Yesterday I read a few comments asking what the different speed tiers actually mean. I took some time and tested 3 free Servers, US-15, NL-06 and JP-02, if they differentiate between the 2 plans.
I used speedtest.net and tried the same speedtest server 3 times. Once without VPN, with Free VPN and with Plus VPN. The machine I used was located in Germany, running Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS and the Network Manager handling the VPN. These are just the results for 1194/UDP.
USA without VPN: https://i.imgur.com/YbAvp03.png
USA with Free VPN: https://i.imgur.com/RwnJZIS.png
USA with Plus VPN: https://i.imgur.com/fgJPdJ0.png
Netherlands without VPN: https://i.imgur.com/yPSJv0z.png
Netherlands with Free VPN: https://i.imgur.com/Pg0sY2o.png
Netherlands with Plus VPN: https://i.imgur.com/8dGjicq.png
Japan without VPN: https://i.imgur.com/nU2kW2B.png
Japan with Free VPN: https://i.imgur.com/E2PHJby.png
Japan with Plus VPN: https://i.imgur.com/kkN4ocA.png
| Ping in ms |
US |
NL |
JP |
| w/o |
170 |
13 |
267 |
| Free |
94 |
29 |
487 |
| Plus |
93 |
17 |
369 |
| — |
— |
---- |
---- |
| Download in Mbps |
US |
NL |
JP |
| w/o |
229 |
191 |
126 |
| Free |
27 |
5 |
13 |
| Plus |
24 |
11 |
20 |
| — |
— |
---- |
---- |
| Upload in Mbps |
US |
NL |
JP |
| w/o |
12 |
19 |
7 |
| Free |
8 |
10 |
3 |
| Plus |
13 |
11 |
3 |
So they don’t really toggle speeds for any plan. They just offer less servers for other plans so the speeds with be lower due to higher load on the servers. Maybe the total bandwidth is different from Plus Servers as well but I don’t really think that every Plus Server is 10G and all others are not. Theoratically you can achive the same speeds with a free Plan as with a Visionary Plan. Reality looks different.
SO Glad I didn’t listen to this nonsense last night when I was contemplating on upgrading from ProtonVPN Free to Basic. I ended up upgrading to ProtonVPN Basic for 1 month just to test it myself, ran a speed test and got 534.6 Mbps download, and 386.56 Mbps upload, 14 ms ping. It was much much slower when I was using the free version. The upgrade is DEFINITELY worth it.
I just tested and have better or same speed with VPN free than no VPN. I was like wtf is wrong with my ISP lol
So far, all plans have shit speeds. If I’m 20ms from their server, I should see much more than 30Mbps or so. I can drop Proton and fire up PIA or Torguard in the same locations and get well over 100Mbps.
Everyone is speaking pure bull**** and all should be discredited ProtonVPN Plus IS FASTER than the free stuff. Besides Are you willing to trade security for a medium speed and have lack of security options? I still think its worth it.
I have ProtonVPN Plus, Not Premium version. Plus is more than enough.
You only get that trial when you log in to the Windows Application. But I think it changes significantly as well since most users are on windows.
I mean, it’s 4 years old. Good that you don’t listen to it.
I’m getting 100mbps and 17ms. Which is my internet plan.
I’m very disappointed by these speeds. I’ve been a protonmail plus user for some time so I got to test the beta. At first, it was incredible but then they dropped off. I figured that was as more testers hopped onboard - besides it was free. Now I just signed up to vpn plus and the performance is pathetic. (how bad can the basic be!!!???). Looking at the speeds posted at the top of this thread by Rafficer. I don’t get anything like those. Not only that - but I can’t find any of those IP addresses in my list. In NL for example I only get a choice of 4 servers and 1.8Mbps on speedtest is the best I can do. That’s versus my ISP connection of 12.8. So I’m getting less than 20%. I get more of less the same numbers elsewhere e.g. Switzerland and UK. All the servers I tested had less than 10% load - so why the low numbers. Every server is so close - between 1.7 - 1.9 - they must be throttled. It is certainly not unlimited as they claim.
This is a 5.8year old thread.
I got the ‘trial’ signing up for a free account (a new one, not associated with my ProtonMail) working fine with OpenVPN on masOS/iOS 
It’s not obvious. Anywhere. But the login authenticates on all servers.
haha true. I guess the internet has had major upgrades since then!
Your own benchmarks don’t show that. You’re getting the same 30Mbps or so that others are seeing.
I would contact ProtonVPN directly. That is abnormal… perhaps your ISP has started throttling (it’s a longshot, but you never know). Have you changed computers, cords, routers, anything? So many factors go into speed. Try testing out your subscription on a different device, such as a laptop (and a mobile device) just to make sure it isn’t device-specific.
