Hacker ApprovedDepartments

Proton VPN

Ranked 2 of 12 VPN services by recommenders

People recommend it as a trusted, easy-to-set-up VPN with a no-logs record tested in court, port forwarding, and a free tier. Critics report sites blocking it and a single-country routing default.

49 people recommended Proton VPN in Hacker News comments, 8 had mixed feelings and 31 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.

Summary written by Claude from 58 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 53 of those comments still count.

88 people gave an opinion

recommend it
49
mixed feelings
8
warn against or regret it
31

The record

Each figure is one person. RecommendsMixed feelingsCriticizes

Recommended in 12 of 12 months

In 46 different threads.

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 49 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 1.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
  • Recommended in 12 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
  • Recommended in 46 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
  • The biggest thread supplies 8% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.

The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works

What people say about it

Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 103 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Trusted no-logs record

    “one of the three or so VPNs that you don't have to trust because they've been tested in court not to have VPN logs”

    Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Proton goes all in on using AI”

    “Mullvad, IVPN and Proton VPN are all trusted so choosing depends on your priorities”

    Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Donation Controversy”

    “to a place of high-trust, ideally a trustworthy VPN like Mullvad, IVPN, or Proton.”

    Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying”
  • Port forwarding for torrents

    “ProtonVPN with bitcoin which you get from a monero swap is a good idea for complete privacy if you want port forwarding.”

    Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “ChatGPT Won't Let You Type Until Cloudflare Reads Your React State”

    “Proton VPN has port forwarding that lets you seed torrents.”

    Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Inside CECOT – 60 Minutes [video]”

    “a VPN provider that lets you forward ports like Proton”

    Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “How to repurpose your old phone into a web server”
  • Easy setup on many devices

    “Proton VPN with 'killswitch' turned on, and I've been able to use Android Auto.”

    Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices”

    “My pixel 9 pro battery seems the same with proton VPN (wirrguard) on or off.”

    Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “GotaTun – Mullvad's WireGuard Implementation in Rust”
  • Free tier with EU servers

    “ProtonVPN provides free vpn service which does include EU servers access as well”

    Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Anthropic: Developing a Claude Code competitor using Claude Code is banned”

    “I still trust protonvpn (which has free access as well) more than Psiphon”

    Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Iran Goes Into IPv6 Blackout”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Sites block the VPN

    “So far so good other than this post, but I notice I can't access my own freshdesk help desk while on proton vpn.”

    Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

    “Often their VPN will prevent even their own sevices from working and I have to reconnect manually to make it work.”

    Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Proton Drive for Linux”

    “PIA VPN and Proton VPN also get blocked everywhere, from Reddit to captchas on Google Search”

    Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits”
  • Political controversy about company

    “Their VPN was good, but I dont support nazies and their toadies.”

    Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”

    “Proton has been actively campaigning against police and government in a terror prone region.”

    Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

    “given Proton CEO's support of the US administration (specifically for Vance”

    Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “US holds off blacklisting China's DeepSeek, +100 firms deemed security risks”

Other VPN services people recommend

The four most recommended other VPN services, 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.

Proton VPN compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendMixedCriticizeApprovalMonthsHad forBadge
Mullvad VPN1883913059%12——
Proton VPNThis page4983161%12——
iCloud Private Relay1571944%11——
Cloudflare WARP1241055%7——
Firefox VPN1232235%7——
See all 12 VPN services, ranked

Also compared with IVPN.

What people said

40 of the 103 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“one of the three or so VPNs that you don't have to trust because they've been tested in court not to have VPN logs”

RecommendsComment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Proton goes all in on using AI”

“Often their VPN will prevent even their own sevices from working and I have to reconnect manually to make it work.”

CriticizesComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Proton Drive for Linux”

“If a company invests so much money in advertising over the long term and promotes its products so aggressively, the product must be subpar.”

CriticizesComment from 9 Oct 2026 in “A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad”

“at some point Proton broke something (it may be related to their VPN accelerator feature”

CriticizesComment from 30 Sep 2026 in “SDF Public Access Unix System ... est. 1987”

“Proton has a lot of detractors and tends to be a target of some conspiracy/controversy”

CriticizesComment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Obscura: VPN that can't log your activity”

“That's what I switched to after it turned out one of the two Mullvad founders took my money”

RecommendsComment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Shutting down our public encrypted DNS”

“Proton VPN with 'killswitch' turned on, and I've been able to use Android Auto.”

RecommendsComment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices”

“their free tier especially may start rejecting "WireGuard handshakes" from your client”

CriticizesComment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Google Assistant is going away on Mobile Devices”

“Mullvad, IVPN and Proton VPN are all trusted so choosing depends on your priorities”

RecommendsComment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Donation Controversy”

“their "open source" claim is deceptive as it is only their client that is open source”

MixedComment from 30 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Mullvad Alternatives?”

“IVPN and Proton have proven they are trustworthy as well.”

RecommendsComment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Mullvad to China: Block This. We Dare You”

“given Proton CEO's support of the US administration (specifically for Vance”

CriticizesComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “US holds off blacklisting China's DeepSeek, +100 firms deemed security risks”

“No log VPNs like ProtonVPN have third party verification”

MixedComment from 25 May 2026 in “Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore”

“Mullvad, ProtonVPN, or even dubious VPN providers like NordVPN don’t do that.”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying”

“to a place of high-trust, ideally a trustworthy VPN like Mullvad, IVPN, or Proton.”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying”

“I believe they have a good VPN (for what we may expect from a VPN”

RecommendsComment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”

“ProtonVPN with bitcoin which you get from a monero swap is a good idea for complete privacy if you want port forwarding.”

RecommendsComment from 29 Mar 2026 in “ChatGPT Won't Let You Type Until Cloudflare Reads Your React State”

“Their VPN was good, but I dont support nazies and their toadies.”

MixedComment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”

“VPN'd traffic to a reputable provider (Nord, Express, or Proton”

RecommendsComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Motorola GrapheneOS devices will be bootloader unlockable/relockable”

“VPN came with the email service I was already paying for. No complaints.”

RecommendsComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]”

“Proton VPN sometimes (mostly?) has this issue too. It's a bit of an hit or miss in there iirc”

CriticizesComment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Disrupting the Largest Residential Proxy Network”

“Proton has been actively campaigning against police and government in a terror prone region.”

CriticizesComment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

“getting Mail Plus gives you nothing better than a free user in terms of VPN options”

CriticizesComment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

“If anything this enhances Proton's reputation. If so called "terrorists and perverts" trust it to the point they rely on it for their own security…”

RecommendsComment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

“So far so good other than this post, but I notice I can't access my own freshdesk help desk while on proton vpn.”

MixedComment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

“ProtonVPN provides free vpn service which does include EU servers access as well”

RecommendsComment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Anthropic: Developing a Claude Code competitor using Claude Code is banned”

“I still trust protonvpn (which has free access as well) more than Psiphon”

RecommendsComment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Iran Goes Into IPv6 Blackout”

“I didn't trust psiphon that much so I asked her to install proton vpn and it did work.”

RecommendsComment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Iran Goes Into IPv6 Blackout”

“VPN lets you split tunnel by app on PC, app AND IP on Android, IP on the chrome extension.”

CriticizesComment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)”

“Proton VPN has port forwarding that lets you seed torrents.”

RecommendsComment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Inside CECOT – 60 Minutes [video]”

“I pay for proton. It works. I’m not as security conscious as I should be but it’s pretty much a set and forget thing aside…”

RecommendsComment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Inside CECOT – 60 Minutes [video]”

“My pixel 9 pro battery seems the same with proton VPN (wirrguard) on or off.”

RecommendsComment from 21 Dec 2025 in “GotaTun – Mullvad's WireGuard Implementation in Rust”

“What sucks with Proton is that you can't share the VPN account with friends”

CriticizesComment from 19 Dec 2025 in “GotaTun – Mullvad's WireGuard Implementation in Rust”

“I would never trust anything other than Mullvad/IVPN/ProtonVPN”

RecommendsComment from 16 Dec 2025 in “8M users' AI conversations sold for profit by "privacy" extensions”

“I often hit a block when using (proton) vpn if I'm logged out but not otherwise.”

CriticizesComment from 15 Dec 2025 in “SoundCloud has banned VPN access”

“clearly marks these “virtual locations” in their UIs as “smart routing”

RecommendsComment from 14 Dec 2025 in “VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits”

“PIA VPN and Proton VPN also get blocked everywhere, from Reddit to captchas on Google Search”

CriticizesComment from 14 Dec 2025 in “VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits”

“I seem to be able to access it just fine via ProtonVPN's Japan region”

RecommendsComment from 7 Dec 2025 in “Tiny Core Linux: a 23 MB Linux distro with graphical desktop”

“AFAIK it routes all traffic through a single country which requires opening the app and manually changing it each time”

CriticizesComment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network”

“a VPN provider that lets you forward ports like Proton”

RecommendsComment from 25 Nov 2025 in “How to repurpose your old phone into a web server”

Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.