If you’re reading this, it means you’re looking for a ProtonVPN review. Good news - you found it. In this review, I will test and tell you every detail about ProtonVPN that counts. So, you will receive only verified information that will help you decide if ProtonVPN is worthy of your attention.
Verdict at a glance
ProtonVPN is a virtual private network (VPN) provider managed by the Swiss company. It has exceptional security & privacy standards, strict no-logging policy, works with Netflix and torrents, and is compatible with TOR. It has a free version, which is, unfortunately, limited.
Pros
- Exceptional Security & Privacy Standards
- No-logging Policy
- Good Customer Support
- Works with Netflix
- Free Version Available
Cons
- Very Slow
- Limited Torrenting
Table of Contents
- 1. What You Need to Know Before Moving to the Actual Review
- 2. PROS
- 2.1. Exceptional Security & Privacy Standards
- 2.2. Strict No-Logging Policy
- 2.3. Good Customer Support
- 2.4. No Leaks
- 2.5. Works with Netflix (1 out of 5 servers)
- 2.6. Compatibility With TOR
- 3. CONS
- 3.1. Slow Speed
- 3.2. Torrenting (P2P) Available (Yet Limited)
- 4. ProtonVPN Pricing and Additional Details
- 5. Is ProtonVPN Good?
What You Need to Know Before Moving to the Actual Review
To begin with, I want you to introduce you to the fundamental information about ProtonVPN (If you haven’t read other ProtonVPN reviews) and tell you how it all started.
ProtonVPN is a virtual private network (VPN) provider managed by the Swiss company. It stands behind Proton Technologies AG, which originated when they created their service ProtonMail in 2014 and wanted to protect its users, journalists, and activists. 
With the experts of security working on their team their main intention has become to protect users’ privacy from all the dangers awaiting on the Internet. Further in this article, you'll find out if the company succeeded.
Now, that this part of the ProtonVPN review is clear, it’s time to move on further and go through the pros and cons list.
Let’s go.
PROS
Let me introduce you to positive aspects first.
Exceptional Security & Privacy Standards
You’re probably wondering, is ProtonVPN safe? Is ProtonVPN good?
Well, I mentioned earlier in this ProtonVPN review that it does everything to protect its users’ privacy and ensure their online protection. For that reason, their security and privacy standards are exceptional and beyond secure.
Needless to say, encryption is one of the main features that you should pay attention to not only in PythonVPN review but also when considering every other VPN provider. After all, you’re here for security, right?
| PROTONVPN | |
 | |
| Switzerland | |
| Cooperative | |
| AES-256 | |
| See TOP10 Brands Read review |
|---|
Table: ProtonVPN security.
Now let’s look through each of the safety measurements to find out if ProtonVPN is actually that secure.
- Strong Encryption
ProtonVPN uses one of the strongest security systems out there; banks use it, military use it and even NSA. Sounds secure already? That’s what I thought.
If you want to dig into details, I will explain more thoroughly. ProtonVPN uses AES-256, which stands for advanced encryption standard and is used worldwide for data encryption.
The number stands for a 256-bit encryption key that is the most modern encryption algorithms, technologies, and protocols. AES-256 data encryption is not (yet) breakable.
Therefore, if it’s secure for the military, I bet it’s good enough for us too.
- Strong Protocols
Proton VPN uses OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec protocols.
OpenVPN is an open-source VPN protocol, which is the safest on the market. It uses the OpenSSL library to provide encryption for your data. OpenVPN can use every encryption key available in the OpenSSL library.
- Forward Secrecy
Encryption cipher suites are thoroughly selected to have only Perfect Forward Secrecy. It ensures that encrypted traffic wouldn’t get compromised: captured or encrypted later.
Now that I explained every security measurement in this ProtonVPN review, you can wonder no more “is ProtonVPN safe?”.
Now it’s time to go further into other aspects that matter.
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Strict No-Logging Policy
Why logging policy matters, you might ask? Well, the answer is quite simple. You choose VPN provider to get away from all the cyber attacks and risk of someone breaking into your system, and corrupting the files or simply store data about you, am I right? But it’s like running from the wolf and bumping into a bear.
What do I mean by that? If you choose a VPN to run away from threats online, you might get into a bigger problem - a VPN that logs your data or simply stores personal information about you. This illustrated explanation seemed like a great example to put into the ProtonVPN review.
Therefore, capable security (that you heard about earlier in this ProtonVPN review) would mean nothing without a zero-logging policy since online safety loses its value if a VPN collects your data.
But is ProtonVPN safe? Is ProtonVPN good or does it log your data?
Let’s look into their privacy policy to find out.
Even though about 1 out of 3 VPN service providers store your data, I’m glad to see that ProtonVPN is not one of them, and provides you with full privacy with zero interference. Now I know that it can be difficult to trust someone without proof but ProtonVPN has a solid reputation concerning data logging that was earned throughout the years.
Did you know?
Compare ProtonVPN Side by Side With Others
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Yes! Show me the Comparison ChartGood Customer Support
Great customer support is hard to find. The worst thing is when customer support is unresponsive, and trust me, that happened to me more than once before.
Some of the VPN providers have live chat, others only “bots”, which are not the best option, if you ask me. Sadly, ProtonVPN doesn’t offer a live chat, but it does have a great support center, where you can find lots of information related to technical issues.
UPDATE: Now you can use the ProtonVPN support form to describe your problem and get help directly from their experts!
So, you might not even need a live chat if you can find a solution in a few seconds. See how it looks below:
Therefore, you can either type in your question or choose a category that is related to the issue you might be having. It’s very simple.
For example, if I want to find more information about tunneling, I start typing and it doesn’t even take a full word, it gives you cool suggestions right away, see for yourself:
If your problem is very specific and you cannot find an answer, you can always write them an email, here’s the contact list:
- General: [email protected]
- Media: [email protected]
- Security: [email protected]
- Abuse: [email protected]
So, if you have any concerns, do not hesitate to ask them, you will get help from the experts right away.
No Leaks
This is one of the most important aspects of ProtonVPN reviews. I will briefly explain why.
Remember that the primary goal of every VPN is to hide your IP address. What if I tell you that some VPNs do leak your IP address? I know that it sounds crazy but it happens, indicating that VPNs fail to serve their primary goal.
It’s time to check out if ProtonVPN lives up to its own expectations.
To find out if VPN leaks your IP address or DNS, I always do the test. After all, it’s the best way to find out. Here are the results:
Amazing news - ProtonVPN is leaks-free!
I also tested WebRTC leaks, which stands for Web Real-Time Communication. It is an open-source program that allows communication among different websites and peer-to-peer connection.
They came out to be negative as well:
Works with Netflix (1 out of 5 servers)
One of the reasons why the majority of users turn to VPNs in the first place is Netflix. You may have heard in other ProtonVPN reviews that Netflix shows different content depending on your location, meaning that some of the content might be blocked.
Since 2016 Netflix started blocking users who are utilizing VPN services. They created a system that was able to recognize VPN patterns. But some of the VPNs still managed to be one step ahead. ProtonVPN is one of them!
ProtonVPN says that “you can watch US Netflix using certain VPN servers located in the U.S”. It doesn’t say which servers meaning that you have to give it a shot. And that’s exactly what I did. I tested 5 servers to see if they unblock Netflix and 1 out of 5 worked!
I’ve tried two U.S servers, one UK and another in Canada, but they didn’t work. Then I gave it a shot for Vegas, and, finally, got some good results! Hooray!
Even though the results are not the best, but all it matters is that it works! Remember that you can always test which servers work by connecting to different ones using ProtonVPN.
If this VPN provider doesn’t quite cut it for you, don’t worry - there are better alternatives out there. You can always check out ExpressVPN or CyberGhost - they’re some of the most popular VPN providers in the current market, and rightfully so.
UPDATE: Good News for Netflix fans! We checked Netflix servers again and we can assure you can now connect to any US server and watch your favorite movies and TV shows, if you use Proton VPN Plus.
Compatibility With TOR
I know, I know, I already said that ProtonVPN has amazing security, but here’s one more improvement to it - TOR!
TOR stands for The Onion Router, it is open-source software that allows anonymous communication. But why onion? The answer is very simple. Just like an onion, Tor has layers, only different ones - layers of security.
But is ProtonVPN safe without TOR?
I already discussed previously in this ProtonVPN review that it has an exceptional security system that works like a charm. If you’re one of those “just in case” people, then why not choose the strongest security? Note that TOR is only available when choosing a plus or visionary server.
There’s one last piece of advice that I want to give you in this ProtonVPN review. If you’re using TOR on top of VPN your Internet experience is most likely to slow down. Remember that a VPN itself reduces your speed (you will be introduced with this term when moving to the cons of ProtonVPN review).
So, try using different methods and see what works for you while having in mind what I just told you.
CONS
It can’t be all good, that’s the reality, so it’s time to move on to ProtonVPN review cons and see if they outweigh pros or another way around.
Slow Speed
Speed is one of the major problems that many VPNs have to deal with. It’s quite simple to understand why. When you’re not using VPN services you connect straight to the Internet without any security, however, when using VPN, your data is being encrypted first and only then connects through VPN server to the Internet. This process takes time.
I think that speed is very important because a good VPN shouldn't slow down your internet so much that the user would notice. Most often, good VPNs slow down your pace by 10% - 20 %, but there are also such that decrease the speed by up to 80%. Sound a lot, right?
Now the time has come to test and see what’s the situation with ProtonVPN. I always test my benchmark first, without connecting to the VPN. At the moment of writing this ProtonVPN review, my download speed was 71.97 Mbps and upload speed 88.53 Mbps.
Then through ProtonVPN, I connected to different servers and checked the benchmark once again.
EU Server:
What is ProtonVPN speed for Asia Servers?
- Ping: 317 ms
- Download: 16 Mbps
- Upload: 6.4 Mbps
What is ProtonVPN speed for US Servers?
- Ping: 190 ms
- Download: 17.6 Mbps
- Upload: 36.4 Mbps
| PROTONVPN | |
| | |
| 474 | |
| 36 | |
| 5 | |
| See TOP10 Brands Read review |
|---|
Table: ProtonVPN features.
As you can see, ProtonVPN will definitely slow you down. if you want to find faster providers, you should check out some of the most recommended and fastest options here.
Torrenting (P2P) Available (Yet Limited)
Torrenting and file sharing (P2P) are only allowed with the paid ProtonVPN plan. What is more, since ProtonVPN is managed by the Swiss company, it follows their policy that permits file sharing only for personal, non-commercial use. But there’s also good news, you are fully protected while using BitTorrent or sharing files.
Of course, ProtonVPN is strict about downloading illegal content, so, simply be careful when downloading from unknown sources.
ProtonVPN Pricing and Additional Details
Since we have already discussed all the major pros and cons of this VPN provider, let's move to price. Here’s all the information:
What is the ProtonVPN price?
You can choose from these ProtonVPN plans and payment options:
The free version is good if you’re a light user, it gives you a choice from 3 countries, 1 device and sadly but slow speed. The basic plan is only $4/month, the plus is $8/month and Visionary $24/month, which is quite expensive, but you get to choose from all countries, 10 devices, you get high speeds, P2P, Plus servers, secure core, TOR servers, secure streaming and ProtonMail Visionary that is an extra secure and privacy-enhanced email.
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Is ProtonVPN Good?
Not really.
Even though ProtonVPN is not a bad option because it’s leaks-free, has strong security, decent customers support and works with Netflix, I would still choose other alternatives, such as CyberGhost or ExpressVPN, these providers have much better speed and allows torrenting. But if you’re a light user and not looking for the best provider, I recommend you to try the free ProtonVPN version.
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- + Exceptional Security & Privacy Standards
- + No-logging Policy
- + Good Customer Support
- + Works with Netflix
- + Free Version Available
- - Very Slow
- - Limited Torrenting
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