Best Free VPN 2024: These VPN Providers Are 100% FREE

The VPN industry saw a massive increase in the last few years, all because of decreased levels of online privacy and excessive censorship. In 2024, there are hundreds of these services across the market, ranging in price, security, and performance.

While providers like ExpressVPN and NordVPN always come to mind when discussing these topics, budget-oriented users are looking for the best free VPN in 2024. Free VPNs are very interesting because, at first, they seemingly give you the same things as paid providers.

Or do they?

Well, that’s what we’re going to discuss today. We’re going to present a few of our favorite free VPN providers, talk about their obvious limits, and give you some VPNs that you should avoid. Without further ado, let’s delve deeper into the subject.

Best Free VPN Services in 2024 (For Up to 45 Days)

Before talking about the best really free VPN providers, I must swiftly mention one trick to using the best VPN for free – ExpressVPN. By following this trick, you’ll be able to use the best premium VPN for free for 30 days.

ExpressVPN – The Best Free VPN for 30 Days

I know. This is not a free VPN but this is actually a great thing because there aren’t any limits in terms of performance and overall quality. These limits are present in other free VPNs for reasons that we’re going to discuss in a few minutes.

For now, it’s important to point out ExpressVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee with no conditions. What this means is that you can get full reimbursement from ExpressVPN in the first 30 days, basically for any reason.

Use ExpressVPN for FREE for 30 Days

All you need to do is get a subscription. We recommend claiming its 49% discount and 3 months free for the 1-year plan, which also comes with the aforementioned money-back guarantee. Once you purchase the plan, you can use it however you want.

You can watch Netflix US, enjoy anonymous torrenting, or browse the dark web safely without limits. Just before the first 30 days of your purchase expire, contact the provider’s customer support through live chat and request a refund.

Most likely, they’ll issue a refund without asking any questions. However, if they ask you about a reason for requesting a refund, you can just say that you don’t need a VPN anymore and they’ll still give you your money back.

And that’s pretty much it. It’s a simple trick to use ExpressVPN as the best free VPN. This way, you can enjoy the best possible security and performance, all while not losing a single dollar, for 30 days straight.

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CyberGhost – 45 Days Free Trial

If you want an affordable, yet reliable provider that built its reputation on strong security and awesome performance, try out CyberGhost. It’s a cheap VPN that offers a 45-day money-back guarantee for its 3-year plan which is also its cheapest deal.

Try CyberGhost for Free

Should you decide on CyberGhost, you’ll get 11,600+ worldwide servers, dedicated streaming/P2P servers, and features like a kill switch, 256-bit encryption, and WireGuard support. CyberGhost is great for streaming on Netflix and it works with a plethora of streaming services.

In addition, it has a no-logging policy backed up by transparency reports published every 3 months and an audit from Deloitte. With apps for all platforms and 7 simultaneous connections, CyberGhost is perhaps THE best provider you can get while on a stringent budget.

I recommend using the button below to get the cheapest deal and the aforementioned 45-day money-back guarantee. This way, you can use CyberGhost for free for nearly 45 days, during which, you can enjoy its unlimited bandwidth, fast speeds, and everything else!

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NordVPN – 30 Days Free Trial

NordVPN is yet another risk-free VPN we recommend. You can use it the same way as ExpressVPN, thanks to a 30-day money-back guarantee with no specific conditions. Best of all, it’s cheaper than ExpressVPN, so you can save some money!

Get a 30-Day Free Trial on NordVPN

Besides, it gives you 6,100+ servers in 60+ countries, great speeds, and applications for all platforms. We also like NordVPN’s rock-solid security, a certified no-logs policy, and the ability to work in censored countries, which is on par with ExpressVPN.

Therefore, if you want to test out NordVPN risk-free as well, you can use the button below and claim its cheapest deal, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans. No doubt, NordVPN will let you save plenty of money, so don’t miss out on this awesome risk-free VPN!

In the end, with these 3 excellent premium providers, you could use the best VPNs for free for 105 days already. And if that’s not enough… well, you should keep reading and check our inferior, 100% free VPNs that won’t be as impressive.

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Why Should You Use Premium VPNs for Free Instead of Really Free VPNs?

For the start, premium providers come with thousands of servers globally, resulting in great server coverage across the globe. With this server fleet, you can enjoy the fastest speeds, stable connections, and unlimited monthly bandwidth.

Premium providers are great security-wise, too. Apart from 256-bit AES encryption, they give you a reliable kill switch, IP leak protection, and split tunneling. Providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN even have proprietary protocols like NordLynx and Lightway.

They represent the pinnacle of these VPNs’ hard work, giving you a substantial speed boost and stronger security. Being based in privacy-friendly jurisdictions, these providers all offer a no-logs policy, guaranteeing the maximum level of privacy.

Contrary to the top free VPN services in 2024, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN work with Netflix (US, Japan, Canada, …) and they offer exceptional torrenting capabilities. Free services, more often than not, lack these capabilities, so they’re not very versatile.

Also, their device support is much better than any free VPN, and you get multiple simultaneous connections on one subscription. This means you can install them on your Windows (check the best VPNs for Windows here), macOS, or Linux computers, as well as Android/iOS phones, Smart TVs, Firestick TV, and routers.

Needless to say, these providers crown their excellency with 24/7 customer support through live chat which none of the free providers will give you. All of this makes ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN the absolute best choices on the market, with no bigger downsides.

If you want to use the best VPN for free for 30 or 45 days (if you opt for CyberGhost), you know what you have to do. Get a provider from the list above, follow the steps to set it up, and benefit from additional security, streaming, risk-free torrenting, and so much more.

Best 100% Free VPN Providers in 2024 – Top 6 Picks

As promised, we will give you the six best free VPN services for 2024. Unlike ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN, these VPNs will not cost you a single penny. Therefore, if you like any of them, you can proceed and download their applications.

No credit card or anything will be required. Create an account (or not), download the app, connect to a server, and you’re all good!

Our list of the best totally free VPN providers is below:

1. ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN is one of our favorite free VPNs on this list or better said – numero uno.

First off, ProtonVPN comes with unlimited monthly bandwidth even in its free version, which makes it great for unlimited, safe, and secure web browsing.

This provider is based in Switzerland, which is a country known for stern privacy laws. Surprisingly, it has a certified no-logs policy that applies to non-paid users as well. This means that it won’t store information like browsing history, IP addresses, or DNS requests, making for a nearly 100% anonymous experience.

Should you decide to go for its free version, you’ll be able to enjoy a vast array of security features. ProtonVPN gives you bank-grade encryption, split tunneling, IP/DNS leak protection, and WireGuard/OpenVPN support even in this case.

Not to mention its reliable kill switch that works flawlessly and without failing. Being a top free VPN in 2024, ProtonVPN is superior to most other free services. That is if we sweep under the rug all of its downsides that, unfortunately, outweigh its upsides.

Namely, ProtonVPN doesn’t allow for torrenting in its free plan and it doesn’t work with Netflix. Furthermore, its free plan gives you just 3 server locations that include only the US, Netherlands, and Japan. For us, that isn’t enough, and we believe it’s the same for you.

Advanced features like Secure Core servers and an ad-blocker are also absent from this plan, so additional security is out of the picture. Not to mention ProtonVPN’s one simultaneous connection, no 24/7 support, and painfully slow speeds that don’t allow for watching Full HD videos or browsing smoothly.

If you need a free VPN strictly for security and privacy, yet, don’t mind all the downsides, ProtonVPN might be a great solution. But, even its cheapest plan is miles ahead of this free plan, which ultimately disappoints.

Compared to ExpressVPN, for example, you will see obvious cons and limitations of free VPNs. Bear in mind that other free providers on the list have even more limits, so please, keep reading!

Despite quite many limitations, ProtonVPN is still one of the best free VPNs available in 2024. It’s reliable, easy to use, 100% free, and does not have any bandwidth limit. You can try it out right now by visiting its official website here:

Visit ProtonVPN

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2. Hide.me

Speaking of highly secure free providers, let’s discuss Hide.me. Hide.me is an awesome VPN and one of our favorite choices in both paid and free versions. Today’s topic is all about non-paid stuff, so let’s ride that wave.

Hide.me comes with rock-solid security thanks to advanced security features located in the app. Much like ProtonVPN, it offers military-grade encryption, a decent kill switch, IP leak protection, and split tunneling.

In this Virtual Private Network free plan, it also uses OpenVPN as a default protocol. Albeit, its WireGuard support is reserved for premium users, which isn’t the happiest solution. On a good note, it offers more customization options and non-paid users can enjoy Hide.me’s uncompromising privacy.

That is possible thanks to its audited no-logs policy backed up by stringent Malaysian jurisdiction. Needless to say, this off-shore country doesn’t have data-retention laws, so Hide.me isn’t obligated to store your IP address, geolocation, or browsing history on its servers.

Since it offers a free plan, it’s obligated to cut down some features, though. Therefore, you get just 10 GB of monthly data, no streaming support, and slow speeds. While it is P2P-friendly, what can you actually do with a measly 10 GB of bandwidth a month? Nothing!

By the way, once you spend all 10 GB of monthly data, Hide.me downgrades you to one server location (the Netherlands) but gives you unlimited bandwidth and very slow speeds. They’re so slow, to be honest, that the VPN is barely usable, so don’t expect any miracles.

Also, Hide.me gives you just one simultaneous connection like ProtonVPN, with only 5 server locations. Out of them, 2 locations are in the US, so you’re left with Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany. Is that enough for you? Most likely not.

To that, we need to add that it doesn’t work with Netflix or BBC iPlayer, which is another nail in the coffin. It does have 24/7 live chat support, however, and slightly better device support than ProtonVPN, which are redeeming factors… to an extent.

But then again, its 10 GB limit is crippling in today’s age of the internet, where files have become noticeably larger and more bandwidth-hungry. If you spend 30 minutes a month online… well, in that case, Hide.me might just be good enough.

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3. TunnelBear

TunnelBear is another best free VPN provider in 2024. Its aggressive marketing made it much more popular than ProtonVPN and Hide.me, but unjustifiably so. We need to give credit where credit is due and that is TunnelBear’s attention to detail.

Its apps look awesome and are available for a huge array of (mobile) devices. Furthermore, despite being based in Canada, which is a country inside the 5 Eyes, it’s surprisingly secure. Storing only minimal logs, TunnelBear won’t infringe on your privacy, which is a relief for a free VPN like this one.

What about security features? Well, TunnelBear offers 256-bit encryption once again, with a kill switch and an ad-blocker. There’s also split tunneling and IP and DNS leak protection for both free and paid users, which we found very handy at times.

TunnelBear even claims to work in China with its GhostBear feature. It makes your encrypted data look like regular data, which should help you bypass DPI in censored countries. Does it work, though? Nope – it doesn’t, but ExpressVPN does, so why not check it out instead?

Nevertheless, TunnelBear gives you more than 500 servers in 49 countries, which, for a free VPN, is impressive. What’s not so impressive is a bandwidth cap of 2 GB per month. Although you can boost it by 1 GB by tweeting about TunnelBear, let’s be honest – 2 GB is VERY limiting.

Also, TunnelBear won’t work with any streaming platforms, and despite allowing for torrenting, its bandwidth cap will severely limit you. Might I add, its customer support is one of the slowest in the business, making TunnelBear totally not worth messing with except if your criteria are very low.

This means that TunnelBear is the best free VPN for people who don’t use the internet a lot. If you need to access certain websites anonymously from time to time, TunnelBear could be a decent choice but if you expect slightly more, you’re in for disappointment.

Although, you have ProtonVPN and Hide.me for that as well. However, if a big server list is what you’re looking for and you love switching server locations often, I’m afraid that TunnelBear is the #1 free VPN in this regard.

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4. Hotspot Shield

The fourth-best free VPN in 2024 is Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield is an American VPN provider known for providing decent performance for the money. Its free plan is not that bad as well unless you can get over its downsides. Let’s start with the good stuff, though.

This VPN offers a few great security features, including 256-bit AES encryption and IP/DNS leak protection – standard things. However, it is among the rare free VPNs that offer a proprietary VPN protocol.

Namely, Hotspot Shield uses a protocol called Hydra, which promises much better speeds and security when compared to OpenVPN. Beware that no external audit backs up these claims. Moreover, the VPN offers easy-to-use apps for all major platforms and is decent for bypassing geo-blocks.

While the free version doesn’t work with Netflix, you can use it to watch foreign TV channels abroad or unblock online bookies. Sadly, all of these positives come with twice as many negatives. The first one is limited monthly bandwidth.

Indeed, Hotspot Shield gives you 500 MB daily and its speeds are very slow. Not to mention the lack of a kill switch, one simultaneous connection, and no 24/7 live chat support that severely cripples this Virtual Private Network service.

Perhaps the most infuriating thing is AURA, Hotspot Shield’s parent company. It makes Hotspot Shield much worse privacy-wise, storing all types of user-related logs. These include IP addresses, geolocation, device information, browsing history, and many other vital info.

If you’re a free user, Hotspot Shield will often display ads and AURA might sell the collected information to third parties. This makes this VPN extremely hostile to users’ privacy and not a great choice if privacy and security are your main criteria.

And if you’re thinking about getting its paid plan, know that the same logging practices will apply. That’s why it’s much better to get ExpressVPN instead, which, by the way, is cheaper than Hotspot Shield. Yet, it will never violate your privacy or endanger your online security in any way.

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5. Windscribe

On number 5, we should mention Windscribe on this list of the best free VPN providers. It’s a very popular VPN known for offering rock-solid security and cracking jokes during the installation process. So far, it proved to be a solid contender with more than a few downsides.

Let’s start with the good stuff. For a free provider, it has a decent server network that spans 11 countries. While its app is minimalistic and good-looking, I think it’s a bit cramped and not the most comprehensive.

On the other side, Windscribe comes with 256-bit AES encryption and a kill switch in its free plan. Moreover, split tunneling is also here with the addition of IP leak protection that, so far, works as intended.

Its default protocol is OpenVPN but it supports WireGuard, which should make a difference performance-wise. However, Windscribe isn’t very fast, making the inclusion of WireGuard somewhat disappointing.

The important thing is that it offers a no-logs policy, which is great for a free VPN. It doesn’t have a security audit and given Windscribe’s Canadian jurisdiction, the VPN is based in the 5 Eyes region, making it not the most trustworthy.

Windscribe, being a free VPN, won’t work with Netflix and its P2P capabilities are minimal. This is all worsened by its 5 GB bandwidth cap which you can extend to 10 GB by making an account. Unlike Hide.me, when you spend all of them, you’re left with nothing!

That’s why Windscribe is very limiting and is in the last spot on this “best free VPN in 2024” list. Needless to say, this VPN doesn’t have 24/7 live chat support and its support is one of the slowest in the business – similar to TunnelBear.

Despite its unlimited simultaneous connections, Windscribe has a fair share of downsides, making it almost the last resort. Its paid plan is a bit more expensive compared to what you get, so if you decide on it, it’s best used as a free VPN.

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6. Atlas VPN

Atlas VPN takes the last spot on the list but is still one of the best free VPNs in 2024. This provider offers easy-to-use applications for the majority of platforms and is established as one of the most secure providers on the market. The fact that it’s under the ownership of NordVPN is a great thing, too.

As a result, Atlas VPN offers a myriad of security features, such as 256-bit AES encryption, an automatic kill switch, and even support for multiple protocols. The free version supports IPSec/IKEv2 and you get WireGuard, which provides solid speeds and stable performance. According to our tests, it is the fastest free VPN currently available.

Another important point is that the provider offers a no-logging policy. It stores no logs of your online activities, IP address, and DNS requests, making sure you’re always anonymous online. Not only that but Atlas VPN actually has a security audit from VerSprite to bolster these claims.

Now, its free version is quite limited and you get servers in the US and the Netherlands, coupled with 5 GB of monthly data. You’ll agree this is quite a strict limit, which is enough only for occasional light browsing – and even then, it’s questionable.

Also, its free version doesn’t include dedicated streaming and P2P servers, so torrenting and unblocking geo-restricted platforms is impossible. Atlas VPN has subpar customer support and some features like Data Breach Monitor and SafeBrowse are locked behind the paywall.

That’s why, if you want to use it, I strongly recommend checking out its paid version. It’s extremely cheap and its most affordable plan can be obtained at under $2 a month, which is almost as if you were using a 100% free VPN.

Not to mention that there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee with NO conditions, so you can get a FULL refund in the first 30 days if you’re not satisfied. The premium version gives you unlimited bandwidth, faster speeds, streaming/P2P capabilities, and many other advanced features.

All in all, this is undoubtedly a reputable free VPN in 2024 if you don’t mind its limitations that are typical for this type of provider. But then again, its premium plans are very cheap, so you can easily cross to the “paid” side of the VPN and enjoy everything it has to offer.

Check Out Atlas VPN Now

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Limits and Downsides of Totally Free VPN Providers

After presenting our favorite free VPN services in 2024, it’s time we address the elephant in the room. If you’ve read carefully, you noticed that free VPNs come with more or less the same downsides and limitations.

These limits are very important to be aware of. Otherwise, you’ll be disappointed with what these VPNs can, or can’t provide you with. Although, the list of what they can’t provide is significantly longer than the list of what they can provide.

Compared to paid providers like ExpressVPN or CyberGhost, free VPNs are obviously inferior, and here’s why.

Try ExpressVPN for free

Limited Monthly Bandwidth

Whenever you try to use a totally free VPN, you will most likely encounter this issue. ProtonVPN is among the rare VPNs that give you no bandwidth caps, but pretty much any other provider will limit your bandwidth to a certain, unsatisfactory value.

Hide.me gives you 10 GB a month, TunnelBear just 2 GB, and Hotspot Shield 500 MB daily (~15 GB a month). Whatever you do online, this amount of internet data is not enough. Even platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter consume a lot of bandwidth, especially if you open stories, Reels, or whatnot.

What about basic browsing? Well, that can be bandwidth-consuming as well, unless you use the internet for 5 minutes a day. An average user spends way more than 10, 15, or 20 gigabytes of internet data a month, so free VPNs aren’t going to serve the purpose well.

Not to mention users who love streaming or downloading torrents. With free VPNs that will not be possible due to bandwidth limits that you’ll quickly reach through these activities. After all, you’re getting the product for free, so you can’t get a king’s treatment – sorry!

Obviously, these companies have to make money somewhere. We let you guess where (tip: users’ data is gold).

Poor Performance and Slow Speeds

Even the top free VPNs we presented aren’t going to give you impressive performance and speeds. And there’s a simple explanation for that. Namely, free VPNs don’t earn as much money as those that offer premium plans.

Many people don’t know that maintaining servers and keeping them functioning takes a LOT of money. With not much money available, the server infrastructure is not only small but also not frequently updated, which results in slower speed and unstable performance. Let’s not speak about the potential security risks this can create.

Given that free VPNs offer very small server networks, it’s easy to explain why their performance is, generally speaking, way below average. A smaller server network is easier to overcrowd, and when the load on the network is higher, lags and disconnects are bound to happen.

In another case, providers will simply limit your speeds to “force” you to go for a premium plan. ProtonVPN does that, and so do Hide.me, and Hotspot Shield.

All in all, when choosing not to pay for a VPN subscription, don’t be surprised if you experience bad connection stability, extremely slow speeds, and very high ping.

Lack of Basic Security Features

I can somehow swallow when the VPN doesn’t perform well and offers bandwidth limits. What I can’t swallow is the lack of crucial security features. I mean, isn’t the whole point of using this service to be SAFE and SECURE online?

Well, for these providers, it obviously isn’t. If we take Hotspot Shield as an example, it doesn’t even offer a kill switch in its 100% free plan! A kill switch is essential for preventing IP and DNS leaks, so without it, you can’t be completely safe on the internet.

Hide.me, for example, doesn’t offer WireGuard support in the free plan, while ProtonVPN excludes its SecureCore servers and an ad-blocker. Furthermore, some VPNs will use weaker encryption as well, simply because non-paid users are at the bottom of the priority list.

Once again, this happens due to the provider’s weaker budget for implementing security features or intentional exclusions. Anyhow, in 99% of the cases, you can’t comfortably rely even on the best free VPN to be completely safe to use.

Questionable Logging Practices

Speaking of safety, logging practices can be a VPN’s best friend or the worst enemy. ExpressVPN is a prime example of how to operate a clear, no-logging service that screams privacy. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for free VPNs.

If you take a look at the privacy policies of Hola VPN, Betternet, Hotspot Shield, and many others, you will see that all of them store a lot of user-related logs, with Hola VPN being the worst one.

As free providers have no way of earning money through subscriptions, they must reach out to different measures. One of them is collecting and selling personal info, which does bring a bit of revenue. All three VPNs I mentioned will do that.

If you’re thinking about which user information they collect, I’ll give you only some of them:

• Used bandwidth
• Timestamps of your connection
• Browsing history
• IP addresses and DNS queries
• Your location
• Device information
• Wi-Fi network information, etc, etc

All of this information will easily infringe on your privacy, and various people can use it to track your online activities. That’s why I strongly recommend avoiding a vast majority of free VPNs.

With premium choices like ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, or NordVPN, issues like this will never happen. Note that all of them have a money-back guarantee with no conditions whatsoever. Trying them is risk-free and you won’t have any limits, except for the short time during which you can use them.

Try ExpressVPN for free

Average Device Support

Do you want to install a Virtual Private Network app on your smart TV? Or perhaps, you want to use it on your router and Firestick TV? If you answered YES, you should definitely use a paid provider because the free ones don’t support them.

With not many resources in their bank accounts, non-paid providers can’t afford to make a wide array of applications. Therefore, you usually get basic device support for Windows, iOS, Android, and sometimes, macOS and Linux.

This might be enough for non-demanding users who seek only bare-bones functionalities. However, if you love streaming and you intend on using a VPN on your Smart TV or a router, you will find use only in premium choices.

After all, with so many limits, it’s not worth losing time on installing a free VPN on a router or Smart TV.

Subpar Streaming Capabilities

People who don’t care about online security will most likely get a VPN for streaming. ExpressVPN’s streaming capabilities are unbeatable, and CyberGhost’s streaming servers are capable of unblocking a wide array of streaming platforms.

That cannot be said about free providers that can’t bypass geo-blocks effectively. Usually, we talk about Netflix which has strong anti-VPN measures capable of detecting even premium providers.

With low-level encryption and poor security, these VPNs are easily detected and blocked by platforms alike. Furthermore, these providers won’t allow you to unblock BBC iPlayer, Disney+, or Hulu abroad for that exact reason.

Another reason lies in the small number of server locations that they offer. When you get servers in 3 or 4 countries globally, it’s hard to unblock many streaming platforms or TV channels.

Also, we can go back to the first two points. Since you usually get limited bandwidth and painfully slow speeds, do you think you’ll be able to stream Netflix US, Japan, or Canada at all? Most likely not.

Therefore, if you’re an avid streaming lover, avoid really free VPN services at all costs, as they’re not up to this task.

Lack of P2P Support

Torrenting is frowned upon in many countries, hence the need for a Virtual Private Network. While paid providers do wonders in this regard (CyberGhost and its P2P servers), free providers don’t even include P2P servers.

This means that, once you try to download torrents, you’ll most likely get an error message preventing you from doing so. Pretty much none of the free VPNs will allow for torrenting, except for those with limited bandwidth – Hide.me or Tunnelbear, for instance.

That is not a great deal, however, as limited bandwidth severely limits your torrenting capabilities. Conversely, those with unlimited bandwidth like ProtonVPN prohibit torrenting in the first place, so every torrenting attempt will be met with no success.

Unresponsive Customer Service

Finally, we need to address customer support that free VPNs have – or don’t have.

Customer support is very important for fixing potential VPN-related issues. Premium providers usually offer 24/7 live chat support, which is the fastest way of fixing problems. However, implementing this type of support costs a lot and isn’t affordable for everyone.

For that reason, free VPNs can’t provide the level of support you would get from premium providers. In more than 90% of the cases, live chat support won’t be here, and instead, you’ll get painfully slow email support.

Moreover, customer support team members won’t work 24/7. In that case, you’ll only be able to get help during the working days, even if the problem appears during the weekend.

TunnelBear is especially known for slow customer support, for example, and the same could be said about ProtonVPN.

Hide.me, on the other hand, offers amazing 24/7 live chat support for both premium and non-paid users. Albeit, this is really rare in this segment.

Free VPN Providers You Should Avoid

Apart from the best really free VPNs in 2024, there are some providers we don’t consider as great. In fact, we advise avoiding them at all costs due to their privacy and security issues.

Here are some of them:

Hola VPN

At first, Hola VPN seems like the absolute greatest free VPN on the market. It offers no bandwidth caps, works with some geo-blocked websites, and promises to keep your privacy away from prying eyes.

If you really believe that, you need to do a bit of research. You see, Hola is not a real VPN mainly because of the way it works. As you know, this service lets you connect to a remote VPN server, change your IP address, and encrypt your connection.

Hola VPN doesn’t have ANY servers. Instead, it uses P2P technology to give you internet access. This means that users in the Hola network share their idle resources, so they can hijack each other’s IP addresses and use them to browse the web.

That’s why Hola VPN has so many locations in so many countries, after all. Nonetheless, this is extremely dangerous, as someone can use your IP address to perform illegal online activities and you’ll be the one to take the blame.

Apart from that, the company behind Hola VPN is untrustworthy. They had major incidents in the past, one with the botnet (most notably), and their privacy policy is all but private. As a result, Hola VPN stores every bit of user information and sells it to third parties to earn revenue.

Sure, the company is somewhat transparent about this stuff. However, being transparent doesn’t make a VPN safer. Don’t trust this company. It’s deceptive, its business practices are despicable, and they don’t care even 1% about your privacy.

Betternet VPN

Betternet is also almost at the very top of this list. Apart from having malware in its applications, this VPN is known for many other scandals. Since it’s a subsidiary of AURA, the same as Hotspot Shield, you can expect the same logging practices.

Storing a lot of user information, Betternet is also going to sell it to third-party corporations to earn money, should you go for its free plan. Moreover, users have reported severe IP and DNS leaks while using it, which is another waving red flag.

Needless to say, standard issues like slow speeds, unstable performance, and a small server network still plague this VPN. These are great reasons to avoid it in favor of a premium provider like ExpressVPN or CyberGhost.

Opera VPN

Opera VPN shouldn’t even be called a VPN. It’s available only inside the Opera browser and doesn’t have any kind of encryption or any security features for that matter. Being available in the browser only, it’s obviously a glorified proxy service.

This means that it doesn’t provide you with online security and privacy, plus, it can’t unblock any restricted websites. It does offer unlimited bandwidth, however, but you get just 3 server locations and some of the slowest speeds among all VPNs.

Even though it’s based in Norway, Opera is owned by a Chinese consortium. This is extremely alarming because China is the number one enemy of privacy and free Internet.

Needless to say, we expect its logging practices to become even more severe, with potential malware and spyware injected into users’ computers. Although just speculation, it’s not impossible if you think about many free VPNs that followed a similar route.

Urban VPN

Urban VPN is a surprisingly disappointing VPN. It’s completely free and you get unlimited bandwdith, along with 80+ server locations. It sounds like a match made in heaven but in reality, this provider conceals its true nature which can be found out by reading the privacy policy.

This service stores all kinds of information about users, even including their IP addresses, browsing activities, geolocations, and other compromising information. To make money, Urban VPN will sell your personal data to third parties, which stomps all over your privacy.

Urban VPN, on top of that, is very slow, and despite unlimited bandwidth, it’s not torrenting-friendly nor does it allow for streaming. Not to mention that it has no security features and it’s even questionable if the VPN can successfully encrypt your connection.

All in all, Urban VPN is as disappointing as Hola VPN – if not more – because Hola VPN is still more useful than this service. We recommend avoiding it at ALL costs if you don’t want disappointment to hit you in the face as soon as you install it.

Free Mobile VPNs on Apple and Google Store

If you see a free VPN on Google or Apple Store, just keep scrolling and pretend that you didn’t see anything. Just recently, we tested more than a few dozen free providers for iOS and Android.

The results were shocking, as nearly every provider stored even the most privacy-infringing logs. Furthermore, they display annoying ads every few minutes, which often use your browsing habits to precisely target you as a customer.

That being said, those in need of a great mobile VPN should still go for a premium VPN and avoid 100% free VPN providers.

Conclusion

To finish off our list of the top 6 best free VPN services in 2024, we need to give a proper conclusion. We would never recommend a free VPN to anyone who wants to preserve his/her online privacy in the dangerous internet world.

As you learned today, these providers have severe limitations in terms of security, performance, and speed, making them more frustrating than satisfying to use. If you want the best free VPN badly, we recommend our favorite choice, which is ExpressVPN (you can learn more about the provider in our full review of ExpressVPN).

It’s not a totally free VPN, but you can use it risk-free for 30 days without losing any money, thanks to a money-back guarantee. And if you don’t want to pay a single dollar, the 6 providers we presented are decent, albeit severely limited solutions.

Try ExpressVPN for free

FAQ

In case you have any unanswered questions, in this part, you can get the answers you want:

📺 Can I use a free VPN for Netflix?

No, you can’t because not a single free VPN works with Netflix. Being easily detected by Netflix, you will always fail to unblock the show or movie you want on this platform.

That aside, they offer limited bandwidth and poor speeds, so streaming will be all but satisfying. If you need a VPN for Netflix, much better choices are ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN.

With ExpressVPN, you can easily access 15+ libraries. NordVPN can unblock 20+, while CybreGhost will work with around 10. All of them are undoubtedly better than free providers that work with none, or at the very least, with 1-3 unpopular libraries.

🏆 What is the best free VPN in 2024?

Our favorite free VPN in 2024 is ProtonVPN. It offers unlimited bandwidth and despite other limitations in terms of streaming and torrenting, it’s as secure as some of the best premium VPNs – if not more!

Other options include Hide.me, TunnelBear, Hotspot Shield, Windscribe, and Atlas VPN. Beware of their limited bandwidth, though, and much slower speeds that won’t give you the best possible browsing experience.

🛡️ Are free VPNs safe to use?

If we’re talking about ProtonVPN and Hide.me, we consider them safe. Other VPNs we mentioned, like Hola VPN or Opera VPN, are not safe because of their weak security and logging practices.

In fact, we can say that more than 90% of free VPNs are considered unsafe for these exact reasons. To minimize potential security risks, the best solution is to avoid them altogether in favor of the premium providers we mentioned.

📥 Are free VPNs good for torrenting?

Unfortunately, they’re not. As mentioned, most of them aren’t P2P-friendly, so P2P traffic is forbidden and torrenting will not work. On top of that, their limited bandwidth and slow speeds will impact the performance drastically, making it impossible to maximize your speeds.

Most free VPNs offer 1 Gbps speeds, which will make you wait for ages if you download larger files or multiple files at once. To ensure you’re getting the best possible P2P experience, opt for our risk-free VPNs like ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN.

📼 Can I install a free VPN on my Apple TV?

Free VPNs aren’t usually compatible with an array of devices. However, some VPNs from our list will work with Smart TV systems. In particular, ProtonVPN, whose apps cover plentiful platforms. As explained, free VPNs are useless for streaming, so why would you install them on Apple TV or any other streaming device?

Some of the providers that support streaming are Windscribe and Atlas VPN. They will occasionally work with Netflix, alas, with only 10 and 5 GB of monthly traffic respectively. Check our guide about the best Apple TV VPNs here.

You’ll see that we prefer ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN instead. Besides, these VPNs have native tvOS clients, making them far simpler to use. Free services don’t have this commodity, leaving you with the VPN router setup, which is far more complicated.