VPNBook

A free VPN with shared credentials and no sign-up

VPNBook is a free VPN service. There is no account, no paid tier and no checkout: the homepage headline is "100% Free - No Registration Required", and the features page counts the service as "100% Free Forever". Instead of an app and a login, the site publishes a list of servers, a shared VPN password with the date it was last changed, and configuration files to download for standard clients. The homepage says the service exists to help people "Bypass censorship, defeat surveillance, and browse anonymously." Alongside the VPN, the site offers a free web proxy and a YouTube proxy, setup guides, and a set of VPN review pages with titles such as "Best VPNs 2026" and "Best VPN for China".

Who can use it: anyone who can reach the site and download a configuration file. Because nothing is sold, there is no currency, no payment method and no store listing on the site. The site does not name any country it serves or excludes, and it does not say whether the site or its servers are blocked anywhere. Setup relies on third-party clients for OpenVPN, WireGuard, PPTP and Outline; the site does not publish an app of its own on the homepage or features page. The footer says "Located in Zurich, Switzerland", but the site does not name the company or person that runs VPNBook.

What is logged, by the provider's account

The site does not name an independent audit of its logging policy, and it does not claim one. Its logging statement is on the features page, and it is specific: the provider says it does "NOT store any of your internet browsing traffic", that "All that is logged is your IP address and time the connection was made", and that "Connection logs are automatically removed every day." So by the provider's own description, connection logs with the user's IP address do exist for up to a day. The site does not say who can access them in that time, whether they are backed up, or how deletion is carried out.

The same section, headed "100% Anonymity", says the provider places its "free euro VPN servers in countries where no such laws exist", meaning mandatory data retention and snooping laws. It does not name those countries or the laws it has in mind, and the server list on the homepage includes the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada as well as European locations. A reader should treat the anonymity heading as the provider's description, set against its own statement that IP addresses are logged.

The homepage also carries a usage rule: "Hacking, attacking and fraudulent activities are strictly prohibited and are not protected by our privacy policy." A privacy policy and an about page are linked in the footer.

Servers, protocols and the web proxy

The features page gives the network as 15+ VPN servers in 6 countries. The homepage's server status list names them: US16 and US178 in the United States, CA149 and CA196 in Canada, UK205 and UK68 in the United Kingdom, DE20 and DE220 in Germany, and FR200 and FR231 in France, all listed with OpenVPN and WireGuard; PL134 and PL140 in Poland and CA225 in Canada with PPTP and Outline; and 3 web proxy servers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Encryption is described as "AES-256 and AES-128", with the claim that it would take "the world's fastest supercomputer 1000's of years to crack".

Protocol choice matters for a free service used to get around blocks, and VPNBook offers four, plus a proxy that needs no setup. The news feed records changes: on Feb 22, 2026 a free WireGuard service with 48-hour sessions; on Jan 25, 2026 updated OpenVPN and Outline servers, with users asked to download new configuration files; on Dec 15, 2025 web proxy upgrades to better support YouTube and social media websites; on Sep 27, 2024 the replacement of the US VPN servers with US16 and US178; and on Oct 11, 2023 the addition of PL140 and DE220. The shared VPN password was last updated on Sep 14, 2026, per the homepage. Credentials that change mean a user has to return to the site to stay connected, and WireGuard sessions last 48 hours.

Other features on the features page: servers on dedicated hardware, which the provider says are optimized for speed; no blocked ports or websites, so games and other programs can run; no bandwidth limits, with the page saying it does not restrict speed "whether you use 1GB or 100GB of bandwidth in a day" and mentioning torrent downloads among the uses; and a "Smart CDN Fallback" that routes traffic via the least congested route with a local fallback. The site does not mention a kill switch, split tunneling, leak protection, ad blocking or multi-hop, and it names no streaming services beyond the proxy's YouTube support.

Cost, limits and support

There is nothing to pay. The site does not state a data cap, and the features page says there are no bandwidth limits. The practical limits are the ones the site describes: a shared password that changes, configuration files that need re-downloading after server updates, 48-hour WireGuard sessions, and a network of 15+ servers. How the free service is funded is not explained on the homepage or features page. The site's VPN review pages are one visible activity alongside the service, but the site does not say whether they earn money or pay for the servers.

Support is limited to a Contact Us link in the footer and the setup guides. The site does not describe response times, live chat or email support.

What the site leaves open, and who it suits

The open questions: who operates VPNBook beyond a Zurich location in the footer, how the service is paid for, who can see the daily connection logs of IP addresses and times, and which countries the "no such laws" line refers to. There is no audit to point to, and the site does not describe security features such as a kill switch.

VPNBook suits someone who needs a free, no-account connection for occasional use, is comfortable importing configuration files into a standard client, and wants a choice of protocols or a web proxy when one route is blocked. It is a weaker fit for anyone who needs an app with a kill switch, a named operator, or a service that keeps no record of connecting IP addresses.