Proton VPN Review

Community-sourced VPN review based on real Reddit & Twitter discussions

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Community Verdict
Recommended

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...

71%
positive
1,012
reviews
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
71% Positive Reviews
493 recommend, 203 warn
High Data Quality
1012 reviews from 836 people
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
Approval Rate
71% positive
493 recommend · 203 warn
Reviews
1,012
411 Reddit · 552 Twitter
Unique Reviewers
836
Data Quality
High

What the Community Says

Community Rating 7.5/10

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 “actually usable” free options, and the paid plan is often mentioned as a good pick if you care about things like no-logs, audits, and even anonymous payment options. It also comes up often alongside other privacy tools (like Proton Mail), which makes it appealing if you want everything under one roof.

The biggest complaint is speed: some people switch over from other VPNs and find Proton noticeably slower, especially depending on the server. A few also don’t love how certain torrenting setups work, since things like port forwarding can be a bit annoying to manage if the port changes when you reconnect. And while many trust Proton more than typical “affiliate-list” VPNs, there’s still a slice of people who are skeptical or just prefer competitors like Mullvad.

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
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
Not ideal for: People who need consistently top speeds for gaming or heavy downloads Torrent users who want a set-it-and-forget-it port forwarding setup Anyone who’s extremely picky and would rather stick with Mullvad-style simplicity

Summary generated 1 week ago from 1012 community mentions

Reviews about "Streaming"

31 reviews

"If you are still looking for a free VPN for Australia then, I will recommend you can try ProtonVPN. It gives great features for online privacy, streaming and gaming. It works well for me."

r/askanaustralian 2 months ago View on Reddit →

"Proton configured with WireGuard TCP configured works well. I’m also using it to bypass adds from a purple well known streaming platform 🥲"

r/tivimate 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Proton for Streaming Mullvad for downloading"

r/fitgirlrepack 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Per VPN, jo. Ist aber binnen Minuten eingerichtet und die gängigen haben meist eine 30-Tage-Geld-zurück-Garantie, die recht problemlos funktioniert. Offiziell natürlich nur mit Wohnsitz in UK, aber dann funktioniert z.B. ProtonVPN, Cyber..."

r/fcsp 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"ProtonVPN (USA server - free version) and Bitdefender (Argentina & USA servers) are not being blocked in hidive.com/login ExpressVPN (USA server) is getting blocked, though. Weird..."

r/mullvadvpn 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Protonvpn is free no ads but must use quaddns so Proton will not get detected so you can use youtube or Hulu. Go to settings/network/check network status/advance take pic of settings, then click back and go to forget network then find forg..."

r/vpn_question 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"Protonvpn is free no ads but must use quaddns so Proton will not get detected so you can use youtube or Hulu. Go to settings/network/check network status/advance take pic of settings, then click back and go to forget network then find forg..."

r/vpn_reviewer 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"ExpressVPN was my first and favourite but Proton is able to bypass streaming services that block vpn. (except for hidive in my experience) Proton didn’t change my TikTok feed as much as ExpressVPN but I think that has more to do with my ..."

r/vpn_reviewer 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"for streaming, Proton's premium plan and Aura VPN"

r/vpn_reviewer 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"I've been using it for years for streaming mostly and it gets the job done. I'm not in there for privacy just sreaming (netflix I have not tested) However, for heavily censored networks, I have to use free windscribe and proton. Pure does..."

r/vpnreviews 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"honestly the proton vs mullvad thing seems to come down to if you need streaming or not. mullvad is prob better for pure privacy but ive heard proton works better for netflix and stuff if thats important to you"

r/fitgirlrepack 3 weeks ago View on Reddit →

"Best VPN Services of 2026 According to Reddit I’ve been diving into a bunch of threads here lately trying to figure out what the best VPN in 2026 is one that actually lives up to the hype. There are so many options now, and every site seem..."

r/fitgirlrepack 3 weeks ago View on Reddit →

"I'm planning on using proton, but haven't settled on it. I've used their free version and the Opera browser vpn on my desktop before, the stream I'm looking to watch is both on youtube and the race series website"

r/glinet 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"I see you‘re new and you don’t know much about VPNs.. you don’t mention what you need it for, but lets say for privacy. Forgot them all, you only have 2 (maybe 3 if you want streaming) options. 1: Mullvad (the best one) 2: IVPN 3: Win..."

r/vpnreviews 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Best Monthly VPN to Use in 2026 Without Committing Long-Term? I only needed a VPN for a brief trip overseas recently and did not want to commit to a long subscription like most providers try to push. I spent some time reading free VPN Redd..."

r/vpn_question 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Best VPN for Firestick / IPTV? So my ISP is not allowing mmy IPTV to work, so going to get a VPN. I am UK based. I've looked at videos, reddit posts and a number of 'VPN Comparison tables' that I found, and it *seems* that the the top..."

r/tivimate 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"NordVPN vs ExpressVPN in 2026: Which One’s Actually Better Now? I recently made the decision to stop relying on free VPNs after dealing with constant slow connections and websites refusing to load. I had been using Windscribe and ProtonV..."

r/vpn_reviewer 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"...VPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost, IPVanish, and more — each suited for different use cases like streaming, gaming, torrenting, or maximum privacy. If you’re trying to decide which VPN is genuinely..."

r/technadu 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"...dVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and Private Internet Access.​ * ExpressVPN is often recommended for speed and streaming.​ * ProtonVPN looks strong on privacy, audits, and has P2P‑optimized servers.​ * NordVPN gets praised for speed and feature..."

r/webmastertools 2 weeks ago View on Reddit →

"...like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, ProtonVPN, and others, it’s hard to figure out which one is actually the **best VPN according to Reddit users** in 2026. From what I’ve seen across different subreddits (like r/VPN, r/Privacy, and r/tec..."

r/operagx 3 weeks ago View on Reddit →

"Windscribe is the best choice in terms of unlocking many Netflix libraries than any VPN along and other major UK/NZ/USA streaming services. Some users with high bandwidth, like those over 500.Mbps, report slow speeds and lag (not less than ..."

r/vpn_reviewer 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"Best VPN Still Works with Discovery Plus? I tried to watch a series on Discovery+ a few days ago that is only available in the US, but I am currently staying in Southeast Asia for work. I assumed one of the free VPNs people often mention i..."

r/vpn_reviewer 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Can you still use a VPN to bypass netflix’s password sharing rules in 2026? I have been sharing my sisters Netflix account for a long time, but things got annoying after they started enforcing the household rules more strictly. I am stud..."

r/vpn_question 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"What’s the Best VPN to Watch UK Netflix? I tried watching \*\*The Office\*\* and a couple of other shows this week that are only on \*\*Netflix UK\*\*, but I am currently in Canada. I assumed a free VPN would be enough, but Netflix clear..."

r/vpn_reviewer 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"I'm connected to mullvad 24/7 and I have no issues, the only thing is i had to disable it to log into netflix not a big deal. Apart from that gaming, watching yt, movies etc etc its great no issues. An anime service provider I'm testing out..."

r/mullvadvpn 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"I tried using a VPN to watch Blues games on ESPN and it didn't work. Teen again, it didn't work when I tried when I was in Canada. How do I use a VPN with my television? And other connected devices? Roku and XBOX mostly. You can PM me i..."

r/stlouis 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Let’s start with the features removed. The map that so many loved and allowed us to distinguish where we were logged into city wise or country, was taken down. Nord by their own admission has had many complaints since removing this map, a..."

r/vpnreviewhub 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"Your experience is unique to you. Others, specially those that stream, see Proton as a very slow speed VPN service, with also far less servers and locations then the top VPN services."

r/vpnreviewhub 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"But nord and surfshark work the best with streaming. Proton gets detected even by Netflix."

r/vpnreviewhub 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Same here. Since early December have gotten terrible connection issues. Noticed websites take up to 30 seconds to load, YouTube videos just don’t work or are constantly buffering, etc. Switched protocols, servers, and same result. If I d..."

r/protonvpn 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"Proton VPN: Lousy performance. Lousy service. Proton VPN turned my VNPT ADSL into lousy. And their 'Support', when you get any, jsut ignores the problem/s,and when i asked for a frefund after a month of lousy performance and complaints, ..."

r/vpnreviews 2 weeks ago View on Reddit →