Mozilla Firefox is giving some users a free VPN, and you might be one of them

A stripped-back VPN is set to arrive for Mozilla Firefox, the open-source browser for desktop and mobile operating systems. But there's a twist: this VPN is only appearing for a few seemingly randomly selected users, and you might be one of them.

Unlike a straightforward subscription-based VPN, the Firefox VPN is quite limited. While it will hide your IP address, you cannot use the integrated browser VPN to bypass region blocking. That's a pretty big drawback, considering it's a major reason why most people would want a VPN in the first place.

A key feature of the best VPNs is the option to connect to a server overseas. This has many benefits, from avoiding local censorship to accessing TV and movie libraries from popular streaming services in other countries. If you're looking to use a VPN for gaming, too, it doesn't work outside of Firefox's browser, which is another negative.

So Mozilla's VPN feature isn't suitable for exploring the usual benefits of a VPN, but it was likely never designed as a full replacement. Instead, the browser-based VPN is exactly that: a feature that encrypts data sent and received within the browser, but not elsewhere on your computer. Unlike standard VPN services, which encrypt all data from your phone, PC, or laptop.

As mentioned, it's not yet available to all Mozilla Firefox users. I've checked my own browser, and despite being a registered user for some years, I don't have it. Mozilla has described this as a beta feature, one that will likely be rolled out to all users in due course.

That would make Mozilla Firefox's built-in VPN useful if you just need some browser-based encryption. But to reap the full rewards of a VPN, a subscription to a top provider is still your best bet. We'd recommend the always realiable NordVPN, which works well across mobile devices and PC.