Is the Hola App Safe? What Its Free Version Shares

Hola VPN isn’t safe to use for free. Its free Windows app won’t connect until you let Bright Data, a commercial web-data company, use your device and IP address, and the setup screen says that the service keeps running after the app is closed. In our November tests, the app also exposed our own IPv6 address on its US and Canadian servers. Hola Premium drops the sharing, but Hola has never published an independent audit. For a free VPN without these problems, Proton VPN’s free plan is the closest replacement.

What Our Hola VPN Test Found

We installed the free Hola app on a Windows 11 PC in Europe in November and connected to its US and Canadian locations:

• Resource sharing is mandatory: setup prompts you to allow Bright Data “web indexing” on your device. Declining still installs the app, but the prompt returns at the first connection, and a second decline closes it.
• It runs in the background: the setup screen states that Bright Data Web Indexing runs in the background even after the app closes. In Preferences, “Sharing device resources” is enabled and labeled “Keep on for free Hola”.
• IPv6 leak: the IPv4 address and DNS servers were hidden, but browserleaks.com showed our own IPv6 address on the US and Canadian servers.
• Datacenter servers: the connections came through DigitalOcean servers in Clifton, New Jersey, and Toronto, classed as hosting IP addresses.
• Weak encryption defaults: the IPsec settings use AES-256, with SHA-1 integrity checks and perfect forward secrecy set to “none”.
• Limited kill switch: the app kill switch is disabled by default and closes only the applications you add, after a 10-second delay.
• No malware warning: Windows Defender didn’t flag the installer, and the Windows app had no free time limit.

How Hola’s Free Version Works

Hola’s free service is paid for with your connection. Its privacy policy states that free users “may be a peer on the Bright Data network”, and the only way to opt out is Hola Premium. Bright Data, formerly called Luminati, sells businesses access to home users’ IP addresses for collecting web data. A company that wants a Spanish IP address can be routed through a Hola user’s home connection in Spain, so traffic you didn’t create leaves from your IP address. The risk isn’t just theoretical.

In 2015, bandwidth from Hola users was sold through Luminati and used in attacks on 8chan, and Hola’s founders then acknowledged the arrangement and rewrote the site’s terms to disclose it. The same year, researchers published vulnerabilities in the Hola client that allowed remote code execution. Our Hola VPN review covers its speeds and streaming.

What Hola Logs

Hola’s privacy policy, updated April 14, 2026, lists what Hola VPN Ltd., an Israeli company, collects:

• Account data: IP address, name, email address, screen name, and payment details, plus profile data when you sign in with Google or a social network.
• Log data: IP address, operating system, browser type, and access times and dates. Through the browser extension, it may include browsing history.
• Mobile apps: the names of installed apps you select to unblock.
• Retention: log data is kept for up to 12 months and can be shared to comply with a subpoena or court order.

The policy says Hola doesn’t sell personal information. That covers Hola itself, while the IP address sharing runs under Bright Data’s separate terms, which free users accept at setup. Our list of safe free VPNs covers services that fund themselves without either.

Is Hola VPN a Virus?

No. Hola isn’t malware, and Windows Defender didn’t flag it in our test. The concern is what you agree to: Bright Data’s web indexing uses your device’s connection, and it keeps running in the background after the app closes. Hola’s own FAQ says uninstalling the app is the way to opt out completely, so closing it isn’t enough.

Is Hola Browser Safe?

Hola Browser comes from the same company and falls under the same privacy policy, which ties free Hola products to the Bright Data network. It comes with the same trade-off as the free VPN: the browser is free because your device’s connection becomes part of that network.

Is Hola Premium Safer?

Safer, but not safe enough to recommend. Hola’s FAQ says Premium uses dedicated servers and doesn’t use your device as a network node, which removes the biggest risk. The same privacy policy still applies, with log data kept for up to 12 months, and Hola has no independent audit to confirm what it stores. NordVPN, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN have audited no-logs policies.

Safer Alternatives to Hola VPN

1. NordVPN: Best Hola Alternative Overall

NordVPN’s no-logs policy has been independently audited six times, most recently by Deloitte in late 2025. In our tests, it showed no IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks, its kill switch passed both failure tests, and it lost 7.8% of download speed on average across UK, US, and Japanese servers. On our Windows 11 PC, it sometimes failed to connect while another VPN was installed, so remove Hola first. The Basic plan costs under $3.50/mo on a 27-month subscription. Our NordVPN review covers the rest.

Visit NordVPN

2. Proton VPN: Best Free Hola Alternative

Proton VPN’s free plan is the direct replacement: unlimited data, no ads, and no resource sharing, under a no-logs policy audited by Securitum every year since 2022. Its Stealth protocol is included for free, and its kill switch passed our failure tests. The catch is choice: free accounts get one of ten countries, assigned at random, on one device. The paid VPN Plus plan adds every location for under $3 a month on a two-year plan.

Visit Proton VPN

3. ExpressVPN: Best for Simple, Fast Connections

ExpressVPN connected in one to two seconds in our tests, quicker than any VPN we’ve timed, and its kill switch passed our cable-pull and process-kill tests with no leaks. KPMG audited its no-logs policy in 2025, and the Basic plan covers 10 devices in 113 countries. It offers little advanced customization, but for a Hola user who wants a VPN that simply connects, that’s rarely a problem.

Visit ExpressVPN

Verdict

Hola’s free VPN costs nothing because your connection pays for it. Bright Data uses your device and IP address in the background, and our test found the Windows app exposing our own IPv6 address as well. Hola Premium removes the sharing, but no audit backs up its logging claims. For a free VPN, Proton VPN’s free plan gives unlimited data without any of those trade-offs.

For full protection, NordVPN has six no-logs audits behind it and has passed every leak test. Uninstall Hola completely before switching, since closing it leaves Bright Data’s service running.

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