Proton VPN review
VPNSwiss VPN with a genuinely unlimited free plan, audited annually by Securitum since 2022.
- No-logs auditSecuritum, consecutive annual audits from 2022 to 2026 (five reports), published openly and without a non-disclosure agreement.
- JurisdictionSwitzerland: according to the company, Swiss law does not require it to log user activity. Proton AG is majority-owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation (Geneva), which protects it from a potential acquisition.
- Money-back window30 days
Price for the VPN Plus plan on a 24-month term ($83.76 for the first period); renewal afterward rises to $83.88/year. The free plan costs nothing.
Proton VPN is the virtual private network run by Proton AG, the Swiss company founded in 2014 by former CERN researchers that also operates Proton Mail. It suits both people who simply want more privacy online and those looking for a genuinely usable free tier: the free plan has no published data or speed cap (each server delivers at least 1 Gbps), though it limits you to one device and to a small pool of countries that Proton itself describes differently depending on which official page you check: the commercial site mentions 5 randomly assigned countries, while its support documentation names 10: the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Its no-logs policy has been audited every year without interruption by Securitum from 2022 to 2026 — five consecutive reports, published openly with no non-disclosure agreement required — and Proton says the policy has held up through more than 400 legal proceedings in which it could not hand over logs that simply don't exist. The jurisdiction is Swiss: the company states that Swiss law does not require it to log user activity, and that Proton AG's majority shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation, based in Geneva, as a safeguard against acquisition. Paid plans allow up to 10 simultaneous devices, more than 20,000 servers in over 140 countries, and WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Stealth protocols; accepted payment methods include card, PayPal, Apple/Google Pay, bank transfer, cash and Bitcoin (the latter only after opening a free account). The VPN Plus plan starts at $3.49 a month on a 24-month term ($83.76 for that first period), renewing afterward at a higher rate, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Features
- Servers
- 20.000
- Countries
- 140
- Simultaneous devices
- 10
- No-logs audit
- Securitum, consecutive annual audits from 2022 to 2026 (five reports), published openly and without a non-disclosure agreement.
- Jurisdiction
- Switzerland: according to the company, Swiss law does not require it to log user activity. Proton AG is majority-owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation (Geneva), which protects it from a potential acquisition.
- Protocols
- Kill switch
- P2P allowed
- Pays with crypto
- Money-back window
- 30 days
IP ranges it operates
This provider appears in our autonomous system directory under these names.
Proton VPN
From $3.49
On our blog
What it really means when a VPN says it is audited
"Audited" can mean three different things — the no-logs policy, the app's code, or the server infrastructure — and none of them tells you which country's law the company operates under. Nine VPNs from...
Alternatives to Proton VPN
All providersCyberGhost
Romania · 2011
Budget-priced Romanian VPN whose own site doesn't disclose its Kape Technologies ownership, though its no-logs policy is audited by Deloitte.
ExpressVPN
British Virgin Islands · 2009
VPN with RAM-only TrustedServer infrastructure and its own Lightway protocol; prioritises simplicity and speed over entry price.
IVPN
Gibraltar · 2009
Gibraltar-based VPN with a deliberately small network (58 locations in 41 countries) and annual Cure53 audits since 2019.
Mullvad VPN
Sweden · 2009
Swedish VPN with a flat €5/month fee and fully anonymous accounts that require no email address.