Simon Migliano is a recognized world expert in VPNs. He's tested hundreds of VPN services and his research has featured on the BBC, The New York Times and more.
Hola is one of the worst free VPNs we've reviewed. It logs all your online activity, shares your information, and doesn't encrypt your connection. It is categorically unsafe and anyone that chooses to download it risks their privacy, personal identity, and online security.
Ranked #54 out of 56 VPNs
Hola Free VPN Category Ratings
0.50.5/10
00.0/10
0.10.1/10
2.92.9/10
88.0/10
4.34.3/10
11.0/10
77.0/10
4.94.9/10
Hola Free VPN Pros & Cons
Fairly easy to set up and use
Unblocks some websites (many are for paid users only)
Free version doesn’t use encryption
Sells free user bandwidth to premium users
Monitors and logs your online activity
A history of controversy
Doesn’t work with Netflix or torrenting
Extension removed from Chrome
Why Trust Our Review?
We’ve spent thousands of hours testing and reviewing 56 VPN services using our impartial review process to recommend you the best VPN software.
Here are some of our key VPN testing statistics:
Total Hours of Testing
30,000+
Weekly Speed Tests
3,000+
VPN Services Reviewed
56
Streaming Platforms Tested Daily
12
IP & DNS Leak Tests Performed
9,500+
How Much We've Spent On Testing
$25,000+
Used by “over 239 million people worldwide,” Hola VPN Free is a popular choice for people looking for a free VPN to bypass website blocks.
Does this “community powered VPN” deserve such a large following, though? And is it even a VPN?
To cut to the chase: no. Hola VPN isn’t secure, or even good for streaming. “Community powered” means the VPN shares your idle bandwidth with other users, allowing unauthorized activity to take place on your network.
Hola VPN is untrustworthy and potentially dangerous
0.10.1/10
How is this calculated?
We dissect the logging and privacy policies of every VPN. A VPN should never log:
Your real IP address
Connection timestamps
DNS requests
A base of operations outside of 14-Eyes or EU jurisdiction is preferable.
Hola is upfront about sharing user information with third parties. It's also been caught seeling user bandwidth in the past. Using it's VPN service is neither safe or private. Stay away.
Ranked #55 out of 56 VPNs for Privacy & Logging Policy
Hola VPN is not software that safeguards your privacy. In fact, we rarely see logging policies as intrusive as Hola’s.
Here’s what Hola VPN stores when you use its service:
The websites you visit
Time spent on those websites
Your true IP address
Connection timestamps
Your browser type
Your name, email address, screen name, payment and billing information
If subscribe to Hola VPN through a social network account, Hola has access to even more information including: your home address, birth date, profile picture, friend list, personal bio, and any publicly available information on your account.
Hola tries to reassure its users that it doesn’t “rent or sell any personal information,” but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t share it with third parties:
“We may disclose Personal Information to other trusted third party service providers or partners for the purposes of providing you with the Services, storage and analytics. We may also transfer or disclose Personal Information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies.”
What’s even worse, Hola will retain all this information for “as long as necessary.”
In short, Hola’s privacy and logging policy is unsatisfactory. This is not a service you want to entrust all your personal data with.
Who Owns Hola VPN?
Hola VPN was founded by Ofer Vilenski and Derry Shribman under the company name Hola Networks Limited, based in Israel.
The product was launched in 2012, and gained traction in January 2013 when it moved from 80 downloads a day to 40,000 overnight.
Hola Networks Limited provides a free consumer ‘VPN’ service, as well as a premium subscription and corporate service called Luminati.
Luminati uses free users’ bandwidth, which is charged per gigabyte, without reimbursing the free user. This practice has sparked criticism among cybersecurity professionals.
Thankfully, this is now clearly advertised when you download the app, as you can see in the screenshot below.
How Hola VPN actually works
Hola VPN is a peer-to-peer overlay network that uses peer-to-peer caching and routing for quick access to blocked content.
This means users of Hola VPN throw their real IP address into a pool of IP addresses for other users to use as they please.
When you use Hola VPN, your internet traffic is routed through other peers (called nodes), but it’s not encrypted.
While some subscribers may use Hola VPN as a website unblocker, there’s no way to stop others using your IP address to access unlawful content.
Free users also share their ‘idle resources’ (WiFi and cellular data) with the network, which means that Hola VPN doesn’t incur underlying operational costs.
Hola VPN defines ‘idle’ as “the device is not using battery but is connected to electricity; no mouse or keyboard activity has been detected; and the device is connected to the internet.”
Despite its “goal of making a better internet,” selling user bandwidth is not the only controversy Hola VPN has been embroiled in to date.
In May 2015, 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan claimed that his website had been DDoS attacked by users exploiting the Hola network, which Vilenski later confirmed.
A website named Adios, Hola!, created by nine security researchers, states that Hola is “harmful to the internet as a whole, and to its users in particular” and labels it a “poorly secured botnet” with “serious consequences.”
The researchers at Adios, Hola! discovered various vulnerabilities within the Hola VPN architecture, one of which reportedly allowed anyone to execute programs on your computer.
According to the website, Hola fixed some of the vulnerabilities, but others still remain.
Hola VPN is also vulnerable to IP address leaks and has facilitated data scraping, according to cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.
Hola VPN’s jurisdiction
Hola VPN is based in Israel, which isn’t an official member of the Five Eyes (or Nine or 14 Eyes) intelligence-sharing alliance, but it collaborates with it.
The VPN company states in it privacy policy that it will “comply with law, regulation, subpoena or court order.” It will also hand over your personal information if it has “good reason to believe that it is necessary to.”
Speed
Fast speeds at the expense of privacy and security
2.92.9/10
How is this calculated?
Speed ratings are calculated using upload speeds, download speeds, and ping (latency).
We test average speeds regularly using a dedicated 100Mbps connection in London, UK. Local download speed is considered the most important factor.
Hola is pretty fast, but this is mostly because it operates an insecure proxy, not a VPN. As a result it isn't possible to directly compare it's speed results to competing services.
Ranked #49 out of 56 VPNs for Speed
We’re not going to compare Hola’s speeds with the other VPNs we’ve tested because Hola isn’t really a VPN service, it’s more like a proxy.
Hola uses an unencrypted connection, resulting in less slowdowns but considerably more risk, and only browser traffic is routed through the peer nodes.
The node you’re connecting to can also affect your connection speeds. So, if the peer you’re routing your traffic through has poor internet speeds, yours may suffer too.
When we connected to a node in a nearby country, we experienced practically no speed drop off.
Local Speed Test results before using Hola Free VPN:
Download Speed: 50Mbps
Upload Speed: 50Mbps
Ping: 4ms
Local Speed Test results with Hola Free VPN:
Download Speed: 45Mbps
Upload Speed: 57Mbps
Ping: 10ms
Download speed loss when Hola Free VPN is running: 10%
Note: While we typically test on a 100Mbps fibre optic connection, we could only test Hola VPN’s speeds using its Android app, and our Android device’s speed is capped at 50Mbps.
In our latest tests, Hola’s speeds dropped a little over long distances and ping times increased, but that’s to be expected. The longer the distance the connection travels, the slower the speed and the higher the latency.
Connecting from the UK to the US, we recorded 35Mbps download speed and 48Mbps upload speed, with a ping time of 97ms.
Fast speeds shouldn’t be a reason to use Hola VPN due to its lack of encryption and the security risks it brings. See our list of the fastest (safe) VPNs, instead.
Server Locations
Locations vary based on users in the peer-to-peer network
88.0/10
How is this calculated?
The global spread and coverage of the VPN server network is the most important factor here.
We also consider the number of city-level servers, plus how many IP addresses are maintained.
This rating does not directly contribute to the Overall Rating, but instead makes up a portion of the Security & Features rating.
Hola has an unsual server system which relies on other users for exit points. This means the server locations can vary, although it's network tends to be fairly large and spread globally.
Ranked #23 out of 56 VPNs for Server Locations
40 Countries
195+ Cities
Not DisclosedIP Address
The way Hola VPN works – by routing traffic through other peers on the network – means there are no fixed number of locations you can connect to.
The availability of locations entirely depends on where the current users are located. However, Hola VPN lists all 195 of the world’s countries within its app.
At times, when we selected a particular country, Hola VPN didn’t even change our true IP address. This is a big red flag.
We can only assume this happens when no users from that country are using Hola at that moment in time. But, Hola’s app indicated we were connected to the country. In other words, the proxy was leaking our real IP address.
To make it worse, some popular websites and services aren’t accessible via Hola free VPN, including the BBC news website, for example. If you attempt to visit those websites, Hola will ask you to upgrade.
If you choose not to upgrade, Hola won’t route your traffic through its network. In other words, it won’t hide your IP address.
Browser extensions don’t use the peer-to-peer network
The Firefox and Opera browser extensions are not part of the peer-to-peer network. The add-ons only give access to Hola’s standard servers.
There are no details about these proxy server locations on Hola’s website, but the company’s customer support told us the following:
“Hola VPN has servers in over 40 countries. We don’t need to have servers in each and every country as we leverage our peer-to-peer network in other countries.”
Regardless, when we tried to connect to Bangladesh we were given a UK IP address.
This suggests that Hola’s service isn’t working as it should.
Streaming
Free users can’t stream Netflix
0.50.5/10
How is this calculated?
Streaming is rated by the number of different services unlocked, how many regional libraries are viewable, and how consistently the VPN can access them.
Netflix, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and more are all tested on a weekly basis.
With Hola Free VPN we weren't able to stream popular services like BBC iPlayer or US Netflix.
Ranked #52 out of 56 VPNs for Streaming
The free version of Hola VPN doesn’t work with popular streaming platforms like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, or Hulu.
You’ll have to pay for the Premium or the Ultra Hola VPN service to unblock some of these content platforms.
Hola VPN Premium costs $14.99 on a pay-monthly plan, $7.69 per month on a yearly subscription, and $2.99 on a 3-year plan You can use the Premium account on up to 10 devices at any given time.
We calculate the average download bitrate of every VPN using a bespoke torrenting setup.
Testing also factors in the percentage of servers which permit P2P, plus useful features like port forwarding.
Hola VPN blocks all BitTorrent traffic. Even if it didn’t, this dangerous peer-to-peer VPN shouldn’t be used to anonymize your torrenting traffic.
Ranked #48 out of 56 VPNs for Torrenting
Hola Free VPN provides no connection encryption, and no kill switch either. If your VPN connection fails, your real IP address will be visible to everyone.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the VPN service logs and stores your web activity. Moreover, it isn’t afraid to hand that information over to authorities.
Doesn't work in China and other high-censorship countries
4.34.3/10
How is this calculated?
Our remote-access server in Shanghai, China routinely tests if a VPN can beat restrictions and access a free, open internet. Obfuscation technologies and nearby servers are also a contributing factor.
This rating does not directly contribute to the Overall Rating, but instead makes up a portion of the Security & Features rating.
When we tested Hola VPN on our Shanghai server it didn't beat China's censorship. In fact, as of February 2022 the application won't even run. We don't expect it to work well in other censored regions, either.
Ranked #34 out of 56 VPNs for Bypassing Web Censorship
Hola VPN doesn’t come with any obfuscation tools to beat the Chinese censors.
The service’s lack of encryption means you won’t be able to access blocked content in China, due to the Great Firewall’s use of deep packet inspection (DPI).
We tested Hola VPN from our Shanghai test server, and can confirm that Hola VPN does not work in China. What’s more, the latest version of the Hola app won’t even open properly for us – it just shows us this error message:
Top-rated VPNs offer OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols, AES-256 encryption, and a functional kill switch. We also consider additional security features and the global spread of VPN servers.
Hola Free VPN isn’t really a VPN - it doesn’t encrypt users’ internet traffic and only routes traffic within the web browser/client app, not at an OS level (device-wide).
Ranked #54 out of 56 VPNs for Security & Technical Features
Protocols
Available in Hola Free VPN
IKEv2/IPSec
Yes
L2TP/IPSec
Yes
OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
No
PPTP
Yes
WireGuard
No
Encryption
Available in Hola Free VPN
AES-128
No
AES-192
No
AES-256
No
Blowfish
No
ChaCha20
No
Undisclosed
Yes
Security
Available in Hola Free VPN
DNS Leak Blocking
No
First-party DNS
No
IPv6 Leak Blocking
No
Supports TCP Port 443
No
VPN Kill Switch
No
WebRTC Leak Blocking
No
Advanced Features
Available in Hola Free VPN
Ad Blocker
Yes
Dedicated IP
No
Double VPN
No
Smart DNS
No
Static IP
No
SOCKS
No
Split Tunneling
No
Tor over VPN Server
No
Tracker Blocker
No
With Hola, users’ traffic is routed through nodes (other users’ devices), and spoofs your IP address (using that device’s IP address) to get around website blocks.
That means that other people – complete strangers – are using your IP address to do with as they please. That could get you into a lot of trouble.
According to a member of the customer support team, users’ traffic is first sent to Hola servers before it reaches the peer nodes for security reasons, but this still doesn’t make Hola secure enough for our liking.
There are no security features – like a kill switch or leak blocking – to keep your personal data safe, either. The Windows app does come with an ad-blocker, though.
We experienced WebRTC leaks during our tests, which means that our true IP address was left exposed.
This is a screenshot of a leak test using Hola VPN’s Chrome browser extension. You can see that our true IP address is exposed through a WebRTC leak.
The very architecture of Hola Free VPN means that your personal data is not secure or private. Hackers can still intercept your traffic and your ISP can still see the websites you visit.
Hola VPN PLUS, which is the paid-for product, does use standard VPN protocols and encryption, and doesn’t use your device as a peer.
However, you’ll still be subject to Hola’s intrusive logging policy, so we strongly advise against using Hola VPN PLUS. It’s not good value for such a risky product, either.
Device & OS Compatibility
Basic desktop and mobile apps
How is this rated?
A quality VPN should maintain functional, fully-featured applications and extensions for as many platforms and devices as possible.
This does not directly contribute to the Overall Rating, but instead makes up a portion of the Ease of Use rating.
Hola is available for Windows and Android devices. It only offers proxy browsers, though, not full VPN apps.
Apps
Windows
Mac
iOS
Android
Hola VPN provides free (unencrypted) VPN apps for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android devices. These apps don’t work like normal VPNs, but more like proxy browsers.
Instead of routing all device traffic through the tunnel they only route traffic within the app, which acts as a web browser.
There is an option to route certain external apps through the VPN on the Android app, but it works on an app-by-app basis rather than routing all the device’s internet traffic by default.
Browser Extensions
Chrome
Firefox
Opera
Hola VPN once offered Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browser extensions. As of writing, it only offers a browser extension for the Opera browser.
Google removed Hola VPN’s Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store in September 2021 due to concerns about malware.
Hola’s browser extensions work at a browser level, so they won’t change the IP address of any traffic linked to apps outside of your web browser and they don’t use encryption.
According to Hola VPN, its browser extensions “operate as a standard VPN service”. This means they aren’t part of the peer-to-peer VPN network, so at the very least your IP address isn’t being used by strangers.
Ease of Use
Easy to set up and use but has flaws
77.0/10
How is this calculated?
This rating mainly consists of the intuitiveness of setup and everyday use.
Device or platform compatibility and customization options are also a factor.
For all it's faults, Hola VPN is actually quite easy to use on both Windows and Android devices.
Ranked #36 out of 56 VPNs for Ease of Use
How to Install & Set Up Hola Free VPN
Hola's download button is right at the top of their website.
Even before you've downloaded the free version of the VPN, Hola try to get you to sign up to a paid subscription.
Once you've selected the free plan, simply click next to go through the installation wizard.
Once you've installed the app you can select a service you'd like to access.
You can also select which country you'd like to access a website from.
This is how the software looks when it's connected to a server. You can click the power symbol in the top right corner to switch Hola VPN off.
If you try to access a service that isn't covered by Hola VPN's free service - such as BBC iPlayer or Netflix - you'll get a popup asking you to upgrade to the premium subscription.
It’s really easy to download and set up Hola VPN on Android and Windows.
You just download the software from the website or Google Play Store, click through a couple of prompts, and accept that your bandwidth will be sold to unknown corporations for good or bad.
For macOS users there is no ‘app’ – even if the VPN’s downloads page makes you believe there is. The only way to use Hola with macOS devices is to download the browser add-ons.
However, we only found that out after downloading what we thought was a custom app. It turned out to be a shortcut to a web page asking us to download a browser extension.
In a nutshell, both the Windows and Android apps don’t work like other VPN apps, either. Instead of routing all your device’s internet traffic through the VPN, Hola’s apps work more like proxy browsers.
You have to do all your online activities within the Hola app – which is like a web browser – in order to change your IP.
The Android app gives you the option to route other apps through the VPN but you have to do this on an app-by-app basis through the Hola app interface.
Using the Windows and Android application is straightforward. The apps have had a visual overhaul and look rather good, too.
Select the service or website you want to access, and then choose your desired country from the drop-down locations list. A small flag will indicate which country you are connected to.
The proxy browser works tab-by-tab, so one tab could be connected to the USA, while another is connected to Germany, for instance.
But as if Hola VPN weren’t dangerous enough, sometimes when you connect to some countries it doesn’t actually change your IP address, despite telling you that you’re connected.
On other occasions Hola would give us an IP address associated with a different country to the one we selected.
If you have already downloaded the VPN application to your device and read this review you’re probably wondering…
How do I get rid of Hola VPN?
Removing Hola VPN from your device is easy. Follow the instructions below to quickly uninstall the software.
For the Windows app, go to ‘Programs and Features’ in Control Panel and uninstall Hola VPN. macOS users should drag the Hola VPN client from Applications to Trash and restart their computer. Be sure to delete any of the software download files, too.
On Android and iOS it’s as simple as long-tapping on the app and clicking Uninstall or Delete.
Like all browser extensions, Hola VPN add-ons are very easy to install.
Visit the add-ons store for your web browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Opera) and search for Hola. Then you’d add it to your browser and accept the permissions.
It then works much the same as the desktop and mobile apps. Just select a service or website you wish to access and the country you’d like to appear to be from.
If you want to remove Hola’s browser extension, uninstall it from within the browser settings. On Chrome, just right-click on the Hola icon and click ‘Remove from Chrome’.
Customer Support
Unhelpful FAQs and email support
4.94.9/10
How is this calculated?
This rating is based on our assessment of each VPN’s:
Email support
Live chat support
Online resources
Not every VPN offers all of these, and they often vary in quality and response time.
Hola offers unhelpful FAQs on its website, and little in the way of genuine support.
Ranked #42 out of 56 VPNs for Customer Support
Customer Support
Available in Hola Free VPN
24/7 Live Chat Support
No
24/7 Email Support
No
Chatbot
No
Live Chat Support
No
Email
Yes
Email Support via Online Form
No
Tutorial Videos
No
Online Resources
Yes
On top of all of its privacy and security issues, Hola VPN’s customer support isn’t very good, either.
There are a bunch of FAQs available on its website, but these read more like a disclaimer than genuine help.
Hola VPN came under scrutiny when it previously didn’t disclose the relationship between free users’ data and the Luminati corporate service, but that has since been rectified on the FAQs page.
You can find out how the VPN service works (by using your personal information and data), how it makes money (ditto), and some very basic troubleshooting tips.
However, there are no detailed set-up instructions or user guides. There’s no live chat support either.
Hola VPN does supply a support email address, and in the past all of our queries were left ignored. However, during our most recent tests we were relieved to finally receive some replies.
The replies we did get were initially unhelpful – just redirecting us to the FAQs. After some perseverence we were able to get the help we needed, though.
The Bottom Line
Avoid using Hola VPN
We discourage the use of Hola VPN. It’s one of the worst VPNs you could possibly choose.
The VPN hijacks your internet connection and undermines your safety and privacy online.
It’s not safe to use, and it puts your device, personal identity, and online security at risk.
EXPERT ADVICE: Hola VPN is not safe to use, and it won’t unblock many streaming services.
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Alternatives to Hola Free VPN
Windscribe
8.68.6/10
Windscribe is one of the best free VPNs around - it’s safe, private, and pretty fast. You can connect securely to 10 different countries and you get 10GB of data to use per month. Read Windscribe review
Proton VPN Free
7.47.4/10
If you need more than 10GB of data a month you should use Proton VPN, which provides unlimited data. It’s a reliable free VPN that comes with loads of security features for safe browsing. Read Proton VPN Free review