Proton VPN vs IVPN
Both are alternatives to NordVPN. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as IVPN vs Proton VPN — same comparison, one verdict.
Proton VPN and IVPN are closely matched on ownership (86 vs 85) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Proton VPN
Open-source, audited, with a genuinely unlimited free tier.
Proton VPN, from the Swiss maker of Proton Mail, was the first major provider to open-source its apps on every platform, and its no-logs policy has passed independent audits five years running (Securitum). Its free tier is the rare honest one — unlimited data, no bandwidth throttling — and the paid plans add more servers, streaming, and Secure Core routing. It's the best all-rounder for people who want strong, transparent privacy without giving up convenience.
IVPN
Open-source, anonymous signup, a true privacy purist.
IVPN is a small, privacy-first provider with fully open-source apps, a multi-year audit record with Cure53, and a publicly named owner. Signup is anonymous — no email required — and it accepts cash and crypto. It keeps no connection, traffic, timestamp, or bandwidth logs, and deliberately stays lean rather than chasing streaming features. A close cousin of Mullvad in philosophy, for people who want maximum transparency.
Side by side
6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Proton VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 86 | 85 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Local-first data | No | No |
| License | GPL-3.0 (apps) | GPL-3.0 (apps) |
| Pricing | Free tier with unlimited data; paid Plus roughly $5–10/month | From about $6/month; anonymous account, no email required |
Proton VPN edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Weighing both against staying on NordVPN? Is NordVPN free? What it actually costs →
Proton VPN
Strengths
- +Fully open-source apps, audited no-logs (five years running)
- +Genuinely unlimited free tier, no throttling
- +Swiss-based, strong privacy jurisdiction
- +Part of the wider Proton privacy suite (Mail, Drive, Pass)
Trade-offs
- −Free tier limits server choice and speed
- −A hosted service you don't self-host
- −Best features are on the paid plan
IVPN
Strengths
- +Fully open-source apps, audited by Cure53
- +Anonymous signup, cash/crypto accepted
- +Publicly named owner and clear trust page
- +Strict no-logs (no connection or bandwidth data)
Trade-offs
- −Pricier than the cheap commercial VPNs
- −Not built for streaming unblocking
- −Smaller server network
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Proton VPN
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and fully open-source apps, audited no-logs (five years running).
Choose IVPN
if fully open-source apps, audited by Cure53.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — free tier limits server choice and speed, and pricier than the cheap commercial VPNs. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
Proton VPN vs IVPN — common questions
Is Proton VPN a better fit than IVPN for vpn & privacy?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Proton VPN scores 86 to IVPN's 85 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. IVPN earns its place on a different axis — fully open-source apps, audited by Cure53. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Neither of these is local-first by default, so plan the exit at the point you adopt rather than later. Export what matters on a schedule instead of trusting you can retrieve it on demand — that is the most common way a vpn & privacy migration turns into a project instead of an afternoon.
Is Proton VPN free?
Proton VPN: Free tier with unlimited data; paid Plus roughly $5–10/month. The other side of this comparison, IVPN, is priced as From about $6/month; anonymous account, no email required. "Free" here means no licence fee — if you self-host it you still pay for the server, and the running cost row above is our honest estimate of that.
Are Proton VPN and IVPN both alternatives to NordVPN?
Yes — both appear in our NordVPN comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off NordVPN and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
More NordVPN head-to-heads
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Facts verified 2026-07-14. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.