Free Netflix VPN: Best Free VPN for Netflix

Many people believe that in order to consistently unblock Netflix, it’s necessary to spend on a VPN.

Last Update: May 2, 2022
MOST POPULAR

Overall Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Features:
  • Unlimited P2P and Torrenting
  • High-End Military-Grade Encryption
  • Confirmed Zero Logs Policy
  • Ad-blocker Feature
  • High-Speed Servers
  • Unblock 400 Streaming Services
  • 100% diskless encrypted RAM servers
Available on:
 available_devices

Overall Rating: 4.8 / 5.0
Features:
  • Strict No logs Policy
  • AES-256-GCM Encryption
  • Very Secure Protocol
  • Fast Torrent Speed and Unblocking Netflix
  • Unlimited Devices
Available on:
 available_devices

Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Features:
  • Unblock Any Content
  • Internet Kill Switch
  • Split Tunneling
  • Confirmed Zero Logs Policy
  • Unbreakable Encryption
Available on:
 available_devices

What if I told you that there’s a way to circumvent most Netflix geo-restrictions using a VPN without having to shell out money? That’s right! There’s a way for you to access heaps of new content on the online streaming platform without having to spend a single dime.

That being said, our workaround still requires you to spend money. Don’t worry though as you’ll be able to get everything refunded back to your bank account.

{If you're in a hurry, here's a TL;DR: Our #1 recommendation for Netflix is NordVPN. It's a premium VPN… BUT there's a way to get it for FREE. They have a 30-day money-back guarantee. So buy it for now. Then watch Netflix all you like and access their foreign libraries. And then ask for a refund within 30 days. If you don't like this, there are still other options below.}

How to Get Free Netflix VPNs

To get a free Netflix VPN, please follow these steps:

  • Get Yourself A Free VPN

First of all, you need to get yourself a free VPN that works with Netflix. Our top three recommendations are NordVPNSurfshark, and ExpressVPN. But don’t these providers all charge for subscriptions? Yes. However, there’s a workaround for this.

Simply purchase their cheapest 1-month subscription plan. After that, avail of a full refund within thirty days. You see, each of these providers maintains a 30-day money-back guarantee policy. This entitles you to all of your money back for whatever reason that you can think of.

  • Install It

Install the VPN that you’ve just bought. For most providers, this process is very easy. In fact, it’s completely automatic on most devices, which is great from a convenience standpoint.

  • Pair With A Server

On your provider’s app, select and connect to a server located in a country that’s playing host to a Netflix library that you wish to unblock. If you’re wondering what is the best server to pair with, it’s most often the one that’s nearest to you. That’s because distance has a direct impact on the speed capabilities of a VPN server.

  • Open Netflix Then Start Watching

The last thing to do after is to open Netflix and start watching. To make the most out of your experience, we recommend that you prioritize content that’s exclusive, meaning that it’s unavailable anywhere else.

What Are The Best Free VPNs for Netflix In 2022?

1. NordVPN

Getting It Free: Sad to say, NordVPN doesn’t offer a free trial. The only way to get it for “free” is to buy a 1-month subscription ($8.87), then request your money back before the 30-day window is up. If you ask me, this is a major hassle. Nevertheless, it’s well worth it for reasons we will talk about below.

Performance: NordVPN is a great performer that seldom fails to work against the geoblocks of Netflix and all other well-known streaming websites. In addition to that, it doesn’t introduce common problems related to streaming with a bad internet connection such as buffering, lag, and quality drops.

Security: The excellent streaming capabilities of NordVPN are due in large part to its network that’s made up of 5000+ servers. Experts regard these servers to be the fastest in the entire VPN industry. Sadly though, they aren’t the safest as not all of them are RAM-based and P2P-enabled.

Since NordVPN’s network isn’t fully RAM-disk enabled, it can technically still be used to gather your private data.

With that said, despite this, there’s no reason to doubt NordVPN’s security. That’s because the provider has a concrete no-logging policy and zero records of disclosing logs to malicious third parties or government entities.

Features: NordVPN permits a maximum of six simultaneous device connections per account. If anything, this amount is nothing to be impressed with. After all, many competing VPNs allow for much more same-time device pairings with a single basic subscription

On the bright side, NordVPN has very user-friendly applications that are packed to the brim with handy features. Prime examples of which include an ad & malware blocker and a kill switch.

2. Surfshark

Getting It Free: Availing of Surfshark for free can be done by purchasing a subscription then requesting a refund within thirty days. Its most basic subscription plan costs $12.95, which is quite steep. Nonetheless, remember that if you take advantage of the provider’s refund guarantee, you’ll be able to get your $12.95 back.

Performance: Surfshark is a newcomer to the VPN industry, with it only having been established in 2018. Despite that, the provider can reliably grant you access to Netflix without any hitches. More importantly, it’s capable of facilitating watch sessions that are 100% free of lag, buffering, and even very temporary drops in resolution quality.

At present, its network is comprised of more than 3200 servers. Through lengthy testing, I’ve been able to discover that most of these servers are decently quick. Some hardly even made an impact on my online connection speeds, which was a little surprising to me.

Security: I can confidently say that Surfshark is secure. That’s because it’s among the few virtual private networks that have a network that’s RAM-based in its entirety. Furthermore, you should know that the VPN provider also has itself audited regularly by independent firms.

Like most top-tier VPN services, Surfshark employs military-grade AES-256 encryption.

Besides that, it supports OpenVPN (UDP & TCP), IPSec (IKEv2 & L2TP), Shadowsocks, as well as WireGuard. For those who aren’t aware, WireGuard is regarded to be the newest, quickest, and most secure VPN protocol. Sadly, it is presently only supported by a handful of VPNs.

Features: Surfshark allows for unlimited simultaneous connections, making it perfect for those who’ve got large households and small businesses. Aside from that, its apps have a suite of essential VPN features such as a malware blocker. Moreover, the provider also has some add-on offerings that you can purchase to enhance your level of online protection.

3. ExpressVPN

Getting It Free: You can avail of ExpressVPN for free the same way you can for Surfshark and NordVPN. Like the VPN above, it too charges $12.95 for a 1-month subscription plan, which is quite hefty considering that ExpressVPN has less to offer than both of its major rivals.

Performance: ExpressVPN is a superb VPN solution for Netflix due to the level of consistency that its more than 3000 servers provide. I have only been detected by the streaming platform a few times while connected to its locations.

Also, it’s worth noting that ExpressVPN never caused my internet connection speeds to drop significantly. In fact, the VPN service provider sometimes even managed to improve them by eliminating the bandwidth throttling that was secretly imposed by my ISP.

Security: ExpressVPN is, without a doubt, a trailblazer in the VPN industry. It was the first provider ever to have a network that’s completely RAM-based. This is impressive since establishing such a server network is very difficult as it’s extremely expensive.

Unfortunately, the various browser extensions and applications of ExpressVPN don’t come with a built-in ad & malware blocker. Hence, those who regularly visit dangerous websites that are full of intrusive advertisements have no choice but to use another piece of software.

Features: As mentioned earlier, ExpressVPN’s apps and extensions lack an ad & malware blocker. On the bright side, they’ve got split tunneling as well as a kill switch. On top of that, they’re all fitted with protocol support for all leading protocols except WireGuard. Do not be worried though as ExpressVPN has a proprietary alternative called Lightway.

4. ProtonVPN

Getting It Free: Unlike the three providers that I previously talked about, ProtonVPN has a free subscription plan that’s available to all. Thanks to that, you won’t need to spend then request a refund within thirty days.

With that being said, you should know that ProtonVPN’s free plan isn’t loaded with many of the features that many would deem necessary.

Performance: I’ve found ProtonVPN to be a decent performer. While it certainly isn’t as fast as the likes of NordVPN, Surfshark, or ExpressVPN, this VPN can hold its own. It rarely makes a noteworthy impact on my connection. In addition, when it does, the streaming issues that the VPN puts forward last less than a minute.

More importantly, as I was using it, Netflix only got to block me in a few locations. Although this may seem unimpressive, you should note that most truly free VPN services cannot achieve the same feat. At best, they can only successfully work around one or two Netflix libraries.

Security: Despite not having many of the features that its paid counterpart has, ProtonVPN’s paid subscription is still safe.

It’s perfectly capable of masking your IP address, and therefore, your real identity and location. As such, the VPN can serve as an effective tool you may utilize to stay protected from cybercriminals and other parties like ISPs and secret government monitors.

Features: The paid version of ProtonVPN comes with features like Tor over VPN, DNS leak protection, and perfect forward secrecy. However, all these features don’t come with the provider’s free subscription plan. By getting that plan, you’ll only have an ad blocker.

5. Windscribe

Getting It Free: Windscribe is considered by many to be the best free VPN for Netflix that is currently on the market. Although it has a paid pro version, the provider’s free subscription plans will surely suffice for all of your needs, especially when it comes to Netflix. After all, you’ll be able to work around ten of the streaming platform’s libraries quite seamlessly.

Performance: The free version of Windscribe lets you pair with ten locations across the globe. These locations can unblock Netflix fairly consistently. In addition to that, they are also quicker than your average VPN server.

Needless to say, the ten connectable servers that come with a free Windscribe subscription are not 100% smooth. They indeed introduce some slight bumps to your Netflix experience from time to time. Is this a dealbreaker? Not by any means given that Windscribe is totally free.

Security: As you might’ve expected, free Windscribe isn’t as secure as paid VPNs. It defaults to the OpenVPN protocol and doesn’t allow you to make adjustments. Furthermore, it doesn’t come with a dedicated malware blocker, which can drastically improve your security.

Don’t assume that Windscribe isn’t safe to use though. The VPN service does provide a badly needed additional layer of protection. How so? By successfully being able to hide your IP address and not leak your private information while doing so.

Features: Windscribe’s free subscription plan does not have any interesting features except for an automatic kill switch.

However, its paid version comes loaded with an ad & malware blocker, split tunneling, and port forwarding. Besides that, the VPN’s paid version doesn’t have any bandwidth limitations, which means that it’s way faster.

How We Ranked These VPNs

We ranked the best free VPNs that work with Netflix by meticulously testing all the current options available on the market. After our tests, we got to determine which VPN service providers were the best performers. In addition, we were also able to find out which of them had the most features.

Although NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN are not truly free, we still decided to include them in our rankings because you can get them without spending. Also, we think they simply cannot be passed up considering everything that they offer to their subscribers.

The Problem with “Free” VPNs

Free VPNs always come with trade-offs, making them only temporary solutions for getting around Netflix’s geo-restrictions. What are these trade-offs? For one, if you opt to utilize a paid service for free, you shall need to keep availing of refunds, which can be very inconvenient.

Meanwhile, truly free VPN providers often lack the many features that their paid counterparts have. On top of that, they don’t allow you to connect to as many servers. Hence, when using them, it’ll be much harder to hide your IP address and stay anonymous.

One last thing that you should know is that many free VPNs aren’t truly safe. In fact, many are known to compromise your digital privacy and security instead of fortifying it.

How? By collecting your logging information then selling it to companies that serve you targeted ads. This is how they monetize. Remember that although they’re free business still has to make money.

How About Proxies?

Proxies are the only other tools that you can utilize to get across Netflix restrictions. With that said, we don’t recommend them because they’re vastly inferior to VPNs. How come? They aren’t as fast and secure because they only function locally on the browser level.

Below is a table showing everything you need to know about proxies and VPN providers:

Proxies Virtual Private Networks
Doesn’t encrypt your entire internet connection
Masks your real IP address
Lacks dedicated software
Is often cheaper than VPNs
Has superior speed capabilities when compared to most free VPN service providers
Provides comprehensive internet encryption
Masks your real IP address
Comes with a dedicated app
Usually more expensive than proxies
Boasts inferior speed capabilities in comparison to proxies

Rounding Everything Up

We don’t recommend that you use a free VPN to unblock Netflix. However, we do understand that not everyone has a budget or the means to purchase a VPN subscription. Thus, we hope our recommendations will serve you well until you’re finally able to purchase a VPN.

By: Erwin Caniba
Eric is the co-founder of VPNOnline. He has been an avid user of VPNs since 2012. He has tested all of the major VPN providers and shares his findings on this website. Follow Eric on Facebook.