Best Free VPN for 2024: Affordable Risk-Free Privacy
Using a free VPN can be risky, but you don't have to compromise your privacy with a free version of a premium VPN service.
Our Experts
- Free plan doesn't throttle your data, plaster your screen with ads or limit your monthly usage
- Open-source apps
- Strong commitment to privacy and transparency
- Excellent paid plan as an upgrade path
- Can't choose a server manually on the free plan
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Strong commitment to privacy and transparency
- Forward-thinking security enhancements
- Excellent for streaming
- Streamlined, easy-to-use app across platforms
- Expensive
- Only eight simultaneous connections
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 7-day free trial on Google Play Store and Apple App Store
- Wallet-friendly prices
- Lots of unique security features
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- 14 Eyes jurisdiction (Netherlands)
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Blazing-fast internet speeds
- Strong privacy and transparency
- Great for streaming service unblocking
- User-friendly apps
- Inconsistent pricing structure
- Not as transparent as other VPN rivals
What is the best free VPN right now?
Proton VPN is the best free VPN and the only no-cost virtual private network provider we recommend. The vast majority of free VPNs impose heavy restrictions on things like data allowances, usage time and connection speeds, making them practically useless for anything beyond the most negligible of online activities.
Some free VPNs may even sell your data or plaster your screen with ads. Proton VPN imposes no such limitations on its free users. The free tier has access to only five server locations, doesn't let you manually select a server (you're stuck using the country server that Proton automatically routes you through) and doesn't include the full suite of features you get with a paid subscription like creating custom profiles to connect to certain servers, but it delivers the same level of encryption and includes the privacy features you need as its premium version. It's also fast and works well with streaming services.
The free plan is great, but Proton's paid tier is fast, boasts a massive international server network and is excellent for geo-unblocking, making it a fantastic upgrade path for folks with more demanding needs like a larger server selection and more simultaneous connections.
About free VPNs
If you need a virtual private network but don't want to pay for a subscription, a free VPN could sound like the right choice. However, in our experience, most free VPNs provide limited privacy protection while delivering unsatisfactory performance. Furthermore, it's common for zero-dollar VPNs to come loaded with malware that can cause damage to your device and collect and sell your private data. At best, many no-cost VPNs plaster your screen with ads or throttle your data speeds. Often featuring slower connection speeds than their paid premium competitors and usage limits, free VPNs can restrict the amount of data you're able to use when online, which defeats the whole purpose of getting one.
At CNET, we've spent years thoroughly testing VPN service providers and compiled a list of reliable options, with affordability in mind. When it comes to free VPNs, the Proton VPN is the best free VPN -- and the only provider CNET recommends currently is Proton VPN's free tier, as it provides quality performance, robust security features and no cap on data usage. However, many paid VPN providers offer free trials, which let you try a VPN before buying and take advantage of money-back guarantees offered by the companies on our list of trusted VPN companies. Staying on budget is essential and so is deciding on a quality VPN that'll make your online experience a safer one. All of our top recommended VPN services come with either a free version of the paid service or a free trial.
Factors to consider in a free VPN
Privacy
The primary consideration for any VPN should be privacy. If a free VPN can't protect your online privacy, that VPN is useless. At a minimum, your VPN should employ industry standard AES 256-bit encryption (over the OpenVPN and IKEv2 VPN protocols) or ChaCha20 (WireGuard or IKEv2) along with offering basic privacy protections like a kill switch, DNS leak protection and a no-logs policy. Those basic standards should be included in any free VPN you're considering. For critical privacy needs, you'll also want a VPN provider that is based in a privacy-friendly jurisdiction and has a RAM-only server architecture. Also, look for a VPN that undergoes regular third-party security audits, as audits can help bolster trust in the VPN's ability to protect its users' privacy. It's important to do your research and make sure the company behind the free VPN you're considering is legitimate and isn't tracking and selling your data.
Speed
The speed of your VPN can have a major effect on activities like streaming, downloading, video conferencing, gaming and general web browsing. To keep things running as smoothly as possible, you'll want to look for a VPN that will have as minimal an impact on your regular internet speeds as possible. Some VPNs can cut your internet speed in half, but we find that the fastest VPNs reduce your internet download speed by only 25% or less. Many free VPNs put limitations on speeds, but there are some -- like Proton VPN, which clocked an impressive 21% average internet download speed loss in our 2024 testing -- that don't. In such cases, you can actually achieve decent speeds.
All VPNs slow down your internet connection somewhat, but the highest-performing VPNs only reduce your internet download speed by an average of 25% or less. We benchmarked VPNs by running over 250 different speed tests -- with and without a VPN enabled -- and across various international servers. Especially when looking for one of the best free VPNs, you'll want to make sure your virtual private network provider doesn't slow your speeds down. NordVPN was the fastest VPN we clocked, with Mullvad, Surfshark, Proton and ExpressVPN delivering excellent connectivity. Here's how the internet speed loss of our top VPNs stacked up:
| Provider | Speed loss |
|---|---|
| ExpressVPN | 25% |
| Surfshark | 17% |
| NordVPN | 11% |
| Proton VPN | 21% |
| IPVanish | 44% |
| PIA | 49% |
Usability
A good free VPN should run smoothly and be easy to use regardless of your technical expertise. It should also be free of severe limitations that prevent it from doing what you need it to do.
How we test free VPNs
When we evaluate a free VPN, the main thing we look at is how safe the VPN is to use. In other words, we want to be as certain as possible that the VPN isn't logging user data or selling it to outside parties and we want to ensure that the encryption the VPN employs is up to industry standards. We test for leaks and to see if privacy features like a kill switch work properly. We also evaluate how useful the free VPN is for the average user, in a practical sense. Is it fast enough for general browsing? Does it allow for streaming? Does it have data or usage limitations? A good free VPN is safe to use and is actually useful because it doesn't impose overbearing limitations that render it essentially ineffective as a VPN.
Other VPNs we tested
PrivadoVPN
PrivadoVPN is a solid free VPN for casual users. While it doesn't offer unlimited monthly usage like Proton does -- you're limited to 10GB of data each month -- you can choose from a selection of servers yourself. Because you can pick a desired server from the free VPN server roster, Privado is a pretty practical free VPN service. It features a privacy-friendly Swiss jurisdiction, a reader-friendly privacy policy and a great streaming service unblocking for streaming foreign Netflix, Disney Plus, BBC iPlayer or other content libraries. Because of its Apple TV app, Privado is a good free Apple TV VPN option -- although its meager 10GB monthly data allowance means you can only stream a movie or two on the zero-cost tier.
PrivadoVPN has a no-logs policy, but it hasn't been audited and hasn't published any transparency reports, meaning it's not ideal for folks with serious privacy concerns. Investigative journalists, political activists, asylum-seekers or paranoid torrenters may consider a VPN with better privacy, like Proton. Additionally, Privado's uneven internet speed loss (we clocked an average of 48% internet download speed loss in our 2024 testing) was pretty high. PrivadoVPN does offer paid plans, which can be a convenient upgrade path if you need more servers, unlimited monthly usage and additional simultaneous device allowances. Privado's paid plan, with its modest network of servers in 49 countries, falls well below the 100-plus that many of our top VPN recommendations provide. Still, if you're on the free plan and need more flexibility, the premium plan could be a worthy choice. For casual users, the free tier is an excellent choice so long as you don't have privacy-critical needs.
Mullvad VPN
Mullvad VPN is a good cheap VPN. It costs $5 per month with no price hikes, features blazing-fast internet speeds, cutting-edge privacy initiatives like a RAM-only server infrastructure and a privacy-conscious signup process. For privacy-concerned folks -- like investigative journalists, political activists or worried torrenters, Mullvad is a great option. Its small server network of 684 servers in 44 countries, coupled with its uneven streaming service unblocking capabilities, make it a tough sell for people who want to stream foreign Netflix libraries or globetrot. If you want beefy privacy on a budget, Mullvad is a good choice.
Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield's basic tier is a free VPN offering that's not hampered by a usage limit. It features more than 160 servers, but only in one location (the U.S.), so Hotspot Shield may not be ideal for international travel or streaming service unblocking. Its paid plans support Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android and Linux devices alongside routers, but for Chrome browsers and smart TVs, the free plan is limited to Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android and Chrome.
In our testing, we were unimpressed with Hotspot Shield's middling prices and US jurisdiction. Moreover, Hotspot Shield's free plan includes ads. We don't recommend the paid plan or free basic tier, but if you don't mind ads and don't have critical privacy needs, Hotspot Shield has a barebones free unlimited VPN offering.
Free VPN tips
Free VPNs simply aren't as safe
Free VPNs can be very dangerous. Why? Because to maintain the hardware and expertise needed for large networks and secure users, VPN services have expensive bills to pay. As a VPN customer, you either pay for a premium VPN service with your dollars or you pay for free services with your data. If you aren't ordering at the table, you're on the menu.
Some 86% of free iOS and Android VPN apps -- accounting for millions of installs -- have unacceptable privacy policies, ranging from a simple lack of transparency to explicitly sharing user data with Chinese authorities, according to two independent 2018 investigations into free VPN apps from Top10VPN. Another 64% of free VPN app offerings had no web presence outside their app store pages, and only 17% responded to customer support emails.
In June 2019, Apple reportedly brought the hammer down on apps that share user data with third parties. 80% of the top 20 free VPN apps in Apple's App Store appear to be breaking those rules, according to a June update on the Top10VPN investigation.
In 2021, 77% of apps were flagged as potentially unsafe in the Top10VPN VPN Ownership Investigation -- and 90% of those flagged as potentially unsafe in the Free VPN Risk Index -- still posed a risk.
"Google Play downloads of apps we flagged as potentially unsafe have soared to 214 million in total, rocketing by 85% in six months," the report reads. "Monthly installs from the App Store held steady at around 3.8 million, which represents a relative increase as this total was generated by 20% fewer apps than at the start of the year as a number of apps are no longer available."
On Android, 214 million downloads represent a lot of user login data, culled from unwitting volunteers. What's one of the most profitable things one can do with large swaths of user login data?
You can catch malware
Let's get this out of the way right now: 38% of free Android VPNs contain malware -- despite the security features on offer, a CSIRO study found. Yes, many of those free VPNs were highly-rated apps with millions of downloads. If you're a free user, your odds of catching a nasty bug are greater than 1 in 3.
Ask yourself which costs less: a secure VPN service for about $100 a year, or hiring an identity theft recovery firm after some chump steals your bank account login and Social Security number?
It couldn't happen to you, right? Wrong. Mobile ransomware attacks are skyrocketing. Symantec detected more than 18 million mobile malware instances in 2018 alone, constituting a 54% year-over-year increase in variants. In 2019, Kaspersky noted a 60% spike in password-stealing Trojans.
Malware isn't the only way to make money if you're running a free VPN service; there's an even easier way.
The ad-valanche
Aggressive advertising practices from a free plan can go beyond getting hit with a few annoying pop-ups and quickly veer into dangerous territory. Some VPNs sneak ad-serving trackers through the loopholes in your browser's media-reading features, which then stay on your digital trail like a prison warden in a B-grade remake of Escape from Alcatraz.
HotSpot Shield VPN earned some painful notoriety for such allegations in 2017 when it was hit with a Federal Trade Commission complaint (PDF) for over-the-top privacy violations in serving ads. Carnegie Mellon University researchers found the company not only had a baked-in backdoor used to secretly sell data to third-party advertising networks, but it also employed five different tracking libraries and actually redirected user traffic to secret servers.
When the story broke, HotSpot parent company AnchorFree denied the researchers' findings in an email to Ars Technica: "We never redirect our users' traffic to any third-party resources instead of the websites they intended to visit. The free version of our Hotspot Shield solution openly and clearly states that it is funded by ads, however, we intercept no traffic with neither the free nor the premium version of our solutions."
AnchorFree has since offered annual transparency reports, although their value is still up to the reader. More recently, HotSpot Shield was among just a handful of VPN apps found to respect users' refusal to permit ad tracking. In a November 2021 study from Top10VPN, just 15% of free VPN apps respected iOS users' choices when they declined voluntary ad-tracking. The rest of the free VPN apps tested by Top10VPN simply ignored users' Do Not Track requests.
Even if credit card fraud isn't a concern, you don't need pop-ups and ad-lag weighing you down when you've already got to deal with another major problem with free VPNs.
Buffering... buffering... buffering
One of the top reasons people get a VPN is to access their favorite subscription services or streaming site -- Hulu, Max (formerly HBO Max), Netflix -- when they travel to countries where those companies block access based on your location. What's the point in accessing the geo-blocked video content you've paid for if the free VPN service you're using is so slow you can't watch it, despite a good internet connection?
Some free VPNs have been known to sell your bandwidth, potentially putting you on the legal hook for whatever they do with it. The most famous case of this was Hola VPN, which was caught in 2015 quietly stealing users' bandwidth and selling it, mercenary-style, to whatever group wanted to deploy the user base as a botnet.
Back then, Hola CEO Ofer Vilenski admitted they'd been had by a "spammer" but contended in a lengthy defense that this harvesting of bandwidth was typical for this type of technology.
"We assumed that by stating that Hola is a [peer-to-peer] network, it was clear that people were sharing their bandwidth with the community network in return for their free service," he wrote.
If being pressed into service as part of a botnet isn't enough to slow you down, free VPN services also usually pay for fewer VPN server options. That means your traffic is generally bouncing around longer between distant, overcrowded servers, or even waiting behind the traffic of paid users.
To top it off, subscription streaming sites are savvy to those who try to sneak into their video services for free. These services routinely block large numbers of IP addresses they've identified as belonging to turnstile-jumping freeloaders. Free VPNs can't afford to invest in a long list of fresh IP addresses for users the way a paid VPN service can.
That means you may not even be able to log into a streaming service you've paid for if your free VPN is using a stale batch of IPs. Good luck getting HBO Max to load over that VPN connection.
Paid options get better all the time
The good news is that a lot of solid VPNs on the market offer a range of features, depending on your needs and budget. You can browse our ratings and reviews to find the right VPN software for you. If you're looking for something mobile-specific, we've rounded up our favorite mobile VPNs for 2024.
If you'd like a primer before deciding which service to drop the cash on, we have a VPN buyer's guide to help you get a handle on the basics of VPNs and what to look for when choosing a VPN service.