Free and Budget VPNs
Running servers costs money, so a free VPN is paid for somehow: an upgrade it hopes you buy, advertising, a parent company with other products, donations, or data about its users. Cheap paid plans have their own catch, because the headline monthly price usually assumes two or three years paid up front and the renewal can cost far more. Weigh the data cap, speed limits and locations on a free tier, how the provider says it funds itself, the price per month on the plan you would actually buy, the renewal price where the provider states it, and the length of the refund window.
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Open-source VPN app built for censored networks, offering a free service, a paid Premium tier, and tools to run AmneziaWG or XRay on a server of your own.
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Planet VPN offers an ad-funded free tier with 6 servers in 5 countries and no sign-up, plus a Premium plan priced in euros with 1260+ servers and 10 devices
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Singapore-based freemium VPN with a no-account free app, a Premium tier priced in US dollars, crypto payments and proprietary Everest protocols alongside OpenVPN and WireGuard.
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PrivadoVPN pairs a VPN with antivirus, ad blocking and an email relay, says it is Swiss-based, and offers a free plan with 10GB of data every 30 days
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Aloha is a private web browser with a free built-in VPN and ad blocker, plus a Premium tier adding 80+ VPN locations and a phone-wide VPN.
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Free VPN with no registration that publishes shared credentials for OpenVPN, WireGuard, PPTP and Outline servers in 6 countries, plus a web proxy.
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ZoogVPN
Greek-registered VPN with a 10 GB monthly free plan and low-cost premium plans in US dollars, payable by card, PayPal or several cryptocurrencies.
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1Click VPN is a free, no-registration VPN extension for Chrome and Edge with an Android app, listing over 530 servers in 52 countries and no paid tier.
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Betternet is a free, ad-supported VPN that needs no sign-up, with a Premium tier priced in US dollars that adds 115+ locations, 10 devices and no ads.
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DVPN
DVPN from NORSE Labs is a decentralized VPN built on the Sentinel network, with V2Ray for restrictive networks, a free basic plan and weekly-to-annual paid plans
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OBFUSGATED sells a TLS-based obfuscated VPN in three speed-capped tiers, priced in dollars with euro equivalents and paid for in cryptocurrency, with a DNS ad blocker included
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The Calyx Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers a free VPN funded by its members and community, alongside CalyxOS and a hotspot membership
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iTop VPN
iTop VPN is a free VPN with a paid VIP tier from a software maker founded in 2016, aimed heavily at gamers, with apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
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Small Russian-language VPN for Android and Windows with a free tier, two paid plans priced in US dollars and a handful of European and US servers.
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A residential VPN and proxy service sold mainly to businesses, with a free plan, its own apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, and paid plans priced in US dollars.
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Expat-focused VPN from My Expat Network Limited for watching home-country TV abroad, priced from £3.99 a month with a free installation service and 30-day refund.
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Urban VPN offers a free VPN through Chrome and Edge extensions, with paid Premium apps for Windows, Android and iOS, and names no company behind it
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A free Chrome and Edge extension that changes the browser's IP location through what the site calls double VPN servers, with no sign-up and no named operator.
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Low-cost VPN with a free plan limited to 3 locations, paid plans from $1.99 a month on a 12-month term, and unlimited devices on paid tiers.
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Open-source, ad-supported free VPN that needs no account on Android, built to disguise its traffic from DPI, with a paid Premium Key and self-hosting tools.
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Canada-based VPN with a 10 GB monthly free plan, RAM-only servers, open-source apps and app audits by Leviathan Security Group, offered worldwide from its site and app stores.
Frequently asked questions
Are free VPNs actually safe to use?
Running servers is expensive so free services are funded through ads, premium upgrades, donations, or sometimes user data. You'll want to check if a provider is a nonprofit like Calyx Institute or if they rely on advertising like Planet VPN and Betternet.
Do I have to create an account to use these services?
Not necessarily. Several options like VPNBook, 1Click VPN, and X-VPN allow you to use their services without any registration or account creation.
Will I run out of data on a free plan?
Yes, some providers impose monthly data limits. For example, PrivadoVPN and ZoogVPN both provide 10GB of data every 30 days on their free tiers.
How do I pay for a budget VPN subscription?
Payment methods vary depending on the provider. While many accept standard cards or PayPal, others like X-VPN and OBFUSGATED allow you to pay using cryptocurrency.
Can I use a VPN for free if I only need it in my web browser?
You have a few choices here. Aloha Browser includes a built-in VPN within the browser, and 1Click VPN offers a specific extension for Chrome and Edge.