From connecting with friends to managing our finances, a huge part of our lives takes place digitally. In an effort to claw back some of their privacy, many turn to VPNs. However, while VPNs can help, in most cases, free VPNs aren’t a risk worth taking. Here’s why.
You Are The Product
As the old saying goes, if you’re not paying for a product, you are the product.
Nowhere is this more obvious than the modern internet, which is supported largely by advertising, personal or otherwise. While advertising is usually innocuous enough, the kind of data collection that occurs while you’re using a VPN raises more important ethics and privacy questions.
PResumably anyone using a VPN is doing so for a good reason: they’re attempting to maintain their privacy, they’re trying to bypass a geoblock on something, they’re attempting to circumvent censorship laws in their country, or any number of other reasons.
Whatever the specifics, the circumstances tend to demand a certain amount of trust between the user and the VPN provider. However, the free model puts the two directly in conflict.
A free VPN provider must generate revenue somehow, and they’re in a position to collect and monetize the information you’re trying to hide in the first place.
I’m not saying that all free VPNs are malicious—far from it. However, the reality of the arrangement is that their motives are always a little suspect, and I completely avoid them as a result.
Unreliable Security and Audits
Even if a free VPN provider is acting completely benignly and does handle your data as responsibly as possible, there are other potential pitfalls associated with free VPNs that give me pause.
Maintaining a large, secure VPN service is no easy task—it takes an entire team of security experts and programmers. Free VPN services have, and will probably always have, a hard time matching paid VPN services in this regard. In practical terms, you’re likely to encounter worse security measures on a free VPN than most of the paid ones, especially if you stick to the major reputable players.
It is also pretty rare for a free VPN service to have and publish third-party security audits, which dig through their security and data handling practices to ensure they’re actually meeting the standards they set.
Typically Slow and Laggy
Because they’re free, free VPN services tend to have lower maximum bandwidth and higher latency than paid services.
This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but it does mean that free VPNs are often unsuitable for a lot of things people might want to use them for, like streaming geoblocked video.
They Have Limited Features
Even if you do manage to find a free VPN service that respects your privacy, handles your data well, has great security practices and audits, *and* isn’t slow, you’re still usually better off springing for a paid VPN.
VPNs do more than just hide your location, destination, and traffic. Many paid VPN services offer servers that are designed to be specifically low-latency, so that they’re suitable for gaming or other latency-sensitive applications.
Others offer servers that are more likely to work with streaming services, which is one of the most popular uses for a VPN.
If you’re especially concerned about your security, paid VPNs (like Mullvad) offer services that add “noise” to your traffic to make it less recognizeable to AI-detection algorithms.
Additionally, many paid VPNs include a feature that basically functions like a PiHole—built-in adblocker.
They usually have a kill switch (which many free VPNs I checked out don’t), which disconnects you if your VPN connection gets dropped, ensuring you don’t accidentally leak your data if something glitches out unexpectedly.
Are There Any Good Free VPNs?
Despite all that, there is at least one good free VPN out there: Proton VPN.
Proton has a solid privacy and security track record, and there isn’t any glaring reason to distrust their free VPN. The only major drawback is that it only supports one device. There aren’t any bandwidth or data restrictions.
If I had to opt for a free VPN, that would definitely be my top choice.