10 Best ProtonVPN Alternatives That Are Actually Worth Your Money

ProtonVPN earns its reputation. Swiss-based, independently audited, open-source apps, and the best free tier in the market. For privacy-focused users, it’s hard to argue against.

But it has real gaps. Speeds lag behind NordVPN and Surfshark in benchmark testing. Streaming can be inconsistent. The paid plan caps at ten devices. And for the price, some alternatives simply offer more.

If any of those things matter to you, here’s where to look instead.

1. NordVPN — The Best All-Round Choice

NordVPN is the most complete VPN on the market right now. It covers virtually every use case — streaming, privacy, speed, security features — without meaningful compromise in any one area.

The network spans 7,400+ servers across 118 countries. The NordLynx protocol, built on WireGuard, consistently posts the fastest speeds in independent testing — an average download speed drop of just 6.9%, according to TechRadar’s 2025 VPN benchmark tests.

Beyond raw speed, the feature set is genuinely impressive. Threat Protection Pro blocks malware, ads, and trackers — and keeps running even when the VPN is off. Double VPN routes your traffic through two servers. Meshnet links up to 60 devices for secure file sharing and gaming. Obfuscated servers handle China and other restricted countries reliably.

The no-logs policy has been audited by PwC Switzerland and Deloitte — most recently in 2025. It’s based in Panama, which sits outside all major intelligence-sharing alliances.

Pricing: From $2.99/month on the 2-year Basic plan. The Plus plan adds a password manager for $3.99/month. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Users who want one VPN that handles everything well.

You can visit their website here.

2. Surfshark — Best Budget Option With Unlimited Devices

Surfshark’s headline feature is simple: unlimited simultaneous connections. One subscription, every device in your household covered. No caps, no extra charges.

Speed-wise, it’s actually the fastest VPN in current independent testing — only a 5.4% average download speed drop, clocking 1,615 Mbps locally in TechRadar’s 2025 lab tests. That’s faster than NordVPN, faster than ExpressVPN, faster than everyone.

The feature list is long. CleanWeb blocks ads and malware. Nexus rotates your IP address continuously while you browse. MultiHop chains two countries together. Alternative ID generates a fake persona for online sign-ups — a genuinely useful privacy tool most competitors don’t offer.

The no-logs policy was verified by Deloitte in 2023 and again in 2025. Infrastructure audits by Cure53 were completed in 2024. It’s Netherlands-based, covered by GDPR, with no mandatory data retention requirements.

One honest caveat: the monthly price of $15.45 is the most expensive in this category. And renewal rates jump significantly after your first subscription term. The value is real — but read the renewal terms before you commit.

Pricing: From $1.99/month on the 2-year Starter plan — the cheapest premium VPN on the market. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Families, multi-device households, and budget-conscious users who still want premium features.

You can visit their website here.

3. ExpressVPN — Best for Streaming

ExpressVPN has built its reputation on one thing: making geo-restricted content accessible reliably. Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Hulu, DAZN — it handles them consistently where other VPNs occasionally fail.

The proprietary Lightway protocol is fast and particularly well-optimised for mobile connections — important if you stream on a phone or tablet. The newer Lightway Turbo variant clocks 1,479 Mbps locally, posting the best transatlantic speeds of any VPN in current testing.

The security record is strong. Over 23 independent audits completed, the most recent in July 2025. ISO 27001 certified as of February 2026. In the second half of 2025, the company received 1.38 million data requests — and disclosed zero user data, because the architecture doesn’t store it.

The interface is the simplest of any VPN on this list — one large connect button, clean layout, no technical complexity required. If you’re new to VPNs, this is the easiest one to use correctly from day one.

Pricing: From $2.44/month on the 28-month promotional deal. Standard 1-year plan at $6.67/month. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Streaming-first users and beginners who want the simplest, most reliable experience.

You can visit their website here.

Also read: Best ExpressVPN Alternatives

4. CyberGhost — Best for Beginners

CyberGhost removes most of the decisions a new VPN user has to make. Dedicated streaming servers are pre-configured for specific platforms — you don’t pick a server and hope it works. You pick “Netflix US” and it connects you to a server already optimised for that purpose.

The network is one of the largest available: 11,690+ servers across 100 countries. NoSpy servers — physically secured in Romania and operated exclusively by CyberGhost — are available for users who want an extra layer of infrastructure control.

Quarterly transparency reports put CyberGhost among the most open VPN providers in the industry. Romania sits outside the 14 Eyes intelligence alliance, and EU GDPR applies without the harsher data retention requirements of some other European countries.

The 45-day money-back guarantee is the longest of any major VPN — a meaningful commitment for users who want real time to evaluate whether it works for them.

Pricing: From $2.19/month on the 2-year plan. 45-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: First-time VPN users who want guided streaming and don’t want to manage technical settings.

You can visit their website here.

5. Private Internet Access (PIA) — Best for Power Users

PIA gives technically experienced users more control than any other VPN on this list. The server network alone — 35,000+ servers across all 50 US states and 91 countries — is the largest in the industry by a significant margin.

Open-source client applications mean the code is publicly reviewable by anyone, anytime. The MACE feature blocks ads, trackers, and malware at the DNS level. Port forwarding is available — useful for torrenting and peer-to-peer gaming. Unlimited simultaneous connections cover every device without restriction.

The no-logs policy has been tested in court — twice. US authorities requested user data in two separate cases. PIA produced nothing because nothing existed to produce. That’s a stronger real-world verification than most audit reports.

The US jurisdiction is worth acknowledging honestly. It’s a 5 Eyes member country. But the court-tested no-logs track record and open-source code provide genuine transparency that offsets the jurisdictional concern for most users.

Pricing: From $2.03/month on the 3-year plan. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Power users who want maximum customisation, the largest IP pool, and open-source transparency at a budget price.

You can visit their website here.

6. Mullvad — Best for Maximum Privacy

Mullvad operates on a different philosophy from every other VPN on this list. It doesn’t want to know who you are — and it has built its entire product around that principle.

No email required to sign up. No name. No personal information of any kind. You get a randomly generated account number. That’s your identity on the platform. You can pay in cash — physically mail euros to the company’s headquarters in Sweden — or use Bitcoin or Monero. The company has no way to connect your payment to your account even if it wanted to.

The technical features match the privacy philosophy. DAITA — Defence Against AI Traffic Analysis — disguises your traffic patterns to resist AI-based surveillance tools. Quantum-resistant WireGuard is enabled by default. RAM-only servers mean no data persists after a reboot.

Streaming is explicitly not a priority. Mullvad doesn’t optimise for it and doesn’t market it. If unblocking Netflix is important to you, this isn’t the right choice.

The flat pricing — €5 per month, always, with no discounts or long-term deals — means you pay more than you would on a NordVPN or Surfshark 2-year plan. But you’re paying for something genuinely different.

Pricing: €5/month (~$5.93), flat rate. No annual plan. No discounts.

Best for: Journalists, activists, and privacy-first users who want zero corporate data trail.

You can visit their website here.

7. IPVanish — Best for IPTV and Live Streaming

IPVanish doesn’t get as much attention as NordVPN or Surfshark in mainstream VPN coverage — but for one specific use case, it consistently outperforms every competitor on this list.

Live television. IPTV. If you use a third-party streaming app for live sports, news, or television, IPVanish is the most reliable VPN for keeping those streams stable and uninterrupted. Standard Netflix unblocking is inconsistent in 2026 tests — roughly 50% success rate. But for live TV streaming specifically, it’s the strongest option available.

Unlimited simultaneous connections and a clean Fire TV app make it a practical choice for cord-cutters who have replaced cable with a combination of streaming services and IPTV solutions.

Pricing: From ~$2.49/month on the long-term plan. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: IPTV users and households needing unlimited device connections at a competitive price.

You can visit their website here.

8. Windscribe — Best Free Alternative

Windscribe offers the most generous free tier of any VPN that isn’t ProtonVPN — and in some ways, it’s more flexible.

The free plan gives you 15GB of data per month across 10 server locations. Unlimited simultaneous connections. P2P and torrenting supported even on the free tier. R.O.B.E.R.T. — a customisable blocker for ads, trackers, malware, and specific content categories — is available on both free and paid plans.

The paid plan has a genuinely unusual option: build your own. Pay around $1 per month per server location, and only subscribe to the countries you actually need. For users who only ever connect to two or three locations, this can be cheaper than any fixed plan on the market.

Windscribe is independent — no Kape Technologies, no Nord Security connection. That matters if corporate ownership is part of your VPN evaluation.

Pricing: Free plan available. Pro plan from $3/month annual. Build-your-own plan from ~$1/month per location. 3-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Users who want a functional free VPN with more flexibility than ProtonVPN’s free tier.

You can visit their website here.

9. PrivadoVPN — Best Budget Swiss Option

If Swiss jurisdiction is important to you — and for users following ProtonVPN, it often is — PrivadoVPN offers the same legal framework at a significantly lower price.

The free plan includes 10GB of data per month and, unusually, supports Netflix US streaming. Most free VPN tiers don’t come close to unblocking Netflix. PrivadoVPN’s does — which makes it a rare genuinely useful free option for casual streamers.

The 2-year paid plan at $1.11/month is the lowest long-term rate of any mainstream VPN on the market. The trade-off is a smaller server network — 300+ servers across 49 countries — and no independent audits completed to date, which is a meaningful gap compared to ProtonVPN’s annual audit programme.

Pricing: Free plan available (10GB/month). Paid from $1.11/month on the 2-year plan. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Budget users who want Swiss jurisdiction and Netflix access without paying ProtonVPN prices.

You can visit their website here.

10. Hide.me — Best for Restricted-Internet Countries

Hide.me’s defining advantage is protocol variety. It supports WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, SSTP, SoftEther, and SOCKS5 — more protocol options than any other mainstream VPN on this list.

That matters most in countries with deep-packet inspection — Iran, Russia, China, UAE — where standard VPN protocols get identified and blocked. SoftEther and SSTP are particularly effective at slipping through these filters. If you travel to or live in a country with strict internet controls, this protocol range gives you more fallback options than any competitor.

The free plan — 10GB per month across five server locations — gives you a functional starting point before committing to a paid subscription. Malaysia-based jurisdiction keeps it outside the major intelligence-sharing alliances.

Pricing: Free plan available (10GB/month). Paid from ~$2.59/month on the 2-year plan. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: Users in restrictive-internet countries who need the broadest possible protocol support.

You can visit their website here.

Also read: HiAnime Down? 5 Reddit-Recommended Alternatives

Full Comparison at a Glance

VPN	Best 2-Year Price	Devices	Servers	Free Plan	Jurisdiction
NordVPN	$2.99/mo	10	7,400+ / 118 countries	❌	Panama
Surfshark	$1.99/mo	Unlimited	3,200+ / 100 countries	❌	Netherlands
ExpressVPN	From $2.44/mo	8	3,000+ / 105 countries	❌	British Virgin Islands
CyberGhost	$2.19/mo	7	11,690+ / 100 countries	❌	Romania
PIA	$2.03/mo (3-yr)	Unlimited	35,000+ / 91 countries	❌	United States
Mullvad	€5/mo (flat)	5	700+ / 49 countries	❌	Sweden
IPVanish	~$2.49/mo	Unlimited	2,400+ / 112 countries	❌	United States
Windscribe	$3/mo (annual)	Unlimited	69 countries	✅ 15GB/mo	Canada
PrivadoVPN	$1.11/mo (2-yr)	10	300+ / 49 countries	✅ 10GB/mo	Switzerland
Hide.me	~$2.59/mo (2-yr)	10	2,400+ / 80+ locations	✅ 10GB/mo	Malaysia

One Thing Worth Knowing About VPN Ownership

This doesn’t affect product quality directly — but it’s worth knowing before you choose.

Three companies now own the majority of the mainstream VPN market. Kape Technologies owns ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access — and also owns several VPN review websites, which is a conflict of interest worth factoring into review trust. Nord Security owns both NordVPN and Surfshark after their 2022 merger.

The truly independent VPNs on this list — with no corporate siblings and no connections to review platforms — are Mullvad, Windscribe, and PrivadoVPN. ProtonVPN also sits in this category, which is part of why it resonates with privacy-focused users.

None of the Kape or Nord products are bad. But if corporate independence is part of your privacy model, it’s relevant information.

Which One Should You Actually Choose?

Here’s the honest short version.

• For most people: NordVPN. Best combination of speed, features, streaming reliability, and audit transparency at a competitive price.
• For families or multi-device homes: Surfshark. Unlimited connections and the fastest raw speeds available — at the lowest 2-year price of any premium VPN.
• For streaming specifically: ExpressVPN. Consistently the most reliable for unblocking geo-restricted content across the widest range of platforms.
• For maximum privacy: Mullvad. No personal data required at any point, quantum-resistant encryption by default, and genuinely independent.
• For a free plan: Windscribe if you want flexibility. PrivadoVPN if Swiss jurisdiction and Netflix access matter on a free tier.

Every VPN on this list offers a money-back guarantee of at least 30 days. The most useful thing you can do is pick the one that fits your primary use case, test it properly for two or three weeks, and decide from real experience rather than a comparison table.

That’s how you find the right one — not by reading more reviews.