Firefox tests a free, integrated VPN alternative to its paid VPN service

Mozilla is testing a free, integrated VPN service within Firefox that will complement its existing paid Mozilla VPN service.

A support page from Mozilla reveals that the company has been working on an “IP concealment” technology for over two weeks. However, Mozilla has since renamed the page “Firefox VPN” to show off the new experimental, beta feature present in the browser. Mozilla says that the technology will be free, but it’s only being offered to a small, randomly chosen set of test users.

The free VPN service will apparently complement the paid Mozilla VPN service that Mozilla already offers. Our tests, however, found Mozilla’s paid VPN service somewhat wanting.

Integrating a VPN service into the browser has been a feature of niche browsers for years — including Mozilla. In 2019, Mozilla began testing the Firefox Private Network, a VPN-like service that obscured the user’s IP address. The trial was part of a beta program, and the technology was never really commercialized. Opera, too, launched a more sophisticated integrated VPN service. In March, Vivaldi teamed up with Proton for an integrated VPN into the browser, as well.

If you’ve been chosen to participate in Mozilla’s trial, you’ll see this notification.

Mozilla’s VPN effort will route your web traffic through Mozilla-managed VPN servers, and you’ll need a Mozilla account to access it. “Web traffic originated in Firefox will be routed through the most performant VPN location available, within the United States,” Mozilla says, and the feature can be toggled on and off.

Firefox says that it hasn’t assigned any usage limits to the new feature, and that it won’t affect your browsing speed, either. If you do subscribe to the paid Mozilla VPN service, however, you should delete the free VPN option to avoid duplication, the company says.

As for data collection, Mozilla says that it collects only the technical data needed to keep Firefox VPN reliable and secure,” it said. “For example, we may log whether a connection succeeded or failed, or record that your account used 2GB of data on a certain day.”

Don’t expect to be able to access international servers using the new free Mozilla VPN.

After three months, logs linked to your account are deleted. However, Mozilla said that it will never log the sites you visit or keep track of the content you download.

GHacks was among the first to report the new Mozilla feature.

Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld