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 "Windows"

14 reviews

"@bamwinejnr Proton vpn... works well on both pc and phones"

@Jethro9581 2 weeks ago View on Twitter →

"...o service bridge (DONT SKIP THIS ONE!) - VPN (free or paid. For free I recommend Hotspot shield, or Proton VPN.) That's pretty much all of the non-special stuff I use on my laptop"

r/laptops 2 weeks ago View on Reddit →

"I used Proton in the past but switched to Windscribe in 2025, and while I can recommend both services, I feel Windscribe is a better developed app and gives better value. I don't use any Apple products to test so my experience is limited ..."

r/windscribe 4 weeks ago View on Reddit →

"Use AdguardDNS, Proton VPN and Obscura iOS and Mac for now - Obscura (They are new and are widening their support for all other platforms including Linux.) Android, Linux, TV, and windows Proton VPN with custom Adguard DNS. So far Obscura has been better since they trick websites into thinking I’m not using an Adblock, they are partnered with Mullvad, and when you sign up you don’t use an ..."

@OperatorZay 1 week ago View on Twitter →

"@Esau_Matsiko Has to be Proton vpn on pc, always on"

@ThiefInDNite 1 week ago View on Twitter →

"@weskambale I am using Proton VPN on both my PC and phone. It works fine."

@allan_d_clive 2 weeks ago View on Twitter →

"@fakesudanese Proton vpn for both phone and pc"

@heliiiuuusss 3 weeks ago View on Twitter →

"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 →

"@ProtonVPN Just switched from Windows to Fedora and installed Proton VPN, hopefully improvements to the GUI comes soon"

@p_tristan_s 1 week ago View on Twitter →

"I feel the same with private trackers. Sometimes I get a torrent to seed 1:1, sometimes.... Meanwhile I'm seeding 1tb+ non-stop of what I download from public trackers. PD: Using Transmission with ProtonVPN and 600/600."

r/torrents 1 week ago View on Reddit →

"Is your device an ARM processor? Proton has 2 versions of the Windows app, make sure your device operating system is regular Windows 11 or Windows 11 ARM."

r/vpnreviewhub 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"I downloaded proton vpn for win 11. But when running the file it says not compatible with my version of windows. I have win 11."

r/vpnreviewhub 1 month ago View on Reddit →

"@imeesa_ @CryptoCyberia And yet I have ZERO issues with mullvad.... Werid huh. I've literally not had one single leak using mullvad across my macos, windows, or Linux computers. In fact I've not had a single issue at all. But sure keep sucking up to proton. So I did inform them. They haven't fixed it."

@baiaphilia 1 week ago View on Twitter →

"Best Free VPN for Torrenting in 2026? I have been looking for a free VPN that can handle occasional torrenting since my paid plan ran out and I was not ready to renew it yet. I do not download much, mostly some old shows and a few open sou..."

r/vpn_reviewer 2 weeks ago View on Reddit →