5 things to look out for when choosing a free VPN

For the modern user, having a good VPN service at hand is a matter of personal digital hygiene. Even if you don’t plan to use a virtual network to bypass regional locks, it’s still important for security. For example, it is recommended to access the Internet through public Wi-Fi points only through a VPN.

Recently we told about some great free VPN services. But if you still want to choose a service for yourself, pay attention to the following points.

Number and location of servers

Probably the most important parameters for a VPN service are the number and location of servers. The workload of the service and, accordingly, the speed of the Internet depends on the total number of servers.

Location affects which resources you get access to. If you want to use a VPN for a service that only works in the United States and Western Europe, it makes no sense to build a virtual tunnel to China.

Important: pay attention to which servers are available for free. Too often, VPNs are loud about servers in dozens of countries around the world, but only give access to a couple of them for free. If you plan to use a VPN for free, pay attention to free servers.

Availability of an automatic “emergency button”

Once an encrypted VPN tunnel is laid down, it is important to know that it will stay that way. Therefore, another important requirement is the presence of an “emergency button” or a clear connection indication system. This is a feature that automatically disconnects the connection if the VPN is disconnected. Or at least clearly warns that there is no more encryption and the user works directly.

Privacy Policy

Here you will have to do something that usually no one does. Namely, read the user agreement. By using a VPN, you are relying on the services of a third party. Your data goes through other people’s servers, which means, in theory, the owners of VPN services can have access to them. Of course, no self-respecting service will abuse this opportunity, because the reputation of the company depends on it. However, it is still recommended to study the agreement. Pay attention to whether the service saves logs of visits, if so, for how long. This is especially important if you plan to use a VPN for activities that may look ambiguous or not entirely legal from some points of view.

Supported Platforms

It’s good to have VPN access on all types of devices you use. Especially — on portable devices, since they are the ones who have to deal with public Wi-Fi points.

Traffic limit

As a rule, free VPN services offer limited traffic. For example, TunnelBear gives only 500 MB per month, and WindScribe — as much as 10 GB. But occasionally there are options with unlimited traffic. Among them is the Swiss-based ProtonVPN, the built-in VPN of the Opera and ZenMate browsers, which works through a Chrome browser extension.