The Best Free VPNs in 2025

1. NordVPN - Best Premium VPN to Try Risk-Free

SecurityScore:

9.7 /10

View Plans Links to NordVPN

How We Review

Product Specs

Multihop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to NordVPN

Who NordVPN Is Best for

NordVPN is an excellent pick for anyone who doesn’t want to settle for a limited free VPN version, but also wants to try a paid, top VPN service risk-free. And you can do that with NordVPN since it provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for all purchases. So, you can buy the VPN, test it for up to 30 days, and get your money back if you’re not happy with it. Plus, we even saw NordVPN run special promotions and deals that sometimes offer additional months of service for free (like NordVPN’s Black Friday sale, for example).

>> Learn More: NordVPN Deals

Data Caps, Streaming & Torrenting

Since NordVPN is a paid service, it doesn’t come with any data caps. We got unlimited bandwidth to use the VPN  to surf the web, watch movies, download files, and play online games.

We especially like streaming with NordVPN. While working on this guide, we ran extensive streaming tests on NordVPN’s servers. Our results show that it works with popular streaming sites like Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and Max without any issues. This is mainly thanks to its SmartPlay technology, which mixes smart DNS (a tool used to access streaming content) and VPN technology across all of its servers. That makes it harder for streaming services to detect and block NordVPN.

We also consider NordVPN to be among the best torrenting VPNs in 2025. It allows P2P traffic on servers in over 110 countries, which is really impressive. It also provides access to 10+ SOCKS5 proxy server locations for torrenting. A SOCKS5 proxy server will change your IP address, but won’t encrypt your traffic — it provided us faster P2P speeds than our VPN connections.

Server & Speed Limits

NordVPN doesn’t impose any server or speed limits either. Every NordVPN subscription gives you access to the VPN’s entire server network, and it’s downright huge. It includes servers in 118 countries.

Our tests also show that NordVPN is one of the fastest VPNs on the market. Our download speeds slowed down by only 5.78%, and our upload speeds took a 4.11% hit. We were able to watch both HD and 4K videos without having to wait more than two seconds for the videos to load — plus, the videos didn’t buffer when we skipped through them.

Pro Tip: NordVPN provides access to split-tunneling, which lets you choose which apps use the VPN connection, and which ones don’t. If you want to further boost your VPN speeds, you can use split-tunneling to only send traffic you want to encrypt through NordVPN. For example, when we used NordVPN to download a torrent file, we only sent P2P traffic through the VPN. This increased our download speeds by about 15 percent.

Device Limits & User Experience

There’s also no limit to how many devices you can install and use NordVPN on, although unlike other VPNs such as Surfshark, there’s a limit to the number of devices you can connect at a time. NordVPN allows up to 10 simultaneous connections. We think this is pretty good. The industry average is five to 10 simultaneous connections, so NordVPN is on the upper end.

We also think NordVPN provides excellent cross-platform compatibility and intuitive VPN apps. It has apps for nearly all devices, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Android TV, Fire TV, and even Apple TV. Our team tried out its desktop, mobile, and Apple TV apps, and we liked how easy it is to navigate them. We especially liked the Apple TV app, which we found super easy to navigate with the Apple TV remote.

>> Check Out: The Best VPNs for Apple TV in 2025

NordVPN Apple TV app connected to a server in the United Kingdom

Pricing

NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans and several tier-based subscriptions: Basic, Plus, Complete, and Prime. Basic starts at $3.39 per month and includes all VPN features, except Threat Protection Pro (a tool that blocks ads and malware-infected downloads). The Plus subscription adds Threat Protection Pro and NordPass, a good password manager. We signed up for the Plus subscription when writing this guide. But the Basic subscription would also be a good pick if you already use an antivirus and a password manager, and don’t need the extra security tools.

If you’d like more security services, the Complete subscription adds encrypted cloud storage, and the Prime subscription adds NordProtect, an identity theft protection service.

As an added bonus, you often can get three or four free months if you sign up for a one- or two-year subscription.

>> Read More: How Much Does NordVPN Cost?

2. Surfshark - Best Free VPN Trial for Mobile

SecurityScore:

9.5 /10

View Plans Links to Surfshark

How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to Surfshark

Who Hotspot Shield Is Best for

We believe Hotspot Shield’s free version is excellent for desktop users. The VPN also has a free plan on mobile, but it’s significantly more restrictive — and actually even somewhat annoying to use because of ads. The desktop version, however, has no ads and offers unlimited data and speeds.

Data Caps, Streaming & Torrenting

We like how the free version provides unlimited bandwidth. That’s not something you see with most free VPNs, as they usually limit you to anywhere between 2 and 10 GB per month. One free VPN we tested, Avira Phantom, even has a measly 500 MB limit per month.

The catch with Hotspot Shield is you can only take advantage of uninterrupted VPN usage on desktop. On mobile, the free version displays ads in exchange for timed usage— one ad gives you 15 minutes of VPN time. We found the ads very annoying.

Another downside is that like most free VPNs, Hotspot Shield doesn’t guarantee support for streaming and torrenting. We tried accessing Disney+ and changing our Netflix region via the free version on desktop, but our connections were always blocked. However, we were able to download a few torrents, which is pretty great.

>> Related: The Best Free VPNs for Torrenting

Server & Speed Limits

On the free version, Hotspot Shield limits you to servers in three countries: the US, the UK, and Singapore. This is the same on both desktop and mobile. This is a bit restrictive, considering that other free VPNs provide access to more servers. PrivadoVPN, for example, lets you use free servers in 10 countries.

As for speeds, only the free version on desktop doesn’t impose any speed limits. On mobile, free users are limited to a maximum speed of 2 Mbps. Due to that, we experienced somewhat noticeable slowdowns while watching YouTube videos via the free plan on mobile — most HD videos took more than three seconds to load, and almost all videos buffered when they started up.

Device Limits & User Experience

With the free version, you can only install and use Hotspot Shield on one device. The VPN provides free access to most of its apps. However, only paid users get access to its Android TV and Fire TV apps.

On the plus side, we found Hotspot Shield’s apps really intuitive. We like how there’s a quick-connect feature, which we often used to automatically connect us to the fastest server. We also think it’s great that the VPN’s apps provide access to split-tunneling — many free VPNs don’t provide access to this feature (like Proton VPN, for example).

Pricing

Hotspot Shield’s paid plans aren’t the cheapest out there. Its prices do start at $2.99 per month, but only if you opt for the three-year plan, which is a very big commitment. On the plus side, we like how the VPN backs all of its plans with a generous 45-day money-back guarantee, which is even longer than what NordVPN provides.

Hotspot Shield’s paid version provides pretty great value. In our tests, it allowed us to watch Netflix without problems, and it also provided us with very fast speeds. Plus, the paid version adds access to servers in 85 countries (versus 3 with the free plan), and also guarantees P2P support on all servers.

3. Hotspot Shield - Best Free VPN for Desktop

SecurityScore:

8.9 /10

View Plans Links to Hotspot Shield

How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	Yes
Obfuscated servers	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes, but not in all regions
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to Hotspot Shield

Who Surfshark Is Best for

Surfshark isn’t free, but it has one of the best free VPN trials in 2025. Whether you’re on iOS or Android, you get a free 7-day trial when you sign up for Surfshark. You’ll have to input your payment details on sign-up, but the VPN will charge you only after the free trial is over. You’re also free to cancel any time before the trial ends. And on top of that, the VPN provides access to very beginner-friendly and feature-rich mobile apps.

Data Caps, Streaming & Torrenting

Like NordVPN, Surfshark provides unlimited bandwidth (since it’s a paid VPN). This means you can use the VPN to surf the web, stream content, and game online as much as you want.

We consider Surfshark to be one of the best streaming VPNs on the market. We’ve tested the VPN with Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Max, and DAZN, and Surfshark has always been able to access those services without any problems. We also like that the VPN has a smart DNS like NordVPN — we set it up on a PlayStation 5 console, and was able to use it to watch.

On Android, Surfshark allowed us to spoof our device’s GPS data to improve our streaming experience.

Surfshark is also pretty good for torrenting, as it supports P2P downloads on all of its servers. But we think it’s a shame it doesn’t have any other P2P-related features that could help boost your torrenting speeds. If that’s an issue for you, consider getting NordVPN instead since it comes with SOCKS5 proxy support.

>> Read More: Surfshark vs. NordVPN

Server & Speed Limits

Surfshark doesn’t impose any server or speed limits. All subscribers get access to the VPN’s entire server network, which consists of locations in 100 countries.

Surfshark also performed pretty well in our VPN download and upload speed tests. Our download speeds only slowed down by around 7.76% — we didn’t experience lag while playing online games, and all the HD videos we watched on YouTube didn’t buffer. However, our upload speeds were a bit sluggish, as they slowed down by 49.98%. We tried uploading a 2 GB file to our office Google Drive, and it took around 8-9 minutes for the upload to finish – a couple minutes longer than we’re used to.

Device Limits & User Experience

Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous connections. This means you can install and use the VPN on as many devices as you want. That’s why we’d recommend getting Surfshark if you have a large family, or just want to secure many web-connected devices.

The VPN has apps for all devices, and they’re all easy to use — but we’re especially happy with its iOS and Android apps. The mobile app design is extremely intuitive, so much so that it generally took us less than ten seconds to find and connect to a server.

And the mobile apps are also feature-rich. For example, both the iOS and Android apps come with IP Rotator and Dynamic MultiHop. IP Rotator provides better privacy by regularly changing your VPN IP address without dropping your connection. And Dynamic MultiHop allows you to use double VPN servers, which protect your data with an extra layer of encryption.

Pricing

Surfshark has a 30-day refund for all plans and three tier-based subscriptions: Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, and Surfshark One+. For this guide, we got the Surfshark Starter subscription since it provides access to all VPN features. The Surfshark Starter subscription is also very affordable since its pricing starts at just $2.19 per month. Here’s a breakdown of all costs associated with this subscription tier:

The Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ subscription add access to more security services. The One subscription adds Surfshark Antivirus and a privacy-focused search engine. And the One+ subscription adds a data removal tool (Incogni).

>> Read More: How Much Does Surfshark Cost?

4. PrivadoVPN - Great Free VPN for Beginners

SecurityScore:

9.0 /10

View Packages Links to PrivadoVPN

How We Review

View Packages Links to PrivadoVPN

Who PrivadoVPN Is Best for

We consider PrivadoVPN to be a good pick for anyone who’s new to VPNs. Its free version is pretty good. And its apps have a really minimalist design that makes it very easy to find the VPN’s servers, settings, and features.

Data Caps, Streaming & Torrenting

PrivadoVPN provides 10 GB every 30 days. The data cap is enough for one month of light browsing — like scrolling on Facebook or searching home improvement ideas on Pinterest. But it’s not enough for video streaming. We tried using PrivadoVPN to watch TikTok videos over the course of a week, and it only lasted us for four days.

PrivadoVPN says that its free version supports streaming, although our tests show that its support is hit-and-miss. We were able to access BBC iPlayer, but not Netflix, Disney+, or Max. We also tested the free version’s P2P support. While we were able to download a few torrents, we can’t guarantee that you’ll have the same experience.

Server & Speed Limits

PrivadoVPN’s free plan limits you to servers in ten countries. It might not seem like much, but keep in mind that most free VPNs limit you to less — for example, Hotspot Shield only lets you use free servers in ten countries. Plus, PrivadoVPN’s free servers are located on most continents, including Europe, Asia, and North, Central, and South America. So, it’s somewhat easy to use a nearby server to get relatively decent speeds.

And speaking of speeds, PrivadoVPN doesn’t impose any speed limits. We also had pretty good speeds in our tests. We used the VPN’s free servers to watch a few HD videos on YouTube, and they generally loaded in less than three seconds. However, we did notice some buffering when skipping through the videos.

Device Limits & User Experience

PrivadoVPN’s free plan limits you to one device. It’s inconvenient, but this is mostly standard with free VPN services. On the plus side, it has apps for all major desktop, mobile, and smart TV devices. We especially like that it provides free access to its smart TV apps — for comparison, Hotspot Shield only gives paid users access to its smart TV apps.

We tested PrivadoVPN’s apps on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Android TV. It was painstaking to log in and log out to use it on multiple devices because of the one device limit, but overall, we found all of its apps very beginner-friendly (especially the iOS app). They’re easy to navigate, and they provide clear, helpful explanations for all settings and features.

>> Related: The Best Free VPNs for iPhones in 2025

Pricing

PrivadoVPN is one of the cheapest VPNs out there, with prices beginning as low as $1.11 per month if you get the two-year plan. We also saw that the VPN often runs promotions where it provides extra months of service for free with its long-term plans. There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee, but it only covers the long-term plans.

PrivadoVPN’s paid version gives you access to unlimited data, servers in 49 countries, and great P2P support (it even has SOCKS5 proxy servers like NordVPN). Plus, the paid version adds access to an ad blocker and great streaming support.

>> Read More: Privado VPN Review and Pricing Guide

5. Proton VPN - Good Free VPN for Privacy

SecurityScore:

8.8 /10

View Plans Links to Proton VPN

How We Review

Product Specs

Multi-hop	Yes
Camouflage Mode	Yes
Kill switch	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes
Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	Yes

View Plans Links to Proton VPN

Who Proton VPN Is Best for

Proton VPN is a great pick for anyone who wants a privacy-focused free VPN. We read through the VPN’s no-logs policy, and confirmed that it truly doesn’t store your data. Plus, Proton VPN’s no-logs policy has been independently audited as well, like other big name VPNs such as NordVPN and Surfshark. In addition, all of Proton VPN’s apps are open-source. Anyone can inspect the code for security issues. Don’t worry if you’re not tech-savvy enough to do that — the VPN’s apps have also been independently audited and confirmed to be secure.

Data Caps, Streaming & Torrenting

Like Hotspot Shield, Proton VPN provides unlimited bandwidth via its free version. But we think Proton VPN is better for “uninterrupted access” on mobile since its mobile apps are ad-free. While Hotspot Shield’s free plan allows unlimited data on its mobile apps, it displays a lot of ads that feel very intrusive.

In terms of streaming and torrenting, Proton VPN specifically says that its free plan doesn’t guarantee streaming support or allow torrenting. And we can confirm that’s true. We tried accessing Netflix, but were unsuccessful. We also tried downloading a torrent, but Proton VPN immediately blocked our P2P download, and redirected us to a page on its site that mentions how free servers don’t allow torrenting.

Server & Speed Limits

Proton VPN’s free plan provides access to servers in five countries: the US, the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, and Poland. The VPN also doesn’t impose any speed limits, which is great.

When we used Proton VPN, our download speeds slowed down by around 8.18%, and our upload speeds by about 4%. We used the VPN to surf the web, and most sites we accessed loaded in less than two seconds. It also took us only three minutes to upload a 3.5 GB file to our office Google Drive.

Device Limits & User Experience

With Proton VPN’s free plan, you’re limited to one device. But we like how free users get access to all of the VPN’s apps (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Android TV, and Fire TV). Really, our only complaint is that free users can’t use the VPN’s Apple TV app.

We think that, for free users, Proton VPN’s apps could feel a bit restrictive. That’s because the VPN automatically connects you to a free server, usually the one that’s closest to you. It doesn’t let you choose which country you want to connect to, which is inconvenient.

Pricing

Proton VPN’s paid plans are pretty affordable, with prices beginning at $3.59 per month via the longest plan. The VPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for all of its plans. But keep in mind that the refund policy is prorated. That means Proton VPN will refund you for any unused portion of the service. So, if you request a refund after 14 days, you’ll be refunded for the remaining 16 days.

We believe that Proton VPN’s paid version provides great value. As a paid user, you get access to servers in 118 countries (and you can choose which server you connect to), very good streaming and P2P support, and additional security features, including an ad blocker and split-tunneling.

>> Learn More: How Much Does ProtonVPN Cost?