it would be remiss of us not to start with that top selling point. ProtonVPN does not impose any data limits.
In other words, you can use as much bandwidth as you like each month, which is unusual for a free VPN company (as you’ll see below with the others on this guide).
The free version of this service has servers in three countries: the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. Of course, there are clients for Windows and Mac, as well as apps for Android and iPhone. We like the option to enable automatic connections when you boot up your computer on the desktop. There are also some odd features for a freeware, such as split-tunnelling and DNS leak protection.
There are, of course, limitations to the free plan in order to encourage users to upgrade to a paid-for option. The most apparent difference, in our opinion, is that free users are given lower priority when it comes to performance as compared to paid customers. There is no P2P support, and speeds may degrade during peak periods when there are a lot of people around, with paying customers getting preference. And Proton makes it plain that if you want to use your VPN for streaming, you must upgrade to the Plus rate.
However, if you can live with all of that, this is an outstanding provider with a rigorous no-logging policy, and you can sign up with nothing more than your email address and a username of your choice. There are no advertisements on the website, let alone the client.
– Visit the ProtonVPN website to get today’s finest free VPN.
You are required by Techvibe!
We’re investigating how our readers use VPNs in order to improve our coverage and ensure we’re providing the best recommendations. We’d love to know what you think in the survey below. It will only take 60 seconds of your time.
2. Hotspot Shield Free VPN
Freebie that is simple to use and will get you up and running in no time.
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS | 1 server available | 500MB data restriction per day | No live chat support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Free Hotspot Shield Visit Siteat Hotspot Shield
- The majority of the premium version’s features
- Easy-to-use
- Setup is simple.
- There is only one server, which may cause stability concerns.
The premium version of Hotspot Shield is one of the best paid-for services on the market, and it ranks towards the top of our list of the fastest Hotspot Shield free VPN for PC. It’s no surprise, then, that its free option is so popular.
The free plan limits users to 500MB of data each day (so around 15GB per month). That may appear to be a restricted limit, but in comparison to one or two on our list, it is actually one of the more generous ones (although, of course, not a patch on the unlimited data you get with paid-for services).
If security is your primary concern, Hotspot is on the same wavelength, promising the same’military-grade encryption’ that other premium VPNs boast. In addition to security, Hotspot Shield Free received high marks in our testing for its ease of use. You won’t find the hair-pulling user experience given by certain competitors, whether on mobile or on desktop.
We’ve seen the odd problem with the free Hotspot Shield download in the past. When Hotspot was turned on for a few weeks in the beginning of 2021, it completely disabled the ability to search on Google. All we got was an error, despite the fact that we attempted it from a range of places and devices. Thankfully, this problem looks to have been resolved.
If you pay $2.50 per month for the Premium version of Hotspot, you can anchor yourself to one of 70-odd countries and solve the Google issue, and this should allow you to access just about anything you want; in the free version, you’re limited to one US-based location that Hotspot Shield chooses for you, and you’ll have to put up with ads if you’re using Android, and speed is limited to 10Mbps.
3. Windscribe free
Super safe, with a large data cap
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux | 11 server countries | Data limit: 2-10GB per month | No live chat support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Excellent privacy policies
- Simple to set up and utilize
- It also works with Netflix.
- The speeds are not always uniform.
- A standard 2GB of data per month isn’t much.
Windscribe’s employees are fiercely and passionately proud of their free VPN service… and why shouldn’t they be?
Because of its huge data allowance and commitment to protecting your privacy, it’s a really strong alternative.
As normal, you get 2GB of bandwidth each month, which isn’t much. However, if you’re willing to provide Windscribe your email address, you can quickly upgrade to a more manageable 10GB. The free version allows you to choose from 11 remote server locations, including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Germany, Canada, Turkey, and eight US VPN cities (at the time of writing). Because this is a ‘freemium’ model, there are some light nudges to sign up for the unlimited version if you enjoy what you see, but the upselling isn’t too annoying or aggressive.
It’s simple to get started with its desktop clients or incredibly handy Chrome extension – you’ll be jumping around the world on various servers in no time.
We don’t expect Windscribe VPN extension to enable us circumvent region restrictions on applications, websites, and streaming services. So we were ecstatic when Windscribe went above and above in our Netflix VPN testing. Unlike most others, it provided us with full access to exclusive content in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom (as well as to BBC iPlayer in the latter). Of course, the data limit will prevent you from bingeing excessively, but it’s useful to know for the occasional program while traveling or commuting.
Windscribe does not save connection logs, IP addresses, or visited websites; when you are actively connected to a server, it records your username, the server you are connected to, and the amount of data exchanged, but this information is wiped three minutes after the session ends. If that isn’t enough to entice you, there’s also an adblocker, malware protection, and firewall built in.
But first, a word about speed. Windscribe was less stable than some competitors, and it took a while to connect to a server at times. But, in the larger scheme of things, they’re small quibbles… did we mention it was free?
4. TunnelBear
With ease, you can protect your identity.
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS | Server countries: 20+ | Monthly data limit: 500MB | 24/7 live chat support: Yes
TunnelBear Free Visit SitetunnelBear Free Visit SitetunnelBear Free Visit Sitet
- Very simple to use
- Both mobile and desktop clients are supported.
- Good speeds
- a meager data limit
- There aren’t many options or settings.
TunnelBear may have a cutesy aesthetic, but it’s a serious free option, especially now that it’s been acquired by security behemoth McAfee. There are both free and paid subscriptions available.
The main limitation of the free plan is that you are only allowed 500MB of traffic per month. That is a teeny-tiny amount, which means you can only use it when you feel like you need a little extra protection and want to go the free route. You won’t be able to keep it on all the time, and you won’t be able to use it for torrenting or streaming. Obviously, using a service like ExpressVPN or NordVPN eliminates this issue totally.
But, at the very least, the free version does not restrict you to a subset of the premium service’s available servers, allowing you to access all 20+ countries. And TunnelBear recently tweaked its privacy policy so that it now gathers even less data on users – deleting the requirement to provide a first name when signing up and abandoning its record of the user’s total lifetime connections.
5. Speedify
Secure, fast, and with a large number of servers
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux | Servers available: 50+ | Monthly data limit: 2GB | 24/7 live chat support: No
Visit Siteat Speedify for Free
- Ingenious performance-enhancing technology
- Excellent in terms of privacy.
- There are few low-level controllers in software.
As the name implies, Speedify’s major goal as a best free vpn provider is to ensure that, while you benefit from encryption, your internet connection remains as fast as possible. To that aim, this service will utilise all available internet connections to provide the highest possible performance, possibly combining an Ethernet connection (fixed broadband) with a tethered mobile connection. Even if you just have one sort of internet connection, the company promises its turbocharging technology will help you get things done faster.
The free plan provides full access to those servers (as do the subscription plans), with the sole constraint being a limit on the quantity of data you can download. Each month, free users receive 2GB of data. That’s not a lot, and it’s certainly not as much as some of the other competitors you’ll see elsewhere on this page, but it’s more than others, and it’s still plenty for some basic surfing and emailing.
And this service is definitely worth a look in terms of performance, as the aforementioned speed-granting methods did indeed seem to have a favorable influence throughout our testing.
6. Hide.me
With this privacy-conscious service, you’re on the run from something.
Supported platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS | Servers available: 5 | Monthly data limit: 10GB | 24/7 live chat support: Yes
Hide.me
- Hide.me is a free site to visit.
- Strong in terms of privacy
- There will be no advertisements or speed limiting, and you will only be able to use one device.
Hide.me provides both commercial and best free vpn services, with the latter providing 10GB of data per month. There are additional restrictions as well: you can only connect one device at a time and are limited to five server locations (including the US and a Canada VPN) rather than the 50+ destinations available to premium customers.
On the plus side, this provider will not throttle the connection speed of free users, and Hide.me says that it keeps no logs and stores no user data, thus it will not pass on any data to third-parties in order to make a profit (due to a lack of data to pass on). There are no advertisements here, either, and it even supports P2P on its five best free vpn servers.
You get native software for Windows PC and Mac, Android and iOS, as well as intelligently designed clients and 24/7 technical support (which is in place even for free users). In our testing, performance was also remarkable.
Overall, this is a more-than-solid free product that aims to protect your privacy without imposing too many limits.
Is it worthwhile to acquire a free VPN?
To be honest, there isn’t a simple answer to this issue. It all depends on how you intend to utilize your best free vpn. They can be just the thing if you want to have a little extra protection on your laptop or mobile device when utilizing public Wi-Fi. Join the service, enable an encrypted server connection, and go about your online business safe in the confidence that no prying eyes will be able to read your personal information.
However, if your primary goal is to utilize a VPN for streaming, or to download gigabytes of torrent files, a free VPN isn’t going to cut it. For starters, most of them limit you to a daily or monthly data allocation that you’ll quickly deplete. While most lack the type of easy access support or server range required to make those tasks simple using a virtual private network.
5 Must-Ask Questions When Choosing a Free VPN
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in worldwide challenges to individual privacy, with long-held rights to anonymity and net neutrality being challenged under the guise of legitimacy.
While virtual private networks are not a panacea for online safety, security, and privacy, they are an important tool in the arsenal of those who desire these liberties.
If you don’t already have one, you can get one for free, without having to pay a dime. However, keep in mind that not all free vpn for windows providers are made equal, and some may potentially jeopardize your security.
Here are five questions to ask yourself before downloading and installing one.
1. What is the company’s business model? Providers are in it for the money, and running such a business is expensive, especially if it is popular. Some, like Dropbox, will utilize their free version as a marketing tactic to attract potential consumers to upgrade to a paid version after they are satisfied with the free one. Most, on the other hand, will sell user data or provide anything to a third party, jeopardizing your privacy yet again.
2. How does it safeguard my computer? Most providers encrypt your data while you surf the web using a desktop application that runs in the background. However, this just addresses a portion of the issue. Because of the permissiveness of tracking solutions that can be found on practically all pages online, your laptop can still be fingerprinted. Some, such as Windscribe, take a more comprehensive approach by incorporating the equivalent of a super ad-blocker.
3. What am I giving up by becoming free? Typically, a free product will have some corners cut, and this is true for all providers. Some provide more free bandwidth than others, as well as significant locations and even ad filtering, P2P, and firewall with an easy paid upgrade route that unlocks infinite bandwidth, more locations, and OpenVPN configurations.
4. Does your service provider keep any records? Ensure that your service provider does not save your users’ online behavior. You may normally find this information on the terms and conditions page or in the end user licensing agreement, abbreviated as EULA. Unfortunately, many providers prefer to irritate end customers with lengthy terms and conditions or privacy statements that frequently conceal important information about how they work. On the opposite end of the spectrum, providers will delete everything when your session has ended and will not store records.
5. Is it possible to sign up fully anonymously? For optimum privacy, having a service that you can subscribe to without providing an email address and one that accepts Bitcoin payments is about as good as it gets online.
Some providers additionally feature double hopping, which allows you to further disguise your data by essentially doubling down on anonymity.
Are free VPNs risky?
While the biggest criticism leveled towards free vpn for windows is that they aren’t nearly as useful as paid-for options, there are serious risks associated with some proponents (thankfully not with the services pinpointed above).
For example, a 2021 study found that over 40% of free Android VPNs offered on the Google Play Store do not adequately safeguard their users’ privacy. As a result, the additional online security you expected simply does not exist.
How to Get a Premium Free VPN
Still unsure about whether to go with a free vpn for windows or a premium paid-for option? There may be a perfect compromise, as almost all of the world’s greatest providers allow you to try them risk-free and at no expense. Our comprehensive guide to the top VPN free trials will assist you in locating one and getting started.
There are a few familiar names named there. ExpressVPN, our number one preferred service in the world, is at the top of the list, and you can test it for free for 30 days. While the news gets even better with companies like Hotspot Shield, where the money-back guarantee lasts up to 45 days.
It’s worth noting that you must pay for these services up advance. However, they take pleasure in making the money back process as simple as possible, allowing you to obtain a complete refund online with no hassle.
More information is available at:
So, what exactly is a VPN?
- Do you require one for your smartphone? Check out the best iPhone VPNs and Android VPNs.
- Which is superior? NordVPN vs. ExpressVPN