Free and Paid VPN Software and Apps providers: WHICH ONE ARE BEST ?
- Hide.me
- Surfshark
- ExpressVPN
- NordVPN
1. TunnelBear free VPN
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| Tunnel Bear VPN |
The free VPN for Android, which is owned by McAfee, gets you 500MB of data per month. You can choose between servers in 23 countries including the US, Germany, Australia, India, and more.
TunnelBear has a strict no-logging policy for peace of mind and isn’t ad-supported despite being free. It offers additional free data valid for the month to those who tweet about the provider, download the TunnelBear app on their PC, or invite a friend who then signs up for the service. Unused data does not roll over to the next month.
If you need more data than 500MB per month, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan. Pricing starts at $4.17 per month if you prepay for two years.
Free data allowance:
500MB per month
Server selection: Manual — 23 locations available
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $4.17 per month
The free VPN by Kaspersky works like a charm but has its limitations like the rest of the services on this list. It offers 200MB of data per day or 300MB if the app is connected to a My Kaspersky account, which translates to at least 6GB per month. That’s not bad considering it’s free, but the service still isn’t suitable for power users. Unfortunately, there’s no option to score additional free data like with TunnelBear.
There are a number of server locations available, but you can’t choose which ones to connect to using a free plan — the service will choose it for you automatically. The app is easy to use, allowing you to start browsing anonymously with just a simple tap. Signing up for the VPN is a breeze as well, as you don’t need to share your credit card or email address with the provider.
There are paid plans available, offering unlimited data and the chance to choose the server location. Pricing starts at around $2.5 per month if you opt for an annual plan.
Server selection: Manual — 23 locations available
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $4.17 per month
2. Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection
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| Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection |
The free VPN by Kaspersky works like a charm but has its limitations like the rest of the services on this list. It offers 200MB of data per day or 300MB if the app is connected to a My Kaspersky account, which translates to at least 6GB per month. That’s not bad considering it’s free, but the service still isn’t suitable for power users. Unfortunately, there’s no option to score additional free data like with TunnelBear.
You don't need to make an account to use Kaspersky's free VPN.
There are a number of server locations available, but you can’t choose which ones to connect to using a free plan — the service will choose it for you automatically. The app is easy to use, allowing you to start browsing anonymously with just a simple tap. Signing up for the VPN is a breeze as well, as you don’t need to share your credit card or email address with the provider.
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There are paid plans available, offering unlimited data and the chance to choose the server location. Pricing starts at around $2.5 per month if you opt for an annual plan.
Free data allowance: 200/300MB
per day
Server selection: Automatic
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $2.5 per month
There are a few things that make Hotspot Shield one of the best free VPN services for Android you can get. It offers 500MB of data per day or around 15GB per month. That’s not enough for heavy usage, but it is more than what you get with most other free virtual private networks.
It’s also super easy to get started, as you don’t have to share your email address or your credit card info with the provider. Just download the app on your device, tap “Connect”, and you’re ready to go. The major drawback is that you can’t select the server you want to connect to — the app will do that for you automatically. There are also ads present in the Android app, which is annoying.
Like the rest of the services on this list, Hotspot Shield has a no-logging policy. It also offers paid plans starting at $7.99 per month that get rid of the ads and the rest of the limitation.
Server selection: Automatic
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $2.5 per month
3. Hotspot Shield free VPN for Android
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| Hotspot Shield free VPN for Android |
There are a few things that make Hotspot Shield one of the best free VPN services for Android you can get. It offers 500MB of data per day or around 15GB per month. That’s not enough for heavy usage, but it is more than what you get with most other free virtual private networks.
It’s also super easy to get started, as you don’t have to share your email address or your credit card info with the provider. Just download the app on your device, tap “Connect”, and you’re ready to go. The major drawback is that you can’t select the server you want to connect to — the app will do that for you automatically. There are also ads present in the Android app, which is annoying.
Like the rest of the services on this list, Hotspot Shield has a no-logging policy. It also offers paid plans starting at $7.99 per month that get rid of the ads and the rest of the limitation.
Data allowance:
500MB per day
Server selection: Automatic
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $7.99 per month
Android service offers a monthly data allowance of 500MB, which is less than a few other providers on this list. However, the service does allow you to connect to any of the 40 locations available, unlike some of the competition that selects the server automatically.
The sign-up process is hassle-free. Just download the app, select a location, and then turn on the VPN to start browsing anonymously — no need to share any personal data with the provider. The free version offers everything you get with a premium plan, with a couple of exceptions. There’s no kill switch available for disabling internet access if the VPN connection drops, and you don’t get any tech support.
To get rid of the limitations the free plan comes with, you’ll have to pay up. An annual plan will set you back $78, which translates to $6.5 per month.
Server selection: Automatic
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $7.99 per month
4. Avira Phantom free VPN for Android
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| Avira Phantom VPN |
Android service offers a monthly data allowance of 500MB, which is less than a few other providers on this list. However, the service does allow you to connect to any of the 40 locations available, unlike some of the competition that selects the server automatically.
The sign-up process is hassle-free. Just download the app, select a location, and then turn on the VPN to start browsing anonymously — no need to share any personal data with the provider. The free version offers everything you get with a premium plan, with a couple of exceptions. There’s no kill switch available for disabling internet access if the VPN connection drops, and you don’t get any tech support.
To get rid of the limitations the free plan comes with, you’ll have to pay up. An annual plan will set you back $78, which translates to $6.5 per month.
Data allowance: 500MB per month
Server selection: Manual — 40 available
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $6.5 per month
This Android VPN limits you to 10GB of data per month, which is quite generous. There are five server locations available to choose from — Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, and the US (east and west coast).
Hide.me promises it won’t log your activities, giving you peace of mind that the provider won’t sell your data to the highest bidder. It’s easy to set up and start using, without the need to share your credit card info. All these things combined make it one of the best free VPN services to use.
If you need more data, there are a few paid plans to choose from. Pricing starts at $4.99 per month and goes all the way up to $12.95 per month, depending on the length of the subscription.
Server selection: Manual — 40 available
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $6.5 per month
5. Hide.me
 |
| Hide.me |
This Android VPN limits you to 10GB of data per month, which is quite generous. There are five server locations available to choose from — Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, and the US (east and west coast).
Hide.me promises it won’t log your activities, giving you peace of mind that the provider won’t sell your data to the highest bidder. It’s easy to set up and start using, without the need to share your credit card info. All these things combined make it one of the best free VPN services to use.
If you need more data, there are a few paid plans to choose from. Pricing starts at $4.99 per month and goes all the way up to $12.95 per month, depending on the length of the subscription.
Data allowance: 10GB per month
Server selection: Manual — five available
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $4.99 per month
Server selection: Manual — five available
No-logging policy: Yes
Paid plans: Start at $4.99 per month
6. Surfshark
Best speedy up-and-comer, packed with features
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| SurfShark |
Intuitive app interface, with plenty of power under the hood
Number of servers: 1,700
Number of VPN server locations:
63
Country/jurisdiction: British
Virgin Islands
Despite its customizability and powerful performance as a VPN,
Surfshark's app for Android offers an interface that's surprisingly
intuitive for first-time users. Its four-tab design elegantly conceals a
host of privacy tools and connection options, highlighting a
single-click connection button on the app's landing screen.
Quickly access one of Surfshark's multihop connection option -- one of
its most promising features, which jumps your connection through
multiple countries to hide your trail -- through its main
location-selection screen, with no need to rummage through the app's
settings. Surfshark also gets bonus points for making its customer
support options for the dedicated Android app readily available,
including its help ticket feature and user guide library.
While Surfshark's network is smaller than some, the VPN service makes
up for it on features. Let's start off with the biggest win it offers:
unlimited device support. If you want to run your entire home or office
on Surfshark's VPN, you don't have to worry about how many devices you
have on or connected. It also offers antimalware, ad-blocking and
tracker-blocking as part of its software.
Surfshark received generally high marks when its Chrome and Firefox
extensions were audited for privacy by German security firm Cure 53 (PDF
link of full report) -- though that audit was commissioned by Surfshark.
Its encryption is standard AES-256-GCM, and it supports Perfect Forward
Secrecy, which means it frequently changes encryption keys to avoid
security compromises.
The company has a solid range of app support, running on Mac, Windows,
iOS, Android, FireTV and routers. Additional devices such as game
consoles can be configured for Surfshark via DNS settings. We
particularly like the feature that allows you to whitelist certain apps
and websites to automatically bypass the VPN. For some business uses,
this can be critically important.
Along with multihop, Surfshark also offers two more special modes
designed for those who want to get around restrictions and more
carefully hide their online footsteps. Camouflage Mode masks your VPN
activity so your ISP doesn't know you're using a VPN. And NoBorders Mode
"allows [you] to successfully use Surfshark in restrictive
regions."
Just be careful. Doing any of those three things could be illegal in
your country and could result in severe penalties. During our testing,
we saw no DNS or IP address leaks, and had no trouble accessing
Netflix.
Unlike many of the other VPN providers, Surfshark doesn't offer a
one-year plan. Its best offer is $2.49 a month, for its two-year plan
(you pay about $60 up front). A six-month plan is $6.49 a month (about
$39 up front), and month-by-month plans are $12.95 a month. Definitely
take advantage of its generous 30-day trial to decide if you like this
service (and if you choose the two-year plan, maybe set a reminder in 23
months to see if you can talk it into a continued discount rate).
7. ExpressVPN
Best Android VPN for blazing speeds, privacy
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| ExpressVPN |
Simple, fast, effective app
Number of servers: 3,000-plus
Number of VPN server locations: 160
Country/jurisdiction:
British Virgin Islands
Just as ExpressVPN consistently tops the list as the fastest VPN on the
market, its app for Android is designed with a streamlined approach
aimed at connecting fast without a fuss. A single button on its landing
screen directs an Android user to connect quickly, with the only
accompanying option a drop-down location selector with your fastest
nearby city selected by default.
ExpressVPN's other options -- its security and privacy tools, account
and settings options, and support page -- are all kept neatly tucked
away under a garden variety three-bar icon in the screen's top left
corner. And they're worth checking into. ExpressVPN has included an
on-board IP address checker, along with two leak testers and a password
generator.
The company tells us its network is powered by TrustedServer
technology, which ExpressVPN built to ensure that there are never any
logs of users' online activities. In the privacy world, ExpressVPN has a
strong track record, having experienced a VPN server seizure by
authorities which proved their zero-log policy true at the time. We also
like the quality of the VPN's setup guides, and the detailed information
in its FAQ.
Like the rest of the top five VPN services we've reviewed for 2020,
ExpressVPN offers a useful kill switch feature, which prevents network
data from leaking outside of its secure VPN tunnel in the event the VPN
connection fails. Unlike the others, though, ExpressVPN gained points
from us for its support of bitcoin as a payment method -- something not
all of our favorites offer, but which adds an additional layer of
privacy during checkout.
The company has been in business since 2009, and ExpressVPN has a
substantial network of fast VPN servers spread across 94 countries. Its
best plan is priced at less than $7 a month for an annual package, which
includes three months free.
8. NordVPN
An easy to use, reliable app
NordVPN
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| NordVPN |
Number of servers:
5,200-plus servers
Number of VPN server locations:
62
Country/jurisdiction: Panama
NordVPN is one of the most recognized brands in the VPN field. Part
of that brand recognition is based on the user-friendliness of its
design. Nord's app for Android is just as easy to interact with as its
desktop VPN client, with a very similar design. It poses no learning
curve for a first-time user looking to move from desktop to
mobile.
Just as the desktop client does, Nord's app opens to a familiar
blue-scale landing screen map where users can opt for to either select
a country or connect to the fastest server automatically. Nord gets
bonus points for its split tunneling feature, which allows you to
select other apps that you don't want to run through your encrypted
VPN connection.
Nord offers a generous simultaneous connection count, with six
connections allowed through its network -- nearly all other providers
offer five or fewer. NordVPN also offers a dedicated IP option, for
those looking for a different level of VPN connection. NordVPN offers
a kill switch feature, and the ability to VPN into Tor. We detected no
privacy leaks during our tests, and found its speeds to be reliably
fast.
The company's one-year subscription plan costs is for $7 a month ($84
billed at once). While that yearly price is lower than most other
contenders, the month-to-month price of $12 is at the high end of the
spectrum. As of September 2019, the company's other pricing tiers have
crept up a bit: It's now $3.49 a month for a three-year plan (or
$125.64 total), up from $2.99/$107.55. And the two-year plan is now
$4.99 a month ($119.76), up from $3.99/$95.75. And yes, it also has a
full 30-day refund policy.
While NordVPN has lived on our top VPNs list for a long time, we
moved it to the penalty box in October 2019 to re-evaluate our
recommendation after a report emerged that one of its rented servers
was accessed without authorization in 2018. Nord's actions following
the discovery included -- eventually -- multiple security audits, a
bug bounty program and heavier investments in server
security.
While we'd have preferred that Nord self-disclosed the issue much
earlier, the fact that the breach was limited in nature and involved
no user-identifying information served to further verify that NordVPN
keeps no logs of user activity. As a result, Nord remains on our list
as a recommended vendor.
NOTE: I am not endorsing any of them. i will update list regularly as new vpn launch.
