

ProtonVPN (for macOS) Review

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You could be forgiven for assuming that a VPN from a bunch of CERN scientists who previously built a business around secure email wouldn't produce the most exciting VPN client for macOS. ProtonVPN surpasses expectations, however, delivering many privacy features in a smart, flexible app, that can be experienced for free or at several affordable pricing tiers. For all that, it's an Editors' Choice for macOS VPNs.

What Is a VPN?

When you switch on a VPN, all of your internet traffic is piped through an encrypted tunnel to a remote server, from which it exits onto the internet. This prevents anyone from snooping on your network—including your ISP or ne'er-do-wells prowling insecure public WiFi. It also makes it harder for spies and advertisers to track you online, as it also hides your public IP address.


Pricing, Features, and Privacy

I closely examine all aspects of ProtonVPN in my review of the Windows client. I'll summarize the most important points here, but see my other review for a more nuanced view—particularly concerning the efforts individual VPN companies take to protect your privacy.

ProtonVPN offers four pricing tiers, billed either monthly or annually. The cheapest tier actually costs nothing, but offers only one simultaneous connection and access to servers in three countries. That said, ProtonVPN's free subscription places no limit on the amount of data you can use, making it easily the best free VPN.

ProtonVPN (for macOS)

The first paid tier is the Basic subscription ($5 per month, $48 per year), which allows two devices to be connected simultaneously and grants access to more of its servers. P2P file-sharing is allowed at this tier. The next step up is the Plus subscription ($10 per month, $96 per year), which unlocks all ProtonVPN's servers and five simultaneous connections, as well as additional privacy features I discuss below. The final tier, called Visionary ($30 per month, $288 per year), doubles the number of simultaneous connections to 10 and adds the highest paid tier of the four-star ProtonMail, a secure email service from the same company.

While I am not keen on companies that lock features behind tiered subscriptions, I do appreciate that ProtonVPN provides the essential services at even its free tier. Tiers also mean you can keep costs well below the $10.80 average that a top-rated VPN costs. For this review, I tested a Plus subscription. Note that while ProtonVPN ranks its tiers with different speeds, the company doesn't throttle connections. These are just assumptions based on the number of servers available at each tier, and not necessarily reflective of performance.

While ProtonVPN is much more expensive than the most affordable paid service I've reviewed on macOS—Norton Secure VPN, which costs just $7.99 per month—it's by no means the most expensive. CyberGhost and ExpressVPN both cost $12.95 per month. Although nearly every VPN offers discounted rates for longer subscriptions, I highly recommend customers start with a short-term subscription and see if the service really fits their needs.

In addition to its generous pricing, ProtonVPN stands out for its collection of excellent privacy features. ProtonVPN offers multi-hop connections, which it calls Secure Core. This routes your connection between two intermediary servers, for added privacy. The first hop connects you to a clutch of servers personally monitored by ProtonVPN and in secured facilities including (I'm not kidding) a defunct military bunker. The idea is that even if the second hop is somehow tainted by spies, they won't be able to tell who you are because the first hop will be secure. Both NordVPN and Surfshark offer multi-hop features, but not with such extravagant additional protection.

ProtonVPN also lets you connect to the Tor anonymization network. This routes your connection through several volunteer computers, effectively hiding your movements online. You can also browse hidden websites on the Dark Web when connected to Tor. NordVPN is the only other service I've tested for macOS that offers access to Tor, although you can connect to the system without the help of a VPN.

What ProtonVPN doesn't offer is split tunneling, which lets you route the traffic of specific apps within or without the encrypted VPN tunnel. Private Internet Access and ExpressVPN both offer this feature. ProtonVPN also doesn't provide ad-blocking. That's a shame, but not a deal-breaker, as I advise readers to use a standalone tracker blocker anyway.

ProtonVPN (for macOS)

The biggest asterisk on ProtonVPN is the size and scope of its server fleet. The company currently offers approximately 517 servers in 41 countries. That's the smallest server count of all the VPNs I've tested for macOS, most of whom have between 1,300 and 5,900 servers. More servers doesn't necessarily mean better service, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Covering 41 countries is fairly respectable, and ProtonVPN does a good job of distributing its servers across the globe. ExpressVPN ($8.32 Per Month at ExpressVPN) and CyberGhost, notably, both cover over 90 countries with their respective networks.

Determining how well a VPN company protects your privacy is a complicated task and I encourage you to read the full review of ProtonVPN. The short version is that ProtonVPN takes privacy seriously. It does not log activity, keeping only a timestamp of an account log-in to prevent brute force attacks. The company only earns revenue through subscriptions and does not seek to monetize its users in other ways. The company operates under Swiss law, and it publishes a transparency report that shows it has never disclosed information about its customers in response to legal requests. The company has not yet undergone a third-party audit.

ProtonVPN (for macOS)

Hands On With ProtonVPN

I tested ProtonVPN on a 2019 Retina-5K 27-inch iMac running macOS Catalina (version 10.15). This particular machine sports 16GB of RAM and a 3.6 GHz eight core Intel i9 processor. The company offers downloads of the app direct from its site.

Given its privacy and security wonk pedigree, it's fair to assume that ProtonVPN wouldn't give much thought to user experience. Surprisingly, ProtonVPN actually offers a great app on every platform. While it's not particularly macOS-ish, it doesn't look out of place, either. The app uses a lot of warm greys, which is a welcome change from the black-and-green edginess of many VPN apps. TunnelBear ($4.17 per month at TunnelBear) , notably, goes in a different direction, with bright yellows and animated bears.

You interact with ProtonVPN either through its stylish menu bar menu, or through the app, which itself can be shrunk to just a phone-sized window. When expanded, ProtonVPN shows off a map of the world indicating all of its available server locations.

ProtonVPN (for macOS)

A Quick Connect button on the left, well, connects you quickly. You can also search or browse a list of server locations. Each location can be expanded to show the specific servers available, the current load on that server, and any special services that might be available—such as Tor or P2P file-sharing. The toggle for the multi-hop Secure Core configurations is handily within reach, elevating this rather arcane option to a place where it might actually be used.

Profiles are a unique aspect of the ProtonVPN app. These are customizable configurations for your VPN connection. The app ships with Profiles for a random connection or the fastest available connection.

What's missing are the in-depth connection settings I would expect to find in a product like ProtonVPN. You cannot, for example, adjust what encryption is used, the ports used, and so on. For those kinds of settings, you'll need Private Internet Access. That said, I don't miss those features in ProtonVPN, and instead I'm impressed that it highlights tools like Secure Core.

ProtonVPN (for macOS)

In my testing, ProtonVPN did not appear to leak DNS information and did appear to change my public IP address. Videos on Netflix did not, unfortunately, load, but I did not see the customary warning message I usually see when using a VPN. You may have better luck when streaming with ProtonVPN.

Speed Test Results

My testing found that ProtonVPN increased latency results by 133 percent, reduced download results by 83.9 percent, and reduced upload results by 85.6 percent. You can see how ProtonVPN compares in the chart below with the top 10 performers among the 14 macOS VPN apps I tested.

macOS VPN Speed Test Chart

By its absence in the chart, it's clear that ProtonVPN did not deliver stellar speed test results. I don't think that should count too harshly against ProtonVPN, however, as I don't believe speed to be the best metric to judge a service's quality. You can read more about how I test VPNs in the aptly named How I Test VPNs feature, as well as the limitations of my testing.

The overall results in my macOS VPN speed testing were mixed, with no decisive winner across all three categories. KeepSolid VPN Unlimited had by far the best download speed results but CyberGhost VPN had the most balanced results, staying well below the average results in all categories. Notably, Encrypt.me was the fastest VPN among 34 services tested using Windows 10.

(Editors' Note: Ookla Speedtest, IPVanish, and Encrypt.me are owned by j2 Global, the parent company of PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis.)

One final note on speed: Because ProtonVPN limits access to some servers depending on subscription tier, the company assumes that you'll have better speeds at higher tiers. My testing found that this wasn't necessarily the case. If you're very concerned about speed, I recommend trying out ProtonVPN on your own network and seeing how it performs.

Related Story See How We Test VPNs

A Winner on macOS

On paper, ProtonVPN's offering is very similar to NordVPN, but with one tenth the servers. That's only part of the story. It's one of only two VPN apps to offer access to Tor, and it puts a unique spin on multi-hop VPN to boot. ProtonVPN also offers flexible pricing on top of a generous free subscription, making it easy to adapt to your individual situation. The company also strives for transparency which, in the cut-throat VPN industry, is a refreshing change. Coupled with its slick-but-simple app, it's an Editors' Choice winner for macOS VPNs alongside TunnelBear VPN.

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