Proton VPN Review: is it still good?
Since 2014, Proton VPN has been on the guard of user privacy. At the same time, many call the service one of the safest and most affordable. But does it meet those high standards eight years later?
Non-trivial history of creation
Proton VPN really stands out among the competitors. The history of the launch of the service shows it. It was developed as a data protection tool for Proton Mail clients, which independent journalists actively use.
Over the years, Proton VPN has evolved into an open-source software offering developed by an international community of engineers and programmers.
Another feature of the platform is the Swiss company registration. Therefore, the project is outside the US and EU legal frameworks. For this reason, it can legally guarantee the complete confidentiality of the transmitted data.
Proton VPN also has a unique monetization scheme. The service offers a choice of paid and free subscription plans. Free subscriptions are funded by premium subscriptions.
The project does not use other methods of monetization. Therefore, all Proton VPN applications are ad-free, and compliance with strict Swiss legislation guarantees its users the privacy of web surfing and the security of transmitted data. Although it is better to verify these VPN strengths for yourself. To do this, you need to sign up for the service and download and install one of its applications.
Step-by-step installation instructions
To install Proton VPN on your PC:
- Follow the project website link “Create a free account”.
- Then click on the “Get a VPN for free” button.
- Fill out the sign-up form, and indicate the login, password and email.
- Pass the captcha.
- After that, in the personal account of the Proton VPN user, download the needed version of the client and install it on the device.
Characteristics of paid and free subscriptions
At the beginning of the review of Proton VPN, evidence of the complete transparency of the service was voiced. But a detailed study of the characteristics of subscription plans raises some doubts.
The service’s landing page lists the minimum subscription price of €4.99. But after registration, the real price tag for paid subscription plans is revealed, and it starts from €9.99. The previously announced price can only be obtained when paying for a two-year subscription.
For ten euros, the user receives:
- Ability to connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.
- More than 1.6 thousand servers in 60 countries.
- Data transfer at maximum speed.
- Access to streaming platforms (Amazon, Netflix, Disney+) from anywhere in the world.
- Support for peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols for transferring files – BitTorrent, etc.
- Protect data with Secure Core technology by redirecting traffic through multiple servers.
- Integrating the Proton VPN system with the Tor network ensures additional security of transmitted information using onion routing.
At the same time, it is strange that the main page of the project does not mention all the possibilities of a free subscription. It turns out that it gives the user access to other services that are part of the platform ecosystem:
- Mailbox service – in the free subscription plan, the user gets one electronic mailbox, and the limit for receiving and sending no more than 150 letters daily. As well as a limit on the size of attachments to letters (no more than 25 MB), support for personalized electronic signatures, and several degrees of data protection (using end-to-end encryption, access to correspondence with a password, and encryption of contact information).
- Calendar – as part of a free subscription, Proton VPN provides one personalized calendar, end-to-end data encryption, and the function of sending invitations to other users.
- “Disk” – an internal cloud for storing information. Its volume is 1 GB, distributed among all three services (mailer, calendar, and disk). Additionally, the user receives a tool for managing access to individual files and folders through links.
In addition, subscription options are available for enterprises with up to 500 GB of disk space and 15 email addresses. And also with tools for teamwork:
- Administrative panel.
- Two-factor authorization.
- Role-based access to folders.
- Termination of a user session by an administrator.
Technical capabilities and unique functionality of the VPN service
Despite such a wide variety of tools and services included in the free subscription to the platform, Proton VPN remains the main one. Its capabilities are more advanced not only technically, but also functionally.
The service includes a built-in NetShield ad blocker. In the tool settings, you can set the degree of filtering of redirected traffic. It allows you to clean the transmitted data only from viruses or completely from all dangerous impurities: malware, trackers and ads.
To protect the transmitted sensitive data, Proton VPN offers Secure Core. With its help, the service redirects traffic through several reliable servers deployed in secure data centers in Scotland, Sweden, and Iceland.
When using a VPN, attackers can determine the user’s real IP when an unexpected interruption of a secure Internet connection happens. A special Kill switch feature has been added to Proton VPN to avoid this. It disables the device’s access to the World Wide Web when the connection to the secure server is lost.
This function can be activated every time you reconnect between servers, or you can choose a permanent mode of operation.
Another unique security feature implemented in Proton VPN client applications is port forwarding. When using it, all traffic passes through the firewall. This functionality is especially in demand when exchanging files through peer-to-peer P2P networks, which include torrents.
The Port forwarding tool is only included with paid service subscription options.
One of the main drawbacks of any VPN is the decrease in the speed of the Internet connection due to the increase in the distance between the user and the site due to repeated traffic redirection. The Proton VPN team managed to solve this problem with VPN Accelerator.
The bandwidth of the service networks is 1000 Gb/s. which is several times higher than most competitors. But VPN Accelerator can improve this figure by 400% through multithreading. To do this, the service simultaneously launches several OpenVPN protocol processes on the server and evenly distributes all sessions between these threads. Thus, network optimization is carried out, and the possibility of overloading one of the streams is also excluded.
Proton VPN also has a split tunneling feature. When activated, in the settings of the client application, the user can specify traffic from which programs to be redirected through the VPN network.
Ability to use in third-party applications
Most often, a VPN is a completely closed product. But the creators of the service to which the review is dedicated have completely abandoned this concept. Proton VPN has several options for integrating and using a secure connection in third-party applications.
In your personal account in the “Downloads” section, you can download not only client applications, but also separately import configurations. They allow software from other publishers to redirect traffic through the servers of the service. Configuration files are available for the following operating systems:
- Android;
- iOS;
- Windows;
- macOS;
- Linux.
Proton VPN also provides a separate package for routers that support the OpenVPN protocol. Moreover, each of the configurations is implemented in two versions: for TCP and UDP. The latter option is best for streaming video. The UDP protocol does not use error correction, so it provides faster data transfer.
Additionally, the user must download configurations for each server that he will use to redirect traffic.
In addition, Proton VPN supports integration with WireGuard. Therefore, it can be used to deploy your own private network based on this protocol. Special configuration files for it are also available for download in the user account.
Is it worth using?
In terms of its capabilities, Proton VPN is in many ways ahead of other analogs available on the market. But along with a large number of advantages, this service also has several serious disadvantages:
- relatively high cost – €62 when buying an annual subscription which is quite a lot for the average user;
- a lot of settings and additional tools – make mastering the functionality of the service much more difficult;
- slow connection – connection with the selected server in the client takes more than 15-20 seconds.
At the same time, Proton VPN is more suitable for corporate use. Since a subscription to it opens access to other project services, and in the subscription plans for enterprises, there are several tools for teamwork. Otherwise, the reliability and effectiveness of Proton VPN is beyond doubt.
