TunnelBear VPN Evaluation 2024: Pricing, Ease of Use & Safety

TunnelBear’s distinctive, bear-themed strategy to its VPN service units it other than the extra technical and standardized implementations of different VPNs. TunnelBear is accessible on Home windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. It presents 5,000+ servers, limitless machine 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 international locations.

How a lot does TunnelBear VPN price?

TunnelBear’s beginning paid plan prices $3.33 monthly through 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.

Apparently, the month-to-month and three-year plans are solely out there to view after you click on the “Get started” button for TunnelBear Limitless subscription choice priced at $3.33. Personally, I hope TunnelBear makes their extra contract choices extra accessible to view or a minimum of have it on the prime of its pricing web page.

When it comes to particular person pricing, TunnelBear’s Limitless subscription is at a reduced price of $3.33 monthly for the one-year plan. Should you go for the TunnelBear Limitless paid plan, this discounted annual price is a steal. Nonetheless, as a result of this can be a sale supply, costs could differ sooner or later.

I might counsel 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 permits you to get a really feel for TunnelBear’s desktop VPN implementation.

For enterprise homeowners, 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 desirous about making an attempt the service don’t have to fret about offering fee data, as you may simply obtain it with no strings connected.

Nonetheless, 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 to check out the VPN for round a day or two earlier than information runs out.

As well as, solely paid customers will be capable to choose city-designated servers on TunnelBear’s community. Free customers are solely in a position to select from out there international locations (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 option to check if the VPN is best for you.

SEE: TunnelBear VPN Free vs Paid: Which Plan Is Proper 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 wish in a VPN. It additionally makes use of AES 256 encryption, features a kill change (VigilantBear), and cut up tunneling (SplitBear).

TunnelBear has a no-logs coverage, which states that it doesn’t acquire any consumer’s looking data, IP addresses, DNS queries, and functions used whereas related to the VPN.

TunnelBear additionally has a formidable monitor report of present process annual unbiased testing. Since 2016, TunnelBear has accomplished seven annual unbiased safety audits. The latest third-party audit was executed in October 2023 by Cure53.

In that 2023 audit, Cure53 discovered a complete of “13 issues this year, with only 7 considered to be of medium risk or higher.” Happily, TunnelBear has stated that “12 out of the 13 identified issues have been fixed or mitigated.” Personally, I give main props to the TunnelBear group for persevering with to have its VPN examined through third-party audits. This reveals a powerful dedication to transparency and is an effective way to construct belief amongst its customers.

On the flip aspect, some individuals could be cautious of TunnelBear being based mostly 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.

Total, TunnelBear’s safety features, 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 take a look at 4 particularly that it is best 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 whenever you join or change to a brand new tunnel, a bear will pop up (Determine B) from contained in the tunnel — therefore the identify, TunnelBear.

Determine B

The bear theme is enjoyable and foregoes the very technical strategy that the majority safety software program often have. If that is your first VPN, this whimsy consumer 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 count on them.

For customers which can be solely beginning to discover VPNs and need 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 data from an admin account; and an auto-join characteristic that robotically enrolls customers with a particular e mail handle.

Determine C

Should you’re a small enterprise eager about getting a VPN on your workflow, TunnelBear Groups presents a handy choice that reduces loads of legwork usually related to organising a VPN for a company or enterprise.

Limitless machine connections

TunnelBear VPN permits for an infinite variety of simultaneous machine connections to 1 subscription. Which means that any mixture of computer systems, smartphones, or browsers could be protected through a TunnelBear server at no extra price.

This can be a significant characteristic on condition that among the prime VPN suppliers solely supply round 5 to eight simultaneous connections with one account. The power to attach an infinite variety of gadgets gives customers with added worth, eliminating the necessity to buy extra connections.

Pace 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 “fastest” server connection choice (Determine D). It was irritating because the VPN was capable of finding the server closest to me — however was nonetheless not in a position to hook up with it reliably.

Determine D

Even after I uninstalled and reinstalled the VPN, the problem remained. After I was capable of join, it took nearly three minutes to take action; and after I disconnected, it was nearly inconceivable to re-establish the connection. What’s bizarre is that after I related to a server farther away from my location, I had no points.

After I was related, 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 related to the VPN.

A day after my horrible expertise with TunnelBear’s quickest server characteristic, the problem appeared to have resolved itself. I used to be in a position to hook up with the server nearest to my location and disconnect/reconnect with none difficulty. The slower speeds, nevertheless, persevered even when the connection bug appeared to have been mounted.

SEE: Tips on 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 check, 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 by means of a public DNS leak software, I bought zero leaks even whereas I used completely different places.

In fact, VPN pace and efficiency will differ relying on components corresponding to your location, your web service supplier, server site visitors, and your machine. Nonetheless, my testing confirmed that TunnelBear could offer you a buggy and slower expertise in comparison with different VPN suppliers out there right this moment.

TunnelBear VPN servers and places

TunnelBear presents round 5,000+ servers from 47 international locations worldwide, placing TunnelBear’s server fleet within the low-to-middle vary towards the competitors. As compared, ExpressVPN presents servers from 105 international locations, whereas Personal Web Entry has servers throughout 91 international locations.

Whereas TunnelBear’s server depend is on the upper finish, I would favor a extra geographically various community. At 47 international locations, TunnelBear has some catching as much as do as different VPNs are providing round 60 to even 100+ international locations of their server unfold. So when you’re particularly in search of 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. Specifically, I imagine TunnelBear ought to supply 24/7 reside chat. As a result of VPNs can have sudden technical points, lots of the prime suppliers supply a service for answering questions and troubleshooting.

Determine E

In the mean time, TunnelBear has an online kind and e mail, on-line guides, and an AI chatbot (Determine F) referred to as RoboCub for buyer help.

Determine F

In equity to TunnelBear, RoboCub was capable of present pretty useful solutions after I requested a number of questions.

SEE: Tips on how to Create an Efficient Cybersecurity Consciousness Program (TechRepublic Premium)

TunnelBear VPN execs

• Newbie-friendly UI.
• Free model.
• Inexpensive 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

Should you’re in search of a VPN with an easy-to-use interface and quick efficiency, ExpressVPN is likely one of the finest choices available on the market. It has robust safety features, servers throughout 105 international locations, and a password supervisor included at no extra price.

To be taught extra, examine our full ExpressVPN assessment.

Proton VPN

Proton VPN is a good decide when you’re in search of a VPN that operates in a privacy-friendly nation. Primarily based in Switzerland, it complies with the nation’s robust privateness legal guidelines that supply a further layer of safety to your information. Proton VPN additionally has a free model with no information cap.

To seek out out extra, examine our full Proton VPN assessment.

Personal Web Entry

Customers who need a large server suite ought to contemplate Personal Web Entry VPN. PIA reportedly has round 10,000 to 35,000 servers throughout 91 counties, making it a wise selection when 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 functions out there right this moment.

To be taught extra, examine our full Personal Web Entry VPN assessment.

Evaluation methodology

My assessment of TunnelBear VPN concerned an in depth evaluation of its safety features, value, and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on expertise with TunnelBear by means of its free Home windows utility, and I supplemented my findings with consumer testimonials and respected opinions.

For obtain and add speeds, I ran TunnelBear by means of 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 value, based mostly on an inner algorithm to get a ranking of three.1 out of 5 stars. I checked out TunnelBear VPN each by itself and in relation to different VPN options available on the market right this moment.