TunnelBear Reviews

Navigating TunnelBear couldn’t be easier.

The moment you open it, you can see a world map with tunnel exits positioned in the countries where the company has servers available.

This type of creative and user-friendly design is present across the app, making it simple to master it – even for beginners. However, this simplicity does mean that there aren’t many features to set up.

The options include toggling the kill switch (called VigilantBear) on and off, changing protocols (WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2), and enabling TCP override.

TPC override, in particular, is excellent to improve connection reliability in low-stability networks.

Moreover, it’s worth noting that TunnelBear offers split tunneling (SplitBear) across all platforms, including macOS.

TunnelBear’s unlimited bandwidth is also commendable, allowing you to browse freely without worrying about annoying data caps.

TunnelBear’s VPN network isn’t the most extensive on the market, but it’s pretty decent. With over 45 different countries available, there are enough options to provide worldwide coverage.

All continents have at least one location, and there are even some less common countries available, such as Nigeria and Moldova.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to use TunnelBear for gaming or streaming, we recommend finding an alternative VPN since it doesn’t offer dedicated servers for these activities.

Regarding P2P, there are no specific servers for torrenting, which means they aren’t optimized, resulting in less favorable performance. Nonetheless, TunnelBear offers server locations in countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands, where torrenting laws are more lenient.

All connections proved to be reliably secure with no DNS leaks whatsoever, but TunnelBear didn’t show the same speed standard as some of its competitors.

With a baseline speed of 649 Mbps for downloads and 621 Mbps for uploads, the overall speed loss was roughly 32%.

What stood out was how little the connection’s speed fluctuated during our tests across different continents, proving that TunnelBear prioritizes connection stability over speed.

In short, you won’t encounter issues when engaging in online activities like general browsing, streaming, or video calls. However, the upload bottleneck makes TunnelBear not ideal for heavy uploads, online gaming, and continuous backups.

The official TunnelBear website goes into great detail to explain exactly what kind of information is collected and stored.

The company works with the least amount of data required to function properly. Some of the information collected includes account user data, such as email address and Twitter ID, and operational data, such as device information and OS version.

More sensitive data, like IP addresses and DNS query records, is never collected.

TunnelBear is one of the VPNs with the most easily readable privacy policies, which only increases its credibility.

TunnelBear's device support is not the most extensive since it only covers the basics: Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

So, if you want to install the VPN on a gaming console or router, TunnelBear won’t be the right fit.

It also offers Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browser extensions – an alternative for those looking to avoid installing apps.

The extensions look similar to the app and are just as easy to use.

TunnelBear provides three payment options: monthly, yearly, and triennial.

But before we go into price, it’s important to mention TunnelBear's free version. It supports an unlimited number of devices and comes with a monthly bandwidth of 2GB. So, it’s reliable for light browsing.

TunnelBear is one of the most affordable VPN services on the market. The premium plan is called Unlimited and costs $3.33 per month when billed triennially – a 67% discount when compared to monthly billing.

There’s also a subscription for businesses called Teams, which costs $5.75 per user per month. It adds centralized team billing and administrator tools. If you’d like to try it before subscribing, a 7-day free trial is available with this version.

Unfortunately, TunnelBear doesn’t offer refunds, so once a subscription is bought, there’s no turning back – all the more reason to try the service first.

Payment options include the usual array of credit cards, Bitcoin, and, less commonly, through Google Play and App Store.

However, there’s only one method of contacting the support team that is only available for registered clients – ticket submission.

Even so, after submitting a ticket, we received a friendly and helpful reply the following day.

Additionally, TunnelBear has social media presence on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Additionally, TunnelBear offers secure encryption protocols, stable connections, split tunnelling across all platforms, and highly competitive prices.

However, users seeking advanced features and torrenting capabilities may find TunnelBear too simple.

Considering its advantages and disadvantages, TunnelBear is best for privacy-focused beginners and casual VPN users looking for a decent browsing experience with fast downloads and reliable streaming.

The best part is that whether you want to use TunnelBear for yourself or for your team, you can try the app via its limited free plan or 7-day free trial, respectively.