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95/100Overall score
- Jurisdiction
- Switzerland
- Founded
- 2017
- Owner
- Proton AG
- Best price
- $2.99/mo
- Devices
- 10
- Free tier
- Yes
Privacy82
Security100
Transparency100
Value100
Ethics100
Best for
- · People who want a trustworthy free tier
- · Open-source advocates
- · Higher-risk users (Secure Core multi-hop)
Not ideal for
- · Fully anonymous signup (an email or username is required)
Strengths
- ✓Strong Swiss jurisdiction outside 5/9/14 Eyes
- ✓All apps open source and independently audited
- ✓Unlimited free tier with no data cap (1 device, 5 countries)
- ✓Stealth obfuscation protocol and Secure Core multi-hop
Weaknesses
- ✗Signup requires an email or username (not fully anonymous)
- ✗Cheapest rate needs a 2-year commitment
- ✗One company spanning many products is a broad attack surface
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
Company & jurisdiction
| Based in | Switzerland |
| Eyes alliance | Outside 5/9/14 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | Proton AG |
| Conglomerate | n/a |
| Founded | 2017 |
Logging
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | None kept |
| Bandwidth | None kept |
| Source IP address | None kept |
No-logs policy independently verified by five consecutive Securitum audits, including physical inspection of live servers in Zürich (Aug 2025).
Payment & anonymity
| Anonymous signup | No |
| Accepts cash | Unknown |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Yes |
Protocols & features
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | Stealth |
| Multi-hop | Yes |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Unknown |
| Port forwarding | Unknown |
| P2P / torrenting | Unknown |
| IPv6 | Supported |
Encryption
| Data cipher | AES-256 / ChaCha20 |
| Handshake | RSA-4096 / Curve25519 |
Transparency
| Open-source clients | Yes, all apps |
| Independent audits | 2 |
| Transparency report | Yes |
| Court / seizure-tested | Unknown |
Switzerland sits outside the 5/9/14 Eyes and has no VPN data-retention requirement; Proton publishes a transparency report.
Infrastructure
| Simultaneous devices | 10 |
| Countries | 110 |
| Servers | n/a |
| Linux support | GUI app |
Pricing
| Month-to-month | $9.99 |
| Best $/mo | $2.99 |
| On plan | 2-year (VPN Plus) |
| Free trial | n/a |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Free tier | Yes |
Ethics
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | No overclaiming |
Independent audits
- Securitum· 2025 · no-logs, live server inspection, Zürichreport ↗
- Securitum· 2024 · no-logs
Overseen by the non-profit Proton Foundation; the free tier is funded by paid subscriptions.
Sources
- Proton VPN no-logs audits (official) ↗
- Tom's Guide, fourth consecutive no-logs audit ↗
- Proton VPN (official) ↗
Last verified 2026-06-17. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.