Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield Pricing
Hotspot Shield is one of the few VPN providers that offer a free subscription tier. However, there are some restrictions. Hotspot Shield’s free Basic subscription limits you to the most basic US VPN servers, one simultaneous connection, and 500MB of bandwidth per day. However, generosity does not stop there. Hotspot Shield takes the unusual step of capping loose bills at 2Mbps. Even for cell phones, that is extremely slow. Hotspot Shield’s free Android version is also monetized.
The Premium subscription gives five simultaneous connections, provides full access to Hotspot Shield’s servers, and has no data restriction. It costs $12.99 per month. The highest tier, Premium Family, will increase the variety of simultaneous connections to twenty-five across five-member accounts and costs $19.99 per month.
Hotspot Shield Plans
Hotspot Shield Free
- 1 Member account
- 1 Device connections
- Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome
- Military-grade encryption
- Privacy first: No browsing device logs
- 1 Virtual location
- Fast VPN Servers: 800+
- Fastest VPN Connection: Up to 1 Gbps
- Data limits: Unlimited
- 24/7 customer support: Support center only
- Hydra, IPSec, and OpenVPN protocols
- IP Leak Protection
- DNS Leak Protection
- Tor over VPN
- Traffic Proxy
- Traffic Obfuscations
- Security check with PKI
- TLS connection establishment
- DNS filtering and non-VPN protection
Premium
- Everything in Hotspot Shield FREE, plus:
- 5 Device connections
- Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Smart TV, Routers, Chrome
- Virtual locations: 125+ locations
- Streaming mode: Optimized for Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ & more
- Gaming mode: Optimized for Fortnite, Roblox & more
- 24/7 customer support
- Anti-phishing protection
- Internet kill switch
- Smart VPN
Premium Family
- Everything in PREMIUM, plus:
- 5 Member accounts
- Device connections: 25 (5 devices per member)
Hotspot Shield Deals
Atlas VPN
ExpressVPN
NordVPN
Surfshark VPN
CyberGhost VPN
Norton Secure VPN
How effective is the Hotspot Shield Free plan?
You can use the free version of Hotspot Shield on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices, but there are many limitations. For example, Hotspot Shield Free VPN is limited to 500MB of VPN data daily. That’s barely enough for a 30-minute show on Netflix. But for a month, that can add up to a huge amount of data.
If you try to access the Netflix website (or any other popular streaming platform), you will encounter a paywall for their premium product. Custom apps for Android TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick are not available for free users. Furthermore, torrenting works with the Hotspot Shield Free app, but the data limit prevents downloading large files.
Moreover, if you use the Android app, you will also see annoying pop-up ads while browsing. This adds to the overhead of the free app but can seem very intrusive, especially considering that Hotspot Shield does share some information, e.g., B. City-level location with third-party advertisers.
Finally, if you need help or have a problem, Hotspot Shield’s live chat staff cannot help you as they only serve paying customers. In general, we recommend “freemium” VPNs over standalone free services because they support the free service through their premium product.
