Best Free VPN

Not everyone can afford a paid VPN service, but you don't need to settle for your internet service provider's default privacy and security options. Instead, get a free VPN to help you, like Proton VPN Free, our top pick.

It's not a complete substitute for a paid virtual private network, but we love its fast download speeds, great server selection, and unlimited data. See how Proton VPN Free compares to our other free VPN picks in hands-on tests and why it claims the top prize.

Proton VPN's unlimited data initially drew us in, but it was surprising to see a substantial selection of servers in a free VPN service. You can choose from 70 servers with Proton VPN showing how busy each server is using handy icons. So it’s effortless to pick a less-crowded option for better performance—or you can click a preset profile to find the fastest available server.

We admit that Proton VPN's collection of three server locations for free users is pretty small compared to TunnelBear's slate of over 48 countries, but the huge selection of servers in those countries is more flexible overall. Even with three countries, don't expect to unblock international content streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ since Proton VPN restricts that feature to its paid

While Proton VPN didn't earn top marks during our download speed testing, its median download speed of 206.1 Mbps—about 29% slower than our base download speed—was second only to Privado VPN. This is an excellent result considering Hotspot Shield, TunnelBear, and Hide.me didn't even crack 100 Mbps.

Proton VPN's worst test result came during upload testing with a relatively weak median speed of 4.6 Mbps, just above Hide.me's 4.2—about 49% slower than our upload speed without a VPN. Lastly, it had more latency than other free VPNs but outperformed our ISP's server.

Overall, we think that Proton VPN Free is an exceptional free VPN because it won't cut you off for using too much free data. Its diverse server selection and excellent download performance help outweigh lower upload speeds and lack of streaming services.

Privado VPN's download speeds obliterated the competition with an impressive median speed of 266.7 Mbps, which was only 9% slower than our download speed without a VPN. Fun fact, Privado VPN's best test result was higher than the lowest base speed on each browser we used.

Even though downloads were Privado's best subject, it was also a strong performer for upload speeds, hitting a median upload speed of 9 Mbps—a hair faster than our base upload speed. Still, Privado couldn't beat the HotSpot Shield and TunnelBear upload speeds. Privado VPN was also really responsive, with the second lowest latency in our tests behind Hotspot Shield.

On the whole, we really like Privado VPN Free. It's speedy and doesn't block streaming services like other free VPNs. While the 10 GB monthly data limit is a bit of a bummer, it's one of the more generous offerings on a free VPN plan.

TunnelBear posted the second-lowest median download speed in our tests: 61.8 Mbps—about 79% lower than our base speed. For upload speeds, TunnelBear was second best at 11.1 Mbps—only slightly slower than Hotspot Shield. A low latency result also means quick and reliable communication with servers.

At first glance, TunnelBear Free doesn't seem like it can compete with other free VPNs, but that selection of international servers keeps it from falling further down our list. It's a niche option for occasional international research. At least the lower download speeds could help keep your data allotment from evaporating as quickly.

Hotspot Shield's 500 MB daily bandwidth limit doesn't seem like much, but there's more value than free VPN apps with monthly limits. A fresh batch of 500 MB every 24 hours means you can access around 15 GB monthly.

Using the free plan means connecting only to United States servers. The app chooses the server automatically, so accessing a good one is a dice roll. Weirdly, our last speed test connected to a non-US server location in Southeast Asia, with poor latency results—we're not sure why.

On a computer, Hotspot Shield Basic has an excessive habit of opening a browser ad when connecting or disconnecting the VPN. Ugh. Plus, there's no kill switch—an essential security feature—to cut your internet if the VPN connection fails.

Hotspot Shield VPN's median download speed clocked in at 82.1 Mbps, but it was still less than half as fast as Privado VPN and Proton VPN. It scored the best upload speed at 11.3 Mbps—over 25% faster than our ISP. There was practically no latency delay aside from our last speed test.

The most realistic scenario for using Hotspot Shield Basic in the US is to improve your upload speed during a Zoom call. Still, it's great for folks wanting to access US servers from outside the country.

Practically everything nice about Hide.me Free falls apart when you look at internet speeds. The median download speed was the slowest at just 25.9 Mbps. For context, that's 91% slower than our base internet speed. Oof. Upload speeds were also the lowest at 4.2 Mbps—half as fast as without a VPN. Latency was fairly low, so at least the VPN server is responsive.

We like a lot about Hide.me Free. Its robust features like split tunneling and Stealth Guard make it easy to customize when your VPN runs. But the low internet speeds may wrinkle a few brows among folks that value fast internet.

Excellent internet speeds, server options, and unlimited bandwidth make Proton VPN Free an easy choice for the best free VPN service. While it doesn't top any of our testing metrics or offer the most features, Proton VPN feels the most like a complete package for a free user, and that's enough to recommend giving it a try.

But the beauty of free VPNs is that you can use them all for the tasks that best suit you without compromising. Sure, managing five VPN apps could be tedious if you switch between them often, but it worked great for us. If you want something a little more stable than a free VPN app, we recommend checking out our picks for the best paid VPN services.

• Our first round of speed testing included two tests for each VPN app using Safari and Chrome browsers.
  • We used the speed test built into Google Search and noted the download, upload, and latency numbers.
  • On Safari, the speed test was the only open tab—it was the faster of the two browsers. We're not sure if this was due to the number of tabs, but we may test this in a future update.
  • On Chrome, the speed test was only one of around 25 open tabs, so other tabs could've competed for bandwidth during the short tests.
• After the first round, we ran two control tests without a VPN in each browser to find reference points for each app's test results.
• The second round took place 30 minutes later. We conducted one last test in each browser for each app before finishing with another control test.
• At the end of both rounds, we had six results for each brand and the control we used for our comparison.
  • Since these tests were all on the same computer on the same day, the results are mainly for comparison purposes and will change based on your device and internet service provider.

We learned a lot in our testing but also combed through customer support articles and product pages to ensure we didn't miss any important features. Since these are free apps, we didn't research any customer reviews and kept our focus on testing. Learn more about how we rank, test, and review services in our full methodology.

• Best VPN Services
• What Is a VPN and What Does It Do?
• How to Set Up a VPN at Home
• What Are VPN Connections?