Proton VPN Reviews 912

I'm surprised by all the negative reviews.

I’ve used Proton VPN for over two years now without a single issue.

The connection is consistently fast and stable across all protocols, and the apps work like a charm on both desktop and mobile

Excellent VPN with Secure Core and Kill Switch capabilities, it is great value for money. I tried Norton VPN and Proton had faster internet speed with less lag.

Their customer service was great. I’d paid but found that I couldn’t connect to UK TV (ITVX and BBC Iplayer) for some reason. I asked for a refund and Borjan refunded me no problem. Just go through the right channels via their website and the process is simple. Just took a couple of days and all OK.

Useless product. proves nothing is free. They promise 10 countries but you get whatever they feel like giving you. You can't just choose the one you want and if you change too quickly, it stops you for a period of time from changing it again.

I subscribed to Proton VPN Plus for a year, but the iOS app has a major issue with network switching. The VPN constantly doesn’t auto-reconnect when switching between WiFi and mobile networks, and when this happens, apps that require internet access, like Google Maps, Waze, WhatsApp, and email, stop working completely.

The only fix is to manually disconnect and reconnect the VPN, which is frustrating and time-wasting. I had to do this dozen of times a day. I gave up and ended up going back to NordVPN. Their support unfortunately hasn't been very helpful.

This needs urgent attention – reliability on iOS isn’t there yet. I’d update this review if it improves.

All the marketing materials promoting this service as ‘trusted’, ‘reliable’ and ‘for privacy’, this company business practice is NOT what they claimed to be. But you don’t need to hear this from me, just look at all the harms they have caused to many users here (no matter if it is from a paid or unpaid user).

I have been using this provider over many years, and for me the last straw was when they ignored all issues with their VPN and email services from my communication. For months, it became so unreliable and impossible to continue using it.

The people who run this service have more than proven their TRUE colours, that ‘reliability, privacy and security’ is anything but a marketing gimmick with this service provider.

If you value your privacy, reliability and anything important, STAY AWAY from this company!!!

I never signed up for this service. They charged me for 2 months $80 per month. I don't even know what the service is. They would not refund either one. I was able to get a refund from PayPal for the first one but PayPal would not refund the second one. Even though I sent them two emails saying I don't want your service. They still charge me the second time and then somehow we're able to change the name on the charge. So when I disputed it they said oh that's not us. Of course they can do stuff like this. They're a VPN service. I would not use them shady.

This is one of the most expensive vpn services around yet I fail to see any justification for this price tag at all. There are free vpn's with more features, better stability and higher performance. It's as if this company found success by initially being a good vpn provider but then decided to stop putting any effort, time, money whatsoever back into the company because it is painfully evident that none of our money is going to service, improvements, performance, app updates

The android tv objectively doesn't work. It's missing absolute basic features like always on, auto connect doesn't work and it drops connection in under 1minute of connecting no matter what

The android phone/tablet app isn't much better, it technically has features but they are primarily cosmetic and don't actually provide the functionality of said features.

The linux program is absolutely pathetic, i've put together more competent pieces of software back in my "introduction to java" days in school. There is no split tunneling unless you use a specific version of linux with a specific DE and even then split tunneling doesn't work and either all apps go through the vpn and are unusably slow or nothing goes through the vpn making it a waste of system resources.
Custom dns server settings also do not work
Auto connect does not work
VPN "accelerator" claiming " increase your connection speed by up to 400%" doesn't work, my simulteanous 1gb connection often drops to 0.8Kb/s

As if it wasn't enough that it has no features and the ones it claims to have don't work, you can't even change settings without disconnecting, so if the current server is slow or leaking dns or split tunnelling isnt working you need to go through the loop of disconnecting>changing settings>connecting> disconnecting>going to settings interface changing settings back to the new value to get them to actually save > reconnect
and remember, since split tunneling never works and often breaks your connection once you go through the above loop you also need then run tools to check your ip and dns address across all internet using programs and if any one of them is leaking, which will be the case 98% of the time, you need to do this entire dance again.

tried a bunch of free vpns before this and they were all trash—either 5 minutes of ads or they just stop working after two days. this one is different. i mostly use it when i'm on the coffee shop wifi and it connects

Have a paid for service that I can't access after a computer malfunction. Have reverted to the free version as I don't have the required computer coding experience required to get a simple password reset. Needless to say I won't be renewing and will change to another VPN. Gave it one star as you can't give it none.

Absolute trap. Used once and have been billed for three years on an annual subscription. Be very careful.

Tried for the free version first...kept sending me to paid options...finally got a download but it would not open

New version broke the software, cannot connect to VPN.
Contacting service was futile, they just recommended me to flush dns, like I didn't already try that.

I cound't download old version either or get a refund, so money lost.

Useless doesn’t even get any connection

I am a Proton Unlimited subscriber ($12.99/month), and until recently, the service was adequate. However, within a single hour, I lost access to hundreds of servers and over 20 of my saved profiles. Where I previously had access to hundreds of servers in major cities like Los Angeles or New York, I am now restricted to a measly 10-20 per city. This service degradation occurred simultaneously across all my devices.

The Excuse
“We've decided to present each user with a smaller, algorithmically-selected subset of servers instead of the full list of our fleet. This change is based on extensive analysis, testing, and a few technical constraints.
It allows us to apply a smarter load balancing algorithm which will improve both stability and performance. It also strengthens our anti-censorship efforts, which is a core value here at Proton as well as for many of our users.
That being said, you can type the name of the server in the Search bar, and it will appear. If you need to locate a specific server, you can use the Search function in the Proton VPN app. Simply type the exact server name (e.g., UK#182), and it will appear for you to connect.”
So, Proton claims they have "algorithmically selected" a subset of servers to improve load balancing and "anti-censorship" efforts. They suggest that if a user needs a specific server, they should simply type the name (e.g., UK#182) into the search bar.

The Reality
I have no idea how they concluded that this regressive change would satisfy their users. It appears to be a total lack of intellectual capacity to recognise the glaringly obvious fact that this was a disastrous decision. To go from having full access to all servers to having everything vanish within an hour was utterly infuriating.

Furthermore, their suggestion to use the search function is a fabrication. I attempted to locate specific ranges - RO#200-233, UK#900-933, and US-CA#330-363 - and not a single one was available. (See my video for proof of these failed attempts).

Even if these servers did exist, expecting a paying customer to manually type "US-CA#330," then "US-CA#331," and so on is wholly unacceptable. No one is going to manually type server names every few minutes, especially on a mobile device, when it used to be a simple one-click process.

The "Anti-Censorship" Lie
Their claim that this strengthens "anti-censorship" is laughable. In high-censorship regions like Russia, I now see only 12 servers where there were previously 100. In these countries, you often have to "roll" through 20+ servers every 30 seconds to find one that connects. Now, imagine having to type RU#41, RU#42, RU#43 manually just to find a working connection. By making their service this difficult to use, Proton VPN is effectively doing Putin's work for him.

Conclusion
When I complained, they asked for my logs - a transparent stall tactic. They know perfectly well that my local logs have nothing to do with their deliberate removal of server clusters.
This borders on fraudulent misrepresentation of a paid service. The audacity to claim "anti-censorship" as a core value while actively sabotaging the tools needed to bypass it is staggering.

Avoid this service at all costs.

Youtube - Proton VPN Exposed: The "Server Fleet" Lie & Fraudulent Service Changes

Terrible speeds for the US based servers. I can't even watch videos while using this VPN. The experience when watching Crunchyroll is especially bad.

The support is also not very helpful with this issue. My E-Mails to them do not get read properly and already provided information is asked for again. Furthermore, I only get a series of generic troubleshooting recommendations that are not specific to my issue.

Edit (2026-04-17):
My ticket number was: 4606397

I should add that I had the ticket closed because firstly, the issue somewhat improved temporarily. But since then it came up again repeatedly and is still occuring almost daily.
And secondly, running all these tests takes time. And that time feels wasted and unappreciated if all I get is generic troubleshooting steps without any explanations on what the cause of the issue could be and why we are doing these steps.

For example: Getting a list of commands to run via the command prompt without any explanations on what they do and how they may affect the computer feels inappropriate.
Do they reset settings I made to network drivers? Do they affect other VPNs I use on my PC?
That, I had to research for myself. And they do in fact reset network related settings. There is no warning from the support agent at all in that regard.

Furthermore, not once has the situation I explained to the support agent been acknowledged.

That is why I did not feel it was worth my time to re-open the ticket and instead chose to write this review.

Fantastic VPN. I read the reviews before purchase of course and notice a lot of the negatives are from people on 'freebe' accounts expecting to be treated like Royalty. I ignore free account reviews that just sign up since VPN's have become 'cool' over the past decade.

I've been using a VPN for over 20 years (well, initially it was via my VPS but I digress).. for at least 20 years I've used a company to do it for me. I've always paid.

ProtonVPN is the best I've tried. So much so I bought their 'all in one' package with mail, calendar, and 500GB of encrypted drive space. It made me switch from gmail after using it since beta.

In short, the product is fantastic - those complaining, go and use a 'free' service where your data is constantly harvested and sold off to the highest bidder, or accept protonmail with it's limitations as a free user knowing you are covered by Swiss law and data protection. *OR* the best option; do as I and many others have.. pay for a great service instead of expecting the best of all worlds for free.

Constantly unable to watch netflix. Worked ok for a short while, now impossible to view netflix in other countries. Don't use Proton, pay for a better VPN.

I have no idea why the reviews are so negative. Their servers work great for me, exceptionally good ping compared to my last provider, i dont mind captchas its a vpn afterall, but for me? It does exactly what I want it to do and it's speedy.