ProtonVPN Review
Built by the team behind ProtonMail. Privacy is the product.
ProtonVPN was built by the same team as ProtonMail — privacy infrastructure for journalists, activists, and people with legitimate reasons to distrust the VPN industry's marketing claims. The no-logs policy was tested in court when Swiss authorities requested user data in 2021. There was nothing to hand over.
Our scores
ProtonVPN
Overall score — April 2026
ProtonVPN is the strongest privacy-first choice if you distrust VPN marketing claims. The no-logs policy has been court-tested, the apps are fully open source, and the Swiss jurisdiction is the most legally favorable for privacy in Europe.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Strongest verifiable privacy: open-source apps, court-tested no-logs policy
- Swiss jurisdiction — outside EU and US data retention laws
- Secure Core routes traffic through hardened servers in Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland
- Stealth protocol bypasses VPN blocking in China, UAE, Russia
- Genuinely free tier with no data limits (speed-capped, limited servers)
Cons
- Speeds slower than NordVPN or ExpressVPN — 87% retention
- Streaming reliability less consistent than NordVPN or Surfshark
- Interface is more technical than average — learning curve for new users
- Fewer servers (2,900+) than NordVPN
Speed
665 Mbps
Download
420 Mbps
Upload
12 ms
Latency
87%
Speed kept
665 Mbps average download — 87% speed retention. Noticeably slower than NordVPN or ExpressVPN, though still fast enough for all practical uses. Secure Core (multi-hop) drops speeds further — expect 40-60% of base speed through hardened Swiss servers.
Tested: . 1 Gbps base connection.
Privacy & Security
Swiss jurisdiction is the gold standard. Open-source apps for all platforms mean any security researcher can verify the code. No-logs policy audited by SEC Consult (2022) and confirmed under real legal pressure in 2021. Port forwarding support is rare among privacy-first VPNs.
Streaming
Works on Netflix US and UK reliably. BBC iPlayer is hit-or-miss (roughly 80% success in testing). Disney+ and Hulu work but are not as consistently reliable as NordVPN or ExpressVPN. If streaming is your primary use case, a different VPN serves you better.
Pricing
$9.99/mo
Monthly
$4.99/mo
Annual plan
billed annually
$3.99/mo
2-year plan
billed every 2 years
At $3.99/month on the 2-year plan, it's priced similarly to NordVPN but with less streaming reliability. The premium is justified for the privacy architecture, not the streaming or speed performance.
User Ratings
4.5/5
Trustpilot
9k reviews
4.1/5
Google Play
60k ratings
4.5/5
App Store
40k ratings
71%
Community
Reddit sentiment
Ratings sourced from Trustpilot, Google Play Store, and Apple App Store. Community score is derived from Reddit/r/VPN sentiment analysis. Scores are aggregated periodically and may not reflect real-time data.
Verdict
ProtonVPN is the right choice if you're a journalist, activist, or anyone who needs verifiable privacy guarantees. For everyday privacy protection, it's excellent but overkill — NordVPN or Mullvad handle most use cases at lower cost.
Frequently asked questions
Is ProtonVPN safe to use?
ProtonVPN has been independently audited and verified to keep no logs. It uses WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, Stealth protocols and includes a kill switch to protect your IP if the connection drops. Privacy score: 9.7/10.
How much does ProtonVPN cost per month?
ProtonVPN costs $9.99/month on a monthly plan and $4.99/month on an annual plan, or $3.99/month on a 2-year plan. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
How many devices can I use with ProtonVPN?
ProtonVPN allows up to 10 simultaneous connections. It has native apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, plus Linux and router support.
Does ProtonVPN work with Netflix?
Yes. ProtonVPN reliably unblocks Netflix, Disney+ and other major streaming services. Streaming score: 8.2/10.
ProtonVPN vs. Alternatives
| Feature | ProtonVPN9.1/10 | NordVPN9.2/10 | ExpressVPN8.6/10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our Score | 9.1 | 9.2 | 8.6 |
| Monthly Price | $3.99/mo | $3.39/mo | $8.32/mo |
| Servers | 2,900+ | 6,400+ | 3,000+ |
| Countries | 91 | 111 | 105 |
| Simultaneous Devices | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| Speed (tested) | 665 Mbps (87%) | 730 Mbps (96%) | 755 Mbps (98%) |
| No-Logs Policy | |||
| Independently Audited | |||
| Kill Switch | |||
| Ad Blocker | |||
| Streaming | |||
| Torrenting / P2P | |||
| Port Forwarding | |||
| Obfuscation | |||
| Double VPN | |||
| RAM-Only Servers | |||
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland (outside EU/US jurisdiction) | Panama (outside 5/9/14 Eyes) | British Virgin Islands |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days |
All data verified April 2026.