Mobile VPNs protect your privacy on the web and let you unlock restricted content wherever you go. Edward Munn compares six of the best VPN apps
CyberGhost VPN
Unlike most free VPN apps, CyberGhost doesn’t limit your data usage or restrict your ability to choose different server locations. If you only want to encrypt and protect your connection, joining a VPN is as quick and easy as tapping a single button. There’s no need to set up an account and, if you’re not fussed about the location of the server, you don’t have to fiddle with any settings.
Should you want to access websites or services that are only available in specific regions, CyberGhost lets you change the server location from Automatic to a country of your choice at any time. You can select from a range of locations including UK (which is very useful for accessing British content from abroad), France, Germany and the US, and the app tells you how many servers are available in each country.
One of the standout features of CyberGhost is that it warns you to connect to a VPN whenever you use a new Wi-Fi network, and it can even be set to automatically activate a VPN for specific networks, ensuring you’re never left unprotected. In terms of bandwidth, it was the best performer of all the apps we tested, clocking download speeds in excess of 15Mbps when we were using a US server.
Connecting to VPNs was usually very quick, regardless of the location. To access more server locations, including high-speed ones, or to unlock extra features such as tracking prevention and protection against malicious websites, you need to upgrade to CyberGhost Premium at a cost of £3.99 a month.
There’s no data-usage limit but CyberGhost only lets you connect to a VPN for up to three hours at a time, so you might not be able to watch a long film uninterrupted. The app’s interface felt a bit clunkier than our other award winners, too, and it had fewer virtual locations outside Europe than Opera VPN.
CyberGhost offers the best allround service of all the free VPN apps we tested. It’s incredibly easy to set up, has no data or speed restrictions and lets you choose from an impressive range of virtual locations, making it perfect for everyday use.
Opera VPN
Opera VPN for Android was released on the day we were writing this round-up and its impressive range of features and easy-to-use interface made it impossible to ignore. Like CyberGhost and Betternet, Opera VPN offers completely unlimited free VPN access so you can protect your identity whenever you go online. Activating the VPN is quick and easy, and although it selects the closest region (Germany) by default, you can change your virtual location to Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands or the US. This makes Opera VPN the best free VPN for unlocking a range of restricted content from different global regions.
In addition to its VPN functionality, the app has a handy feature called Guardian, which stops ad trackers stalking you online. You can also run a security test on any Wi-Fi network, which highlights the security benefits of using a VPN whether you’re on a public or private connection. Opera VPN scored very well in our download tests, achieving speeds of more than 9Mbps when connected to a US-based VPN.
The only thing standing between Opera VPN and the Gold Award is that the UK isn’t on its list of virtual locations, so you can’t use it to access British content abroad. We’d also prefer to have the option of choosing a virtual region before activating the VPN.
Opera offers a truly unlimited VPN with impressive download speeds and an excellent spread of virtual locations. If you don’t need access to UK-based servers, Opera VPN is our app of choice.
Betternet
We gave Betternet a five-star review and it’s still a firm favourite because it’s one of the very few VPN apps to offer truly unlimited free VPN access. It’s also the simplest of the apps in this test, with no confusing features or complicated settings to worry about: simply open the app, tap Connect and Betternet connects to a VPN, selecting an ‘Optimal Location’ automatically.
We found the app usually connected to a US-based server, which is ideal if you want to access restricted content from services including Netflix, Pandora or Hulu. Despite offering unlimited usage, there was no evidence of Betternet throttling bandwidth for its free users and we consistently achieved solid download speeds of around 8Mpbs. Like many of its rivals, Betternet’s free service is supported by ads, but these are not particularly obtrusive. Removing the ads and unlocking the full range of locations – which includes Canada, Australia, Japan and the US – costs £3.95 a month.
Betternet doesn’t let you choose your virtual location and offers no information about it – we had to use whatismyIPaddress.com to find out where we were being routed.
Along with Opera VPN, Betternet is one of the only VPN apps to offer a truly unlimited service. You can’t choose a virtual location, but if your only concern is privacy and you’re not accessing restricted content, Betternet is as good a choice as any.
Tunnelbear VPN
We love Tunnelbear’s cute interface and impressive range of virtual locations, but it’s one of the only apps we tested that requires you to set up an account to use its free services and you’re limited to 500MB a month. It also achieved lower download speeds than all our award winners, so unless having a wide selection of free virtual locations is your priority, there are better tools available.
Hola Free VPN
Hola Free VPN uses peer-to-peer technology to offer you totally unlimited free VPN access. However, by definition, this means you’ll need to share your own web connection unless you pay for the Premium version. There are no adverts and the app performed well in our speed tests, but we don’t like that you’re forced to use Hola’s launcher if you want to open any of your apps from a virtual location.
ZPN Connect
ZPN Connect offers a generous 10GB of free VPN usage to its users every month, but you have to set up an account or you’ll also be limited to accessing it for one hour at a time. ZPN only offers a choice between European or US servers, so it’s much more limited than some of our award winners, but it performed better than some of the other free services, offering speeds of around 3Mbps when connected to a US server.