Virtual Private Network (VPN) services are great services that adds an extra layer of privacy for highly critical data. Enterprises use it since a long time to enable extra security and privacy for their employees, particularly when working from remote / home and other environments where a secure internet connection cannot always be guaranteed. More and more, private individuals discover these benefits too and many service providers now offer solutions for households, too.
Simply put, logging onto a VPN changes your IP address and makes it look like you are in a different country from the one you are currently located in. For example, if you live in Germany you can fool any websites you’re visiting into thinking you are based in, say, Bulgaria. How is that possible, you ask? Well, all you have to do is connect to the internet via a VPN service and select to be rerouted through a server based in Bulgaria (if available, of course).
Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) has many advantages. It enables you to hide your IP address, encrypt your internet browsing activity and protect your online identity.
Apart from the obvious privacy advantages of complete online anonymity, using a VPN makes it possible for you to not have your geolocations tracked by services.
Private Internet Access VPN: An affordable, feature-rich Chrome extension that is simple to use even by VPN newbies. As a company, Private Internet Access VPN has been around since 2010 and offers encryption-powered anonymity for surprisingly low prices, especially when you consider that it is operating an impressively vast network of 32,000+ servers in 101 locations across 78 countries. It should be noted, however, that around half of those servers are based in the United States.
ExpressVPN: This dedicated Chrome extension lets you connect quickly and start browsing privately right away. Activating ExpressVPN in-browser provides full protection, not just for your browser traffic, but for your whole device. You don't have to launch the desktop app to use the browser extension; you can simply turn it on directly from your Chrome browser itself. ExpressVPN connects you to 3,000+ servers scattered around 160 locations across 94 countries around the world. With a network powered by its own TrustedServer technology, you can rest assured that any logs of your online activities will always be automatically deleted. In fact, ExpressVPN’s mettle was been tested once before in 2017 when the company experienced a server seizure by authorities. Sure enough, they found nothing about ExpressVPN’s users thanks to the company’s solid zero-log policy.
There are both free and paid VPNs services out there. You’ve probably heard the saying “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product”. Unfortunately, this rings true for a lot of free VPN services out there. We generally do not recommend sharing any private data with a free VPN provider.
The short answer is ‘not really’. But there are some exceptions. Let us explain: Running a VPN service isn’t just about creating an app, uploading it to the Google Play store and letting it do its thing. In fact, the VPN service provider has to constantly maintain a large global network of secure servers, which as you can imagine costs a lot. To mitigate that, most of the free VPNs out there will try to sell your personal data or your browsing history to the highest bidder.
The more trustworthy and reputable VPNs, on the other hand, have set a number of feature limitations to their free service version. Therefore, the users get to decide whether a service offers enough value to upgrade to the premium version just to get rid of these restrictions. Still, that’s better than giving your data away for free. In addition to our selection of free VPN apps listed above, we wholeheartedly recommend downloading ProtonVPN’s free app, as it has no transfer data limit. It only limits you to using one device per session and makes you choose between just three server locations.
