Is Proton VPN's free plan any good? We put it to the test
The clue is in the name. Proton VPN's free tier doesn't cost a thing. You get unlimited data (though only on one device). It's the only free VPN provider we've tested without a data cap.
The catch? You're limited to roughly one of 2,300 servers in five countries (the US, Netherlands, Japan, Romania and Poland), and you can't choose which one to connect to. The app automatically assigns you to your nearest or fastest location each time, and it won't work with any streaming platforms.
If you want more, you can upgrade to Proton VPN Plus, which starts from £3.59 per month, and unlocks streaming support and features like Secure Core routing and higher speeds.
Privacy and features
Proton is one of the most privacy-focused organisations, and it extends that mission its free services. It's based in Switzerland, a country with some of the world's strictest data protection laws, and well outside any intelligence-sharing alliances like Five Eyes. The service has a strict no-logs policy, meaning it doesn't track your browsing history, log your IP address or store any session metadata.
Crucially, Proton VPN's apps are all open source and independently audited. That level of transparency is rare, especially for a free VPN. In 2024, Proton completed its third infrastructure audit, where external experts reviewed its entire system and confirmed it wasn't storing logs, not even temporarily.
The free tier includes bank-level AES-256 encryption and support for the same secure protocols as paid users, including WireGuard, OpenVPN and Proton's stealth protocol. The kill switch is included (but not enabled by default), and the Always-on VPN feature automatically reconnects you if the connection drops.
While you don't get split-tunnelling, Proton's Secure Core routing, a feature that sends your traffic through two servers for extra protection or its built-in ad, tracker and malware blocker NetShield, all of which are only available on the paid tier, you still get all the essentials for secure browsing. Annoyingly, despite having five servers on the free tier, you can't choose which one you connect to.
Speed and performance
Proton VPN's free tier isn't as fast as the paid tier, and that's largely down to congestion. Free users have to share servers that are heavily loaded, especially during peak times, which leads to slower performance compared to Proton's premium servers.
That said, speeds were generally decent during testing. On a 67Mbps home broadband connection, download speeds typically hovered between 45Mbps and 55Mbps, which was enough for web browsing, messaging and HD YouTube streaming without buffering. Pages took slightly longer to load, but the connection was stable enough for everyday use.
You can't manually choose which server or country you connect to on the free plan. The app automatically assigns you to the nearest of one of five available countries, and if the connection is too slow, the only option is to hit 'Change server', which reassigns you to another new server, most likely in the same country as before. There's also a cooldown period, so you can't keep hitting 'Change server' over and over again until you get the country you want, an annoying (though understandable) limitation. We were basically always connected to the Netherlands, though occasionally got the US.
User experience
Proton VPN's apps are really clean and consistent across devices and platforms, but the free experience feels a little pushy.
You're immediately presented with a large 'Quick connect' button and an attractive world map interface, but that's where most of the control ends. You can't choose a country, and hitting 'Change server' just reassigns you to another random free server. You'll need to wait around 90 seconds before doing it again.
The interface is littered with prompts to upgrade. Features like Secure Core, NetShield and split tunnelling are all visible, but clicking them leads to a paywall. On mobile and desktop, the tabs basically double up as mini adverts, pushing you to upgrade. Even in the settings menu, toggling some options will trigger a 'Get Proton VPN Plus' pop-up. While it's not quite ad-supported in the traditional sense, the upgrade buttons are hard to ignore.
Still, once connected, the experience is smooth and we were never interrupted by intrusive ads or pop-ups when browsing. On Android, free users also get features like DNS leak protection and a pause toggle, but these aren't available on iOS.
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