Proton VPN

Best for: people who want fully-public audit transparency without giving up a genuinely useful free tier, open-source apps, and a protocol built specifically to get through censorship — not for anyone chasing the single cheapest sign-up price on the market.

Pros

• Five consecutive annual no-logs audits by Securitum, all reports fully public with no account or login required
• Apps are 100% open source, so the client-side code is independently inspectable, not just the server infrastructure
• A real free tier exists (1 device, 10 fixed countries, no time limit) — most competitors only offer paid trials
• Stealth protocol is purpose-built to disguise VPN traffic as regular HTTPS, aimed at getting through VPN blocks and censorship
• Secure Core routes traffic through an extra hardened hop before the exit server, for a bit more protection against traffic-correlation attacks
• Independent 2026 speed tests are consistently strong — Tom’s Guide named it the fastest VPN overall for the year, and Security.org measured only an 8%/4% download/upload speed drop with 88% retention on WireGuard
• Supports port forwarding via NAT-PMP on P2P-optimized servers, useful for torrenting and self-hosting — a feature several rivals have dropped or never offered

Cons

• Renewal pricing is still higher than the intro rate: the 2-year VPN Plus plan starts at $2.99/mo but renews at $6.99/mo (~134% jump)
• Split tunneling only works with the WireGuard and Stealth protocols — switch to IKEv2 and you lose it
• The specific “up to 400% faster” figure for VPN Accelerator is Proton’s own marketing number for distant-server connections — independent tests confirm Proton is genuinely fast overall (see Pros), but haven’t isolated that exact claim
• Free tier is limited to 1 device and a random pick among 10 fixed countries — fine for occasional use, not a real substitute for the paid plan

No-Logs Audit

Proton VPN has now completed five consecutive annual no-logs audits by Securitum, a European security firm that runs over 300 audits a year for corporations and banks. The most recent was an on-site assessment at Proton’s Zurich office from May 20-22, 2026, with findings announced June 16, 2026: two senior consultants spent multiple person-days reviewing server configurations, operating procedures, and staff interviews against ten specific no-logging criteria. All five years of reports, 2022 through 2026, are published as direct downloads with no account required — full public access, not gated behind a login.

Pricing

VPN Plus costs $9.99/month with no commitment, dropping to $3.99/month on a 1-year term and $2.99/month on a 2-year term. Both discounted terms renew at $6.99/month afterward — a real increase, but smaller than the jump some competitors charge. A genuinely usable free tier also exists: one device, medium speed, and a random pick from 10 countries, with no time limit. Proton Unlimited bundles the VPN with Proton’s other privacy apps (Mail, Drive, Pass, Calendar) for $7.99-12.99/month depending on term.

Security & Protocols

Proton VPN supports WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, and its own Stealth protocol, which wraps VPN traffic in obfuscated TLS over TCP specifically to get past networks and governments that try to detect and block VPN connections. A kill switch is included on paid and free tiers alike. Split tunneling is available, but only when using WireGuard or Stealth — switching to IKEv2 disables it. Secure Core, a premium feature, routes your connection through an additional hardened server before it exits to the internet, adding a layer of protection against traffic-correlation attacks at the cost of some speed.

Servers & Torrenting

Proton VPN runs 20,000+ servers across 140+ countries, with P2P/BitTorrent traffic explicitly listed as included on both paid tiers (not available on the free tier). Port forwarding is supported via NAT-PMP on P2P-optimized servers, with official setup guides for manual configuration. Streaming access to major platforms is marketed as included, though we haven’t run our own live streaming tests yet.

Jurisdiction

Proton AG is a Swiss company headquartered in Geneva, majority-owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation. Switzerland has strong data protection laws and sits outside the EU and the Five/Nine/Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing arrangements.

Our Rating

Rating: 8.8/10