Best free VPN service for Turkey
In fact, there are no good free VPN services for use at PC. They all have their disadvantages and limitations. So, if you don’t have any budget at all, try everything you find in the Google search and choose the one that suits you best.
Alternatively, you can use a paid VPN SurfShark and ask for a refund after 30 days. Although, we agree, the option is not very convenient.
However, for using a VPN on your phone, I can recommend two free services that we ourselves have sometimes used: VPN Proxy Master (iPhone, Android) and Leaf VPN by Kits Labs (iPhone, Android).
At least these are the services that actually worked on the phones.
Best paid VPN service for Turkey
For those who understand why you need a paid VPN and only think what VPN service works best in Turkey, we will give you a short and quick answer: the SurfShark VPN works best here. Of course, there are plenty of free VPN services as well. But, as practice shows, their use is terribly slow, inconvenient, and not suitable for a normal life in Turkey.
Here’s a SurfShark referral link where you can get one month free: https://surfshark.club/friend/qyrjHxTY.
SurfShark is the fastest VPN with no download limitations (I even download torrent films using it and the speed practically does not drop), works with all Turkish operators, can be used simultaneously on several devices (I use it on my laptop, desktop computer, iPhone, iPad, and also my wife uses it on her phone and my father uses it on Android). A large number of countries (countries whose IP addresses you can use) are supported, including Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and many others.
Read more below.
Why you may need a VPN in Turkey?
In addition to your personal privacy and security, a great many websites in Turkey may be inaccessible for distinct reasons.
Here are just a few instances where you may need extended internet access with a VPN.
1. BLOCKAGE BY TURKISH OPERATOR
For example, the Turkish operator can even block sites such as Binance (crypto exchange). They do this for your own safety) though they do not ask us). We contacted our operator and had these restrictions lifted. However, users don’t always have this option, especially when working in public places.
2. BLOCKAGES BY THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT
Also, resources such as porn sites, gambling sites, etc. are blocked in Turkey.
Often, it happens that before elections or for some other political reasons, certain popular websites in Turkey are being blocked at different times. At one time such famous sites as Facebook, Vkontakte (I would block VK worldwide, though), Wikipedia, Twitter and many others have been banned.
3. BLOCKING OF TURKISH IP-ADDRESSES BY STATE AND BY PRIVATE WEBSITES
Many government resources from other countries block connections from Turkey. For example, Ukrainian CourtID, a system for accessing electronic courts, has been blocked in Ukraine. Also, you will not have access to some services on Dija and other sites.
This is done because a lot of hacker requests and DDOS attacks come from Turkish IP addresses.
4. PRICE DISCRIMINATION BY LOCATION
Very often you may find that prices for different services may differ depending on the country from which you are accessing the site. This, for example, can be either airline tickets or even VPN services themselves. For more details, see Paying for VPN service.
4. BOOKING.COM
Booking.com itself is not blocked. But when you visit it from Turkey, you will see a message that you cannot book hotels in Turkey. This is due to a complaint from local hotel operators about alleged unfair competition from booking.com.
However, foreigners can safely book hotels in Turkey. Therefore, to book a hotel in Turkey, you need to access the site using a foreign (not Turkish) IP address. You can do this in two ways:
- By switching the internet in your mobile phone to your country’s SIM card. In this case, you will enter from roaming and booking.com will consider that you are not in Turkey but in another country. But of course, when you use the internet while being in roaming, you pay a lot of money to your carrier….
- By enabling VPN, you choose any other country. From now on, booking.com will only see your non-Turkish IP address and will allow you to book hotels in Turkey.
Payment for VPN service
As mentioned above, we consider SurfShark to be the best VPN service. It has proven itself to be as good as possible from all angles and costs only a few dollars a month.
I would like to point out that depending on the country, the service adds VAT. For example, for Turkey, the VAT will be 20%. For Ukraine it was not added in 2022, but now they add it and it makes 20%. But, for example, if you choose Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan or some other countries, VAT is not added! The service doesn’t check to which country the card I paid with belongs (at least the last time I did it in 2022, that’s how it was).
In addition, you may want to consider services such as:
However, I’ll be honest. All of them have some or other disadvantages: connection speed, price, not all operators allow some of the listed VPN services, limited choice of servers (countries), reduced security (privacy), strict limitations on the number of devices (and the number of simultaneous devices), etc.
With all that said, we personally chose SurfShark for ourselves and have no complaints. I remind you the referral link that gives you one month for free: https://surfshark.club/friend/qyrjHxTY.
A free site that can be accessed without VPN
You won’t need a VPN to access the website of the best photographer in Antalya (my wife). The site is open and accessible from any country and in any country!
You can see her portfolio and book a photo shoot with her in Antalya at this link: https://www.dubovaya.studio/.
I still have questions about choosing a VPN
It happens. Ask in the comments below and I’ll try my best to answer you.