The Best Free VPN of 2021

A Closer Look at the Best Free VPNs of 2021

• 1. Hotspot Shield - Best Free VPN for Windows and Mac Users

  Editor's Rating

  8.9

  /10

  How We Review

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  What We Liked:

  • Generous 500 MB data usage allowance per day
  • Works on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS
  • Doesn’t log browsing activities
  • Up to five devices per account

  What We Didn’t Like:

  • Only one simultaneous connection allowed
  • US-based servers only for free users
  • 2 Mbps speed limit
  • Based in the US, a Five Eye alliance member

  500 MB Daily Data Usage Limit

  Hotspot Shield did limit our data usage, but they were more generous than most other free VPNs. The data allowance was refreshed every 24 hours, giving us 500 MB of bandwidth to consume every day. That’s about 15 GB per month, provided that we max out our allowance daily. However, unused data didn’t roll over to the next day, so if we used only 400 MB in one day, we would still only receive 500 MB the next day. The daily limit made sense as it helped us control our data usage. Instead of giving us 15 GB per month, which frankly, we could blow through in just a week or so, it limited our daily usage so we’d still have bandwidth left towards the end of the month. Now that’s just smart.

  Works On Up to Five Devices

  We’ve been able to login using our Hotspot Shield account using five different devices. It worked on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, so whether we were in the office working on our MacBooks, at a coffee shop browsing on our smartphones, or at home with our Windows PC, we had access to Hotspot Shield. Only one device connected to Hotspot Shield at a time, though, but it was easy enough to switch between devices thanks to the VPN’s fast connection times. We usually got connected to a VPN tunnel in under 5 seconds, which is impressive for a free VPN.

  

  No Ads on Windows and Mac Clients

  Most free VPNs generate revenue by injecting ads into the websites we visit, and while Hotspot Shield did that in the past, they recently changed their policy and only placed ads in their mobile apps. Also, instead of injecting the ads into websites, Hotspot Shield only showed us short ads after we connected and disconnected our mobile phone VPN. Of course, it’s never fun to see ads, but with a freemium VPN with a generous data usage allowance, going through a couple of ads every session didn’t hurt.

• 2. Surfshark - Best Free VPN Overall

  Editor's Rating

  8.6

  /10

  How We Review

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  What We Liked:

  • Five Eyes non-member
  • Torrenting and Netflix access
  • Split tunneling
  • AES-256 encryption

  What We Didn’t Like:

  • Free VPN only lasts 30 days (Still better than others)
  • Static IP addresses
  • Latency on Windows
  • No phone support

  Low Prices After Trial Ends

  Sure, we’re not thrilled that SurfShark’s free trial only lasts a month. But that trial period does have its advantages. One, we weren’t limited at all on how we could use the VPN in terms of servers, data, or speed limits, so we could really try it out accurately. And even once that month is over, the prices didn’t exactly break the bank.

  Time Length	Overall Cost	Monthly Cost
  2 Years	$59.76	$2.49
  6 Months	$38.94	$6.49
  1 Month	$12.95	$12.95

  We signed up for two years to lock in that $2.49 a month rate, billed one time as about $60.

  Unlimited Simultaneous Connections

  It’s no secret that we spend a ton of time online; sometimes, we’re on our laptops, watching Netflix on our Chromecast and checking Instagram on our phones at the same time. So we need a VPN that doesn’t limit us on how many devices we can connect simultaneously. Enter Surfshark, which allows for unlimited connections at the same time. Not only that, but it worked on a ton of our devices, including:

  • iOS
  • Android
  • macOS
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Fire TV Stick
  • Xbox

  This opens up SurfShark to most people online, plus, anyone that uses Chrome or Firefox, as it has browser extensions for both.

  Surfshark’s free trial period is one of the only companies that doesn’t limit you in terms of data, servers, or speeds so you can truly test out their VPN as it would be with a paid subscription. Start your trial now.

  Netflix Access

  We’ll let you in on a little secret: Netflix is not a fan of VPNs. After pressure from TV networks and studios, they blocked a ton of VPN IP addresses, forcing VPN companies to scramble for new servers. Fortunately, we had no issues watching Surfshark on Netflix, so if you need to finish that show that’s last season is only on Netflix in another country, you can connect to Surfshark and switch regions.

• 3. ProtonVPN - Best Free VPN with Unlimited Data Usage

  Editor's Rating

  8.8

  /10

  How We Review

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  What We Liked:

  • No data usage limit
  • Strict “No Logs” policy
  • Intuitive user interface
  • Works across all major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

  What We Didn’t Like:

  • Server locations limited to the U.S, the Netherlands, and Japan
  • One simultaneous connection only
  • Connection speed priority for premium users
  • No other way to contact support besides email support tickets

  Unlimited Browsing, Streaming, and Downloads

  The most common limitation we’ve encountered while testing free VPNs was the data usage limit, which is why we love the fact that the ProtonVPN had no such restrictions. We browsed, streamed, and downloaded all we wanted while our MacBook Pro remained connected. On top of that, our Internet speed didn’t drop that much. We had no problem watching Netflix and playing online games, except of course during peak hours. The ProtonVPN gives higher speed priority to paying customers as an incentive, so as users of the free version, our connection slowed down as the traffic increased, but it was still manageable.

  Strict “No Logs” Policy

  ProtonVPN’s main servers are located in Switzerland, which is a good thing because Switzerland has strict data privacy laws in place.1 Switzerland is also not a member of the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes international surveillance alliance, so the U.S. government cannot force ProtonVPN to give up its users’ data. The funny thing was, there’s no data to give up in the first place. The company has a strict “no logs” policy. They didn’t log our browsing activity or any information about our VPN connection. The only information they stored was a single timestamp of our more recent login for our account’s security. That’s hardly an identifying data, so we had no qualms with them logging it. They did, however, store our account information locally on their servers, like our email address, support requests and reports, and payment information once we decided to spring for the premium version, which they claimed to have deleted when we canceled our subscription. This is all normal, though, and believe us, we’ve read a ton of VPN privacy policies!

  

  Three Server Locations, One Simultaneous Connection

  One of the most important questions we asked ourselves while testing free VPNs was, “Can we live with its limitations?”. Fortunately, ProtonVPN’s limitations barely bothered us. First, there were only three server locations— Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States— which meant that we had fewer options to choose from once those servers started filling up with paying users; however, that wasn’t a problem when we connected to a New York server. Second, we were only able to connect one device at a time. If we were already browsing using our smartphone, we couldn’t use ProtonVPN on our laptop to watch Netflix. That was a little harder to bear, but again, we were using the free version so we can’t complain. And while we’re tech-obsessed, we usually only use one device at a time, anyway.

• 4. TunnelBear - Best Free VPN for Beginners

  Editor's Rating

  8.8

  /10

  How We Review

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  What We Liked:

  • Easy to use and intuitive user interface
  • Over 20 server locations for free users
  • Up to five simultaneous connections
  • Works across all major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

  What We Didn’t Like:

  • Based in Canada, a Five Eye alliance member
  • No Netflix access
  • No phone or live chat support
  • 500 MB per month data usage limit

  Fun and Easy To Use

  Most VPNs have a serious vibe going on with their user interface, but TunnelBear took a different approach with its intuitive yet fun and easy to use user interface. It connected to the encrypted tunnels with one click of a button, and once connected, the application showed us our server location through a virtual map. That was incredibly helpful because choosing a server location closest to our physical location usually yielded faster upload and download speeds. Whenever we felt a slowdown, we simply clicked on the “tunnel”, an icon representing TunnelBear’s server locations, closest to us to get a better connection.

  FYI: FYI: TunnelBear offers over 20 server locations to choose from, all of which are accessible even to free users.

  Up To Five Simultaneous Connections

  Although TunnelBear is a free VPN, it allows up to five connections at any single time. In fact, on several occasions, we used it to encrypt our MacBook Air, Android smartphone, and iPad while they were all connected to a public library Wi-Fi network. And that’s another advantage of the TunnelBear as a free VPN: it worked across all major operating systems for desktop and mobile, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Like Windscribe, it also had browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, which allowed us to encrypt only our browsing data rather than encrypting our laptop or smartphone’s entire online activity.

  

  20+ Server Locations

  While other VPNs limit the number of virtual locations accessible to free users, we loved that TunnelBear let us connect to over 20 different server locations. It allowed us to choose a server closest to us for faster speeds and to switch over to different servers if our current connection wasn’t good. And for those like us who aren’t geography buffs, TunnelBear’s interface makes it a lot easier to visualize the location of the servers, thus making it easier to find other close proximity servers in case the closest one doesn’t yield good speeds.

• 5. Windscribe - Best Free VPN for the Security-Minded

  Editor's Rating

  7.7

  /10

  How We Review

  

  What We Liked:

  • At least 10 server locations for free users
  • Adware and malware blocker with the browser extension
  • Desktop client includes a built-in firewall
  • Split tunneling on the Android app

  What We Didn’t Like:

  • Based in Canada, a Five Eyes alliance member
  • Logs more data than the bare minimum
  • 10 GB per month data usage limit
  • Live chat support through an automated bot

  Worked On Desktops, Smartphones, and Browsers

  Windscribe worked on just about any device we used at home. There were desktop clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux, apps for iOS and Android, browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, and even an app for our Amazon Fire TV. Now that’s impressive, but let’s go back to the basics. We used Windscribe mostly on our MacBook Pro. The desktop client connected all our apps to the VPN tunnel, while the Windscribe extension we installed on our Chrome browser only encrypted our browser activity. That was helpful because, given the 10 GB per month data limit, we used Windscribe mostly to browse the Internet. If, for instance, we wanted to Google something while on a Skype call, we could simply connect our browser to Windscribe without having to connect Skype and all our other desktop applications.

  Pro Tip: You can get additional data allowance by tweeting about Windscribe, referring friends, or hanging around Windscribe’s official Subreddit.

  Ads, Tracking, and Social Network Blocking

  There was another advantage to using the Windscribe browser extension: it included ad-tracking and social network blocking. These three features made our online browsing experience with Windscribe a lot more enjoyable and private. It blocked all ads, tracking malware, and social media widgets of websites we visited that could be used to track our browsing activity. You know those Like, Tweet, and Share widget buttons that appear on various websites? Turns out, they were tracking our browsing data even though we hadn’t clicked on any of them.2 Windscribe blocked those widgets so that we could browse the Web without being tracked by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networks (though we could still access our social media accounts). That just goes to show how serious the company is about keeping its customers’ online activity private.

  

  Data Logging Policy

  As far as logging data goes, Windscribe didn’t keep track and store any identifying data such as our real IP address and the websites we visited while connected to the VPN. However, they did log a little more information than the bare minimum, including the amount of data we’ve used during our sessions and the times of our connections. That’s a little bit concerning, but to be fair, Windscribe’s data privacy policy requires them to discard such data as soon as we disconnected from the service. The only records they kept were the number of parallel connections at any given time and a counter of our data usage within a 30-day period to help us keep track of our data usage limit and to prevent abuse and account-sharing.