Proton VPN, my favorite VPN service right now, has expanded its free plan in response to the growing demand for free VPNs. As Proton’s CEO announced by tweeting in French and then in Norwegian, free users now have access to servers in Canada and Norway, joining existing sites in the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Romania and Singapore. Free servers in all eight countries are now visible on the Proton VPN app.
As I explained in my Proton VPN review, users on the free plan cannot select a location themselves. Instead, the app selects the fastest available free location each time you log in. So if you’ve been itching to use Proton for free to unblock Netflix in Norway, temper your enthusiasm.
Even so, more slots on the free plan still means good news for free users. When a VPN has limited free servers, they get crowded, slowing speeds for everyone. Adding new locations anywhere should open up some much-needed breathing room. This also means that users living in Canada or Northern Europe have access to more free servers nearby – and the closer a VPN server is physically to you, the faster its speeds tend to be.
I’m happy to see the best VPN providers taking over as the world clamors for more free VPN access. ExpressVPN’s launch of EventVPN is another good sign. If you need a free VPN for any reason, whether it’s privacy, entertainment, or anything else, it’s always best to opt for the free version of a service supported by paid subscriptions, otherwise you risk becoming the product yourself.
