Mullvad vs Proton VPN
Both ladders below were read from the vendors’ own pricing pages, in this market, on the dates shown. Nothing is converted: what you see is what each page showed a reader here.
What each one is
Mullvadsite ↗pricing ↗
A privacy-first VPN that takes no personal details at sign-up and charges one flat monthly rate. Paid plans start at €5/mo (Mullvad VPN); no free plan is published.
Proton VPNsite ↗pricing ↗
A VPN from the maker of Proton Mail, Swiss-based and open-source, and the rare consumer VPN with a genuinely free tier. Paid plans start at €9.99/mo (VPN Plus); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at €12.99/mo (Proton Unlimited). It bills by country — entry $9.99/mo to a US reader and £7.99/mo to a UK reader, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-08-28 — the change log holds the rows. Publishes a real free plan; its paid ladder only renders in a browser session, which is how we read it.
The two ladders
Mullvadsite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-09-06 · EUR
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Mullvad VPN | €5/mo | '€5 per month' at 1 month, 1 year or 1 decade. Including VAT. The page prints its own conversions: $5.81, £4.27, SEK 55.59, A$8.07, CA$8.04. |
Proton VPNsite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-09-07 · EUR
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Proton Free | Free |
| VPN Plus | €9.99/mo |
| Proton Unlimited | €12.99/mo |
Where they differ
- Cheapest way in: Mullvad at €5/mo, against Proton VPN at €9.99/mo. That is the entry price in this market on the dates shown, not a judgement about which suits you.
- Free plans: only Proton VPN publishes one — a plan priced at zero, not a trial.
- How far each ladder goes: Mullvad tops out at €5/mo, Proton VPN at €12.99/mo. A deeper ladder is not a worse deal — it is a bill that keeps climbing if you keep growing.
- Recently moved: Proton VPN (2026-08-28). A change only counts once a second clean read agrees.
- Proton VPN: It bills by country — entry $9.99/mo to a US reader and £7.99/mo to a UK reader, from our same-day reads.
How to choose in this category
- The intro price is not the price — renewal rates run higher and commitment terms stretch past two years in this set.
- Compare the renewal row, not the banner figure.
- A refund window is not a free tier — look for a plan actually priced at zero.