Score derivation
Proton VPN
Preview, not yet human-verified. The citations below were gathered by machine and no editor has checked them. Nothing on this page is a recommendation; it is the raw derivation, published so the arithmetic can be audited before the review is.
Under the Default (evidence-weighted) weighting, Proton VPN scores 8.7 on the 79% of our methodology we hold evidence for, provably between 6.88 (every unmeasured dimension at its worst) and 8.88 (every one at its published maximum).
8.7evidence coverage 79% (not a second score)
provably between 6.88 and 8.88
Weighting: Default (evidence-weighted). Weights are allocated toward what this site independently verifies. Speed and streaming are vendor-claimed rather than measured here, so they carry roughly half the weight the industry standard assigns them; that weight moves to privacy, transparency and server authenticity, all of which are checked against primary documents or our own probe network.
How the headline is summed
| Dimension | Weight | Value | Floor add | Potential add |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy | 0.24 | 10.00 | 2.400 | 2.400 |
| Security | 0.18 | 10.00 | 1.800 | 1.800 |
| Transparency | 0.12 | 7.27 | 0.873 | 0.873 |
| Server authenticity | 0.10 | ≤10.0 | 0.000 | 1.000 |
| Server locations | 0.07 | 10.00 | 0.700 | 0.700 |
| Streaming | 0.07 | 2.50 | 0.175 | 0.175 |
| Speed | 0.07 | ≤8.5 | 0.000 | 0.595 |
| Device compatibility | 0.05 | 8.79 | 0.440 | 0.440 |
| Usability | 0.04 | ≤10.0 | 0.000 | 0.400 |
| Torrenting | 0.03 | 6.90 | 0.207 | 0.207 |
| Additional features | 0.03 | 9.68 | 0.290 | 0.290 |
| Totals | 1.00 | 6.885 | 8.880 |
Floor 6.885 is the value column summed; potential 8.880 credits each unscored dimension at its ceiling instead. Renormalising the floor over the 79% that scored gives 8.72, held at or below the potential to publish 8.7.
Privacy
10.0Documented61% assessedcomposite · value = clamp(Σ weightᵢ · valueᵢ / Σ weightᵢ) · base 9.375 · coverage 61%
dataLogged10.060% of Privacy · 75% of what scored · absolute
✓
Browsing history logged: nonedataLogged.log.browsingHistory
“This means we keep no session usage logs of what you do online, and we do not log metadata that can compromise your privacy. We don’t log which websites you visit We don’t log your traffic or the content of any communications We don’t log your IP address We don’t log your session lengths We don’t log or track any location-based information”
“All Proton VPN servers are encrypted and we do not log VPN session data.”
✓
DNS queries logged: nonedataLogged.log.dnsQueries
“The technical evidence reviewed during the engagement did not indicate that the examined Proton VPN server infrastructure logs users’ browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, network traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata. Securitum also did not identify persistent records that would allow Proton to associate a specific user with activity performed through a reviewed VPN server.”
✓
Originating IP logged: nonedataLogged.log.originatingIp
“This means we keep no session usage logs of what you do online, and we do not log metadata that can compromise your privacy. We don’t log which websites you visit We don’t log your traffic or the content of any communications We don’t log your IP address We don’t log your session lengths We don’t log or track any location-based information”
,
Assigned VPN IP: no evidence collectednot assesseddataLogged.log.assignedVpnIp
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
✓
Connection timestamps logged: nonedataLogged.log.connectionTimestamps
“The technical evidence reviewed during the engagement did not indicate that the examined Proton VPN server infrastructure logs users’ browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, network traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata. Securitum also did not identify persistent records that would allow Proton to associate a specific user with activity performed through a reviewed VPN server.”
- Transparency reportTransparency Report & Warrant Canary (last updated January 6, 2026)protonvpn.comretrieved 2026-07-10unverified
“Under Swiss law, Proton VPN is not obligated to save connection logs, and we adhere to a strict no-logs VPN policy. Therefore, we are unable to comply with requests for user connection logs, even if they are legally binding.”
✓
Session duration logged: nonedataLogged.log.sessionDuration
“This means we keep no session usage logs of what you do online, and we do not log metadata that can compromise your privacy. We don’t log which websites you visit We don’t log your traffic or the content of any communications We don’t log your IP address We don’t log your session lengths We don’t log or track any location-based information”
,
Bandwidth usage: no evidence collectednot assesseddataLogged.log.bandwidthUsage
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
,
Device identifiers: no evidence collectednot assesseddataLogged.log.deviceIdentifiers
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
,
Email address: no evidence collectednot assesseddataLogged.log.emailAddress
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
,
Payment records: no evidence collectednot assesseddataLogged.log.paymentRecords
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
history20% of Privacy
No evidence, this part scored nothing and its weight was redistributed across the parts that did.
jurisdiction10.010% of Privacy · 13% of what scored · absolute
,
Eyes alliance membership: no evidence collectednot assessedjurisdiction.eyesAlliance
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
✓
Mandatory data retention lawjurisdiction.mandatoryDataRetention
- Transparency reportTransparency Report & Warrant Canary (last updated January 6, 2026)protonvpn.comretrieved 2026-07-10unverified
“Under Swiss law, Proton VPN is not obligated to save connection logs, and we adhere to a strict no-logs VPN policy. Therefore, we are unable to comply with requests for user connection logs, even if they are legally binding.”
✓
Compelled logging possiblejurisdiction.compelledLogging
- Transparency reportTransparency Report & Warrant Canary (last updated January 6, 2026)protonvpn.comretrieved 2026-07-10unverified
“Under Swiss law, Proton VPN is not obligated to save connection logs, and we adhere to a strict no-logs VPN policy. Therefore, we are unable to comply with requests for user connection logs, even if they are legally binding.”
trustworthiness10.05% of Privacy · 6% of what scored · absolute
✓
Ownership disclosedtrustworthiness.ownershipDisclosed
“Proton services are operated by Proton AG, a Swiss corporation whose primary shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.”
✓
Parent owns comparison sitestrustworthiness.parentOwnsReviewSites
“Proton services are operated by Proton AG, a Swiss corporation whose primary shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.”
privacyFeatures10.05% of Privacy · 6% of what scored · normalized
,
Anonymous signup: no evidence collectednot assessedprivacyFeatures.anonymousSignup
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
+0.30
of 0.30
Accepts cash→ +0.02 on PrivacyprivacyFeatures.acceptsCash
“30-day money-back guarantee. You can pay using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, or Proton credits. Once you’ve created an account, you can purchase Proton credits using cash, bank transfers, or Bitcoin.”
+0.20
of 0.20
Accepts crypto→ +0.01 on PrivacyprivacyFeatures.acceptsCrypto
“30-day money-back guarantee. You can pay using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, or Proton credits. Once you’ve created an account, you can purchase Proton credits using cash, bank transfers, or Bitcoin.”
Security
10.0Documented78% assessedabsolute · value = clamp(base + Σ delta) · base 10 · coverage 78%
✓
PPTP offered (cryptographically broken)security.protocols.pptp
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
✓
Neither WireGuard nor OpenVPN offeredsecurity.protocols.no-modern-core
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
✓
IKEv2 is the only modern protocol offeredsecurity.protocols.ikev2-only
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
✓
Data cipher strengthsecurity.data-cipher
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
✓
No perfect forward secrecysecurity.forward-secrecy
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
,
Post-quantum key exchange: no evidence collectednot assessedsecurity.post-quantum
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
,
RAM-only server fleet: no evidence collectednot assessedsecurity.ram-only
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
✓
Kill switchsecurity.kill-switch
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
✓
Claimed leak protectionsecurity.leak.claimed
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
Transparency
7.3Documented83% assessednormalized · value = clamp(10 × Σ delta / Σ max) · base 0 · coverage 83%
+4.00
of 4.00
No-logs auditaudits.no-logs
“The technical evidence reviewed during the engagement did not indicate that the examined Proton VPN server infrastructure logs users’ browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, network traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata. Securitum also did not identify persistent records that would allow Proton to associate a specific user with activity performed through a reviewed VPN server.”
+0.00
of 3.00
Technical auditsaudits.technical
“The technical evidence reviewed during the engagement did not indicate that the examined Proton VPN server infrastructure logs users’ browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, network traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata. Securitum also did not identify persistent records that would allow Proton to associate a specific user with activity performed through a reviewed VPN server.”
+2.00
of 2.00
Open-source clientsopenSourceClients
“win-app — Official ProtonVPN Windows app … android-app — Official ProtonVPN Android app … ios-mac-app — Official ProtonVPN iOS and macOS app … proton-vpn-gtk-app — Official ProtonVPN Linux app”
+1.00
of 1.00
Warrant canarywarrantCanary
- Transparency reportTransparency Report & Warrant Canary (last updated January 6, 2026)protonvpn.comretrieved 2026-07-10unverified
“Under Swiss law, Proton VPN is not obligated to save connection logs, and we adhere to a strict no-logs VPN policy. Therefore, we are unable to comply with requests for user connection logs, even if they are legally binding.”
+1.00
of 1.00
Transparency reporttransparencyReport
- Transparency reportTransparency Report & Warrant Canary (last updated January 6, 2026)protonvpn.comretrieved 2026-07-10unverified
“Under Swiss law, Proton VPN is not obligated to save connection logs, and we adhere to a strict no-logs VPN policy. Therefore, we are unable to comply with requests for user connection logs, even if they are legally binding.”
,
Machine-readable server list: no evidence collectednot assessedpublicServerList
No evidence gathered yet, this rule was not assessed, and cost the provider nothing.
Server authenticity
no evidence, excluded from the weighted meanNothing here could be scored, so this dimension is dropped from the mean rather than counted as zero. In the interval it is credited at its ceiling of 10.0, the most it could ever earn, and nowhere else.
Server locations
10.0Vendor-claimednormalized · value = clamp(10 × Σ delta / Σ max) · base 0 · coverage 100%
+6.00
of 6.00
Countries with serverscountries
“Countries 148 Servers 20,588 Locations 191”
+2.50
of 2.50
Cities with serverscities
“Countries 148 Servers 20,588 Locations 191”
+1.50
of 1.50
Total server countservers
“Countries 148 Servers 20,588 Locations 191”
Streaming
2.5Vendor-claimed≤6.5absolute · value = clamp(base + Σ delta) · base 0 · ceiling 6.5 · coverage 100%
+2.50
Provider claims 3 streaming service(s)streaming.claimed
“Amazon Prime Video (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States) … Disney+ (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States) … Netflix (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States)”
Speed
no evidence, excluded from the weighted meanNothing here could be scored, so this dimension is dropped from the mean rather than counted as zero. In the interval it is credited at its ceiling of 8.5, the most it could ever earn, and nowhere else.
Device compatibility
8.8Documentednormalized · value = clamp(10 × Σ delta / Σ max) · base 0 · coverage 100%
+1.00
of 1.00
Windows appwindows
“win-app — Official ProtonVPN Windows app … android-app — Official ProtonVPN Android app … ios-mac-app — Official ProtonVPN iOS and macOS app … proton-vpn-gtk-app — Official ProtonVPN Linux app”
+1.00
of 1.00
macOS appmacos
“win-app — Official ProtonVPN Windows app … android-app — Official ProtonVPN Android app … ios-mac-app — Official ProtonVPN iOS and macOS app … proton-vpn-gtk-app — Official ProtonVPN Linux app”
+1.00
of 1.00
iOS appios
“win-app — Official ProtonVPN Windows app … android-app — Official ProtonVPN Android app … ios-mac-app — Official ProtonVPN iOS and macOS app … proton-vpn-gtk-app — Official ProtonVPN Linux app”
+1.00
of 1.00
Android appandroid
“win-app — Official ProtonVPN Windows app … android-app — Official ProtonVPN Android app … ios-mac-app — Official ProtonVPN iOS and macOS app … proton-vpn-gtk-app — Official ProtonVPN Linux app”
+1.00
of 1.00
Fire TV appfireTv
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.80
of 0.80
Android TV appandroidTv
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.80
of 0.80
Apple TV appappleTv
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.50
of 0.50
Browser extensionbrowserExtension
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.50
of 0.50
Linux GUI clientlinuxGui
“win-app — Official ProtonVPN Windows app … android-app — Official ProtonVPN Android app … ios-mac-app — Official ProtonVPN iOS and macOS app … proton-vpn-gtk-app — Official ProtonVPN Linux app”
+0.00
of 1.00
Router approuterApp
“Get Proton VPN on all your devices: Windows · macOS · Linux · Chromebook · Android · iPhone/iPad · Chrome extension · Firefox extension · Android TV · Apple TV · Fire TV”
+0.40
of 0.50
Simultaneous connectionssimultaneousConnections
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
Usability
no evidence, excluded from the weighted meanNothing here could be scored, so this dimension is dropped from the mean rather than counted as zero. In the interval it is credited at its ceiling of 10.0, the most it could ever earn, and nowhere else.
Torrenting
6.9Documentednormalized · value = clamp(10 × Σ delta / Σ max) · base 0 · coverage 100%
+2.50
of 5.00
P2P-permitted serversp2p.servers
“We have servers that are optimized to handle torrent traffic in jurisdictions that allow P2P file sharing. These servers are labeled with an ⇄ icon.”
+2.00
of 2.00
Port forwarding for P2Pp2p.port-forwarding
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+1.40
of 2.00
Kill switchp2p.kill-switch
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+1.00
of 1.00
Originating-IP loggingp2p.source-ip-logging
“This means we keep no session usage logs of what you do online, and we do not log metadata that can compromise your privacy. We don’t log which websites you visit We don’t log your traffic or the content of any communications We don’t log your IP address We don’t log your session lengths We don’t log or track any location-based information”
Additional features
9.7Documentednormalized · value = clamp(10 × Σ delta / Σ max) · base 0 · coverage 100%
+3.00
of 3.00
Obfuscation / stealth modeobfuscation
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+1.50
of 1.50
Split tunnellingsplitTunnelling
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+1.50
of 1.50
Multi-hop / double VPNmultiHop
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+1.00
of 1.00
24/7 live chat supportliveChat
“With our 24/7 Live Chat service, you can contact our Support team for a one-to-one live text chat to discuss your support needs. This feature is available to everyone with a paid Proton VPN plan.”
+0.80
of 0.80
Ad / tracker blockeradBlocker
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.50
of 0.60
Dedicated IPdedicatedIp
“Proton VPN offers dedicated IP addresses for business users. You can self-serve the setup and configuration of dedicated servers with static IP addresses on Proton VPN for Business plans: VPN Professional, VPN and Pass Professional.”
+0.40
of 0.40
Tor over VPNtorOverVpn
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.40
of 0.40
Port forwardingportForwarding
“A kill switch in all our apps ensures your IP address is never exposed if the VPN connection is interrupted. We use only the strongest and most cryptographically secure protocols, including open source encryption standards such as AES-256 and ChaCha20 at their strongest settings.”
+0.00
of 0.20
SOCKS5 proxy: not disclosednot disclosedsocks5Proxy
“NetShield Ad-blocker · DNS leak protection · Tor over VPN · Alternative routing · Stealth · Smart Protocol · Open-source · Secure Core · Kill switch & Always-on VPN · VPN Accelerator · Port Forwarding · Split Tunneling · WireGuard · Browser Extensions”
Reading the derivation
- Measured
- We produced this number ourselves and can reproduce it.
- Documented
- Read out of a primary document: a privacy policy, an audit report, or source code.
- Vendor-claimed
- Asserted by the provider. We have not independently verified it, and the score is capped accordingly.
- No evidence
- We found nothing to score. The dimension is excluded from the weighted mean rather than counted as zero.
A ✓ is a rule we checked that found nothing wrong, for a no-logs provider that is the point, not an absence of news. A “not disclosed” line is a negative we scored and cited; a “not assessed” line is our own gap, which lowers coverage but costs the provider nothing. Every score here is a published-formula reading of the published evidence.