10 Years of Opera VPN: a decade of built-in privacy

September 24th, 2026

We’ve had a free VPN built into the browser since 2016. It doesn’t ask you for an account, it doesn’t have a bandwidth limit, and it doesn’t cost anything.

We did it that way because we believe that you should be in control of the way you see and reach the web. After ten years, some browsers have integrated something similar, albeit in different ways.

Ten years on, still the only one

When it comes to a VPN, ours continues to be the only one built into our desktop and mobile browsers that’s free, has no bandwidth limit, requires no account to use, and has been independently audited.

Chrome and Safari, the default browsers on almost every smartphone, don’t even offer an integrated VPN at all. And while downloaded alternatives like Edge or Firefox have started offering built-in VPNs, they cap your monthly data usage and require a user account.

Opera remains the only major browser with a truly free, unlimited VPN built right in.

Our free VPN has been audited by third parties

Opera VPN is a no-log service which means it does not collect or store your browsing data. This has been independently verified through a third-party audit by Deloitte in 2024. So, when you connect to our free VPN servers in the US, Singapore or the Netherlands, you can be confident that we don’t collect any data about your activity in the browser, for any purpose. Separately, in 2022 Opera VPN’s security code was tested by Cure53, a Berlin-based cybersecurity firm.

If you’ve got further questions about our privacy policy you can always refer to our Privacy Statement for more information.

Why our browser VPN is free

We get this question a lot, and the answer is simple: We consider the free browser VPN a part of a comprehensive privacy-enhancing package – together with other features like the built Ad Blocker and Tracker Blocker – that truly makes a difference for those who choose to use Opera, and gives them a reason to stick with our browser.

We make our money elsewhere (here are some more details about that, if you’re wondering), so that we can provide stand-out features such as these without worrying about monetizing them.