In this review, we will stack up TunnelBear up with the some of the best paid and free VPN services. Do they log your data? Does TunnelBear allow for payments in bitcoin? How secure is their free app? We will answer all of these questions and more below! Stay tuned!

If you want to check out some other FREE VPN services, check out the review we recently did for Hide.Me VPN. You can find a link to that review HERE.

 

Our First Impressions

 

While setting up a VPN may be daunting, TunnelBear is the ‘bear-friendly’ VPN that focuses quite heavily on easy use. whereas TunnelBear is actually serviceable with unlimited data for up to five devices, a lot of advanced users might get annoyed by the shortage of granular management, and having access to servers in barely twenty countries.

 

PROS:

 

• Ease of use
• Free tier
• Privacy verified by a security audit

 

CONS:

 

• Limited range of server locations
• Platform support isn’t the most effective
• Parent company is US-based

 

 

TunnelBear is a Toronto, Canada-based VPN service with a powerful emphasis on ease of use and bear-related humor. (The former will get priority over the bear puns, luckily, though typically it’s a close-run factor.) This all comes along to form TunnelBear an excellent alternative for a brand new VPN user, or a friend with restricted computer knowledge.

While TunnelBear remains based mostly in Canada, it had been acquired by cybersecurity giant McAfee in 2018. Having the parent company based mostly within the United States will raise some extra considerations on the information privacy front, though the very fact that the firm undergoes a voluntary, annual security audit should go a long way to consoling users. 

TunnelBear conjointly has another bear-themed offering, RememBear, that is a bear themed password manager.

 

TunnelBear Subscription Options:

 

 

24 month set up – US$4.17 per month (US$100.08 total cost)

 

 

Pricing

 

TunnelBear incorporates a range of plans to suit most desires. There’s no free trial offered, however there’s a data capped free tier therefore this VPN service are often absolutely tried out risk-free.

The opening tier, called ‘Little,’ is the free offering. in contrast to some competitor’s free tiers, TunnelBear’s data cap is among rock bottom, and is limited to a meager 500MB for every month. Such a low monthly data allowance isn’t very viable for a full time VPN user’s desires, however this at least enough to check out the services, before committing to a paid set up.

 

 

TunnelBear’s normal set up, selected as ‘Giant,’ is an unlimited set up for a reasonably normal $9.99 (about £8) per month. on top of this can be the ‘Grizzly’ set up, which is really simply the ‘Giant’ set up, however paid annually in a lump sum. For the bigger annual commitment, the savings are 500th, with a $59.99 (about £46) up-front payment, that works out to a quite cheap $5.00 (about £4) per month once calculated on an annual basis.

For business use, there’s conjointly a ‘TunnelBear for Teams’ set up. This incorporates a straightforward value structure, specifically $69 (about £53) per person paid annually for the complete twelve months of service.

Payment choices at TunnelBear are a lot more restricted than other VPN services. It accepts the standard major credit cards: Visa, MasterCard and yankee specific. However, the sole alternative possibility is Bitcoin, and whereas the cutesy ‘jars of honey’ are tempting, following the bear theme, it leaves TunnelBear without a lot of anonymous payment choice that additional privacy seeking users can like.

 

 

Features

 

 

This focus on simplicity suggests that there’s not too much here for stringent users. TunnelBear solely offers twenty locations, for example, that is quite a touch fewer than most of their rivals. Valuing simplicity over controllability, there are only a few low-level tweaks or settings – you don’t even get the flexibility to alter the encryption protocol.

But if you’re proud of the fundamentals, there’s lots to love here, like support for five devices on every account. TunnelBear has apps for the Windows and macintosh desktop platforms, furthermore as the standard iOS and android mobile platforms, which incorporates convenient ‘Siri shortcuts’ in iOS twelve. Browser extensions are obtainable for the favored Chrome, Firefox and Opera internet browsers.

However, there’s no support for Linux apart from through the browser extensions, and if you wish to manually set up the service on a router, games console or anything else, the feeble support web site isn’t much help.

 

 

TunnelBear scores extra points for privacy. Too many VPNs confuse you with plenty of tiny print, leaving you questioning how private they really are. In TunnelBear’s case, the company employed independent specialists to produce the next level of transparency and assurance that user data will stay private. If solely alternative providers were that brave!

In fact, the company has done this not one time, but twice, having recently control its “2nd Annual independent Security Audit.” what is more, while a couple of security problems were found, TunnelBear with pride claims that they were all promptly fixed.

TunnelBear conjointly boasts some sensible options, like permitting the VPN code to be set to automatically begin once the system initially boots, providing you with protection by default. you also get the flexibility to attach to the closest server automatically, in conjunction with an online kill switch.

The latter stops the transfer of data on those occasions once the VPN connection drops, though TunnelBear calls this ‘Vigilant Mode,’ which could bother advanced users who ought to research that feature to figure out what it really is.

 

 

Performance

 

 

Performance was another highlight, with speedy kingdom and European servers, solid results from the United States, and even the slowest Asian locations managed an awfully acceptable 20Mbps.

In terms of real-world usage, we tend to got connected easily, and had no problems using the service, together with when downloading torrents. However, there have been mixed results once streaming video – we were ready to access United States Netflix, though the United Kingdom BBC iPlayer remained out-of-bounds.

 

 

TunnelBear – Conclusion

 

 

If you’ve been hesitant to try a VPN because you’re troubled that it’ll complicate your computing life, TunnelBear is certainly the supplier to turn to. The free tier solely incorporates a paltry 500MB monthly data allowance, however it’s a decent choice for giving the service a try. 

Moving up to a paid set up provides you unlimited data, and their subscriptions may be had for an affordable value.

 

VPN STATS

 

Client software platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox and Opera extensions

Supported protocols: OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec

No. of servers: about 1,500

No. of countries: approx. twenty two

Country of registration: Canada, however below U.S. ownership

Payment options: Credit Card, PayPal, Bitcoin

Real name necessary? No

Encryption protocol: AES-256

Data usage: Unlimited

Bandwidth usage: Unlimited

Max. no. of concurrent devices connected:: five

Customer support: Email

Privacy policy: No logging

 

 

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