Is it really worth upgrading from Windscribe Free?

Windscribe Free is one of the best free VPNs on the market, with a generous amount of servers for free users, decent speeds and a huge amount of features shared between its paid and free versions.

With all these positives, you may be wondering why anyone would switch from Windscribe Free to Windscribe Premium. And, in truth, many people will be more than satisfied with the free version. Let's take a look at what you get:

• Up to 15 GB data allowance
• Servers in 11 countries
• Open-source apps
• One plan covers unlimited devices
• R.O.B.E.R.T browsing protection (supposedly limited, but unrestricted in our testing)
• Some streaming unblocking
• A kill switch, split tunneling, auto-connect, and a range of VPN protocols
• Obfuscation
• And more!

This outstrips some of the cheaper paid VPNs, and Windscribe has by far the most features of all the free VPNs we recommend. Unlike many, Windscribe doesn't hold back any essential privacy and security features for the paid plan. This is a big green flag, and shows that your privacy is a priority.

If you can handle the complex apps and don't mind the limited independent audits, it's a great choice for power users.

So there's no point in upgrading?

Hold your horses there, champ. The bottom line is that no matter what, free VPNs will always be limited in some way compared to their paid counterparts, and Windscribe is no exception.

Here, I'll explore some common reasons you might want to ditch your free plan for a paid one, including data limits, reduced speeds and streaming access.

A secure, private VPN: Windscribe
Windscribe comes with all of the class-leading privacy and security of its free option (including quantum-resistant encryption), but with some great added extras. This includes faster speeds, split tunneling and a kill switch on iOS and unlimited data. Prices can be as low as $2 thanks to Windscribe's build-a-plan option, and pre-made plans start from $5.75 per month for a 12-month plan ($69 upfront).

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You need more data

Windscribe Free does have a fairly generous data limit at 15 GB per month, although this is reduced to 2 GB if you don't verify your email address, and 10 GB if you don't fancy Tweeting about the company. So, if you want to anonymously use Windscribe, you get far less data to play around with.

One of the main draws of Windscribe Free is that it offers streaming support, something often neglected by other free VPNs. It may not unblock as much as the best streaming VPNs, but it can access Netflix in the US, the UK and Canada, as well as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, ITVX and All4.

However, this access is a double-edged sword – if you use Windscribe Free for data-heavy activities like streaming, you might find yourself running out of data frequently.

Windscribe's paid-for version offers unlimited data, meaning you won't run out no matter how often you use your VPN, or whatever you use it for.

However, if you don't want to switch from a free to a paid service, you could go for a free VPN that offers unlimited data, like Proton VPN Free.

You need a large server network

If you use Windscribe Free, you get a choice of 14 locations in 10 countries: the USA; Canada; the UK; France; Germany; Netherlands; Norway, Romania; Switzerland; and Hong Kong.

While this is definitely generous, and a far higher number of locations to choose from than other free VPNs (Proton VPN Free, for example, only gives you 5 location options), it can't match up to its paid-for server spread.

For one thing, Windscribe's premium version offers servers in 134 locations across 69 countries – a great deal more than Windscribe Free.

Additionally, there's a lack of diversity in Windscribe Free's server spread – the majority of the servers are located in Europe, and there's only one server option for Asia.

So, if you want a bigger server spread or want to connect to a server in a country not covered by Windscribe's Free servers, you'll be better off going for Windscribe's paid option.

You need faster speeds

In our speed tests, Windscribe Free achieved speeds of 496 Mbps, which is an admirable effort and is even faster than some paid-for VPNs.

However, if you want to crank your speeds up to 785 Mbps, you'll need to go for Windscribe premium. While these speeds are not the fastest VPN speeds we've seen, Windscribe's paid version has the benefit of a larger server network, meaning you're less likely to be connecting to an overloaded server.

Overall, both Windscribe and Windscribe Free offer pretty good speeds, and shouldn't slow you down while you're using either version of the VPN. But, if you want to give your speeds a bit of a boost, consider switching to a paid-for subscription.