Best Free VPN For Gaming
*Content includes branded mentions of our sponsor, Norton Secure VPN.
Gamers often rack up a lot of expenses between buying the newest consoles and accessories, upgrading their computer and, of course, getting new games. Using a VPN can enhance your gaming experience, but who wants to pay for a service when there are free versions available? After all, any money you save can be reallocated to support your passion.
To help you in your quest to find the best free VPN for gaming, we created a list of the five top solutions and a comprehensive guide on what they do and how to install them.
Our Top Pick For Best Free Gaming VPN
- Windscribe Free: Best VPN For Mobile Games
- PrivadoVPN: Best VPN For Online Security
- Proton VPN: Best Gaming VPN For High Speeds
- Speedify: Best VPN For Reduced Lagging
- Radmin VPN: Best VPN For LAN Gaming
Best Free VPN For Gaming
Here are our choices for the best free VPNs for gaming.
Best VPN for Mobile Games: Windscribe
- Up to 10 GB of data per month
- Eleven free server locations
- Numerous advanced security features
- Need to confirm email for more data
- Limited customer support options
Why we chose it: With eleven free servers across the globe, Windscribe is an excellent choice for budget-conscious gamers who refuse to sacrifice performance for cost.
Windscribe's geographically dispersed network of servers allows users to enjoy their favorite mobile games with minimal interruptions. This is particularly valuable for those who crave a competitive edge in multiplayer games or seamless exploration in their RPG adventures. Its eleven free servers are located in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Romania and Turkey.
Free VPNs often come with limitations, but Windscribe manages to strike a fair balance between cost and value. Its free version comes with a monthly allowance of up to 10 GB — higher than many other data capped VPNs — unlimited simultaneous connections and numerous security features. The VPN also boasts a user-friendly interface and a seamless setup process on multiple mobile platforms, making it accessible to gamers of all levels of technical expertise.
It's important to note that if you sign up for Windscribe without confirming your email address, you'll only get 2 GB of data per month, which isn't a lot of playing time (even for mobile games). Moreover, there are no options to contact a Windscribe representative by phone, email or live chat.
Best VPN for Online Security: PrivadoVPN
- No-logs policy
- 10 GB of data per month
- Servers in more than 50 locations
- Potential connectivity issues
- Limited customer support
Why we chose it: Privado offers one of the best combinations of data, locations and privacy among all free VPNs.
PrivadoVPN is an excellent choice for gamers looking to level up their gaming experience without compromising on online security. Because it's based in Switzerland, which has some of the most stringent privacy laws in the world, the VPN must abide by a no-logs policy and ensure that your personal information remains confidential. It also supports several robust tunneling protocols, has an automatic kill switch and comes with an ad blocker.
For a free VPN, Privado offers a large range of locations you can connect to — 48 countries and 65 cities, to be exact. Setting up and using the software is remarkably straightforward, making it accessible even to those new to VPN technology. Additionally, PrivadoVPN lets users connect an unlimited number of devices and is available on various platforms, ensuring a seamless gaming experience on your gaming rig or console.
Despite its advantages, some customers did complain about connectivity issues in online reviews. Others have also complained about inefficient customer support. Privado claims to provide customer support around the clock, but this is limited to filling out a ticket on its website and waiting for a response from its customer support team.
Best Gaming VPN for High Speeds: Proton VPN
- No ads
- Available on all major operating systems
- No speed, duration or bandwidth limitations
- No torrenting
- Cannot access geo-blocked content
- Only three server locations
Why we chose it: Proton VPN offers a free version of its software that doesn't impose any bandwidth, duration or speed limits.
Proton VPN stands out for its remarkable performance, which can minimize lag and latency for an optimal gaming experience. This is essential in the fast-paced world of online gaming, where speed is often the difference between victory and defeat. Moreover, setting up and using the VPN is straightforward, even for those new to this technology
Proton VPN is available on various platforms, including on PC, consoles and mobile devices. As a Swiss company, it must abide by strict data privacy laws and boasts a comprehensive no-logs policy. Its software is also free of ads thanks to their paid versions, which cover the cost of the free versions.
Although the free version of Proton VPN doesn't enforce a data cap, it's quite restricted when it comes to servers. Free users can only connect to the US, the Netherlands and Japan.
Another downside is that you'll need to subscribe to Proton VPN's paid version if you want to use P2P for torrenting or downloading files. You'll also need to pay if you want to access content that's restricted because of your location.
Best VPN for Reduced Lag: Speedify
- Supports all major operating systems
- Email not needed to sign up
- Channel bonding technology
- Only 2 GB per month available
- Email-only customer support
Why we chose it: Speedify effectively reduces lag by minimizing latency, which makes for a smoother gaming experience overall.
Speedify uses a unique approach known as channel bonding, which combines multiple internet connections to lower your ping. Channel bonding combines multiple internet sources like Wi-Fi and 4G to keep your connection stable and maximize speed. Essentially, you won't have to worry that you'll die mid-game because your Wi-Fi connection went out or slowed down significantly.
Speedify also doesn't compromise on security. Its free version employs strong encryption to protect your data, and it ensures your personal information remains confidential — new users don't even need to provide their email address to sign up. The VPN also uses AES-256 encryption and has a strict no-logs policy.
The free version of Speedify comes with access to its global network, which consists of 50 cities and 35 countries. This is a considerable advantage over free VPN with smaller networks, but Speedify only offers 2 GB a month for free users, which doesn't amount to much time online for hardcore gamers. Another downside is that users are limited to email if they want to get in touch with a customer representative.
Best VPN for LAN Gaming: Radmin VPN
- No ads or paid features
- No-logs policy
- Specialized LAN VPN
- Only available on Windows
- Limited customer support options
Why we chose it: Radmin VPN specializes in securely connecting remote computers to a single local network.
Famatech launched Radmin VPN in 2016 as a free solution for protecting your local area network (LAN) with a VPN. A LAN is a number of devices connected to one central location, usually an office or someone's home. It allows those connected to use a single internet connection, share printers and files and, yes, play games.
You can use Radmin VPN to connect users to a single virtual network behind a firewall. This not only works great for gaming on a LAN but also protects your data if you need to work remotely and want a protected network. The VPN uses top-of-the-line AES-256 encryption, doesn't show ads or have any paid features, and boasts a no-logs policy.
One of Randmin's biggest limitations is that it's only compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11. Additionally, if you have issues and want to speak with a customer support representative, your only option is to fill out a form on its site with the details of your problem and then wait for a response. There is no alternative for phone, email or live chat support.
Other Free VPN For Gaming We Considered
These are some other free VPNs for gamers that we looked at but didn't make our top choices.
Urban VPN
- Simple setup
- Unlimited data
- No customer service
- Logs information
Urban VPN is a free VPN that you can use directly with your router to make it a VPN router. It also offers unlimited bandwidth for users, which is a big selling point for a free VPN.
Why it didn't make the cut: A big problem with Urban VPN is that it collects things like IP addresses and website browsing data, a huge contrast with other free VPNs like Proton and Privado, which have strict no-logs policies. Urban VPN also doesn't seem to have any sort of customer service, as there isn't a page on its website or any information about how to contact the company.
TunnelBear
- Annual security audits
- 5000+ servers
- 2 GB of data per month
TunnelBear is a well-known free VPN with over 5,000 servers distributed throughout more than 47 countries. It adheres to a no-logs policy and carries out security audits regularly that it publishes every year, so you can feel comfortable gaming through its servers.
Why it didn't make the cut: TunnelBear is a solid free VPN, but a monthly 2 GB data allowance on its free version makes it hard to feature on our top list without any other outstanding features to justify us doing so.
Hotspot Shield
- Low pings
- AES-256 encryption
- 500 MB per day
- Ads on free version
Hotspot Shield offers a free version of its VPN that boasts very low ping rates for gaming. In addition to high speeds, the VPN uses AES-256 (military-grade) encryption, IP and DNS leak protection, traffic proxies and many other security features to keep users safe online.
Why it didn't make the cut: The free version of Hotspot Shield comes with ads that will not go away unless you purchase a premium subscription. It also enforces relatively strict limits. For example, users can only use 500 MB per day — a paltry amount compared to other VPNs on this list — connect a single device at once and connect to one virtual location.
Free VPN For Gaming Guide
If you've read our takes on the best free VPNs for gaming but still have some general questions, our guide should be able to help you.
What Does A VPN Do For Gaming?
VPNs enhance your privacy and security online, mainly by hiding your Internet Protocol (IP) address. Since your IP address marks your identity online, it also reveals your location and shows your internet activity. Cybercriminals can use this information to perform phishing attacks, pretending to be you or attempting to steal sensitive information like credit card numbers.
VPNs can also prevent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS attacks are coordinated efforts where a hacker controls one or multiple internet networks, usually infected by malware, and targets specific IP addresses. These attacks can cause a website to stop functioning or a server to become unusable because of the overwhelming amount of traffic.
This is particularly important for gamers to keep in mind, as DDoS attacks can slow your connection drastically or shut it down completely. Because VPNs hide your actual IP address and encrypt your data, you won't have to worry about being a hacker's next target just because they lost a game to you.
Why Use A VPN For Gaming?
Besides general safety and privacy, a common reason for using a VPN for gaming is to switch locations. Your IP address lets others online know your location, which can be convenient. For example, if you play multiplayer games online, you'll connect to a nearby server instead of a server in Tel Aviv where everyone is speaking Hebrew.
On the other hand, you may actually want to connect to a server in Tel Aviv — a VPN would allow you to do that. Some games aren't available everywhere or even have different release dates in different countries. If you're trying to play a game before it's officially released in your region or that is geo-blocked and unavailable in your region, a VPN can help you get around these restrictions.
You might also want to use a VPN for gaming if you play games on public or shared Wi-Fi networks. VPNs encrypt the data that is sent and received from the VPN server, so only someone with the decryption key will be able to understand what this data means. If a hacker got ahold of this information, it would just look like gibberish.
How To Use A VPN For Gaming
Getting your VPN set up so you can start gaming usually isn't a complicated process. Below, we go over the steps to help you spend less time fiddling with VPN settings and more time playing your favorite games.
1. Choose The Best Free VPN For Gaming
Naturally, the first step is to pick a solid VPN for gaming, for which we have provided several quality suggestions in our reviews at the top. Because none of these VPNs requires a paid subscription, there's no pressure for you to make the right choice on the first try.
If you think one VPN will work better for your gaming situation, take a look at its website and some customer reviews to get a sense of whether or not it's worth downloading. Or just try it out. They're free, after all.
2. Download And Install The Free VPN App
Installing a free VPN app is pretty straightforward if you're using a mobile device or PC.
If you're on a mobile, go to the App Store (if you're using iOS) or Google Play Store (if you've got an Android). Find your free VPN of choice and download it. On a PC, go to your chosen VPN's website and download it from there. Once downloaded and installed, create an account and log in.
For the gamers that use consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox One, you won't be able to install a free VPN (or any VPN for that matter) directly onto your console. This doesn't mean that you can't use a VPN to reduce your ping or change your server location, though.
By logging into your router, you can manually input your VPN service's details and turn it into a VPN router. This makes it so your gaming system connects to the internet through a VPN even though the platform itself won't let you do it through an app.
You might need to access its settings menu and enter the details of your VPN manually depending on your router model. If you find this too inconvenient, you could always throw down a few bucks and buy a VPN router that is already set up for you.
3. Select A Server Location And Establish A VPN Connection
Your VPN will give you some options as to which servers you can access. Choosing a location will route your data through an IP address at that location.
Changing your IP address's location will let you access game servers you couldn't before. For example, if you want to play online against Colombian gamers because your Spanish is getting rusty, you can route your online traffic through Bogota as long as your VPN has a server there.
You can also use the location switching capabilities of a VPN to bypass geo-restrictions. Much like people use VPNs to access geo-blocked content on Netflix, you can access games that way, too. If a mobile game you want to try out isn't available in Louisville, you can connect to a location where it is and start playing.
4. Start Gaming
The most challenging part of this process might be selecting a game. That's something that we aren't able to help you with.
Once you have your game picked out, connect your controller, boot up the game and start gaming. Since you're accessing the internet through a VPN, you no longer have to worry about lurking cyber criminals or your privacy. You can concentrate on getting away from the zombies.
5. If Lag Occurs, Try Switching To A Different Server
Imagine you're connected to the new racing game through your free VPN, beating your friends by a mile until the worst-case scenario happens. Your screen starts flickering, and the perfect turns you would be etching into the pavement aren't getting through to your vehicle. Instead of reaching the finish line in first place, your vehicle is stuck against the wall while your buddies rush right past you.
This nightmare is called lag, and anyone who plays games online has suffered through it more than once. Lagging is when there are problems with your network's connection, causing a delay in the transfer of data between your device and the server.
Lagging can happen even if you aren't using a VPN, but these services have a tendency to slow down your connection because they encrypt your data before sending it to the server. If your game starts lagging while your VPN is on, try changing to a different server location. There's a chance you're connected to an overcrowded server, and that is what's causing your game to lag.
Free VPN For Gaming FAQ
What is the best VPN for gaming?
Do VPNs reduce ping in games?
Ping is the amount of time it takes to send and receive data from one device to another. We measure ping in milliseconds. In the context of online gaming, a lower ping is better as it means the devices are communicating faster.
In some cases, using a VPN can help lower ping. VPNs can create a direct tunnel to a network that is closer to your game's servers. If your internet service provider (ISP) is routing your data through an indirect or inefficient path, a VPN may also be a better option.
What is the best VPN location for gaming?
There isn't any set location that is the best for gaming. The best location for you may just be whichever server is working faster than the others. If you're interested in playing games only accessible in Europe and you're geo-blocked from that region, connecting to a server in Europe can help you get around the restrictions.
Accessing different VPN locations also allows you to play on servers in different regions. Want to play online against Japanese gamers? Connect to a server in Tokyo and get going!
How We Chose The Best Free VPN For Gaming
To choose the best free VPNs for gaming, we made an extensive list and considered a variety of factors. Here's what we looked at when we considered each VPN:
- Locations: We considered how many servers and server locations are available on each VPN.
- Features: We looked into the features that the VPN had, such as the types of tunneling protocols available, split tunneling, kill switches, number of simultaneous connections and more.
- Speeds: We checked upload and download speeds to see how much the VPN would affect your gaming experience.
- Customer ratings: We took a look at online ratings from other users to see what their experience with the VPN was like.
- Customer service: We considered how easy it is to contact each company's customer service representatives, and how helpful they were.
Summary Of Digg's Best Free VPN For Gaming
- Windscribe Free: Best VPN For Mobile Games
- PrivadoVPN: Best VPN For Online Security
- Proton VPN: Best Gaming VPN For High Speeds
- Speedify: Best VPN For Reduced Lagging
- Radmin VPN: Best VPN For LAN Gaming
