FreeVPN.org: One of the Worst VPNs We’ve Tested — Don’t Use It

A good VPN keeps as few user logs as possible and clearly explains how it achieves this in its logging policy. FreeVPN.org claims to log absolutely nothing, but provides no proof or details about how it does so.

The image below isn’t just a summary of its privacy policy — it’s almost the entire thing:

There’s no way to verify whether this claim is true. FreeVPN.org has never been audited and reveals no information about the people or company behind the service.

Our past research uncovered some basic information about the team running FreeVPN.org. We know it was, and presumably still is, based in California, US — one of the least privacy-friendly jurisdictions for a VPN.

The company we previously found to be responsible for FreeVPN.org, ActMobile Inc., has largely removed its online presence and is listed as “permanently closed” on Google.

November 2021 Data Leak

On November 1, 2021, a database containing 300 million records of VPN user data was posted on a hacker forum. The hackers claimed the database belonged to ActMobile, the parent company of FreeVPN.org.

As noted above, FreeVPN.org claims to retain no user data. Yet the leaked database includes users’ full names, IP addresses, and passwords. This appears to confirm our skepticism about the VPN’s vague logging policy.

In response, ActMobile stated the accusation is false, claiming it “[does] not maintain databases.”

Despite the denial, the evidence strongly suggests the leaked database belongs to ActMobile.

This alone is enough for us to strongly recommend avoiding FreeVPN by FreeVPN.org under all circumstances.

Like many free VPNs, FreeVPN.org does not unblock most streaming sites. To its credit, it is upfront that streaming servers require a premium subscription.

We only tested the free product for this review, and we would be surprised if FreeVPN.org’s paid version worked consistently with streaming services.

Even the best premium VPNs sometimes struggle here — even quality services like Astrill and Mullvad failed most of our streaming tests.

However, we were pleasantly surprised that FreeVPN.org worked with BBC iPlayer when connected to its London server.

There aren’t many reliable free VPNs for streaming, but the best by far is PrivadoVPN Free. It’s the only 100% free VPN to unblock US Netflix in our tests.

The FreeVPN.org app offers no advanced security features, not even a kill switch. While free VPNs often lack extras, a kill switch is a basic requirement for any VPN.

The VPN protocol and encryption are, at first glance, a mystery. Neither the website nor the app explains which protocols and ciphers are used.

Since FreeVPN.org doesn’t monitor its email, we couldn’t confirm details directly.

We used Wireshark, a packet analysis tool, to investigate how FreeVPN.org encrypts traffic. We found it uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.2 — only the second most up-to-date version of the SSL-based VPN approach.

This is the same protocol Microsoft uses for corporate networking and is generally considered secure.

That said, it isn’t the latest or most secure version. TLS 1.3 offers performance improvements and reduces the risk of successful attacks.

The app also limits VPN usage to set time blocks, which creates a serious security flaw. When your time runs out, the VPN disconnects without warning, exposing your data.

On the plus side, we found no DNS or IP leaks.

Despite that, FreeVPN by FreeVPN.org urgently needs to upgrade its security. Failing to use established, recognized protocols like OpenVPN, IKEv2, or WireGuard in 2025 is unacceptable. It also needs to clearly communicate how it operates to give users peace of mind.

When you open the server list in Free VPN by FreeVPN.org’s app, it looks fairly diverse.

It isn’t comprehensive, but for a free VPN it appears to offer a decent range with at least one server per continent except Africa.

Ideally, we’d like to see more servers across Asia, South America, and Africa, but poor coverage in these regions isn’t unusual for a free VPN.

However, in our tests, the server options were consistently misleading.

Several entries are named after continents but are duplicates of specific country servers — sometimes even assigning the exact same IP address.

For example, the China and Asia servers connected to the same IP address in Hong Kong.

Even worse, the South America, Japan, and US West options all connected to the same server in Arizona, US.

Even by the standards of misleading free VPNs, it’s shocking to have options from three different continents all connecting to the same server.

This contributes to FreeVPN.org’s slow long-distance speeds and will likely bottleneck performance at peak times, even if the server is nearby.

It also suggests FreeVPN.org operates a very small server network overall. We asked for specific numbers but received no response.

After connecting to every server location several times, we conclude that FreeVPN.org doesn’t have 82 locations across 20+ countries as listed, but roughly 11 locations across eight countries.

By comparison, when we tested Proton VPN, we verified it operates 2,000 free servers in 10 countries.

FreeVPN by FreeVPN.org is impressive only in how often it surprises and frustrates.

Using it is unpleasant from the moment you open the app. The UI is cluttered and unattractive, buttons are poorly labeled and often don’t work as expected, and connecting to a server can take over five minutes — if it connects at all.

Read on for details of our frustrations with FreeVPN.org on each platform:

Mobile (Android & iOS)

FreeVPN.org is most popular on Android. We understand why: the Google Play Store is a minefield of free VPNs and it’s hard to know which ones to trust.

But don’t be fooled by its 5 million-plus downloads: FreeVPN.org is a miserable, aggravating VPN to use.

Like many free VPNs, you must watch ads to earn minutes to use the VPN. Four ads give you 30 minutes, eight ads give you 120 minutes, and 12 ads give you a full day.

However, ads often failed to load properly or didn’t register as viewed, forcing us to watch more ads than promised to get the allotted minutes.

Worse still, if you don’t use those minutes before midnight, they appear to reset, so you can’t build a reserve — you have to watch ads every day to keep using FreeVPN.org.

Almost all of this applies to its iOS app too, although in our tests ads were more likely to load correctly on iPhone.

Once you have minutes, connecting to a server is also a hassle. The server list has no clear order, making it hard to find and choose locations.

Selecting a server triggers a pop-up saying you’ve connected, but you haven’t — you still need to tap the Connect button. This could easily confuse first-time users.

The home screen is covered with buttons and links to premium-only features, and the settings menu doesn’t offer any real settings.

FreeVPN.org is nowhere near as user-friendly or fair as reputable free VPNs like Proton VPN or PrivadoVPN. There’s no comparison.

To our surprise, FreeVPN.org recently released a Mac app via Apple’s App Store.

Less surprising is how broken it is.

Despite the name, there’s no free version on Mac. You can download it, but once opened you must purchase a subscription to use it (and this isn’t clearly disclosed).

Most links to purchase a subscription don’t work. Many returned an error stating “plans not yet available” — a bizarre oversight that further damaged our trust.

Once we found a working payment link, we were shocked to see FreeVPN.org costs $9.49 per week. That would make the premium version one of the most expensive VPNs we’ve seen — a price we doubt it can justify.

FreeVPN.org for macOS is also bundled with its own browser. The two are completely intertwined, and you cannot use the VPN without using the browser — another unhelpful decision.

FreeVPN by FreeVPN.org does not disclose its stance on torrenting in its apps or on its website. We reached out to the company for clarification but received no response.

Since torrenting works while the VPN is active, we assume FreeVPN.org allows it.

Despite P2P being permitted, we strongly recommend against using FreeVPN.org for torrenting. In our testing, it averaged a poor download bitrate of 1.8MiB/s — and that’s not the only issue.

Beyond the slow speeds, FreeVPN.org is simply not trustworthy enough to keep torrent activity private.

It’s a company with poor communication and no public presence, a sparse and unverified logging policy, weak encryption, and a US base.

If you torrent on Android (FreeVPN.org has an iPhone app, but you can’t torrent on iOS), Windscribe Free is a much safer, faster choice.

Like many free VPNs, FreeVPN by FreeVPN.org is essentially mobile-only.

It’s designed for iOS and Android, where most of its users are.

There’s also a macOS version in the App Store — but you have to pay for it, and even then it may not work reliably.

Almost every VPN we recommend offers not just mobile apps but also full-featured Windows and macOS clients. And unlike FreeVPN.org, they work reliably.

Some VPNs also include features like Smart DNS to spoof your region on Smart TVs and game consoles. FreeVPN by FreeVPN.org offers none of these.

Additional Features We’d Like to See

While any extra features would be an improvement, the most important missing ones are: