A nonprofit service with premium efficiency

Proton VPN stands out for 2 important causes: it is one of many solely digital non-public networks (VPNs) to incorporate a free plan with no knowledge limits, and it is one of many few providers majority-owned by a nonprofit. It is the very best VPN in each of these classes, and it makes a powerful case for being the very best general.

Even in case 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 places in Africa than any of its rivals. It is even wanting towards the longer term 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 good — the apps for Apple programs lag behind their Home windows and Android counterparts, and the free servers may be noticeably sluggish — however the cons pale compared to the professionals. We’ll get into all of it beneath.

Editor’s notice (7/25/25): We’re within the technique of revamping our VPN protection to supply 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 study 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. Preserve it open in a tab whilst 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 assorted platforms it helps. As a rule, it is not troublesome. 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 may must grant it permission to make modifications, however that is it. As soon as you have signed in on the app, you may attain probably the greatest interfaces we have tried on a VPN. The server community is instantly seen as each an inventory and map, and the placement search bar, join button and main options are all laid out across the identical window.

It is truthfully wonderful 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 discipline. We additionally love that settings open in the identical window, since coping with each the primary VPN app and a separate preferences panel can get annoying. Our solely actual gripe is that there ought to be a neater solution to alter the scale 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 a lot of the vital options from the primary window, together with Profiles, NetShield, Safe Core servers and the kill swap. Nevertheless, there is no longer a solution to filter out an inventory of the P2P or Tor servers, besides by digging by means of the Profile controls. On the plus aspect, you possibly can alter the scale 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 achieve 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 properly. 4 tabs alongside the underside swap between the house display screen, 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 inform you the place the server is bodily positioned.

Android customers get some nifty unique Profiles, together with “anti-censorship,” which routinely 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 identical drawbacks discovered on Mac. The server listing is extra cluttered, and as soon as once more there is no simple solution to sift out the P2P and Tor places.

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 simple to activate and overlook about.

Browser extensions

Proton VPN has browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. These function de facto cut up tunneling, as connecting by means of the extension protects solely browser site visitors; all the things else goes unprotected. You possibly can cut up the tunnel additional by setting the VPN to not work on sure URLs (not like the opposite apps, you need not 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 consumer’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 expertise, which runs VPN communications throughout a number of parallel tracks to course of all the things quicker. 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 practically throughout the board.

To decide on our places 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 good routing servers are primarily based in 5 cities: Miami, London, Marseille, Bucharest and Singapore. We ran these assessments on a Mac utilizing the automated protocol setting.

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

Observe 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 effective, and you’ll normally repair the issue by simply disconnecting and reconnecting. Simply notice 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 speak about VPN safety, we’re actually speaking about reliability. Can this VPN set up an encrypted tunnel and transmit all of your data by means of it, each time, with out leaks or failures? With Proton VPN, we’re blissful 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 frequent selections with no severe flaws so long as they’re applied thoughtfully. The fourth, Stealth, is an obfuscation protocol it’s best to solely use if the opposite three are blocked.

• OpenVPN is essentially the most safe choice. With out getting too technical, OpenVPN encrypts its backend capabilities in addition to the info itself, which leaves it with no apparent vulnerabilities. It could additionally talk utilizing the identical ports as frequent HTTPS site visitors, so it is onerous 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 fastened IP addresses, however the Proton VPN implementation overwrites these IPs with randomized addresses, chopping the safety threat.

• IKEv2 is a secure selection that is sometimes quicker than both OpenVPN or WireGuard. You in all probability will not use it until it occurs to come back up whilst you’ve set the protocol to Sensible. As such, it is on the best way to being phased out of Proton VPN.

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

The primary choice on the app, referred to as “Sensible,” isn’t a protocol — it means your VPN shopper selects the protocol that will provide you with the very best speeds in your present server. Since all 4 protocols are secure, there is no draw back to utilizing the Sensible setting more often than not.

Leak check

We used AirVPN’s IP leak tool to test all 4 of Proton VPN’s protocols for DNS and WebRTC leaks. Proton VPN makes use of its personal DNS servers to scale back the danger of sending unencrypted requests, however since leaks are nonetheless potential, we examined utilizing a easy technique: checking our seen IP handle earlier than and after connecting to the VPN.

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

We additionally used BrowserLeaks to test 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 complete VPN appropriate with IPv6 addresses. If a VPN that is solely configured for IPv4 has to resolve an IPv6 handle, it could actually trigger a leak — that is why most VPNs, even the very best ones, block IPv6 altogether. That stated, the entire web will run on IPv6 at some point, so it is good to see Proton VPN main the pack.

Up to now, IPv6 is routinely enabled on Proton VPN’s Linux apps and browser extensions, and may 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 selections are stable, it is potential 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 had been in place. We’re blissful 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 may want a Plus subscription, which prices $9.99 per 30 days. You possibly can knock off half that value by subscribing for a full 12 months and paying a lump sum of $59.88, figuring out to $4.99 per 30 days. A Plus account with Proton VPN additionally offers you free entry to each different Proton app.

It’s also possible to pay $107.76 prematurely to subscribe for 2 years, a median of $4.49 per 30 days — maybe extra handy, nevertheless it would not prevent a lot. The one-year plan is the very best worth, although it is also good that you do not have to pay by means 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 per 30 days) and a 24-month plan for $81.36 ($3.39 per 30 days). Learn more about it here. One remaining choice is the Proton Limitless subscription, mentioned within the “aspect apps and bundles” part beneath.”

The Proton VPN free plan

Proton VPN is without doubt one of the greatest 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 an alternative of capping how a lot knowledge you should use per 30 days, 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 informed us that this alteration goes together with enhancements to the choice algorithm, higher load balancing and the addition of the Poland and Romania places. It’s also potential to attempt for a greater connection by clicking “change server.”

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

Proton VPN aspect apps and bundles

Proton VPN’s important bundle is Proton Limitless, which will get you all six Proton merchandise in a single bundle: VPN, Mail, Drive, Calendar, Pockets and Move. This prices $12.99 for a month, $119.88 for a 12 months ($9.99 per 30 days) and $191.76 for 2 years ($7.99 per 30 days). We can’t be going in-depth on any of them on this evaluation, however this is a fast rundown of every.

• Proton Mail: An end-to-end encrypted e mail service. Proton can nonetheless see a Mail consumer’s actual IP handle, 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 Move: A password supervisor that generates, shops and autofills passwords for on-line accounts.

Even in case 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 have already knocked off $2 per 30 days. That will increase in case you’re in a position to decide to a 12 months prematurely.

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.

Basic Proton privateness coverage

Proton tracks consumer exercise on its product web sites utilizing its personal advertising and marketing instruments; the info set collected doesn’t embody IP addresses. It retains an e mail handle linked to every consumer’s account, nevertheless it’s not allowed to attach IP addresses (and thus identities and places) to these emails until the consumer breaches the phrases of service.

You could rightly ask how Proton would know a consumer is abusing one in all their providers if they do not preserve exercise logs. The reply is that logs aren’t wanted; most types of abuse may 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 workforce might 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 wishes to stay in enterprise, and the transparency report reveals the corporate does certainly battle courtroom orders when it could actually.

Proton VPN privateness coverage

Proton’s VPN-specific privateness coverage is sort of quick. It states that Proton can’t log consumer 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, nevertheless it’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 due to this fact an important signal. It is also been confirmed a number of instances by a third-party audit, most not too long ago in July 2024.

Can Proton VPN change your digital location?

Testing a VPN’s potential to masks a consumer’s location is not complicated — all you want is a streaming subscription. We linked to 5 check places and tried to unblock Netflix with every one. If we managed to entry the positioning, and noticed completely 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 places. The one hiccup got here in Romania, which we selected as a result of it is one of many free places. The app linked us to a free server, which was too gradual to load Netflix; once we selected a paid server, the issue disappeared.

Investigating Proton VPN’s server community

Proton VPN’s free plan contains servers in 5 places: the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the USA and Japan. Once you join as a free consumer, you may be routinely linked to whichever location is quickest.

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

Understand that about two-thirds of those server places are digital, which means they don’t seem to be bodily positioned the place they declare to be. This contains 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 Japanese servers besides Turkey, Israel and the UAE. A majority of the places in Asia are additionally digital, together with South Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

To be clear, digital places can disguise your IP handle simply in addition to bodily ones. It is solely an issue in case 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 a lot of further options that transcend commonplace VPN performance. We have already talked about the Stealth protocol and IPv6 assist. On this part, we’ll cowl a further 5 options that may be of curiosity.

NetShield advert blocker

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

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

NetShield additionally shows a working whole of what number of of every type of interference it is blocked. It catches most banner advertisements, 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 typical characteristic referred to as double VPN or multi-hop VPN, by which a connection runs by means of two VPN servers earlier than being decrypted. If one server fails or will get compromised, the opposite server retains your connection non-public.

Proton VPN takes this a step additional. Once you activate Safe Core, your connection will nonetheless finish at your chosen server location — however earlier than that, it can journey by means of a chosen server in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland. Just a few touches make Safe Core servers extra dependable than the common 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 places 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, nevertheless it’s value it in case you have one thing particularly delicate to do on-line.

Kill swap

Proton VPN features a kill swap, a normal characteristic. When energetic, a kill swap cuts off your web every 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 towards the TunnelVision exploit, which requires the hacker to make a faux VPN server.

Break up tunneling

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

Proton VPN permits cut up tunneling by each app and IP handle. This grants you a exact degree of management over your cut up, so long as you understand the IP of every web site you are inserting on the listing (you’ll find that out utilizing DNS checker).

Torrenting servers and port forwarding

Proton VPN is without doubt one of the greatest VPNs for torrenting. It restricts torrenting to P2P servers, however practically 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 it’s best to 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 energetic port quantity for configuring non-public servers. Mac customers can arrange port forwarding by means of guide 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 standard browser.

That is extra than simply handy — Tor over VPN is the most secure solution to entry the darkish internet. With the VPN as an middleman, you are by no means connecting to Tor with your personal IP handle, so malicious node operators cannot see your actual identification. For max 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, nevertheless it will not work on Mac or iOS until you might have the kill swap enabled.

Profiles

A “profile” on Proton VPN is a bunch of pre-established settings you should use to rapidly configure the VPN for a selected process. 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. It’s also possible to choose “quickest” or “random.”

• Protocol: Which VPN protocol the profile will use. “Sensible” may be chosen.

For instance, say you wish to watch a TV collection 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 would name profiles situationally helpful, however they’ll save plenty of time in case 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 places (like Marseilles) run gradual regardless of the app exhibiting a lightweight load?

You possibly can entry the assistance heart by means of any of Proton VPN’s apps, or by going on to the web site. Articles look 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. When you sort “troubleshooting” into the search bar, although, you may see dozens pop up. There are even some sections, like Billing, that do not seem on the primary web page in any respect.

It has the texture of a web site replace that wasn’t adequately introduced in step with the majority of the assist content material. Till Proton fixes it, simply use the search bar for all the things. 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 stay chat. Free customers ought to needless to say stay chat assist is simply obtainable on paid accounts, however there is a pretty energetic subreddit at r/protonvpn the place Proton employees continuously submit.

Dwell chat isn’t intuitively positioned on protonvpn.com. We lastly discovered it by scrolling all the best way to the underside of the primary web page, solely to be informed no person was on-line to assist in the intervening time — stay chat is simply accessible from 9 AM to midnight Central European Time (CET). We submitted our query concerning the Marseille servers as an e mail ticket as an alternative.

This half was simple, no less than, as the shape helpfully populated our system data. We additionally received a immediate response inside 24 hours. We ended the interplay there, as we weren’t in a position to reproduce the sluggish habits on the French server places, nevertheless it’s good to know the workforce will reply rapidly.

Proton VPN background test: The CERN origins of Proton AG

Proton VPN launched in 2017, however its workforce’s expertise goes again a lot farther. The founders of its guardian 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 right now. 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 Move password supervisor in 2023, every designed round utilizing end-to-end encryption to make consumer 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 goal is to manage Proton inventory. Amongst different advantages, this prevents it from being bought by anybody who disagrees with its mission. To promote to an objectionable guardian firm, your entire board of trustees must agree, which feels unlikely primarily based on Proton’s observe report.

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

ProtonMail regulation 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 consumer 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 (performing on a French warrant) a ProtonMail consumer’s IP handle and system logs. The police arrested the consumer, a French environmental activist.

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

As we speak, Swiss e mail firms have been reclassified so 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 regulation, we aren’t obligated to avoid wasting any consumer 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 potential to view public keys, not non-public ones. This is not a lot of a bombshell, on condition that “public” is correct there within the title. However uneven encryption — the sort utilized by VPN protocols like WireGuard — requires each keys to decrypt any messages. Even when a hacker had been in a position to get ahold of a personal key, they possible would not be capable of use it for something. WireGuard incorporates good ahead secrecy by default, altering session keys usually sufficient that any given secret is out of date by the point it is stolen.

Closing verdict

In brief, we’re ready to advocate Proton VPN to nearly anyone. Whether or not you are primarily involved with safety, streaming or one thing else, likelihood is good that you’re going to be glad. The one severe downsides are that the long-term plans are overpriced and that it is onerous to get stay tech assist in case you stay exterior of Europe.

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