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The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
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Unlimited devices with paid subscription
Strict no-logs policy
Minimal local IP data leaks
All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
TunnelBear is more than a service with cute theming, it's proven to be an approachable VPN for beginners. Its intuitive map view and fastest location option are great for set and forget usage and it had no data leaks so you can feel secure while browsing.
Its speed test results are lackluster compared to some of the best VPNs we've reviewed, but its a solid performer. It also has a strict no-logs policy, but its headquarters in Canada could be a deal breaker for privacy-focused users.
Continue reading to learn about our experience with TunnelBear.
| Price | $3.33-$9.99/mo |
| Free version | Yes |
| Max # of connected devices | Unlimited (with paid subscription) |
| Number of servers | 8,000+ servers in 47 countries |
| VPN protocol | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 |
| No-logs policy | No logs |
| Headquarters | Canada |
| Netflix access | Yes |
| Learn more | Get TunnelBear |
We complete standardized hands-on tests for each VPN we review so we can put their claims to the test. This includes vigorous third-party testing by comparing our internet speed while connected to different servers, checking for DNS leaks, making sure the kill switch actually works, and more. We also make sure we can comfortably access popular streaming sites, like Netflix, and still do our day-to-day work without interruption.
Once we’ve completed the testing, our editorial rating is calculated by taking into account key features you’d expect from a good product. We score each VPN in the following categories and use a weighted average to calculate the final rating out of 5 stars: price, server count, speed, security, and features.
To learn more about how we test, check out our full VPN methodology here.
We last tested TunnelBear on March 26, 2025.
Unlimited devices with paid subscription
Strict no-logs policy
Minimal local IP data leaks
Our experience testing TunnelBear was overall positive. It was easy to install, easy to use, and did what it promised — secured our internet connection without leaking our data.
From the beginning, TunnelBear puts the "bear" theme in everything it does, from the payment page to the tutorial. The software you download is also referred to as your "Bear," as if you were downloading a virtual pet. This was honestly adorable — but made it very difficult for us to cancel our subscription.
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The bright side is it was pretty easy to find how to cancel our subscription, which is something that can be a total goose chase with other software. This is a big plus for people who hate auto-renewing subscriptions.
Once you get the software downloaded, connecting to a server was easy. You actually had three options:
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We were disappointed that our fastest server option still dropped our speeds by almost 25%. However, we didn't feel that TunnelBear noticeably impacted our internet usage.
Once connected, TunnelBear gives you a desktop notification so you can easily see when the connection was successful. They put a hat on the bear depending on which country you're connected to, which is a fun touch.
All the settings were easy to find, located by just clicking the cog icon on the left-hand menu. Everything there was neatly displayed and well explained.
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So after completing all necessary testing with our "Bear," we were left feeling satisfied. Everything worked as intended for the most part, with no major hiccups getting in the way of enjoying our browsing.
TunnelBear is a strongly encrypted and protected VPN option for those wanting privacy while browsing online regularly. It can also be a great option for those who are often traveling or utilizing public Wi-Fi.
This VPN can also stretch across a multitude of operating systems to provide more internet protection for you and your family. We found that this VPN provides minimal data leaks from local devices and internet protocol (IP) information, and it offers unlimited connected devices with a paid subscription.
The only real disadvantage to TunnelBear VPN is that it is slow to switch servers and can reduce internet speeds for your household.
TunnelBear's prices range from $3.33-$9.99/mo. It has a free plan, but you can also purchase the premium plan for one month, one year, or three years.
For the best cost savings for this VPN provider, we recommend purchasing a three-year plan for $3.33/mo (billed every three years), which comes out to a $120.00 bill every three years.
| Plan | Best Value 3 years |
1 year | 1 month |
| Unlimited | $3.33/mo (billed every three years) | $3.33/mo (billed annually) | $9.99/mo |
In comparison to other VPNs, TunnelBear's paid subscription choices are around the same price as longer subscriptions from other notable VPN vendors. Surfshark starts at $2.19/mo (billed every two years) while NordVPN starts at $3.09/mo (billed every two years).
However, where this VPN is pricier is in the month-to-month option for users. For this reason, we recommend a multi-year plan for greater cost savings and ease of payment options.
TunnelBear's free VPN tier is capped at 2 GB of data per month for all connected devices, which is a lot of data security for no cost. They also have upgraded paid tiers that offer unlimited data and devices.
TunnelBear VPN has also stated on its website that its free VPN plan comes with the same level of encryption that promises no data leaks or logging. However, for those wanting to use their VPN on multiple devices, we recommend purchasing one of their upgraded plans.
See how the two plans compare in the table below.
| Features | Free | Unlimited |
| Server count | 8,000+ servers | 8,000+ servers |
| # of devices | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Device-level encryption | ||
| Unlimited data | No — 2 GB/mo | |
| No-logs policy | ||
| Learn more | View plan | View plan |
TunnelBear only takes credit cards for payment. Users wanting to use other payment sources, such as PayPal and bitcoin, will not be able to do so directly with TunnelBear.
TunnelBear VPN has a lot of notable features for those looking for better browsing security. For starters, users that opt to pay for one of the premium subscriptions are able to protect an unlimited amount of devices with this VPN.
In addition to protecting your data on public Wi-Fi, it can also help you browse the web anonymously without being tracked by websites or advertisers.
You’ll find that TunnelBear VPN has 8,000+ servers within 47 countries, which puts it right in between NordVPN's 7,400+ servers and Surfshark's 3,200+ servers.
During our testing, we did find that larger countries, such as the U.S. and Canada, had more server connections than other countries. There were 12 servers available in the U.S. and three in Canada.
Finding servers and switching between them was easy, with the option to choose a server from a map or from an alphabetical dropdown.
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TunnelBear prides itself on its strict no-logs policy and user anonymity with its VPN. As stated in its user help guide, ”TunnelBear does not keep logs. This means we do not collect any information regarding what you 'bear'owse while connected to our secure and private VPN.”
Additionally, TunnelBear VPN is headquartered in Canada, which means it falls under the protections of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) developed by the European Union (EU), in addition to its privacy policy.
While the GDPR provides a good deal of protection to consumers, it is important to also know that Canada is part of the Five Eyes Alliance. So, TunnelBear could be subjected to internet activity surveying for the purposes of national security efforts.
Many users often choose a VPN with a no-logs policy for privacy from their internet service provider (ISP) regarding their internet usage. If your ISP is able to detect increased browsing activity, it can also cause your internet speeds to throttle.
Being based in Canada can also better protect users in the event of government or law enforcement log requests. While TunnelBear was acquired by McAfee in 2018, the service is still transparent and dedicated to user privacy.
TunnelBear VPN includes a kill switch, called VigilantBear. The goal of this feature is to stop your traffic automatically if you disconnect or if the VPN connection is disrupted. This ensures your device will not revert to the default internet connection.
TunneBear also has the GhostBear feature, which allows your encryption data connection to appear as regular internet data.
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These features allow users to stay protected from issues such as censorship or local data leaks. It can be especially beneficial to prevent data theft if your device isn’t protected on a public Wi-Fi network.
TunnelBear does provide split tunneling, which it calls SplitBear. SplitBear allows you to route some web traffic to your ISP and some through an encrypted VPN tunnel.
This feature helps protect you from potential data leaks, while still accessing sites or applications that require your location or local IP access. That way, you can have greater control over which apps are tunneled through their VPN’s secure and encrypted connection.
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TunnelBear utilizes multiple end-to-end encryption methods. These encryption types include AES-256 along with a secured hash algorithm (SHA) and the Diffie–Hellman (DH) key exchange for optimal encryption that is nearly unbreakable.
This combination is known to be effective and fast without requiring too much computing power. Additionally, AES-256 has been considered a “military-grade” level of encryption among the technology industries.
In collaboration with the AES-256 encryption, TunnelBear’s VPN uses WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 protocols. According to the company, the goal of the AES-256 bit encryption and the multiple protocols is for users across multiple platforms to feel secure while browsing the internet freely.
The provider website breaks down how and which operating systems utilize each VPN protocol by stating, “On Windows and iOS, you’ll use either OpenVPN or IKEv2. For macOS and Android, use OpenVPN.”
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In order to see the best of its ability, we looked at multiple factors while testing the TunnelVPN software. For starters, we wanted to see whether or not using a VPN would throttle internet speeds for users.
We also took the time to research whether or not the claims behind this military-grade encryption were accurate. Therefore, we conducted a DNS leak test and a WebRTC leaks test to see if TunnelBear VPN was true to its claims of no data leakage. We also made sure the kill switch worked as intended.
While many other providers can impact your internet speed when utilizing the VPN software, TunnelBear ultimately passed the speed test. The test was done on laptop running Windows 11 from a physical location in the U.S.
First, we recorded our speed before connecting to TunnelBear. You can find the results in the screenshot below:
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| Test type | No VPN | US to US | US to CA | US to EU | US to AU |
| Download speed | 480.33 Mbps | 364.17 Mbps | 333.08 Mbps | 321.90 Mbps | 290.81 Mbps |
| Upload speed | 590.36 Mbps | 216.19 Mbps | 202.81 Mbps | 85.36 Mbps | 66.28 Mbps |
| Latency (ping) | 15 ms | 12 ms | 44 ms | 118 ms | 188 ms |
| Download speed % difference | N/A | -24.18% | -30.66% | -32.98% | -39.46% |
| Upload speed % difference | N/A | -63.38% | -65.65% | -85.54% | -88.77% |
| Latency % difference | N/A | -20% | +193.33% | +686.66% | +1,153.33% |
Once we connected to a server in Dallas, our download speed reduced by about 25%. We didn't notice any particular slow performance while browsing or streaming on Netflix, at least, but this is more impact than we expected with TunnelBear's fastest server option.
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As we began connecting to servers outside the U.S., our speeds continued to decrease but only gradually. You can typically expect slower speeds if the servers you select are further from your physical location.
Considering the Australia server only dropped our speed by about 39%, its results were solid in our book.
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Many like to watch Netflix on a VPN to stream shows available in other countries. While this practice is not completely against the terms of use for Netflix, in certain countries it is against data privacy laws to use a VPN while watching Netflix.
While connected to TunnelBear servers, we could easily access Netflix's U.S., Canada, and Australia libraries:
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| US to US | US to CA | US to UK | US to AU | |
| Did it work with Netflix? |
But TunnelBear was detected when we tried to access the U.K. There's only one option for the U.K., so we couldn't test if Netflix could work with any other servers.
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TunnelBear has struggled to unblock other libraries, like the Canadian and Australian libraries, in the past so we weren't too surprised.
A Domain Name System (DNS) is often the website address associated with the server IP address. A DNS leak test signifies that the VPN you are using is not using the private DNS servers provided by them.
When there is a DNS leak present within VPN software, this means that the VPN is not fully protecting your information from your ISP DNS queries or from traffic monitoring that may be done on that website.
TunnelBear VPN was found to secure DNS information from leaking while using the VPN. The screenshot below shows the DNS leak test results conducted as having no leaks present.
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Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) enables websites and web applications to capture and simultaneously stream audio and video media together or individually. WebRTC also exchanges arbitrary data between browsers without requiring an intermediary to communicate between the web server and browser effectively.
The goal of testing this WebRTC leak is to see if the VPN can provide a seamless stream of audio and video experience for the user without leaking local IP or device information.
When we tested TunnelBear VPN, it was found to secure WebRTC information from leaking while using the VPN.
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VigilantBear is what TunnelBear calls its kill switch function, which is designed to block internet traffic if the VPN server is disconnected for any reason. This is meant as a safeguard against your real IP address leaking when you're switching servers or if the VPN were to fail entirely.
We tested VigilantBear by running ipleak.net test while switching from a Portugal server to a Spain one. TunnelBear passes this test because our real IP in the U.S. didn't show up during the switch:
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TunnelBear is available on the following platforms:
TunnelBear offers two support options: detailed guides or a form you can fill out to send an email to customer service. They also have an AI chat service, but that's basically just a glorified search engine for their support guides.
While standard, we would rather they included a chat option and/or phone number for more immediate issues.
If you're looking for general information about the product or some of its features, you can search for your questions on the TunnelBear support site. We found their guides to be easy to access and thorough, covering common technical, account management, or billing issues.
When doing the research for this article, we found most of our answers through search on their help page pretty easily. This is not always the case with software, so we were happy with their guides.
In addition to the support pages, they also offer email support for both free and paid users. The support team aims to get back within 48 hours of submission.
To send an email, navigate to the TunnelBear support page by going to Help then clicking Contact support. Once there, you'll be given a series of questions to answer, which will open up a relevant form for you to give more information.
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If you're not 100% satisfied with TunnelBear's offerings, check out three of the best VPNs we've tested:
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| Price | $3.09–$17.99/mo | $2.19–$20.65/mo | $2.19–$12.99/mo |
| Max # of connected devices | 10 | Unlimited | 7 |
| # of servers | 7,400+ servers in 118 countries | 3,200+ servers in 100 countries | Unlisted in 100 countries |
| VPN protocol | NordLynx (WireGuard), OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 | OpenVPN, IKEv2. WireGuard |
| Encryption | AES-256-GCM | AES-256-GCM | AES-256 |
| No-logs policy | |||
| Headquarters | Panama | The Netherlands | Romania |
| Netflix access | |||
| Learn more | Get NordVPN | Get Surfshark | Get CyberGhost |
Yes, TunnelBear VPN is safe and effective to use for those wanting guaranteed data privacy and security.
Yes, TunnelBear offers browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
NordVPN is better than TunnelBear. It has consistently fast speed test results and can reliably unblock Netflix libraries from around the world.
However, TunnelBear offers a free plan and can sometimes be more affordable than Nord.
Overall, TunnelBear VPN is a solid option for VPN beginners. If you want to have tried and tested privacy and security while browsing online freely, then this VPN is great for that.
The free version offers a reliable VPN that gives you all the tools you need to enjoy a safe and secure browsing experience. However, it has limited data capability. For more data and features, including more country-specific servers and greater support for all major platforms and devices, then upgrading to the paid version is worth it.
Compared to other VPN services on the market, the area that TunnelBear VPN is lacking the most is slower connectivity and internet speeds. If you're looking for fast speeds, you can read our comparison guides against top VPN options:
Unlimited devices with paid subscription
Strict no-logs policy
Minimal local IP data leaks
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