Best Free VPN in 2026: 8 Tested for Speed, Data and Streaming

Free VPNs are supposed to be slow. Two of the ones we measured were not. Windscribe cost us 10.0% of a 190.36 Mbps connection, and PrivadoVPN 9.5%, close enough to paid VPNs that speed is no longer the reason to avoid them. Windscribe’s 182.21 Mbps to London beat every paid VPN we tested. Both stop at 10 GB a month. The two free tiers with no data cap, Proton VPN and Hide.me, lost 19.3% and 30.5%, and no streaming platform opened. Every free VPN has one of those compromises.

Compare the Best Free VPN Services

Speed loss is our own measurement against a 190.36 Mbps line, taken on the free tier of each service. Nine platforms were tried against every entry, and the streaming column reports how many opened.

VPN	What’s free	Data	Speed loss	Streaming	Devices
NordVPN	30 days, refunded	Unlimited	3.8%	9 of 9	10
Proton VPN	30 days, or a free tier	Unlimited on both	7.4% paid, 19.3% free	7 of 9 paid, 0 free	10 paid, 1 free
ExpressVPN	30 days, refunded	Unlimited	4.7%	9 of 9	10-14
Windscribe	Free tier	10 GB a month	10.0%	6 of 9	Unlimited
PrivadoVPN	Free tier	10 GB a month	9.5%	6 of 9	1
Hide.me	Free tier	Unlimited	30.5%	0 of 9	1
TunnelBear	Free tier	2 GB a month	31.2%	0 of 9	1
Hotspot Shield	Free tier	500 MB a day	25.0%	1 of 9	1

Best Free VPN Providers for 30 Days

A money-back guarantee hands over the whole paid subscription at no cost, provided the refund is claimed before the window closes. Unlimited data, every server, streaming, torrenting, and 24/7 support all come with it, and no free tier offers that combination. All 3 companies honored our refund requests.

NordVPN: Best Free VPN Overall (30-Day Free Trial)

NordVPN tops our list of the top paid VPNs, and its 30-day refund makes the full subscription available at no cost. Across our UK and US servers, it cost only 3.8% of the connection, the smallest drop we recorded from any VPN, free or paid. All 9 streaming platforms admitted it. Only its UK ping disappointed. Every rival stayed under 55 while NordVPN needed 60 ms, and ping is the delay before a server answers, so lower is better. Its network covers 149 countries.

Deloitte has examined the no-logging policy 6 times, February 2026 being the most recent, and malware and ad filtering are built into the app. There’s a free VPN for Chrome and a Firefox version, and 10 devices connect at once. Support answered in under 20 seconds when we opened a chat. Paying up front is the obvious drawback. The Basic plan drops to $3.49 per month through our link, refundable within 30 days. The NordVPN review covers the rest.

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Proton VPN: Best Really Free VPN (Unlimited Data)

Two versions share this name, and the 30-day one is the better deal. Paying for Proton VPN and claiming the refund offers 149 countries, 10 devices, streaming, torrenting, and the ad filter, none of which the free plan includes. It answered our US servers faster than any VPN tested, at 109 ms, and cost 7.4% of the connection across the UK and US legs. Seven of 9 streaming platforms opened. The free tier is the fallback, and it is unusually generous for one.

No card, no expiry date, no data cap, the same encryption as the paid apps, and no advertising, because subscriptions pay for it instead of advertisers. Outside auditors have been through the no-logging policy on both plans. Its limits showed up quickly in testing. Free accounts are assigned a country from a pool of 10, and the two we were given behaved very differently. A Dutch server returned 176.41 Mbps at a 32 ms ping, close to the paid product.

A US one delivered 131.00 Mbps at 253 ms, a delay usually seen on connections to Japan. More people share those free servers than the paid ones. Netflix US would not open on that American IP, and with no server selection, there is no second attempt to make. P2P is OFF, 1 device connects at a time, and ad blocking stays behind the paywall. The free against paid VPN comparison covers the trade-off

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ExpressVPN: Fastest Free VPN at Long Distance (30 Days)

Tokyo produced 163.94 Mbps through ExpressVPN, a figure no competitor beat, and its UK and US legs came to a 4.7% loss. Distance divides it from the free tiers, since TunnelBear lost half the connection on that same Japanese leg. Nothing stayed shut on streaming, though two platforms spotted it on a handful of attempts. Coverage spans 113 countries, KPMG has checked the no-logging claim, and 10 to 14 devices connect. Its stability also makes it a well-established VPN for gaming.

Windows 11 gave us one recurring headache, where connecting occasionally meant uninstalling the app and putting it back. A 73% discount with 4 free months on the 2-year Basic plan brings the entry price down, and the refund window is 30 days. The full speed table is in our fastest VPN guide, and the NordVPN comparison puts the top two side by side for a deeper look.

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5 Best Completely Free VPN Services (No Credit Card)

No card, no deadline, no refund to remember. Each of the 5 imposes a limit instead: on data, on locations, or on what the connection may do. Here’s the list:

1. Windscribe: Best Free VPN for Covering Every Device

Every other free tier protects one device. Windscribe protects as many as you own, which we confirmed with five connected at once. For a household with phones, a laptop, and a TV, nothing else comes close. London returned 182.21 Mbps, higher than all but one paid VPN we tested, and the US leg gave a 10.0% average loss. Six platforms admitted it. ITV, Pluto TV, and Prime Video were the refusals. Its R.O.B.E.R.T. filtering blocks ads and trackers on the free plan, which Proton VPN charges for.

The no-logging policy has never been examined by an outside firm, whereas Proton VPN and TunnelBear both have been. In July 2021, its Ukrainian servers were seized while unencrypted, potentially exposing user traffic, after which the company moved to servers that wipe on reboot. Confirming an email lifts the allowance to 10 GB a month from 2 GB, and the connection stops dead once it’s gone.

2. PrivadoVPN: Good Free VPN for P2P and Streaming

The quickest free tier we measured, at a 9.5% loss, and the only one that keeps working after the cap. PrivadoVPN drops to emergency servers at 1 Mbps instead of cutting off, enough for email and messaging once the 10 GB is spent. Torrenting is permitted and works with uTorrent and BitTorrent. ITV, the Canadian Netflix library and Prime Video shut it out; the remaining 6 admitted it.

It offers 10 free countries across 13 locations, 4 of them American, alongside the UK, France, Canada, Mexico and Switzerland. Connection times matched its own paid app. No outside firm has examined the no-logging claim, which a Swiss address does not substitute for. Linux support is thin, though Android TV users can install it, and only 1 device connects at a time.

3. Hide.me: Unlimited Data With a Choice of Location

Hide.me pairs unlimited data with a location list, something Proton VPN’s free tier withholds. Eight locations are open without payment, among them Singapore, the UK, Switzerland, the US and Canada. London measured 152.31 Mbps and the US leg only 112.48, a 30.5% average loss and roughly three times Windscribe’s figure. No streaming platform opened, and torrenting is blocked. Malaysian law involves no intelligence-sharing pact, so privacy is never questioned.

The no-logging policy stands up, and the kill switch cut our connection the moment a server dropped. Routing through two servers and the malicious-site filter are locked to paying customers. Our free VPN for gaming guide explains why none of these suit competitive play.

4. TunnelBear: Best Free VPN for Beginners

TunnelBear is the easiest of these to install and understand. Independent auditors have been through it more than once; the kill switch works, and the app disguises its traffic so restricted networks let it through. Speed undoes all of that. It lost 31.2% across our UK and US legs and 50.4% on the Japanese one, the worst result of any VPN on this page. Connecting took 4 to 5 seconds even on WireGuard, where every other free tier matched its paid counterpart.

No streaming platform opened. The 2 GB monthly allowance is roughly 2 hours of video, and it applies to every device. Torrenting is blocked, and the connection stops when the data is gone. There’s no Linux client and no Fire TV Stick VPN app; our best free VPN for Firestick guide covers what does work there. British users should check the free VPN for UK guide, and the NordVPN comparison shows the difference.

5. Hotspot Shield: Best Completely Free VPN With US Servers

Hotspot Shield gives away US servers and no others, which puts it in our free VPN for USA roundup and rules it out everywhere else. Netflix US opened, which no other free tier achieved. Prime Video, Pluto TV, and HBO Max all refused. Its American server measured the same speed as the paid version, a 25.0% loss, so nothing is throttled.  The Hydra protocol gets through school and office filtering, split tunneling works on every platform, and the VPN installs on routers and TVs.

Watching ads lifts the data limit on iOS and Android. Otherwise, the allowance is 500 MB a day, and unspent data expires at midnight. Privacy undermines the rest. By its own account, the company keeps a record of which domains its VPN users open, and targeted ads in the free mobile apps require user data.

What a Free VPN Costs You Instead

• Data. Proton VPN and Hide.me head the unlimited free VPN options, and both sacrifice speed. Windscribe, PrivadoVPN and TunnelBear cap you at 10 GB, 10 GB and 2 GB a month. PrivadoVPN then slows to 1 Mbps, while the other 2 cut off.
• Streaming and torrenting. Only Hotspot Shield opened Netflix US, and only from a US IP address, so our free VPN for Netflix guide has the details, and changing Netflix region reliably takes a paid subscription. Proton VPN, Hide.me, and TunnelBear block torrenting, which the free VPN for torrenting guide covers. NordVPN and ExpressVPN handle Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and torrenting.
• Devices. Only Windscribe lifts the cap. Every other free tier protects one device at a time, compared to 10 on the paid subscriptions. Anyone in India and other restricted regions feels that limit.
• Support. Free users get email and a wait. Proton VPN reserves live chat for paying customers, and some free services offer no support desk, Urban VPN among them.

Free VPN Services to Avoid

• Urban VPN. Slow, leaks the real IP address, blocks nothing useful, and sells user records to third parties.
• Hola VPN. Passes traffic between users, so another person’s activity can appear to come from your connection. It also sells logs to data brokers.
• Betternet. Same parent company as Hotspot Shield, with the same logging record, frequent leaks, and 500 MB a day.
• Mobile-only free apps. Usually ad-funded, usually logging in the background, and rarely available outside iOS and Android.

Which Free VPN Should You Get

For a household, Windscribe. Nothing else free covers every device at once, and it was the quickest to London of any free tier. Accept the 10 GB ceiling and the missing audit. For unlimited data at no cost, Proton VPN’s free tier, though its 30-day trial is the better version of the same service and the country is assigned for you on the free plan. Hide.me offers unlimited data with a location list, at three times the speed penalty. For streaming or P2P, PrivadoVPN was the fastest free tier.

It’s the only one still working past its cap. TunnelBear suits a first-time user, and Hotspot Shield makes sense only for a US connection. For heavy use, 30 days of a paid VPN beats all five. NordVPN gave back less speed than any other VPN here and opened all 9 platforms, and ExpressVPN came within a point of it while leading to Japan. Claim the refund within the window, and it costs nothing. Our best free VPN for Australia guide applies the same test locally.

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FAQ About the Best Free VPNs