Best Hola Alternative? 5 FREE, Safe and Similar VPNs in 2023

In Summary

VPN services allow customers to have a safe internet experience while also assisting in the creation of online anonymity.
The majority of free VPN services, such as Hola VPN, are unsafe to use since they use their users’ data for their own gain and are not securely encrypted.
However, there are a few Hola alternatives that can help you satisfy all of the essential qualities of a free VPN, which we’ll discuss in this article.

A VPN is designed to provide its users with a secure network connection while using the public internet, allowing them to remain anonymous.

Hola VPN is one of the most popular VPN services since it is a free VPN and has a P2P feature that allows peers to effortlessly transmit data without the use of intermediaries on websites that support it, such as torrent and others.

Hola VPN, however, seems to lack in most of these areas. HolaVPN has many compromising practices, and since the main goal of using a VPN is to protect the customers’ data, this VPN service is not recommended.

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What’s wrong with Hola VPN?

Hola is originally from Israel and launched its VPN in late 2012. It claims to have over 150 million users around the world. It is the first known peer-to-peer VPN that makes all resources available to its users by sharing those resources. But in terms of credibility, is Hola worth it? This VPN service was caught exploiting its users’ data to its advantage.

The only good thing about Hola VPN is that it is free and has a high speed. But, apart from that, it is extremely risky for internet users to rely on this service.

Because of their nonstandard encryption, their service exposes you to a variety of online risks. They’ve had several hacking incidents, the most well-known of which was when their server was hacked in 2018. They also share most of their free users’ information with their paying users to give them a better experience.

Furthermore, since you’re sharing your IP address, you don’t have control over what it’s used for – which leaves you vulnerable to having creepy (or illegal!) online activity traced back to your IP address.

So what good is a free service if many suspicions accompany it? The most basic assessment of the VPN service is that it is not secure.

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What’s the best Hola alternative?

Before we go look at the best Hola VPN alternatives, let’s understand how we have evaluated these alternatives. One of the most important things to consider is the price. Hola has gained so much traction for its being free to use. So our list of Hola alternatives must include free or freemium VPNs with a generous free plan. Mind you, “Free VPN,” by design, is flawed. We have earlier explained in detail as to why VPNs aren’t perfect. But there are some free options you can consider while being aware of the limitations.

The second factor is the user experience. Hola is filled with pop-up adverts, so the Hola alternatives must be relatively free from anything which hamper the user experience. Other factors include speed, safety, bandwidth, and the number of servers available. We have also tried including other similar P2P VPN services. So let’s take a look at the best Hola alternatives.

1. Tunnelbear – Free Hola Alternative

Tunnelbear VPN has many features and is at the top of our list. The service is free and has no restrictions for non-technical VPN users. Moreover, HolaVPN’s free package does not include pop-up ads. Finally, as one of the best Hola VPN alternatives, Tunnelbear allows you to unblock a variety of blocked streaming platforms, even though it recently stopped working with Netflix.

Tunnelbear VPN is great for basic VPN usage because it allows torrenting in all regions. Although Tunnelbear suggests specific tunnels for places like Canada, the US, the UK, Romania, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, in case customers have problems elsewhere, it works perfectly in all locations. The most remarkable feature of Tunnelbear VPN is its security since it claims not to keep logs of its users’ daily activities and carries out an annual audit of some important information.

The biggest drawback, though, is you are limited to usage of just 500MB per month. It does offer additional bandwidth for completing certain actions (like sharing on Twitter). Their premium plan has no such restrictions, and the price is relatively lower than other popular VPN services.

Key Features:
Number of servers – 1700
Countries with servers – 20
Maximum number of devices – 5

Availability:
Desktop – Mac and Windows.
Mobile – Android, and iOS.
Browser Extension – Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
Plan – Free (500MB per month), Paid (starts at $9.99 per month).

Download Tunnelbear

2. Windscribe – Generous Free VPN service

Another Hola alternative is Windscribe, a trusted brand with many positive reviews online. Windscribe has a nice interface and many cool features for its users. For example, unblocking content from streaming services like US Netflix and BBC iPlayer is much easier with this VPN.

To begin, Windscribe provides all new users with a free 10GB bandwidth bundle that is extremely generous, allowing you to test out their services without committing to a subscription. Also, thanks to their 256-bit AES web traffic encryption and 4096-bit RSA key protocol, Windscribe offers an extremely secure server. As a result, your activities are well protected while you work with them. They also have a no-activity-log policy, which means they can’t keep any of their users’ information. The Paid VPN plan starts from $1 per month per location or $9 per month for all locations.

Key Features:
Number of servers – 110+
Countries with servers – 60
Maximum number of devices – unlimited

Availability:
Desktop – Mac, Linux Windows.
Mobile – Android, iOS, and Blackberry.
Browser Extension – Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
Plan – Free (10GB per month), Paid (starts at $9 per month).

Download Windscribe

Hotspot Shield – Secure Free Hola Alternative

Hotspot Shield VPN is also one of the best free VPNs available and amongst the oldest VPNs in the world. In addition, it has a military-grade encryption level on its free plan, which allows you to unblock various websites.

Even though the free edition only allows access to one virtual location in the United States, the connection is decently fast and secure. Additionally, the VPN provides users with 500MB of data each day. Hotspot Shield also claims that it does not keep track of its users’ online activities. The only drawback to their free plan is that it does not allow you to access streaming services.

Key Features:
Number of servers – 2000
Countries with servers – 24
Maximum number of devices – 5

Availability:
Desktop – Mac and Windows.
Mobile – Android, and iOS.
Browser Extension – Chrome and Firefox.
Plan – Free (7-day trial), Paid (starts $2.99 per month).

Download Hotspot Shield

4. Proton VPN – Best Free Hola Alternative

ProtonVPN is a service that grew out of the popular mail service, Proton Mail, founded at the CERN, the birthplace of the internet. In addition to the careful attention to privacy and security that was provided by the Mail service, the VPN is also quite secure. It’s possibly the best free alternative to Hola, considering it has a full-fledged free plan just like Hola.

You will automatically receive a 7-day trial of ProtonVPN Plus for free. The ProtonVPN servers and features will be available to you during this time. After the first connection has been established successfully, the ProtonVPN trial will begin. The seven trial days will not be lost if you create your account and wait a few days to use ProtonVPN.

Your account will automatically revert to the Free plan when your trial expires. ProtonVPN’s Free plan gives you access to five ProtonVPN servers located in three countries: the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. However, you will not be able to connect to more than one device simultaneously.

Key Features:
Number of servers – 395
Countries with servers – 32
Maximum number of devices – 10

Availability:
Desktop – Linux, Mac, and Windows.
Mobile – Android, and iOS.
Plan – Free (7-day trial + $0/month plan), Paid (starts at $4 per month).

Download ProtonVPN

5. BitVPN – P2P Hola Alternative

BitVPN, a secure blockchain-based decentralized VPN service, is one of the best Hola VPN alternatives. BitVPN is the best choice for internet privacy and unrestricted access to content on the internet.

VPN services run invisibly and allow users to remain anonymous and secure even when using public Wi-Fi. Furthermore, BitVPN has no access to logging or tracking your online actions due to its decentralized structure. Moreover, compared to the attack on HolaVPN, BitVPN is safe from such a threat.

Key Features:
Peer-to-Peer Mesh Network
No Logging of any kind
Flexible and resilient

Availability:
Desktop – Mac and Windows.
Mobile – Android, and iOS.
Browser Extension – NA
Plan – Free (3-day trial), Paid (starts $3.99 per month).

Download BitVPN

FAQs on Best Hola Alternatives

Is Hola safe 2022?

Hola VPN is the absolute worst VPN service you'll ever encounter. The VPN service's encryption is extremely weak, exposing its users to a variety of online risks. It also keeps track of its users' internet actions and uses them for its gain. As a result, if you use this VPN, you are putting yourself in a lot of danger.

Does Hola work with Amazon Prime?

Unblocking streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, and others is one of the reasons we use VPN services. However, none of these platforms are compatible with HolaVPN. Windscribe, Tunnelbear, and Hotspot Shield are three Hola VPN alternatives to consider if you want to unblock streaming platforms.

Does Hola VPN have malware?

While Hola has explicitly denied that their Chrome and Firefox extensions have malware, both Google and Mozilla have removed Hola extensions from their browser stores as of September 2021. Even if they manage to get back on the browser stores, we don't recommend our readers to install it and rather look at the Hola alternatives we have listed in this article.