Proton currently but probably switching to Windscribe soon due to increasingly invasive advertising.
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026
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increasingly invasive advertising.
Curious about this. Like you're using their apps and they have ads or something?
Yes, they are putting more and more upsell ads into their products. Recently I opened Proton Pass and there was an add taking up the entire little extension bubble.
Yes, they are ads about the ongoing deals and promos. It seems like you get those ads once a season or so. These aren't the intrusive personalized ads like from Google, mind you. They are "local" product ads to increase sales and support for Proton products. They can be annoying, but also they're not permanent.
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I mean, windscribe made that one ad w/ hitler in it...
Nym VPN because it seemed like the best but I'm sure someone will tell me there's something wrong with it 😂
I don't, I use DNS over HTTPS. That's far more fitting for my threat model right now.
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Well, currently using mullvad because I paid cash and have months left.
However I tried ivpn with their one week option (two bucks!) At their basic plan.
I find speeds better on mullvad, but they're otherwise comparable. I like both apps fine on android. If I was already on ivpn, I would not switch to mullvad for the minor speed uptick, since prices are comparable and switching multiple devices can be a very tiny annoyance.
In the past, I've used airvpn and proton for extended times (over six months). Proton is over priced, speeds were only marginally better than their free options, and iirc they were a pain about linux setup (I could be mixing them up with someone else though).
Airvpn worked great as a vpn. Port forwarding was an absolute cunt to get working for me. I suspect user error to be the biggest factor. Their android app sucks, and setting it up via other methods is preferred. But, at the time, they also lacked the built in ad/tracker blocking that I've enjoyed with mullvad and ivpn.
I did use nord briefly at one point. Worked fine, but at the time I was in need of port forwarding, and they had stopped offering that.
The only reason I'm maybe switching away from mullvad is the dubious political alignment of one of its owners. It really does work well for me, and is consistently faster than others I've tried, even with multi hop on. Even there, I'm not fully sure that the exact choice made by their part owner is exactly as bad as the common reaction is, so while I am likely switching away, I still can't really state that it's horrible to use the service.
The party he donated to has one big issue that's a hell no for me, but it might not be there for everyone, and other aspects of the party slate are less objectionable, or even agreeable. In other words, I'm not mad at anyone that shrugs the donation off. It ain't my business to judge people over such a narrow subject.
THAT being said, ivpn really is essentially the same service in terms of functionality. They even have servers that are in the same data centers. There's several in the US in specific that are 100% in the same center once you go looking at the lists of exits. And I know there can't be that many exact matches in cities across the world that aren't from the same location. Since VPNs rent either virtual or hardware space in data centers to provide exits, if a given company doesn't break from that, you won't see a major difference between them.
I'm surprised that you had trouble port forwarding on airvpn. My understanding is mullvad doesn't allow port forwarding, and Proton allows it but it's extremely finicky and you have to constantly poll for it with some script (or maybe if you use their official client then you don't need that, but I didn't). Port forwarding was, why I went with airvpn.
Tbh, when I tried it, I was completely unfamiliar with port forwarding, so it was more of a me thing.
Njalla. I switched to that after Mullvad was called out. I asked a refund which they got me. I compared some VPNs and no other seemed to fit. I miss some Mullvad stuff but at least they aren't fascists.
Mullvad, then switched to IVPN a couple of months ago. Both are recommended in privacyguides. They have solid privacy policies and are regularly audited.
Currently, Mullvad. Waiting for my time to run out then I might give NymVPN a go.
I don't. I would just be shifting trust from my ISP to some VPN provider for worse ping. I trust only I2P and Tor networks, so either it's sensitive enough to go over darknet or I treat it as public.
Windscribe. I like their no-nonsense approach.
None for the time being, and I don't know what I should use if I were to need one. I already use Proton for email so it wouldn't be my first choice to give even more data to one company, even if they still seem good (though their marketing is relatively aggressive, which feels offputting).
Mullvad is what I point people at when they say what you just did.
It’s simple to use, straightforward in pricing and you can’t screw up signing up in a way that surfaces more of your personal information than is necessary. The apps are also actually good if you need to use them which shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it is but speaking from many years of experience with different VPNs, it is.
Any reason you are looking to leave ivpn? I'm using Mullvad until my time runs out and then switching due to the fascism thing. I was looking at ivpn as one of a few possible options, so I'm curious of people's experiences.
IVPN is smaller than mullvad so mullvad has more support in the form of more 3rd party packages. With the fascism thing I feel like just because the owner is problematic doesn't mean we shouldn't use the service, otherwise by far the majority of large and medium sized services would be unusable.
Problem is that I now know for sure that by giving him money, that money is going to organizations that promote fascism. So, while I can't control where people spend their money, incan control how much of my money goes into their bank accounts. Same reason I would refuse to pay for anything Harry Potter. I know the money I would spend will go to royalties that JK Rowling will then give to organizations that spread misinformation about trans people or outright tell people that attacking women who even look too masculine, like Imane Khelif, is not only OK, but virtuous.
But since I already gave them my money, I'm not going to abandon what I paid for. In fact, if I did that, I'd be effectively giving them more money as they'd have less traffic to route that was already paid for.
mullvad offered and provided no questions asked refunds due to the co-owner being a fascist.
I am only giving them ~$5 a month, and I know every dollar counts, but a few 100k donations won't cause the rise of fascism, it will be poor societal conditions and charismatic leaders telling the populace that those issues are caused by minorities.
Yeah, but if everyone says that then it adds up. Just like when so many people don't vote because their singular vote doesn't really count, but when a lot of people say that, it adds up. And it's not like there aren't alternatives that likely don't fund fascism, so why use one that I know for sure does, even if indirectly. I can't punish him, but I can take my few cents a month away from fascism and spend it on a more reputable company that doesn't keep around a known fascist.
I am not voting for that party after all, and choosing the best software for privacy is worth giving a few dollars to a fascist IMO. Yes, I checked that parties policies, and I disagree with (nearly) all their social policies (Racism AND Secularism!? Gross!), so don't accuse me of sympathizing with them.
If you don't see the value in defending fascism, especially in an age where elections are often won by the party with the most money since they can control the media coverage, then I can't help you. I can't teach you to empathize with the people who they will murder if in power. I'm one of them, but guessing you're not.
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I bought several years of Mullvad time before finding out it's ran by a fascist. I use it exclusively for pirate related activities.
(I push several TB through it daily, so at least I'm costing Mullvad much bandwidth)
Going to get buycott, they seem pretty good
I'm sure someone will tell me how they're terrible though
Mullvad, but I need to switch to something that will let me torrent. (If there are any reccs?)