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In our increasingly digital world, more and more people are relying on a VPN when they get online.
There are countless services out there that will mask your IP, keep you safe online, or let you circumvent geographical restrictions, but they’re not all above board and legitimate.
That can make it a minefield, especially when you’re looking for the best free VPN on the market.
Fortunately, we’ve put together a guide with one sole purpose, and that’s to answer that all-important question: ‘What’s the best free VPN?’
If you’re on the hunt for a top VPN in 2024 and perhaps don’t want to invest any money in one, you’re in luck.
There are plenty of services that offer a free VPN – with some restrictions and caveats, of course.
However, it’s not impossible to find a good free VPN that’s stable, reliable, and safe.
So, let’s take a look at what’s out there and help you make up your mind on the best free VPN to use in 2024.
What Is a VPN?
To put it simply, a ‘Virtual Private Network’ is a system that encrypts your data online, hiding your personal information from potentially malicious parties.
It can ‘spoof’ your location, making it look like you’re somewhere else.
It’s a system that provides the ultimate layer of security around your online activities, allowing you to bypass restrictions, get access to content that’s not released in your country, or have a better, safer experience when playing video games.
There are many ways to use a VPN, but ultimately, they’re simple things.
They’ve been designed in such a way that they’re hugely accessible, especially today.
It’s easy for anyone, even a person with no technical knowledge at all, to install a VPN, make an account, and encrypt their data or hide their online activity, even from their ISP.
They work by offering a ‘middleman’ service.
By that, we mean that the VPN will take the data you output, funnel it through the encryption system, and put it out at the other end to whatever game, website, or service you’re trying to use, and then reverse the process when it comes back again.
Most commonly, VPNs are used to spoof someone’s location.
For instance, if you were in the United States, you could make a website believe you were in the United Kingdom by using a VPN to mask your IP address.
Are Free VPNs Safe?
Free VPNs are safe, provided you use the correct services.
There are plenty of opportunities to pick up a free trial from one of the best VPN providers out there, but that’s a very limited-time solution.
There are lots of operators that will provide free VPNs in 2024 that can be trusted – and we’ve covered them in this guide.
Like anything online, you’ll need to rely on your gut instincts and a little common sense to deduce if something is legitimate. If a free VPN service feels strange to you, then don’t use it – that’s that simple.
There are plenty of well-governed, highly-reviewed alternatives out there, and you don’t need to run these risks to increase your safety online.
Ironically, if you pick a bad free VPN service, you’ll end up being less safe online.
Do VPNs Offer Free Trials?
There are plenty of VPN services that offer free trials, giving you a glimpse at how they operate during a limited window.
Some of the best VPN companies on the market entice new users by giving them a taste of the power of their VPN services, which often boast super-fast connectivity, reliable infrastructure, and the ability to connect an unlimited amount of devices to the VPN at once.
For instance, NordVPN offers a great free trial that lasts 30 days and goes hand-in-hand with a no-hassle, no-risk policy.
There’s also ExpressVPN, which perhaps offers the best free VPN trial in the business.
With ExpressVPN, you’ll get a 30-day trial that ends with a bonus of three free months when you subscribe.
It’ll allow you to explore this top VPN service without any risks for a full month – with no strings attached.
Typically, you’ll have an offer lurking somewhere to get a sizeable discount or some free months following a free trial period.
It’s how these VPN providers attract new customers, and it’s a win for everyone involved. So, if you running a free VPN trial, be sure to keep an eye open for these promotions.
How Will a Free VPN Help Me?
As we’ve already stressed, there are many uses for a free VPN service.
It’s not advised to get bogged down in the technical architecture of a VPN, just know that they’re tried, tested, and reputable – they work, in short.
Here are some of the ways to use a VPN:
- Watch Restricted Content: If you’re in a country that has restrictions – such as on Netflix content – using a VPN can give you access to that blocked content. It’s probably the primary way that free VPN services are used, with people wanting to see shows or movies that perhaps aren’t available in their country.
- Get Easier Game Lobbies: If you’re a gamer, you’ll want to make use of a good free VPN to get access to ‘easier’ lobbies by spoofing your location and finding games in regions with ‘less talented’ gamers.
- Avoid Malicious Operators: With a VPN, you’re safe online – and that’s even with a free VPN. If you’re using a VPN, you can avoid DDoS attacks, data scrapers, and anyone who might be trying to do nefarious things with your IP address and personal data.
- Boost Speeds and Reduce Ping: In some circumstances, using a VPN can boost your internet speed or reduce your latency – otherwise known as ‘ping’ in gaming circles. This is a huge positive for some, but a VPN will rarely make your internet that much faster.
These are all the things that you can do with a free VPN.
Now, let’s answer the question, ‘What’s the best free VPN in 2024?’
Again, if you want to try a paid VPN with a free trial, perhaps you could consider CyberGhost, which offers full access to premium features for a limited duration:
Best Free VPNs in 2024
You’re here with a mission in mind. It’s to find out what’s the best free VPN in 2024, right?
Well, without further ado, let’s get into the list, breaking down the top VPN services that won’t cost you a penny to use.
PrivadoVPN
| Free Data: | 10 GB Per Month |
| Countries: | 10 |
| Features: | Kill Switch, Premium Encryption |
| P2P: | Yes |
PrivadoVPN is one of the best free VPNs out there in 2024. It’s a solid service for those using a PC or a Mac, but it’s also available on mobile devices.
If you’re using this free service, you’ll be taking advantage of industry-standard encryption with a high data limit.
If there are any drawbacks, it’s that you can only have one device connected simultaneously and that after the first month, you’ll have your speed capped at 1Mbps.
However, it has been proven that PrivadoVPN, which will give you ten countries on the free tier, can successfully unblock streaming services like Netflix.
ProtonVPN
| Free Data: | Unlimited |
| Countries: | 3 |
| Features: | Kill Switch, Premium Encryption, Unlimited Bandwidth |
| P2P: | No |
ProtonVPN is a brilliant free service that offers unlimited data with a few restrictions.
It’ll only let you connect to three countries and it won’t unblock streaming services like Netflix, but it’s a safe, secure, and reliable free VPN that has been tried and tested over many years.
It’s also open-source, which means it’s being worked on by the community all the time and is fast becoming one of the best VPNs on the market in general.
Further, if you create a ProtonVPN account, you’ll unlock added benefits.
These come in the form of access to Proton’s ‘security suite’, which includes Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, and Proton Drive, with 1 GB of free cloud storage.
Windscribe Free
| Free Data: | 10 GB Per Month |
| Countries: | 11 |
| Features: | Unblocks Streaming Platforms, Unlimited Connections |
| P2P: | No |
Windscribe’s free VPN option is a popular choice for those who want the ultimate in online security without breaking the bank – or touching it at all.
With Windscribe Free, users get access to an advanced solution that will allow them to connect an unlimited number of devices to the service.
It’ll unlock some of the best streaming platforms and offer up a lot of countries to connect to.
It might not be the fastest free VPN, but it’s very close. It’s a super simple service that is secure and boasts one of the best customer support functions out of all the free VPN services out there.
Hotspot Shield
| Free Data: | Unlimited |
| Countries: | 20 |
| Features: | Multi-Hop, Torrenting |
| P2P: | Yes |
Hotspot Shield is a great alternative to some of the competing free VPN services out there, but it does have a huge caveat.
It might boast unlimited free data and more countries than any other service on this list, plus some other sizeable bonuses, but there’s a big drawback to the service that puts some users off.
Hotspot Shield is ad-supported, and for every 15-second ad you watch, you’ll get 15 minutes of unlimited bandwidth. If you want, you can stack ads to stack browsing time.
It’s not perfect, but it is fast. On average, users report getting speeds of up to 237 Mbps with Hotspot Shield, which makes it the fastest free VPN on the market.
It’s just a question of whether you can get past the ad-sponsored operating model.
Atlas VPN Free
| Free Data: | 10 GB Per Month (or 2 GB Per Day on Mac) |
| Countries: | 2 |
| Features: | Fast Speeds, Unblocks Streaming Sites |
| P2P: | No |
Atlas VPN Free is the best example of a VPN that’s a mixed bag.
With this free-to-use service, you’ll be getting a sumptuous allowance of 2 GB of free data per day if you’re a Mac user, and that goes hand-in-hand with some top-notch speeds that are surprisingly fast for a free VPN.
On the other side of that sits a service that’s not so strong in features, but it will unblock various streaming sites for you, so that’s a huge bonus.
It has the fewest servers on this list and doesn’t offer torrenting, but as a free VPN, it can’t be argued with.
It does what it promises to do, and that’s to keep you safe online, spoof your location, and provide you with free data.
Conclusion
So, ‘What’s the best free VPN?’
We hope we’ve answered that question in full, giving you a solid perspective on the various services available out there.
It’s a diverse and dynamic world, and there’s no telling what the next best VPN will look like.
As you can see, there are dramatic differences between what each service offers, too.