ProtonVPN Review 2020: Swiss quality with great features

ProtonVPN

10 USD

9.1

Speed

9.7/10

Privacy

9.8/10

Features

9.3/10

Customer Support

9.4/10

Price

7.3/10

Positive

• Swiss service with excellent transparency
• TOR connection is possible but only in higher tariffs
• Free rate permanently available

Negative

• Relatively high price if you don't already use ProtonMail
• Only OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocol

Order ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN Review

ProtonVPN is a Swiss Provider. And Swiss products usually stand for quite good quality. We tested the VPN to check if the provider can fulfill this quality promise. In the following ProtonVPN review, we will answer that question. And also show you the strengths and weaknesses of Proton in a transparent way.

Brief introduction

For our readers who want to know the most important aspects at a glance, we made a small summary. In it, you can see the most recommended applications. The provider is especially useful for anonymous communication.

Company

ProtonVPN is a provider located in Switzerland and appreciates the privacy of its users very much. It’s the biggest goal since the beginning is to give free internet and anonymity to everybody. We tell you about the great privacy philosophy of the company later on. There are now 632 servers in 44 countries.

Pricing and payment options

ProtonVPN offers 4 different tariffs, which differ in the extent of the offered services – e. g. number of simultaneous connections, number of available servers, additional functions such as SecureStreaming, Tor connection, etc. Among the tariffs, there is also an excellent possibility to use ProtonVPN free of charge (of course with some restrictions regarding the server, data limit, etc.).

ProtonVPN Apps

ProtonVPN initially only offered its application for Windows. All other devices could only be used by free OpenVPN software using the OVPN files (configuration files). Meanwhile, the provider also offers software for macOS, iOS, Android and Linux – which of course makes the life of the users easier.

Tested Speed

ProtonVPN itself indicates the available speed of the free tariff with “Medium”. In our ProtonVPN test, we were able to transfer a maximum of 5.120KBit/s (our test values). This seems to be the set limitation of the service for the users who want to use ProtonVPN free of charge. This is ok to watch YouTube videos, for example. Those servers, which are operated for the non-paying users, show however naturally also clear overload. This can lead to a significant reduction in transmission speed at Proton peak times.

Privacy

ProtonVPN tries to act with maximum transparency. The company also publishes transparency reports on requests for information and answers inquiries directly on its Website. In general, the company does not pass on any data in response to requests and has so far successfully defended itself against copyright lawsuits by the US entertainment industry, which demanded data from Switzerland.

However, pay attention, when choosing a server, as Proton also uses rented servers. These are subject to the legislation of the respective location and the server hosts. If required by law, these hosts will most likely pass on the data of the users.

As far as log files are concerned, Proton VPN only collects the time stamp of the last login. This is overwritten every time a user logs in successfully. This Proton timestamp contains no identifying information such as IP address or location; it only shows the time and date of logon.

ProtonVPN data is secured via 256-bit encryption with AES standard. Thus, they correspond to the general standard for OpenVPN data transmission. Our ProtonVPN test also showed that OpenVPN was implemented clean and secure from authentication to data transfer.

Streaming availability

Proton VPN is suitable at least in the paid tariffs quite well for streaming. But with the ProtonVPN free tariff, the available servers are overloaded most of the time. The Plus and Visionary tariffs also offer the SecureStreaming function.

Safety with Download/Torrenting

During filesharing, you also share all your identity information with others. Therefore, security is especially important to avoid unpleasant consequences. ProtonVPN is well protected by its headquarters in Switzerland regarding the transmission of data to authorities because Switzerland is not subject to US and EU legislation and has not yet successfully had to pass on any data – even after complaints.

With Proton VPN, the torrent can and may only take place on server locations designated for this purpose (Netherlands, Sweden, and Singapore). With KillSwitch, you can protect yourself against a VPN failure and its consequences.

Support of VPN Routers at home

If you want to set up a home network, ProtonVPN is your kind of VPN! The provider offers a lot of good features for use with routers. That way you also can connect additional devices to your VPN, which are not VPN compatible.

Online Gaming (Support for Online Gamers)

You love to gamble and play Online Games? But you are often annoyed because of too long pings? Proton could help you. But you have to connect your game consoles manually as the provider doesn’t offer own apps.

ProtonVPN for Travellers

Do you want to use the VPN wherever you are? Unfortunately, the provider is not your best companion when traveling. For this use-case, we would, for example, recommend Surfshark VPN to you.

Support

ProtonVPN offers two ways of support for its users. You either can contact them via FAQ or Live Chat. The support team speaks English.

Special Options and features

ProtonVPN offers a lot of great additional functions, but many of them only in the higher-priced tariffs. For example, the TOR (Onion) integration is very good and useful. This is because you can use the Onion Network (TOR) directly via a Proton VPN server. This brings some advantages. Also, it helps to avoid a dangerous leak in the TOR network, which currently only a few international authorities can use.

Proton VPN also offers another very good special option, the so-called “SecureCore”. This means that data that runs between the providers’ servers also runs via their VPN connections. The users who connect to server B are connected to server A before and the encrypted connection to Server B is used. This is technically ok, because individual connections on the Internet can no longer be tracked, as these are always routed via existing VPN data connections. However, our ProtonVPN test shows that those servers you can use for this feature are very limited.

Attention: We didn’t evaluate the e-mail service “ProtonMail” here, in many cases a combination of VPN + mail service will result in more attractive prices.

Erstellt am:11/26/2019