5 Best Free VPNs for 2024: Try Truly Risk-Free (2024)

ProtonVPN is my best overall free VPN, thanks to its blend of quality features and user-friendly app.

While most free VPNs allow data limits between 500 MB to 10 GB, ProtonVPN offers unlimited bandwidth. I could use it as often as I liked to play games like Clash of Clans, use some streaming platforms, and download content.

Besides, ProtonVPN’s free plan offers 100+ servers in 3 countries: the USA, the Netherlands, and Japan. Thus, you can unblock some of the largest content libraries with these virtual servers.

I connected to the US servers and wanted to see if I’d stream videos easily. The servers worked, but the internet connection was relatively slow. Likewise, it took a while to connect to my preferred server.

Unlike most free VPNs that cancel vital security features, ProtonVPN’s free plan doesn’t omit the kill switch feature, P2P servers, and WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols.

Moreover, the VPN is compatible with mobile devices (Android, iOS) and PC units (macOS, Linux, Windows, and Chromebook), ensuring secure online coverage for your units.

However, the free plan lacks SmartDNS support for devices that can’t download a VPN app (like smart TVs), torrent-download support, specialty-streaming servers, or an ad-blocker. Unlike AtlasVPN, which allows you to download torrents over its free servers without falling to copyright trolls.

Furthermore, you can only connect to one device at a time on the ProtonVPN free plan. Whereas you get unlimited connections with providers like AtlasVPN.

But you can upgrade to the premium plan to access more ProtonVPN features. That includes 1900+ servers in 65 countries, streaming support (on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc.), ten simultaneous connections, an ad-blocker, a double hop feature, and fast P2P servers for torrenting.

Atlas VPN is the second-best free VPN compatible with macOS, iOS, Windows, and Android devices. It has a user-friendly, easy-to-use app that gave me zero problems while navigating through the settings.

Unlike ProtonVPN, the Atlas VPN free plan only offers three servers in the US (New York and Los Angeles) and the Netherlands.

But even though it’s only a few locations, I unblocked content on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV, and Disney+ using these servers, unlike ProtonVPN.

However, Atlas free VPN isn’t as fast as ProtonVPN, reserving its 4K-streaming speeds for the paid version. Moreover, you’ll receive a monthly 5GB bandwidth limit, making streaming HD content impossible.

Thus, you may not want to use the VPN wherever you like, unlike the rest (except Windscribe, too), which you can always leave connected.

But you can overlook these setbacks and enjoy the other impressive features, like its fast P2P servers that can be great for gaming and torrenting.

While ProtonVPN also supports the gaming angle, it lacks on the torrenting side.

Moreover, Atlas VPN allows unlimited simultaneous connections, unlike ProtonVPN, which only supports one device at a time. But since you’ll be restricted to a 5GB data limit, connecting to multiple devices means you’ll use up the bandwidth faster.

To get more advanced features, subscribe to the Atlas VPN premium plan to get 750+ servers, an ad-blocker, unlimited bandwidth, and better speeds.

Windscribe is a reputable free VPN that offers unlimited simultaneous connections, like AtlasVPN, across all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and Mac.

I tested this by connecting my PC and Android to my free Windscribe account simultaneously and enjoyed stellar browsing with no connection issues.

However, like Atlas VPN, Windscribe also has a strict 10GB bandwidth allowance, which you’ll receive after signing up with your email address.

If you wish to exclude your email address, you’ll only get 2GB per month.

Barring that, you’ll get access to 11+ servers across 10+ countries, including the US and the United Kingdom. This is more than what Atlas VPN offers, and the unique UK location means you can unblock BBC iPlayer, besides Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

The Windscribe free VPN plan supports torrenting to securely unblock The Pirate Bay (or your preferred torrent site) and download files without the fear of copyright trolls. However, remember that heavy downloads quickly consume your 10GB bandwidth limit.

Additionally, the free Windscribe VPN offers the R.O.B.E.R.T tool for ad and malware blocking. In the premium plan, you can use the R.O.B.E.R.T tool to block p*rn, gambling, fake news, and more.

To get more from Windscribe, subscribe to the premium plan to access servers in 63 countries, a customizable IP and ad-blocking tool, and more.

Another free VPN with a “no strings attached” plan is TunnelBear, offering a vast network of 40+ servers in 40+ countries.

Like ProtonVPN, TunnelBear free plan hasn’t omitted vital features such as a kill switch, the all-important AES 256-bit encryption, or split-tunneling.

I tested the VigilantBear (kill switch) feature by simulating a VPN connection drop (I switched from mobile network to Wi-Fi), and it blocked all traffic until TunnelBear reconnected again.

This protected my data from being leaked to third-party sites.

Thus, the kill switch feature proved reliable, especially when the connection became unstable.

Moreover, with the SplitBear (split-tunneling) feature, I separated several apps I didn’t want to use with the VPN. I could encrypt the connection on needed services while leaving the rest without VPN traffic encryption.

TunnelBear also offers a GhostBear feature, which makes all your connections look like regular internet traffic. This works best in regions like China or Russia, where the government may block your VPN connection requests.

To make things more fun, TunnelBear features bear sounds, which you turn on or off through the Settings tab.

But TunnelBear offers just 2GB bandwidth on the free plan.

Thus, I see it as more suitable for securely checking emails or simply browsing rather than downloading torrents or streaming HD content.

Fortunately, you can upgrade to the Unlimited or Teams plan to gain more benefits without bandwidth throttling.

Hotspot Shield Basic VPN offers unlimited bandwidth alongside Proton VPN and boasts four servers in the US (Los Angeles and New York), Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

This is a lesser server count than Windscribe or ProtonVPN offers, but still enough for unblocking platforms and bypassing restrictions.

I tested the Los Angeles server for speed, and while it wasn’t as fast as ProtonVPN, it wasn’t slow either. So I was able to surf the web without lag.

While we’re still at it, Hotspot VPN’s free servers aren’t optimized for streaming on Netflix, playing games like Fortnite, or using social networks like TikTok. The free plan also has no ad-blocker, so you won’t get that extra clean experience on torrent websites, manga platforms, and other ad-ridden services.

Furthermore, Hotspot offers less advanced security features in its free plan, especially lacking its anti-phishing tool and internet kill switch.

Thus, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium plan to access these services.

If you upgrade, you’ll get 115+ virtual locations, streaming-optimized servers, and up to 10 simultaneous connections.