Proton VPN review for crypto users

Last reviewed 2026-08-26

Proton VPN publishes its no-logs audit reports in full, every year, and has done so five years running. Most of this industry either never audits, audits the privacy policy rather than the infrastructure, or hides the report behind a login.

Securitum, a European security firm, has examined the production servers on site each year since 2022. The most recent report states that the reviewed infrastructure showed no logging of browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services or user-identifiable connection metadata, and no persistent records that would let Proton link a person to activity on a server. The reports are downloadable rather than summarised. Switzerland sits outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes alliances and imposes no logging duty on VPN providers.

The free tier is the other reason this record exists. It is unlimited in bandwidth, has no ads, covers one device across servers in ten countries, and runs on the same audited infrastructure as the paid plans. That combination is what makes it a real answer to anyone about to install a free VPN funded by selling their traffic.

Bitcoin payment works but takes a detour: you create a free account first, then upgrade from inside it, because the option does not appear at initial signup. An email address is required for the Proton account either way. Refunds run 30 days and the terms exclude cash and bank transfers rather than crypto, so a bitcoin purchase stays inside the guarantee.

Visit Proton VPN

Owned by: Proton AG
Jurisdiction: Switzerland
Eyes alliance: Outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes alliances
Price: A permanently free tier with unlimited bandwidth, with VPN Plus billed monthly or at a substantially lower effective rate on the two-year term.
Money-back: 30 days (Cash and bank transfers are excluded, and a refund can be claimed only once per user.)
Free tier: Unlimited bandwidth, one device, servers in 10 countries, no ads
Protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, Stealth
Servers: Vendor states thousands of servers, with paid plans reaching over 140 countries and the free tier limited to ten
Pay with crypto: bitcoin

The evidence for the no-logs claim

A no-logs policy is a sentence on a website until someone checks. This is what has actually been checked for Proton VPN, dated, with the primary source for each item.

Independent audits

2026
Securitum: fifth consecutive annual no-logs audit of the production server infrastructure, report published in full. source
2025
Securitum: annual on-site no-logs audit of the server infrastructure. source
2024
Securitum: annual on-site no-logs audit of the server infrastructure. source
2023
Securitum: annual on-site no-logs audit of the server infrastructure. source
2022
Securitum: first annual no-logs audit, conducted on site. source

Paying with bitcoin

Coins accepted

bitcoin

Processor

In-house

Anonymous signup

Bitcoin does not appear at initial signup: create the free account, then upgrade from account settings. An email address is required for the Proton account itself.

The refund sentence that governs a crypto purchase, from Proton VPN's own policy:

“You may cancel your subscription within 30 days of the initial purchase and receive a full refund for the Service. Payments made by cash or bank transfers are not refundable.” refund policy

What it does for a bitcoin user

Five consecutive annual Securitum no-logs audits, each published in full
Swiss jurisdiction, outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes alliances
A genuinely unlimited free tier on the same audited infrastructure
Bitcoin accepted through Proton's own payment system, with no third-party processor

What it will not do: bypass KYC, hide on-chain activity, or make a geo-blocked exchange usable. Presenting a false location to an exchange breaches its terms of service and is how accounts get frozen with the balance inside. Details in the VPN guide.

Pros and cons

What works

Publishes complete audit reports rather than summaries or gated PDFs
The free tier has unlimited bandwidth and no advertising, which is rare
Bitcoin payment avoids handing a processor your purchase record
Swiss data protection law with no VPN logging mandate

What to watch

Bitcoin cannot be used at initial signup, only to upgrade an existing account
An email address is required for the Proton account whatever you pay with
The free tier is one device and ten countries, with no P2P support
No Monero or cash option, unlike Mullvad or IVPN

Frequently asked questions

How many times has Proton VPN's no-logs policy been audited?

Five times, once a year since 2022, all by Securitum and all conducted on site against the production servers. Every report is published in full rather than summarised.

How do I pay for Proton VPN with bitcoin?

Create a free Proton VPN account first, then upgrade to a paid plan from your account settings, where bitcoin appears as an option. It is not offered during initial signup.

Is the free tier actually free?

Yes, with no time limit, no ads and unlimited bandwidth. The limits are one device at a time and servers in about ten countries, and it runs on the same infrastructure the audits cover.

Can I get a refund on a bitcoin payment?

The 30-day guarantee excludes cash and bank transfers but not cryptocurrency, so a bitcoin purchase falls inside it. Refunds can be claimed once per user.