Club Benefits
“Privacy as the default” is the rallying cry of the Swiss-owned Proton VPN, whose commitment to digital anonymity extends across its VPN membership plans — even its free option.
This guiding principle has helped Proton to deliver one of the most secure VPNs on the market, as well as one of the most trustworthy.
For those considering upgrading to Unlimited and getting unfettered access to Proton’s wider ecosystem of products (like Proton Mail), though, we’ve broken down both plans, below, to help you decide which one best meets your needs.
Proton VPN Plus: features, price
Casual users will find no shortage of features with VPN Plus.
Firstly, it’s network boasts around 20,000 servers across 145 countries, some capable of 10 Gbps bandwidth to keep things running smoothly.
It features OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols applying AES-256 encryption, plus WireGuard using the fleet-footed ChaCha20.
You'll find Proton VPN compatible with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, smart TVs and more, and you can use 10 simultaneous device connections per subscription.
It offers streaming and P2P support, and ably geo-unblocked every streaming service in our last review, from big hitters like Netflix to regional services like Australia’s 10Play.
Kill switch, DNS and IPv6 leak protection, and always-on VPN are all present and correct, as is split tunneling functionality.
More novel is Secure Core: Proton’s privacy-centric take on multi-hop, which routes all connections through a country with strict data privacy laws.
VPN accelerator takes the offensive, optimizing connection speeds up to 400%, while NetShield defends you against ads and malware and stops trackers from stealing your data.
And when you need to go incognito? Using its Tor over VPN should help improve anonymity and you can bypass network filters with the Stealth protocol.
VPN Plus also bolts on the free tiers of Proton Mail, Proton Pass, and Proton Drive, which introduce some handy extras like 5GB cloud storage.
It’s currently $2.99/month for VPN Plus on the 2-year plan (that’s $71.76 to be paid upfront). But if you decide it’s not your thing, the 30-day money-back guarantee entitles you to a full refund.
Proton Unlimited: features, price
For $5 more per month than Plus, Unlimited includes everything above, plus premium access to Proton Mail, Proton Pass, and Proton Drive.
Each service utilizes end-to-end encryption. That ensures greater privacy than you get with a VPN alone, because E2EE content remains hidden to everyone except the sender and recipient — not even your VPN provider can read it.
Proton Mail features unlimited hide-my-email aliases, something you can supply to online services to deter spam and your main email being leaked. There’s also password protected emails that expire after 28 days, though you can make them self-destruct sooner!
Unlimited comes with 500GB encrypted cloud storage — a huge improvement on Plus. Being able to back up thousands of valuable files is a great contingency plan, especially for digital nomads who might urgently need to download documents if their devices are lost or damaged in transit.
There's also a secure password manager to add to your cybersecurity arsenal. Among other things, that lets you generate complex passwords, store them for easy access, and organize them into distinct vaults which you can share with specific individuals.
Last of all, there’s dark web monitoring. This scans the dark web and alerts you if your Proton email address(es) turn up there. That way, you can take action to prevent cybercriminals from hijacking your accounts.
What about Proton Free?
Proton Free includes the same strong encryption, protocols, and privacy safeguards available on paid plans.
It’s one of the best free VPNs if you’re looking to heighten your digital security, and like Plus, provides limited access to Proton Mail, Pass, and Drive products.
However, if accessing worldwide content is your aim, it’s not a practical solution.
The free tier offers just over 2,000 servers across 10 countries, and you can’t chose your location. And, last we checked, the free plan only unblocked US Netflix.
You’re limited to one device connection, too. So while Proton Free is good if you want to level up your anonymity at zero cost, there’s limited support for anything else.
Should you upgrade from Proton VPN Plus to Proton Unlimited?
Go for Proton VPN Plus if you:
✅ require a comprehensive VPN at a low monthly cost
✅ mostly want your VPN to help access worldwide streaming content
✅ feel Plus offers sufficient privacy features for your needs
Go for Proton Unlimited if you:
➕ want access to other Proton products for less than if purchased separately
➕ require additional cybersecurity solutions a VPN alone can’t provide
➕ would like regular dark web monitoring alerts to prevent data theft and fraud
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
