TunnelBear is a VPN service founded in 2011 and owned by the cybersecurity company McAfee. It's available on multiple platforms and offers servers in 47 countries. It includes obfuscation, a feature that disguises your traffic to make it appear like you're not using a VPN. There are no data limits, and it allows unlimited simultaneous device connections.
TunnelBear also offers a free version that we also tested. See more in the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
TunnelBear is good for torrenting. It allows you to download torrents and doesn't have a data limit. It also protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks and keeps your IP address and DNS queries within its tunnel while you use it. That said, its kill switch doesn't work properly, as it allows some unencrypted traffic to leak past the VPN after reconnecting to the internet, and it doesn't offer any anonymity-preserving registration or payment options, potentially exposing your personal information in the event of a data breach.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Proper TLS and BGP implementation protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic after a loss of internet.
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No anonymous registration or payment options.
TunnelBear has acceptable security. It keeps your IP address and DNS queries encrypted while you're connected to it. It also offers remarkable protection against man-in-the-middle attacks as it has proper TLS and BGP implementation. Unfortunately, its kill switch doesn't work as intended, as it leaks some unencrypted traffic after reconnecting to the internet. This is a concern if you need all your traffic to be encrypted after your internet drops out or upon connecting to a new network.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Proper TLS and BGP implementation protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic after a loss of internet.
TunnelBear has mediocre download speeds, upload speeds, and latency. It's suitable for everyday use, but don't expect to download large files quickly. Its latency is also somewhat inconsistent, potentially causing lag spikes in online games or video calls.
Changelog
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
TunnelBear has a free tier, a tier for teams, and a paid unlimited tier, which we bought and tested in this review. We also tested TunnelBear Free separately.
| Plan | Linux Support | City Selection | Data Limit | Admin Tools & Centralized Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | No | No | 2GB per month | No |
| Unlimited | Yes* | Yes | Unlimited | No |
| Teams | Yes* | Yes | Unlimited | Yes |
*You can only manually configure the VPN on Linux. See the Platform Support section for more details.
Compared To Other VPNs
TunnelBear is comparable to most VPN services if you want to download torrents and bypass geo-restrictions. It has acceptable security but fails the kill switch test like most other VPNs we've tested. That could be an issue if you're concerned with keeping your traffic protected at all times, like after reconnecting to the internet. That said, it doesn't offer many additional features like multi-hop or the ability to connect using the Tor network, which other VPNs like NordVPN or Proton VPN have. It doesn't limit how many devices you can connect with simultaneously, which is a bonus if you have a lot of devices.
While TunnelBear has a decent reputation for privacy overall, thanks to its frequent third-party audits, it's owned by McAfee, a cybersecurity company that's been subject to various scandals over the years. Still, it's important to know that we can't verify privacy claims about any VPN. Check out our article about VPN privacy for more details.
To see which services we recommend, check out our article on the best VPNs.
Test Results
You can only pay using a credit card.
The kill switch doesn't work as intended, as network traffic leaks outside the VPN tunnel after a reboot and after a software crash. This can be problematic if you're concerned with keeping your traffic encrypted at all times, like if your system freezes and you have to restart it.
Unlike almost every other VPN service, TunnelBear implements BGP properly. While BGP implementation mostly concerns high-level internet routing, it's an extra layer of security for very specific and targeted attacks.
This VPN delivers speeds suitable for normal browsing and internet use, but it isn't the fastest for downloading large files.
This VPN delivers passable upload speeds that are fairly consistent and suitable for everyday use. However, uploading large files takes some time.
This VPN has somewhat inconsistent latency that's okay at times but with occasional spikes that can disrupt online games or video calls.
While TunnelBear doesn't have a dedicated Linux app, you can configure OpenVPN manually on Ubuntu and other distributions.
There are also mobile apps available for iOS and Android, as well as browser extensions.
While you can't split tunnel based on IP address, you can based on URL.
While you can set up an OpenVPN connection headlessly, the configurations that TunnelBear provides on its website are inconsistent and sometimes require you to manually alter the configuration files depending on the server you want to connect to.