this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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I'm thinking about paying for a VPN, I currently don't use one.

I'd like to use Mullvad but they don't seem to have regional prices, while Proton does.

I wonder if Proton is still a reliable option, Proton is 60% cheaper in my country, probably because regional pricing (but I didn't check if it's really the case).

If anyone has any other suggestion I'd like to hear it.

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[–] Zoma@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

I like mullvad i use their dns filtering and their socks5 proxies however it does lack port forwarding so it sucks for torrenting.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago

I'd rather compare IVPN vs Mullvad.

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 69 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Proton's CEO sucks. I canceled my extremely low-priced, grandfathered subscription and moved elsewhere. I had been a user since basically day one, a subscriber since available, and converted family members and friends to it. Not anymore.

Mullvad has been stellar. Fast, anonymous, easy to use. Zero complaints.

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[–] CountVlad47@feddit.org 52 points 1 week ago

I chose Mullvad because they don't ask for any personal details and you can pay anonymously, which means that their service is privacy protecting by design. You don't have to rely so much on trust.

Proton seems to be a large and rapidly expanding company which looks like it's trying to be a more privacy respecting competitor to Google's many services. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, I prefer companies that value stability over rapid expansion. I also don't like relying on a potential single point of failure for everything. I have a Proton e-mail account but I don't use any of their other services because I don't want everything in the same place.

[–] this@sh.itjust.works 47 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I like mullvad because I can pay for it with vouchers and have nothing to tie my payment to my account#

I don't think any other VPN can do that.

Theres also the fact that mullvad was raided by the (Swedish)police and even though they fully complied, the police ended up walking away with nothing because mullvad had nothing to give them.

Proton on the other hand, will at the very least be storing your email, payment info, and possibly other info in your account that mullvad won't. I also don't like how they have aligned themselves with conservative politics.

[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago

You can also pay with cash in an envelope

[–] akilou@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I use Proton VPN only because I use Proton everything else. If not, I'd probably consider Mullvad. But I'm in the US and regional pricing doesn't apply.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago

Same. Use Proton to get the suite of tools for 1 price. Mullvad if you just need a VPN.

[–] rozodru@piefed.social 30 points 1 week ago

Mullvad.

All you are to them is an account number. that's it. no name, no email, nothing. you can even pay in cash. while mullvad's GUI is still meh their CLI is top notch and very quick.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

The main difference I see between the two is that Mullvad no longer offers port forwarding services and ProtonVPn does offer port forwarding services.

This can make a big difference based on your use-case scenarios. If you are gaming and need port forwarding or are torrenting and need port forwarding Protonvpn is the better choice.

I use Mullvad and game. Split tunneling lets you bypass the VPN to game. Port forwarding is useful for torrenting. Probably a few other things too.

[–] morriscox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

"On 29 May 2023, Mullvad announced that they would be removing support for port forwarding, effective on 1 July 2023."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullvad

https://mullvad.net/en/blog/removing-the-support-for-forwarded-ports

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[–] pathief@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

I used to have Mullvad and switched to Proton because I use pretty much their entire suite...

If you don't need port forwarding, I think Mullvad is superior in everything. Such a great service, highly recommend it.

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[–] Corridor8031@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 week ago

I would recommend mullvad.

the ceo of proton did idicate support of the trump and the republican party and while they backtracked and apologized and all that, is it out that atleast some in the company think like that and i dont trust them anymore.

and trust is number 1 priority for vpn.

[–] adj@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week ago

I use both (not suggesting that). I mostly use Proton because it's already included in my plan, and they seem to have more connections to choose from, but I frequently have to switch because the one I'm on starts to get really slow. I like Mullvad's flat pricing and lack of commitment (they even accept cash), and it was an easier setup on Linux (at least Arch).

[–] compostgoblin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 week ago

Mullvad. Excellent service, never had an issue. Used to use Proton, but their CEO sucks ass

[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Mullvad because it accepts cash payments.

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[–] bad_news@lemmy.billiam.net 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've never tried Mulvad, but Proton, while it has LOTS of exit nodes, which is good for avoiding blocks, is quite bad at any individual node remaining up and recovering automatically on an outage. If your use case is actively connecting for watching youtube or netflix or whatever in another country on a laptop that's mostly off or not VPNed and you don't care, that's great, but if you want to VPN for bittorrent or another always connected purpose from a server or VPS...

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[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago

Mullvad is more private but Proton VPN still supports port forwarding.

[–] Broken@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago

Both options are good. I think for the most part it boils down to wanting a single product or suite of products.

While you certainly can get just one proton service, the idea of having an easy entry point into multiple privacy focused solutions is what they are going for.

The pro argument for that is cheaper overall, simpler to get into and mange, etc. The con argument is an eggs in one basket philosophy isn't ideal because you can have a single point of failure. This is all subjective to your personal threat model.

[–] unconsciousvoidling@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Proton mail has an alias feature that I rather enjoy. Does anyone know an alternative service for that. I was looking to leave the proton ecosystem. Switching to mullvad is easy enough for vpn but im also looking at email etc.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

Proton mail

OP asked about VPNs.

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[–] ki9@lemmy.gf4.pw 4 points 1 week ago

For sailing the seas, I like CryptoStorm.is Good speed with port forwarding.

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