Best free VPN for PC and Phones in 2023 – Finding a good VPN that can be used for free is almost impossible. It’s not that there aren’t any free VPN services, but they are riddled with ads and little to no transparency on how your data is handled. Many people decide to use VPNs with the aim of preserving their privacy from the prying eyes of the internet and those VPNs will do more harm than good.
So, when we say that good VPNs are hard to find for free, we mean actually good VPN services that have a proven track record of providing excellent service and no data collection on their part. Today, we are going to talk about such VPN services. But before we do that, let’s first try to understand why you need a VPN service.
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Top 5 Best Free VPNs for Your PC and Phones
Here are the top 5 best free VPNs for PC and phones that you can use in 2023. The VPN services that are showcased in our list today are selected based on their performance, features, and their reputation in the last couple of years. Let’s get started.
Why Do You Need VPN
The list of things for which you need a VPN service can be pretty long, but the most basic ones are security, privacy, data fraud, and access to restricted content, among others. Security and privacy are two crucial aspects of getting a VPN service. When you browse the internet, you leave a trail of data that your ISP, Google, and even your Government can use to figure out what sort of activity you are doing on the internet.
ProtonVPN
It’s no wonder that ProtonVPN tops the list. In a world full of paid services, ProtonVPN is the only VPN service that is truly free in all the senses of the word. All other reputed VPN services that also claim the free status actually have various limitations, such as speed limit, data limit, and/or limited by the 30-day trial. However, that’s not the case with ProtonVPN. There’s no data limit. You can send multiple gigs of data and still no data restriction would be imposed on you. However, the speed may vary although there’s virtually no speed limit as well.
ProtonVPN services were first released in 2017 and since then the company has garnered a solid reputation, thanks to its staunch approach to security, privacy, and transparency. The features that you can only find in the paid version of other VPN services are provided by ProtonVPN for their free users as well. These features are DNS leak protection, AES 256-bit encryption, and even a kill switch. While all these features are available for free users, paid users are getting several more, including a Secure Core server, Stealth Protocol, Ad block, and a lot more. But ProtonVPN still remains the best free VPN service.
ProtonVPN Pros and Cons
Pros
- No data limit.
- Faster than many other free VPN services.
- It has a kill switch.
- It’s completely open-source and its security policies have been verified by third-party security audits.
Cons
- It lacks a variety of server locations. You can only choose from US, Japan, and Netherlands in the free version.
Atlas VPN
AtlasVPN quickly rose to popularity thanks to its higher data allowance in the free version of its VPN service. Most free VPNs are offering their service somewhere in the range of 500MB to 2GB of data limit and some generous ones offer 5GB. But Atlas VPN surprised us with its 10GB per month data allowance. Now, the company goes even more generous for mac users who get a 2GB of data allowance every day. Independent tests show that their VPN servers comfortably reach around 320Mbps of speed, which is quite fast, considering it’s just a free service.
To put a cherry on top, Atlas VPN also supports a Peer To Peer tunneling feature even for their free customers. However, the limited server locations will leave a lot to be desired. Not to mention, it lacks several features that ProtonVPN has, but it has speeds that far exceed the free version of ProtonVPN. The VPN service has also been verified by independent audits, which should put your privacy and data collection concerns. However, the audits were only performed on the iOS version of the VPN service. But that’s still something compared to other free VPN services that have never been audited for the authenticity of their claims.
Atlas VPN Pros and Cons
Pros
- Provides a generous amount of data allowance, even more so for their Mac counterpart.
- Relatively fast with speeds going close to 320Mbps.
- It can unblock region-locked Disney Plus content.
Cons
- Limited features for free users.
- Free data limit can be quickly exhausted if you are careful.
Hotspot Shield
With ProtonVPN, you get no data limit but its overall speed leaves a lot to be desired. With Atlas VPN, you get more than decent speed but have a data limit. Hotspot VPN brings the best of both worlds for its free users. It has the best of both worlds. It has no speed limit and its download speeds are actually quite decent. It seems like this is a no-compromise VPN service, right? Not quite. While it does have decent speed and virtually no data limit, it has its compromises in other areas.
It has only 1 location available for free users and that’s the US location. Also, it has no kill switch and that could be a deal breaker for some users. Basically, if your connection drops, the data you sent can leak as it’s no longer protected. When a kill switch is available, it will disconnect the VPN connection and save your data from falling into wrong hands. Also, if you face any issues, there will be no support provided to you via call or chat. On top of that, the app shows ads every time you connect to their services. It’s for these reasons that it sits lower on our list. However, the availability of unlimited data will certainly pick the interest of many people.
Hotspot Shield Pros and Cons
Pros
- Decent bandwidth speeds.
- There’s virtually no data limit.
Cons
- Only 1 server
- Ads
- No support
Privado VPN
Like Atlas VPN, Privado VPN is also quite generous with its daily limits. They are providing a 10GB data allowance per month but at a relatively lower speed of 1 Mbps. That’s still generous for a free service and you get to choose from 12 different server locations, including the UK server, which most free VPN servers don’t have. Its server locations also allow users to access US-based Netflix content, Disnep Plus, and much more.
However, it only allows for 1 connection per user. That means if you connect to the VPN on your mobile, it will disconnect from your laptop. Only 1 device at a time. Clearly, it’s not the perfect VPN service, but it’s the one that’s quite generous with its data allowance and can even unlock region-locked streaming content. It’s something many paid VPNs cannot do. So, keep that in mind.
Privado VPN Pros and Cons
Pros
- Generous 10GB monthly data allowance.
- Unblocks region-locked content on Netflix, Disnep Plus, Prime Video, and more.
- More than average speeds.
Cons
- Only 1 connection per user.
- Its download speeds do leave a lot to be desired.
Windscribe Free
Like other VPN services in our list, Windscribe also offers the same 10GB monthly data allowance, but where it excels them are with its support for multi-device connections. In essence, you can use the monthly 10GB allowance on multiple devices, which should be enough for safe browsing on the internet. But if you are going to use it to watch videos or stream content, then that monthly allowance will quickly dry up. It allows for as many connections as you want and you can choose from a total of 14 server locations.
The app has plenty of features to make your VPN experience more full of life. When it comes to its speed, users reported an average speed of 240Mbps, which is even lower than that of ProtonVPN. Windscribe was also able to unlock the UK Netflix. However, the same cannot be said for the US Netflix which has a boatload of content that is restricted elsewhere.
Windscribe Free Pros and Cons
Pros
- 10GB of monthly allowance.
- Unlimited connections.
- Upto 14 server location choices.
- It can unblock Netflix UK and other streaming sites.
Cons
- Its speeds are not going to impress anyone.
- The app may seem quite crowded and complicated. Definitely not very user-friendly.
Conclusion
Almost all the best free VPN for PC and Phone services provide a decent VPN experience at zero cost. However, you are going to like every VPN service. Some of these VPN services have data allowance limits, which may not sit well with everyone. For others, it’s the lower speed of the connection that they can’t tolerate. Each of these services has its own unique set of features and benefits. So pick the one that you can benefit from or give them all a try and see which VPN services manage to keep up with the claims they made.
