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Cybersecurity · head to head

TunnelBear vs Varonis Data Security Platform

T

TunnelBear

Cybersecurity

Consumer VPN with a limited free tier and a bear-themed, beginner-friendly app

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Varonis Data Security Platform logo

Varonis Data Security Platform

Cybersecurity

Data security platform that maps effective permissions, content classification and access activity across file shares, Microsoft 365 and SaaS.

From
$100/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only TunnelBear has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: TunnelBear free plan's data cap is small compared to competitors offering more generous free allowances.; Varonis Data Security Platform deployment is a project rather than an installation: collectors, service accounts, the initial crawl of a large file estate and behavioural baselining typically run for weeks to months before the first genuinely useful report, so value arrives well after the invoice does.
  • They diverge on capability: TunnelBear covers Encrypted VPN tunnel, Varonis Data Security Platform covers Effective permissions modelling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which TunnelBear and Varonis Data Security Platform actually diverge.

Attributes where TunnelBear and Varonis Data Security Platform differ
AttributeTunnelBearVaronis Data Security Platform
Starting priceFree$100/year
Pricing modelfreemiumsubscription
Free tierYesNo
Platformswindows, mac, linux, ios, androidWeb, Desktop
FoundedUnknown2005

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in TunnelBear

  • Encrypted VPN tunnel
  • Server location switching
  • GhostBear obfuscation
  • Browser extensions
  • Teams account management

Only in Varonis Data Security Platform

  • Effective permissions modelling
  • Content classification
  • Access activity auditing
  • Behavioural alerting
  • Blast radius view
  • Automated remediation
  • Stale data identification
  • Ransomware detection

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

TunnelBear

  • Casual browsing protection on public Wi-Finot Varonis Data Security Platform
  • Occasional geo-unblocking with a light free allowancenot Varonis Data Security Platform
  • Bypassing network-level VPN blocking via obfuscationnot Varonis Data Security Platform
  • Managing VPN access for a small team with centralized billingnot Varonis Data Security Platform

Varonis Data Security Platform

  • Answering an auditor or a board asking exactly which sensitive files are reachable by every employee and who has opened themnot TunnelBear
  • Cleaning up Microsoft 365 sprawl where Teams, SharePoint sites and shared links accumulated faster than governancenot TunnelBear
  • Investigating an insider incident where you need a defensible record of what a departing employee accessed and whennot TunnelBear
  • Reducing the blast radius of a compromised account before an incident by removing global access groups and broken inheritancenot TunnelBear

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

TunnelBear

  • Free plan's data cap is small compared to competitors offering more generous free allowances.
  • Lacks advanced features like dedicated IP addresses or split-tunneling controls found in some rival VPNs.
  • Server network is smaller than large competitors like NordVPN or ExpressVPN.
  • No standalone router-level app, limiting whole-network protection options.

Varonis Data Security Platform

  • Deployment is a project rather than an installation: collectors, service accounts, the initial crawl of a large file estate and behavioural baselining typically run for weeks to months before the first genuinely useful report, so value arrives well after the invoice does.
  • The collection model requires granting the platform broad read access across the data you are trying to protect, which needs its own approval and creates a high-value target, and some change boards spend longer approving that access than approving the purchase.
  • Findings are produced far faster than remediation capacity: an initial scan routinely surfaces hundreds of thousands of overexposed objects, and fixing them means altering permissions owned by business units, so without an executive mandate it becomes a dashboard nobody acts on.
  • Licensing is driven by identity counts and connected data sources, so a directory full of stale accounts and service principals inflates the bill and every additional platform you connect adds cost, which quietly pushes organisations to leave their least-governed systems uncovered.
  • Coverage is deepest in the Microsoft estate and thinner elsewhere: connectors exist for other SaaS and database platforms but they do not all support the same classification, alerting and automated remediation, so a heterogeneous estate receives uneven protection at a uniform price.

Pricing, plan by plan

TunnelBear

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 2GB of data per month
    • Access to VPN servers
    • Unlimited devices
  • Unlimited$9.99/month
    • Unlimited monthly data
    • All server locations
    • Cheaper on annual/3-year billing
  • Teams$undefined/month
    • Unlimited data
    • 5 connected devices per user
    • Dedicated account manager

Varonis Data Security Platform

$100/year
  • Varonis Essentials$100/year
    • Data classification
    • Access visibility
    • Permission management
  • Varonis Professional$175/year
    • All Essentials features
    • Threat detection
    • User behavior analytics
  • Varonis Enterprise$300/year
    • All Professional features
    • Advanced analytics
    • Incident response

Which should you pick?

Choose TunnelBear if

  • You need encrypted vpn tunnel.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
  • You also want server location switching.
TunnelBear review

Choose Varonis Data Security Platform if

  • You need effective permissions modelling.
  • You work on Web, Desktop.
  • You also want content classification.
Varonis Data Security Platform review

Questions people ask

Is TunnelBear or Varonis Data Security Platform better?
Neither clearly leads. TunnelBear starts at Free and Varonis Data Security Platform at $100/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, TunnelBear or Varonis Data Security Platform?
TunnelBear has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for TunnelBear and $100/year for Varonis Data Security Platform.
Does TunnelBear or Varonis Data Security Platform run on more platforms?
TunnelBear runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. Varonis Data Security Platform runs on Web, Desktop.
Can I use TunnelBear for free?
Yes. TunnelBear has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Varonis Data Security Platform starts at $100/year.
What is TunnelBear best used for?
TunnelBear is most often used 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. Of those, casual browsing protection on public wi-fi and occasional geo-unblocking with a light free allowance are not what Varonis Data Security Platform is typically brought in for.
What can TunnelBear do that Varonis Data Security Platform cannot?
TunnelBear covers Encrypted VPN tunnel, Server location switching, GhostBear obfuscation, Browser extensions. Varonis Data Security Platform covers Effective permissions modelling, Content classification, Access activity auditing, Behavioural alerting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Varonis Data Security Platform: Is this data loss prevention?

No, and it is a common confusion. DLP watches data in motion and tries to stop it leaving. Varonis works on data at rest: where it is, who can reach it, and who touched it. They address different halves of the same problem and organisations frequently run both.

Varonis Data Security Platform: On-premises or SaaS?

It is now sold principally as SaaS, with edge collectors deployed on your network to reach on-premises file shares and directories. Older on-premises deployments with Windows collectors and SQL Server still exist in the field and are being migrated.

Varonis Data Security Platform: Does it need agents on every server?

Generally no. It collects through APIs and network protocols with service accounts, with collectors deployed near the data rather than agents on every host. That is one reason deployment is less invasive than the scale of the data suggests.

Varonis Data Security Platform: How long until it is useful?

Expect weeks to a few months depending on the size of the file estate and how quickly the service accounts and access are approved. The classification and behavioural baselining both need time before the alerts mean anything.

Varonis Data Security Platform: Can it fix the problems it finds automatically?

Yes, it can remove global access groups, repair broken inheritance and quarantine exposed files under policy. Most organisations run this in simulation first, because automatically changing permissions on live business data goes wrong loudly.

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