The Pros and Mostly Cons of Using Free VPNs
Are you in need of a tool that can unblock the internet but then you are not willing to shell out any cash and purchase a premium VPN service? Well, no need to worry. There are tons of free VPN services out there that are claiming to be able to provide ’secure‘ and anonymous VPN connections. If you’re cool with a free VPN, then it’s all good. But before you start using a free VPN service though, you may want to read about the pros and cons of Free VPNs first. Continue reading if you’re now uncertain about the authenticities of free VPN services.
The problem with such free stuff is that you are not really guaranteed of the reliability of the product offering. VPNs are designed to protect you from cyber threats. Unfortunately, a lot of these Free VPNs don’t stand to their promise. Here’s why you can’t trust most of the free VPNs out there.
Are free VPN services really secure?
Like the VPNs offering premium VPN connections, free VPNs also need to make money in order to stay operational. They also need to pay for the hosting fee, maintenance and traffic costs which are not cheap by the way. This now leads us to wonder how free VPNs are even making all that money to pay for all the costs of operating a Free VPN service?
Who provides Free VPN?
It’s not like there’s a billionaire out there that wants to help the entire human race hide from Big Brother or any kind of monitoring and spying practices happening around us. If that’s the case, then there shouldn’t be any limitations to free VPN services already. And some of these billionaires should have helped Edward Snowden. As a matter of fact, for the most cases, using a free VPN is rather frustrating and disappointing rather than being helpful.
Advertising, Datamining, Viruses and Trojan Horses?
But back to the main question, how are VPN providers making money to handle all the operational and maintenance costs? Well, the most common speculation about free VPNs is that they are selling consumer or user data to third-parties for commercial and even for data mining purposes. There’s also an assumption that free VPNs are Trojan injecting tools. These Trojan horses and viruses might be used to get financial details and thus, making it easier to compromise and steal from the unsuspecting victims. There is even a theory that some of the free VPNs are basically NSA traps.
All VPNs have some kind of logging activities, both premium and free VPNs. The biggest difference is that a lot of these providers offering free VPNs are not really obliged to take your anonymity seriously since in the first place you are getting a free VPN access anyway. Why would they go the extra mile just to please you, right? So, whether they keep, sell your log data or use it to their benefits is really up to them. Free VPN users can’t really complain at all.
How come free VPNs are slow and other issues
The reason why free VPNs offer slow connection speeds is that the servers usually get overloaded with tons of traffic requests from free VPN users. Most free VPNs usually have a specific server that will only be used for Free VPN accesses and as a result, the server gets overloaded at times leading to unbearable speed slowdowns. Free VPNs also come with irritating pop-ads that can also contribute to speed deterioration.
Free VPNs also imposes all kinds of restrictions that are basically limiting users from their internet activities. Aside from speed issues, free VPNs also have bandwidth limitations. Usually, you can only consume certain bandwidth usage per day. Some free VPNs even have disconnection issues. For example, the system will forcefully disconnect you from the network for a given period of time. You will need to reconnect again to use the service, then get disconnected, then you reconnect again – you get the idea.
Another drawback to using free VPNs is that they usually don’t come with customer support. So when you ever encounter a problem, most of the time you will have to deal with it since customer support is not available to free VPNs users.
You will also be limited to server selections with free VPNs. Free VPNs only offer US and UK servers which is usually fine. But if you’re trying to access contents in China or any country with strict internet laws, you will need to make use of a relevant IP address which the free VPN may or may not have.
And of course, not all contents or websites can be unblocked with a free VPN access. You might not even access online games with a free VPN connection.
VPNs with Gracious Money Back Guarantee
If you want a reliable VPN service, you should be willing to pay for the premium fees. That’s just the way it is. Gladly, there are VPN service providers that are offering a gracious money back guarantee that would be equated to almost free VPN accesses. You may pay for their VPNs, but if you cancel in time, you can get your money back without question.
This is one way of getting a free VPN access. We’re not saying that you should be doing this for the rest of your life. We’re just saying, there’s this option. But we advise that you should pay for the VPN if you are satisfied with it. Support the VPN service so that it’ll stay in business.
Here are VPN service providers that offer free trials / long term money back guarantee policies.
ExpressVPN – Free VPN for 30 Days
Basing from the reviews online, ExpressVPN is one of the best VPNs in the past couple of years. It is still one of the preferred VPN services today. The VPN Company is based in the United States and they have been in business since 2008. You can use the service on most VPN-capable devices and they also don’t log activities. ExpressVPN support OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec and SSTP security protocols.
ExpressVPN offer high strength 256 bit encryption to protect you from spying practices. They also have server presence in 78 countries worldwide. ExpressVPN offer unlimited bandwidth and speeds. ExpressVPNs servers have been audited in 2019 by PwC to confirm compliance with privacy policy.
ExpressVPN is one of those reliable VPN services that offer an unconditional money back guarantee. You are given 30 days to request for a refund, and just like that you get your money back. To subscribe to an ExpressVPN plan, you’ll only have to pay $12.95.
VyprVPN – Free VPN for 30 Days
VyprVPN is a VPN service based is Switzerland and is being run by GoldenFrog, a widely known offering software and online services focused on privacy and security. VyprVPN was established in 2010 and it never ceased to expand throughout the years. The VPN company now have more than 700 servers worldwide. Here is a review of VyprVPN.
VyprVPN offer high-performing VPN service with an encryption system of 1280-bit for PPTP, 156-bit for L2TP and 160 & 256 for OpenVPN security protocol. VyprVPN also offer free Dump Truck online storage to all paid accounts.
VyprVPN does have a long term 30 days money back guarantee. VyprVPN offers its VPN services for $10.00 per month.
SaferVPN – Free VPN for 15 Days
SaferVPN is a relatively new VPN player offering VPN servers in 22+ countries. SaferVPN support OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec and it’s compatible with most VPN-enabled devices. Look at this SaferVPN review to get the full picture about the service.
As far as pricing is concerned, SaferVPN offers cheaper VPN packages compared to their competitors. The VPN company is only charging $7.99 per month. VPN plans come with unlimited bandwidth and extremely fast speeds. Safer does not log activities and their only keep account information for billing and troubleshooting purpses.
SaferVPN has a 15 days money back guarantee on all its VPN packages. Aside from the money back policy, users may also opt to give the service a test run for 24-hours before purchasing any SaferVPN plan.
HideMyAss – Free VPN for 30 Days
HideMyAss has been the most widely known VPN service in the past few years. HideMyAss offer army-grade encryptions and highly stable and fast VPN connections. HideMyAss is also the bigger VPN server network in the entire world. The VPN company has approximately 940 servers located in more than 190 countries across the globe. More in that HidemyAss Review.
HideMyAss supports OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP security protocols. HideMyAss is a preferred VPN choice for a lot of users because it’s already been proven and tested to provide quality VPN connections. The company has been around since 2005 and they’ve constantly been ranked number one by VPN experts, enthusiasts and users.
HideMyAss offer a gracious 30 day money back guarantee allowing unsatisfied users to request. Full refunds are subjected to approval though. Subscribe to HideMyAss PRO VPN for only $9.99 per month.
Are Free VPNs Worth It?
We’d like to trust Free VPNs, but more often than not, these free VPNs usually come with a catch. Yes, you are getting free VPN accesses but it’s not really the full VPN offering. You’ll simply be bombarded with limitations, ads, slowdowns and all kinds of issues.
In our opinion, free VPNs are really not worthless at all. They offer the kind of solution that would suffice for regular unblocking purposes. But again, they don’t provide the full features that come with premium VPNs.
Here are the best free VPN Providers we found:
If you really want to completely unblock the internet while staying secure, then you better use a premium VPN service. It’s not cheap, but it will protect you from prying eyes. It’s better to spend a few bucks on a reliable VPN service rather than putting yourself at risk by browsing the web unsecured.