The good news is there are a few services you can trust. I tested 75 free VPNs and shortlisted the best for India that work well. However, even the best free VPNs have limitations. That’s why I suggest ExpressVPN as the #1 option for India — it has high-speed servers that provide fast local connections, while its encryption and obfuscation features help keep your connection secure and private. While it’s not free, you can use ExpressVPN to access Indian content risk-free, as it’s backed by a legitimate 30-day money-back guarantee. Try ExpressVPN for India risk-free
Quick Guide: Best Free VPNs for India in January 2023
The Best Free VPNs for India (Tested in January 2023)
1. ExpressVPN — #1 India VPN With Unlimited Bandwidth and Lightning-Fast Local Server Network
Key Features: ExpressVPN earns the #1 spot for its unmatched speeds and security for India. Although it’s not free, you’re protected by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like it, you can get a full refund in 30 days. I tested it myself and my request was processed in minutes. I wasn’t asked any questions or hassled to stay, and the money was back in my bank account 4 days later!
In tests, my team and I could access popular streaming sites like Netflix and India, Hulu, Disney+, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Sling TV, and more. I connected from the UK and my speeds only slowed by 25%, while my team in India had similar results when connecting to servers in the US, Germany, and Australia. All of us enjoyed impeccable streaming quality with UltraHD video resolution, zero buffering, and fast loading times. In fact, every ExpressVPN server produced solid speeds that were only 20-30% slower than my base traffic. The difference was almost unnoticeable and felt like I wasn’t using a VPN at all! So even if you’re traveling to India, you’ll find it easy to stream, torrent, and play games on faraway servers in your home country. Better yet, ExpressVPN provides full access to the open web within India. Additionally, it’s one of the best VPNs for neighboring countries like China, Pakistan, and other countries with tough internet restrictions. Just make sure to download ExpressVPN before traveling and exercise a basic level of caution when connecting to a VPN server. Using a VPN doesn’t give you the right to carry out illegal activities, so check local laws to see what you’re allowed to do. Alongside 256-bit military-grade encryption, ExpressVPN comes with built-in leak protection and a reliable kill switch. These ensure your information is always anonymous, even if your connection fails. I tested multiple servers in India and across the world, and found no IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks. My favorite feature is split-tunneling, which ExpressVPN offers on all compatible devices except iOS. Enabling it lets you choose specific apps to protect with a VPN connection while routing the rest of your traffic through a local network. It’s useful if you want to access Indian websites abroad but would still like to use local services, like Uber Eats or online shopping. There are short and long-term plans available, although you’ll get the cheapest price for ExpressVPN when you sign up for the 1-year + 3 months plan. No matter which plan you choose, you’re protected by the 30-day money-back guarantee. Try ExpressVPN for India risk-free
2. CyberGhost — Optimized Servers for Indian Streaming Platforms and FREE for 45 Days
Key Features: CyberGhost offers streaming and torrenting-optimized servers for easy access to your regular content in India and other countries. Connecting to the specialized servers gave me very fast speeds and worked with every streaming site and torrenting client I wanted to use. My team and I started our tests by checking CyberGhost’s streaming servers. We discovered CyberGhost works great with Disney+ Hotstar, Sony Liv, Jiocinema, and other platforms. My teammates reported zero issues when logging in to their accounts on the servers they tested. I didn’t notice any buffering or pixelation during my streams either, making CyberGhost a great VPN for TV show and movie fanatics like myself. In addition to streaming servers, CyberGhost offers a range of connections optimized for fast, secure torrenting. During testing, CyberGhost’s P2P servers let me download a 40GB file in just 3 hours. That’s almost half the time it would take if I used most other VPNs. What’s more, these servers all use the top-grade AES 256-bit cipher to encrypt your connection so if you’re torrenting from India, neither your ISP nor cybercriminals will interfere with your activity. CyberGhost’s regular servers are also a good choice for secure access to many online platforms — whether you’re in India or connecting from abroad. The regular locations are a bit slower, as I noticed a 20% drop compared to optimized server speeds. This worked out to a 45% slowdown from my regular network, which was still good enough for me to stream in HD. The regular servers also have equally good security as P2P connections, so you’ll stay safe online with tough encryption, a kill switch, and an ad/malware blocker. CyberGhost has a zero-logs policy but this comes with a caveat. Although the company releases quarterly transparency reports, its logging policy has yet to undergo an independent audit. While I’m not too concerned by this given the fact CyberGhost’s servers are all RAM-based and can’t physically store data, I’d like to see the company undergo a third-party review. You can use CyberGhost’s Indian servers for free for 45 days as it comes with a money-back guarantee that works like a free trial. It’s a great choice if you only need a VPN for a short period of time. CyberGhost also practices “no questions asked” refunds, so you don’t have to explain why you want to cancel. The whole process took me less than 4 minutes and the refund appeared on my bank statement within 7 business days. Try CyberGhost for India for free
3. Proton VPN — Unlimited Data Allowance and Free Servers in 3 Countries
Key Features: Proton VPN is the only free VPN for India on this list that doesn’t restrict how much data you can use. This means you can connect to a server in the US, the Netherlands, or Japan and download, browse, game, or stream as much as you want when you’re in India. You’ll never have to worry about running out of data! The free plan also includes military-grade encryption, a no-logs policy, and an ad-free app, so you’ll be able to access the Internet in India without interruptions. I’m happy to report that Proton VPN works with Netflix US, Netherlands, and Japan, even though the website doesn’t explicitly guarantee this service. This is perfect if you have an account in any of these countries and don’t want to miss out on content when you’re traveling. We found that Proton VPN can also access Hulu and YouTube, but doesn’t work with other streaming services. However, Proton VPN is slow and I experienced long loading times and buffering. My speed dropped by 70% when I connected to a server in the Netherlands. The slowdown was even heavier on servers in the US and Japan, and I had to wait up to a minute for a basic news website to load. If you’re planning on using Proton VPN to watch foreign content from India, I suggest dropping your video resolution to 720p or lower to avoid buffering and lags. I also found that Proton VPN’s free plan blocks access to the Secure Core feature and Tor-optimized connections. These aren’t necessary, but add extra protection to your traffic by rerouting your connection through multiple servers to prevent detection. You’ll need to upgrade to its Plus plan for $4.99 per month to access them. The Plus plan includes every premium feature Proton VPN has to offer. There’s also a top-tier Visionary plan, which gives you a free ProtonMail account as well (if you want to use this encrypted email service). Note that while Proton VPN doesn’t offer 24/7 live chat, you can contact customer support through an online form. When I had questions about Proton VPN’s compatibility with streaming platforms, I submitted the form and got a thorough response within 24 hours. Overall, Proton VPN is a solid choice for India as it won’t suddenly stop working when you use a certain amount of data. So while you may have to deal with standard streaming quality and slower downloads, it’s still worth it to get a free account with Proton VPN for India as it has no data restrictions. Try Proton VPN for India for free
4. Hotspot Shield — 15GB of Monthly Data for Easy Browsing and Streaming
Key Features: Hotspot Shield’s 15GB of free monthly data is more than enough to stream, play games, and even torrent in India. The generous data allowance also meant that it took me approximately 15 hours of HD streaming and 8 hours of playing online games before my connection stopped for the rest of the month. Hotspot Shield divides its monthly 15GB allowance into 500MB per day. Any unused amount doesn’t carry over, so you won’t be able to save it for binge-watching a whole season of a Netflix series or an HD movie. However, 500MB was enough for me to happily browse the web — and even stream or play games for about an hour each day. Despite reports that it doesn’t work for streaming, I can confirm that Hotspot Shield lets you watch Netflix US. During testing, the 1 virtual US server successfully worked with Netflix and streamed an entire episode of the show Lupin. Hotspot Shield applies the same tough encryption as its top-shelf competitors, making it nearly impossible for hackers to break through. It even offers its proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol — which is both fast and highly secure — with the free plan. Annoyingly, Hotspot Shield doesn’t offer free Indian servers — you can only use 1 US server. If you want access to local websites while abroad, you’ll have to upgrade your account. The provider may also throttle speeds if you’re not a premium user. I experienced some buffering and extended loading times while streaming with Hotspot Shield, but it wasn’t a regular occurrence and seemed to happen randomly. Unfortunately, the free account has ads, and the provider may share some of your information with third-party advertisers. Luckily, none of the information Hotspot Shield collects is personally identifiable, so your identity is always safe. I also found zero IP and DNS leaks when I tested the free US server, so you won’t accidentally reveal your data during your connection. If you’d like to try it for yourself, you’ll need to sign up for a free Hotspot Shield account. The account is free forever, so you won’t have to renew it at any point. You can choose later to upgrade to a Premium account if you want an unlimited version of Hotspot Shield for yourself. If you’ve got a family or a large household, I recommend the Premium Family account instead as it allows 5 different member accounts and up to 25 simultaneous device connections. Try Hotspot Shield for India for free
5. hide.me — Ad-Free Torrenting Supported on All Free Servers With 10GB Data Allowance
Key Features: hide.me offers unlimited bandwidth on its 5 free servers, although none are in India. Since hide.me doesn’t purposely slow down speeds, you’ll have no problems downloading large files. I easily downloaded multiple files before my data ran out. Additionally, every server has leak protection so your real IP address data is safe from spying third parties. As a free user, I used hide.me’s Stealth Guard to allow specific apps to open only if I was connected to a server. This let me link BitTorrent to hide.me’s Windows app and avoid accidentally revealing my activities, as the torrenting client didn’t work without a VPN connection. It’s particularly useful if you download files on public WiFi or in countries where torrenting is illegal. Unfortunately, hide.me’s free servers don’t work with popular streaming sites like Hulu or Disney+ (although it does sometimes work with Netflix). This is disappointing, as I know the paid plan comes with optimized servers specifically for streaming. If you just need a VPN in India for browsing the internet or downloading, it’s a good choice. You can download hide.me for India for free — once you sign up, you’ll receive an activation code through email. Just type it into the hide.me app to log in and connect to a server. If you want to experience hide.me without any limits, there are 3 paid plans available: 1 month, 1 year, and 2 years. The 2-year + 2 months plan is the cheapest on offer at only $3.84 per month. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you don’t have to worry about getting locked in if you don’t like it. Try hide.me for free
6. NordVPN — Premium VPN With Cheap Prices on Long-Term Plans
Key Features: NordVPN is one of the best VPNs on the market — and you can get super cheap prices when you sign up for a long-term subscription. One thing to note, however, is that when it’s time to renew your subscription, prices do increase quite significantly. I did, however, have issues with using NordVPN’s native Fire TV app. Although it worked and unblocked some streaming services, it sometimes had issues unblocking Netflix US and kept crashing. I also found that NordVPN’s user interface for desktop devices was less user-friendly than ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. NordVPN has the following security and privacy features:
AES 256-bit encryption A kill switch that cuts your internet access if your connection to a VPN server drops suddenly Built-in ad and malware blocker, so you don’t need a third-party ad blocker Fully audited no-logs policy (audited by PwC) – NordVPN doesn’t store any personal or identifying data while you’re connected to the VPN
In addition, NordVPN includes Threat Protection that protects you from viruses, infected websites, and trackers – and it works whenever you have the NordVPN app open, even if you’re not connected to a VPN server. While NordVPN is not entirely free, you can stream, torrent, and browse for free for up to 30 days with its money-back guarantee. NordVPN has plans that cost as little as $3.49 per month. To ensure that you’ll really get your money back, I tested NordVPN’s money-back guarantee. At first, the support team tried to give me an extended trial period — but they initiated my refund right away after I told them I wasn’t interested in the extension. I got my money back in 6 business days. Get NordVPN today NordVPN works on: Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Chromebook, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, Fire Stick, and Android TV
7. Surfshark — Best Value for Money with Unlimited Device Connections and Fast Speeds
Key Features: Surfshark offers the best value for money out of every premium VPN on the market. You can connect an unlimited number of devices with a single subscription, which means you can use Surfshark on all your devices without getting logged out. I tested Surfshark’s simultaneous connections on 2 PCs, 2 phones, a Fire Stick 4K, and an iPad. My connection remained reliable on all 6 devices. Even while I was actively streaming on all my devices, my average speed was 112 Mbps — fast enough for UHD quality. When I saw the price of this service, I thought it couldn’t possibly have top-grade security features for such a low price, but I was pleasantly surprised. Surfshark has the following security and privacy features:
AES 256-bit encryption on all devices, with ChaCha encryption available for Android users Wireguard VPN protocol enabled by default Diskless, RAM-only servers to protect your privacy (no data can be physically extracted from any servers) Kill switch (although this isn’t enabled by default) IP and DNS leak protection
Surfshark offers two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account. This feature requires you to enter an extra code before you can log in to ensure that only you can access your account. While Surfshark does have slightly fewer global servers than rivals such as CyberGhost and PIA, I didn’t experience any issues during my tests. I easily connected fast working servers every time, and I had excellent speeds for streaming Netflix in UHD, downloading torrents, and browsing the internet.
Surfshark is not truly free, but it offers a 7-day free trial on Android, iOS, and macOS devices. You can also test out Surfshark on other devices for 30 days thanks to its money-back guarantee. It has plans that cost as little as $2.05. Requesting a refund is easy with Surfshark’s live chat feature. Although the support team asked why I wanted to cancel my subscription, I had no problem getting my money back (and it only took 4 days!). Get Surfshark today Surfshark works on: Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, Linux, Fire Stick, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Smart TVs, LG Smart TVs, Android TV, Kodi, and selected routers
Avoid These Free VPNs for India — Here’s Why
Even some of the best overall free VPNs in 2023 still restrict your server access, monthly data, and bandwidth. This causes big speed drops, making your connection unusable for browsing, gaming, torrenting, or streaming. However, the worst free VPNs even collect your data and sell it to third parties. I discovered multiple free VPNs you should never use: The “freemium” VPNs in this article offer paid plans in addition to a free subscription, so they don’t rely on selling your data to earn money. The major flaw with these services is their free plans are limited by data caps and slow speeds. Another downside is that some of these freemium VPNs have no servers in India, while others don’t work inside the country. However, you can avoid any restrictions for free with CyberGhost as it has a 45-day money-back guarantee. This works like a free trial and gives you access to hundreds of secure servers optimized for streaming and torrenting in and out of India. Just ask for a refund through the 24/7 live chat within the 45 days and you’ll easily get your money back.
How I Tested and Ranked the Best Free VPNs for India in 2023
To shortlist the best free VPNs for India, I checked whether each provider offers: However, not all freemium VPNs can meet these criteria — some VPNs don’t have Indian servers, offer slow speeds, or heavily limit your data. To get what you want (like a big server network and unlimited data), you need to give up one or two other features. The only VPNs on the list that satisfy all of the above criteria are ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Surfshark. ExpressVPN came out on top in my tests, as it exceeded my expectations with the fastest speeds both in India and abroad, unlimited data, great protection, and more. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try ExpressVPN out for yourself completely risk-free. If you’re not completely satisfied, you’ll get a full refund. Try ExpressVPN for India risk-free
Quick Guide: 3 Easy Steps to Set Up a VPN for India
Are VPNs legal in India?
Yes, VPNs are completely legal in India as long as you aren’t using them for unlawful online activities. These include gambling or watching porn, which is banned by the Indian government. Still, Indian authorities aren’t likely to chase people for using a VPN. If you’re concerned and want to avoid any detection though, choose a VPN with outstanding security. ExpressVPN offers obfuscated servers, which mask your VPN traffic and present it as a regular connection. That way no one will realize you’re using a VPN at all! You can also try ExpressVPN risk-free and if you’re not satisfied, you have up to 30 days to ask for a refund.
Can I use a VPN to watch Bollywood movies from outside of India?
Yes, a VPN lets you access top Bollywood movies by changing your IP address. This will allow you to use your account on services like Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, Voot, MX Player, Sony Liv, and JioCinema if you’re traveling abroad or facing technical issues. Out of the VPNs listed above, I found that ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are the best services for streaming Bollywood movies from anywhere. They don’t limit how much data and bandwidth you can use, which provides lag-less HD streams.
How can I watch cricket from outside of India?
A VPN gives you easy access to platforms that broadcast sports like cricket, including Hotstar, Sony Liv, Sky Sports, and BCCI TV. However, not every VPN can do this. Through extensive testing, my team found that ExpressVPN and CyberGhost work reliably with Indian cricket-streaming platforms. Sadly, many free VPNs restrict your monthly data, so it might not be enough to watch a whole match from start to finish. Luckily, you can watch as much cricket as you want for free with CyberGhost. Just remember to request a refund before its 45-day money-back guarantee ends.
Which free VPN works with Netflix India?
Unfortunately, only a few free VPNs work with Netflix India. This is because free VPNs usually restrict you to a limited number of servers — and India isn’t often included in the list. That’s why I recommend going for a paid VPN. If you sign up to ExpressVPN to watch Netflix India, you’ll easily access your usual streaming account in any country. If you’re not fully satisfied, you can ask for a refund with the 30-day money-back guarantee.
What’s the best free VPN to watch Disney+ Hotstar?
During my tests, only ExpressVPN and CyberGhost successfully worked with Disney+ Hotstar. Since Hotspot Shield, hide.me, and Proton VPN doesn’t have free servers in India, they don’t work with the platform — unless you upgrade to the paid plans. Any other free VPNs I tried proved useless as they didn’t work with the platform or didn’t offer Indian connections.
What’s the best free VPN for Android or iOS in India?
I tested the top free VPNs for India in 2023 to find a mobile app that wouldn’t slow down my phone or drain its battery. Out of all the VPNs I tested, I found ExpressVPN was the easiest to use on Android and iOS. The easy-to-use app automatically selects the fastest server in a country and even lets you create shortcuts within the smartphone app — something that other VPNs don’t offer. This saves me a lot of time as you can open Netflix, Disney+, Gmail, and other apps directly from ExpressVPN’s app. If you’d prefer to not commit to a long-term plan, you can even try a premium VPN with a monthly plan. This way, you’ll get all the benefits of using a full-featured VPN but you can still cancel at any time thanks to the monthly subscription.
What is the best VPN for gaming in India?
Based on my tests, ExpressVPN is the best VPN for gaming in India — whether you play PUBG, Fortnite, Counter-Strike: GO, Call of Duty, or any other popular multiplayer game. That’s because it offers the crucial combination of lightning-fast speeds and ultra-low ping, both of which are vital to lag-free, uninterrupted gameplay. And while ExpressVPN isn’t free, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. This means you can buy ExpressVPN in confidence — if you’re not happy, getting a refund is quick and simple. Try ExpressVPN for India risk-free
Don’t Limit Yourself With a Low-Quality VPN for India
Many free VPNs don’t work as well as they promise to and can even put you at risk of identity theft. While I found the best free VPNs that are safe and well worth your time, even the best free VPNs come with annoying limitations like slow speeds, small server networks, and data caps. If you want to avoid the restrictions, I suggest you download ExpressVPN to browse the Internet freely in India and other countries. ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you won’t struggle to get a refund if you change your mind. I used it and received my money back in only 4 days — no questions asked.
