A nonprofit service with premium efficiency

Proton VPN stands out for 2 fundamental causes: it is one of many solely digital personal networks (VPNs) to incorporate a free plan with no knowledge limits, and it is one of many few companies majority-owned by a nonprofit. It is the most effective VPN in each of these classes, and it makes a robust case for being the most effective total.

Even when you do not care concerning the work of the Proton Basis, Proton VPN is a service value utilizing. It is easy to put in and handle, runs just like the wind and meets excessive requirements for safety and privateness. It has extra IP areas in Africa than any of its rivals. It is even trying towards the long run by working towards full IPv6 assist.

In brief, Proton VPN will get our enthusiastic advice, particularly for torrenting (which it helps on nearly each server). It is not excellent — the apps for Apple techniques lag behind their Home windows and Android counterparts, and the free servers could be noticeably sluggish — however the cons pale compared to the professionals. We’ll get into all of it beneath.

Editor’s be aware (7/25/25): We’re within the means of revamping our VPN protection to offer extra in-depth, actionable data and shopping for guides. Our suggestions, and all the data on this web page, are topic to vary because the replace continues. Try our revamped ExpressVPN review and NordVPN review to see the brand new route, or be taught extra about how we test VPNs.

Desk of contents

Findings at a look

The desk summarizes what we discovered whereas reviewing Proton VPN, each good and dangerous. Hold it open in a tab when you comparability store for a VPN.

Putting in, configuring and utilizing Proton VPN

This part explains the way it feels to run Proton VPN on the varied platforms it helps. As a rule, it is not tough. Proton VPN has extra options than ExpressVPN, and a few them may journey up new customers, however you’d have to actually scrounge to seek out an precise inconvenience to complain about.

Home windows

Proton VPN installs simply on Home windows — you will must grant it permission to make adjustments, however that is it. As soon as you’ve got signed in on the app, you will attain top-of-the-line interfaces we have tried on a VPN. The server community is straight away seen as each a listing and map, and the placement search bar, join button and main options are all laid out across the similar window.

It is actually superb how a lot you possibly can attain from the launch window with out something feeling cluttered. They even squeezed in keyboard shortcuts for the search subject. We additionally love that settings open in the identical window, since coping with each the principle VPN app and a separate preferences panel can get annoying. Our solely actual gripe is that there needs to be a neater strategy to alter the dimensions of the map.

Mac

The desktop app for Mac is not fairly as deftly laid out because the Home windows app. You possibly can attain many of the vital options from the principle window, together with Profiles, NetShield, Safe Core servers and the kill change. Nevertheless, there is not any longer a strategy to filter out a listing of the P2P or Tor servers, besides by digging by way of the Profile controls. On the plus aspect, you possibly can alter the dimensions of the map, so it is now a viable different to the server listing.

The opposite preferences are hidden within the menu bar — go to Proton VPN > Settings to succeed in them. They’re specified by 4 tabs, and should not take greater than a minute to undergo at setup.

Android

The Android app takes the identical design cues because the Home windows app, and works as effectively. 4 tabs alongside the underside change between the house display, the nation listing, Profiles and all different settings. You possibly can search the listing of nations by tapping the magnifying glass on the top-right. In one other good contact, tapping the dots by any digital location will let you know the place the server is bodily positioned.

Android customers get some nifty unique Profiles, together with “anti-censorship,” which robotically connects to the quickest nation apart from the one you are in. The Settings tab is a single menu with subheadings and no pointless complication.

iOS

Proton VPN for iPhone and iPad seems nearly the identical because it does on Home windows and Android, however with a few of the similar drawbacks discovered on Mac. The server listing is extra cluttered, and as soon as once more there is not any straightforward strategy to sift out the P2P and Tor areas.

The Settings tab places all of the characteristic descriptions within the open, which makes it look denser than it’s. However these are minor quibbles — that is nonetheless a VPN that is very straightforward to activate and neglect about.

Browser extensions

Proton VPN has browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. These function de facto cut up tunneling, as connecting by way of the extension protects solely browser site visitors; the whole lot else goes unprotected. You possibly can cut up the tunnel additional by setting the VPN to not work on sure URLs (in contrast to the opposite apps, you needn’t know the IPs of these websites).

Proton VPN velocity check: Impacts of VPN Accelerator

We used Ookla’s Speedtest app to find out how a lot Proton VPN drags on a person’s latency, measured in milliseconds (ms), and obtain and add speeds, measured in megabits per second (Mbps). Collectively, these three stats present whether or not a VPN will noticeably decelerate your web, particularly throughout demanding duties.

We had excessive hopes for Proton right here due to its VPN Accelerator know-how, which runs VPN communications throughout a number of parallel tracks to course of the whole lot sooner. It did not disappoint — for essentially the most half. Though obtain speeds did not attain the heights we saw from ExpressVPN, Proton VPN’s shopping efficiency nonetheless seems glorious almost throughout the board.

To decide on our areas for the check, we checked Proton VPN’s listing of smart routing servers, which use servers in a single nation to simulate IP addresses in one other. Nearly all of the sensible routing servers are primarily based in 5 cities: Miami, London, Marseille, Bucharest and Singapore. We ran these exams on a Mac utilizing the automated protocol setting.

Proton VPN seems superb in that desk. Its common obtain velocity was 88 p.c of our unprotected speeds. To place that in perspective, when you began with 30 Mbps down (about half what we get) and linked to any Proton VPN server, you’d nearly actually nonetheless have a quick sufficient connection to stream in 4K.

Notice the “nearly” — Proton VPN did drop noticeably on its French server in Marseille. It is not unusual for one in all a VPN’s knowledge facilities to have hassle whereas the others work advantageous, and you’ll normally repair the issue by simply disconnecting and reconnecting. Simply be aware that whereas drops to about 75 p.c of your obtain velocity are uncommon, they don’t seem to be inconceivable.

Proton VPN safety check: Watertight protocols

Once we discuss VPN safety, we’re actually speaking about reliability. Can this VPN set up an encrypted tunnel and transmit all of your data by way of it, each time, with out leaks or failures? With Proton VPN, we’re pleased to say the reply is sure; we probed its safety and located no cracks to talk of. Learn the part beneath for specifics.

Proton VPN protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Stealth

Proton VPN makes use of 4 VPN protocols to speak between your units, its servers and the web. Three of them (WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2) are widespread decisions with no critical flaws so long as they’re applied thoughtfully. The fourth, Stealth, is an obfuscation protocol you must solely use if the opposite three are blocked.

• OpenVPN is essentially the most safe possibility. With out getting too technical, OpenVPN encrypts its backend capabilities in addition to the info itself, which leaves it with no apparent vulnerabilities. It may well additionally talk utilizing the identical ports as widespread HTTPS site visitors, so it is laborious to dam.

• WireGuard is extra environment friendly than OpenVPN, each in its supply code and the cryptography it makes use of. It usually requires an trade of mounted IP addresses, however the Proton VPN implementation overwrites these IPs with randomized addresses, reducing the safety danger.

• IKEv2 is a secure selection that is often sooner than both OpenVPN or WireGuard. You most likely will not use it until it occurs to return up when you’ve set the protocol to Good. As such, it is on the best way to being phased out of Proton VPN.

• Stealth is exclusive to Proton VPN, although its operate will not be. It is acquired the identical structure as WireGuard, however provides one other TLS tunnel to evade community blocks that catch VPN site visitors. That additional encryption slows it down, so we do not suggest utilizing it until the opposite three protocols do not work.

The primary possibility on the app, referred to as “Good,” will not be a protocol — it means your VPN shopper selects the protocol that gives you the most effective speeds in your present server. Since all 4 protocols are secure, there is not any draw back to utilizing the Good setting more often than not.

Leak check

We used AirVPN’s IP leak tool to examine all 4 of Proton VPN’s protocols for DNS and WebRTC leaks. Proton VPN makes use of its personal DNS servers to cut back the chance of sending unencrypted requests, however since leaks are nonetheless doable, we examined utilizing a easy methodology: checking our seen IP deal with earlier than and after connecting to the VPN.

Regardless of testing a number of areas over three days, we by no means noticed our actual IP deal with present up on the instrument. This held true even exterior the Safe Core server listing, the place knowledge facilities may need been managed by third events. It is not excellent proof, but it surely’s an excellent signal that Proton VPN enforces a constant safety regime on all its servers.

We additionally used BrowserLeaks to examine for WebRTC leaks. These are primarily a difficulty on the browser aspect, however a VPN is doubly vital in case your browser occurs to be leaking. We enabled WebRTC on our browser and examined the identical set of Proton VPN servers with out springing any WebRTC leaks.

Proton VPN and IPv6

Proton is engaged on making its whole VPN suitable with IPv6 addresses. If a VPN that is solely configured for IPv4 has to resolve an IPv6 deal with, it might trigger a leak — that is why most VPNs, even the most effective ones, block IPv6 altogether. That mentioned, the entire web will run on IPv6 in the future, so it is good to see Proton VPN main the pack.

To this point, IPv6 is robotically enabled on Proton VPN’s Linux apps and browser extensions, and could be optionally activated on its Android app. The Proton VPN apps for all different platforms nonetheless block IPv6 site visitors, however this could hopefully change quickly.

Encryption check

Even when a VPN’s protocol decisions are strong, it is doable for particular person implementations of these protocols to fail. We used WireShark, a packet inspector app, to check whether or not Proton VPN’s encryption labored it doesn’t matter what settings have been in place. We’re pleased to say we by no means noticed plaintext as soon as.

How a lot does Proton VPN value?

To get full entry to Proton VPN, you will want a Plus subscription, which prices $9.99 monthly. You possibly can knock off half that worth by subscribing for a full 12 months and paying a lump sum of $59.88, figuring out to $4.99 monthly. A Plus account with Proton VPN additionally offers you free entry to each different Proton app.

You too can pay $107.76 upfront to subscribe for 2 years, a median of $4.49 monthly — maybe extra handy, but it surely would not prevent a lot. The one-year plan is the most effective worth, although it is also good that you do not have to pay by way of the nostril for just one month. There is a 30-day, money-back assure on all plans.

Proton VPN is currently offering Engadget readers an exclusive deal that provides a 12-month plan for $47.88 ($3.99 monthly) and a 24-month plan for $81.36 ($3.39 monthly). Learn more about it here. One last possibility is the Proton Limitless subscription, mentioned within the “aspect apps and bundles” part beneath.”

The Proton VPN free plan

Proton VPN is among the finest free VPNs in the marketplace proper now. No different VPN backed by as a lot expertise and common sense has a free plan with no knowledge limits. As a substitute of capping how a lot knowledge you should utilize monthly, Proton VPN restricts which servers free customers can entry, limiting them to 5 nations: the USA, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

The irritating half is that you would be able to’t select which of those servers you utilize; Proton VPN simply auto-connects to whichever one is the least burdened. A Proton consultant advised us that this transformation goes together with enhancements to the choice algorithm, higher load balancing and the addition of the Poland and Romania areas. It is usually doable to strive for a greater connection by clicking “change server.”

The very fact stays, although, {that a} free Proton VPN plan is ineffective for unblocking content material in particular areas — however this can be by design. The free plan appears extra aimed towards privateness and anonymity than streaming, and the position of the free areas close to Russia and China displays that. Free Proton VPN plans do not sacrifice any important safety features.

Proton VPN aspect apps and bundles

Proton VPN’s fundamental bundle is Proton Limitless, which will get you all six Proton merchandise in a single package deal: VPN, Mail, Drive, Calendar, Pockets and Cross. This prices $12.99 for a month, $119.88 for a 12 months ($9.99 monthly) and $191.76 for 2 years ($7.99 monthly). We cannot be going in-depth on any of them on this assessment, however here is a fast rundown of every.

• Proton Mail: An end-to-end encrypted e-mail service. Proton can nonetheless see a Mail person’s actual IP deal with, however cannot learn any of their messages.

• Proton Drive: Encrypted cloud storage. As with Mail, Proton can determine customers, however cannot learn any of the content material they retailer.

• Proton Calendar: An encrypted scheduling app with occasions and reminders.

• Proton Pockets: A self-custody pockets for storing Bitcoin unconnected to any trade.

• Proton Cross: A password supervisor that generates, shops and autofills passwords for on-line accounts.

Even when you solely want two of the six, Proton Limitless saves you cash. Separate month-to-month subscriptions to Proton VPN and Proton Mail would value a complete of $14.98, so you’ve got already knocked off $2 monthly. That will increase when you’re in a position to decide to a 12 months upfront.

Shut-reading Proton VPN’s privateness coverage

Proton’s privateness coverage is available in two components: the general Proton policy and the shorter coverage specific to Proton VPN. We’ll cowl them in that order.

Common Proton privateness coverage

Proton tracks person exercise on its product web sites utilizing its personal advertising and marketing instruments; the info set collected doesn’t embrace IP addresses. It retains an e-mail deal with linked to every person’s account, but it surely’s not allowed to attach IP addresses (and thus identities and areas) to these emails until the person breaches the phrases of service.

Chances are you’ll rightly ask how Proton would know a person is abusing one in all their companies if they do not maintain exercise logs. The reply is that logs aren’t wanted; most types of abuse could be detected in different methods and noticed in actual time. For instance, if somebody used a Proton VPN server to launch a DDoS assault, the crew may examine that server and discover the hacker whereas the assault was nonetheless ongoing.

The coverage goes on to listing the 5 third-party knowledge processors Proton makes use of (Zendesk, PayPal, Chargebee, Atlassian and Stripe), none of whom are allowed to retailer buyer exercise knowledge. Proton cautions that it’s going to share what knowledge it does have in response to unblockable requests from the Swiss authorities, however not “till all authorized or different treatments have been exhausted.” That is commonplace for a VPN that desires to stay in enterprise, and the transparency report reveals the corporate does certainly struggle courtroom orders when it might.

Proton VPN privateness coverage

Proton’s VPN-specific privateness coverage is sort of brief. It states that Proton can’t log person actions or identifiable traits of units linked to the VPN, can’t throttle web connections and should lengthen full privateness and safety to free customers.

In a single sense, a privateness coverage requires you to take the VPN supplier at their phrase, but it surely’s harmful for an organization to make guarantees they do not intend to maintain. The coverage is legally binding, and breaking it’s grounds for a lawsuit. Proton VPN’s succinct no-logs coverage is subsequently an incredible signal. It is also been confirmed a number of instances by a third-party audit, most lately in July 2024.

Can Proton VPN change your digital location?

Testing a VPN’s potential to masks a person’s location is not advanced — all you want is a streaming subscription. We linked to 5 check areas and tried to unblock Netflix with each. If we managed to entry the positioning, and noticed totally different reveals than these on the American library, we concluded that the placement had masked us efficiently.

Proton VPN handed the check each time in all 5 areas. The one hiccup got here in Romania, which we selected as a result of it is one of many free areas. The app linked us to a free server, which was too sluggish to load Netflix; once we selected a paid server, the issue disappeared.

Investigating Proton VPN’s server community

Proton VPN’s free plan consists of servers in 5 areas: the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the USA and Japan. If you join as a free person, you will be robotically linked to whichever location is quickest.

A paid plan opens up the complete community of 154 servers in 117 nations and territories. The menu consists of an enormous number of African areas, greater than any VPN we have examined in a while. The Center East, together with central and southern Asia, are additionally effectively represented, and U.S. customers will discover 20 totally different areas to select from.

Take into account that about two-thirds of those server areas are digital, which means they don’t seem to be bodily positioned the place they declare to be. This consists of all of the African servers besides South Africa and Nigeria; all of the South American servers besides Brazil, Colombia and Argentina; and all of the Center Jap servers besides Turkey, Israel and the UAE. A majority of the areas in Asia are additionally digital, together with South Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

To be clear, digital areas can conceal your IP deal with simply in addition to bodily ones. It is solely an issue when you’re anticipating the form of efficiency, notably when it comes to latency, that you simply get from a close-by server. Fortunately, Proton VPN offers you quick sufficient obtain and add speeds that distance should not be an issue.

Options of Proton VPN

Proton VPN has quite a few additional options that transcend commonplace VPN performance. We have already talked about the Stealth protocol and IPv6 assist. On this part, we’ll cowl an extra 5 options that is likely to be of curiosity.

NetShield advert blocker

Proton VPN’s built-in advert blocker is called NetShield. It is obtainable on the principle UI web page, and has two settings: one which blocks solely malware websites, and one which blocks websites linked with malware, adverts and trackers. The stronger characteristic is on by default.

NetShield works by checking any DNS requests in opposition to a database of internet servers identified to host malware, inject adverts or connect cross-site trackers to your shopping session. The DNS-blocking strategy means it is not able to blocking adverts served from the identical area that hosts them — so no blocking YouTube video adverts. On the constructive aspect, it means NetShield works throughout your whole system, not simply in your browser.

NetShield additionally shows a operating whole of what number of of every type of interference it is blocked. It catches most banner adverts, however since you possibly can’t customise the blocklist in any means, it is best when mixed with one other browser-level advert blocker.

Safe Core servers

Here is an fascinating one. Safe Core is a type of a standard characteristic referred to as double VPN or multi-hop VPN, through which a connection runs by way of two VPN servers earlier than being decrypted. If one server fails or will get compromised, the opposite server retains your connection personal.

Proton VPN takes this a step additional. If you activate Safe Core, your connection will nonetheless finish at your chosen server location — however earlier than that, it’s going to journey by way of a delegated server in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland. A number of touches make Safe Core servers extra dependable than the typical VPN node:

• All three nations are secure jurisdictions, with consumer-friendly privateness legal guidelines and courts sympathetic to privateness claims.

• Safe Core knowledge facilities are locked down bodily; for instance, the Iceland location is a refitted army base, and the Sweden location is actually underground.

• Proton owns and operates all Safe Core areas itself, with no leases or third-party managers.

Nearly no different VPNs pay as a lot consideration to bodily safety as Proton VPN does with this characteristic. The second hop makes Safe Core connections slower on common, but it surely’s value it you probably have one thing particularly delicate to do on-line.

Kill change

Proton VPN features a kill change, a normal characteristic. When lively, a kill change cuts off your web each time your connection to the VPN drops. This implies you are by no means at risk of leaking your actual identification or location, even for a second. It additionally protects you in opposition to the TunnelVision exploit, which requires the hacker to make a faux VPN server.

Cut up tunneling

Cut up tunneling is included on the Home windows and Android apps, however customers on different units can entry it by way of the browser extension. With cut up tunneling, some apps or web sites get on-line by way of the VPN, whereas others keep unprotected.

Proton VPN permits cut up tunneling by each app and IP deal with. This grants you a exact stage of management over your cut up, so long as you understand the IP of every web site you are putting on the listing (yow will discover that out utilizing DNS checker).

Torrenting servers and port forwarding

Proton VPN is among the finest VPNs for torrenting. It restricts torrenting to P2P servers, however almost each server on the listing is a P2P server — solely Safe Core servers and a few free servers do not allow torrenting. Mix that with the truth that it maintains 96 p.c of your add speeds on common, and you must have few issues utilizing a torrenting shopper.

It additionally has some assist for port forwarding, which may enhance torrenting velocity. Home windows and Linux customers can allow it with a easy toggle, which supplies an lively port quantity for configuring personal servers. Mac customers can arrange port forwarding by way of handbook OpenVPN or WireGuard configurations.

Tor over VPN

A handful of Proton VPN servers route you on to the Tor community after encrypting your connection. Whereas linked to one in all these Tor over VPN servers, that are marked with TOR of their names and an onion image, you can open .onion hyperlinks on a traditional browser.

That is extra than simply handy — Tor over VPN is the most secure strategy to entry the darkish internet. With the VPN as an middleman, you are by no means connecting to Tor with your individual IP deal with, so malicious node operators cannot see your actual identification. For optimum privateness, use Tor Browser to create your Proton VPN account, so that you’re by no means uncovered at any level within the course of.

Proton VPN has Tor servers in six nations (the U.S., France, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Hong Kong). Every simply has one Tor server, besides the USA, which will get two. Tor over VPN is supported on all platforms, but it surely will not work on Mac or iOS until you’ve gotten the kill change enabled.

Profiles

A “profile” on Proton VPN is a gaggle of pre-established settings you should utilize to shortly configure the VPN for a specific job. Two profiles can be found from the beginning: Quickest, which connects to the quickest server, and Random, which at all times connects to a special server. You possibly can create extra profiles by toggling 4 settings:

• Function: The kind of server used. Select from Customary, Safe Core, P2P or Tor over VPN.

• Nation: The nation to which the profile connects.

• Server: A server inside that nation. You too can choose “quickest” or “random.”

• Protocol: Which VPN protocol the profile will use. “Good” could be chosen.

For instance, say you need to watch a TV sequence that is solely obtainable on Netflix in Canada. You would create a profile referred to as “Netflix Canada” that connects to the quickest Canadian server with only one click on. We might name profiles situationally helpful, however they’ll save loads of time when you often carry out the identical motion in your VPN.

Proton VPN buyer assist choices

We went to Proton VPN’s FAQ pages with two questions that got here up whereas researching different sections: which of Proton VPN’s servers are managed by third events, and why do sure server areas (like Marseilles) run sluggish regardless of the app displaying a light-weight load?

You possibly can entry the assistance middle by way of any of Proton VPN’s apps, or by going on to the web site. Articles seem like organized into six classes. Oddly, clicking any class button solely reveals you a handful of the articles in that part — for instance, the Troubleshooting class seems prefer it solely has 5 articles. If you happen to sort “troubleshooting” into the search bar, although, you will see dozens pop up. There are even some sections, like Billing, that do not seem on the principle web page in any respect.

It has the texture of a web site replace that wasn’t adequately introduced consistent with the majority of the assist content material. Till Proton fixes it, simply use the search bar for the whole lot. The articles themselves are well-written, give or take some stilted English.

Getting fast assist

We could not discover written solutions to our questions on possession and server load, so we turned to reside chat. Free customers ought to take into account that reside chat assist is barely obtainable on paid accounts, however there is a pretty lively subreddit at r/protonvpn the place Proton workers incessantly put up.

Stay chat will not be intuitively positioned on protonvpn.com. We lastly discovered it by scrolling all the best way to the underside of the principle web page, solely to be advised no person was on-line to assist in the intervening time — reside chat is barely accessible from 9 AM to midnight Central European Time (CET). We submitted our query concerning the Marseille servers as an e-mail ticket as a substitute.

This half was straightforward, not less than, as the shape helpfully populated our system data. We additionally acquired a immediate response inside 24 hours. We ended the interplay there, as we weren’t in a position to reproduce the sluggish conduct on the French server areas, but it surely’s good to know the crew will reply shortly.

Proton VPN background examine: The CERN origins of Proton AG

Proton VPN launched in 2017, however its crew’s expertise goes again a lot farther. The founders of its dad or mum firm, Proton AG, met whereas working at CERN in Switzerland, and the corporate stays beneath Swiss jurisdiction.

Their first product, Proton Mail, went live in 2014 after a profitable crowdfunding marketing campaign, and claims to have 100 million customers immediately. Proton VPN was Proton AG’s second venture. Like Proton Mail, it consists of a free plan supplemented by paid upgrades.

Since then, Proton has launched a number of extra merchandise: Proton Calendar in 2020, Proton Drive cloud storage in 2022 and the Proton Cross password supervisor in 2023, every designed round utilizing end-to-end encryption to make person knowledge inaccessible.

The Proton Basis

Proton announced in 2024 that almost all of its shares had been acquired by the Proton Basis, a nonprofit whose solely function is to regulate Proton inventory. Amongst different advantages, this prevents it from being bought by anybody who disagrees with its mission. To promote to an objectionable dad or mum firm, your entire board of trustees must agree, which feels unlikely primarily based on Proton’s monitor report.

All through Proton’s historical past, we solely discovered two incidents critical sufficient to touch upon, and solely one in all them involved Proton VPN. We’ll cowl them each beneath.

ProtonMail legislation enforcement collaboration allegations

On the web page that hosts its annual transparency report, Proton states overtly that it “could also be legally compelled to reveal sure person data to Swiss authorities” (see the Privateness Coverage part of this text for extra on exactly what data that describes). In 2021, the company admitted it had given Swiss police (appearing on a French warrant) a ProtonMail person’s IP deal with and system logs. The police arrested the person, a French environmental activist.

Whereas that is unnerving for privacy-minded customers, there are some vital contextual points to think about. Most significantly, ProtonMail will not be ruled by the identical coverage as Proton VPN. On the time the case unfolded, Swiss legislation obliged all email companies to adjust to courtroom orders from Swiss authorities handy over knowledge. VPNs aren’t subject to those retention requirements.

At this time, Swiss e-mail corporations have been reclassified in order that they’re additionally exempt from knowledge retention necessities, thanks partially to a policy change Proton fought for. A consultant from Proton confirmed that “beneath Swiss legislation, we’re not obligated to save lots of any person connection logs.” It is also reassuring that, regardless of complying with the subpoena, Proton wasn’t able to turn over the contents of any emails.

Alleged WireGuard reminiscence vulnerability

In January 2025, researchers at Venak Safety alleged that Proton VPN lacks memory protection for keys generated beneath the WireGuard protocol, which could let hackers scrape the keys and decrypt intercepted communications. Proton responded to Venak in a blog post, which a Proton consultant confirmed stays their official response to the allegations.

In brief: the Venak article solely demonstrates that it is doable to view public keys, not personal ones. This is not a lot of a bombshell, provided that “public” is true there within the identify. However uneven encryption — the type utilized by VPN protocols like WireGuard — requires each keys to decrypt any messages. Even when a hacker have been in a position to get ahold of a non-public key, they possible would not have the ability to use it for something. WireGuard incorporates excellent ahead secrecy by default, altering session keys typically sufficient that any given secret is out of date by the point it is stolen.

Last verdict

In brief, we’re ready to suggest Proton VPN to nearly anyone. Whether or not you are primarily involved with safety, streaming or one thing else, likelihood is good that you will be glad. The one critical downsides are that the long-term plans are overpriced and that it is laborious to get reside tech assist when you reside exterior of Europe.

It is also our unqualified decide for the most effective free VPN, however with the caveat that it is a dangerous selection for anybody who wants to decide on particular server areas. If all you care about is staying hidden out of your ISP and advertisers, Proton needs to be your first selection.