Proton VPN vs ZenMate
Side-by-side comparison based on Reddit & Twitter discussions
Community Pick
Proton VPN
Based on community sentiment and discussions
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...
Approval Rate
20%
1 recommend · 4 warn
Data Quality
Medium
Reviews
10
Reviewers
10
Best for:
People who want a straightforward VPN for everyday browsing
Casual streamers who want something easy
Users who like using a VPN through a browser extension
ZenMate comes up as a pretty approachable VPN that people see as “good enough” for everyday use, especially if you want something simple and not overly technical. It also gets mentioned alongside main...
Performance by Use Case
| Use Case | Proton VPN | Winner | ZenMate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Streaming | 74% (64) | ← | - |
| Torrenting | 74% (37) | ← | - |
| Privacy | 67% (397) | ← | 20% (7) |
| Censorship | 60% (73) | ← | - |
| Gaming | 44% (9) | ← | - |
| Travel | 83% (7) | ← | - |
| Work | 100% (3) | ← | -- (1) |
| Router | 67% (4) | ← | - |
| Mobile | 100% (2) | - | - |
| Price | 73% (52) | ← | - |
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
ZenMate
Strengths
- Simple to use
- Decent speeds for everyday use
- Good for basic privacy and tracking protection
- Handy browser extension option
Weaknesses
- Ownership concerns (Kape/Teddy Sagi)
- Trust questions for privacy-focused buyers
- May not satisfy advanced business/network needs