Whether you’re trying to securely browse the internet or just looking to unlock the Netflix libraries, VPN is the only way to go. Recently, more and more people are looking for VPN services as the crisis over data collection and government surveillance is on the rise. A quick search on the internet can bring up a lot of free VPN options for you. But are they really reliable compared to paid VPNs? This is a comprehensive content where we will be comparing free VPN with paid VPN and will tell you which is right for you.
Security & Privacy
Paid VPN offers industry-standard AES-256 encryption, Kill Switch, Split Tunneling, and many more to avoid compromising your security. They have strict No-Log policies and some of them even run all the servers in RAM disk, meaning no data can be stored in any form of hardware. Compared to this, free VPNs have poor security and privacy. They don’t have No-Log policies meaning all our online activities can be tracked. And oftentimes free VPN’s sell our data to a third party to generate money.
Performance & Speed
Moving on to the performance and speed, free VPNs have limited servers and locations compared to paid VPNs. Because of this, speed is really slow on a free VPN. But that’s not the case with paid VPN. Take NordVPN for an example, which has a total of 5246 servers in 60 countries. Paid VPNs are also well equipped with all the latest VPN protocols including OpenVPN UDP, TCP, IKEv2, and more. Due to this, their speeds are really fast and you’ll barely notice any drop in the performance.
Streaming & Torrenting
People these days not only use VPN for privacy and security but also for streaming and torrenting. If you’re subscribed to Netflix you may have already noticed that they have different libraries in different counties. To access them, you need a paid VPN, which can successfully bypass geo-restrictions.
Besides that, both streaming and torrenting require fast internet speed and no bandwidth cap which are present in paid VPNs only. All in all, free VPN can’t bypass geo-restrictions, they aren’t fast and come with limited bandwidth, making them inappropriate for streaming and torrenting.
Apps, User Interface & Supported Device
Free VPNs are relatively easier to use as they don’t offer many functionalities. But they often show lots of ads, by which they earn revenue. Although paid VPNs are a bit complex to use, they are more robust in terms of features. Most importantly they don’t show any annoying ads. On top of that, they support a range of devices including Desktop, Mobile, TV, Console, Router, and more. While free VPNs support a handful of devices or usually mobile devices only.
Customer Service
Free VPNs don’t offer live chat support when you need any help. Though they have forums for discussions, it usually takes time and effort. Whereas, paid VPN provides 24 Hours live chat support with an actual agent.
Final Words
Taking everything into account, it’s pretty clear that a paid VPN offers so much more than a free VPN. They are excellent in terms of security, privacy, performance, and customer support. However, if you are a casual user and looking for basic protection, a free VPN might satisfy your needs. But for power users, looking for top-notch security and privacy with lots of streaming and torrenting support, paid VPN is the way to go!
