Who says you need to spend a lot to get a decent VPN service? Besides having a cool name, Windscribe also offers one of the most generous, feature-packed free plans on the market. But is it good enough -- and private enough -- to win out over more established companies?
Windscribe offers a very generous free plan which includes 10GB of data. It limits you to only 10 countries and you must provide an email address to set up your account.
If you want unlimited bandwidth and the ability to connect to every country, you can opt-in for a premium plan. There’s no refund policy. But that makes sense considering the free option. That said, their month-to-month plans are expensive. However, their longer plans feature more reasonable costs.
Windscribe offers official clients for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. They also offer browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. If you want to protect all the devices connected to your home internet, you can also set up Windscribe on your router.
Setup is a breeze if you’re using the Windows and Mac clients or browser extensions.
However, if you want to set up your routers, steps are more complicated. Reviewers found the client straightforward and user-friendly. You can easily check server latency and change servers with a couple clicks of your mouse.
Windscribe doesn’t mess around with limited connections. Even with the free plan, you have unlimited connections.
For as simple as Windscribe appears, it offers a lot of features.
Popular ones include:
Windscribe is located in Canada, which is part of the Five Eyes online surveillance program.
While not an ideal location for privacy, Windscribe vehemently states that they do not collect any identifying logs. What little information they collect -- such as your username and which VPN you connect to -- are only stored on the VPN server’s RAM. This means the information is cleared once you close your session.
Windscribe also releases a Transparency Report to further prove their stance on privacy and security. It states, “Exactly zero requests were complied with due to lack of relevant data.”
Reviewers also put the client through its paces and found no IP or DNS leaks.
This is the one area where Windscribe falls short. As a smaller VPN, they only have a few servers across a handful of countries. This was an issue for some reviewers who experienced frequent server outages.
To make matters worse, speeds failed to impress most reviewers as well. Even on the closest servers, VPN performance was average at best. People who want to download or stream should be perfectly fine. However, reviews note the service would not be ideal for competitive gamers.
Windscribe’s beefy support site is the first place you should go to if you run into issues. If you still can’t solve your issue, you can contact support directly via a chatbot. There’s no way to email support directly, though can raise a ticket on their site.
Windscribe doesn’t make any promises for support request time frames. Why? As they state on their site, “As we are a relatively small company, we’re unable to provide support 24/7…”
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Windscribe isn’t perfect, but it offers a respectable list of features and an outstanding free tier.
Toms Guide states, “Windscribe doesn’t tick every VPN box, but the service does have a lot of interesting features…”
PC World adds, “Windscribe is a good VPN service... What really sets Windscribe apart, however are the extras…”
- Fergus O'Sullivan, How-To GeekOverall, I like Windscribe, but I can see its user base falling into two distinct categories. If you want a free VPN, I would say that you couldn’t do better. Windscribe is very generous with the bandwidth it offers and it’s probably the only free VPN that has decent servers. For paying customers, I...
- Rachelle J. Alley, VPN RanksWe can suggest Windscribe to people who are looking for free VPN services that work with Netflix and value privacy without compromising speed. For tourists and torrents, this Windscribe VPN Review can be a lot of help in making up their minds. Most significantly, you can preview practically all of i...
- Nick G., TechJuryThere is much to like about Windscribe – a free version, good speed, security, and the ability to bypass geo-restrictions successfully. Yet, while writing my Windscribe VPN review, I couldn’t get over the fact it was based in Canada. After all, the reason for using a VPN is to be anonymous, and here...
- Christiana Jolaoso, Kelly Main, ForbesWindscribe VPN is a popular VPN that offers both free and paid plans to help users more safely connect to the internet. It offers users the ability to connect to any number of devices and choose But is it the best VPN services on the market? While it’s cheap and easy to use, it doesn’t offer a dedic...
- Aliza Vigderman, Gabe Turner, Security.orgWith Windscribe, our web traffic was encrypted not once but twice, giving us twice the protection. Plus, users in the U.S, Canada, and other countries can connect to Windscribe completely free!
Overview | |
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Headquarters | Canada |
Pricing/Sign Up | |
Starting Price (per Month) | $5.75 |
Plans and Pricing | Visit Site |
Free Trial | No |
Money Back Guarantee | 3 Days |
Payment Options | Credit Cards, PayPal, Bitcoin |
ID Required | Valid email address |
Features | |
Server Locations (# of Countries) | 67 |
Number of Servers | 300 + |
Devices Per License | Unlimited |
Simultaneous Connections | Unlimited |
Unlimited Bandwidth | Yes |
Double-Hop / Double VPN | Yes |
Accesses Netflix | Yes |
P2P / Torrenting Allowed | Yes |
Accepts Bitcoin | Yes |
Non-US Company | Yes |
Protected | |
Protocols | IKEv2, OpenVPN, WireGuard |
Encryption | AES-256, RSA-4096 |
No Logs / No Tracking | Yes |
Dedicated IP Available | Yes |
VPN Over Tor | Yes |
Wi-Fi Leak Protection | No |
Private DNS Server | No |
DNS Leak Protection | Yes |
IP Leak Protection | Yes |
WebRTC Leak Protection | Yes |
IPv6 Leak Protection | Yes |
Kill Switch | Yes |
Supported Platforms | |
Operating Systems | Windows, Mac OSX, iOS, Linux, Android |
Mobile App | Yes |
Router | Yes |
Browser Extension | Yes |
Customer Support | |
24/7 Support | No |
Live Chat Support | Yes |
Telephone Support | No |
Email Support | |
More | |
Additional comments |
Other Names (AKA): Wind Scribe |
Terms & Conditions | Official Terms & Conditions |
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