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Best Free VPNs?

Michel -  
BuffleFiable98 Posted messages 1 Status Member -
Hello,

What to think about free VPNs?

According to these sites, they seem to be dangerous:

https://www.vpnmag.fr/vpn-gratuits/
https://www.numerama.com/tech/471822-vous-navez-aucun-interet-a-utiliser-un-vpn-gratuit.html

So what to think?

What do you recommend? My budget is not unlimited!

Thank you

6 answers

  1.
    Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention   24 712
     
    Hi,

    For a home connection, a VPN is of no interest (except in exceptional cases).
    At least for security or anonymity.
    Read: VPN: Why and when to use it.

    3
  2. madmyke Posted messages 52304 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   12 485
     
    Hello

    Anyway, VPNs are not free; they may claim to be, but they're horrifically slow and you never know what will get installed. Either they are "free" with a quota after which you have to pay anyway.

    It all depends on why you want a VPN; if it's for the so-called "anonymity," I recommend reading the other topics already discussed here.

    Best regards

    --
    "We swallow the flattering lie whole and we drink, drop by drop, a truth that is bitter to us."
    1
  3. Aranud87 Posted messages 277 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   3 299
     
    Hi,

    You have ProtonVPN which is from Protonmail, based in Switzerland and is quite secure.
    The free version is rather limited.

    https://protonvpn.com/
    0
    1. Michel
       
      Read this: https://www.technadu.com/lawyer-accuses-protonmail-sharing-information-authorities/68858/

      It seems dangerous if they apply the same principle to their VPN!
      0
    2. Aranud87 Posted messages 277 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   3 299
       
      Thank you for the information.
      0
    3. Michtor Posted messages 6 Status Member
       
      I just downloaded Avira and I can't stream YouTube: too slow :/
      0
    4. BuffleFiable98 Posted messages 1 Status Member 1
       

      Proton has the advantage of being based in Switzerland, and it's an open source VPN ???? Well, that reassures (NordVPN is in Panama, ExpressVPN in the British Virgin Islands). It is paid but there is a free version. However, the list of countries is limited, the servers are slow, and the IPs are known by most sites. So a good free VPN and "good" I'm not sure it makes a good match...

      1
  4. Michel
     
    Thank you!

    So it seems that the only solution is a paid VPN?

    I read this article: https://www.vpnmag.fr/secrets-societes-vpn/ it scares me quite a bit!

    This site recommends ExpressVPN and it seems you can get a refund within 30 days.

    Have you tried it?

    Thank you!
    0
    1. madmyke Posted messages 52304 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   12 485
       
      No, I tried the one from Avira; in terms of reliability and speed, it was okay. But my goal was the test; to be anonymous, VPNs are technically partly "fake" since everything that happens between your PC and the outside goes through... your provider.
      -1
    2. Aranud87 Posted messages 277 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   3 299
       
      False Madmyke since the VPN encrypts what goes through, so the provider cannot know, precisely, it's just encrypted data; they can only know that you are using a VPN

      Personally, I have PrivateVPN, no logs, no history with an automatic disconnection in case of issues, etc.

      https://privatevpn.com/fr
      0
      2. Patricia_Lecomti Posted messages 6 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   > madmyke Posted messages 52304 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention  
         

        Very good articles! And from what I've also read, the interest of a VPN at home may now be more about unlocking content on streaming platforms, for example https://choisir-vpn.fr/meilleur-vpn-netflix/.

        0
    3. Michtor Posted messages 6 Status Member
       
      So you need a no-logs VPN! Is ExpressVPN, as mentioned by VPNMag, trustworthy?
      0
  6. Michtor Posted messages 6 Status Member
     
    Read this about Hola which is free:

    It was the site 8chan that revealed the hoax by conducting an audit of the Hola VPN provider after an attack on their site. They discovered that Hola did not provide any IP addresses to its users, unlike premium VPNs that offer dedicated servers (and thus dedicated IP addresses). As a result, an internet user on the other side of the world can use your connection to carry out illegal actions online, and you may be held responsible for it.

    That's crazy!
    0
  7. veronia100 Posted messages 2 Status Member
     
    Anyway, the vast majority of free VPNs available in the stores are a big scam. Given the cost of servers, they have to make money somehow. Then there's always Tor (https://www.vpnmonami.com/peut-on-reellement-se-fier-a-tor/), but besides being slow, I don't trust it. Hide.me also operates like ProtonVPN; it's limited, but at least we know why they let us use it for free. After that, there are certainly homemade solutions that are viable, but I don't know anything about that.
    0