Free VPNs: ten comparison criteria

Compare ten items: publisher, installation source, updates, permissions, data policy, traffic allowance, servers, devices, DNS and interruption recovery. This is a checklist, not a vendor ranking.

Practical checks

Choose a VPN for a specific task: protecting traffic on public Wi-Fi, reaching workplace resources or maintaining a consistent outbound IP. Browser extensions and system tunnels cover different traffic. Check which applications and DNS queries actually use the connection. Server location alone says little about data protection.

Check the app publisher, installation source, updates, data policy and permissions. Tunnel encryption does not make websites trustworthy or provide complete anonymity. A dedicated IP can simplify allowlists, but does not prevent blocking or replace MFA.

Before paying, test connection setup, DNS, IPv6, tunnel interruption and recovery after sleep on the networks you use. Compare latency, loss and throughput with the baseline under the same conditions. Assess a free plan against its published traffic, time, device and server limits. Avoid cracked builds and claims of universal availability.

Official documentation

• WireGuard
• OpenVPN