Opera's free VPN in its desktop browser can now switch itself on when it detects a public Wi-Fi network, so browsing traffic is protected without the user remembering to flip a toggle. The feature is off by default and has to be enabled once, under Settings, then VPN, by turning on "Always use VPN on Public WiFi". Opera says the rollout starts in France and the US, with more regions to follow.
The pitch is aimed at the moment a laptop joins airport or cafe Wi-Fi and the user forgets to start a VPN. Opera argues public networks carry extra security risks and that a VPN is worth using on them, while conceding that people coming off a long trip or settling in for an afternoon of work often have other things on their minds.
Opera has offered a VPN inside its desktop and mobile browsers since 2016, and the company says it still asks for no account, imposes no bandwidth limit, and costs nothing. It also says the service has been independently audited, with Deloitte verifying its no-log claims in 2024 and Cure53 testing the VPN's security code in 2022. Opera says its VPN servers are in the US, Singapore, and the Netherlands.
The company frames the free VPN as part of a broader privacy package that also includes its built-in Ad Blocker and Tracker Blocker, and says it earns money elsewhere rather than monetizing the VPN. That is the reasoning Opera gives for giving the feature away rather than selling it as a subscription, as most standalone VPN providers do.
Opera's announcement leans heavily on comparisons with rival browsers. It says Chrome and Safari offer no integrated VPN at all, and that pre-installed defaults such as Edge cap usage, which Opera puts at 5GB per month as of its September 10, 2026 comparison. Opera describes its own combination of free access, no bandwidth limit, no account requirement, and independent auditing as unmatched by other browsers.
What the announcement does not include is a price, because there is none to give: the VPN remains free, and the new automatic protection is a setting rather than a paid tier. Opera also does not say when the feature will reach regions beyond France and the US, only that more are planned.
The update lands a decade after Opera first put a VPN inside its browser, a move that at the time set it apart from the major browsers it now measures itself against. Automatic activation on public networks is the latest attempt to keep that distinction relevant as other browsers add privacy features of their own.
