Running a VPN costs money. Servers, bandwidth and developers all have to be paid for, so when a VPN costs you nothing, it is fair to ask who is paying. This post explains how EonVPN stays free, using only what eonvpn.com and its policies say today, and it is open about the parts the site does not cover yet.

EonVPN is a free VPN for Windows. You do not need a credit card or any other payment method to use it. The rest of this post covers how that is funded.

How does a free VPN make money?

There are a few common ways a free VPN pays its bills. The US Federal Trade Commission summed them up in its guidance on VPN apps: “Many VPN apps are free because they sell advertising within the app, or because they share your information with (or redirect your traffic through) third parties” (FTC).

In practice, that usually means one of these models:

  • Advertising. The app shows ads, and sometimes uses what it knows about you to target them. If you want to know why that matters, read our guide to targeted advertising and privacy.
  • Selling or sharing data. The provider collects information about how you use your device or the web and passes it on or uses it for its own business.
  • Using your connection. The provider routes some outside traffic through its users’ internet connections and gets paid for that capacity.
  • Freemium. A limited free plan exists to push people toward a paid plan.

The FTC’s advice is simple: read the app’s terms and privacy policy to see whether it shares information with third parties, and if so, what it shares. That is exactly what we do for EonVPN below.

How EonVPN stays free

EonVPN uses the third model, and says so on its homepage. Its site explains that EonVPN stays free by sharing a tiny fraction of your internet connection for secure enterprise traffic (EonVPN homepage). The download page says the same.

The EonVPN vision page describes it the same way: “Our unique model involves a tiny share of your internet connection for secure traffic, allowing us to provide uninterrupted free service.”

Put plainly:

  • What is shared: a small part of your internet connection.
  • What it is used for: traffic that the site describes as secure enterprise traffic.
  • What you get in return: the VPN itself, without paying. The server list in the EonVPN app includes the US, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. The EonVPN FAQ gives a slightly different list (it names the Netherlands and Singapore and leaves out Hong Kong), so check the app for the countries available today.

EonVPN states this model on its homepage rather than hiding it in a long policy document. We think you should know about it before you install, which is why this post exists.

What EonVPN says about your data

Here is what the live site and privacy policy say about your activity and your personal information.

How your traffic travels. The FAQ says that once you connect, “your data undergoes encryption and travels through a server located elsewhere.” If you want to understand what that encrypted path looks like, see what a VPN tunnel is.

Encryption. The FAQ also says: “Yes, while using EonVPN, your data will remain encrypted.”

Personal information. The EonVPN privacy policy says: “We do not collect any personal information from our customers except for the email and securely hashed password for login purposes, and any other information added by the user and required to operate the service.” It continues: “None of this information is sold or traded.” You can ask for this information to be deleted at any time by contacting EonVPN.

Third parties. The same policy says: “We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties any information that we might have about you.” It makes an exception for “trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential.” It also says the eonvpn.com website might use Google AdSense and Google Analytics, so the website itself may set advertising and analytics cookies.

One thing to be clear about: the privacy policy covers the personal information EonVPN holds about you. It does not describe the connection-sharing model itself. The model is described on the homepage, the download page and the vision page, quoted above.

What the site does not explain yet

We would rather tell you what is missing than let you assume the best. Today, eonvpn.com does not say:

  • how much of your connection is used, or when it is used;
  • which companies the enterprise traffic comes from, or how they are checked;
  • whether the shared traffic reaches websites from your own IP address;
  • whether you can turn connection sharing on or off inside the app.

If any of these matter to you, ask before you install. The EonVPN team can be reached through the contact page.

How this differs from ad-supported and data-selling free VPNs

Different free models put different things at risk, so it helps to compare them honestly.

Data-selling VPNs. In 2018, Facebook removed its Onavo Protect VPN from Apple’s App Store after Apple said the app broke its data collection rules. Apple’s statement said apps “should not collect information about which other apps are installed on a user’s device for the purposes of analytics or advertising/marketing and must make it clear what user data will be collected and how it will be used” (TechCrunch). In that model, information about how you use your device is what pays for the VPN. EonVPN’s privacy policy says it does not sell or trade your information.

Ad-supported VPNs. Here the cost is your attention, and sometimes data used to target ads. The FTC lists in-app advertising as one of the main reasons VPN apps are free. EonVPN’s site names connection sharing, not advertising, as the way the service is funded.

Connection-sharing VPNs. This is the model EonVPN uses, so it deserves the most scrutiny. It has a history. In 2015, the free VPN Hola was found to be selling its free users’ bandwidth through a sister service called Luminati. PCWorld reported that Hola “uses the idle resources of its users’ PCs to route traffic”, and that the Luminati network was used in an attack on a website (PCWorld).

That history is why EonVPN’s model deserves a clear explanation. Connection sharing is only fair to users when they know about it before they install, and when the provider answers questions about how it works. The first part is on the EonVPN homepage today. The open questions above are the second part, and they are the fair questions to ask.

Are free VPNs safe? Questions to ask any provider

A free VPN can be a reasonable choice, as long as you know how it is paid for. Before you install one, including EonVPN, check these points:

  1. Does the provider say how it makes money? If the answer is not on the website, that is a warning sign.
  2. What does the privacy policy say about selling or sharing data? Look for clear statements, not vague ones.
  3. Does it keep activity logs? Check the FAQ and the policy, and see whether they agree.
  4. Does it use your connection, and can you find out how? If it does, look for what traffic is carried and whether you can control it.
  5. Is your traffic encrypted? A VPN is not the same as a proxy. Our proxy vs VPN guide explains the difference.
  6. Who owns it? EonVPN is owned and operated by Erythion Inc., as stated in its terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Conclusion

EonVPN is free because it shares a small part of your internet connection for enterprise traffic. That is what the website says, and it says so on the homepage. The FAQ says EonVPN encrypts your data, and the privacy policy says your information is not sold or traded. The site does not yet explain how much of your connection is used, who the enterprise traffic comes from, or whether you can switch sharing off, so ask if those points matter to you.

If that trade works for you, download EonVPN for Windows, create your free account and connect to a server.

FAQs

How does EonVPN make money?

EonVPN’s website says it stays free by sharing a tiny fraction of your internet connection for secure enterprise traffic. That is the funding model the site describes.

Does EonVPN sell my data?

The EonVPN privacy policy says the email and hashed password it keeps are “not sold or traded”, and that it does not “sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties any information that we might have about you”, apart from trusted third parties that help run the service and agree to keep the information confidential.

Do I need a credit card to use EonVPN?

No. The EonVPN website says there is “no need to add a credit card or any other payment method”. You do need to create an account.

Is EonVPN available on Mac or phones?

Not at the moment. The EonVPN FAQ says it is only available on Windows for now.