Proton VPN — Swiss-Based Privacy VPN
Swiss-jurisdiction VPN with a usable free tier, Secure Core multi-hop, NetShield ad-blocking and audited open-source apps from Proton AG.
4.3 / 5
★★★★★ ★★★★★ Highly recommended
Strengths
- Switzerland is one of the few strong privacy jurisdictions outside the Five/Nine/Fourteen Eyes intelligence alliances and has no mandatory data retention for VPNs
- Free tier is genuinely usable - no logs, no bandwidth limit, no time limit, no ads (limited to 3 countries and 1 device)
- Secure Core multi-hop routes traffic through hardened servers in Switzerland, Iceland or Sweden before exiting - useful for higher-threat-model users
Watch outs
- More expensive than Mullvad on the rolling tier (£8.95/month vs €5 flat)
- Free tier server choice is deliberately limited to encourage upgrades
- The Unlimited bundle pulls you deeper into one provider's ecosystem - fine if you want that, less appealing if you prefer to mix services
£8.95
Typical price - check Proton AG for live pricing.
- Country Switzerland (Proton AG)
- Free tier Yes - unlimited bandwidth, 3 countries, 1 device, no logs
- Pricing (Plus) £8.95/month rolling, ~£4/month on 24-month plan
- Pricing (Unlimited) Bundles VPN + Mail + Drive + Pass + Calendar
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By Editorial team1 min read
- Country
- Switzerland (Proton AG)
- Free tier
- Yes - unlimited bandwidth, 3 countries, 1 device, no logs
- Pricing (Plus)
- £8.95/month rolling, ~£4/month on 24-month plan
- Pricing (Unlimited)
- Bundles VPN + Mail + Drive + Pass + Calendar
- Protocols
- WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, Stealth (obfuscation)
- Server network
- ~7,000 servers in 110+ countries
- Devices
- 10 simultaneous connections (Plus)
- Audits
- Open-source apps audited by Securitum (2022, 2023, 2024)
- Special features
- Secure Core multi-hop, NetShield, Tor over VPN, port forwarding
- Streaming
- Decent - Netflix regions, BBC iPlayer hit-and-miss
- Payment options
- Card, PayPal, Bitcoin, cash (by post)