ProtonVPN Review 2024: Free & Paid Plans, Performance, Safety & More | VPN Review by Industry Experts

In this review, we will not only look at ProtonVPN’s immense amount of features and security measures, but we’ve also included the opinions of VPNcheck’s resident experts on this relative newcomer to the world of VPNs.

ProtonVPN actually stemmed from ProtonMail, an email service founded in 2014, but the official release of the VPN didn’t come until 2017. This service lures a lot of people in with their free plan. Who doesn’t like free stuff, right? However, to get the most out of it, you definitely need to upgrade to a paid plan.

We decided to sign up and check out all the features ourselves. Below we will walk you through everything from web browsing and reliability to the speed and overall performance of ProtonVPN for a variety of use cases.

• Streaming capability – ProtonVPN certainly has the speed for high-quality streaming. However, you need at least their Plus plan to use Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and other streaming services.
• Security – ProtonVPN uses the highest level of AES encryption available, tunneling with AES-256 encryption and 4096-bit RSA key exchange. 
• Privacy – All of the membership plans offer a strict no-logs policy for your peace of mind. There is also the benefit of Private DNS, Kill-switch, and Tor over VPN support to protect your IP address. The servers use full disk encryption, so any seized or compromised server is inaccessible.
• Pricing – The free membership plan is definitely a magnet for a lot of people, but a paid membership is your best bet to get the best out of this network. A paid ProtonVPN subscription will unlock higher speeds and far more features. There are flexible plans, but this isn’t the cheapest VPN, especially if you want to unlock all of its impressive features.
• Apps and extensions – ProtonVPN has VPN client apps and extensions for various platforms, including mobile devices. The interface is so simple that even your grandma can get it up and running quickly.
• Customer support – There is a large knowledgebase for you to draw from, but there’s no Live Chat feature or an easy way to connect to a human instantly. You need to use the ProtonVPN support ticket system for any queries.

Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned cash on a membership to a VPN and then discover that it will only connect at a snail’s pace or struggle to even load a simple video. 

How does ProtonVPN stack up when it comes to performance? A trend seems to be emerging. To get the big features, you have to part with the big bucks. Streaming is limited to Plus or Visionary plans.

Adrian Sproule shares his expert opinion on the performance of ProtonVPN here:

A modern VPN should make it easy to access streaming services restricted to certain locations and view the catalogs offered in other parts of the world. For instance, you can only access Hulu from the United States while Netflix implements geoblocking measures.

Tested using the Plus membership of ProtonVPN, Netflix connected and played with ease and with plenty of speed. However, this feature is not available in the Free or Basic plans.

You also need to connect to a Plus server. And even if you have a Plus membership, connecting to a server that will not allow you to access Netflix or other streaming services can happen. ProtonVPN’s guide to unblocking Netflix ensures you don’t get geoblocked. 

By default, if you use ProtonVPN to watch Netflix, you will access the United States Netflix catalog. However, you can also access the regional versions of Netflix in the UK, France, Australia, and other countries using Plus servers in those locations.

The screenshot below shows us accessing US Netflix from the UK.

We were able to access Hulu using a US-based Plus server. It was easy to connect to a choice of over 200 PLUS servers. If you’re outside of the States, ProtonVPN can help you to view your favorite shows. Just select from a Plus server in the United States.

The Amazon Prime Video streaming also needs you to connect to a Plus server in the location you want to access. Be aware that you may get a notification to watch the service in the country of your registered address. You may even need a separate account for each country to get around this.

You can access the Australian, Canadian, French, German, Indian, Italian, Swiss, UK, and US versions of Amazon Prime Video. See ProtonVPN’s complete guide to connecting to Prime Video: How to Safely Watch Prime Video With ProtonVPN

Connecting via a UK server, BBC iPlayer connected with no issues and detected our location as London, UK. The video we chose played without issues whatsoever.

DAZN offers different sports shows depending on your location. With ProtonVPN, you can connect to all of the different regionalized versions of DAZN, including Canadian, German, French, Italian, Swiss, and UK versions. ProtonVPN even provides a step-by-step guide on how to unblock DAZN with ProtonVPN. For instance, connecting to the Canadian site allows you to access Premier League, UEFA Champions, and Europa League coverage.

When considering a VPN for streaming and gaming, being able to get past the geo-blocking is very important. But almost as important is the speeds you’ll get when using their servers. While it naturally depends on how much bandwidth you have, it’s entirely possible for a VPN server to be the cause of buffering – or worse – high latency.

In the case of ProtonVPN, speed shouldn’t generally be an issue. Is it the fastest VPN out there? Far from it. However, it does really well in upload speeds and keeping fair speeds when connected to servers that are located far away from you. Thankfully, the latency shouldn’t be a problem either (in most cases). Well, this is what we found after testing it ourselves. Here’s a snapshot of our speeds before using the VPN:

And this is what we found after we connected to the ProtonVPN server in London:

As you can see from the screenshots, the latency is low and we still have a lot of bandwidth for streaming, gaming, or just surfing the web. Unfortunately, there was still a major drop in speeds after we connected to the ProtonVPN server.

We also tested it by connecting to a server in the United States (FL), with a 100Mbps connection, but the result was the following:

In this case, the latency would be fine for browsing and streaming, but certainly not for gaming. The download and upload speeds were around 50% of what we tested before connecting to the ProtonVPN server. Not the worst we’ve seen, but not that impressive either.

Once again, ProtonVPN Free plan proves limited in this area as torrenting is reserved for users with a paid membership. This is fair enough – you won’t find many reliable VPN services that allow you to use P2P torrenting without paying for it. Besides, torrenting with ProtonVPN is much safer than torrenting and P2P sharing without a VPN. 

ProtonVPN being based in Switzerland means being protected by very strong data protection laws, and this VPN’s protocols keep your data and IP address secure. They don’t keep any logs of their users’ activity, either.

ProtonVPN offers a fantastic level of compatibility no matter your device. Each of the apps works smoothly. There are native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, Android TV, and iOS/iPadOS. 

Depending on your membership, you may be able to connect up to 10 different devices. Once again, there’s a big boost if you go for the Plus membership, as the Basic allows you to connect just two devices, but the Plus plan allows 10 VPN connections.

There are currently over 1,300 servers within the network, scattered across the globe. The majority of these are Plus servers, reserved for those top-tiers of membership.

There are 55 different server locations that you can access worldwide, including within the Russian Federation.

The majority of the key locations are covered, including the US, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, France, and more. You can use these servers to mask your location and access localized services such as streaming on Hulu, which is limited to the US, or BBC iPlayer, which is limited to the UK.

55 countries is respectable, but not as high as some other VPN companies. ExpressVPN, for instance, can allow you to connect to over 90 different countries. Fortunately, for most peoples’ needs, ProtonVPN offers more than enough.

It can quickly become frustrating when a VPN’s user interface isn’t up to scratch (even if it’s really fast and unblocks streaming platforms). Fortunately, ProtonVPN’s flat-style design and simple interface make it very convenient to get it up and running.

We sought our expert’s opinion of ProtonVPN’s UI/UX – from the application’s settings to its overall appearance. Here’s her professional opinion on the app.

In the higher membership tiers, you can connect up to 10 devices using your membership. Fortunately, ProtonVPN’s support for a variety of devices and as a browser addon are fantastic. Connecting is simple whether you’ve got a generation-old Android tablet or a brand new MacBook.

ProtonVPN doesn’t mind how up-to-date your operating system is as long as you’re using one of Windows versions 7, 8, or 10. Vista and XP are not supported since they have some inherent security risks. Honestly, you don’t want to be running Vista in 2024 anyway. To get ProtonVPN up and running on Windows, you can install the native client app on your Windows desktop or laptop, available directly from ProtonVPN’s website.

Mac users will also find it simple to download and install a native app available from ProtonVPN, but it is all about getting the right version for the OS you are running. By default, the latest app for Macs, running an OS more up-to-date than 10.14 (Catalina or Big Sur), will get the latest DMG file from the ProtonVPN site.

If your Mac runs macOS 10.14 or earlier, you will need to download version 1.9.3 of the ProtonVPN app. See the instructions here: ProtonVPN macOS application. Their support page also includes Instructions for older operating systems.

You can download the iOS version directly from the App Store. You can also pay for membership directly through the app, but this doesn’t necessarily work out as the most affordable method. To use the app on iPhone or iPad, you need iOS 12.1 or later. iPads require iPadOS 12.1 or later. The iOS app has an average review score of 3.9/5, which is not perfect, but we found no problems when downloading and using the app.

ProtonVPN has over 5 million downloads for Android OS. The current Version 2.8.75 of the app requires Android 6.0 and up. If you’re clinging onto older versions or just want to connect via OpenVPN Connect, this is a possibility, too. The brand has created a handy guide to configuring OpenVPN Connect apps. You should probably only attempt this if you’ve got a decent level of tech knowledge, or you might find yourself getting very frustrated.

ProtonVPN Plus membership allows connecting up to 10 different devices. The company provides client apps for a wide selection of platforms that you can access with your account. On the ProtonVPN website, you will find options to download for Mac and Windows, as shown below, as well as for Linux, Chromebook, and Android TV. Instructions for Android and iPhone/iPad apps are also available on the website.

The official ProtonVPN Linux app, a Chromebook app, and an Android TV app open up possibilities for streaming and viewing content from all around the world.

Click on the Signup button (accessible from each page) to see available plans, as well as the option to change your currency. The three settings are USD, CHF, and EUR.

Next, select whether you want to pay monthly, yearly, or two-yearly. The longer the subscription, the cheaper each month works out. Honestly, though, two years is a longer commitment than some people make for their car, so this option seems unfeasible for a VPN. 

Choose which plan you want, based on the features, and click the button below it to enter your details and sign up.

Having your account already set up means that when you download and install the appropriate app, you will be able to log in immediately. Here is what it looks like when you open the application for the first time on Mac OS.

First things first: Getting your account set up is vital, and it’s worth doing this before you download the app to ensure you have access when it is needed.

Input the email address and password you used to sign up for your account, and you will be ready to go. “Start on Boot” means that the app will open whenever you boot up your device.

Your login credentials will remain the same no matter what device you use.

The fastest way to get connected to a server is to hit “Quick Connect” but this doesn’t allow you to choose your location. It’s fine if you just want to mask where you are, but if you want to get the new hit show from the US, there’s no point in connecting to a location like Taiwan.

Instead, search from the list of countries. You can then see the servers and a handy speed indicator on the list. A Connect button comes up when you hover over the server, and voila! You are ready to connect.

You don’t necessarily have to delve any further than this, but if you do want to change the default connection protocols or other settings within the app, you can go to File and then Preferences to access the menu below.

Security considerations should always be high on your list when choosing a VPN, especially when that VPN service is still relatively new. ProtonVPN is based in Switzerland, offering high levels of security and protecting your privacy in many ways, but that doesn’t mean you’re totally infallible. The “no logs” policy we’ve come to expect doesn’t mean that there isn’t any record of your details.

Our resident security expert shares their expert opinion here regarding the rock-solid encryption and advantages of the Swiss location.

It’s all very well taking advantage of the watertight laws in Switzerland, but this is only beneficial if the VPN itself has a strong level of encryption and security.

ProtonVPN supports tunneling (hiding data packets within another packet to protect it from public view).

Other forms of VPN tunneling you can use:

• L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)/IPsec
• OpenVPN using TCP or UDP. UDP is usually quicker, but the retransmission of lost data packets can only be done using TCP.

ProtonVPN’s website explains that they have deliberately chosen not to use servers that support PPTP and L2TP/IPSec as they are trying to keep their servers running the “most reliable protocol”. 

By default, the encryption method is AES-256, key exchange is done with 4096-bit RSA, and HMAC with SHA384 is used for message authentication.

There are additional considerations, and ProtonVPN seems keen to back up those Swiss privacy laws with unbreakable encryption.

They have handpicked cipher suites and ensure they only use suites offering “Perfect Forward Secrecy.” This means that if your data packets and encrypted traffic get captured, they can’t be decrypted at a later date if there is a leak and the encryption key from another session is leaked. Every session has its own encryption key, used only once, further protecting the privacy of your traffic.

Many VPNs are moving to RAM-only Servers, but ProtonVPN is taking a different approach. Virtually no data that would render users identifiable is stored on the servers, but the data that happens to be stored is protected by full disk encryption. All vital configurations and software, including server certificates, are automatically stored on an exit server. If the server itself got hacked or compromised in a man-in-the-middle attack, the “attackers would not be able to access any data stored on it.” 

ProtonVPN has additional features to protect their users:

• Private DNS – Private and encrypted DNS on every server, with no third-party servers used in their network.
• ProtonVPN Kill Switch – Automatic disconnection if your VPN connection drops to prevent users from becoming traceable.
• Tor over VPN Support – Plus and Visionary plans allow Onion to Tor over a VPN connection for added security. The ISP can’t detect that you are using Tor.

DNS leak protection is also in place to prevent data leaking via DNS queries to third parties. This is accessible on the Preferences page, but it can be confusing as it doesn’t look like it has been turned on.

In fact, in spite of what the interface below seems to show, DNS protection is always on.

ProtonVPN’s privacy policy actually starts with a “Philosophy” section. While this section probably doesn’t carry much weight legally, it’s a handy overview of where the company is coming from:

Our Company is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. It is our overriding policy to collect as little user information as possible to ensure a private and anonymous user experience when using the Service.

The policies definitely back up this promise, along with the protection of the Swiss laws that we keep mentioning (it’s a big plus point). If you’re the sort of person who finds it hard to understand the technical and legal jargon, our expert provides a simple overview of how ProtonVPN’s privacy policy protects your rights.

Even the most tech-savvy among us might find that we need a little bit of tech support along the way, right?

How does ProtonVPN stack up when it comes to getting the help you need and establishing exactly how the nuances of their apps and server setup work?

ProtonVPN has a huge knowledge base, including several guides on setting up the VPN in different countries and accessing different streaming services.

You can start typing a query into the Support Center’s search bar and any relevant matches will come up, allowing you to follow in-depth text and photographic setup guides and troubleshooting.

You can contact ProtonVPN via email, but this is not necessarily the best way to do it, and even their website says it isn’t the fastest way to get a response. Instead, you should fill out their Support Form to allow their tech support to respond to your issues quickly.

By filling in details about your operating system, the OS you are running and the ProtonVPN version you are using, tech support has a better idea of how to answer your queries. You can also input your username “so the request can be prioritized” but we’re not sure how much difference this makes.

The ProtonVPN company actually started as ProtonMail, a free, encrypted mail service based in Switzerland. This mail service still runs in parallel to the VPN service.

Proton Technologies AG is the company running these subsidiaries. The company was founded in 2014, but the VPN service didn’t launch until 2017. As earlier stated, the company is based in Geneva, Switzerland. This seems to be a deliberate decision to take advantage of those solid protection laws for the consumer, giving them the edge when it comes to privacy.

The founders of the company also have an impressive background. Founding partners Andy Yen, Jason Stockman, and Wei Sun are all scientists by trade, and met at CERN (the European Center for Nuclear Research). You can be sure of a scientific approach with the ProtonVPN team.

The company has offices in Prague and Skopje, and employees working remotely in 17 countries. Out of almost 300 registered employees listed on LinkedIn, 121 specialize in engineering and 56 in IT. The VPN is technically an employee-owned company.

Proton Technologies was initially funded through crowdfunding. Later, additional funding was sourced through Venture Capital by FONGIT “Fondation Genevoise pour l’Innovation Technologique,” a non-profit foundation, which itself is financed through the Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation. 

The business structure of this VPN, including where it is headquartered, is definitely worth considering for any potential customers. This can have a huge impact on how a VPN is run.

Our expert business consultant delved into the history and origins of the business and the corporate structure.

ProtonVPN has a pretty simple pricing structure and the option to get started for free. The paid plans include:

• Basic – $5 a month
• Plus – $10 a month
• Visionary – $30 a month

You can save 20% by paying annually, and 33% by paying for two years. 

The Basic plan allows you to use more servers, and add one extra device. It also unlocks slightly quicker speeds on the servers, but realistically, far better features come into play when you opt for more expensive membership. 

Plus membership is where you really start to unlock what this VPN can do, using up to 10 devices, and features such as streaming via video services like Netflix. This is one of the most common uses of VPNs, and it is a little annoying that the $5 membership doesn’t allow you to stream. However, $10 per month is not excessively expensive in the world of VPNs.

For a more in-depth look at how ProtonVPN’s prices compare against some of its competitors, we asked our pricing expert to run the rule over the platform.

With so many competing VPNs out there, most of them are trying to put themselves ahead of the curve with extra features. While some are drawn to ProtonVPN because of their location, others find these extra features, beyond what you might expect from a VPN, tantalizing.

The kill switch gives you a backup if you lose your connection to the server. The VPN detects this, and will protect your IP address in the event that you are left exposed by a lost connection. The kill switch automatically takes you offline.

All paid plans include an adblocker that speeds up browsing by blocking ads, prevents you from accidentally clicking on malware, and even stops ads from tracking you around the internet. Netshield has three levels of protection and you can choose exactly how you want to use the blocker to improve your browsing. This guide shows you how to use Netshield on different devices: How to Use Adblocker via ProtonVPN

Another privacy measure available on the ProtonVPN servers is that the company uses full disk encryption, so any seized server by authorities (or anyone else) would be inaccessible. Data packets cannot be decrypted at a later date.

If you opt for the Visionary plan for ProtonVPN, you also get access to a ProtonMail Visionary account for private and secure email. You can have six users and 50 addresses, as well as 20GB of storage with this plan.

ProtonVPN supports Tor over VPN. This means that traffic originating from your IP address is encrypted through the Tor (Onion) network and is never revealed, either to your ISP or any Tor nodes. It takes just one click with the ProtonVPN app to start using Tor over VPN and you can get started as soon as you download the app.

With Tor, you have the option to connect to hidden sites, known as onion sites, which can only be reached on the network. ProtonMail is an example of a service with its own onion site. They bypass regional censorship in countries where the browsing laws are strict.

ProtonVPN has some very advantageous features, and some people are always on the lookout for a great Swiss VPN. The free plan tends to reel people in, but it is quite restrictive.

This particular VPN seems cheaper, but if you really want to get the most out of it, you need to get at least the Plus plan to open up options for streaming and the more advanced features. The vast majority of the servers are also “Plus” servers, so a basic plan doesn’t give you huge advantages.

Overall, ProtonVPN is a great option for the security-conscious VPN user, with rock-solid servers and exceptional performance to back up your privacy.