6 Best Free VPNs for Philippines in 2021 (Speed & Cost)

The Philippines used to be one of the freest countries in Southeast Asia. Tragically, the situation has significantly worsened since President Duterte took the helm of the country.

In recent times, press, journalism, and freedom of speech have suffered greatly in the country as critical voices face the threat of being charged for libel. There are hardly any legal protections for journalists and activists, and governmental high-handedness manipulates content on social media and news websites in their favor.

With the strengthening dictatorship in the country, it is imperative for people in the Philippines to take extra precautions when using the internet. The use of a free VPN for Philippines is one of the easiest ways you can establish a wall of privacy online and shelter yourself from the governmental invasion of privacy and thus suppression of voices.

While a free VPN can offer you some extent of online privacy, there’s no way it can match the quality of privacy and performance a premium VPN provider will offer you. A premium provider just like ExpressVPN can outclass every free VPN provider in this list in terms of online privacy, security, and overall internet experience.

Therefore, we highly recommend our Philippine readers to place their trust in a premium VPN provider just like ExpressVPN that can 100% guarantee your complete anonymity, internet freedom, online privacy, and overall great online experience. It comes with an impressive 30-day money-back guarantee with 3-months free on the annual subscription that subscribers can avail of in the initial 30 day period of subscription.

This article will focus on the best free VPN service to use in the Philippines which are legitimate and trustworthy for use.

Why Free VPNs are discouraged in the Philippines?

While the idea of using a free VPN in the Philippines is very tempting, it is our duty to inform you that it is very much dangerous and we don’t recommend using a free VPN in Philippines. Unlike premium VPN providers, there are many disadvantages of free VPNs. A few of them have been listed down for you:

1. Free VPN providers make a profit from targeted advertisement towards you and are often caught selling their subscriber’s internet activity data and personal information.
2. They offer limited bandwidth on their accounts which makes the service pretty much useless for purposes such as torrenting, gaming, and streaming.
3. Due to the few server locations, it is highly unlikely that you will find your desired location server.
4. With fewer servers and a high number of users connecting to them, you will encounter slow speed issues on regular basis.

Before we get into our best free VPN for the Philippines, it is worth knowing that there are premium VPN providers out there which can cost you as low as just $2.49/mo and offer much better security, privacy, and performance than a free VPN can ever offer.

Some benefits of Premium VPNs:

Free VPNs can never be better than premium VPNs. Let’s check out why:

1. Extensive bandwidth and comprehensive network with servers in almost all of the major countries
2. High-speed network speeds with efficient server load-balancing
3. No-log policy for complete anonymity and privacy
4. Compatible with all major operating systems and devices

Best Free VPNs for the Philippines in a Glimpse

1. Windscribe – Top free VPN in the Philippines. Privacy-focused features for Filipino users that require better online protection from surveillance. The free version has a data cap of 10 GB/month.
2. ProtonVPN – No data caps whatsoever and entirely free of cost. Works with Netflix as well and offers decent security for Philippines users seeking stronger privacy.
3. Hide.Me – Impressive range of features suitable for privacy-conscious Filipinos. Offers bandwidth limit of 10 GB/month.
4. Speedify – Not ideal for privacy, but offers decent performance for bypassing restricted content on mobile devices.
5. TunnelBear – Good for security and privacy, but suffers from a small bandwidth limit of 500 MB/month. Also considered as the best VPN for Android in the Philippines.
6. SecurityKISS – A no-frills VPN service that offers basic protection.

Top 6 Free VPN for the Philippines

Here’s a list of the best free VPNs that offer strong privacy for Filipinos free of cost:

1. Windscribe – Free Privacy Protection for Filipinos

Windscribe the best free VPN for the Philippines. It is highly trusted available for free, but it has no Philippines servers. In fact, this is the case with almost all VPNs that are available totally free of cost, as most such providers have a small server network with servers in only a few major countries. So, if you’re looking for the best free VPN for a Philippines server, then Windscribe isn’t the one.

Windsribe’s network includes 10 servers with reasonably fast speeds. So, if you’re in Philippines, you can use these offshore server locations to access content that may be unavailable through your local ISP for any reason.

On the security and privacy front, it is perfectly capable of ensuring the security of confidential user information and the protection of your privacy if you feel uncomfortable voicing your opinions in Philippines.

Windscribe is available on all major devices and platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. The AES-256 bit encryption does well to keep your data beyond the reach of interceptors trying to access it.

The only significant issue with this VPN is that it has a 10GB/month bandwidth limit. In spite of this, it is a good freebie to use in the Philippines.

You can learn more about this service in our Windscribe VPN review.

2. ProtonVPN – Completely Free VPN in Philippines

Yet another best free VPN for the Philippines is ProtonVPN. This VPN offers unlimited bandwidth for free, though it has no Philippines servers. Nonetheless, it is a good choice for those users that want access to censored social media content or other unavailable websites within Philippines.

There are 3 available servers in ProtonVPN’s free plan: Netherlands, US, and Japan. The provider has a satisfactory logging policy and uses strong AES-256 encryption to ensure the protection of users from any unauthorized outside interference. In fact, it is one of the very few VPN services that works with Netflix.

Although the speeds are capped in the free version so you can’t expect high-quality streams, for a free service that works indefinitely, there’s not much to complain about. If you want a free VPN for Netflix in the Philippines with amazing speeds and quality, then you need to know that ProtonVPN offers premium versions that you can test through ProtonVPN’s 7-day free trial. You can compare both versions and will understand how a paid version always stands out.

You can learn more about this service in our ProtonVPN review.

3. Hide.Me – Feature-Rich Free VPN for Filipinos

Hide.Me is an impressive VPN provider that supports torrenting. It ensures a good balance between speed and security, making use of advanced protocols for encryption and tunneling.

There are 5 servers in this VPN’s network: Singapore, Canada, Netherlands, US East, and US West. As you can see, there are no nearby servers in the Philippines, which might lead to slower speeds on your end.

Nonetheless, Hide.Me is quite impressive for users that want stronger security. It guarantees zero-logging of important user information such as IP address or information pertaining to online activities. That’s not it. Unlike most free VPNs, Hide.Me offers DNS leak protection and a split tunneling feature too that enables users to choose between the apps they want to use with a VPN and the apps they don’t.

This VPN for Philippines enforces a 10 GB/month bandwidth limit, which is quite generous considering that free providers offer much smaller data caps. You can use the data limit to stream until it lasts.

It is a trustworthy service that any Filipino can take advantage of if they want to enhance the level of privacy available to them.

If you also want to download a free vpn for Ubuntu, then Hide.Me is the one.

You can learn more about this VPN in our Hide.Me review.

4. Speedify – Fast Free VPN App

Speedify is a VPN that Filipinos on high-speed requirements can enjoy. It offers a 2 GB of bandwidth limit per month. The VPN performs quite well on mobile devices with fast and smooth functionality but only offers a single connection on its free plan. One good thing about this plan is that it doesn’t require any logins and you can use it as it is.

However, the privacy policy of the provider isn’t exactly ideal as it keeps some logs relating to users, including their IP address. Also, this VPN does not let you stream due to its below-the-par streaming capability. So, if you want a VPN with the purpose to stream geo-restricted content then Speedify is not the one.

Nonetheless, if you are traveling to or are a resident in the Philippines and need a high-speed VPN for performing tasks that do not require much bandwidth such as checking emails, then Speedify is the service you need.

Speedify offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and an easy cancelation process, none of which you’d need on a free plan.

For more information, see this Speedify review.

5. TunnelBear – Excellent Interface in Free App

TunnelBear is a Canada-based VPN provider that can provide impressive security for online users in the Philippines.

This free VPN Philippines is fairly simple to use; you will seldom need to do more than press a click in order to connect to a server from one of 20+ locations available for free. However, this does not include the Philippines.

TunnelBear is a good choice for Philippines users that have very basic and minimal VPN usage requirements because of its low bandwidth limit (500MB/month, expandable to 1.5GB/month if you tweet about it), and the lack of support for torrents.

With a data limitation as low as Tunnelbear’s, you cannot stream anything with the VPN even though you can connect to devices like Fire Stick too.

Tunnelbear offers users some security features that aren’t bad at all. It offers users a no-logging policy so you never have to worry about having your data leaked with this VPN. Let’s not forget that it also offers an AES 256-bit encryption, keeping you encrypted and secure at all times.

So, if streaming is not what looking towards a VPN for, then this service is for you.

6. SecurityKISS – Decent Free Solution

SecurityKISS is a great privacy tool for citizens in the Philippines needing online anonymity. This service provider values the anonymity of the users and allows them a free download of the service without even first signing up.

SecurityKISS offers OpenVPN protocols for good security and speed. For travelers visiting the Philippines, SecurityKISS is a good option for maintaining your anonymity in cyberspace.

It is also good for bypassing geo-restrictions that might be holding you back from accessing certain sites. The provider offers a 300MB/day bandwidth limit on the free version.

This Philippines VPN is not suitable for streaming as its data limit is way low and offers servers in 8 countries only. With a server list this short, you can barely access any website.

While this VPN service does offer a premium version and better services on it, it’s always better to go for a premium VPN like ExpressVPN and enjoy its perks rather than using SecurityKISS and its paid version.

This VPN also does not offer a money-back guarantee for you to test its service so it’s either you get it or you don’t.

For more information, see this SecurityKISS review.

What was our criteria for testing these free VPNs for the Philippines?

Before listing down these VPNs, we had set criteria to test multiple VPNs out of which we selected these 6. Let’s look into what it was:

1. Servers:

We check the number of servers all of these free VPNs offered and not just listed the ones with the most number of servers, but we also tested each server of these VPNs to check whether they offer the services they boast about or is that all just a word game.

2. Speed:

Every VPN was tested through speed tests to confirm the speeds they offer. We tested various servers and listed their VPNs that had some decent speed on its servers instead of nothing at all.

3. Bypassing geo-restrictions:

One major reason for using a VPN is its ability to bypass geo-restrictions. If a VPN fails to do that, then that VPN is useless. All free Philippines VPNs listed above could bypass geo-restrictions with or without the ability to stream. You can try unblocking Hulu in the Philippines by using these VPNs.

4. Security features:

Free VPNs easily rat out your personal information. This is why we checked what security features these VPNs offer including their encryption protocols, zero logs, and more.

Why Do You Need a Free VPN in the Philippines?

The decline of online freedom and the rise of censorship with content manipulation started when with the passing of the Cybercrime Act 2012. This bill penalizes libel on the Internet for up to 12 years in jail. As such, this has led to a decline in online activism owing to the criminalization of libel, since the law can always be abused to target otherwise innocent people.

Since then, there has been a decline in online activism, probably because users fear they might be deemed guilty of libel for voicing critical views regarding government officials or other authorities.

Recently, the Anti-terrorism Bill was passed which defines terrorism so loosely that it can virtually be applied to bully and intimidate any person in the Philippines that the government has a beef against. With these developments, self-censorship will only increase and freedom of speech, especially from sources critical of Duterte’s government will further dwindle.

The best VPN for Philippines can hide the identity of a user by routing their traffic through a secure and private tunnel. If you’re strapped for cash, you can opt for high-caliber yet affordable VPN service or totally free ones as mentioned above.

With a VPN, authorities will have a hard time trying to identify users online, giving Filipinos greater security to post content online without fearing untoward repercussions.

An added benefit of VPN services is that they allow access to geo-restricted websites in Philippines by changing your apparent location to any other country. For instance, if you are traveling to Philippines from the United States, you might be unable to access the online banking services of your local bank from the US. While we do encourage our readers to opt for premium VPN for the US in this case, the free VPN might just work as well.

You might not find too many VPNs with servers in the Philippines, so if you’re trying to find the best free VPN for the Philippines server, then the VPNs listed above might not be the best match for you.

How to Access US Netflix from Philippines with Free VPN?

Netflix has to follow copyright laws and agreements which differ in every region. This is why there are differences between the Netflix of one country and the Netflix in another country in terms of available titles.

In fact, some countries have a much larger catalog of shows and movies available on Netflix than others. US Netflix holds the largest number of titles out of all regions, but you cannot access it outside the USA.

The good thing is, you can access American Netflix in Philippines in a very simple way using a free VPN for Netflix in Philippines:

1. Download and install a Free Netflix VPN on your device
2. Launch the VPN app and connect to a US server
3. Now open Netflix and gain access to the largest catalog of shows online!

This is because free services are bound by bandwidth limitations and streaming is no fun if it has an upper limit.

Moreover, premium services have the required server infrastructure to support streaming services as easily as possible.

FAQs

Conclusion

Philippines does not come anywhere close to countries like North Korea and China when it comes to censorship and lack of freedom of expression online.

Nonetheless, with stricter legislation being introduced in the country, the situation could very well change for the worse with greater censorship and is already declining worryingly fast. In these states of affairs, citizens should take adequate protections for their own online safety and at the very least, opt for a free VPN for Philippines listed above.

Are you experiencing any privacy or censorship-related problems in Philippines? We’d love to hear what you have to say. Please voice your thoughts in the comment section below.

Also read:

• Best Free VPN for Windows
• Best Free VPN for Mac