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TunnelBear Free is a VPN service founded in 2011 that's owned by the cybersecurity company McAfee. It's available on several platforms and has servers in 47 countries. The free version has a monthly data limit of 2GB. It includes obfuscation, a feature that disguises your traffic to make it appear like you're not using a VPN. It also allows unlimited simultaneous device connections.
TunnelBear also offers a paid, unlimited version that we also tested. See more in the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
Tunnelbear Free is mediocre for torrenting. While it allows you to download torrents, it has a monthly data limit of 2GB, which can be frustrating if you need to download larger files. Also, its kill switch doesn't work properly, as it allows some unencrypted traffic to leak past the VPN after reconnecting to the internet or after a system restart or software crash. You have to provide your email address and password, potentially exposing your personal information in the event of a data breach. That said, it protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks and keeps your IP address and DNS queries within its tunnel while you use it.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Proper TLS implementation protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic.
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No anonymous registration options.
TunnelBear Free has acceptable security. It keeps your IP address and DNS queries encrypted while you're connected to it. It also offers protection against man-in-the-middle attacks as it has proper TLS implementation. Unfortunately, its kill switch doesn't work as intended, as it leaks some unencrypted traffic after reconnecting to the internet, a system reboot, or a software crash. This is a concern if you need all your traffic to be encrypted after your internet drops out or upon connecting to a new network.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Proper TLS implementation protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic.
TunnelBear Free has mediocre download speeds, upload speeds, and latency. While it's suitable for everyday use, large files don't download quickly. Its latency is also somewhat inconsistent, potentially causing lag spikes in online games or video calls.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
TunnelBear Free has a paid unlimited tier that we tested separately, a tier for teams, and a free tier that we tested in this review.
| Plan | Linux Support | City Selection | Data Limit | Admin Tools & Centralized Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | No | No | 2GB per month | No |
| Unlimited | Yes* | Yes | Unlimited | No |
| Teams | Yes* | Yes | Unlimited | Yes |
*You can only manually configure the VPN on Linux.
Compared To Other VPNs
TunnelBear Free lags behind other free VPNs we've tested, like Proton VPN Free, Windscribe Free, and Hotspot Shield Free, due to its low data limit of 2GB per month. That said, you can connect to servers in 47 countries, considerably more than those other services. This makes it a decent option if you don't need to download many files or stream a lot of bandwidth-intensive content but need access to servers in many different countries.
While TunnelBear Free has a decent reputation for privacy overall, thanks to its frequent third-party audits, it's owned by McAfee, a cybersecurity company that's been subject to various scandals over the years. Still, it's important to know that we can't verify privacy claims about any VPN. Check out our article about VPN privacy for more details.
To see which services we recommend, check out our article on the best VPNs.
Test Results
The kill switch doesn't work as intended, as network traffic leaks outside the VPN tunnel after a reboot and after a software crash, reboot, or loss of internet. This can be problematic if you're concerned with keeping your traffic encrypted at all times, like if your system freezes and you have to restart it.
This VPN doesn't implement BGP properly, but this is true with almost every VPN service.
The paid version of TunnelBear is one of the only VPNs we tested that passed this test. TunnelBear Free failed because it used a different DNS provider that didn't implement BGP properly.
This VPN delivers speeds suitable for normal browsing and internet use, but it isn't the fastest for downloading large files.
This VPN delivers acceptable upload speeds that are fairly consistent and suitable for everyday use. However, uploading large files takes some time.
This VPN has fairly inconsistent latency with occasional spikes that can disrupt online games or video calls.
Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android, as well as browser extensions.
You can only connect to specific cities if you get the paid version of TunnelBear.
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