The humble VPN is one of the most useful software tools any internet user can get. It adds an extra layer to your internet traffic, protecting your privacy from the hordes of data-collection bots that plague the internet, and it even opens up region-locked content that you might otherwise never see.
Still, they come with a catch: The paid ones cost money and the free ones tend to be bad at what they do, whether it’s because they run ads or because they sell your data.
You can check out the best free VPN options if you must. However, there’s a handy solution that can net you a fast, secure, and ad-free VPN totally for free: Getting a free trial. You’ll get a free VPN for a week, month, or even longer time period before the bill comes due, and when it does, you can just cancel. Here are the best options to consider.
TorGuard VPN: 7-Day Free Trial
TorGuard is dependable, widely-used, and comes with access to more than 3000 servers across 55 countries. It’s not as speedy as a lot of other alternatives, but it will get the job done while keeping your data safe and secure.
Why is TorGuard at the top of our list for the best VPN free trials? Because it’s actually a free trial, with no further commitment needed.
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Most top VPNs don’t actually do free trials these days: Instead, they offer a “30-day money-back guarantee,” which requires you to fork over your money first, wait 30 days, and then get in touch to cancel your order. Sure, in the end you’ll wind up with a free trial, but they make you work for it. With TorGuard, you’ll get seven days of one of the most secure VPNs on the market, with no money leaving your account even temporarily.
Check out Torguard here for the best deals, in addition to that free trial.
PureVPN: 31-Day Money-Back Guarantee
PureVPN stands out as one of the cheapest VPN options that we still rate as safe, private, secure, and dependable. Plus, it offers a 31-day money-back guarantee, which is one day longer than most VPNs.
The service has more than 6,000 servers in more than 65 countries, and gives users up to 10 simultaneous connections per account. It comes with a zero logging promise and a kill switch, two features that help to ensure your data stays private. It offers a bundle that includes a password manager, but the bare-bones service is available starting at just $2.11 per month — well, if you forget to cancel before the money-back guarantee runs out, that is.
PureVPN offers speedy upload times, although they’re not blazingly fast, and it can even unlock Netflix, though you may need the browser extension to pull that one off.
Get started with your PureVPN trial.
Surfshark: 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Surfshark offers the sleekest, easiest-to-use mobile app, and one that’s rated the highest in the app store out of all the top options we considered. If you’re using an iPhone, this is the one to check out. You can try it free for 30 days with its money-back guarantee.
The VPN comes with unlimited simultaneous connections, making it the top pick for everyone who wants a free trial that they can use across every single device their family owns. For 30 days.
Surfshark boasts 3,200+ servers across 100 countries, auto-connect, a kill switch, a rotating IP function, and a few bundles that include an ad-blocker, malware-blocker, and tracker-blocker. Most impressively, Surfshark is also the speediest VPN, according to our research and testing. We found it only led to a 7.5% drop off in speeds, which is incredibly low — in comparison, even the very good PureVPN had a 23.9% drop off in the same tests.
Check out your Surfshark money-back guarantee.
ExpressVPN: 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
ExpressVPN offers all the basics you should require from a paid VPN. It has a solid range of 3,000+ servers in 94 countries, AES-256 bit encryption, a zero logging promise, and an auto-reconnect. It also sells a bundle that includes a threat manager for blocking malicious sites or trackers.
You’ll get up to five simultaneous connections, which isn’t as many as some VPNs in this article, but is likely more than enough for one or two people. The service has a clean interface, and offers plenty of onling guides to help you get over the minimal learning curve.
This service has one big downside, and it’s not a problem at all for anyone who only plans to use the free trial: It has a pricy paid plan. If you pay for it, you’ll have to put down $8.32 per month for an annual commitment, and even more if you buy it on a month-to-month basis. Still, comes with the typical 30-day money-back guarantee, so you’ll be able to avoid the charge if you sucessfully cancel it within a month. Check out ExpressVPN here.
NordVPN: 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
NordVPN comes with a ton of servers, delivering access to more than 5,800 servers in 60 countries for each and every user. Also included is a kill switch, split tunneling, AES-256 bit encryption, and a zero logging promise, along with a cap of up to six simultaneous connections.
NordVPN is also among the faster options available, too, so you shouldn’t experience too many annoying lags. The service costs $3.09 per month when billed for two years at once, and you can snag a 30-day money-back guarantee with any plan.
Using Paid VPN Free Trials
Sure, swapping to a new VPN every month and learning a whole new interface just to avoid paying a few bucks a month might seem like a huge inconvenience. There’s a simple reason for this, however: It’s because it is, in fact, a huge inconvenience.
It makes sense to only use a free trial of a VPN if you have a single event that you need to keep your internet traffic extra-secure for. You might also take the free trial route if you have a season of live sports that you want to stream, and it’s not available in your region without a VPN.
Outside of those examples, however, you’re likely better off with a paid VPN subscription. You can check out our guide to all the most secure options or our roundup of the most inexpensive VPNs. Either way, there’s definitely a VPN service for you that’s available for just $2 or $3 per month.
