Is TunnelBear really audited every year?

Yes. Cure53 has audited TunnelBear annually since 2017, and the reports are published publicly. TunnelBear was the first commercial VPN to commission and publish an external security audit, and the cadence has continued every year since. This is the most consistent third-party audit history of any major consumer VPN.

Can I torrent with TunnelBear?

No. TunnelBear's Terms of Service explicitly prohibit P2P file sharing, and the service actively throttles or blocks torrent traffic. For torrenting, look at PIA, Mullvad, NordVPN, or other VPNs that explicitly support it.

Is TunnelBear safe under McAfee ownership?

The product team has continued operating from Toronto with significant autonomy since the 2018 acquisition. The annual Cure53 audit cadence has continued and the published reports remain detailed. The corporate jurisdiction is now effectively US (via McAfee) rather than Canadian. For most users this isn't a deal-breaker; for users with state-level threat models, jurisdictionally-cleaner alternatives like Mullvad or ProtonVPN are stronger picks.

Is the 500MB free tier enough for anything?

Enough to try the product before paying. Not enough for serious daily use — 500MB is a few minutes of video streaming. If you want a genuinely usable free VPN, Proton VPN's unlimited-bandwidth free tier or Windscribe's 10GB/month are dramatically more generous.

Does TunnelBear work in China or Iran?

GhostBear, the bundled obfuscation mode, is designed to disguise VPN traffic as ordinary HTTPS for use in restrictive countries. It works reasonably well in moderately-censored networks but is less battle-tested than Proton's Stealth or NordVPN's NordWhisper. For users specifically in China, Iran, or similar environments, those purpose-built alternatives are more reliable.

TunnelBear Review 2026: The Beginner-Friendly VPN With Annual Audits and a McAfee Owner

TunnelBear scores 3.7 out of 5 in our 2026 review. It's the bear-themed VPN that earned a serious audit reputation early (Cure53 annually since 2017), pioneered the always-honest approach to VPN marketing, and was bought by McAfee in 2018. The trade-offs are real: small free tier, US jurisdiction, smaller server count, no port forwarding, no torrenting allowed. For absolute beginners who value simplicity and transparency over feature density, it's still a sensible pick.

The company

TunnelBear was founded in 2011 by Daniel Kaldor and Ryan Dochuk in Toronto, Canada. The product's pitch from day one was "a VPN that doesn't take itself too seriously" — bear-themed UI animations, plain-English copy, no jargon, no fear-mongering marketing.

In March 2018, McAfee — the US-based antivirus company — acquired TunnelBear. The team stayed in Toronto and continues operating with significant autonomy, but the corporate parent is American, which means the service effectively falls under US jurisdiction for legal-process purposes. McAfee bundles TunnelBear into its consumer security suites and also continues selling it standalone.

The annual audit cadence (this is the real story)

TunnelBear was the first major commercial VPN to commission a public third-party security audit and publish the results. The first audit, conducted by Cure53 in 2016 and published in 2017, examined the apps, the server infrastructure, and the backend systems. The findings (mostly low-severity) were published in detail.

Cure53 has audited TunnelBear annually every year since — 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. Each year's audit report is published publicly. This is the most consistent third-party security audit history of any commercial VPN, predating NordVPN's Deloitte cadence by years and easily matching it now.

For users who care about audit transparency over corporate-ownership purity, TunnelBear's track record is genuinely strong. The product behind the goofy bear puns has been more rigorously inspected by external researchers than most of the industry.

The free tier — 500 MB/month

TunnelBear's free tier gives you 500 MB per month. That's deliberately small — enough to test the product and decide whether to pay, not enough to use as a primary VPN. The tier exists as a try-before-you-buy more than as a serious privacy tool.

Compare to: Proton VPN (unlimited bandwidth on free, limited countries), Windscribe (10 GB/month, full features), Hotspot Shield (500 MB/day, ad-supported). TunnelBear's free tier is the most restrictive of the credible options.

A small upside: TunnelBear does not display ads in the free tier and does not sell user data. The 500 MB cap is the trade-off, not surveillance or ad injection.

Protocols and features

TunnelBear offers WireGuard (default), OpenVPN, and IKEv2/IPsec. AES-256 encryption with Perfect Forward Secrecy.

The bear-themed feature names:

VigilantBear — kill switch. Cuts internet if the VPN drops. Standard, well-implemented.
GhostBear — obfuscation mode that disguises VPN traffic to look like ordinary HTTPS. Designed for use in countries that filter VPN protocols. Decent but less battle-tested than Proton's Stealth or NordVPN's NordWhisper.
SplitBear — split tunnelling. Choose which apps go through the VPN and which use direct internet.
TrustedNetworks — auto-connect when joining unknown Wi-Fi, auto-disconnect on trusted home networks.

Server footprint

~47 countries. Comprehensive enough for most everyday use, but materially smaller than NordVPN, ExpressVPN, or PIA. No city-level selection in most countries. Streaming-service unblocking is hit-or-miss; users who want reliable Netflix-from-different-region access should pick a streaming-focused provider.

What TunnelBear doesn't do

No port forwarding. If you self-host or use BitTorrent in a way that needs incoming connections, look elsewhere.
No torrenting allowed. TunnelBear's Terms of Service explicitly prohibit P2P file sharing. They actively throttle or block torrent traffic. For BitTorrent users, this is a deal-breaker.
No dedicated IPs. Some competitors offer paid static IPs as add-ons; TunnelBear doesn't.
No multi-hop. Single-hop only.
No bundled extras. No DNS-level adblocker comparable to NordVPN's Threat Protection, no antivirus, no password manager (though McAfee will gladly sell you those separately).

Pricing

Free: 500 MB/month.
Unlimited monthly: ~$9.99/month.
Unlimited yearly: ~$3.33/month equivalent.
Unlimited 3-year: ~$3.33/month at intro pricing.
TunnelBear Teams: business product, per-seat pricing.

Unlimited bandwidth across all paid tiers. Unlimited simultaneous connections — beats NordVPN (6) and ExpressVPN (8), matches Surfshark and PIA.

Free service in censored regions

TunnelBear has a long-running practice of offering free service to users in countries facing acute censorship events. The company provided free service during the 2014 Venezuelan protests, and has extended similar offers to users in Iran, Turkey, Uganda, and other regions during specific crises. This is a credit to the company culture; it's also limited in scope and doesn't replace a serious censorship-circumvention tool.

Where TunnelBear is weaker

US jurisdiction via McAfee ownership.
Tiny free tier. 500 MB/month is much less generous than Proton or Windscribe.
No torrenting. Explicitly prohibited.
Smaller server footprint than the leaders.
Feature-thin compared to NordVPN, Surfshark, or PIA. No multi-hop, no dedicated IPs, no DNS adblocker.
McAfee ownership concerns. The acquisition has not visibly changed the product team's approach, but the corporate parent's broader history with consumer security software isn't universally beloved.

How it compares

vs ProtonVPN: Proton has a much better free tier, cleaner jurisdiction, and stronger privacy story. TunnelBear has the longer audit cadence.
vs Windscribe: Windscribe's 10 GB free tier and Build A Plan pricing are more flexible.
vs NordVPN: NordVPN has many more features and a larger server fleet. TunnelBear has simpler UX.

Verdict — 3.7 / 5

TunnelBear is the right pick for a specific user: someone who values audit transparency and beginner-friendly UX over feature density, doesn't torrent, and doesn't mind paying a moderate price for a smaller server fleet.

For most other needs — generous free tier, torrenting, advanced features, maximum server choice — better picks exist.

Run our leak test after install to confirm the tunnel is doing its job.

Frequently asked questions

Is TunnelBear really audited every year?: Yes. Cure53 has audited TunnelBear annually since 2017, and the reports are published publicly. TunnelBear was the first commercial VPN to commission and publish an external security audit, and the cadence has continued every year since. This is the most consistent third-party audit history of any major consumer VPN.
Can I torrent with TunnelBear?: No. TunnelBear's Terms of Service explicitly prohibit P2P file sharing, and the service actively throttles or blocks torrent traffic. For torrenting, look at PIA, Mullvad, NordVPN, or other VPNs that explicitly support it.
Is TunnelBear safe under McAfee ownership?: The product team has continued operating from Toronto with significant autonomy since the 2018 acquisition. The annual Cure53 audit cadence has continued and the published reports remain detailed. The corporate jurisdiction is now effectively US (via McAfee) rather than Canadian. For most users this isn't a deal-breaker; for users with state-level threat models, jurisdictionally-cleaner alternatives like Mullvad or ProtonVPN are stronger picks.
Is the 500MB free tier enough for anything?: Enough to try the product before paying. Not enough for serious daily use — 500MB is a few minutes of video streaming. If you want a genuinely usable free VPN, Proton VPN's unlimited-bandwidth free tier or Windscribe's 10GB/month are dramatically more generous.
Does TunnelBear work in China or Iran?: GhostBear, the bundled obfuscation mode, is designed to disguise VPN traffic as ordinary HTTPS for use in restrictive countries. It works reasonably well in moderately-censored networks but is less battle-tested than Proton's Stealth or NordVPN's NordWhisper. For users specifically in China, Iran, or similar environments, those purpose-built alternatives are more reliable.