When you go online, many eyes are watching every click of your mouse, your preferences, browsing patterns, history, and more. Apart from this watch, there is so much more out there like location-based restrictions and censors. The best way to bypass all of the above is to have a VPN connection with your devices and equipment on residential wifi connections like Spectrum internet without taking concern about how much is Spectrum internet. Just make sure the VPN is secure.
Comparison Between Paid and Top 5 Free VPNs
For excellent safety, encryption, and leaving no digital trail, paid VPNs are usually ideal. They generally come with more server locations, faster connections, no limits on bandwidths, and safety features like VPN Kill Switch. On top of these, commonly there are other quality additions like connections on multiple devices, 24/7 support, and various others.
Free VPNs on the other hand lack many essential features, and in many cases come with different sacrifices. Such sacrifices come in the shape of pushed ads, a compromise on your privacy, slower connections, fewer server options, and overall performance. Regardless, there are some decent VPN service providers you can still use for casual browsing. In this article, you can see 5 famous options of these to help you make a smarter choice.
After testing and exploring different VPNs, these are 5 decent names to try. This article covers different aspects from a casual user viewpoint to help you make an informed decision, and not fall into some laggy ad trap.
ProtonVPN – Best for Bandwidth and Support
ProtonVPN, a product of Proton Technologies, is the frontrunner on the list of free VPN choices. The qualities that put this company in the upper echelon in the books of reviewers are unlimited bandwidth and a no-logging policy. With most companies, these two features are paid plan exclusives. Bandwidth is the data exchanged between your device and server over a VPN connection. And another major plus is the company’s zero-logging policy which means they do not store your data. However, this Swiss company has been generous enough to add them for free.
On the flip side, there are some limitations as well. For example, the connection over VPN can get very slow. Another one is of just three server locations. So, your browsing can get slow around peak usage time.
After considering all aspects, ProtonVPN packs some quality services and is surely worth trying.
Hide.Me – A Feature-Packed VPN
If you want to explore features and get the touch of paid VPN services, Hide.Me is a dependable VPN. With this VPN provider, you get a one-up from ProtonVPN in terms of server locations. The company offers 5 server locations. So, your IP can be masked with over 5 different IP addresses. The exclusives on this free service are Kill Switch, Stealth Guard, and split tunneling. In addition, you can set up your server preferences from the list. The company also offers 24/7 support which is generally not available with many other names. Simply put, Hide.Me VPN is feature-packed.
The limitations of the VPN are the 10GB bandwidth cap which renews after a month. Considering it is a free plan, this is pretty generous of the company.
When a user weighs all the positives and negatives, the VPN is worth trying. The added features make it a better choice than many other names.
Privado – A Dependable Choice
For routine use and access to content in different geographical regions, Privado is a good VPN option. Like ProtonVPN, Privado is another Switzerland-based VPN. Another similarity between the two is the strict no-logging policy. A significant plus Privado has over the top choices is its 8 server locations. Also, there are features for Techies like Kill Switch, auto connection, and setting your server preferences.
Now for the negatives, Privado is not among the fast VPNs. It may get laggy at times because of speeds from the server side. Still, the speeds are usually not bad for a free service, but not on par with other names on the list.
As for the final verdict, Privado is a dependable VPN with much to offer.
Hotspot Shield – A Well-known and Decent VPN
Hotspot Shield is one of the more famous providers out there of both paid and free VPNs. Where paid subscriptions give you a lot to play around with and fast connections, the free version also comes with a standard set of features. A significant advantage the company has over all the other VPNs on this list is the connection to 5 devices. Followed by a generous daily bandwidth cap of 500MB, more than everyone except ProtonVPN.
What Hotspot Shield does not offer is server locations outside. For more locations, you have to opt for their paid service. The company had problems with Google result pages in the recent past. Lastly, the free version does not let you access streaming platforms like Netflix.
If the server location is compatible with your needs, you may go ahead and try Hotspot Shield VPN.
Windscribe – More Server Locations and Solid Privacy
Windscribe is another quality VPN service provider with quality paid and unpaid plans. The company offers the most server locations on this list. You have access to servers in the US, EU, and Asia. Also, the service is compliant with streaming services. So, all the content from different locations is accessible after a few clicks. The standard data exchange/ bandwidth cap is at 10 gigs. An exception here is the fact that you can still use 2GB bandwidth without email signup.
What you don’t get with Winscribe is an easy-to-understand UI. The user interface has some additional apps like firewalls, but they make the interface difficult to navigate. So, the best thing to do is to turn on and turn off the VPN unless you know what you are doing.
This VPN is worth trying especially because of its multiple server locations.
