Windscribe offers both a free and paid VPN service. While the paid subscription (Windscribe Pro) is better, the free plan offers a generous 10GB data allowance, and it’s currently the best free VPN available. Windscribe doesn’t stand out in one area, but overall it’s a decent service that’s versatile, with impressive speeds that could suit most users. Despite its weak support service, many users will be enticed by its generous free plan, which is one of the best around.
Some users familiar with the name may be wary to trust their services, after the poor security practices were revealed in their 2021 data breach. The company has since promised to do better. You can read the original article, but here are the main highlights:
- Windscribe left its VPN servers in Ukraine unencrypted and unsecured.
- When Ukrainian authorities seized the servers, they also obtained Windscribe’s private key.
- With the private key, Ukrainian officials could decrypt traffic and spy on Windscribe users.
- Windscribe admitted that it does not follow “industry best practices” with its server network, but promised to change.
- Windscribe is in the process of upgrading server security and hopefully undergoing a security audit.
Based on data collected, when you are using Windscribe VPN you are predominantly using Quadranet, CDNext, Global Secure Layer, CDN77, or M247 servers.
Windscribe pros & cons
Pros
- Free version with 10GB of data
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Unblocks various streaming sites
- Supports torrenting
- No DNS leaks
- Highly configurable
- Military-grade encryption
- Lots of tunneling protocols
- Reliable kill switch
- Split tunneling on Android
Cons
- Potential speed issues
- Not that many servers
- WireGuard only on Android
- No independent audit
- Has had at least 2 unencrypted servers in Ukraine
- Based in a 5-Eyes country
