Lantern

Lantern can help you access blocked websites and services. It is actually a proxy, not a VPN service.

So, all it does is to reroute your connection through one of their servers. In this respect, it is good that it gets automatically activated when you intend to open a censored site. The rest of the time, it does not interfere with your navigation.

The application has a web interface, from which you can change settings, with the option of proxying all traffic if you prefer so. Lantern can find the most convenient server for you, which is good. However, this has a downside: you cannot select the server you think is most convenient to unblock specific geographically restricted services.

In terms of speed, Lantern seems to have little impact. Actually, some tests show that it can even increase upload speeds. Even though it succeeds in giving you access to some restricted streaming services like Kodi, it fails to bypass the restrictions for Hulu, Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

Security is always a big concern. In this respect, Lantern can use encrypted HTTPS connections. Moreover, it comes with an ad-blocker, which helps you enjoy faster and smoother Internet navigation. Unfortunately, since Lantern is not a real VPN, it does not have a kill switch, which means that, if your connection is suddenly down, your private data can be exposed.

In short, I do not think Lantern is the best choice for browsing the Internet safely and bypassing restrictions. The services can be used for free, still, once a limit of 500Mb a month is reached, the speed of your connection will be slowed down, which you can avoid by upgrading to Lantern Pro.