Low price
Included with Google One bundle
No ability to choose country server
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Subscribers to Google One get several options, including photo editing, dark web monitoring, increased data storage, and a virtual private network (VPN). While Google One’s VPN encrypts your internet traffic, it does little else. Most free VPNs have at least two VPN servers, but Google One VPN, which is not free, doesn’t give you an option for anything other than a connection.
If you’re a VPN user looking to hide your online activity from hackers or your own internet service provider (ISP), Google One’s VPN will do that. If you want a VPN app with more robust features, you’ll need to get them elsewhere.
VPN technology offering stability and speed
Unlimited simultaneous connections
Works with Netflix and other streaming services
Headquarters in Nine Eyes Alliance
| Price | $1.99–$9.99/mo. |
| Free version | No |
| Max # of connected devices | Up to 6 |
| # of servers | 22 countries |
| VPN protocol | Google proprietary |
| Encryption | AES-256 |
| No-logs policy | No logs |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California |
| Netflix access | No |
| Learn more | Get Google One VPN |
Google One VPN is for the person who wants a simple VPN connection bundled into their Google One account. You can turn on the VPN and encrypt your network traffic. You also have the ability to toggle between a precise or broad region. And that’s it. There aren’t many features, and you don’t have the ability to choose your country or even city. It’s truly a security-only product.
If you want something more robust than Google One VPN, then you’ll need to purchase a separate product from another VPN provider. We recommend Surfshark, ExpressVPN, or NordVPN, which are some of the best VPN services available.
Each VPN offers different security features and pricing plans, but they all provide top performance and protection.
There are almost no features available with Google One VPN. This is very much a security-forward product with the singular goal of keeping your data encrypted online. If you’re looking for features like a kill switch, multiple countries you can toggle between, split tunneling, or obfuscated servers, you won’t find that here.
This country count tells us only that Google One VPN is available in those countries. You aren’t able to actually switch your server location manually or otherwise. The most you’re going to be able to do is use a precise or broad location, which is controlled by only a single toggle.
The countries where Google One VPN is available are:
Oh, Google, you slippery slope, you. Google One’s VPN comes with a no-logs policy; however, Google’s overall policy is a little less secure. Google is notorious for following users around the internet and creating deeply personal and varied profiles that it then uses for marketing purposes. Since Google One VPN promises it isn’t logging your data or activity, we’re going to be optimists and say it has a no-logs policy.
Our optimism aside, an independent audit from the NCC Group suggests that Google’s no-logs policy, at least where its VPN is concerned, is somewhat shaky. Google has the ability to back door its way into your logs through multiple channels if it really wants. So the question you should ask yourself is: Do you trust Google to leave your data alone?
The Google One VPN is wrapped into the Google One subscription, so you don’t have the option to purchase just the VPN. You’ll need to have a personal, not business, Google account to access this service.
After we activated the service, we tried downloading Google One onto our iPhone 12 Pro Max. The app downloaded fine, but we couldn’t get the VPN to connect. Even after we disabled all of our other protections on our phones, it wouldn’t work. We ended up switching to our Windows 10 PC instead of our Mac, so we could navigate between our personal Google account and our work Google account without causing too much confusion.
Once we installed the VPN on our Windows PC, it was a fairly easy experience. Since Google isn’t super forthcoming with a description of the VPN features, we started exploring, only to find out there were almost no features available. The extent of the customization we found was whether or not to launch the VPN when your computer starts and the ability to toggle between a precise or broad location. Other than that, you’re basically just using this for security purposes.
We test VPNs for speed, security, and the ability to unblock geo-restricted content on streaming services. Netflix is our baseline streaming service, as it tends to be the most difficult to crack with a VPN. We use Ookla’s Speedtest website. Also, we run DNS and WebRTC leak tests from verified testing sites that fairly evaluate a VPN’s security. These are all standard across all of our testing.
Originally, we tried to install Google One VPN on our iPhone 12 Pro Max, but we couldn’t get it to connect. So we shifted to our Windows 10 PC, and we were able to install and connect the VPN with no problems. There are some lag issues when you first connect to the VPN. For anyone old enough to remember dial-up internet, it’s similar to that idea, where you have to give it a second to “boot up,” and then you’ll be able to use it without issue.
After connecting, however, we didn’t run into any problems or noticeable lag times. We noticed that the speed tests weren’t that vastly different from our normal speed without the VPN. To be honest, because of how bare-bones this VPN is, we expected the speeds to be significantly slower. We were pleasantly surprised by the results.
| Test type | No VPN | US to US |
| Download speed | 59.67 Mbps | 44.62 Mbps |
| Upload speed | 16 Mbps | 20.72 Mbps |
| Latency (ping) | 19 ms | 27 ms |
| Download speed % difference | N/A | -25.22% |
| Upload speed % difference | N/A | +29.5% |
| Latency % difference | N/A | -42.11% |
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to watch Netflix with Google One VPN. Netflix is sophisticated in its VPN detection, and Google One VPN isn’t sophisticated enough to beat it. We couldn’t even get the Netflix website to load. We tried a few different techniques, but the only solution was to turn off Google One VPN.
| US to US | |
| Did it work with Netflix? |
Domain Name System (DNS) is the internet’s phonebook. It translates the language we speak into computer language and back again, so what we type into our web browsers takes us to the page we’re looking for online. This also means that personal information like your IP address is shared in these online interactions.
When you use a VPN to encrypt your traffic, it hides that personal information so anyone spying can’t see what you’re doing. Google One VPN passed easily and, therefore, will hide your data without you needing to worry.
Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) communicates similarly to DNS by trading information, but when you’re establishing a phone or video connection. In this capacity, there’s also the potential that your IP address is leaked, so making sure your VPN masks it is essential for privacy.
Since so much of the internet uses video and audio now, WebRTC is not just for Zoom meetings and Signal calls. Google One VPN was able to successfully encrypt data when tested for WebRTC leaks.
Google One VPN is compatible with The Big Four. We’re coining “The Big Four” right now, so if you see it somewhere else, just remember it was our thing first. In the Our Experience section, we didn’t have any luck using the VPN on our Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max but had no problem using it on our Windows 10 machine. There is troubleshooting available for compatible devices, but Linux users need to move on to another VPN. This one is not for you.
The Big Four are:
Google handles customer support for Google One VPN. While there’s no mention of Google One VPN specifically on the official support site, you’ll find relevant information if you search within the support center. This isn’t the most ideal situation, as you may have to sort through lots of information to find what you need.
We do suggest only going through verified support. Look at the address bar and make sure the lock symbol is closed next to the site to verify it’s safe. Remember not to give out a credit card or personal information to anyone inquiring about it — it’s likely a scam.
You won’t have to worry about decision fatigue with Google One VPN. There are three plans, Basic, Standard, and Premium, and each of them comes with a variety of features. The most notable is the amount of storage you receive with Google One Premium, which offers 2 TB of storage.
Unfortunately, the higher-tier plans don’t get you a better VPN. Since the VPN is part of the bundle, it’s pretty basic, but it’s still a good, solid VPN for security, you just won’t get any other features found in independent VPNs.
| Plan | 1-month cost | 1-year cost | Learn more |
| Google One Basic | $1.99/mo | $19.99/yr | View Plan |
| Google One Standard | $2.99/mo | $29.99/yr | View Plan |
| Google One Premium | $9.99/mo | $99.99/yr | View Plan |
Google One VPN is trustworthy when it comes to its protection. But since Google is a data miner in its own right, and independent testing found back-door workarounds for Google to see your data, we’re not sure if it’s trustworthy against itself.
If you’re already in the Googleverse, though, you won’t be giving up any more data than you would normally. If you’re someone who values absolute privacy, you may want to choose another service.
Google One VPN offers unlimited access in the sense that there are no data or speed caps. There is no limit to how much you can use the VPN. As far as simultaneous connections are concerned, you can have up to six simultaneous connections while using Google One VPN.
One of the disadvantages of Google One VPN is that it’s offered by Google. We understand that Google services have permeated the zeitgeist and are now necessary for daily living, but the company sure does love to create elaborate data files for every person who lives and has lived within its scope of operation. Also, the VPN doesn’t have any additional features and is good only for security. If you want a VPN for torrenting or watching your favorite Hulu program, you’re out of luck.
For security purposes, yes, Google One VPN is good for keeping your traffic encrypted while online, whether at home or on public Wi-Fi. Generally, almost every other VPN has more features and functionality. If you’re looking to unblock streaming platforms or for torrenting purposes, you’re likely better off with Surfshark, NordVPN, or ExpressVPN. These other options are also great at protecting you from Google and its ravenous data mining policies. We aren’t sure how Google One VPN protects you from itself.
If you’re going to sign up for Google One for the other benefits like the photo editing features or additional storage, you could save money on a pricier VPN and just use the VPN while out and about to keep your data encrypted. If you’re looking for a VPN to watch football online or stream a Japanese anime, you’ll need a different service. Whatever you choose, just make sure you’re using the best VPN for your needs.
Low price
Included with Google One bundle
No ability to choose country server
