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The VPN market is hugely competitive nowadays, but almost all of the content covers long term day to day users who want to sign up for a considerable length of time, like 1 year or more.
But here we’ll address a very specific need for a VPN – just for short term use when you are going on holiday/vacation. You might just want a VPN to make your connection secure when at airports and hotels, so you can feel safe when logging into emails, social media, online banking, making purchases online etc, while you are away (using public Wi-Fi over unsecured connections is definitely risky).
The needs here are a bit different compared to if you were looking for a VPN for long term use. Here you might literally want something temporary for a week or a month, rather than forking out for a 1 year or 3 year subscription.
We’ll address specifically this scenario, providing you with a great free VPN option for light use when vacationing, before moving onto Premium options that can be purchased for a short time like 1 month if needed.
Free Option #1 – PrivadoVPN (10 GB Free Data)
PrivadoVPN are a Swiss based newcomer to the VPN market, with a decent coverage of free servers in lots of the popular European tourist countries people visit, plus a generous free monthly allowance of 10 GB that’s perfect for basic internet use on shorter holidays.
Here’s some benefits to PrivadoVPN’s free version:
- It’s a proper, legit, secure VPN – the free version works the same as the Premium version.
- 10 GB of data usage per month with the free plan
- Free servers in 11 countries and 14 locations for the free plan – USA (New York, Washington DC, Miami, Los Angeles), Mexico, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina (so if you’re going to any of these countries, you’re covered on free servers)
- Strict zero logs policy, even for the free version
- Based in Switzerland with strict data protection laws
- 1 connection allowed in the free version
- Apps for all major devices.
- Email address required for free version only.
- Paid plans normally start at $2.50/month for a 12-month subscription, with servers in 50 countries.
Click here to get started with the free version of PrivadoVPN – go to their Pricing page and select their Free Plan.
If you’re going to one of the countries on the free server list, PrivadoVPN is the best free VPN option I have found. Servers are fast and reliable, and great for short term use, and the paid plans are cheap as well if you want unlimited use and more countries.
Free Option #2 – ProtonVPN (3 Free Server Locations)
Another strong, reputable free VPN option for vacationers normally based in the USA especially, is Swiss based ProtonVPN.
Here are the main benefits of ProtonVPN’s free version:
- Totally unlimited use
- Has multiple servers in 3 locations – Netherlands, Japan and USA.
- Strict no logs policy.
- Fast, reliable servers. Even the free version has always worked well when I’ve used it.
- Based in Switzerland with a strong commitment to privacy (like their ProtonMail service).
- Even the free version looks, feels and operates like a proper VPN service (it’s not a browser add-on – it’s a full on proper VPN software)
- You can upgrade to the Premium version with more countries/servers for a very competitive price
Click here to get started with ProtonVPN, and select their Free Plan.
This is a good option for American users who just need an IP address in their home country when traveling to log into accounts, make transactions, etc. The free server selection is otherwise limited, but the USA is very well covered, plus you’ve got unlimited use even on the free version, which is a great bonus.
Free Option #3 – ZoogVPN
Another excellent free VPN that works with much the same format as PrivadoVPN is Greece based ZoogVPN, who also offer a legit, well functioning free version of their Premium service, with 5 free server locations.
Here are some key features of the free version of ZoogVPN:
- 10 GB of data to use per month (equates to about 300 MB/day).
- Servers in plus UK (London), USA, Netherlands.
- No payment or payment details required
- Zero logs also on the free version
- Reasonably fast servers (some rumblings in other reviews about them being unreliable, but have always been fine when I used them).
- Excellent value premium plans as well, with servers in 41 countries.
Click here to get started with ZoogVPN’s free version – just an email required.
See our article for some more legit free VPN options that could work for you depending on the free server locations available, but these 3 are the standout ones.
Premium VPN Options For Holiday Use
If you think you’re going to be needing more data for use on holiday, or you’re going to be needing connections for multiple devices, then you might want to go for a Premium VPN option instead. These always come with unlimited use – no data caps, plus more advanced features like the ability to use on several devices, plus more server choice.
We’ve copied over one of our Premium VPN comparison tables below, but amended it to show 1 month memberships rather than 1 year ones, since short term might be what you’re looking for just for holiday use.
Some Premium VPN Providers – Click to Compare (links are affiliate links)
| Provider | Price (for 1 month) | Number of servers/countries | Number of Devices Allowed | Main Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private Internet Access (PIA) | $9.95 | 10,000/84 | 10 | Loads of locations |
| VyprVPN | $10 | 700+/70+ | 5 | Speed |
| TurboVPN | $12 | 21,000/45+ | 5 | Great value longer term plans |
| ExpressVPN | $12.95 | 1700+/94 | 5 | Best for streaming |
| NordVPN | $11.99 | 5300+/61 | 6 | Choice of Servers & Double Encryption |
| ProtonVPN | $10 | 1400+/61 | 10 | Free version available |
Note – Some of the monthly plans may continue to roll over if you don’t cancel, so remember to cancel if you don’t plan to keep using after your vacation. If you like the product and want to continue using it day to day, all providers will let you switch to a longer term plan, which will be much better value for money pro-rata.
Signing up for a VPN is usually very easy. You simply visit their site (click on one of our links above for each provider), sign up, pay your subscription, download their product and boot up the program.
Once running you simply select a preferred server location and open the VPN connection. You now have a secure, encrypted connection that will keep all your browsing and personal data safe over public Wi-Fi networks.
