TunnelBear

About TunnelBear

TunnelBear is the bear-themed, deliberately approachable VPN aimed at people who find most privacy tools intimidating. Its calling cards are a simple interface, a free tier capped at 2GB per month, and a track record of publishing independent audits. In our documented-evidence database it earns a Scout Score of 79, with a privacy sub-score of 81.

The ownership picture matters here. TunnelBear is owned by McAfee, so your privacy mileage may vary depending on how comfortable you are with a large security conglomerate sitting behind a consumer VPN. Jurisdiction is Canada, which we classify as Tier 4 — Canada is a Five Eyes member, and that context should factor into any threat model that involves legal data requests.

On the documents themselves: TunnelBear states a no-logs policy, and crucially it has commissioned public independent audits, which puts it ahead of many providers that only assert their claims. A kill switch is present. One honest caveat from the data — there is no money-back guarantee (listed as 0 days), so treat any paid commitment as final and lean on the free 2GB tier to evaluate the service first.

Pricing, taken exactly from verified official plans: the 3-Year Unlimited plan advertises $3.33/mo intro, billed $120.00 up front, with renewal terms undisclosed. The 2-Year Unlimited runs $4.17/mo intro, billed $99.99, renewal undisclosed. The 1-Year Unlimited is $4.99/mo intro, billed $59.88, and renews at $4.99/mo. The 1-Month Unlimited is $9.99, renewing at $9.99/mo. Note the two longest plans hide their renewal rates — factor that uncertainty in.

We do not run a lab, so we publish no speed benchmarks or throughput numbers of our own; the Scout Score reflects documented evidence weighted by our methodology, not in-house testing.

Who it fits: newcomers who want a friendly UI and a genuinely usable free allowance, and privacy-curious users who value that TunnelBear actually publishes audits. Who should skip it: anyone whose threat model rules out Five Eyes jurisdictions or McAfee ownership, and buyers who want a money-back safety net before committing to multi-year billing.

Profile by Tomas, Scout VPN Team — built from documented evidence.