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Read Mashable’s full review of Proton VPN.
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Proton VPN is my No. 1 VPN for most people, especially those who are already a little familiar with the technology. It makes a point to prioritize user privacy, it has a gigantic network of servers that perform well, and it comes with all of the essential security features I look for in a premium VPN (plus a few extras). It’s very worth paying for, though there’s also a free tier of Proton VPN that you can use whenever you’d like. It limits you to a handful of crowded servers and omits most features, but the simple fact that it doesn’t have any data limits makes it the best free VPN in my book.
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Proton VPN is the first and only Mashable Choice Award-winning VPN (as mentioned up top), scoring high in our measures for trustworthiness, performance, user-friendliness, and value. The first one is most important and what really sets this service apart from its peers: Proton VPN seems to actively care about digital privacy, not just use it as a marketing tactic. It was the first VPN to open-source its apps in 2020, and it’s had its infrastructure and operating procedures audited annually to verify its no-logs policy since 2022. Anyone can read the results of these audits without needing to make an account first. (It would be better if the company had started doing these audits upon launch in 2017, but it helps immensely that this no-logs policy held up in court back in 2019.) Proton VPN has maintained a transparency report for even longer — since 2018 — which shows that it’s never complied with any legal requests for information to date. The company also has a long record of publicly supporting online freedom causes across the world. It practices what it preaches.
Performance-wise, the paid “Plus” version of Proton VPN felt great in my testing — mostly because it didn’t feel like I was using a VPN at all. All the servers I tried were reliable and fast, no matter where they were located. (I was also successfully able to skirt a geo-restriction on a UK streaming service from my home in Chicago.) Proton VPN’s gigantic server network now includes more than 12,000 locations in 117 countries as of March 2025; it’s currently unrivaled in size and geographic diversity.
Proton VPN’s sleek, cyberminimalist app contains a list of these servers and a map of them alongside some features to customize the type and extent of one’s protection, including multi-hop servers (“Secure Core”), an ad/malware/tracker blocker (“NetShield”), a kill switch, Tor servers, and split tunneling. Plus, users get up to 10 simultaneous connections and on-demand support via live chat. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide it’s not the right VPN for you or if you want to downgrade to Proton VPN Free.
As an aside, split tunneling is only available on Proton VPN’s Windows and Android apps right now. However, a spring/summer 2025 feature roadmap said macOS and Linux support is in the works. (This roadmap is quite extensive, by the way — it seems like Proton VPN will only get better with time.)
While Proton VPN’s free tier has its restrictions, there’s no limit on the amount of data you can use, which is really nice. It’s subsidized by the provider’s paid subscribers, so there are no ads, and you don’t need to fork over any credit card information at signup. You do forfeit access to most of Proton VPN’s features if you go this route, save for its kill switch and its proprietary “Stealth” protocol for avoiding censorship. You also lose out on full access to its server network, including the ability to choose which server you’re connected to (i.e. location spoofing and content unblocking). In my experience, most of Proton VPN’s free servers were pretty full and slow. This would be less forgivable if you were actually paying for the service, and ultimately, I think it’s usable for regular browsing if you can take the time to find a less congested server.