Ústí nad Labem company GoodAccess launches a free version of its cloud VPN. As a result, smaller businesses can create a virtual private network in the cloud that is easy to set up and deploy. Cloud VPN from a Czech company generally competes with products from companies such as Cisco or NordVPN, but the free version is unique worldwide.
We wrote about GoodAccess last year at Lupa, when the Ústí nad Labem company gained tens of millions for further development. GoodAccess operates a cloud VPN as a SaaS service, which can be configured and deployed very quickly without having to purchase your own hardware and software licenses. GoodAccess also recently added the Threat Blocker feature, DNS threat filtering.
Cloud VPN can be used for remote access to IT, secure work on the Internet, encrypted connections to corporate systems and applications (reducing the risk of eavesdropping or data theft), protection of sensitive data from online threats (automatic detection and blocking of things like phishing, malware or botnets) and easy setup without in-depth IT knowledge.
Starter for a hundred people
The new free tariff is called GoodAccess Starter. It is globally available and can connect to a maximum of hundreds of users. Applications for Windows, Android, iOS and macOS are available.
To use GoodAccess Starter, you must register an account for free at this page. First, the trial version, which the company has offered so far, is activated for two weeks, and after a fortnight, it switches to Starter itself. For a period of two weeks, you can also use the features from the paid version.
According to the Ústí nad Labem company, the free version is to operate indefinitely. Likewise, the limits on the speed and amount of transferred data will not be set.
However, there are several limitations to the paid version. The most visible is the assignment of a dynamic IP address. GoodAccess automatically searches for the least busy VPN gateway, dynamically assigns IPs and encrypts traffic. However, if you want to use a static IP address, for example for IP whitelisting, you will need to upgrade to the paid version.
“The number of users is set at one hundred. Only one team will be able to manage under one account. Also, the service is intended only for companies and entrepreneurs, which we verify when creating an account. The IP address will be selected dynamically for each user according to their current location so that the best latency can be ensured. A dedicated gateway with a static address cannot be purchased in the free version, it must be upgraded. The same applies to advanced functions such as Access Control, Cloud & Branch connectors and others, “explains the executive director of GoodAccess for Lupa Michal Čížek.
The offer is still interesting. For example NordLayer from NordVPN offers the features of GoodAccess Starter as part of the basic paid package. It will be interesting to see whether the market will respond to the launch of the Czech free service with similar steps.
No data collection
The very positive news is that GoodAccess Starter does not collect data. “Users don’t have to worry about annoying ads or passing data to third parties, as is often the case with free VPN tools for home users,” the company promises.
Čížek added for Lupa that adding advertising to the business application would be against GoodAccess’s beliefs. He also said that thanks to many years of development, the company has achieved the optimization of infrastructure costs, so it is able to provide the service for free in the long run.
GoodAccess looks at its product for free with a similar business perspective as, for example, Avast, which offers part of the technology for free to make its brand known. However, Avast has long been known for collecting data.
“The free version serves two purposes. On the one hand, we are fulfilling our vision of enabling any company in the world to protect its activities and data on the public Internet (data encryption and online threat detection and blocking), but at the same time it makes business sense. Thanks to Starter, we can increase awareness of the brand and product and be the tool that the user reaches for when his business needs expand and will require paid features, ”explains Čížek.
—
The Ústí nad Labem company expects to convert from the Starter version to paid tariffs in the order of percentage units of users. In the case of the trial version offered for some time, the conversion to paying users reaches tens of percent. This exceeds the standard of B2B SaaS services, mainly due to precise targeting.
Today, GoodAccess has over 1,200 active subscribers. The service has 35 localities with a dedicated gateway and has increased capacity in individual localities. More technical details can be read in our previous interview.
You want to have an email every morning an overview of current articles from Lupa? Order our e-mail service and you will not miss any important information. You can also order weekly overview or also newsletter The main thingFriday ‘s summary of the most important articles from all our servers.
—
