Proton VPN Free is a VPN service that was launched in 2017. It's owned and operated by Proton AG, a Swiss company that also operates Proton Mail, the encrypted email service. It's the free version of Proton VPN, which we tested separately. Compared to the paid version, it lacks some key functionality, like the ability to select which country's servers you connect to and the ability to download torrents. See the rest of their differences in the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
While Proton VPN Free has no data limits, downloading torrents and P2P files is reserved for the paid Plus version. Also, download speeds are throttled compared to the Plus version.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Kill switch doesn't work properly.
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Can't download torrents.
Proton VPN Free has acceptable security. It keeps your IP address or DNS queries anonymous while you're connected to it, and it has proper TLS implementation, protecting you from man-in-the-middle attacks. However, its kill switch doesn't work correctly, as it leaks some unencrypted traffic upon rebooting your system, which is a concern if you need all your traffic to be encrypted after a restart.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Kill switch doesn't work properly.
Proton VPN Free delivers acceptable speeds for everyday use, but it has poor latency, making it unsuitable for online games and can lead to issues with video calls. The speed is throttled compared to the paid version of Proton VPN.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
Proton VPN has both a paid Plus tier and a free tier, which we tested in this review. We also tested the Proton VPN paid tier separately.
| Plan | Maximum Devices | Torrents (P2P) | Country Selection | Speed Throttling | Split Tunnelling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 | No | No (5 available countries, fastest chosen automatically) | Yes | No |
| Plus | 10 | Yes | 117 | No | Yes |
Compared To Other VPNs
Proton VPN Free is a free VPN from a reputable company, but it lacks some important functionality that puts it behind other free VPNs.
While it has no data limits, it doesn't allow you to download torrent files, as that feature is reserved for the paid version. Also, you can't manually select which country you want to connect to; instead, it automatically connects to the fastest server, which is usually the closest, making it ineffective for bypassing georestrictions. Lastly, its speeds are throttled compared to the paid version, but that's par for the course for free VPNs.
To see which services we recommend, check out our article on the best VPNs.
Test Results
The kill switch doesn't work as intended, as network traffic leaks outside the VPN tunnel after a reboot. This can be problematic if you're concerned with keeping your traffic encrypted at all times, like if your system crashes and you have to restart it.
Proton VPN Free doesn't implement BGP properly, but this is true with almost every VPN service.
Proton VPN Free has fast and consistent download speeds suitable for normal internet use and quickly downloading files.
Its speeds are throttled compared to the paid version of Proton VPN. You can compare speed results between the two services.
This VPN delivers upload speeds suitable for everyday internet use and uploading large files relatively quickly.
Its speeds are throttled compared to the paid version of Proton VPN. You can compare speed results between the two services.
This VPN has bad latency performance that's worse than other VPNs. It's not suitable for latency-sensitive applications like online gaming, can lead to issues in video calls, and generally feels slow when browsing the web.
Proton VPN Free doesn't let you download torrents, as it's a feature reserved for the paid version.
This VPN has native Linux apps for Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora GNOME desktop environments. Proton indicates that the app should work on most derivative distributions despite not being supported officially. You can also manually configure OpenVPN or WireGuard on Linux.
Stealth is a proprietary protocol that uses obfuscation to make your VPN traffic look like HTTPS traffic. This is useful if you're contending with internet censors that don't allow access to a site through a VPN.
While it has servers in five countries, Proton VPN Free automatically connects you to the server it deems fastest, so you can't manually choose which country to connect to. That said, if you configure a headless setup, you can choose which country to connect to by downloading the appropriate .conf or .ovpn file.
Proton VPN Free doesn't support split tunneling, as it's a feature reserved for the paid version.
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Comments
Proton VPN Free: Main Discussion
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The price has increased to 39.99 so we’ve edited the price in the description.
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The product has gone back to its original price so we have archived the deal