About TunnelBear
TunnelBear is the friendliest VPN extension here. It is a Toronto-built service known for its bear mascot and plain-language design, and its browser extension encrypts your browser traffic and lets you pick from 20 countries in a few clicks. It is listed in the Chrome, Edge and Firefox stores, and the Chrome version also installs in other Chromium browsers.
TunnelBear has published an independent security audit every year since 2017. The eighth, by Cure53 in 2024, ran for 44 working days with white-box access to source code, configurations and backend systems. It found 10 vulnerabilities of medium severity or higher and 3 of low severity, and TunnelBear says all were acknowledged, addressed or mitigated. It says the 2025 audit is also complete. Its privacy policy says it does not collect IP addresses on connection, DNS queries, or the apps and sites you use while connected. A free plan includes 2 GB of secure browsing.
Keep the limits in mind. These are security audits of code and systems, not a no-logs assurance report, so the logging claim rests on the privacy policy. McAfee has owned TunnelBear since March 2018, the free allowance is small, and the Firefox listing is rated 3.4. Choose it if simplicity matters more than extra features.
Pros and cons
- Very simple to use, with 20 countries to choose from
- Cure53 has audited it every year since 2017
- Free plan for light use
- Privacy policy says it does not log IPs or DNS queries
- Free plan is small, at 2 GB of browsing
- Owned by McAfee since 2018
- Audits cover security, not a formal no-logs assurance
Permissions
The Firefox version requests proxy control, web request blocking and privacy settings, and optionally access to all websites. It needs these to route browser traffic through the VPN. The listing says it collects authentication and location data. We read the Firefox permission list.
