Hide your IP Address and Surf Anonymously with Top 5 VPN Software

VPN, an acronym for Virtual Private Network, allows you to be online while being anonymous. In common parlance, it is a program that provides safe encrypted connection over another network, generally a less secure network. These less secure networks are mostly the public internet.

Why VPN?

VPN became very popular, especially during the lockdown. The massive demand for VPN is linked to its immense advantages. Some of them are:

• VPN allows you to visit any website, and your ISP gets no clue of the websites visited by you.
• The connections offered by VPN are secure, and all the virtual activities are properly encrypted.
• VPN offers you the facility to access any website without worrying about the block or censorship on those websites.
• VPN hides your identity and allows you to be anonymous. Your IP address is hidden, and you are directed to the network using a different IP address.

How does VPN work?

Being online is the need of the hour. It is as essential as basic human needs. While you are virtual, you are assigned a unique IP address. This IP address is nevertheless, your personal identification code for the internet you use. With this IP address, you can easily be recognized and traced. But, if you use a VPN, you can easily hide your identity. VPN sends your data traffic to an external server and from there to the internet. It acts as an intermediary between you and the website you visit. This way, the website does not see the VPN user.

In short, the process has been explained below-

• Sending your encrypted data traffic to the VPN server through a secure connection.
• Decryption by the VPN server.
• Sending your data on to the internet.
• Encrypting the reply sent by the internet and sending it back to the user.
• The Decryption of the data sent on your device by the VPN software.

Top 5 free VPN software to Use Today

Hotspot Shield

It is one of the world’s fastest and most popular VPN operated by Pango. Till the year 2019, which was operated by Anchor Free, Inc. It offers both paid and unpaid services. The unpaid services include the following-

• 2 Mbps Speed Limit
• Limited SD streaming
• 500 MB daily data limit
• No browsing activity logs
• Military-grade encryption
• Blocks malware and phishing
• Connect to 1 location (US)

The various steps on how to use Hotspot shield VPN are as follows

• Download Hotspot Shield VPN on your TV, phone, or computer.
• Connect the Hotspot Shield VPN by opening the app and clicking on the power button.
• Select the VPN server location according to your choice and convenience.
• You are now ready to enjoy your favorite content.

Proton VPN

Proton VPN is yet another top category free VPN. Though you can always switch to the paid mode and get more services, the free plan of Proton VPN offers many benefits. Some of them are-

• No data limit
• No speed limit
• No advertisement
• No log policy
• Protected by Swiss privacy laws
• High-speed connections

The headquarter of Proton VPN is located in Switzerland and is supported by FONGIT (a non-profit foundation financed by the Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation for the Public Good), and the European Commission.

The core values adopted by Proton VPN are as follows-

• Transparency
• Honesty
• Security first
• Technical Excellence
• Community
• Privacy and Security for Everyone

Windscribe

Windscribe is a VPN software that aims to develop easy to use yet powerful tools that allow anyone to circumvent censorship. It also offers both free and paid services.

The general features of Windscribe are as follows-

• Large Network
• Blocking IPs and domains (ads) of your choice on all devices
• No identifying logs
• Strongest encryption as it uses AES-256 cipher with SHA 512 auth and a 4096-bit RSA key.
• Generate Open VPN, IKEV2 & SOCKS configurations for all your devices
• Static IPs
• Port forwarding
• Split tunneling
• Firewall
• Secure hotspot
• Proxy Gateway
• Flexible connectivity
• Auto Pilot
• Double Hop
• Ad Blocking
• Time Warp
• Cookie Monster
• WebRTC Slayer
• Location Warp

TunnelBear

TunnelBear is another top-rated VPN that has a user-friendly interface. The extreme popularity of TunnelBear can be attributed to its unique features.

Let us know some of them

Privacy

TunnelBear offers excellent privacy to its customers because of the following-

• Vigilant Mode
• Closest Tunnel
• Always on
• No Logging

Performance

The superb performance of TunnelBear owes to the below-mentioned features-

• Lightning-fast speeds
• Safe WiFi protection
• Availability of dedicated support staff
• Worldwide Network

Encryption

The strong encryption used by TunnelBear is yet another unique feature of it.

• It uses AES 256-bit encryption by default.
• Free access to TunnelBear with 500 MB of data.
• The use of GhostBear, making the encryption data less detectable by the governments and ISPs.
• The facility to add multiple devices.

Worldwide connectivity

TunnelBear allows you to browse more than 23 countries of the world, including the UK, Canada, Japan, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, India, Switzerland, besides others.

Speedify

Speedify is yet another top VPN software that believes in a free and open internet for all.

The compelling reasons behind its huge success are as follows-

• Channel bonding
• Less buffering, more browsing
• More stable, reliable and smoother streaming
• Multiple connections, maximum performance
• Fast speed
• Reliability
• Better security
• Super secure encryption
• Servers worldwide
• Reduce Packet Loss
• No Log VPN

Conclusion

So these are the top 5 free VPN software to hide IP addresses. Besides these, there is a range of VPN software. In fact, to say that these are the only top 5 VPN software is somewhat misleading. The way technology is evolving, and there is nothing constant. Everything is changing with time. Today these may be the top 5, but tomorrow they will surely be replaced by another five. But, there is one thing that will remain constant. And this is- the importance of a VPN. The three features of VPN, i.e., privacy, security, and freedom, make it all the more important.