Atlas VPN Free. Hotspot Shield Basic VPN. The Best Free VPNs for Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 (Tested in August.
 
 

 

The best free VPN services in | Tom’s Guide

 

You’ll only get a single US server — nothing compared to PrivadoVPN and Windscribe’s generous offerings — and while the speeds of Mbps aren’t bad, they’re not class-leading. The apps are also quite intrusive in terms of usability. Mobile clients shows ads on connection, and while the Mac app doesn’t show adverts, it does insist on opening the Hotspot Shield website on connection and disconnection. You also don’t get a kill switch on the Basic plan, which seems like a miserly decision considering the other limitations present.

And, combined with Hotspot Shield’s slightly excessive logging practices bandwidth used, your OS, the time you connect and more , it certainly won’t please those looking to use the VPN as a true piece of privacy software.

Overall, Hotspot Shield is a fairly capable free VPN, but the fact of matter is that there are a number of more well-rounded, flexible, and secure options out there right now. Sign up now on Hotspot Shield’s website opens in new tab. If you’re considering whether to save a little cash or go for a fully fledged premium VPN, weighing up the options is well worth doing.

The main thing to do is consider what you want to use your free VPN for. Are you looking for a little extra privacy for select tasks or light daily browsing? If that’s all you need, a free VPN might be a sensible choice. If you want to encrypt all your home internet traffic, all the time, you should pay for one of the best VPN services — our top pick is ExpressVPN opens in new tab.

Also, all free VPN services log user connections, no matter what the service claims. Many of the services we review here are based in Canada, Switzerland or Germany, which have stronger privacy laws, but one of the Canadian services, TunnelBear, was recently bought by a US company and will have to honor US warrants and subpoenas under a new US law.

Free VPN services encrypt your data while it’s in transit, creating a virtual tunnel through the internet. Not only is the data encrypted, as it would be during a normal secure web session, but the routing information about the sender and intended recipient is hidden as well.

A VPN’s scrambling and unscrambling of your data can sometimes slow internet traffic to a crawl. The best free VPN will have fast servers connected to huge data pipes to minimize this performance decline. They also have thousands of servers located in scores of countries, ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe. Well, it depends on what you classify as ‘free’. There are plenty of free VPNs that don’t part you from your cash, but you could be paying for them by watching ads or even unknowingly giving them your data to sell.

The best free VPN services tend to be ‘free versions’ that are intended to give you a taster of a paid product before asking you to actually hand over your money. We will love to know if you have any other suggestions on free VPN for Windows. Do share with us in the comments section below. A VPN creates a secure network for you by using a virtual network as a front to hide your IP address.

The answer is both no and yes. VPN is meant to create a secure network for you over the Internet. It is also recommended to not use VPNs, which run advertisements as they monitor your web activity to run specific ads on your web sessions. Step 3: Click a VPN located on the left-side menu. Step 9: A pre-shared key would have to be typed in to activate VPN for PC, which would be given by the provider as well.

Click Connect. Surfshark works the best as a VPN for Windows Surfshark not only hides your IP address but also blocks your location. Plus, it has a separate module to prevent phishing attempts, trackers, and spyware; and blocks ads. One of the best VPN services, Surfshark, accounts for complete freedom over internet access with maximum privacy.

Surfshark ensures that any server you are connected to has a private DNS to avoid data leaks and ensure network security. Windows Mac iOS Android. Srishti Sisodia , August 5, Share on:. Threat Manager to block malicious sites Best choice. Pros Unrestricted global access to enjoy streaming services. Gaming is easy and protects from DDoS attacks.

Network lock block kill switch to drop connection without exposing you. Cons Costly plans. Pros Provides best security and privacy Kill Switch which prevents privacy breach Connect upto 6 devices of different platforms. No demographics restrictions on streaming services such as Netflix. Safe online browsing with AES bit military-grade encryption. Pros Easy streaming of geo-blocked content Speed is good Comes with multi-hop connection.

Cons Bad customer service Slow speed while Torrenting. Pros Log into 10 devices at the same time with one account. Available on multiple platforms. Compatible with Xbox, Amazon Fire Stick, etc. Cons Free Trial is not available. Pros Supports major protocols and encryption Has optimized profile servers Good speed on torrent.

Cons Not that Anonymous as it claims to be Not that great performance. Pros Good customer support Good speed with Torrent Comes with days money-back warranty. Cons Not cost-effective Privacy policy is not reliable. For free users, Windscribe provides ten servers divided among different countries around the world.

This is relatively few compared to the paid option, which lets you use servers in up to 63 countries. On top of that, the Windscribe servers are very fast. You can also use Windscribe on as many devices as you want. Pretty unique for a VPN that comes free of charge! However, if you choose to share your email address with Windscribe and verify your account, you get 10 GB a month.

We think this is a bit odd. Likely, your email address is used for marketing purposes, so Windscribe can approach you by email and get you to upgrade to a paid subscription.

Another downside of Windscribe is its lacking usability. Most of the buttons in the software take you to your account page on their website. This is not as user-friendly as software that lets you edit certain settings from within the VPN application itself.

Lastly, we were unable to access Netflix with Windscribe. Torrents, however, were no issue. The free VPN package of Windscribe is really solid. The speeds are great, although we do dislike the data limitations.

A free zero-logs VPN provider with a limited number of servers that can be used on one device at a time. ZoogVPN offers users multiple encryption protocols. When testing the free application of ZoogVPN, we discovered it even offers a kill switch functionality. This feature ensures that all internet traffic is interrupted whenever the secure VPN connection unexpectedly drops.

The presence of a kill switch is pretty special for a free VPN. This unique feature is shared only by Atlas VPN. Why they would purposely choose to provide their free users with lesser encryption, is lost on us. If you have a free package with ZoogVPN, you can only use three servers in the entire server network. The free version can be used on just one device at a time.

Even though ZoogVPN is not in the first position on our list, keep in mind that there are more than free VPN options on the market. The fact that a provider is included in this list of the best free VPN services means they meet a certain quality threshold. ZoogVPN does have its fair share of limitations, like every free product out there, but it remains a decent choice for a free VPN. You need to be careful when using free VPN services.

Access to all kinds of unnecessary sensitive information such as your contacts, photos, and social media is often requested. Some free providers even infect your device with spyware and other malware. Many free VPN services are owned by Chinese companies, which might raise suspicions about their intentions and the level of safety and anonymity they actually provide.

Paid VPN services will generally be more mindful of your privacy. They also offer a more advanced level of security, as well as many extra features.

For instance, connections tend to be much faster with paid VPNs. On top of that, you can safely download torrents without having to worry about data limits or fines. If you want to know which companies currently offer the best VPN services, have a look at our comprehensive top five best VPNs.

There are large price differences between paid VPNs. Some premium VPN providers may shock you with their price tag, but luckily, there are several that offer very good VPN connections for low prices. For just a few dollars a month , you can get a really good VPN and enjoy peace of mind regarding the safety of your internet connection and data. A good example of a great VPN that costs little is Surfshark. Data limits give you a chance to get to know the VPN service without it costing the provider too much money.

The free version of this VPN can be quite slow at times, because all its free users are spread out over just a handful of servers. When these servers get too crowded, your speed will go down. Proton hopes this makes lengthy use of its free services less attractive.

Luckily, there are free providers that offer a relatively sizeable number of servers , such as TunnelBear and Windscribe. This means that, even though the VPN connection is free, speeds are still very decent.

Most good free VPNs offer software and apps that are compatible with common devices and operating systems. There are three ways in which you can use a VPN on your computer:.

This means they do NOT protect your other internet traffic, including torrents and emailing. Different operating systems require different kinds of VPN software. Linux users will often have a harder time setting up a VPN connection compared to Windows or Mac users.

Setting up a VPN connection on Windows or Mac is usually just a matter of downloading and installing the provided software ; Linux users often have to manually configure their VPN connection. VPNs for smartphones are becoming more popular. Not only do we use our smartphones daily, but we also connect them to unprotected Wi-Fi networks more often than we do with a computer. A free VPN definitely adds value for any smartphone user.

It is just as easy to install and set up free VPN software on your tablet as it is on your phone. Just as with smartphones, all free VPNs listed above have software for both iPads and Android tablets. Most free VPNs grant you access to a small sample of servers compared to their paid subscription. The only exception is TunnelBear, which gives you access to its entire global network of servers.

There are also numerous free VPNs out there that you should avoid. Many aim to track your data and sell it to others. Their usage harms your privacy instead of protecting it.

Some free VPNs even sell your connection to other users. If you encounter such a VPN yourself, always be careful. Feel free to let us know in the comments about other VPNs to avoid and help us further protect our visitors. This provider is the absolute best choice when it comes to security and server network quality.

The free VPN services recommended in this article generally support multiple platforms and operating systems. However, the moment you start using a free VPN regularly or for streaming, you will quickly run into data limits and speed caps. Similarly, you will often experience restrictions when you try to download shows and movies with a free VPN. Namely, that you only get 10GB worth of data per month. As a trade-off there are no device limits and you get 10 location choices, which is more than most free services.

The Windscribe app is also pretty straightforward. Country choices are narrowed down to four with two regions in the U. You want a service that is not displaying third-party ads or harvesting your browsing habits. Nevertheless, if you want a U. If your main reason for having a VPN is just about having a bit more security on your laptop or mobile when using public Wi-Fi occasionally, the best free VPNs can do a decent job.

Free VPN services may cost nothing but there is usually a good reason for that — it means the provider will be turning a profit in some other way, usually with invasive advertising or by selling your browsing data to third-parties rather defeating the whole drive for privacy in the first place. Plus, free services tend to limit the amount of data you can use and the speed you can use it at, rendering them practically useless for streaming video, torrenting or as an extra layer of reliable security in your day-to-day online life.

And don’t expect the kind of easy-access support or server range that you get with the paid services, either. Given the risks of using free VPNs, we think the price is absolutely worthwhile — plus, it comes with a no-questions-asked 30 day money back guarantee , too. It advertises on TV, sponsors sports teams and has been a leader in the market for a decade. Then look no further than Surfshark opens in new tab. It offers most of the same features as the other top services, just for less money.

Partly that’s for its nicely-judged mix of features, power and app quality. But it’s also because the service doesn’t pile on the limits and restrictions to try and persuade you to upgrade. This is a free VPN you could use long-term. There are no data limits with Proton, for instance. That’s convenient, but it’s also a big privacy plus, because you don’t have to pick and choose where you use the VPN when data’s running low.

If you feel there’s a risk, or you’re unsure, then just get connected: Proton VPN Free is always available. Proton hasn’t punished free users by leaving out key features, either.

Some free providers drop the kill switch, WireGuard, maybe even support, but Proton VPN Free has all the core privacy features you need to stay safe online. There are still significant limits. Although you can install Proton VPN on as many devices as you like, you can only connect one at a time. There’s no access to Proton VPN’s specialist streaming servers, no P2P support, or bonus extras such as ad and malware-blocking — to use them, you’ll have to upgrade to a premium plan opens in new tab.

None of this prevents Proton VPN Free from doing its central job, though, and much better than most of the competition. Its well-engineered, open-source and audited apps are easy to use, but also stuffed with useful tweaks, tools and technologies.

The service topped our free VPN speed charts at Mbps, too — so fast that it beats some paid services. Proton VPN Free may not be quite right for everyone. If you absolutely must have a location in the UK, for instance, or some other country not on Proton’s very short list, then PrivadoVPN and Windscribe below each have around 10 countries to choose from. But for most users, Proton VPN Free delivers just about everywhere: it’s fast, secure, and has powerful features, yet it’s also very easy to use.

If you need a free VPN, try this one first. PrivadoVPN Free may not quite have made our top spot, but keep reading: the service has some unique and very worthwhile features which just might make it your preferred provider. The company can’t match Proton VPN’s unlimited data scheme, for instance, but its 10GB monthly allowance is enough for many. And even if the data tap runs dry, you then get unlimited data via an ’emergency server.

That first 10GB of data is better than many, too. Even most paid VPNs can’t say the same.

 
 

14 Best (TRULY FREE) VPN For Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 PC In () – Best Free VPN for Windows – Quick Overview

 
 
PrivadoVPN Free. 10GB data for free – and US Netflix unblocking, too. Windscribe Free. Powerful and secure with a generous data cap.