A VPN application is useful to open blocked services or web pages in your country, buy in online stores that deny you access, or make your browsing private and secure, something important when you browse public WiFi networks, such as those found on the street. , hotels, etc. There are tons of VPN apps these days. Good, bad, free and paid. How to choose among so many available options?
First of all, ask yourself why you need a VPN. Based on that you can determine if you need a paid one or if a free one is enough.
All the VPNs mentioned below are cross-platform and have clients for Android, iOS and Windows or PCs.
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VPN payment vs. Free VPN
For example, a paid VPN generally offers unlimited data, multiple locations, as well as fast servers. Therefore it can be useful to view blocked multimedia content in your country, such as Netflix or services of this type. Also, their servers are not “banned” by certain online stores, as is the case with free VPNs. On the other hand, you are guaranteeing that your connection is really private and secure. That is not currently known with a free VPN.
If you only want to open certain blocked pages from time to time in your country, a free VPN should suffice.
Best paid VPN
The good thing about using a paid VPN is not only the use of unlimited data, connecting from multiple countries or fast servers. In my case I have been able to access clothing and shoe stores in the United States that blocked my access using any free VPN.
With a premium VPN I have also been able to successfully use blocked services that do not work with a free VPN, such as Disney Plus (Disney +) or the United States version of Netflix, which I cannot normally enter because I am in Ecuador. However, whatever VPN you use, in this case you will occasionally have buffering and reduced image quality, because the internet connection speed is reduced using a VPN (and this is worse with free VPNs).
All the VPNs listed below offer you free trial days (or guaranteed money back), although to get them you will necessarily have to register a valid payment method.
NordVPN
11.95 per month . I have been using NordVPN for several months and have been satisfied with the service in every way. Even technical support is good. And although the prices of other quality VPNs are similar, this is the one that can cost you the least, especially for their good promotions, such as the 3-year service for $ 99. That comes out at just under $ 3 a month. If you are looking for a long term VPN, it is a good option.
In software it has advanced functions that I personally have not needed to use. For example its CyberSec function, obfuscated servers or the use of TCP.
Express VPN
12.95 per month . This is currently the most expensive VPN on this list. Almost a year using and operating it is practically similar to NordVPN although with a slightly higher price. In addition to the multiple servers, including various locations in «USA», its connection speed is also good, enough to watch Netflix from another country in good quality, practically without buffering.
As you can see, in addition to its settings, Express VPN incorporates tools focused on security and privacy, such as a password generator or knowing if your IP and location are really hidden.
IP Vanish
11.99 per month . Probably the least popular of the three VPNs, but no less good for that. In addition to the servers, which has many, including various locations in the United States, its connection speed, which is one of the most critical things in a VPN, is on par with the rest. I practically noticed the same experience as previous VPNs, although I used it for a short time.
Best Free VPN
I have been using Tunnel Bear as a free VPN for several years and it has generally been more than enough to browse web pages that block access if you are not in the United States or another country where the service you want to access is. It also offers many other locations. However, sometimes it has not helped me to access certain online stores in the USA where I have wanted to shop. I have had to buy a paid VPN when that has happened to me.
Tunnel Bear Free offers very simple and easy to use software, in addition to a 500MB data package. If you’re just going to browse and open pages once in a while that’s fine. If you sometimes exceed this limit they offer you immediately 500MB for free if you tweet about them.
Obviously this is insufficient to watch Netflix or Disney Plus in an unlimited way, although in reality Tunnel Bear itself, as well as practically all free VPNs, will not allow you to access these services, because they already know their servers and “ban” them. This is not strange, because even some paid VPN servers, like the ones mentioned before, are banned. That is why even there sometimes you have to change the location. Paid VPNs are always updating their servers, something that usually does not happen with free ones.
In free VPN there are many other names, but you must be careful, especially with those that offer you unlimited data (yes, there are) at no cost. A VPN service is expensive to maintain and being offered totally free is something to pay attention to. As free alternatives I could suggest Proton VPN, an unlimited VPN that seems to be reliable, and also Surfeasy VPN (from the well-known company Opera).
Conclusion
As long as you choose a recognized VPN app (like the ones mentioned above), you’ll be fine. Avoid experimenting with other names that you don’t know. There are hundreds of bad reputation VPN apps due to insufficient security or excessive advertising. If you are not sure, you can check this website where they offer a detailed comparison table of VPNs. Some like Hola VPN have been discovered selling your bandwidth. Furthermore, by using this free service you can serve as an intermediary connection node for other users, for unknown purposes.
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