- TunnelBear announced some changes to its free plan
- Changes include removing server selection and split tunneling support
- Company wants to remain ad-free despite rising operating costs
TunnelBear has announced a series of significant changes to its free user accounts, citing increasing operating costs and the goal of keeping the service sustainable.
According to TunnelBear’s blog, existing users of its free VPN service will still be able to connect to servers, but will lose some features such as personalized server selection, which will only be available to paid subscribers. Free TunnelBear users will, however, continue to have access to 2GB of data each month.
TunnelBear’s move highlights a broader industry trend. As more people search for the best VPN for their needs, businesses are forced to juggle the desire to offer rich, privacy-focused features with the financial realities of maintaining a secure virtual private network.
What’s changing for free TunnelBear users and why
As part of the TunnelBear Free overhaul, which will not impact paying subscribers, free users will no longer be able to choose the country to which they connect. Instead, they will be randomly assigned to the best available locationremoving any flexibility to circumvent geographic restrictions.
Free users too lose SplitBearTunnelBear’s split tunneling feature, preventing them from choosing which apps or websites can bypass the VPN connection. With TunnelBear Free’s very limited amount of data, users’ data will likely be used up much faster.
TunnelBear was quick to reassure users who make up its bandwidth program – its initiative to provide people in countries with heavy internet censorship with additional free VPN data – that they will not be affected by the changes.
According to TunnelBear, all of these adjustments are due to the rising costs of operating a global network of servers, expenses related to regular third-party VPN audits, and the need to keep the service sustainable without resorting to advertising or selling user data.
TunnelBear hasn’t said when all of this will take effect, but free users who can’t live without server selection or split tunneling may want to start thinking about upgrading to TunnelBear Premium or exploring other options.
A broader VPN dilemma
Using a truly free VPN for the end user is an expensive proposition. Since a free VPN service cannot charge subscription fees, providers cut features, rely on advertising or data monetization, or impose strict data caps to remain solvent.
Different VPN providers handle this tradeoff in different ways. For example, Proton VPN Free has unlimited data allowance and next-level privacy, but offers a smaller selection of servers. Like TunnelBear Free, it doesn’t let you choose the server location.
Windscribe Free and PrivadoVPN Free cap free data at 10GB, allowing them to offer a solid set of features while keeping costs manageable. A new free VPN, EventVPN, doesn’t throttle your data or speeds at the expense of privacy-preserving in-app ads.
TunnelBear’s recent changes fall between these approaches. By removing country selection and split tunneling, it is able to continue to offer its free tier without advertising and with the same confidentiality guarantees as its paid version.
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