5 Best Free VPN Providers
Great VPN providers are hard to come by. Great free VPN providers are even harder to find. We’ve searched far and wide, tested dozens of free VPN providers and found some good examples. None of them are as great as a premium VPN. If you’re on a tight budget, or if you want to sample what VPNs are all about, these are the best VPNs to start with!
| Rank | Provider | Pros / Cons | Pricing | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Provider | Pros / Cons | Pricing | Links |
  | The Best Free VPN. Fast & Reliable. ✔ Unlimited Bandwidth / No Data Caps ✔ 430+ Servers in 24 Countries ✔ Full Featured Premium VPN Software ✖ Supported by Advertisements ✖ Auto Connect Only (No Manual Select) | Free
Available Premium Upgrade Starting at 4.87/Month |   | |
| Great Free VPN. 500MB Datacap 🙁 ✔ Full Featured Premium VPN Software ✔ Full Access to VPN Network ✔ No Ads or Popups ✖ Explicitly does not allow Streaming or P2P ✖ Limited with a 500MB Datacap | Free
Available Premium Upgrade Starting at 4.99/Month | | |
 | Good Free VPN, but not easy to use ✔ Unlimited Bandwidth & No Datacaps ✔ Includes Safe Browsing Protection ✔ Included 3 Day Free Premium Trial ✖ Web-Only VPN doesn't encrypt everything ✖ Manual setup makes it difficult to use ✖ Supported by Advertisements | Free
Available Premium Upgrade Starting at 4.99/Month |
| |
 | Good Free VPN. No Registration Required ✔ No Datacaps / Unlimited Bandwidth ✔ No registration required. ✔ Best Anonymous Free VPN ✖ Manual setup is complicated ✖ Limited Server selection (5 options) | Free
No Premium Available but they accept donations | | |
 
| Excellent Free VPN, but too many Ads ✔ Unlimited Bandwidth & No Datacaps ✔ Easy-to-use VPN software ✔ Supports All Major Devices ✖ Supported by Advertisements / Popups ✖ Can be very slow at times ✖ Too many Ads to be ranked higher. Seriously. | Free
Available Premium Upgrade Starting at 3.00 /Month | |
1. CyberGhostVPN
Positives: CyberGhost’s free VPN service is the absolute best primer for what it’s like to use a real VPN. They offer both a free VPN and a Free Proxy service. The free VPN works with their cutting edge software, letting you really know what it will be like once you upgrade to a paid account.
Negatives: The free version works perfectly in every regard, but it does have advertisements that pop-up. The free version also does not allow you to select the server you want to connect to, nor does it connect you automatically if it disconnects.
Conclusion: It can not be said clearly enough that CyberGhost’s free VPN service is the best way to see what it’s really like to use a real VPN. You won’t be able to stream movies, or game online, but you will unlock geo-blocked websites and encrypt your traffic. It’s not a long term solution, but you can use it in a pinch!
2. TunnelBear
Positives: TunnelBear opens all of their server locations, and offers a reward of 1GB/month if you tweet about their service. TunnelBear’s software also has a great user interface that’s easy to understand. It feels like what a real VPN should feel like.
Negatives: TunnelBear impose a 500MB/month limit on all free accounts. You can’t stream movies or play games over their free network. An unintended consequence is your friends getting annoyed when you’re tweeting about them all the time to get that extra 1GB/month.
Conclusion: TunnelBear offers the standard VPN experience, but hampers you with a small amount of data. Those with small data needs won’t notice any major issues, but don’t try to P2P, watch movies, or play games. They don’t particularly excel at anything, except maybe for annoying your Twitter followers.
3. Spotflux Free VPN
Positives: The server speed that Spotflux free VPN offers is decent for a free VPN. They also make it easy to check the status of your connection in their system tray icon. Perhaps best of all is how they automatically block dangerous websites before they load and have the chance to damage your device.
Negatives: Spotflux’s free VPN software will not automatically configure proxies for you. You will have to do that manually, making for a less than easy to follow experience. The software also sometimes requires a restart in order to work, this hampers their rating quite a bit. You also have to view advertisements when you use it for free.
Conclusion: Spotflux VPN is almost the best free VPN available. Their manual proxy configuration requirement, and frequent software restarts, seriously hamper how useful it is. This is especially true for those who are new to the VPN world and looking to sample the experience.
4. VPNBook
Positives: VPNBook is a well regarded free VPN service. Most noted about them is the fact that they do not require any registration process. You can use it on a wide variety of services, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iPad. No bandwidth limits are enforced.
Negatives: The software is difficult to install, and can be confusing to use. They are not for the new VPN user from start to finish. The free software also does not offer much in the way of an indication as to what encryption is being used, worrying users that they may not actually be that well protected.
Conclusion: VPNBook is for the free VPN user that has been around a bit. You need some experience to install and use it. The VPNBook website does offer a guide, but a good VPN doesn’t need a guide: It should be intuitive to your average computer user.
5. Hotspot Shield
Positives: Hotspot Shield’s free VPN works almost as good as the paid version, allowing you to get around many geo-blocks for no cost. The software downloads instantly, is easy to use, has decent speeds, and doesn’t get in its own way as it handles everything itself.
Negatives: Using Hotspot Shield’s free VPN service is like watching network TV – too many advertisements! There are redirects that take up screen space with ads, a serious hamper to your experience with a VPN.
Conclusion: Hotspot Shield offers a good free VPN package with quick to download software that’s easy to use. The intrusion of advertisements, however, takes away from your experience quite a bit and may be the worst advertisement offender of all five listed.