Proton Meet
Ranked 4 of 9 video conferencing apps by recommenders
Recommended for encrypted video calls that work in the browser without an account, though critics often doubt its privacy claims given US legal exposure.
Recommended for encrypted video calls that work in the browser without an account, though critics often doubt its privacy claims given US legal exposure.
40 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 23
- approval share
- 43%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works well in practice
“have hosted a few meetings now with this and now I am so relieved”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Proton Meet: Secure, end-to-end encrypted video conferencing” “Works really well, clean interface, e2ee I can trust.”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet, Talk in total privacy” “Proton Meet, which also proved to work pretty well.”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Proton Meet” - Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Proton Meet”
Trusted encryption and independent audits
“Works really well, clean interface, e2ee I can trust.”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet, Talk in total privacy” “that's why they have independent audits”
Comment from 4 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was” Works in the browser
“the ones I use (mail, calendar and meet) definitely work on Firefox for me.”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Stop complaining about enshittification. Use the alternatives” “my customer was able to join without an account and it was all in browser”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Proton Meet: Secure, end-to-end encrypted video conferencing”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Doubts about US legal exposure
“Proton including that part about geopolitical instability implies that Meet is does not fall under the USA's CLOUD Act - that would be wrong.”
Comment from 7 May 2026 in “Proton Meet” “Proton Meet relying on a bunch of US infrastructure is something they should call out themselves loudly when they advertise it”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “"Not Even Government Agencies" - Proton's misleading marketing” “LiveKit can respond to a US CLOUD Act request for those records without notifying Proton.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was” - Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: European alternatives to Google, Apple, Dropbox and 120 US apps”
Privacy claims seen as misleading
“the proton claim that their new service is private from the US government data acquisition, including inability to access call metadata, is a lie”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was” “"Confidential" until the feds decide that your meeting is a threat to a wanna be dictator, then everyone is invited to the party.”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Proton Meet” “they try to appear transparent but a lot of what they've done especially with proton meet seems to sometimes even be misleading”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was” - Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”
Trust eroded by controversy
“recently with Proton meet and its controversy, my trust on proton has shifted a bit too”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Proton Meet” “They also admit to scanning all mail to and from non-Proton accounts "for spam".”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was” Not self-hosted
“those who do not own a domain name should buy one an run their own Matrix/XMPP server”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Proton Meet” “Especially questionable choice by Proton not to opt for the self-hosted option”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”
Other video conferencing apps people recommend
The four most recommended other video conferencing apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom | 99 | 155 | 39% | 12 | 5 yrs5 owners | — |
| Jitsi Meet | 42 | 15 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Google Meet | 39 | 48 | 45% | 10 | — | — |
| Proton MeetThis page | 17 | 23 | 43% | 5 | — | — |
| BigBlueButton | 7 | 2 | 78% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 44 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the ones I use (mail, calendar and meet) definitely work on Firefox for me.”
“claims to be privacy-focused and majority owned by a nonprofit foundation”
“Proton including that part about geopolitical instability implies that Meet is does not fall under the USA's CLOUD Act - that would be wrong.”
“Proton lost me after they started posting rage-bait ads on Facebook”
“Not sure i understand the point.... any p2p webrtc call in encrypted e2e.”
“The main thing stopping me from using Proton Meet is I don't like that the booking pages that come with Proton Calendar only show in 24-hour time.”
“recently with Proton meet and its controversy, my trust on proton has shifted a bit too”
“Proton Meet, which also proved to work pretty well.”
“I was really waiting for this!”
“those who do not own a domain name should buy one an run their own Matrix/XMPP server”
“performs well based on personal usage”
“independent Controller vs Processor changes the privacy story significantly”
“LiveKit can respond to a US CLOUD Act request for those records without notifying Proton.”
“Proton Meet relying on a bunch of US infrastructure is something they should call out themselves loudly when they advertise it”
“STARK contrast between their messaging and their actual culpability”
“Especially now we have Proton Meet, I can take some ownership over videocalls in Teams and Google Meet finally.”
“there is no point in accusing Proton of anything”
“that's why they have independent audits”
“They also admit to scanning all mail to and from non-Proton accounts "for spam".”
“a company that prides itself on encryption could figure out a way to hash it too”
“Proton offers that, full stop.”
“If they advertise that they will protect their users privacy, then I don't see how complying with government snooping is an excuse.”
“they try to appear transparent but a lot of what they've done especially with proton meet seems to sometimes even be misleading”
“Actually, it creates an incompatibility, period.”
“regurgitating facts that are supposed to be gotchas but have tons of nuance if you dig”
“Yes they do (the storage of your emails on their servers, that is)”
“being deceptive is not ok, regardless of whether “the status quo is worse””
“The company routing them hands your call records to the government when asked.”
“they control the encryption keys or atleast certainly have the ability to change”
“the proton claim that their new service is private from the US government data acquisition, including inability to access call metadata, is a lie”
“it doesn't paste a clear picture of transparency or trust”
“Proton is definitely a lot more private than, say, Google. But, as always, you'll have to trust the party delivering the binaries you run.”
“I'm still more annoyed about the 90 day cookie - that was just rude”
“Especially questionable choice by Proton not to opt for the self-hosted option”
“Works really well, clean interface, e2ee I can trust.”
“Proton has never stated they wouldn’t comply with the law.”
“"Confidential" until the feds decide that your meeting is a threat to a wanna be dictator, then everyone is invited to the party.”
“have hosted a few meetings now with this and now I am so relieved”
“my customer was able to join without an account and it was all in browser”
“useless unless non-proton members can use it and its browser native”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.