Best Options – Page 12 – Management Library

Name: Best Free Business Banking Accounts
Brand: management
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)

June 24, 2022March 15, 2023

The Best VoIP Apps Available in 2023

Yellow landline phone on a red background

Routing voice calls over the internet is becoming more economical and can provide a whole range of other benefits. Finding the best VoIP app is a tall order, as there are a tremendous number of options to choose from. Check out our list of the best choices to see what’s available.

Looking for a premium service? check out Vonage!

The Best VoIP Apps

8×8 – Best Overall
Nextiva – Best Customer Service
RingCentral – Best for Offices
Dialpad – Best for Business Services
Grasshopper – Best Flat Rate VoIP Provider
Google Voice – Best for Google Users
TextNow – Best Free VoIP App
Viber – Best for International Calling
Zoiper – Best Softphone App

Our Methodology

As we took a look at VoIP app options, we had to consider the financial impact of each service on your business. Beyond that, we took a look at call handling features and the platforms each app is compatible with. Our research also checked on app security, integrations, reliability, and its support structure.

Check out a more detailed explanation of our methodology here.

8×8

$15 to $140/user per month

Caller ID, call forwarding, voicemail transcription

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Medium-sized library of popular apps including Salesforce and Google Workspace

Support docs, phone and chat support

Nextiva

$18.95 to $32.95/user per month

Voicemail transcription, auto attendant, call recording

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

List of available apps including Google Contacts, MS Dynamics, and Salesforce

24/7 email, phone, and chat support

RingCentral

$19.99 to $49.99/user per month

Call recording, conferencing, AI virtual assistant, voicemail

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Google Suite, MS Office, Salesforce, Slack, and more

Help docs, phone and chat support

Dialpad

$15 to $25/user per month

AI-powered call, voicemail transcriptions

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome extension

Google Suite, MS Office, Slack, Salesforce, and more

24/7 phone support w/some plans, help docs, chat support

Grasshopper

$26 to $80 per month

Call forwarding, voicemail, custom greetings, live assistant

Windows, iOS, Android

None

Help articles and videos, limited phone support

Google Voice

$10 to $30/user per month

Voicemail transcription, call forwarding, multi-level auto attendant

Windows, iOS, Android

Google Workspace

24/7 support, desk phone support at higher tiers

TextNow

Free

Voicemail

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

None

Video tutorials, help articles

Viber

Free domestic web calls, $5.99 per month for unlimited international calling to 60 countries

Transfer calls between devices

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

None

Support docs and help request form

Zoiper

One-time cost of $49.95 per license

Call forwarding, auto transfer, call recordings, voicemail

Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android

Outlook, Freshdesk, Salesforce, and everywhere else you store contacts

Help docs, phone and email support

8×8: Best Overall VoIP App

$15 to $140/user per month

★★★★★

4.8

Visit

8×8 Review

With the aim of providing unified communications across an organization, 8×8 offers a full-service VoIP option that can handle conference calls of up to 500 and also group chats. It also includes SMS support for business messages, call handling, and a virtual receptionist. You can bring over your old phone number, but the service offers limited protection from spam calls. Some features have an additional out of pocket cost, and customer service isn’t always available should you need help.

Why we chose it: 8×8’s well-rounded VoIP system can accommodate any size business with its ever-expanding services, voice tools, and call handling options.

Self-service number porting
HD video conferencing for up to 500 participants
SMS support for messages

Some features cost extra
Limited protection from spam calls
Customer service not available 24/7

Price

On the low end, 8×8 has reasonable introductory packages most businesses can afford. As you stack on the features, pricing increases drastically before topping out at $140 per user. This ceiling is a hike compared to RingCentral, capped at $49.

Call Handling

8×8 has a long list of ways to handle calls. On the front end, you can screen incoming calls and forward them to the right people. Both voice and video come through in HD, leaving Nextiva’s low-definition videos in the dust.

Platforms

There aren’t any surprises when it comes to 8×8’s platform accessibility. You can access the service through Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android.

Integrations

8×8 has a middling list of integrations it can connect with. Notable software programs include Salesforce and Google Workspace. This is a huge blessing when compared to TextNow or Viber that lack such capability.

Support

You can access 8×8’s support team through several channels, including phone, chat, and an online form. Each group has limited working hours, so you may find yourself stuck with an issue until the next business day.

Nextiva: Best VoIP App for Customer Service

$18.95 to $32.95/user per month

★★★★★

4.7

Visit

Nextiva Review

Nextiva’s customer support far outshines the competition, offering 24/7 customer service through phone, chat, or email. Easy access to support means faster problem-solving and less downtime. You’ll also have unlimited calling and a customizable attendant to help feed calls to the correct location. Nextiva does hide some of its best features behind higher tiers of service and has no HD video capability.

Why we chose it: Nextiva makes it easy to keep all its features and systems up and running with 24/7 customer service.

24/7 phone, chat, and email customer support
Unlimited calling within the US and Canada
Customizable auto-attendant

Call recording is limited to higher-tier plans
No HD video
No SMS with the lowest tier

Price

Nextiva’s plans start at $18.95 and increase to $32.95 as features improve. This pricing is lower than similar services like RingCentral. Here’s a list of the best cheapest VoIP services out there.

Call Handling

With Nextiva, there’s more than one way to handle a call. An auto attendant can screen calls and forward them to the correct team member. Any missed calls go to voicemail, and you can have those passed on to voicemail or SMS. Some tiers offer call recording, something even 8×8 doesn’t offer.

Platforms

You can access Nextiva from an iPhone, Android, PC, or Mac. Whether in the office or on the road, all of Nextiva’s features are right at your fingertips.

Integrations

Nextiva pairs well with many other business tools, such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and your Google Contact list. This lines up well with 8×8’s list of integrations.

Support

The VoIP service’s award-winning customer service looks bright next to 8×8 and Viber’s limited offerings. You can reach someone at Nextiva 24/7 via email, chat, or phone.

RingCentral: Best VoIP App for Offices

$19.99 to $49.99/user per month

★★★★★

4.7

Visit

RingCentral Review

With unlimited calls through the States and Canada, RingCentral makes for the perfect office phone system. Built-in collaboration tools allow teams to work together on projects without ever missing a beat. Communications sound better than ever with HD audio and video. The complex system can be a bit intimidating for new users, and you’re going to uncover limitations if you stick to the lowest-level plan.

Why we chose it: RingCentral’s comprehensive feature set perfectly complements an office setting for calls and collaboration.

Unlimited calls within the U.S. and Canada
Built-in team messaging and document sharing
HD voice and video

Can be over complicated for first time users
Base plan lacks support
Integrations unavailable at lower tiers

Price

RingCentral has four tiers of service, starting at $14.99/user per month and climbing to $44.99/user on the high end. These price points fit well with the likes of 8×8 and Nextiva, while offering a similar feature set.

Call Handling

You’ll find the usual AI assistant, voicemail, and call recording options with RingCentral, but the software also includes conferencing services at higher tiers for internal staff and clients. 8×8 still one-ups RingCentral, offering video chat at even its lowest tier of service.

Platforms

You won’t find anything special in RingCentral’s platform list. You can download the app for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.

Integrations

RingCentral does integrations well, but only at higher tiers of service. It reaches further than 8×8 though, including industry-specific tools such as Smarsh and Canvas.

Support

Unfortunately, RingCentral fails to offer support for its entry-level tier. You’ll find 24/7 chat and phone support at any price point beyond that, but those unable to afford more features will miss out. This is a huge loss compared to Nextiva, whose award-winning service is available to all who sign up.

Dialpad: Best VoIP App for Business Services

$15 to $25/user per month

★★★★★

4.5

Visit

Dialpad Review

Dialpad lets you replace your existing landline network with crisp, fast VoIP calling. You can even bring your local number with you instead of using a VoIP number, but doing so costs extra. There’s no limit to the number of calls or videos you make, and it’s possible to create ring groups for team dynamics. The service only works in the U.S. or Canada, and its lower-tier lacks phone support and some integrations.

Why we chose it: Dialpad replaces outdated business services and fills in the gaps created by systems you don’t have.

Local number support
Unlimited calls and video
Create ‘ring groups’ for teams

Toll-free and local numbers cost extra
Lower tier has only web and chat support
Service limited to the U.S. or Canada

Price

Dialpad’s $15 tier serves as an okay entry point but misses some helpful integrations and workflow tools. When placed side by side with Nextiva, the latter clearly has more features at a similar cost. The $25 tier adds a lot more to the mix and is where Dialpad really shines.

Call Handling

AI-powered call support is a huge help for reducing call bottlenecks and letting staff focus on more important matters. Any calls slipping through the cracks travel to voicemail, and you can send transcriptions to email or SMS to save time.

Platforms

Dialpad is available on the most popular platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Unlike 8×8 or Nextiva, Dialpad also has a Chrome extension usable on any system.

Integrations

There’s a long list of software Dialpad integrates with to get the most out of your network of apps. Apps sharing information saves time and reduces errors when transferring information around. These integrations are a huge bonus, especially compared to TextNow and Viber, which have none.

Support

You’ll need to purchase the premium tier of service to receive live agent support. Dialpad’s entry-level tier only offers chat or web assistance. This can leave a sour taste in someone’s mouth, as Nextiva has phone support even at the ground level.

Grasshopper: Best Flat Rate VoIP App

$26 to $80 per month

★★★★★

4.4

Visit

Grasshopper Review

Whether you have one user or 100, Grasshopper has a monthly flat-rate plan for you. The system even lets you bring in your old numbers and offers a free 7-day trial to hash things out. Features aren’t as broad as other platforms, and international calling will set you back even more money each month. You’ll want to double-check each plan before purchasing, as some limit the number of users you can include.

Why we chose it: Grasshopper is a solid option for anyone looking to pay a flat rate each month for VoIP service.

Flat rate per month
Free 7-day trial
Number porting

Lacks conferencing and call recording

International calling comes at extra cost
Limited number of users on some subscriptions

Price

Grasshopper introduces a flat-rate payment system regardless of the number of users you have. Plans have user ceilings to contend with, especially when paying $26 per month. If your team is large, $80 per month unlocks an unlimited number of phone extensions to pass around. There’s potential to save money here when Nextiva and 8×8 charge per user.

Call Handling

For a more basic VoIP app, Grasshopper still features call forwarding and voicemail capability. You can upgrade to custom greetings for callers or even hire a live assistant to screen calls for an additional cost.

Platforms

You’ll find apps for Grasshopper on Android, iOS, and Windows machines. Mac users should look to platforms like RingCentral or Nextiva that have software for Apple computers.

Integrations

There aren’t any integration options for Grasshopper, which is quite unfortunate considering everything else it has going for it. Both 8×8 and Nextiva have a long list of integration options.

Support

Grasshopper encourages users to browse help articles and videos for answers before jumping on the phone. However, the service does come with 24/7 phone support should you need it.

Google Voice: Best VoIP App for Google Users

$10 to $30/user per month

★★★★★

4.3

Visit

Google Voice Review

Google Voice gets along well with Google’s other tools, so you can quickly pass information between them. You’ll have unlimited calling and texting in the U.S., but there are limitations on the other countries you can reach. The app doesn’t offer special phone numbers and requires you to stay active to keep it. There should be few spam calls to deal with, as Google’s system weeds those out well.

Why we chose it: Google Voice integrates seamlessly with other Google apps, allowing users to maximize efficiency

Integrates with Google Suite of tools
Unlimited calling and texting in the U.S. and Canada
Good at blocking spam calls

Must stay active to keep phone number
No toll-free or vanity numbers
Limited to only a few countries

Price

Google’s low-end pricing starts at $10 and grows to $30 for its complete feature set. $30 seems a bit high for what Google Voice offers, while Nextiva’s $32.95 gives a lot more.

Call Handling

As with other top VoIP apps, Google Voice can forward calls and transcribe any that reach voicemail. At higher tiers, an auto-attendant gives clients a voice to listen to.

Platforms

Unlike 8×8 and Nextiva, Google Voice doesn’t offer an app for Mac users. It does however feature software for iOS and Android.

Integrations

Google Voice lends itself well to other Google programs you use, such as Meet, Contacts, or Calendar. It doesn’t connect with anything else though, where Nextiva and RingCentral integrate with Salesforce, Microsoft, and more.

Support

Buying into the Standard tier at $20/user enables phone support should you have an issue. Otherwise, you’re limited to slower email support.

TextNow – Best Free VoIP App

Free

★★★★★

4.1

Visit

TextNow is one of the few apps that provides a completely free VoIP phone service mixed with a healthy dose of network coverage. You can call or text through WiFi right out of the gate or pick up a SIM card in TextNow’s $0.99 activation kit. A free service means ads, and TextNow relies on a slower version of T-Mobile’s network. You can tap into additional features like data or voicemail, but expect to pay extra.

Why we chose it: TextNow offers free phone coverage over WiFi or wireless network no matter where you live in the United States.

Can use current phone number or obtain a new one
Unlimited calls and texts
Usable through WiFi or cellular service

Littered with ads
Additional charges for some features
Call quality isn’t the best

Price

It’s hard to beat free, and TextNow certainly delivers. There are fees for using data, but its wireless network and WiFi VoIP calling won’t cost a thing. When companies like 8×8 can reach $140 per user monthly, free feels like a breath of fresh air.

Call Handling

TextNow does have voicemail but little else when handling your calls. You’ll want to look into another service like Nextiva if you want the benefits of an auto-attendant or call forwarding.

Platforms

You’ll have the standard range of platforms to choose from when using TextNow. While built with smartphones in mind, the software also has apps for Windows and Mac.

Integrations

You won’t have any luck trying to integrate TextNow with any of your other business tools. The app stands alone without a way to import contacts or export messages. This comes as a bummer when 8×8 works so smoothly with numerous programs.

Support

TextNow has little in the way of support. As a free service, you’ll have to comb through help articles or watch tutorials to uncover a solution to your problem. This is hard to swallow when Nextiva has award-winning customer service.

Viber: Best VoIP App for International Calling

Price: Free domestic web calls, $5.99 per month for unlimited international calling to 60 countries

4.0

★★★★★

Visit

Business owners making frequent calls overseas will have a field day with Viber. You can move your calls to any device with Viber installed and connect social media accounts to stay in touch with contacts there. The app lacks features like voicemail and call forwarding and has no integrations with other software. If you run into issues, there’s not much in the way of support to help out.

Why we chose it: Viber offers a budget-friendly flat rate for calling to 60 countries around the world.

Unlimited worldwide calls
Connect social media accounts
Move calls to any device w/Viber installed

Missing some features like voicemail and call forwarding
No integrations with other apps
Limited support system

Price

Domestic calls with Viber are totally free through VoIP. Adding Viber Out to your plan for $5.99 per month enables you to make unlimited calls to 60 different countries. Services like 8×8 don’t have the capability to reach this many locations.

Call Handling

All you’re able to do with Viber is transfer calls between devices within your network. You won’t find call forwarding, voicemail, or the auto attendant RingCentral and Nextiva provide.

Platforms

Viber covers the most prominent platforms with apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. You can transfer calls to any of these devices as long as you’ve installed Viber on them.

Integrations

You won’t find any integrations for the Viber app. Compared to 8×8 and Nextiva, which have several, Viber doesn’t run as efficiently in this regard.

Support

Hopefully you won’t run into issues while using Viber, as its support structure is quite limited. You won’t find a way to contact anyone and have to rely on support docs or a cumbersome help request form.

Zoiper: Best Softphone VoIP App

Price: One-time cost of $49.95 per license

3.8

★★★★★

Visit

Zoiper’s softphone technology enables VoIP calling from any Mac or Windows computer, including those running Linux.

Why we chose it: Zoiper links with your favorite VoIP provider to bring all your contacts together in one easy-to-use location. It only takes one payment to unlock a license forever for business use, as the free version is quite limited. The UI is a bit on the outdated side, but the app includes an SDK kit for customization purposes.

Works across all computer devices
One-time payment to unlock the service
SDK kit for customization

Outdated user interface
Limited free version
Requires a separate VoIP service

Price

A one-time fee of $49.95 unlocks one of Zoiper’s business licenses, and you can use the service forever beyond that. Unlike 8×8 or Nextiva, you’ll have to interface Zoiper with your favorite VoIP provider.

Call Handling

Zoiper can forward or auto-transfer calls to the right team member when a client dials in. A voicemail system catches missed calls, and you can record discussions for training or compliance purposes.

Platforms

Zoiper adds Linux to its list of supported platforms, including Windows, Mac, and mobile devices. Apps like Nextiva and RingCentral overlook Linux for more popular options.

Integrations

The VoIP app actively seeks out your contact lists among your software, looking for information it can import into its database. Zoiper’s emphasis is on ease of use, and this definitely shows through here.

Support

There is an option to phone or email a customer support team for help, but hours are somewhat limited to daytime during the week. If you’re savvy enough, you can flip through help docs and solve issues on your own.

Choosing the Best VoIP App

The best VoIP apps can provide an economical way to get state-of-the-art phone services. However, using a VoIP can be a labor-intensive way to save money. There is a long list of potential options and, even setting aside technical concerns, there are a range of different features to choose from.

Whether you’re interested in business or personal use, calling from a desktop or your mobile device, there is an option to match. There are some factors you may want to keep in mind regardless, however.

Reliability

Most VoIP apps include features to keep video and voice calls connected and smooth, even when internet connection speeds drop. To some extent, there’s also a limit to what even the best voice apps can do. However, if you’re relying on your business’s phone system to support a POS system or call center, every little bit may help.

Call Handling

There are a number of features people have come to expect from their phone services. Most voice apps can handle voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, and other standard features. However, if you’re interested in a VoIP app, there are probably additional features that you’re looking for. Common options include:

Making and receiving landline calls
Making and receiving unlimited calls
Call recording
Conference calls and group chat
Business SMS messages
Screen sharing on video calls

It’s also usually possible to make phone calls directly from your desktop or use your VoIP app as an alternative to making calls on your mobile device. Some apps let you switch between a standard and VoIP caller on Android devices and iOS devices. You can even make VoIP calls over a mobile network, without WiFi, though beware of running up hefty data charges.

Security

Security can be a priority, particularly when using VoIP apps to provide a phone system for your business. Most VoIP apps include hefty security as a fundamental part of their internet protocol, over and above what you’d get with a standard phone.

VoIP calling may be a desirable option if security is a concern or you want to keep business communication private. You may want to avoid a softphone app, however, as full-service options may provide more security.

Support

Tracking down bugs can be an important aspect of using new technology like VoIP apps. However, you probably don’t want to spend time tracking down problems just to make voice calls. Support can be vital.

Cross-platform support can be necessary for a business since employees probably use a mix of iOS and Android devices. Video calling support may be more important if you’re trying to stay in touch with distant relatives. Some options may offer more help in certain areas.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Best VoIP Apps

Still not sure which VoIP app is right for you? Maybe we can help.

Which VoIP App Is the Best?

We found that the best VoIP app is 8×8, though that product is focused on providing business services. If you’re interested in voice apps for personal use, Google Voice may be an option depending on your location. From our list of the best VoIP apps, Viber was best for personal phone services.

Which App Is Best for Internet Calling?

The best VoIP app will depend on what you’re looking for in voice apps. Some apps for Android and iOS devices provide extra security features, for example. Other apps will allow you to make a local call from your desktop or forward a call from a person’s actual phone number to their desktop.

What Is the Most Common VoIP Application?

The most common VoIP app may actually be Facebook Messenger since they added voice calls a few years ago. The most popular VoIP apps probably also vary depending on the industry or use.

Can I Use My Mobile Phone as a VoIP Phone?

Many VoIP apps will work with your mobile phone. Some will route calls from your phone number to your VoIP app. If you’re on WiFi, Facebook Messenger can also be used for voice calls to other Messenger users.

What Is the Difference Between a Softphone and VoIP Provider?

A softphone app is sort of like the software version of a telephone. It provides a range of features, but it has to connect to a network to make calls. A VoIP provider is the equivalent of your cellphone network, connecting two callers. Some services provide both the interface and the connection.

Final Thoughts on the Best VoIP Apps

The number of businesses and private individuals moving to VoIP apps for phone calls is only growing. The advantages to be gained, from saving money to fancy features, are undeniable. However, getting phone service isn’t as simple as buying a phone and hooking it up anymore. It’s important to know what you’re getting, whether it’s for your business, your mobile phone, or your home.

June 16, 2022November 23, 2022

10 Best 100% Free VPNs in 2023

Using one of the best 100% free VPNs lets you browse the web safely without spending a single penny. Although you won’t get access to premium features such as Netflix unblocking with a free VPN, you can still protect your data and information. Check out our list of the best 100% free VPNs below.

Best 100% Free VPN

VPNBook – Best Overall 100% Free VPN
Urban VPN – Best for Unlimited Devices
Opera VPN – Best for Browser-based Internet Use
ProtonVPN – Best for Unlimited Data Usage
PrivadoVPN – Best Free VPN for Unlimited Speeds
Windscribe – Best Free VPN for Server Locations
Hide.me – Best Free VPN for Privacy
AtlasVPN – Best Free VPN for Torrenting
ZoogVPN – Best Free VPN for Friend Referral Rewards
Hotspot Shield – Best Free VPN for Daily Internet Usage

VPNBook

Unlimited

11 servers across 7 countries

Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux

None

Urban VPN

Unlimited

Servers in 80 countries

Unlimited

Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Edge

None

Opera VPN

Unlimited

100+ servers in 3 locations

One browser per device

Windows, Android

None

ProtonVPN

Unlimited

Medium Limit

147 servers in 3 countries

Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux

$3.29 to $30.00 per month

PrivadoVPN

10 GB every 30 days

Servers in 12 cities

Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux

$4.99 to $7.99 per month

Windscribe

10 GB per month

Servers in 10 countries

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux

$1.00 to $9.00 per month

Hide.me

10 GB per month

Servers in 5 locations

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux

$2.59 to $9.95 per month

AtlasVPN

10 GB per month

Servers in 3 locations

Unlimited devices

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux

$1.99 to $10.99 per month

ZoogVPN

10 GB per month

Servers in 5 locations

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux

$1.87 to $9.99 per month

Hotspot Shield

500 MB per day

Up to 2 Mbps

Server in 1 location

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android,

$7.99 to $19.99 per month

VPNBook: Best Overall 100% Free VPN

$19.9

★★★★★

Visit

VPNBook is a simple, no-frills VPN based out of Switzerland with its lack of rules on data retention. You can also rest assured that the government isn’t watching your every move, either.

You can use VPNBook on most devices, with setups for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux computers. Smartphone users will find protection for iOS and Android as well. The VPN limits you to five devices per account.

VPNBook’s website can be confusing for anyone who doesn’t consider themselves computer savvy. There are some annoying pop-ups to deal with from time to time, a common side effect of a free service.

The download page has both a client and certificate bundles you’ll need to pick up in order to start using the software. It clearly lays out what each bundle is best for; you just pick the one you need.

There’s no cap on the amount of data you consume while using VPNBook. Whether you’re streaming 100 gigs of data or just browsing the web, VPN has you covered. The platform doesn’t slow down speeds after a certain threshold, either.

Security with VPNBook is top-notch, offering the best encryption techniques you keep you safe. It utilizes AES-256 and AES-128 among other popular protocols, claiming it would take a supercomputer 1000 years to crack.

You’ll only have 11 servers to choose from, which span a handful of European countries, the United States, and Canada. There isn’t a way to access content from Asia or Australia while using BookVPN.

The service is 100% free to use, without any paid option to speak of. You can access all features right out of the gate, but BookVPN does look for donations to purchase additional servers and other features.

Why we chose it: BookVPN’s completely free service incorporates simplicity, fast speeds, and some of the best security features you’ll find anywhere.

Simple setup and use
Unlimited data
Robust security and privacy

Confusing website
No frills service
Small network of servers

Urban VPN: Best for Unlimited Devices

$19.9

★★★★★

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Urban VPN advertises itself as the only 100% FREE, 100% fast & 100% anonymous VPN in the world. There are thousands of servers to pick from in over 80 countries, allowing you to access the content you want or remain anonymous while on the internet.

You can connect an unlimited number of devices through a single account and never have to worry about a slowdown or cutoff. What’s more, there’s no limit to the amount of data you can use while on Urban VPN.

The software is easy to set up, requiring account creation and a download from the website. It’s possible to use Urban VPN through Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android devices. There are special extensions for Firefox, Edge, and Chrome for added protection while browsing.

If Urban VPN has impressive security protocols, it doesn’t share that information. The VPN vows to keep you anonymous and secure but isn’t clear about how it accomplishes that. There’s no record of which encryption the software uses to keep your data safe.

Speeds can drop some when you connect to a VPN close to home, but there’s a considerable drop when you access a far-away server. Downloads can take forever to complete, and you can forget about watching that streaming service from a distant country.

Why we chose it: Urban VPN is one of the few services with an abundance of server locations that you can connect an unlimited number of devices to.

Unlimited devices
Unlimited data
Easy to set up

Far away servers cause a significant speed drop
Unclear security protocols
No tech support team

Opera VPN: Best for Browser-based Internet Use

$19.9

★★★★★

Visit

Opera is a unique VPN that fuses directly with the company’s browser. The VPN is a separate add-on, so even current Opera users will need to download it to stay protected.

Server locations are somewhat vague, and connection to the VPN only tells you that you’re tunneling through somewhere in the Americas, Europe, or Asia. There’s some ambiguity here, and the region you choose isn’t even always the one Opera VPN connects you to.

No matter where your server location ends up, you’ll have an unlimited amount of data to work with without limits or speed caps. Since the VPN works through a browser, it does function a bit differently. It’s possible to browse and download entirely anonymously, as there’s no requirement to sign in.

You will have strong security features when surfing the web through Opera VPN, as the network has AES-256 encryption. This is a massive boon to other free VPNs that don’t offer this level of protection.

Of course, this means you will have to use Opera’s browser to take advantage of the VPN. If you’re not a fan of Opera, the VPN does not work with any other type of software.

Downloading both Opera and the VPN are a breeze, but each one is a separate download. Once installed, the VPN links directly up to the browser so you don’t have to have a bunch of software running in the background.

Another shortcoming is the lack of Apple support. Opera doesn’t run on Mac computers or iOS devices, so those users will have to look elsewhere for protection.

Why we chose it: If you’re streaming or downloading primarily through a browser, Opera VPN packs a punch with robust security features and unlimited data transfer.

Works directly with the Opera browser
Unlimited data
Has AES-256 encryption

No iOS apps
Requires installing the Opera browser
Vague server locations

ProtonVPN: Best for Unlimited Data Usage

Price for paid plan: $3.29 to $30.00 per month

4.8

★★★★★

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ProtonVPN stands out because it’s the only 100% free VPN with no data limits. This means you’re free to use ProtonVPN as long as you want. However, the free version comes with a slight speed limit compared to ProtonVPN’s paid plans. Along with unrestricted data usage, ProtonVPN works with Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, Android TV, Chromebook, Linux, and certain routers.

ProtonVPN’s free plan offers bank-standard AES 256-bit encryption and an automatic kill switch. These are features used in the top paid VPNs, so it’s incredible that ProtonVPN offers them for free. ProtonVPN also uses OpenVPN, which is the safest security protocol in the VPN sector.

While ProtonVPN excels in its security features, you only get access to three free server locations. This can be troublesome if you’re traveling for work or located far away from all of the free servers.

However, the fact remains that ProtonVPN is the best 100% free VPN in 2023. Since ProtonVPN doesn’t have a data limit, you can leave it on all the time. Best of all, there aren’t any advertisements in ProtonVPN’s free plan.

ProtonVPN is also one of the best VPNs for PC because of its outstanding Windows app. The app has a beautiful interface and is very simple to learn and use.

Why we chose it: ProtonVPN is the best 100% free VPN because it offers industry-standard security protocols and unlimited data usage.

Unlimited data allowance
Excellent privacy
Outstanding desktop app

No P2P features
No Secure Core
Torrenting not allowed

Pricing:

When you’re ready to upgrade to a paid plan, ProtonVPN offers three different packages:

Basic: Annual Plan ($4/month), Monthly Plan ($5/month)
Plus: Annual Plan ($8/month), Monthly Plan ($10/month)
Visionary: Annual Plan ($24/month), Monthly Plan ($30/month)

PrivadoVPN: Best for Unlimited Speeds

Price for paid plan: $4.99 to $7.99 per month

4.6

★★★★★

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PrivadoVPN is one of the best 100% free VPNs because it offers unlimited internet speeds. Unlike ProtonVPN, which has a speed cap, PrivadoVPN does not have any speed restrictions on its free plan. There are also many servers to choose from with PrivadoVPN’s free plan, including Chicago, New York, Miami, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Amsterdam, and many more.

PrivadoVPN rivals ProtonVPN as the best 100% free VPN. Although PrivadoVPN offers similar security features to ProtonVPN, it has a data limit of 10 GB per month. If you’re a heavy internet user, you can deplete 10 GB in a single day.

For this reason, PrivadoVPN is the second-best 100% free VPN on today’s list. PrivadoVPN is a capable mobile VPN because of its impressive Android and iOS apps. With PrivadoVPN’s free mobile app, you can quickly secure your smartphone’s internet connection with the touch of a few buttons.

Both the desktop and mobile apps are user-friendly and load quickly. If you want to learn how to use a VPN, PrivadoVPN is the most beginner-friendly free VPN available. On the app’s dashboard, you can sort your server list in a number of unique ways, such as latency and alphabetized. Furthermore, the app explains what the kill switch and auto-connect features do.

Overall, PrivadoVPN is worth a try if you’re interested in great security and privacy features, unlimited speeds, and a moderate server selection.

Why we chose it: PrivadoVPN is the best 100% free VPN for unlimited download and upload speeds. Even if you go over the 10 GB monthly data limit, you can still use PrivadoVPN with 1 Mbps speeds.

10 GB of data per month
Wide server selection
No speed limits

No servers in Africa or Asia
No split tunneling
Support could be improved

Pricing:

PrivadoVPN offers a paid plan, where you can either pay monthly or annually:

1 Month: $7.99 per month
12 Months: $4.99 per month

Windscribe: Best for Server Locations

Price for paid plan: $1.00 to $9.00 per month

4.55

★★★★★

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Windscribe offers a unique free VPN plan because you can complete tasks to upgrade your monthly data limit. When you first join Windscribe, you are given 2 GB of data usage per month. Once you add and confirm your email address, you are automatically upgraded to the 10 GB monthly plan. You can add more GB to your free monthly plan by tweeting and referring friends.

Although Windscribe offers some gentle nudges to entice you to sign up for a paid plan, they aren’t too intrusive or annoying. For this reason, Windscribe’s free VPN plan is the best 100% free VPN for server selection and unlimited simultaneous connections. This means you can sign in to the same Windscribe account on many devices.

Windscribe is unique because its free plan comes with extra features such as malware, tracker, and ad blocking tools. It also includes port forwarding and split-tunneling. These features don’t usually come with free VPN plans, so it’s important to take advantage of them if you need them.

The main difference between Windscribe and the best 100% free VPNs is Windscribe’s inconsistent speeds. While PrivadoVPN offers a stable connection that’s fast, Windscribe’s speeds vary greatly.

Furthermore, users have had success unlocking geo-blocked content from streaming platforms like Netflix with Windscribe’s free plan.

With VPN usage soaring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Windscribe offers an excellent free VPN service for individuals who work at home.

Why we chose it: Windscribe is the best 100% free VPN for server locations because you get access to 10 countries. Furthermore, Windscribe servers are extremely fast, and there isn’t a speed cap on your internet usage. Read our in-depth review on Windscribe to learn more about its features.

10 server locations
10 GB of data per month
No speed limits

No human live chat support
Inconsistent speeds
Starts at 2 GB of data per month without email

Pricing:

Windscribe carries two pricing plans and a custom plan option:

Monthly Plan: $9 per month
Yearly Plan: $4.08 per month
Build a Plan: Inquire for pricing

Hide.me: Best for Privacy

Price for paid plan: $2.59 to $9.95 per month

4.48

★★★★★

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Hide.me is a well-known provider in the growing VPN industry because of its fantastic free and paid subscription options. With Hide.me’s free VPN plan, you get access to servers in 10 different countries. This offers you a chance to connect to a server that’s close to your home, allowing fast internet speeds when you’re using Hide.em.

Hide.me is a highly-secure free VPN with a monthly data cap of 10 GB. It’s one of the fastest free VPNs when you connect to a server in your country. Furthermore, Hide.me allows P2P traffic on most of the free servers. Hide.me offers free servers in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany.

In terms of security protocols, Hide.me offers IKEv2, OpenVPN, and Wireguard. We are also able to unblock some streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ with Hide.me.

As long as you’re connected to a server near your home, you’ll notice consistent download speeds and a stable connection. If you’re confused about what is a VPN, Hide.me is extremely beginner-friendly. The app will guide you through exactly what a VPN is and how to use the program properly.

Why we chose it: Hide.me is the best free VPN for privacy because it offers a clear zero-logs policy. This means Hide.me doesn’t store any information regarding your internet usage.

Strong privacy features
No ads or speed limits
User-friendly custom apps

Limited to one device
Only 5 server locations
Slow long-distance speeds

Pricing:

Hide.me provides three unique pricing plans depending on the length of your subscription:

1 Month: $9.95 per month
1 Year: $4.99 per month
2 Years: $2.59 per month

AtlasVPN: Best for Torrenting

Price for paid plan: $1.99 to $10.99 per month

4.3

★★★★★

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AtlasVPN offers extremely fast download speeds if you’re connected to a nearby server. Furthermore, AtlasVPN allows torrenting and other types of P2P traffic on each of its free servers. This means that you can use AtlasVPN to download large torrent files quickly. However, you only get access to 10 GB of data per month on the free plan.

AtlasVPN is an excellent VPN for torrenting because it allows P2P traffic on every one of its servers. This means you get access to high download speeds when downloading a torrent using AtlasVPN. Since there aren’t any connection speed limits, AtlasVPN offers the best free way to safely download torrent files.

This VPN provider doesn’t slack in the security department either. AtlasVPN uses the same AES-256 military-grade encryption seen on most of the best 100% free VPNs on this list. It also doesn’t collect, store, or sell your data.

Cybercrime is a prevalent problem a free VPN service like AtlasVPN protects you from data breaches and other online vulnerabilities.

Why we chose it: AtlasVPN is the best 100% free VPN for torrenting because it offers P2P support for its free and premium subscription plans.

Good for torrenting
Private logging policy
Fast download speeds

Doesn’t unblock streaming services
Small server selection
No live chat

Pricing:

AtlasVPN carries three unique pricing terms when you’re ready to upgrade:

1 Month: $10.99 per month
1 Year: $3.29 per month
3 Years: $1.99 per month

ZoogVPN: Best Free VPN for Friend Referral Rewards

Price for paid plan: $1.87 to $9.99 per month

4.25

★★★★★

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ZoogVPN offers one of the most unique 100% free VPN plans available because of its referral program. If you refer a friend and they purchase a subscription, you receive 15 days of ZoogVPN’s premium plan for free. Once you reach a certain checkpoint, you receive additional Premium time. For example, three successful referrals grant 55 days of Premium total.

ZoogVPN is a new VPN provider that offers affordable longterm plans as well as a free plan. With ZoogVPN’s free plan, you get access to fast VPN speeds without any ads or data logging. You can also download the VPN right away without providing your credit card information.

The free servers are located in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, and Poland. If you live in one of these countries, ZoogVPN offers an excellent way to get free 10 GB of VPN bandwidth per month.

Why we chose it: ZoogVPN is the best 100% free VPN for friend referral rewards because you can get access to the Premium plan through successful referrals.

Allows torrenting
Offers a VPN killswitch
Ability to receive up to 50 GB of data per month

Uses 128-bit encryption instead of AES 256-bit
Small server selection
Doesn’t unblock streaming services

Pricing:

ZoogVPN offers inexpensive pricing packages if you subscribe for a long period:

1 Month: $9.99 per month
1 Year: $2.99 per month
2 Years: $1.87 per month

Hotspot Shield: Best for Daily Internet Usage

Price for paid plan: $7.99 to $19.99 per month

4.1

★★★★★

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Hotspot Shield is a unique free VPN because it features daily data usage limit rather than a monthly one. This means that each day, you receive 500 MB of data usage through Hotspot Sheild. Over a monthlong period, this adds up to 15 GB of data, which is 50% higher than most plans offering a 10 GB monthly data limit.

Although Hotspot Shield offers the second most data with 15 GB per month, it’s still only the seventh-best 100% free VPN. This is because Hotspot Shield’s free plan offers access to a single location in the United States. If you live outside of the United States, your connection to the server will be unstable and inconsistent.

With the 500 MB daily limit, Hotspot Shield is a great VPN solution for those who want to casually browse the web safely and securely.

Why we chose it: Hotspot Shield is the best 100% free VPN for individuals who need daily VPN access. Hotspot Shield’s free VPN plan comes with a 500 MB daily limit, perfect for the average internet user.

Data allowance resets daily
Good for casual browsing
Easy to use

Only one server
Low data allowance
2 Mbps speed limit

Pricing:

If you want to upgrade your free plan, Hotspot Shield offers a two paid plans that include a 45-day free trial:

Premium: Annual Plan ($7.99 per month), Monthly Plan ($12.99 per month)
Premium Family – Annual Plan ($11.99 per month), Monthly Plan ($19.99 per month)

Methodology for the Best 100% Free VPN

Our top priority for choosing the best 100% free VPN was to choose actually free VPNs. This means there aren’t any hidden or direct subscription costs, and you don’t need to enter your credit card information to use the free VPN. This means that VPNs with free trials were also excluded from this list.

Encryption and Security: Since the primary purpose of a VPN is to protect your data, encryption, and security features are vital. The best 100% free VPNs should offer industry-standard encryption, a VPN killswitch, and IP/DNS leak protection. Most of the free VPNs on this list offer AES 256-bit encryption, which is the industry standard.
Data Limits: Data limits are the most common drawback of using a free VPN. Data limits restrict how much data you can use on the VPN. For example, a data limit of 10 GB per month means that you can’t keep using the VPN once you reach the 10 GB limit for the month. The best 100% free VPNs offer at least 10 GB of data per month.
Speed Caps: Similar to data limits, speed caps restrict your download and upload speeds while using the VPN. Some free VPNs heavily limit your speed, while others don’t limit it at all. This is why we chose free VPNs that offer similar speeds to their paid counterparts.
Server locations: A more extensive server database on your 100% free VPN allows you to access faster connection speeds and more streaming content. Luckily, a few free VPNs offer a global server reach. However, there are also a few VPNs with a limited selection of servers.
Logging Policy: It’s essential to use a VPN that respects your privacy. Some VPNs collect records of your online activity into a log. These VPNs should be avoided because they may sell your data or share it with others. The VPNs included on our list operate with a strict no-logs policy, keeping your privacy safe.
Device Limits: We live in a day and age where everyone has multiple devices for internet access. Even someone living alone can have a phone, tablet, PC, and smart TV all connected to the internet at the same time. The best free VPNs allow each of these machines to pass through the virtual network without restriction or slowdown.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Best 100% Free VPNs

Below are the most popular questions about the best 100% free VPNs.

Which devices can I install free VPNs on?

The majority of free VPNs are compatible with desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In terms of an operating system, free VPNs support Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux. Some free VPNs are also compatible with Amazon Fire TV Stick and routers. Other free VPNs offer Chrome, Edge, and Firefox browser extensions.

Which free VPN is best for Netflix?

Unfortunately, free VPNs don’t offer the feature of bypassing Netflix’s rigid geo-restrictions. This means you can’t use a free VPN to access Netflix content in other regions. Even if you were able to bypass Netflix’s geo-restrictions, you wouldn’t be able to stream content for very long. Since free VPNs have a data limit, you would quickly exceed the limit within a few hours.

Are free VPNs safe to use?

Some free VPNs are safe to use, while you should avoid others at all costs. The VPNs outlined in this guide are all safe to use because reputable VPN companies provide them. This is why it’s essential to look at online reviews and read the free VPN’s privacy policy before using it. There are some free VPNs that sell your data and don’t offer proper encryption.

What is the best free VPN?

The best free VPN is ProtonVPN because it’s the only free VPN offering unlimited data usage. Most free VPNs have a 10 GB monthly limit, severely hindering your ability to stream content, play video games, or download files. ProtonVPN also offers advanced security protocols and hundreds of free servers in three different countries.

Bottom Line on the Best 100% Free VPNs

The best 100% free VPNs are essential for individuals looking to protect their data and personal information for $0. While each free VPN offers a paid plan, the free plan provides more than enough capacity to browse the internet safely.

June 15, 2022November 23, 2022

7 Best VPNs for PC in 2023

Protecting your data with the best VPN for PC is a smart decision. However, selecting which VPN to use can be tricky because many choices exist. Since they all seemingly have the same features, it can be impossible to decide. Here are the seven best VPNs for PC users in 2023.

Best VPN for PC

ExpressVPN – Best Overall VPN for PC
NordVPN – Best VPN for Windows PC
Surfshark – Best Budget-Friendly VPN
Mullvad VPN – Best VPN for Flat-Rate Payment
Cyberghost – Best VPN for Simultaneous Devices
Windscribe – Best VPN for Custom Plans
ProtonVPN – Best VPN for Streaming

ExpressVPN

Starts at $8.32/month, billed annually

1 – 12

Chrome, Firefox, Edge

160

Unlimited

NordVPN

Starts at $3.29/month on a 2-year subscription

1 – 24

Chrome, Firefox, Edge

5,398 total servers

Unlimited

Surfshark

Starts at $2.49/month on a 2-year subscription

1 – 24

Chrome, Firefox, Edge

3,200+ total servers

Unlimited

Mullvad VPN

$5/month

1 – 120

Firefox

837 total servers

Unlimited

Cyberghost

Starts at $2.29/month on a 3-year subscription

1 – 39

Chrome, Firefox

7,900 total servers

Unlimited

Windscribe

Starts at $1/month on a custom plan

1 – 12

Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera

110

Unlimited

ProtonVPN

Starts at $4/month, billed annually

1 – 24

None

1,700+ total servers

Unlimited

ExpressVPN: Best Overall VPN for PC

$8.32 to $12.95/month

★★★★★

4.9

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ExpressVPN is the best overall VPN software in the world. This is because ExpressVPN works incredibly well across Macs, PCs, Androids, and iPhones. ExpressVPN offers outstanding privacy protocols because it does not track location, browsing history, or the content of downloads. This level of flexibility and security places ExpressVPN at the top of our list.

Why we chose it: ExpressVPN is the most powerful and user-friendly VPN for PCs. You can take full advantage of its advanced settings to customize your experience or use the recommended settings if you just want to set it and forget it. Read our in-depth ExpressVPN review to learn more about its features.

24/7 customer support
Easy-to-use desktop apps
Excellent speeds across all tasks

Not the cheapest VPN provider
Only connect five devices at once
No multi-hop connections

Pricing:

Express VPN carries three different payment periods. Each plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can with cryptocurrency:

1 Month – $12.95 per month
6 Months – $9.99 per month, $59.94 billed every 6 months
12 Months – $8.32 per month, $99.84 billed every 12 months

ExpressVPN tops the list of the best VPN for PC because of its comprehensive set of impressive features. While ExpressVPN is also the best mobile VPN, the ExpressVPN desktop app is even better.

You’ll immediately notice an intuitive and easy-to-use interface from the moment you download and launch ExpressVPN on your PC. The interface includes massive on/off buttons and choose location buttons. You can simply choose a location and run the VPN right away.

The PC software is also packed with an extensive set of premium features. For example, ExpressVPN offers smart server recommendations, kill switch technology, and multiple VPN protocols. You can also control the VPN from a browser extension.

In terms of security protocols, ExpressVPN offers highly-encrypted security tools. The independently audited privacy policy states there is no logging or gathering of connection IPs, online activities, or traffic data.

ExpressVPN provides outstanding speed performances for local service and modest results for long-distance connections. The speed will only get faster as ExpressVPN now gives access to its proprietary Lightway protocol.

If you have any questions such as how to use a VPN, ExpressVPN offers professional 24/7 customer support via live chat or email. This way, you can get your questions answered whenever issues arise.

NordVPN: Best VPN for Windows PC

$3.29 to $11.99/month

★★★★★

4.8

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NordVPN is a household name in the VPN business because of its excellent performance on Windows PCs. This VPN provider offers outstanding privacy, a myriad of servers across the world, and innovative security protocols. It also recently underwent a second independent audit that proved its privacy policy claims of zero-logging data.

Why we chose it: NordVPN is the best VPN for Windows machines because of its included security and privacy benefits. Each NordVPN subscription comes with military-grade encryption, multi factor authentication, an ad blocker, malware protection, and a tracker blocker. Read our ultimate NordVPN review to learn more about its features.

Offers multi-hop, split tunneling, and Tor connections
Easy to set up and use
Ample server locations

Cheap plans only included in long-term subscriptions
Clunky interface at times
Renewal price is higher than introductory rates

Pricing:

NordVPN offers three unique payment options:

1-Month Plan – $11.99 per month
1-Year Plan – $4.99 per month, billed $59.88 for the first year, then $99.48 per year
2-Year Plan – $3.29 per month, billed $78.96 for the first two years, then $99.48 per year

NordVPN is one of the top-ranked VPNs on many ‘best of’ lists for several great reasons. To begin with, NordVPN carries an extensive server network of 5,398, allows for six simultaneously connected devices, and is trusted by 14 million users around the globe. It also has an excellent track record of unblocking most streaming services out there.

The Windows client is easy to set up, and NordVPN constantly updates the client to make it easier to use. The client itself features a compact interface with all the basic and advanced tools you need to browse the web freely.

NordVPN takes security very seriously. This provider offers a certain number of Double VPN servers. These servers pass your data through two separate VPN servers, making things even more secure. The Windows kill switch works brilliantly as well. A VPN kill switch prevents your device from making unprotected connections.

All of these features are enhanced by NordVPN’s NordLynx protocol. This is a new-generation VPN technology built around WireGuard. NordLynx improves connection speeds and NordVPN server connections without compromising security and privacy.

More people are coming around to the benefits of a VPN; in fact, 85% of adult internet users are aware of VPNs. NordVPN makes it easy to get started and protect your data.

Surfshark: Best Budget-Friendly VPN

$2.49 to $12.95/month

★★★★★

4.75

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Surfshark is an affordable VPN for PC that offers over 3,000 servers and over 110 server locations. This VPN provider comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 live support. What’s unique about Surfshark is that it also offers unlimited connections. This means you can cover as many PCs, phones, or Macs as you’d like.

Why we chose it: Surfshark is the best VPN for PC users who want a lot of value at an affordable price. This is because Surfshark offers a low monthly price, high speeds, and unlimited devices. Read our complete Surfshark review to learn more about its features.

Unlimited simultaneous connections
Well-designed user interface
Most affordable long-term plans

Antivirus costs extra
No ability to receive a dedicated IP address
Kill switch issues

Pricing:

Surfshark provides three different pricing options:

1 month – $12.95 per month
12 months – $3.99 per month, billed $59.76 every 12 months
24 months – $2.49 per month, billed $59.76 every 24 months

Surfshark is an outstanding VPN service for beginners wondering, what is a VPN? This is because Surfshark’s program is extremely easy to use. Once you launch the app, you’ll be presented with a clean and simple interface. The software will let you know exactly what to press and how to get started.

As you continue using the program, you’ll realize how more and more features open up as you expand. Some of these features include OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard security protocols. Private DNS, AES-256 bit encryption, and a kill switch are also waiting in case your connection drops.

If you want to use your VPN to watch streaming platforms, Surfshark carries a long list of streaming services. Surfshark can get you access to Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, Netflix, and many more.

Although the OpenVPN speeds were lackluster, the WireGuard speeds had highs of 720-790 Mbps which is extremely quick. Surfshark is the best option if you want an affordable VPN and can commit to a long-term subscription.

Mullvad VPN: Best VPN for Flat-Rate Payment

$5/month flat-rate

★★★★★

4.7

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Although Mullvad VPN isn’t the most polished VPN we’ve seen, it provides a secure connection and protects your privacy for an unbeatable price. Mullvad VPN is unique because it hyper focuses on offering secure and affordable VPN protection. MullvadVPN is radically transparent as a company and provides an honest and genuine VPN product.

Why we chose it: Mullvad VPN is the best VPN for flat-rate payments because it costs $5 per month no matter how long you subscribe for. This is more affordable than any other VPN’s standard monthly rate. Read our ultimate Mullvad VPN review to learn more about its features.

Consistent pricing across any time period
Multi-hop connections
Extremely transparent

Awkward desktop interface
Servers in fewer countries compared to other VPNs
Account number system may be confusing

Pricing:

Mullvad VPN offers a single flat monthly rate at $5 per month.

Not bothered by the flashing lights and “innovative” features used in most VPNs, Mullvad VPN focuses on security and privacy. With your $5 subscription, you can connect five devices simultaneously, use a multi-hop connection by enabling bridge mode in the app, and access to the newer WireGuard protocol.

Mullvad VPN doesn’t offer additional tools of enhanced privacy protection such as Tor access, ad blockers, and malware protection. Still, Mullvad VPN has become a community favorite because it’s part of a minimal list of VPNs with port-forwarding and no logging evidence.

Furthermore, Mullvad VPN doesn’t use affiliates or paid reviews as you see with other major VPN providers. Lastly, Mullvad VPN has complete server transparency, is open-source, and hasn’t sold out to a major conglomerate.

CyberGhost: Best VPN for Server Selection

$2.29 to $12.99/month

★★★★★

4.68

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Since CyberGhost is based in Romania, CyberGhost will never need to hand over customer data to the government, unlike many other VPNs. Furthermore, with thousands of servers around the world, you’re guaranteed to find one that gives you fast WiFi speeds.

Why we chose it: CyberGhost is the best VPN for server selection because it has over 7,700 available servers to choose from. To learn more, read our in-depth CyberGhost review.

Large and well-distributed server fleet
Allows up to seven simultaneous device connections
Excellent speed test ratings

Expensive compared to other VPNs
Lack of third-party audit
Confusing privacy policies

Pricing:

CyberGhost carries four pricing plans depending on your subscription length:

1 Month – $12.99 per month
1 Year – $4.29 per month, billed $51.48 every year
2 Years – $3.25 per month, billed $78 every two years
3 Years + 3 Months – $2.29 per month, billed $89.31 every three years

CyberGhost is an impressive VPN host because of its high-performance PC app. The best feature CyberGhost offers is its connection speeds when using WireGuard, topping out at around 850 Mbps.

This makes CyberGhost one of the fastest VPNs. This goes along perfectly with its streaming capabilities, unblocking every streaming service we tested. Overall, the Windows app is stable, and the only issue we’ve noticed is notifications not being shown.

CyberGhost continues to make a name for itself in the VPN sector and will soon challenge behemoths NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

Windscribe: Best VPN for Custom Plans

$1 to $9/month

★★★★★

4.61

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Windscribe is a unique VPN because it offers multi-hop encryption. This means your web traffic will be encrypted twice as you’re browsing online. Windscribe performs well across Windows PCs, and there’s also a free option for users in the US, UK, Hong Kong, and other countries.

Why we chose it: Windscribe is the best VPN for custom plans because you can build your own plan based on your preferences. No other VPN provider on this list offers this option. Read our ultimate Windscribe review to learn more about its features.

Multi-hop subscription
Fast on Windows PCs
Free subscriptions in certain countries

Limited Netflix accessibility
Subpar speed on Mac computers
Looser than average logging policy

Pricing:

Windscribe offers two standard plans and one custom plan:

Monthly Plan – $9 per month
Yearly Plan – $4.08 per month, billed $49 every 12 months
Build A Plan – Inquire for pricing, starts at $1 per location, per month

Windscribe is an excellent VPN with many features and a user-friendly interface. However, you shouldn’t expect the best speeds or the fastest support with Windscribe like you’d find with ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

Instead, Windscribe is a decent VPN that’s versatile and could suit most users. However, many people drift toward Windscribe because of its generous free plan. Windscribe’s free service offers 11 server locations and 2GB of data.

While the free version is outstanding for beginners, the paid version offers unlimited simultaneous connections, P2P and torrenting on most servers, and logging policies to safeguard your privacy.

ProtonVPN: Best VPN for Streaming

$0 to $24/month

★★★★★

4.59

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ProtonVPN is unique because it offers a plan which is one of the best 100% free VPNs available. The free plan offers access to 147 servers in three countries, one VPN connection, medium speed, a strict no-log policy, and the ability to access blocked content. However, ProtonVPN also offers three paid plans with even more features and accessibility.

Why we chose it: ProtonVPN is an excellent VPN for streaming and speed because of its VPN Accelerator, Quick Connect, and Auto Reconnection features. It also unblocks any streaming you want to watch.

Easy to use on Windows PCs
Above average speeds
Unblocks Disney Plus, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video

No 24/7 customer support
Some features locked behind pricier Plus plan
Relatively small server network

Pricing:

ProtonVPN offers four price tiers:

Free – $0 per month
Basic – $4 per month, billed $48 annually
Plus – $8 per month, billed $96 annually
Visionary – $24 per month, billed $288 annually

ProtonVPN continues to make strides in the PC VPN software sector because of its great Windows 10 client. If you’re interested in a sleek and intuitive VPN that offers many features and settings to play with, ProtonVPN is a great option.

Once you open the client, you can navigate the app with its map interface or a collapsed list format. Either way, ProtonVPN highlights which servers support P2P or Tor with crystal clear icons.

ProtonVPN’s best credentials are as a truly private VPN. This is because ProtonVPN is fully audited with a zero-logging policy. Furthermore, ProtonVPN features open-source apps, powerful encryption, and additional features like Secure Core servers and Tor over VPN to provide a bulletproof privacy tool.

Methodology for the Best VPN for PC

Each VPN included in the list above meets the following criteria below. We used these metrics to rank the VPNs from strongest to weakest. Here’s the methodology we used for the best VPN for PCs.

Advanced security features: The VPN you select should have state-of-the-art security features such as an automatic kill switch, strong encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and DNS/IP leak protection. Security is the core feature of any VPN because a VPN is supposed to keep your data safe from third parties and cybercriminals.
PC compatibility: Since you’re looking for the best VPN for PC, it’s important to find a VPN that offers robust Mac and Windows software. The VPN provider should also regularly update the software with new features and enhancements.
Fast speeds: A high-speed VPN allows you to stream content and play video games without stuttering or lag. The VPNs included on this list all have above-average speeds compared to their competitors.
Server network size: A large server network allows you to change your IP address flexibly to many different locations. Furthermore, a larger number of servers can speed up your connection since it’s easy to find a nearby server, and other users are more spread out. Therefore, server congestion is reduced.
Streaming support: As the popularity of traditional TV dwindles, more and more people use streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to watch their favorite TV shows. The best VPNs can unblock all streaming sites and allow users to switch their IP address to a new location to access different content.
Multiple device connections: We live in a technological time period where most individuals own more than one device. For this reason, your VPN needs to support multiple different simultaneous device connections. This way, you can secure all of your devices with a single subscription.
Money-back guarantee: Another crucial feature of the best VPN for PC is a money-back guarantee. With a trustworthy money-back guarantee policy, you can test out the VPN and decide if it’s right for you. If not, you can get a refund for your subscription and move to another VPN provider.
Reliable customer support: The best VPN software provider will offer 24/7 live customer support. Issues can strike at any time during the night, so you must have somebody to get help from if worst comes to worst.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Best VPNs for PC

Below are some of the most popular questions surrounding the best VPN for PCs.

Which free VPN is best for PC?

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day risk-free trial where you can access its entire set of features. If you’re looking for a completely free option, ProtonVPN and Winscribe offer free VPN plans. However, your connection won’t be extremely fast, and you won’t have as many server options on a free VPN plan.

Is ExpressVPN or NordVPN better?

The truth is that you can’t go wrong with either option. Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN offer lightning-fast speeds, a wide array of servers, and state-of-the-art security features. Both choices are great for streaming because of their strong unblocking abilities and dedicated IP address options.

What does a VPN do on my PC?

VPNs started as a way to share data and browse the web securely. However, they have become a lot broader in their use cases. For example, you can geo-spoof your PC’s IP address to other world regions to access different varieties of content. Furthermore, you can use a VPN to unblock restricted websites on PCs, which is why VPNs in China have become so popular.

Why do I need a VPN for my PC?

The main reason you must use a VPN is to protect your data from hackers when you’re on public Wi-Fi or casually browsing the internet. A VPN establishes an encrypted connection between your computer and the internet. This provides a private tunnel for your data and communications while using a public network.

Bottom Line on Best VPNs for PC

Using a VPN is a convenient way to protect your privacy online. You can also use a VPN to circumvent unwelcome internet restrictions as well. ExpressVPN and NordVPN are the top two VPN software because of their speed, server locations, and security protocols. Surfshark is a great option if you’re looking for an affordable long-term VPN solution.

June 14, 2022November 23, 2022

7 Best VPNs for Mobile Phones

Person using the best mobile vpn on their smartphone

VPNs allow for a safe, encrypted connection to the internet to protect your information from outside attack. Some businesses even use VPNs for secure access to company data, whether personnel are on-site or working from home. The best mobile VPN should be affordable, easy to use, and most importantly, secure.

Best VPNs for Mobile Phones

ExpressVPN – Best Overall
NordVPN – Best for Security
Surfshark – Best Budget-friendly App
ProtonVPN – Best Tiered VPN Service
CyberGhost – Best for Servers
TunnelBear – Best for Businesses
Private Internet Access – Best for Bandwidth

ExpressVPN

$8.32 to $12.95 per month

3,000+ servers in 94 countries

Five devices

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, Router, browser extensions

Lightway, IKEv2, OpenVPN, PPTP

30 days

NordVPN

$3.29 to $11.99 per month

5,422+ servers in 60 countries

Six devices

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, browsers, and more

IKEv2/IPsec, OpenVPN

30 days

Surfshark

$2.49 to $12.95 per month

3,200+ servers in 65 countries

Unlimited devices

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, browsers

WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2

30 days

ProtonVPN

Free to $30 per month

1,700+ servers in 63 countries

Up to 10 VPN connections

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux

IKEv2

None

CyberGhost

$2.29 to $12.99 per month

8,030+ servers in 91 countries

Seven devices

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, browsers

OpenVPN, L2TP/ IPSec, IKEv2/ IPSec, PPTP

45 days

TunnelBear

Free to $5.75 per user per month

Unknown number of servers in 49 countries

Five devices

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, browsers

iOS: IKEv2
Android: OpenVPN

None

Private Internet Access

$2.19 to $11.99 per month

Unknown number of servers in 84 countries

Ten devices

Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, browsers

WireGuard, OpenVPN

30 days

ExpressVPN: Best Overall

$8.32 to $12.95 per month

★★★★★

4.8

Visit

ExpressVPN’s encrypted network protects you from outside sources and doesn’t keep any activity or connection logs of your time on the web. There’s a network kill switch to shut down streams or downloads if the VPN stops working, but you can only use these features on five devices at a time. It is a blessing that ExpressVPN has apps for mobile and PC as well.

Rates are on the higher side with ExpressVPN, but you get what you pay for. The 30-day money-back guarantee means you can try everything out risk-free to see if the VPN lives up to expectations. There are no static IPs, but ExpressVPN cycles its dynamic IPs regularly to keep you safe.

Why we chose it: ExpressVPN speaks of ultra-fast servers in 94 countries, allowing you the security to watch your favorite streams from around the globe. Since you can use ExpressVPN on other devices as well, it is also the best VPN for PC users. Read our ExpressVPN review to learn more about its features and pricing.

No activity or connection logs
Network lock kill switch
30-day money-back guarantee

No static IPs
Limited to five devices
A bit on the pricey side

Pricing: ExpressVPN has three subscription options depending on how many months you want to sign up for. If you take the month-to-month approach, you’re looking at spending $12.95 per pay cycle. You’ll start to see significant savings should you sign up for a longer contract.

A six-month membership will set you back $9.99 per month, and enrolling for an entire year breaks down to an $8.32 monthly rate. It’s still not cheap by VPN standards, but the price point is easier to swallow.

NordVPN: Best Mobile VPN for Security

$3.29 to $11.99 per month

★★★★★

4.7

Visit

NordVPN prioritizes security every time you log in. The app keeps no connection logs while you’re online and carefully encrypts your private channel. Its threat protection defends against online threats such as viruses, trackers, and infected websites. There’s also a kill switch to shut down activity when the VPN isn’t live.

There are times when a static IP is beneficial, but NordVPN doesn’t do a good job of cycling through its dynamic IPs. You’re limited to just six simultaneous logins, even though you can use NordVPN across all your devices, and customer service isn’t easy to get a hold of. The 30-day trial lets you test out NordVPN before buying to see if these negatives are a deal-breaker.

Why we chose it: NordVPN’s security shield is the best at keeping you safe from infection and unsavory characters while you browse from a public or private setting. Read our in-depth NordVPN review to learn more about its features.

Zero connection logs
Powerful malware and threat protection
30-day money-back guarantee

Only six simultaneous connections
Doesn’t cycle through dynamic IPs well
Customer support can be difficult to reach

Pricing: NordVPN’s pricing scales depending on how many months of service you choose at the beginning of your contract. Purchasing a 2-year plan is the best way to save money, averaging just $3.29 per month of use. One year of service averages $4.99, whereas buying month to month will set you back $11.99 each time.

Surfshark: Best Budget-friendly VPN for Mobile

$2.49 to $12.95 per month

★★★★★

4.6

Visit

Surfshark stands tall on the list of VPNs with very affordable subscription options. This keeps it close to the top VPNs on our list, but the app can’t quite keep up with the speeds others offer. Fortunately, the service doesn’t limit the number of devices you can connect to and doesn’t keep any of your search logs while logged in.

Among its tools are several safety features such as a kill switch, strong encryption, and dynamic IPs to offer security. If you do run into an issue, you’ll have to contact customer service via chat or email. Apple users tend to have more problems with Surfshark than Android owners.

Why we chose it: With a two-year subscription averaging just $2.49 per month, Surfshark offers powerful protection for a very budget-friendly price. To learn more, read our in-depth Surfshark review.

Very budget-friendly subscription options
Can connect to an unlimited number of devices
Strict no-logs policy

Doesn’t work as well on Apple devices
Not the fastest speeds
No phone support

Pricing: Surfshark shines the most with its pricing model outside of the standard monthly rate. The app does offer a monthly membership for $12.95, but this is very expensive among mobile VPNs. Prices look a lot better with a year’s membership, coming out to just $3.99 per month. Things get even better if you sign up for two years, with prices dropping to $2.49 monthly.

ProtonVPN: Best Tiered VPN for Mobile

Free to $30 per month

★★★★★

4.4

Visit

ProtonVPN packs in four tiers of service, each with varying degrees of functionality and speed. Among these is a free plan you can use to keep a lone device safe while traveling or at home. Like other top VPNs, ProtonVPN doesn’t keep track of logs so your information stays safe.

Outside of the free tier, pricing options are a bit on the high side for what each package offers. Lower-priced tiers can lack the speed to download or steam efficiently, resulting in endless buffering and frustration. If issues appear, you’ll have to wait for an email response from customer support before being able to implement a solution.

Why we chose it: ProtonVPN offers four unique plans so users can pay only for the speed and connections they need.

Multiple tiers to select the specific plan you want
Based in Switzerland with a no-logs policy
Has a free plan

Pricing is relatively high
Slow speeds at lower tiers
Support details limited to email

Pricing: ProtonVPN has four tiers of service with varying levels of speed and security. You can save 20% by signing up for a year of service at a time or 33% by paying for two years of service.

ProtonVPN is one of the few 100% free VPNs available but comes with a very limited featureset. Users can only access 152 servers in three countries, significantly limiting content from other parts of the world. You can also only use a single device at any given time. Although free, the plan only runs at medium speed which may cause lag on streams or slow downloads.

At a monthly rate of $5, the Basic plan amps up the features considerably. Users now have access to over 500 servers in 40 countries while being able to connect from two devices at once. ProtonVPN boosts connection speed and provides additional ad-blocking and torrent support.

ProtonVPN’s Plus plan unlocks all 1,700+ services across 63 countries for maximum connectivity. You can encrypt up to ten devices at a time with Plus and obtain speeds as high as 10Gbps. It’s here that you can log into your favorite streaming services no matter where in the world you are.

If you want to combine ProtonVPN with its ProtonMail package, you can do so with the Visionary plan. At $30 per month, you’ll have unlimited access to the features and protection both services offer.

CyberGhost: Best Mobile VPN for Number of Servers

$2.29 to $12.99 per month

★★★★★

4.3

Visit

CyberGhost’s long list of servers put other VPNs to shame while providing more content options. With a no-logs policy, you won’t have to worry about what you watch or stream while in your encrypted channel. The VPN does suffer from more speed loss than most when connected, and a lackluster ad blocker doesn’t do a great job of catching pop-ups. You can only reach customer support through a website chat feature, but the 45-day money-back guarantee lets you try out everything risk-free.

Why we chose it: CyberGhost allows for the most connection flexibility, with over 8,000 servers located in 93 different countries. Such diversity also maximizes your ability to watch unique content from all over the globe. Read our in-depth CyberGhost review to learn more about its features.

Insane number of servers
No-logs policy
45-day money-back guarantee

Significant speed loss
Support limited to online chat
Weak ad-blocker

Pricing: CyberGhost’s pricing goes down depending on how many months of service you purchase at a time. Buying month to month is the least cost-effective, charging $12.99 each pay period. Picking up a one-year contract equates to $4.29 per month, whereas two-year pricing drops even further to $3.25. If you really want to save big, a three-year membership of CyberGhost costs just $2.29 per month.

TunnelBear: Best Mobile VPN for Businesses

Free to $5.75 per user per month

★★★★★

4.1

Visit

TunnelBear is an easy-to-use VPN that meshes well with businesses looking to add additional security to dealings on the web. Each employee can connect five devices at a time to keep viruses and attackers at bay. The app provides decent VPN speeds but doesn’t make clear its overall number of servers or specific locations. The VPN also contains a free plan, but users can’t use more than 500MB in a given month.

Why we chose it: TunnelBear has features and pricing well-suited for businesses looking to protect employees both in the office and on the road.

Centralized team billing and management
Easy to use
Has a free plan

Can only connect five simultaneous devices
Unclear number of available servers
Free plan has few features

Pricing: TunnelBear has a free plan in place of a trial or money-back guarantee. You’ll have access to all of TunnelBear’s features, but unfortunately only 500MB to work with each month. While this may be sufficient for some testing, you may not even make it through a single show. Also, TunnelBear runs on slower OpenVPN protocol with Android phones that may contribute to latency issues.

The VPN also offers an Unlimited plan for single users and households with unlimited secure browsing for up to five devices. Pricing varies from $9.99 for a single month contract to $4.99 month for an entire year. Those expecting to use Tunnelbear for a long time can choose a three-year membership for $3.33 per month.

In addition, TunnelBear showcases a Teams plan that speaks to businesses looking for some extra protection. Each team member you add to the VPN gets unlimited secure browsing for up to five devices and costs $5.75 per month. Your business will also receive a dedicated account manager with streamlined billing and account management.

Private Internet Service: Best Mobile VPN for Bandwidth

$2.19 to $11.99 per month

★★★★★

4.0

Visit

Private Internet Service has respectable VPN speeds that never slow down due to the amount of bandwidth you use each month. With up to ten devices supported in a single subscription, you can stream, download, or surf to your heart’s content. A no-logs policy ensures the app doesn’t keep unnecessary information. The company is headquartered in the United States, a country known for diligent internet monitoring.

It’s unclear how many servers Private Internet Service has around the world, but speeds seem to indicate the numbers are sufficient. The ad blocker struggles the most, allowing too many annoying ads through while you’re trying to browse.

Why we chose it: Unlike many other providers, Private Internet Service doesn’t slow down bandwidth speeds no matter how much data you consume in a single month.

Unlimited bandwidth without speed throttle
No-logs policy
Up to ten simultaneous connections

Unknown number of servers
Several ads get through ad-blocker
Headquartered in the U.S.

Pricing: Private Internet Service starts out at $11.99 for a month of VPN use, but you can get a better deal if you choose to pay for multiple months at a time. Buying a six-month contract lowers the price to $7.50 per month, or you can purchase two years and two months for an average of $2.19 each month.

Methodology for the Best VPNs for Mobile Phones

VPNs can go a long way toward protecting what’s important to you, but they are not all created the same. We made these considerations when asking what is a VPN that’s most suitable for mobile devices.

Safety: A VPN is nothing without security features to keep you safe while online. Stay away from anything that maintains records of your online experience or provide protection from viruses or hackers looking to cause trouble. Your data should be well-encrypted while in a VPN tunnel with an automatic kill switch to shut down your internet if the VPN stops working. It’s also worth noting the type of IP address a VPN provides. Dynamic IPs frequently change to provide additional security, while static IPs offer internet stability that some homes and businesses need. Learn more about what a VPN can protect you from here.

Simultaneous Connections: It makes sense to buy one VPN for a business or household, but most services limit the number of devices you can connect at any given time. Be sure to count up the number of mobile and PC connections you’ll potentially have so you don’t short-change yourself.

Number of Servers: Servers can become bogged down with a lot of traffic. VPNs with several servers within a country or city can help alleviate this strain and keep internet speeds at their maximum. Furthermore, servers across multiple countries allow for more access to content from different parts of the world.

Ease of Use: Some VPNs can become convoluted with so many server options, different types of IP addresses, and various security features. The best mobile apps simplify the connection process by automating selections while finding you the fastest server to use. Built-in ad blockers or always-on functionality ensure you always have the protection you need. Learn more on how to use a VPN here.

Connection Speed: Since VPNs bounce internet signals off additional locations, your internet speed will take a hit any time you use one. However, the top mobile apps have enough servers and fast lines to hold speeds as high as possible.

Money-back Guarantee: Mobile VPNs work altogether differently from device to device. Positive reviews online are a plus, but having a money-back guarantee to try out an app for yourself is even better. Find a VPN with at least a 30-day money-back guarantee with all features unlocked so you can see if it really works for you.

Price: Nearly all VPNs provide discounts on multi-month contracts that can save a lot of money down the road. In many cases, it’s possible to save upwards of 75% or 80% by signing up for a year or two. A few companies offer tiered services with increasing features sets at differing price points. If you go this route, make sure you get the features you want and that there’s room to upgrade as needed down the line.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Best Mobile VPNs

It can be unclear how to use a VPN or its purpose, especially on mobile devices. Below are answers to some of the most popular questions on the topic.

Is a VPN Good for a Mobile Phone?

Yes, VPNs are a great way to protect internet activities while on a mobile phone. We use our phones more than ever, and these devices contain all kinds of personal data.

What is the Best Free VPN for Mobile?

Both ProtonVPN and TunnelBear have basic free plans that keep your information safe. Other free plans do a poor job of protecting data and tend to keep logs that can be traced back to you. Here’s a list of the best free VPNs available for you.

Which Country Server is Best for VPNs?

Switzerland wins out as the best country server for VPNs thanks to its data protection acts. Several VPN apps choose Switzerland as a base of operations for this very reason.

Bottom Line on the Best Mobile VPNs

VPNs are incredible tools for protecting the information we store on mobile devices. Features like encryption, automatic kill switches, and web blockers keep viruses and hackers safely away. With some of the top apps priced at a few dollars per month, you really can’t afford not to get one.

June 13, 2022February 15, 2023

5 Best Free Business Banking Accounts of 2023

Business team discussing about free business banking account in a meeting office

Opening a free business banking account is a safe, affordable way to manage your professional finances. A business account, which is separate from your personal account, lets you easily track your trade resources. Plus, having a business account is a prerequisite for the essential step of registering a business in the U.S. Read on to find out which of the five best free business banking accounts of 2023 is a good match for you.

Best Free Business Banking Accounts of 2023

BlueVine – Best Overall
Novo – Best for Ease of Use
Brex – Best for Corporate Credit
Axos – Best for Cash Deposit
U.S. Bank – Best for Traditional Banking

BlueVine

Business checking account w/ debit card

No ATM fees at 37,000+ MoneyPass locations

Unlimited transactions

1.5% interest for eligible customers

Instant account transfers, dedicated account numbers & 2 free checkbooks

Online application

FDIC insurance up to $250,000

Novo

Business checking account w/ debit card

ATM fee refunds

$50

Unlimited transactions within the U.S.

Virtual & physical cards, free invoices, Novo Reserves & Stripe integration

Online application

FDIC insurance & security features

Brex

Business account w/ credit card

N/A

Unlimited ACH & wire sending but limited Brex-initiated ACH deposits & check deposits

0% for uninvested cash & 0.49% on money market fund

Create up to 8 accounts, automated monthly reports, investment options & live support

Online application

FDIC insurance via partner banks

Axos

Business checking account w/ debit card

Unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements

Unlimited item processing for debits, credits & deposits

0% for basic business checking

Cash deposits, QuickBooks integration, free checkbook & dedicated relationship managers

Online application

FDIC insurance via Axos Bank

U. S. Bank

Business checking account w/ debit card

No ATM fees at U.S. Bank ATMs

$100

125 free transactions per month +

$0.50 fee per additional transaction

0% for basic business checking

Bill Pay, free mobile check deposits, check fraud prevention & overdraft protection

Online application or via virtual, phone call or in-person appointment

Automatic FDIC insurance via U.S. Bank worth $250,000 per depositor

BlueVine: Best Overall

Free

★★★★★

5.0

Visit

BlueVine shines among business banking accounts that are free because it combines minimal charges and maximum benefits. First of all, you don’t have to pay any monthly fees, transaction fees, or overdraft fees if you start a small business checking account. Also, you won’t be charged ATM fees if you withdraw at any of the 37,000+ MoneyPass locations in the U.S.

Plus, there’s no minimum initial deposit so you can open a business bank account even if your small business only has limited cash at present. You can deposit, withdraw, and make payments as often as you need. In addition to this, BlueVine gives you the chance to earn an Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 1.5% on balances up to $100,000 if you meet one or both of the two monthly requirements.

Other benefits include instant transfers, sub-account options, dedicated account numbers, online application process, and two free checkbooks. Last but not least, your assets are protected because BlueVine deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor via the Coastal Community Bank, which is a member of the FDIC.

While BlueVine has a first-rate free business account, it does have a few limitations. For instance, it doesn’t have any physical branches because BlueVine isn’t a traditional bank but a financial technology company. Aside from this, you won’t earn any interest on excess amounts beyond $100,000. Finally, BlueVine doesn’t accept deposits of cash, paper checks, or foreign currency.

Nevertheless, our BlueVine review agrees that it’s one of the best deals when it comes to free bank accounts for businesses. Thanks to its strong feature set, it currently leads the pack when it comes to free and low-cost banking services.

Why we chose it: We award BlueVine as the best overall free business banking account because it provides an almost perfect balance between affordability and functionality. It’s a viable option for you if you want to experience the perks of online business banking without shelling out for costly monthly fees.

Pricing: $0 monthly fees & transaction fees

No monthly, overdraft, or transaction charges
Unlimited monthly transactions
1.5% interest rate for eligible depositors

No physical branches
Zero interest earnings beyond $100,000 balance
No cash, paper check, or foreign currency deposits

Novo: Best for Ease of Use

Free

★★★★★

4.5

Visit

Novo is one of the most user-friendly business banking accounts that are free because it’s simple to set up in less than ten minutes. Plus, the online banking app allows you to make worldwide payments, deposit checks, transfer funds, and accept incoming wires. There are no monthly service charges, ACH fees, wire fees. Plus, you get free unlimited U.S. transactions and ATM fee reimbursements.

Aside from this, Novo has other features to make banking more convenient for you, such as physical and virtual debit cards, free invoice sending, Novo Reserves, Stripe integration, and payments via Apple and Google Play stores. Finally, Novo safeguards your resources through security features and FDIC insurance via Middlesex Federal Savings.

On the other end of the spectrum, it requires you to make a minimum deposit of $50 to open a checking account. In addition to this, it charges $27 each for insufficient funds and uncollected funds returned.

Also, it doesn’t give you a chance to earn interest through your deposits because Novo doesn’t provide an APY. Last but not least, you can’t directly deposit cash to your account, although you can buy a money order as a workaround solution.

Still, our Novo review concurs that it’s a free business account that’s worth considering, especially for beginners in business banking. Aside from its various handy features, it doesn’t require advanced banking knowledge or technical skills to begin using it. Check out also our review for other business banking accounts like Bank of America Review and NBKC Bank Account Review.

Why we chose it: We commend Novo as the best for ease of use among business banking accounts that are free because of its intuitive UI and fast application process. It’s a potential alternative for you if you’re a first-time entrepreneur because you can quickly figure out how to navigate Novo.

Pricing: $0 monthly fees & transaction fees

3-step application process
Free unlimited transactions plus ATM reimbursements
Extra features like Novo Reserves, Stripe integration & virtual card

Minimum initial deposit amount of $50
$27 fee for insufficient funds & uncollected funds returned
No direct cash deposits

Brex: Best for Corporate Credit

Free

★★★★★

4.0

Visit

Brex stands out from other business banking accounts that are free because it provides you with credit options. It allows you to spend beyond your current balance so that you can fast-track the expansion of your business, compared to the typical online business checking account which only includes debit cards.

If you open a business account with Brex, you will get unlimited corporate credit cards which you can use for secure spending. Like a debit card, your balance can be paid automatically every day. However, it has an edge over a debit card because it enables you to build your business credit. Also, you can issue cards to your team with set limits so you can monitor their expenses. Plus, you can earn unlimited rewards without an expiry date.

To make things even better, Brex doesn’t have monthly fees, transaction charges, or minimum deposits. There’s free unlimited ACH and wires as well. Additional incentives include eight account creation, automated monthly reports, investment options, live customer support, and online application. Finally, you can store your assets with the partner banks of Brex so you can be eligible for FDIC insurance worth $250,000 at most.

On the other hand, the drawbacks of Brex include a lack of debit cards and limited Brex-initiated ACH deposits or check deposits. While there’s zero APY for uninvested cash, you can earn around 0.49% with the money market fund. Also, Brex doesn’t have physical locations since it’s a financial technology company, not a bank. Nevertheless, you can drop by any of its partner banks to deposit your uninvested cash.

At the end of the day, Brex is still an interesting alternative because it adds the flexibility of credit options to a business account.

Why we chose it: We acknowledge Brex as the best for corporate credit because of the broad range of credit services it provides. It’s a possible match for you in case you’re aiming to build your business credit as an entrepreneur.

Pricing: $0 monthly fees & transaction fees

Empowering credit options
Unlimited rewards via credit points
Creation of up to 8 accounts

No debit card
Limited check deposits & Brex-initiated ACH deposits
No physical branches

Axos: Best for Cash Deposit

Free

★★★★★

4.0

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Axos has the upper hand over other business banking accounts that are free when it comes to cash deposits. It allows you to deposit paper cash to your account through MoneyPass and AllPoint networks, in contrast to similar services that mostly permit online deposits.

Since Axos is a bank and not a financial company, it offers specialized online banking services like free Bill Pay, image statements, mobile banking services, and the personalized assistance of a dedicated relationship manager. Plus, it’s cost-effective to open a basic business checking account with Axos via online application.

There’s no monthly maintenance fees, minimum deposit, maintenance amounts, while there’s unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements and unlimited debit, credit, and deposit processing. Extra perks include free 50 checks, QuickBooks integration, and FDIC insurance via the Axos Bank.

On the downside, the Basic Business Checking account doesn’t offer any APY at all. Plus, you need to pay for international and domestic wire fees, although you’ll be reimbursed for two domestic wires every month. Finally, Axos doesn’t have any brick-and-mortar buildings because it’s an online bank instead of a conventional one.

Overall, Axos is still a practical option because it opens up the possibilities of cash deposits for entrepreneurs like you. Read our in-depth review on Axos bank to learn more about its services. And visit also our other business banking account review like Oxygen Review.

Oxygen Review 2023: Cost-Effective Champion of Business Bank Accounts

Why we chose it: We selected Axos as the best for cash deposit among business banking accounts that are free because it permits you to deposit actual cash to your free account via AllPoint and MoneyPass networks. It could be a suitable fit for you if you often make cash deposits during your business operations.

Pricing: $0 monthly fees & transaction fees

Cash deposits allowed
Free 50 checks & QuickBooks integration
FDIC insurance via Axos Bank

Zero APY for Basic Business Checking account
International & domestic wire charges
No physical bank locations

U.S. Bank: Best for Traditional Banking

Free

★★★★★

4.0

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The U.S. Bank’s Silver Business Checking Package is distinct from most business banking accounts that are free because it’s offered by an established bank, instead of a financial technology company. Unlike free accounts that are limited to online transactions, you can personally go to physical bank branches if you select U.S. Bank.

While the U.S. Bank allows you to apply online like most free bank account providers, it also gives you the choice to apply via virtual appointment, phone call, or face to face meeting. This personalized assistance is handy if you’re a newbie to business banking.

The other standout U.S. Bank features are online plus mobile banking, check fraud prevention tools, and Business Reserve line. Since U.S. Bank is a member of the FDIC, you will automatically get FDIC insurance worth $250,000 per depositor.

Nevertheless, U.S. Bank’s free business account comes with less freebies compared to the other banking accounts in this list. While there’s no monthly maintenance fees or U.S. Bank ATM charges, you only get 125 free transactions each month. Plus, you must deposit a hefty minimum of $100 to open a basic checking account. Other limitations include zero APY for the Silver account and no free checkbooks.

To sum it up, the U.S. Bank gives entrepreneurs like you the chance to experience the services of an orthodox bank even if you can’t afford all the expensive banking fees. Read our in-depth review on U.S. bank to learn more about its services. We also have reviews on other business banking accounts like Capital One Review and SoFI Review.

Why we chose it: We pick U.S. Bank as the best for traditional banking among free business accounts because it provides the basic perks of a conventional bank while skipping some, though not all, of the typical banking fees. It’s a good match for you if you prefer to sign up with an established bank rather than a financial technology company.

Pricing: $0 monthly fees & $0.50 fee per additional transaction beyond 125 free transactions per month

Brick-and-mortar bank locations
Various application method options, including in-person application
Check fraud prevention & overdraft protection

Minimum deposit amount of $100
Zero APY for basic business account
No free checkbook

Methodology for the Best Free Business Banking Account

We considered important factors as we picked the best business banking accounts that are free of 2023. These aspects include the banking service type, monthly fees, transaction charges, ATM fees, minimum deposit amount, maximum transactions each month, Annual Percentage Yield (APY), notable features, application process, and security options.

Banking Service Type: We examined if the free business bank account is a checking one or a savings one. Plus, we confirmed if it comes with a debit card or a credit card.
Monthly Fee: We checked if you need to pay monthly charges or not for general services and maintenance as a depositor. After all, we only categorized a business account as free if there are zero monthly fees.
Transaction Fee: We assessed if you’re required to pay fees or not to perform basic banking transactions like deposits, withdrawals, and transfers. Whenever applicable, we also analyzed if you will be charged for advanced types of transactions like wires and ACH.
ATM Fee: We researched if you will be charged to use ATM machines, whether they be in-house, affiliated, or external ones. Also, we probed if the bank account provider will reimburse you for ATM fees or not.
Minimum Deposit: We checked if there is any minimum amount of deposit or not required for you to open a business bank account. In case there is a basic deposit requirement, we pinpointed how much the amount is.
Maximum Transactions per Month: We verified if you’re allowed to perform an unlimited or limited number of free transactions every month. In case there is a cap to item processing number, we confirmed how many free transactions you’re allotted on a monthly basis.
Annual Percentage Yield (APY): We assessed if you have the chance to earn interest through the free bank account or not. In case it offers an APY, we researched what the average interest rate is each year.
Additional Features: We analyzed what other extra features are included in the free business account. Some examples of handy offerings are Bill Pay, cash deposits, free checkbooks, third-party integrations, and live support.
Application Process: We explored what type of application procedure you need to undergo to open a business bank account. Most providers require an online application process, although a few also offer other options.
Security: We probed how safe your money is if you store it in a free business account. We confirmed if your deposit is covered by FDIC insurance, as well as if other security features are available.

Take note that this guide generally covers general banking, debit, and credit options. We already discussed alternatives for small business loans in another review.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Free Business Banking Account

A free business banking account makes it simple for you to handle your business resources. Learn the answers to basic questions about a complimentary business account for startups.

What Is a Business Banking Account?

A business banking account is a type of bank account that is designed to be used exclusively for business transactions. It is typically opened using a business name instead of an individual name so that payment can be sent and received on behalf of the organization. Some bank accounts are suitable for small businesses, while there are appropriate business bank accounts for LLCs or corporations.

What Are the Benefits of a Free Business Banking Account?

There are several advantages of opening a free business banking account. To begin with, you can manage your money in an organized way by keeping your business and personal finances separate.

In addition to this, you can streamline the way that you perform bank transactions through online and mobile banking. Last but not least, you can skip some kinds of fees with a free account, such as monthly fees, ATM charges, and transaction fees.

How Can I Pick the Right Free Business Banking Account?

There are various factors that you should consider when choosing a free business banking account. First, you need to assess which fees are waived and which fees are required so that you can estimate your banking expenses.

Next, you ought to evaluate if the account provides you with the features you need for your business operations, such as unlimited transactions, instant transfers, cash deposits, and Bill Pay.

Finally, you must verify if your cash is protected through FDIC insurance and security options. No matter which type of business account you select, you can maximize your account by following FDIC banking tips.

Final Thoughts on the Best Free Business Banking Accounts

Starting a free business banking account is one of the necessary steps you need to take as an entrepreneur to ensure the financial success of your business. BlueVine is our top pick among the best free business accounts of 2023 because it’s freebie-rich and feature-packed at the same time. Don’t forget also to check out other business banking accounts and our reviews of them like Lili Review and Kabbage Review

Best Business Bank Accounts by State

Below you will find an interactive U.S map that can help you locate and compare different banks and financial institutions that offer business accounts in your area.

June 9, 2022December 9, 2022

The 8 Fastest Web Hosting Services in 2023

More than 50% of mobile visitors will ditch your website if it takes anything more than three seconds to load. Whether it’s an ecommerce website or not, a high bounce rate could affect your bottom line negatively. You may want to consider using one of the fastest web hosting providers for your site.

Best 8 Fastest Web Hosting

Bluehost – Best Overall
WP Engine – Best for WordPress integration
Weebly – Best for beginner-friendly websites and blogs
Ionos – Best for scalability and strategic growth
NameCheap – Reliable shared hosting for startups
HostGator – Security-focused web hosting for newbies and pros
Hostinger – Speedy shared and dedicated hosting options
SiteGround – Best for new tech integration

Bluehost

From $2.75/month/site

50GB

24/7 Customer Support

99.97%

1.6 seconds

WP Engine

From $2.5/month/site

10GB

24/7 Customer Support

99.99%

2.0 seconds

Weebly

From $5/ month/site

Yes

500MB

Email Customer Support

99.98%

2.2 seconds

Ionos

From $0.05/month/site

2GB

Tailored Support-Personal Consultant

99.99%

2.2 seconds

NameCheap

From $1.88/ month/site

20GB

24/7 Customer Support

99.93%

2.3 seconds

HostGator

From $2.75/month/site

Unmetered Storage

24/7 Customer Support

99.99%

2.4 seconds

Hostinger

$1.99/month

30GB

Chat and Email Customer Support

99.9%

2.5 seconds

SiteGround

From $2.99/month

10GB

24/7 Customer Support

99.89%

2.5 seconds

Bluehost: Best Overall Fastest Web Hosting Service

From $2.75/month/site

★★★★★

4.95

Visit

Bluehost provides comprehensive web hosting plans ideal for small to large enterprises. The service is renowned for its flexible pricing and complementary products such as ecommerce tools, a website builder, and other handy tools.

The value-focused pricing comes with perks, including unmetered bandwidth, free data backups, SSL certificates, and a free global Content Delivery Network (CDN). Bluehost runs high-performance servers that optimize site performance across shared and dedicated plans.

The enhanced web infrastructure supports optimal performance, with server response times peaking at an impressive 78ms in some US cities and maintaining an average of 153ms worldwide. Full-page load times average 1.6 seconds which is the fastest we recorded.

Why we chose it: We picked Bluehost because of its excellent speeds, wide product range and service reliability. Apart from hosting services, Bluehost also offers digital marketing resources and training to help site owners increase traffic and manage their websites better. To learn more about its features, read our complete guide on Bluehost.

Has the best overall page load speeds
Generous discounts for first-time users
Comprehensive anti-spam and security measures at no extra cost

Customer support waiting time could be lengthy
Migrating a site from another platform isn’t free
Lots of upselling for complementary web products

Pricing: Bluehost has three options for shared web hosting. The basic plan costs $2.75 and offers 50 GB data, 100 MB email storage capacity, and has a limit of one website.

The Plus plan and Choice Plus plans cost $4.95 and $5.54 per month, respectively, and feature several unlimited unmetered bandwidths, unlimited subdomains, and unrestricted email storage. The Plus plan comes with over $20 per year in extra features, while the Choice plus plan includes almost $100 per year in freebies.

WP Engine: Best for WordPress Integration

Starting at $30/month

★★★★★

4.8

Visit

WP Engine is a WordPress-oriented hosting service that offers cloud flexibility for your web assets, including daily backups, automated security updates, and auto caching. Many notable brands like Sony Music, SoundCloud, TechCrunch, Disney Books, and Spotify Newsroom trust WP Engine to host their sites due to its quick loading time, advanced security tools, and prompt support.

WP Engine uses several approaches to optimize the speed of hosted websites, including regular server updates, the latest PHP integration, a managed content delivery network, and custom caching technology. The result is blazing full page load times of about 2 seconds. The server response is equally impressive, with an average speed of 154ms. Checkout our WP Engine review for an in-depth look at the web host’s offerings.

Why we chose it: WP Engine is highly recommended since it scores highly in industry-standard assessments like loading speed, daily performance, server response time, and stress tests.

Optimized for WordPress, which guarantees faster website load times
Proprietary front-end system handles online traffic and maintain reliability
Support staff are all WordPress experts

Lots of backup and caching plugins create conflict
Costlier than most other services in the same category
No domain registration offered

Pricing: With $25, you’ll get the entry-level Startup Plan which gives 50 GB bandwidth and 10GB storage. The Professional Plan will set you back $49 per month, covering three sites for upto 75,000 visits.

The Growth plan costs $96 per month for 200 GB of bandwidth and 20 GB of storage. The Scale plan is $242 per month for 500 GB bandwidth and 50 GB storage.

Weebly: Best for Beginner-Friendly Websites and Blogs

Includes free and pro plans

★★★★★

4.7

Visit

Weebly boasts a portfolio of over 50 million sites and gives entry-level site owners access to its higher-tier hosting service through a free plan. Product development may not be as robust as Bluehost, and WP Engine, but Weebly constantly spends more resources on tech improvements than marketing.

Whole page downloads are decent, with speeds ranging from 1.8–2.3 seconds. This speed improves for less graphic-intensive web content. The average Total Blocking Time is 295ms which is comfortably below the standard threshold of 300ms.

Why we chose it: The simplicity of Weebly’s tools is one of its greatest selling points not to mention the flexible pricing. Also, it’s impressive that Weebly can handle multiple-page websites without compromising on loading time which is not the same for similar services like Squarespace or Wix.

User-friendly tools
Team management allows site owners to give access to authorized individuals
Flexible pricing

Backup systems need some improvement
Limited access to plugins
Weebly watermark on free websites

Pricing: The entry-level offering is the free plan that restricts users to 500MB of storage and includes Weebly branding in the domain name. The first paid tier costs $5 per month and includes a custom domain, 500MB storage, and SSL security.

If yours is a larger organization that requires a custom domain and ecommerce tools, the Pro plan which costs $12 per month is an ideal web host for ecommerce. Weebly’s flagship offering is the Business plan that goes for $25 and includes additional ecommerce features, including coupon codes, gift cards, inventory management, a shipping calculator, and advanced site statistics.

Ionos: Best for Scalability and Strategic Growth

Starting at $0.50/month

★★★★★

4.7

Visit

Ionos is one of the oldest web hosting sites and currently manages over 12 million domains. It is the preferred choice for budget-friendly hosting services while offering extras such as a website builder, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and WordPress integrations.

Ionos has a reliable page loading time of about 2.2 seconds. This is above the average loading speeds for top-tier hosting platforms. Server response times are also impressive, with tests recording 248ms and above.

This hosting service features an innovative resources management system that allows users to scale up in real-time. Live Vertical Scaling is efficient and can be done with a few clicks.

Why we chose it: Ionos is an ideal option for individuals or enterprises searching for a price-friendly, easy-to-use hosting provider.

The tailored customer support could be better but you’re assured of problem resolution in the shortest time possible. Ionos is perfect for website owners who prefer customized sites over template-based site-builders. To learn more about its features and pricing, read our Ionos review.

Windows and Linux based hosting resources
Price-friendly and bundles complementary offerings in its packages
Consistently fast loading times and minimal downtime

Has limited ecommerce tools
Limited customer support services
Website transfers are not free

Pricing: Ionos offers one of the lowest introductory prices for shared web hosting, starting at $3 per month within the first year. The essential tier goes up to $4 per month for the annual plan. Month-to-month plans are also available after using the service for one year.

The Business plan offers WordPress-powered hosting for $0.50 within the first 12 months and then $8 for subsequent months. The business offing hosts 25,000 site visits per month and includes robust security and backup resources.

The highest pricing tier is the unlimited plan for multiple WordPress-powered websites. The pricing starts at $8 per month for the first year and goes up to $16 for subsequent years. This package has unlimited SSD storage and managed automated updates, among other premium extras.

Namecheap: Reliable Shared Hosting for Businesses

Starting at $1.88/month

★★★★★

4.6

Visit

NameCheap makes it possible for enterprises to get a low-cost domain name and still host a website on a reliable and cost-effective platform. It manages over 10 million domains and offers complimentary services like privacy protection and SSL certificates.

The company uses Lightspeed technology in some of its server networks to speed up and optimize operations, making page loads faster. The page loading time is about 2.3 seconds, and even under a stress test, it still holds its own. Additionally, it maintains a 99.82% uptime.

With NameCheap, it is easy to migrate from other hosting platforms because it doesn’t charge a dime for it. In the event of any issues, 24-hour customer support is on hand to offer assistance.

Why we chose it: NameCheap manages to uphold a nearly perfect uptime record making it among the most reliable hosting services. In the same vein, it offers some of the most affordable plans on the market. If you’re interested in their services, check out our in-depth Namecheap review to learn more.

Has a solid reputation for providing dependable hosting at budget-friendly prices
Free, straightforward migration of sites from different hosting services
Daily comprehensive data backups are done twice a day

No phone customer support
Getting SSL certificates setup can be challenging on some occasions
Beginners may find the dashboard complicated at first

Pricing: Shared hosting features 3 categories for online beginners, small businesses, and large businesses. The online beginner plans include Stellar and Stellar plus. Stellar starts at $1.88 per month for up to 3 websites, while Stellar Plus costs $2.98 per month for an unlimited number of websites and unrestricted bandwidth.

One option for the small businesses category is Stellar Business which is $4.98 per month and offers cloud services, unrestricted bandwidth, and free automated backup. The other option, known as Nebula, is a reseller hosting plan and has a monthly rate of $17.88.

Large businesses have the option of VPS hosting under the Quasar plan with a monthly payment of $19.88. Quasar gives enterprises access to Linux server systems with full root access.

The highest hosting tier for large businesses is Xeon E-2234, a dedicated hosting option with physical servers and customization preferences. The monthly rate for Xeon E-2234 is $56.88 per month.

HostGator: Speed-Focused Web Hosting for Newbies and Pros

Starting at $2.75/month

★★★★★

4.6

Visit

Like NameCheap, Hostgator has provided online services since the dot com boom. It remains one of the most recognizable hosting companies, handling over 2.5 million domains.

Its excellent server infrastructure supports server response times of 220ms and above in the United States and Canada. Considering that Google’s recommended server response time is 200ms, HostGator guarantees faster web page loading with these impressive figures.

HostGator has several offerings, including shared hosting, VPS reseller packages, and dedicated web hosting to suit entry-level and professional clients. The company’s server network is spread between several cities, including Utah, Houston, and Provo. Also, it has other data centers worldwide.

Why we chose it: HostGator consistently posts impressive site uptimes that remain above 99.99% and has an average page load speed of 2.4 seconds. Additionally, it ensures that the user experience for entry-level sites is the same for professional multi-page sites. Its lowest plan is ideal for beginners since there are no extra costs after making the first payment. To learn more about its features and pricing, read our HostGator review.

Stable uptime and loading speeds
Offers unlimited bandwidth and storage for all plans
One-click WordPress installation

Additional payment required to restore data from backups
Extra costs for SEO and security tools
Increased pricing after the first renewal

Pricing: HostGator offers various pricing segments. The entry-level package for shared hosting starts at $2.75 per month. This Hatchling plan is a beginner-friendly option covering one website and includes a free domain, one-click WordPress installation, and unmetered bandwidth.

The next tier is the Baby plan at $3.50 per month. The package covers unlimited websites and all the features of the Hatchling plan, making it ideal for small businesses and medium-sized blogs.

The top tier offering is the Business plan with an introductory offer of $5.25 per month. The standout features of this package include unlimited website hosting, a free dedicated IP, and a free SSL upgrade.

Hostinger: Speedy Shared and Dedicated Hosting Options

Starting at $1.99/month

★★★★★

4.4

Visit

Hostinger is among the fastest and most accepted web hosting platforms due to its friendly price structure and reliable service. The page loading speeds are impressive, with figures that didn’t go above 2.5 seconds during our testing period. Server overloads are rare, meaning speeds remain constant during uptime.

The available plans come with generous bandwidth, data storage, and extras like professional email addresses and automated updates. Like NameCheap, the Hostinger plans are affordable and come with free backups and SSL certificates making it an ideal option for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Why we chose it: Hostinger is a beginner-friendly web hosting platform with plenty of features that match other top-tier web hosting companies. Some of the features that make Hostinger’s product portfolio stand out include ample speeds, free site migration, regular backups, 99.9% uptime, and one-click WordPress installation.

Constant upload times over extended periods
Unrestricted bandwidth and storage space
Quick server response time due to LiteSpeed technology

No phone customer support and responses from email may delay
Dashboard may have instances of unresponsiveness or be sluggish
No cPanel integration

Pricing: Hostinger’s shared web hosting plans are categorized into Single, Premium, and Business packages. The single plan is the lowest tier and starts at $1.99 for one website with 30 GB SSD storage and 100GB bandwidth.

The premium plan hosts upto 100 websites and offers unlimited bandwidth and MySQL databases. Despite the unmetered bandwidth, the SSD storage in this tier is capped at 100GB. The Business plan rounds off the shared hosting packages with a monthly payment of $4.99 per month. This offering includes unlimited bandwidth and 200 GB SSD storage. A 30-day money-back guarantee covers all the shared hosting plans.

SiteGround: Best Fast Web Hosting for New Tech Integration

Starting at $2.99/month

★★★★★

4.0

Visit

SiteGround’s investment tech means that users benefit from LiteSpeed servers and Google Cloud Infrastructure. These resources allow clients to scale their operations efficiently using the latest server management tools.

It also develops in-house tools, including ultra-fast PHP that helps websites to perform faster. With this service, you get an average page loading time of 2.5 seconds and uptime of 99.89% guaranteeing you reliability.

Why we chose it: Siteground has an excellent combination of user-friendly navigation, security, performance, and decent customer support. It also offers attractive prices and a great user experience for beginners and seasoned users. Read the SiteGround review to learn more about this hosting service.

Uses plenty of innovative applications to enhance page load times
Daily backups at no extra cost
Solid security tools customized for in-house use

Plans do not include free domain name registration
Free migration is only valid for one site
Renewal prices are significantly higher than the promotional rates

Pricing: SiteGround offers three plans for shared web hosting. The lowest tier is the StartUp which features a $2.99 payment per month. The introductory rate is for only one site and offers 10 GB of storage, unrestricted web traffic, and daily site backups.

GrowBig costs $4.99 per month and users can host unlimited websites and access 20 GB of web storage for up to 10,000 monthly visits. The standout feature of this tier is 30% faster PHP staging.

GoGeek is the highest shared hosting tier with a monthly fee of $7.99. This package offers unlimited website hosting, 40 GB storage for up to 400,000 monthly site visits, free private DNS, and priority support. All the categories have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Methodology for the Fastest Web Hosting Services

We focused on four main criteria when researching the fastest web hosting platforms. First was the load times for hosted websites and the average uptime recorded by independent reviewers.

Apart from site loading time and uptime percentage, another critical aspect we focused on was storage capacity as data storage plays a significant role in the stability and integrity of web assets. Lastly, we focused on security tools. Let’s delve deeper into each specific factor.

Site Load Times

Website or webpage load time is the period it takes for a site to appear on screen. A full load includes all the relevant web content, including images, videos, and text. Ideally, a quality web hosting service should enable sites to load fast with minimal hitches.

Average Uptime

The instant availability of web content to web users over a period is defined as uptime. There’s a whole complex calculation of ratios represented in the form of a percentage. You need to know that the goal of every web hosting service is to ensure that uptime is as close to 100% as possible. The fastest web hosting platforms record uptimes of around 99.99%.

Data Storage Capacity

Web hosting services allow a predetermined amount of data files for each site. For instance, you may be allocated 20 GB of storage for all your web files and database data. If your storage capacity is insufficient, it affects your web load time.

Many web hosting companies don’t cap data storage to optimize site speeds and avoid site vulnerability. An unmetered data plan is an ideal option for speedy web operations.

Security Tools

Web hosting services are mandated to ensure all hosted sites are secure and running efficiently. SSL security, data encryption, and SSH network protocol secure hosted sites from malicious applications. Ultimately, a web hosting platform that is secured and monitored is likely to have better loading speeds and consistent uptime.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Fastest Web Hosting

Here are some commonly asked questions regarding the best web hosting service providers.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting service providers offer website owners a chance to lease out portions of server space to accommodate their site(s) and all related data. Without web hosting, your website cannot be accessed on the internet. Essentially this is your gateway to get your information online.

How do I Find the Best Web Hosting Plan?

First, identify your needs before you settle on a specific hosting plan. Your webmaster will let you know if you require shared, VPS, reseller, or dedicated hosting. Opt for beginner-friendly plans that won’t cost you much but have consistent uptime if you are starting.

Is Web Hosting Expensive?

The web hosting sector is competitive, and to get your attention, some companies offer lower web hosting prices. Keeping your costs low is essential, but it is important to match the features with the cost to determine if you’re getting a good deal.

Before you make your decision based on price, read the details of the plan to determine whether you will access everything you need to get your site running smoothly.

Bottom Line on the Fastest Web Hosting

The hosting service you choose is crucial for your online visibility. If you settle on a reputable provider, you’re assured of fast site speeds and minimal downtime. Based on our extensive research, the fastest web hosting options are Bluehost and WP Engine. These two platforms offer great features, reliability, and extras while maintaining reasonable pricing structures.

June 9, 2022November 23, 2022

7 Best Shared Web Hosting Services in 2023

Finding out how to choose the best shared web hosting service is a challenging and confusing process. There are so many web hosts to choose from, and they each offer a similar set of features. We rank the seven best shared web hosting service providers based on reliability, affordability, ease of use, and feature offerings.

Best Shared Web Hosting

HostGator – Best for Overall Shared Web Hosting Services
Bluehost – Best for Beginner-Friendly Shared Web Hosting Services
Namecheap – Best for Domain Name Registration
IONOS – Best for Affordable Shared Web Hosting
WP Engine – Best for Managed WordPress Shared Web Hosting
Weebly – Best for Ecommerce Businesses
Zyro – Best for Affordable Website Building

HostGator

Starts at $3.95/month on an annual subscription

Unlimited

Unmetered

Automated daily backups

99.9%

24/7/365 support

Bluehost

Starts at $2.95/month on an annual subscription

50 GB on the Basic plan, all other plans have unlimited

Unmetered

Automated backups are included on the Choice Plus and Pro plans

99.98%

24/7 hosting support

Namecheap

Starts at $1.88/month on an annual subscription

20 GB on Stellar plan, unlimited on Stellar Plus plan, and 50 GB on Stellar Business plan

Unmetered

Twice a week

100%

24/7 live support

IONOS

Starts at $0.50/month on an annual subscription

10 GB on Essential plan and unlimited on others

Unmetered

Automatic daily backups

99.9%

24/7 customer service

WP Engine

Starts at $25/month on an annual subscription

Starts at 10 GB storage on Startup plan

Starts at 50 GB/month on Startup plan

Automatic daily backups

99.95%

24/7 chat and phone support

Weebly

Starts at $12/month on an annual subscription

Unlimited

Unmetered

Manual backups

99.97%

Live support 9 AM – 9 PM EST

Zyro

Starts at $4.90/month on an annual subscription

Unlimited

Unmetered

Manual backups

99.99%

24/7 support team

HostGator: Best Overall Shared Web Hosting Services

Pricing: $3.95/month to $7.25/month on an annual subscription

4.85

★★★★★

Visit

HostGator is one of the largest web hosting service providers in the world and it specializes in shared web hosting services. Although HostGator has expanded to offer different types of hosting and even a drag and drop website builder, its shared web hosting is still effective for most businesses.

Why we chose it: HostGator is the best overall shared web hosting service provider because of its value pricing. This means that the features HostGator offers for its pricing packages surpasses all of its competitors. To learn more about its features and pricing, read our HostGator review.

Unlimited storage space across all plans
Unmetered bandwidth across all plans
Premium free email marketing tools

Dashboard can be confusing
More expensive than other shared web hosts
Slow customer support response times

Pricing:

HostGator carries three different shared web hosting plans:

Hatchling – $3.95 per month for the first 12 months, then $8.95 per month
Baby – $5 per month for the first 12 months, then $11.95 per month
Business – $7.25 per month for the first 12 months, then $16.95 per month

HostGator’s main differentiating factor is how many features you get access to for an extremely affordable price point. On each of HostGator’s shared hosting plans, you receive unlimited storage space and unmetered bandwidth. Furthermore, HostGator provides a free SSL certificate on all of its plans.

Although HostGator offers month-to-month shared web hosting plans, it’s more affordable to signup for a longer-term subscription. With the Hatchling plan, you can host a single website and use HostGator’s one-click WordPress installation tool. HostGator also provides a free WordPress and cPanel website transfer.

With the Baby and Business plans, you are allowed to host unlimited websites. The Business plan also offers Cloudflare CDN with up to 2.5x faster page load times. This premium plan also grants you access to free SEO tools and a free dedicated IP address. You also receive $150 in Google Ads spend match credit and $100 in Microsoft Advertising credit on each plan.

Overall, you can’t go wrong when you choose to host your business’s website with HostGator. The 45-day money-back guarantee gives you enough time to test out the platform before completely committing to it.

Bluehost: Best for Beginner Friendly Shared Web Hosting Services

Pricing: $2.95/month to $13.95/month on an annual plan

4.76

★★★★★

Visit

Bluehost is another shared web hosting provider used by millions of users around the world. However, Bluehost is the best small business web host because of how easy it is to use and set up. When you sign up for Bluehost, you’ll have access to all the tools you need to get your company’s website off the ground. Each plan includes a free domain and SSL certificate.

Why we chose it: Bluehost is one of the best beginner-friendly shared web hosting service provider because it provides extensive guidance and help tools to set up your website.

Heavily discounted first term
Ample storage space
Extensive onboarding features

Bothersome marketing upsells
Server speeds could use improvement
Basic plan has limitations

Pricing:

Bluehost provides four unique shared web hosting pricing packages:

Basic – $2.95 per month for the first 12 months, then $9.99 per month
Plus – $5.45 per month for the first 12 months, then $14.99 per month
Choice Plus – $5.45 per month for the first 12 months, then $18.99 per month
Pro – $13.95 per month for the first 12 months, then $28.99 per month

Bluehost is the best web hosting solution for beginners setting up a website for the first time. If you’re on a limited budget and new to web hosting, Bluehost should be your go-to shared web hosting service.

The core features Bluehost offers are an all-in-one dashboard, fast and reliable performance, and a wide selection of themes and plugins. Furthermore, Bluehost offers comprehensive ecommerce and WordPress integrations.

Bluehost’s award-winning 24/7 customer support is always ready and able to answer all of your pending questions. Right from the get-go, Bluehost will hold your hand through the entire website setup process. This means zero web design and web hosting knowledge is required to make the most out of Bluehost.

The Basic plan comes with 50 GB of SSD storage and one website, which is more than enough for most small businesses and startups. Furthermore, every other plan comes with unlimited websites and unlimited storage. As your company grows, or if you want to start a new website, you can easily upgrade your plan.

Namecheap: Best Shared Web Hosting Services for Domain Name Registration

Pricing: $1.88/month to $4.98/month on an annual plan

4.7

★★★★★

Visit

Since its founding date in 2000, Namecheap has been a dominant player in the domain name registrar field. However, Namecheap also offers reliable shared web hosting services with an uptime score of 100%. This means that your website will potentially never encounter unforeseen downtime. Each Namecheap plan offers unmetered bandwidth and a free CDN.

Why we chose it: Namecheap is the best shared web hosting provider for domain name registration because this platform specializes in domain name registrar. Each hosting plan comes with steep discounts on a new domain name. If you’re interested in their services, check out our in-depth Namecheap review to learn more.

100% uptime guarantee
Free 24-hour site migration services
Affordable shared web hosting with many features

Unpolished website builder
High traffic and lower site speeds
No phone support

Pricing:

Namecheap offers three shared hosting plans, depending on what your business needs:

Stellar – $1.88 per month for the first 12 months, then $3.88 per month
Stellar Plus – $2.98 per month for the first 12 months, then $5.88 per month
Stellar Business – $4.98 per month for the first 12 months, then $9.88 per month

Widely used by many businesses around the world, Namecheap hosts over 1.5 million different websites. Namecheap is such a popular hosting provider because it offers affordable packages that contain all the features businesses need to get their websites up and running.

All of Namecheap’s shared hosting plans include unlimited bandwidth, a free domain and SSL certificate, and free backups. This means that your website’s privacy is secured, and your files are safe when you choose Namecheap as your shared web hosting provider.

Similar to Bluehost, Namecheap is also easy to configure and set up. As soon as you subscribe to Namecheap, you’ll receive an initial welcome email that guides you through everything you might need to know about website hosting.

To round things off, Namecheap is proven to offer above-average speeds compared to its competitors, making it an incredibly robust web host for those who want a more affordable hosting solution.

IONOS: Best for Affordable Shared Web Hosting

Pricing: $0.50/month to $8/month for the first 12 months

4.63

★★★★★

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IONOS is a web hosting solution built for businesses on a strict budget. Each of IONOS’s plans are discounted for the first 12 months before returning to the regular price. This gives your company time to grow before paying full price. What’s interesting about IONOS is that the middle-tier plan, Business, offers unlimited storage while the top-tier plan, Expert, doesn’t.

Why we chose it: IONOS offers the most affordable shared web hosting plan available, which starts at $0.50 per month for the first 12 months. Here’s a complete IONOS review to help you decide if it’s the right choice.

Access to a personal success consultant
Most affordable shared web hosting service
All-in-one website builder

No free trial to test website builder
Not the most beginner-friendly shared web host
Only the top plan offers the fastest server speeds

Pricing:

IONOS features three different affordable pricing packages:

Essential – $4 per month for the first 12 months, then $6 per month
Business – $0.50 per month for the first 12 months, then $10 per month
Expert – $8 per month for the first 12 months, then $16 per month

IONOS is the best web hosting service for those who need an affordable hosting solution right from the start. The Business plan is $0.50 per month for the first 12 months, giving your business ample time to grow and expand.

Each shared hosting plan from IONOS includes 99.9% uptime, SSL and DDoS protection, free backups, and PHP 8.1 with JIT compiler. You also get access to additional features such as a drag and drop website builder, online marketing tools, and WordPress hosting integration.

WP Engine: Best for Managed WordPress Shared Web Hosting

Pricing: $25/month to $241/month when paid annually

4.52

★★★★★

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WP Engine is a powerful web hosting solution for businesses with WordPress websites. This web host features maximum reliability and robust security protocols among its extensive set of additional features. If you built your website on WordPress and want excellent performance for it, WP Engine is your best choice.

Why we chose it: WP Engine is the best shared web hosting service for WordPress websites because it offers development, staging, and production environments to optimize your website.

All-in-one shared web hosting solution for WordPress websites
Global server locations
Outstanding customer service

Only built for WordPress websites
Visitor limits on all plans
More expensive than other options

Pricing:

WP Engine carries five different pricing plan options:

Startup – $25 per month when paid annually
Professional – $49 per month when paid annually
Growth – $96 per month when paid annually
Scale – $241 per month when paid annually
Custom – Inquire for pricing

WP Engine features reliable customer support, excellent uptime, and dedicated WordPress hosting services for all WordPress websites. Many businesses create their initial websites with WordPress, and WP Engine makes it easy to bring your website to life.

Every shared hosting plan WP Engine offers includes a content delivery network (CDN) for faster page load times. Speed is an essential factor for any website and WP Engine provides the fastest speeds found on shared web hosting plans.

WP Engine is specifically made for WordPress installations, plug-ins, and themes. If your company’s website isn’t built on WordPress, WP Engine isn’t the right solution for you. Read our WP Engine review to learn more.

Weebly: Best Shared Web Hosting for Ecommerce Businesses

Pricing: $12/month to $38/month when paid annually

4.46

★★★★★

4.9

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Weebly is a popular web hosting service provider for ecommerce businesses because of its browser-based, drag and drop website editor. You can use the website builder to customize your entire ecommerce website from top to bottom. Weebly also gives you access to customizable email templates and various SEO and website statistics to track performance.

Why we chose it: Weebly offers all the features necessary to maintain your online store from one comprehensive platform. This is why Weebly is the best shared web hosting provider for ecommerce businesses.

Impressive website speeds
Customizable and responsive themes
Affordable ecommerce shared web hosting solution

Unreliable customer service
Difficult to migrate to a new platform
Exclusively for ecommerce businesses

Pricing:

Weebly offers three different plans for online stores:

Pro – $12 per month when paid annually
Business – $25 per month when paid annually
Business Plus – $38 per month when paid annually

You can expect outstanding reliability and performance when you host your ecommerce website on Weebly. Weebly’s servers power millions of websites and pageviews per day and has a great track record as a shared web host.

All of Weebly’s hosting plans come with unlimited storage, a customizable shopping cart, and free SSL security. If you’re learning how to start an online store, you can use Weebly’s drag and drop website builder and its wide selection of store themes.

For even more convenience, you can use Weebly’s mobile app to build, manage, and edit your website through your mobile device. Additional ecommerce features include the ability to create a blog, make custom forms, and use SEO tools.

Zyro: Best Shared Web Hosting for Affordable Website Building

Pricing: $4.90/month to $18.90/month on a one-year plan

4.36

★★★★★

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Zyro is a DIY website builder that offers an intuitive interface and robust tools that allow you to customize your website’s online presence. As such, Zyro’s main purpose is to be used as a website builder. A few of the tools it offers include an AI writer, AI background remover, AI slogan generator, and AI blog title generator.

Why we chose it: Zyro is the best shared web hosting provider for businesses that want to create a new website easily at an affordable price tag.

Easy-to-use, drag and drop website builder
Free SSL certificate
Logo maker and AI powered tools

No free tier
Limited customizability
Unreliable customer support

Pricing:

Zyro carries three different pricing packages:

Website – $2.90 per month on a two-year plan, $4.90 per month on a one-year plan, or $8.99 per month regularly
Business – $4.90 per month on a two-year plan, $6.90 per month on a one-year plan, or $11.49 per month regularly
Advanced Store – $15.90 per month on a two-year plan, $18.90 per month on a one-year plan, or $25.90 per month regularly

Zyro is a website builder that comes with free shared web hosting services on each of its pricing packages. You can create any type of website with Zyro, including ecommerce stores. Although Zyro offers an impressive set of tools at an affordable price, we don’t recommend it for larger ecommerce stores. Weebly is a better shared web hosting service for big ecommerce stores.

One of the main advantages of Zyro is its ease of use. When you customize your website in Zyro’s drag and drop builder, a grid will appear. This makes it easy to position different elements like text and images. Zyro also integrates with Unsplash, a stock image website with millions of photos that you can use for free.

Methodology for the Best Shared Web Hosting Services

Selecting your web host is the first step of building an effective website for your business. Most shared web hosting services provide a similar set of features, and differentiating them can be confusing and difficult. There are a few criteria to consider when choosing the best shared web hosting services for your business.

Budget

Since you’re looking for the best shared web hosting service provider, it’s fair to say that pricing is a key factor to consider. Luckily, shared web hosting is the most affordable type of hosting available, and each service provider offers inexpensive basic plans. However, there are some shared web hosts that are more affordable than others.

Speed

Speed is a critical factor to consider when selecting a web hosting provider. You don’t want to pick a shared web host that has a track record of slow servers and response times. Poor loading times ruin the user experience of your website and can heavily impact your company’s bottom line. In fact, load page speed directly contributes to bounce rate; the longer the load time, the higher the bounce rate.

Usability

Not many individuals have an extensive amount of experience and knowledge with web hosting. Therefore, it’s essential to find a web host that’s easy to use and has an intuitive dashboard. You also need a shared web host that provides reliable customer support when you need help. This way, you can immediately troubleshoot problems when they arise.

Backups and Storage Space

Backing up your website is a critical task to complete to prevent a significant loss of data if something were to happen to your website. This is why you need a web hosting solution that offers backups. Furthermore, it’s important to choose a web host that provides ample storage space to hold all your business’s data and assets.

Reliability

Reliability is a core component of the web hosting services. Web hosts with a history of downtime should be avoided at all costs. Website downtime causes your company to lose potential customers and revenue.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Shared Web Hosting

Below are a few of the most common questions surrounding shared web hosting services.

What is the best shared web hosting company?

The best shared web hosting companies include HostGator, Bluehost, Namecheap, IONOS, WP Engine, Weebly, and Zyro. All of these shared web hosting companies offer a comprehensive set of features allowing you to run your business’s website efficiently and effectively. They are all reliable shared web hosts that prevent downtime on your website.

Is shared hosting any good?

Shared web hosting offers a great way for businesses to run their websites at an affordable rate. The reason why shared web hosting is so affordable is that you’re sharing a server with other websites. This means you are essentially splitting the cost of hosting with several other websites. The downside of shared web hosting is that you may notice slower server response times compared to other types of hosting.

Which is better VPS or shared hosting?

While shared web hosting is optimal for startups and small businesses, VPS hosting is the better option for midsize to large enterprises. This is because VPS hosting offers faster response times, better performance, and more security protocols. However, VPS hosting is more expensive than shared web hosting and requires basic technical knowledge.

Bottom Line on Shared Web Hosting

The best shared web hosting services offer a premium set of features at an affordable price. HostGator, Bluehost, and Namecheap are the best shared web hosting service providers because they make it easy to get your company’s website up and running.

June 7, 2022February 15, 2023

5 Trending Types of Business to Start in 2023

Businesspeople analyzing the trending types of business

Are you looking for the best type of business to quickly start your own company and finally ditch your traditional 9-to-5 job? The market is growing and expanding due to changing trends, so if you have the ambition to start a new business in 2023, we’ve wrapped up the five types of business that will be trending this year.

However, it doesn’t hurt to say that all of these types of business, as well as their niches may require specific skills, business licenses, training and certification. If a type of business listed here sounds interesting to you, make sure to do your own research of what’s needed to set up or register a business in that area.

1. Mental Health

Mental health is an aspect of our emotional, psychological health, and well-being. It helps to determine how we can handle stress, and anxiety, relate to others, and make choices. Our mental health impacts what we do, think, feel and say.

Why is it important?

The pandemic shed light on the importance of creating and cultivating good mental health so that we can prevent diseases and mental conditions. Addressing mental health in the same way and degree of importance as physical health is crucial to breaking bias and fighting the stigma that those who struggle with mental health conditions are ill or problematic.

According to the World Health Organization, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety, depression, and stress increased by 25% among people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in every five adults has at least one mental health condition. The use of prescription medication and counseling also spiked during this time, which made mental health a concern in many countries around the globe.

Who is it best for?

There are many opportunities within the mental health and wellness industry to explore. The wellness market alone is at more than $1.5 trillion, with 5.1% annual growth. This type of business isn’t limited only to larger corporations but also small businesses and independent workers. The industry is very extended, and the areas to explore are the following categories:

Health: It includes medical devices, apps, teletherapy and telemedicine, remote healthcare services, and personal health trackers
Fitness: Personal trainers, fitness instructors, bodyweight training, gyms, fitness apparel, fitness and yoga studios, supplements, and weight loss
Nutrition: Supplements and vitamins, nutrition apps, diet programs, juice cleansers, and subscription food services
Sleep: Sleeping tracking apps and devices, blackout curtains, and gravity blankets
Mindfulness: Meditation-focused apps, yoga and meditation props, and apparel

2. Cyber Security

According to the National Cyber Security Centre in the UK, “cyber security’s core function is to protect the devices we all use (smartphones, laptops, tablets and computers), and the services we access–both online and at work–from theft or damage.”

Why is it important?

Our lives are so connected with our smartphones, computers, and other devices that it is hard to imagine how we’d function without them. Nearly all fundamental parts of our modern life are digital–from real-time payments to online banking to shopping and social media.

The number of cyberattacks also increased 50% year-over-year – it’s estimated that, on average, 30,000 websites are hacked every day. That said, it’s more important than ever to protect our data from malicious attacks.

Cybersecurity’s market growth is attributed to the growing need for strict compliance with regulatory requirements and complexities in digital security due to the increasing number of cyberattacks on both individuals and enterprises. From 2021 to 2026, the cybersecurity industry is expected to reach a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.7%–from $217.9B in 2021 to $345.4B in 2026. This may be one type of business that will see continual growth rate, as it’s always changing to stay ahead of cybercriminals.

Who is it best for?

The cyber security market is broad and it offers various verticals with a number of opportunities, however, initiating a business in this area requires some level of expertise and skills.

Professionals in the area can work both B2B and B2C, but opportunities and high-ticket projects are likely to happen in the business-to-business model. In this case, there are many opportunities, such as:

Consulting (both independent contractors and agencies)
Cyber security specialist
Cyber security writers and freelancers
Security auditor
Vulnerability researchers

3. Financial Services

Financial services describe all areas within the finance industry, including everything from money management to payments and digital banking technology. The financial firms involved in this sector include banks, insurance companies, fintech, lenders, and financial institutions.

Overall, these firms are responsible for managing money in various degrees and responsibilities. For instance, a payment service provider accepts and transfers capital between payer and payee.

Why is it important?

The financial services industry is one of the most critical sectors of the economy, leading the world in earnings and equity market capitalization, including all types and business sizes within the market.

The strength of the financial sector is so vital that it dictates a nation’s economy, which means that if the financial services sector fails, it can drag a country’s economy down.

Who is it best for?

Most financial activities are migrating to digital, and many other finance-related business opportunities are surfacing. If you’d like to venture yourself into the finance sector, here are some career opportunities in this type of business:

Financial advisor business
Bookkeeping service
Business brokerage company
Stock day trader
Money lending company
Accounting software business
Auditing firm
Payment service provider
Cryptocurrency exchange
Day trading crypto

4. Elearning

Education has changed with the advance in edtech and elearning platforms. The modern education process will never be the same again, as the internet has changed the way we learn for good. Learning and formal education are no longer only a thing for kids and college-age students.

Elearning is a type of business that’s an excellent way to deliver learning through digital resources. The pandemic accelerated this movement which is now widely adopted by corporations, institutions, and schools all over the globe.

Why is it important?

Elearning breaks the stigma that knowledge is restricted to school education and it can be done anywhere, at any time and it accommodates everyone’s needs. Other benefits of elearning are cost reduction, consistency, effectiveness, and scalability.

The future of education is digital and the global edtech market is set to grow from $152 billion in 2018 to $342 billion in 2025. In other words, it is a highly profitable sector with much potential.

Who is it best for?

The five main industries utilizing elearning the most are healthcare, education, corporate business, computer and IT, and retail/ecommerce. However, nowadays, you can provide an online course basically about anything, from cooking to digital marketing, to financial advice.

For professionals in one of these industries who wants to explore the e-learning realm, opportunities lie as:

Course creator
Learning Management System (LMS) providers
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers
Cloud hosting

5. Ecommerce

Simply put, ecommerce is the buying and selling of goods or services via the internet, and the transfer of money and data to complete the sales.

The ecommerce industry is growing exponentially, and more ecommerce businesses are emerging while the digital economy is expanding and reaching every corner of the globe. More and more people are turning to their computers and mobile phones to shop for their goods, search for reviews, compare pricing and look for market trends.

The most traditional types of ecommerce are B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), D2C (Direct to Consumer), C2C (Consumer to Consumer), and C2B (Consumer to Business).

Why is it important?

Besides the fast-growing pace, consumer adoption, and how it has changed the way we shop for our goods, ecommerce is quite convenient and it offers a wide range of options. Businesswise, ecommerce creates brand awareness, increases the company’s reach, and gives marketing opportunities.

Who is it best for?

Everyone from independent freelancers to small businesses to the largest corporations can benefit from this type of business. You’ll gain the ability to sell goods and services online at scale. Here are some examples:

Retail: The sale is direct to the final consumer with no intermediary
Dropshipping: The sale of products that are manufactured and shipped to consumers via a third party
Digital products: Digital assets such as templates, courses, ebooks, software, or media that must be purchased for use–these represent a large percentage of ecommerce transactions
Wholesale: Products sold in bulk. Wholesale products are usually sold to a retailer, who then sells the products to consumers
Services: Skills like coaching, writing, mentoring, consulting, and influencer marketing, are purchased and paid for online through an ecommerce shop
Subscription-based: Subscription services are the recurring purchases of products or services on a regular basis–they can be weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly.

4 Software to Help You Start or Grow Your Business

When it comes to starting a small business, it’s crucial to have the right tools at hand, in both work performance and results. The key, however, is to find the right software you need to start–especially for a small business. Whether you’re a freelancer, startup, or entrepreneur, we’ve listed the most important tools and best options in each category.

Best Project Management: Asana

Pricing: Free tier, or $13.49 and $30.49, monthly, per user

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A project management platform will help to deal with both easy and complex tasks, as well as plan, organize, delegate, and manage all resources between you and your team. Asana is user-friendly and offers some of the best project management tools available on the market. It fits businesses of any type and size and it helps to manage even the most complex projects.

Automatically generate reports, graphs and charts
Easy to use and beginner-friendly
It works for both small and larger teams

The premium version is more expensive than overall competitors

Best Payroll Software: Gusto

Pricing: Starts at $39 per month, plus $6 per month per person + free trial for small businesses

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Whether you work with a small team or intend to hire more people, you should consider a payroll software solution to manage your payroll and taxes for your workers. Gusto simplifies and automates the entire payroll processing. The company has an excellent UX and UI, easy payroll processing, and benefits for numerous employees. It’s quick to set up and run, and it’s mobile-friendly.

Free trial option for small business owners
Unlimited payroll
Automated taxes and filings

No international payroll
No household employee expenses
No mobile payroll app

Best Ecommerce Software: Shopify

Pricing: Free trials for 14 days. Pricing starts at $29 per month.

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If you decide to start an online store, we recommend Shopify. The ecommerce platform is an all-in-one hosted solution mainly focused on first-time users. The built-in features offers an easy to use interface, with drag and drop capabilities. Also, Shopify helps your online store to leverage your marketing by helping you to boost campaigns on social media platforms and create unique URLs.

Multichannel selling
Extensive payment options
Sell around the world with local language support

High transaction fees

Best Web Hosting: Hostinger

Pricing: Starts at $1.99/month

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One of the first steps to set up a business is to have a website up and running. In this case, you’ll need a web host, a domain and a website. Hostinger is the best web hosting provider out of all the web hosting sites because it’s easy to use, it’s affordable and it provides a high-performance website to its users, even on entry-level plans.

Performance-driven
Affordable
Beginner-friendly

Customer support could be better

Bottom Line on the Types of Business

Do you want to start a business in 2023 but aren’t sure where to start? The good news is that nowadays you don’t need lots of funding, and investment. With little money, lots of focus, drive, and a good internet connection, you can launch a successful business from the comfort of your own home.

We’ve listed the top trending business ideas to get you started, from the mental health and wellness industry to financial services. If one type of business isn’t quite right for you, consider one of the others. They’re all growing rapidly, so be sure to also arm yourself with the right software to help you succeed in business.

June 3, 2022March 28, 2023

5 Best VoIP Cell Phone Services – Expert Picks for 2023

VoIP cell phone services help bridge the gap between VoIP and cellular technologies. Mobile VoIP apps capitalize on the high internet speeds 4G LTE and 5G technologies bring to mobile phones. Thus, making it easier for you to carry all your business communications to your smartphone.

Let’s see some of the best VoIP cell phone apps, their features, and how they compare to each other. Before we begin, note that this article is strictly about mobile VoIP services that give you an actual VoIP number to make and receive calls from other numbers.

Looking for a premium service? check out Vonage!

5 Best VoIP Cell Phone Apps

RingCentral – Best Overall
Grasshopper – Best VoIP Mobile App for Small Teams
Nextiva – Best for Android
Line2 – Best Voice-only Mobile VoIP Service
Ooma Office – Best Customer Support

RingCentral

Starts at $19.99/user/mo.

Available with advanced plans

Unlimited domestic calling
Toll-free numbers
Visual voicemail

15-day

Live chat and phone support

Grasshopper

Starts at $26/mo.

Costs additional monthly fee

Extensions included in all plans
Toll-free numbers
Visual voicemail

7-day

24/7 toll-free support

Nextiva

Starts at $17.95 to 23.95/user/mo.

Free professional greetings
Unlimited voice & video calling
Outlook/Google Contacts Integrations

7-day

Phone and chat support (office hours)

Line2

Starts at $13.75/user/mo.

Available with advanced plans

Unlimited domestic calling
Unlimited toll-free minutes
Call handling

30-day money-back guarantee

Phone and chat support (office hours)

Ooma Office

Starts at $19.95/user/mo.

Easy to set up and use
Call parking, transfers, forwarding, and flipping
Conference calling with up to 10 participants

30-day money-back guarantee

Chat, email, and phone support 24/7

RingCentral: Best Overall VoIP Cell Phone Service

Starts at $19.99/user/mo.

★★★★★

4.8

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RingCentral is one of the best VoIP service providers out there and for good reason. Regardless of your business type and size, you can be sure to find a plan from RingCentral that suits your needs. You get unlimited calls in the US and Canada and visual voicemail capabilities from the most basic plans.

If you’re a small business and you need a mobile VoIP service for less than 20 employees, the RingCentral MVP Essentials plan is an excellent choice for you. It brings you a comprehensive set of communication tools at a very affordable price.

On top of that, its call flip feature makes it excellent for mobile VoIP users. This feature lets you switch calls between different devices with ease without the other caller noticing. For instance, if you’re on call on your computer, you can use this feature to seamlessly transfer the call to your smartphone.

RingCentral has apps for both Android and iOS devices and manages to fit almost all of the features of the desktop version into mobile. This includes call management, enhanced business SMS, team messaging, and toll-free numbers. The range of features only expands as you move to high-tier plans.

Although RingCentral gives you unlimited domestic calling, it may not be the best choice for international calling as it has some of the highest international calling rates. You also need to consider that you can only get the auto-attendant feature if you purchase one of the advanced plans. Some users have also complained about a general slowness in RingCentral’s customer service.

Why we chose it: RingCentral is a top-of-the-line VoIP cell phone app that brings a host of powerful communication features to Android and iOS users. Plus, its Essentials plan is one of the most affordable options for smaller teams. To learn more about RingCentral’s features, read our complete RingCentral review.

Free VoIP number for every user
Unlimited domestic calls
Affordable plans for small teams

Costly international calling rates
Essentials plan doesn’t have auto-attendant
Lacking customer support

Pricing: RingCentral isn’t the cheapest VoIP cell phone service, but it isn’t the most expensive either. It delivers good value for your money with a high-quality calling service and a range of features. Here’s what the different RingCentral MVP plans cost:

RingCentral MVP Essentials: $19.99/user/mo.
RingCentral MVP Standard: $27.99/user/mo.
RingCentral MVP Premium: $34.99/user/mo.
RingCentral MVP Ultimate: $49.99/user/mo.

Grasshopper: Best VoIP Mobile App for Small Teams

Starts at $26/mo.

★★★★★

4.5

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Grasshopper is an easy-to-use VoIP cell phone service built with small businesses and solopreneurs in mind. This service focuses on a simple softphone app that lets you make and receive calls using a VoIP number. It also offers some other features essential for professional business communications.

Grasshopper focuses on external communications. It doesn’t have team messaging, video calling, or any other productivity or collaboration tools. Setting up VoIP calling with Grasshopper won’t take you more than a few minutes. All you need to do is download the app, choose a number, and that’s it.

If you’re wondering why we’ve ranked Grasshopper so highly despite its lack of advanced features, it’s because of its simplicity and serviceability for small businesses. You can get a business number for your company without the hassle of setting up special hardware or having to figure out complicated features.

When it comes to mobile use, the VoIP service offers all of its features on its intuitive mobile app. With Grasshopper, you can get vanity, local, or toll-free numbers, business texting, call forwarding, virtual fax, visual voicemail, simultaneous call handling, customer greetings, and even an instant response feature. This feature sends a follow-up text to a caller if you miss their call.

Another feature that makes Grasshopper an ideal VoIP cell phone service is its ability to switch between WiFi and cellular connections without interrupting the call. This means if your cellular network connection is dropping out, Grasshopper can hop to WiFi to keep your call going smoothly.

Why we chose it: Grasshopper is a simple, affordable, and powerful mobile VoIP service. It has all the features a small business needs for professional communication with customers without additional complexities. Read our Grasshopper review to learn more about its features and pricing.

Simple pricing
Call recording and screening
24/7 customer support

Auto-attendant costs extra
Limited extensions
No productivity and collaboration tools

Pricing: Grasshopper has a fairly simple pricing structure. It uses flat-fee monthly pricing which sets it apart from other VoIP cell phone services. Each plan comes with limited phone numbers and extensions.

Solo: $26/mo. for one number and three extensions
Partner: $44/mo. for three numbers and six extensions
Small Business: $80/mo. for five numbers and unlimited extensions

If you want to get the auto-attendant feature, you’d have to pay an additional monthly fee of $130 to add the Ruby Receptionist feature.

Nextiva: Best VoIP Cell Phone Service for Android Users

Starts at $17.95/user/mo.

★★★★★

4.2

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When it comes to all-in-one communication platforms, Nextiva is right up there with RingCentral. It offers a range of plans for companies as small as those with one to four employees to those who have more than 100.

Apart from VoIP calling and associated features, Nextiva offers collaboration tools like video conferencing, screen sharing, automated surveys, and integrations with Salesforce and Hubspot. But note that these collaboration features are available with advanced plans only.

Nextiva’s compatibility with MP3, WAV, and M4A files makes it an excellent choice for Android users. It also has mobile screen sharing capabilities that let you share anything you want on your mobile screen with your callers. All this comes bundled in a modern mobile app with a great user interface.

However, the biggest problem with Nextiva is that you don’t get access to its mobile app with the basic plan. You can only use its mobile app if you go with the Professional plan. This may put you off but note that there isn’t a significant difference between the prices of Essential and Professional plans.

That said, if you can afford the Professional plan, it’s worth every penny. You get unlimited conference calling with up to 40 participants, unlimited video conferencing with up to 250 participants, and unlimited SMS messaging. It also unlocks integrations with Hubspot, Salesforce, and Zendesk.

Why we chose it: Although Nextiva’s mobile app is locked within the Professional plan, it still is a pretty good option if you’re looking for an advanced VoIP solution. Plus, it’s perfect for Android as it supports MP3, WAV, and M4A files. To learn more about Nextiva’s features, read our complete Nextiva review.

Unlimited calling within the US and Canada
Customizable auto-attendant
Sales and marketing features with top-tier plan

Mobile app locked behind Professional plan
Most integrations locked behind top-tier plans
More expensive than alternatives

Pricing: Nextiva’s pricing structure is a bit complex. The average prices go down if you purchase a plan for more users. Here’s what you can expect the different plans to cost for users as less as 1-4 to 100+.

Essential: $17.95 to 23.95/user/mo.
Professional: $21.95 to 27.95/user/mo.
Enterprise: $31.95 to 37.95/user/mo.

Line2: Best Voice-Only Mobile VoIP Service

Starts at $13.75/user/mo.

★★★★★

4.0

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If you’re looking for a simple and affordable voice-only VoIP app, Line2 should be on your list. It’s a basic business VoIP solution that lets you have a second number on your mobile device. Line2 is compatible with Android, iOS, and Windows and offers features like unlimited domestic calling, local and toll-free numbers, call forwarding, number porting, and caller ID.

Line2 is not for you if you want a unified communications solution with video conferencing and other collaboration tools. It also lacks call recording, voicemail to text, and auto-attendant functionalities in its basic plan. But if you think you can do without these features, Line2 may be the ideal VoIP service for you.

When it comes to ease of use, Line2 is one of the easiest to set up mobile VoIP apps we’ve come across. Line2 only has a softphone version which you can install on your mobile with ease. If you also need a desk phone in your VoIP solution, you’d be better off looking somewhere else.

It’s not that Line2 is completely devoid of features. It does have a handful of useful tools that can help you in various ways. For example, with call forwarding, you can route incoming calls to different departments, with each department having its own extension. Although Line2 lacks collaboration tools, it does have merged calling. This feature allows as many as 99 participants on a single call.

Call reporting is also available with Line2’s mobile VoIP app. This means that you can view key tracking metrics and study call logs of inbound and outbound calls to understand your customers’ needs better. These reports can also be used to improve the overall level of customer service by identifying which calls were received and which ones were missed.

Why we chose it: Line2 is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a voice-only mobile VoIP solution to instantly improve your business communications.

Easy to use
Simple setup
Affordable option

Lacks advanced features
Lacks integrations
Limited customer support

Pricing: Line2 is one of the most affordable VoIP cell phone services on this list. Its pricing plan consists of three tiers: Starter, Growth, and Business. The actual price you pay for any of these depends on whether you’re going to pay monthly or annually.

Starter: $13.75/year or $15.99/mo.
Growth: $17.66/year or $20.99/mo.
Business: $21.83/year or $25.99/mo.

Ooma Office: Best VoIP Cell Phone Service for Customer Support

Starts at $19.95/user/mo.

★★★★★

4.0

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Ooma Office is an attractive option if you need a mobile VoIP solution for traveling employees and remote work. It’s affordable, easy to use, and offers all the features a small or midsize business needs for seamless communications. The fact that it’s a flexible service that doesn’t involve a fixed contract sets it apart from the competition. The best part about Ooma Office is its customer service. The support team is available round the clock via phone, chat, or email to resolve issues if you run into any.

When it comes to features, even the most basic plan includes a toll-free number, SMS, call logs, virtual fax, and multi-extension dialing. That’s not all–you also get unlimited calling and business SMS, call parking, transfers, forwarding, and flipping, voicemail with audio email attachments, and conference calls with up to 10 participants with this plan. You can even avail of the virtual receptionist feature at no additional cost.

A potential drawback is that Ooma’s desktop app isn’t included in it, but if you’re in it for mobile use, this shouldn’t be a problem. With Ooma Office, each user gets a unique direct-dial number instead of an extension. This makes you look more professional as a business and also makes it easier for customers to reach your employees.

Ooma is a great choice for businesses that lack an in-house IT specialist or team. Not only is it easy to set up, but its responsive customer support team is also available round the clock to help resolve issues for you. Ooma’s customer support team is available 24/7 via live chat and phone.

Why we chose it: Ooma Office is affordable, easy to use, flexible, and has all the features a business can get from a quality VoIP cell phone service. It’s pretty easy to set up and the customer support team is available at all times to resolve issues for you. To learn more about Ooma Office’s features, read our complete Ooma Office review.

24/7 phone, chat, and email customer support
Unlimited calling in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico
No contract required

Desktop app is limited to the Pro plan
CRM and productivity integrations are not available on the base plan
Pricing isn’t transparent

Pricing

Getting to the Ooma Office pricing page takes some searching. For your ease, we’ve found out the plans Ooma offers and what they cost. It has two price points that vary significantly in features.

Ooma Office: $19.95 /user/mo. – one-time activation fee, for 1 user: $29.95
Ooma Office Pro: $24.95 /user/mo. – one-time activation fee, for 1 user: $29.95

Methodology for the Best VoIP Cell Phone App

The VoIP market has no shortage of options, but only a handful of them are worth your time and money. We evaluated a long list of VoIP callers to shortlist just five as our VoIP cell phone services picks.

Since this guide is purely about the best VoIP apps for mobile, our primary focus is on the functionality each provider brings to cell phone users and at what price. For this, we took a deeper look into the features that make on-the-go VoIP communications more convenient and other important factors listed below.

Pricing: Pricing is often the most important factor when investing in a service, and this is especially true for small businesses. We understand that business owners prefer the most cost-effective that can meet their needs, which is why we’ve mentioned the pricing plans for each VoIP service. We also considered whether a service has a free trial or money-back guarantee for users’ peace of mind.
Ease of Use: The reason why many businesses and individual users look for mobile VoIP solutions is ease and accessibility. We considered how easy it is to set up and use each mobile VoIP service.
Features: Some mobile VoIP apps don’t carry the same feature set as their desktop counterparts. However, we only selected the service providers that match their desktop version’s features with their mobile app. This includes general features like auto-attendant, voicemail, and call forwarding to advanced ones like collaboration tools, visual voicemail, and integrations.
Customer support: Customer service is always a top consideration regardless of the service. Quality VoIP services tend to have 24/7 phone and chat support so users can get their questions answered right away.

Mobile VoIP Vs Video Conferencing Software

You might be wondering why we didn’t include solutions like Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet despite them using VoIP technology and having pretty good mobile apps. This is because these apps, at their core, are video conferencing software. They don’t give you a VoIP number to make and receive calls from other phone numbers.

In this guide, we kept our list restricted to VoIP cell phone apps that you can actually use to make VoIP calls to phone numbers. This is not possible with software like Skype, Zoom, and other video conferencing tools.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for VoIP Cell Phone

If you’ve still got some unresolved questions about VoIP cell phone services, check out these frequently asked questions. You might find your answer.

Is WhatsApp a mobile VoIP solution?

Technically, WhatsApp uses VoIP technology to place calls over the internet. However, it doesn’t qualify as a VoIP service because it doesn’t give you a VoIP number and you can only make calls to other WhatsApp users. Moreover, if you call someone using a VoIP service, they can’t tell if you’re calling from a VoIP number. However, if you call someone on WhatsApp, the receiver knows it’s a WhatsApp call.

Can a cell phone use VoIP?

You can easily use VoIP on your cell phone with any quality VoIP service that has a mobile app. RingCentral, Nextiva, Line2, Ooma Office, and Grasshopper are some mobile VoIP apps you can use to make and receive VoIP calls on your cell phone.

How can I get a VoIP service for free?

There are few VoIP services that claim to offer their services for free. However, please note that this industry is rife with scams. Most free VoIP service providers fail to deliver quality service and may not even work in the first place. We recommend you to go with an affordable service provider like Line2 that brings you a top-of-the-line mobile VoIP service without you having to break the bank.

Can you call a VoIP number from a cell phone?

Yes, you can. Calling a VoIP number is just like calling any other phone number. All you need to do is dial the 10-digit number and your call will be connected if the receiver picks up.

Bottom Line on the Best VoIP Cell Phone Services

Whether you need a VoIP app for Android or iOS, the five services we’ve shortlisted can help you upgrade your business communications almost instantly. Since you don’t need anything other than the softphone app, getting started with these VoIP cell phone services won’t take you more than a few minutes.

June 3, 2022February 16, 2023

5 Best Cheap Web Hosting Services – 2023

Young professional researching on the best cheap web hosting services

Choosing good and cheap web hosting for your website doesn’t have to be expensive–affordable web hosting can also be high quality. With the right choice, you won’t just get hosting–you can also get the ability to design and build an affordable website for your small business.

Hostinger is our pick as the best overall affordable web host provider because of its initial cost, low renewal rates, and its user-friendly interface. We’ve listed other options for both beginners and advanced users with small budgets, so if Hostinger isn’t right for you, another option may work better.

Best Cheap Web Hosting

Hostinger – Best Overall
Namecheap – Best for Affordability
Bluehost – Best for Ease of Use
iPage – Best for Personal Websites
DreamHost – Best for Monthly Pricing

Hostinger

Starts at $1.99/month

Minimal renewal rates

Intuitive control panel and beginner-friendly interface

Performance-driven and it uses LiteSpeed servers

Only live chat and email support

Namecheap

Starts at $1.58/month

2x higher than initial cost

Smooth UX and user-friendly website builder

Low-performance

24/7 live chat but no phone support

Bluehost

Start at $2.95/month

3x higher than initial cost

Straightforward and beginner-friendly tools

Slower servers compared to competitors

Three 24/7 live chat lines, email, and phone support

iPage

Starts at $1.99 per month

Up to 5x higher than initial cost

Easily accessible to low-level users

Slower servers compared to competitors

24/7 phone support, live chat, and email

DreamHost

Starts at $2.59 per month

2x higher than initial cost

Modern and clean panel, easy to navigate

High enough performance speed

Live chat from 3:00 AM to 9:30 PM PST

Hostinger: Best Overall Cheap Web Hosting Service

Pricing: Starts at $1.99/month

4.9

★★★★★

Visit

Hostinger is our top pick as the best cheap web hosting service for more reasons than its low price. The company is considered one of the fastest web hosts on the market. The average page load speed is 143 milliseconds and the cheapest plan can load in under one second. Hostinger also makes it easy to manage a website using hPanel, an intuitive, user-friendly, and straightforward control panel.

Hostinger also lets you choose how you want to pay for your hosting services. For single shared hosting plans, pricing starts at $1.99 for 48 months. But if you don’t want a long-term commitment, the company also offers a monthly tier that costs $9.99, plus a $4.99 setup fee. Plan renews at the same price.

Besides the monthly plan, all the other payments are made upfront. Hostinger’s customer service has no free phone support (you have to pay $2 per month extra), but you can count on their live chat and email support. According to many users, the live chat and email support are responsive and efficient.

Premium shared hosting starts at $2.99 per month, and both Premium and Business shared hosting lets you host up to 100 websites and offers one free domain, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited databases. The downside, however, is that Hostinger offers no daily free backup for entry-level plans unless you upgrade to premium packages, such as Shared Business, Business WordPress or above.

The company still offers weekly backups instead, for the plans Shared Single, Shared Premium, Single WordPress, WordPress Starter, and VPS plans.

Why we chose it: Hostinger is our top pick because it’s performance-focused, it’s beginner and user-friendly and its plans are affordable even for tight budgets. Read our full Hostinger review for an in-depth look.

Beginner-friendly
Low cost plans
High-performance

No free daily backup
Customer support could be better

Pricing: Hostinger also lets you choose how you want to pay for your hosting services. For single shared hosting plans, pricings are the following:

Monthly: $9.99 + $4.99 set-up fee. Plan renews at the same price
12 months: $3.49/month and it renews at $5.99 monthly
24 months: $2.49/month and it renews at $4.99 monthly
48 months: $1.99/month and it renews at $3.99 monthly

Premium shared hosting: Starts at $2.99/month for 12 months and it renews at $8.99 monthly
Business shared hosting: Starts at $4.99/month for 48 months and it renews at $8.99 monthly

Namecheap: Best Cheap Web Hosting Service for Affordability

Pricing: Starts at $1.58/month

4.0

★★★★★

Visit

Although Namecheap is best known for selling domains, it also offers affordable web hosting services. The company lives up to its name – the low-entry plan tier starts at as little as $1.58 per month and you get a free website domain and the ability to host three websites.

The renewal prices are also minimal – just two times higher than the original price. That means, for instance, if you choose the entry-level plan (Stellar Plan), you’ll pay $21.88 for the first year and $42.88 to renew the contract. Namecheap displays the renewal rates in a small disclaimer right below the “Get Started” button, so no surprises when renewing your plan.

The storage capacity for the most basic shared hosting plan is 20GB SSD, unmetered bandwidth, free CDN, and free SSL certificate. Namecheap also offers a free website builder with 200+ templates to choose from, drag-and-drop interface, and a responsive design, which makes Namecheap user-friendly.

When it comes to performance, Namecheap falls behind its competitors. For instance, the shared hosting plan doesn’t support more than 100GB of file upload, so if you need to upload larger files, you should choose Hostinger instead which is performance-focused. Namecheap customer’s support is limited – similar to Hostinger, the company offers only live chat and email support but no phone customer service.

Why we chose it: Namecheap offers affordable plans with minimal renewal rates, and it’s user-friendly. Read our full Namecheap review for an in-depth look.

Most affordable with low renewal rates
Free domain name
User friendly

Limited customer support
Poor performance

Pricing: Namecheap offers three different shared hosting plans: Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business.

Stellar: $3.88 (billed monthly), $1.88 (billed annually) and $1.58 (2-year contract)
Stellar Plus: $5.88 (billed monthly), $2.98 (billed annually) and $4.98 (2-year contract)
Stellar Plus Business: $9.88 (billed monthly), $4.98 (billed annually) and $4.68 (2-year contract)

Bluehost: Best Affordable Web Host for Ease of Use

Pricing: Starts at $2.95/month

4.5

★★★★★

Visit

If this is your first time building a website, then you should consider Bluehost. The tools are beginner-friendly and Bluehost offers a website builder, for just $2.95 per month. Quick start smart templates, unlimited uploads, one-click WordPress access and drag-and-drop capabilities are some of the features of its website builder tool. Bluehost also works with WooCommerce integration, mainly focused on ecommerce platforms.

Pricing starts at a promotional rate of $2.95 per month for a basic shared hosting plan for 36 months and it auto-renews at a regular rate. The company offers a knowledge base page that compares all their plans and a pricing renewal table. For instance, if you pick the entry-level plan (called Basic) for 12 months at $2.95, the renewal price will be $9.99.

For this plan, you can get one website, 50GB SSD storage, a free domain for a year, as well as a free CDN, and free SSL certificate.

If you want to start with a WordPress website, Bluehost is also a great option for you. Its WordPress hosting plan gets you one WordPress website, storage of 20GB, free SSL, and custom themes also at $2.95 for a 36-month contract.

However, one of the cons of Bluehost is its control panel. Often used by many web hosting providers, cPanel has changed into a user-friendly interface but the system is oftentimes fragile and it already happened that the cPanel server accidentally removed all data during major updates, and if the website has no backup, users risk losing data.

Another downside is that Bluehost only offers free migration within the first 30 days after signing up. In case you need to migrate the website after this period, you’ll need to pay for it.

Why we chose it: Bluehost is an excellent option for beginners and those who want to build their own websites. Also, the company provides WordPress hosting at the same price as the basic shared hosting plan. Read the Bluehost review to learn more about its features and pricing.

Excellent option for first-time users
WordPress hosting available
WooCommerce integration for ecommerce shops

cPanel as control panel
Paid migration

Pricing: For shared hosting plans, Bluehost offers four options: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. For WordPress hosting plans, prices are the same.

Basic: $2.95 (12 months & 36 months)
Plus: $5.45 (12 months & 36 months)
Choice Plus: $5.45 (12 months & 36 months)
Pro: $13.95 (12 months & 36 months)

iPage: Best Cheap Web Hosting Service for Personal Websites

Pricing: Starts at $1.99/month

4.7

★★★★★

Visit

If you’re not sure which plan you should choose for your first website, iPage makes it easier for you. The company has been on the market since 1998. It offers a straightforward single plan, which is ideal for those who want to set up a personal website. iPage is also a great option for freelancers, bloggers, and small business owners who need plenty of storage and don’t have much budget to invest in web hosting.

Go Plan comes with unlimited websites, unlimited storage, free SSL, free domain for a year, free email address, and a website builder. Pricing starts at $1.99 per month for 36 months. The company has a pricing page too, displaying its regular renewal rates. For example, the $1.99 monthly plan for 36 months renews at $8.99/month.

Similar to Bluehost, iPage building functionalities are easily accessible to low-level users–all templates are customizable and responsive. You can also create a WordPress website with the one-click installer feature if you wish.

If you plan to turn your website into an online store, iPage allows you to shift it into an ecommerce shop quickly and easily. The online store functionality is free, and it comes with personalized shopping carts, PayPal integration, email marketing integration, and a one-click installer.

Also, if you plan on scaling your business in the future and migrating to a business website, iPage offers advanced solutions with additional resources. In this case, you can shift to advanced web hosting solutions such as VPS and Dedicated Server hosting.

Why we chose it: iPage offers a single and straightforward plan for all its users with many unlimited free features such as unlimited storage, unlimited websites, and a free domain for a year.

One straight to the point single plan
Many unlimited features
Free online store

Lack of variety in plans
No cloud-based hosting options

Pricing: iPage offers one single plan. It starts at $1.99 per month for 36 months, $2.49 per month for 24 months, or $2.99 per month for 12 months. All pricing tiers should be paid upfront.

DreamHost: Best Cheap Web Hosting Service for Monthly Plans

Pricing: Starts at $2.59/month

4.8

★★★★★

Visit

For those who don’t want to commit for long and just need to host a website for a year or a few months, DreamHost lets you do that. The Shared Starter hosting plan starts at $1.99 with no commitments or contracts; you’ll get one website, unlimited traffic, WordPress pre-installed, free SSL certificate, and unlimited disk space and bandwidth.

The second shared hosting plan is called Shared Unlimited, and as the name suggests, you’ll get unlimited websites, unlimited email, unlimited traffic, and bandwidth. This plan starts at $2.99 per month, and you can cancel at any time.

Although not a free web hosting provider, DreamHost offers its users other benefits such as a 97-day money-back guarantee, an advanced and user-friendly control panel that’s easy to understand (as opposed to the standard cPanel that comes with many other web hosting providers), and competitive performance for an affordable price, and free migration.

The downside of DreamHost is the renewal pricing, which is higher than the initial ones. However, the company is transparent about the initial promotional tier and provides a disclaimer right next to the pricing.

Even if renewal rates aren’t the same as intro pricing, you’ll know right off the bat how much you’ll be paying when the contract expires. DreamHost only offers free email with the Shared Unlimited plan. That means, if you choose the Shared Starter plan, you’ll need to add email for $1.67 monthly.

Monthly plans with no commitment
Free migration
User-friendly control panel

Renewal pricing higher than initial pricing
No free email on Shared Starter plan

Pricing: For shared hosting plans, DreamHost offers two plans: Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited.

Shared Starter: Starting at $2.59 monthly for three years, $2.95 monthly for a year, and $1.99 for the monthly plan–no commitment or contracts.
Shared Unlimited: Starting at $3.95 monthly for three years, $2.95 monthly for a year, and $2.99 for the monthly plan–no commitment or contracts.

Methodology for the Best Cheap Web Hosting Services

The method we used to analyze the best and most affordable web hosting providers was to think of what a small business wants when searching for a web host. Saving a few pennies is good, but it shouldn’t be the only criterion. That’s why we considered others, such as renewal rates, UX, customer service, and website performance.

Initial pricing: We checked if the initial pricing is the best bang for the buck for the first years or months.
Renewal rates: However, renewal pricing isn’t always what you pay initially when the contract expires, so it’s essential to know how much more you’ll pay afterward.
User experience: It’s critical, especially for first-time users, to have a user-friendly and clean customer interface to navigate and find the tools you need by yourself easily.
Performance: Affordable prices don’t always mean good website performance, so we also looked into what a web hosting service provider can do for its entry-level users when it comes to overall performance.
Customer service: Similar to the UX, beginners need fast, responsive, and effective customer support whenever they need it.

What Else You Need to Know About Affordable Web Hosts

There are some common features a good and affordable web hosting service should provide to its users. Security features and a user-friendly control panel are as important as pricing and performance. But not everyone is familiar with some technical expressions, names and features – these are some other things you should know about affordable web hosting providers before you choose the best option for your business.

What is a CDN?

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network and it refers to a geographically distributed group of servers that work together to accelerate content delivery on the internet.

Why You Need an SSL Certificate

An SSL Certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates a website’s identity and is used to secure and encrypt sensitive information like credit cards, usernames, passwords, and other private data sent over the internet.

Anyone who deals with sensitive data, including people, software, and all types of devices needs to use an SSL Certificate.

What’s the Difference Between cPanel & hPanel?

cPanel is a Linux-based control panel to help users with website and server management; it’s typically paired with WHM (Web Host Manager).

hPanel, on the other hand, is a control panel created by the web hosting company Hostinger and its team of researchers and developers, which means it is only available for Hostinger users. Oftentimes, hPanel is considered an upgraded model version of cPanel, but more intuitive and beginner-friendly.

Shared vs VPS vs Dedicated Hosting: Which One You Should Choose

Shared hosting is the cheapest option being the perfect option for first-time users and small businesses with little to no technical expertise. Virtual Private Server (VPS) still offers a shared server space among its users but in this case, the host offers a partition for each user and dedicated server space.

Dedicated hosting as opposed to the shared hosting option, offers complete server control and a dedicated physical server. Both VPS and dedicated hosting require higher technical expertise and are recommended for mid to larger companies with heavy traffic.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Cheap Web Hosting

We’ve listed some of the most frequently asked questions about low-cost web hosting service providers.

What is the best and cheap web hosting site for beginners?

Hostinger is our top pick because it offers quite affordable entry-level plans with renewal rates at the same price, high-performance website for its users, and a simplified control panel. If you want to build your website from scratch, Hostinger also offers intuitive website builder tools.

What’s the cheapest hosting website service?

If you think of pricing only, Namecheap provides the most affordable plan, with pricing starting at $1.58 per month. For long-term commitment, Hostinger pricing auto-renews at a minimal cost. However, for short-term contracts, you can choose DreamHost, in which you can pick month-by-month plans.

Can I host my own website for free?

Yes, it’s possible, but it takes a lot of technical knowledge and the right tools. For starters, the most convenient and efficient way to host a website is to contract a web hosting provider. Paid plans provide customers with pretty much everything they need to have their website up and running in less than an hour for usually a $2 monthly price.

What’s the best WordPress web hosting?

Most of the web hosting providers we’ve listed here offer a WordPress integration. However, Hostinger offers not only a one-click installation for WordPress but also a WP-optimized speed accelerator. If you’re interested in seeing more options, check out the best web hosting providers.

Bottom Line – Best Cheap Web Hosting Services

Choosing the right web hosting service provider for your small business doesn’t have to be a difficult task. However, affordable pricing doesn’t always mean the best service or high-performance, but some companies are here to prove they can still offer inexpensive plans without compromising quality.

Hostinger is the best overall web hosting provider for small businesses because it’s easy to use, works with powerful servers, and provides a high-performance website to its users, even on entry-level plans, at modest costs.