The catch is that you have to sign up for a full year rather than going month to month. There, I got the catch out of the way early. Look at us being nice at VICE, not making you scroll all the way through paragraphs of gobbledygook to hear little disappointments.

That’s the only bad news there is, though. Proton VPN is one of the best VPNs I’ve ever reviewed. There’s a free version, yeah. And it’s hands-down the best free VPN I’ve used. But the paid version is a new level of good.

You’ll want to sign up for a year’s worth, especially while an annual plan is 60 percent off.

a little price math

Normally $120 for a year’s subscription, right now Proton VPN Plus is going for $48. That works out to $4 a month. Who says writers can’t do math? You could still sign up for the monthly subscription, but that’s $10 a month and not on sale.

In a weird twist, it’s actually slightly more expensive to choose a two-year plan for Proton VPN Plus, at what works out to $4.50 per month. Stick with the annual plan. Proton is good enough that you should see no reason to switch.

As of my review in March 2025, Proton VPN Plus opens up access to 11,802 Proton VPN servers (in “110+ countries”), of which 8,732 are for Plus users only. Being able to choose which country you want to connect through enables you to access websites available only in those certain countries.

Add to that the paid version’s faster speed, and it’s easily worth the $4 per month. For a brief rant by yours truly about why you should always be using a VPN, head over to my Best VPNs guide, and try not to trip over my exaltations of Proton VPN while you’re over there.