- Is Proton VPN free? The full answer
- What’s in the free plan (and what isn’t)
- Where the free plan ends
- What you pay after the free plan
- Coupons, discounts and extended trials
- How to create the free account (short version)
- Proton VPN Free on iPhone and Android
- Is the free plan safe to use?
- U.S. customer card
- Free alternatives on this site
- Is the free plan worth starting with?
Quick answer: Yes, there's a real free plan. Proton VPN Free has no data cap, no ads and no card, but it runs on one device at a time and picks your server from 10 countries. Free · paid plans from $53.88 for the first year (VPN Plus), then $83.88, as of 10/27/2026.
I couldn’t open a free account on 10/27/2026: the sign-up stopped at a human verification step that asks for a puzzle or a code sent to another email. Everything below comes from Proton’s pricing page, sign-up page and help center, not from inside an account.
Is Proton VPN free? The full answer
Yes. The pricing page lists Proton Free at $0.00 a month with “No credit card required” under the button. The sign-up page’s plan box adds “No ads” and “Unlimited volume/bandwidth.” Proton’s plans article says it will “always provide a free, secure, no-logs VPN designed with no data limits.”
There is no trial clock. The free plan doesn’t end after a week or a month, and there is no card on file to charge. The first payment happens only if you choose VPN Plus or Proton Unlimited.
What’s in the free plan (and what isn’t)
From the pricing page and the help center on 10/27/2026:
| Feature | Proton Free | VPN Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0, no time limit | $53.88 first year, then $83.88 |
| Data | No cap | No cap |
| Devices at once | 1 | 10 |
| Servers | 10 countries, picked at random | 140+ countries, your choice |
| Speed | “Medium” | “Highest,” up to 10 Gbps servers |
| Streaming, P2P, Secure Core | No | Yes |
| NetShield ad and malware blocker | No | Yes |
| Kill switch, DNS and IPv6 leak protection | Yes | Yes |
| Router | Yes, counts as one connection | Yes |
| Support | Form and email | Form, email and live chat |
| See plans | Free | See plans |
The 10 free countries, per the help center: the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, Canada and the United States. The no-logs policy is the same on both plans, and Securitum’s yearly audits cover free servers too, per Proton’s audit post.
Where the free plan ends
The wall is choice, not data. Proton first connects you to the fastest free server for your location. If you want another one, the help center says “we will randomly choose your next server.” Then a cooldown starts: 45 seconds after the first change, then 10 minutes between later ones.
That makes Free fine for a coffee shop or a hotel network and awkward for anything that needs a specific country. Streaming, P2P and Secure Core are paid features. The second wall is the device count. Free covers one device at a time, so your phone and your laptop can’t both be connected unless they sit behind a router running the free account.
What you pay after the free plan
Nothing, unless you upgrade. If you do, on 10/27/2026:
- VPN Plus, 1 year: $53.88 for the first 12 months, then $83.88 every 12 months.
- VPN Plus, 2 years: $83.76 for the first 24 months, then $83.88 a year.
- VPN Plus, monthly: $9.99.
- Proton Unlimited: $119.88 a year, with Mail, Pass, Calendar and Drive.
- Tax: added at checkout by state and ZIP. With New York billing, the checkout showed 8.875% and US$58.66 for 12 months.
Prices verified on 10/27/2026 on Proton VPN’s site, which has its own currency selector. The full review covers the checkout and the cancel steps in the Proton VPN review.
Coupons, discounts and extended trials
The discounts are on the pricing page itself: 55% off the first year of VPN Plus and 65% off a 2-year term, against the $9.99 monthly price. The checkout link from the pricing page applies the discount for you, with the line “Your 55% discount to VPN Plus has been applied.”
As of 10/27/2026, I couldn’t find any public coupon or promo code for Proton VPN beyond those built-in discounts, and no Black Friday page for the VPN. There is no paid trial, because the free plan does that job. Paid plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase, per the terms.
How to create the free account (short version)
- Go to protonvpn.com/pricing and choose Get Proton Free, or download the app from the App Store or Google Play.
- Enter an email address, or type a new name to create a @proton.me address, and choose a password.
- Pass the human check: a puzzle, or a code sent to another email address.
- Install the app on the device you’ll use most, sign in and connect.
On 10/27/2026 our run stopped at step 3, because we don’t solve CAPTCHAs and had no second inbox. On an iPhone, the app is a free download, and the paid plans appear as in-app purchases from $11.99 to $119.99.
Proton VPN Free on iPhone and Android
The free plan works in the phone apps too. On the App Store, Proton VPN is a free download with paid plans offered as in-app purchases from $11.99 to $119.99, and it had 4.6 from 124,948 ratings on 10/27/2026. Google Play showed 4.7 from 1.44 million reviews.
The one-device rule still applies, so a free account connected on your phone disconnects your laptop. Owners in 10/2026 reported drops on iPhone in particular. “Free tier works great for what I need,” one App Store reviewer wrote on 10/25/2026, while others described traffic stopping for seconds at a time. I didn’t verify each case.
If you upgrade from the phone, owners suggest doing it on the website. Reddit and App Store posts in 10/2026 described upgrades bought through Google Play or Apple that didn’t show up in the account.
Is the free plan safe to use?
The free plan runs under the same no-logs policy as the paid ones. Proton’s audit post says Securitum checked that the policy applies the same way on every tier, free included. Proton’s plans article explains how Free is paid for: “Proton is funded by revenue from paid plans,” not by ads.
What Free doesn’t give you is NetShield, the blocker for ads, trackers and malware domains, which is a Plus feature. And like any VPN, it hides your traffic from the local network, not your identity from sites you sign in to.
U.S. customer card
| 1. What you'll actually pay at checkout | VPN Plus checkout opened without an account on 10/27/2026. With New York and ZIP 10001 it added 8.875% tax (US$4.78) for US$58.66 for 12 months before the card. Above the button: US$53.88 for the first 12 months, then automatically renewed at US$83.88 for 12 months, cancel any time details → |
|---|---|
| 2. What's in the plan (and what isn't) | Free: 1 device, servers in 10 countries chosen at random, no data cap, no streaming or P2P. VPN Plus $53.88 first year ($83.88 after): 10 devices, all servers, streaming, P2P, Secure Core, NetShield blocker, live chat. Unlimited adds Mail, Pass, Calendar and Drive details → |
| 3. How to cancel and get a refund | account.protonvpn.com → Subscription → Cancel subscription, then confirm and give a reason, per the help center; paid features last to the end of the period. Full refund within 30 days of the initial purchase through the support form (terms 10/09/2026). Not tested details → |
| 4. What personal data they ask for — and how to delete it | Sign-up asks for an email or a new @proton.me address, a password and a human check (a puzzle or an email code). Proton says it logs no sites, traffic, IP addresses or session lengths, with yearly Securitum audits. Deletion: account settings, removes the whole Proton Account details → |
| 5. Who can sign up (U.S. only, state limits, age) | Sold worldwide by Proton AG, Geneva; users must be 13 or older, minors with a parent's consent. U.S. consumers agree to arbitration with a class action waiver (opt-out available). Tax added at checkout by state and ZIP details → |
| 6. Support: channels and hours (ET) | Support form and vpn@support.proton.me for everyone; live chat on paid plans; no published hours. No question sent: the form needs an email for the reply, and we had no test inbox details → |
| 7. What we saw inside the account | Not seen: the free sign-up stopped at a human verification step (a puzzle CAPTCHA or a code to another email) on 10/27/2026. Apps and free servers described from the help center, store listings and owner reports details → |
Free alternatives on this site
Proton VPN is the only VPN on this site with a permanent free plan. NordVPN has no free plan, only a 7-day trial that needs a card, as the NordVPN free trial page explains. If what you want is privacy on public Wi-Fi at no cost, what is a VPN covers the built-in options from Apple and Google.
The paid comparison is in NordVPN vs Proton VPN, and the full picture of Proton, including owner complaints, is in the Proton VPN review.
Is the free plan worth starting with?
Yes. Proton Free is the rare free VPN with no data cap, no ads and a no-logs policy audited every year. For public Wi-Fi on one device it does the job without a card.
Upgrade when you hit the walls: a second device, a specific country, streaming or P2P. VPN Plus at $53.88 for the first year removes all of them. Buy on the website rather than in an app store, which owners in 10/2026 said caused upgrades that didn’t apply.
What we checked
- Test account: couldn't open — the free sign-up on 10/27/2026 stopped at a human verification step (a puzzle CAPTCHA or a code sent to another email). The free plan's limits come from the pricing page, the sign-up page and the help center, not from inside an account
- Checkout: VPN Plus opened without an account on 10/27/2026 to see what the upgrade costs with New York tax. Nothing was paid
- Coupons: pricing page and checkout checked 10/27/2026 — the built-in 55% and 65% intro discounts are the only offers found
- Vendor pages: pricing page, free sign-up, help articles on plans and free servers, App Store listing — read 10/27/2026
- Not checked: the free servers' speed, the server change timer in the app, the apps
FAQ
Is Proton VPN really free?
Yes. Proton Free has no time limit, no data cap, no ads and no card, per the pricing page and the sign-up on 10/27/2026. The limits are one device at a time, medium speed, and a server chosen for you in one of 10 countries. Streaming, P2P and Secure Core are paid.
Do I need a credit card for Proton VPN Free?
No. The pricing page says “No credit card required” under Proton Free, and the free sign-up asks only for an email address or a new @proton.me address and a password. It then runs a human check, a puzzle or a code sent to another email, before the account opens.
How many devices does Proton VPN Free cover?
One at a time. Proton's plans article says the free plan connects on only one device at the same time. A router counts as one connection, so a free account on a home router covers the devices behind it. VPN Plus raises the limit to 10.
Can I choose a server on Proton VPN Free?
Not a specific one. Proton connects you to the fastest free server for your location, and if you change, it picks the next one at random. You wait 45 seconds before the first change and 10 minutes between later ones, per the help center on 10/27/2026.
How much does Proton VPN cost after the free plan?
VPN Plus was $53.88 for the first year on 10/27/2026, then $83.88 a year, or $9.99 a month. Tax is added at checkout. The free plan itself never ends, so you pay only if you upgrade.
Is there a Proton VPN coupon or Black Friday deal?
The discount is built into the pricing page: 55% off the first year of VPN Plus and 65% off a 2-year term, applied automatically at checkout. As of 10/27/2026, I couldn't find a public coupon code or a Black Friday offer on Proton's VPN pages beyond those.