Best Free US VPN: The Top 3 Choices for 2024 [All Tested] (2024)

The US is a country known (or notorious) for its democracy. When talking about the Internet, it has no particular restrictions and pretty much everything is accessible. From Netflix and Hulu to Disney+ and a boatload of US TV channels – everything is right here at your doorstep! However, the country is a founding member of the 5 Eyes alliance. This translates to government surveillance, ISP monitoring, and various privacy issues. In addition, some sites still aren’t accessible here and you’ll struggle to watch foreign TV channels or streaming services.

Not to mention the dangers of torrenting due to copyright trolls. This makes the US quite a volatile country that requires the use of a VPN. But what is the best free VPN for the United States? And will a 100% free VPN for the USA suffice?

Well, we aim to answer these questions in today’s article. We have the top 3 free US VPN services in 2024 but also a few paid services that you can use for free for up to 45 days. Sounds interesting? In that case, scroll down and keep reading.

Best Free VPN for the USA: Get a Premium VPN for Free for Up to 45 Days

Let’s start with the absolute top VPNs for the US. These providers, as stated, are NOT free. However, they can be used for free thanks to their money-back guarantee. Let us explain this in-depth by mentioning which services we recommend.

ExpressVPN: The Best Free VPN for America for 30 Days

If you really want only the best for yourself, ExpressVPN is a must-have. This provider is our favorite, offering plenty of security features, amazing speeds, and solid security with a big discount and a 30-day refund policy.

Sure, it’s not free – we already said that. However, the service offers a 49% discount and 3 free months for its annual plan. If you wish to get this cheap deal, simply use the button below. It’ll take you to ExpressVPN’s site, allowing you to get a subscription instantly.

Get ExpressVPN for Free for 30 Days

You can also get a monthly plan at above $12 and enjoy the provider this way. Either way, getting a plan qualifies you for a 30-day money-back guarantee. So once you purchase ExpressVPN, you can use it limitlessly, with no bandwidth limit, and enjoy everything it has to offer.

Right before the first 30 days expire, contact ExpressVPN through live chat, say that you want your money back, and the support team will respond. They’ll issue a full refund the same day, and with the money back in your account, you’ve lost exactly zero dollars.

This is, by the way, how to use ExpressVPN as the best free VPN for the US in 2024 for 30 days. Trust us – this is a FAR better option than using a 100% free US VPN.

Why Use ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN comes with hundreds of servers in the United States, all representing a part of the 3,000 servers in 105 countries. The provider has a wide server network, making it great for people in the US and outside of this country. For example, you can use it to obtain a US IP address abroad.

This way, you can unblock American streaming services and enjoy shows and movies anywhere. Moreover, ExpressVPN allows for torrenting safely. It has Lightway VPN protocol which supports speeds higher than 10 Gbps, giving you a blazing-fast experience.

Another great thing is security. ExpressVPN uses AES-256 encryption to protect your traffic from exposure. This is further bettered by a kill switch that works flawlessly, as well as DNS/IPv6 leak protection, and even RAM-only servers.

They’ll be wiped clean with each restart, protecting your privacy in the process. ExpressVPN is also a zero-log service. This means it won’t log your activities, IP address, DNS requests, and other compromising information. By the way, it even has an audit from KPMG!

It’s no surprise that ExpressVPN is a favorite VPN for the US of many users. Besides, you can use this VPN for watching p*rn in this country – something that you’ll maybe value. On top of that, ExpressVPN works with all devices and it packs 8 simultaneous connections per subscription.

The only downside is the lack of an ad blocker. But hey, this provider is very reliable, offers easy-to-use apps, and comes with an impressive array of features. All of this can be yours for free for 30 days – think about that!

CyberGhost: A Free US VPN for Up to 45 Days

If you don’t think you like ExpressVPN, you might be interested in CyberGhost instead. Instead of a 30-day money-back guarantee, it offers a 45-day money-back guarantee for all plans longer than one month!

The monthly plan offers a 14-day refund policy instead, which is a bit disappointing. However, its 2-year plan comes with a hefty discount and you get a few free months on top of that, so it’s worth getting. To do so, use the button below to get the cheapest deal available at the moment.

Test CyberGhost for Free for 45 Days

Now, it’s the same process as with ExpressVPN. Enter your email, choose the plan, and download the VPN to your device. CyberGhost can, from here, be used as the top free VPN for the United States in 2024 if you get a refund in the first 45 (or 14) days of your purchase.

Contact CyberGhost through live chat on the website and explain that you want to get a refund. In doing so, the support team will issue a payment and give you a 100% refund, making you lose no money in the process. This way, you enjoyed a free US VPN for 45 days with no limits – how does it feel?

Why Use CyberGhost?

In terms of features, CyberGhost is dangerously close to ExpressVPN. It offers 11,500+ servers in 100+ countries, with nearly 1,400 servers in the US in 10+ locations. This makes the provider suitable for US residents and people abroad who want to pretend to be American.

CyberGhost offers special streaming servers as well. For those in need of Netflix US or other platforms, this is a perfect choice for unblocking them. And if you’re in the United States, CyberGhost will give you plenty of IP addresses in other countries for accessing even more content.

Much like its brother, the provider allows for torrenting and has special servers for that. We like its NoSpy servers, though, as they’re operated by CyberGhost directly and allow you to stay private online. This VPN has many pros with very few cons, which is impressive.

You’ll get an ad blocker, for example, but also DNS leak protection, split tunneling, a kill switch, and WireGuard. The provider stores no logs either and its recent audit from Deloitte proves that. Besides, it publishes transparency reports a few times a year, so it’s even more trustworthy!

While not the easiest to use at first, CyberGhost has neatly optimized apps for all devices. And unlike ExpressVPN, it has 7 simultaneous connections! The downside is that it’s not working in China, so if you ever go there, think about using ExpressVPN, as it works perfectly fine.

Its price doesn’t matter if you’re getting a refund. However, if you aren’t, know that CyberGhost is much cheaper. And with the 45-day money-back guarantee we mentioned earlier, it’s very friendly towards your wallet/pocket. It’s not better than ExpressVPN but it’s a great free VPN for the US for 45 days.

If after using ExpressVPN and CyberGhost you want to enjoy other premium services without paying, take a look at our article presenting the best VPNs with free trial.

The Top 3 100% Free VPNs for the United States

While ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are the creme de la creme VPNs for America, not every user will want to use them. After all, they’re not really free – at least not forever – and they require you to make a payment first. But what about 100% free services?

Are there any REALLY free VPNs for the USA? The answer is YES but there’s a catch. They’re not as good as the previous two providers and they offer quite a few limitations and drawbacks. In fact, why not check our free vs paid VPN comparison? It’ll make things much clearer.

For now, though, let’s focus on the top 3 really free providers for the US:

1. Atlas VPN

Atlas VPN is a provider based in the United States, under the ownership of NordVPN. While NordVPN is from Panama, this provider resides in the heart of the 5 Eyes alliance, which raises some privacy concerns. Well, what if we told you that Atlas VPN is 100% safe and secure?

Yes, this service packs features like WireGuard, IP leak protection, Private DNS, RAM-only servers, and many others. This means it’s perfect for staying safe online and protecting your traffic from copyright trolls and ISP surveillance in the US.

In terms of logging, Atlas VPN is clear. It has a no-logging policy, storing no data of your browsing history, IP/DNS addresses, and many other parameters. Even better – it has some servers in the US in its free version, so what could possibly go wrong? Hold my beer.

Atlas VPN offers limited monthly bandwidth – just a measly 5 GB each month. Do we need to mention it’s not enough even for browsing? And if you’re thinking about streaming, its US servers will not work with Netflix and other US-based platforms, so it’s a really poor choice.

Atlas VPN allows for torrenting, at least, but with 5 GB a month, you can only go so far. The provider excludes some of its security features in the free plan, as well. This means you won’t get MultiHop and other fancy functionalities for increasing your security.

Our team reviewed Atlas VPN not long ago and its premium plan isn’t that bad. However, it’s vastly inferior to ExpressVPN and CyberGhost due to the small server fleet. This is also the issue with a free version that has just 3 server locations, making it unsuitable for getting over geo-blocks.

To digress, Atlas VPN is the best free US VPN service in 2024. But it’s far from being good in the grand scheme due to its limits. If you’re using the internet for 1 hour a month and you don’t mind everything we said… well, there you go – a perfect free VPN for you!

Visit Atlas VPN

2. ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN takes a different approach. It’s a free VPN for the USA that offers unlimited bandwidth, putting it, at first, way above Atlas VPN. The service has 3 server locations and even one location in the United States, so getting a US IP address is possible!

Not to mention its Swiss jurisdiction which does wonders for this company. For one, it’s VERY secure, packing bare-metal servers, AES-256 encryption, a kill switch, port forwarding, and WireGuard/OpenVPN support. These features are offered in the free version – great!

ProtonVPN stores absolutely no logs and has one of the best no-logs policies around. Its apps are very easy to use, and with solid device support, you can install it anywhere – even on your router. Once again, what could go wrong with a VPN like this? It sounds splendid.

As always, free VPNs have a way of screwing things up. ProtonVPN is very slow compared to Atlas VPN and its 3 server locations won’t suffice. It’s not supporting streaming and P2P traffic is forbidden, which means you can’t download torrents – sorry!

Another thing is that it misses quite a few security features from the paid version. Secure Core servers aren’t there and NetShield, an ad blocker, won’t be available. ProtonVPN will offer 1 Gbps speeds but that’s exacerbated by the lack of simultaneous connections – oh no!

As a result, you can install it on just ONE device at a time and protect only that device. ProtonVPN’s support is below average, as it has no live chat on the site. And if you’re thinking about its premium plan, it’s actually pretty expensive.

So yeah – ProtonVPN will be a solid free USA VPN if you don’t mind its “rich” shortcomings. For general browsing, this is a great provider. For anything else than that, you’ll have to go with ExpressVPN or CyberGhost.

Visit ProtonVPN

3. PrivadoVPN

If you’re willing to go with a lesser-known service, PrivadoVPN might be a good choice. It’s actually a premium service but with a free plan that offers solid speeds and 12 server locations. Of course, it has servers in the US and that’s great if you need an IP from this country.

We also like how simple it is to use. You simply go to its site, download the free VPN for the USA, and enjoy everything it offers. PrivadoVPN is based in Switzerland – like ProtonVPN – so it guarantees your privacy and security with a no-logging policy.

Its app is littered with security features. You can enjoy bank-grade encryption and a kill switch that works well. PrivadoVPN backs this up with IPv6 leak protection, WireGuard, and support for all devices which make it versatile and usable regardless of the platform.

Unfortunately, this is ruined by the limited monthly bandwidth. While you get 10 GB each month, it’s still not enough for streaming or torrenting. PrivadoVPN allows you to download torrents, at least, but its streaming capabilities aren’t great, as it can’t unblock any popular streaming platform.

This service, while fast, is much slower than CyberGhost and ExpressVPN. Plus, its amazing security features like SOCKS5 Proxy and a few others aren’t accessible in the free version. In terms of simultaneous connections, you get just one, so protecting multiple devices at a time is impossible.

All in all, PrivadoVPN is a typical free VPN for the USA that has all of the expected shortcomings. At least it’s safe and secure, which was our #1 criterion when making this list. Free VPNs are known for storing logs and selling your personal data but PrivadoVPN won’t do that, which is awesome!

How Did We Pick Our 100% Free VPNs for the USA?

Since we touched on the criteria for choosing the best free VPN for America in 2024, let’s talk more about them. This list isn’t random and we put the VPNs through many tests to determine whether or not they’re worth your time. Here are the criteria we used:

• Security. All services on our list must be secure. This means having 256-bit encryption and other features like a kill switch, DNS/IP leak protection, RAM-only servers, and others. These features are vital for users in the United States who want to stay secure all the time and avoid ISP monitoring.
• Privacy. Privacy is another thing. It means not storing logs of your online footprints. And guess what? All free US VPNs offer a no-logging policy! Despite being 100% free, they won’t sell your data to third parties as they already earn some revenue from their premium plans.
• Device compatibility. We wanted to make sure our choices can be installed on all your devices. That said, each service will work on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, Smart TVs, and many other platforms. However, they won’t offer any simultaneous connections.
• Servers in the US. If you’re abroad and you need an American IP address, you’ll want free US VPN servers. Well, you’ll get them in every free VPN on this list – no need to thank us.
• Performance. Some VPNs will reduce your internet speed and that’s most noticeable with free providers. We picked the services that offer somewhat decent performance (1 Gbps) but that’s not very fast for today’s standards. Still, they’ll at least give you a solid browsing experience if nothing else. For streaming/torrenting, you’ll want ExpressVPN or CyberGhost.

Free VPNs for the USA to Avoid in 2024

While the free services we give you are safe and secure, you should know that the majority of them are the polar opposite! Free providers tend to store logs and ruin your privacy through the lack of security features and malicious logging practices that go as far as selling your personal data.

These providers are, unfortunately, very popular, and you’ll quickly recognize their names on the list of free VPNs that you should avoid in the United States. Here they are:

Hola VPN

Sounds familiar? Well, that’s because it’s INSANELY popular due to unlimited bandwidth and even great streaming capabilities, all for free. But is it really that good? Hola VPN is easily the worst provider we used, as it’s not even a real VPN but rather a P2P-based service.

As a result, it could care less about your privacy. Its privacy policy states that everything is logged, even your IP, browsing history, and DNS requests, so you’re all but safe and secure. Plus, you’re just a peer in its network, so your IP address can be hijacked by other users and used for various purposes.

Hola VPN lacks many security features and it’ll do its best to stomp over your privacy and make you feel vulnerable as if you’re not using a VPN. We don’t want to waste too much time on it – check our Hola VPN review for more information and see why we despise it.

Urban VPN

Once again, Urban VPN does the same as its rival. This provider is from the US and its jurisdiction definitely has an upper hand. The provider stores every bit of your private data, including browsing history, geolocation, and IP address.

Much like Hola, it’ll give you free unlimited bandwidth and even free USA VPN servers. But it offers no security features, it’s notorious for IP leaks, and it supports no streaming and torrenting. Such an awful VPN that people in the US – and abroad – should absolutely avoid it at all costs.

Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield is another recognizable name, a VPN that presents itself as being the best, fastest, etc. But its free version is unbelievably bad, with limited bandwidth, only one server location in the US, and malicious logging.

The provider stores logs even in the paid version, but its free version is worse. Based in the US, this provider will even sell your private data to third parties and flood you with ads and pop-ups if you’re a mobile user. Something we really find annoying.

Not to mention that it’s bad for streaming and torrenting, plus the fact that it’s pretty expensive as a premium service. You should avoid it in both free and paid versions, to be frank – don’t bother using it, as you’ll just jeopardize your privacy.

Summary

Having said everything, our list of the most reputable free VPNs for the US is complete. In 2024, you can get ExpressVPN and CyberGhost and enjoy these free USA VPNs for up to 45 days. They’re not 100% free but they’re much better than those that are.

Still, if you’re after them, Atlas VPN is perhaps your best choice. It’s safe, secure, reasonably fast, and reliable. It comes with bandwidth limits, though, which can be rectified by using ProtonVPN, which is, on the other hand, much slower.

Try Atlas VPN Now

Finally, you can also try PrivadoVPN as a good balance of both. At the end of the day, there’s not much you can expect from a free service. You’re paying nothing to use it, so some shortcomings must be present. Remember – only your grandma will give you a free lunch.

Everything else must be paid for either with your money or in this case, with your privacy. You choose…