Windscribe hands free users more actual features than anyone else in this roundup: 10 GB a month, servers in over ten countries, and a built-in ad and tracker blocker. We tested where all that generosity ends.
Sign up with an email address and confirm it, and Windscribe gives you 10 GB every month, servers in more than ten countries you can pick yourself, and apps for every major platform. Unusually for a free plan, there's no device limit; the cap is on data, not hardware, so you can install it everywhere and share the 10 GB across your devices.
The standout extra is R.O.B.E.R.T., Windscribe's DNS-level blocker for ads, trackers, and malware domains. It works on the free tier, and switching it on makes ordinary browsing noticeably quieter. Most competitors sell this kind of filtering as a paid add-on.
Ten gigabytes sounds like a lot until video gets involved. An evening of HD streaming can burn through a third of your month, so this is a browse-and-work allowance rather than a watch-everything one. A handful of locations and features stay behind the paid wall, and unlike Proton and TunnelBear, Windscribe's no-logs policy hasn't yet been through a full independent audit. The policy itself is one of the clearest we've read; verification just hasn't caught up.
Speeds on the free servers held up well in our testing, and having ten-plus countries to choose from means you can usually find a fast one nearby. The desktop app leans technical, with a firewall option, protocol choices, and per-app controls that power users will enjoy and beginners can safely ignore. It also has decent luck unblocking region-locked content for a free service, though nothing is guaranteed on any free plan.
People who want their free VPN to do more than encrypt: block ads, cover several devices, offer real server choice. If you mainly want something to leave on around the clock without a cap, Proton fits better. Plenty of readers end up using both, Proton for always-on and Windscribe for its tools.
Sign up and confirm your email address. Without a confirmed email you get 2 GB; confirming raises it to 10 GB per month.
No. Windscribe shut down its affiliate program in 2021 and doesn't pay for placement, so nobody earns a commission by recommending it, including us.
Yes. There's no device limit on the free plan; the 10 GB monthly allowance is shared across everything you install it on.
See how it compares in the full free VPN ranking, or read about our top pick, Proton VPN.