CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost offers its Chrome proxy extension for free. This version masks your IP address, encrypts your data, and blocks malicious content.

It includes servers in 4 countries — the US, Romania, Germany, and the Netherlands.

It also comes with a combination of security features, allowing you to browse safely. This includes 256-bit encryption, a kill switch, an ad/malware blocker, and Wi-Fi protection, a feature you can customize easily within the app, and automatically connects as soon as the server picks up the signal.

It also offers streaming-optimized servers for specific sites including BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Disney Plus. Sharing and downloading content is at lightning-fast speed. The extension, however, isn’t secure when accessing Flash content, and doesn’t protect against WebRTC leaks.

CyberGhost too has specialty servers for using the torrents, each displayed in terms of distance from your location. It also allows you to save your favorite faster server to access it quickly for future use.

It has a 24-hour free trial, fully-featured without limitations, including a risk-free option for 45 days since it offers a money-back guarantee.

Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield’s proprietary Catapult Hydra VPN protocol is optimized for speed.This protocol compresses your data and reduces your VPN’s latency, making your connection faster without compromising security.

The downside of this service is its free serviceonly allows you to access servers in the US.

When large numbers of free users crowd onto a single virtual location at once, the high server traffic can lead to sluggish connections and longer loading delays. You generally get the best VPN speeds by connecting to a server as close as possible to your physical location.

Hotspot Shield has 256-bit AES encryption and IP/DNS leak protection, ensuring decent protection when connected.

You also get an automatic VPN kill switch to protect you in the event of a VPN connection failure.

You can quickly and easily install its Chrome extension on all your devices. The extension doesn’t encrypt full device traffic, but only encrypts your browser data.

The downside of the free versions is that it has a data cap of 500 MB per day which might not be enough to download torrents and even prevent streaming, blocking you with the premium payment wall.

Hotspot Shield is a US-based service, subject to surveillance and intelligence-sharing agreements with a few other nations. This guarantees they don’t collect information about your browsing history.  

They only do collect data related to your IP address, geographic location, and mobile device ID. The free version is supported by ad revenue, permitting sharing this information with Google to create targeted ads within the app.

Hotspot Shield does have live chat, but you have to log in with your account info to be able to access their support. They also use the email service to interact with their clients.

WindScribe

Windscribe’s free service allows a monthly 10 GB of data usage. To top it, you caneven tweet the company, and it will generously gift you an extra 5 GB!

You can connect to servers in ten countries with a free account: the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The free version of Windscribe can’t unblock Netflix. But you are able to access a few services like HBO GO, and YouTube.

Torrenting works well with the free version of Windscribe. A free subscription gives you access to servers that support P2P file sharing.

Windscribe offers all the privacy and security settings available in the premium version. These include features such as AES 256-bit encryption and the choice of four different VPN protocols

Including R.O.B.E.R.T, a fully customizable domain, and IP blocking tool, you are able to block specific lists of threats on Google Chrome by toggling a single switch in the settings.

With the free version, your R.O.B.E.R.T. access is a bit limited,with only malware blocking and three custom rules.

In the event that Windscribe fails, the kill switch disconnects you from the internet to prevent the exposure of your online activity.

With a verifiable no-logs policy, it never monitors your activity or keeps your connection logs, IP timestamps, or session logs. It only collects data necessary to enforce the limitations of the free version,it never logs anything that compromises your safety or security.

It’s also attractive, intuitive, and easy to use, in both free and paid versions. There aren’t any ads either, a notable thing when it comes to free VPNs.

Although Windscribe provides an automatic chatbot Garry and many helpful guides and FAQs, they don’t have live chat support. However, if you don’t get assistance, your query redirects to a human representative. It’s not live, but the support team responds fairly quickly.

Proton VPN

ProtonVPN offersunlimited data and speeds on its free service

The company is Swiss-based and has a strict no-logs policy, so your anonymity and data are safe. The service also is ad-free!

The free account connects toservers in three countries, the US, Netherlands, and Japan.

ProtonVPN unblocks most popular streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

The designated torrent services are only offered on the Basic, Plus, and Visionary plans.

ProtonVPN’s security features include a kill switch, the use of OpenVPN protocols, and 256-bit AES encryption. Industry-standard encryption and protocols keep your data safe. The kill switch is a fail-safe to protect your true location from being exposed if you’re suddenly disconnected from the internet or the VPN fails.

Its interface is well-designed, and accessing features is as simple as toggling or pressing a button. You can also opt to use the pop-up tips when you first download the VPN, to get aguided walk-through of its main features.

The support section offers the ability to search by existing categories or enter your criteria into a search bar. The support team is also available via email. Response times are around 24-hours for email. They do not have live chat support, but the friendly customer support responses are on-point.

Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access (PIA), offers VPN extension Chrome free. The extension has some great security features like the cookie blocker, flash blocking, credit card auto-filling, and many more.

PIA also has the most extensive network worldwide – 35,000 servers in 78 countries.

This VPN also has a full-featured Chrome extension, fast and secure connection, and is quite easy to use

Unfortunately, like some other VPNs, they don’t have a live chat support

Do note that speeds can be slow sometimes

Express VPN

Express VPN offers unlimited data, lightning-fast speeds, and you can try it all risk-free with its 30-day money-back guarantee.

The use of innovative TrustedServer Technology ensures that its servers always load the most recent version of the software, to help prevent security risks. All of its servers operate solely on RAM, which means your data is never stored on a hard drive

Express VPN offers military-grade encryption, OpenVPN protocols, DNS leak protection, and a Network Lock feature, their version of a kill switch.

It also offers split-tunneling allowing you to choose which apps and services are tunneled through the VPN. Split tunneling prevents you from being completely disconnected from the internet if the VPN fails, and allows access to foreign and local content simultaneously on the device.

Express VPN unblocks most popular streaming services, including the likes of Netflix and BBC iPlayer. The MediaStreamer feature helps you access streaming services on all compatible devices. It also offers torrenting and other P2P activity across all of its servers.

For a premium provider, the app has a Smart Location feature that will automatically choose the best server.

They provide a 24/7 live chat support feature, and you can find detailed setup guides for most compatible devices on the site.

TunnelBear VPN

TunnelBear’s download speeds are nearly as fast as those of the premium service, but the free service limits you to 500 MB data monthly.

TunnelBear’s VPN network is in more than 20 countries, but unfortunately, doesn’t work with Netflix, Hulu, or BBC iPlayer.

Torrenting is allowed on all server locations, however, this is also limited by data restrictions.

It is suited when dealing with countries with strict censorship. The GhostBear protocol hides your VPN traffic to get around VPN blocks, although the data cap again limits this tool functionality.

TunnelBear provides the same level of privacy as the premium offering.

In addition to AES 256-bit 256 encryption, TunnelBear has a Vigilant Mode, their own version of a kill switch, which blocks all unsecured traffic if the VPN fails.

For trust and transparency, none of the data logged by TunnelBear is personally identifiable. TunnelBear only uses the data to troubleshoot and monitor data limits on the free service.

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) finds that each TunnelBear serverprovides full disk encryption, malware and intrusion scans, and intrusion protection techniques.

TunnelBear offers free extensions for the Google Chrome browser. However, unlike TunnelBear’s free desktop VPN, the browser extensions only encrypt your browser traffic and hide your IP address.

The extension is easy to use, allowing you to connect to the most optimal server with the click of a button.                                

The service doesn’t have live chat, but it does have a help section that may answer many of your questions. You can even submit a ticket for further assistance.

Hide.me VPN

hide.me offers a user-friendly extension for Google Chrome. While the company promises to never throttle your connection, your data usage is capped at 2 GB a month.

hide.me’s free VPN unblocks a handful of streaming sites, but you’ll need to test different servers to find which works.

Torrenting is permitted on three servers.

For free users, hide.me only offers five server locations in four countries — Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands, and the US.

The significant downside to hide.me’s free service is that you can’t use the VPN on multiple devices simultaneously.

The free version of hide.me is just as anonymous and secure as the premium VPN service. hide.me provides AES 256-bit encryption, a VPN kill switch, and protection against DNS and IP leaks.

It even operates its own DNS servers to guarantee that your personal data remains safe.

hide.me is based in Malaysia, and it doesn’t collect any identifiable personal data. hide.me only keeps non-persistent logs of connection data.

It only uses these logs for troubleshooting purposes and erases them every few hours, not exposing your secure identity. Data can also be deleted upon request.

hide.me provides 24/7 customer support via chat, plus you can also email the technical support team.

The service also has a strict ad-free policy, so it never bombards you with ads.

BetterNet

It is a free VPN proxy that unblocks sites and secures your device effectively.

Some features Of BetterNet VPN include:

• Totally Free VPN service forever
• No credit card
• No Registration or Logging is required.
• No log is saved from no user
• No ad is presented in the app
• The simple interface just to connect
• Select locations

Conclusion

Google Chrome’s built-in security features are simply not enough to protect your data and privacy. With the free VPNs on this list, you can protect yourself from Cyber threats and access government-censored content.

Limitations like data caps may keep you from streaming or only allow you a few hours of browsing time per month. Limited server access can keep you from unblocking the sites you want to browse. Slow speeds can become a factor.