We’re always on the lookout for improvements in the VPNs we review – and Proton VPN has made quite a few.
Our regular testing routine means we get to see how VPNs improve over time, how they respond to customer feedback, and give us the chance to tell you about the most important changes in their service.
While Proton VPN missed out on a spot in our best VPN rankings this time (PrivadoVPN just pipped it to the post), that’s not to say there aren’t plenty of things that impressed us when we put the provider under the microscope. Read on, and I’ll walk you through the top five ways that Proton VPN has gotten better.
1. Expanded server network
Proton VPN has never been significantly worse than its competition in terms of VPN server locations, but it’s also never led the pack.
Recently, however, that all changed. Proton VPN now has servers in a whopping 112 countries – which is more than the likes of ExpressVPN and NordVPN. NordVPN comes close (with 111), but what sets Proton VPN apart is a focus on worldwide connectivity.
Proton VPN now has servers in a whopping 112 countries
With 42 locations in Asia, 14 in the Middle East, and a fantastic 18 locations in Africa, Proton VPN takes a global perspective on VPNs instead of focusing on any one particular region.
18 locations in Africa might not sound amazing on paper, but we checked 235 VPN server location lists and found that 104 of them didn’t have a single server in Africa – and only 16 had more than five locations on the continent.
Proton VPN’s newly expanded array of servers gives users more choice – and that’s a big deal. The more locations you have access to, to more geo-restricted content you can unblock.
It’s also handy if you live or work in Africa or the Middle East, as you’ll be able to connect to nearby servers with significantly lower ping and enjoy a better connection if you’re gaming or making video calls.
2. Recent no logs audit
Proton VPN has been committed to user privacy since its inception. This is no surprise, given that it’s built by the team behind Proton Mail. That said, no reputation in the world can beat cold, hard facts – and the fact is that Proton VPN keeps passing no log audits with stellar results.
In fact, Proton VPN passed a third audit conducted through Securitum, one of Europe’s leading penetration testing companies. The summary of the audit has been published on the Proton VPN site and, unlike some other VPN providers, it won’t make you sign up to check it out.
That’s good news because it makes for interesting reading. Essentially, Securitum completely evaluated Proton VPN’s servers from its configuration settings all the way down to individual files and logs stored on those servers. They even conducted interviews with Proton VPN’s staff to make sure its in-house procedures match up with its claims.
Safe and secure
VPNs aren’t all made equal – but Proton VPN has earned a top spot in our best secure VPN rankings.
Securitum came to the conclusion that Proton VPN doesn’t keep logs, it can’t track individual users, and it has plenty of safeguards in place to keep these facts from changing.
This means no user activity logs, no session data stored, no connection times recorded, and no trace of which servers you’ve used. Proton VPN can’t track what you’re doing online so, even if the Swiss authorities ask for your user data, it can’t be handed over – it doesn’t exist.
It sounds pretty high stakes, but there are plenty of reasons you should care about regular auditing even if you’re not bothered about governments asking for your data.
Audit processes like the one Proton VPN has just been through demonstrate that it takes transparency seriously, that your data isn’t being sold off to a third party, and that any outstanding vulnerabilities get taken care of quickly before a hacker can leverage them.
3. Great unblocking performance
Proton VPN is less vocal about its unblocking capabilities compared to other providers we’ve reviewed, but that doesn’t mean the service underperforms as a streaming VPN.
In fact, in our most recent round of testing, Proton VPN scored full marks. It unblocked everything we threw at it flawlessly. That includes Netflix in the US, Canada, the UK, Japan, and Australia, as well as Disney+, Amazon Prime, ITV, Channel 4, 9Now, and 10Play.
Proton VPN flawlessly unblocked global Netflix libraries, as well as Disney+, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, and more
Streaming platforms are constantly cracking down on VPN access, so it’s great to see that Proton VPN is still a reliable pick for avid streamers on the hunt for a reliable Netflix VPN.
Given that Proton VPN also has servers in locations most other providers don’t cover, it’ll have your back if you’re looking to stream niche content in regions across Africa and the Middle East. On the flip side, there aren’t quite as many servers in the US and Europe, but we found that this didn’t impact our streaming experience at all.
The only real downside is that Proton VPN’s free plan doesn’t perform nearly as well. You’ll only get access to the US, Netherlands, and Japan. While it’s still possible to unblock some streaming content using these locations, there’s no guarantee. Proton VPN also isn’t prioritizing unblocking capabilities for its free servers – meaning that if they work for you today, they may not tomorrow.
4. Consistent speeds
Great unblocking capabilities are nothing if a VPN can’t handle the speeds needed to stream high-quality video. Luckily, Proton VPN’s performance is lightning-fast, making it one of the most consistent performers we reviewed.
We recorded speeds of over 950 Mbps using the WireGuard protocol – maxing out our connection line on our testing rig. This makes Proton VPN comparable to the fastest VPNs on the market.
Without a speedy connection, your home bandwidth ends up strangled by the maximum speeds that the VPN can handle.
Proton VPN hit speeds of over 950 Mbps – making it one of the quickest services available
There are plenty of issues caused by poor bandwidth – and you’ve probably dealt with a few of them before. Buffering while watching a video? Your internet can’t download the video fast enough. Lag when you’re gaming? Your data is taking too long to get to the server you’re communicating with. Poor download speeds when you’re torrenting? You get the idea. A slow VPN isn’t worth using.
Our testing results tell us that Proton VPN can handle the speeds of pretty much any home connection. The service even supports port forwarding, which means that you’ll be able to set up your torrenting client with optimal connectivity settings, resulting in access to more peers and faster download speeds.
5. Stealth protocol arrives on Windows
Proton VPN is jam-packed with features that make it possible to evade ISP surveillance – and the most important of these is the custom Stealth VPN protocol.
In a nutshell, it’s designed to completely obfuscate your VPN connection by making it look the same as any other connection you make to an encrypted website.
However, Stealth’s initial deployment in 2022 didn’t include a Windows version, but Proton VPN rectified this issue by releasing a client app that adds Stealth to Windows.
What works for Windows
If you’re looking for Windows-friendly VPNs with nifty desktop apps, head on over to our Windows VPN page to see which services we recommend.
This brings Proton VPN’s Windows version up to parity with its iOS, Android, and MacOS offering.
Unfortunately, Stealth still isn’t available for Linux, but the fact Proton VPN has a GUI-based Linux app at all puts it far ahead of most of the competition (that simply don’t cut it as Linux VPNs).
So, how does the Stealth protocol perform? Well, each provider approaches obfuscation slightly differently so in the interests of fairness we’ve only compared it to the speeds you’ll get from the other protocols Proton VPN supports.
Using our 950 Mbps test rig, we found using Stealth gave us average speeds of 405 Mbps. This is only half as fast as the WireGuard speeds which maxed out our connection. On the upside, it’s twice as fast as Proton VPN’s OpenVPN implementation at 220 Mbps.
The takeaway here is that any of these protocols are going to provide ample speeds for browsing the net and streaming video, but it’s nice to know that you won’t have to sacrifice your speeds to keep your VPN use a secret.
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