Software · alternatives
Alternatives to TunnelBear
2 software tools sit alongside TunnelBear in this directory. Below is what separates each from TunnelBear on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 2
- With a free tier
- 1
- Cheaper to start
- 2
- TunnelBear starts at
- Free, then $9.99/month
Why people look past TunnelBear
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. TunnelBear has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
VPN and firewall service with a generous free data tier and a customizable Build-A-Plan option
- Starts $6.99 a month cheaper, at $3/month.
Privacy-first VPN with one flat price and no email required to sign up
- No free tier, where TunnelBear has one.
- Starts $4.99 a month cheaper, at $5/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to TunnelBear's 3.
Every TunnelBear alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TunnelBear (this page) | Free, then $9.99/month | Freemium | 3 | |
| WindscribeWindscribe offers a more generous free data allowance as a direct consumer VPN competitor. | Free, then $3/month | Freemium | 3 | vs TunnelBear |
| Mullvad VPNMullvad targets privacy-focused users with account-number-only signup instead of TunnelBear's email-based accounts. | $5/month | Subscription | 1 | vs TunnelBear |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the TunnelBear badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (1)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Windscribe , Free, then $3/month
Cheaper than TunnelBear (2)
Entry price under TunnelBear's $9.99/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Windscribe , Free, then $3/month
- Mullvad VPN , $5/month
What you would be giving up
TunnelBear is most often brought in for casual browsing protection on public wi-fi, occasional geo-unblocking with a light free allowance, bypassing network-level vpn blocking via obfuscation, managing vpn access for a small team with centralized billing. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If TunnelBear is broadly right and the question is cost, the TunnelBear pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the full directory lists everything.
TunnelBear runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about TunnelBear alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to TunnelBear?
- 2 other software tools are listed in this directory, led by Windscribe, Mullvad VPN. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to TunnelBear?
- 1 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Windscribe.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to TunnelBear?
- Yes. 2 of the alternatives below start under TunnelBear's $9.99/month: Windscribe at Free, then $3/month, Mullvad VPN at $5/month.
- Is there a reason to switch away from TunnelBear?
- Nothing in the data flags one. TunnelBear has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from TunnelBear?
- TunnelBear is most often brought in for casual browsing protection on public wi-fi, occasional geo-unblocking with a light free allowance, bypassing network-level vpn blocking via obfuscation, managing vpn access for a small team with centralized billing. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to TunnelBear?
- None of the software tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these TunnelBear alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Software, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare TunnelBear against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against TunnelBear covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every software tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Software category, 2 tools beside TunnelBear. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.