Proton
Empowering you to choose a better internet where privacy is the default. Protect yourself online with Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive. Proton Pass and SimpleLogin.
Proton Mail is the world's largest secure email provider. Swiss, end-to-end encrypted, private, and free.
Proton VPN is the world’s only open-source, publicly audited, unlimited and free VPN. Swiss-based, no-ads, and no-logs.
Proton Calendar is the world's first end-to-end encrypted calendar that allows you to keep your life private.
Proton Drive is a free end-to-end encrypted cloud storage that allows you to securely backup and share your files. It's open source, publicly audited, and Swiss-based.
Proton Pass Proton Pass is a free and open-source password manager which brings a higher level of security with rigorous end-to-end encryption of all data (including usernames, URLs, notes, and more) and email alias support.
SimpleLogin lets you send and receive emails anonymously via easily-generated unique email aliases.
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Any good VPN other than Proton? Almost every one is going down the enshitification route and I'm looking for an alternative.
I've been happy with Mullvad. Good no-log policy, audited regularly, and their servers run on RAM. No port forwarding though, as others mentioned.
Mullvad, ivpn
I think the most common alternatives I see recommended are Mullvad and IVPN. Both have a great track record, but also both lack port forwarding if that is an essential feature for you.
I swear by AirVPN. Not the fastest or fanciest, but they've got port forwarding and are run by an activist org; I've got a lifetime membership IIRC
Be mindful that Italy passed a law forcing vpn's to block pirated content, and AirVPN is based in Italy.
Does this affect anyone outside of Italy though? When I recently signed up for it it had a huge warning saying they don't allow Italian residents to use them, nor do they host any Italian servers, I assume so they don't have to deal with this law at all
I'm not sure how they would distinguish between the two in practice, surely they would block all piracy attempts, not just the ones going to an Italian IP address? It's an unknown for now, but I would be hesitant to use them until it's more clear how this could effect privacy.
PIA has been uneventful for a couple years...
PIA is notable for still having port forwarding; Something many other VPNs have ditched. So on that one point, they’re better than others.
However, 4 or 5 years ago they were bought by a company (Kape Technology, formerly known as Crossrider) that has a history of stuffing adware into their programs. Like their business model was basically:
Since a VPN provider’s only real source of legitimacy is public trust, the Kape buyout had a lot of customers fleeing to alternatives like Proton. So far, the PIA app has been fine. But Kape could decide at any point to just pump it full of adware and run away with arms full of cash, like they have done in the past. Also, Kape is (or at least was, at the time of the buyout) headed by a known Israeli intelligence agent. So that was another big thing that sent customers scrambling to alternatives.
Thanks. That is a useful brakedown of them. Using them for the last year with zero issues but always important to evaluate.
Windscribe is a good one in my experience - https://windscribe.com/