Proton VPN Review
Community-sourced VPN review based on real Reddit & Twitter discussions
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...
What the Community Says
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
Summary generated 1 week ago from 1012 community mentions
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Reviews about "Audit Verified"
10 reviews"@markvalorian @T3chFalcon Proton VPN or their whole system ≈ Signal: no activity logs to leak, even to Swiss government, where 59 requests returned empty in 2025. Payments aside, privacy intact unless they nuke their audited no-logs model (RIP Proton then). #VPN #privacy"
"@MrLitstar @9393_ACrowley @ReclaimTheNetHQ Proton get audited every year and I'm yet to see any evidence they keep logs, even for free stuff. I would hapily use Proton or Surfshark, they both seem decent."
"@BasilTheGreat Better yet.. Download a VPN, pick a Swiss one like ProtonVPN or Swedish like Mullvad.. Five Eyes (UK+US+mates) can’t just poke about and grab logs.. Audited no-logs policy actually holds up .. Real privacy move .."
"@windscribecom Trust shift ok I just prefer shifting trust to @ProtonVPN, strict no-logs, open-source, independently audited, self-owned infrastructure, Swiss jurisdiction. Especially given that Windscribe has had publicly acknowledged incidents in the past. Just choosing who deserves the trust"
"You're not wrong, they're just not telling you the whole story 😉 A VPN does hide your traffic from your ISP, but now that encrypted traffic is just visible to your VPN provider instead . So the real question becomes: who do you trust more? Based on their public posture, Proton is one of the better answers. They're Swiss-based, which has strong privacy laws outside major surveillance alliances..."
"This may be true for shady VPNs out of China (top results in Google and Apple stores) however saying that this is universally true is a big lie. VPNs like Windscribe, IVPN, Mullvad and maybe even ProtonVPN operate differently. All apps are open source, the services have been audited (multiple times), and in some cases had their time in court to prove what they preach. We certainly did. Big nam..."
"Interestingly, PrivacyTools still recommends NordVPN as its top pick on its VPN page (as of January 2026), alongside Surfshark, ProtonVPN, and Mullvad. However, the site now operates more like a commercial/affiliate driven platform, with prominent affiliate links and promotions. For beginners just starting their privacy journey, this can be confusing or even counterproductive - recommending heavil..."
"@MittensAnon @ProtonMail Use Mullvad VPN. Exoneration by subpoena, or what we like to call “the best surprise audits”. Use Tutanota instead of Proton."
"@awppin @AndyMeanie @ProtonVPN Exactly. You would think proton VPN would show proof but instead they would rather type in all caps and folks will believe it."
"@whyte2025 @windscribecom @pcWRT @ProtonVPN .. proton has sent data to the police many times. Windscribe has been in court for 2 years and proved they have nothing. Even one of their old servers was taken but no user data. Check audits."