Why should you be wary of free VPNs?
The story dates a little, but deserves to be told. In August 2018, Apple decided to delete the Onavo Protect application from its app store. For a simple reason: this free VPN, supposed to protect the confidentiality of its users, went against the rules of the editor of iOS. Particularly because it was gently recorded, data on other applications installed on the iPhone.
Onavo Protect was, since 2013, the discreet property of another web giant: Facebook. Which used this free VPN for years to analyze the online behaviors of Internet users who had activated it. As the entire traffic in Internet users was transported by Facebook servers, its engineers could detect the applications they used the most, the time spent on each software, etc. Users thought they were surfing out of sight … but were actually watched by the Mark Zuckerberg teams, who notably used this use data to make strategic decisions, such as the buyout of Whatsapp!
When it’s free …
In front of the controversy and after being banished by Apple, Facebook ended the marketing of Onavo in 2019. But it is only the tree that hides the forest: dozens of free VPNs always swarm on the Play Store and on the App Store. And it is better to avoid them… because there is never nothing free. Maintain a real infrastructure of VPN servers is expensive, especially in bandwidth. And if a service does not make you pay for a subscription, it is because it is remunerated otherwise.
This VPN forces you to look at advertisements before initiating connections. With each consent made, you share data that can allow you to identify with obscure online advertising companies © screenshot – Numériques
Among these methods, there is obviously targeted advertising. Several free VPNs that we have tried to write this article impose the viewing of advertising spots before we can take advantage of their services. And all of them reaping a lot of information: real IP address, unique identification number of the device, GPS location … Did you think of surfing discreetly? Failed: Before connection, you have provided a considerable sum of precious data to obscure companies specializing in online advertising.
… You are the product
Hola has at least the merit of not mentioning the confidentiality of exchanges in his functions. But it promises access to 600,000 “peers” (machines from other users) in 190 different countries © Numériques
Others go even further, like the famous Hola VPN, which has a funny way to monetize its service. Speed for ten years Because it resells the bandwidth of its users, this service is always online … and still so problematic. Indeed, once activated on your computer, Hola will initiate a handset connection with other computers. No VPN server here: these are the machines of users who serve as output knots! But there is worse: all users of the free Hola version are immediately integrated into Bright Data Network, a gigantic data collection platform which claims 150 million residential IP addresses (including those of Hola customers) in 195 countries. In other words, when you use Hola, Bright Data client companies can use your IP address behind your back.
Some free VPNs have even served criminal activities. In 2024 alone, two gigantic botnets – PC networks or Android Verole smartphones – were dismantled. Closed by the FBI last May, the Botnet 911 S5 even won the sad record of the largest network of zombie machines in the world, with no less than 19 million unique IP addresses. Each time, cybercriminals have bait their victims thanks to free VPNs which in reality integrated their PC or smartphone into a network of criminal vocation machines.
Degraded performance
Sale of your bandwidth, intensive collection of advertising data and even hacking: free VPNs are mostly against what they are supposed to be: a way to ensure your confidentiality and your online safety. But beyond the confidentiality problems they pose, they are, moreover unaccomplayed. Some of them do not use encryption, do not implemented the most modern protocols of connection (like Wireguard, in particular) and limit the output destinations to the bare minimum. In addition, the quality of connection can greatly leave something to be desired, both in terms of flow and general comfort of use. For example, a free VPN with a limited infrastructure and a few IP addresses will be easily detected and blocked by streaming services or websites that set up anti-VPN measures.
Some notable exceptions
To counterbalance this very dark painting, let us specify, however, that some VPNs much more respectful of your privacy have a free mode, largely limited, however. Protonvpnfor example, allows you to connect free of charge and unlimitedly, without the possibility of choosing its output destination. Kaspersky VPN offers a free connection, but limited to 300 MB of data exchange per day.
Nothing also prevents you from testing the best VPNs of our comparison without paying. All the biggest names on the market, as NorthernProtonvpn or Expressvpn Offer a 30 -day trial and then reimburse you on request.
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