If you’re strapped for cash, you can still use a VPN to improve your online privacy. Here’s everything you need to know about the best free VPN services we’ve tested.
1.PrivadoVPN
VPNs are great for security, but many free VPNs aren’t so great when it comes to speed. In fact, many of them impose speed limits when you connect to their servers. With speed limits, even with only a 1 Gbps Internet connection, your browsing speed will be limited to as low as 2 Mbps. This is not ideal, which is why we chose PrivadoVPN as our first choice. It offers excellent security and privacy features, while the free VPN provides unlimited speeds. Our 50 Mbps Internet connection reads 34 Mbps when connected to Privado, which we would say is the normal speed drop when connecting to a VPN. Not bad, not bad at all.
Whether we were using PrivadoVPN on a laptop or a mobile device, the software proved easy to use. You don’t have to struggle to connect, and the most important VPN features are all neatly arranged under one tab. It even gives you the option to switch VPN protocols between OpenVPN, Wireguard and IKEv2, which is not usually seen in free VPNs. Finally, the software’s main screen displays the amount of data you have left in your monthly data allowance so you can budget your 10 GB monthly allotment.
PrivadoVPN is located in Switzerland, a country with strict privacy laws. There is no strict data retention policy there, which means that PrivadoVPN does not need to retain usage data. In fact, Privado does not store any usage data as part of its no-logging policy. Most importantly, Privado uses best-in-class encryption in 256-bit AES, and in addition, it has a termination switch that protects the user’s privacy in case of sudden network loss.
2. Windscribe VPN
Windscribe is definitely the best free VPN service without any hidden fees or shady practices. These services offer 10 server locations on their free version.
Its free version provides 10 GB of data per month. To receive 10 GB of data, you must register with an email address. Otherwise, you will only get 2 GB of bandwidth per month. In addition, you can get an additional 5 GB of bandwidth by posting tweets about Windscribe.
This provider has access to almost all major streaming services. In fact, Windscribe is also one of the best free VPNs for Netflix. Windscribe also supports seed downloads on its free servers and does not keep logs of users’ browsing activity.
The provider offers a number of security features in its free version, including Internet Kill Switch, an ad blocker, and even multi-hop, which allows you to connect through multiple VPN servers. Windscribe also offers protection against DNS and IPv6 leaks.
Although based in Canada, the provider offers military-grade AES-256-bit encryption and a zero-logging policy for maximum security and privacy.
It also has a “stealth protocol” that obfuscates your VPN traffic and makes it look like normal HTTPS traffic. This cool feature allows VPNs to work in countries with high Internet restrictions like China.
It is the best free mobile VPN compatible with iOS and Android. it is also available for Windows and Mac. There are extensions for Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera and MS Edge. However, you can only connect to one device at a time.
3. Hide.Me VPN
Hide Me VPN is a versatile free service and one of the top browser extensions for VPN. You can use it on Chrome, Brave, Edge and Firefox.
Moreover, the provider offers you 10 GB of data per month, which is quite generous for a free VPN. Moreover, you will find Hide.Me VPN servers in 8 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, UK and USA. In addition, all hardware is torrent friendly.
Me because of its strong termination switch, NASA-grade encryption and IP leak protection.
4.Hotspot Shield Free VPN
Hotspot Shield is one of the best free VPNs, offering up to 500MB of data traffic per day. It is also easy to use and allows the use of Google Chrome extensions. In addition, Hotspot Shield Free VPN offers impressive speeds, although not as fast as the paid version. Hotspot Shield VPN is considered to be one of the most trusted and secure VPNs. It also has the best smooth running applications.
5.Atlas VPN
Atlas VPN is one of our best free VPNs available today. With the free plan, you get 5 GB of data per month. If you want to eliminate all restrictions, the paid version of Atlas VPN is only $2.05 per month.
Both the paid and free versions of Atlas VPN offer good security. Like most other best-of-breed VPNs, Atlas VPN uses AES-256 encryption, which is trusted by government and military organizations. As for the privacy policy, Atlas VPN says it does not collect any logs that help track you, including your real IP address. In addition, the VPN does not store any Internet activity data.
Atlas VPN uses the WireGuard tunneling protocol to provide the best combination of speed and security. It’s great that the free version of Atlas VPN has no connection speed limits. However, the fact that free users share only three locations means there can be overcrowding issues.
In addition to termination switches and strong encryption, Atlas VPN allows seed downloads (or P2P traffic types) on each of its servers. You can also enable the option for the VPN to start at startup for faster access.
Note that the Atlas Free VPN does not help you access geo-restricted content on Netflix (even though it gives you normal access to Youtube). Thankfully, most servers on the paid version of Atlas VPN will unlock most streaming sites such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO, etc.
Tips on how to choose the best free VPN
There are some key things you need to keep in mind when choosing a free VPN：
Truly free – If the VPN is truly free, you don’t have to commit to a subscription. Also, a truly free VPN should not require you to provide payment details.
Strong security and privacy – VPNs should have industry-standard encryption, termination switches, and IP/DNS leak protection.
Good speed with enough data – A VPN should have enough data to browse the Internet at a good speed without slowing down. Also look for free VPNs that offer many free servers, as your speeds will usually be faster (because the servers won’t be as crowded).
Support for torrenting – If you want a free VPN for torrenting, make sure it has servers that support this activity. Not all free VPNs support P2P file sharing.
Can unblock some streaming sites – Most free VPNs will not unblock streaming sites. This is because small server networks are not updated often enough to keep up with VPN blocks. They can also be slow and limit your data to too much to stream in good quality.
