Best Free VPN of 2019

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is an application that creates a secure, private internet connection between two or more devices.

A standard internet connection typically routes traffic from your device, through your internet service provider (ISP), and on to the website or app that you’re visiting.

Instead, a VPN routes your web traffic to a server in a location of your choice, and then on to your desired website or app.

The result is that your ISP can no longer see or monitor your online activity, and your connection is encrypted and secure.

If you care about your online privacy, and want to enjoy internet freedom, you really need to use a VPN. A good VPN will:

1. Keep your online activity private

2. Access restricted websites and apps

3. Encrypt your connection for safe data transfers (especially if you’re using Public WiFi)

You can read more about VPNs in our comprehensive guide to What is a VPN.

A good free VPN will usually come from a reputable premium VPN service. This means that all you have to do to get the free VPN is visit the VPN service’s website and download the free custom VPN app for your device.

There are a lot of free VPN apps available to download directly from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, but these are usually not to be trusted – as we found out in our recent investigation.

If you are set on using one of these app store exclusive apps, make sure you thoroughly read through its privacy policy so you’re fully aware of what you’re signing up to.

The short answer is yes. VPN services are completely legal and can be used in most countries around the world.

There are a few exceptions, though. VPN services are currently banned in: Belarus, Iraq, Turkmenistan and North Korea.

There are six more countries where you can only use ‘government approved’ VPNs: China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Use a non-authorized VPN in these nations at your own risk.

You can read more about the countries that have banned or restricted VPNs in our guide to ‘Are VPNs Legal?’

The reality is that many free VPNs are not safe and you should not trust them with your sensitive data.

We recently conducted two in-depth investigations on the most popular free VPNs and our findings revealed that a huge proportion of them had questionable links to China, as well as extremely worrying privacy flaws.

The above free VPN apps will protect you well, though. They hide your IP address effectively, are relatively fast, easy to set up, and provide good customer support.

The free VPN services listed above all come with our seal of approval. We’ve thoroughly tested each VPN, making sure it delivers a speedy and secure service, and we’re happy with what we’ve seen.

The very best free VPN can’t compete with the majority of paid VPNs, though: fast speeds, extensive server options and extra privacy/product features cost money.

A good free VPN is great for newbies or casual browsers, but for the best experience we strongly suggest you subscribe to a paid VPN service – our best VPNs of 2019 or our best free VPN trials are good starting points.

You can use free VPNs on most popular devices such as Apple iPhones, Android smartphones, PCs (including both laptops and desktops), Apple Macs (iMacs and MacBooks) and even Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.

They are also very easy to set up – follow our step-by-step guides to install and run a VPN in seconds on your Apple iPhone, Android smartphone, Windows laptop or desktop PC, Apple iMac or MacBook,  or your Amazon Fire TV Stick.

There are a ton of free VPNs for Android, but that doesn’t mean any of them will keep you safe. Our recent investigation discovered that many free VPNs for Android actually contain an alarming number of privacy flaws that could put you at risk.

Take a look at our guide to the best free VPNs for Android here, or if you’d rather pay for a VPN service that’s a lot more secure, check out our best premium VPNs for Android.

A lot of free VPN services tend to have speed caps in place, but the fastest free VPN we’ve seen so far is our top overall pick, Windscribe.

With free VPNs, speed can often come at the expense of security, so be sure to stick to our recommendations to keep yourself safe online.

You can use a premium VPN for free by taking advantage of the money-back guarantees offered by most top-tier VPNs. This means that you can use their VPN service free of charge for the duration of the guarantee period (usually 30 days).

For example if you sign up to ExpressVPN, our current top VPN service, and cancel your subscription before the end of its 30-day refund period, it will refund you quickly and with no questions asked.

This is a good way to use a top-rated VPN service free of charge if you only intend to use a VPN for a short period of time. We do advise to always use a VPN, though, free or otherwise.

Using a free VPN for torrenting is difficult due to the harsh data caps free VPN services often put in place. These make it almost impossible to transfer anything more than a handful of bulky files before hitting your VPN data limit – speed throttling doesn’t help, either.

We have put together a list of our recommended free VPNs for torrenting, but if you want the fastest, most secure torrenting experience, we’d recommend paying for a VPN service. You can look at our overall best VPNs for torrenting here.