Windscribe VPN Free Review 2023: 3 cons and 4 pros

by Vít Nováček, updated August 7, 2022

1. Windscribe Free: 3 Disadvantages & 4 Advantages

   • Functions on the computer are divided between application, browser extension and web
   • Slower connection on some servers
   • For most questions you need to contact support

   • High speed of the nearest server
   • Use on unlimited devices
   • Generous data transfer limit of 10 GB per month
   • Low device load

   Windscribe is a Canadian company that offers free VPN Windscribe Free.

   The free VPN is limited to 10GB of traffic per month with several other options to increase the limit. Compared to competing free VPNs, Windscribe Free offers the ability to connect through servers in 11 countries.

   The number of devices is not limited either. The speed of the VPN connection is also very good. The minor shortcomings of Windscribe VPN Free are made up for by the large number of added features. For example, the smaller support database on the website and the poor search in it are amply compensated by the live support that can be contacted by chat on the website.

   Windscribe VPN Free is the best free VPN we’ve tested and is definitely worth a try.

2. Windscribe Free Subscription: Discount Code, Free Trial, Money Back Guarantee…

   • Your Price:  Free (999 devices)
   • Money Back Guarantee: No
   • Free Trial: No
   • Cryptocurrency payments:
     No

     Bitcoin :No
     Dash :No
     Ethereum :No
     Ripple :No

   Download For Free

   Windscribe Free is the free version of VPN. The company also offers a paid version, Windscribe VPN Pro, which adds unlimited data transfer, the ability to use all servers, manual VPN configuration without the app, and advanced spam blocking.

   This free VPN is offered instead of the trial version.

3. Windscribe Free and Supported Devices: Android, iOS, macOS…

   • Device limit: Unlimited

   Platforms supported

   • Android:
     Yes

     Android is supported by 100 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Android TV:
     No

     Android TV is supported by 41 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Apple TV:
     No

     Apple TV is supported by 23 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Fire TV:
     Yes

     Fire TV is supported by 42 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Chromebook:
     No

     Chromebook is supported by 17 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Chromecast:
     No

     Chromecast is supported by 22 % of reviewed VPNs
   • iOS:
     Yes

     iOS is supported by 98 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Kodi:
     Yes

     Kodi is supported by 27 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Linux:
     Yes

     Linux is supported by 55 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Mac:
     Yes

     Mac is supported by 98 % of reviewed VPNs
   • NAS:
     Yes

     NAS is supported by 30 % of reviewed VPNs
   • nVidia Shield:
     Yes

     nVidia Shield is supported by 26 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Playstation:
     No

     Playstation is supported by 28 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Raspberry Pi:
     No

     Raspberry Pi is supported by 22 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Roku:
     No

     Roku is supported by 24 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Router:
     Yes

     Router is supported by 52 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Windows:
     Yes

     Windows is supported by 100 % of reviewed VPNs
   • xBox:
     No

     xBox is supported by 28 % of reviewed VPNs

   Browser Extensions

   • Brave :
     Yes

     The Brave browser add-on is offered by 51 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Chrome :
     Yes

     The Chrome browser add-on is offered by 51 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Edge :
     Yes

     The Edge browser add-on is offered by 21 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Firefox :
     Yes

     The Firefox browser add-on is offered by 38 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Opera :
     Yes

     The Opera browser add-on is offered by 51 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Safari :
     No

     The Safari browser add-on is offered by 1 % of reviewed VPNs.
   • Vivaldi :
     Yes

     The Vivaldi browser add-on is offered by 51 % of reviewed VPNs.

   Windscribe supports unlimited devices even in the free version.

   Windscribe VPN software is available on all common mobile and desktop operating systems. FireTV, Nvidia Shield, Kodi, routers and most of the most widely used browsers are also supported. The VPN router can also be purchased with Windscribe VPN already pre-loaded. Using a VPN router to protect your home network is only advisable if you have a paid subscription with no data transfer restrictions.

4. Windscribe Free App: User-friendliness, whitelist, server selection…

   • Traffic limit: 10 GB per month
   • App Languages: 🇺🇸 English +24 more🇫🇷 French 🇮🇹 Italian 🇩🇪 German 🇳🇱 Dutch 🇵🇱 Polish 🇵🇹 Portuguese 🇷🇺 Russian 🇪🇸 Spanish 🇦🇪 Arabic 🇨🇳 Chinese 🇩🇰 Danish 🇯🇵 Japanese 🇰🇷 Korean 🇸🇪 Swedish 🇹🇭 Thai 🇹🇷 Turkish 🇨🇿 Czech 🇮🇳 Hindi 🇭🇷 Croatian 🇮🇩 Indonesian 🇭🇺 Hungarian 🇬🇷 Greek 🇸🇰 Slovak 🇻🇳 Vietnamese
   • Whitelisting:
     Yes

     Whitelisting is supported by 54 % of reviewed VPNs

   The whitelist and blacklist features are only available on Android devices. You can use the whitelist feature for websites in a browser extension on a desktop device.

   Windscribe also offers the option to set the VPN to automatically start and connect to the VPN when the device boots up. On Android devices, you can set up automatic connections for individual Wi-Fi networks. VPN also offers the option to connect to the best site.

   The apps are clear overall, especially the Windscribe mobile app is very intuitive. What’s user unfriendly is the split of features and their settings between the app, the web and the browser extension.

   The language offer in the desktop app is more extensive than in the mobile version, overall the desktop app offers a large number of languages including Spanish, Italian or French.

5. Windscribe Free Connection Speed: Upload, Download & Latency

   Download speed

   Higher is better. The average download of all tested VPNs is 90 MB/s.

   Upload speed

   Higher is better. The average upload of all tested VPNs is 59 MB/s.

   Server latency

   A lower value is better. The average response rate of all tested VPNs is 66 ms.

   Like most free VPNs, Windscribe Free offers a limited amount of data transfer. With Windscribe Free, you’re limited to 10GB of data per month, and that’s only if you have an account. Without an account, the monthly data transfer limit is 2 GB. You can easily increase this by 5 GB by tweeting about Windscribe and writing a review on Google Maps. You’ll also get an extra GB for each friend you invite.

   The connection speed is the best among free VPNs. Windscribe Free’s data transfer speed is among the best even when compared to paid VPNs. 4K playback was seamless in our test with Windscribe, as the measured speed far exceeded the speed required for 4K streaming.

6. Windscribe Free Server Locations

   • Number of servers:
     25

     The average number of servers for the reviewed VPNs is 1551.
   • Number of countries:
     11

     The average number of countries available for the reviewed VPNs is 39.

   Europe	🇫🇷 France 🇩🇪 Germany 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway 🇷🇴 Romania 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇹🇷 Turkey
   North America	🇨🇦 Canada 🇺🇸 USA
   South America
   Asia	🇭🇰 Hong Kong
   Africa
   Oceania

   11 countries and 25 servers are offered in the free version, other countries and servers are offered in the Pro version.

   Among the countries offered you will find the USA, France, Switzerland, England, Hong Kong or Turkey, which come in handy when circumventing the censorship there.

7. Windscribe Free Security Features: DNS Leak Protection, Kill Switch…

   • DNS leak protection :
     Yes

     DNS leak protection is offered by 96% of the reviewed VPNs.
   • Kill Switch:
     Yes

     Kill Switch is supported by 82% of the reviewed VPNs.
   • Tor:
     No

     Tor support is offered by 12 % of the reviewed VPNs.

   The main protocol offered by Windscribe is IKEv2. The VPN also offers UDP, TCP, Stealth and WStunnel connectivity options that use the OpenVPN protocol. The latter two are suitable for unblocking state censorships in countries such as China. The WireGuard protocol is also offered on Android devices.

   The security of the VPN connection is taken care of by a kill switch, named Firewall in Windscribe. This shuts down all internet connections if you are not connected to the VPN.

   VPN protection for extra sensitive connections offers the option of multiple connections. This feature is only offered on the desktop, via connections in the app and in the browser to different servers.

   Another feature for a secure VPN is malicious site blocking. Protection against sites containing malware can be set in the account after logging in in the browser or also in a browser extension.

   Windscribe uses the AES-256 cipher to encrypt the connection.

8. Windscribe Free & Streaming: Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime…

   • Amazon Prime:
     Yes

     Amazon Prime streaming is supported by 51 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Disney+:
     Yes

     Disney+ streaming is supported by 49 % of reviewed VPNs
   • HBO:
     Yes

     HBO streaming is supported by 51 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Hulu:
     Yes

     Hulu streaming is supported by 47 % of reviewed VPNs
   • Netflix:
     Yes

     Netflix streaming is supported by 63 % of reviewed VPNs
   • YouTube:
     Yes

     YouTube streaming is supported by 83 % of reviewed VPNs

   Windscribe Free can be used for streaming, which no other free VPN supports. However, you’re still limited to a 10GB monthly limit. Also, dedicated servers for streaming (called Windflix servers) are not available.

   In a speed test, we were able to get the maximum speed for playing Full HD content on the available servers in the US. Even in the free version, Windscribe is able to unblock Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, HBO and YouTube streaming services.

   However, paid VPNs are more suitable for streaming for greater connection stability as well as unlimited data transfer.

9. Features of Windscribe Free: AdBlock, Static IP…

   • Blocks Ads:
     Yes

     Ad blocking is offered by 48 % of the VPNs reviewed.
   • Blocks Malware:
     Yes

     Malware blocking is offered by 43 % of the VPNs reviewed.
   • Blocks Trackers:
     Yes

     Trackers blocking is offered by 42 % of the VPNs reviewed.

   Even in the free version, Windscribe offers ad blocking and tracker blocking features. To use it on mobile devices, you must enable ad blocking and tracker blocking in your account settings via the website, and you can also use a browser extension on your computer.

   In addition, the browser extension offers social media tracking blocking and blocking buttons and widgets, blocking pop-up subscription requests and tracking notification cookies.

   In addition, it allows you to delete cookies after closing the browser and automatically change the user’s agenda, which serves to gain more anonymity. In fact, the extension externally alters your operating system parameters, screen resolution and other data to avoid as much as possible so-called fingerprinting, which is leaving traces based on the device you’re using.

10. Windscribe Free‘s CPU usage and App Performance

    Windscribe has one of the lowest loads of any VPN we tested. Compared to the VPNs with the highest device performance requirements, it is up to ten times smaller.

11. Windscribe Free Torrenting Servers

    • Torrenting servers:
      Yes

      Torrenting support is offered by 87 % of the reviewed VPNs.

    All available free servers offer P2P support, so you can be protected while torrenting with a free Windscribe subscription. However, remember that you are limited to 10 GB per month. If you exceed this limit, you will no longer be protected by the VPN. That’s why we recommend using the firewall feature when torrenting, which will terminate your internet connection if the VPN is lost.

12. What is the country of origin of Windscribe Free?

    • Country of origin: 🇨🇦 Canada

    Windscribe is based in Canada, which is part of the 14 Eyes Country group of countries that are known for monitoring the internet by intelligence agencies and sharing the information with other countries.

    Windscribe’s website notes that Canadian courts have repeatedly requested information about the connections. However, Windscribe has never provided any data because it does not store any sensitive data and non-sensitive data is anonymized.

13. Windscribe Free and Privacy: Logging Policy, Security Issues…

    • No-Logs Policy:
      Yes

      The No-Logs Policy is followed by 85% of reviewed VPNs.
    • Multi-Hop:
      Yes

      Multi-Hop connection is offered by 32 % of the VPNs reviewed.

    The privacy policy found on Windscribe is clear and humanly written. We’d like to see more VPN services with terms like this.

    According to Windscribe’s privacy policy, it doesn’t store IP addresses, historical logs of VPN sessions, or the sites you visit. To keep an eye on the free VPN’s limit, data is kept on the amount of data transferred in a monthly period and the time of the last connection.

    During the connection, the username, connection time, and amount of data transferred is stored for the duration of the session.

14. Windscribe Free Support: Chat, e-mail…

    For help with troubleshooting and tutorials, visit Windscribe. The size of the support database on the site is not large and the search is not the best.

    Support is also offered via chatbot or live chat. Live support can also be contacted by filling out a form on the Windscribe site. Thus, contact support replaces the lack of database on the VPN site.