# Mullvad VPN 255 Hacker News commenters recommended Mullvad VPN and 146 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 4.5 years (4 owners). **Verdict:** A trusted, privacy-focused VPN with anonymous accounts, cash payment and no-logs claims tested by raids; critics object to a founder's political donations and the loss of port forwarding. ## Why people recommend it - Anonymous accounts and cash payment (8 comments): "One thing I admire about Mullvad is that you technically don't need to provide personal information to set up an account" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48730615)) "Mullvad is nice because you can just put money on the meter when you are traveling to locations that make it necessary." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172223)) "Changing your acc number every other month and paying anonymously is much easier on Mullvad than on the ISP level." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234011)) - Reputable, trustworthy provider (5 comments): "A reputable VPN provider that offers a pretty reliable service and has every indication of having a competent security team is worth something in itself" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278058)) "one of the least-terrible (not even in the same ballpark as the likes of nordvpn, etc) commercial vpn service providers in existence" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48077800)) "You guys did a fantastic job at designing a genuinely good and trustworthy (as much as possible) VPN vendor." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48146155)) - No logs, confirmed by raids (3 comments): "Mullvad operate completely stateless nodes, which was confirmed several times when law enforcement tried to access their logs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48144594)) "They have been raided multiple times, tons of audits, does bleeding edge research on privacy preserving tech" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697525)) "The judge permitted people to take a fine-tooth comb to Mullvad's infrastructure and no logging was found" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48146058)) - Principled pro-privacy stance (4 comments): "I respect what the company has been doing and the pro-privacy political stance it openly and publicly stands for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48725066)) "Not many people have the backbone to actually stand behind freedom of speech when it may cost them something." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48724594)) "Very happy to be a customer of a company that supports freedom and privacy for everyone regardless of views." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721766)) ## What people warn about - Co-founder funds far-right party (11 comments): "When a founder and executive with influence over Mullvad policy and operations is exposed actively and financially support restricting free expression of people, it's not "tolerant" to pretend that's somehow compatible with the mission and brand of the company." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48722043)) "can I have a refund for the portion of my mullvad subscription that went to supporting organizations who think that people like me don't deserve to live?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723190)) "the idea that a VPN can be 'pro-privacy' while cozying up to the government and encouraging deportations of Swedish nationals is impossible to square" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48726816)) - Port forwarding was removed (2 comments): "I do really wish they still provided port forwarding, I understand why they don't but that was really useful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262084)) "mullvad stopped providing port forwarding due to the abuse and the effects a single-digit percent of their users was having on the other 90+% of users." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48403179)) - Still requires trusting the company (2 comments): "The gov't can force them to reveal any user's data and slap them with a gag order so no one will ever know this happened." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46590772)) "this entire series of statements from you mean nothing because it still boils down to "you have to trust the company"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48724810)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Proton VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/proton-vpn.md): 63 recommend - [iCloud Private Relay](https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud-private-relay.md): 26 recommend - [Cloudflare WARP](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-warp.md): 18 recommend - [Firefox VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-built-in-vpn.md): 16 recommend - [IVPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ivpn.md): 14 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://mullvad.net/en) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Mullvad VPN", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mullvad-vpn/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).