Proton VPN vs Mullvad: Privacy, Price, Streaming

Proton VPN has a free tier, streaming, and port forwarding; Mullvad has anonymous accounts and flat EUR 5 pricing. Here is who should pick each.

By Tudor Uzun

Founder and Senior Software Engineer, IP Trackers

Published April 18, 2026Updated May 5, 2026Editorial standards

Proton VPN and Mullvad are the two most recommended privacy-first VPNs in 2026. They both take security seriously, publish independent audits, and resist the data collection that consumer VPN brands are sometimes accused of. The choice between them comes down to the trade between ecosystem breadth and radical minimalism. This comparison covers pricing, privacy architecture, speed, streaming, and the kinds of users each provider actually fits.

At a glance

Privacy philosophy: different answers to the same question

Both providers are genuinely privacy-first, but they approach it from opposite directions.

• Mullvad strips metadata before the sign-up even happens. You do not give them an email. You get a 16-digit account number and pay anonymously. There is no password. The philosophy is: the less we know, the less we can lose or surrender.
• Proton VPN operates like a traditional account service (you create a login), but layers strong technical privacy on top. The appeal is that it integrates with Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, and Proton Pass under one ecosystem, with encrypted storage and end-to-end encrypted messaging.

If radical anonymity is the goal, Mullvad is unmatched. If you want strong privacy with a complete encrypted productivity suite, Proton is without peer.

Pricing and transparency

Mullvad charges a flat EUR 5 per month, forever. No promotional pricing, no upsells, no multi-year tiered discounts. That transparency is part of the pitch. Over two years, Mullvad costs ~EUR 120.

Proton VPN has a free plan with unlimited data on a limited free-country selection, and paid plans that are competitive on multi-year commitments. The 2-year Plus plan runs roughly $5 per month, which puts Proton and Mullvad within a dollar of each other at equal commitments. The free plan matters for users who want real privacy without paying.

Speed and server network

Proton VPN runs a much larger network (20,000+ servers versus Mullvad's ~580), with broader coverage in Asia, South America, and Africa. Independent speed tests in 2025-2026 put both providers in the top tier for WireGuard throughput, with Proton slightly faster on long-distance hops and Mullvad extremely consistent on short hops in Europe. Both advertise 10 Gbit uplinks on most servers.

If you travel, Proton's coverage is noticeably wider. If you stay in Europe or North America, you will rarely notice a difference. Verify with a speed test and an ASN lookup to confirm the exit ASN is what you expect.

Streaming: Proton wins, Mullvad does not really play

Proton VPN Plus unblocks Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer consistently, with a dedicated "Plus server" label for streaming exits. Mullvad does not operate streaming-specific servers and does not prioritize keeping streaming pools clean. Users frequently report Netflix proxy errors, inconsistent Disney+ access, and BBC iPlayer blocks. If streaming is part of why you want a VPN, Mullvad is the wrong choice.

Features: Proton is broader, Mullvad is tighter

Proton VPN features

• Secure Core (double-hop through privacy-friendly countries)
• NetShield (DNS-level ad and malware blocking)
• Tor over VPN servers
• Stealth protocol for restrictive networks
• Port forwarding
• Integrated with Proton Mail, Drive, Calendar, Pass

Mullvad features

• WireGuard and OpenVPN with solid defaults
• Multi-hop (pay extra layer, not separate servers)
• Built-in DNS content blocking lists
• No streaming servers, no ecosystem, no gimmicks

Mullvad's feature minimalism is a feature in itself: fewer moving parts means fewer places for privacy to leak. Proton VPN has more surface area, but the extra surface is useful and documented.

Audits and transparency

Both have passed independent no-logs audits (Proton by Securitum and Radically Open Security; Mullvad by Assured AB and Cure53), and both open-source their apps. Mullvad publishes physical server infrastructure audits and has the most radical trust minimization in the industry. Proton has a longer cross-product audit history because of the Mail and Drive products.

Which one to pick

Pick Mullvad if you want:

• The most anonymous account model available (no email, no password).
• Flat, no-upsell pricing.
• Minimum trust surface, open-source apps.
• Primarily privacy, not streaming.

Pick Proton VPN if you want:

• A free plan with no speed-limited ads.
• Streaming that actually works.
• Integration with an encrypted email and storage suite.
• Features like Secure Core, Tor over VPN, port forwarding, and Stealth.

Verify either choice

1. Connect to a non-local server, then confirm the IP, ASN, and PTR on our IP lookup, ASN lookup, and reverse DNS pages.
2. Run a DNS, IPv6, and WebRTC leak sweep with Is my VPN working?
3. Test the kill switch by killing the client process and confirming no traffic leaks until the tunnel reconnects.

How to think about this comparison

Proton VPN versus Mullvad is not the usual mainstream VPN showdown. It is a comparison between two providers that both take privacy more seriously than the average consumer brand, but define the job differently. Proton wants to be the privacy-focused service that still fits comfortably into normal consumer life. Mullvad wants to reduce the amount of trust you need to place in the provider from the very first step.

That difference shapes almost everything else. Proton adds more features, more coverage, more ecosystem, and more mainstream flexibility. Mullvad removes unnecessary identity and complexity where it can. Neither philosophy is automatically better. The right answer depends on whether you want the tightest trust surface or the broadest privacy utility.

Account identity is the real fork in the road

Mullvad's account-number model remains one of the strongest practical examples of data minimization in the VPN industry. You do not need to hand over a normal email identity to get started. That changes the trust relationship in a meaningful way because the provider has less personal information to manage, lose, or be asked to surrender later.

Proton VPN uses a standard account because it belongs to a larger secure services ecosystem. That is less radical but more convenient. It lets the VPN connect naturally with mail, storage, password management, and the rest of Proton's product family. For many users, that ecosystem is not a distraction from privacy. It is the reason they trust Proton in the first place.

This is why the choice often comes down to your tolerance for account identity. If you feel most comfortable when the provider knows almost nothing about you, Mullvad has a clearer appeal. If you want one secure home for several privacy tools, Proton makes more sense.

Pricing style matters as much as the monthly number

Mullvad's flat monthly pricing communicates a philosophy of stability. The provider does not need to persuade you to commit for years to get a fair rate. What you pay today is what you pay next month. For buyers who dislike promotional pricing ladders, that transparency is genuinely reassuring.

Proton uses a more conventional consumer-software model. There is a free tier, there are long-term discounts, and there is more pricing variation depending on how deep into the ecosystem you go. That makes it more accessible to newcomers, but also more typical in the way buyers need to evaluate plans and renewal logic.

In practice, Mullvad feels better to users who want simplicity and do not mind paying the same fair monthly number indefinitely. Proton feels better to users who want a cheap way to start and a discounted way to stay once they are convinced.

Why the free plan changes the buying decision

Proton's free plan is not a small bonus. It changes how easy the service is to recommend. Many users want to test routing, app quality, and basic privacy posture before they pay. Proton lets them do that without turning to sketchy "free VPN" apps with weak reputations.

Mullvad offers no equivalent because that is not how it approaches user acquisition. That is reasonable, but it means the barrier to entry is higher for cautious or budget-constrained users. If you are comparing the two for a friend, a family member, or a team of mixed technical ability, Proton's free plan makes onboarding easier immediately.

Geographic reach and travel use

Proton's larger server network is most valuable when you travel broadly, need more country coverage, or want stronger odds of finding a fast nearby route outside the most common Western markets. Server count is not just a bragging metric. It is optionality.

Mullvad's smaller network is enough for many privacy users who stay in Europe or North America and do not need streaming-optimized or region-specific exits. Where it becomes limiting is when the job itself depends on location flexibility. Travel-heavy users feel Proton's network advantage faster than people who mostly stay within one region.

Speed and consistency

Both providers are fast enough that ordinary browsing, video calls, and downloads feel smooth. The difference is less about "who wins the benchmark" and more about where each product is more resilient.

Proton tends to benefit from its scale and broader network spread. It often feels stronger when you need long-distance routes or multiple fallback options. Mullvad often feels beautifully consistent when your use case stays within the cleaner part of its network and you do not need entertainment or geography-specific tuning.

If your daily life is mostly one region, one device set, and a privacy-first workflow, Mullvad rarely feels underpowered. If your life is more geographically messy, Proton's extra reach becomes practical rather than theoretical.

Streaming is where Proton clearly pulls away

This is the simplest part of the comparison. Proton cares about streaming as a product use case. Mullvad does not treat it as a core design goal. If media access matters, Proton is the better fit.

That does not mean Mullvad is broken. It means its priorities lie elsewhere. Users make bad purchase decisions when they assume every respected privacy VPN should also be a mainstream entertainment VPN. Mullvad is one of the clearest examples of a provider that refuses to make that promise.

Feature surface: breadth versus deliberate restraint

Proton VPN offers more surface area for advanced workflows: Secure Core, Tor over VPN, NetShield, Stealth, port forwarding on paid plans, and tighter ties to a secure productivity ecosystem. For some users, that is exactly what they want from a modern privacy platform.

Mullvad's narrower feature set is not a weakness for everyone. For a lot of privacy-focused users, it is a positive sign that the provider is not trying to solve every adjacent consumer problem. Fewer moving parts can mean fewer expectations, fewer tradeoffs, and a more coherent trust story.

The mistake is to think more features automatically means a better privacy product. Sometimes it means a better utility product. Sometimes it means more complexity than you need.

Port forwarding, torrenting, and specialist workflows

Proton's continued support for port forwarding on paid plans matters to power users. Once Mullvad removed port forwarding, the comparison shifted materially for P2P-heavy users, self-hosters, and people who need more specific inbound connectivity behavior.

If your use case depends on that feature, the comparison becomes much easier: Proton is simply more suitable today. If your use case is narrower and you mostly care about the privacy baseline rather than specialized traffic management, Mullvad remains compelling.

Apps and usability

Proton is generally easier to recommend to mainstream users. The free plan reduces friction, the product framing is familiar, and the broader ecosystem creates a sense of continuity for people who want one trusted secure-services relationship.

Mullvad appeals more strongly to users who already agree with its philosophy. It feels elegant to the privacy-literate user who wants a clean, quiet tool with minimal identity burden. That elegance can feel less obvious to someone who is just trying to solve a practical consumer-VPN problem and expects streaming, a free trial, and lots of explanatory UI.

Which one fits your threat model better?

Threat modeling cuts through a lot of generic review noise. If you are primarily worried about giving a provider unnecessary personal metadata, Mullvad has the cleaner story. If you are primarily worried about using a privacy service that also needs to fit modern everyday life, Proton has the cleaner story.

Neither provider is perfect for every threat model. The strong move is to choose the one whose compromises you actually accept rather than the one whose branding flatters your instincts.

Use-case verdicts

Choose Mullvad for:

• Minimal account identity and trust surface.
• Flat, predictable pricing without discount games.
• Users who care more about privacy purity than entertainment extras.
• Buyers who value simplicity over ecosystem breadth.

Choose Proton VPN for:

• Free onboarding and lower trial friction.
• Streaming and wider geographic coverage.
• Advanced features like Secure Core or Stealth.
• Users who want one secure account across several services.

Decision shortcuts

1. If streaming matters, lean Proton.
2. If anonymous-style signup matters, lean Mullvad.
3. If you want to test before paying, lean Proton.
4. If you dislike upsell logic and plan ladders, lean Mullvad.
5. If you want a wider secure ecosystem, lean Proton.

FAQ

Is Mullvad more private than Proton VPN?

In account-data minimization, yes. Proton is still highly privacy focused, but Mullvad removes more identity from the relationship at the start.

Is Proton VPN worth it if I only need a simple VPN?

It can be, especially if the free plan, streaming, or ecosystem value matters to you. If you want a stripped-back privacy tool and little else, Mullvad may feel more aligned.

Which one is better for beginners?

Proton is usually easier to recommend broadly because of the free plan, the mainstream feature balance, and the wider range of ordinary consumer use cases it supports well.

Which one should researchers or activists choose?

That depends on the workflow. Users who care most about minimizing account identity often prefer Mullvad. Users who need broader geography, obfuscation options, or ecosystem tools may prefer Proton.

Should I switch if I already use one of them?

Only if your use case changed. Proton is the better switch if you now care about streaming, broader features, or free onboarding for others. Mullvad is the better switch if you now prioritize a tighter trust surface and simpler pricing.

What buyers get wrong most often

• Treating Mullvad as the default answer for every privacy user even when streaming, broader geography, or feature depth are clearly part of the brief.
• Treating Proton as "too mainstream" and therefore less serious on privacy. It is broader, not unserious.
• Comparing only monthly price without considering the value of a real free plan or the value of flat pricing.
• Ignoring how much account style itself matters to the user's comfort level.

Final practical verdict

If you want the stronger all-round recommendation for most people, Proton VPN is easier to recommend because it supports streaming, offers a credible free tier, has broader network coverage, and gives privacy users a richer set of tools without dropping below the trust threshold that matters.

If you want the stronger recommendation for trust minimization on a narrow definition, Mullvad still stands out. It is one of the clearest examples of a service reducing the amount of identity it needs to hold. That is a real advantage, and it remains rare.

So the honest short version is this: Proton wins the broader buying argument. Mullvad wins the narrower purity argument. The right pick depends on which argument is actually yours.

Buyer profiles: where each service feels obviously right

The privacy maximalist

This user cares most about how little the provider knows at the account layer. They dislike handing out an email address. They are drawn to cash and crypto payments, simple pricing, and a product that does not try to become a whole lifestyle ecosystem. For that buyer, Mullvad feels coherent in a way few competitors do.

The secure-ecosystem user

This user wants the VPN to be part of a broader security stack. They may use encrypted mail, storage, calendar, or password tools from the same vendor and value the convenience of a unified account they still regard as privacy-conscious. For that buyer, Proton VPN fits naturally.

The beginner who wants to test safely

This is the user Proton serves much better. A real free plan changes the emotional risk of getting started. The user can test the app, routing, and device fit before paying. Mullvad asks for more conviction at the outset, which is fine for enthusiasts but less comfortable for tentative newcomers.

The traveler

Travelers often care about geographic flexibility more than they realize. Wider server coverage, more fallback locations, and better streaming compatibility make Proton easier to live with for travel-heavy users. Mullvad still works well for general privacy on the road, but it is not trying to be the best answer to every travel-adjacent use case.

Open source, audits, and trust maintenance

Both providers benefit from publishing open-source apps and taking external audits seriously. That shared baseline is one reason this comparison feels meaningful: neither service relies only on marketing language to make its privacy case.

The difference is emphasis. Mullvad's trust story is built around minimalism and the removal of avoidable trust. Proton's trust story is built around broader institutional credibility across several privacy products. Mullvad feels purer. Proton feels broader and more mature as a platform.

Depending on your temperament, either of those can feel like the more trustworthy posture. Some users trust a service more when it knows less. Others trust a service more when it has broader operational depth and a longer cross-product security history.

Travel, censorship, and restrictive networks

Proton's wider set of protocols and location options usually makes it the easier recommendation for restrictive or geographically messy environments. A user dealing with filtering, hotel captive portals, or long-distance routing quirks benefits from having more options.

Mullvad can still be excellent for straightforward privacy usage in such environments, but it is not trying to win the "most adaptable across every hostile network condition" race. That difference matters if your travel pattern is part of the purchase decision rather than a hypothetical edge case.

Household use versus personal use

Mullvad feels more like a personal privacy tool. Proton feels more like a service you can recommend into mixed-use environments. That is not because Mullvad is difficult. It is because Proton gives mainstream users more obvious reasons to stay: a free tier, broader entertainment compatibility, and a more expansive overall feature story.

If you are buying for yourself and your threat model is specific, Mullvad can feel more honest. If you are buying for a partner, a relative, or a shared environment where several use cases overlap, Proton usually becomes easier to defend.

Common mistakes in this comparison

• Assuming Mullvad is automatically the "best privacy VPN" for every user even when the buyer clearly needs streaming or a broader network.
• Assuming Proton is less privacy-serious because it is easier for mainstream users to adopt.
• Ignoring the importance of account model when trust minimization is part of the brief.
• Comparing monthly price without accounting for free-plan value or flat-pricing value.

Questions to ask before buying

1. Do I want a normal account or as little identity as possible?
2. Do I care about streaming compatibility?
3. Do I want to test the service before paying?
4. Do I need port forwarding or broader advanced features?
5. Am I buying for one privacy-focused user or for a broader audience?

Those five questions get you to the answer faster than most scorecards.

What an ideal choice looks like

Choosing Mullvad means accepting a narrower, cleaner product because the trust model itself is part of the value. Choosing Proton means accepting a more conventional account structure because the broader secure ecosystem and richer feature set are part of the value. Neither choice is irrational. Each one simply solves a different version of the privacy-software problem.

What the wrong choice looks like

The wrong Proton VPN buyer is someone who really wants the thinnest possible trust surface but gets distracted by ecosystem convenience. They may end up paying for strengths they do not value while still feeling uneasy about the normal account structure.

The wrong Mullvad buyer is someone who actually wants mainstream streaming, a free trial path, broad travel flexibility, and a richer feature stack, but chooses Mullvad because they heard it was the "most private." They may end up frustrated, not because Mullvad is weak, but because it is intentionally narrower than their real use case demanded.

The best purchase happens when you choose the provider whose tradeoffs you genuinely agree with rather than the one whose reputation flatters your instincts.

Payment methods: the quietest part of the privacy story

Both providers accept cryptocurrency and cash by mail, which is rare in the consumer VPN industry. The operational details differ in ways that matter if payment metadata is part of your threat model.

Mullvad accepts Bitcoin and Monero directly, and will also accept cash mailed to its Swedish headquarters. Pair an anonymous account number with cash or Monero and the provider genuinely does not know who paid. Credit card payments flow through Stripe and carry the usual card metadata, but none of that links to an email address because there is no email on the account.

Proton VPN accepts Bitcoin through BitPay, plus the usual card and PayPal options. Cash by mail is supported but less prominently featured. The difference is that Proton always has an email address attached to the account, so even a crypto-paid Proton subscription still leaves an email identifier. That email can be a throwaway ProtonMail address, which narrows the metadata considerably, but it is not the same as Mullvad's zero-identity baseline.

For most users this difference is academic. For users whose threat model specifically includes provider-side metadata compulsion, it is the difference that defines the comparison.

Per-platform setup and ecosystem integration

Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)

Mullvad's desktop client is identical across all three platforms and unusually minimal: a map, a server list, account settings, a kill switch, and DNS content blocking toggles. That is the whole product. Linux gets first-class support with the same GUI client, which is rare in the consumer VPN space. Proton VPN's desktop client is denser, featuring Secure Core selection, Tor over VPN servers, profiles, port forwarding toggles, and Stealth protocol settings. Linux coverage on Proton is CLI-first with a newer GUI client that is still maturing.

Mobile (iOS, Android)

Both ship native apps with feature parity to their desktop cousins. Mullvad's Android app is available through Google Play, F-Droid, and direct APK. Proton VPN is in Google Play and as a direct APK. F-Droid availability is one of the quiet privacy-relevant differences: if you want to run an Android VPN without Google services in the install path, Mullvad has the cleaner story.

Router and firmware

Both export WireGuard configuration files, so router coverage via OpenWRT, AsusWRT, pfSense, or commercial devices is supported on both. Mullvad's config generator is particularly clean. Proton supports dedicated WireGuard configs as well and offers more location-specific server selection in its generator. If you plan to cover a whole household through a router, both will work; Proton gives you more location granularity.

Ecosystem integration

Proton VPN's most underrated strength is that it ships as part of a broader Proton Unlimited plan that also includes Proton Mail, Drive, Calendar, and Pass. For users who were going to pay for encrypted mail or storage anyway, the VPN comes close to free on the margin. Mullvad is deliberately not part of any ecosystem. It is one product and it intends to stay that way.

Threat-model scenarios and how each provider fits

Casual privacy user on public Wi-Fi

Both providers cover this scenario completely. The only real difference is onboarding: Proton's free tier means the user can test before paying, while Mullvad asks for a commitment up front (albeit a small one at EUR 5). For this user, either is correct.

Journalist or researcher handling sensitive sources

This is where Mullvad's zero-identity model earns its reputation. An anonymous account number paid with Monero cannot be linked to a real person by the provider. Combine that with Tor Browser for the actual sensitive work (not the VPN alone) and you have a clean operational posture. Proton VPN also works here, especially with a ProtonMail throwaway identity, but the trust surface is larger.

Activist in a restrictive jurisdiction

Proton VPN's Stealth protocol is designed to survive Deep Packet Inspection on networks that block vanilla WireGuard or OpenVPN fingerprints. Mullvad does not ship a dedicated obfuscation protocol. If the network you are on actively blocks VPN protocols, Proton has the more practical answer out of the box. Shadowsocks or a meek bridge can supplement Mullvad but add operational complexity.

Torrenting and self-hosting

Mullvad removed port forwarding in May 2023 after it concluded that long-lived inbound connections were increasingly being used to host illegal content that the provider was then pressured over. Proton VPN retained port forwarding on paid plans. If P2P workflows or self-hosted services need inbound reachability, Proton is currently the correct choice. If you can live without port forwarding, either works.

Streaming household

Already covered above, but worth restating: Proton VPN Plus is reliable for major streaming libraries. Mullvad is not. If streaming is any part of the purchase decision, Proton wins this category cleanly.

Enterprise or small-team use

Neither is marketed as an enterprise product. Proton offers Proton Business plans that extend the suite to teams with centralized billing and admin tooling; this is the closer match. Mullvad stays a consumer product by design. For a small team that wants a single-vendor privacy-first stack, Proton is the more mature answer.

Verification workflow for either provider

Installation is only half of getting a VPN into production. The other half is proving that the tunnel carries all of your traffic, none of your DNS leaks out, and the kill switch works.

1. Baseline before connecting. Note the current IP, city, and ASN on our IP lookup, then save the resolver list from our DNS leak test.
2. Connect and confirm. Enable the VPN to a server in a different country. The IP, country, and ASN should all change. If the ASN still shows your ISP, the tunnel has not taken over.
3. Check DNS.Rerun the DNS leak test. Proton VPN should show Proton resolvers; Mullvad should show Mullvad resolvers. An ISP resolver in the output means your OS is overriding the VPN's DNS - on Windows, disable Smart Multi-Homed Name Resolution; on Android, disable Private DNS; on Linux, check that systemd-resolved is not using an upstream resolver.
4. Check IPv6. Run the IPv6 leak test. If IPv6 traffic leaves the tunnel, toggle IPv6 leak protection in the client or disable IPv6 on the interface entirely.
5. Check WebRTC. Run the WebRTC leak test in every browser you use. A browser setting, not a VPN bug, but the net effect on leaked IP exposure is the same.
6. Kill switch stress test. Force-kill the VPN process. Your connection should die until the tunnel returns. If traffic keeps flowing, the kill switch is off or broken.
7. PTR and ASN sanity check. Confirm the exit IP resolves to a provider-owned PTR record using our reverse DNS lookup, and that the ASN is Proton or Mullvad on our ASN lookup. Some providers rent IP ranges from third parties; the ASN tells you who actually owns the address.

Troubleshooting cheat sheet

Long-term cost of ownership

Mullvad's flat EUR 5 per month means a 3-year cost of roughly EUR 180. There is no renewal surprise. Proton VPN Plus on a 2-year commitment runs about $120 up front, but the renewal rate is higher than the promotional rate - plan for roughly $6-7 per month after the initial term unless you renew during a promotion.

Proton Unlimited (VPN plus Mail, Drive, Calendar, Pass) runs roughly $10 per month on a 2-year plan, which is competitive against buying a standalone encrypted email service plus a standalone VPN from different vendors. That bundle value is the honest reason many privacy-focused users end up at Proton even when Mullvad's VPN-only pitch is cleaner on its own.

Expanded FAQ

Does Mullvad actually work without an email address?

Yes. You generate a 16-digit account number on the website and that is the entire identity. Add funds via card, crypto, or cash, and the number remains the only piece of data linking you to the account.

Is a Proton VPN account safer if I use a ProtonMail alias?

It reduces the identity surface compared to using a personal email, but it does not match Mullvad's baseline. You still have an email address; Mullvad has no email at all.

Why did Mullvad remove port forwarding?

In May 2023 Mullvad ended port forwarding after concluding that long-lived forwarded ports were being used disproportionately to host illegal content, and the resulting abuse reports were creating operational and legal pressure. The decision was unpopular with power users but consistent with Mullvad's pattern of removing features that do not serve its privacy mission.

Does either support split tunneling?

Yes on Windows and Android for both providers. macOS support is limited on both due to Apple's network extension model. Linux split tunneling is available on Proton's CLI and community tooling for Mullvad.

Is Proton VPN's free plan actually usable?

Yes. It has no speed cap beyond what network contention produces, no ads, unlimited data, and a limited free-country selection. It is genuinely one of the strongest free VPN options and an honest way to test Proton before committing.

Can I use both at once?

Technically yes - run one on a router and another on the device - but double tunneling adds latency without meaningfully improving privacy. If you want layered routing, use Proton's Secure Core or Tor over VPN feature instead.

Does jurisdiction matter for either?

Switzerland (Proton) and Sweden (Mullvad) are both considered privacy-friendly jurisdictions with strong data protection laws and no mandatory VPN data retention regimes. Neither country requires VPN providers to log user activity. For most threat models the jurisdictional difference is negligible.

How do refunds work?

Proton VPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. Mullvad offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on payments of up to 30 days. Both honor refund requests in practice.

Where this comparison stops being close

When the buyer needs streaming, ecosystem bundling, or Stealth-style obfuscation, Proton is the answer. When the buyer wants the cleanest possible account model and flat predictable pricing, Mullvad is the answer. The middle ground - users with mixed needs who are flexible about identity - can go either way and would not feel they picked wrong.

Related guides and reviews

• Proton VPN review
• Mullvad review
• Best VPN comparison 2026
• DNS leak test
• How AI is changing VPN detection