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 of your online activity, shares your information, and doesn’t encrypt your connection. It is categorically unsafe and we do not recommend downloading or using it if you value your privacy, personal information, or online security.
Ranked #40 out of 65 VPNs
Hola Free VPN Category Ratings
6.5/10
0.0/10
0.1/10
8.5/10
5.5/10
0.1/10
1.0/10
7.0/10
4.9/10
Hola Free VPN Pros & Cons
Easy to set up and use
Unblocks some websites
No kill switch or encryption on mobile
Sells free user bandwidth to premium users
Monitors and logs your online activity
Android app removed due to malware
Doesn't work on macOS
Blocks all torrenting clients
Why Trust Us?
We’re fully independent and have been reviewing VPNs since 2016. Our ratings are based on our own testing results and are unaffected by financial incentives. Learn who we are and how we test VPNs.
Launched in 2012, Hola VPN is a popular freemium application that provides a VPN service for quickly bypassing website blocks.
Hola VPN isn’t safe or secure to use. It’s a peer-to-peer network that shares your idle bandwidth with other users, allowing unauthorized activity to take place on your network and compromising your privacy and security in the process.
In this updated Hola VPN review, we’ve put all of its software through our stringent testing process. We’ll explain in detail all the privacy and security risks you’ll incur by using this unsafe VPN service.
Hola VPN is a dangerous VPN with a history of malware and data theft. By installing Hola VPN onto your device, you are allowing your own IP address to be used by millions of other Hola users.
Below, we’ve outlined Hola VPN’s safety risks for various VPN use cases:
Avoid Hola VPN if:
You want to remain anonymous online. Hola VPN won’t encrypt your internet traffic and it often fails to assign a new IP address.
You want to avoid getting malware. Hola VPN has a history of software vulnerabilities that allow malware onto user devices.
You want to torrent. Torrenting isn’t permitted on any of Hola’s servers. Even if it were, Hola logs far too much of your data and leaks IP addresses.
You want to unblock websites. Although it works for US Netflix and Hulu, there are far safer free VPN services for streaming.
EXPERT ADVICE: If you’re considering using a VPN, we strongly recommend avoiding Hola VPN and using a fast, secure, and private VPN service instead. Our top recommendation is ExpressVPN, which doesn’t log your internet activity, unblocks 18 Netflix regions, and fully encrypts your data. You can use ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days.
We analyze and dissect the VPN service’s logging and privacy policy. A VPN should never log and store:
Your real IP address
Connection timestamps
DNS requests
Headquarters outside of 14 Eyes or EU jurisdictions are also preferable.
Hola VPN logs your browsing activity and originating IP address, along with dozens of other data types. It openly shares user information with third parties, and has also been caught stealing user bandwidth in the past. Using this VPN service presents a serious risk to your privacy.
Ranked #55 out of 65 VPNs for Privacy & Logging Policy
Hola VPN collects more data than the vast majority of VPNs we’ve reviewed. This includes your IP address and browsing activity, which can be used to easily identify you.
If you subscribe to Hola VPN through a social media account, Hola has access to even more of your personal information. This includes your home address, birth date, profile picture, and any publicly available information on your account.
Hola VPN’s logging policy is one of the worst we’ve seen. Your personal data is at risk every time you use Hola VPN.
Hola VPN Uses Your Personal Bandwidth & IP Address
Despite its name, Hola VPN is actually a peer-to-peer proxy service that uses peer-to-peer caching for quick access to blocked content.
To bypass geo-blocked websites, Hola VPN routes your internet traffic through other users’ IP addresses in non-blocked regions.
At the same time, your own IP address can be used by other Hola VPN users for whatever they wish. This includes accessing unlawful content, which would be tied to your online identity.
Hola VPN openly admits to using your IP address and bandwidth.
Free users also share their ‘idle resources’ (WiFi and cellular data) with the network, to save Hola VPN money.
This allows Hola VPN to sell your bandwidth to other users.
Hola VPN was founded by Ofer Vilenski and Derry Shribman under the company name Hola Networks Limited.
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.
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.
Coupled with Hola VPN’s intrusive logging practices, it’s highly likely that Hola VPN will hand over user data if requested.
In fact its privacy policy seems to confirm this, stating 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 & Security
8.5/10
How is this calculated?
We calculate the VPN’s speed rating using our download speeds, upload speeds, and ping (latency) measurements.
We regularly test the VPN’s local and international speeds using a dedicated 100Mbps internet connection in New York, USA.
In our tests, Hola VPN delivered surprisingly fast speeds on local connections. However, this is because it operates as an insecure proxy, not a full VPN. Its international speeds were slower partly due to the varying availability of other peers.
Ranked #39 out of 65 VPNs for Speed
To evaluate Hola VPN’s speed performance, we tested the speed of the connection between our location and other Hola users around the world.
You can use the table below to see a breakdown of Hola VPN’s speed test results:
We saw average download speeds decrease from 100Mbps to 93Mbps when connecting to a peer in the same region as us.
This is a speed loss of just 7%, which is very fast, especially for a free service.
Hola VPN’s fast speeds are partly due to its outdated and insecure protocols.
However, Hola uses a peer-to-peer network with limited encryption. This results in faster speeds than some VPN services with stronger security, but considerably more risk.
Plus, the node you’re connecting to can also affect your connection speeds. If the peer you route your traffic through has poor internet speeds, yours may suffer too.
Inconsistent over Longer-Distances
On far-away connections, Hola VPN’s download speeds decrease slightly. We registered an average download speed loss of 12% connecting to Germany and 19% connecting to Japan.
These are great results for a free VPN but compare poorly against paid services.
Hola VPN’s upload speeds decline substantially on international connections. We experienced an average upload speed loss of 90% connecting to the US West Coast and 69% connecting to Australia.
The discrepancy between Hola VPN’s download and upload speeds demonstrates the inconsistencies of a peer-to-peer network.
As such, it’s likely your speeds will fluctuate if you connect to a peer outside of your local region.
We recommend referring to our list of the fastest VPNs for a complete breakdown of the quickest and safest VPNs available.
Server Locations
Locations Vary Based on Peers
5.5/10
How is this calculated?
The key factor for calculating this rating is the global spread and coverage of the VPN’s server network.
We also consider the total number of servers, the number of city-level servers, and the number of IP addresses available.
Hola VPN displays 41 server locations in its free apps, but the actual number varies depending on the peers available at the time. Connecting to a location without a peer leaks your IP address, putting your online privacy at risk. We’d like to see Hola implement a full VPN server network in the future.
Ranked #47 out of 65 VPNs for Server Locations
41 Countries
41 Cities
Undisclosed number of IP Addresses
Hola VPN claims you can connect to servers in these regions:
Continent
Number of Countries
Europe
24
Asia
8
South America
4
North America
3
Africa
0
Oceania
2
Hola VPN Free does not have a conventional server network like other VPNs. Instead, it uses a peer-to-peer network to reroute your internet traffic, meaning there are no fixed number of locations you can connect to.
Every time you tell the app to connect, you are being given another real user’s IP address.
Despite this, Hola VPN will not communicate when a location is unavailable due to a lack of online peers.
As a result, our real IP address frequently leaked as we ‘connected’ to non-existent servers. The app continued to indicate that we were connected to a country, despite our IP address remaining unchanged.
Hola VPN displays a server list in its app but it’s made up of other peers.
We’d like to see Hola VPN introduce a proper VPN server network on its free plan or, at the very least, block your connection when no peers are available in a location.
Streaming
Bypassing Geo-Blocks, but at The Cost of Your Privacy & Security
6.5/10
How is this calculated?
This rating is calculated by how many different streaming services and regional content libraries the VPN can unblock, and how consistently it can access them.
We test access to Netflix, Disney+, Max, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and many more platforms on a weekly basis.
To our surprise, Hola VPN Free unblocked US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and more in our latest streaming tests. However, we found that videos were often slow to load, buffer frequently, and were capped at a poor picture quality. It’s simply not worth using Hola VPN for streaming, as there are so many better and more effective free VPNs available.
Ranked #26 out of 65 VPNs for Streaming
Below is a list of popular streaming platforms that Hola VPN Free works with:
Streaming Platform
Works with Hola Free VPN
Amazon Prime Video
Yes
BBC iPlayer
Yes
Channel 4
No
Disney+
Yes
Hotstar India
No
Hulu
Yes
ITVX
No
Max
No
Netflix US
Yes
In our latest tests, Hola VPN was able to unblock an impressive number of streaming services including US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.
Normally this would be an excellent result for a free VPN service, but due to Hola VPN’s unsafe peer-to-peer network, history of malware, and intrusive logging policy, we can’t recommend it for streaming.
The risk to your online privacy, safety, and security is not worth installing Hola VPN for watching geo-restricted content (or anything at all).
Moreover, the nature of Hola VPN as a peer-to-peer service means we can’t guarantee Hola VPN will work for you, or if it will continue to work in our tests.
It’s also worth noting that Hola VPN failed to unblock a single streaming platform in our previous testing.
It’s much easier, and safer, to sign up to a premium VPN service for streaming. We’d recommend using ExpressVPN for uninterrupted 4K streaming, its bespoke Smart DNS tool, and access to every major streaming service.
If you want a free alternative, we recommend downloading Windscribe Free. It can reliably unblock 6 international Netflix libraries, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer.
Unblocks US Netflix, but Poor Video Quality
During our testing, Hola VPN was able to access US Netflix. However, the video loaded in poor quality and remained at that level throughout testing.
We also experienced constant buffering for a 25 minute video.
Hola VPN worked with US Netflix, but the video quality was poor.
Slow Load Times Unblocking Hulu
We were also able to access Hulu with Hola VPN but we experienced extensive loading times. The main Hulu webpage loaded incomplete, with several missing images and floating text.
It took several minutes for our Hulu video to load while connected to a US Hola server.
Using Hola VPN, we couldn’t get past the login page for HBO Max.
All of Hola VPN’s US servers failed to unblock HBO Max.
We suspect that Hola assigned us a peer in a region where HBO Max is blocked, preventing us from accessing the streaming site.
This demonstrates the issue with using Hola VPN for streaming. Aside from its privacy and security risks, you can’t guarantee the IP address you’re assigned will actually be registered to the location you’ve chosen.
Torrenting
Hola VPN Blocks All BitTorrent Traffic
0.0/10
How is this calculated?
This rating is determined by the VPN’s torrenting speeds, the percentage of servers that allow P2P file sharing, the service’s privacy and trustworthiness, and useful settings like port forwarding.
For speed specifically, we calculate the VPN’s average download bitrate using our bespoke torrenting setup.
Hola VPN blocks all BitTorrent traffic. Even if it didn’t, Hola lacks the necessary security features to properly anonymize your torrenting traffic.
Ranked #57 out of 65 VPNs for Torrenting
Here’s a summary of how Hola VPN performed in our latest torrenting tests:
Torrenting Attribute
Result
Average Download Bitrate
N/A
No. of P2P Servers
N/A
Logging Policy
Intrusive Logging
Kill Switch
Faulty
Port Forwarding
No
On its website’s FAQs, Hola VPN openly states:
“The use of torrent apps on our network is not allowed, and we are blocking torrents traffic.”
As a result, Hola VPN is incompatible with all popular torrent clients, including qBittorent and uTorrent.
Even if Hola VPN did permit torrenting, we’d recommend avoiding it at all costs.
Hola VPN fails to provide basic privacy and security features — all of which are torrenting essentials. This includes VPN encryption, modern tunneling protocols, and a kill switch.
Using Hola VPN, your real IP address would be visible to everyone while torrenting, including your ISP and law enforcement.
Moreover, Hola VPN logs and stores your web activity. This means any copyrighted content you torrent, even accidentally, can be passed over to the authorities.
If torrenting is a priority for you then consider subscribing to Private Internet Access. It uses secure WireGuard and ChaCha20 encryption to keep your real IP address and web activity hidden.
Bypassing Web Censorship
Hola VPN Won't Work in China & Other Censored Countries
0.1/10
How is this calculated?
We routinely test if the VPN can bypass strict internet restrictions in China using our remote-access server in Shanghai.
Other important factors we consider include obfuscation technologies and the availability of servers in neighboring countries (for faster connections).
Hola VPN is an awful VPN for bypassing web censorship. It has failed every attempt to connect to our Shanghai test server and lacks any obfuscation tools. Plus, Hola VPN is too unsafe to use in censored countries due to its logging practices and peer-to-peer network infrastructure.
Ranked #60 out of 65 VPNs for Bypassing Web Censorship
We use a real test server in Shanghai to test every VPN’s ability to unblock websites in China. Over the past year, Hola VPN has failed to connect every single time.
In our most recent test, the Hola VPN app won’t even open properly for us — it just shows us this error message:
Hola VPN has never worked during our China testing.
We suspect this is due to Hola VPN using a peer-to-peer network, without any encryption, instead of a true VPN server network.
Additionally, Hola doesn’t support any VPN obfuscation tools to assist in bypassing censorship. Obfuscation can range from specialized servers to stealth protocols, all of which Hola VPN lacks.
Even if Hola VPN could bypass censorship, it is too dangerous to use in a censored country. It logs far too much of your data and fails to encrypt your internet traffic, putting you at risk.
We’d recommend using Astrill VPN for China or other censored regions. It’s secure, safe, and has a 100% success rate in our China tests.
Security & Technical Features
No Encryption or Basic Security Features
1.0/10
How is this calculated?
A secure VPN must offer OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols, AES-256 encryption, and a working kill switch.
To calculate this rating, we also factor in additional security settings and features.
Hola VPN lacks the basic security features of a VPN service. Its protocols are outdated, it doesn’t use encryption or a kill switch on mobile, and internet traffic is routed through other users’ devices instead of a secure VPN server. Hola VPN isn’t secure or safe to use, and should be avoided.
Ranked #64 out of 65 VPNs for Security & Technical Features
You can see the limited VPN protocols, encryption ciphers, and extra technical features that Hola Free VPN has in the table below:
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
Diskless Servers
No
DNS Leak Blocking
No
First-party DNS
No
IPv6 Leak Blocking
No
Supports TCP Port 443
No
VPN Kill Switch
Yes
WebRTC Leak Blocking
No
Advanced Features
Available in Hola Free VPN
Ad Blocker
Yes
Dedicated IP
No
Double VPN
No
SOCKS
No
Split Tunneling
No
Static IP
No
Tor over VPN Server
No
Tracker Blocker
No
Unsafe Peer-to-Peer Network
Hola Free VPN routes your internet traffic through other users’ devices to spoof your IP address and bypass website blocks.
In turn, other users can use your IP address as they please. This is dangerous as your IP address can be used for criminal activity, which would be tied to your identity and home address.
A website named Adios, Hola!, created by 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.
An example of this happened in 2015, when 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan claimed that his website had been DDoS attacked by users exploiting the Hola network. This was later confirmed by Hola VPN co-founder Vilenski.
Hola VPN is also vulnerable to IP address leaks and has facilitated data scraping, according to cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.
Hola VPN Lacks Basic Security Features
Hola VPN’s mobile apps use the outdated and insecure PPTP and provide no encryption. Your internet traffic is left unencrypted and encased in an easily hacked tunneling protocol.
Put simply, it’s not safe to use Hola VPN on mobile.
On Windows, Hola VPN defaults to the IKEv2/IPSec protocol, but its website states that the app may switch to PPTP to overcome specific geo-blocks.
We also found a drop-down menu for different encryption ciphers, with AES-256 listed as the default.
We verified this using Wireshark: a packet-sniffing tool. All of our data packets displayed incoherent symbols encased by the IKEv2/IPSec protocol, rendering our browsing activity private.
We’d like to see Hola VPN introduce secure and open-sourced tunneling protocols such as OpenVPN or WireGuard. This would improve trust and ensure that your personal data remains private.
We couldn’t test the macOS app as it blocked our internet access. However, we find it unlikely that it uses proper encryption or tunneling protocols, as we couldn’t locate either within its settings menu.
Faulty Kill Switch With Limited Availability
Only Hola VPN’s Windows app comes equipped with a VPN kill switch. Hola users on mobile and macOS are left unprotected in the event of a VPN disconnection.
We ran the Windows kill switch through our in-house kill switch testing tool and found that it leaked our real IP address, too:
We experienced an IP leak while reconnecting to the internet.
Technical Features We’d Like to See Added
Hola VPN fails to include basic technical features that we expect all VPN services to have. Here’s a summary of the most important ones it’s missing:
VPN server network to safely and securely route internet traffic, without the need of other users’ IP addresses.
AES-256 encryption on all apps to protect your data and conceal your online activity.
Modern VPN protocols such as WireGuard and OpenVPN ensure that your internet traffic is kept secure. They’re fast, open-source, and have no known security issues.
VPN kill switch to prevent your personal data from leaking in the event of an unexpected VPN disconnection.
IPv4 & IPv6 Leak protection to guarantee your real IP address remains private.
Device & OS Compatibility
Basic App Compatibility, with a History of Malware
How is this rated?
A high-quality VPN should maintain functional, fully-featured applications and browser extensions for as many platforms and devices as possible.
Our ‘Device & OS Compatibility’ assessment contributes to the Ease of Use rating.
Hola VPN has custom apps for Windows, macOS, and iOS. Its Android app has been removed from the Google Play store due to safety concerns. There’s also browser extensions for Microsoft Edge, Chrome, and Opera — although we don’t recommend installing them.
Apps
Hola VPN can be installed on the following devices:
Hola VPN has responded by releasing custom apps for Samsung and Huawei, but this still leaves many Android users unaccounted for.
This is unheard of for most VPN services and indicates Hola’s poor level of device compatibility. Even free VPN services usually provide apps for both iOS and Android.
Browser Extensions
You can download the Hola VPN browser extension on these browsers:
Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Firefox
Opera
Google removed Hola VPN’s Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store in September 2021 due to concerns about malware.
Although it’s since been reinstated, we advise against installing Hola VPN on Chrome.
Hola’s 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
Simple to Use & Stripped-Back Apps
7.0/10
How is this calculated?
This rating mainly consists of the user-friendliness and intuitiveness of setting up and regularly using the VPN.
We also factor in customization settings, as well as device and OS compatibility (see section above).
Hola VPN uses the same minimalist layout for all of its apps and browser extensions. The absence of any settings, configurations, or advanced features results in easy to use apps, mostly at the cost of your safety and security. The installation and setup process varies by platform and can be confusing on desktop.
Ranked #38 out of 65 VPNs for Ease of Use
It’s easy to get started with Hola VPN on iOS — the entire process took less than two minutes in our testing. Simply download the app from the app store, accept the prompts, and you’re finished.
For Windows and macOS, the process is slightly more complicated. Clicking on the download button installs both an app and a browser extension. We found this initially confusing as it wasn’t clear which software we should be using.
You’ll also be required to verify your email address during the registration process, which is odd for a free VPN.
Below, we’ve outlined our experience of using the Hola VPN apps in more detail:
Desktop & Laptop (Windows & Mac)
Hola VPN’s desktop apps are similar to its browser extension and visually almost identical. They both use a simple white background with a large central power button. It’s easy to use and switching between platforms feels seamless.
We particularly liked being able to resize both desktop apps. This was especially useful when we needed to use the VPN on a smaller screen.
The main difference is that the Windows apps come with several additional settings, whereas macOS is limited to a server list and connect button.
On Windows, you can select different encryption ciphers from a drop-down menu and designate apps for its kill switch. By ticking ‘manual server selection’ you can view the percentage server load of individual nodes. This is great for avoiding congested peers and maximizing your connection speeds.
The overall user experience is far worse on macOS. You are made to accept a prompt for “VPN settings change” every time you connect to a new server. We found this frustrating and a significant hindrance.
Hola VPN’s macOS app frequently failed to load web pages. We weren’t given an explanation for this and it prevented us from conducting our full testing process.
Mobile (iOS)
Hola VPN’s iOS app is identical to the macOS app in both function and design.
The app is sleek and well-designed. Its white background is better suited to the dimensions of an iPhone, whereas on desktop it felt too stretched.
Similar to macOS, there aren’t any settings or advanced features. This includes a VPN kill switch, encryption, and tunneling protocols.
Hola VPN limits you to one hour of free VPN usage before it asks you to either upgrade to premium or wait one minute. We found this frustrating and our testing process was continually disrupted.
We’re also concerned about the security and privacy risks of the VPN connection suddenly ending after an hour for users who are unaware of the time limit.
We’d like to see Hola VPN follow IPVanish’s iOS app design and introduce mobile-only features. For example, IPVanish supports Siri shortcuts that allow users to quickly start and stop the VPN connection.
Apple TV
Hola VPN’s Apple TV app uses the same stripped-back design as its desktop and iOS counterparts, with a central connect button imposed on a white background.
While we appreciate the neat and streamlined UI, Hola VPN’s Apple TV app is frustrating to use.
Each time you connect to a server, a pop-up appears asking if the VPN is working, which can’t be disabled. You can select Yes to remove the message but it’s difficult to move your cursor to this button as it often brings up the server list by accident.
Similarly, there’s a permanent upgrade to premium button in the top-left of the screen which you can easily activate by accident as it positions itself between the home button and the connect button.
Customer Support
Unhelpful FAQs & Email Support
4.9/10
How is this calculated?
This rating is based on our assessment of the VPN’s:
Live chat support
Email support
Online resources
Not every VPN offers all these support options, and they often vary in quality and response times.
Hola VPN’s customer support is limited in both quality and availability. Hola’s email support replied infrequently and its responses were often unhelpful. There are also FAQs on Hola’s website which are mostly poorly-written and uninformed.
Ranked #50 out of 65 VPNs for Customer Support
You can reach Hola VPN’s customer support in the following ways:
Customer Support
Available in Hola Free VPN
24/7 Email Support
No
24/7 Live Chat Support
No
Chatbot
No
Email
Yes
Email Support via Online Form
Yes
Live Chat Support
No
Online Resources
Yes
Tutorial Videos
No
Hola VPN’s customer support consists of a ticket system via email and a help center full of FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and setup instructions.
We found the written support varied in quality: its setup guides offer useful information, but its general FAQs function more as a disclaimer for Hola’s unsavory business practices.
All of its guides are littered with typos and awkwardly phrased sentences, making them difficult to read.
It isn’t immediately obvious where the support hub is located on the website, either.
We found the email support team to be initially unhelpful, with most of our queries redirected to the help center. However, continued correspondence led to us getting some useful and informed responses.
This is a massive improvement from our previous experience with Hola VPN, where most of our testing team’s queries were ignored.
To improve further, we’d like to see Hola VPN introduce live chat support to facilitate faster responses and more in-depth correspondence.
The top VPN services, such as NordVPN and CyberGhost, implement 24/7 live chat support for immediate solutions at all times.
The Bottom Line
Is Hola VPN Worth It?
We strongly discourage the use of Hola VPN. Installing Hola VPN onto your device carries the risk of malware infection, criminal use of your real IP address, and personal data leakage.
The service itself logs far too much personal information and readily shares it with legal authorities.
Hola VPN’s fast local speeds and excellent streaming performance is not enough to make this dangerous VPN worth installing.
Hola VPN cannot be trusted and should be avoided at all costs. There are far superior free VPN services that are safe to use and better for privacy, streaming, torrenting, and security.
Alternatives to Hola VPN
Since Hola VPN ranks among the worst services we’ve reviewed, most VPNs are a better alternative.
Windscribe Free is a trusted and secure free VPN that specializes in streaming.
Its logging policy is far less intrusive than Hola VPN’s, it unblocks more streaming platforms, and it allows torrenting on most of its servers.
It’s also available on all major platforms — including Android.
As our highest-rated VPN service, ExpressVPN excels in every department. It has unbreakable encryption, fast connection speeds, and an independently audited logging policy.
ExpressVPN is faster than Hola VPN over short and long-distances, compatible with every device through its router app, and comes equipped with advanced security features.
You can see how Hola VPN compares to its alternatives in the table below:
FAQ
Does Hola VPN Sell Your Data?
Hola VPN sells the bandwidth of its free users. Signing up to the free plan makes you a part of the ‘Bright Data network’ (formerly Luminati).
This allows Hola VPN to charge $20.00 per Gigabyte of your data to third-parties.
Does Hola VPN Contain Malware?
Hola VPN was forced to remove its Chrome extension in 2021 due to concerns over malware infection.
More recently, Hola has removed its Android app from the Google Play Store due to similar claims of malware.
It’s highly likely that Hola VPN’s apps contain malware or, at the very least, are susceptible to malware infection.
History of Major Updates to Hola VPN
15 February 2024: Hola VPN launches an app for Apple TV.
24 January 2022: Hola VPN’s Android app is removed from the Google Play Store over concerns of malware.
12 September 2021: Hola VPN’s Chrome extension is removed from the Chrome store due to claims of malware.
