Mullvad VPN vs Proton VPN

At a Glance

Strip away the VPN market's influencer sponsorships and discount countdowns, and two European names remain: Mullvad VPN and Proton VPN. Both publish open-source clients, commission independent audits, and refuse to log user activity. Neither runs the affiliate-heavy influencer campaigns common elsewhere in the category. The real question is not which one is trustworthy — both are — but which philosophy fits you. Mullvad treats anonymity as an engineering problem: no email, no name, one flat price. Proton treats privacy as a mission to scale: a genuinely free tier, a huge network, and a whole product suite attached.

The Sign-Up Test: What Each Company Knows About You

Visit mullvad.net and click one button. A random 16-digit account number appears, and that number is your entire identity on the service. No email, no password, no recovery flow. Payment can be a credit card, but it can also be Monero, Bitcoin, or banknotes posted to Gothenburg — crypto payments even earn a 10% discount. Because Mullvad never collects your identity, a breach or a subpoena has nothing personal to expose. The 2023 police visit to its office proved the point: officers left empty-handed because no customer data existed.

Proton VPN asks for more. You create a Proton account with an email address, which links your VPN use to a persistent identity across Mail, Drive, Calendar, and Pass. Proton's no-logs policy is court-tested — Swiss proceedings confirmed it had no connection logs to hand over — and its apps are GPLv3 open source with published audits by SEC Consult and Securitum. That is a strong trust story. It is still an account relationship, with the recovery options and the data trail an account implies.

Edge: Mullvad VPN. Proton minimises what it retains; Mullvad never learns who you are in the first place.

Pricing Philosophy: Flat Rate vs Free Tier

Mullvad has charged EUR 5 per month since it removed any pretence of tiered plans. There is no annual discount, no introductory rate that doubles at renewal, and no upsell screen. Everyone pays the same, month to month, and cancels without ceremony. A 14-day money-back guarantee covers everything except cash, which anti-money-laundering rules exclude.

Proton VPN plays the conventional pricing game, but with one genuinely unusual card: a free tier with unlimited data, no ads, and no logs. Free users get one device, medium speeds, and servers in five countries assigned at random — enough for public Wi-Fi protection, not for streaming. VPN Plus costs EUR 9.99 monthly, falling to EUR 4.99 per month on annual billing. Proton Unlimited, at EUR 9.99 monthly on the annual plan, bundles the entire Proton suite. Those figures are from our March 2026 verification — Proton loads checkout prices dynamically, so confirm current rates before buying.

On monthly billing, Mullvad is half Proton's price. Commit to a year of Proton and the two are nearly even — and Proton lets you start at zero.

Edge: Split. Mullvad wins for month-to-month honesty and predictability. Proton wins on entry cost, because free is unbeatable.

Jurisdiction: Swedish EU Membership vs Swiss Independence

Mullvad VPN AB is a Swedish company, which places it inside the EU and under GDPR. Its answer to legal pressure is architectural rather than jurisdictional: with only an account number on file, there is nothing meaningful to disclose regardless of what Swedish law permits. Audits by Cure53 and Assured AB, published openly, back the claim.

Proton AG sits outside the EU in Switzerland, a country with an EU adequacy decision, constitutional privacy protections, and no mandatory data retention for VPN providers. Switzerland also belongs to none of the Five, Nine, or Fourteen Eyes intelligence alliances. For users who specifically want distance from EU-level data politics, that independence is the draw; for users who want GDPR's enforcement teeth, Sweden delivers instead.

Edge: Marginal tie. These are two of the best legal homes a VPN can have, defended in different ways.

Network, Speed, and Everyday Practicality

Here the gap is wide and growing. Proton VPN advertises more than 20,000 servers across 140-plus countries, offers streaming-optimised servers for Netflix and similar platforms, supports P2P with port forwarding, and allows 10 simultaneous connections. NetShield blocks ads and trackers at DNS level on paid plans, and apps cover Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Chromebook, and Android TV.

Mullvad runs a deliberately compact network — currently under 600 servers across 50 countries — and caps you at five devices. It does not chase streaming platforms at all, and says so plainly. What it offers instead is defensive engineering: a kill switch on by default, its own DNS servers, MultiHop routing, and DAITA, its defence against AI-guided traffic analysis. The apps are functional rather than polished.

If your VPN doubles as an entertainment tool or protects a busy household, this section decides the comparison.

Edge: Proton VPN, comfortably, for network reach, streaming, and device coverage.

Advanced Protections: DAITA vs Secure Core

Both companies build for adversaries stronger than an ISP. Mullvad's DAITA pads and shapes traffic to resist AI-driven fingerprinting, a threat model most consumer VPNs ignore entirely. Combined with the anonymous account system, it targets surveillance that correlates identity with traffic patterns.

Proton's Secure Core answers a different question: what if the exit server is watched? It is a double-hop design — your connection enters through Proton-owned hardware in privacy-friendly jurisdictions before travelling on to the exit country, keeping your entry point hidden from whoever monitors the far end. A Stealth protocol adds censorship circumvention for hostile networks.

Edge: Depends on your threat model. Traffic-analysis resistance favours Mullvad; compromised-infrastructure resistance favours Proton.

When to Choose Mullvad VPN

Choose Mullvad if the point of a VPN, for you, is that nobody — including the provider — can tie the connection to your name. Journalists, researchers, and anyone paying in cash or Monero for genuine anonymity will find no commercial equivalent. The flat EUR 5 price also suits people who refuse to play subscription roulette: no commitment, no renewal shock, identical treatment for every customer.

Accept the trade before you buy. There is no free tier, no streaming support, a five-device cap, and a spartan interface. Mullvad is the right pick if you want the most anonymous account model in the industry and need nothing beyond an encrypted tunnel.

When to Choose Proton VPN

Choose Proton VPN if you want privacy that scales into normal life. The free tier is a real, permanent product, one of the few in the free-VPN market not funded by ads or data sales. Paying adds streaming, P2P, ten devices, and a network Mullvad cannot approach. Existing Proton Mail users get the strongest case of all, since Proton Unlimited folds VPN Plus into one subscription with Drive, Calendar, and Pass.

The compromise is philosophical rather than practical: you hold an email-linked account with a company, however audited and court-tested that company is. Proton VPN is the right pick if you want credible privacy plus everyday utility, or a zero-cost way into the VPN category at all.

The Verdict

This is not a contest between a good VPN and a bad one. Among European providers — and against non-EU incumbents like ExpressVPN — these two are the strongest privacy credentials on the market. They simply optimise for different endpoints.

Mullvad VPN is the purer instrument. Its account-number system, cash payments, flat pricing, and DAITA research make it the choice when anonymity itself is the product. Proton VPN is the broader platform. Its free tier, vast network, streaming support, and ecosystem bundle make strong privacy something an ordinary household can actually live with.

Our advice splits on intent. If you are hardening your identity against surveillance, take Mullvad and do not look back. For a gradual de-Googling of your digital life, start with Proton's free tier and grow into the ecosystem. Plenty of privacy-conscious users would be well served by either — and in this industry, that is a rare thing to be able to say.

FAQ

Is Mullvad VPN or Proton VPN more anonymous?

Mullvad is more anonymous by design. It requires no email or personal information — you receive a random account number and can pay with cash or Monero. Proton VPN requires an email-based Proton account, though its audited, court-tested no-logs policy means your activity is still not recorded.

Is Mullvad VPN cheaper than Proton VPN?

On monthly billing, yes: Mullvad's flat EUR 5 per month is roughly half Proton VPN Plus at EUR 9.99. Commit to Proton's annual plan, however, and it drops to EUR 4.99 per month, making the two nearly identical. Proton also offers a free tier, which Mullvad does not.

Does Mullvad VPN have a free tier like Proton VPN?

No. Mullvad has never offered a free plan, arguing that free services recover costs through ads or data collection. It offers a 14-day money-back guarantee instead, excluding cash payments. Proton VPN's free tier provides unlimited data on one device across servers in five randomly assigned countries.

Which is better for streaming, Mullvad or Proton VPN?

For streaming, Proton VPN — clearly. Its paid plans include streaming-optimised servers that work with Netflix and other major platforms. Mullvad does not maintain streaming servers and does not attempt to bypass geo-restrictions — the company is explicit that entertainment is not its use case.

Are both Mullvad and Proton VPN open source?

Yes. Mullvad's clients are fully open source and audited by Cure53 and Assured AB. Proton VPN's apps are open source under GPLv3 and audited by SEC Consult and Securitum. Both publish their audit reports, which remains rare in the VPN industry.