ProtonVPN vs Mullvad 2026: Which VPN Actually Delivers on Privacy?

TL;DR: Mullvad wins on pure anonymity and simplicity; ProtonVPN wins on features and value for power users. If you're paying for privacy, Mullvad's flat €5/month model is refreshingly honest. If you want a VPN that does more than just mask your IP, ProtonVPN's ecosystem is hard to beat.

Introduction: Two VPNs Worth Actually Talking About

Most VPN comparisons are thinly veiled affiliate cash grabs pushing whatever product pays the highest commission. I'm not interested in that. I've spent the better part of a decade evaluating security tools, and honestly, ProtonVPN vs Mullvad is one of the few comparisons where both products deserve your serious attention — everything else in this space is mostly noise.

Here's the deal — the VPN market is absolutely flooded with garbage. Snake oil, jurisdictional lies, and "no-log" claims that evaporate the second a court order shows up. Mullvad and ProtonVPN are the rare exceptions. Both are audited, both have real transparency reports, and both have demonstrated they'll tell law enforcement to pound sand when subpoenaed (with actual receipts, not just marketing promises).

This comparison is for privacy-conscious users, security professionals, and anyone who's tired of being lied to by NordVPN's marketing budget. Whether you're a journalist, a remote worker on sketchy hotel Wi-Fi, or just someone who doesn't want their ISP selling their browsing data to the highest bidder — this breakdown is for you.

Quick Comparison Table

ProtonVPN Overview

Try ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN comes out of the same Swiss bunker — literally, some servers are housed in a former military facility — that gave us ProtonMail. The privacy credentials here aren't just marketing copy. The company was founded by CERN physicists and has been genuinely fighting for user privacy since 2014. That's not spin, that's just the history.

Honestly, I think ProtonVPN is one of the most underrated consumer privacy tools available right now. People get fixated on the VPN piece and miss that what Proton is actually building is a full privacy stack — which, depending on your needs, is either incredibly valuable or total overkill.

Key Features

• Secure Core architecture: Routes traffic through privacy-friendly countries (Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden) before exiting. It's multi-hop done right — not just bouncing between any two random servers.
• NetShield: A DNS-based ad and malware blocker that actually works without installing browser extensions. Blocks a surprisingly high percentage of trackers in day-to-day use.
• Tor over VPN: One-click access to the Tor network. Slow? Yes, absolutely. Useful for specific threat models? Also yes.
• Full-disk encryption on servers: Not just a policy claim — they've published their technical architecture for anyone to review.
• WireGuard support: Added in 2021, and their implementation is solid. Speeds on WireGuard are noticeably — sometimes dramatically — better than OpenVPN.
• Split tunneling: Available on Windows and Android. iOS remains frustratingly limited, though that's mostly Apple's fault rather than Proton's.

Pricing

Best for: Users who want a full privacy ecosystem, families sharing a plan, or anyone already using ProtonMail.

Mullvad Overview

Mullvad

Mullvad is the VPN that genuinely does not want to know who you are — and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. No email required to sign up. You get an account number, you fund it, you connect. That's it. I've recommended this specifically to journalists and activists because the signup process is anonymized in a way that most VPNs simply cannot claim.

The flat €5/month pricing — no annual discount, no upsells, no freemium tiers — is either refreshingly principled or mildly inconvenient depending on your perspective. Look, I respect the consistency even when it means I can't save a few bucks by committing to a year upfront.

Fun fact: Mullvad will literally accept cash mailed in an envelope as payment. In 2026. That's either charmingly old-school or genuinely brilliant operational security, depending on who you ask. I think it's both.

Key Features

• Anonymous account system: Account number only. Zero personal data collected at signup — not even an email address.
• Cash payment: You can mail them physical euros or dollars. Still the gold standard for payment anonymity, full stop.
• Monero support: The privacy coin that actually has meaningful anonymity properties, unlike Bitcoin's easily-traced pseudonymity.
• DAITA (Defense Against AI-guided Traffic Analysis): Launched in 2024, this adds noise to traffic patterns to thwart metadata analysis. It's not magic, but it's genuinely ahead of the curve — most VPN providers aren't even thinking about this threat vector yet.
• Port forwarding removed: Mullvad pulled port forwarding in 2023 to prevent abuse. Controversial for torrenters, but it's a principled call I actually respect even if it's inconvenient.
• Multihop: Simple to configure and doesn't require unlocking a separate premium feature tier.

Pricing

That's the entire pricing table. One plan. Make of that what you will — personally, I find it deeply refreshing.

Best for: Paranoid privacy maximalists (used as a compliment), security researchers, journalists, and anyone who needs their VPN provider to know as close to nothing about them as commercially possible.

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

User Interface & Ease of Use

ProtonVPN's apps are polished. The desktop client has a world map, clear server categorization, and one-click Secure Core. It's the kind of interface a non-technical user can figure out in five minutes without reading any documentation.

Mullvad's UI is cleaner but more spartan — it works, it's fast, and it doesn't try to upsell you on anything. The account number system trips up newcomers pretty regularly. There's no "forgot password" flow because there's no email, which means if you lose your account number, you're simply done. Write it down somewhere physical.

Winner: ProtonVPN for general users. Mullvad for people who prefer function over form and don't mind a slightly steeper initial setup.

Core Features

Both support WireGuard and OpenVPN. Both have kill switches. Both have split tunneling, though platform support varies.

ProtonVPN edges ahead with Tor over VPN integration and the Secure Core multi-hop implementation, which routes specifically through dedicated servers in privacy-friendly jurisdictions rather than just bouncing between any two arbitrary servers. Mullvad's DAITA feature is genuinely innovative, though — it's the kind of thing that actually matters for high-risk users who may be actively surveilled rather than just casually monitored.

Winner: Tie, with ProtonVPN winning on feature breadth and Mullvad winning for specific high-risk use cases.

Integrations and Ecosystem

ProtonVPN integrates natively with the broader Proton ecosystem: ProtonMail, ProtonDrive, ProtonCalendar, ProtonPass. If you're already living in that world, everything fits together well in a way that genuinely reduces friction.

Mullvad doesn't really do integrations. It's a VPN. It does VPN things. There's a browser extension (Mullvad Browser, built with the Tor Project) that pairs well with the VPN client, but don't expect app partnerships or single sign-on with anything else. That's by design, not an oversight.

Winner: ProtonVPN by a mile, if ecosystem integration matters to you at all.

Pricing & Value

This one's genuinely nuanced. Mullvad at €5/month (~$5.50) flat is completely predictable. No dark patterns, no "lock in for 2 years to get the real price" games that I find honestly kind of manipulative when other VPN providers do it.

ProtonVPN's Plus plan at ~$4.99/month on annual billing is technically cheaper, but you're committing to 12 months upfront — about $60 total. Month-to-month, ProtonVPN Plus runs around $9.99/month, which is nearly double Mullvad's price.

If you're paying month-to-month, Mullvad wins cleanly. Annual commitment? ProtonVPN squeaks ahead on pure cost per month. The right answer depends entirely on how confident you are you'll still want the same VPN 11 months from now.

Winner: Mullvad for pricing transparency and no-commitment flexibility.

Customer Support

ProtonVPN has a support portal, email ticketing, and a reasonably comprehensive knowledge base. Response times run about 24-48 hours in my experience. No live chat — which is a legitimate complaint for a product people are actively paying for.

Mullvad has email support and solid self-service documentation. Response times are similar. Also no live chat.

Here's my honest take on this: neither of these is a support-first product, and that's fine. They're built for technically literate users who can troubleshoot most issues independently. If you need hand-holding, look elsewhere (maybe Nordvpn or ExpressVPN, though I'd gently question that choice given their privacy track records).

Winner: Tie. Both are adequate, neither is impressive.

Mobile Apps

ProtonVPN's iOS and Android apps are well-maintained and regularly updated. The Android version is notably more feature-complete than iOS — split tunneling, for instance, is Android-only, and that's mostly Apple's platform restrictions at work. Both support WireGuard properly.

Mullvad's mobile apps are functional and private, but the feature gap versus desktop is more pronounced. The iOS app has historically lagged behind, though Mullvad pushed meaningful mobile updates throughout 2025 that closed the gap somewhat.

Winner: ProtonVPN for mobile experience overall, though the gap is narrowing.

Security & Compliance

Both companies have passed independent third-party audits. Mullvad has been audited by Cure53 multiple times, among others. ProtonVPN's no-logs policy was audited by Securitum in 2022, and their apps have undergone separate source code audits.

Jurisdiction matters here, and this is where it gets interesting. Switzerland (ProtonVPN) isn't in the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance and has some of the strongest data protection laws anywhere in the world. Sweden (Mullvad) IS in the 14 Eyes, which theoretically creates more legal exposure. In practice, Mullvad has received actual warrants and handed over nothing — because there's genuinely nothing to hand over. They've been transparent about this on their website with specific documented cases, which I respect enormously.

Mullvad's anonymous account structure means even if they were legally compelled to produce data, there's no personally identifiable information tied to your usage in the first place. That's a meaningful architectural distinction, not just a policy promise.

Winner: Mullvad on security architecture. ProtonVPN on jurisdiction.

Pros and Cons

ProtonVPN

Mullvad

Who Should Choose ProtonVPN?

ProtonVPN makes sense if you fall into any of these categories:

• Families or teams that want multiple accounts under one subscription without managing separate payments
• Proton ecosystem users already paying for ProtonMail or ProtonDrive — the bundled value is real
• Beginners who want a privacy-respecting VPN with good documentation and an interface they can actually navigate
• Users who need Tor over VPN without the hassle of managing Tor Browser separately
• Anyone on a tight budget who needs a legitimate free VPN option — the free tier supports roughly 200 servers with no data cap, which is genuinely unusual
• Streamers and travelers who need reliable access to geo-restricted content across a large server network (6,800+ servers across 110+ countries)

Who Should Choose Mullvad?

Mullvad is the right call when your threat model is actually serious — and by serious, I mean you've genuinely thought about who might want your data and why:

• Journalists, activists, or whistleblowers who need their VPN provider to have zero knowledge of their identity at signup or after
• Cryptocurrency users who want to pay with Monero for maximum financial privacy
• Security researchers doing work that requires genuinely clean, anonymous traffic
• Users who prioritize DAITA for protection against sophisticated traffic analysis attacks
• Anyone who distrusts "discounted" annual pricing models and wants a simple, predictable monthly commitment
• Technically literate users who don't need hand-holding and actively want minimal bloat

Verdict: ProtonVPN vs Mullvad 2026

Neither tool is universally "better." That's not a cop-out — it's the honest answer backed by what these products actually do and who they're built for.

Choose ProtonVPN if you want the best overall package: more features, a usable free tier, better mobile apps, Tor integration, and an ecosystem that extends well beyond just the VPN layer. The Swiss jurisdiction is a genuine advantage, not just a selling point. At $4.99/month annually, it's competitive with basically anything worth using. Try ProtonVPN

Choose Mullvad if anonymity is your primary metric — full stop. The account-number-only system, cash payment option, DAITA feature, and proven track record of having absolutely nothing to hand over to authorities make it the clearest choice for high-risk users. The flat €5/month pricing means you're never being nudged into a two-year commitment you might regret. Mullvad

Honestly? My hot take is that most people reading VPN comparison articles in 2026 don't actually have a threat model that justifies Mullvad's extreme anonymity measures. They want fast, reliable, private browsing — and ProtonVPN delivers that better for the vast majority of use cases. But if you're the kind of person who genuinely needs what Mullvad offers, you already know it. You probably knew it before you started reading this.

FAQ: ProtonVPN vs Mullvad 2026

Is Mullvad actually anonymous?

As close as you can get from a commercial provider. No email, no name, no billing address — just a randomly generated account number. Pay with Monero or physical cash and there's genuinely no financial trail connecting you to the account. Mullvad has received multiple law enforcement requests and produced nothing, because nothing exists to produce. They've documented specific cases publicly on their website, which is the kind of transparency I wish more companies had the guts to offer.

Does ProtonVPN keep logs?

No, and it's been independently verified. ProtonVPN's no-logs policy was audited by Securitum in 2022, and their infrastructure is deliberately architected to make logging technically difficult rather than just relying on a policy promise. Worth noting though: they do require an email at signup, so there's a minimal account-level data point that exists in a way Mullvad simply doesn't have.

Which is faster — ProtonVPN or Mullvad?

Both perform comparably on WireGuard in 2025-2026 testing. Expect roughly 10-20% below your base connection speeds on either service under normal conditions. ProtonVPN's speed varies more across its larger server network — great servers are great, congested ones are noticeably worse. Mullvad's smaller, more curated network tends to be more consistently fast even if the ceiling is slightly lower.

Can I torrent with either of these?

Yes on both, but Mullvad's removal of port forwarding in 2023 is a real limitation for anyone who seeds regularly. ProtonVPN supports P2P on designated servers without port forwarding restrictions. For torrenting specifically, ProtonVPN is the better call right now.

Which is better for streaming?

ProtonVPN, and it's not particularly close. Their 6,800+ server network with dedicated streaming servers gives reliable access to Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and most other geo-restricted platforms. Mullvad works for streaming occasionally but it's inconsistent — they don't market themselves as a streaming VPN and the experience reflects that honestly.

Is the ProtonVPN free tier actually worth using?

Yes — which genuinely surprises me every time I think about it, because free VPN tiers are almost universally terrible. No data cap, no speed throttling, access to around 200 servers. You're limited to 1 device and locked out of Secure Core, NetShield, and streaming servers, but for basic privacy on public Wi-Fi it's completely legitimate. Serious warning: do not use any other free VPN that isn't ProtonVPN or Mullvad-adjacent. The privacy tradeoffs on most free VPNs are genuinely alarming once you look into how they actually make money.