ProtonVPN (for Linux) impressed me during my testing of Linux virtual private networks (VPNs), with its basically smooth setup process and solid performance. Starting at $4 per month, it's not quite as fast or easy to set up as our Editors' Choice winners NordVPN (for Linux) and Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux). But, nevertheless, it's a very good choice for penguin users looking for more security. If the company ever invests more in the overall Linux experience, then it will be the service to beat.
While that obviously implies there's no graphical user interface (GUI) available during the setup process, that's not to say this isn't a fully functioning service. Even compared to VPNs aimed at more mainstream operating systems (OSes), ProtonVPN ticks off a lot of boxes, including a nice privacy architecture and built-in Tor access.
Pricing and Features
ProtonVPN also does well in the pricing department. The product starts out with a free tier that lets you connect a single device with limited speed—but this isn't going to be enough for most users on a permanent basis. Aside from a performance limitation, it only gives you three servers through which to connect and all three are generally congested.
You're definitely better off plunking down some dollars. The Basic tier begins at the aforementioned $4 per month, and gives you access to all countries for two simultaneous devices. If you upgrade to the Plus tier for $10 per month, then you'll be able to connect up to five devices, and you'll get access to SecureCore. This is a set of servers that are resistant to timing attacks, and you can also use them to connect to the Tor network. For $10, that's one of the more value-packed VPNs I saw, especially when compared to more barebones offerings like TunnelBear VPN (for Linux) ($120 for Three-Year Plan at TunnelBear) .
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Setup under Linux
Sadly, there is no Linux GUI for ProtonVPN. But if there had been, then ProtonVPN would surely have won our Editors' Choice designation. However, the website makes it easy for Linux users to get started. It's a simple matter of searching for the server to which you want to connect, specifying that you want to download for Linux, and then importing that profile.
While this makes it easy to get connected, it doesn't do much in terms of checking for other sources of leakage. IPv6 protocol, for instance, must be manually turned off in order to prevent traffic from skipping the tunnel completely and rendering your VPN connection useless. That's something you can be automatically protected against from certain competitors, notably Editors' Choice winner Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux). For those that don't want to use Network Manager, ProtonVPN has unveiled a command line interface (CLI) tool that makes it slightly easier to identify and connect to fast servers, but it still doesn't address the security issues noted earlier.
Netflix and BitTorrent
Ever since Netflix declared war on VPN services, the ability to access this and other streaming services using a VPN is quickly dwindling. Sadly, ProtonVPN seems to be a casualty. While there is some anecdotal evidence that some people are still able to access Netflix from some servers, I was not able to do so. For those needing access to streaming services, there are far better options available, notably any of our Editors' Choice winners as well as other services like PureVPN (for Linux) that let you access Netflix through browser plug-ins.
The news is better for peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing. While not allowed on the free servers, for Plus subscribers and up, you have full access to use BitTorrent. However, you still need to connect to approved P2P servers. Those are indicated by a special Arrows icon located on the server list. BitTorrent will be actively blocked on any other server.
Speed and Performance
To perform my speed tests, I used a copy of Ubuntu 17 on a VMWare instance with a middle-of-the-road configuration with 8 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and two processor cores. Speed is largely going to be determined by the server to which you connect, so it's imperative that you use the server recommendations on the website. That will give you the best chance at a successful connection.
I tested three metrics that typically define a user's experience over a network connection. First, I measured latency, which is the time it takes for packets of data to travel to a remote server and back to your computer in milliseconds (ms). In this category, lower is always better. The other two metrics are upload and download speed. For those two, higher is always better. However, since everyone's internet connection is different and these values tend to fluctuate over time, I represent these as a percentage changed against a baseline measurement of my connection without the VPN. Each data point is tested domestically with a VPN server in the United States and internationally with a VPN server in Australia. In addition, I cite the highest speed recorded. All metrics are gathered using Ookla Speed Test, which is owned by PCMag's publisher Ziff Davis (a J2 Global company).
The domestic latency of ProtonVPN suffered only a 63.55 percent increase in latency from my baseline measurement. International latency tested at a 105.61 percent increase in latency. The lowest ping time recorded domestically was 34 ms while the highest was 40 ms. For comparison, the lowest international ping time was 214 ms while the highest was 224 ms.
For download speed, there was a 54.09 percent decrease in speed domestically and a 98.42 percent decrease in speed internationally. The domestic upload speed decreased on average by 43.97 percent. International upload speed had a significant but expected decrease in speed of 80.3 percent on average. The fastest recorded download speed for ProtonVPN was 109.19 megabits per second (Mbps) and the fastest upload speed was 12.76 Mbps.
Security and Privacy
ProtonVPN operates in the legal jurisdiction of Switzerland, which lets the company have a strong legal position for their no-logs policy. This is the ideal scenario for those looking to adopt a VPN. It also provides built-in DNS leak protection and Tor support. To make things more interesting, it's located "in a former Swiss army fallout shelter 1,000 meters below the surface." If that isn't the start of a great Bond film, then I don't know what is. This doesn't mean they don't collect some of your information, however. For the purpose of securing your account, they store a timestamp of the last time you logged in.
For those traveling to China, ProtonVPN also functions from there. However, you will need to get the server's IP address prior to going. From the user forums, the connection stability seems to be hit or miss, but this seems to be consistent across all VPN services that allow access from China. This is a great benefit, however, for those that could be involved in activities that the Chinese government may view as subversive. This is enhanced by its SecureCore feature that lets you tunnel through multiple servers.
If you do the extra leg work to ensure that your environment is not going to leak data outside of your VPN tunnel, then ProtonVPN does a good job and places a real emphasis on defending your privacy. It still needs to do a bit of work to bring its Windows features to Linux before it can be the perfect choice. Still, it worked well, and the pricing is comparable to the feature set—not to mention that the speed was above average in my comparisons. This makes ProtonVPN one of the best options for Linux, though it lacks the user friendliness of Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) to push it into the Editors' Choice slot.
ProtonVPN (for Linux) hits all of the right notes for security and speed. It's a great option for Linux users that will only improve as they bring over features to the command line interface (CLI) app and unveil a matching GUI.
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