- Jurisdiction
- Switzerland
- Founded
- 2017
- Owner
- Proton AG
- Best price
- $2.99/mo
- Devices
- 10
- Free tier
- Yes
Best for
- · People who want a trustworthy free tier
- · Open-source advocates
- · Higher-risk users (Secure Core multi-hop)
Not ideal for
- · Fully anonymous signup (an email or username is required)
Strengths
- ✓Strong Swiss jurisdiction outside 5/9/14 Eyes
- ✓Open source, with five consecutive independent no-logs audits (Securitum, 2022-2026)
- ✓Court-tested: across 411 legal requests, zero VPN data was handed over
- ✓Unlimited free tier with no data cap; private payment by cash (mail) or Bitcoin
- ✓Stealth obfuscation protocol and Secure Core multi-hop
Weaknesses
- ✗Signup requires an email or username (not fully anonymous)
- ✗Cheapest rate needs a 2-year commitment
- ✗One company spanning many products is a broad attack surface
Protocols & encryption
The tunnelling protocols this service offers and the cryptography behind them.
WireGuard
ModernA modern, lean protocol (~4,000 lines of code) that is fast and easy to audit. Its cryptography is fixed and state-of-the-art, with no weak options to misconfigure.
- Data cipher
- ChaCha20-Poly1305
- Key exchange
- Curve25519 (ECDH)
- Integrity
- BLAKE2s
OpenVPN
TrustedThe mature, widely-trusted open-source standard. Flexible and heavily audited over two decades, though slower than WireGuard.
- Data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Key exchange
- RSA-4096 / ECDH
- Integrity
- SHA-256 / SHA-512 HMAC
IKEv2 / IPsec
TrustedA fast, stable protocol that reconnects quickly when you change networks, so it is popular on mobile. Built natively into most operating systems.
- Data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Key exchange
- Diffie-Hellman (ECP)
- Integrity
- SHA-256 / SHA-384
- Stated data cipher
- AES-256 / ChaCha20
- Stated handshake
- RSA-4096 / Curve25519
- Perfect forward secrecy
- Yes
- Post-quantum resistant
- No
- RAM-only servers
- Unknown
- Kill switch
- Yes
- First-party DNS (leak protection)
- Yes
- IPv6
- Supported
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
| Based in | Switzerland |
| Eyes alliance | Outside 5/9/14 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | Proton AG |
| Conglomerate | n/a |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | None kept |
| Bandwidth | None kept |
| Source IP address | None kept |
No-logs policy independently verified by five consecutive Securitum audits, including physical inspection of live servers in Zürich (Aug 2025).
| Anonymous signup | No |
| Accepts cash | Yes |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Yes |
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | Stealth |
| Multi-hop | Yes |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Unknown |
| Port forwarding | Unknown |
| P2P / torrenting | Unknown |
| IPv6 | Supported |
| Data cipher | AES-256 / ChaCha20 |
| Handshake | RSA-4096 / Curve25519 |
| Open-source clients | Yes, all apps |
| Independent audits | 5 |
| Transparency report | Yes |
| Court / seizure-tested | Proven |
Across 411 legal requests (2019-2025), Proton VPN disclosed zero VPN activity data: with no logs, it cannot identify who connected to a server, even under a binding Swiss order. Switzerland also sits outside the 5/9/14 Eyes with no VPN data-retention law.
| Simultaneous devices | 10 |
| Countries | 110 |
| Servers | n/a |
| Linux support | GUI app |
| Month-to-month | $9.99 |
| Best $/mo | $2.99 |
| On plan | 2-year (VPN Plus) |
| Free trial | n/a |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | No overclaiming |
Independent audits
Overseen by the non-profit Proton Foundation; the free tier is funded by paid subscriptions.
Sources
- Proton VPN no-logs audits (official, five consecutive) ↗
- Proton VPN transparency report (legal requests, zero data disclosed) ↗
- Proton VPN payment options, including cash by mail ↗
- Proton VPN (official) ↗
Last verified 2026-06-30. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.