The Best Free & Paid VPNs for Android

The table below compares the highest-rated free and paid Android VPNs for speed, privacy, device limit, monthly data cap, and more.

Our recommended Android VPNs have native apps for AndroidOS 14.0, 13.0 and older versions. They won’t leak your IP address, won’t log your internet activity, and won’t ask for unnecessary permissions.

Hundreds of millions of people use potentially unsafe free VPNs, and Android may be the platform with the most dangerous free VPNs.

The truth is, you simply can’t trust most free VPN applications with your confidential personal data.

In fact, many free Android VPNs are dangerous because they log your IP address, web activity, and internet usage.

Some free Android VPNs even sell your personal information to advertisers, or report your activity to government agencies and regulators.

After conducting investigations on free Android VPNs, we uncovered an alarming amount with suspicious links to China. Even worse, some VPNs had extremely worryingly security flaws.

The charts below highlight the extent of dangerous free VPNs currently in circulation:

Below is a list of the worst Android VPNs we’ve tested and reviewed. We strongly advise you don’t use these VPNs. There are far safer free Android VPNs available.

Turbo VPN

Turbo VPN has very strong links to mainland China and its Android app constantly shows you long ads. It has recently improved its logging policy – it no longer stores your IP address – but we still don’t recommend this VPN.

Snap VPN

Snap VPN logs way too much personal information, including your ISP, bandwidth usage, and server location. The VPN service also has business ties to mainland China and a ridiculous amount of in-app advertising.

Thunder VPN

Thunder VPN logs your real IP address, connection timestamps, and intrusive device information. It uses an ancient and insecure protocol that fails to protect you online. We also couldn’t find a kill switch in the Android app.

Hola VPN

Hola’s free VPN monitors all your web activity, doesn’t encrypt your connections, and has been caught selling user data on to third-parties.

Its Android app was even removed from the Google Play Store due to malware claims.

SuperVPN

This Android-only free VPN logs your real IP address, has suspicious ties to China, and the application is infested with intrusive unskippable ads. It’s simply unsafe and awful to use.

The brief tutorial video below shows you how to install and set up Windscribe Free on an Android (we’ve used a Samsung Galaxy S9):

If you opt for a free VPN that doesn’t come with a dedicated Android app, follow our VPN setup instructions for Android.

If you want to use the internet securely and privately on your Android, you need a VPN that safeguards your internet security and privacy.

If you don’t use a secure VPN, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can monitor what websites and apps you use, and what files you download.

Moreover, without a VPN you’re vulnerable to hackers and snoopers, particularly when using free public WiFi networks.

Here are four reasons why you should use a secure VPN on Android:

1. Stay Secure on Public WiFi

With almost 550 million public WiFi hotspots globally, free public WiFi has become a staple for millions of people.

In 2023, over half of internet users used public WiFi to login to websites and apps containing personal information, such as accessing personal emails and bank accounts.

Other security risks include logging into a work email, sending a work document, and entering credit card details when online shopping.

We recommend making sure that you’re accessing HTTPS websites and using a VPN to stay safe on public WiFi.

2. Protect Yourself from ISP Snooping

Without a VPN enabled, your ISP (internet service provider) can see the websites you visit, the information you enter online, and what you download.

Depending on where you live, it might be legal for your ISP to sell your data. If you’re in a country that’s part of the EU, Canada, or Australia, you don’t have to worry as it’s illegal.

But in the US, it’s been legal for ISPs to sell customer data to third-parties since 2017, when Congress passed a resolution to terminate FCC privacy rules that would have banned the selling of customer data.

3. Unblock Streaming Services

Lots of content on streaming services such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, and Disney+ is geo-restricted, which means you can’t access certain content based on your location.

For example, 30 Rock is currently available on US Netflix, but it’s unavailable for people in all other countries. If you use a VPN that specializes in unblocking Netflix content, you’ll be able to watch the program from any location at any time.

Depending on your location, you might need to use a VPN to unblock these apps or streaming content.

4. Bypass Online Censorship

In 2021, 48 government states pursued legal or administrative action against technology companies. Though some are legitimate attempts to mitigate online harms, a lot of these laws imposed online censorship and data-collection requirements for private technology companies.

You may have heard of the Great Firewall of China, or censorship in Russia. However, these are not the only countries in which censorship is an issue.

In 2021, Huawei surveillance middleboxes were found in 69 countries. They were being used to censor web content in 17 countries, including Germany, Oman, South Africa, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Italy, and Spain.

When testing and evaluting VPNs for Android, we focus on the aspects of a VPN that are most relevant to Android users.

To make our recommendations, we test each VPN in six different categories, rating each category out of 10. We then combine these ratings to calculate an overall rating for Android.

Use the table below to see how the top free and paid VPNs for Android performed in our key testing categories:

VPNs with a data cap receive a reduction to their overall rating.

Read on for the specifics on how we assess these criteria, as well as our recommended standards for each one:

1. Android Application: 20%

Regardless of whether the VPN is free or not, we expect a VPN’s Android app to be functional and easy to use. It shouldn’t just be a lazy copy of the desktop app, and it shouldn’t be missing any important features.

Options and buttons should be clearly labeled, with a simple layout and intuitive menus. We consider a VPN kill switch essential. Without it, your IP address coule be exposed if your VPN connection drops.

Split tunneling and ad blocking is less common, but equally useful. With split tunneling, you can choose which apps are rerouted by the VPN and which operate outside of it.

You should always make sure that you have downloaded the correct, official version of any Android VPN. Both free and paid VPN apps have many clones on the Google Play Store.

Downloading these copies can result in malicious viruses, tapjacking, and URL spoofing. Make sure you find the official Play Store link or download the apk directly from the VPN service’s website.

2. Speed: 20%

Whether you’re on WiFi or using cellular data, a VPN will slow down your internet speeds. The best free VPNs for Android will only make a small difference to your speeds.

Our testing found many free VPNs offer speeds significantly slower than their paid app counterparts. That’s why we make sure to manually test VPNs using our Android testing device.

While free VPNs can be slower than the paid ones, our expectations remain the same. There’s no reason for a good VPN, free or paid, to slow down your internet by more than 40% on a nearby connection. The best VPNs for Android will slow your internet speeds less than 20%.

Something you should bear in mind, however, is the reduced server list of most free VPNs compared to paid VPNs. If your VPN does not offer a server in the country you live in, then you likely have slower speeds connecting to another country.

3. Privacy & Logging Policy: 20%

Logging policy is one area where you absolutely do not have to compromise when choosing a free Android VPN. Most trustworthy VPN services use the same privacy policy for both their free and paid product, across all platforms.

One difference you should be aware of, though, is potential third party data sharing. Some free apps are subsidized via advertising and data sharing partnerships. Our VPN experts read through every privacy policy in full to make sure your data isn’t sneakily sold on to companies without your knowledge.

Almost every free mobile VPN without a paid version of the app will fail to meet our strict testing standard. Most free Android VPNs unfortunately can’t be trusted, and the reason usually lies within their privacy policy.

You should never download a VPN which stores identifiable, personal usage data. Your full IP address, browser timestamps, and DNS requests are always off limits – no good VPN will collect or store them.

We think it’s fine if a VPN stores some account or anonymized information. Monthly bandwidth usage or the total number of users connected to a single server can be necessary for running a seamless VPN. However, this information should be routinely deleted every month.

The perfect VPN records no account-tied logs of any kind. There are a few that genuinely offer this, and even less have a free tier available.

4. Security & Technical Features: 20%

The Google Play Store is filled with hundreds of free apps which claim to be ‘VPNs’, but in reality only act as proxies.

In short, they change your IP address, butdo not encrypt your traffic and DNS requests. It’s important to make sure that your free VPN of choice specifies what encryption it uses.

AES-256 is the level of encryption to aim for, though AES-128 is safe as well. It has been the standard for years now and is virtually unbreakable.

So long as OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols are present, then it’s safe. In our speed tests, we found WireGuard to be the faster VPN protocol. Provider-specific protocols like NordLynx and Lightway are also good choices.

5. Streaming: 10%

Streaming is the most popular reason to use a VPN on Android.

We can’t just rely on our testing data from desktop platforms. Sometimes a VPN which streams a certain service on Windows won’t be able to on Android, or vice versa.

We install a VPN on a Samsung Galaxy S9, running the latest version of Android, connect to a server in the desired country, and try to watch a specific streaming service.

The ability to stream the US Netflix library is a priority due to its popularity. Other Netflix libraries like Germany, Japan, and the UK are also desirable.

We also routinely test for other services like BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

6. Torrenting: 10%

Torrenting is popular on Android, but lots of mobile VPNs fall short when compared to their PC alternatives. Data-caps and throttled speeds lead to bad experiences on mobile.

The best VPNs for torrenting on Android have a bitrate of over 8MiB/s on our 100Mbps connection. They also include a kill switch and never leak IP information.

We put every Android VPN through a torrenting benchmark test, using a test file on a fixed 100Mbps connection. All mobile torrenting tests are carried out with the LibreTorrent client on a Samsung Galaxy S9 test phone.

Ideally, a good mobile torrenting VPN should allow P2P traffic on all servers, or offer clearly marked P2P servers across their whole server network.