Proton VPN
Enjoy a seamless internet experience with a Swiss-based VPN offering high-speed connectivity, advanced encryption, and a strict no-logs policy. Supports multiple platforms, unblocks streaming services globally, and includes a free version without the usual catches, funded by its paid users.
License model
- Freemium • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Chrome OS
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Google Chrome
- F-Droid
- Android TV
- Fire TV
- Mozilla Firefox
Features
- Privacy focused
- Security focused
- Encrypted VPN
- No Logs
- WireGuard
- Support for TOR
- VPN Kill Switch
- End-to-End Encryption
- Unblock netflix
- No Tracking
- Block Trackers
- Dns leak blockage
- Ad-free
- Dark Mode
- Peer-To-Peer
- Lightweight
- Online Anonymity
- OpenVPN
- 4096 Bit encryption
- AES-256 Encryption
- P2P Network
- Split Tunneling
- Anonymous Proxy
- No registration required
- Two-factor Authentication
- Decentralized
- Built-in VPN
Proton VPN News & Activities
Recent News
- Fla published news article about Proton VPN
Proton adds FIDO2 for enhanced 2FA to mobile appsProton has announced that all of its mobile apps now support FIDO2 for two-factor authentication (2...
- Danilo_Venom published news article about Proton VPN
Proton VPN expands access to Chrome and Firefox extensions to its free usersProton VPN now allows free users to access its Chrome and Firefox extensions, which were previously...
- Maoholguin published news article about Proton VPN
Proton launches cost-effective 'Proton Duo' sub tier for couples with encrypted servicesProton has introduced a new plan called "Proton Duo," specifically designed for couples. This plan ...
Recent activities
- sebastian_skinnari liked Proton VPN
- Sirrom-92 rated Proton VPN
- Sirrom-92 liked Proton VPN
- POX updated Proton VPN
- Barometer3863 rated Proton VPN
vivianbios2021 added Proton VPN as alternative to Bear VPN
Proton VPN information
AlternativeTo Categories
Security & Privacy, File Sharing, Web BrowsersApple AppStore
- Updated Aug 20, 2024
- 4.6 avg rating
What is Proton VPN?
High-speed Swiss VPN that safeguards your privacy.
Security Our secure VPN sends your internet traffic through an encrypted VPN tunnel, so your passwords and confidential data stay safe, even over public or untrusted Internet connections.
Privacy Keep your browsing history private. As a Swiss VPN provider, we do not log user activity or share data with third parties. Our anonymous VPN service enables Internet without surveillance.
Freedom We created Proton VPN to protect the journalists and activists who use Proton Mail. Proton VPN breaks down the barriers of Internet censorship, allowing you to access any website or content.
Internet security for everyone Our goal is to make online privacy accessible to all. To do this, we have focused on making the advanced security technology in Proton VPN effortless to use and freely available.
Free VPN We believe privacy and security are fundamental human rights, so we also provide a free version of Proton VPN to the public. Unlike other free VPNs, there are no catches. We don't serve ads or secretly sell your browsing history. Proton VPN Free is subsidized by Proton VPN paid users. If you would like to support online privacy, please consider upgrading to a paid plan for faster speeds and more features.
Easy to Use The best security tools in the world will only protect you if used correctly and consistently. We have extensively simplified the Proton VPN interface to make it as intuitive as possible – so you can stay protected every day, hassle free.
Fast VPN Speeds A 10 Gbps server network combined with our unique suite of VPN Accelerator technologies can improve speeds by over 400%. The advanced network TCP flow control algorithm we utilize provides unparalleled performance and connection stability.
Multi-Platform Support Proton VPN is available on all your devices, including PCs, Macs, smartphones, and even routers. A secure Internet connection that you can trust is essential to maintaining your privacy on your laptop at home, your mobile device on the road, or your workstation at the office. Proton VPN has native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, Android TV and iOS/iPadOS.
Stream from anywhere Proton VPN unblocks a wide selection of popular online media services, allowing you to access your favorite streaming content from anywhere in the world as if you were at home. Our fast server network and unique VPN Accelerator technology also ensure your experience is smooth and buffering-free.
VPN Accelerator VPN Accelerator is a set of technologies unique to Proton VPN that can increase your VPN speeds by over 400%. By overcoming CPU limitations that affect how VPN protocols are processed, using advanced networking techniques to reduce latency, and redesigning VPN protocols themselves to reduce inefficiencies in their code, VPN Accelerator can dramatically increase speed performance.
Comments and Reviews
ProtonVPN is a VPN service run by the creators of ProtonMail. It's part of their wider efforts to give people options for protecting their online privacy and anonymity.
The Good
The Bad
In contrast to other companies, ProtonVPN records timestamps of when connections are made
Unlike Private Internet Access (PIA), ProtonVPN has not been tested, legally. PIA have had their servers seized in Russia and they did not contain user logs, as promised. The FBI have also found PIA's no-logging policy frustrating. That shows PIA do what they say they do, which ought to enhance the level of customers' trust. ProtonVPN have not been through the same experiences (at least yet), which is also the case for many other VPN companies. This isn't a bad thing per se but it puts ProtonVPN at an inferior position because there is less evidence that they are doing what they promise, and trust is hugely important in the VPN world. That said, ProtonVPN are unlikely, in my estimation, to be betraying user trust.
ProtonVPN has put out misleading information about their competition. For example, they claimed PIA was being dishonest about where they are based:
Private Internet Access is operated by a company known as London Trust Media, which sounds like it is based in Europe, but it is actually based in the US (one of the Five Eye countries) and could be legally compelled to spy on users. This type of jurisdiction obfuscation is very common in the VPN industry.
This is untrue. Firstly, PIA openly say they are based in the US https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/helpdesk/kb/articles/where-are-you-located and did even at the time of ProtonVPN's blog post. Secondly, it's not true that PIA could be legally compelled to spy on their users (read more about that here), since there is no US law that could compel a company like PIA to keep logs of user activity.
If all this sounds like I'm focussing too much on ProtonVPN vs PIA, then I'm sorry, but it's ProtonVPN that started with all the inaccuracies about their major competition, and they singled out PIA. I work for neither company, and I'm a paying customer of both.
ProtonVPN is expensive compared to their competition. Although if you buy ProtonVPN together with a ProtonMail package, you get a substantial discount, depending on which payment plan you choose and if you pay monthly or yearly.
ProtonVPN's connections through the Mac client have not been as stable as when I connect using OpenVPN in Linux. That might be something, that might be nothing. Just my experience. On Mac it's trivially easy to activate the Kill Switch function (no internet until VPN re-connects). That works very well.
Overall
ProtonVPN is very probably a perfectly trustworthy service. It's implemented well, and it works for everything I tried except BBC iPlayer. If you want more internet privacy (from your snooping ISP or government surveillance) then in my estimation it's a good choice. It's just not the only one.
Killswitch is placebo.
Reply written Jul 12, 2019
Open source and has a good free plan.
Only for three lotions 😢
Reply written Aug 18, 2022
Sketchy (allegedly a honeypot) https://encryp.ch/blog/disturbing-facts-about-protonmail/ In 2018, Proton, had its VPN client signed by Tesonet, an advertising company https://teddit.pussthecat.org/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/8xnvxc/remove_protonvpn_from_privacytoolsio/ In 2021, they helped authority by logging the IP address of a French activist, going against their marketing material https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ and privacy-policy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtonMail#Compliance_with_Swiss_court_orders_and_IP_Logging) More: https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/email.html#ProtonMail
Mental Outlaw's video about it: Invidious - https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=IeXaYR4ed9c Odysee - https://odysee.com/@AlphaNerd:8/is-proton-mail-really-private,-secure,:f
All credit for this information and all the sources goes to TheFrenchGhosty wiki https://wiki.thefrenchghosty.me/privacy-guide/privacy-guide/#vpn
Ouch, even worse than I thought ! Thank you for posting these links, which are well documented. Sounds spooky-as.
Interesting also that @riseup.net - another 'privacy' service I have concerns about, rejects email registrations via the Proton TOR service, as per your last link.
Reply written Jan 20, 2024
ProtonVPN is good, but it can be recognized and may be blocked. I am using ChrisPC VPN.
ProtonVPN has a lot things going for it. It's definitely more private than most free vpns. It unblocks region-locked media. It can also be used with tor. However I'm still a bit peeved that they took away split tunneling from their free plan.
It is not completely open source and company behind it is shady. They secretly share information with governments and agencies to reveal activists, journalists and criminals. Nothing is free in the world so in return governments and politicians fund them to make such a massive freebie service available in the world.
With recent updates the free version got even more limited.
Now, you are unable to select a region and is sent to a random one, making it not suitable for some cases.
In addition, as always the free version does not support p2p, which includes torreting and VoIP.