Proton VPN Review

Proton VPN is part of a select group of VPN services that actually use a zero-logs policy, meaning nothing you do, stream, or download while connected to the VPN is logged.

All that the VPN collects about you is the email used to create your account, but this can be avoided entirely by creating an alias email address.

I can claim this with complete confidence as Proton VPN is part of an even smaller number of VPNs to have had its privacy policy corroborated by a real-world test. Specifically, the VPN was unable to hand over any user data when ordered by a Swiss court in 2019.

Further privacy credentials include: an annual third-party audit of its logging practices, regular transparency reports, a Swiss jurisdiction, and the option to sign up with anonymous payment methods.

If I had to nitpick, the service is missing diskless (RAM-only) servers to periodically wipe activity data, but Proton VPN claim that their full-disk encryption is just as secure.

Continuing its upward trajectory, Proton VPN unblocked US Netflix and 9 other libraries in my tests. This is four more than before, with new additions including the UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

Proton VPN works well with US Netflix.

Proton VPN worked with every popular US streaming service that I tested. Likewise, the VPN now unblocks all UK streaming platforms and even works with notoriously stubborn services like Sky Go.

Here’s a list of specific Proton VPN servers that unblock popular US and UK platforms:

In my testing, Proton VPN didn’t work as well for streaming services outside the Anglosphere. My connection was detected immediately by ZDF and Sky Go in Germany, Movistar+ in Spain, and JioHotstar in India, to name a few.

While its unblocking capabilities improve year over year, user experience issues remain. My stream almost always loaded at maximum resolution, but it often felt ‘choppy’ due to frame rate drops.

It wasn’t enough to ruin the experience, but it could be quite annoying during a live sports broadcast.

Free Version Doesn’t Work with Streaming Services

Since Proton VPN’s free plan no longer lets you choose your server location, instead selecting whichever’s nearest from 10 possible countries, it’s near-impossible to use for bypassing geo-restrictions.

Unlike its paid counterpart, the free version of Proton VPN isn’t great for streaming.

Even if you’re lucky enough to land on a server in the location that you’re trying to access, the limited number of IP addresses on the free version means that the streaming service will likely recognize and block your connection.

This is extremely disappointing, given it used to unblock streaming services like F1TV for free.

If you want a free VPN for streaming, I recommend checking out Windscribe or PrivadoVPN, instead.

Despite testing from New York, I found that Proton VPN actually produced faster download speeds on distant servers than on its local New York server.

There’s a chance that its New York servers may just be slower or more congested than others, and that your local download speeds will be faster. That said, I test over several weeks, and at different times of the day, to minimize the influence of server congestion on my results.

As you’d expect, my internet speed slowed down when connected to Proton VPN servers located extremely far away. An average speed loss of 36% in South Africa, and 24% in Australia isn’t something to be embarrassed about, but it doesn’t quite match up to Hotspot Shield or IPVanish.

Proton VPN Is the Fastest Free VPN

On a more positive note, Proton VPN’s free app really impressed me. In fact, Proton VPN is the fastest free VPN I’ve ever tested.

Not only are its raw upload and download speeds praiseworthy, but Proton VPN is the only reputable free VPN with no data cap.

This means you’ll never run out of bandwidth for downloading, streaming, gaming, or anything else.

Just beware that with only 2,000 free servers available to connect to (versus 20,000 for the paid app), your speeds might not be as consistent due to server congestion.

As is the case with all Proton products, its VPN service is highly secure and it breezed through my stringent security tests.

It supports both OpenVPN with AES-256 encryption and WireGuard with ChaCha20, two open-source protocols backed by security experts.

To ensure their correct implementation, I used a packet analyzer (Wireshark) to inspect my network traffic. The tool confirmed that my connection was fully encrypted and unreadable.

Proton VPN encrypted my test data transfers.

On top of this, the VPN service uses Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) to ensure a unique encryption key is used for every VPN session. Most tech review sites highlight this feature as an example of bleeding-edge security, but it’s honestly quite standard.

One way the VPN does stand out is its use of open-source apps for desktop and mobile, an industry-first that has since been copied by competitors. The full source code is freely available on GitHub, allowing anyone to identify vulnerabilities.

This, combined with Proton VPN’s bug bounty program, improves the app’s security due to the error-checking of a larger community.

I’m also delighted to see that Proton VPN has added post-quantum protection to its VPN architecture, allowing it to keep pace with its rivals and safeguard against more advanced attacks.

Outside of encryption, I also tested the VPN for IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. As expected, Proton VPN passed all of these tests thanks to its built-in DNS and IPv6 leak protection.

It’s also not that surprising given the VPN operates it own DNS servers, thereby eliminating the risk of leaks from third-parties.

I tested both the paid and free versions of Proton VPN for network leaks.

Lastly, I stress tested its kill switch: a vital security feature that cuts your internet should the VPN suddenly disconnect. Although it worked perfectly on all platforms, it isn’t enabled by default and must be manually activated.

Considering the kill switch’s importance, this is a slight blot on Proton VPN’s otherwise flawless security suite.

In recent years Proton VPN has invested heavily into its server network, transforming it from fairly standard to one of the best.

There are no gaps in its coverage, but if I’m being picky there could be more options in South America: the center is quite sparse as Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay are all missing servers.

Similarly, the southern half of Africa is comparatively overlooked, given there’s no servers in Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Nambia, Zambia, or Zimbabwe.

I must emphasize that this is still one of the best server networks on the market, and that you’re likely to have a Proton VPN server nearby, regardless of your location.

Tied with ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN provides city-level choice in 15 locations including the US, UK, and Australia. The US has the most options, covering 16 states and Washington DC, allowing you to access localized content like news broadcasts or live sports.

Free Tier Doesn’t Let You Choose Server Location

As is the case with all freemium VPNs, the free version of Proton VPN supports less server locations (10, in total).

I’ve no issue with this; what disappoints me is the removal of the ability to choose which server location to connect to. Instead, the app now automatically picks the fastest available server.

Proton VPN (Free) disappointingly doesn’t let you pick a server location.

I played around with this feature over multiple hours of testing and found myself connected to a variety of locations, including some surprisingly distant ones, like Japan.

This change is a significant downgrade, since you can no longer reliably use the VPN to get a Japanese IP address or change your location for streaming services.

Proton VPN’s purple, black, and white color palette has a distinct modern and sleek feel to it. It was a much-needed upgrade from its previous green and black combination, which looked dull and outdated in comparison.

I also love that you can install its free version across all platforms, without needing to enter any payment details. This makes sign-up so much easier.

You can read more about how Proton VPN looks and feels to use on each platform, below:

Over many years of reviewing Proton VPN, I’ve seen an overall improvement, particularly in its approach to torrenting. P2P support across its server network has expanded drastically: starting at 33% of its servers in 2021, that figure increased to 93% in 2023, and now stands at 98%.

The only three server locations that don’t support BitTorrent traffic are Cyprus, North Macedonia, and Myanmar. This doesn’t significantly harm your user experience, as any attempt to torrent in one of these two countries causes your traffic to be automatically redirected to a P2P-friendly location.

In all of its supported locations, the VPN provides P2P-optimized servers that allegedly boost performance. However, I tested these myself and saw zero difference in download bitrate between the boosted servers and standard ones.

Thankfully, I had the complete opposite experience when testing the VPN’s port forwarding tool. It allows you to bypass the NAT firewall on your router and transfer files 10% faster, according to my in-house tests.

I didn’t have any issues with Proton VPN while torrenting.

I only recommend enabling it if you’re tech-savvy, but if you’re feeling confident then you can find all the relevant instructions in my guide on how to torrent with Proton VPN safely.

Manually installing the VPN onto your WiFi router is the only workaround to using Proton VPN on game consoles and Smart TVs. This process works with a limited amount of router models, and runs the risk of bricking your router.

You can buy a router pre-flashed with Proton VPN to remove the difficult set-up, but it’s very expensive.

If you really want to use a VPN on a platform that doesn’t support native VPN apps, then I suggest using ExpressVPN since it has both a Smart DNS proxy and a dedicated router app.

My analysis for Proton VPN’s free plan is mixed: while I commend it for being the only free VPN to work on routers, it also makes the strange decision to limit you to one active connection at a time.

I suspect this is to encourage you to upgrade to the plan; however, it comes at the cost of a much worse user experience.

Profiles Feature Is Useful & Convenient

This feature, unique to Proton VPN, lets you create a custom preset of servers and settings to exactly suit your needs.

Profiles allows you to choose the type of server (standard, Secure Core, P2P, or Tor), the server location, the specific server, and the protocol (WireGuard, WireGuard TCP, IKEv2, or Stealth).

For example, if you know there is a particular server that always works with UK Netflix, Profiles lets you create a shortcut to it from the home screen.

While I consider this an advanced feature, it’s really easy to set up and start using. Everything is labeled and explained in-app, so I recommend giving it a go.

I used Profiles to create server presets for streaming, shopping, and more.

Split Tunneling Works as Intended

With split tunneling, your VPN creates a separate tunnel that goes directly through your ISP, just like you weren’t using a VPN at all.

This feature is particularly useful for retaining compatibility with devices and services that require a local IP address, like a wireless printer, for example.

Proton VPN includes split tunneling on its Windows, Android, Android TV, and Mac apps, but omits it from every other platform. To use it, go to your VPN app’s settings and choose the app or IP address you want excluded from the encrypted tunnel.

Split tunneling is easy to set up in the Windows app.

Mixed Results with NetShield

Proton VPN Plus and Unlimited subscribers have access to NetShield, the company’s ad, malware, and tracker blocker. You can enable this by clicking on the shield icon from the app home screen.

I found NetShield stops malware and trackers effectively, but it was very poor at blocking ads.

Unlike other ad blockers, NetShield doesn’t fully prevent advertising elements from showing on web pages. Instead, it replaces them with a gray box, which is an eyesore.

Moreover, NetShield only works when you’re connected to a Proton VPN server. Therefore, you’ll have to stay constantly connected to Proton VPN to stop ads from showing.

Secure Core Servers Work like Multi-Hop

Proton VPN owns servers in 68 of its locations, which form the ‘Secure Core’ network.

On paid plans only, you can select one of these locations in-app, which will send your traffic to a Secure Core server and then a standard Proton VPN server.

These two stops, or ‘hops’, are more commonly known as Double VPN or Multi-Hop. This is an advanced feature that routes your traffic through two servers, encrypting it twice.

Given Proton VPN owns and has sole access to these servers, Secure Core is even more secure than the multi-hop connections offered by rivals like NordVPN or IPVanish.

Proton VPN’s Secure Core servers setting in the iOS app.

This implementation has its drawbacks: it doesn’t let you choose the location of the first server in the multi-hop, like Surfshark does, and it massively slows down your download speed.

Compared to my average download speed loss of 11% when connected to a standard Proton VPN UK server, I recorded a 82% decrease when sent via a Secure Core location.

As such, I don’t recommend you use this feature for any bandwidth-intensive activities, like gaming, video-calling, or streaming.