A brand-new free VPN service built by the people behind ExpressVPN just dropped. On Thursday, ExpressVPN announced the release of EventVPN, a standalone free VPN for Apple mobile devices and computers built on ExpressVPN’s infrastructure that doesn’t compromise on privacy, impose usage limits or restrict bandwidth.
The free version of EventVPN allows you to use one device at a time and includes access to servers in 35-plus countries, like the United States, Canada, Italy, Japan, Argentina, France, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It’s available for MacOS, iOS and iPadOS users to download now in Apple’s App Store.
With EventVPN, users get many of the same advanced privacy protections offered by ExpressVPN, including a kill switch, an audited no-logs policy, a post-quantum resistant WireGuard VPN protocol and RAM-only servers. The app also includes a built-in speed test tool as well as in-app private browsing with Google, Ecosia, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo and Brave.
On top of its free version, EventVPN offers a paid, premium subscription plan that ditches the ads, allows for up to eight simultaneous connections and provides access to 125-plus locations for $10 a month or $70 a year. The company notes that an EventVPN premium subscription is not the same as a premium ExpressVPN subscription and lacks cross-platform compatibility and certain advanced privacy features that ExpressVPN offers, like split tunneling and Threat Manager.
The catch is that EventVPN’s free plan serves a 30-second ad in the app when you connect to and disconnect from a server or run a speed test. ExpressVPN says that the in-app advertising works with Apple’s ATT and IDFA systems and uses a random identifier that keeps user data completely separate from the advertising process.
Additionally, the company says that EventVPN uses Apple’s account validation to validate users and issues anonymous tokens to connect users to ExpressVPN’s infrastructure, which eliminates the need to store or manage user data.
ExpressVPN built EventVPN as a safe alternative to the growing number of free VPNs that pose privacy risks. Many users turn to free VPNs in an attempt to protect their privacy online without having to pay for a premium VPN service.
However, many free VPNs, aside from being bogged down by crowded servers and severe bandwidth and usage limitations, are risky to use because they may employ weak encryption, harvest and sell user data or even contain malware. For these reasons, CNET doesn’t recommend using most free VPNs.
“The nature of privacy is changing materially across the world. Social media bans, censorship, and restrictions of digital accessibility are on the rise and, in many ways, have become expected. Each and every time online privacy is threatened, downloads of unsafe VPNs peak,” said Shay Peretz, COO at ExpressVPN, in a press release.
The only free VPN we currently recommend at CNET is Proton VPN’s free tier because it delivers the same basic privacy protections as the provider’s premium plan and doesn’t put limits on bandwidth or usage.
But given that EventVPN is built on ExpressVPN’s infrastructure, the new service has the potential to contend with Proton VPN as another worthy free VPN option. ExpressVPN has built a strong reputation for privacy and currently sits atop our list of the best VPN services, as well as holding CNET’s Editors’ Choice designation as the Best Overall VPN, so a new free VPN product built by the same team warrants consideration.
