If your boss, school or the local government has decided to block your favorite website, these free VPN providers will help you bypass those restrictions.

What is a VPN?

VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network” and it’s mainly used to access a private network remotely. VPNs use a secure connection between the user’s computer (client) and the VPN server. When then connection is established, the client will work as if it was connected directly to the private network.

Usage

Virtual private networks are mainly used to allow employees to work remotely in a safe way. The computers connected to a VPN will behave as if they were connected directly to the corporate network.

Other uses :

Bypass censorship or Internet filters. Access websites anonymously. Access geographically locked contents. Stop data sniffers that spy all the data sent through insecure networks. Prevent your ISP slowing down your connection depending on the website you visit.

How does it work?

The VPN servers are a safe access point to a private network or to Internet. All traffic between the client and the VPN server is encrypted but the traffic between the VPN server and the target server may not be encrypted.

Several protocols are used to create the connection to the VPN server with different safety and reliability features. OpenVPN and L2TP are the most secure protocols, however PPTP is the least secure.

Precautions

In the case of employees accessing the private network at their office there’s no danger, but in the case of a VPN server used to access the Internet you have to be careful.

The VPN servers are intermediaries of all the traffic between the user and the Internet, and not all VPN providers respect the user’s privacy.

In this article you’ll only find free VPN providers that have a clear and respectful privacy policy.

Some VPN providers offer this service for free because they show ads. In other cases they impose some usage limitations in the hope of getting a new paying premium subscriber. The rest of the providers accept donations or their servers are managed by volunteers.

Free VPN providers list

All the VPN providers in this list offer a Windows application to use their service. That application allows all other programs to use its connection to the VPN.

Avira Phantom VPN :

Bandwidth limited to 500Mb a month for the free service if the user is not registered. If the user is registered the limit is 1Gb a month.

20 servers from all over the world.

DNS leak prevention.

No Internet activities log. They keep anonymous information about the total bandwidth usage. They may share anonymous information with trusted third parties.

Betternet :

There’s no need to register. It’s only necessary to install their application.

OpenVPN and IPSec protocols supported.

They show ads and they don’t allow to use ad blockers.

They log anonymous information with the connection time and bandwidth usage. They may share information with third parties to debug connection and application errors.

CyberGhost :

Unlimited bandwidth.

OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec and PPTP protocols supported.

Waiting queue to use the free VPN service.

They show ads every 2 hours to the free service users.

Forced disconnections every 3 hours for the free service users. Reconnection is possible.

They don’t log personal data or accessed websites. They keep logs for statistical purposes to improve the service but they don’t include any personal data.

No need to register to use the free service. You only have to install their application.

Servers in 27 countries.

FinchVPN :

Limited bandwidth.

OpenVPN and PPTP protocols supported.

It’s necessary to register with a user name and an email address.

Multiple, worldwide server locations.

They keep the personal information used to create the account. They don’t log Internet activities but they may share anonymous information with third parties.

Freevpn.me :

OpenVPN and PPTP protocols supported.

No logging of any kind except for the website.

Unlimited bandwidth.

Multihop VPN servers adding extra security layers.

No registration is required.

Hide.me :

L2TP/Ipsec, IKEv1, IKEv2, SSTP and PPTP protocols supported.

No need to register to use the free service. You only have to install their application.

They don’t log personal data or accessed websites. They only log anonymous information and bandwidth usage.

2Gb/month data transfer limit for the free service.

Servers in 3 countries for the free service.

PrivateTunnel :

OpenVPN protocol supported.

Bandwidth limited to 200Mb/month for the free service but it can be increased with a referral program.

They keep personal information given by the user when he/she creates an account in their website and they may share it with trusted third parties for maintenance and support. They don’t sell personal information.

ProXPN :

OpenVPN protocol supported.

Unlimited data transfer and connection time.

Speed limit at 300kbps for the free service.

Only 1 server in USA for the free service.

No logging of any kind. They only keep the information given when you create the account and they don’t share it with anyone.

Psiphon :

They log anonymous information and they may share it with third parties.

No registration is required. You only have to install their open source application.

SecurityKISS :

OpenVPN and L2TP/Ipsec protocols supported.

You don’t need to register. You only have to install their application.

Bandwidth limited to 300MB/day for the free service.

Servers in 4 countries for the free service.

Limited speed for the free service.

They keep a log with the IP address, bandwidth used during the connection, time and duration of the connection but they delete it every 10 days and they don’t share it with anyone. They don’t log the accessed websites.

Shellfire :

Unlimited bandwidth.

Servers in 2 countries for the free service.

1000kb/sec speed limit for the free service.

They don’t log accessed websites. This company complies with the German law about personal data protection (33 BDSG).

TunnelBear :

OpenVPN protocol supported.

Bandwidth limited to 500Mb/month for the free service. You can add 1Gb every month if you tweet @TunnelBear.

Servers in more than 20 countries.

They don’t log the accessed websites or the IP address. They only keep the information given when the user creates his/her account in the website and they don’t share it with anyone.

VPN Gate :

This service is offered for free by the University of Tsukuba, Japan. This is an experimental non-profit project.

No registration is required. You only need to install their open source application called “SoftEther”.

More than 8.000 servers offered by volunteers from all over the world.

OpenVPN, SSL-VPN, L2TP/IPsec and SSTP protocols supported.

Each server has its own privacy policy. The central server copies the access logs but not the Internet activities of the users.

VPNBook :

OpenVPN and PPTP protocols supported.

Unlimited bandwidth.

No registration is required.

They log the IP address and time the connection to the VPN was established but they delete the logs every week. They don’t log personal information or the Internet activities.

VPNReactor :

The free service only supports the PPTP protocol.

Unlimited bandwidth.

Portable application to connect to the VPN.

It’s necessary to register and give some personal information but they don’t share it. They have usage logs without personal information to track abuse and spam. They delete those logs every 48 hours.

Windscribe :

They only ask for a user name and a password when you register.

DNS leak prevention.

They don’t log accessed websites.

10 Gb/moth bandwidth limit for the free service. You can increase that limit allowing them to send you ads to your email account and inviting your friends.

Servers in 8 countries for the free service.

ZPN :

OpenVPN and L2TP protocols supported.

10 Gb/moth bandwidth limit for the free service.

Servers in more than 5 countries for the free service.

They don’t log accessed websites. They only log anonymous information and bandwidth usage. They may share anonymous data with third parties.

It’s necessary to register using an email account.

Article updated on January 31st, 2019