New Experiment: Firefox VPN Beta

[Santiago]

We’re excited to share that we’ve begun work on a new feature called Firefox VPN - a free, browser-only VPN capability built right into Firefox. While still in its early stages, this experiment reflects our broader commitment to bringing even more privacy and security protections directly into Firefox.

Over the next few months, we’ll be testing Firefox VPN with a small group of users. We’ll start simple, then gradually add new capabilities while learning how it impacts browsing, usage, and overall satisfaction. Our long-term vision is ambitious: to build the best VPN-integrated browser on the market.

The first version of Firefox VPN will allow testers to connect to our VPN network and secure their Firefox browsing. Over time, we’ll experiment with new and more powerful capabilities that we hope will truly delight.

How can you help?

Your voice helps to shape how we build Firefox features, just like this one. And we want to keep our community (you!) informed and involved from the very beginning. Whether you’re randomly selected for the experiment or not, your insights will help us shape where Firefox VPN goes next. 

In particular, we’d love to hear: If you had a magic wand, what would you want to see in an integrated VPN feature inside your browser?

Feel free to reply to this Connect post with your thoughts. While we can't reply to every comment, rest assured we read and review them all. Thank you for helping to make browsing safer, more private, and more empowering for everyone.

One last thing: Firefox VPN is not Mozilla VPN: Mozilla VPN remains our full-device, paid subscription product that can cover up to 5 devices at the same time. Firefox VPN is different: it’s a free, browser-only feature inside Firefox.

— The Firefox VPN Product Team

[Synchro]

Wow, great news to hear! I guess it will be clean whether any third parties get the users' traffic for any purposes? What about the features I would like to see, I guess they are:

1. "White" list of web-sites the traffic to which won't go through VPN.

2. A possibility to chose whether a particular web-site should use a particular VPN-server destination. Like, site A should think that am in Canada and site B that I am in Australia.

[s_hentzschel]

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@Santiago wrote:

If you had a magic wand, what would you want to see in an integrated VPN feature inside your browser?

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The ability to turn on the VPN for only one tab.

[Santiago]

Thanks @s_hentzschel! Can you add more color as to why you'd want the VPN protection on a single tab? Is it about creating "a special tab" where VPN is always enabled, with all other tabs not being VPN enabled? Or is it more about enabling VPN for a certain website but not for others?

[s_hentzschel]

My only use case for a VPN are geo-restrictions (for example, streaming a sports event). That means I currently only turn on the VPN when I need it for a single website. It's not necessary to redirect all traffic through a VPN for this. I also don't want to always load a specific website through a VPN, but rather be able to activate the VPN for a single tab when needed and then deactivate it again afterwards.

[jojo_69]

Why not apply it to a tab profile in this case?

If you choose the SPORT JAPAN profile, the VPN activates automatically when you point to Japan.

[Reitei17]

Hey i would like the vpn to be either in a single tab or a certain websites that i choose. So that other tabs/websites wont get vpn, keeps security and keeps the internet speed optimal when i dont need the vpn on those websites.

[CauseOfBSOD]

This would actually be brilliant, since a VPN *has* to be integrated in the browser to be able to support this.  A full-system VPN can only choose to include/exclude individual programs on the computer without browser integration in a split tunnelling setup

[david134]

That sounds really promising! A built-in VPN right inside Firefox would make browsing so much simpler for people who just want quick privacy without extra setup.

If I could add one wish — it’d be awesome to have an option to automatically turn the VPN on when visiting certain sites or using public Wi-Fi. Also, having clear info about which region or server is being used would be great for transparency.

Really looking forward to trying it out once it’s available for testing!

[Kvin]

Hello

I have a few questions

Will the built-in firefox vpn also be released for the mobile version of Firefox?

Will there be an option to enable vpn only for a specific site or sites?

And also, an option to auto-launch vpn when the browser starts?

And the last thing, why did you decide to make a separate firefox vpn from mozilla vpn? Have you thought about building Mozilla VPN into Firefox but making it semi-paid, as it is now in Opera, Opera has a free vpn and there is a pro version
Thank you!

[Santiago]

Great questions!

1. For now, we’re focused on the desktop experience as we continue to learn and improve. That said, mobile is definitely a natural next step, and it’s great to hear that it’s something you’re interested in!

2. and 3. Both ideas, per website VPN controls and auto-start capabilities, are excellent suggestions. Stay tuned 😉

4. As for Firefox VPN and Mozilla VPN, think of them as part of the same family. We’re experimenting with new ways to bring privacy and protection directly into Firefox for free, while continuing to offer the full Mozilla VPN app for those who want a more complete, system-wide solution. It’s a bit like Opera’s approach, though we’re aiming to do it in a way that reflects Mozilla’s values and product philosophy,  focused on transparency, user control, and trust.

Thanks again for your thoughtful questions!

[haingdc]

I think about common case is that some special sites need to be open with VPN. While the other sites should be accessed as normal, without VPN. Of course, It'd be great to have national flag or something like this when a tab is using VPN as It's a Sign for user to identify them. I guess the Sign can be placed on Tabbar or Toolbar.

[FreeRussia]

I hope this gonna work fine in Russia! Because we have extremely powerful censorship here, like the Chinese firewall. The only VPN protocols that still work for us are mainly VLESS/XRay/Shadowsocks... Regular OpenVPN or WireGuard have long since stopped working. We really lack free, working VPNs because buying paid ones is often impossible or extremely difficult. And we really want to read proper news (not state propaganda).

[synthfi]

jumping on this. Proton vpn with stealth mode actually worked for me, albeit with issues, while in China. I would switch to firefox vpn if it had a similar ability, otherwise it's not too attractive

[myspace]

This is exciting! Any idea when it could be available for all Firefox users? 

[jojo_69]

With a free VPN, I'm not asking for the same experience as a paid VPN (number of countries available)

but simply to have access to the X largest countries in terms of traffic

(USA - JAPAN - BRAZIL - ...)

At worst,

- either you have the same traffic (connection speed)

- or you have a larger but slower number of countries

[wutongtaiwan]

Can it be used in China? VPN protocols are easily blocked in China, so VLESS and Trojan protocols need to be used. For example, VLESS WebSocket TLS and Trojan WebSocket TLS. This is because it can make the proxy traffic appear like normal browser traffic.

[bmazak]

I find it a waste of time when the format here on adding a comment causes me to search for the link to add a comment.  Where is the click here to post a comment? The use of acronyms is too high.  Now for the subject, VPNs.  My experience with VPNs, after paying for lifetime use, is that they will throttle you down if you watch movies because they do not have the bandwidth and enough servers.  That kind of CONTROL we do not want.

[happymoodhubpro]

• I’d love a one-click toggle + visual indicator of VPN being active.
• Ability to choose regions or “auto-choose best latency” mode.
• Please keep it free and browser-only (so it doesn’t interfere with PC/mobile apps).
• Smooth compatibility with extensions and sites (so no weird breakage).

Also, as a casual tip: if anything feels off during the beta, you can test it in a fresh profile or separate install so your main setup remains safe (kind of like using an happyapps store for mods — you test before going full use).

[Heath]

Please don't promote you products here.

[jojo_69]

With a built-in VPN, I'd like a "mini and portable" version of the browser so I can browse the internet during my lunch break without being limited by my company's blocking (just the window and the website URL).

The goal, of course, is to not be able to watch PH during my break.

[Ikrash]

From a user’s perspective, having a built-in, browser-only VPN in Firefox is a meaningful step for privacy. Removing the need for extra extensions makes private browsing simpler and more accessible. I’m interested to see how performance, speed, and connection stability are handled during the beta. Thank you to the team for continuing to push open-source privacy forward.

[Heath]

This is great to hear! Having it built into the browser is convenient for users.

[Reitei17]

Please when vpn available on mobile version, make a vpn on and off toggle in the menu for easy access. Not in the full setting menu but from toolbar, there is the 3 dots button to menu, make easy toggle on and off of vpn there. thank you.

[Fusion967]

A built-in, browser-only Firefox VPN sounds like a game-changer for users who want stronger privacy without extra installs or complicated setups.

I love the approach of starting simple and gradually expanding features based on real user feedback. The vision of creating the best VPN integrated browser on the market is bol and exactly what makes Firefox stand out.

[JohnyGalt]

Magic wand:) feature requests for Firefox VPN:

1. Split tunneling for specific sites - to choose which sites route through the VPN and which don't. Some sites block VPN traffic, and constantly toggling defeats the purpose. Smart rules like "always VPN on banking sites, never on streaming" would be HUGE.

2. Kill switch + DNS leak protection - if the VPN drops, browsing should pause, not silently fall back to my ISP. And make sure DNS queries don't leak either.

3. Per-tab VPN control - toggle VPN on/off for individual tabs without affecting the whole browser. Sometimes you need different privacy levels for different tasks in the same session.

4. Container integration - work with Firefox Containers so you can say "this container always uses VPN, that one doesn't."

5. Clear visibility of what's protected - show in the address bar or a status indicator exactly which traffic is going through the VPN.

6. EU servers to connect:)

P.S. imho very good direction taking in account that Vivaldi has ProtonVPN integration and Edge also has its own VPN integrated.

[us2222moz7892]

It's all exist in Mozilla VPN

1. Split tunneling through app themself or Firefox Containers
2. Kill switch + DNS protection
3. Firefox Containers
4. yes. 
5. should be implemented better
6. Yes there like 50 countries and hundred servers.

[gridlocdev]

For me, I'd personally like to see Firefox VPN implement a dual-hop architecture akin to Apple's iCloud Private Relay.

---

"Private Relay is built on the principle that IP addresses that identify users need
to be separated from the names of websites that users access. To achieve this
separation, Apple has engineered an innovative dual-hop architecture in which
users’ requests are sent through two separate internet relays operated by
different entities. Private Relay’s dual-hop architecture protects the privacy of
users by separating who can observe their IP addresses from who can see the
websites they visit."

-- iCloud Private Relay Overview - Dec 2021

---

The way it splits ingress and egress into separate hops on different providers seems like it has privacy advantages over the typical traditional VPN architecture, since it obfuscates the "who" and "what" in the middle between users and content on the web.

A "No Logs" policy is great, but a privacy-by-design architecture like that would eliminate the need to place as much trust in a single operator.

[oooii]

Excuse me ...

When use Firefox VPN ...

How much money is needed ?

Do need to log in to account ?

.

[Ehankhans]

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[dorkula]

Hi there, 

Extremely excited for this

My browser is the only thing on my devices I need to go through my vpn, so it would be game changing to have that built right into my everyday browser (Firefox) 

My feature request is for proper openvpn or wire guard support so I can use my standard vpn 

[user02]

The Firefox codebase is the wrong part of the stack for a VPN. Please remove this complexity and bloat from the browser. There are plenty of VPN solutions at more appropriate positions in the software and network stack. Including it in an application just creates unnecessary inconsistencies and complexity.

[s_hentzschel]

It's not "bloat" just because you don't need it. There are plenty of other features that you use but other users don't. A VPN as part of the privacy features of a privacy-focused browser makes a lot of sense. If you don't want it, fine, just don't use it. It's great for the other people who like it. You don't have any disadvantage at all.

[TWS]

Great concept! With Version 150 it looked like I could use it by clicking simply on a button. But I couldn't find such a button!🤨 any thoughts? 

[zid]

VPN activates only when I visit certain websites.