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VPNs & DNS

Are Free VPNs Safe?

Updated · 2 min read

Written by the ScanMyPrivacy team. How we write and check guides · Report a correction

Try it yourself:Am I Using a VPN?DNS Leak Test

Some free VPNs are safe and many are not. Running a VPN network costs real money for servers and bandwidth, so if you are not paying, something else is. The question is what.

How free VPNs make money

  • Selling or sharing your data. Browsing and device information can be sold to advertisers or data brokers.
  • Showing ads or injecting trackers into the apps or the pages you visit.
  • Selling your bandwidth. The best known case is Hola, a free VPN whose users' connections were resold through a commercial proxy network, which in 2015 researchers showed could also be used to carry traffic for others through your IP address.
  • Upselling a paid plan. This is the benign model: a limited free tier funded by paying users, often from a recognised provider.

A well-known data-harvesting example is Onavo Protect, a free VPN bought by Facebook in 2013, whose usage data fed the company's analytics until it was shut down in 2019.

Technical risks

Academic and journalistic audits of free VPN apps, especially on Android, have repeatedly found embedded trackers, missing or weak encryption, and DNS or IPv6 leaks. A VPN sits between you and the entire internet, so a bad one is worse than none: it sees everything your ISP would and may share it. Test any VPN with our DNS and WebRTC leak tests.

How to evaluate any VPN, free or paid

  1. Who owns it, and where? A named company with an address and a track record beats an anonymous app.
  2. Independent audits of the no-logs claim and the apps.
  3. A clear privacy policy saying what is logged and what is not.
  4. Modern protocols such as WireGuard or OpenVPN, plus a kill switch.
  5. Reviews that are not affiliate-driven. Many "best VPN" lists are paid placements, including some on websites like ours, which is why we label links and publish the tests.
  6. Run the tests yourself and read the results, not just the marketing.

What to use if you cannot pay

Use Tor Browser for anonymity, free and run by a non-profit project. The free tier of a reputable paid VPN is also reasonable, with a data cap and fewer servers. For public Wi-Fi, sticking to HTTPS sites and turning off sharing is often enough. Read VPN vs proxy vs Tor.

Tools that can help

VPNs

What it does: Replace the IP address websites see with the VPN's, and encrypt traffic between your device and the VPN. Useful on untrusted networks. What it does not do: Stop phishing, malware, browser fingerprinting or tracking by sites you log in to. The VPN company can see your traffic instead, so choose one you trust and avoid free services you cannot vouch for.

  • Proton VPNFree tier and paidNo commissionVPN with a free plan (fewer servers) and paid plans. Visit site
  • Mullvad VPNPaidNo commissionPaid VPN that does not ask for an email address to sign up. Visit site
  • Our VPN partnerPaidAffiliate: we may earn a commissionThe VPN we have an affiliate arrangement with. Compare it with the options above before you buy. See the offer

Items marked Affiliate pay us a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you; they never change what our tests report or the order of free options. How we choose.

Keep reading

VPN vs Proxy vs TorVPN vs proxy vs Tor compared: what each hides, who can still see your traffic, speed, cost and which to choose for streaming, privacy or anonymity.How to Hide Your IP AddressFive practical ways to hide your IP address, from VPNs and Tor to proxies and hotspots: what each protects, what it does not, and how to verify.Do VPNs Leak DNS?Why a VPN can still leak your DNS requests to your ISP, the common causes (IPv6, Windows, browser DoH) and how to test for and fix a DNS leak.Is public Wi-Fi safe? What actually protects youPublic Wi-Fi is less risky than it used to be, but not risk-free. Learn what other people on the network can see, which habits matter, and when a VPN helps.How to Test Your VPN Kill SwitchA kill switch should cut your internet when the VPN drops. Here is a simple, safe way to test it with a repeating IP check, on Windows, Mac and Linux.ISP Blocking and DNS in India: What Works and What Doesn'tHow Indian ISPs block sites (DNS, SNI, IP), why changing DNS only sometimes helps, and how to check if a block is DNS-level. Privacy trade-offs.

Frequently asked questions

Is a free VPN better than no VPN?

Not always. A bad free VPN can be worse than your ISP because it can see everything and monetise it. A free tier from a reputable provider is a different matter.

How can I tell if a VPN is logging?

You cannot know for certain. The best evidence is independent audits, open-source apps and proven court cases where the provider could not produce data.