Proton didn’t start life as a VPN. The company, more than a decade old now, launched Proton VPN as an add-on to its wildly popular Proton Mail privacy-focused email client. Now, it's the VPN service most people should buy.
That has less to do with how Proton VPN has changed and more to do with how it has stayed the same. At a time when the VPN market is controlled by an increasingly small number of companies, and once-trusted brands have been sold off to the highest bidder, Proton feels remarkably fresh.
Instead of chasing full security suites, mergers and acquisitions, and features that have little to do with an average internet denizen, Proton VPN has doubled down on what makes a great VPN great in the first place. It’s secure and fast, sure, but it also disappears into the background, quietly protecting your browsing and unlocking content around the world.
A Generous Free Offering
Photograph: Jacob Roach
Proton VPN made a name for itself with its free plan, and it remains one of the only two free VPNs I recommend (alongside Windscribe). Proton doesn’t limit your bandwidth at all, and the privacy protections available to Plus subscribers are available to free users. The catch is that Proton will only allow you to connect one device at a time, and only to five preselected locations, which it says have “medium” speeds.