Minimal Logging Policy — What FreeGuard Collects and What It Does Not

We believe honesty is better than marketing claims. Here is exactly what FreeGuard collects:

What IS collected:

• Connection timestamps: When you connect and disconnect from VPN servers. Used for capacity planning and fair usage enforcement. Stored for 30 days, then deleted.
• Aggregate bandwidth usage: Total data transferred per session (not per-site or per-request). Used to manage server capacity and enforce fair use on free tier accounts.
• Anonymized error codes: When connections fail, we log error types (not content) to identify and fix infrastructure issues. These are not linked to user identity.
• Account information: Email address, subscription status, and payment metadata needed for account management.

What is NOT collected:

• Browsing history or websites visited
• DNS query logs
• Traffic content or payload data
• Source IP addresses linked to activity logs
• Connection-level metadata that could identify specific user activity

The VPN industry has a credibility problem with logging claims. Multiple providers advertising zero-logs policies have been exposed collecting user data — sometimes revealed through data breaches, sometimes through law enforcement cooperation that contradicted their stated policies.

The reality is that operating a reliable VPN service requires some data collection. Connection timestamps are needed to manage server load. Bandwidth totals are needed for capacity planning. Error logs are needed to fix outages.

Rather than claiming we log nothing (which would either be false or indicate we cannot maintain reliable service), we choose transparency. We tell you exactly what we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what we will never collect.

This approach is aligned with GDPR principles of data minimization and purpose limitation. We collect only what is necessary for the specified purpose, keep it only as long as needed, and provide clear documentation of our practices.

To put our policy in context, here is how different logging approaches compare:

Full logging (ISPs, some free VPNs): Records browsing history, DNS queries, IP addresses, timestamps, and sometimes traffic content. This data can be sold, shared with governments, or breached.

Session logging (many paid VPNs): Records connection timestamps, bandwidth, and server selection. This is similar to FreeGuard's approach but many providers also log source IP addresses.

FreeGuard's minimal logging: Connection timestamps and aggregate bandwidth without source IP association. Error codes are anonymized. No browsing data of any kind.

Claimed zero-logging: Providers state nothing is collected. While theoretically possible using RAM-only servers and no monitoring, this claim is difficult to verify and has been disproven for multiple providers.

We recommend evaluating any VPN's logging policy based on specificity (do they say exactly what is collected?), retention periods (how long is data kept?), and third-party audits (has an independent party verified the claims?).