9 Best Free VPN Services That Will Meet Your Basic Needs

I’ll be honest. I’m not a tech-savvy guy. And I only learned about the term VPN some years ago when I was searching for a solution while traveling to access my email that refused access because of my geographic location.

I’ve had run into these access restrictions before. But at that time, it was due to a work assignment. So I dragged myself into seeking for a solution.

It was through that event years ago when I learned about the wonders of a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m not a tech geek. So I’ll just briefly explain what a VPN is in a few sentences with layman language.

A VPN basically masks your ip address on the internet. So a website for example can be “tricked” into thinking that you are in a particular country when you are actually in another. Other than that, it helps secure your internet connection so that people with bad intentions cannot see what you are doing.

You install a software on your computer or device and it sort of “scrambles” the signal it send out so that others cannot identify you with certainty.

VPN services have been around for ages because it solves a real world problem.

If you have done a search online for a VPN, you might have run into many service providers that charge a monthly or annual fee to download their software or access their servers.

But if you need the VPN for something minute, it really don’t make sense to sign up for a paid plan when all you want to do is complete a one-off task of viewing a website that has geo-restriction.

Well you are in luck.

Because so mature has this industry evolved over the years, veterans and startups in the VPN service space have gone all-in to acquire new customers and win over their hearts.

As you probably know… when markets get competitive, consumers usually benefit.

Many are now providing free VPN service plans for you to use. And some are pretty generous with what they are offering. You can save money from using these free packages.

Yet don’t think for a moment that your will be treated like dirt by these companies if you are free user. These are companies who run legitimate businesses. The reason why they offer free services is to show you how good they are in the hope that you will sign up for a paid plan. This makes it even more important to make you feel welcomed when you are a free user.

Anyway, even if you are using it for a small job, by the time you start using these services and realize how the world has become bigger, you could be tempted to pay for a premium fullly-fledged service.

Here are some of the best free VPN services you can sign up now. I will reveal what I’m currently using after I present this list. Yes I need it for… my weekly fix of Korean Dramas and variety shows.

Again, I’m not technically inclined. So this review is written from a regular end-user point of view.

In alphabetical order. Features mentioned only apply to their free plans. (The information below was collated at the time of writing)

1) CyberGhost

What an appropriate brand name this is. It says immediately what this company is about.

• 1 device
• Unlimited bandwidth but speed is capped at 1mbps (at least 5 times slower than paid plans)
• Premium starts from $5.83/month

2) Faceless.ME

• 10 devices but no simultaneous usage
• 2gb bandwidth for 1 year; 1gb for mobile traffic
• Premium starts from $4.99/month

3) Hide.me

They must have paid a premium price for the domain name… because it’s such a fitting brand for a VPN service. This also shows how serious they are in their business.

• 1gb per month
• 1 connection
• Paid plans start from $5.42/month

4) Hotspot Shield

 

To tell you the truth, no information is revealed about bandwidth, servers, simultaneous uses, etc, on it’s website.

You could probably look at that as a good thing or a bad thing in terms of how it treats privacy. But I’d lean towards the former.

Premium starts from $2.08/month

5) proXPN

 

• As many devices as you like, but no simultaneous connections
• Speed limited at 300kbps, explicitly stated no torrenting
• Premium plan start from $6.25/month

6) SecureVPN

 

• 1 device
• 20 minutes VPN session at Unlimited speed, 1gb data transfer per month
• Premium subscription starts from $5.83/month

7) TOTALVPN

 

I can’t seem to find just how much bandwidth the free plans is capped at.

• 1 device
• Limited bandwidth at 2Mbits per second
• Premium starts from $4.99/month

8) TunnelBear

If there is a company that sets it apart instantly from the crowd, it’s TunnelBear. I have never forgotten it’s profile since the first time I came across them.

Because VPN is all about high-tech and privacy, being greeted by a cute teddy bear mascot is a nice effective pattern interrupt.

• 5 connections
• 500mb per month bandwidth
• Premium starts from $4.16/month

9) Windscribe

They also provide browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera.

• 1 device
• 10gb per month
• Pro starts from $7.50/month

Note that there are some power players in the VPN service industry. But I have left them out from this list because they don’t offer free plans. There are also solutions that are totally free. But being totally free usually means that you will be competing for bandwidth with a lot of people. So I have left those out as well.

So what do you need?

As each person has different needs and differing uses for VPN, you really have to weigh up what you need in order to decide which service to go for.

Some of the priorities you might want to weigh up include:

• privacy and no logging
• browse and use geo-specific websites and mobile apps
• torrenting
• protection and security
• level of data encryption

But if you just require basic usage like me, a free plan should suffice. I do however have a paid plan because I needed the heavier use of bandwidth and speed. Video streaming can be a chore when connection speeds are low.

I also don’t think that you can be 100% anonymous on the web. So if you are using VPNs for torrenting pirated media there will always be a risk the the government might request logs from your service provider. Whether or not they respond is another matter.

Because different countries have different laws regarding cyber security, it makes what is “illegal” up to interpretation. It’s hard to say what will or will not happen when the authorities get involved.

However, a good VPN company that truly enforces their “no logging” privacy policies will have nothing to hand over the authorities anyway.

Which VPN service provider I use

My little experience with computers and the internet determined who I finally signed up with.

You see, sometimes installed software can wreck havoc on computers. And not being a geek at computer setups, I’ve had bad experiences especially with antivirus programs.

So I personally try to install as few software as possible on my PCs.

And when I learned that Windscribe has a browser add-on that can enable me to view geo-restricted websites without needing to install a desktop software, my decision was made. Their service turned out to be top notch too.

Although their plans are not the cheapest around, I guess I was willing to pay a premium for not having to bloat my operating system with extra software. What an irony.

I also think that they are the only company that allows you unlimited connections on their paid plans. This is another headache off my mind. I won’t have to monitor which devices have the VPN “On” just to connect from another device. I personally have a PC, 2 laptops, a tablet, and 2 smart phones. And this is before counting the Mac, notebook, and a few more mobile devices at the workplace.

If you are unsure which VPN to use, I suggest that you give a trial to a few of them and test for yourself which service provider meets your needs best. With so many credible companies out there, surely one will be able to satisfy your expectations.