Hotspot Shield vs Proton VPN
Side-by-side comparison based on Reddit & Twitter discussions
Community Pick
Proton VPN
Based on community sentiment and discussions
Approval Rate
57%
8 recommend · 6 warn
Data Quality
Medium
Reviews
19
Reviewers
19
Best for:
People who want a simple VPN for school/work network blocks
Casual users who mainly need protection on public Wi‑Fi
iPhone or Windows users who want something straightforward
Hotspot Shield comes up a lot as a quick, easy VPN that can help on sketchy public Wi‑Fi and get around basic blocks at school or on restricted networks. People like that there’s a free option and tha...
Proton VPN
Winner
Approval Rate
71%
493 recommend · 203 warn
Data Quality
High
Reviews
1,012
Reviewers
836
Best for:
People who want a good free VPN that doesn’t feel sketchy
Privacy-focused users who like the Proton ecosystem
Folks who want optional anonymous payments
Everyday users who want a reliable VPN for general browsing
Proton VPN has a solid reputation as a privacy-focused VPN, and a lot of people like it because it feels trustworthy and reliable day to day. The free plan gets praised a lot as one of the better “act...
Performance by Use Case
| Use Case | Hotspot Shield | Winner | Proton VPN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Streaming | 100% (1) | → | 74% (64) |
| Torrenting | - | → | 74% (37) |
| Privacy | 33% (4) | → | 67% (397) |
| Censorship | 100% (1) | → | 60% (73) |
| Gaming | - | → | 44% (9) |
| Travel | 33% (3) | → | 83% (7) |
| Work | - | → | 100% (3) |
| Router | - | → | 67% (4) |
| Mobile | - | - | 100% (2) |
| Price | - | → | 73% (52) |
Hotspot Shield
Strengths
- Easy to use
- Good for public Wi‑Fi
- Free tier available
- Often feels fast when it connects well
- Works on iPhone and Windows
Weaknesses
- Free tier can be unreliable
- Can be slow at times
- Connection issues and disconnects
- May conflict with Apple iCloud Private Relay/Cloud Relay
- Privacy and ownership concerns
Proton VPN
Strengths
- Strong privacy reputation
- Best-in-class free tier
- No-logs and audit-focused image
- Anonymous payment options
- Good reliability overall
Weaknesses
- Can be slower than competitors
- Port forwarding can be annoying for torrenting setups
- Auto-connect behavior can be frustrating
- Not everyone trusts it as much as top privacy rivals