When choosing a VPN, you might be tempted to save money by going for a free service. After all, why pay when you can get something for nothing?
There are a number of so-called “free” providers who won’t charge you anything at all for use of their service. Still, you have to ask yourself: Why are they doing this and how are they paying their expenses?
Running a VPN service is expensive. If a “free” provider isn’t making money from customer subscriptions, they must be making it another way.
What does “free” mean?
When we’re talking about free VPNs, we don’t mean providers like hide.me who offer both free and paid subscriptions. It’s easy enough in these cases to work out how they’re keeping the lights on.
There are some VPN services though who claim to never charge their customers anything. Still, as the saying goes, if you don’t know how they’re making money, you’re the product.
Free VPNs have to sell your data to keep going
You may not have to hand over your credit card number but some “free” providers balance their books by selling customer data. This can include information like:
- The websites you visit
- Products you buy in online stores
- The locations where you connect to the VPN
- Your e-mail address
- Your social media accounts like Facebook
The list goes on but remember the whole reason VPNs exist is to protect your private data. This is why hide.me doesn’t sell your information to third parties, even for users of our free tier.
“Free” VPNs limit your freedom
There are, of course, VPN providers who are either upfront about selling your data or don’t do so. Even then though, they may place a ‘cap’ on the amount of data you can download, slow down your connection speed or even restrict certain types of content like streaming video.
You may think this sounds fair but remember, the only way these “free” VPN providers can do this is by analyzing data from your device as it arrives on their servers. This can really put your privacy at risk, unless they put safeguards in place.
For instance, if you exceed the monthly 10GB allowance for hide.me VPNs free tier, instead of recording or blocking your usage, the app will simply connect you to a random VPN server. This is done automatically. We don’t record any information on your web activities. You can also upgrade to a paid option at any time.
Malware Misfortune
VPN providers know that people are starting to take their privacy seriously and need better online protection. Unfortunately, bad actors know this too and will sometimes hide malware inside supposedly “free” VPN apps.
In 2017 researchers from CSIRO Australia, the University of South Wales and UC Berkley, analyzed 234 “free” VPN apps on the Google Play Store. They found a staggering 38% of these apps were tracking users through malware and adware. 80% of them also requested personal data on Android devices they didn’t need. Around a fifth of them didn’t encrypt VPN traffic at all.
iPhone Users aren’t immune
iPhone users can’t afford to feel smug either: in the same year a fake VPN app containing malware called “Mobile Protect” was downloaded thousands of times, becoming one of the Top 10 on the Apple app store before it was taken down.
Of course, both Google and Apple have safeguards to stop dangerous apps from being made available for download. The best way to make sure your VPN app is safe though is to install only those from reliable VPN providers.
Freedom of choice
Whatever VPN provider you choose, remember that a reliable paid service is always going to be the safest and most effective.
Making money through user subscriptions means they can afford to maintain their servers and keep their software up to date without selling your personal data. Make sure your VPN provider also has a clear privacy policy. Read through it carefully before signing up to find out exactly what data is collected and why.
What does “no logging” actually mean?
Many “free” VPNs will claim to have a “no logging” policy: that is to say, they don’t record your personal data like websites you visit. As you’ve seen, this is unlikely given that so many of them sell your data.
Still, even if they don’t actually claim to share your information with others, you can’t take their word for it. The gold standard for “no logging” is always those providers who allow their networks to be independently audited by trusted experts, as we do at hide.me.
This means you can be sure that no data is being stored or sold. Security experts can also check both the server and client software to make sure there are no hidden security bugs or malware.
Premium Features
Most paid VPN providers will offer you something above and beyond a regular VPN connection. First and foremost they can afford to maintain multiple servers across many countries. This is very useful if you’re trying to access a service that restricts VPN use like Netflix, as if one server’s blocked, you can switch to another.
Certain providers may even offer “double VPN” or “multi hop” where your internet traffic is encrypted and tunnelled through 2 or more VPN servers. This gives you extra security as if one is compromised, your data is still safe.
Unlike “free” VPNs, paid providers usually offer you a variety of different VPN protocols, such as Wireguard or OpenVPN.
Isn’t a free VPN better than no VPN at all?
It’s fine to talk about premium features like multiple servers, unlimited bandwidth with no data cap and so on but what if you simply can’t afford a paid VPN subscription? In that case isn’t it better to use a free VPN service than none at all?
You’ve already learned that some of these “free” providers can be actually worse than accessing the internet directly. Luckily though, you have another choice: use a trustworthy VPN provider like hide.me which offers both free and paid tiers. Even if the free tier comes with some subscriptions, you have a much better chance that your information is safe.
To Free or not to Free?
Remember, your personal data is valuable. The websites you visit, the apps you use, the shows you watch, your e-mail address, and social media contacts are big money to bad actors.
When you establish a connection to the VPN server, all your web data is sent through an encrypted “tunnel”. This means neither your ISP nor anyone with access to their records will know what sites you use or what type of content you access.
Even if a website tries to trace you through your unique IP address, then all they’ll see is the address and location of the VPN server. This can keep you safe from hackers trying to target your device.
Your security is at stake. Choose wisely.
This is precisely why signing up for a reliable VPN service is so important. Done right, you’re much safer from online snoopers, targeted ads and hackers. If done wrong, you could actually end up undermining your privacy. There’s a hidden cost to paying nothing for your VPN. An untrustworthy free VPN provider can log or sell your data. They can even spy on you.
Make sure to check out both our free and Premium plans for the very best in security and online privacy. There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try our service with no obligation.
Is it worth getting a paid VPN?
Choosing a reliable, paid VPN provider means you get a much better selection of servers, faster speeds and sometimes even extra features like support for P2P downloads and Double VPN/Multihop.
If you’re not sure which service is right for you, sign up with a provider that offers a no-questions refund on your first month’s subscription so you can try it out.
We love bringing you this content and hope it helps keep you safe and secure online. Feel free to share it with your friends, too.
Here at hide.me we are all about internet freedom, and we are happy to be in a position to bring that to everyone. That is why we give you a 30-day money-back guarantee on our Premium plan. No questions asked and no logs recorded.
If you have any questions, please feel to contact our 24/7 support team either at support@hide.me or via live chat.
