Tech Republic
Pricing, Ease of Use & Safety
Nov
TunnelBear VPN quick informationOur score: 3.1 stars out of 5
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TunnelBear’s distinctive, bear-themed method to its VPN service units it other than the extra technical and standardized implementations of different VPNs. TunnelBear is on the market on Home windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. It affords 5,000+ servers, limitless device connections, and a subscription choice for groups and organizations.
Regardless of its enjoyable design and accessibility, TunnelBear’s slower speeds and buggy app are causes for concern. As well as, its server fleet solely spans 47 nations.
How a lot does TunnelBear VPN price?
TunnelBear’s beginning paid plan prices $3.33 per thirty days by way of its TunnelBear Limitless. It has three subscription tiers: Free, Limitless, and Groups. Solely TunnelBear Limitless has the choice to decide on between a month-to-month, one-year, and three-year subscription.
| Plan | TunnelBear Free | TunnelBear Limitless | TunnelBear Groups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 12 months | Free | $3.33 per thirty days (billed $39.99 for the primary 12 months) | $5.75 per person, per thirty days |
| 3 years | Free | $3.33 ($120 billed as soon as) | N/A |
| Month-to-month | Free | $9.99 per thirty days | N/A |
| Function variations |
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Apparently, the month-to-month and three-year plans are solely obtainable to view after you click on the “Get began” button for TunnelBear Limitless subscription choice priced at $3.33. Personally, I hope TunnelBear makes their further contract choices extra accessible to view or at the very least have it on the prime of its pricing web page.
In terms of particular person pricing, TunnelBear’s Limitless subscription is at a reduced fee of $3.33 per thirty days for the one-year plan. For those who go for the TunnelBear Limitless paid plan, this discounted annual fee is a steal. Nevertheless, as a result of it is a sale provide, costs could differ sooner or later.
I might recommend making an attempt TunnelBear’s free model earlier than buying a subscription. Whereas information is capped at 2GB and a few options are omitted, the free model lets you get a really feel for TunnelBear’s desktop VPN implementation.
For enterprise house owners, TunnelBear Groups is a sensible choice. You get all of TunnelBear’s paid options along with extra team-based add-ons, corresponding to centralized billing and account supervisor instruments.
Does TunnelBear VPN have a free model?
Sure, TunnelBear has a devoted free model of its VPN. These focused on making an attempt the service don’t have to fret about offering cost data, as you may simply obtain it with no strings hooked up.
Nevertheless, there are notable limitations with TunnelBear VPN’s free model in comparison with its paid plan. The free model has a 2GB information cap that resets each month. So, realistically talking, free customers will solely be capable of try out the VPN for round a day or two earlier than information runs out.
As well as, solely paid customers will be capable of choose city-designated servers on TunnelBear’s community. Free customers are solely ready to select from obtainable nations (Determine A).
Determine A
Regardless of this, TunnelBear states that their free and paid variations don’t have any distinction performance-wise, making the free model a viable technique to take a look at if the VPN is best for you.
SEE: TunnelBear VPN Free vs Paid: Which Plan Is Right for You? (TechRepublic)
Safety and privateness: Is TunnelBear VPN safe?
Specs-wise, TunnelBear has all of the requisites wanted for a contemporary VPN to be thought-about safe. It has OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2 — the three industry-standard safety protocols we would like in a VPN. It additionally makes use of AES 256 encryption, features a kill swap (VigilantBear), and cut up tunneling (SplitBear).
TunnelBear has a no-logs policy, which states that it doesn’t accumulate any person’s shopping data, IP addresses, DNS queries, and purposes used whereas linked to the VPN.
TunnelBear additionally has a formidable monitor file of present process annual unbiased testing. Since 2016, TunnelBear has accomplished seven annual unbiased safety audits. The newest third-party audit was achieved in October 2023 by Cure53.
In that 2023 audit, Cure53 discovered a complete of “13 points this 12 months, with solely 7 thought-about to be of medium threat or greater.” Thankfully, TunnelBear has said that “12 out of the 13 recognized points have been mounted or mitigated.” Personally, I give main props to the TunnelBear group for persevering with to have its VPN examined by way of third-party audits. This exhibits a powerful dedication to transparency and is a good way to construct belief amongst its customers.
On the flip aspect, some individuals could be cautious of TunnelBear being primarily based in Canada, one of many members of the 5 Eyes intelligence alliance, together with Australia, New Zealand, the U.Okay., and the U.S. If authorities intervention is one thing you’re making an attempt to keep away from, TunnelBear is probably not for you.
General, TunnelBear’s security measures, transparency, and annual unbiased testing make it a safe and reliable VPN in 2024.
Key options of TunnelBear VPN
TunnelBear has a number of key options that set it other than different VPNs. Let’s try 4 specifically that you need to find out about.
Newbie-friendly interface
In comparison with different VPNs, TunnelBear has a really user-friendly, bear-themed interface. Servers are represented by tunnels, and while you join or swap to a brand new tunnel, a bear will pop up (Determine B) from contained in the tunnel — therefore the title, TunnelBear.
Determine B
The bear theme is enjoyable and foregoes the very technical method that almost all safety software program often have. If that is your first VPN, this whimsy person interface could make studying the software program much less complicated. The navigation expertise itself can also be very intuitive, with most options or choices being positioned the place you’d anticipate them.
For customers which can be solely beginning to discover VPNs and desire a much less daunting expertise, TunnelBear could be a good decide.
TunnelBear Groups
TunnelBear Groups (Determine C) is their model of group accounts for his or her VPN subscription. It nets customers the paid service and extra options tailor-made to companies, corresponding to centralized group billing; the flexibility so as to add/take away customers and edit billing information from an admin account; and an auto-join function that mechanically enrolls customers with a particular e-mail handle.
Determine C
For those who’re a small enterprise enthusiastic about getting a VPN on your workflow, TunnelBear Groups affords a handy choice that reduces plenty of legwork usually related to establishing a VPN for a corporation or enterprise.
Limitless machine connections
TunnelBear VPN permits for a limiteless variety of simultaneous machine connections to at least one subscription. Because of this any mixture of computer systems, smartphones, or browsers could be protected by way of a TunnelBear server at no further price.
It is a significant function provided that a few of the prime VPN suppliers solely provide round 5 to eight simultaneous connections with one account. The power to attach a limiteless variety of gadgets offers customers with added worth, eliminating the necessity to buy further connections.
Velocity and efficiency: How briskly is TunnelBear VPN?
Efficiency-wise, my expertise with TunnelBear wasn’t nice. Throughout my first day of testing the VPN, I couldn’t set up a connection utilizing TunnelBear’s “quickest” server connection choice (Determine D). It was irritating because the VPN was capable of finding the server closest to me — however was nonetheless not ready to hook up with it reliably.
Determine D
Even after I uninstalled and reinstalled the VPN, the problem remained. Once I was in a position to join, it took nearly three minutes to take action; and once I disconnected, it was nearly not possible to re-establish the connection. What’s bizarre is that once I linked to a server farther away from my location, I had no points.
Once I was linked, the speeds have been slower in comparison with different VPNs. Throughout my testing, I used TunnelBear primarily to do work in Google Workspace apps corresponding to Drive and Docs, browse social media, and analysis with a number of tabs open. Webpages appeared to take a bit extra time to load, and the connection was unstable. 1080p YouTube movies additionally had extra buffering time than anticipated whereas linked to the VPN.
A day after my horrible expertise with TunnelBear’s quickest server function, the problem appeared to have resolved itself. I used to be ready to hook up with the server nearest to my location and disconnect/reconnect with none difficulty. The slower speeds, nevertheless, continued even when the connection bug appeared to have been mounted.
SEE: How to use TunnelBear VPN (Step-by-Step Tutorial) (TechRepublic)
TunnelBear carried out decently when it comes to uploads and obtain speeds. In my pace take a look at, TunnelBear had a lower of 38.46% for downloads and 11.64% for uploads — with the add pace being one of many sooner speeds I’ve recorded in comparison with different VPNs.
TunnelBear additionally carried out nicely on the DNS leak safety entrance. After a number of rounds of testing via a public DNS leak software, I bought zero leaks even whereas I used completely different areas.
After all, VPN pace and efficiency will differ relying on elements corresponding to your location, your web service supplier, server visitors, and your machine. Nevertheless, my testing confirmed that TunnelBear could offer you a buggy and slower expertise in comparison with different VPN suppliers obtainable at this time.
TunnelBear VPN servers and areas
TunnelBear affords round 5,000+ servers from 47 nations worldwide, placing TunnelBear’s server fleet within the low-to-middle vary towards the competitors. Compared, ExpressVPN affords servers from 105 nations, whereas Private Internet Access has servers throughout 91 nations.
Whereas TunnelBear’s server depend is on the upper finish, I would like a extra geographically numerous community. At 47 nations, TunnelBear has some catching as much as do as different VPNs are providing round 60 to even 100+ nations of their server unfold. So in the event you’re particularly searching for a VPN to unblock geo-restricted content material, TunnelBear is probably not the optimum selection.
I like that TunnelBear options P2P-friendly servers particularly optimized for duties corresponding to torrenting and file sharing.
TunnelBear VPN Customer support
Customer support (Determine E) is one other facet the place TunnelBear might see some enchancment. Particularly, I consider TunnelBear ought to provide 24/7 dwell chat. As a result of VPNs can have sudden technical points, most of the prime suppliers provide a service for answering questions and troubleshooting.
Determine E
In the intervening time, TunnelBear has an online type and e-mail, on-line guides, and an AI chatbot (Determine F) referred to as RoboCub for buyer assist.
Determine F
In equity to TunnelBear, RoboCub was in a position to present pretty useful solutions once I requested a number of questions.
SEE: How to Create an Effective Cybersecurity Awareness Program (TechRepublic Premium)
TunnelBear VPN execs
- Newbie-friendly UI.
- Free model.
- Reasonably priced one-year plan (fall sale).
- Annual unbiased audits.
- Limitless machine connections.
- TunnelBear Groups for companies.
TunnelBear VPN cons
- Buggy app expertise.
- Sluggish real-world pace.
- Connection could be unstable.
- Smaller nation depend for its servers.
- Hidden contract size choices in pricing web page.
ExpressVPN
For those who’re searching for a VPN with an easy-to-use interface and quick efficiency, ExpressVPN is among the finest choices in the marketplace. It has robust security measures, servers throughout 105 nations, and a password supervisor included at no further price.
To be taught extra, verify our full ExpressVPN review.
Proton VPN
Proton VPN is a superb decide in the event you’re searching for a VPN that operates in a privacy-friendly nation. Based mostly in Switzerland, it complies with the nation’s robust privateness legal guidelines that provide an extra layer of safety to your information. Proton VPN additionally has a free model with no information cap.
To seek out out extra, verify our full Proton VPN review.
Personal Web Entry
Customers who desire a huge server suite ought to contemplate Personal Web Access VPN. PIA reportedly has round 10,000 to 35,000 servers throughout 91 counties, making it a smart selection in the event you plan to make use of a VPN to unblock content material. Its Home windows app can also be one of many extra customizable VPN purposes obtainable at this time.
To be taught extra, verify our full Private Internet Access VPN review.
Evaluate methodology
My evaluate of TunnelBear VPN concerned an in depth evaluation of its security measures, worth, and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on expertise with TunnelBear via its free Home windows software, and I supplemented my findings with person testimonials and respected evaluations.
For obtain and add speeds, I ran TunnelBear via Ookla’s public Speedtest. For DNS leak safety, I examined TunnelBear a number of instances utilizing DNSLeakTest.
Lastly, I scored TunnelBear VPN on varied components, together with its safety protocols and worth, primarily based on an inner algorithm to get a score of three.1 out of 5 stars. I checked out TunnelBear VPN each by itself and in relation to different VPN options in the marketplace at this time.
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