Top VPN Services To Use and Avoid
The popularity of streaming applications has increased over the years. One thing that needs to be stated is the fact that their rise to fame is not without consequences. There are copyright and censorship laws that we always have to consider when using these apps and one of the ways to ensure that we are protected is by having a reliable VPN service.
The thing is, not a lot of people are willing to pay for that extra layer of protection and we understand that. In light of the recent crisis the world is facing right now, we understand that money is tight right now and that it needs to be used wisely. So we wanted to do something special for our valued readers and subscribers and hopefully, this will bring good news to all of you.
In this article, we will be reviewing the top three free VPNs and the ones to avoid. We will be giving you straight-up facts so that you learn what free VPN service suits your needs and preferences and which one gives false promises and downright scams to people.
Legal Disclaimer: ReviewVPN.com does not encourage or endorse any illegal activity involved in the usage of services and applications referenced on this site. We do not verify the licensing agreements of services. The end-user is wholly responsible for ensuring that any media accessed through these services does not violate copyright and/or licensing laws. ReviewVPN does not promote, link to, or receive compensation from any Apps and IPTV services.
YOUR INTERNET ACTIVITY IS BEING WATCHED
ReviewVPN cannot attest to the legality, security and privacy of the applications discussed on this site. It is highly recommended that you use a VPN service while streaming or using Kodi.
Currently, your IP 18.232.179.5 is visible to everyone and your Browser is being tracked by Advertisers & ISP Provider.
Here are the main reasons why you must use a VPN:
- Your activities are hidden from your ISP, the government, and from the apps you are using.
- You can access additional movies and TV streams.
- ISP attempts to throttle are thrwarted thus reducing buffering issues.
- Geographically restricted content like Netflix and Hulu can be unblocked.
A VPN works be replacing your ISP-assigned IP address and creating an encrypted tunnel. We recommend the no log service offered by IPVanish. It works well on a Firestick and offers the fastest possible speeds.
Top Three Free VPN Services
Windscribe VPN (Canadian Jurisdiction)
Pro Version: Yes
Windscribe VPN is downloadable at the Amazon App Store. By default, Windscribe VPN offers a data allotment worth 2GB. You can increase this up to 10GB when you activate your email and an additional 5GB by tweeting about the service. This gives you a total of 15GB per month. We suggest that you activate your email using your phone or tablet because doing so with a Firestick will take you forever. Another feature that we like is that after activating the service with your email, you can delete your email and log in using a username. This is most desirable if you are concerned about your privacy.
Windscribe VPN also automatically gives you the best location that will maximize your connection speed. In terms of UI, it is very attractive and easy to the eyes. It also has the biggest connection button we have ever seen.
Speed Test (Speed Test by Ookla)
Download: 16.5 Mbps down and 69.4mg up
Upload: 69.4 Mbps
Notable Features
- It works flawlessly without the need for a mouse toggle. This is good because you don’t have any sideloading to do which is quite a tedious task. You can use your remote to navigate through the application without any glitches at all.
- It has multiple language options. This means that not only users from the US can have access to this VPN service but also people from other nations.
- It allows split routing or what we call split tunneling. To put this in perspective, we have to do a little discussion regarding a technical term called socks 5 Proxy. So socks 5 proxy hides your online activity. This is important because you are constantly monitored by your ISP. Anything you do online is seen by your ISP. The free version of Windscribe does not have a socks 5 proxy but the pro version has one. So what you can do is download a socks 5 proxy and use it with the free version and in conjunction with Adguard. With Adguard in the picture, intrusive ads will no longer be a problem. So with these installed on your Firestick, you can enjoy an ad-free experience and the privacy features of a VPN service.
- It has no encryptions. Encryption is the one feature of a VPN that slows down your system. A lot of you may think that this is bad but in reality, it works to your advantage if your VPN has no encryption at all.
- The free plan is limited to 10 servers which is already plenty in our opinion.
- Windscribe VPN is not entirely “no-log” but they say how much data you used and show timestamps of it.
- They do not store the IPs and the data they gather is only stored for 30 days. This shows transparency and is a sign that they are trustworthy.
How to Install Windscribe on Your Amazon Firestick
- On your home screen, click on the magnifying glass icon (search)
- Type in Windscribe or if your voice command is activated you can just tell Alexa “Windscribe”
- Select Windscribe under the results
- Install Windscribe
- Once the installation finishes, type in your username and password. We have stated earlier that it is better to have your account activated by email before installing and this is the reason why.
- There you go, you are free to use Windscribe on your Firestick.
Overall, Windscribe is a solid free VPN service. With the right partner apps, it works just like a pro version.
Install Windscribe VPN on Firesticks with Screenshots
- Click Home on your remote and scroll once to your left. It will be the search icon.
2. You can either say Windscribe to your Alexa’s voice-enabled remote or start typing it. If you typed it, click on the suggestion when it appears.
3. Click on the Windscribe icon.
4. Click Download
5. Click Open.
6. Input your username and password to log in.
7. Your Windscribe is installed now.
Hide.Me (Malaysian Jurisdiction)
Pro Version: No
Hide.Me is notable for its privacy records. The free plan gives you five servers and one device connection. Upon testing it with the Speed Test by Ookla, we found out that the download is 12.9MB and the Upload is 2.04MB. Now let us put this in perspective. It only takes 3MB download for an adequate picture and having above 10mbps is already superior. So this is a good thing because Hide.Me has 12.9mbps. Watching 4k is a different story because it requires more than that. But if you are not very particular with the video quality of what you watch, then this is already good for you.
Hide.Me has a limited scope in terms of what you can do. It does not allow torrent downloading. Also, the interface is quite hard to read because of the font color. Even if you go near the television, you will still have a difficult time reading the texts.
You have to remember that you have to activate your email to gain access to the service. After you sign-up, make sure to check your email because there is only a limited time to do the activation after signing up.
How To Install Hide.Me on Your Amazon Firestick
- On your home screen, click on the magnifying glass icon(search)
- Type in Hide.Me or if your voice command is activated you can just tell Alexa “Hide.Me”
- Select Hide.Me under the results
- Install Hide.Me and launch after
- Select Login
- Type in your username and password
- Choose Enable VPN
- Select OK
- There you go, Hide.Me is installed and ready to use.
With almost 13mbps download, this is already plenty to do your streaming activities. Although not as high as Windscribe, it still offers a pretty impressive service.
Install Hide.Me VPN on Firesticks with Screenshots
- Click Home on your remote and scroll once to your left. It will be the search icon.
2. You can either say Hide Me to your Alexa’s voice-enabled remote or start typing it. If you typed it, click on the suggestion when it appears.
.
3. Click on the Hide Me icon.
4. Click Download
5. Click Open
6. Click Login.
7. Input your username and password to log in.
8. Click Enable VPN.
9. Click OK.
10. Your Hide Me VPN is installed and connected.
Proton VPN (Swiss Jurisdiction)
Pro Version: Yes
Speed Test by Ookla
Download: 11mbps
Upload: 1.22mbps
Pros
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- Free trial on Pro Version
- Superfast in terms of connecting the service to your device
- Unlimited streaming
- No Logs
- Free
- Pro version has 33 security core hardened locations which mean all of their servers are owned and run by them. This implies an extra layer of security because they are hands-on, unlike other top VPN services that do not own their servers.
Cons
- No direct download using the Amazon App Store. You need to sideload it using the Downloader App.
- Since it is sideloaded, you cannot use the standard remote.
- Mouse Toggle is required. Some people find this annoying because of the extra movement you have to do. You will get the hang of it though and this is the only other application you need to run Proton VPN.
- Too many “Got it” pop-up notifications which we find unnecessary.
How To Install Proton VPN on Amazon Firestick
- Go to Settings and select Device.
- Choose Developer Options
- Turn on the ADB Debugging and Apps From Unknown Sources
- After turning these options on, launch the Amazon App Store on your device
- Search and Download Downloader
- Install Downloader and launch it after installing it.
- Choose Allow and Select Ok
- Type in https://reviewvpn.com/pro and select Go
- Wait for it to finish and then select Install Proton VPN
- Select Done
- This will automatically take you back to Downloader. Select Delete
- Choose Delete one more time
- Head back to the home screen and under the Your Apps & Channels select Choose All
- Scroll down and select Proton VPN and select the Options.
- Then select Move to Front
- Kodi will be moved forward to Your Apps and Channels
- After this, you will see Proton VPN and click it to launch.
- Select Next
- Log in by typing your username and password.
Note: We do not host the APK file link. The file is hosted by archive.org but what we did is provide a redirect for the file link.
Important Note: Delete the APK file because the Firestick only has a limited storage capacity.
Tip: Since Proton VPN requires Mouse Toggle, you will probably need a guide for that. You can read our article regarding Mouse Toggle by clicking on this link.
Now that we have covered our best picks for free VPN, let us proceed to the ones we highly recommend that you avoid.
Install Proton VPN on Firesticks with Screenshots
- Step 1. Click Settings from the home screen of your Firestick
2. Scroll down and to the right until you reach My Fire TV
3. Scroll down one and click on Developer Options
4. Turn on ADB Debugging and Apps from Unknown Sources
5. Turning on Apps from Unknown Sources will trigger a confirmation popup. Click Turn On to Confirm
6. Click the home button on your remote and scroll once to the left to click on the magnifying glass icon
7. Search for Downloader either by saying it to your voice-enabled remote or typing. If typing, scroll to the suggested word “Downloader” and click on it
8. Click on the bright orange Downloader icon
9. Click on Download (it might say get on your device. Same difference)
10. Click on Allow
11. Click on OK
12. Type https://reviewvpn.com/pro and click go.
13. Click Install.
14. Click Open.
15. To be able to click NEXT, we need to install Mouse Toggle.
16. To install Mouse Toggle, go to DOWNLOADER, type http://reviewvpn.com/mouse, and click GO.
17. Click Install
18. Click Open.
19. Check the BOX, and click OK
20. Enable the mouse service, and wait until the Status is STARTED.
21. Press the Home button, and click the Proton Icon.
22. We are able now to click NEXT.
23. Input your username and password to log in.
Install Surfshark on Firestick
VPN Services To Avoid
Hotspot Shield
We find this VPN service full of scams. First of all, you can download the app via Amazon App Store and it will give you an activation code for TV VPN Access. We tried to use the activation code but to our dismay, this feature is only allowed with premium accounts. So it is not free at all. When we were able to sideload the free version and use it, the speed was subpar. It only gave 0.5mbps download. That isn’t even enough to watch anything decent at all.
Upon investigating more, we found out that they were in serious trouble back in 2017. The specifics were not discussed but that is a red flag that we needed to avoid. Also, it has a lot of redirects that will make you click ads which is a total indication that something is very wrong.
Tunnel Bear
We do not recommend this VPN service not because it isn’t working but the fact that it doesn’t work with the Amazon Firestick. The free plan data allotment is also below acceptable standards which are 500MB per month. If you like streaming movies and TV shows, this is not sufficient. Also, when you launch the app, there is always a “Google Play Is Required” error that pops up.
Turbo VPN and Thunder VPN
These VPNs are run by a Chinese company. If you think rationally, VPNs are not legal to use in China. So how is it that a Chinese Company owns two of the most popular free VPNs in the country? This is shady enough for us to conclude that it is full of crap. We also believe that these two are offering proxies and not VPN services. It does give you faster speed but you are entirely robbed of the actual benefits of a VPN service.
Install Surfshark on Firestick
How to Install Surfshark VPN on Firestick
If your Firestick still has the older interface, read this article to learn how to update it: Update Firestick Interface.
Follow our screenshots below to install the SurfShark VPN app on your Fire TV stick.
1. Go to the Home screen of your Firestick.
2. Navigate towards the Find tab. Press the Search button from the resulting dropdown.
3. Type in the keyword of SurfShark and select from the suggestions that will appear.
4. Click the official SurfShark icon from your search results.
5. Press the Download (You own it) button.
6. The SurfShark VPN installer will download on your device.
7. SurfShark VPN’s app will automatically install itself on your Fire TV stick.
8. Press the Open button after completing SurfShark VPN’s installation process.
9. Please wait for the SurfShark VPN to load its user interface.
10. You can now log in with your SurfShark VPN account credentials.
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Install Surfshark on Firestick
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Conclusion
Now that we have established which free VPN services are worth trying and which ones to avoid, we would like to reiterate that even though the good ones are pretty decent enough, there are still lacking components that will provide you with safe and secure streaming. You will still need the full features of a paid VPN service like Surfshark. To learn more about Surfshark, you may read our article by clicking on this link.
Windscribe, Hide.Me and Proton VPN are decent choices if you are on a tight budget or if you would like to try out a VPN service for free.
Thank you for reading our article and we hope that it will help you in having a better streaming experience.
Stay safe and please practice social distancing.
Note: ReviewVPN.com is not affiliated with any App or IPTV Service nor are we endorsing or promoting any. The sole purpose of this article is for educational purposes only.