Free VPN for Netflix Still Working in 2021

The search for a free online VPN that you can actually trust for keeping your data safe and which works for purposes such as Netflix unblocking and bypassing geo-restrictions is a never-ending one.

I can say that with absolute certainty because I have updated this article countless times alone. Why do I go through that trouble? Simply because a free VPN may work like a charm for Netflix one day and then fail completely the next day and onward. The same is with a free VPN for PC. When that happens, the only choice is to look for a service that can do the job more reliably than the one before it.

Currently, I know of only 6 free VPNs that work reliably with Netflix. While they do work somehow for Netflix, trust me when I say this, if you are really looking for a reliable solution for Netflix in 2021, you should get yourself a premium VPN provider like ExpressVPN that comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and offers a 3-months free subscription on the annual subscription.

There are a particular set of requirements that you need for streaming Netflix like unlimited bandwidth, high-speed internet connection, multiple servers in different regions.

These requirements can never be fully fulfilled by a free VPN. Only a premium VPN provider like ExpressVPN can fulfill them and ensure unlimited and unrestricted access to Netflix in 2021.

Why Free VPNs are discouraged for Netflix?

For Netflix or any streaming service for that matter, there are few prerequisites that unfortunately a free VPN can not fulfill. We have listed down below few reasons as to why free VPNs are a bad idea for Netflix in 2021.

• Limited bandwidth is barely enough to stream Netflix in HD quality.
• Free VPNs sell your browsing history to third-party organizations.
• A limited number of servers won’t help you unblock Netflix’s regional libraries.
• Slow speed will cause buffering and glitching issues.

Paid VPNs on the other hand offer thousands of servers with residential IPs that can help you access any Netflix library from anywhere in the world. Premium VPNs like ExpressVPN offer unlimited bandwidth for HD streaming, AES-256 encryption, a no-log policy, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best Free VPNs for Netflix in 2021

Here are the best free VPN for Netflix in 2021: Overview

• ProtonVPN – Unlimited Bandwidth
• Zenmate  – Unlimited Bandwidth
• HomebrewVPN – Unlimited Bandwidth for Netflix
• WindscribeVPN – 10GB/ month data
• TunnelBear – 500MB free data per month

Best Free VPNs for Netflix – Detailed Rundown (2021’s Update)

The following VPN services are all free of cost and capable of unblocking Netflix, but some of these have limitations in other ways such as slower speeds. If you’re looking for a VPN that is free from these limitations, you should see this list of paid VPNs for Netflix.

But without further ado, here are the best free VPNs for Netflix:

1. Windscribe – Standard-Quality Free VPN for Netflix with 10GB/mo data

Windscribe is another great free VPN for watching Netflix as it can unblock Netflix US, UK, CA, GR, and FR. It is a secure and trustworthy VPN that offers 10 GB of data per month. If you provide an email address when signing up, you can get an additional 2GB of data that is great for streaming shows on Netflix.

With 12 GB of data, you will able to stream about 10 hours in SD quality, which is equal to around 5 movies or a full season. I also tried streaming Who Killed Sara? on American Netflix in HD quality and it lasted for 3 hours after which I ran out of data. Similarly, ultra HD quality is out of the league when it comes to free VPNs.

Windscribe offers 10 server locations for free and allows unlimited simultaneous connections. During testing, I was able to stream The Walking Dead without facing extensive lags. However, it took some time for the video to load at the beginning. Later on, the streaming was smooth.

The provider also claims to work with the Netflix library of Malaysia, but I haven’t tested it for that personally. While I was in Malaysia and needed to access Netflix US, Windscribe worked flawlessly and it instantly became one of my favorite VPNs for US Netflix in Malaysia. In terms of speed, Windscribe offered a download speed of 20.24 Mbps on its US server.

Nonetheless, considering that 99% of the free VPNs are incompatible with Netflix, Windscribe is a godsend for Netflix fans looking for a free VPN to unblock Netflix and access their favorite shows and movies. It also offers one of the best free VPN apps for Android devices. You can find more information about this provider in our Windscribe VPN review.

2. ProtonVPN – Access to US Netflix for Free with Unlimited data

There aren’t many VPNs out there that are free, reliable, and impose no bandwidth restrictions all at the same time. ProtonVPN is a rare breed in this sense. I found the provider efficient for accessing the American Netflix library using its free app. It is also one of the best free VPNs to watch US Netflix in Austria and other European countries.

In fact, it offers server locations in the US, Netherlands, and Japan. You can access Netflix libraries associated with all three of these regions using ProtonVPN free of cost. Here’s me streaming the Netflix show Space Force using ProtonVPN’s US-Free#3 server:

Since there are no data caps or bandwidth restrictions, you can use ProtonVPN indefinitely for Netflix streaming without needing to pay a single penny. The only problem is that you can’t expect the best speeds.

I was only able to get SD quality streams on Netflix through ProtonVPN. You will need to purchase the paid version of ProtonVPN to obtain fast speeds and enable HD quality streams. In terms of speed, ProtonVPN managed to offer a download speed of about 15.81 Mbps.

Nonetheless, as a VPN that unblocks Netflix streams without charging anything, ProtonVPN is a blessing for Netflix fans that don’t want to spend any money in order to access their favorite geo-restricted shows and movies. It is one of the tried and tested Free VPNs to watch US Netflix in Denmark. 

3. TunnelBear – Netflix VPN that works in China with 500MB/mo data

TunnelBear is another free VPN that is not blocked by Netflix. It does not restrict server access like other VPNs and offers the same servers that are offered to premium users. However, with its free plan, you only get 500 Mbps data per month, which is very less as you can only stream for an hour or so on Netflix in SD. That said, you can get an additional 1 GB of data free if you just Tweet about TunnelBear.

Its free and premium plans give access to servers in 23 countries including UK, US, Canada, Australia, and Germany. Meaning, with TunnelBear you can unblock various Netflix regional libraries. However, during our testing, we could only unblock Netflix US and UK. It did not let us access Netflix Australia.

I was only able to stream one episode of The Vampire Diaries on Netflix US before the streaming stopped. If you want an additional 1 Gb data free, you will have to tweet TunnelBear or use another device to get free data. With an additional 1 Gb at your disposal, you will be able to enjoy another episode in SD. With such limited data, HD quality is out of the question.

TunnelBear offers unlimited bandwidth and it doesn’t throttle your speed, so it’s a great choice for streaming Netflix. At my 30 Mbps internet connection, TunnelBear managed to deliver a download speed of 24.9 Mbps which was better than ProtonVPN and Windscribe. But it was still slow in comparison to Surfshark.

4. Zenmate – Free VPN for Netflix US with unlimited data

Zenmate is another VPN that Netflix can’t detect. It offers a free version for Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. There is no free version for the app, only for the browser extension. It offers 4 server locations including Germany, Romania, Singapore, and the US, and during our testing, it was only able to unblock Netflix US. Zenmate unblocked Netflix US instantly after establishing a connection, which was amazing.

However, when it came to streaming, the speeds were very slow as the free version only offers a maximum speed of 2Mbps. So, there was a lot of buffering and I had to constantly pause the video for it to work. Also, it took good 2 minutes for the streaming to start at the beginning.

It failed to unblock Netflix Germany or other 2 locations (Singapore and Romania) and automatically redirected to Netflix US. With one Zenmate free account, you can only use one device only, unlike other free VPNs that offer multiple devices. It offered extremely slow speeds which was a bummer.

5. HomebrewVPN – Standard Quality Free VPN for Netflix with unlimited data

HomebrewVPN is a totally free VPN that works with Netflix US.

However, there is no dedicated app for HomebrewVPN. Instead, users have to manually set it up using OpenVPN GUI or other methods. You can find the setup information here. It’s fairly simple and got me access to The Walking Dead on American Netflix immediately:

The provider also claims to work with the Netflix library of Japan, but I haven’t tested it for that personally. Although the service works like a charm, there is one slight problem: the speed on the free version is capped to 512 Kbps. This is good enough for streaming Netflix on 480p quality, but you can’t count on it if you want better quality.

Nonetheless, considering that 99% of the free VPNs are incompatible with Netflix, HomebrewVPN is a godsend for Netflix fans looking for a free VPN to unblock Netflix and access their favorite shows and movies.

How we chose the best free VPNs for Netflix?

Here are our criteria for selecting the best free VPNs for Netflix:

Having Issues Accessing Netflix with Free VPN? Try these quick fixes

If you are facing issues accessing Netflix with a free VPN, here are some troubleshooting tips to help you fix the problem:

Why Free VPN Services are Unreliable for Netflix

In order for a VPN to efficiently work with Netflix, it must have a strong server infrastructure with strategically located physical servers that use some form of obfuscation to mask VPN traffic.

Moreover, these VPNs should deliver fast speeds and unlimited bandwidth. Unfortunately, free Netflix VPN services do not have the resources to support a large enough network with a clean IP address list, and nor are they equipped with advanced obfuscation techniques to bypass Netflix block.

Therefore, if you’re a streaming enthusiast that wants access to the complete library of shows available on US Netflix, then you’ll find most of the free VPN for Netflix services very unreliable and you’ll be much better of with a premium VPN with adequate resources to deal with Netflix’s proxy detection.

Nonetheless, the VPNs mentioned above are some rare gems that can work with Netflix, though you will have to bear occasional failures and lower quality videos due to slow speeds. For example, a reddit user says that Hotspot Shield, a popular free VPN, does not bypass Netflix’s geo-blocks or any other streaming sites.

To read more opinions of Redditors about VPNs, check out our Best Reddit VPN blog.

Free VPNs that Don’t Work With Netflix

The following free VPN services are the fallen heroes that used to be great for Netflix but don’t work with it anymore (though some like Wachee still work they’ve transformed to a premium subscription model now):

1.Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield does not work with Netflix anymore as it did not unblock Netflix during our testing. It does feature fast-speed servers but not for Netflix streaming. To learn more about this VPN, you can check out our Hotspot Shield review.

2.Hide.me

Hide.me is another VPN that doesn’t work with Netflix anymore. It does offer a good amount of free data but you cannot use it to stream Netflix shows. You can use it to stream other geo-blocked streaming sites. You can get the details in our hide.me review. 

3. Betternet

Betternet is another popular free VPN that does not require users to register. However, it cannot unblock Netflix, we tried it several times but had no luck with this free VPN. You can know more about it in our Betternet VPN review.

4. Hide My Ass

Hide My Ass is another free VPN to avoid because it cannot get around Netflix’s geo-blocks. We could not get access to any regional Netflix libraries including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Read more about hide my ass in our detailed review.

5. Hola

Hola is notorious for tracking user data and selling it to third parties. Apart from privacy violations, Hola does not work with Netflix or other popular streaming sites like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and more. Learn more about this VPN in our detailed Hola review.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

A free VPN for Netflix cannot obviously be compared to the services and strength of a paid service, as free providers usually lack the technology and resources to defeat Netflix’s VPN blocking technology and often simply fail to work with Netflix. One reddit viewer has pointed out the same that most free VPNs fail to bypass Netflix’s firewalls.

Nonetheless, the VPNs mentioned above are reasonably reliable when it comes to Netflix unblocking, especially Surfshark with its 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you have any cool tips to share about undoing Netflix’s blocking filters, don’t forget to participate in the discussion below.

Also, check out this list of best free VPNs for Windows