Windscribe vs TunnelBear: A Free VPN Service Comparison in 2024 

Windscribe and TunnelBear are two of the best free VPN services. You can use either VPN without paying a dime. Once you sign up and create a username and password, download the app and connect to free servers worldwide. 

Even though Windscribe and TunnelBear both offer free plans, Windscribe is the better pick if you want more data for browsing. Windscribe offers up to 15GB of data per month compared to TunnelBear’s 2GB. You can increase Windscribe’s data cap to 15GB per month if you confirm your email address and tweet about the service. 

On the other hand, TunnelBear is a superior choice if you want a free VPN provider with extensive server coverage. Windscribe’s free plan limits your server network to 10 countries, while TunnelBear offers free server access in 47 countries. This increases your chances of finding IP addresses to spoof your online location.

If you need a free VPN with unlimited bandwidth and good digital security, visit our Proton VPN review.

You can browse without looking over your shoulder with both Windscribe and TunnelBear since they tunnel user traffic using WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols. If you read our guide on VPN protocols, you’ll learn that these are three of the best. OpenVPN offers a great mix of speed and security, WireGuard is lightning fast and IKEv2 works best on mobile devices. 

You can access the three protocols on Windscribe’s Windows, Android, Mac and iOS apps. TunnelBear supports WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2 on Windows and Mac devices, and OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols on Android devices. iOS users can choose between OpenVPN, WireGuard and IKEv2. 

What’s more, Windscribe offers the Stealth and WStunnel protocols on Windows, Android, Mac and iOS devices. These protocols offer obfuscation, which makes your VPN traffic appear like regular web traffic, enabling you to avoid internet censorship and geo-restrictions. TunnelBear offers GhostBear mode, which uses similar obfuscation technology.

The encryption you enjoy depends on the VPN protocol you choose. If you’re using OpenVPN or IKEv2, your traffic will be encrypted using AES-256 encryption, which is virtually impossible to crack. WireGuard works with the ChaCha20 protocol, which is also one of the most difficult ciphers to crack. 

TunnelBear and Windscribe offer a kill switch, which is a vital failsafe to prevent data leaks. A kill switch works by immediately disconnecting you from the internet if your VPN connection drops. That way, your IP address and sensitive details won’t be exposed if your VPN falters.

Windscribe calls its kill switch a “firewall.” A bit stronger than regular kill switches, its firewall is a system-wide kill switch that won’t let you connect to the internet unless your VPN connection is active. TunnelBear’s kill switch is called VigilantBear, and it’s also a system-wide kill switch, though not as restrictive as Windscribe’s firewall.

We’d like to see Windscribe and TunnelBear offer app-based kill switches on their Windows and Mac apps, similar to the way NordVPN does. This kind of kill switch can be used with specific apps rather than the entire device. You can learn more about NordVPN’s kill switch in our NordVPN review. 

Windscribe and TunnelBear don’t suffer from IP address or DNS server leaks. We confirmed this by running leak tests using IPleak.net while connected to Windscribe’s and TunnelBear’s servers. As you can see from the image below, only the VPN’s server information was on display each time. 

Windscribe and TunnelBear are privacy-focused VPNs with strict no-logs policies. Such services do not collect, store or share sensitive information that can be traced back to you. This is impressive, considering some free VPN services operate by collecting and selling user information.

We confirm VPNs’ no-logs policies by examining their privacy policies. Windscribe’s policy confirms that it doesn’t log or share personally identifiable information (PII). TunnelBear’s policy includes an eyebrow-raising detail: The VPN can see your device type, IP address and operating system at the point of payment.

However, this information is common and doesn’t worry us. Fingerprints can be used to identify that someone has subscribed to the VPN, but none of your browsing activity can be matched to you. 

We also verify VPNs’ no-logs claims by checking whether they have undergone audits with third-party firms. As the case of IPVanish VPN reveals, services may not always adhere to their own privacy policies — see our IPVanish review for the whole story.

TunnelBear has been audited seven times, with the latest a security audit by Cure53, which confirmed its no-logs claim. We’re also impressed that TunnelBear has committed to annual audits. 

Windscribe is surprisingly less forthcoming with information about audits. On its website, Windscribe says it was audited in 2022, but there is no published report or information about which firm conducted the audit or when it was conducted. 

To its credit, Windscribe has a transparency report page where it publishes its response to data requests from copyright and law enforcement agencies. In addition, Windscribe’s servers are RAM-only, which means any data on them is wiped upon every server reboot. Unfortunately, TunnelBear doesn’t have RAM-only servers. 

A VPN’s base is an important consideration — your data could be at stake if it’s located in a country with unfriendly privacy laws. TunnelBear and Windscribe are headquartered in Canada. Our concern with a Canada-based VPN is that Canada is part of the Five Eyes Alliance, a global surveillance ring where countries monitor and share information.

However, since TunnelBear and Windscribe don’t log data that can be traced back to individual users, there’s nothing for them to share with intelligence agents. Therefore, you shouldn’t worry about them being located in Canada. 

Windscribe and TunnelBear offer good customer support if you encounter difficulties using the service or have questions. Your first port of call should be their knowledgebases, both of which contain setup guides, troubleshooting guides and FAQs. We found them to be well organized and detailed, and we particularly liked the annotated guides.

If the knowledgebases don’t answer your questions, contact live chat support. Instead of human agents, both Windscribe and TunnelBear use AI-powered robots with interesting names: Gary (Windscribe) and RoboCub (TunnelBear). These bots are essentially search engines, displaying articles from the knowledgebases. 

You can also reach out to Windscribe and TunnelBear agents through email. However, both VPNs make the process needlessly complicated. TunnelBear requires you to fill out many fields before sending your ticket. With Windscribe, you’ll have to open Gary and type in “ticket.” A form will then pop up, which you can fill out to send a ticket. 

Windscribe and TunnelBear offer unlimited simultaneous connections on paid plans. This means you can use your Windscribe or TunnelBear subscription on multiple devices without limits. Thanks to both VPNs’ support for multiple devices, you can share your subscription with friends and family. 

Windscribe upholds its promise of unlimited device connections on the free plan, but TunnelBear’s free plan allows only one connection at a time. 

In addition to their free plans, Windscribe and TunnelBear offer paid subscriptions. Windscribe’s monthly plan costs $9, which is slightly cheaper than TunnelBear’s $9.99 offer. However, at $5.75 per month, Windscribe’s yearly plan is more expensive than TunnelBear’s, which costs $4.99 per month. TunnelBear also offers a three-year plan priced at $3.33 per month (three-year plan) per month.

Windscribe offers a unique Build-a-Plan option, which lets you customize your VPN plan and pay for only what you need. For $1 each, you can purchase various features, including access to all servers in a country and unlimited data. The Build-a-Plan option requires a minimum of $3 in purchases. 

You can request a refund from Windscribe within seven days of your initial purchase. However, to be eligible for a refund, you must have used less than 10GB on the paid plan. TunnelBear doesn’t have a specific refund policy. Its website claims that it offers refunds on a case-by-case basis, but there’s no telling which criteria it uses to consider each case. 

We have tested Windscribe’s money-back guarantee over the years and have had no problems getting a refund. However, if you want to test either Windscribe or TunnelBear, we recommend using their free plans instead of paying for a plan and trying to get a refund. 

Windscribe is the better pick if you want a VPN that supports more devices. Both Windscribe and TunnelBear support the major operating systems: Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. They also support Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

In addition to the platforms mentioned above, Windscribe supports smart TVs such as Android TV and Amazon Fire TV, multiple Linux distros and Kodi. You must install Windscribe on a router to protect these devices. Windscribe works on routers supporting DD-WRT, Tomato and AsusWRT firmware.

You can also manually configure Windscribe on devices that support OpenVPN, WireGuard and IKEv2 protocols. Unfortunately, TunnelBear doesn’t have apps for routers or manual configurations for router firmware. It also doesn’t support smart TVs such as Apple or Android TVs. 

Windscribe offers a larger server network than TunnelBear on its paid plan. Windscribe has servers in 69 countries, while TunnelBear’s servers cover 47 countries. A large server network is important because it gives you multiple IP address options and reduces the chances of congestion. 

Most of Windscribe’s and TunnelBear’s servers are physical. As highlighted in our piece on physical vs virtual servers, physical servers generally offer better security and performance. 

You can purchase a static IP from Windscribe at an extra cost, but not a dedicated IP. Windscribe offers two kinds of static IPs: residential IPs that appear to be from a home address, and datacenter IPs that are more obviously corporate. You can access both kinds of static IPs in the U.S. and Canada. TunnelBear does not offer static or dedicated IPs.

You might be familiar with dedicated IPs since they are common among VPNs, but static IPs are more rare. Both types of IP allow you to use the same IP address every time you connect to the VPN, but dedicated IPs are unique to individual users, whereas a static IP could be shared with a few other users. 

A static IP helps you access sites sensitive to constant IP changes, like banking sites. Plus, it’s great for avoiding repeat verification requests like CAPTCHAs. 

Every VPN will reduce your download speed to an extent, but the best ones have a negligible impact. In our speed tests, Windscribe impacted the connection speed much less than TunnelBear in terms of both download and upload speeds and latency.

Download Speed (Higher is better)

Upload Speed (Higher is better)

Latency (Lower is better)

Source: Cloudwards VPN Speed Test. We test daily. Data averaged from 08/18/24 to 09/15/24

Windscribe is part of our automated daily VPN speed tests. If you check our speed graphs, you’ll notice that Windscribe has excellent download speeds across the board. It maintains more than 90% of our original download speeds in nearby and faraway locations. 

TunnelBear was slower in our most recent tests, maintaining only 75% of our initial download speeds. Windscribe’s better download and upload speeds make it better for streaming, video calls and uploading content.

Furthermore, Windscribe has low latency compared to TunnelBear. This means it’s a better choice for activities like online gaming, which need a low-latency connection between servers and clients. 

Choose Windscribe over TunnelBear if you want a VPN for streaming. In our tests, Windscribe unblocked Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and BBC iPlayer on the first attempt. However, we needed to try different servers to access content on Netflix, Max and Disney Plus. The streams loaded quickly and were lag-free.

We were worse off with TunnelBear. It couldn’t unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu no matter how many times we tried. We could access only HBO Max and Peacock. We experienced lags on occasion, which is not surprising considering TunnelBear’s slow speeds.

On a free plan, Windscribe is still the better choice. It offers up to 15GB of free data per month and reasonably fast speeds, which can help you stream without lag. In contrast, TunnelBear offers only 2GB, which you can burn through in about two hours of streaming Netflix. 

Windscribe offers double VPN or double-hop connections, which route your internet traffic through two servers instead of one. TunnelBear doesn’t offer these servers.

A double-hop connection adds an extra layer of encryption to your traffic, providing enhanced privacy and security. If one server fails or is hacked, you can still enjoy the coverage the other server provides. 

Windscribe’s double VPN combination is a little different from that of other VPNs. Instead of connecting to server pairs within the same application, like NordVPN’s or Surfshark’s double VPN, you have to connect to a server in Windscribe’s desktop app and another in the browser extension. 

Windscribe is a better choice than TunnelBear if you want a VPN with advanced security features. 

First, Windscribe offers R.O.B.E.R.T, a DNS-level ad, malware and tracker blocker. It’s customizable, so you can set it up to block specific domains and IPs, including social networks, gambling, porn, crypto and fake news sites. Free users can create three custom rules with Windscribe’s R.O.B.E.R.T., while paid users get unlimited rules.

Furthermore, Windscribe supports perfect forward secrecy, an important security feature. It works by changing your encryption keys each time you connect to a server. Even if hackers access that encryption key, they won’t be able to unpack any of your connection data. You can learn more about how this feature works in our article on perfect forward secrecy. 

Split tunneling allows you to divide your VPN traffic into two parts. One part goes through the VPN tunnel and the other doesn’t. This feature is helpful if you need the VPN only for specific apps and websites, and will help you enjoy faster internet speeds overall.

Windscribe and TunnelBear offer split tunneling, but there are differences. Windscribe offers split tunneling by app in its Windows and Android clients and by URL in its macOS app.

TunnelBear supports app-based and URL-based split tunneling on Windows, but only app-based split tunneling in its Android app. Its macOS client and iOS app offer only URL-based split tunneling.