Though Mac computers are generally considered the most protected in the world, they are not 100% invulnerable. You can never be sure that you are not tracked by someone – hackers, scammers, intelligent services, or your own ISP. If this seems a bit annoying to you and you experience quite a natural desire to disappear for a while, a good free VPN is exactly what you need.
Moreover, a vpn service can help you resolve some other issues, for example, get access to geo-restricted web content or securely connect to a public Wi-Fi. In our review, we are going to present you a list of best free VPN solutions for Mac of the year 2019.
Before we move on to reviewing best free VPNs for Mac available in the market, let us say that all of them are limited in capabilities in one way or another. Chances are that after using a free VPN for a while, you may start to get annoyed with these limitations. This is why we cannot but talk about the alternative approach.
You can actually use premium VPN software without spending a single dollar on it. Keep on reading to know how to use the best VPNs for free and enjoy unlimited opportunities.
How to Download CHINA VPN FREE for PC or MAC: To start off, you will need to download either BlueStacks or Andy os on your PC from the free download link introduced in the starting in this web page. Begin with installing BlueStacks emulator by simply launching the installer as soon as the download process is done.
All of the VPNs listed above are top providers that ensure 100% safe web-browsing and suit for streaming and torrenting thanks to high speed. The good news is there is a smart way to use high-quality paid services as free products. The point is that most providers offer a free trial period and/or guaranteed money back period.
ExpressVPN is without exaggeration it is the best VPN provider for any platform including Mac. The fact you may not be aware of is that it offers an impressive 30-day money back guarantee period. It means that if you are going on a business trip abroad, you may simply download ExpressVPN and use it for over 4 weeks without spending a cent! Just get a full refund no questions asked. ExpressVPN copes well with tough governmental censorship and is, therefore, a perfect choice for people going to countries like China.
NordVPN is known for its double-security solutions and a huge number of available servers – over 4800 units located in 62 countries of the world. NordVPN offers a free trial, but it only lasts for 3 days, which will suit you in case you need one-time access to a particular web-resource. On the bright side, there is a 30-day period when you can take your money back. That is, you can buy its basic plan, use it as intensively as you like, and simply take your money back in a month!
CyberGhost VPN– one of the industry’s leaders – offers plenty of cool features to Mac users. It has a generous 7-days free trial and 30 days of the guaranteed money back period. It’s a good chance for getting VPN software from the globally recognized provider for free.
What is the best free VPN for Mac?
Vpn china mac free download - NordVPN, Vpn One Click Mac, VPN China, and many more programs. UrbanVPN's free VPN platform covers China (as well as many more countries) and is just 1 click away! Urban Anti-Malware. Urban AdBlocker. VPN for Applications. Free Netflix VPN. Free Disney VPN. Free Instagram VPN. Free Twitter VPN. Free Reddit VPN.
Naturally, free trials and MBG cannot last forever. While most VPN offer significant discounts for 1-year or 2-year packages, you may still have your reasons to look for an absolutely free service.
It’s hard to believe, but there are some totally free VPN services that work really well for Mac and can be used for various purposes just as popular paid VPNs.
However, let us once again remind you that all of them have certain limitations. It’s for you to decide whether you can do with these restrictions or not, as it largely depends on the goals you pursue. Read all the reviews carefully to find your best VPN for Mac.
TunnelBear
5
1000
access to remote servers in 20+ countries
truly user-friendly interface
no-logging policy
no annoying popups
only 1.5 Gb per month for free
Free /mth
$9.99 /mth
$4.99/month /mth
$4.17/month /mth
TunnelBear is one of the best VPN services for Mac that has both a free and a paid version. But its free iteration is even more popular, as it has few true competitors. Its performance is pretty good: TunnelBear will let you modify your IP address, access censored and restricted sites, and even unlock streaming services (except for, maybe, Netflix).
TunnelBear is a service that won’t make you compromise your privacy. It boasts a 100% zero-logging approach, so you may stop worrying about the probability of your data being traded or stolen. When it comes to security, advanced AES 256-bit encryption and OpenVPN protocol are used by default.
TunnelBear doesn’t cut down speed in its free version but you’ll hardly be able to stream something with it, as the monthly free traffic is just 500 Mb. Twitting about them will give you extra 1GB monthly, but 1,5 GB is still not quite impressive. This is the biggest disappointment about TunnelBear free package.
A great thing about TunnelBear is that all its servers are available to the users of the free edition. As of now, the provider has servers in 22 countries, which is not bad. Add the fact that the provider doesn’t force you to watch pop-up ads, and you’ll fall in love with it.
TunnelBear gives its users an opportunity to upgrade to the paid tier at any moment. It offers a single all-in-one pricing plan that allows up to five simultaneous connections and unlimited bandwidth. As for the paid version, the plans are as follows:
Giant (billed monthly) – $9.99
Grizzly (billed annually –$59.99 ($5.00 per month, save 58%)
Windscribe
Unlimited
530+
10 Gb per month for free
torrenting allowed
zero-logging
strong encryption and data protection
the speed is average due to a high load on free servers
$9 /mth
$4.08 /mth
$0 /mth
Windscribe is another honest free VPN provider that has a client for Mac computers. Its strong points are a no-logging policy, hefty 10 Gb per month for free, and availability of P2P servers for hassle-free torrenting. The provider’s unique feature is a configuration generator that allows adjusting the settings according to your personal needs.
Windscribe adheres to high security standards in its work. For data encryption, it uses AES-256 cipher with SHA512 auth and a 4096-bit RSA key. As for security protocols, the default option is OpenVPN but SOCKS, and IKEv2 are also available.
A strong advantage of Windscribe over TunnelBear is 10 Gb of free bandwidth per month. However, the number of server locations available to the users of the free version is limited to 10. For this reason, the load on these servers is pretty large, which causes noticeable speed drops. Thanks to the availability of P2P servers, torrenting is possible: with Windscribe one can download up to 10 Gb of free content every month.
Like other free VPNs, Windscribe offers its premium version with expanded possibilities. Apart from unlimited bandwidth, after upgrading you will get an access to 55 server locations instead of 10, ad- and malware blockers, and a config generator. The monthly fee for this option set is $9 but you can buy an annual pack and get a generous discount.
Monthly price – $9
Annual price–$48.99 ($4.08 per month, save 55%)
ProtonVPN
1-10
400+
high security standards
no bandwidth limits
minimal logs are collected
only 3 server locations
no P2P support
low speed
$4 /mth
$6.67 /mth
$6 /mth
$24 /mth
$0
ProtonVPN is a Switzerland-based provider of VPN services with a free version available. It has a client for Mac that offers some nice features and possibilities. Though the free edition looks rather restricted, it is quite usable.
In terms of security, ProtonVPN has nothing to complain about. It uses an AES-256-CBC cipher with HMAC SHA-512 hash authentication and OpenVPN protocol as a default option. The provider collects minimal logs, such as the time of connection and the duration of a session, nothing more.
As we had mentioned, the free version of ProtonVPN is rather restricted. Users get access to 3 server locations and can connect only one device under one free license. P2P servers are unavailable for free, which means you won’t be able to use the VPN for torrenting. Moreover, the connection speed is quite low, partly, because of the load on the free servers.
Unlike the previously described providers, ProtonVPN offers three different premium plans – Basic, Plus, and Visionary. Their monthly price is $4, $8, and $24 respectively. All of them open access to all server location, support P2P and can be used for torrenting and streaming, as there is no speed limit. More expensive plans come with a range of useful extras and allow more simultaneous connections.
Basic monthly price – $5;
Basic annual price – $48 ($4 per month, save 20%)
Plus monthly price – $10;
Plus annual price – $96 ($8 per month, save 20%)
Visionary annual plan – $ 288($24 per month).
Hotspot Shield
5
2500
access to US servers
strong encryption
blazing speed
malware protection as a bonus
only 500 Mb of bandwidth per month
no streaming and torrenting
$12.99 /mth
$7.99 /mth
The free Hotspot Shield version is quite usable, but only if don’t need a VPN for streaming and torrenting. Needless to say, it can’t unblock Netflix. Hotspot Shield supports P2P, but an access to dedicated P2P servers is provided only to those users who upgrade to the premium version. A pleasant bonus is the availability of free browser extensions and free malware protection.
Like other top-rated free VPN providers, Hotspot Shield uses top-notch AES-256 encryption and supports OpenVPN protocol. The company claims to collect zero user logs, which is a strong advantage, as well as the availability of the kill-switch feature. That said, it forces users to watch pop-up ads, which is rather annoying.
Those looking for high download speed will like the Hotspot Shield VPN. It is one of the fastest free VPNs compatible with several platforms, including Mac. That said, its speed is a sort of unstable and largely depends on the server location. In the free version, users are granted 500 Mb of traffic daily, which is not bad for hassle-free and secure browsing.
If you decide to upgrade to the premium version of Hotspot Shield, you’ll get numerous perks, such as unlimited bandwidth, access to 2500 servers in 25 locations, including P2P servers, and will get rid of the annoying advertisements. While a basic monthly plan is quite expensive – $12.99, you can save up to 76% and get a bi-annual plan at the price of $3.49 per month. All the packages available are as follows:
Monthly price – $12.99;
6 Months price – $53,94 ($8.99, save 31%);
Annual price – $71.88 ($5.99, save 53%);
Bi-annual price – $125.64 ($3.49, save 60%).
Betternet
access to servers in 10 countries
an easy-to-use app
unlimited bandwidth
customer service to help you
little information about the product’s specifications
a lot of ads
Can a free VPN offer unlimited bandwidth? Yes, it can, if it is Betternet. With this VPN you get unlimited access to restricted sites, safe browsing, and streaming. The provider offers a standard feature set. It allows unlocking geo-restricted content by changing the IP-address, stream content from some popular platforms (except for Netflix), prevent tracking of your online activities, and so on.
Betternet doesn’t provide much information about its security protocols and encryption methods used. According to the claims found in its blog, this is OpenVPN with AES 256-bit encryption and 128-bit AES-CBC for IPSec but there are no official specs on their site. It is known that Betternet keeps some connection logs but no activity logs.
Betternet makes money on advertisement, which is officially stated on its website. You’ll be regularly offered to watch an ad or install an app. In exchange for this, it provides unlimited bandwidth to all its users. Connection and download speed is not bad too, so torrenting and streaming via Betternet is possible.
Like most free VPNs, Betternet offers a premium version of its software. As it is stated on their site, the biggest advantages of the paid edition are the absence of advertisement and a possibility to choose which server you want to connect to. At the same time, the number of servers is not specified. The basic price of its paid version is $11.99, which is a sort of pricey. But you can save up to 66% going long-term.
Monthly price – $11.99;
6 Months price – $23.99 ($3.99 per month – save 50%)
Annual price – $35.99 ($2.99 per month – save 66%)
Things You Should Know Before Getting a Free VPN
The above-mentioned products are absolutely free, and all of them are available for Mac users. Just visit the site of the chosen free VPN, download Mac version and enjoy complete online privacy for no money.
As a rule, a genuine purpose of any free program is to make its users purchase the full premium version. Free VPN for Mac is not an exception. You can use it, but you will constantly think of upgrading. They will provide you the bare minimum of features, suitable just for basic tasks resolving.
Free VPN providers want to make money like any other commercial organizations. They can do it in several ways. Most frequently, one of the following methods are used:
They force you to watch paid ads every time you set a VPN connection. Though this approach doesn’t cause any real harm to you, it is rather annoying, plus it takes up your time.
They set severe speed limitations. You still can access any sites you wish but the connection speed is twice or thrice as low as usual.
Some dishonest providers use “black” methods. They simply collect your logs and personal information and sell the data to third parties, for example, to advertisers.
Ads and various limitations that would not allow you to enjoy streaming and torrenting are quite annoying, but the truly worrisome fact is that some free VPNs would sell your personal data to third parties to make money. Therefore, we highly recommend you to stick to one of the free VPNs listed above to be on the safe side.
When Does It Maker Sense to Use a Premium VPN?
It’s logical enough that all the top VPN providers want some money for their services. However, as a rule, the fee is not large – in some cases, it is possible to acquire full-featured software at a price of $2 monthly. Consider getting a premium VPN if you need one to access Netflix – free VPNs won’t help you with this one. Streaming and torrenting fans should also consider getting a paid plan to have decent speeds and truly enjoy watching their favorite shows instead of dealing with annoying buffering. In the following cases a free trial or MBG will let you solve your problem using a top VPN without spending a dollar:
You are going to a country with severe censorship for 2-3 weeks (for example, on a business trip).
You need one-time access to torrents (to download a particular file) or a streaming site.
The Bottom Line
VPN services have become an integral part of our life. With a good VPN software, Mac users can feel protected wherever they are, e.g use a public wi-fi with no worries that someone will snoop their private information. If this is your reason for getting a VPN, one of the reliable free providers listed above will probably work for you. Just be careful and remember that some free VPNs cannot be trusted.
Would you like to use your VPN for torrenting or streaming? If so, and in addition, annoying ads are not something you are ready to tolerate, you would better take a closer look at the top VPN providers. Get use of the trial period and money back guarantee they offer to test the services and choose the one that will fully satisfy your needs. Once you are ready to commit, a premium VPN service can cost you just a couple of dollars per month.
If I’m not wrong, most of our visitors are interested in using VPN from China to visit blocked Internet contents such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. In other words, VPN is a popular tool for unblocking internet contents (or “翻墙软件” in Chinese). However, there’re also some people who live outside of China but want to use a VPN to get into China, or get a China IP address.
Note: If you are not interested in getting a China IP address but instead looking for a good VPN to be used inside China, please read our article: Best VPNs for China.
Why would somebody look for a VPN into China, not out of it?
Well, there’re a few needs for that.
For example, in China, there’re a large number of media services that provide entertainment contents such as movies, TV shows, music etc.
Top China online video platforms include: CNTV.cn, Youku.com, Tudou.com, TV.Sohu.com, V.Baidu.com, Video.sina.com.cn, V.qq.com, IQiYi.com etc. Top China music services include Netease Music, QQ Music, Baidu Music etc.
While people in China can watch a lot of contents from these providers free of charge, many of those video platforms have implemented IP address-blocking (geoblocking), so that their contents are not available to people outside of China. Usually this type of geo-blocking works by looking at a visitor’s IP address. If your IP address doesn’t belong to China, you will not be able to watch those blocked contents. Since by using a VPN can “hide” a user’s real VPN IP address, you can use VPN to bypass this kind of geo-blocking, just like using VPN to unlock Netflix.
Besides watching China-only videos, there might be some other needs for getting a VPN into China. For example, some web developers might want to test whether their website is blocked in China, or test how fast their website loads in China. For this reason, they might need to use VPN to get into China and do their tests.
How to find a VPN to get into China? I’d recommend looking for a reliable VPN provider who have VPN servers in China. With them, you can connect to their China VPN server, get a China IP and use the Internet as if you are using a computer in China.
Which VPNs are good for getting into China? We’d recommend the following VPN providers:
Recommendations for VPN Into China:
1. PureVPN (Top Choice)
PureVPN is one of the most popular VPN providers with worldwide customers. Currently their website is blocked in China, but Internet users outside of China can use PureVPN’s service to get into China without problems.
PureVPN has over 500 servers in 180 locations and 121 total countries. And they have China servers in Guangdong and Shanghai, making PureVPN a good choice for VPN into China. PureVPN’s users can connect to those China servers to get a China IP and get into China.
PureVPN’s price starts from $2.95 per month. It also offers a 7 days money-back guarantee for users to test out their VPN service for free. For simultaneous connections, PureVPN allows you to connect to their VPN servers using up to 5 devices at the same time.
Note: If you can’t find any China VPN servers in PureVPN software’s server list, it might be that under heavy VPN blocking from China, sometimes PureVPN hides their China servers on their software. But don’t worry, you can log in PureVPN’s website and see its China VPN server addresses listed on the “Server Locations” page. Then you can copy one of those addresses and switch to use the “Dedicated IP” mode on PureVPN and use that address to get connected to PureVPN’s China VPN server as usual.
2. PandaVPN
PandaVPN is a VPN provider currently working in China and can also be used for people outside of China to get a China IP address. PandaVPN has two versions: PandaVPN Free and PandaVPN Pro. For the purpose of getting a Chinese IP, you should use PandaVPN Pro, for which the price starts at $2.49/month when using this discount link.
PandaVPN offers a number of VPN locations, including some VPN servers located in Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xuzhou. This makes PandaVPN a good choice for VPN into China. PandaVPN supports common VPN protocols as well as proxies. PandaVPN Pro allows 3 simultaneous connections per account, but you can pay more to allow more devices.
3. Ivacy VPN
Ivacy VPN is a VPN provider providing some rich features at a low price. Currently Ivacy VPN offers a low discount price of $3/month (billed $36 annually).
Ivacy VPN has 250+ servers in 100+ locations, including mainland China. This makes Ivacy VPN a good choice for VPN into China. Ivacy VPN supports common VPN protocols including OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP/IPSec etc. Ivacy VPN allows 5 simultaneous connections and does allow P2P file sharing. In addition, Ivacy VPN has a no-logs policy, making it a good choice if online privacy is among your top concerns. Ivacy VPN offers a 7 day money back guarantee for users to test our their VPN services.
4. Hotspot Shield Elite VPN
Hotspot Shield is best-known for its free VPN service. However, its free VPN service has some limitations and displays ads. Actually it also offer a paid VPN service, called Hotspot Shield Elite VPN, which has no limitations and offers more VPN server choices.
Hotspot Shield Elite VPN has VPN servers in 22 locations, including one in China, thus making it a good choice for VPN into China. If you connect to its China server, you will get a China IP address and thus can access China-only contents on this Internet.
Hotspot Shield Elite VPN uses its own proprietary VPN protocol, which can prevent VPN blocking. Its price starts from $2.08/month (if you pay for two years). Hotspot Shield Elite VPN allows 5 simultaneous connections and offers a 30 day money back guarantee for users to test our their VPN services.
5. Hide My Ass! (HMA) Pro VPN
Hide My Ass! (HMA!) is another very popular VPN provider. While HMA might not be the best choice for being used in China due to blocking of some of their servers, Internet users outside of China can use HideMyAss without problems.
HMA has nearly 900 VPN servers in over 300 locations in 190 countries around the world. Among those servers, there’re a few of them located in China, for example, in Guangdong, Hebei and Sichuan, which makes HMA a good choice for a good VPN into China. You can connect to HMA’s China servers to get a China IP and bypass geoblocking to access China-only contents such as YouKu videos etc.
The price for HMA! PRO VPN starts from $6.55/mo (if you pay annually). It also offers a 30 day money-back guarantee, which is a pretty long period of time for testing out their VPN service for free. For simultaneous connections, HMA allows users to connect to their service from up to 2 devices at the same time.
6. TorGuard VPN
TorGuard VPN is one of the very popular VPN providers. At this moment its website is blocked in China, but Internet users outside of China can use TorGuard VPN’s service to get into China without problems.
Free Vpn For China Windows
TorGuard has nearly 1250 VPN servers in over 40 countries around the world, including a server located in China, which makes TorGuard a good choice for VPN into China. When signing up, please make sure to select TorGuard’s VPN Pro Service, as this package includes servers in China (their Anonymous Proxy service doesn’t include servers in China). You can connect toTorGuard’s China servers to get a China IP and bypass geo-blocking to access China-only contents such as YouKu, Tudou videos etc.
The price forTorGuard’s VPN Pro Service is $9.99/mo. It allows unlimited bandwidth and 5 concurrent connections. It also offers a 7 day money-back guarantee for users to try out their service without any risk. Unlike many other VPN providers, TorGuard allows P2P and even has some special torrent optimized servers.
How to Use a VPN to get a China IP Address
Almost all VPN software/app provides the option of choosing different VPN server locations. For example, US VPN server, Japan VPN server, Hong Kong VPN server etc. Once you have signed up a VPN service that has servers in China, you can connect to their China VPN server to get a China IP address. If you use the VPN software provided by this VPN provider, you can select China as the server location before turning on the VPN connection. If you want to set up VPN connection manually, you can follow this VPN provider’s instruction to set up a China VPN connection.
Let’s use PureVPN as an example.
After you have opened up PureVPN’s VPN desktop client (for Windows in this example), you can go to “Preferences” and click on “Select Mode”. Then choose the “Stream” mode:
Then you click “Back” to go back to the main interface and click on “China” on the VPN server location list to get connected to China. That’s it!
What to Do If You Can’t find China in PureVPN’s Server Location List
If you can’t find any China VPN servers in PureVPN software’s server list, it might be that under heavy VPN blocking from China, sometimes PureVPN hides their China servers on their software. But don’t worry, you can log in PureVPN’s website and see its China VPN server addresses listed on the “Server Locations” page. Choose one of the VPN server addresses that support PPTP, L2TP, SSTP and IKEv2:
Then you can copy one of those addresses and switch to use the “Dedicated IP” mode on PureVPN ‘s software. You might see warning “You Don’t have dedicated IP addon” but you can ignore it. You then paste the China VPN server address into the input field. You can also try different protocols (L2TP might be the best choice) to get connected to PureVPN’s China VPN server as usual. If it still doesn’t work, you can contact PureVPN’s customer support via live chat to get help.
VPN to China: FAQs
? Why Do People Need to Get a Chinese IP Address?
There are many popular Chinese online video, music and gaming services that will block users from outside of China or apply restrictions on visitors who do not live in China. This kind of geo-blocking can be bypassed if you visit from an IP address that belongs to China.
? How to Get a China IP Address?
If you are not living in China, the best way to get a Chinese IP address is to use a VPN. When connected to a VPN server located in China, you will appear to be visiting any websites or online services from that IP address that belongs to China. As a result, by using a VPN, you will get a China IP address.
? Which VPNs Can I Use to Get a China IP Address?
In order to use a VPN to get a Chinese IP address, the VPN must offer VPN servers in China. Based on our testings, we recommend the following VPNs for the purpose of “VPN to China”: PureVPN (← Link including discount), PandaVPN and IvacyVPN etc.
? Which VPNs Can Not be Used to Get a Chinese IP?
If a VPN does not provide VPN servers located in China or associated with a Chinese IP address, that VPN cannot be used for the purpose of “VPN into China”.
? With a VPN, How to Get a China IP Address?
Best Vpns For China
With a working VPN that provides VPN servers in China, you can follow the following steps to get a Chinese IP address: 1) Log in the VPN software or APP. 2) From the list of VPN servers, choose one VPN server that’s located in China. 3) Connect to that Chinese VPN server.
? What Should I Look For When Choosing a VPN to China?
When choosing a VPN into China, you should make sure: 1) The VPN service should offer VPN servers located in Mainland China (Note: Hong Kong VPN servers do not belong to this category). 2) The VPN should offer fast speed and stable connections. 3) The VPN should offer good price and money-back guarantees. 4) The VPN should offer fast and responsive customer support to solve your problems.
VPN to China: Conclusion
In this article, we have shown why and how to use VPNs to get a China IP address to bypass China’s geo-blocking on video and music media service. We have also recommended some best VPNs to do that. Based on our own testings, the best VPN for “VPN to China” is PureVPN:
Vpn For China Mac Free Version
You can also read this article in Chinese: 翻墙回国内VPN指南。