While most free VPN services are not trustworthy and appear suspicious, there are a few service providers that do offer a LESS compromised experience For, it is very unlikely for a provider to offer you their service for free since serving millions of subscribers on this scale requires a lot of financial resources. Premium paid VPNs offer extra security and features, including unlimited data, unlimited speeds, proper customer support, and access to streaming services from all over the world. A few drawbacks of a free VPN include compromises on privacy and security, online tracking, logging and selling of user’s personal data, and malware injections, to name a few. Talking about free VPN providers, in particular, most services engage in some or the other fraudulent activity to offer you their service for free - since everything comes at a cost - and by not paying a premium upfront, you trade the same for your privacy. In fact, a lot of paid VPN services are not perfect (or as secure and safe) as they claim to be.
Well, long answer short, most of the free VPN service providers are not safe to use. The VPN will also need to match your business and/or personal needs in terms of data allowance and geo-restrictions.īefore we go ahead with the list of the best free VPN providers, here are a couple of important things to know. Do you stream videos? Access sites that contain sensitive information? Send or retrieve large files? Those activities require a VPN and a faster network. How’s that for privacy and anonymity?Ĭonsider what kinds of online activities you engage in the most as you choose the right free VPN service for you. And if you decide to step up to a paid plan, they let you pay via bitcoin. Can I sign up anonymously? There are some free VPN providers who let you subscribe without an email address. Note that data collection and retention laws may require some logging by the country in which the VPN is located, so it’s important to know its country of jurisdiction.ģ. Even if it were forced to by court order, a VPN provider with a no-logging policy couldn’t turn over your records because it hasn’t kept any. So look out for their privacy policy and seek if they are storing your usage data. If the service you are using is going to store your internet activity then you’re neither private nor safe. What’s your privacy policy? One of the basic and primary goals of a VPN is to ensure online privacy. Most, however, will sell user data or provide something to a third party that will, again, compromise your privacy.Ģ.
There are some who entice customers with a free version or a free trial and then eventually ask them to pay up for a better plan, and that’s perfectly fine. There is nothing called free lunch in this world and especially not the case with free VPNs either. What is your business model? No matter if it’s VPN or an email or any service, the first thing you need to ask is “how are you making money?”. Before you go grab that free VPN, here are some basic questions you should be asking:ġ. You need to understand that not all VPNs are created equal. Broadly speaking, there are three types of VPNs you can choose from: While VPNs aren’t perfect, they are one of the easier ways to stay private and seek freedom. One of the surveys found that many people in the United States are concerned about online privacy. The details of our lives always find their way into the public eye. While most people value privacy, yet so much of our private information is readily available online, from social media photos to family names and addresses. The need for and importance of privacy and anonymity has grown tremendously in the past couple of years.
Image: Cisco How to choose the best Free VPN? Using a VPN is, therefore, a safe bet to secure your online activity on the Internet. You can use it to unblock the geo-restricted or ISP-restricted websites like Netflix, Twitter, etc., hide your browsing activity from ISP, access public networks securely while keeping your personal data secure, or even access your office or private home network securely on the Internet. In a nutshell, a VPN or Virtual Private Network is a service that allows users to access information on the Internet while staying anonymous and secure. But what exactly is a VPN, how does it work, and what can you do with it? To get answers to all these questions, head over to our detailed guide on VPN. Other Notable mentions for Free VPN servicesĪt some point in time, a lot of you might have heard about VPN or in some instances, might even have been suggested to use one.
When should you use a free VPN service?.