What to expect with VPN on Free Trials
A lot of VPN services will offer a free trial, however with a lot of these trials we have found that the service offered is limited to perhaps a few locations or a data limit (say 500mb per day). This is fine if all you want to do is do a small amount of browsing on the odd occasion. However, if you are looking to stream say Netflix from anywhere in the world then this is obviously not adequate.
Types of VPN Trials
Not all VPN services even offer a standard free trial but may offer something similar
- Money Back Guarantee – This is the most popular option for VPNs to market and is simply a way for you to quickly and easily get your money back within a set period (30 days for example).
- Free service – Some VPNs offer a free version. However, this is usually limited and has only a few locations. Even when just browsing you may often find Google search is blocked as it has detected many users, successfully guessing it is a VPN and blocking the IP.
- Straight up free trial – not many VPNS still offer a full-service free trial where you get all the features free for say your first week, but they are still out there!
- $1 free trial – sometimes you may see a VPN that has a low-cost trial option, usually £1, $1 etc…
Using a trial to identify the right VPN for your needs
If you need a VPN for any service then you will need to consider your needs carefully and look at what features you need.
Firstly ask yourself what are you needing a VPN for
- Streaming
Most of the popular VPNs are geared for this as it is the most popular use of VPNs. The feature you want is the one with the most locations on offer as this spreads the number of users streaming and means the service should always have at least a handful of servers that have not yet been blocked. Also make sure it has the country you need to access from.
- More secure business
If you run a business and have been victim to some sort of hack, scam, virus or maybe you keep getting blacklisted then a VPN may be the answer. The main feature you are looking for will be support. A small VPN company with good security features often offer more than a large VPN that focuses on streaming but has no to little real person support. Support is always useful if your running a business. To keep your business as legit as possible you will also want a VPN company based in a similar Jurisdiction to yours. So If you run a business in the US then go for a US based VPN such as SaferVPN.
- You're an activists or Journalist
If you are in a country which perhaps has less freedoms than many of us enjoy then you may want to keep your identity hidden. You will want a VPN based in a relatively corrupt free country but with a loose jurisdiction such as Proton VPN which is Swiss based.
- You want to remain as anonymous as possible
This is the purpose of most VPNs. You have essentially 2 choices here. 1. VPN based in a country of good Jurisdiction such as a G7 country as those businesses will operate in a legit manner so will not release your information if you are law abiding. 2. VPN based in a country with no jurisdiction (an island in the middle of the Ocean) that will not have to comply with law enforcement. However, as they are a more rogue operation who knows where your information could end up in less trustworthy hands?
*We do not condone any illegal activities on VPN services, these services are built for your privacy, security and freedom.
Recommended VPN Free Trials for Unblocking Streaming Sites
1. SurfShark – this is my personal choice VPN and is great for streaming as well as running my business. In all the time I used it I have only seen one server blocked by Netflix.
- 30 days money back
- 7 day trial on app
- Low cost option if you commit to a longer period
2. CyberGhost VPN – With a great reputation and 45 days money back as well as a great deal always available CyberGhostVPN is a sure thing.
- 45 days money back
- Low cost option if you commit to a longer period
3. NordVPN – I believe bigger is always better, a reputable service with so many users they can’t all be wrong. A bigger company such as NordVPN will also have more features and a more up-to-date service due to its resources.
- 30 days money back
- Low cost option if you commit to a longer period
Recommended VPN Free Trials for Businesses
1. SaferVPN – I love the concept of a ready out of the box Wifi hub so you can connect your entire workforce or all devices in your home. Although you do not get the hub with the free trial.
- 30 days money back
- Can offer wifi hubs with SaferVPN already installed
- Low cost option if you commit to a longer period
- Enhanced security
2. SmartyDNS – Good for businesses as it a smaller company with great support still putting customer service and support at the front of its key features.
- Great support for businesses
- 30 days money back
- Runs on DNS rather than VPN
Recommended VPN Trials for Anonymity
Firstly, you will probably need to look at where a VPN is based, this can determine which jurisdiction they fall under and how they share your information with local law enforcement.
1.Proton VPN – A swiss based VPN service for keeping your business communications private and secure as well as being tailored towards activists and journalists.
- Swiss jurisdiction
- Can add a mail service “Proton Mail” for absolute private emails
2. VPNHub – For accessing adult content privately
- 7 days money back
- Low cost option if you commit to a longer period
3. AirVPN – Open source VPN network run by online community of hacktivists. Being community ran means they do not really fall under any jurisdiction and have hacktivists creating new secure features all the time. You do not get more anonymity than with AirVPN
- Open source
- Large community for quick support
VPNs with straight up Free Trials
- AVG secure (and no Credit Card Required). I found the AVG software slowed my PC down
- Avast (and no Credit Card Required). Identical to AVG, I found this also slowed down my PC
- SurfShark (through App Store only)
- Zenmate (on a desktop/PC and no Credit Card Required)
- VPN Hub (and no Credit Card Required) made for browsing adult content
If a free trial does not require any payment details then the service is very limited, it may have few locations and features such as streaming will not work. These trials do not give you the full functionality that money back guarantees can.
VPNs with Money Back Guarantee
- Express VPN – 30 days and unlocks streaming services*
- NordVPN – 30 days and unlocks streaming services*
- CyberGhost - 45 days and unlocks streaming services*
- GOOSE VPN - 30 days and unlocks streaming services*
- SurfShark - 30 days and unlocks streaming services*
- IPVanish – 7 days, smaller service but well-spoken of by smaller businesses
- VyprVPN - 30 days and unlocks streaming services*
- Hide me – 30 days, quickly gets blocked by streaming service
- PURE VPN – 31 days and built for speed and unlocks streaming services*
- Safer VPN – 30 days and built for security and can come with custom wifi routers perfect for business use.
- ZenMate - 30 days and unlocks streaming services*
- Hotspot Shield – 45 days, focusing on security and speed
- Smarty DNS – 30 days, safe secure VPN for US, UK and German nationals wanting home internet connections
- Proton VPN – 30 days, Swiss based VPN intended for secure communication
- Invisible Browsing VPN - 14 days, speedy and great support
- Private VPN – 30 days and fairly new
If you are looking to get a VPN service on a free trial then I would recommend going for a Money Back Guarantee instead. Although you may have to fork out a months subscription initially (maybe £5) you will get full access to the service so you know how well it works for your needs.
*unlocking streaming services is a constant battle for all VPN services as they are also being blocked. At any one given time most VPNs work with services such as Netflix and Hulu but is not always guaranteed.
VPNs with Free Option
These are only useful if you quickly want to search a website from a different location (perhaps you want to see what price difference there is on an ecommerce site in different locations). However they are often slow, unreliable and never work for streaming.
VPNs with low cost Trial
- AirVPN – 2 Euro trial, community run meaning it probably has more features and abilities than any other VPN (warning only for super geeks wanting everything)
My Final Advice on VPN Free Trials
Typically, all VPNs will working if you’re looking to browse and just stay secure online by avoiding malicious tracking software and all those annoying ads that follow you everywhere. Where VPNs differ is firstly in the trial they offer you, as we have described above.
Rule of thumb – if you don’t need to enter payment details then you will have very little access to the service, and it will likely not function very well. Money back Guarantees are the best solution, plus they also come with a low-cost deal.
For example I paid $50 for 2 years access to SurfShark and can now…
- Stream, (Disney plus, Netflix)
- Surf the web and research my competitors worldwide
- log into unlimited devices
It is perfect for my needs at a low cost.
I used to use Free VPNs, however since paying for the full service my life online has become easier. As an online marketer constantly reviewing different online services, I often need to be looking at services from different locations in order to actually enter the website. More often than not I would have to reload and retry multiple free VPNs and would eventually loose connection and then wait until the free VPN provider would re-connect a new IP address.
Personally, since paying that one off fee I cannot say it is worth using a free service ever again, but by all means use the various trials to find the service right for you.
Our VPN Challenge – How Savvy are You?! (Coming Soon)
How it works.
Signup to our multiple back to back VPN challenge and try to sign up and cancel to every single VPN money back guarantee.
- Signup using your email
- We will send you the link to the first VPN with a money back guarantee
- 24 hours before time runs out of your money back guarantee we will send you a reminder (email and/or text) to cancel and the link to the next VPN. With full description on how to successfully cancel
- Repeat until you have used all 12 VPN trials.
You will need around £10 (depending on which package you choose, but we recommend monthly packages in each VPN for this challenge) for the whole year that the challenge is running for but you will keep the £10 as long as you cancel.