- The Mac VPN offered by VyprVPN is one of the most stable VPN app available for Mac users today. VyprVPN supports Mac machines with OSX 10.10 or higher operating system. The VPN service makes use of L2TP/IPSec and the Chameleon OpenVPN for its Mac VPN.
- Best Free Mac VPN Services & Apps The best way to select a VPN service for Mac is to make use of a free trial with a provider offering limited free accounts ahead of unlocking their premium paid VPN accounts so you can enjoy a service without paying.
- These are the best VPN providers for Mac on the market today because each of them offers dedicated VPN clients that are optimized for macOS systems. Furthermore, they each provide world-class security and reliability, a large global network of server locations, and excellent speeds for Mac users.
It's no surprise that free VPN downloads have become so popular. Installing a VPN gives your Windows PC, Mac, Android device or iPhone an extra layer of security. And the extra functionality that their URL-shifting nature gives - watching sports and TV in other countries, getting around geo-blocked websites, anonymous torrenting - means that there's little surprise free VPNs are so highly sought after.
Top Free Vpn App For Mac
On this page, you'll find our pick of the best free Virtual Private Networking options available to download today. We've tested and retested dozens of them and assessed their ability to keep your online activity safe and anonymous without you having to spend a cent. That goes whether you're looking for the best free VPN for Android, iPhone, Mac or your Windows PC.
[Save 49%] ExpressVPN Special Deal - Get 3 months free with an annual plan on Techradar's #1 Rated VPN ExpressVPN is our top choice for the best all-round VPN on the Mac. The firm's dedicated app. The List: The Best Free VPNs for Mac. So with that, let’s go over the list of the best free VPNs for Mac users. Windscribe comes with a free version. For those who want a little bit more, the price is affordable starting at $9 a month and going down with a longer commitment. Every list is going to have Windscribe on it. View in Mac App Store. With Best VPN, you will be able to. Best VPN is free to download and offers 7-days trials for monthly.
The best free VPN at the moment is Hotspot Shield Free. We really like the fact that - despite the fact it's a freebie - you still get cover for five devices at the same time from just one account. The data usage limit is more generous than other packages, too.
But (there's always one) is it really possible to get a good and completely free VPN that does the job you need? The answer is.. sort of. Ultimately, if you're looking for a free VPN for casual use you will find something that meets your needs - just so long as you are happy with the limitations that free VPNs usually come with.
And before we get stuck in to our list of the best free VPNs, it's worth knowing that a paid-for version can cost as little as $3 per month and can give you much better performance and protection, so we'd recommend checking out the overall best VPN service page as well. Just remember: free VPNs may cost nothing but there is usually a good reason for that - it might be that the provider may be turning a profit with invasive advertising or, in some cases, by selling on data to third-parties (rather defeating the whole drive for privacy in the first place).
The best VPN in the world right now is: ExpressVPN
We have reviewed more than one hundred VPN providers, both free and paid and our top recommendation right now is ExpressVPN. That's because, while it's a paid option, its speed and robustness as well as the servers it has in nearly 100 countries worldwide and accommodates almost any of your devices.
We have reviewed more than one hundred VPN providers, both free and paid and our top recommendation right now is ExpressVPN. That's because, while it's a paid option, its speed and robustness as well as the servers it has in nearly 100 countries worldwide and accommodates almost any of your devices.
It's not free, but it does come with a 30-day no-quibble money back guarantee and we highly recommend trying it over any free options - plus if you use the following link, you can claim 3 months free with an annual plan!
- Check out our guide to the best VPN of 2019
- The best US VPN
The best free VPN in 2019:
1. Hotspot Shield Free VPN
Number of servers: N/A | Server locations: 25 | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 5
1 month
Easy-to-use
Security focused
Set up is a bit fiddly
Not only is Hotspot Shield Free one of the better known free VPN options in our rankings, we also reckon it's the best. You can choose to anchor yourself to one of 25 countries if you pay for the Elite version of Hotspot, and this should enable you to access just about anything you want; in the free version, you're limited to locations that Hotspot Shield chooses for you and put up with ads.
Those on the free plan can protect up to five devices simultaneously, and are limited to 500MB of data per day (so around 15GB per month). That may sound restrictive, but compared to TunnelBear below, it's actually one of the more generous free VPN limits. If security is your sole aim, then Hotspot is on the same wavelength, boasting 'military-grade encryption' - comforting if you do your banking and shopping online or by mobile.
In addition to security, Hotspot Shield Free also won plaudits in our testing for being so friendly to use. Whether on its mobile version or on desktop, you won't find it the hair-pulling user experience offered by some competitors.
That said, getting started is a little bit of a pain with Hotspot requiring you to go through a seven-day trial of the premium version first. That's all very well and good, but that involves giving them your credit card details in case you decide to carry on with the full version once the trial is completed. However, can of course then go for the free version once the premium trial has expired.
Want to try Hotspot Shield Free? You can download it here
2. TunnelBear
Protecting your identity doesn't get easier than this – TunnelBear is the best free VPN you can download today
Number of servers: ~1,000 | Server locations: 20+ | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 5
1 month
Really user-friendly
Not many options or settings
TunnelBear might have something of a cutesy design, but it's a serious free VPN, especially after its acquisition by security giant, McAfee. There are free and paid-for subscriptions to choose from. The only restriction with the free plan is that you are limited to 500MB of traffic each month. This isn't a huge amount, so you won’t be able to use TunnelBear all of the time without paying, but it's great for those times when you feel like you need a little extra protection and want to go down the VPN free route. TunnelBear offers a range of paid-for plans that remove the restrictions associated with the free plan, like the download limit, the numbers of countries available and the amount of connected devices. TechRadar has secured an exclusive deal from TunnelBear that gives you all this for as little as $4.99 per month, that's a whopping 58% saving.
It’s also interesting to note that TunnelBear recently tuned up its privacy policy, so the VPN now collects even less data on users – removing the need to supply a first name to sign up, and ditching its record of the user’s number of total lifetime connections.
- Want to get TunnelBear for free? You can download it here
- Buy TunnelBear Premium for as little as $4.99 per month
3. Windscribe
Super secure, with a very generous data cap, Windscribe is a top-notch free VPN
Number of servers: N/A | Server locations: 10 | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: Unlimited
1 month
10GB of data per month
Android client is flawed
Windscribe is a relative newcomer to the free VPN scene, but its generous data allowance and commitment to protecting your privacy make it the best around if you need more data than the 500MB free tier with TunnelBear. You get 10GB bandwidth per month as standard and can choose from ten remote server locations with the Windscribe VPN free including UK, Hong Kong, Canada and US VPN). Best note taking app for mac 2016. You only need to create a username and password to sign up (an email address is optional, but might prove handy if you forget your password).
Windscribe doesn’t store connection logs, IP stamps, or visited sites; when you’re actively connected to a server it stores your username, the VPN server you’re connected to and the amount of data transferred, but this is erased within three minutes of the session ending. Tweeting about the provider will earn you an extra 5GB, and you’ll get 1GB each time you invite a friend to join.
As an added perk, if anyone you’ve referred decides to upgrade to a Pro subscription (starting at around $4 per month billed annually), you’ll get the unlimited plan as well and far more servers (60+ in total). If that isn’t enough to tempt you, there’s even a built-in adblocker and firewall. Give it a try today – we think you’ll be impressed.
- Want to try Windscribe? You can download it here
4. Speedify
Want a secure yet speedy connection? Then look no further
Number of servers: 200+ | Server locations: 50+ | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 1
1 month
Nifty performance boosting tech
Software has few low-level controls
Speedify, as the name suggests, has one main aim as a free VPN provider: to ensure that while you benefit from encryption, your internet connection remains as speedy as possible. To that end, this provider will make use of all available internet connections to get the best possible performance, potentially combining, say, an Ethernet connection (fixed broadband) with a tethered mobile 3G/4G connection. Even if you only have one type of internet connection, the firm claims its turbocharging technology will still help speed things up.
The free plan boasts full access to those servers (just as with the subscription options), the only restriction of the free offering being that you’re limited in the amount of data you can download. Free users get 5GB of data each month, but that drops to 1GB during subsequent months. That’s not a huge allowance, and certainly not as much as some other rivals you’ll see elsewhere on this page, but it’s more than some, and still enough for covering some basic surfing and email duties. And this VPN provider is definitely worth a look on the performance front, as during our testing, the aforementioned speed-granting technologies did actually prove themselves to have a positive effect.
Want to try Speedify? You can download it here
5. ProtonVPN Free
You won’t be constrained by a monthly data allowance with this free VPN
Number of servers: N/A | Server locations: 3 | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 1
1 month
No monthly data limits
One device limit
ProtonVPN is another provider that offers a free VPN alongside a paid option, but the former has some very strong points, the most notable of which is that it doesn’t impose any bandwidth restrictions. In other words, you’re free to use as much data as you want every month. There are, naturally enough, limitations for the free plan to incentivize upgrading to the paid offering. And ProtonVPN Free’s restrictions include limiting you to only one device, only three locations, and free users get a lower priority when it comes to speed compared to paying subscribers. There’s no P2P support either. But if you can live with that, this is an impressive provider with a strict no logging policy, and you can sign up with nothing more than your email address. There aren’t even any ads on the website, let alone the client.
Speaking of clients, there are a good range of these – with native software for Windows PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, plus Android – and we found performance levels were pretty solid too. However, speeds may drop at peak times when lots of users are around and paying folks get priority; at which point you may be tempted to upgrade to a paid plan. But clearly, with its unlimited data allowance, this is one freebie which is well worth considering.
Want to try ProtonVPN Free? You can download it here
6. Hide.me
You’re on a hiding to something with this privacy-conscious VPN
Number of servers: N/A | Server locations: 3 | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 1
1 month
Strong on privacy
Limited to one device
Hide.me offers both paid and free VPN providers, with the latter giving you 2GB of data per month to play with. There are other limits too: you can only connect a maximum of one device, and are limited to three server locations (Singapore, Canada, and Netherlands) rather than the 30 locations paying subscribers get. On the plus side, however, this provider won’t throttle the connection speed of free users, and Hide.me further promises that it keeps no logs and stores no user data, so won’t pass on any data to third-parties in order to try and make a profit (simply because it doesn’t have any data to pass on). There are no adverts here, either.
You get native software for Windows PC and Mac, Android and iOS, with the Windows client being smartly designed, plus there’s 24/7 technical support (which is in place even for free users). Performance was impressive in our testing, too. Overall, then, this is a more-than-solid free offering which tries to maintain your privacy, without too many restrictions.
Want to try Hide.me? You can download it here
7. SurfEasy (Opera Free VPN)
A good argument for switching your browser?
Number of servers: 1000 | Server locations: 25 | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 5
1 month
Five simultaneous devices allowed
500MB monthly data limit
SurfEasy is a Canadian-based free VPN from the same organization responsible for the Opera web browser, and indeed it’s bundled within Opera as an integrated VPN. There are both paid and free offerings, with the latter not restricting the amount of devices you can use – free users can hook up a maximum of five devices simultaneously, just like paid subscribers. You also get 1,000 servers across 25 countries, and a very user-friendly Windows PC client. Performance is solid enough, although we found that some longer distance trips to more remote servers (i.e. the US) could be rather sluggish.
The main restriction here is a monthly data limit of 500MB, which means you won’t get very much mileage out of this VPN on a free basis, and it’s really for very light or occasional use only (or testing it if you’re looking at signing up for a paid plan). It’s important to note, though, that if you’re using the Opera browser with its integrated VPN, there’s no data limit here (at least for protecting your browsing activities). Which could be a compelling argument to switch from the likes of Chrome or Firefox…
Want to try SurfEasy? You can download it here
8. PrivateTunnel
A free VPN that’ll keep your data and identity safe on any PC or mobile device
Number of servers: N/A | Server locations: 9 | IP addresses: N/A | Maximum devices supported: 3
1 month
Wide range of clients
Limited choice of locations
Like some of the other free VPN providers featured in this roundup, PrivateTunnel is available for a number of platforms – specifically Windows PC, Mac, Android and iOS. Another characteristic shared with many of its contemporaries is the existence of a limited, free package in addition to paid-for subscriptions. Well, sort of. Rather than offering a traditional monthly subscription package, you are instead provided with 200MB of non-expiring data to use as you want. When this runs out, you can purchase more data in bundles of 20GB or 100GB. If you feel that you'd like to use PrivateTunnel all the time, you can opt for a $30 per year package which give you unlimited data – see the 200MB as something of a taster session to see if you like everything. As a VPN, PrivateTunnel works fairly well, although connections can be a little temperamental at times. It's all very easy to use, so there's little reason not to take it for a test drive.
Want to try PrivateTunnel? You can download it here
- We also reviewed dozens of VPN providers and listed the best ones in our updated best VPN buyer's guide.
Today's very best free VPN providers compared
at
1 monthat
1 monthat
1 monthat
N/A
28
Ease of use
Speedy connection
1
N/A
No
How to choose a free VPN: 5 must-ask questions
The couple of years have witnessed the rise of global threats to individual privacy with long maintained rights to anonymity and net neutrality being undermined with a cloak of legitimacy.
While VPN - virtual private networks - are not the panacea to being safe, secure and private on the internet, it is an essential component of the arsenal for individuals inclined to seek these liberties.
If you don’t have a VPN yet, you can grab one for free, without having to pay a single penny for one. Just be careful though as not all free VPN providers are created equal and some might even compromise your security.
Here are five questions you need to ask yourself before you download and install one.
1. What is its business model? VPN providers are in for the money and running such a business does cost a lot especially if it is a popular one. Some, like Tunnelbear, will use free, just like Dropbox, as a marketing tool to entice potential customers to move to a paid version once they are happy with the free one. Most however will sell user data or provide a something to a third party that will, again, compromise your privacy.
2. How does it protect my PC? Most VPN providers usually use a desktop application that runs in the background encrypting your data while you surf the web. However, that’s only solves part of the problem. Your laptop can still be fingerprinted because of the permissiveness of tracking solutions that can be found on almost all websites online. A few, including WIndscribe, have a more holistic approach by integrating the equivalent of a super ad-blocker
3. What do I lose by going free? Usually one can expect a free product to have some corners cut and that is indeed the case for all VPN providers. Some offer more free bandwidth than others, major locations and even ad blocking, P2P and firewall with an easy paid for upgrade path that unlocks unlimited bandwidth with more locations and OpenVPN Configs.
4. Does your provider log anything? Make sure that your provider doesn’t store users’ internet activity. You can usually check that in the terms and conditions page or the end user license agreement, commonly known as EULA. Sadly, a lot of VPN providers prefer to frustrate end users with long T&Cs or privacy statements that often hide significant details about how they operate. On the other end of the spectrum are VPN providers that will erase everything after your session closes and don’t keep logs.
5. Can I sign up completely anonymously? Having a VPN provider that you can subscribe to without an email address and one that accepts Bitcoin payments, for maximum privacy, is pretty much the best you can expect online. Some providers also offer double hopping where you can obfuscate your traffic further by essentially doubling down on privacy.
Looking for a VPN for your smartphone or tablet? Then head to either of our guides to:
Let’s be blunt: you don’t want people seeing what you’re doing on the Internet. Whether it be looking at adult websites, trying to get around government firewalls to get to censored information, or want to use torrents and don’t want nasty letters from your Internet Service provider when you do.
Or you’re at a public WiFi and don’t want that guy sitting in the corner with the packet sniffer to see all of your banking information and start buying jewelry for his girlfriend with your credit card.
This is why using a trusted Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider is a good idea. Nobody can tell what you’re looking at or downloading, because your connection through VPN is encrypted. All the Internet provider, whether it be your cable company or where you work, knows is you’ve connected to a VPN, and that’s it. What you do from there is private, and only for you to know.
Just remember – there’s a difference between having a VPN, and a VPN provider or tunnel. Anyone can set up a VPN between any two or more computers. This way they can all communicate with each other without anyone snooping in. A VPN provider lets you make an encrypted connection to a network that then connects you to the rest of the Internet. Depending on the speed and quality of the VPN connection, it’s just like connecting directly through your local WiFi or Internet connection.
The following is a list of the best free VPNs for Mac. A really good VPN connection can cost anywhere from $10 to $30 a month, but these are just as good for getting started.
The List: The Best Free VPNs for Mac
So with that, let’s go over the list of the best free VPNs for Mac users.
1. NordVPN
NordVPN employs military-grade, 256-bit key AES encryption to keep your online data safe. If you are serious about protecting your online identity and anonymity, you will be better served by purchasing a full-featured VPN. We believe that NordVPN is your best choice.
Note: Get one of the best VPNs out there with 75% OFF. For a limited time only, you can get NordVPN for only $2.99 a month
Some of the features that bring NordVPN on top of the list:
- The ability to hide your IP to keep your Internet activity anonymous.
- Support for six simultaneous connections that can be used on your Mac as well as Windows, iOS, and Android devices.
- Automatic kill-switch that shuts down your connection if your VPN connectivity is interrupted.
- Onion over VPN routes traffic through Nord’s VPN and then sends it to the Onion Router for added protection, such as when accessing the dark web.
- SmartPlay technology that ensures access to over 400 geo-restricted streaming services such as Netflix, Pandora, and Amazon Prime.
- Double data protection sends your data through two VPN servers before reaching its destination, effectively encrypting your data twice.
How to use Nord VPN for Free:
- Start your risk-free NordVPN trial, you can cancel your subscription at any time. There are no costs.
- NordVPN offers 30-day money-back guarantee. Flexible pricing plans make it easy to try this valuable privacy tool.
2. Windscribe
Windscribe comes with a free version. For those who want a little bit more, the price is affordable starting at $9 a month and going down with a longer commitment.
Every list is going to have Windscribe on it. It meets all of our target points:
- Secure with AES-256 encryption.
- Private by not keeping logs. Which means even if someone requests they identify what a customer accesses, they can’t because they don’t store the information.
- Robust with servers in 55 countries and 110 cities, so you know wherever you go there’s a way to connect reliably.
- 10 GB per month of bandwidth traffic.
Windscribe provides a VPN client for Mac, but also has Windows and Linux clients for users of other operating systems. Even better, it can be integrated into browsers like Chrome or Firefox with an extension, so you can just connect the browser through their VPN, and off you go.
3. ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN provides their security with what they call the “Secure Core”. Rather than just have their users connect and then route them to the Internet through one location, they protect users by forwarding the traffic through multiple servers. This means that people won’t be able to find out where the original computer connected from, increasing your privacy.
Along with these features, it includes:
- Security with AES-256 encryption
- Forward Secrecy where each connection receives new encryption key, so even if someone traced your transmissions before, they can’t use that information to decrypt new ones.
- Legal protection being based in Switzerland, where privacy laws are the strongest in the world.
ProtonVPN also features no logs so users don’t have to worry that their information will be betrayed later. They include clients for Windows and Mac VPN connections. As an added plus, ProtonVPN has physical security from the use of an old fallout shelter. War never changes, but with strong physical and encryption security, ProtonVPN can keep your connection secure.
4. TunnelBear
We didn’t pick TunnelBear just because it’s an adorable name with a mascot that looks like what would happen if Mario was turned into a bear and came out of a warp pipe.
TunnelBear, like the other services, features protections like AES 256-bit encryption and no logging.
What TunnelBear adds is a strong push for protection with:
- 500 MB of available data, plus another 1 GB if you tweet about them.
- VPN blocking protection: Some websites and Internet services will block users if they detect that the connection is coming in from a VPN. TunnelBear has systems that make these connection less detectable, so your communication can still go through while protected.
- Vigilant Mode: This is a very cool feature. If a security issue is detected at any point, then TunnelBear will cut off all unsecured traffic until connections are properly restored. So when something tries to breach the connection, you can be assured that people can’t try to get around and see what’s happening through unsecured channels.
TunnelBear has services in 20 countries, and it’s expanding all the time.
5. Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield is one of the most popular choices out there.
It has a free VPN option that includes both 128 and 256-bit AES encryption, and features like:
- Connection for up to 5 different devices. Most of the free VPN offerings only allow one connection at a time, while HotSpot Shield allows 5 different devices to connect through the same account.
- Kill Switch: When a connection issue through the VPN occurs, the computer can start trying to use the regular insecure connection rather than the secure encrypted VPN connection. The Kill Switch stops all communication from the computer to the Internet until the VPN connection is restored, so the traffic that needs to stay private is “always” private.
- 2500 servers across the globe. This means wherever you go, there’s going to be a local connection that keeps up the speed and security.
Honorable Mention: VPN Gate
VPN Gate is interesting because it’s the outgrowth of an academic project. It’s made up of public VPN relay servers, so it’s a community of people working together to provide secure communications for others. It allows protection for people trying to get through government firewalls or just wanting to secure their connection over public WiFi connections.
Being a university project, it has clients for any number of operations systems, including a Mac VPN client.
Because of this, it has some features the others don’t:
- No registration. Every other service listed requires people to register in the hopes that eventually they’ll move to the paid version. VPN Gate doesn’t have a paid version, so it doesn’t need registration – just install the client and go.
- Additional users: Users can register to host VPN servers to add to the project, so it’s always growing as the community pitches in.
VPN Gate is a fascinating experiment, and for those just looking to do some secure browsing without a ton of extra features, it’s a great fit.
The Qualifications for Best VPN Service
Picking the best VPN for Mac OS X comes down to three things:
Reliability ✅
A VPN is no good if you can’t connect to it. The biggest issue with free VPN providers is they usually provide fewer servers or slower access speed, and reserve the better systems for paying customers. Kind of a “try it out and upgrade later” system.
Security ?
People use a VPN provider to keep their browsing and download habits private. So the connection has to use current encryption algorithms to keep hackers and other undesirables out.
Speed ?
There’s not much of a reason to connect to a VPN provider that makes you feel like you’re using an old dial-up modem. A good VPN provider provides fast access so you aren’t spending all day waiting for something to happen.
It’s Your Privacy
Your information, your browsing habits, your connections with the world are your business, and not anyone else’s. Don’t give up your privacy to use a public connection, or even within the privacy of your own home. A good VPN for Mac can let you explore the world without fear. Hopefully, this list has helped make your life easier, and more secure.