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 information limits, and it is one of many few providers majority-owned by a nonprofit. It is one of the best VPN in each of these classes, and it makes a robust case for being one of the best general.

Even should you do not care in regards to the work of the Proton Basis, Proton VPN is a service price utilizing. It is simple 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 help.

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

Editor’s observe (7/25/25): We’re within the technique of revamping our VPN protection to supply extra in-depth, actionable info and shopping for guides. Our suggestions, and all the data on this web page, are topic to vary because the replace continues. Take a look at our revamped ExpressVPN evaluate and NordVPN evaluate to see the brand new route, or be taught extra about how we take a look at VPNs.

Proton

Proton VPN is a superlative service that is confirmed itself prepared to battle in your privateness — plus, it unblocks Netflix and retains your web quick.

Execs

• Retains web speeds quick
• Bodily secured information facilities
• Free plan with limitless information

Cons

• Excessive proportion of digital server areas
• Reside chat help just for paid customers

$3 at Proton VPN

Desk of contents

Findings at a look

The desk summarizes what we discovered whereas reviewing Proton VPN, each good and unhealthy. Hold 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 isn’t troublesome. Proton VPN has extra options than ExpressVPN, and a few them would possibly journey up new customers, however you’d have to actually scrounge to search out an precise inconvenience to complain about.

Home windows

Proton VPN installs simply on Home windows — you may have to grant it permission to make modifications, however that is it. As soon as you have signed in on the app, you may attain among the best interfaces we have tried on a VPN. The server community is straight away 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 superb how a lot you may attain from the launch window with out something feeling cluttered. They even squeezed in keyboard shortcuts for the search area. 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 needs to be a neater technique 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 may attain a lot of the necessary options from the primary window, together with Profiles, NetShield, Safe Core servers and the kill change. Nevertheless, there is not any longer a technique to filter out an inventory of the P2P or Tor servers, besides by digging by the Profile controls. On the plus facet, you may 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 properly. 4 tabs alongside the underside change between the house display, the nation listing, Profiles and all different settings. You may 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 virtually the identical because it does on Home windows and Android, however with among the identical drawbacks discovered on Mac. The server listing is extra cluttered, and as soon as once more there is not any simple technique 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 simple to activate and neglect about.

Browser extensions

Proton VPN has browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. These function de facto break up tunneling, as connecting by the extension protects solely browser site visitors; every little thing else goes unprotected. You may break up the tunnel additional by setting the VPN to not work on sure URLs (in contrast to the opposite apps, you need not know the IPs of these websites).

Proton VPN pace take a look at: 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 know-how, which runs VPN communications throughout a number of parallel tracks to course of every little thing quicker. It did not disappoint — for probably the most half. Though obtain speeds did not attain the heights we noticed from ExpressVPN, Proton VPN’s looking efficiency nonetheless seems glorious almost throughout the board.

To decide on our areas for the take a look at, we checked Proton VPN’s listing of good routing servers, which use servers in a single nation to simulate IP addresses in one other. Virtually 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 pace was 88 % of our unprotected speeds. To place that in perspective, should you began with 30 Mbps down (about half what we get) and related to any Proton VPN server, you’d virtually actually nonetheless have a quick sufficient connection to stream in 4K.

Word the “virtually” — Proton VPN did drop noticeably on its French server in Marseille. It is not unusual for one in all a VPN’s information facilities to have bother whereas the others work fantastic, and you’ll normally repair the issue by simply disconnecting and reconnecting. Simply observe that whereas drops to about 75 % of your obtain pace are uncommon, they don’t seem to be inconceivable.

Proton VPN safety take a look at: Watertight protocols

After we speak about VPN safety, we’re actually speaking about reliability. Can this VPN set up an encrypted tunnel and transmit all of your info by 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 under 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 carried out thoughtfully. The fourth, Stealth, is an obfuscation protocol it is best to solely use if the opposite three are blocked.

• OpenVPN is probably the most safe possibility. With out getting too technical, OpenVPN encrypts its backend features in addition to the information itself, which leaves it with no apparent vulnerabilities. It may possibly additionally talk utilizing the identical ports as frequent HTTPS site visitors, so it is exhausting 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, slicing the safety threat.

• IKEv2 is a protected selection that is sometimes quicker than both OpenVPN or WireGuard. You most likely will not use it until it occurs to return up whilst you’ve set the protocol to Good. As such, it is on the way in which to being phased out of Proton VPN.

• Stealth is exclusive to Proton VPN, although its perform is just not. It is obtained 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,” is just not a protocol — it means your VPN consumer selects the protocol that will provide you with one of the best speeds in your present server. Since all 4 protocols are protected, there is not any draw back to utilizing the Good setting more often than not.

Leak take a look at

We used AirVPN’s IP leak device 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 potential, we examined utilizing a easy technique: checking our seen IP tackle 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 tackle present up on the device. This held true even outdoors the Safe Core server listing, the place information facilities might need been managed by third events. It is not excellent proof, however it’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 facet, however a VPN is doubly necessary 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 total VPN suitable with IPv6 addresses. If a VPN that is solely configured for IPv4 has to resolve an IPv6 tackle, it may possibly trigger a leak — that is why most VPNs, even one of the best ones, block IPv6 altogether. That stated, the entire web will run on IPv6 in the future, so it is good to see Proton VPN main the pack.

Up to now, IPv6 is robotically enabled on Proton VPN’s Linux apps and browser extensions, and might 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 take a look at

Even when a VPN’s protocol selections are strong, 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 may knock off half that value by subscribing for a full 12 months and paying a lump sum of $59.88, understanding to $4.99 per 30 days. A Plus account with Proton VPN additionally provides you free entry to each different Proton app.

You too can pay $107.76 prematurely to subscribe for 2 years, a median of $4.49 per 30 days — maybe extra handy, however it does not prevent a lot. The one-year plan is one of the best worth, although it is also good that you do not have to pay by the nostril for just one month. There is a 30-day, money-back assure on all plans.

Proton VPN is at the moment providing Engadget readers an unique 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). Study extra about it right here. One ultimate possibility is the Proton Limitless subscription, mentioned within the “facet apps and bundles” part under.”

The Proton VPN free plan

Proton VPN is likely one of the greatest free VPNs available on the market proper now. No different VPN backed by as a lot expertise and common sense has a free plan with no information limits. As an alternative of capping how a lot information you should utilize per 30 days, Proton VPN restricts which servers free customers can entry, limiting them to 5 international locations: america, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

The irritating half is that you may’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. Additionally it is potential 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 facet 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 Go. 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 cannot be going in-depth on any of them on this evaluate, however here is a fast rundown of every.

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

Even should 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 should you’re capable of decide to a 12 months prematurely.

Shut-reading Proton VPN’s privateness coverage

Proton’s privateness coverage is available in two elements: the final Proton coverage and the shorter coverage particular to Proton VPN. We’ll cowl them in that order.

Common Proton privateness coverage

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

It’s possible you’ll rightly ask how Proton would know a consumer is abusing one in all their providers if they do not maintain exercise logs. The reply is that logs aren’t wanted; most types of abuse might 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 might examine that server and discover the hacker whereas the assault was nonetheless ongoing.

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

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 related to the VPN, can’t throttle web connections and should prolong full privateness and safety to free customers.

In a single sense, a privateness coverage requires you to take the VPN supplier at their phrase, however it’s harmful for a corporation 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 a terrific 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 means to masks a consumer’s location is not advanced — all you want is a streaming subscription. We related to 5 take a look at areas and tried to unblock Netflix with every one. If we managed to entry the location, and noticed completely different reveals than these on the American library, we concluded that the placement had masked us efficiently.

Proton VPN handed the take a look at 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 related us to a free server, which was too gradual to load Netflix; after 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, america and Japan. If you join as a free consumer, you may be robotically related to whichever location is quickest.

A paid plan opens up the total community of 154 servers in 117 international locations 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 properly represented, and U.S. customers will discover 20 completely different areas to select from.

Needless to say about two-thirds of those server areas are digital, that 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 Japanese 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 cover your IP tackle simply in addition to bodily ones. It is solely an issue should you’re anticipating the sort of efficiency, notably when it comes to latency, that you just get from a close-by server. Fortunately, Proton VPN provides you quick sufficient obtain and add speeds that distance should not be an issue.

Options of Proton VPN

Proton VPN has various additional options that transcend customary VPN performance. We have already talked about the Stealth protocol and IPv6 help. On this part, we’ll cowl an extra 5 options that is perhaps of curiosity.

NetShield advert blocker

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

NetShield works by checking any DNS requests towards a database of net servers recognized to host malware, inject advertisements or connect cross-site trackers to your looking session. The DNS-blocking strategy means it isn’t able to blocking advertisements served from the identical area that hosts them — so no blocking YouTube video advertisements. On the constructive facet, it means NetShield works throughout your total gadget, 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 advertisements, however since you may’t customise the blocklist in any approach, it is best when mixed with one other browser-level advert blocker.

Safe Core servers

Here is an attention-grabbing one. Safe Core is a type of a standard characteristic often called double VPN or multi-hop VPN, through which a connection runs by 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 a delegated server in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland. Just a few touches make Safe Core servers extra dependable than the typical VPN node:

• All three international locations are protected jurisdictions, with consumer-friendly privateness legal guidelines and courts sympathetic to privateness claims.

• Safe Core information 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.

Virtually 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, however it’s price it when you have one thing particularly delicate to do on-line.

Kill change

Proton VPN features a kill change, an ordinary characteristic. When lively, a kill change cuts off your web at any time when your connection to the VPN drops. This implies you are by no means at risk of leaking your actual id or location, even for a second. It additionally protects you towards the TunnelVision exploit, which requires the hacker to make a pretend 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 the browser extension. With break up tunneling, some apps or web sites get on-line by the VPN, whereas others keep unprotected.

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

Torrenting servers and port forwarding

Proton VPN is likely one of the greatest 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 % of your add speeds on common, and it is best to have few issues utilizing a torrenting consumer.

It additionally has some help for port forwarding, which might enhance torrenting pace. Home windows and Linux customers can allow it with a easy toggle, which gives an lively port quantity for configuring personal servers. Mac customers can arrange port forwarding by 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 related 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 technique to entry the darkish net. With the VPN as an middleman, you are by no means connecting to Tor with your personal IP tackle, so malicious node operators cannot see your actual id. 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 international locations (the U.S., France, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Hong Kong). Every simply has one Tor server, besides america, which will get two. Tor over VPN is supported on all platforms, however it will not work on Mac or iOS until you have got 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 activity. Two profiles can be found from the beginning: Quickest, which connects to the quickest server, and Random, which all the time connects to a unique server. You may create extra profiles by toggling 4 settings:

• Function: The kind of server used. Select from Normal, 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” might be chosen.

For instance, say you wish to watch a TV sequence that is solely accessible on Netflix in Canada. You may 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 will save quite a lot of time should you usually carry out the identical motion in your VPN.

Proton VPN buyer help 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 gradual regardless of the app exhibiting a light-weight load?

You may entry the assistance heart by 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. In case you kind “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 help content material. Till Proton fixes it, simply use the search bar for every little thing. 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 remember the fact that reside chat help is barely accessible on paid accounts, however there is a pretty lively subreddit at r/protonvpn the place Proton employees continuously put up.

Reside chat is just not intuitively positioned on protonvpn.com. We lastly discovered it by scrolling all the way in which to the underside of the primary 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 in regards to the Marseille servers as an electronic mail ticket as an alternative.

This half was simple, not less than, as the shape helpfully populated our system info. We additionally obtained a immediate response inside 24 hours. We ended the interplay there, as we weren’t capable of reproduce the sluggish conduct on the French server areas, however it’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 guardian firm, Proton AG, met whereas working at CERN in Switzerland, and the corporate stays beneath Swiss jurisdiction.

Their first product, Proton Mail, went reside in 2014 after a profitable crowdfunding marketing campaign, and claims to have 100 million customers right this moment. Proton VPN was Proton AG’s second mission. 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 Go password supervisor in 2023, every designed round utilizing end-to-end encryption to make consumer information inaccessible.

The Proton Basis

Proton introduced in 2024 that almost all of its shares had been acquired by the Proton Basis, a nonprofit whose solely goal 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 guardian firm, all the board of trustees must agree, which feels unlikely primarily based on Proton’s observe file.

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 under.

ProtonMail legislation enforcement collaboration allegations

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

Whereas that is unnerving for privacy-minded customers, there are some necessary contextual points to think about. Most significantly, ProtonMail is just not ruled by the identical coverage as Proton VPN. On the time the case unfolded, Swiss legislation obliged all electronic mail corporations to adjust to court docket orders from Swiss authorities handy over information. VPNs aren’t topic to these retention necessities.

At this time, Swiss electronic mail corporations have been reclassified in order that they’re additionally exempt from information retention necessities, thanks partly to a coverage change Proton fought for. A consultant from Proton confirmed that “beneath Swiss legislation, we’re not obligated to save lots of any consumer connection logs.” It is also reassuring that, regardless of complying with the subpoena, Proton wasn’t capable of flip over the contents of any emails.

Alleged WireGuard reminiscence vulnerability

In January 2025, researchers at Venak Safety alleged that Proton VPN lacks reminiscence safety for keys generated beneath the WireGuard protocol, which could let hackers scrape the keys and decrypt intercepted communications. Proton responded to Venak in a weblog put up, 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 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 had been capable of get ahold of a personal key, they possible would not be capable of use it for something. WireGuard incorporates excellent ahead secrecy by default, altering session keys usually sufficient that any given secret’s out of date by the point it is stolen.

Ultimate verdict

In brief, we’re ready to suggest Proton VPN to virtually 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 severe downsides are that the long-term plans are overpriced and that it is exhausting to get reside tech help should you reside outdoors of Europe.

It is also our unqualified decide for one of the best free VPN, however with the caveat that it is a unhealthy 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.