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87/100Overall score
- Jurisdiction
- Canada (five eyes)
- Founded
- 2016
- Owner
- Windscribe Limited
- Best price
- $5.75/mo
- Devices
- unlimited
- Free tier
- Yes
Privacy69
Security100
Transparency100
Value60
Ethics100
Best for
- · Free-tier users
- · Tinkerers (Build-a-Plan, custom configs)
- · Open-source advocates on a budget
Not ideal for
- · Those needing a privacy-friendly jurisdiction (Canada is 5 Eyes)
- · Anyone wanting a long refund window
Strengths
- ✓Genuine free tier (10GB/mo with email)
- ✓Fully open-source apps on GitHub
- ✓Independently audited VPN stack (Packetlabs 2024)
- ✓Flexible 'Build a Plan' pricing and unlimited devices
Weaknesses
- ✗Canada is a core 5 Eyes member
- ✗Only a 3-day refund window
- ✗Retains monthly bandwidth totals to enforce data caps
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
Company & jurisdiction
| Based in | Canada |
| Eyes alliance | 5 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | Windscribe Limited |
| Conglomerate | n/a |
| Founded | 2016 |
Logging
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | Some |
| Bandwidth | Some |
| Source IP address | None kept |
Keeps no IP or traffic logs; retains total monthly bandwidth (to enforce data caps) and a timestamp of last activity.
Payment & anonymity
| Anonymous signup | Yes |
| Accepts cash | No |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Unknown |
Protocols & features
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | n/a |
| Multi-hop | Unknown |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Unknown |
| Port forwarding | Unknown |
| P2P / torrenting | Unknown |
| IPv6 | Unknown |
Encryption
| Data cipher | ChaCha20 / AES-256 |
| Handshake | Curve25519 / RSA-4096 |
Transparency
| Open-source clients | Yes, all apps |
| Independent audits | 3 |
| Transparency report | Yes |
| Court / seizure-tested | Unknown |
Infrastructure
| Simultaneous devices | Unlimited |
| Countries | 69 |
| Servers | n/a |
| Linux support | GUI app |
Pricing
| Month-to-month | $9.00 |
| Best $/mo | $5.75 |
| On plan | annual (Pro) |
| Free trial | n/a |
| Refund window | 3 days |
| Free tier | Yes |
Ethics
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | No overclaiming |
Independent audits
- Packetlabs· 2024 · FreshScribe VPN stack
- Leviathan Security· 2022 · Android + iOS apps
- Leviathan Security· 2021 · desktop app
A 2021 incident saw two servers seized in Ukraine; Windscribe responded by hardening server security and rolling out its FreshScribe stack.
Sources
- Windscribe, no identifying logs (official) ↗
- BleepingComputer, Windscribe review (audits) ↗
- Windscribe (official) ↗
Last verified 2026-06-17. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.