ProtonVPN review: Great paid plan, even better free plan

ProtonVPN in brief:

• P2P allowed: Yes
• Device connections: 10 simultaneous connections
• Business location: Switzerland
• Number of servers: 4,800+
• Number of country locations: 91
• Cost: $9.99 per month, or $59.88 for one year

When you use a third-party VPN you have to place a certain amount of trust in your service provider. Some companies make that really hard by hiding who they are or confusing you with opaque data collection policies. Then there are services that make trust easier — like ProtonVPN, from the creator of ProtonMail.

Swiss company Proton provides commendable transparency with all of its apps which are also all encouragingly open-source. In a VPN market where everyone is out to make a quick buck, Proton seems like an anomaly. Its privacy-focused services genuinely seem to want to make the internet a better place.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best VPN services to learn about competing products.

What are ProtonVPN’s features and services?

ProtonVPN for Windows starts by displaying a map of the world with triangles signifying the countries where ProtonVPN has servers. If you prefer to use the VPN without the map, there’s an arrow button on the top left to collapse it for a more smartphone-like interface. The interface hasn’t changed much since our last review, a swap to purple arrows seems to be the only noticeable difference.

On the left rail are your connection options and available servers. There’s a Quick Connect button at the top if you want ProtonVPN to choose the fastest server based on your current location. Otherwise, you can scroll down the list of countries to choose another option.

For more info about each country’s specific servers, you’re able to click on the downward-facing arrow to the right of each country name. This displays all the server options for that location. Here you’ll find useful information such as actual server location by city, current server load, and if the server supports streaming and P2P.

Once you connect to a server, the map transforms, showing a line to your virtual location and the home symbol at the top center of the map. Below the map you’ll see connection information such as session duration, up and down bandwidth volumes, and speeds, as well as a bandwidth graph.

ProtonVPN offers a number of really solid extras. The Secure Core feature is a multi-hop VPN connection where it tunnels you through two different VPN connections rather than one to increase anonymity. But unlike typical multi-hop implementations, Secure Core is a one-click affair where you choose the exit country and have minimal options for the first connection. 

The inclusion of multi-hop is welcomed, but services such as Surfshark go even further by allowing users to customize their route by choosing their own start and end points. 

ProtonVPN says Secure Core puts your traffic through “privacy friendly countries” first (Iceland, Sweden, and Switzerland). The aim is to protect a user’s privacy as much as possible and defend against network traffic monitoring. ProtonVPN says that this method makes it harder for an attacker to discover a user’s true IP address or attempt to match browsing activity to the user. There’s a more in-depth explanation on the ProtonVPN website.

If TOR is your thing, ProtonVPN supports TOR connections over VPN on specific servers. Again, this feature is only available to Plus and Visionary subscribers.

There are also the usual VPN features such as DNS leak protection, an internet kill switch that halts your internet access should the VPN connection drop, and NetShield for blocking malware, ads, and trackers at the server level.

The NetShield feature has been improved since our last review and it now displays the number of ads and trackers blocked as well as the data saved by blocking those annoyances.

Under the Settings menu at the top left, you have access to other advanced features such as Split Tunneling to choose specific apps to route into or outside of the VPN as well as an area to change your VPN protocols. This feature is only available for Windows and Android.

Finally, if you want to use different VPN connections based on contexts such as home, work, or travel, ProtonVPN lets you set profiles using the tab in the left rail. Here you can lock in settings for each profile such as which servers to connect to, protocols to use, and connection type — Standard, Secure Core, P2P, or TOR.

Beyond VPN configuration, ProtonVPN also touts the security of the data centers it uses in Iceland, Sweden, and Switzerland — the privacy-respecting countries. 

These are a collection of data centers in former military bases, remodeled fallout shelters, and other hard-to-reach locations. The implication being these servers are physically, as well as digitally, secure. Just in case, you know, you happen to live in the Fallout universe, rest assured your data will still be secure.

ProtonVPN is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. For the purposes of this review, I tested the Windows and Android app versions.

How much does ProtonVPN cost?

There are a few subscription levels for ProtonVPN and price will vary with each. The basic free subscription is just that, free. At no cost, you’ll get a one-device connection limit and access to five servers located in Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and the U.S. 

Despite this, you can’t actually choose your server; instead, ProtonVPN will automatically connect you to the optimal server depending on your home location.

The free tier is mercifully free of ads and abides by the same no-logs policy of the paid tiers. It also imposes no data or time limits — a rarity among free VPNs. Overall, you get a lot for paying nothing and it’s a great VPN for anyone looking for a free option.

The next step up is the VPN Plus plan, which I used for this review, and it provides the full VPN experience for about $10 per month, or $60 for a one year subscription.

The highest-tier plan is called Proton Unlimited and it provides not only the full VPN, but also gives you access to Proton’s full suite of services including ProtonMail, ProtonCalendar, Proton Drive, and Proton Pass. This will set you back about $13 per month or around $120 for one year.

As a whole, it’s not the most expensive VPN on the market, but the monthly subscription options make it costlier than most.

For payments, ProtonVPN accepts credit cards or PayPal. 

How is ProtonVPN’s performance?

As always, when testing a VPN’s speeds I measure connection speeds across its servers in six different countries around the world and then compare them to my baseline internet speed.

ProtonVPN’s speeds were impressive. Let me rephrase that, ProtonVPN’s download speeds were impressive. Upload speeds, not so much. During the tests, ProtonVPN was able to keep 57 percent of the base download speed. That puts it firmly in the top 10 speediest performers, just shy of making our list of fastest VPNs.

Upload speeds were a different story. I clocked an average of 18 percent of base upload speeds across all servers that I tested with ProtonVPN. That is abysmally slow. It’s hard to diagnose exactly why this is the case because there are numerous factors that go into any and all speed results. 

That being said, I can’t honestly recommend ProtonVPN for those who need a VPN for most professional work-related uses such as online meetings or uploading documents while connected.

Bizarrely slow upload speeds aside, ProtonVPN should offer fantastic speeds for what most people wish to do with a VPN, with the obvious caveat that speed results can change based on the capability of your devices as well as your location, home internet connection, and overall user traffic in your area.

When it comes to accessing streaming content, ProtonVPN passed with flying colors. I was able to access streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney Plus, and even the notoriously difficult Netflix.

When it comes to accessing streaming content, ProtonVPN passed with flying colors.

How is ProtonVPN’s security and privacy?

ProtonVPN provides both WireGuard and OpenVPN protocol options for Windows and Android users. There aren’t any options to customize your protocol connections, but considering these are the two fastest and most secure protocols currently available, you likely won’t need to anyways.

It comes with top-of-the-line AES 256-bit encryption and a dependable kill switch. During my testing the kill switch worked flawlessly, preventing any accidental IP address leaks during an unexpected internet disconnection.

ProtonVPN’s privacy policy states that the company doesn’t track your browsing activity, your IP address, or bandwidth usage. It does track geographical distribution data on its users at an aggregated, global level. It says that it uses this data only to help allocate resources and to counteract government attempts to block ProtonVPN.

To back up its no-logging policy claims, ProtonVPN underwent a successful third-party audit by security auditing company Securitum in 2022. It also publishes an up-to-date transparency report as well.

ProtonVPN is managed by Proton Technologies AG and the company offices are located in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Switzerland has strong personal privacy laws and is not a current member of the Five, Nine, or Fourteen Eyes data sharing alliances. However, it has been known in the past to cooperate with Five Eyes’ partner countries regarding law enforcement requests. Still, you should feel safe that your data is not going to be logged or shared while using ProtonVPN.

Overall, ProtonVPN provides great privacy protections — although it falls just short of the lofty standards set by Mullvad, our favorite VPN for privacy.

Is ProtonVPN worth it?

ProtonVPN is a fantastic choice for a VPN. Whether you’re interested in security, privacy, or streaming, it’s hard to go wrong here. Plus, it offers one of the best free VPN plans on the market. You’ll get a lot of the benefits offered by the paid service without having to open up your wallet. 

The only real downside is that ProtonVPN’s paid Plus subscription is quite expensive, but no more so than other top providers such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN. And even though you might pay more, you do ultimately get a lot of value for your money.

Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.