Staying protected online shouldn’t cost you a fortune, and with our collection of the best free VPNs, you don’t have to spend a penny.
In 2024, the importance of having a dedicated VPN as you surf the web cannot be understated. As word of hacks and ongoing cyber attacks pop up in the newscycle on a near weekly basis, the need for a substantial barrier around your personal information has never felt more necessary.
For those who don’t know, a VPN (virtual private network) lets you browse the internet via a different IP address to the one natively allocated to the device you’re using. This means that when you’re connected to the Wi-Fi, bad actors can’t accurately track down your location or infiltrate your device via an IP route, keeping you and your data safe.
If you want the most robust VPN service out there then you’re better off checking out our rundown of the best VPN around. That guide features paid subscriptions, and within that, a wider array of security features on top of the VPN itself. If your budget doesn’t quite cover that however then this article is the place to be.
Just like how we test paid VPNs, free VPNs are subject to the same level of scrutiny, conducting a variety speed tests as well as unearthing whether a particular company employs a no-logging policy, a lack of which means said company is storing your browsing history. These are the types of things that are tough to know upfront but are essential when it comes to deciding which free VPN to sign up for.
You can rest assured that all of the services that feature in this list have done so off the back of a positive review from one of our writers. If you want to expand your online security beyond a free VPN, we also have a breakdown of the best free antivirus.
How we test
Learn more about how we test VPNs
For this free VPN service test, we’ve used a cut-down version of the full-scale download speed tests we use to rank our Best VPNs, using smaller files of around 60MB and only testing HTTP throughput.
This means that we can accurately compare services that have a bandwidth cap, but have slightly reduced average download speeds across the board.
As always, data transfer tests only ever represent a snapshot of performance from a single endpoint server at a specific time, although we can refer back to the results of previous tests to obtain a broader picture of how a given service has evolved.
In all cases, we’ve recorded the best speeds we were able to obtain for each provider during our test period
ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN
Best overall free VPN
Trusted Score
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Pros
Unlimited-bandwidth free tier
Wide range of endpoint countries
Paid version is great for streaming
Quick download speeds
Cons
Subscriptions renew at a higher rate
Although Swiss-based ProtonVPN is available as a paid-for subscription, its free version is easily one of the best available.
Boasting unlimited bandwidth, Proton is a privacy-focused VPN which comes from the same company behind the encrypted email provider, ProtonMail.
Its main endpoint list allows you to select from specific servers while displaying how busy each one is and which connection features are provided. Free users, however, can only choose from five endpoint locations: the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland and the United States.
This limitation could be an issue if you want to use a server in a specific location, especially when compared to other free VPN services, such as TunnelBear which boasts endpoints in a whopping 49 countries.
Although previously we’ve found ProtonVPN’s free endpoint servers have become heavily congested to the point they were unusable, this is not something we found in our more recent time with the service.
It’s worth noting that the larger pool of available servers for paid users means this is an issue that you’ll simply never run into if you’re a paying customer.
ProtonVPN is transparent about how it operates and clearly details any requests it receives from law enforcement agencies. As a no-logging service, ProtonVPN explains that it has no data to provide, although it must be stated that ProtonVPN is based in Switzerland, which isn’t the best country for cast-iron privacy guarantees.
Another potential limitation of the free version is that it only supports one device, whereas the Plus tier protects up to ten devices. If you use multiple devices then it might be worth considering opting for the paid-for subscription instead.
ProtonVPN Plus costs around £8.28 a month or £49.60 every 12 months (however just note these prices are estimated and converted from EUR to GBP.)
Overall, if you need a fast VPN with unlimited bandwidth and without spending a penny, then you seriously couldn’t do much better than ProtonVPN.
Reviewer: K.G. Orphanides
Full Review:ProtonVPN Review
Windscribe
Windscribe
Best jack-of-all trades free VPN
Trusted Score
Pros
Generous 10GB free tier
Wide range of endpoint countries
Unlimited simultaneous connections
Cons
Some rivals are faster
Only five WireGuard connections can be registered at any given time
Windscribe is an excellent all-rounder free VPN, coming with a generous 10GB monthly bandwidth which we found to be sufficient for casual use. That may pale in comparison to ProtonVPN’s unlimited bandwidth, but to make up for that, you’re given access to a greater number of endpoints.
Free users get access to endpoints in 10 countries – the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway and Romania. We were really impressed with this amount of flexibility, although the likes of TunnelBear proves to be even better in this area, with endpoints in 49 different countries.
After testing the VPN for an extended period, we found Windscribe to offer a wide range of useful security features, as well as a clear no-logging policy and regular updates for a transparency report showing how many data requests it receives from law enforcement. Windscribe notes that: “Exactly zero requests were complied with due to lack of relevant data.”
It may not have a killer feature, but Windscribe’s generous offering for both the number of endpoints and amount of monthly bandwidth make it one of the most versatile free VPNs available – but ProtonVPN is still worth checking out since our tests showed it to have substantially faster speeds.
Reviewer:K.G. Orphanides
Full Review: Windscribe Review
TunnelBear VPN
TunnelBear VPN
Best for multiple endpoints
Trusted Score
Pros
Free version available
Clear no-logging policy
Fast speeds
Inexpensive annual subscription
Cons
Free service provides a relatively small data allowance
TunnelBear allows access to a whipping 49 different countries via its free tier, showing a far greater deal of flexibility than ProtonVPN’s five country endpoints. During the review process, we found the app to be easy to use, letting you use a digital world map to select an endpoint in the country of your choice. This makes TunnelBear very useful if you want to use an endpoint in a specific location.
However, the biggest issue with TunnelBear VPN is that its free tier only provides 500MB of bandwidth, preventing you from keeping it activated 24/7 as you browse the web. Windscribe offers a far more generous 10GB of monthly bandwidth, while ProtonVPN boasts unlimited usage, making them more appealing if you need to use a VPN frequently.
That said, TunnelBear performed very well in our speed tests, with our benchmark data showing it to be quicker than Windscribe, and even some paid-for options such as Perfect Privacy and HMA VPN.
But while this is a great VPN for the security conscious due to its explicit no-logging policy and speedy performance, you’ll need to look elsewhere if you want to stream, torrent or simply crave more data allowance.
Reviewer:K.G. Orphanides
Full Review:TunnelBear Review
We also considered…
VPNHub Premium
VPNHub Premium
VPNHub’s performance and features are very good – it’s real problem is pricing
FAQs
Which free VPN is best?
Our current favourite free VPN is ProtonVPN due to its high speeds and unlimited bandwidth. However, Windscribe is a solid alternative if you want a greater variety of endpoints.
Are free VPNs safe?
If you’re worried about a free VPN selling your data, then make sure it has a no-logging policy, as this means it does not store or collect your data. Better still, check to see whether the VPN has been audited to see whether their claims are proven. All of the VPNs on this list are safe, as they make money either through adverts or by trying to incentivize you to spend money on the paid-for subscription.
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