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Extensive internal tests are our bread and butter – and we routinely put them out today best VPN to the test to ensure that each service delivers exactly what it advertises. As a result, the rankings in our guides sometimes change to reflect usability, effectiveness and value for money.
For example, our last round of testing saw PrivadoVPN become our #1 Free VPNeffectively dethroning Proton Free VPN thanks to their popular streaming services that reliably unblock – anything with any of today’s premium providers.
However, nothing is set in stone. In this article, I will take a look at the areas where ProtonVPN Free could improve to improve the ranking in its favor. I must also say that I don’t always recommend a free VPN, since most of them can’t do what a premium VPN can. That said, you get the most basic level of protection with a free VPN service, but more on that below.
Proton VPN’s paid plan comes with all the basic features you’d expect from a VPN, and then some. However, while their free plan is stingier, this is nothing unusual – it’s just that other free VPNs are more generous.
But even then, one of the highlights of ProtonVPN’s free plan is that you get unlimited data, meaning you can use the service as much and as often as you want. Compared to other major free VPN providers, which usually impose much tighter data limits, ProtonVPN’s unlimited data setup is amazing.
Streaming supercharged
Looking for a VPN that can unblock content from around the world? Check out our guide to the the best streaming VPNs of 2024.
It is in other areas that the limits of the free plan become obvious. For example, you can only access locations in Japan, the Netherlands, the United States, Romania, and Poland. Also, while you can install Proton VPN on as many iOS, Android, Linux, Mac and Windows devices as you want, you can only connect to one of them at a time.
It’s also a shame that free users of Proton VPN do not have P2P or support for unblocking streaming services (although, this restriction makes sense – the service will be flooded with torrenters 24/7 if it offers enough bandwidth unlimited P2P-friendly for free).
The most advanced features of Proton VPN are also inaccessible with the free plan: Tor over VPN for extra security, the Secure Core Servers to also hide your traffic from snoopers, and NetShield ads and malware blocker.
While the loss of these layers does not affect the main functions of the VPN, I can not help comparing it with Free WindScribethat does not hide any tool behind a paywall.
Let the users make their choice
As mentioned above, Proton VPN Free offers five server locations: Romania, Poland, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. However, free users cannot choose which server to join.
This can be very inconvenient in more ways than one. For example, free users cannot choose the closest server to optimize performance, which usually also leads to a struggle when it comes to unlocking location-specific content.
Free users cannot choose which server to join
Also, out of most (all) other providers we’ve tested that offer free VPN plans, Proton VPN is the only one that free users cannot choose their server location.
To make these limitations (and the potential for improvement) even more obvious, Proton VPN and iTop VPN they are the only two VPN providers with free plans that only offer 5 different servers to users. For reference, Private VPN and Windscribe offer 10 servers on their free plans.
I would like to see Proton VPN either allow users to choose their servers or at least extend the server availability for their free plan.
Transparency is key
During our last round of testing, we noticed something: to reduce the number of people using the service for heavy downloading, Proton VPN has a tendency to reduce its download speed whenever it thinks that someone has used “too much” data.
While such a practice makes sense, as the service probably does not want its free servers removed by people looking for a reliable one. VPN torrenting there is still a lack of transparency here.
On the one hand, ProtonVPN has one of the least detailed Transparency reports we saw Their 2023 report said: “Total orders: 60”, “Orders denied: 60”, and practically nothing else.
On the other hand, ProtonVPN still fulfills the key objective of a Transparency Report, which highlights that no data has been released. In fact, the provider, at least, works harder than most to keep users in the loop, with report updates happening “whenever there is a new legal claim noted.”
Essentially, free Proton VPN users should be fine if they only use the service to check social media. However, downloading heavy files can lead to problems.
What does Proton Free VPN do well?
So, while I discussed how ProtonVPN Free could improve to regain its #1 spot in our free rankings, I want to make it absolutely clear that it is still a service worthy of consideration and a convenient way to improve your online security and anonymity without a paid subscription.
There are several ways in which it is better than other free alternatives. These include:
- Passing its third audit without logging
- A browser extension that is now available for free
- Unlimited data
- Open source apps
Basically, ProtonVPN Free isn’t bad at all – it still does a decent job of providing the most basic level of protection. With a few tweaks, it could easily regain the top position in our rankings and once again be crowned the #1 free VPN.
