Reddit.com needs no introduction. It’s an extremely popular website among people from all around the world. Netizens discuss all existing topics there: everything from fashion to more serious issues like science, technology and others. Reddit lovers haven’t left out security and privacy problems on the Internet either.
Not surprisingly that a VPN has become an extremely popular topic on Reddit. This technology is used by a huge number of people nowadays. Before reading, for example, an Avast VPN review and thinking about worth it using or not, visit Reddit.com and you will learn a lot of useful information about the provider there. All information is provided by ordinary persons without a purpose to sell a product or embellish the truth. Exactly for this reason, Reddit is so well-liked all around the globe.
It’s very easy to search for information on Reddit about a VPN service you are interested in. The best place to do it is various subreddits, or boards dedicated to discussing a particular topic. The ones you need are likely to have the word “VPN” in their name.
Reddit allows you to search the entire website or the subreddit you are on just by checking a box. This is a very useful feature as with its help, you can narrow down your search considerably or, vice versa, read opinions of people on different subforums.
One of the best things about scanning Reddit posts for info about a VPN is how unbiased this website it. For example, you may treat a provider’s official forums with a bit of suspicion because there’s a possibility that all negative comments are moderated and deleted. It makes finding relevant and objective information about the service more difficult.
Reddit doesn’t have this problem (or, at the very least, it is greatly mitigated). The reason for that is there global administration that can be reached if a subreddit’s moderators are treating valid posts unfairly.
Besides, if a VPN provider employs a promotion tactic of writing dishonest positive comments about itself, other users are sure to downvote such comments. Thus, it’s very easy to see what information has a basis in reality and what is purely advertising.
Let’s see, what people write about free VPN providers on Reddit.
Free VPN: issues that Redditors discuss
I’ve explored Reddit.com and found out the main topics about free VPNs there. So, people discuss:
- Best free VPNs;
- best free VPN providers for torrenting;
- best free VPN providers for Netflix;
- best free VPN for Android (and other platforms);
- free VPN for gaming.
Of course, I’ve mentioned only the most popular topics. The list can go on and on.
Are free VPN providers worth using?
Don’t forget that I give you the information which I’ve found on Reddit. You may have another point of view. It’s fine.
I was surprised, but there are few positive comments on free VPN on Reddit. Almost all netizens recommend to avoid free VPN providers and use The Onion Router if it comes to a free security measure for an anonymous Internet connection.
Let’s see, why they argue against free VPNs.
Why is it better to avoid free VPNs?
- Sell your data
One of the most widespread thoughts about free VPN providers on Reddit is that they can sell your personal data. Some of Redditors suggest that if a service is free, it reveals your personal information, connection metadata, your bandwidth and others to a third-party. Actually, this viewpoint is coherent. Free VPNs undoubtedly raise some questions.
When you use a VPN while surfing the Internet, you first connect to a server in another country and only then to a server you need. Some VPN providers spend thousands or even millions of dollars to have reliable and secure servers. It’s impossible for any VPN provider to make money only with advertising. Then, the question arises: when do free VPN providers get money from? So…
Personally I think that this viewpoint is completely justified.
- They are slow
Speeds of a provider matter if a person wants to use a VPN for torrenting or unblocking online streaming services. Unfortunately, free VPNs aren’t able to provide its customers with high speeds. Even paid VPNs offer free servers, but they are not suitable for gaming or watching movies online. You can use them only for anonymous browsing.
- Ads
I found out that Redditors are impatient with ads wherever the topic is. Sometimes a free VPN service can be a cover for a paid project. That’s why you will be constantly shown ads of paid VPNs. It is able to annoy even the calmest user on the Internet.
Why is it better to use paid VPNs?
So, we’ve covered the main reasons why Redditors don’t like free VPN services. But why do they love paid ones? Have a look.
- Stable Internet connection
If you visit Reddit.com and start reading comments, you’ll see what people write about paid services: “I have never faced any problems with (a certain VPN). It has a secure and stable connection” or something like this. Trustworthy VPNs spend millions of dollars to provide its customers with reliable VPN servers. Not surprisingly that an Internet connection of such VPNs are stable and anonymous.
- They don’t keep logs
One of the main features of a trustworthy VPN is a no logs policy. Netizens understand it and use only robust providers that won’t be able to reveal their sensitive data to a third-party. Read a privacy policy of a provider carefully while choosing the best VPN for your secure connectivity.
- Price
In spite of the fact that Redditors prefer to avoid free servers, they pay a lot of attention to a price, free trials and money-back guarantee. They usually speak and compare these points. Hopefully, there are a lot of popular providers who are ready to offer 30-day or even 45-day money-back guarantee to their customers.
- Additional features
As it is almost always the case, paid VPNs provide a higher degree of service than free ones. I have touched upon some of the reasons for that earlier: paid subscriptions mean more wherewithal to maintain fast and reliable servers that can handle the bandwidth load that comes with better encryption.
However, better security, despite being the first and foremost thing to look in a VPN according to Redditors, is not the only way in which paid services have the edge over their free counterparts.
Thanks to being paid, these VPNs offer various extra features. The Reddit community seems to be most interested in the ability to use torrenting and streaming.
Most free VPNs, as well as a number of paid ones, do not allow such activities. That’s why it’s important to study a provider before buying its VPN.
VPN providers that Redditors love in 2018
You may be wonder what VPN providers do people on Reddit love most of all?
When I was looking through numerous comments on Reddit to the topics related to free VPNs, I’ve noticed that netizens inclined to give paid alternatives if somebody asked about a free VPN. Here is the list of the best VPN providers according to Reddit:
- NordVPN. People describe this provider as secure and fast. They use it for unblocking streaming services and watching videos online. Another reason that makes NordVPN number one provider on Reddit is that it’s available in China.
Fun fact: Reddit is among the websites that are banned in China so for Redditors living there, a VPN is almost mandatory.NordVPN also has several thousand servers, making it both faster thanks to shorter distances between a user and a server and smaller numbers of users on each server and harder to block for streaming services such as Netflix. - Private Internet Access. This provider is extremely popular on Reddit. People appreciate its fast speeds. That can explain why it is widely used for torrenting.
PIA is also one of the most affordable services out there. If that’s not enough for you, you can make use of its 7-day refund guarantee to test this service. - ExpressVPN. Redditors like the customer service of this VPN. They find this provider fast and reliable for unblocking restricted content of Netflix.
ExpressVPN is proven to be honest in not keeping user activity logs. Several years ago, one of its servers was searched by police in hopes of finding some information that would help them to identify a criminal. However, just as ExpressVPN had claimed, no such information was being stored.
Conclusion:
There is a great choice of free VPN providers nowadays. Some people are ready to try them, others are not. Now you know what Redditors think about free VPN providers. It is, of course, up to you what VPNs to use: free or paid. Luckily, there is such a great website like Reddit.com that can help you to make up your mind. Good luck!
