Avoid censorship on the Internet, unblock geo-blocked content or simply surf anonymously: This works with a VPN. The Swiss service Privado offers a good package for occasional users.
The demand for VPNs is high and the market is highly competitive. And there are some free VPN services too. But you should always be careful, because running a VPN service costs money and that has to come back somewhere. That’s why free VPNs tend to be slimmed down, which is still acceptable. One should avoid services that cross-finance themselves through the sale of user data.
PrivadoVPN is an interesting VPN offer from Switzerland. Here, too, the money is earned with paid versions, but there is also a free version in the program that can be used longer than many trial versions from other manufacturers. We looked at PrivadoVPN Free.
Free VPN with 10 GB per month
With PrivadoFree you get a limited VPN service that caps the monthly data volume at 10 GB. In addition, you cannot access all 60 locations of the service, but only 14. Furthermore, the free tariff only allows one connection, i.e. you cannot use PrivadoVPN on several devices at the same time.
Our first assessment: The free PrivadoVPN is nothing for power users, but it caters to occasional users who are perhaps looking for a VPN for vacation or use at public hotspots.
VPN services in the big CHIP test
Security & Privacy
PrivadoVPN approaches security and privacy with the right mindset. The selection of VPN protocols is good, WireGuard is also included and it should soon become the standard protocol. If you want, you can also set OpenVPN or IKEv2 permanently.
According to the provider, log files of IP addresses or usage data are not recorded. However, this has not yet been verified by an independent audit. Only the amount of data used is kept in mind, in the free version each user has 10 GB available, after which the provider throttles the speed to 1 Mbit/s. You only need an email address to register.
PrivadoVPN does not leak DNS, IP or WebRTC data, a kill switch can be activated that cuts the Internet connection if the VPN is not available. So far, the data protection declaration is only available in English, on request the provider announced a German translation.
Operation & features of the free VPN
Operation is simple, even if the Windows software only comes with an English interface. Select country, press the button and wait a few seconds, then the VPN connection will be established. The settings are also clear, in addition to the VPN protocols, kill switch and auto connect can be set, as well as the start and update behavior of the client.
The equipment is solid, but some VPN providers have a few pounds more on the scales, such as split tunneling (PrivadoVPN can only do this on Android), Tor connection or browser extensions. PrivadoVPN offers around 450 servers in 46 countries, but the free version is limited to 9 countries and 14 locations. Compared to other free offers, PrivadoVPN is very fair.
We were able to get Netflix streaming from the US and file sharing in the free version of PrivadoVPN, even if we had to change the server from time to time. But this is known from VPN services, whose servers are often blocked by Netflix & Co.
Offer from BestCheck.de | Prices incl. VAT plus shipping
Compare other offers
Speed: what remains of the fast connection?
A VPN can be as secure as it wants, but if it slows users down too much, most will turn to another solution. We therefore always measure download, upload and latency rates for VPN connections. Attention: The values are not comparable with those in the last VPN test, at that time we were still using a slower Internet connection.
We are currently using a GBit connection. Without VPN we measure the following values:
- Downloads: 810 Mbps
- Upload: 50Mbps
- Latency: 10ms
With PrivadoVPN switched on, we automatically connect to the fastest server. Now we measure:
- Downloads: 300Mbps
- Upload: 45 Mbps
- Latency: 16ms
The result shows that PrivadoVPN, like any other VPN service, is also a brake, but the 300 MBit/s is a strong value. The delivered performance is also good for upload and latency.