Windscribe Review (2026): Free Tier, Pro Price, Incidents

Windscribe is the most generous free VPN we track. It is also one of the cheapest paid ones without a long contract. We verified these prices and limits on 31 October 2026:

• Pro costs $69 a year, which is $5.75 a month, or $9 month to month.
• Pro renews at the same price.
• The free tier gives 10 GB a month on unlimited devices.

Windscribe is also the provider with the most to explain:

• Nobody has audited its no-logs policy.
• Authorities in three countries have seized three of its servers since 2021. One of them had an unencrypted OpenVPN key on the disk.
• It is a Canadian company inside the 5 Eyes alliance.
• The refund window is 7 days.
• Support is a chatbot plus tickets.

This review takes the good and the bad in that order, with the date and source for every number. Our score for Windscribe, shown above, is the sum of them.

Privacy and logging

Windscribe Limited is registered in Ontario and based at 555 Richmond St West in Toronto. Its three founders run it: Yegor Sak, Alex Paguis and Mark Ulicki. It has no outside investors. Its Terms of Use, updated on 5 August 2026, choose Ontario law.

Canada is a 5 Eyes member. The 5 Eyes is an alliance of countries that share intelligence. Our methodology puts Canada in the same tier as the United States, which gets the lowest jurisdiction score we give.

The founders also run Control D, a DNS filtering service. That matters only because it explains why Windscribe’s DNS tooling is unusually developed.

Windscribe does not claim to keep zero logs. It claims “no identifying logs”. Its privacy policy, updated on 30 July 2024, says it stores:

• the total bytes you transferred in the last 30 days
• the date of your last activity, but not the time
• which app versions you have activated

It says it keeps no record of:

• VPN sessions
• your source IP
• the VPN IP you were assigned
• connection timestamps
• DNS queries
• the sites you visited

The time of connection is held only in the server’s memory and discarded when you disconnect. The bandwidth counter exists to enforce the free tier’s 10 GB cap.

Windscribe has published three external audits:

• Leviathan Security Group audited the desktop application code in September 2021 and the Android and iOS apps in March 2022. All issues raised were addressed, and the reports are on Windscribe’s GitHub.
• Packetlabs audited the FreshScribe server stack, Windscribe’s rebuilt VPN infrastructure, in June 2024. The knowledge base says it went “with a very positive outcome”.

None of them examined the logging claim. Those are real audits, and the security dimension credits them. But no auditor has checked Windscribe’s servers to see whether the no-identifying-logs policy is what actually runs. NordVPN, Private Internet Access, Surfshark, ExpressVPN and IPVanish have all had that done.

The privacy dimension gives most of its points to exactly that audit. That is the main reason Windscribe’s privacy score sits where it does in the breakdown above.

The incidents fill some of that gap, both for and against Windscribe. On 24 June 2021, Windscribe’s monitoring reported that two of its OpenVPN servers in Ukraine had gone offline. The hosting provider confirmed that they had been seized, as part of an investigation into activity from twelve months earlier. The disks were not encrypted, and they held an OpenVPN server certificate and its private key.

Windscribe disclosed this on 7 July 2021. It said an attacker holding the key could impersonate a Windscribe server and read tunnel traffic only if four things were all true:

• the attacker could intercept the user’s traffic
• the user was on a legacy DNS resolver
• the attacker could manipulate unencrypted DNS
• the user was not using Windscribe’s own apps

The company’s own words were: “The simple truth is that these safeguards were not in place when the server seizure occurred.”

A certificate authority, or CA, issues the certificates that prove a server is genuine. After the seizure, Windscribe:

• replaced its CA with a new one, using an intermediate CA and server certificates valid for no more than 90 days
• retired the old CA on 20 July 2021
• stopped keeping private keys on disk, as an interim step
• committed to running every server in memory, with no disk at all

Our data layer rates the event medium severity. No user data was shown to be exposed, but a key was. It happened because planned upgrades had been deferred.

On 31 October 2026, the event is more than five years old, so it no longer deducts from the score. But it is the reason RAM-only servers exist at Windscribe.

The second case was a criminal charge in Greece. In June 2023, Windscribe received a letter from the Canadian Department of Justice. It came through the mutual legal assistance treaty process, which countries use to ask each other for evidence. The letter said Greek authorities had charged founder Yegor Sak personally with “illegal access to information system”.

The reason was that an IP address belonging to a Windscribe server in Finland had been used to breach a server in Greece. His name was the only one on the hosting account.

Windscribe had no logs to produce. In its words: “you cannot hand over what you do not have, so off to court I go!” The Greek authorities obtained billing information from the Finnish host instead.

Hearings were postponed from December 2023 to March 2024, and then to April 2025. On 11 April 2025, the case was dismissed. Windscribe published the account on 24 April 2025.

The third case came on 5 February 2026. That day, Windscribe disclosed on X that Dutch authorities had seized one of its Netherlands servers without a warrant. The company says the machine was RAM-only, held a stock Ubuntu installation and contained no logs or user data.

Both of the later incidents are rated low severity. In each case, the authorities got nothing, which is what the 2021 changes were for.

Windscribe publishes a transparency report and a warrant canary, which the transparency dimension rewards. A warrant canary is a regularly updated statement that a company has not received a secret government order.

Payment methods include credit card, PayPal, cryptocurrency, local payment methods and cash. So you can buy without a linked card.

Security features

Windscribe supports three protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2. A protocol is the method a VPN uses to build its encrypted tunnel.

• OpenVPN runs AES-256-GCM with SHA-512 authentication and an RSA-4096 handshake.
• IKEv2 uses AES-256-GCM with ECP384 or ECP521 curves.
• WireGuard uses ChaCha20-Poly1305 with Curve25519.

Every protocol has perfect forward secrecy, which means a stolen key cannot unlock past sessions.

On WireGuard, Windscribe has deployed a hybrid post-quantum handshake, X25519MLKEM768. Post-quantum encryption is designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers. This puts Windscribe in the small group that documents post-quantum protection, with ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Mullvad.

A kill switch blocks your internet if the VPN connection drops. On Windows, macOS and Linux, Windscribe’s kill switch is the Firewall. It is always on and fails closed: if the tunnel drops, nothing leaves the machine.

On Android and iOS, there is no in-app firewall. Windscribe points to the operating system’s Always-On VPN setting, which it says has the same effect. That is a weaker guarantee on mobile than PIA or NordVPN give. So test it with our VPN check tool after installing.

Obfuscation disguises VPN traffic so that networks that block VPNs find it harder to spot. Windscribe offers it in two protocols. Stealth wraps OpenVPN in TLS, and WStunnel wraps OpenVPN in WebSocket frames on port 443.

Double Hop sends traffic through two servers. It is available, but it needs the desktop app and the browser extension working together. Split tunneling lets you choose which apps skip the VPN. It works on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, not on iOS.

Windscribe deliberately does not sell dedicated IPs. Its reason is that an IP used by one person identifies that person. Instead, it sells static IPs, each shared by a handful of users. They cost $24 a year for a datacenter IP or $96 a year for a residential one.

Port forwarding lets other devices reach yours through the VPN. At Windscribe, it requires a static IP and allows up to 10 ports per device. The llm-info page also lists ephemeral, or temporary, port forwarding. That is why Windscribe is worth a look on our torrenting shortlist.

R.O.B.E.R.T. is a server-side DNS blocker for ads, trackers, malware and other categories. Free accounts get only the malware and ads lists. IPv6 is routed through the tunnel rather than blocked, and Windscribe runs its own DNS resolvers with leak protection.

Windscribe publishes no server count. On 17 October 2025, its knowledge base said the number fluctuates, with “hundreds of servers” and thousands of IP addresses. Windscribe’s pages give different figures:

• The features page and homepage say 69+ countries and 135+ cities.
• The knowledge base says 69 countries, of which 10 are free.
• The server-list page says “over 85 countries” and “190+ locations”.

Windscribe does not reconcile the figures, and neither can we. So our data uses 69 and 135.

Windscribe describes its servers as bare-metal, RAM-only machines, physically located where listed. Bare-metal means a whole physical machine rather than a virtual one. The exceptions are three self-declared virtual locations, named Fake Antarctica, Fake India and Fake Russia. Most providers say less about their virtual servers.

Apps and usability

The download page lists:

• Windows, macOS and Linux
• Android and iPhone
• Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge
• Fire TV and Apple TV
• Huawei devices
• routers, through a knowledge-base guide
• an F-Droid build, for the open-source Android app store

Android TV is listed on the llm-info page. Every plan, including the free one, allows unlimited simultaneous connections.

The desktop and mobile client code is published at github.com/Windscribe, so we record the clients as partly open source. There is no Smart DNS product. The “Flexible DNS” feature is a DNS setting, not a streaming tool.

Windscribe’s own pages claim these streaming services:

• Netflix US
• Hulu, with New York and Miami servers recommended
• BBC iPlayer, on London and Manchester servers
• the Disney+ US library
• HBO Max

They hedge on Prime Video, which “can work with a VPN, but not every VPN is consistent”. They also hedge on DAZN, where “consistent access can’t be guaranteed”. They name Peacock and Paramount+ only in lists.

We record all of these as Windscribe’s documented claims, because we have not yet tested streaming access. Speed is not yet tested in our lab either. That is why speed is left out of the score.

We have not published usability notes or screenshots yet. Those will come with the lab described on the how we test page. The feature matrix above reflects Windscribe’s official pages on 31 October 2026.

Support

There is no human live chat. Garry, a chatbot, is available 24/7 and can open a ticket. Windscribe aims to reply to an initial ticket within 24 hours. It says it handles 300 to 500 requests a day and prioritizes paid users, so free users may wait longer.

The knowledge base is large and unusually candid. The llm-info page is a plain-text summary of the whole service, written for machines. We have not measured response times. So the support score reflects the absence of live chat rather than the quality of the answers.

Plans, free tier and refunds

On 31 October 2026, Pro cost $9 billed monthly or $69 billed every 12 months, which is $5.75 a month. Both renew automatically at the same price. There was no introductory discount or promotion on the upgrade page that day. So Windscribe is one of the few providers whose advertised price is the price you keep paying.

Our Windscribe pricing page keeps the history.

Build a Plan is the alternative for people who need one or two countries. It costs $1 per location per month, with a $3 minimum and up to 7 locations. Each location adds 10 GB to the monthly allowance. The llm-info page describes an optional unlimited-data add-on.

Static IPs are an annual extra, at $24 for a datacenter IP or $96 for a residential one. Like Pro, they renew at the listed price.

The free tier is the reason most people arrive here. With a confirmed email, you get 10 GB a month, or 2 GB without one. The free tier also includes:

• servers in 10 of the 69 countries, from a shared free pool
• no throttling
• unlimited devices
• 5 GB more a month for posting about Windscribe on X
• 1 GB for each referral

On the free plan, R.O.B.E.R.T. is limited to the malware and ads lists. There is no time limit and no card required, so in practice the free tier works as a trial.

The refund policy is the strictest among the providers we track:

• You can request a refund within 7 days of the initial purchase. The Terms of Use say 7 business days.
• You must have used less than 10 GB on the paid plan.
• Renewals are never refundable.
• Windscribe asks you to troubleshoot with support first.

NordVPN, PIA and IPVanish give 30 days. Next to them, Windscribe’s window is a real drawback if you want to test streaming or speed before committing to a year. The practical answer is to use the free tier as the trial, and only then pay.

Who it is for and who should skip it

Windscribe suits:

• people who want a free VPN without hidden catches
• technically minded users who like a fail-closed firewall, post-quantum WireGuard and a company that explains things frankly
• households that need unlimited devices
• anyone who prefers a flat $69 a year over a three-year commitment at a price that triples later

Skip it if:

• an audited no-logs policy is your first criterion
• you want a jurisdiction outside the 5 Eyes
• you need live chat
• you want a 30-day refund
• you need a dedicated IP
• you need the kill switch to be an in-app feature on your phone

The ranked reviews page shows where Windscribe sits on the current score. The best VPNs for privacy page explains why the missing no-logs audit keeps it off that list.

Alternatives

Proton VPN has the other free tier worth using, though there is no streaming on the free plan. It has Swiss jurisdiction, open-source apps and a Securitum no-logs audit every year. Proton VPN Plus costs $3.49 a month on a 24-month plan, or $83.76, renewing at $83.88 a year. Our Proton VPN vs Windscribe comparison weighs the two free tiers and the two audit records.

NordVPN is the mainstream choice if you want the no-logs audit Windscribe lacks. It has had six engagements, the latest completed in December 2025. It also has 24/7 live chat and a 30-day refund. It costs $3.49 a month on a 27-month Basic plan, or $94.23, and renews at $139.08 a year. See NordVPN vs Windscribe.

Private Internet Access offers port forwarding without a static IP, unlimited devices, open-source apps and three Deloitte no-logs reviews. It is based in the United States and costs $2.03 a month for 40 months, or $81.20, renewing at $81.20 every three years.

Mullvad is the privacy-first alternative. It has fifteen audits, no email account, a flat €5 a month and WireGuard only, with no free tier and a 14-day refund.

hide.me has a smaller free plan, with 8 locations and 1 device. It is based in Malaysia and had a Securitum no-logs audit in 2024. Its 30-month plan costs $2.33 a month, or $69.99, and renews at the same total. PrivadoVPN also offers a 10 GB free tier, but it has no audits and no transparency report.

How we verified this review

We read every price, plan, free-tier limit, refund term, protocol and feature on this page from Windscribe’s official pages on 31 October 2026:

• the upgrade page
• the features index and feature pages
• the privacy policy
• the knowledge base
• the llm-info summary

The three audits are dated from Windscribe’s knowledge-base article. Where it states only a month, we use the first of the month. The Ukraine seizure and the Greek court case are sourced to Windscribe’s blog posts of 7 July 2021 and 24 April 2025. The Netherlands seizure is sourced to the disclosure Windscribe cites on its no-identifying-logs page.

We have not run speed or streaming tests. So speed is left out of the score, and every streaming entry is labeled a claim. The data record behind this page is public, and the methodology page explains each input to the score.