What Is a Free VPN?
A free Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an online service that allows people to unblock websites. In addition, reliable and trusted free VPNs provide privacy and security for their users. Although there are many complimentary VPN services on the market, it is really important only to use certain costless VPN services.
If you’re looking for the best free VPN software, then you still require a service that provides privacy and security. A VPN without those things is like an umbrella that is full of holes. That’s why we’ve created this list of the five best free VPNs. Now, you can quickly find VPNs that are free, protect your digital privacy AND allow you to unblock anything.
A free VPN allows you to conceal your real IP address from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the government. This means you can overcome local censorship and do so without anybody knowing.
A VPN is also awesome for entertainment purposes because it lets you unblock online services and streams from all over the world. What’s more, a VPN’s privacy means you can even access pirated content if you want.
The Best Free VPN Services in 2017
1. TunnelBear
PROS:
- Simple setup, incredibly easy to use
- Excellent encryption
- Can connect up to 5 devices
- 500MB of free data every month
CONS:
- No peer-to-peer (P2P)
- Few advanced settings
- Usage capped
TunnelBear VPN is a free service that constantly impresses people. This VPN is super secure and even opened up its software to third-party analysis this year! The outcome? Security researchers found the VPN to be secure and reliable. It also keeps no logs. The service is restricted to just 500 Mb per month. Despite this, it is brilliant for people who need a VPN in locations with severe censorship and where privacy is essential. It is perfect for securely unblocking news, for example.
TunnelBear has plenty of server locations to choose from, located in 20 countries. Free users may use all of the servers that it offers apart from Australia. This makes it great for unblocking a whole range of websites and services. Having said that, because of the data limit it will be difficult to do much streaming with this VPN company. One of the best VPN providers around and one of the most secure services you will find for free! Finally, this VPN provides fantastic speeds.
2. hide.Me
PROS:
- Strong encryption
- Servers in 3 countries
- Zero logs
- Superb privacy policy
- Highly experienced customer care
CONS:
- Limited to 2GB per month
This awesome Malaysian VPN provider has an excellent free service. Although users are limited to just three server locations (Singapore, the Netherlands, and Canada), users get a whopping 2 Gb per month of free use with this VPN company. That’s a very reasonable allowance, and because of the fast speeds that this VPN provides, we think this is an excellent choice for people who want a complimentary VPN service.
Sadly, the lack of server locations means that it isn’t as good for unblocking content from all over the world. If you need US or UK servers, or those in other locations, please look elsewhere. On the plus side, this VPN has a strong privacy policy and provides robust encryption to keep your data secure. It is also available on all popular platforms. As such, this VPN is ideal for protecting your privacy both at home and on public WiFi. With one of the best data caps we’ve seen, we definitely recommend this service!
3. ProtonVPN
PROS:
- Fast connections
- Excellent encryption for privacy
- Lots of features
- P2P: yes
- No logs
CONS:
- Fewer server locations
ProtonVPN is a service created by the developers of the secure email service Proton Mail. It is a brand new service that has really impressed us. Encryption is strong and it has a zero logs policy. That makes it exceptional for privacy, especially for a free VPN. This VPN also has no limitations, so if you want a free VPN you can use all the time it is a great option.
As with all free things, there are some drawbacks. For free users get access only to servers in three countries. So if unblocking in particular countries is needed, this VPN might not be the ticket. Overall this free service is blinding.
4. Windscribe
PROS:
- Strong encryption
- Great privacy policy
- Easy to use
- Perfect for beginners
- High transparency
CONS:
- Limited support options
- Usage capped
Windscribe is one of the only free services that will allow you to stream video content. That’s due to its massive 10 Gb monthly usage limit. For a free service, that’s pretty mind-blowing. We love this VPN because, as well as being free, it’s easy to use and is available on all popular platforms. Privacy is excellent on this VPN thanks to strong encryption and the VPN company has a fantastic no logs policy.
Users can connect to eight out of 50 locations and may use the VPN on unlimited devices. The free version even has stealth mode, which makes this the best free VPN for China. This VPN sometimes suffers some complaints about its support team being rude, which is why it is down in fourth. Having said that, it truly is superb and considering it is free, it’s well worth a try!
5. GOOSE VPN
PROS:
- 30 day unlimited VPN use for free
- Servers in 22 countries
- Strong encryption
- Can be used on unlimited devices
- Reasonable speeds
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- Select a VPN service from this article and click the link to its website.
- Subscribe and get the free VPN download that you need.
- Follow the instructions and install the free VPN software onto your device.
- Run the app and choose the encryption option you want. We recommend OpenVPN, as it is the most robust.
- Select a VPN server address in the location that you would like to pretend to be and click Connect.
Once the VPN connection is established, the software will let you know. As soon as it connects, you can access any censored or geo-restricted content securely.
What to Look for and What to Avoid with Free VPNs
If a free VPN isn’t being provided by a firm that also has a premium service, you may need to think twice about getting it. Even some free VPNs that do offer a premium service have very dangerous privacy policies.
The VPNs in this guide are provided for free as a loss-leader. They aim to hook people into purchasing a full subscription. That’s why their service has either a bandwidth limit or a download limit.
Why You Should Stay Away from Betternet and Hotspot Shield
These VPNs both belong to a company called Anchor Free, and they both have very dodgy practices. They have been found injecting unwanted scripts onto people’s machines in order to serve adverts. In addition, their policies allow them to sell data to third parties. In fact, a privacy advocacy group in the US has filed a complaint about Hotspot Shield with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Providing a VPN service is technical, expensive, and time consuming. For this reason, if any VPN is offering the service for free, ask yourself: How is this VPN making money?
If you can’t figure out the answer then the VPN is probably collecting, retaining, and selling your data to third parties. A leaky VPN is a useless VPN (just like apps that ask for too many permissions are a huge security risk).A Free VPN For Your Needs
Everyone wants a VPN for different reasons. In this section, we address the most common needs for a free service. The free services in this list are by far the best ones available in 2017 (we know because we constantly analyze this list and update it). However, each VPN will be better for some things than others, so please check this section so you know what to look for in the free VPN summaries.
A Free VPN for Streaming Netflix
If you want a free VPN for Netflix you are sadly out of luck. Netflix cracks down hard on servers belonging to VPNs, so only the very best premium VPN services can unblock Netflix. If you want to access US Netflix then check out our best VPNs for unblocking Netflix. You’ll be happy to find out that some are very, very cheap!
A Free VPN for iPlayer and Other Services
BBC iPlayer is another online service that actively restricts VPNs. Although many free services don’t unblock iPlayer, most of the VPNs on this list do! Tunnelbear will unblock it. However, hide.me won’t because the free version doesn’t have a UK server (the free plan only includes Canada, the Netherlands, and Singapore).
Most other TV streaming services, including the awesome US cable TV subscription service SlingTV, don’t block VPNs. Thus these free services will unblock them. The same goes for TV streams from around the globe. As such, if you want a free VPN for Australia, free VPN for Brazil, or free VPN for TV streams from elsewhere in the world, these VPNs are perfect!
A Free VPN for Torrenting and Peer-to-peer (P2P) Filesharing on BitTorrent
Although most of the VPNs in our guide do permit P2P, getting a free VPN for torrenting is not really plausible.
Most people want a torrent-friendly free VPN to keep them secure (by concealing their IP address from other users on the peer). The free services that we recommend will do that, because we’ve only recommended VPNs that don’t skimp on privacy. However, trusted free VPNs tend to impose bandwidth or download limits that make torrenting a less than enjoyable experience.
For torrenting securely please check out our list of the top five VPNs for torrenting. The VPNs in the link all provide a money-back guarantee – which means that you can use them to torrent for free (unlimited bandwidth and no download limits).
A Free VPN for Windows Desktop PCs and Laptops
If you came here wondering what the best free VPN for Windows 10 (or Windows 7 or 8) is, then the good news is that all of the VPNs in this article will work perfectly.
Any free VPN for PC in this article will keep your data secure and allow you to unblock content. It is also worth keeping in mind that if you require bigger download limits, the VPNs on our best five VPNs for Windows 7 & 10 have money-back guarantees. That means you can test them as much as you like for up to 30 days.
A Free VPN for Apple Macs and MacBooks
Finding the best free VPN app for Mac isn’t as easy as for other platforms. The good news is that all of the VPNs in this guide will work on Mac, even if you have to connect using the third party free OpenVPN Connect software. For much more info on using a VPN on Mac OS X please check out our best five VPNs for Mac OS list.
A Free VPN for Android and iOS Mobile Phones and Tablets
If you’re looking for a free VPN app for Android or a free VPN for iOS (free VPN for iPhone) then you’ve come to the right place. The free VPNs in this article work on both of those platforms. Simply follow the link in the table above to get access to the free VPN app download.
One thing to bear in mind is that a free Android VPN will most likely give you the option to run OpenVPN encryption. A free iOS VPN, on the other hand, will most likely run on Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)/Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) or Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2). For people who want a more in-depth look at VPN encryption and what it all means, check out our ultimate guide to online privacy.
A Free VPN for Kodi
Many people want to know what the best free VPN for Kodi is so that they can use a free Kodi VPN for streaming in HD. Sadly, finding a reliable free service for unblocking on Kodi is close to impossible. The same goes for people looking for a free VPN for Kodi Fire Stick.
Our recommended VPNs will work but they require some setup and will be hugely restrictive because of bandwidth/download limitations.
If you really have your heart set on unblocking content on your Kodi box, we strongly recommend reading our Using Kodi with a VPN guide.
A Free VPN for Gaming
So you want a free gaming VPN? Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that all the free services in this article work for gaming. The bad news is that even the best free VPN for gaming probably won’t be good enough to really enjoy the experience. Gaming requires a lot of bandwidth and a free high-speed VPN is not an easy thing to find.
For this reason, people who want to use a free VPN for online gaming will probably need to use the money-back guarantee on one of the VPNs in this article instead.
A Free VPN for Popcorn Time
If you came to this article by searching for “Popcorn Time VPN free,” you’ll be happy to know that any of the VPNs in this article will work fine for using Popcorn Time securely.
All of these VPNs have strong encryption and watertight privacy policies, unlike most of the free services that are on the market. However, due to the fact that streaming is so data intensive, you may want to use a 30-day money-back guarantee for Popcorn Time instead of a free Popcorn Time VPN.
A Free VPN for Sports
If you want a free service to unblock a sports competition that is geo-restricted, then any of the VPNs apart from hide.me will work. Hide.me restricts the free service to servers in Canada, the Netherlands, and Singapore. So unless the competition is in one of those countries, please use a VPN with a server where you need it! For a more in depth look at unblocking sport with a VPN, please take a look at our best VPNs for sport.
Free VPNs: Conclusion
In this article, we’ve described everything you might need to know about using a free Virtual Private Network. These free services are at the top of their game. They provide a VPN service for free without skimping on privacy.
Most free VPNs make a profit from their subscribers by harvesting their web browsing habits to sell to third parties. This is exactly the opposite of what a VPN should do.
All of the VPNs in this article have secure privacy policies and strong encryption to keep your data private. However, each VPN does offer slightly different features and restrictions on its free service. As such, please take a good look at the provider summaries in order to make the best decision for your needs.
Finally, remember that these services are free – so if you want to use all of them, go right ahead! Also you should use research paper and report writing even without using any VPN services.
BEST FREE VPN SERVICES IN THE WEB 