Free VPN on an ongoing basis is a bad idea, you risk much more financial losses than the cost of paying for a quality VPN.
VPNs provide seamless and unrestricted access to any content. In addition, you get the ability to hide your IP address and encrypt traffic to keep confidential data from third parties. Surfing the web using private VPN servers solves the problem of the government's tight regulatory policy on the Internet and censorship. In this article, we will not focus on data encryption technologies and what a VPN is. Let's consider only the facts for those who want to ensure maximum protection of their personal data. You will receive an answer to one of the main questions in the topic of virtual private networks, which VPN should you choose - paid or free?
What awaits you when using a free VPN:
- A small number of servers. The infrastructure of a free service is much inferior to its paid counterparts. You will be faced with overloaded and weakly secured VPN servers, which are actively used by thousands of other users.
- Limiting traffic. To reduce the load on free servers, private companies are forced to put you in a tight box. This may be a limitation on the amount of stable connection time or the amount of traffic used.
- Slow connection speed - High load on free VPN servers slows down your streaming data. You will not be able to enjoy your favorite movies or TV series online in high quality.
- Selling your logs - Private companies that offer you free VPN server use most of the time make money by selling user data. There is only one product in their business - your personal data!
- Data leak when the connection is broken. The high load and instability of the free VPN server causes frequent disconnections. The absence of an emergency shutdown function will make your personal data the property of the provider or third parties.
- Insecure DNS queries. Third party DNS servers collect personal information that can be used to identify you.
- Advertising, advertising and advertising again. The easiest and safest way to financially develop a service can seriously ruin your anonymous web surfing experience.
- Weak encryption: The outdated IP hiding and traffic mixing algorithms commonly used by companies that provide free virtual servers create a privacy hole.
- Outdated protocols: Free VPNs use outdated encryption protocols that struggle to bypass blocking of popular apps and websites.
Why a paid VPN is better than a free one:
- A large number of servers. Paid services are investing a lot of money in the development of new infrastructure. You are provided with thousands of free servers and hundreds of locations around the world to choose from.
- Unlimited traffic. Paid VPNs have no restrictions due to low load and high server bandwidth.
- High connection speed. A large selection of VPN servers and locations will allow you to choose the fastest option for viewing or downloading high quality content.
- Split VPN Tunneling. Paid services support universal traffic distribution technology, which will allow you to use encryption on one of the devices or applications without disrupting the direct connection of other local network devices to the Internet.
- Anonymous DNS servers. The proprietary anonymous DNS servers in paid VPN servers do not store personal data of users by which they can be identified.
- Emergency shutdown support. In the event of an unexpected disconnection, all traffic will be instantly blocked, your data will remain protected.
- No collection of confidential data. Paid services offer you a transparent cooperation scheme and collect a minimum of technical information that does not identify you as a user.
- Support for OpenVPN protocols (TCP and UDP). The use of modern protocols guarantees access to any site, application or online service blocked by the state.
- Strong encryption. Paid VPNs use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) encryption algorithm used by the US government to protect sensitive information. It effectively hides your real IP address, excludes the possibility of traffic interception and unauthorized access to local devices.
- Complete security of transmitted data. Sophisticated security mechanisms for paid VPN servers exclude the possibility of personal data leaking to third parties or a provider.
