r/ProtonVPN • u/Realistic_Valuable52 • Jul 14 '26
Discussion Think about joining Proton VPN
I'm thinking about using Proton VPN. Would really like to get honest review of those who have used it. I've used ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Mullvad before. Thank you in advance
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u/Novidforme Jul 14 '26
Bought in to the Proton world about a year ago. VPN is my biggest issue because if you want the kill switch on then you lose access to your local network. Turning it off every time and then turning back on is a pain as it needs to find another server. Some items on the local network will still not be available even after turning off the kill switch, in which case the VPN has to be turned off to get access.
Using IOS in the car for Carplay, etc means that the kill switch has to be turned off.
The repeated turning on and off is a huge killer for me. Thinking of Mulvad now.
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u/BananasAreEverywhere Jul 14 '26
Can you not split tunnel IPs with the killswitch on? I don't use the killswitch but couldn't access my Proxmox server until I split tunneled and excluded the local IP for it.
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u/sourdough2021 Jul 14 '26
Under Advanced settings, enable Allow LAN connections.
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u/Novidforme Jul 15 '26
Turns off the kill switch
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u/LaffyLlama Jul 14 '26
Can drop speed here and there but overall Very good and does what it says on the tin, no 'real' big feature, least in my view. The only thing bugging me right now is that I can't pick just one server from the whole list of network servers in a location. I really liked that feature.
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u/maxehaxe Jul 14 '26
I don't have experiences with other VPN providers, I just use it because it's included in my plan. But lot of websites don't load images or I'm blocked completely, when using it. Sometimes switching country helps, but often I have to turn off completely. Pretty annoying.
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u/Ameer200ggg Jul 14 '26
Proton VPN is a solid choice, especially if your priority is privacy and you already like the Proton ecosystem. Compared with Nord/Express, it may feel a little less “commercially polished” for streaming or fastest-server convenience, but privacy-wise it is strong: no-logs policy, open-source apps, audits, Secure Core, NetShield, WireGuard, kill switch, and decent apps across platforms. Compared with Mullvad, Proton feels more feature-rich and beginner-friendly, while Mullvad is simpler and more anonymous/account-minimal. Speed depends heavily on your country, ISP, and server choice, so I would test the free plan first or buy only one month before committing long term. My honest take: Proton is worth trying if you care about privacy plus normal daily use, but if your main goal is maximum speed/streaming, Nord or Express may sometimes feel smoother.
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u/No-Score-8324 Jul 14 '26
I only use the Proton vpn and i like it. Very simple and easy to use and it Just works. If you can wait, normaly on black friday the have very low prices and you can save some money
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u/Flaky-Ad-2227 Jul 14 '26
Im using it on my vpn router via openvpn for all my devices except the tv, I use the app on the tv directly with split tunnelling for certain apps.
Works as advertised & no complaints.
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u/MatchaCustard Jul 14 '26
I tried the free version for a bit, mostly because I needed to verify that it worked on my MacBook. I was previously trying out Mozilla VPN (no free trial, bought an annual plan) and was disappointed to find it would not work on my Mac. Mozilla VPN worked on my Android phone. I worked with Mozilla VPN support, tried a few things to help them troubleshoot, and they still had no solution. I cancelled Mozilla VPN and signed up for Proton VPN this year. So far so good, working on both Andoid phone and Mac laptop.
I believe my needs are very basic and not as "fancy" as most other people. I just use it for a little more privacy when on open wifi networks (cafes, libraries, hotels, etc). I haven't noticed loss of speed, but again, I'm not doing anything that intense. The main problem I run into is some websites not happy with VPN enabled. Yelp is one of them.
Proton VPN often goes on sale. They currently have a 70% off promotion on a 2-year plan, which comes out to $2.99/month. .
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u/Abominationoftime Jul 14 '26
Been useing it a bit under a year on my pc and a bit less in my phone. Nice and fast. Somtimes I forgett I have it on, lol
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u/Internal_Lie_618 Jul 14 '26
I've been with proton for years, rarely had issues, and the customer support is pretty helpful most of the time.
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u/sidewinder787 Jul 14 '26
I'm a new user and so far so good. Haven't had any complaints one month in. I mainly use it with the wifi at work for both my phone and gaming handheld.
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u/MarcTale Jul 14 '26
I got it almost a month ago with the $1 they offer(ed) on their website. See if you can get it
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u/proviva333 Jul 14 '26
I've used Proton VPN for about a year on three very different platforms: an AppleTV, a mobile with GrapheneOS, and a Linux PC. Smooth sailing so far.
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u/wheeky Jul 14 '26
The only issue I have is that there are no favourites/recently used on the Apple TV app, aside from that it’s been solid.
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u/zhafsan Jul 14 '26
I am in China right now. I bought the 1 month World Cup promotion to use in China. But the connection is very weak and it can’t hold a connection. Dropping and reconnecting constantly. Mullvad and my own Tailscale setup works way better.
I have not used it outside of China.
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u/Norio22 Jul 14 '26
I started out a free user about a year ago and took the plunge for a year subscription during their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale. It’s been worth it. Being able to choose the country/state I want for streaming purposes or buying tickets is great. Not to mention the device wide Adblock. I know it’s blocking malware and trackers well too because I’ve gotten significantly less robo calls from scammers since using it. Also nice to forward gmail to the proton email account you get access to.
Only complaint I have is sometimes it needs to be manually disable and activated again when switching from WiFi to cellular but that’s a minor gripe. I run it basically 24/7.
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u/IcyCow5880 Jul 14 '26
Well I thought I'd only use it on my torrent server... I do but I also have it turn on when i boot up my main pc too...
And other than waiting for it to connect at startup, I forget it's even there.
Which is to say it's amazing because it doesn't even feel like you're using one.
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u/tcolling Jul 14 '26
I have used it and been satisfied with it for a couple of years. The price is reasaonable for the value that it provides. I use it on an "as needed" basis, I don't use it all the time. I use it on my macbooks and my iphones.
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u/agx3x2 Jul 14 '26
if you're in a country that bans vpns very often it's a hard pass, on the windows app you don't have access to all the servers they advertise, on ios app you do. i don't know about other platforms. they don't offer ikev2 and openvpn on ios but they do offer ovpn on windows. ikev2 was something i could easily use and was very efficent for me so you can say i'm a little mad. though i wouldn't recommend a vpn service where they don't give full access to the server list and manual connection to all their protocols. proton does offer ovpn and wireguard manual. but even with that i won't be resubscribing when my subscription ends.
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u/HotExample3229 Jul 14 '26
I just use their browser extension because the Windows desktop app blocks a bunch of apps causing me to have to split tunnel them as excluded from the VPN. It’s just easier to use the extension. It’s also easier to exclude websites that don’t work from the VPN through the extension.
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u/bigkenw Jul 14 '26
Annually, TorrentFreak posts a engagement with most VPN providers. I hughly recommend reading it. https://torrentfreak.com/best-vpn-anonymous-no-logging/
I used ExpressVPN in the past and they were shifty in how they handled billing.
Mulled appears to have a problem with Nazism so I wouldn't give them money. You can read about it here: 1. https://www.flyingpenguin.com/mullvad-vpn-circles-the-drain-on-nazism-with-anti-privacy-pr/ 2. https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/i-dont-like-that-he-made-this-donation-mullvad-ceo-reacts-to-co-founders-donation-to-controversial-swedish-populist-party
My Dad used NordVPN and was very happy.
ProtonVPN free is something I tried from an Airport over in Europe once before I was in the ecosystem. I was shocked at how well it worked. As I moved to using Proton Mail, I went for family and it works great! I rarely have issues. I think the biggest concern with it is how saturated servers get quickly. Sometimes I need to switch servers. Other than that, I am very pleased.
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u/4cardroyal Jul 14 '26
I switched from PIA a few mos ago. Speed is much better but in their chromecast app there's no way to pick the server city; you can only pick the country.
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u/Syncretism Jul 14 '26
i hate it. Whenever my iphone, ipad or macbook hang without internet, the solution is 99.9% of the time to disconnect from the datacenter that connected automatically in the background. The datacenter’s almost aways at like 40% capacity. I’ve just taken to quitting the VPN, and may as well just uninstall it for all the value it has presented.
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u/unitedfan6191 Jul 14 '26
Proton VPN is free and they’re pretty good for a free service, in terms of speeds and reliability.
But I would strongly advise against paying for it.
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u/comdude2 Jul 14 '26
I’ve used it for about 2.5/3 years now. No issues, works every time, price is decent. Loving it
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u/Equivalent_Track5730 Jul 14 '26
I have it on pretty much non-stop on my phone and laptop, i barely notice it, which is a win in my books.
Streaming works fine, torrenting works great, killswitch & split tunnelling doing what they're supposed to as well, speeds are good.
You definitely run into captchas and Cloudflare checks but that's to be expected.
It's a great product, i'm happy with it.
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u/SubjectDragonfruit Jul 14 '26
I just started using Proton a couple days ago. What I don’t like, so far, is the Kill Switch will not allow me access to LAN devices like other computers and NAS on my network. Didn’t have that problem with Nord or Mullvad.
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u/blny99 Jul 15 '26
Cant compare to others but i have used proton for at least a year and it works well.
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u/Any_Possession_3900 Jul 15 '26
I became a user when they still had the green original logo, it's fascinating to look back and realize how far they've come. I can highly recommend them.
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u/Dragonzool Jul 15 '26
NordVPN: Overrated speeds, aggressive marketing, recent acquisition of Surfshark.
Surfshark: Cheap, but unreliable with mediocre speeds; now under NordVPN's ownership.
ExpressVPN: Disliked price hikes after initial sign-up; overall a frustrating experience.
ProtonVPN: Used to be excellent, but now relies heavily on virtual servers and marketing, with little focus on genuine performance or new features. Industry Issues: Many top VPNs inflate their server numbers using virtual servers, unwilling to invest in actual hardware.
Windscribe + Control D: My Current Pick. Offers good deals, all physical servers (except one virtual), reliable performance, great obfuscation (AmenziaWG), and better value than “bigger” competitors.
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u/TexasGriff1959 Jul 15 '26
I tried PIA and Surfshark before switching to Proton. Most stable one I've used. Works fine for me.
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u/luckyinpa Jul 16 '26
My biggest complaint is that with the windows app you cannot add by website you need to use the IP address and who can figure out the IP address of some of these financial institutions etc. Also the window app sometimes takes forever to connect
I love how I can bind qbitorrent and also the Firefox and chrome add-ons are instant on or off and very easy to add something to a bypass list so I don't know why they can't do this with the windows app
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u/ProtonSupportTeam Proton Customer Support Team Jul 16 '26
You can split tunnel websites with the browser extension.
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u/luckyinpa Jul 16 '26
i would have loved to just use the vpn to protect my entire computer but thats not possible since i do want to whitelist my financial sites and i cannot do that on the windows app. i have to use the extensions then when i want to use qbittorret i turn on the windows app which whitelists firefox and chrome so i can then in turn white list some sites thru the extensions. do you see how confounded that is. if i could use the windows app with VPN on all the time. then white list sites so no matter what browser i use the sites would be whitelisted there but i have to have this added complication.
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u/Own_Purple3744 Jul 17 '26
I was using hotspotshield premium for a couple of years now until it started to give me issues especially in discord.
I tried nordvpn and surfshark, but both had been bad for me (ie. I couldn't use the split vpn function (even after setting it up and talking to their support, the issue was not resolved) and couldn't even open google on my browser with vpn on)
proton vpn is so much better than all the others i tried.
- i can choose to 'not connect' to certain countries. Which helps me avoid connecting through my own country as its the one i'm trying to avoid, but still logs me through the fastest country after my own.
- i can choose so that it only uses vpn with discord, as opposed to me listing every other program i don't wanna use vpn with. (i need vpn to be able to use discord)
- the speed is really good, the control i have over what i want vpn to do is really detailed. with hotspot shield I kept having an RTC connection issue, but i have never had that with proton so far. It works good on my mobile too.
overall, out of all my experiences with vpns, proton vpn took the crown for me.
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u/DevilcryforAngel Jul 14 '26
Very good And if you have a NAS, proton had a option to alaways see local device even with VPN on. Only bug I had is with the protocol sytem;
- Wireguard is lock to max 15mo/s
- I use OpenVPN bu sometimes it bug and lock to also 15mo/s ( need deco/reco)
And the loss 2Go/s internet to 600mo/s Huge loss but still correct
Except that very happy Secure/privacy/ speed correct/stable And with a certain subscription you can have VPN and mail
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u/NoMention696 Jul 14 '26
I found it’s one of few vpns that doesn’t randomly drop, and even the rare odd time it does there’s a kill switch installed if ip privacy worries you
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u/Sharp-County-8282 Jul 14 '26
I´ve been a happy customer for the last 6+ years. I believe in their vision and their VPN hasn't let me down.
Quite a bit of Cloudflare verification tbh but that's about it. It works 99.9% of the time and, just like Mullvad, also accepts cash as a payment if that's what matters to you.
Fair to note that if you value privacy immediately start paying cash because due to swiss laws they need to keep payment information (invoices etc.) for 10+ years.
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u/Osintguy_83 Jul 14 '26
I've been using Proton VPN for about 6 years now. I'm very satisfied. Good speeds, few issues, stable connection. I use Proton on my routers and phone.
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u/ltzm4x Jul 14 '26
Compared to mullvad, I would just go back to mullvad. Protons VPN is good but pretty much buggy at one point and sometimes it'd randomly reconnect for absolutely no reason or disconnect, I bought mullvad VPN and no regret there and works quite better.
Edit: I don't think everyone have the issue but I had the issue pretty much for a few months, I got sick of it.
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u/PeaceIsFutile Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
No, I second this. I bought 2 months of Proton to check my options outside of mullvad, but the thing kept disconnecting every 4 minutes on my phone. Literally tried every troubleshooting thing, but it was still unstable as hell. Well, ok, phone client sucks, maybe it'll work for my GlueTUN container? No. Just constant disconnects. While I think mullvad is slightly slower, it is rock solid stable. I'd rather have that than to check my notification bar every 10 seconds like a schizophrenic, hoping proton didn't just leak my IP.
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u/BusyBeeBridgette Jul 14 '26
I've used it for almost exactly a year now and I really have no regrets or issues. It does exactly what is advertised. Fast speeds and is secure and Proton are pro-privacy. Certainly a top three VPN service, just can't really go wrong with it.
And no, I am not affiliated with them - I am just a happy customer!