Mullvad vs Proton VPN (2026): which privacy VPN to pick

Pick Mullvad if you want to give a VPN as little as possible about yourself: no email, a random account number, cash by post and one flat price. Pick Proton VPN if you want a free plan, port forwarding, more devices, a 30-day refund and a long run of published no-logs audits.

These are the two VPNs privacy-minded people recommend most, and they agree on more than they differ: both are built to collect as little as possible, and both have had their claims tested by outsiders. The differences are in how you sign up, how you pay, what features you get and what kind of evidence backs the no-logs promise. Every fact here comes from the providers’ pages or independent reports, checked on November 12, 2026. We haven’t run speed tests. Full profiles: our Mullvad review and Proton VPN review.

Mullvad vs Proton VPN at a glance

Prices as listed on Mullvad’s pricing page¹ and Proton’s pricing page² on Nov 12, 2026 (US view for Proton). Proton’s promotions and renewal prices change; Mullvad says its price hasn’t changed since it launched in 2009.

Which is more anonymous to sign up for, Mullvad or Proton VPN?

Mullvad. You don’t create an account at all in the usual sense: you click a button and get a random number, which is the only thing you need to log in. Proton also lets you sign up without personal information, but it’s a regular login-and-password account.

Mullvad’s no-logging policy³ says it asks for “no username, no password, no email address”; a random account number is generated, and anyone can create as many as they like. An account has just two properties, the number and the time left on it. You can pay with cash posted in an envelope with a randomly generated payment token, in nine currencies, or with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash or Monero (10% off), bank wire, card, PayPal and several regional methods, per its pricing page¹. Mullvad notes that payments by bank wire, PayPal, Swish or Stripe do involve personal data that it then handles under GDPR.

Proton’s privacy policy⁴ says no personal information is needed to create an account and an external email is optional, for recovery or notices. To stop spam it may ask you to verify by captcha, email or SMS, and it keeps those details temporarily. Proton accepts cash too, in dollars, euros or Swiss francs sent to Geneva with your Proton username, plus Bitcoin, cards, PayPal and bank transfer (payment options⁵). The difference is small for most people and real for a few: a Proton account is one login across Mail, Drive and Pass, which is convenient, while a Mullvad number is deliberately tied to nothing.

Which is cheaper, Mullvad or Proton VPN?

In the first year, Proton VPN Plus on its 1-year plan ($35.88) costs about half of a year of Mullvad (€60, about $66.60). From the second year Mullvad is cheaper, because Proton renews at $83.88 while Mullvad stays at €5 a month. Proton’s free plan costs nothing.

Mullvad charges €5 a month including VAT whether you buy one month, one year or a decade, and says it never runs sales, “not for Christmas or any other holiday” (pricing¹). You top up time rather than sign a contract. Proton lists VPN Plus at $2.99 a month on the 1-year plan, billed $35.88 and renewing at $83.88 a year, or $9.99 month to month (first month $1 when we checked). The page’s plan data lists a 2-year plan at $3.49 a month ($83.76), so right now Proton’s 1-year plan is cheaper per month than its 2-year plan.

Refunds differ more. Mullvad’s guarantee is 14 days from the payment date, and cash and crypto payments aren’t refunded (terms⁶). Proton refunds in full if you cancel within 30 days of your first purchase, once per user, but not for cash or bank-transfer payments (terms⁷). More options in the cheapest VPNs compared.

Which has the stronger no-logs evidence?

They offer different kinds of proof. Mullvad has had its office searched by police who left with nothing; Proton has five consecutive yearly audits that specifically test its no-logs policy.

Mullvad. On April 18, 2023, at least six officers from the Swedish police’s National Operations Department arrived at Mullvad’s Gothenburg office with a search warrant to seize computers with customer data. Mullvad says⁸ such data didn’t exist, and after it showed how the service works and the officers consulted the prosecutor, they left without taking anything. Its published audits are security audits rather than no-logs certifications: Cure53 tested a WireGuard and an OpenVPN staging server and the deployment code in 2024 and found two issues, both fixed (report post⁹); X41 D-Sec reviewed the account and payment backend in late 2025 (post¹⁰); and Leviathan Security assessed the Android app in 2026 (post¹¹). Mullvad finished moving its VPN servers to RAM-only operation in September 2023 (announcement¹²).

Proton VPN. Securitum has audited Proton’s no-logs policy every year since 2022. The fifth audit, with fieldwork from May 20 to 27, 2026, reviewed a sample of production servers, their configuration and procedures, as CyberInsider reported¹³, and found nothing indicating logging of browsing, DNS queries, destinations, traffic contents or user-identifiable connection data. Proton links all five reports publicly on its audit page¹⁴. Its VPN privacy policy¹⁵ adds that all its VPN servers use full-disk encryption and that it owns all Secure Core servers and most of its servers in Switzerland and Germany.

Is Sweden or Switzerland better for a VPN?

Both are European democracies with courts that can compel companies, and both providers have had a brush with the law: a search warrant for Mullvad, a logging order for Proton’s email. What protects you is mostly what the provider doesn’t store.

Mullvad VPN AB is in Gothenburg, and its policy page³ covers the Swedish laws it says are relevant to a VPN provider. Proton AG is in Geneva. In 2021 a binding order from the Swiss Federal Department of Justice, after a French police request through Europol, forced Proton Mail to log an activist’s IP address; Proton’s CEO said Swiss law treats email and VPN differently, so the same order can’t force VPN logging (The Record¹⁶). In 2025 Proton said it was moving most of its physical infrastructure out of Switzerland over a proposed surveillance rule that would require services with 5,000+ users to keep metadata for six months, starting with servers in Germany and sites in Norway, while saying it isn’t leaving (heise¹⁷).

What happened with Mullvad’s owner and the political donation?

In July 2026 Mullvad addressed criticism after one of its owners made a donation to a Swedish political party. Mullvad said it was a private donation, and that Mullvad and its parent and sister companies did not endorse it and weren’t involved.

In its statement¹⁸, dated July 20, 2026, Mullvad says it campaigns only within a narrow focus (freedom of speech, freedom of information and privacy) so it can work with people of all views; that it neither condones nor condemns the donation, which it called “most likely” a bad idea; and that it keeps its mission separate from its founders’ wider views, noting the founders disagree on this issue. How much weight to give that is your call. It doesn’t change how the service works, but some people choose providers partly on who owns them.

WireGuard only vs Stealth: which works on more networks?

Proton gives you more ways to connect, including Stealth for networks that block VPNs. Mullvad is now WireGuard only, with its own obfuscation modes wrapped around it.

Mullvad removed OpenVPN from its desktop app in version 2025.14 and said its last OpenVPN servers would go down on or before January 15, 2026, so routers or third-party apps set up for its OpenVPN servers stopped working (announcement¹⁹). To replace OpenVPN’s anti-censorship role, the app offers UDP-over-TCP, Shadowsocks and QUIC, with an “Automatic” mode that tries them when plain WireGuard fails. Mullvad warns that obfuscation doesn’t improve privacy and can slow things down.

Proton’s protocol page²⁰ lists WireGuard over UDP or TCP, Stealth, and Smart Protocol, which picks automatically; OpenVPN is offered only in the Linux app. Proton says Stealth²¹ uses “obfuscated TLS tunneling over TCP” to look like ordinary HTTPS traffic and is available on every plan, including Free. Our WireGuard vs OpenVPN guide explains the trade-offs.

Does Mullvad or Proton VPN support port forwarding?

Proton VPN does, on all paid plans; Mullvad doesn’t, and hasn’t since 2023.

Mullvad stopped port forwarding²² in May 2023 and removed existing ports on July 1, 2023, saying people had used forwarded ports to host malicious services, which brought law-enforcement contact, blacklisted IPs and cancelled hosting. Proton’s port-forwarding guide²³ covers Windows, macOS and Linux on its P2P servers, with a random port assigned by the server. If you seed torrents or host a game server, that settles it. A VPN doesn’t make copyright infringement legal; this isn’t legal advice. See the best VPNs for torrenting.

How many devices, and which is better for streaming?

Mullvad covers 5 devices per account; Proton covers 1 on the free plan and 10 on VPN Plus. Neither should be bought on a streaming promise.

Mullvad states the 5-device limit in its terms⁶. Proton lists 10 devices on its paid plans and sells streaming as a VPN Plus feature (free plan page²⁴). Providers’ “works with” claims change often, and using a VPN to reach another country’s catalog usually breaks the streaming service’s terms; see the best VPNs for streaming for the details. If you’re still deciding whether you need a VPN at all, the EFF’s guide to choosing a VPN²⁵ and our do I need a VPN? are good starting points.

Mullvad or Proton VPN: which should you pick?

Pick Mullvad if keeping your identity out of the picture matters most: no email, an account number, cash by post, and a price that never changes or renews higher. Accept 5 devices, no port forwarding, a 14-day refund that excludes cash and crypto, and WireGuard only.

Pick Proton VPN if you want a free plan, port forwarding, Stealth, 10 devices, a 30-day refund and no-logs audits you can read in full every year, and you’re happy to have a Proton account. Watch the renewal price after the first year, and keep an eye on where Proton’s infrastructure move ends up.

Also weighing a mainstream option? See Proton VPN vs NordVPN and Proton VPN vs Surfshark, or the comparison table of all ten providers. IVPN is the other privacy-first service we cover.

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