TunnelBear Review
Annual security audits since 2016. The most consistently transparent VPN.
TunnelBear does something no other major VPN does: it publishes the full results of an annual third-party security audit — including vulnerabilities found and how they were fixed. Since 2016, Cure53 has audited TunnelBear's apps, infrastructure, and backend systems every year without exception. That's nine consecutive public audits. No other VPN comes close to that transparency record.
Our scores
TunnelBear
Overall score — April 2026
TunnelBear has published the results of its annual third-party security audit every year since 2016 — a transparency record unmatched in the industry. Speeds are modest, server count is limited, but the auditing commitment is genuinely differentiated.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Annual full security audit by Cure53 since 2016 — longest audit history in the category
- Published audit results publicly including vulnerability disclosures — nothing hidden
- Free tier: 2 GB/month with access to all 47 server locations
- Simplest UI in the category — bear-themed, genuinely delightful for first-time users
- No-logs policy covers all apps, infrastructure, and third-party analytics
Cons
- Canadian jurisdiction (5 Eyes member) — acquired by McAfee (now Gen Digital) in 2018
- Slower than competitors — 76% speed retention is near the bottom of our tests
- 5,000+ servers but only 47 countries — fewer than most competitors
- Only 5 simultaneous connections
- No WireGuard protocol — relies on IKEv2 and OpenVPN
Speed
580 Mbps
Download
340 Mbps
Upload
16 ms
Latency
76%
Speed kept
580 Mbps average — 76% speed retention. One of the slower results in our database. No WireGuard support means TunnelBear can't achieve the performance of NordVPN's NordLynx or Surfshark's WireGuard implementation. For basic privacy and browsing, the speed is adequate. For streaming in 4K or gaming, it's a limitation.
Tested: . 1 Gbps base connection.
Privacy & Security
The annual public audit is the defining privacy feature. Canadian jurisdiction and McAfee ownership are real concerns, but the published audit record — which shows real vulnerabilities being disclosed and fixed, not just a clean bill of health — provides more verifiable assurance than most competitors' private audit certificates. No analytics SDKs, no third-party trackers in the apps.
Streaming
Works on Netflix US and UK reliably. Other platforms are inconsistent. BBC iPlayer had 75% success in testing. Disney+ was unreliable. Not a streaming-optimized VPN — use NordVPN or CyberGhost if streaming is your primary need.
Pricing
$9.99/mo
Monthly
$4.99/mo
Annual plan
billed annually
At $4.99/month on the annual plan, it's mid-range pricing for below-average speed and feature depth. The free tier (2 GB/month) is a legitimate entry point for testing. No money-back guarantee on paid plans is unusual.
User Ratings
4.4/5
Trustpilot
5k reviews
4.2/5
Google Play
35k ratings
4.6/5
App Store
20k ratings
68%
Community
Reddit sentiment
Ratings sourced from Trustpilot, Google Play Store, and Apple App Store. Community score is derived from Reddit/r/VPN sentiment analysis. Scores are aggregated periodically and may not reflect real-time data.
Verdict
TunnelBear is the right choice if your primary concern is auditing transparency and you want a simple, friendly interface. It's not competitive on speed, feature count, or server network. But if you want the VPN with the most credible public track record of independent security verification, TunnelBear is it.
TunnelBear vs. Alternatives
| Feature | TunnelBear7.9/10 | NordVPN9.2/10 | ExpressVPN8.6/10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our Score | 7.9 | 9.2 | 8.6 |
| Monthly Price | $4.99/mo | $3.39/mo | $8.32/mo |
| Servers | 5,000+ | 6,400+ | 3,000+ |
| Countries | 47 | 111 | 105 |
| Simultaneous Devices | 5 | 10 | 8 |
| Speed (tested) | 580 Mbps (76%) | 730 Mbps (96%) | 755 Mbps (98%) |
| No-Logs Policy | |||
| Independently Audited | |||
| Kill Switch | |||
| Ad Blocker | |||
| Streaming | |||
| Torrenting / P2P | |||
| Port Forwarding | |||
| Obfuscation | |||
| Double VPN | |||
| RAM-Only Servers | |||
| Jurisdiction | Canada (5 Eyes member) | Panama (outside 5/9/14 Eyes) | British Virgin Islands |
| Money-Back Guarantee | None | 30 days | 30 days |
All data verified April 2026.