Advice Request Are Free VPNs trusted, safe, fast and reliable as Paid One?

[Aura]

Just so you know, most free VPNs will start displaying ads, which will make you think that you're infected with adware.

Hotspot Shield being one of them.

 

[BugCode]

WOAH! that's pretty scary result of poll!

 

[Winter Soldier]

I don't trust free VPN's or better, I could trust the free version of a well-known provider that also offers the paid version.
Anonymous or little-known free VPN's offer a service in exchange of your personal data, you think that your data is encrypted but you don't know where they will go and in whose hands.

 

[HarborFront]

Windscribe VPN should be good....I mean the free one

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

I didn't select either of those up there, because they don't represent my line of thought on the issue.
Someone that spends a ton of time and effort developing a software, and that plans on updating and
keeping that software valid can hardly afford to do so in this day and age for free, especially if that
software is a quality software. Arguments can be made, but I am speaking " in general" terms.
I would rather pay for a software, and know that someones time and effort will be spent making
sure I get my money's worth. It does not always turnout this way, but it does more times than not.
I was taught that for the most part "we get what we pay for". A good example is shopping at sears
as compared to shopping at the dollar store. Another good example is the unwanted ad's and sometimes
3rd party software that are present now in most free software. I am all for paying and supporting a well made
software.

 

[509322]

It depends upon what the VPN is being used for. If all a user wants is good encryption, then about any reputable VPN will provide sufficient encryption. If on the other hand, the user's goal is anonymity and privacy at the highest levels advocated by some on the web - using VPN through Tor or vice versa - then only the top paid VPNs will be adequate. That whole anonymity\privacy argument is really only applicable to people that find themselves under specific circumstances. However, the web being what it is, there are paranoid users that are needlessly going to always shoot for the extremes of protection. Anyway, to reach the highest possible anonymity, it is wrong to think that all one needs to do is install a VPN and that is it. There's a whole lot more to it.

 

[uninfected1]

There wasn't an option in the poll that stated what I thought about free VPNs so I was unable to vote. I am skeptical about them generally, but I have been happy with one or two of them, particularly Windscribe, as others have mentioned. On the other hand, paying for a VPN is no guarantee of safety.

So my advice would be to proceed with caution, but that also applies to paid VPNs.

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

Absolutely not, the free ones sell your personal data,it is this way they make money,so choose a paid one(Ekspressvpn,SurfEasy or PIA,just to mention a few,Good hunt

 

[David Hennery]

Free VPN is a grey area, I don't trust free VPNs, they are slow due to their servers, which is not good for streaming downloading, they just unblock websites and people get crazy about it, I'd rather invest into a VPN that is affordable and doesn't compromise on speed and security. Also free VPNs are likely to sell ur user data for ads that keeps on displaying while you use them, people are dumb enough to know the fact..

 

[ispx]

i voted no but not because of the security issues but because the free vpns have very few countries listed as opposed to paid vpns.

Now I'm Looking for a Free VPN for some Months!

grab the windscribe giveaway, it is still active.

 

[Asr07]

Here are 2 articles you should read about free VPNs / proxies:
- Privacy group accuses Hotspot Shield of snooping on web traffic
- Popular Chrome extension Hola sold users' bandwidth for botnets

 

[Allego]

What about ProtonVPN?

 

[Daljeet]

Reliable one's are paid like expressvpn. I don't thing so free vpn is providing support and fast connection.

What about ProtonVPN?

Most location's are for paid user.

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

Paid VPNs is better in speed, offer many locations..... Talking about security I don't know. The paid one should be more reliable than free one. But who knows how it is in fact. In the paid vpn they store your logs and you pay them for it in free vpn they store your logs for free