Microsoft 365 is losing its free VPN feature

Microsoft is getting ready to remove the VPN feature from its Microsoft 365 subscription later this month. Originally designed as a privacy feature, the VPN in Microsoft 365 utilizes the Microsoft Defender app to encrypt internet traffic and hide IP addresses. Microsoft is now removing this privacy protection feature from Microsoft 365 on February 28th.

“We routinely evaluate the usage and effectiveness of our features. As such, we are removing the privacy protection feature and will invest in new areas that will better align to customer needs,” says Microsoft in a support note spotted by Windows Central.

Microsoft 365 subscribers will still get access to identity theft and credit monitoring in the US, but they’ll have to look elsewhere for VPN support. It’s clear that a lack of people using the privacy protection feature has led to Microsoft removing it, but the VPN in Microsoft 365 was never fully featured enough to be used widely. Microsoft restricted you to a 50GB monthly data limit, and the VPN automatically connected to a local region making it impossible to work around the geo restrictions people often use VPNs for.

The removal of the VPN benefit in Microsoft 365 comes just weeks after Microsoft raised subscription prices for the first time in 12 years. Microsoft has bundled Office AI features into Microsoft 365 and hiked prices by an extra $3 month, but you can downgrade to a classic plan that maintains the existing price for Personal or Family subscriptions without the added AI features.