So, you’re thinking about signing up to a VPN service?
When you first start to research different VPNs, we’re sure you’ll come across a ton of different opinions about which VPN is the best. This can be confusing at best and at worst, could potentially put you off signing up for a VPN.
Top Rated Picks: 3 Recommended Free Trial VPNs
(more on these below)
One way to get around this is to sign up to a VPN with a free trial. If you do this, instead of relying on information given to you by someone else, you will be able to see for yourself how the VPN works.
Worried the VPN won’t work with certain websites? Or with torrenting? Or won’t have a server in a location you need? Using a VPN with a free trial is a great way to find an exact answer to all these questions without having to spend a cent!
Why Do I Need A VPN Anyway?
VPNs are useful pieces of software that have multiple uses. Most people who use VPNs use them for one of, or a combination of, the following three reasons:
- Increased security
- More anonymity
- Bypass geo-restricted content
To understand how a VPN can provide these services, it is important to understand how a VPN works.
When you use a VPN your data is sent through an encrypted tunnel to the VPN server. From there, the data travels on to its final location, usually a website (or service – anti-virus, DNS, gaming server, streaming server etc), before traveling back to the VPN, through the encrypted tunnel, and to your computer.
Increased Security
The increased security from a VPN comes from the fact that all your data is sent through an encrypted tunnel to the VPN server. This means that if anyone is spying on your browsing, they will find it much harder to see your data. Instead, they will just see the encrypted tunnel.
While often this isn’t too big a problem, when you use public networks, especially unprotected wifi networks, you are putting your network security into the hands of someone else.
On unprotected wifi networks, literally anyone can log into the network and if they have the know-how potentially start to steal the data of people using the network. However, using a VPN with good encryption will significantly reduce the likeliness of this happening.
Increased Anonymity
The increased anonymity comes from the fact that your data is routed through a VPN server in another location. This means that if anyone, such as your ISP, the government or agencies, is monitoring certain websites, they will not see your IP address. Instead they will only see the IP address of the VPN server.
If increased anonymity is important to you, you must make sure to choose a VPN that doesn’t log your data. If your VPN logs your data then if they have to hand over these logs to your ISP, government or an agency, whoever gets a hold of the logs would potentially be able to see who was using the VPN as well as the websites they were visiting.
Unblock Geo-restricted Content
Unblocking geo-restricted content is one of the most popular reasons to use a VPN. As more and more of the internet becomes fenced off to certain countries, using a VPN can break down these walls and allow you to access any content from anywhere in the world (or at least, anywhere your VPN provider has a server).
When your data travels from the VPN server to its final destination, the website you are browsing will see the IP address of the VPN. This means that to the website, it will appear as if you are browsing the web from the location of the VPN not your actual location.
Because of this, if you want to access content that is only available in the US, you can simply connect to a VPN server in the US. If certain websites are blocked in your country, simply connect to a server in a location that allows access to the site. It really is as easy as that!
The only thing to keep an eye on is that some websites, such as Netflix, are trying to stop people from using VPNs to access their content. This is a perfect reason to use a VPN with a free trial as you will be able to check if the VPN can access the websites you want to access before signing up to the VPN properly.
Can I Just Use A Permanently Free VPN?
While there are permanently free VPNs out there, using a permanently free VPN comes with a number of issues.
Most worryingly are the security implications. While VPNs are a way to increase your security when browsing the net, using a free one can actually have the opposite effect.
When you use a VPN you connect to the VPN server and as such it is essentially possible that a VPN company to collect your browsing data such as your IP address and the websites and services you are using.
This data can then be sold onto third parties or used to provide you with targeted adverts. Basically, this completely negates the security aspects of using a VPN.
As well as this, some free VPN software has been known to contain malware which can open your computer up to all kinds of hacks and attacks. In fact, this same study found that some VPNs didn’t even encrypt your data. This means that if you used one of these VPNs, not only would your data be at risk from the VPN company itself, but also from the people you were using the VPN to protect yourself from.
It should be mentioned that there are certainly some free VPNs that offer what should be a safe way to browse the internet. However, these VPNs are usually associated with paid VPNs. The free service that you get from these VPNs is essentially a limited version of what you would expect to get from the full VPN they offer.
This means that while your data may be safe, you will likely come across restrictions such as a limited data allowance, low bandwidth, slow servers, and a limited number of server locations.
While these free VPNs may be ok for some people, if you want to use data heavy activities (streaming/downloading video) that require a fast internet connection, or if you need access to a wide number of server locations, these VPNs likely won’t be enough for you.
No Free VPN Trial? What About A Money Back Guarantee?
Most VPNs offer a money back guarantee. Whether this is for seven days or thirty 30 days, it is enough time to really get to grips with a VPN and see if it works for you. You can use this free trial to check the speeds are quick enough for the uses you want, and that the VPN can access the websites that you need to access.
Of course, what a money back guarantee isn’t, is a way to use a VPN for free before cancelling on the last day. If you genuinely can’t use their product then it is fine to request your money back and we’re sure that many VPNs would be happy to know what the exact problems were.
However, simply requesting your money back after having had a good VPN experience as a way to save some money is not really ethical and it is something we believe that you should avoid.
Best VPNs With A Free Trial
1. VyprVPN
- Completely free 3-day trial
- Full unrestricted access to the VPN during the trial
- Full range of apps for all devices
- 70+ server locations
VyprVPN is a great VPN that offers a full three day trial of their VPN. It has a ton of servers (over 700) in over 70 countries meaning that you should have no issues with accessing geo-restricted content.
They have different VPN protocols on offer including OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP, and Chameleon (VyprVPN’s own protocol), so you can choose the one that best suits your needs and required level of encryption.
They offer extra security protection through a NAT firewall to ensure you are firewalled on mobile devices. Some VPNs don’t have this feature which can put you more at risk from incoming connections.
Basically, this is a really solid VPN with loads of customizable options and a great free trial.
2. NordVPN
- 3 day free trial
- Double data encryption to keep your data extra safe
- No logs policy for extra anonymity
- Automatic VPN kill switch to ensure you don’t connect without a VPN
NordVPN is a quality VPN that provides everything you would expect from one of the bigger names in the business. It has over 800 servers in 57 countries, never keeps logs, and provides all this on super easy to use software.
They offer a number of options for increased anonymity including onion over VPN and a double VPN feature, as well as multiple payment options including Bitcoin.
As well as this, they try to make it as easy as possible for NordVPN users to easy stream video by including features such as Smart Play.
All in all, this is a good, easy to use VPN, with a useful 3 day free trial. The only downside is that they are yet to set up a dedicated way to set up the free trial which can make accessing it a bit more complicated than it should be.
3. ExpressVPN
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Variety of apps including one for Linux
- Huge number of VPN locations (145+)
ExpressVPN’s free trial is unique in that it is for a massive period of thirty days although it is actually more of a guarantee than a free trial. This means you will have to pay for the VPN before your trial but you are guaranteed your money back if you request it within thirty days. As long as you don’t mind paying the upfront cost, it is essentially a free trial.
However, the service offered by ExpressVPN is excellent and may even tempt you into sticking with their service for longer than the thirty days. They offer an astounding number of server locations, strong 256-bit encryption secured by SSL, and apps for all your devices.
ExpressVPN is an excellent product and as long as you don’t mind paying up front, their “free trial” is the one of the best in the business.
Conclusion
Free VPN trials are a great way to test out a product and see if a VPN is suitable for your needs. All three trials in this review are from trusted VPNs and they all offer a number of top quality VPN features.
When choosing which is best for you, the best thing you can do is simply download one of the VPNs and give it a go to see if it is suitable for your needs.
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment below if you have any questions.