GoKawiilThe old "if it's free, you're the product" line is catchy, but it's too simple for free VPNs. Some reputable providers offer limited free plans because they hope a portion of people who try will eventually pay. Other services rely on advertising, collect more data than privacy-minded users may be comfortable with or aren't clear about how they make money. So a free VPN can be worth using, but the price tag tells you less than the provider behind it and the tradeoffs attached to the free plan.
A virtual private network routes your internet connection through a VPN server before sending traffic on to websites and online services. The VPN app encrypts the connection between your device and that server, while sites you visit generally see the server's public IP address rather than your normal one. That can reduce what your internet provider or Wi-Fi operator learns about the destinations you connect to. Our explanation of how a VPN works goes further into the technical side.
This setup allows you to change your virtual location with a VPN, but it doesn't make you anonymous. Websites can still recognize you through logged-in accounts, cookies, GPS data and other identifiers. Not everyone needs a VPN running all the time, either. What matters here is that using one places a VPN company in a trusted position: you're reducing what one part of the network (your ISP) can see by routing the connection through another.