ProtonVPN Review

ProtonVPN is a highly regarded VPN brand from the same CERN scientists who gave us ProtonMail. It has received widespread acclaim for its content protection measures and privacy policy.

ProtonVPN has set out to offer the world a VPN that is secure, not funded through malicious means, and not limited in terms of bandwidth or amount of data transferred.

I decided to see if ProtonVPN does live up to these aspirations. I’ll look at plenty of essential questions about ProtonVPN in this review. Is ProtonVPN safe to use? Is it trustworthy? Does it keep logs? Is it good for torrenting?

In my ProtonVPN review, I’ll answer these questions to help you determine if this is a good choice for your VPN needs.

Overview

ProtonVPN video review

Is ProtonVPN safe?

ProtonVPN is very committed to robust online security and privacy. Security-wise, it’s incredibly safe and is a surefire choice for protecting your digital assets. From hiding your IP address and ensuring your anonymity online, to torrenting safely and avoiding online censorship, this VPN service is pretty much as good as it gets.

Encryption and tunneling protocols

ProtonVPN uses AES-256 encryption, which is considered the gold standard of cryptography techniques. Used by both cybersecurity experts, banks, and even world militaries, AES-256 is practically unbreakable.

As far as tunneling protocols go, ProtonVPN offers the following:

• OpenVPN TCP
• OpenVPN UDP
• IKEv2/IPsec

That’s quite a basic range of protocol options, but ProtonVPN’s additional security features cover all the relevant corners. All in all, OpenVPN is the best for securing your day-to-day connection, while IKEv2/IPsec will get you over any VPN-blocking firewall an authoritarian government might throw your way.

Does ProtonVPN have a kill switch?

ProtonVPN offers a powerful kill switch. If your VPN connection drops for some reason – the program will stop all traffic and prevent your IP address from leaking.

I tested the ProtonVPN kill switch on their Windows app, and the results didn’t disappoint – it worked reliably whenever I got disconnected from ProtonVPN, including some unorthodox scenarios.

To activate this feature, simply go to the Settings on your ProtonVPN app.

Split tunneling

ProtonVPN also offers a split tunneling feature. Again, you’ll find it in the Settings.

With this feature, you can choose which apps and IPs to exclude from using a VPN tunnel. Alternatively, you can include certain apps to go through the VPN tunnel.

Secure Core and Tor over VPN

Secure Core is one of the most praised features that ProtonVPN offers.

Put simply, with this feature, your traffic would be first routed through the Secure Core servers, and only then go to the VPN server.  Secure core servers are located in privacy-friendly Switzerland, Iceland, and Sweden. What Secure Core adds is this extra layer of security.

Naturally, you might worry about how this feature would affect the speeds. Of course, going through two servers means experiencing some slow down. However, even with Secure Core enabled, I found the speeds satisfying enough.

Meanwhile, Tor over VPN is a feature that combines the anonymity given by the Tor network and a VPN. With Tor support already built-in, your traffic could be routed through the Tor network, enabling you to access the dark web.

One thing to mention is that you’re entitled to use both of these features once you subscribe to Plus or Visionary plans. They won’t work with the Free or Basic plans.

Does ProtonVPN leak?

ProtonVPN offers DNS leak protection on the client-side as well as a private DNS network. This should ensure the prevention of most DNS leak situations.

There have been reports that ProtonVPN is susceptible to the notorious WebRTC leak. However, at the moment, my tests show that this is not the case.

The situation with IPv6 leaks is less clear, but any allegations about ProtonVPN’s IPv6 leaks lack substantiation. In the worst case, it’s possible to simply turn off IPv6.

All in all, I can reliably say that ProtonVPN is a leak-free VPN service.

Minimal logs and privacy-friendly location: Switzerland

ProtonVPN is based in privacy-friendly Switzerland. Apart from being strict on privacy in general, Switzerland has no data retention laws and is not part of the Fourteen Eyes alliance. This means that jurisdiction-wise, ProtonVPN is based in one of the best countries on the planet.

The service logs your email address, support tickets, and payment details, such as your name and the last four digits of your credit card, as well as a timestamp. However, they state that it gets “overwritten each time you successfully log in” and you can ask the staff to erase it. While there are several elements logged, the company has had no issues regarding the sharing of those data bits.

According to the ProtonVPN Privacy Policy:

Each time a user connects to the Service, we only monitor the timestamp of the last successful login attempt. This gets overwritten each time you successfully log in. This timestamp does not contain any identifying information, such as your IP address or your location; it only contains the time and date of the login.

This is far less than many other VPN providers collect and shouldn’t be of much concern.

Therefore, even though ProtonVPN has a “no-logs” claim on their website, which changes to “no activity logs” after scrolling down a bit, it does the minimum required logging after all.

Open-source and audited

At the beginning of 2020, ProtonVPN announced that their apps are now open-source and audited. It was an anticipated step, given the fact that the company is well known for its dedication to providing a safe and secure browsing experience.

At the same time, ProtonVPN decided to focus more on third-party audits. Hence, ProtonVPN signed a contract with the leading security firm SEC Consult to conduct the audits. I see this step as an excellent example of the company moving forward to ensure the safest and the most private experience to its users.

How fast is ProtonVPN?

Our base connection speed at the time of the test was 193 Mbps Download and 196 Mbps Upload. Looking at the table you can tell that ProtonVPN speeds are quite fast thanks to their bare-metal server network, modern tunneling protocols, and unique technologies for improving connectivity.

Of course, the speed is not determined by the number of servers only. For example, Plus plan subscribers can use 10 Gbps servers, which can really make the difference if your internet connection is fast.

As mentioned, you can use the Secure Core feature, but bear in mind that with it on, you’ll be sacrificing the speeds to some extent.

Also, make sure that you have VPN Accelerator enabled to take advantage of the unique technological solutions that ProtonVPN has implemented to improve connectivity.

VPN Accelerator

Recently, ProtonVPN released a unique feature called VPN Accelerator that improves connection speeds across all devices, regardless of what tunneling protocol you’re using. Best of all, it’s available for premium and free users alike. It’s enabled by default once you update your app.

Apparently, VPN Accelerator should improve connection speeds by up to 400%. This feature works best when connecting to servers located further away. Meanwhile, connecting to nearby locations will yield less noticeable improvements.

Through research and development, ProtonVPN developed a stack of performance-improving technologies that deal with various inefficiencies and limitations when using a VPN. For starters, many VPN protocols do not take advantage of multithreading. VPN Accelerator is meant to address this issue in a variety of ways.

Of course, that’s just one piece of the puzzle. To find out more about VPN Accelerator, visit the ProtonVPN blog where they announced the feature.

Does ProtonVPN support my device?

Yes, it probably does. As far as its multiplatform availability goes, ProtonVPN is available on the most popular desktop and mobile operating systems, including:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux
• Android
• iOS
• Android TV
• Chromebook

There are also tutorials on installing it on AsusWRT, DD-WRT, Tomato, and Vilfo routers.

While the number of apps and supported devices is still quite small, it’s only a matter of time until ProtonVPN adds more. After all, this VPN was created with security – and not popularity – in mind.

The number of devices per account depends on the pricing plan. The free version gives you just one, while the priciest Visionary plan allows for up to 10 simultaneous connections.

ProtonVPN for Windows, macOS, and Linux

The desktop apps are easy to navigate – they have a huge map and are not cluttered at all. Every option has useful explanations.

On the primary screen of the ProtonVPN Windows app, you’ll see a map, which you can zoom into and out of using the bar at the top right. Hovering on the little triangles will reveal what country the VPN server is based in. If you then hover over the country name, it will change into a Connect button.

On the top left, you should notice a Quick connect button, which will connect you to a server nearest to your location. Below there is a Search tab and an expandable list of countries with ProtonVPN servers.

Special servers are marked with different icons. Two opposing arrows mean a P2P server, and the onion means Tor over VPN. “P” is for the Plus servers available to Plus and Visionary plan owners.

If you turn Secure Core on, all your traffic will go through ProtonVPN’s hyper-secure servers in Switzerland, Sweden, or Iceland. This will also slow your connection down considerably.

The hamburger menu has several choices, but I’ll only discuss the most critical settings.

• Auto Connect. You can enable or disable it and choose how the auto-connect feature behaves – whether it always connects to the Fastest server, Random server, or follows the parameters of one of the Profiles.
• Quick Connect. Choose how the “Quick Connect” button behaves (similar to Auto Connect).
• Default Protocol. For OpenVPN, you can choose Either UDP or TCP – a great choice to have, especially if you don’t have the most stable connection (in which case you might want to try TCP). This can be confusing for anyone who has read about OpenVPN and can’t find it on the list. The security protocol is OpenVPN – you’re just choosing the kind of OpenVPN.
• VPN Kill Switch. This is an important feature, which is “Off” by default. We recommend turning it “On.”
• DNS Leak Protection. There is absolutely no reason why this should be switched off.

There isn’t much room to get lost in the ProtonVPN client – the tool feels spacious but uncluttered. It’s very functional but lightweight.

Unlike with most VPN providers out there, the ProtonVPN offers a Mac client that is just as secure as the Windows app. Many VPN services strip certain security features from their macOS apps, which is not the case with ProtonVPN. Both Secure Core and Tor over VPN are present in the ProtonVPN macOS client as well.

On the other hand, the ProtonVPN Linux app is more of a command-line tool that has no GUI, unlike Windows and Mac apps. That’s relatively common across the VPN industry, with most VPN services offering GUI-less apps for Linux users.

ProtonVPN on mobile: Android and iOS (iPhone/iPad)

The mobile versions of ProtonVPN have a bit fewer functions and use the IKEv2 protocol.

For Android, you can use OpenVPN by installing it manually. As usual, ProtonVPN Android and Mac versions do not have a real kill switch, just the Always-on-VPN function, which should be enough for most users.

The ProtonVPN Android app doesn’t feature a kill switch, so you’ll have to the default Android OS kill switch or download one from a third-party, which is barely an inconvenience.

You can get the ProtonVPN Android app for your phone or Chromebook on Google Play or via direct download as an APK package file from protonVPN.com.

Also, quite recently ProtonVPN announced that their Android app is now available on F-Droid.

F-Droid is the biggest free and open-source Android APKs repository. On this platform, you can download apps without providing your personal information. One thing worth mentioning is that the ProtonVPN Android app is still on Google Play, as well.

As for the ProtonVPN iOS app, it is practically identical to the Android version and is available on the App Store.

Other platforms for ProtonVPN

You can install ProtonVPN on Android TV. Once you set it up, you’ll be able to watch all supported streaming channels (more on that in the next chapter). The app, available on Google Play Store, also includes DNS and IP leak protection.

Chromebook users can also install the Android version of ProtonVPN. This can be done either via Google Play Store or by downloading the .apk from the provider’s website. The Chromebook app will unblock content and secure your public wifi connections.

ProtonVPN also offers set up tutorials for on AsusWRT, DD-WRT, Tomato, and Vilfo routers. This means that with a bit of work, you can protect your whole home network. That leaves the other nine connections (if you own a premium subscription) for protection on the go.

Does ProtonVPN work for Netflix and other streaming platforms?

ProtonVPN unblocks Netflix on specific US servers marked with “P,” which are available with the Plus and Visionary plans on the desktop ProtonVPN versions. According to the ProtonVPN support, however, they give no guarantees it will work all the time. That’s why I’ve decided to try it out and check the speeds.

The speeds were good enough for Ultra HD (4K). Although the initial loading of the show takes longer than usual, skipping and streaming is seamless.

ProtonVPN also supports Hulu. Just like with Netflix, you’ll need a Plus or Visionary plan to access Plus servers marked with “P.” Just like with Netflix, there’s no guarantee it will always work. And if it does, it’s either Windows, Mac, or Linux because Plus servers don’t support mobile devices.

Does ProtonVPN support torrenting?

Yes, ProtonVPN supports torrenting, but not on all servers and only for paid users. It also clearly states being against copyright infringement.

The remarkable security credentials make ProtonVPN a natural choice for torrent users. Unfortunately, P2P traffic is optimized only on selected servers in the Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Singapore, and Sweden. This means that users outside of Europe or Asia should not expect good speeds because of the distance to the nearest P2P-friendly server.

Learn more about ProtonVPN and torrenting in our dedicated article.

ProtonVPN email support, knowledgebase, and subreddit

The content on ProtonVPN’s website is useful. Although the self-help material is not abundant, it’s well-written and covers the most essential topics. If you have a question not covered by any of the articles on the site – fill out a support ticket, and you’ll eventually receive an informative answer. The only problem: it might not come quickly if you’re a Free user!

ProtonVPN also has their subreddit on Reddit, which is a transparent and efficient way of dealing with various questions because the employees answer most of the questions within 24 hours.

24/7 live chat support is not available yet.

Pricing: is ProtonVPN worth your money?

Below you can find more information about ProtonVPN regular plans.

ProtonVPN offers four pricing plans – Free, Basic, Plus, Visionary. You can choose to pay both monthly, annually, and bi-annually.

• Free. Three countries (the US, the Netherlands, Japan), one device, throttled speed, no torrenting, no Netflix.
• Basic – from $3.29/month or $79 bi-annually. All countries, two devices, torrenting.
• Plus – from $6.63/month or $159 bi-annually. All countries, five devices, torrenting, Netflix, Plus servers, Secure Core, Tor servers, Secure streaming.
• Visionary – from $19.96/month or $479 bi-annually. All countries, 10 devices, torrenting, Netflix, Plus servers, Secure Core, Tor servers, Secure streaming, ProtonMail Visionary subscription.

You can pay by credit card, PayPal, gift cards, and Bitcoin. Please note, that at the moment, cryptocurrency payments are accepted from the existing users only.

ProtonVPN’s Free version is the best free VPN deal I’ve seen so far. The paid options are excellent for a security-first user who doesn’t need good speed and is fine with only US Netflix.

You can try the Plus version for seven days for free. After you connect to a server for the first time, a pop-up is displayed:

On top of that, every paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Should you get ProtonVPN?

ProtonVPN is suitable for security-first users who are willing to wait when this service grows their server and location numbers. It is a hugely ambitious project, lead by the CERN employees, and already the best choice for those who want a free VPN.

What is more, in summer 2020, the team behind ProtonVPN and ProtonMail announced the upcoming launch of ProtonDrive. It will be launched in fall 2020 to help ProtonMail users store, upload, and download their files both easier and with an added layer of encryption.

ProtonVPN FAQ

Is ProtonVPN any good?

ProtonVPN makes it to our top-20 VPN providers list – that’s a very good result.

Despite that, there are some VPNs that are powerful and have a better set of features, ProtonVPN is an excellent choice, especially, if you’re just starting out in the VPN world.

Is ProtonVPN free Safe?

It is. In fact, ProtonVPN offers one of the best free plans on the market today.

When downloading the free app you’ll be sure that your online activities are well protected. Moreover, the speeds you get are great – both for general browsing and for content streaming online.

Of course, if you wish to take your VPN experience to the next level, opt for the paid plans. This way, you’ll get to use powerful security features such as Secure Core and Tor over VPN.

Can you trust ProtonVPN?

Taking into account the security features that ProtonVPN has, it’s one of the most reliable providers on the market today.

With military-grade encryption, a foolproof kill switch, split tunneling feature you can rest knowing that your security needs are met.