ProxMate to discontinue free offer
ProxMate is a popular browser extension for Firefox and Google Chrome that adds VPN-like capabilities to the browser to access content on the Internet that is geo-restricted.
This enables users of the service to access services such as Netflix or Pandora in the United States even if they are residing in other countries.
The service is being offered for free currently but that is about to change according to a new announcement on the official company blog.
Update: Proxmate is no longer available for free.
The company plans to discontinue the free offering and turn ProxMate into a subscription-based service instead "to get serious about making Proxmate bigger and better" and work on the service "in a full time capacity".
ProxMate earns revenue through donations currently exclusively and incentives this by offering additional servers and packages to donators exclusively.
The monthly fee has not been revealed in the announcement, only that existing free users will get one month access to the service for free so that they can test it.
Update: ProxMate will run a special limited offer that provides access to the service for $0.99 per month.
The switch from free to subscription-based goes along with other changes that the ProxMate team highlighted in the blog post. Among the most notable ones access to an additional 100 channels, more Netflix locations, a service to request unlocks for channels and "high strength encryption".
Channel refers to an offering on the Internet such as Netflix, Amazon Prime video or Hulu. The current version of the ProxMate browser extension works by adding so-called packages to the extension which unlock support for services.
Once you have installed a package you may access the service's website from any location in the world without being blocked from accessing it.
The new version will introduce support for more than 100 additional services on the Internet that subscribed users can unlock using ProxMate.
Existing benefits such as unlimited bandwidth and data transfer, no logging of activity and a strict no-ads policy remain in place. The company expects to roll out the change in mid-October. It is likely that it will announce the costs for subscribing to the service then on its website.
Closing Words
It all comes down to price especially since the subscription-based ProxMate has to compete with free offers and VPN services. Getflix for instance is available for a one-time payment of $39 currently on Ghacks Deals while the excellent VPN Private Internet Access for $59.95 for two years which translates to less than $2.5 per month.
Now You: Are you using ProxMate or another free browser extension currently?
The post has been updated. Free 30-day trial begins Oct 19th. $0.99/mo thereafter.
https://proxmate.me/news
Thanks Rick, I have updated the article to reflect the information.
Has anyone tried the Zapyo extension for Google Chrome?
There are plenty of options listed here, some free:
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/comparing-u-s-dns-unblocking-services-1454278/#post18437187
Any alternatives? (free ones)
I purchased a lifetime subscription to ProXPN for $39. Now I’m a premium member. They don’t officially support Linux, but they do have a .deb package they have released. It has decent throughput for a VPN, so now I can get my Doctor Who fix.
Everything is going to subscriptions. The trend is very disturbing (for some of us), though not at all surprising.
This is extremely frustrating news. I’ve been using Proxmate ever since its release because of those “packages” where it works only on the selected websites. All of the other extensions (including Zenmate) offer this feature only for a subscription fee. Are there any decent and FREE alternatives?
I use ZenMate although the free version has very limited locations. But then I do not need to access the Netflixes and BBC iPlayers of the world as torrents are my thing.
I have to say though I am happy with ZenMate’s performance.