Hola Free VPN Review

Launched in 2012, Hola VPN is a popular freemium application that provides a VPN service for quickly bypassing website blocks.

Does Hola VPN Have A Time Limit?

Many VPN service provider companies have time limits. This is useful to give a VPN a little break to work properly. After the break, the virtual private network starts very fast as compared to the previous. Hola is one of the best, secure, and safe security app which gives access to geo-restricted sites. But people who do not have the Hola VPN and want to purchase, they ask for does Hola VPN has a time limit? In this article, we will discuss each and everything related to the Hola VPN.

Table of Content Show

How long does Hola VPN last?

Hola virtual private network offers a free version also. But the free version of Hola VPN works last only for 3 days. After this, you have to purchase the subscription plan to enjoy access and online privacy service. The premium of the Hola version has 3 Plans in which you can get different offers.

When you connected the Hola virtual private network to your device. Then it works for 3 hours and after this, it takes 1 hour to restart again. You can see how much Hola VPN has a time limit before purchase and at the time of connection. You have a great opportunity to grab a Hola coupon to save huge money for a long last subscription.

Whether you surf online on google or bing, you should have to use a VPN. For bing users or publishers can use the Bing Ads Credit for bing marketing.

How long can you use Hola VPN?

Now enjoy privacy free of cost for 3 days by the Hola VPN company. Hola VPN comes with the Monthly, 1-Year, or 3-Year Plan. After the Plan gets finished, you have to purchase the new plan. So, it means Hola VPN has a time limitation on each plan which is chosen by you. Get amazing discounts on plans offered by the Hola virtual private network.

Hola VPN – Plans, Prices, and Discounts

Hola VPN has 3 plans and users can get different benefits.

Hola charges up to $14.99/Month on the Monthly Plan of the Hola VPN. On 1-Year Plan, this company charges up to $7.69/Month at the purchase of a subscription from Hola company. Invest minimum money up to $2.99/Month while taking of online privacy service.

On Monthly Plan, Hola does not provide any amount of saving to the users. But on the 1-Year, users can grab huge bucks up to 49% with the use of the Hola VPN Redeem Code. Enjoy the best deal to get up to 80% on the application of the Hola VPN Coupon.

Reasons for the Hola VPN time limit?

• The time limit for 3 days free trial helps the users to get satisfied with the privacy policy. After this, Hola VPN users can decide to purchase the premium.
• Continuously connectivity of the Hola VPN reduces the internet speed. So, Hola VPN does not work for 1 hour after the 3 hours of continuous working.
• Sometimes device gets change due to the running of the virtual private network. It is helpful to get a break from the Hola company.

Benefits of Hola VPN time limit

Hola VPN helps to give the break to a device for an hour. It is useful to do the work effectively. This can maintain the work efficiency of the VPN software. This time limit is also helpful to keep the device work properly.

FAQs – About Hola VPN’s time limit

Does Hola VPN have still a time limit?

Yes, Hola VPN has still a time limit in such cases which we have provided to you.

Is it safe to use Hola VPN?

Hola VPN is safe to use and helps you to get access to sites that are banned in your country.

On which Platforms Hola is useful to stream?

Hola VPN users can stream their favorite shows and movies on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Prime Video, and YouTube.

Is it helpful to get a time limit from Hola VPN?

It may 50-50 which means not fully secure or does not have a full drawback. It is helpful to get privacy from such cheapest VPN providers in an effective way. And it is also useful for the device on which you have installed the VPN. The speed of the device gets slow while using VPN. It happens due to the traffic encryption and other software which runs behind the VPN app. The use of VPN also affects the speed of the internet.

But it has limitations because it can lack privacy also. It can be risky because when you doing any important activity o the internet then Hola VPN gets disconnect automatically. This can lead to the leakage of your personal information.

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Hola Free VPN Review

Simon Migliano is a recognized world expert in VPNs. He’s tested hundreds of VPN services and his research has featured on the BBC, The New York Times and more.

Fact-checked by JP Jones Additional Testing by David Hughes

Our Verdict

Overall Rating:
4.07 4.1 / 10
How is this calculated? Close

We calculate the VPN service’s Overall Rating by combining the ratings of several testing categories. Each category is weighted as follows:

• Privacy & Logging Policy: 20%
• Speed: 20%
• Security & Technical Features: 15%
• Streaming: 15%
• Ease of Use: 10%
• Torrenting: 5%
• Server Locations: 5%
• Bypassing Web Censorship: 5%
• Customer Support: 5%

Hola is one of the worst free VPNs we’ve reviewed. It logs all of your online activity, shares your information, and doesn’t encrypt your connection. It is categorically unsafe and we do not recommend downloading or using it if you value your privacy, personal information, or online security.

Ranked #41 out of 55 VPNs

Hola Free VPN Category Ratings

• Streaming

Hola Free VPN Pros & Cons

Pros

• Easy to set up and use
• Unblocks some websites

Cons

• No kill switch or encryption on mobile
• Sells free user bandwidth to premium users
• Monitors and logs your online activity
• Android app removed due to malware
• Doesn’t work on macOS
• Blocks all torrenting clients

Why Trust Our Review?

We’ve spent thousands of hours testing and reviewing 55 VPN services using our impartial review process to recommend you the best VPN software.

Here are some of our key VPN testing statistics:

Total Hours of Testing	30,000+
Weekly Speed Tests	3,000+
VPN Services Reviewed	55
Streaming Platforms Tested Daily	12
IP & DNS Leak Tests Performed	9,500+
How Much We’ve Spent On Testing	$25,000+

Launched in 2012, Hola VPN is a popular freemium application that provides a VPN service for quickly bypassing website blocks.

Hola VPN isn’t safe or secure to use. It’s a peer-to-peer network that shares your idle bandwidth with other users, allowing unauthorized activity to take place on your network and compromising your privacy and security in the process.

In this updated Hola VPN review, we’ve put all of its software through our stringent testing process. We’ll explain in detail all the privacy and security risks you’ll incur by using this unsafe VPN service.

You can see a summary of Hola VPN’s key specifications in the table below, or you can compare Hola VPN to alternative VPNs later in the review.

Why You Shouldn’t Use Hola VPN

Hola VPN is a dangerous VPN with a history of malware and data theft. By installing Hola VPN onto your device, you are allowing your own IP address to be used by millions of other Hola users.

Below, we’ve outlined Hola VPN’s safety risks for various VPN use cases:

Avoid Hola VPN if:

• You want to remain anonymous online. Hola VPN won’t encrypt your internet traffic and it often fails to assign a new IP address.
• You want to avoid getting malware. Hola VPN has a history of software vulnerabilities that allow malware onto user devices.
• You want to torrent. Torrenting isn’t permitted on any of Hola’s servers. Even if it were, Hola logs far too much of your data and leaks IP addresses.
• You want to unblock websites. Although it works for US Netflix and Hulu, there are far safer free VPN services for streaming.

EXPERT ADVICE: If you’re considering using a VPN, we strongly recommend avoiding Hola VPN and using a fast, secure, and private VPN service instead. Our top recommendation is ExpressVPN, which doesn’t log your internet activity, unblocks 10 Netflix regions, and fully encrypts your data. You can use ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days.

Hola Free VPN Key Data

Add to compare

Data Cap	Unlimited
Download Speed	93Mbps
Logging Policy	Intrusive Logging
Data Leaks	Yes
Jurisdiction	Israel
Servers	Not disclosed
IP Addresses	Not disclosed
Countries With Servers	41
US Netflix	Yes
Torrenting	No
Simultaneous Connections	Unlimited
Works In China	No
Support	Online Resources & Email Support
Official Website	Hola.org

Privacy & Logging Policy

Hola VPN Is Untrustworthy & Potentially Dangerous

Privacy & Logging Policy Rating
How is this calculated? Close

We analyze and dissect the VPN service’s logging and privacy policy. A VPN should never log and store:

• Your real IP address
• Connection timestamps
• DNS requests

Headquarters outside of 14 Eyes or EU jurisdictions are also preferable.

Hola VPN logs your browsing activity and originating IP address, along with dozens of other data types. It openly shares user information with third parties, and has also been caught stealing user bandwidth in the past. Using this VPN service presents a serious risk to your privacy.

Ranked #45 out of 55 VPNs for Privacy & Logging Policy

Here’s a summary of all the data Hola VPN logs:

Data Type	Logged by Hola Free VPN
Browsing Activity	Yes
Device Information	Yes
DNS Queries	Yes
Individual Bandwidth Usage	Yes
Individual Connection Timestamps	Yes
ISP	No
Number of Simultaneous Connections	No
Originating IP Address	Yes
Account Information	Yes
VPN Server IP	Yes
VPN Server Location	Yes
Date of Last Connection	Yes

You can read Hola VPN’s full privacy policy on its website.

Hola VPN collects more data than the vast majority of VPNs we’ve reviewed. This includes your IP address and browsing activity, which can be used to easily identify you.

If you subscribe to Hola VPN through a social media account, Hola has access to even more of your personal information. This includes your home address, birth date, profile picture, and any publicly available information on your account.

Hola VPN’s logging policy is one of the worst we’ve seen. Your personal data is at risk every time you use Hola VPN.

Hola VPN Uses Your Personal Bandwidth & IP Address

Despite its name, Hola VPN is actually a peer-to-peer proxy service that uses peer-to-peer caching for quick access to blocked content.

To bypass geo-blocked websites, Hola VPN routes your internet traffic through other users’ IP addresses in non-blocked regions.

Each user functions as a ‘peer’ or ‘node’, in a similar way to how the Tor network works.

At the same time, your own IP address can be used by other Hola VPN users for whatever they wish. This includes accessing unlawful content, which would be tied to your online identity.

Hola VPN openly admits to using your IP address and bandwidth.

Free users also share their ‘idle resources’ (WiFi and cellular data) with the network, to save Hola VPN money.

This allows Hola VPN to sell your bandwidth to other users.

Troubling Ownership & Privacy-Unfriendly Jurisdiction

Hola VPN was founded by Ofer Vilenski and Derry Shribman under the company name Hola Networks Limited.

Hola Networks Limited provides a free consumer ‘VPN’ service, as well as a premium subscription and corporate service called Luminati.

Luminati uses free users’ bandwidth, which is charged per gigabyte, without reimbursing the free user. This practice has sparked criticism among cybersecurity professionals.

Hola VPN is based in Israel, which isn’t an official member of the Five Eyes (or Nine or 14 Eyes) intelligence-sharing alliance, but it collaborates with it.

Coupled with Hola VPN’s intrusive logging practices, it’s highly likely that Hola VPN will hand over user data if requested.

In fact its privacy policy seems to confirm this, stating that it will “comply with law, regulation, subpoena or court order.” It will also hand over your personal information if it has “good reason to believe that it is necessary to.”

Speed

Fast Speeds at the Expense of Privacy & Security

Speed Rating
How is this calculated? Close

We calculate the VPN’s speed rating using our download speeds, upload speeds, and ping (latency) measurements.

We regularly test the VPN’s local and international speeds using a dedicated 100Mbps internet connection in New York, USA.

In our tests, Hola VPN delivered surprisingly fast speeds on local connections. However, this is because it operates as an insecure proxy, not a full VPN. Its international speeds were slower partly due to the varying availability of other peers.

Ranked #31 out of 55 VPNs for Speed

To evaluate Hola VPN’s speed performance, we tested the speed of the connection between our location and other Hola users around the world.

You can use the table below to see a breakdown of Hola VPN’s speed test results:

We saw average download speeds decrease from 100Mbps to 93Mbps when connecting to a peer in the same region as us.

This is a speed loss of just 7%, which is very fast, especially for a free service.

Hola VPN’s fast speeds are partly due to its outdated and insecure protocols.

However, Hola uses a peer-to-peer network with limited encryption. This results in faster speeds than some VPN services with stronger security, but considerably more risk.

Plus, the node you’re connecting to can also affect your connection speeds. If the peer you route your traffic through has poor internet speeds, yours may suffer too.

Inconsistent over Longer-Distances

On far-away connections, Hola VPN’s download speeds decrease slightly. We registered an average download speed loss of 12% connecting to Germany and 19% connecting to Japan.

These are great results for a free VPN but compare poorly against paid services.

Hola VPN’s upload speeds decline substantially on international connections. We experienced an average upload speed loss of 90% connecting to the US West Coast and 69% connecting to Australia.

The discrepancy between Hola VPN’s download and upload speeds demonstrates the inconsistencies of a peer-to-peer network.

As such, it’s likely your speeds will fluctuate if you connect to a peer outside of your local region.

We recommend referring to our list of the fastest VPNs for a complete breakdown of the quickest and safest VPNs available.

Server Locations

Locations Vary Based on Peers

Server Locations Rating
How is this calculated? Close

The key factor for calculating this rating is the global spread and coverage of the VPN’s server network.

We also consider the total number of servers, the number of city-level servers, and the number of IP addresses available.

Hola VPN displays 41 server locations in its free apps, but the actual number varies depending on the peers available at the time. Connecting to a location without a peer leaks your IP address, putting your online privacy at risk. We’d like to see Hola implement a full VPN server network in the future.

Ranked #44 out of 55 VPNs for Server Locations

41 Countries
41 Cities
Not Disclosed IP Addresses

Hola VPN claims you can connect to servers in these regions:

Continent	Number of Countries
Europe	24
Asia	8
South America	4
North America	3
Africa	0
Oceania	2

Hola VPN Free does not have a conventional server network like other VPNs. Instead, it uses a peer-to-peer network to reroute your internet traffic, meaning there are no fixed number of locations you can connect to.

Every time you tell the app to connect, you are being given another real user’s IP address.

Despite this, Hola VPN will not communicate when a location is unavailable due to a lack of online peers.

As a result, our real IP address frequently leaked as we ‘connected’ to non-existent servers. The app continued to indicate that we were connected to a country, despite our IP address remaining unchanged.

Hola VPN displays a server list in its app but it’s made up of other peers.

We’d like to see Hola VPN introduce a proper VPN server network on its free plan or, at the very least, block your connection when no peers are available in a location.

Streaming

Bypassing Geo-Blocks, but at The Cost of Your Privacy & Security

Streaming Rating
How is this calculated? Close

This rating is calculated by how many different streaming services and regional content libraries the VPN can unblock, and how consistently it can access them.

We test access to Netflix, Disney+, Max, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and many more platforms on a weekly basis.

To our surprise, Hola VPN Free unblocked US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and more in our latest streaming tests. However, we found that videos were often slow to load, buffer frequently, and were capped at a poor picture quality. It’s simply not worth using Hola VPN for streaming, as there are so many better and more effective free VPNs available.

Ranked #25 out of 55 VPNs for Streaming

Below is a list of popular streaming platforms that Hola VPN Free works with:

Streaming Platform	Works with Hola Free VPN
All 4	No
Amazon Prime Video	Yes
BBC iPlayer	Yes
Disney+	Yes
HBO Max	No
Hotstar India	No
Hulu	Yes
ITVX	No
Netflix US	Yes
YouTube	Yes

If you want to know if Hola VPN works with a streaming service that’s not listed above, ask us at [email protected] and we’ll test it for you.

In our latest tests, Hola VPN was able to unblock an impressive number of streaming services including US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

Normally this would be an excellent result for a free VPN service, but due to Hola VPN’s unsafe peer-to-peer network, history of malware, and intrusive logging policy, we can’t recommend it for streaming.

The risk to your online privacy, safety, and security is not worth installing Hola VPN for watching geo-restricted content (or anything at all).

Moreover, the nature of Hola VPN as a peer-to-peer service means we can’t guarantee Hola VPN will work for you, or if it will continue to work in our tests.

It’s also worth noting that Hola VPN failed to unblock a single streaming platform in our previous testing.

It’s much easier, and safer, to sign up to a premium VPN service for streaming. We’d recommend using ExpressVPN for uninterrupted 4K streaming, its bespoke Smart DNS tool, and access to every major streaming service.

If you want a free alternative, we recommend downloading Windscribe Free. It can reliably unblock 6 international Netflix libraries, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer.

Unblocks US Netflix, but Poor Video Quality

During our testing, Hola VPN was able to access US Netflix. However, the video loaded in poor quality and remained at that level throughout testing.

We also experienced constant buffering for a 25 minute video.

Hola VPN worked with US Netflix, but the video quality was poor.

Slow Load Times Unblocking Hulu

We were also able to access Hulu with Hola VPN but we experienced extensive loading times. The main Hulu webpage loaded incomplete, with several missing images and floating text.

It took several minutes for our Hulu video to load while connected to a US Hola server.

If watching Hulu is a priority for you, we recommend using ExpressVPN. It’s 16 US city VPN servers, fast connection speeds, secure encryption makes it the best VPN for bypassing Hulu blocks.

Struggles to Unblock HBO Max

Using Hola VPN, we couldn’t get past the login page for HBO Max.

All of Hola VPN’s US servers failed to unblock HBO Max.

We suspect that Hola assigned us a peer in a region where HBO Max is blocked, preventing us from accessing the streaming site.

This demonstrates the issue with using Hola VPN for streaming. Aside from its privacy and security risks, you can’t guarantee the IP address you’re assigned will actually be registered to the location you’ve chosen.

Torrenting

Hola VPN Blocks All BitTorrent Traffic

Torrenting Rating
How is this calculated? Close

This rating is determined by the VPN’s torrenting speeds, the percentage of servers that allow P2P file sharing, the service’s privacy and trustworthiness, and useful settings like port forwarding.

For speed specifically, we calculate the VPN’s average download bitrate using our bespoke torrenting setup.

Hola VPN blocks all BitTorrent traffic. Even if it didn’t, Hola lacks the necessary security features to properly anonymize your torrenting traffic.

Ranked #48 out of 55 VPNs for Torrenting

Here’s a summary of how Hola VPN performed in our latest torrenting tests:

Torrenting Attribute	Result
Average Download Bitrate	N/A
No. of P2P Servers	N/A
Logging Policy	Intrusive Logging
Kill Switch	Faulty
Port Forwarding	No

On its website’s FAQs, Hola VPN openly states:

“The use of torrent apps on our network is not allowed, and we are blocking torrents traffic.”

As a result, Hola VPN is incompatible with all popular torrent clients, including qBittorent and uTorrent.

Hola VPN crashed our qBittorrent client immediately.

Even if Hola VPN did permit torrenting, we’d recommend avoiding it at all costs.

Hola VPN fails to provide basic privacy and security features — all of which are torrenting essentials. This includes VPN encryption, modern tunneling protocols, and a kill switch.

Using Hola VPN, your real IP address would be visible to everyone while torrenting, including your ISP and law enforcement.

Moreover, Hola VPN logs and stores your web activity. This means any copyrighted content you torrent, even accidentally, can be passed over to the authorities.

If torrenting is a priority for you then consider subscribing to Private Internet Access. It uses secure WireGuard and ChaCha20 encryption to keep your real IP address and web activity hidden.

Bypassing Web Censorship

Hola VPN Won’t Work in China & Other Censored Countries

Bypassing Censorship Rating
How is this calculated? Close

We routinely test if the VPN can bypass strict internet restrictions in China using our remote-access server in Shanghai.

Other important factors we consider include obfuscation technologies and the availability of servers in neighboring countries (for faster connections).

Hola VPN is an awful VPN for bypassing web censorship. It has failed every attempt to connect to our Shanghai test server and lacks any obfuscation tools. Plus, Hola VPN is too unsafe to use in censored countries due to its logging practices and peer-to-peer network infrastructure.

Ranked #52 out of 55 VPNs for Bypassing Web Censorship

We use a real test server in Shanghai to test every VPN’s ability to unblock websites in China. Over the past year, Hola VPN has failed to connect every single time.

In our most recent test, the Hola VPN app won’t even open properly for us — it just shows us this error message:

Hola VPN has never worked during our China testing.

We suspect this is due to Hola VPN using a peer-to-peer network, without any encryption, instead of a true VPN server network.

Additionally, Hola doesn’t support any VPN obfuscation tools to assist in bypassing censorship. Obfuscation can range from specialized servers to stealth protocols, all of which Hola VPN lacks.

Even if Hola VPN could bypass censorship, it is too dangerous to use in a censored country. It logs far too much of your data and fails to encrypt your internet traffic, putting you at risk.

We’d recommend using Astrill VPN for China or other censored regions. It’s secure, safe, and has a 100% success rate in our China tests.

Security & Technical Features

No Encryption or Basic Security Features

Security & Technical Features Rating
How is this calculated? Close

A secure VPN must offer OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols, AES-256 encryption, and a working kill switch.

To calculate this rating, we also factor in additional security settings and features.

Hola VPN lacks the basic security features of a VPN service. Its protocols are outdated, it doesn’t use encryption or a kill switch on mobile, and internet traffic is routed through other users’ devices instead of a secure VPN server. Hola VPN isn’t secure or safe to use, and should be avoided.

Ranked #53 out of 55 VPNs for Security & Technical Features

You can see the limited VPN protocols, encryption ciphers, and extra technical features that Hola Free VPN has in the table below:

Protocols Encryption Security Advanced Features

Protocols	Available in Hola Free VPN
IKEv2/IPSec	Yes
L2TP/IPSec	Yes
OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)	No
PPTP	Yes
WireGuard	No

Encryption	Available in Hola Free VPN
AES-128	No
AES-192	No
AES-256	No
Blowfish	No
ChaCha20	No
Undisclosed	Yes

Security	Available in Hola Free VPN
DNS Leak Blocking	No
First-party DNS	No
IPv6 Leak Blocking	No
Supports TCP Port 443	No
VPN Kill Switch	Yes
WebRTC Leak Blocking	No

Advanced Features	Available in Hola Free VPN
Ad Blocker	Yes
Dedicated IP	No
Double VPN	No
Smart DNS	No
Static IP	No
SOCKS	No
Split Tunneling	No
Tor over VPN Server	No
Tracker Blocker	No

Unsafe Peer-to-Peer Network

Hola Free VPN routes your internet traffic through other users’ devices to spoof your IP address and bypass website blocks.

In turn, other users can use your IP address as they please. This is dangerous as your IP address can be used for criminal activity, which would be tied to your identity and home address.

A website named Adios, Hola!, created by security researchers, states that Hola is “harmful to the internet as a whole, and to its users in particular” and labels it a “poorly secured botnet” with “serious consequences.”

The researchers at Adios, Hola! discovered various vulnerabilities within the Hola VPN architecture, one of which reportedly allowed anyone to execute programs on your computer.

According to the website, Hola fixed some of the vulnerabilities, but others still remain.

An example of this happened in 2015, when 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan claimed that his website had been DDoS attacked by users exploiting the Hola network. This was later confirmed by Hola VPN co-founder Vilenski.

Hola VPN is also vulnerable to IP address leaks and has facilitated data scraping, according to cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.

Hola VPN Lacks Basic Security Features

Hola VPN’s mobile apps use the outdated and insecure PPTP and provide no encryption. Your internet traffic is left unencrypted and encased in an easily hacked tunneling protocol.

Put simply, it’s not safe to use Hola VPN on mobile.

On Windows, Hola VPN defaults to the IKEv2/IPSec protocol, but its website states that the app may switch to PPTP to overcome specific geo-blocks.

We also found a drop-down menu for different encryption ciphers, with AES-256 listed as the default.

We verified this using Wireshark: a packet-sniffing tool. All of our data packets displayed incoherent symbols encased by the IKEv2/IPSec protocol, rendering our browsing activity private.

Hola VPN only encrypts traffic on its PC app.

Although this is an improvement on its mobile apps, the IKEv2/IPSec protocol is closed-source and has known security vulnerabilities.

We’d like to see Hola VPN introduce secure and open-sourced tunneling protocols such as OpenVPN or WireGuard. This would improve trust and ensure that your personal data remains private.

We couldn’t test the macOS app as it blocked our internet access. However, we find it unlikely that it uses proper encryption or tunneling protocols, as we couldn’t locate either within its settings menu.

Faulty Kill Switch With Limited Availability

Only Hola VPN’s Windows app comes equipped with a VPN kill switch. Hola users on mobile and macOS are left unprotected in the event of a VPN disconnection.

We ran the Windows kill switch through our in-house kill switch testing tool and found that it leaked our real IP address, too:

We experienced an IP leak while reconnecting to the internet.

Technical Features We’d Like to See Added

Hola VPN fails to include basic technical features that we expect all VPN services to have. Here’s a summary of the most important ones it’s missing:

• VPN server network to safely and securely route internet traffic, without the need of other users’ IP addresses.
• AES-256 encryption on all apps to protect your data and conceal your online activity.
• Modern VPN protocols such as WireGuard and OpenVPN ensure that your internet traffic is kept secure. They’re fast, open-source, and have no known security issues.
• VPN kill switch to prevent your personal data from leaking in the event of an unexpected VPN disconnection.
• IPv4 & IPv6 Leak protection to guarantee your real IP address remains private.

Device & OS Compatibility

Basic App Compatibility, with a History of Malware

Device Compatibility How is this rated? Close

A high-quality VPN should maintain functional, fully-featured applications and browser extensions for as many platforms and devices as possible.

Our ‘Device & OS Compatibility’ assessment contributes to the Ease of Use rating.

Hola VPN has custom apps for Windows, macOS, and iOS. Its Android app has been removed from the Google Play store due to safety concerns. There’s also browser extensions for Microsoft Edge, Chrome, and Opera — although we don’t recommend installing them.

Apps

Hola VPN can be installed on the following devices:

Hola VPN’s Android app has been removed from the Google Play Store due to claims it contained malware.

Hola VPN has responded by releasing custom apps for Samsung and Huawei, but this still leaves many Android users unaccounted for.

This is unheard of for most VPN services and indicates Hola’s poor level of device compatibility. Even free VPN services usually provide apps for both iOS and Android.

Browser Extensions

You can download the Hola VPN browser extension on these browsers:

1. Chrome
2. Microsoft Edge
3. Firefox
4. Opera

Google removed Hola VPN’s Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store in September 2021 due to concerns about malware.

Although it’s since been reinstated, we advise against installing Hola VPN on Chrome.

Hola’s extensions work at a browser level, so they won’t change the IP address of any traffic linked to apps outside of your web browser and they don’t use encryption.

According to Hola VPN, its browser extensions “operate as a standard VPN service.” This means they aren’t part of the peer-to-peer VPN network, so at the very least your IP address isn’t being used by strangers.

Ease of Use

Simple to Use & Stripped-Back Apps

Ease of Use Rating
How is this calculated? Close

This rating mainly consists of the user-friendliness and intuitiveness of setting up and regularly using the VPN.

We also factor in customization settings, as well as device and OS compatibility (see section above).

Hola VPN uses the same minimalist layout for all of its apps and browser extensions. The absence of any settings, configurations, or advanced features results in easy to use apps, mostly at the cost of your safety and security. The installation and setup process varies by platform and can be confusing on desktop.

Ranked #35 out of 55 VPNs for Ease of Use

It’s easy to get started with Hola VPN on iOS — the entire process took less than two minutes in our testing. Simply download the app from the app store, accept the prompts, and you’re finished.

For Windows and macOS, the process is slightly more complicated. Clicking on the download button installs both an app and a browser extension. We found this initially confusing as it wasn’t clear which software we should be using.

You’ll also be required to verify your email address during the registration process, which is odd for a free VPN.

Below, we’ve outlined our experience of using the Hola VPN apps in more detail:

Desktop & Laptop (Windows & Mac)

Hola VPN’s desktop apps are visually almost identical. They both use a simple white background with a large central power button. It’s easy to use and switching between platforms feels seamless.

There’s no learning curve required to use Hola VPN’s desktop apps.

We particularly liked being able to resize both desktop apps. This was especially useful when we needed to use the VPN on a smaller screen.

The main difference is that the Windows apps come with several additional settings, whereas macOS is limited to a server list and connect button.

On Windows, you can select different encryption ciphers from a drop-down menu and designate apps for its kill switch. By ticking ‘manual server selection’ you can view the percentage server load of individual nodes. This is great for avoiding congested peers and maximizing your connection speeds.

The overall user experience is far worse on macOS. You are made to accept a prompt for “VPN settings change” every time you connect to a new server. We found this frustrating and a significant hindrance.

Hola VPN’s macOS app frequently failed to load web pages. We weren’t given an explanation for this and it prevented us from conducting our full testing process.

Mobile (iOS)

Hola VPN’s iOS app is identical to the macOS app in both function and design.

The app is sleek and well-designed. Its white background is better suited to the dimensions of an iPhone, whereas on desktop it felt too stretched.

Hola VPN’s iOS app is near-identical to its Desktop counterparts.

Similar to macOS, there aren’t any settings or advanced features. This includes a VPN kill switch, encryption, and tunneling protocols.

Hola VPN limits you to one hour of free VPN usage before it asks you to either upgrade to premium or wait one minute. We found this frustrating and our testing process was continually disrupted.

We’re also concerned about the security and privacy risks of the VPN connection suddenly ending after an hour for users who are unaware of the time limit.

We’d like to see Hola VPN follow IPVanish’s iOS app design and introduce mobile-only features. For example, IPVanish supports Siri shortcuts that allow users to quickly start and stop the VPN connection.

Customer Support

Unhelpful FAQs & Email Support

Customer Support Rating
How is this calculated? Close

This rating is based on our assessment of the VPN’s:

• Live chat support
• Email support
• Online resources

Not every VPN offers all these support options, and they often vary in quality and response times.

Hola VPN’s customer support is limited in both quality and availability. Hola’s email support replied infrequently and its responses were often unhelpful. There are also FAQs on Hola’s website which are mostly poorly-written and uninformed.

Ranked #41 out of 55 VPNs for Customer Support

You can reach Hola VPN’s customer support in the following ways:

Customer Support	Available in Hola Free VPN
24/7 Live Chat Support	No
24/7 Email Support	No
Chatbot	No
Live Chat Support	No
Email	Yes
Email Support via Online Form	Yes
Tutorial Videos	No
Online Resources	Yes

Hola VPN’s customer support consists of a ticket system via email and a help center full of FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and setup instructions.

We found the written support varied in quality: its setup guides offer useful information, but its general FAQs function more as a disclaimer for Hola’s unsavory business practices.

All of its guides are littered with typos and awkwardly phrased sentences, making them difficult to read.

It isn’t immediately obvious where the support hub is located on the website, either.

We found the email support team to be initially unhelpful, with most of our queries redirected to the help center. However, continued correspondence led to us getting some useful and informed responses.

This is a massive improvement from our previous experience with Hola VPN, where most of our testing team’s queries were ignored.

To improve further, we’d like to see Hola VPN introduce live chat support to facilitate faster responses and more in-depth correspondence.

The top VPN services, such as NordVPN and CyberGhost, implement 24/7 live chat support for immediate solutions at all times.

The Bottom Line

Is Hola VPN Worth It?

We strongly discourage the use of Hola VPN. Installing Hola VPN onto your device carries the risk of malware infection, criminal use of your real IP address, and personal data leakage.

The service itself logs far too much personal information and readily shares it with legal authorities.

Hola VPN’s fast local speeds and excellent streaming performance is not enough to make this dangerous VPN worth installing.

Hola VPN cannot be trusted and should be avoided at all costs. There are far superior free VPN services that are safe to use and better for privacy, streaming, torrenting, and security.

Alternatives to Hola VPN

Since Hola VPN ranks among the worst services we’ve reviewed, most VPNs are a better alternative.

Windscribe Free is a trusted and secure free VPN that specializes in streaming.

Its logging policy is far less intrusive than Hola VPN’s, it unblocks more streaming platforms, and it allows torrenting on most of its servers.

It’s also available on all major platforms — including Android.

As our highest-rated VPN service, ExpressVPN excels in every department. It has unbreakable encryption, fast connection speeds, and an independently audited logging policy.

ExpressVPN is faster than Hola VPN over short and long-distances, compatible with every device through its router app, and comes equipped with advanced security features.

You can see how Hola VPN compares to its alternatives in the table below: