Proton VPN is an open-source VPN with an excellent steadiness of safety and affordability. Its spotlight characteristic is its Swiss-based privateness. Based mostly in Switzerland, Proton complies with Switzerland’s sturdy privateness legal guidelines — a plus for companies and people involved about authorities information requests.

Proton additionally presents a free model of the VPN, giving customers entry to servers in three international locations (the U.S., the Netherlands and Japan). Whereas it isn’t the quickest VPN in the marketplace, Proton’s wholesome server community and stable encryption protocols make it an excellent all-around choice.

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ProtonVPN Pricing

ProtonVPN Free Model

Determine A

Proton presents free entry to 86 servers from the USA, Netherlands and Japan. With the free model, you get medium VPN pace, a kill change and limitless information. Home windows and Android customers additionally get entry to Proton’s break up tunneling characteristic without cost.

The free model is greatest for customers who’re not sure about spending on a full VPN service or those that solely want one VPN connection and fundamental performance.

In the event you plan on connecting a number of gadgets or want the quickest connection, Proton VPN Plus is greatest. It permits customers to attach 10 gadgets concurrently, has Proton’s quickest speeds on the lowest doable price and consists of Proton’s full server suite. Those that additionally use VPNs for torrenting (P2P) and streaming ought to go for the VPN Plus plan, as this isn’t accessible on the free model.

Lastly, I like to recommend Proton Limitless just for customers who need Proton’s different encryption-based providers on prime of the options you get with VPN Plus.

Is ProtonVPN secure?

ProtonVPN will get good marks for safety and privateness. It presents industry-standard protocols OpenVPN and IKEv2, in addition to the newer WireGuard and Stealth protocols throughout the Home windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS variations. This offers customers a mixture of extra established and well-tested safety protocols and newer choices with newer applied sciences.

Proton additionally operates beneath a strict no-logs coverage, which suggests they don’t log consumer exercise or metadata. This covers web sites visited, session lengths, IP addresses or any information that might be used to determine a consumer.

Lastly, Proton VPN additionally lately handed an unbiased safety audit performed in 2021. The report uncovered no main safety points or vulnerabilities — which is a win for Proton’s privateness and safety claims.

Key options of Proton VPN

Proton VPN presents quite a lot of options that defend and safe consumer information. This consists of its protection beneath Swiss privateness legal guidelines, good pace and efficiency and DNS leak safety. For the complete rundown, go to the Proton VPN web site.

Swiss-based privateness

Determine B

As Proton relies in Switzerland, it complies with the nation’s sturdy privateness legal guidelines and political neutrality. All Proton customers will take pleasure in the identical authorized privateness protections that Swiss residents do.

This additionally signifies that any requests for Proton consumer information can’t be granted with out a Swiss court docket order. It is a key characteristic for customers or companies which can be involved about authorities intervention. Whereas no nation is proof against breaches, Proton’s compliance with Swiss legal guidelines will grant a layer of safety you received’t discover with different VPNs.

DNS leak safety

Determine C

Proton VPN additionally guarantees safety in opposition to DNS leaks throughout dropped connections. To check this, I ran Proton VPN Free via a DNS leak check device a number of occasions. All through testing, no leaks have been detected.

Proton additionally prompts DNS Safety out of the field. Provided that DNS leak safety is a vital VPN characteristic, we commend Proton for setting it to “all the time on” upon setup.

Kill change

Determine D

Proton additionally comes with a kill change that acts as a final line of protection throughout an outage or disruption. Within the occasion your VPN connection fails, the kill change will robotically cease your machine from reconnecting to the web with out the VPN’s safety. This prevents any undesirable sharing of information out of your pc to your web service supplier.

It goes additional as Proton permits customers to activate a “everlasting kill change.” When activated, any connection not performed by way of a Proton VPN server is blocked or lower out.

In my testing, the everlasting kill change labored as marketed — even with the primary app closed and working within the background. This set-it-and-forget-it characteristic can maintain your information non-public throughout undesirable disruptions.

Pace and efficiency: How briskly is ProtonVPN?

Whereas it’s regular to have decrease add and obtain speeds with a VPN, Proton nonetheless supplied good and secure numbers throughout testing. This was true throughout my normal use of the service, which included shopping social media, accessing Google providers like Docs and Drive and watching YouTube movies. I additionally didn’t expertise any issue sustaining a secure connection whereas testing Proton. For pace and stability, Proton VPN carried out effectively.

ProtonVPN Servers and places

Proton presents 3,024 servers in 69 international locations to select from on the time of publication.

Proton’s fleet of servers falls within the center tier amongst its competitors. Whereas its variety of servers is common, it nonetheless maintains an satisfactory unfold throughout completely different international locations.

It presents three completely different server sorts: Free, Plus and Safe Core servers. Free servers, which include Proton’s free model, present fundamental safety with medium speeds. In the meantime, Plus servers permit streaming help, advert blocking, torrenting and a sooner connection.

Lastly, Safe Core servers add to Plus servers’ performance by introducing stronger safety in opposition to information assaults. Safe Core routes your site visitors via a number of servers, making it tougher for unhealthy actors to achieve your true IP handle. These servers are wholly owned by Proton and are housed in privacy-friendly international locations (like Switzerland or Iceland) for much more safety.

For my part, Safe Core is a singular promoting level of Proton VPN that many privacy-focused customers will discover helpful. That is very true when you use servers situated in additional high-risk areas just like the U.S.

ProtonVPN Execs

• Affords sturdy Switzerland-based privateness options.
• Implements a strict no-logs coverage.
• Offers greater than 3,000 servers in 69 international locations.
• Open supply and independently audited.
• Has a free model.
• Helps as much as 10 simultaneous connections.

ProtonVPN Cons

• Priced comparatively excessive.
• Reside chat help is just accessible for paid customers.

Who’s ProtonVPN greatest for?

In the event you’re on the lookout for a VPN that specializes in opposition to authorities surveillance, ProtonVPN is a good answer. Its Swiss-backed privateness is a significant worth proposition, particularly in the case of defending delicate enterprise or consumer information. It additionally will get loads of the core options proper with its sturdy set of protocols, kill change and DNS leak safety, to call a couple of.

ProtonVPN is made for individuals who need an built-in ecosystem of encrypted and safe software program. Proton additionally presents the VPN bundled with its different encrypted providers via its Proton Limitless plan.

Whereas there are cheaper choices on the market, Proton’s total bundle and lack of evident drawbacks make it a good selection. Uncertain consumers additionally benefit from having the ability to entry Proton VPN without cost.

ProtonVPN options

Whereas ProtonVPN is a good VPN choice, not everybody will discover it an excellent match. We’ve listed related options under that provide completely different options for every VPN consumer.

NordVPN

NordVPN is without doubt one of the most well-known VPNs available in the market immediately. Nord is nice for safe file-sharing, as its Meshnet characteristic permits customers to switch and share recordsdata via their very own non-public encrypted community. It has round 5,710 servers in 60 international locations and a risk safety characteristic that combats malware, advertisements and net trackers.

Surfshark

One other outstanding VPN is Surfshark. This VPN is greatest for a number of gadgets, because it offers customers an infinite variety of machine connections to the service. It additionally has zero bandwidth limitations and presents a seven-day free trial to try it out.

CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost VPN is one other nice VPN answer. It’s identified for its in depth server community, providing round 9,200 servers in 91 international locations. This enables customers to entry a broad number of geo-restricted content material whereas sustaining a secure connection.

Assessment Methodology

My evaluation of Proton VPN concerned an in depth evaluation of its safety features, price and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on time with ProtonVPN’s free model and supplemented my findings with consumer testimonials and respected evaluations for each the free and paid tiers.

For pace and efficiency, I examined ProtonVPN Free utilizing a Home windows pc and ran it via Ookla’s Speedtest. As a disclaimer, VPN speeds will range relying on loads of components: your web service supplier, your machine, your location and the actual server you select. To check for DNS leaks, I ran Proton VPN Free a number of occasions via DNSleaktest.

Lastly, I scored Proton on every thing from its pricing to its protocols primarily based on an inner algorithm to get a ultimate ranking out of 5 stars. The scoring on the rubric was primarily based each on Proton VPN by itself and in relation to different VPN providers available in the market.