Proton VPN scores 90.0 out of 100 on the KotoVPN rubric, ranking 1 of 4 providers we cover. Its no-logs claim has been examined 5 times, most recently by Securitum in 2026. It operates from Switzerland. Pricing starts at $4.49 per month on its longest term. The best-documented security stack of the four, and the only one you can test properly without paying.
Rubric total
90.0Excellent, out of 100
From
$4.49per month, longest term
Based in
SwitzerlandOutside the Fourteen Eyes
Audits
5Securitum 2026
Devices
10simultaneous connections
Refund
30days
Swiss provider with open-source clients, five consecutive annual audits, and the only free tier here that has no data cap.
Rubric total
90.0/100
Excellent
Verdict. The best-documented security stack of the four, and the only one you can test properly without paying.
Best for. Readers who want auditable software and a free option to try before subscribing.
We earn a commission if you subscribe through this link. It does not change Proton VPN’s score.
What holds up and what does not
Holds up
Free tier with no data cap, funded by paid subscriptions rather than advertising
Open-source clients on every platform with published audit reports
Swiss jurisdiction outside the Fourteen Eyes agreement
Secure Core routes traffic through a second hop in Switzerland, Iceland or Sweden
Counts against it
Refunds are prorated against usage, not returned in full
Monthly price of $9.99 is high if you will not commit to two years
Secure Core costs a significant amount of throughput
Do not buy this if: You want the cheapest possible long-term plan. Proton is priced as a security product, and even the 2-year rate is double what the budget options here charge.
How the score was reached
Proton VPN scores 90.0 out of 100. The table below shows every criterion, its weight, the raw score and the fact that produced it. Nothing here is adjusted after the fact, and commission is not an input. The full rubric is published.
Rubric total
90.0/100
Excellent
The weighted sum of the seven criteria below. Nothing is adjusted afterwards, and commission is not an input.
Score breakdown for Proton VPN
Criterion
Weight
Score
Why
Independent audit
20
20.0 (10/10)
Five consecutive annual no-logs audits by Securitum, 2022 through 2026, with every full report published rather than summarised.
Jurisdiction and ownership
15
13.5 (9/10)
Switzerland sits outside the Fourteen Eyes agreement, and the parent company is majority-owned by a non-profit foundation.
Protocol and crypto stack
15
13.5 (9/10)
WireGuard and OpenVPN both shipped, plus a Stealth obfuscation mode for restrictive networks.
Leak protection
15
13.5 (9/10)
Kill switch across all platforms, with a permanent mode on desktop that blocks traffic before the app starts.
Transparency
15
13.5 (9/10)
Every client is open source with published audit reports; signup still requires an email address.
Price and refund terms
10
7.0 (7/10)
Mid-market pricing with a free tier that has no data cap, offset by prorated rather than full refunds.
Platform coverage
10
9.0 (9/10)
Native apps including Apple TV and Android TV, plus router support and 10 simultaneous devices.
The evidence
Each row links to the page the claim was read from and the date it was read. If a source has changed since, tell us and we will re-check it.
Provider states 148 countries across 191 locations. Country counts across the industry include virtual locations, so they are not comparable between providers.
± present but qualified — split tunnelling: Windows, Linux, Android and Android TV; experimental on macOS and absent on iOS; dedicated ip available: Not available on consumer plans — dedicated and static IPs are Proton VPN Professional and Workspace business products only; accepts cash: Cash accepted by post in CHF, USD or EUR; non-refundable.
Rows marked not re-read could not be confirmed against the live page — Proton VPN serves pricing in a way that blocks automated checks. They were compiled from provider documentation and have not been read back since. Treat the provider’s own checkout as the authority.
Refund window: 30 days. Refunds are prorated against usage rather than returned in full. Cash payments are non-refundable.
Ownership
Proton VPN is operated by Proton AG, majority held by the non-profit Proton Foundation, from Switzerland. Ownership decides who can be compelled and under whose law, and it is the fact about a VPN least likely to change between now and when you renew — how the four compare on ownership and jurisdiction.
Audit history
Not whether an audit exists, but how many, how recently, by whom, over what window, and what the auditor actually found. Those five things are the difference between evidence and a badge.
5 published audits, the most recent in 2026 by Securitum. The no-logs claim has been re-examined 5 times, which constrains Proton VPN in a way a single report cannot.
2026SecuritumFull report published
No-logs policy, production infrastructure
Fieldwork: 20–27 May 2026, on site at Proton AG in Zürich, two senior consultants over six person-days
What it found. No evidence that the examined infrastructure logs browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata. No persistent records found that would let Proton associate a user with activity on a reviewed server.
Results published by third-party laboratories, with the sample size and the funding source stated. None of these are our measurements.
September–October 2024
AV-TEST (Magdeburg, Germany)
Commissioned
Measured
Blocking of malicious and phishing URLs by the bundled threat-protection feature
Result
4.43% of malicious URLs blocked. By category: 4.38% executable-malware URLs, 3.30% other malicious files, 5.50% phishing. False positives 0.74%.
Standing
Third of five. NordVPN led at 83.42% and IPVanish reached 46.96%; Mullvad and ExpressVPN placed below Proton at 4.02% and 2.77%. Read this as a scope difference rather than a defect: Proton’s NetShield is built to block ads, trackers and known-malicious domains, not to act as an antivirus, and it was measured against a feature designed to do the latter.
Sample
3,209 malicious samples and 2,298 clean test cases
Paid for by
NordSec, a competitor’s parent company — weigh the result accordingly. AV-TEST states the commissioning party supplied no samples and had no advance sight of them.
These are not our measurements. We have run none. See the lab for what we will measure and the method we will publish it under.
Lab status
We have not run our own speed or leak tests against Proton VPN yet. Rather than print an estimate, this section stays empty until a measurement exists. The method we will use is published in advance.
Common questions
Is Proton VPN any good?
Proton VPN scores 90.0 out of 100 on the KotoVPN rubric, ranking 1 of 4 providers we cover. Its no-logs claim has been examined 5 times, most recently by Securitum in 2026. It operates from Switzerland. Pricing starts at $4.49 per month on its longest term. The best-documented security stack of the four, and the only one you can test properly without paying.
Has Proton VPN been independently audited?
Yes. The most recent published audit is by Securitum in 2026, covering no-logs policy, production infrastructure. Proton VPN has 5 published audits in total.
Where is Proton VPN based, and does it matter?
Proton VPN operates from Switzerland under Proton AG, majority held by the non-profit Proton Foundation. That jurisdiction is outside the Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement, which limits routine legal compulsion from member states.
How much does Proton VPN cost?
The lowest effective rate we recorded is $4.49 per month, which requires the 2-year plan. Prices were checked on August 13, 2026 and change often, so confirm on the provider’s own page.
How many devices can I use with Proton VPN?
One subscription covers 10 devices. Native apps are available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Apple TV and Router.
Who should not buy Proton VPN?
You want the cheapest possible long-term plan. Proton is priced as a security product, and even the 2-year rate is double what the budget options here charge.