I’ve been looking for a VPN where I can test its performance for free to sign up that no need to input my credit card credential before I can use. I am doing this research for my personal reason which may be different to your purpose. And later as I see the advantages of it, I can upgrade for paid premium account.
What is VPN?
VPN (Virtual Private Network) is all about privacy on the internet where nobody can see who you are and what you are surfing online. It can give you an ability to access websites block by the ISP in your country. Although, this can affect the speed of the connection depending on the server. This is the best way you can do to have the secrecy that you want.
Features I am looking for:
• Has a desktop app and browser plugin
• Has a free big data limit
• Can register without credit card input
• Can stop the bandwidth throttle by my ISP
• Lower premium price
• Can accept PayPal payment
Other features you might be looking for:
• Security of Encryption
• No log VPN
• Block Ads, tracker and malware
• More server location
Hide.me ($59.95 for annual plan)
Founded in 2012 by eVenture Ltd. Has a very informative website. Support a wide platform for desktop, mobile and browser plugin. They have a fair price for premium account and covers a lot of features a VPN company can offer. They have a good review from different tech company and users. Fast to connect to server.
Website: https://hide.me
Pros:
• Free 10 Gb / mo.
• Can sign up without credit card
• Has a browser plugin
• PayPal payment accepted
Limitations:
• Client software don’t have a monitoring feature
Windscribe ($49 for annual plan)
Owned by Windscribe limited, an IT company that focuses on privacy and security. They are located in Ontario, Canada. Their price is the cheapest of the 3 VPN I tested. Fast to connect to server. Has a simple client software for desktop that shows your IP address and consumed bandwidth.
Website: https://windscribe.com
Pros:
• Free 10 Gb / mo.
• Can sign up without credit card
• Has a browser plugin
• PayPal payment accepted
ProtonVPN ($114.74 for annual plan)
Founded in 1991 by Fongit Innovation Incubator, located in Geneva, Switzerland. They develop the ProtonMail in 2014 and later built the ProtonVPN to support the privacy concern of the platform. They have a nice software UX/UI that shows Geographic location map, IP address, and latency. It only supports 3 servers for free account namely US, Netherlands, and Japan. Their price is far higher than Hide and Windscribe.
Website: https://protonvpn.com/
Pros:
• Free unlimited data
• Can sign up without credit card
• Application has a nice UX
• PayPal payment accepted
Limitations:
• Only 3 servers for free account
• No browser plugin
Factors affecting the slow connections:
• Location of connection
• Number of users connected to the server
Points of View:
There is no one can tell which one is the best VPN for you. The best way is to try it yourself to experience the advantages it can give to your personal purposes and to prove the features every VPN has. Is it possible that we may get a different experience in using one of this 3 VPN based on our location, ISP, and uses.
Note: This is just for desktop VPN.