After putting around 30 VPN services through their paces, we’re sharing our objective ranking of the best free VPNs in 2026. We also explain a tip for using the best paid VPN “for free” for 30 days. Bear in mind that some no-bank-card VPNs come with genuine risks, so it’s wise to stay alert if your goal is to protect your online privacy.
Best free VPNs in 2026
The first four VPNs below come with either a trial period or a money-back guarantee. The five that follow are entirely free. Proton VPN appears in both groups: its paid plan is covered by a 30-day guarantee, while its free plan remains the benchmark among €0 options.
- NordVPN, the best VPN with a 30-day no-strings trial
- Proton VPN, the only fully open-source codebase, 30-day guarantee
- ExpressVPN, 30-day money-back guarantee
- CyberGhost, 45-day money-back guarantee
- Proton VPN Free
- Hide.me
- PrivadoVPN
- Windscribe
- TunnelBear
Paid VPN vs free: which should you choose?
The very best VPNs on the market are all officially paid. In return, you get maximum online security, excellent speeds, a large server network, and responsive customer support. You won’t find that combination with any free VPN-even the ones we cover in the comparison below, updated in July 2026.
Free plans inevitably mean fewer servers, fewer countries, bandwidth caps, reduced speeds, or even network weaknesses that can spoil everyday browsing. Some providers also collect user data and sell it on for commercial purposes. That’s why we recommend extra caution when choosing this kind of software.
Best VPNs with a free trial
Given the limitations above, we’ll start with the best VPNs that effectively let you try a premium service free of charge for 30 to 45 days, depending on the provider. If that’s not what you want and you’d rather use a fully free VPN long-term, skip ahead to the section dedicated to no-bank-card VPNs.
1. NordVPN – the best free VPN for 30 days
As one of the most highly regarded paid VPNs in the world, NordVPN promises robust online security, ultra-fast speeds, a broad server network, and 24/7 live chat support. In day-to-day use, it quietly runs in the background while keeping you properly anonymous online.
NordVPN remains a major reference, and its 30-day trial window lets you try it without commitment: simply cancel within that period to receive a full refund. Pricing sits at 3,49 €/month over 24 months without a code, and our readers get exclusive access to the code PRESSECITRON to unlock the Basic plan at 3,37 €/month over 28 months (24 months + 4 months free), a rate reserved for Presse-citron readers. Whatever plan you choose, you can cancel within 30 days and be reimbursed in full.
What sets NordVPN apart is how relentlessly it keeps evolving. In February 2026, its no-log commitment was confirmed again by an independent Deloitte audit-for the sixth time in a row. In March 2026, NordVPN rolled out a tool inside its Android app to block unwanted calls and SMS messages, later extended to iOS from early June 2026. It also brought back an interactive world map in its mobile apps so you can pick your server at a glance.
In April 2026, the provider launched a complete macOS interface redesign (see the screenshot above). NordVPN is also among the few to offer an app-level Kill Switch: you decide which specific apps are cut off if the VPN drops, without taking down the rest of your connection. Since early May 2026, the Chrome extension has included an AI voice detector built with NordLabs, analysing the active tab’s audio in real time to tell human speech from synthetic voice-with processing that’s 100% local on your device.
By late May 2026, the company went further with a next-generation antivirus built directly into the app for Mac and PC: machine-learning anti-phishing, proactive scanning of downloaded files, tracker filtering, and alerts for scam calls. NordVPN now positions itself as an all-in-one digital security solution. In June 2026, its identity protection service-previously called NordProtect-was renamed Coveron. Few providers update this quickly, and certainly none of the fully free VPNs.
Key details about NordVPN’s offer:
- 9.200 servers across 129 countries worldwide
- Works on all devices (Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Smart TV, Apple TV…)
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Highly effective on the most popular streaming platforms (it’s the most popular VPN for unlocking Netflix catalogues)
- Keeps zero logs (audited multiple times by independent firms, including Deloitte in February 2026)
- Customer support available 24/7
- P2P downloads supported
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Promo code PRESSECITRON
If you want to try NordVPN at no cost, head to its official website.
2. Proton – the only VPN with open-source code, 30-day guarantee
Proton VPN stands out because its code is fully open source. That means every app-across every platform-can be audited line by line by any security researcher. Where other providers ask you to trust them, Proton VPN allows the community to verify. Its no-logging policy is also audited by two independent organisations: Mozilla and Securitum.
Proton VPN appears in this “trial” section because its paid plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. That gives you full access to the service without the limits of the Free version (covered below), and the option to get a refund within the month after subscribing. The VPN Plus plan costs 2,99 €/month over 2 years, while VPN x Pass Plus-adding the password manager-comes to 4,99 €/month over the same period.
Its infrastructure is now huge: Proton VPN lists 20.332 servers spread across 148 countries and 191 locations, making it the broadest geographical coverage on the market. Proton VPN is also one of only two major providers-alongside NordVPN-to include Tor over VPN natively within its app.
What you get with Proton VPN Plus:
- 20.332 servers in 148 countries and 191 locations
- Fully open-source code, auditable by anyone
- No-log policy audited by Mozilla and Securitum
- Secure Core servers and Tor over VPN
- 10 simultaneous connections
- NetShield ad blocker
- 30-day money-back guarantee
3. ExpressVPN – 30 days to try it at no cost
Want to test another premium VPN free of charge after using NordVPN for 30 days? ExpressVPN is unlikely to disappoint. It delivers strong performance, reinforced security, and apps that support a wide range of platforms. It’s also one of the sector’s oldest names (founded in 2009) and among the most privacy-focused.
It’s also worth noting that ExpressVPN launched ExpressAI in late March 2026, a private AI platform built directly into its VPN app and available via the Pro plan. It’s the first mainstream VPN to integrate AI inside the app: conversations are processed inside secure encrypted enclaves, with several models available including ChatGPT and DeepSeek, and 500 credits per day. This differs from Proton’s Lumo 2.0 private AI assistant: Lumo remains a standalone product, separate from Proton’s VPN subscription.
ExpressVPN has also expanded with ExpressKeys, an integrated password manager, and ExpressMailGuard, which creates unlimited email aliases so you don’t have to expose your real address. Both are available from the Advanced plan. Finally, ExpressVPN became an official FIFA partner for the 2026 World Cup.
ExpressVPN is included here because its 30-day money-back guarantee effectively lets you use the service with no net cost. You’ll be able to explore the full feature set, which makes it easier to judge what it truly offers.
With ExpressVPN, you get:
- Unlimited bandwidth: smooth, unrestricted connectivity
- Ultra-high-speed connection: among the market’s best speeds thanks to the Lightway protocol
- More than 3.000 servers available in 105 countries
- Works in every country worldwide
- 24/7 live customer support
- Top-tier security (AES-256, KPMG audit February 2025)
- Zero log retention
4. CyberGhost offers 45 days free
CyberGhost is among the year’s strongest options if you want a “free” VPN via a trial offer. It earns its place in this ranking because you can use it for 45 days at no cost. This Romania-based provider has a strong reputation in cybersecurity and offers a particularly affordable way to protect online privacy, at 1,59 €/month over 26 months. Notably, CyberGhost has published Deloitte audit reports every quarter since 2011-a transparency cadence no rival has matched to date.
In everyday use, CyberGhost helps by shielding your privacy and your web activity. Beyond cybersecurity, it can also unlock content blocked by firewalls (in universities and businesses, for example) or restricted by geography, such as TV channels and streaming platforms like Netflix. To do this, CyberGhost relies on a network of 12.000 servers across 100 countries and 126 locations.
In short, CyberGhost offers:
- Unlimited access to more than 12.000 servers across 126 locations
- A choice of servers in 100 countries
- Dedicated servers for streaming, gaming and P2P
- Unlimited bandwidth and good speeds
- 7 simultaneous connections to protect multiple devices
- A subscription at 1,59 €/month over 26 months
- A 45-day money-back guarantee, the longest on the market
If you want to experience what a VPN can really deliver, we recommend trying CyberGhost free for 45 days. For more detail, you can read our full CyberGhost review. Once the trial period ends, you can request a full refund of the subscription amount.
Free VPNs in 2026 (no bank card required)
Now that you know how to use top paid VPNs for free via their trial periods, here are five VPNs that do not ask for any bank card details. Naturally, truly free plans come with meaningful compromises. For simple, occasional needs, they may do the job-but if you plan to use a VPN regularly or for demanding tasks, don’t expect performance on a par with paid services.
1. Proton VPN Free
In 2026, the reference free VPN remains Proton VPN’s free plan-but it’s important to separate the free offer from the paid version. With the free plan, you don’t have to enter any payment details, which is a plus. Still, it’s not an unlimited service in the same way NordVPN is (or Proton VPN’s paid plan, covered earlier).
| Feature | Proton VPN Free | NordVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Free period | Unlimited | 30 days |
| Speed | Slow | The fastest |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Countries covered | 10 | 129 |
| Servers | 300 | 9.200 |
| Customer support | 24/7 live chat | |
| Audited no-log policy | Yes | Yes |
| Torrents | No | Yes |
| Split tunnelling | No | Yes |
| Your choice? | Proton VPN | NordVPN |
Why choose Proton VPN?
The key reason is genuinely unlimited data transfer-an extremely rare benefit in the free VPN segment. You can keep Proton VPN running without worrying about usage, which is unusual for a €0 offer. Combined with a no-log policy audited by Mozilla and Securitum, it sits at the top of our fully free VPN comparison.
You also benefit from a well-made app on macOS (see the screenshot above), Windows, iOS and Android. The interface is beginner-friendly and fully translated into French, which makes it easier for newcomers to get started with VPNs. Whether through the mobile world map or a drop-down menu, choosing a connection country is done in a click.
What are the weaknesses of Proton VPN’s free plan?
Unsurprisingly, Proton VPN’s free tier has several drawbacks. Compared with the paid plan, the “Free” version comes with a long list of restrictions. First, the number of available countries is limited: you can only use 300 servers across just 10 countries. Remember, a VPN’s main purpose is to change your IP address by routing your connection through the country you choose.
With this plan, you’ll only have ten countries available (including the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, Romania and Poland). So if you want a French IP address while travelling abroad, the free plan won’t help. On the other hand, it may suit people specifically looking for a VPN with US servers.
A major issue remains: you can’t freely select your connection country. Proton Free automatically connects you to the fastest available server, usually the nearest geographically. During our tests, we were consistently sent to Dutch servers, with no way to change that.
Speeds are also capped because many free users crowd onto a small number of servers. Proton doesn’t hide this and explicitly lists “average” speeds in the free plan description.
So you’ll need to accept higher latency than normal and a noticeably degraded browsing experience. That’s frustrating when some providers allow constraint-free browsing, as is the case with NordVPN. If you want to watch video using Proton VPN’s free plan, you’ll likely want to look elsewhere.
For more details, feel free to read our full Proton VPN review.
2. Hide.me
In the top three of our free VPN ranking, you’ll find the outsider Hide.me. It brings a few advantages: 8 available locations (USA, Netherlands, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Finland, Canada, France), unlimited bandwidth, and technical support via live chat directly on its website. If you plan to download or watch videos regularly, however, the speed limits will still be a major constraint.
| Feature | Hide.me | NordVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Free period | Unlimited | 30 days |
| Speed | Slow | The fastest |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Countries covered | 8 | 129 |
| Servers | 2.600 (premium version) | 9.200 |
| Customer support | 24/7 live chat | 24/7 live chat |
| Audited no-log policy | No | Yes |
| Torrents | No | Yes |
| Split tunnelling | No | Yes |
| Your choice? | Hide.me | NordVPN |
Why choose Hide.me?
Let’s be clear: even if data usage isn’t capped, speeds are-so what you can do is limited. If you’re planning to stream films, it will likely be difficult, just as it is with Proton VPN Free.
Unlike Proton VPN, which forces you onto a server among the 10 free countries, Hide.me lets you pick your IP location freely across 8 distinct options: Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Switzerland, Finland, the United Kingdom, Canada and France. That’s a convenient way to get a French IP address without paying anything. Its premium plan, at 2,69 €/month, opens access to 2.600 servers in 57 countries.
For an unlimited-data free VPN, though, we still recommend looking at the market leaders (including NordVPN, available in 129 countries) and considering chaining their free trials one after another.
What really differentiates Hide.me in the free VPN space is that it offers live chat even for non-paying users. That’s a clear contrast with Proton VPN, which limits contact to email. The teams are responsive and professional, which reflects well on the provider.
Why isn’t it perfect?
It’s normal that a free VPN won’t be flawless-you can’t expect the standard of a premium service like NordVPN. Still, a few gaps are worth considering.
The biggest complaint is speed. To give you a sense of it, streaming a film or series in HD becomes very difficult. It’s especially disappointing because the provider stopped capping total data a while ago. In practice, speed limits can be just as restrictive as bandwidth limits: nobody wants a film that constantly struggles to load.
If you need a free VPN for Belgium, you’ll be disappointed: there’s no Belgian location unless you upgrade to premium. Rather than paying for Hide.me, we suggest going with a premium VPN such as NordVPN or Proton VPN.
Lastly, the lack of peer-to-peer support means you won’t be able to download and share torrents while the VPN is enabled. Hide.me is clearly encouraging users to move to a paid plan, hence this deliberate limitation.
3. PrivadoVPN
PrivadoVPN isn’t the most widely talked-about service in 2026, but it’s gradually becoming a solid name among reference free VPNs. Like its main rivals, this Switzerland-based company doesn’t require any bank card details for its €0 plan. You only need an email address to register. Here’s what the offer looks like, so you can decide with full clarity.
| Feature | PrivadoVPN | NordVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Free period | Unlimited | 30 days |
| Speed | Slow | The fastest |
| Bandwidth | 10 Go | Unlimited |
| Countries covered | 10 | 129 |
| Servers | 13 locations | 9.200 |
| Customer support | 24/7 live chat | 24/7 live chat |
| Audited no-log policy | No | Yes |
| Torrents | No | Yes |
| Split tunnelling | No | Yes |
| Your choice? | PrivadoVPN | NordVPN |
Why choose PrivadoVPN?
If you’re after a free VPN, PrivadoVPN has a few arguments in its favour. The first is the 10 Go of data available each month without any bank card. While that won’t go far for lots of high-definition streaming, it’s still more generous than many free services.
PrivadoVPN also offers servers in 10 countries and 13 of the fastest locations, which is reasonable for occasional use. Its paid plan-at 2,99 €/month over 24 months with 3 months free-unlocks the full network across 50 countries and 67 cities, plus 10 simultaneous connections. The provider says it keeps no logs of user activity. The app is fairly minimal, but it supports many platforms: Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, Fire TV and Android TV.
Weak points of the €0 plan
Predictably, PrivadoVPN’s free service isn’t free of criticism. First, it’s difficult to make PrivadoVPN work reliably with the major streaming platforms, including French TV channels, which tend not to be fooled by this limited VPN.
On top of that, torrenting isn’t available on the free tier. Finally, more advanced features-such as simultaneous connections, an ad blocker, or parental controls-require a paid subscription.
4. Windscribe
Windscribe is one of the best free VPNs with generally positive user feedback. It provides a 100% free plan with reasonable bandwidth and access to 10 free locations, putting it ahead of several rivals for geographical coverage. Its interface was completely redesigned in 2026, making it much easier to use than earlier versions-although only the homepage is available in French, with the rest of the app still in English.
| Feature | Windscribe | NordVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Free period | Unlimited | 30 days |
| Speed | Slow | The fastest |
| Bandwidth | 10 Go | Unlimited |
| Countries covered | 10 (69 in premium) | 129 |
| Servers | Fewer than 100 in free plan | 9.200 |
| Customer support | Email/Bot | 24/7 live chat |
| Audited no-log policy | No | Yes |
| Torrents | Yes | Yes |
| Split tunnelling | No | Yes |
| Your choice? | Windscribe | NordVPN |
Why choose it?
If you want a free VPN without pulling out a bank card, Windscribe is a decent option. It gives 10 Go of monthly bandwidth to €0 users (2 Go if you don’t confirm your email address).
A real plus is that you can pick your connection country-unlike Proton VPN Free. With Windscribe’s free plan, you can connect via the following 10 locations: France, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway and Romania. That’s handy if you travel or want to access foreign content from home. The paid plan expands this to 69 countries and more than 115 cities, with unlimited connections.
Monthly bandwidth is capped, but Windscribe’s free tier can help in a pinch. If you don’t use the internet heavily, 10 Go might cover occasional needs. And since the 2026 redesign, the macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps are more pleasant and better laid out, which helps first-time users.
Why Windscribe isn’t enough
Windscribe has several clear weaknesses. First, customer support is disappointing: you won’t get a human, only a bot that often fails to provide a satisfying answer. The infrastructure is also limited: on the free plan you only get 10 locations and fewer than 100 servers, which leads to underwhelming performance and stability. By comparison, CyberGhost offers more than 12.000 servers across 100 countries and 126 locations.
Windscribe’s company is based in Canada, a member of the 5 Eyes intelligence alliance (with the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand). Firms in these countries can be legally required to provide information about users if requested by the government. Even if Windscribe says it keeps no logs, that context calls for caution among privacy-focused users. Also note that its prices are listed in dollars rather than euros.
Finally, its free VPN struggles to unblock most streaming services. For that, you’ll need a premium provider such as NordVPN, Proton VPN or CyberGhost.
5. TunnelBear
To finish our 2026 free VPN ranking, here’s TunnelBear. Widely known worldwide, this Canadian provider offers a free plan with no bank card required. It’s an easy way to try the software without an upfront financial commitment.
| Feature | TunnelBear | NordVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Free period | Unlimited | 30 days |
| Speed | Slow | The fastest |
| Bandwidth | 2 Go | Unlimited |
| Countries covered | 47 | 129 |
| Servers | 8.000+ | 9.200 |
| Customer support | Email/bot | 24/7 live chat |
| Audited no-log policy | Yes | Yes |
| Torrents | No | Yes |
| Split tunnelling | No | Yes |
| Your choice? | TunnelBear | NordVPN |
Why choose TunnelBear?
TunnelBear’s main advantage is how straightforward it is: download the app, create a free account, then connect to a server in minutes. Even on the free plan, you can use any of the 47 countries covered, including France, the United States, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Germany and Mexico. That’s useful if you specifically need an IP address in one of those regions.
Why TunnelBear isn’t perfect
Although TunnelBear is a well-known free VPN, the service hasn’t changed much in years. More importantly, the monthly data allowance remains very small: just 2 Go. What might have been enough ten years ago is far too little in 2026, where a few dozen minutes of video can burn through the entire quota.
In our TunnelBear test, the 2 Go didn’t last more than an hour under normal browsing conditions. Add to that sluggish support-no human live chat, only a bot or email-and it’s hard to rely on. Prices are also listed in dollars, starting at 3,33 $/month for the Unlimited plan. This “free” VPN quickly pushes you towards paid offers that are still overly expensive. In that situation, it’s better to subscribe straight away to a high-quality premium VPN.
Why are (bad) free VPNs dangerous?
Based on extensive feedback and our own in-depth testing, we strongly advise against low-quality 100% free VPNs.
If premium VPN providers can’t offer their services free long-term, there’s a simple reason: building, securing and maintaining a high-quality service is expensive. The market is highly competitive, and reliable performance plus strong security requires substantial resources and dedicated teams.
When we refer to bad free VPNs, we mean services that:
- sell your personal data to third parties to fund their business;
- leave you exposed to serious security flaws;
- or provide no genuine privacy for your web activity.
In other words, they fail at a VPN’s core job: protecting you online. Don’t worry-the providers listed earlier, such as Proton VPN, Windscribe and TunnelBear, are not in this category. Their business models rely on complementary paid versions or clear technical limits, without undermining basic security.
They sell your data without you realising
This is the biggest risk with “free” VPNs (see our free vs paid VPN comparison). To make money, many free providers sell user information to third parties with little to no transparency. It’s one of the worst outcomes-and it happens more often than people think.
Running a wide server network and paying development teams costs a lot. A €0 service with no revenue stream is hard to justify rationally, especially when there aren’t even adverts to monetise the product. As a result, even when “no-log” is claimed, some free VPNs still retain data that they later sell to third parties-or use themselves in questionable ways.
They are not secure
The reputable free VPNs we’ve covered can partly fund themselves through their parallel paid subscriptions. Whether it’s Proton VPN, Hide.me, PrivadoVPN, Windscribe or TunnelBear, all offer paid upgrades that unlock more features. That income helps them maintain, improve and patch their products. Their free tiers are therefore relatively safe-but again, they are not comparable to paid providers.
Bad free VPNs, by contrast, often lack the resources needed to build and improve software over time. They frequently suffer from flaws and leaks (WebRTC, DNS, IPv6…) that seriously compromise online security. Imagine being in a country where VPNs are illegal, such as China or Russia, while using software that doesn’t do its job. In those situations, the consequences can be severe.
They can spy on what you do online
In rarer cases, some free VPNs quietly monitor your activity. If you search for “VPN” in the App Store or Google Play Store, hundreds of free services appear immediately-but some should be avoided outright. Many malicious players exploit the popularity of VPNs by distributing dubious software designed not to protect your data, but to steal it.
Even Facebook’s free VPN, Onavo “Protect”, turned out to be malicious software harvesting user data for the social network. It’s a clear reminder to research carefully before choosing, and never to trust a free service blindly.
Weaknesses of free VPNs
We recommend taking advantage of NordVPN’s 30-day money-back period because it offers optimal protection without constraints. With free VPN providers, users remain more exposed to security weaknesses, data theft, or identity fraud.
Fewer servers and limited location choice
As you’ve seen across our selection, the number of accessible countries and servers is always restricted. As a reminder, you get only:
- 10 countries and 300 servers with Proton VPN Free
- 8 locations and a handful of servers with Hide.me
- 13 of the fastest locations with PrivadoVPN
- 10 locations and fewer than 100 servers with Windscribe
- 47 countries with TunnelBear
By comparison, paid services can offer:
- 129 countries and 9.200 servers with NordVPN
- 148 countries and 20.332 servers with paid Proton VPN
- 105 countries and 3.000 servers with ExpressVPN
- 100 countries and 12.000 servers with CyberGhost
To discover NordVPN, it’s here:
You can immediately see why paying for a subscription is fully justified. All of these providers offer a 30-day money-back period (and even 45 days with CyberGhost), letting you try them without financial risk.
Limited bandwidth
Aside from Proton VPN and Hide.me-which are exceptions with unlimited bandwidth-free services cap how much data you can transfer each month.
To recap, you get:
- 10 Go / month with Windscribe
- 10 Go / month with PrivadoVPN
- 2 Go / month with TunnelBear
With paid services, everything is unlimited-even during the trial period. There are no restrictions on usage, which can reach many tens of gigabytes per month for streaming fans or online gamers.
Poor connection speeds
When large numbers of users share a small set of servers, those servers quickly become overloaded and performance collapses. So don’t expect smooth HD streaming with a free VPN: limited infrastructure simply can’t deliver it. Some providers even deliberately throttle speeds during high-bandwidth activities such as large file downloads.
Websites and services often blocked
Even the best free VPNs in our comparison come with significant limitations. A low number of servers and IP addresses can prevent access to specific regions. If your goal is to bypass geo-restrictions on streaming platforms, you’ll likely be disappointed. Free VPN IP addresses are frequently blacklisted, and their servers often lack the power needed for smooth streaming or P2P downloads.
Free VPNs you should avoid at all costs in 2026
Some free VPNs are a real threat to your digital life. That’s the case for the three providers below. If you want to protect your data and browse with peace of mind, it’s best to steer clear.
Hola VPN
Anyone who cares about privacy should avoid Hola. Although this free VPN is used by millions worldwide, it has serious privacy issues. One key reason is that Hola doesn’t operate its own physical infrastructure, unlike premium VPNs such as NordVPN.
Its technology relies on peer-to-peer connections that link multiple distant machines together. Your internet access isn’t provided by a physical server, but by other users in the network-which is how it can claim many locations. Your IP address will be shared with another person, and if that user engages in illegal activity online, you could face legal consequences. Hola has been involved in numerous incidents over the years: botnet allegations, data resale without user consent, and more. These are strong reasons to avoid Hola VPN for good.
Betternet
Betternet is another free VPN you should be wary of. The service is owned by Aura, the same company behind Hotspot Shield. So it’s reasonable to expect similar practices around log retention on the free version, with data then sold on to make the service profitable.
Betternet has also faced repeated controversies: its app has hosted malware, and users have reported IP and DNS leaks while using it. Feature-wise, the free plan is limited to 500 Mo of bandwidth per day, US-only servers, and constant adverts. That’s a world away from the experience offered by NordVPN or ExpressVPN.
Turbo VPN
Turbo VPN rounds out this list of free VPNs to avoid in 2026. Despite its apparent popularity and high download counts in the App Store and Google Play Store, it isn’t reliable or secure. Following thorough research, we found its Android app was infected with adware and could compromise your device with malware that’s difficult to remove.
Questionable links between the company behind Turbo VPN and China, the lack of the WireGuard protocol, and a consistently disappointing privacy policy are all warning signs to take seriously. Beyond the security risks, the service doesn’t support P2P, and major streaming platforms detect and block it in almost all cases. Put simply: if you were considering installing Turbo VPN, don’t.
In summary: who should you choose in 2026?
If you want a completely free VPN with no bank card, Proton VPN remains the best pick in 2026. You will, however, need to accept significant compromises compared with its paid version-which ranks second in our overall list thanks to its fully open-source code. And if you want truly strong protection online, it’s better to choose a paid plan with a free trial. That’s the case with NordVPN, which offers a 30-day no-commitment trial with no conditions.
With NordVPN, you get a premium service with zero limitations, and you can be reimbursed if it doesn’t meet your needs. Those 30 trial days unlock the best speeds, excellent content unblocking, full anonymity, and meaningful protection against online attacks. And if you decide to subscribe afterwards, don’t forget the exclusive code PRESSECITRON to get the Basic plan at 3,37 €/month over 28 months-a rate reserved for Presse-citron readers.
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