The Best Free VPN for Windows – Tried & Tested [November 2021]

Free VPN for Windows is a dime a dozen. But where there’s variety, there naturally arises the question of quality.

Unfortunately, 100% free VPN services are extremely limited in functionality, and those that do have all their features intact often engage in data harvesting practices.

As such, this problem is prevalent for free users of all devices. Users have to decide between allowing their privacy to be sold by these providers in exchange for free VPN service access or settling for half-baked free VPN apps that don’t even work as they’re supposed to.

That is why we recommend our free users subscribe to premium VPNs like ExpressVPN.

But in this pile of fraud and substandard solutions, there are very few standout providers offering the best free VPNs for Windows that are completely legitimate and effective, in a limited way, for various purposes.

So without further ado, let’s check out their detailed analysis.

Comparison: Best Free VPN for Windows

VPNs
Jurisdiction	The British Virgin Islands	Switzerland	Canada	Canada	USA	Malaysia	USA	USA	Canada	Switzerland
Security	AES 256 Bit	AES 256 Bit	AES 256 Bit	AES 256 Bit	AES 256-bit	AES 256-bit	AES 256-bit	AES 256-bit	AES 256-bit	AES 256-bit
Data Usage Limit	Unlimited	Unlimited	10 GB/mo	500 MB/mo	500 MB/ day	10 GB/mo	2 GB/mo	Unlimited	500 MB/day	Unlimited
Server Locations	3000+ countries	3 locations (USA, Netherlands, and Japan)	10 locations	23 locations	US	Five countries	35 locations	3 (USA – NY, USA – Los Angeles, Netherlands)	US	Six countries
Simultaneous connections	5	1	5	5	1	1	5	1	1	5
Streaming	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix CA, Sky GO, Amazon Prime, and more	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More	Netflix, YouTube, HBO, CBC, and More
Compatibility	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Fire Stick, Kodi, etc.	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Apple App Store Availability	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Trustpilot	4.6/5	2.9/5	4.7/5	3.2/5	4.2/5	4.8/5	3.3/5	3.1/5	4.0/5	N/A
Read More	ExpressVPN Review	ProtonVPN Review	Windscribe Review	TunnelBear Review	Hotspot Shield Review	Hide.Me Review	Speedify Review	SurfEasy Review	Betternet Review	VPNBook Review
More Info	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site

The Best Free VPN for Windows – In-Depth Analysis

The following VPNs offer free services, albeit with some limitations. If you need full-fledged VPNs with all premium features, check out this article on paid Windows VPNs.

Let’s now focus on the best free VPN apps for Windows:

1. ExpressVPN — Best VPN for Windows + 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

ExpressVPN is the best VPN to use with Windows that comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

In addition, it is easily configurable on Windows OS versions 7, 8, and 10. With ExpressVPN, You can also share VPN connections with Smart TVs and gaming consoles via Windows devices.

ExpressVPN’s Windows application user interface is so simple that anyone who isn’t even familiar with the concept of a VPN can easily operate it like a pro within few minutes.

According to your network conditions, the Smart Location feature allows you to establish a VPN connection with the most optimized server.

It operates 3000+ servers in 94 countries so that you can unblock content from all around the world.

A large server network means reliable connections. We could easily unblock Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, BT–Sports, Channel 4, ABC iview, and more during our tests.

Since our average speed was 95.3 Mbps on a 100 Mbps internet connection, we could easily stream all the shows in 4K Ultra-HD video quality.

ExpressVPN’s headquarter is located in the British Virgin Islands, a country outside the jurisdiction of 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. Its other noticeable security features include AES-256-Bit encryption, a zero-log policy, a trusted server network, an internet kill switch (network lock), and a private DNS.

A single ExpressVPN subscription offers unlimited bandwidth, data, and five simultaneous connections.

Apart from supporting Windows devices, it is also compatible with other popular devices such as Mac, PS4, Xbox, Android, iOS, Linux, Chromebook, Roku, and more.

All that is available for only $6.67/mo (Save 49% and get 3 extra months FREE with 12-month plan this Black Friday) on its 12 months + 3 months free subscription, with a quite helpful 24/7 live chat customer support and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

To learn more about this provider, check out our ExpressVPN review.

2. ProtonVPN – Free Unlimited VPN for Windows

ProtonVPN is the best free unlimited VPN for Windows 7, 8, and 10. Its free version offers an unlimited bandwidth feature and the ability to launch with your Windows device.

Unfortunately, a major limitation of this service includes its ability only to offer 23 server locations in the US, Netherlands, and Japan.

However, even though it only offers servers in 3 countries, we could easily unblock various streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, NBC, CNBC, DAZN, and more.

That’s not it. ProtonVPN also offers decent speeds as well. We tested speeds on its three free servers, and it was enough for Ultra HD video streaming.

ProtonVPN also offers strong security features such as 256-bit AES encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and a built-in adblocker along with VPN connection protocols such as OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec, and L2TP/IPSec protocols.

ProtonVPN uses 256-bit encryption to safeguard your data from hackers and other cyber thieves.

We also liked having Perfect Forward Secrecy, which assigns free users a new encryption key for each session.

The benefit? This ensures that if a past session is compromised, your present and future connections will remain secure.

If you face any issue with ProtonVPN on your Windows devices, you can contact their support team via ProtonVPN’s ticketing system.

Unfortunately, there is no live chat support, but they usually respond to emails within 24 hours.

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

3. Windscribe – Free VPN for Windows with a 10 GB/mo bandwidth

Windscribe is a free VPN for Windows 7, 8, and 10 with a 10 GB monthly bandwidth limit. Its free version offers you a 2 GB monthly bandwidth limit, but if you provide your email address, you get a complete 10 GB monthly bandwidth limit for your Windows device.

Windscribe offers servers in 10 countries, including the US, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, and Hong Kong B and at the Top in UK.

Windscribe is one of the excellent free VPN service for Windows-based in Canada that is easy to use. It offers great connectivity, and it’s super simple to establish a VPN connection with any server of your choice.

With 10 GB bandwidth and servers available in 10 different countries, you can easily unblock popular streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Voot, Sony Liv, and more.

The Windows app of Windscribe uses OpenVPN with 256-bit encryption and a privacy-affirming logging policy to ensure your privacy remains safe.

Since Windows is not a very privacy-friendly operating system, you can at least protect some of what you can while connected to Windscribe during your online sessions.

It also offers a feature known as ROBERT, which works as a configurable ad/malicious website blocker, among other uses.

You can access ROBERT through your user control panel on the main Windscribe website. Any change you make to ROBERT will automatically reflect on Windscribe’s Windows app that you’re using.

See this Windscribe VPN review for more details.

4. Hotspot Shield – Catapult Hydra to Increase speed

Hotspot Shield is one of the popular free VPNs for Windows 7, 8, and 10 owing to its dedicated Windows app is easy to use and doesn’t require any registration.

It also comes with the company’s proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol that maintains good speeds on your Windows, which is rare for a no-cost VPN.

Unfortunately, the Hotspot Shield’s free subscription plan only offers a 500 MB/day bandwidth limit. So at most, you can stream for about 30 minutes in HD quality with 500 MB of bandwidth.

Another disappointing thing about this provider is that it only offers a single VPN server located in the United States.

However, we could easily unblock various streaming services such as US Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Spotify, ESPN+, and more when we tested the server.

Hotspot Shield uses AES-26-Bit encryption, internet kill switch, and Hotspot Shield’s proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol to offer complete online security, privacy, and data protection at super-fast speeds.

Hotspot Shield also publishes an annual transparency report, which is rare for no-cost VPNs. In terms of speed, it offers decent performance but is not outstanding, as is typically expected for free providers.

Overall, Hotspot Shield is a decent choice for Windows users with low data usage requirements.

See this Hotspot Shield review for more details.

5. Hide.Me – Popular free VPN for Windows with a 10 GB/mo bandwidth 

Hide.Me offers unrestricted bandwidth and speed for Windows 7, 8, and 10 devices. It also comes with an automatic connect feature on startup, so you don’t have to turn it on each time after booting up your Windows device.

It offers five server locations with a free subscription, including Singapore, Canada, Netherlands, US East, and US West. The only limitation regarding the bandwidth is that it offers 10 GB bandwidth per month.

However, it is sufficient for casual browsing, checking social media, and streaming on different media platforms such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Apple+, Crave TV, and more.

It offers online security and protection with features such as AES-256-Bit encryption, internet kill switch, and DNS/IPv6 leak protection.

While Hide. Me’s built-in IP leak protection keeps your IP hidden even if there is a malfunction in the application, its split tunneling feature lets you route some of the traffic over your VPN and the rest through your local ISP internet connection.

This VPN provider also offers 24/7 customer support to users in case they have any queries. We tested their customer service and were immediately replied to.

It also offers a single simultaneous connection on one account. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use your free account anywhere except for your Windows at one time.

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

6. TunnelBear

TunnelBear is one of the speedy free VPNs for Windows. It offers a simple installation process that’s quite handy for beginners. It boasts excellent usability and an appealing GUI with an animated bear burrowing its way through the map as you switch server locations.

Unfortunately, it also offers just 500 MB bandwidth per month, but if you tweet about the VPN provider, then you’d get 1 GB bandwidth completely free.

But, of course, if you’re planning a movie marathon, this isn’t enough data because you can only watch one episode of your favorite show a month, and you’re stuck in standard definition.

The free account also includes access to 23 server locations, which is pretty impressive. These countries include the US, the UK, Japan, Brazil, and more.

We could unblock Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, ITV, Channel 4, and more during our tests.

Owned by McAfree, Tunnelbear is also known to offer a TCP Override setting for its Windows app. This allows Tunnelbear to provide users with a more stable connection using the slower TCP protocol to improve user performance.

It also uses TunnelBear uses AES-256-Bit encryption and has a complete zero-log policy to ensure that your actual identity and internet traffic remains anonymous and protected.

TunnelBear doesn’t offer 24/7 live chat customer support, but it provides email support to respond to you within 24 hours.

For more information, see this TunnelBear review.

7. Speedify

Speedify offers a 2 GB/month bandwidth limit, and it is compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10. In addition, with a server network that spans over 53 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Oceania, you can easily bypass various geo-restriction issues.

While the 2 GB bandwidth limitation prevented us from doing a lot of downloading and streaming, we could still unblock popular streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, 9Now, ABC iview, and more.

Speedify uses a special technique called Channel Bonding. This uses all the available internet connections to give you the highest possible upload and download speeds.

The only downside is that it can quickly eat up your internet bandwidth, so you better be careful if you are on a limited data subscription plan.

For online security and privacy, Speedify relies on AES 128-GCM encryption instead of AES 256-bit encryption, which is decent for everyday surfing and streaming.

If you have an older Windows device, Speedify uses a ChaCha encryption cipher, which gives you 256-bit encryption, and it’s three times faster than many other no-cost VPNs.

While it does retain some information related to the user, it promises never to store any information concerning VPN connection or browsing activity.

Speedify allows only a single device connection per account. Their customer support can be contacted by emailing them or filling out the contact us form on their official website.

Explore our Speedify review for more information on this provider.

8. SurfEasy

SurfEasy offers a 500 MB per month data limit with a server network of  2000+ servers in 16 countries. It can easily be configured on Windows 7, 8, and 10 devices. In addition, it allows users to select different VPN locations directly from the home screen.

Unfortunately, the bandwidth limit proved to be a hurdle during our testing. Still, we can assure you that it can easily unblock popular streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, ORF, NHK, CCTN, and more.

Of course, we had to test the services in low video quality; otherwise, the bandwidth would’ve run out too soon, but it can easily support HD quality streaming without a doubt.

If we talk about the ability to offer online security and privacy, don’t worry. SurfEasy provides security features such as AES-256-Bit encryption, a no-log network, bank-grade encryption, one-click protection, and enhanced tracker blocking.

A single SurfEasy subscription can be connected on five devices simultaneously, but you can also use it on Mac, Android, and iOS as it offers straightforward applications for those devices.

The service also promises a 99.99% uptime, reliable and efficient customer support, and a 14-day money-back guarantee with every premium subscription.

For more information, check out our detailed SurfEasy review

9. Betternet

While Betternet offers a dedicated application for Windows 7, 8, and 10 with its free subscription plan, you’d only get 500 MB of bandwidth per 24 hours. So although it’s insufficient for doing anything, there’s a relief that you’ll get 500 MB of bandwidth daily.

Its free subscription offers a single server located in the US compared to a premium subscription that allows access to 10 server locations.

These locations include the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, France, Hong Kong, and Singapore, along with unlimited bandwidth.

The US-based provider uses OpenVPN with AES 256-bit encryption and IPsec with AES 128-bit AES-CBC encryption.

Unfortunately, it still lacks an internet kill switch and an Ad-blocker feature.

Even though its headquarter is located in the US, the provider is a complete zero-log VPN and stores no information regarding VPN connection or the user itself.

Its Windows application guarantees a speedy and reliable VPN connection, and it is also straightforward to set up.

However, the free subscription has few drawbacks: no access to popular streaming services without a premium subscription, annoying advertisements, no access to email support, and only one device per account.

To learn more about this provider, check out our Betternet review.

10. VPNBook

VPNBook is one of the best free VPN services that doesn’t offer any dedicated application for Windows. Instead, you have to set it up manually using the OpenVPN connection protocol on your Windows device.

While the manual connection steps can be overwhelming for any new VPN user, they aren’t too difficult. Anyone with basic Windows VPN configuration knowledge can set it up within a few minutes.

Since it requires some technical know-how and configuration to get started, VPNBook ranks lower in our recommendations.

Although, its website does provide comprehensive setup guides for Windows 7, Windows XP, and Windows 10 that we found very helpful.

It offers unlimited bandwidth on its accounts, and you can connect to 6 different server locations. These servers are located in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, and Poland.

Like all the other providers on our list, it also uses military-grade AES-256-Bit encryption for securing your online traffic. Unfortunately, we found it to be a little slower than the rest of the providers.

We could easily watch popular streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Euro-Sports, BFI Player, and more with the available server locations.

All in all, it is a pretty decent option for Windows if you have basic knowledge of setting up manual VPN connections on Windows devices.

Unfortunately, the provider doesn’t offer dedicated 24/7 customer support, and you’ll have to email them in case of any assistance.

To learn more about this provider, check out our VPNBook review.

Choosing the best free VPNs for Windows?

To make sure you get a good and well-performing zero-cost VPN for Windows, here are a few essential things to bear in mind:

No logging policy

Since the primary purpose of a VPN is to guard users’ privacy, it is important to know how much user data they collect.

Some VPN services have a highly secure logging policy like ProtonVPN and Windscribe. However, some free providers like Hola VPN and Betternet collect more information than they should.

Compatibility 

Nowadays, anything less than a dedicated GUI-based app is unacceptable for a VPN. The zero-cost VPN for Windows described above all has well-designed free Windows apps that you can easily install.

Limited Bandwidth 

Top zero-cost VPN for Windows often imposes bandwidth restrictions. Unfortunately, that can’t be helped. However, you can ensure choosing a VPN that offers a reasonable amount of internet bandwidth, such as those mentioned in this guide.

Speeds

Some VPNs can slow down your connection speed, preventing you from surfing the web smoothly. The list of VPNs covered in this guide isn’t the fastest in the industry, but you can still get decent enough speeds considering they are free.

Do I need a free VPNs for Windows?

To get a free VPN or not, that is the question.

There’s no denying that free services carry many appeals, especially with so many online threats lurking around the web.

So a tool capable of protecting our privacy and security from these threats free of charge would be a godsend.

What’s more, the need for VPN services is also strongly felt when you encounter geo-restrictions on websites, especially streaming services.

With so many enticing streaming platforms surfacing on the web, such as Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc., there’s nothing more frustrating than being denied access simply because you happen to live in a different country.

As such, the need for VPN services for Windows and other platforms is only increasing with time.

Unfortunately, the tragic reality is that, although the demand for zero-cost VPNs is high, there aren’t many competent providers available for free. Moreover, most free VPNs may pose a risk to your security.

This is why if you’re unwilling to compromise on your online privacy, the safest bet is to use a paid VPN service for Windows, which has a proven record of boosting users’ privacy on the web.

Thus, if you are looking for a free unlimited VPN for Windows XP or newer versions that are completely safe, you might as well quit looking.

Nonetheless, some VPNs are still safe and available for free, with the caveat that they offer limited features.

Since I would prefer a secure service with a limited set of features over one that is insecure but full of fancy features, I have discussed only the reliable ones you can use on your Windows system.

Free VPNs for other devices

If you’re not a Windows user, you can find recommended VPNs for other platforms and operating systems below articles:

• Mac OSX
• Ubuntu
• Linux
• Kodi
• iPhone

Improving privacy on Windows

There are three major functionalities (on the surface, at least) in Windows that use your data: general apps, Cortana, and personalize ads.

Here is how you can improve your Privacy on Windows.

1. Open Privacy from Settings. A series of 13 selection screens will appear one by one, allowing you to turn off any you want.
2. From the “General” tab, you can select which apps you want to access the camera, messages, calendar, etc.
3. You can also turn off Cortana’s data collection from the Speech, ink, & typing tab and clicking “Stop getting to know me.”
4. To turn off data-gathering for ads, you must visit https://choice.microsoft.com/en-gb/opt-out. From there, turn off “Personalized ads in this browser” and “Personalized ads wherever I use my Microsoft account.”

While these changes can improve your privacy on Windows, it is still very much possible that the operating system collects user data from other sources that might not even be controllable for the user.

To enhance your privacy further, there is nothing within the Windows environment itself that can help you.

Instead, you will require some outside assistance in the form of tools like VPNs.

FAQs

Conclusion

The VPN services described above are all fairly competent tools for elevating your privacy on Windows systems. However, ExpressVPN is the best premium VPN that works for Windows.

You can use ExpressVPN for free of cost for a whole month, as it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Also, if you hurry up, you can avail of ExpressVPN’s limited time “12 months + 3 months free” subscription.

However, suppose you want to download a zero-cost VPN for your PC for a longer-term. In that case, you can consider other options such as ProtonVPN (free unlimited VPN for Windows 10) and Windscribe to unblock websites on the internet and maintain your privacy.

See Also: Best VPN Apps for Windows Phones