- If you care at all about your security and privacy,
the number one question you need to ask yourself
before downloading any free VPN is this.
In this world,
you get what you pay for,
but if you're looking for a free VPN,
I'm not gonna stop you.
I am however going to warn you about the dangers,
what you can expect,
and of course give you recommendations
on the very few services
that I would even consider using.
Welcome to All Things Secured,
my name is Josh and I've been using VPNs
for over a decade now to bypass the censorship,
stream content and of course add that extra layer
of security when I'm on an untrusted network.
Now there's a lot that I think is important
for you to understand
before you download and use a free VPN.
But if you're strapped for time
and you just wanna connect,
open up the app store on your windows, Mac, iOS
or Android device, and search for Atlas VPN.
You literally download, open the program and click connect,
you don't have to create an account,
but you are limited to only three server options
and fairly slow speeds.
That alone is worth a simple like on this video, right?
Just hit that like, but hold on,
if you care about your security and privacy at all,
the number one question you need to ask yourself
before you download any free VPN is this,
how are they making money?
Because trust me, there is no company
in the market today that is paying developers,
investing in marketing and renting servers
all across the globe as a service.
"The good of humanity."
Nope, they make their money somehow.
Paid VPNs do it through subscription fees,
but free VPNs are often more sneaky about their income.
Some of them are paid to deploy malware on user devices
which means that the moment you download their software,
you've been infected with additional malicious code.
Other free VPNs track and sell your data
to third-party companies
and before you say something dumb like
"I have nothing to hide",
please understand that your identity
is both valuable and costly to lose,
so don't be foolish about it.
The only type of free VPN that I recommend to people,
are those that run on what's known as a freemium model.
What this means is that they can offer the free service
because the costs are covered
and offset by their paid customers.
And in order to make that worthwhile for them,
they often put restrictions on the free versions,
including data caps, speed caps,
limited server options, limited protocol options,
limited feature options, and so on, and so on.
The freemium model allows you to try out the software
but it gives the company the leverage
to push you towards their paid offering.
And this is good
because it satisfies the question we asked earlier
which is, how does this free VPN make money?
Fairy clear on that I'm gonna share with you
the only three VPNs I feel comfortable recommending here
on All Things Secured,
including the limitations you'll run into with each of them.
First, as I mentioned at the beginning of this video,
there's Atlas VPN.
I love the fact that you don't have to create
an account to get started,
and that I was successfully
to stream Netflix when connected.
There are no data caps here either.
However, you'll be limited to only three servers,
two in the U S and one in the Netherlands.
The speeds are enough to stream a show in my experience
but the quality wasn't great
because it was still too slow.
You're stuck with an older IPsec encryption protocol,
but to be fair they don't offer other options
on the premium plan either.
My number two recommendation
for free VPN comes from a company
that also happens to make
my favorite secure email alternative G-mail, Proton.
As far as security goes, I like Proton VPN more
than Atlas because they use the standard open VPN protocol
for their encryption.
They also give you seven day free access
to their premium plus plan,
which includes options for both tore over VPN,
as well as a double VPN feature they call, secure core.
Once that seven day trial expires though,
your free account will only give you three location options,
slower speed, no torrent support,
and it doesn't work on streaming services like Netflix.
Proton as a company has a great reputation.
And like I said, their secure email product is my favorite.
The free VPN service doesn't feel
like a good long-term option to me,
but then again, I don't think any
of these services are a great long-term solution.
Finally, my last recommendation is TunnelBear.
This is the quintessential example of a freemium model
because, they even tell you on the sales page
that the purpose is for testing and limited usage.
The biggest limit here is the cap on data
which is set at 500 megabytes.
Nowadays that's honestly not going to get you very far,
but again, you're getting what you pay for.
I like the fact that you can download TunnelBear knowing
with a high degree of confidence,
that their business model is simply trying
to get you to pay for their service,
not to sell your data or install some malware
on your device.
Is a free VPN even worth downloading?
But if your purpose is to test out VPNs
or use it for a very short period of time then sure,
I can safely recommend these options to you.
But if you're trying to unblock streaming content,
or you have even the slightest desire to maintain privacy
and security in the long-term,
you're eventually gonna wanna pay for the service.
It's not that expensive,
and now you know for sure how the business is making money.
What do you think?
Is a free VPN worth the risk and the limitations?
Let me know in the comments below
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