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Hola VPN alternative · Honest take · No activity logs
Hola VPN does plenty right, and we will not pretend otherwise. If you want a free way in, modern stealth protocols and a clear no-activity-logs promise, here is how ROOT VPN compares, trade-offs included.
Free forever plan. No card, unlimited data, up to 10 devices.
Hola VPN is a capable VPN. Hola is free and dead simple to switch on, and for casually opening a region-locked page it sometimes does the job without any setup. But it is not for everyone, and the usual reasons people go looking elsewhere are clear: the peer-to-peer bandwidth selling, the lack of real encryption or a no-logs policy, and wanting an actual private tunnel.
In plain terms, the sticking point is often this: The free version is not a private, encrypted VPN. It routes your traffic through other Hola users and sells idle bandwidth through its sister network, which has led to well-documented abuse and privacy concerns. It is the one product here we would not use for anything sensitive. If that is what pushed you here, it is worth seeing what a different approach looks like.
Not more features for the sake of it, a different set of priorities.
Unlimited data and time on the free plan, no card and no trial countdown. It is funded by an optional community program you can switch off, not by logging you.
REALITY, Shadowsocks and Hysteria2 look like ordinary web traffic, so ROOT connects on school, office and country networks that block Hola VPN and most other VPNs.
ROOT keeps no record of the sites you visit or what you stream, across a growing server network. Nothing stored, nothing to hand over, nothing to sell.
The honest side by side. For the full breakdown, see ROOT VPN vs Hola VPN.
| ROOT VPN | Hola VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, then £3.99/mo | Free tier, paid varies |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| No activity logs | Yes | No |
| Protocols | WireGuard, REALITY, Shadowsocks, Hysteria2 | Proprietary peer-to-peer (not a standard encrypted tunnel) |
| Devices | 10 | Varies |
| Streaming | Good | Mixed |
| Jurisdiction | Independent, no activity logs | Israel |
Hola is free and dead simple to switch on, and for casually opening a region-locked page it sometimes does the job without any setup. If that is central to how you use a VPN, it may still be the right call.
Free to start with unlimited data, four protocols including REALITY and Hysteria2 for restrictive networks, and no activity logs. For a free start, restrictive networks and a simple privacy promise, ROOT is the easier yes.
Browse more, or see every option on the alternatives hub and the comparison hub.
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