Before we go into the details of each of the mentioned best VPN providers, let us note features that they both have in common.
Both providers have demonstrated that profit is not above their users’ privacy by being transparent and by doing serious audits. They use strong modern protocols for high security, and they are both cost-effective.
ProtonVPN
One of the prominent selling points of ProtonVPN is their location in Switzerland, which is famous not only for high quality watches, precision devices and chocolate, but especially for their privacy-protecting laws. Imagine this: ProtonVPN even won an appeal in court proving its right not to be “considered telecommunications providers in Switzerland, and thus are not subject to the data retention requirements”. 1
Apart from the strong privacy laws, ProtonVPN has a strict no-logs policy (which was audited in 2024), which means that even if they would be somehow forced to share logs which show which sites you have accessed, they shouldn’t be able to since they don’t keep the logs.
Another very strong good indicator of their seriousness in respect to privacy, transparency and freedom is the fact that their software is open-source. That means that, if you are a good and experienced programmer who can read the code in which their application is written, then you have access to that code. If you don’t have the required skill, at least you know that it is open to experts to examine and judge it. This is quite different from the providers whose applications are closed-source, so basically only they know what their application is doing and how.
They offer some really interesting features one of which they call SecureCore servers and multi-hop which makes the user’s traffic first enter one VPN server, for example in high risk jurisdiction, and then goes to their SecureCore servers. Also, they have a “kill switch” meaning that all traffic is stopped if VPN connection is broken, instead of continuing the “unsecured” way. And they do not measure or limit data transfer.
And last, but definitely not the least: Price.
ProtonVPN has one of the absolute best VPN plans for a Free tier plan. For a very basic VPN the free tier can be quite useful, although some features like torrenting, best speeds, more servers and countries, etc. are only available on paid plans.
They have premium VPN plans for 1 or 2 years costing around €5/$6, but they also have “Ultimate” plans which offer a bundle of great services along the VPN such as premium email plan, premium cloud drive/storage, password manager and even a cryptocurrency wallet, all together for just a few euros/dollars more on a long-term plan.
Mullvad
One of the strongest selling points of Mullvad as one of the best VPN providers is their offer of anonymity. There is probably no major VPN provider which comes close to it in this respect. There is no personal information required because your account “name” is just a long, automatically generated number. That account can be topped up by usual convenient ways like credit cards, payment providers, etc. But! It wouldn’t be so strong for anonymity if they didn’t offer the possibility to pay with crypto and even cash! Yes, they accept sending them cash in an envelope. Quite extraordinary for the industry.
One may think that anonymity and transparency cannot go hand in hand, but with Mullvad they can. Their application is open-source, which means it can be inspected thoroughly by experts for what it is doing and how. In addition, they boast of having “quantum-resistant” tunnels, excellent speeds, and being audited by third-party auditors.
Price. One of the reasons why people are more likely to hear for other VPN providers before they hear about Mullvad is very likely related to the fact that Mullvad doesn’t do affiliate marketing. In other words, they don’t pay people if someone signs up to Mullvad through their affiliate links (and how could they when they user a random number as an account instead of user’s personal information and then they accept cash). So they don’t offer big discounts on long term plans, but you sure can pay in advance for months if you want, they just don’t force long-term commitments. It is simply c. €5 per month whenever you want it or need it, and when you don’t, simply don’t top up. Incredible!
But how do people hear about them if they don’t do such heavy advertising, you may ask? Satisfied customers.