Which free VPN to choose?

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The spontaneous answer to the question which free VPN to choose it should only be one, that is: none! However, we know the word compromise well and we know that sometimes and in some situations it may be necessary to want to use one without being able to afford it a few euros a month. We also know that answering that way inevitably leads a person in need to consider the first free VPN that comes out on Google. This is also why we decided to create this article: to help you avoid installing things haphazardly and found by chance.

But why would the spontaneous answer be none? Well, because VPNs are potentially a very important pocket of information and precious data that many companies use and exploit (and often resell ¹) without your knowledge. Maintaining a VPN has a significant cost and offering it for free to all people without asking for anything in return is definitely a wake-up call that should not be underestimated in any way.

Which free VPN to choose?

Often, among other things, many VPNs they are part of one big family and free VPNs are nothing more than a decoy. Finally, let's try to summarize in which contexts it can be useful and interesting to use a VPN.

At what Not you need a VPN

A VPN, free or not, will not make you anonymous or invisible on the internet. The IP address is just one of many ways to be able to recognize you ² and it is not by changing it that you will magically become another person.

Read the article too Do I need a VPN to avoid being tracked?

What can a VPN be used for?

A VPN, free or not, is not necessarily useless. It can be useful, for example, to hide traffic from your provider and can therefore also be very useful if you have to connect to other people's Wi-Fi.

It can also be useful in some cases such as when a service is blocked in your country ³ and you want make believe to arrive from another state.

Which free VPN to choose? The list

But starting from these assumptions, how is it possible that we created an article on free VPNs?

We do this because the ones we suggest have been carefully selected and chosen and for each of these there is a valid reason to be able to relatively trustworthy of their work. Let's see them together!

Proton VPN

Open source
free version with limitations
security audits and no-logs
choice between 3 countries: United States, Japan and the Netherlands
.onion address available

It's the only commercial VPN that offers a free service we trust. Proton VPN offers servers in three different countries: the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands ⁴. Their servers and their VPN have passed security audits and no-logs, meaning that even in the free version you are sure that the servers are reliable and that they will not track your actions.

Obviously there are limitations compared to the paid version: you will not be able to take advantage of the Secure Core and you will not be able to use it to download Torrents or for streaming for example.

Riseup VPN

Open source
totally free
servers in Europe (France and the Netherlands)
no registration required

One of the few free VPNs that you could trust is that of the Riseup collective. It is in fact an autonomous collective managed by volunteers who ensure not to keep any logs ⁵ and which offers some servers completely free of charge. However, if you use it consistently, it is highly recommended that you do one donation because the VPN servers are maintained only and exclusively thanks to the donations received!

You can choose which server to connect to France (Paris), Netherlands (Amsterdam), United States (Miami, Seattle, New York) and Canada (Montreal). The connection is stable but not very fast, but it is certainly perfect for hiding your IP address during daily browsing.

One of the most interesting things is that it can be used by anyone without any registration.

Their software to connect to the VPN is Open source and it's a Fork of the application Bitmask.

Calyx VPN

Open source
totally free
servers in the United States
no registration required

The Calyx Institute is a nonprofit organization founded in New York in 2010 ⁶ that works to protect privacy and make digital security accessible to everyone. Among many things she is probably best known for her alternative operating system CalyxOS.

It is with these assumptions therefore that we suggest using their free VPN, even if it has servers exclusively in the United States. Also their free app and Open source it's a Fork of the application Bitmask and their VPN, like that of Riseup, can also be used without providing any identification and works without registrations of any kind.

Unlike other providers, they claim to collect some data such as the IP address but to delete these logs regularly (it is not said how often) ⁷.

Orbot

Open source
totally free
uses the Tor network
no registration required

Finally we come to Orbot, a decidedly interesting application that works differently from the previous ones. Meanwhile, for example, it is possible to activate it only on certain applications. For example, do you want only WhatsApp to use Orbot? Well, just select WhatsApp and only its traffic will pass on the Tor network. Here, this is the other different thing: there is no company behind it and there are no real servers as happens with VPNs but you will connect using the Tor network.

So you have the advantage of the security of the Tor network although obviously one of the disadvantages is the slowness of the network itself. However, it is really an excellent alternative because even if it is not born as a real VPN it can be used as such and if your aim is to simply hide your IP address or your traffic from your provider thanks to Orbot you can do it without problems.

The application was developed by Guardian Project and you can also find it on F-Droid but only adding theirs Repositories.

1. Be cautious, free VPNs are selling your data to 3rd parties[↩]
2. What is the Fingerprinting?[↩]
3. ChatGPT disabled in Italy. The question of data and the reasons for the blockade by the Privacy Guarantor[↩]
4. Free VPN servers for unlimited privacy[↩]
5. VPN Security[↩]
6. Calyx Institute[↩]
7. II. Information That We Collect[↩]

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