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 "Refund Experience"

7 reviews

"I canceled and got a refund when I found out about the Israeli security connection. I’ve gone for proton VPN and I’m happy"

r/privateinternetaccess 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"@Hampsta4 @GriftReport @Ofcom use a money back app buy probably the best vpn proton vpn in a few months you get your money back"

@dtbangoskank 3 weeks ago View on Twitter →

"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 →

"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..."

@LYRASTARCORE 2 weeks ago View on Twitter →

"Lost 1 year worth of Proton VPN subscription A month ago, I subscribed to a 1-month free Proton Unlimited trial while having a 2-year Proton VPN subscription that was supposed to end in November 2026. Five days ago, the Proton Unlimited t..."

r/vpnreviews 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"[WARNING] Proton VPN cancelled my paid 2-year subscription after I redeemed a "free month" promo cod I'm sharing my experience with Proton VPN to warn other users about a serious issue with their promotional system. What happened: Late N..."

r/vpnreviews 1 week 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 →