Is there a “VPN gratis” out there?
That was the question one of our readers sent us a few days ago. And we wanted to reply to him that there are many free VPNs out there, but we can’t suggest them. As the saying goes, if the price is free – you are the product. Also, you may not get the service you want and could even end up with an infected device. Yes, we’ve seen some free VPNs spreading malware.
Be careful with free VPNs
We have already made an argument against free VPNs in an article entitled “There Is No Such Thing as a Good Free VPN.” To sum it up, here are the problems with free VPNs
- Security and privacy are not free – running those servers costs real money
- Malware – a free VPN may be a virus in hiding
- Ads, ads and more ads – instead of paying with your wallet, you may pay with your attention
- Streaming with buffering? – the VPN’s speed is directly related to the amount of resources used
- Your time is NOT free – do you really have a ton of time to try multiple solutions before finding the one that actually works?
So instead of downloading the first app that appears in search results, we suggest…
Try Hotspot Shield’s free plan
It’s not as awesome as its paid offering but still delivers quite a punch. Specifically, it includes:
- 1 device – no support for multiple simultaneous connections
- Limited streaming access – I guess you can use it for streaming albeit in a limited capacity
- Up to 2 Mbps – should be enough for web browsing and social networking
- 500 MB daily data limit – again, enough for many things
- US-only – 1 location only
Naturally, Hotspot Shield’s premium offering is much better, adding support for five devices while removing all sorts of limits. As such, it can be used for accessing any streaming service and roaming the Internet without anyone knowing “what you did last summer.” And that, we think, is the main point of a VPN service – to get you the much-needed anonymity on the Internet.
Don’t save on a VPN purchase
Yes, you can try and even use Hotspot Shield’s free plan but what you ultimately want is a rock-solid VPN that you can always rely on. And the one you can use on all your devices.
Hotspot Shield’s premium/paid offering fits that bill and so do other Best VPNs. It is up to you to make a choice, but you can hardly go wrong by picking any VPN from this list.
But since you want a “gratis” service, you will want to sign-up for Hotspot Shield first. Then, you can test it out a bit and only then make a move. After all, you want to be certain that it will deliver the goods you want.
Try it out for free today… And later decide to upgrade (or not). It’s your money, after all.