The Four Costs of Free Plans
A free client downloads and works right away, so it looks like it costs nothing. But bandwidth, servers and maintenance all cost money, and those expenses come back to users in four different forms. Seeing all four clearly is more useful than comparing price tags alone.
- Bandwidth throttling: per-account speeds are capped at a level that's fine for opening web pages but painful for video, and it gets worse at peak hours. Throttling is rarely stated in the app, but you feel it in use.
- Data caps: a small allowance per month or per day, and the connection drops the moment it runs out — with no way to top up. Once the cap is gone, the client usually shows nothing but a notice box.
- Ads and upsells: in-app ad slots are the most obvious form; other approaches inject redirects into the pages you open, or steer free users toward the company's own paid product.
- Where your data goes: bandwidth and servers both cost money, and some free plans earn revenue from ads and data analytics. In other words, some of the information generated while you're connected may itself be the revenue source.
If you want to know how a free plan keeps running, look at where its money comes from: in-app ads, handing traffic data to third-party analytics, or funneling free users into a paid product. A plan that does none of the three will struggle to maintain route quality over time.
Free vs Paid: Side by Side
Put both approaches in one table and the differences become clear. The left column shows common free-plan practices; the right column shows how a paid service handles the same thing, with VPNCZ as the example.
| Item | Common free-plan practice | Paid plan (VPNCZ as example) |
|---|---|---|
| Bandwidth | Per-account throttling, worse at peak hours | 180+ routes, IEPL dedicated lines and relay routes running in parallel |
| Data allowance | A very small monthly allowance; the connection drops when it runs out | Monthly plans from 60GB; data packs last until used up and never expire |
| Ads | In-app ad slots; redirects injected into some pages | The client shows only connection, routes and data usage |
| Data handling | Often funded by ads and data analytics | No browsing activity is logged; only the billing details needed for the account are kept |
| Devices | Usually limited to one device online at a time | No device limit; one account covers multiple devices |
| Support | There's no payment step, so there's no refund either | 30-day no-questions-asked refund |
One thing to note: free plans aren't all the same. Some apply only mild throttling; others are simply a trial funnel for a paid product. The question isn't the 'free or paid' label, but how many of the six rows above apply to it.
At What Usage Level Free Is Enough
Free plans are enough for low-frequency, low-demand use — there's no need to rush into paying. In the situations below, you can keep using free for now.
- ✅ Once or twice a week, ten minutes at a time, for looking things up or checking email
- ✅ One device only — no need to keep a phone and a computer connected at the same time
- ✅ No quality demands: pages open and documents load, and that's enough
- ✅ Just a quick check of whether a site is reachable, then you disconnect
Once you cross those boundaries, the weak points of free plans show up all at once. If any two or more of the following apply, it's time to seriously consider a paid plan.
- ❌ Daily use, concentrated in peak hours such as 8 to 11 p.m.
- ❌ You need to cover a computer, phone and tablet at the same time (paid plans have no device limit)
- ❌ You watch 4K video, live sports or long video calls, and you're sensitive to jitter and latency
- ❌ You need to stay connected for long stretches on one device, and reconnecting after a drop interrupts your work
- ❌ You need a stable regional exit and don't want the exit IP changing frequently
When Paid Pays Off
The value of a paid plan isn't the word 'faster' — it's predictable stability and terms of service that are written down clearly. Before choosing, set your tier by usage, then pick a route type by purpose.
| Tier | Price | Data allowance | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly · Basic | ¥9.9 / month | 60GB | Everyday browsing, email, maps and documents on a single device |
| Monthly · Standard | ¥18 / month | 250GB | Multiple devices in use, frequent video |
| Monthly · Premium | ¥28 / month | 500GB | Family sharing, 4K video and long live streams |
Monthly plan data resets each month on your activation date. If your usage only spikes for a period, you can also buy a standalone data pack: ¥158 / 300GB, ¥358 / 1000GB, ¥658 / 3000GB — good until used up, never expiring, and never cleared with the subscription cycle.
Once the tier is settled, choose your routes. The difference between direct, relay and IEPL dedicated lines comes down to where congestion sits: direct connections ride the public internet and take the biggest hit from carrier exit congestion at peak hours; relays place the entry point on a node closer to you and then run over a private backbone to the exit, sidestepping most congestion; IEPL is an end-to-end dedicated channel with the least jitter and the highest cost. Choosing routes by purpose works better than choosing by price.
The payment side is worth a look too. Alipay, WeChat and USDT are all accepted, and signing up takes only a username and password — no email address required. The lower the barrier, the less you need to hand over your everyday inbox just to try something out, a point that's often overlooked when comparing options.
Switching to Paid: Migration Checklist
Switching plans isn't a big project, but doing a few things in order saves you some detours.
- Sign up and log in to the dashboard: a username and password is all it takes — no email address required.
- Download the client for your platform: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Linux each have their own client; log in to get your subscription.
- Import the subscription link: copy the subscription link from the dashboard and paste it into the client to pull the route list. The subscription link works like account credentials — don't forward it to group chats or share screenshots of it.
- Pick a route for your use case and verify it: after connecting, confirm the exit IP matches the region you selected, then open the sites you use most to check they work.
- Set up split routing: let mainland China sites and local network addresses go direct, and route only the traffic you need through the line — it saves data and avoids unnecessary detours.
- Keep the old plan for a while: uninstall it only after you've confirmed the new routes hold up at peak hours, so you don't end up with a gap.
Verify the Exit IP and DNS
A client showing 'Connected' doesn't mean your traffic is actually going through the line. Run the commands below once before and once after connecting, and compare the results.
# Run once before and once after connecting; compare whether the exit IP changes
curl -s https://ifconfig.me
# See which exit DNS resolution actually goes out through
dig +short TXT o-o.myaddr.l.google.com @ns1.google.comThe second command returns the exit IP of your DNS resolver. If it doesn't match the region your line is in, DNS requests aren't going through the line — what's usually called a DNS leak. DNS queries go over UDP port 53 in plaintext by default; enabling DoH (port 443) or DoT (port 853) encrypts the resolution process.
If a service requires you to install a 'root certificate' or a system profile before it works, first find out where that requirement comes from: once a root certificate is installed in your system, a third party gains the ability to decrypt HTTPS traffic. Ordinary cross-border access and network acceleration don't need this step.
Three Common Questions
Can I keep a free plan as a backup?
Yes, but treat it as a backup rather than your main option. Free routes usually share exit IPs among a large number of users, which easily triggers CAPTCHAs and can get flagged as an unusual region. Fine for emergencies; relying on it long term will keep interrupting you.
Are paid plans always faster?
Not necessarily. Speed depends on the route type and exit location, not the price itself. Within the same service, a direct route can be faster than a dedicated line off-peak; a dedicated line's advantage shows up in stability and jitter control at peak hours. Decide what you need first, then pick the route.
Data pack or monthly subscription — which should I choose?
If your usage is steady and you need it every month, choose a monthly subscription, from ¥9.9 / 60GB, with data resetting each month on your activation date. If your usage clusters in certain months, or you just need a top-up, choose a data pack, from ¥158 / 300GB, good until used up and never expiring. The two can coexist without conflicting.