Bypassing the blocking of sites in the process of Internet surfing is a very controversial issue, since access to resources can be limited both by their owners and at the highest state level. Nevertheless, now visiting any site, whether it is blocked or not, can be done quite simply using special tools for this. One of these is the friGate extension. Many users, however, do not always want to install this add-on, but try to find some kind of friGate analogue easier (universal or adapted to a specific web browser), as this plug-in often crashes.
What is friGate?
But let's start with the add-in itself. It is a special add-on that is installed in many well-known web browsers and works on the principles of VPN and anonymous proxy servers.
In other words, FriGate is the most common anonymizer that can change the computer’s external IP when trying to access a blocked site (and only to a blocked one, because the rest of the traffic goes in normal mode). Typically, this blocking is done at the regional level. For example, in Russia it is impossible to open some torrent sites because of the allegedly pirated content contained on them. In Ukraine, Russian news resources and television channels are now actively blocked. In China and North Korea, things are very bad with the Internet. In these countries, a powerful firewall has been installed that blocks almost all social networks like Facebook and Twitter, or even YouTube video hosting. Thus, in order to access a specific resource, you need to activate the add-in, and the user address will be determined as if it were in another country or even on the opposite side of the globe.
The simplest analogues of friGate
Based on the principles of operation of the extension in question, it is possible to draw a completely obvious conclusion that even the simplest anonymous proxy server can act as an alternative tool to bypass the lock. There are millions of such services on the Internet.
You can find both paid and free services, but the principle of their use remains unchanged. When entering such a site, the user usually simply enters the address of the requested resource, and the proxy server independently or by user instruction changes the location of its terminal and external IP, sending a request to the resource on its own behalf, and when it receives a response with access, redirects it to the browser on user computer terminal.
The friGate analogue in the form of VPN and turbo mode
Some web browsers have additional bypass features. Allegedly, the usual inclusion of a special Turbo mode allows you to visit an inaccessible resource. Sometimes this works, but for the most part it is not worth relying on it, since it is desirable to activate it in parallel with the VPN add-on for the usual connection acceleration (the VPN client itself can sometimes slow down the browser for technical reasons).
But the use of the built-in VPN client, which, by and large, also represents a certain analogue of friGate, looks much more interesting. So, for example, in Opera and Chrome browsers, just enter the settings and activate the corresponding field. In the latest versions of Opera, the client’s icon is placed directly on the main panel to the left of the address bar, so that management is done with one click, and the connection is activated automatically and very quickly.
But, since now we are talking about “pure” FriGate analogs in the form of additional add-ons, it will be considered them.
Yandex Browser
For a popular Russian browser in a special extension store, you can find a lot of similar add-ons. Besides the fact that the friGate plugin itself is available in two versions, there is still a lot of interesting things.
One of the most popular and most practical, many users call the analog friGate for the Yandex browser, called Hola. First of all, it is interesting in that it is mainly focused on access to blocked sites containing multimedia content (photos, video, audio). But this add-on gives you the opportunity not only to visit, say, forbidden web resources, but also to speed up the loading of sites as such. Some users reproach this extension for having to select a country manually, rather than automatically, as FriGate does. But for FriGate you need to create lists of sites yourself, and using Hola, for example, if you want to access American online radio, you can choose the USA as your current location yourself.
Mozilla Firefox Browser
For this popular browser, too many extensions have been created. Not to mention that you can use the original add-in itself, which, however, causes difficulties for many to install and configure, as an alternative, the CDN service or the ZenMate add-in (an analogue of friGate for Firefox) are perfect.
This tool can be used not only in Mozilla, it can be easily installed in other Chromium-based browsers. Reviews about this plugin saying that the add-in slows down the browser somewhat, and you need to use a verified email address to activate the extension.
Chrome Browser
You can also find and install an analog friGate for Chrome. Just dig into the list of available extensions. However, most experts separately highlight the specialized online service Stealthy, which in the form of an adapted add-on can be installed in the browsers Chrome, Opera and Firefox.
But it is in Chrome that this add-on works as stable as possible and is free. Despite the fact that in the add-in itself you can find a certain premium subscription, most users have enough of the regular version. The only drawback is that when connecting, the user himself cannot choose the desired country of the proxy server (and the plugin works just through the proxy). You can also try plugins like Browsec or Data Compression Proxy in action, which are suitable for Yandex and Firefox browsers.
Edge and Internet Explorer Browsers
Microsoft’s “native” Edge browser, which appeared only in the tenth version of Windows, as well as its predecessor Internet Explorer, although it has a rather high speed of access to sites, nevertheless, alas, it’s absolutely not suitable for Internet surfing in terms of circumventing all kinds of locks. About any available extensions from specialized stores or repositories are not even talking. Therefore, the only solution to this problem is the manual installation of third-party plug-ins.
And not all of them will work as expected. Therefore, many experts call one of the best options to install a small additional utility called SafeIP (an analogue of friGate for Edge and IE). The add-on encrypts traffic and hides the real IP by using a private proxy server and allows you to independently choose the closest location to speed up your Internet connection.
Opera browser
No less add-ons have been developed for this browser than for Chrome and Firefox. Naturally, you can use the plugins already described above, and the built-in VPN client, which shows a very high level of functionality (although sometimes it restricts access to unblocked sites, giving errors).
In principle, almost all users do not particularly recommend using some kind of friGate analogue for Opera, but are advised to simply enable turbo mode and VPN in parallel. VPN management is carried out with the click of a single button, and connection, traffic encryption or change of location and IP are performed automatically without user intervention.
Android and iOS mobile operating systems
Finally, let's see which analogue of friGate can be used for Android or Apple mobile iOS systems. Almost all of the above plugins, except for stationary versions, are also available in mobile versions, so there shouldn’t be any problems here.
On the other hand, if you look at highly specialized add-ons, you can recommend the Orweb browser for Android, and Onion for iOS. However, they are quite complicated to set up, and the option for "apple" devices requires payment ($ 1 per year). But, if you want to bypass the lock without installing an additional browser, you can use the TunnelBear applet. No matter how good it may be, it will be quite problematic for an ordinary user to configure it for correct operation, because after confirming the email during registration, you need to configure the VPN profile and activate it in the device settings. In addition, the free version allows you to use only 500 MB of traffic per month.
A much simpler option looks like the friGate analogue for Android in the form of a certain global Turbo VPN add-in, in which you don’t need to do anything special (it works independently and does not integrate into installed browsers, which allows you to protect other applets that use an Internet connection). Simply start the application, select a connection and use either a specific country, or use the line for selecting the fastest server. The only and unpleasant minus is the constantly appearing advertisement. But the application itself is absolutely free.
A few words in the end
Here is a brief summary of everything that concerns the most famous and most productive analogues of friGate. In principle, if problems arise with such add-ons (during installation or during operation), there is nothing easier than using the popular Tor browser, which is focused on visiting blocked resources, and combines the functions of a VPN and anonymous proxy in work.
However, most of the add-ons described should not cause special problems. Pay attention to the possibility of automating the connection processes and self-selection of the desired location or proxy server. But in the Opera browser, as is already clear from the above, such plug-ins can not be installed at all, since the built-in VPN client shows itself at a fairly high level, and when access errors appear, you just need to disable it and re-enter the desired resource.