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Is a free VPN safe? Free plans, trials, and refunds
What a free VPN plan, a free trial, and a money-back guarantee give you, which providers here name a free plan, and how to judge a free VPN app.
Key points
- A free plan costs nothing and does not end, but the provider limits it: fewer countries, one device, or lower speed.
- A free trial gives you the paid plan for a short time. A money-back guarantee means you pay first and can ask for a refund.
- Free VPN apps from unknown companies need money from somewhere. Check who runs a VPN before you install it.
Three ways to pay nothing
| Free plan | Free trial | Money-back guarantee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | none | none during the trial | full price first |
| Time limit | none | a few days | a set number of days for the refund |
| Limits | fewer countries, devices, or speed | usually the full paid plan | the full paid plan |
| Payment details | often not needed | often needed | needed |
Providers in this archive with a free plan
These providers name a free plan on their own pricing page. Where the archive has recorded the limits, they are shown with the date they were checked:
hide.me: Unlimited data, restricted speeds, 8 locations, 1 connection at a time. (October 17, 2026)
Proton VPN: 1 device at a time, servers in 10 countries chosen at random, medium speed, no data limit. (October 17, 2026)
Windscribe: 10 GB of data per month once you sign up and confirm your email. (October 17, 2026)
Instead of a free plan, many providers promise a refund: 5 of the 8 pricing pages that name a refund period promise 30 days or more.
| hide.me | 30 days | |
|---|---|---|
 NordVPN | 30 days | |
 Private Internet Access | 30 days | |
| Proton VPN | 30 days | |
 Surfshark | 30 days | |
 Mullvad | 14 days | |
 OVPN | 10 days | |
 AzireVPN | 7 days |
Providers without a figure do not state a refund period on the pricing page that this archive reads.
How to judge a free VPN
Is a free VPN safe? This site does not test apps, so it cannot say whether a particular app is safe. But there are simple facts you can check:
- Who runs it? A free plan from a company that also sells paid plans is paid for by those customers. An app from an unknown company has to make money in another way.
- What does its website load? The archive records which advertising and analytics services each provider’s home page loads. See What VPN websites track.
- Where is the company based? Its laws decide what data authorities can request. See Who owns your VPN?.
What a paid VPN costs
On the pricing pages in this archive, the lowest advertised prices in US dollars range from $2.03 to $5.75 per month for long first terms (6 providers). After the first term, prices can rise sharply: by up to 274 % for one plan.
Look at the second price. The cheap monthly price usually applies only to a long first term. The price comparison shows what each plan costs afterward.
Next step
Read What a VPN really costs for a full price example, or use the VPN finder to filter by price and refund period.
The figures in this guide come from the archive and change with every data update. As of October 17, 2026.