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https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-free-vpns
Best for Free Occasional Location Spoofing
Best for Free Light-Duty Domestic Browsing
Best for Free Everyday Browsing Close to Home
Best for Free (Almost) Unlimited Browsing
Our Experts Have Tested 25 Products in the VPN Category in the Past Year

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Pros

Best free subscription

Numerous advanced privacy tools

Strong customer privacy stance

Slick, accessible client

Excellent Speedtest scores

Cons

Awkward Chrome OS implementation

Complicated pricing structure

Best for Free Occasional Location Spoofing

Pros

Affordable

Excellent privacy policies

Annual independent audits

Friendly, approachable design

Bears

Cons

No WireGuard support

Few advanced features

Best for Free Light-Duty Domestic Browsing

Pros

Extremely affordable
Clean design
Split-tunneling
Part of the larger Bitdefender app ecosystem

Cons

Confusing pricing

Confusing privacy policy

Few additional privacy features

High latency in test results

$2.50 Per Month for 1 Year Plan at Bitdefender

Best for Free Everyday Browsing Close to Home

Pros

Advanced features.
Ten simultaneous connections.
Good server distribution.
Strong speed test scores.
BitTorrent friendly.
Supports anonymous payments.

Cons

Expensive.
Unusual location selection behavior.
No specialized servers.

Pros

Numerous server locations

Slick, approachable client

Split-tunneling by domain

Hefty services bundle

Cons

Expensive

Free version throttled, supported by targeted ads on Android

Gathers significant, but anonymous, data

No third-party infrastructure audit

Dated transparency report

Limited WireGuard support

Best for Free (Almost) Unlimited Browsing

Pros

Very affordable

Generous free subscription

10 simultaneous connections

Split tunneling

Cons

Few additional privacy features

No third-party audit

Uninspiring Speedtest results

Pros

Generous data caps for free subscribers

Unique IP swapping servers
Multi-hop connections

Cons

Quirky behavior in hands-on testing

No third-party audits of infrastructure or policies

Awkward interface

Pushy email subscription nags

Free Version Simultaneous Connection Limit
Can Manually Select Server In Free Version
Are All Features Available In Free Version?
Read Great Stories Offline on Your Favorite Device!
If you're short on cash, you can still use a VPN to improve your privacy online. Here's everything you need to know about what you get (and don't get) with the best free VPN services we've tested.
Since my start in 2008, I've covered a wide variety of topics from space missions to fax service reviews. At PCMag, much of my work has been focused on security and privacy services, as well as a video game or two. I also write the occasional security columns, focused on making information security practical for normal people. I helped organize the Ziff Davis Creators Guild union and currently serve as its Unit Chair.
If you want all the features of the best VPN services , you're going to have to pay for them. Fortunately, there are several free options that cover the basics of improving your privacy online.
Don't worry, you don't have to dig through all the sales information, complicated plan details, gotcha restrictions, and fine print to find the VPN with the best no-cost offering. We've done all that research—in addition to all our usual testing—to give you the easy-to-parse list of the best free VPNs below. Read on for our top picks, followed by what to look for when choosing a free VPN.

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ProtonVPN places no limit on the amount of data free subscribers may use. Free accounts are limited to one simultaneous connection, and can only access servers in three countries. It's the best free subscription option we've seen, and the best overall VPN to boot.
ProtonVPN is our top choice for premium VPNs and free VPNs. The company places no limit on the amount of data free subscribers may use. ProtonVPN does, however, limit free accounts to just one simultaneous connection. Also, free accounts can only access servers in three countries: the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. Unlike some VPNs, however, you can select which server to use.
ProtonVPN comes with a strong reputation, in part because of the success of its sibling product ProtonMail. But ProtonVPN has good privacy policies and backs that up with public, third-party audits.
Without data restrictions, Proton VPN is the only service that could be a true, daily driver free VPN. However, the limited server options means that you'll want to be in (or relatively close to) the countries where servers are offered. You'll also only be protecting one device at a time.
TunnelBear limits its free users to 500MB per month, which may be enough for very light use. However, TunnelBear VPN is the only VPN that doesn't limit which servers free users can access. It also boasts excellent transparency policies, and is extremely user-friendly.
With its playful interface and deadpan bears, it's easy to dismiss TunnelBear VPN as all show and no substance. That's not fair, as it has strong privacy policies that it has backed up with a string of annual third-party audits. Best of all, it allows free users to access any of its servers.
TunnelBear VPN does put one hefty restriction on free subscribers: a 500MB per month data limit. You can earn another 1GB of data on top of that if you post about the company on social media. Still, that's not very much data.
Even with the 1GB bonus, the TunnelBear VPN's data restrictions for free subscriptions might be best for only occasional use. Maybe for watching one show, or only when on vacation. The fact that it does allow free users to select any of its servers does make it partiuclarly useful for spoofing your location or traveling abroad. Assuming, of course, you can keep your data usage down.
Although powered by Hotspot Shield VPN, Bitdefender Premium VPN has a much simpler free offering. Especially attractive is that Bitdefender does not throttle connections or monetize its free version with ads. The free Bitdefender Premium VPN is capped at 200MB per day and limits users to the closest servers. That said, it lets you use up to ten devices.
Under the hood, Bitdefender Premium VPN is powered by Hotspot Shield VPN, but simplifies a few the latter's issues. Unlike Hotspot Shield VPN, Bitdefender does not throttle free users' bandwidth or monetize its mobile apps. We especially like that Bitdefender Premium VPN allows users to connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.
Maxing out your device count would quickly burn through your allotted 200MB of data per day, however. This VPN also limits free users to only the closest server. We would also like to see the company release a third-party audit of its service.
The server limitations make it a good choice for traveling, since it will snag whatever is nearby, but not good for spoofing your location. 200MB per day is far more generous than TunnelBear VPN, but you'll easily use that up if you're not careful, so streaming movies and heavy downloading may not be possible.
Hide.me's free VPN limits users to five server locations and cuts out some features, but it does provide a generous 10GB of data use per month. Upgrading to its paid tier will cost you a pretty penny, however.
For free subscribers, Hide.me allots an impressive 10GB of data per month and lets you access five server locations. Especially notable is that Hide.me does not ask for your credit card information when creating a free account. Plus, the service has received a third-party audit.
There are some restrictions. Hide.me free users are limited to just a single simultaneous connection. You'll also have to pay a hefty up-front cost if you decide to spring for the paid subscription, although doing so will grant access to many features not available for free Hide.me subscribers.
Hide.me's 10GB data limit is a bit more generous than some of the competitors, but you'd still have to be mindful in order to not run out before the month's end. A single simultaneous connection means you'll only be using on device at a time, which given the data cap may not be a bad things. Giving access to five server locations does give you more freedom when traveling or looking to spoof your location.
Hotspot Shield VPN limits free users to 500MB per day. Free subscribers get one simultaneous connection and can only access US servers. Mobile free users are throttled to 2Mbps, and see ads in the app. Free subscribers on macOS have no data limit. It's a generous, but complicated, free model.
Hotspot Shield VPN's free subscription has a lot of give and take. We like that free users get 500MB of data per day, but we 're not thrilled at the 2Mbps speed limit for mobile devices. Free subscribers on macOS have no data limit, however. Hotspot Shield VPN also uses ads to monetize its free users, but only Android.
Free subscribers can only connect one device at a time to Hotspot Shield VPN, and can only access US-based servers. The company has not released the results of a third-party audit, but has been evaluated by the other companies that license its service (such as Bitdefender Premium VPN).
There are a lot of caveats to Hotspot Shield VPN's free offering, but if you can thread the needle it might work very well for you. Mac users are best off, since the service places no data limit on those devices. Other desktop users won't have to deal with the speed throttling found on mobile. If you must use a mobile device, iOS is preferable since it lacks ads. Also, you'll be limited to US-servers, so this service is best for people who live in the US.
PrivadoVPN offers a stripped-down VPN experience with a vastly improved interface. Its free subscription limits you to 10GB of data per month, but you won't be cut off when that runs out, just slowed down. It also limits free users to just 12 servers.
Aside from Proton VPN, PrivadoVPN is as close as you'll get to an unlimited free VPN experience. Although PrivadoVPN does limit free users to 10GB of data per month, it won't cut you off once you exhaust that supply. Instead, your speeds will be throttled until the clock resets on your data.
There are other restrictions, too. PrivadoVPN allows access to just 12 servers and only allows for one simultaneous connection. The company has also not released a third-party audit.
This is perhaps the only time speed throttling is a good thing. With PrivadoVPN, you won't have to worry so much about the 10GB limit, but you may have to deal with slower speeds as a result. The single simultaneous connection and small available servers mean you'll want to use a few devices, and not rely on this service for location spoofing.
Atlas VPN has revamped its free option to provide 5GB of data per month—far simpler than before. Best of all, you can use as many devices with its free subscription as you wish—something no other service can boast.
Unlike all the other VPNs in this list, Atlas VPN lets you use as many devices as you like with a free subscription. Although free Atlas VPN subscribers are limited to servers in Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and New York City, you do have the freedom to manually choose a VPN server.
Atlast VPN does limit free subscribers to 5GB of data per month, and the company has not released the results of a third-party audit.
Atlas VPN is a bit of a double-edged sword. Its unlimited simultaneous connections means that it's a good choice for device-heavy households, but the 5GB per month data cap will limit how much those devices can really do. You'll have to be mindful about data usage with this free service. That said, the limited mix of available servers does provide some location spoofing opportunities.
A VPN creates an encrypted connection (often referred to as a tunnel) between your computer and a server controlled by the VPN company, and then it passes all network activity through that protected connection. This means that your ISP and anyone else watching won't be able to see what you're up to and will have a much harder time tracing online activity back to you.
Although VPNs can help improve your privacy online they do have limitations. Once your traffic exits the VPN server, it can be monitored and perhaps intercepted—especially if you're connecting to sites that aren't using HTTPS. It's also possible, albeit difficult, to use complicated timing algorithms to predict when and where your data leaves the VPN server. Advertisers also have a myriad of tools at their disposal to track you online, so we recommend using a stand-alone tracker blocker .
VPNs also won't protect you against every danger stalking the web. We strongly recommend also using a password manager to create unique and complex passwords for each site and service we use, enabling multi-factor authentication wherever it's available, and using antivirus software .
Very few VPNs offer a truly free option. Instead, most companies offer time-limited trials or money-back guarantees. The VPNs listed in the table above, however, offer totally free subscription levels. They aren't the only ones, but they are the best we've reviewed so far.
That said, every VPN listed does put some restrictions on its free version. Some services limit the amount of bandwidth you can use in a given period. Some keep the number of simultaneous connections low, generally limiting them to one or two. Some restrict you to certain servers, meaning you can't jump to a better-performing server or easily spoof your location —more on this below.
Paying for a VPN subscription typically unlocks all these features, and often adds additional sweeteners unavailable at the free level. You get all the servers in all the locations, and usually the service also provides more simultaneous connections. Kaspersky Secure Connection VPN is one exception to this model providing an unlimited number of connections at its free tier.
VPNs can bypass oppressive censorship by tunneling out to a VPN server beyond the control of despots, but that same ability can also be used to access streaming content that's not available in your country. Overseas, Netflix subscribers see different shows and films that don't show up within these United States. That's because Netflix has specific deals to distribute this content in different areas.
Netflix isn't the only service that can be tricked. MLB and the BBC have different streaming arrangements for different regions. There are numerous other examples and many of them—especially Netflix—will try to block VPN use to enforce those regional streaming deals.
This is particularly tricky for free VPN users. Most free VPNs limit the servers you can use, meaning you have fewer options (if any) to spoof your location. Free users will also have a harder time jumping to a different server looking for unblocked access or better speeds. One option to get around a Netflix blockade is to purchase a static IP address, which will almost certainly require a paid VPN subscription in addition to the cost of the static IP.
In short, watching streaming services like Netflix with a VPN is hard, and doing it with a free VPN is even harder.
Free VPNs have some historical baggage, since not all VPN providers turn out to be good actors. Some VPNs may have unseemly, if not outright malicious, practices . Figuring out who is and is not on the level is especially difficult with VPNs, as much of their operation isn't visible to the outside world.
When we review VPNs, we look over each service's privacy policy. It's a good way to find out what, if any, information the service collects. Ideally, a VPN company should say that they do not collect any logs on user activity. We highly recommend that you read the review for a free VPN before you commit.
Unfortunately, these documents can sometimes be difficult to read, perhaps intentionally so. As part of our review process , we send questionnaires to each VPN service, seeking to put companies on the record about specific privacy issues. We rely on companies to act in good faith when we ask them questions, and for third-party researchers to ferret out the companies that don't.
In general, we prefer providers that use WireGuard or OpenVPN. OpenVPN has the benefit of being open source and has thus been picked over for any possible vulnerabilities. WireGuard is the heir apparent of open-source VPN protocols, and one that may dramatically improve VPN speeds.
Some VPNs have also undergone extensive third-party audits to prove their trustworthiness. This isn't a guarantee that a company is doing good work, since they often set the parameters of the audit. But a meaningful audit is a good sign. TunnelBear, for instance, has committed to releasing third-party audits each year, and has made good on that promise.
Because free VPNs are so limited, you're likely to experience some performance issues. Either servers will be too crowded to provide reasonable speeds, or the VPN company won't allow free users to access servers where you are, or the data limit will be too low for the service to be usable.
But there are some free VPNs that are worth trying! ProtonVPN is notable as the only VPN we've yet reviewed that did not place a limit on user bandwidth. It's a good long-term choice. Tunnelbear VPN limits free users to just 500MB per month but does allow free users to access all its servers. This is a good service for occasional use, or limited use while traveling. Hide.Me is also a strong choice, offering five server locations and limiting free users to 10GB of data per month.
Importantly, all three of these services have released the results of third-party audits. The rest of the services in this list have chosen not to perform public audits. That doesn't mean they're hiding something or are nefarious—we've examined their privacy policies and spoken to their representatives and found them at least acceptable. But audits do at least show a company staking its money and reputation publicly.
Kaspersky Secure Connection VPN is one of the few VPNs that made the cut for this list, and it held a spot here for quite some time. We have, however, opted to remove the Kaspersky VPN product from this list.
Although Kaspersky has long faced controversy for its connections to Russia, we have continued to endorse many of the company's products. That's partly because our work at PCMag focuses on the products themselves, not their geopolitical ramifications. Also, despite accusations of being in cahoots with the Russian government, no evidence has ever been provided to definitively prove Kaspersky was a bad actor.
However, on March 27, 2022, the FCC issued a warning that labeled the company a national security threat . This came after several other organizations and governments dissolved their relationships with Kaspersky in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While we stand by our evaluations of Kaspersky products, we felt this latest development warranted a different response . We have removed Kaspersky's products from our "Best for" lists, and added a statement to all our Kaspersky product reviews.
Every free VPN has some catch, but ProtonVPN offers the most fl
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