All VPNs are chosen by the expert, but we may get a commission when you buy them via our links.
We’ve prepared this review to highlight really good VPN services with free trial on the back of low grade VPNs that often hold people over the word “free”. All the services has passed the tests successfully and have positive user review.
📑 Table of contents:
Today, free trial VPN providers allow using VPN technology completely for free with the most current VPN software to be found in the market.
There is a ton of VPN services on the Internet that offer a free trial period. But they aren’t all equally good. Most of them exist only because they call themselves a Free VPN and lure unsuspecting users in with it.
A good VPN service is different from a ‘’shoddy’’ one in many ways:
In this review, I will tell you only about the best free trial VPNs that don’t only have all the characteristics mentioned above but also meet the modern users’ demands:
Some VPN providers offer a free trial for mobile apps only. This is generally the case with the best VPNs. But today’s mobile gadgets are not so different from desktops so a free trial for smartphones or tablets is more than enough to learn everything you need about how the service works.
For your convenience, I have not only selected 10 best VPNs with a free trial but also divided those providers into 2 groups:
ExpressVPN and NordVPN are considered the best free trial VPNs. These services are versatile and have powerful functionality at the same time.
Let’s delve into the characteristics and details of the free use of these and other great VPN services.
Free trial: 7 days (Android) Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $6.67 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: Very high App quality: Premium Streaming: 5/5 Number of countries: 94
ExpressVPN is a real premium VPN that can be tried out for 7 days on Android without a credit card. It doesn’t have any issues with speed, connection, or stability. It supports streaming and protects torrenting, has server locations in 94 countries (an unsurpassed number) and is based, just like Surfshark, offshore in the British Virgin Islands.
But today, ExpressVPN is not the best VPN. Its functionality isn’t very diverse. Here are some of ExpressVPN’s drawbacks:
However, if these flaws don’t matter to you, ExpressVPN won’t disappoint you.
Free trial characteristics:
Refund peculiarities:
General characteristics:
Click to read full ExpressVPN review
Free trial: 7 days on mobiles Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $2.49 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: High App quality: Premium Streaming: 10/10 Number of countries: 61
Good news for the users of mobile gadgets who are searching for a free trial VPN – Surfshark, based offshore in the British Virgin Islands. It’s available to use free of charge on Android and iOS for 7 days. A credit card is not required.
To desktop users, I recommend installing Surfshark on a mobile device at least for the duration of the free trial. Its functionality doesn’t differ that much from platform to platform so, if you like Surfshark on Android or iOS, you will like it on PC as well.
Surfshark meets all the demands of modern customers. It solves the regular tasks like hiding the IP and unblocking websites as well as watching geo-restricted content and having TV and game consoles support with the same efficiency.
A 30-day refund is available for the users of other platforms.
A differential characteristic of Surfshark is the Camouflage Mode technology (for the desktop version) which is used to unblock the Internet in China and other countries blocking VPN protocols.
Peculiarities of a free trial:
Refund conditions:
General description:
Click to read full Surfshark review
Free trial: 24 hours Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $2.25* Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: High App quality: Premium Streaming: 10/10 Number of countries: 90
*you can get an 8% discount if you buy the subscription by following our link
CyberGhost VPN offers a 24-hour free trial on all platforms. You can say that it isn’t much. But I put CyberGhost VPN second because it is the only VPN with more than 3000 servers that has a free trial plan for all platforms. Besides, it doesn’t require a card.
CyberGhost VPN is a superb versatile Romanian-based VPN. It doesn’t only excel in security and data protection but also in streaming and torrenting thanks to having special server lists.
Whereas the fabulous refund policy of CyberGhost VPN stands out against a background of its rivals:
45 days of use with the facility to get money back against 7-30 days offered by the rivals! But this period is shortened to 14 days for a 1-month package.
Besides, CyberGhost VPN is among the top 3 best VPNs. It possesses a great number of servers and many useful advanced features.
That’s why this VPN takes the first position of our rating.
Peculiarities of a free trial:
Refund conditions:
General description:
Click to read full CyberGhost VPN review
Free trial: 7 days Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $0, $4-$24 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: High App quality: Premium Streaming: 5/5 Number of countries: 42
ProtonVPN is interesting because it offers a trial version as a part of a free VPN package. You can get a feeling of unlimited VPN connection during the first 7 days, after which you’ll have to subscribe for a “Plus” plan or keep on using the free package with restrictions in locations and speed.
Paid plans differ in terms of the features available on them. You can read more about it in our ProtonVPN review.
It’s interesting to know that ProtonVPN offers special secure servers in Switzerland to achieve maximum safety. They are placed in a bunker in the rock at a depth of 1 km, and only ProtonVPN AG stuff has access to them.
Peculiarities of a free trial:
Refund conditions:
General description:
Click to read full ProtonVPN review
Free trial: 7 days Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $2.22 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: High App quality: Premium Streaming: unstable work Number of countries: 35
ZenMate is a German VPN that I recommend as a good option for torrenting and accessing video apps with free content. To that end, it has a list of P2P-supporting locations, a kill switch on its Windows version, and a good price.
Apart from that, it’s a simple VPN service that doesn’t have any extra functionality.
I’d like to note that ZenMate uses software which resembles that of CyberGhost VPN. Additionally, they share at least some of their VPN locations. The reason for it is that they are owned by the same company, Kape Technologies.
Free trial characteristics:
Refund conditions:
General description:
Click to read full ZenMate review
Free trial: 7 days on mobile devices Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $4.13 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: Very high App quality: Premium Streaming: 10/10 Number of countries: 58
NordVPN is the best VPN provider according to the tests of CoolTechZone.com. It also ranks first among the VPNs that are well-suited for Netflix, torrenting, and many other areas of implementation of VPN technology.
Only the Android and iOS versions have a free trial. However, since these apps’ functionality doesn’t differ much from that of the Windows and Mac apps that have the highest number of features, a free trial on a mobile device should be enough.
The provider is located under safe Panamanian jurisdiction.
Free trial characteristics:
Refund conditions:
General characteristics:
Click to read full NordVPN review
Free trial: 3 days Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $5 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: High App quality: High Streaming: 1/5 Number of countries: 64
If the first three servers failed to meet your requirements whatever the reason, have a look at the Swiss service called VyprVPN. It allows using its trial version for free for 3 days.
To make use of it, it’s required to subscribe to one of the plans on offer. Actually, this trial period varies little from money-back.
The advantage of this provider is that it similar to Surfshark can hide both your IP and the fact you are using a VPN.
Peculiarities of a free trial:
Refund conditions:
General description:
Free trial: 7 days Torrenting: + Price after free trial: $6.99 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: Very high App quality: High Streaming: 1/5 Number of countries: 190 (IP spoofing)
HideMyAss (HMA) offers a trial period which lasts for 7 days when opting for a 12-month plan. Similar to VyprVPN, it’s possible to make use of it only after entering credit card details.
The service doesn’t have any remarkable advantages, but it’s on our list because of its strong server network and facility to make use of the second option of free usage – service cancellation.
Peculiarities of a free trial:
Refund conditions:
General description:
Click to read full HideMyAss review
Free trial: 7 days Torrenting: - Price after free trial: $13.99 Encryption standard: unknown Speed: high App quality: Good Streaming: not allowed Number of countries: unknown
You surely know what PornHub is. And VPNHub is its VPN service. It is made, first and foremost, to bypass the blocks and watch the PornHub content anonymously.
In truth, there’s nothing so special about this provider. The only positive thing about it is that this service is accessible on all major platforms and offers a 7-day free trial for all of them.
Despite the fact that VPNHub lowered its prices recently, its services are still far from cheap. Be careful: if you don’t cancel the trial version before it runs out, it will withdraw $13.99 from your card when VPNHub only costs $6.99 per month on the 1-year subscription.
Free trial characteristics:
Refund peculiarities:
General characteristics:
Free trial: 30 days Torrenting: restricted Price after free trial: $2.99 Encryption standard: AES 256 Speed: Very high App quality: Good Streaming: 4/5 Number of countries: 25
Goose VPN is a simple Dutch VPN that supports Netflix and torrenting but has a weird privacy policy.
Its main advantage is the long free trial period. This is the only VPN on our Top 10 list that can be used for free for more than 7 days.
However, we cannot rank Goose VPN higher on our list because of certain drawbacks:
Free trial characteristics:
Refund peculiarities:
General characteristics:
Here I’d like to tell you about the providers who don’t have a trial period but have a money-back guarantee. They are large-scale and reliable VPNs which cannot but be mentioned in this article.
1) Private Internet Access (7-day refund)
It’s worth paying attention to this provider because of its special attitude to users’ security and because its app offers so many options as no other rival does. It is an American service with good speeds and a lot of servers.
2) IPVanish (7-day refund)
Another American VPN. One more large-scale VPN – IPVanish. It offers users a proxy (socks5) by means of which you can open ipvanish.com in case VPN sites are blocked. Also, I’d like to point out a very fast speed of IPVanish.
3) Perfect Privacy (7-day refund)
If you need to build and manage chains consisting of 2 or more VPN servers, this VPN is a perfect fit for you. It is also the only worthy provider that offers a feature based on machine learning. Thanks to it, the routes between servers are chosen by AI.
The advantages of using trial versions are undeniable. However, one has to be very careful because many providers use their free trials to force the customer into subscribing to expensive plans. What can I say, I have found myself in a sticky situation more than once myself and not only with VPNs.
So how do you make use of a free trial safely?
Also, if you’d like a chance to get a refund, you should take a look at the Terms of service beforehand. Many services only give a money-back to the users who haven’t made use of the free trial.
You can leave a comment explaining why you are looking for a VPN with a trial period (to use it free of charge or to test it) and if this information regarding the money-back guarantee is useful for you.
This information can make CoolTechZone more useful for the users.
Thanks for the interest in the article.
Write a review
I kinda think free trials are redundant if there’s a money back guarantee… All they do is attract leechers who don’t wanna pay but eat up resources…
Even though free trials are just a marketing practice, I am grateful for them. I once signed up for a PureVPN trial and thanks to it I learned first-hand what a mess of a service it is!
Hi! I read your article (awesome!) and I have a question: why is it that some good VPNs that offer a free trial only do it on certain platforms?
Dean, I know that safervpn has a trial period. What can you say about this VPN?
It is an average-tier VPN. OTOH, I haven’t tested it in a while. Maybe we’ll review it in detail soon.
It is a pity that the free trial of CyberGhost is only 1 day. I want to try it. However, I won't understand if it is suitable for me just within 24 hours…
Kate, you can try several VPNs out at once and then you’ll make up your mind within just one day. I have dozens of VPN apps installed and they don’t conflict with each other.
Lucky we are to have a chance to try any VPN for free!
I had a funny story with free trial once. I was using NordVPN free trial back when it had one. Now they promised they would let me know when like one day of it would remain so I could cancel it before they take my money… Well guess what, they didn’t!!! Something went wrong on either on their or on my side and I never got their email… Imagine my shock when I woke up to missing $100 something one day haha. But when I asked for my money back they returned it without any hassle, so kudos to them for that. The service was pretty good btw I just couldn’t spend so much money at the time.
Nice work, I feel like you are doing a lot for helping people in the process. Actually, I do not feel like “paid VPNs with further cancellation of services” are actual free VPNs since you will have to pay for the subscription from the very start. I personally used several VPNs listed here and I canceled my subscription both times – there were no problems with the refund. But HideMyAss is a different story. I was looking for a service with a lot of US servers and good speed, I even did not care about all these security features. I bought HMA and quickly learned that the provider wouldn`t work for my purposes and I just asked for a refund as usual. OMG, what a hell it has been! At first, with their online widget, they told me to send an email to their support. That`s fine, I did it… no response FOR ONE WEEK!!!! They replied after 7 days!!! But that was not the end. They did not give up trying to solve my problem with multiple useless (IMHO) methods. Our lovely chat had taken 15 days (thanks to their “quick” responses). After I did multiple scans of the service I had been blocked, they agreed to give my money back… If someone feels like receiving money-back will be a piece of cake, think twice before dealing with these “paid VPNs with further cancellation of services”.
