Netflix doesn’t like ’em, but we absolutely love VPNs. The few good ones, that is. Bad VPNs can be slow, unreliable, or outright sketchy. There are lots of them out there, and only a handful that I’d use.Proton VPN gets a strong nod from me and, dammit, a firm handshake for their transparency and their policies. I review an awful lot of VPNs, and most of them I wouldn’t touch. Proton VPN’s paid tiers are solid and very much worth it, but it’s the free tier that makes the service stand out. You just don’t see a quality VPN like this for free.VPN stands for virtual private network. It acts as a middleman that shields your privacy by handling all the digital information as it flows between your computer and the world’s websites, in both directions.Should a website or a bad actor try to follow you across the web, they won’t see your unique, identifiable IP address, only that of the VPN server you’re connected to. And to the websites you visit, it looks like you’re located where the server is. Since these are shared servers—any decent VPN will have thousands of servers to choose from—you disappear into the crowd.(opens in a new window)Proton VPN(opens in a new window)Available at Proton VPN (Free)Buy Now(opens in a new window)Available at Proton VPN (Paid)Buy Now(opens in a new window)clear and transparent termsProton VPN is a relative newcomer, having been founded in 2017. It’s based in Switzerland, which isn’t a member of the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes international surveillance alliances.These alliances enable sharing of citizens’ online data, so a person using a VPN service located in one signatory country—even if they’re not physically in that country or a citizen of that country—can have their data logs handed over to one of the other signatory countries by request.That’s a major green flag. Basing Proton VPN in a country outside the reach of these security alliances removes one potential lever that any of the signatory countries could use to invade a VPN’s privacy.the locations of proton vpn’s servers — credit: Matt jancerBolstering that argument, even if a government agency or court were to try to compel Proton VPN to turn over user data somehow, they couldn’t because Proton VPN says it doesn’t log user information.“Under Swiss law, we are not obligated to save any user connection logs, nor can we be forced to perform targeted logging on specific users,” writes Proton VPN on an explainer webpage. “This means that your private browsing history stays private and cannot be turned over to a third-party.”It’s exactly what I like to hear when appraising a VPN. Don’t use VPNs that don’t explicitly say they don’t collect user information. I also consider it vital that any VPN worth using is regularly, independently audited.Don’t use ones that aren’t independently audited to verify that they’re telling the truth about not keeping logs of user behavior or building in backdoors that governments or hackers can exploit. You can read the results of Proton VPN’s independent audit for yourself.you can make it appear as if you’re located in a different country — credit: proton vpnsurprisingly good, for being freeToo many free VPNs are packed with sketchy fine print or outright malware. Uniquely for a credible VPN, there’s a free version, with no ads and no logs kept by Proton VPN. You can only use it for one device, and you don’t get the full list of VPNs servers to use or the fastest speeds, but just the fact that there’s a sketch-free VPN for free puts it ahead of the competition.Using the free version of Proton VPN, you don’t get to choose which server you connect to, or even which country. You have just one choice, whichever is the fastest at the moment. From New York City, I was surprised that the fastest server open to me was located in the Netherlands. Being located in a country other than the one you wish will affect the websites you choose. Say if I search Google for Volkswagen while connected to the Dutch server and click through to VW’s site. It’ll take me to VW Netherlands, not VW USA that sells American-market models.That also affects your results based on location. I punched into Google Maps a search for good cafés to work from. I got a bunch located an ocean away. At least I wasn’t served a bunch of annoying advertisements or stuck with data restrictions on how much I could download.Unsatisfied, though, I clicked “Change server.” Another roll of the dice, and I this time I was assigned a server located in the US.Later, I was again assigned to the Netherlands. Which server is fastest for you depends upon a lot of factors, including your location. The speeds were perfectly fine for general use and browsing, in my experience, even on the free tier.I never felt like I was being slowed down by Proton VPN’s free server when streaming 4K video or accessing a particularly resource-demanding CMS.you can’t pick your server on the free plan — credit: Matt jancerOut of the 11,802 Proton VPN servers online at the moment of writing this, and 8,732 were for paid plans only. That leaves 3,070 servers available for users of the free plan. When I spun the roulette wheel of connecting, disconnecting, and connecting again, though, I saw many of the same servers pop up over and over.I’d put that down to the fact that many of the free servers I connected to were almost completely at capacity by lunchtime, hovering somewhere between 85 and 95% of usage regardless of country.Connecting to the Proton VPN Plus paid plan brought an ability to choose the connection I wanted from a much larger list of servers (more than 11,000 in “110+” countries).These servers reserved for paid plans offered additional features over the free servers, including compatibility with streaming services, faster speeds (up to 10 Gbps), split tunneling (which lets you specify which websites and apps are protected by the VPN), using the Tor network over VPN, P2P/BitTorrent support, and the ability to connected up to 10 devicesTen devices is impressive, but that’s more useful for a family who, in this day and age, would typically have several devices each. Proton VPN Plus costs $10 per month if you choose a monthly plan, $5 per month on a one-year plan, and $4.50 per month on a two-year plan.Proton VPN works across the board for most popular operating systems and browsers. Android, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, Chromebook, Chrome, Firefox. Hell, you can even hook up Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV to it.You may shrug off the idea of digital spying or cyber crime, but the operative words there are “spying” and “crime.” Were a creep or a thief to poke their head through your window or rifle through your box of important documents at home, you’d rightfully shit yourself.It’s not any different online. Protect your privacy. Ordinarily when I’m giving this pitch about VPNs, I reason that it’s only a few bucks a month for the peace of mind. But in this rare and welcome case, you can get it for free.(opens in a new window)Proton VPN(opens in a new window)Available at Proton VPN (Free)Buy Now(opens in a new window)Available at Proton VPN (Paid)Buy Now(opens in a new window)alternativesNordVPN: I’ve been using NordVPN for the past few years daily, and it’s been consistently fast and stable for me in several countries. Based in Panama, it’s outside all of the “Eyes” surveillance alliances, and they’ve also passed their independent audits . There are 6,200 servers in 111 countries, which isn’t nearly as much as Proton VPN’s 11,000 servers (although also spread across “110+” countries). I like NordVPN’s typically greater download speed compared to Proton VPN, but they’re the closest two competitors in the VPN space. You can’t go wrong with either.Mullvad VPN: While it’s based in Sweden, which is a member of 14 Eyes but not the other two surveillance alliances, there are protections in Swedish law regarding VPNs specifically, and Mullvad VPN’s explanation satisfies me enough that I’d use it. It’s also shown good faith by releasing the results of its independently requested audit.TunnelBear: Meh. It’s owned by the major security software company McAfee and based in Canada, which is a member of the Five Eyes Alliance. You can read TunnelBear’s latest independently commissioned audit, but while I’d use them over PIA or ExpressVPN, I’d prefer NordVPN, Mullvad VPN, or Proton VPN because of TunnelBear’s link to Canada.The post Proton VPN Is the Best Free Upgrade to Your Online Privacy appeared first on VICE.