Hotspot Shield Review
Community-sourced VPN review based on real Reddit & Twitter discussions
Hotspot Shield comes up a lot as a quick, easy VPN that can help on sketchy public Wi‑Fi and get around basic blocks at school or on restricted networks. People like that there’s a free option and tha...
What the Community Says
Hotspot Shield comes up a lot as a quick, easy VPN that can help on sketchy public Wi‑Fi and get around basic blocks at school or on restricted networks. People like that there’s a free option and that it can feel fast when it’s working well, especially for simple stuff like starting a stream or browsing. It’s also commonly recommended on iPhone and Windows as a “just install it and go” kind of pick.
The biggest complaints are about reliability and trust: some run into connection problems and random issues on the free tier, and a few say it can be too slow for everyday use. On Apple devices, it can clash with Apple’s iCloud Private Relay/Cloud Relay, meaning you may have to turn that off to connect. There’s also chatter about the company ownership and jurisdiction, which makes some people hesitant if privacy is your top priority.
Strengths
- Easy to use
- Good for public Wi‑Fi
- Free tier available
- Often feels fast when it connects well
- Works on iPhone and Windows
Weaknesses
- Free tier can be unreliable
- Can be slow at times
- Connection issues and disconnects
- May conflict with Apple iCloud Private Relay/Cloud Relay
- Privacy and ownership concerns
Summary generated 1 week ago from 19 community mentions
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Reviews about "Free Tier"
5 reviews"@sheanetjai @xninetales @manilaluzon Use hotspot shield. You can switch it to singapore for free. Start the beginning of the episode than turn the VPN off so the connection is better than whalla it should work perfectly"
"... my laptop) - Lenovo service bridge (DONT SKIP THIS ONE!) - VPN (free or paid. For free I recommend Hotspot shield, or Proton VPN.) That's pretty much all of the non-special stuff I use on my laptop"
"...ight now? i've been testing a bunch of free VPNs lately (Proton free, Windscribe free, TunnelBear, Hotspot Shield free) and most of them feel too limited for daily use. Either the speeds drop hard on free servers, data caps hit quickly, or..."
"...ly on public Wi-Fi. X-VPN free has been stable enough for that not fast, but no random disconnects. Hotspot Shield free gave me more issues."
"...what to try so ive been trying different free vpns like proton free, windscribe free, tunnelbear, hotspot shield free and honestly most of them kinda suck for daily use… either too slow or too limited. right now im testing X-VPN just t..."