I’ve noticed that when it comes to finding the best free VPN, paid options are often heavily promoted instead. While I understand the need for privacy, not everyone wants to spend money on such a service. This got me thinking about the free VPN options out there, so I decided to do some research, compare what’s available, and put them all in one place on my own.
This won’t be news to many - free VPNs come with significant risks. Issues like data leaks, weak encryption, and even selling user data are unfortunately not uncommon. After going through all the information, I honestly think it’s better to go with a paid option that offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. This way, you can try out the service with minimal risk, and if it doesn’t meet your expectations, you can get your money back = it’s free at the end of the day.
For those still interested in finding the best free VPN, I’ve put together a comparison of the ones that Reddit users most frequently mention and compared them using several criteria. Keep in mind that while these options are popular, they each have their own limitations and risks.
If I missed any of the major free providers that should be included among the ‘best free VPNs’, let me know in the comments and I’ll edit the table with that.
Free VPNs aren’t perfect, but they can still be useful for many people. The “avoid free VPNs at all costs” mindset isn’t always right. I used to be against free VPNs too, but lately, I’ve realized they can be just fine for a lot of situations. Yeah, they might spam you with ads, but for simple tasks like browsing at school, quick privacy, or bypassing basic geo-blocks, they can work well enough. Sometimes, you don’t need all the bells and whistles of a paid plan, especially if you know what you’re getting into.
I know you are trying to incorporate some sort of independent scoring into your table here, but whether or not a company has the marketing budget to pay for TrustPilot probably isn’t it.
This is a decent start, but you pick the one sub where we can’t even mention a specific provider, so you’re better off soliciting feedback on other subs or create a Git repo.
That said, regarding encryption, I assume you’ve only checked their OpenVPN documentation, but some of them also support WireGuard, which uses ChaCha20, this algorithm is also used by TLS 1.3, which this very site and most other sites (including banking and military) already use. You marked down AES-128, but it’s still very secure even with quantum computers by the next decades, by then nothing of value can be decrypted since someone using a free VPN likely isn’t doing anything that important in the first place.
Most of the additional features you listed are only available to paid users. Remove the Trustpilot score, and instead add the last date when their servers has been audited.
Neat table bro. I see a point why the first thought of many is to go for a free VPN, majority just want to download or stream something once, if not once - then for one season so they don’t see a point in paying. But I don’t even know how more to highlight the fact that so many of those free options have leaked or have been exposed in some sort of way.
I suggest to Google about some of those companies - you wont want to buy them anymore for your own sake and security.
Rather, be smarter and just jump on any of the premium providers for the trial period and refund in the end. Works for many.
Maybe adding a row for what it can be used for or it cannot be used for will also help. I know the first one doesn’t allow torrenting.
But this list is super helpful , thank you for making this list.
A company offering free vpn must still have revenue sources or they are going out of business. In addition to payroll there are costs with ip addresses, exit nodes, isp and networking the list goes on and on. So if the company doesn’t charge for VPN then how do they get revenue and stay in business ? Generally I can only assume it is from selling your information and behaviors, how else can they pay their bills ?
Finally someone who is practical and won’t shit on me for using free VPNs. Btw something I feel people don’t talk about on the internet is which free VPN offers the most amount of countries to connect to ? Lots of premium shits lock 99% of countries behind paywall. Sometimes I need to have VPN of India or Russia or somewhere to play beta version of some games, for example. If you know something like this let me know thanks in advance. 99% free VPNs I tried only have a couple options like maybe the USA, Singapore, UK, Germany, that’s it
Good point. I included that as an independent score which is easily accessible and is from a known website but I agree that you shouldn’t base the decision on that only!