Proton VPN Review Australia

Reviewed by Laurence Deer, founder and reviewer in Melbourne, testing VPNs since 2019 · How we test · How we earn money

Proton VPN

Number 3 of 14 in our calculated order

Good for trying a VPN free first

Proton VPN suits Australians who want to try a VPN free, or who put privacy first: it is Swiss and says its apps are open source. In October 2026 American Netflix and BBC iPlayer played, but it bills in US dollars and refunds only the unused part of a plan.

From US$3.49 (about A$5.02) a month

VPN Plus plan, paying for 2 years, US$83.76 upfront. Renews at US$83.88 every year. Lowest plan of each VPN we track: A$2.87 to A$17.96.

Visit Proton VPNFrom US$3.49/mo · checked 19 Oct (Lowest monthly price (about A$5.02), on the VPN Plus plan paid upfront for 2 years; read from protonvpn.com on 19 October 2026)

Checked 19 Oct 2026 Price and plan details read from protonvpn.com.

Proton VPN: key facts

Money-back

30 daysVPNs we track: 14 to 45 days

Free trial

NoneCompare VPN free trials

Devices at once

10VPNs we track: 5 to unlimited

Server countries

149VPNs we track: 30 to 150

Australian cities

0Not named on its site

Company, audits, protocols and features

Company

Based in Switzerland

Audits

Securitum, says Proton VPN

Protocols

OpenVPN, Stealth, StealthVPN, WireGuard

Features

Ad and tracker blocker, Kill switch, Multi-hop (two servers), Obfuscation, Port forwarding, Split tunnelling

As Proton VPN's own site lists them, read 19 Oct 2026.

Proton VPN: our tests

Speed, Australian server

89% keptOf our download speed with the VPN off. Tested 17 Oct 2026

DNS leaks

None foundTested 17 Oct 2026

Streaming

3 of 5 playedNetflix US✓ playedPluto TV✓ playedBBC iPlayer✓ playedNetflix UK✕ blockedNetflix Japan✕ blocked6 more opened but we did not play them. Tested 17 Oct 2026

Speed kept by the VPNs we have tested (2021 to 2026 rounds): 44% to 100% or more.

Tested on an account Proton VPN gave us free of charge (17 Oct 2026). How we earn money

See our results in full

Proton VPN: what has changed

• 18 Oct 2026 Review text last edited
• 17 Oct 2026 Our latest test round: local speed, overseas speed, streaming, leaks, kill switch settings (drop test not run) and torrenting

No price or plan changes seen between 13 Oct 2026 and 19 Oct 2026.

Prices are read from Proton VPN's website every morning (last read 19 Oct 2026) and its feature pages weekly; we record every change we see.

The short version

We tested Proton VPN from a Melbourne home NBN line on 17 October 2026. The Melbourne server kept 89% of our download speed. American Netflix played on a San Jose server, and BBC iPlayer played on London. We found no DNS leaks, and our real address never showed when we switched servers.

The catches: Netflix UK and Netflix Japan blocked us, uploads slowed sharply on overseas servers, and the kill switch is off until you turn it on. The cheapest rate needs two years paid upfront, and the free plan covers one device, with Proton picking the server for you.

Our October 2026 tests from Melbourne

We ran Proton VPN’s macOS app (version 4.5.0) on a Mac mini connected to a Melbourne home NBN line on the morning of 17 October 2026, with default settings. The protocol setting was left on Smart, and the app chose WireGuard, a fast modern protocol, every time. We measured the line with the VPN off before the Australian run and again before the overseas runs.

Proton offered an update to version 6.1.0 during the session. We did not install it, so a newer app may behave differently.

Speed: close to the line at home, slow uploads overseas

On the Melbourne server, Proton VPN kept 89% of our download speed, with ping at 17 ms. On that result, you could leave it on at home for browsing, streaming and video calls and barely notice it.

Overseas servers cost more, as distance always does: San Jose kept 75%, London 61% and Tokyo 82% of our download speed. Each result is the average of three 50 MB downloads and two 20 MB uploads from Cloudflare’s speed test, against the line measured with the VPN off minutes before.

Uploads fell much further than downloads on every overseas server, and Tokyo’s were the slowest of the morning. That matters little for what people use those servers for, such as iPlayer in London or ABEMA in Tokyo, which only need download speed. London’s ping of 330 ms rules out fast-paced online games on a UK server. We ran each server once, in the morning, so treat these figures as one sample.

Leaks: none found, and no gap when switching servers

• DNS: no leak on the Melbourne, San Jose, London, Tokyo, IN#16, BR#179 and ZA#30 servers. Every lookup went to a resolver on the VPN server’s own network, never to our internet provider.
• IPv6: our line has no IPv6 connection, so we could not test for IPv6 leaks. With the VPN on, IPv6-only sites were unreachable.
• Switching servers: at 9:54 am we switched from London to Tokyo while checking our public IP address about every 1.5 seconds. Our real Melbourne address never showed. One check found no connection, then we were in Tokyo.

So hopping between countries for streaming did not expose our home address, even with the kill switch off. We tested one switch, between one pair of servers.

Kill switch: off by default

Proton VPN’s kill switch is one click from the main window. Proton says it disables your internet if the VPN connection drops, so it covers the whole Mac rather than chosen apps. It was off by default.

We did not turn it on or run a drop test, so we cannot tell you it works. If you rely on the VPN to hide your address, switch it on anyway.

Streaming: Netflix US and iPlayer played; Netflix UK and Japan did not

What played

Melbourne · our own tries, dated per service

Netflix US	✓ Played17 Oct 2026
Netflix UK	✕ Blocked17 Oct 2026
Netflix Japan	✕ Blocked17 Oct 2026
Pluto TV	✓ Played17 Oct 2026
BBC iPlayer	✓ Played17 Oct 2026
ABEMA	Site opened, not played17 Oct 2026

"Site opened, not played" means the service's site loaded through the VPN but we did not play anything.

• United States (San Jose): Netflix showed its US library and played a title, signed in, opening with an advert and no proxy error. A Pluto TV live channel played. Tubi and Hulu’s US sites loaded, but we did not test playback on either, and we have no Hulu account.
• United Kingdom (London): BBC iPlayer did not block us. Signed in to a BBC account, we answered its TV Licence question and it played, starting with BBC’s trailer before the programme. Netflix UK showed “You seem to be using a VPN or proxy” on its home page. ITVX and Channel 4 loaded; we did not test playback.
• Japan (Tokyo): ABEMA loaded with no region block, and TVer’s site loaded, though we did not test playback on either. Netflix showed the same VPN or proxy error.

We used the same Netflix profile on every server. Streaming services keep closing the doors VPNs open, so treat each result as true on the morning we tested it.

Torrenting: worked, and no slower than without the VPN

Torrenting worked on 17 October 2026, and the VPN did not slow it down. A download through a Melbourne server at 10:52 am ran no slower than the same torrent with the VPN off at 10:34 am. Proton marks the servers that allow file sharing with a double-arrow icon, and every Australian server the app listed carried it.

We downloaded the official Debian 13.7.0 DVD torrent, a legal file, with the aria2c command-line client for 120 seconds, uploads capped and no seeding. On a run that short, the number of people sharing the file sets the pace more than the VPN does, so read the rate as “no slower than without it”, not as a ranking against other VPNs.

VPN	Our torrent speed	P2P policy	Kill switch	Port forwarding	Audited by
Proton VPN	5.54 MiB/s tested October 2026	Not checked	✓ Listed	✓ Listed	Securitum

Torrent speed is the average download rate we measured on an Australian server, with its date. Features and auditors are as each provider lists them; "Not checked" means we have not recorded it yet.

Proton says its free plan does not allow torrenting, so you need a paid plan for this.

Still to test

We have not yet tried the other Australian cities, repeated the overseas tests in the evening, tried Secure Core or Stealth, or forced a connection drop with the kill switch on. We will add each one here, dated, when we do.

What other testers found

Top10VPN’s October 2026 review recorded a 12% speed loss on nearby servers and 16% on international ones, though it lists inconsistent download speeds among its cons. Security.org’s September 2026 review measured about 8% on downloads. Secure Core costs more: Security.org found those connections usually 35% slower, because they send you through a second server.

They were kinder on Netflix. In its September 2026 review Security.org reached more than a dozen Netflix libraries, where Netflix UK and Japan turned us away on 17 October 2026. These reviewers test from outside Australia, so their speeds will not match a Melbourne line. Their full findings are summarised at the end of this page.

Proton VPN deal in Australia (checked 19 Oct 2026)

How much Proton VPN costs

Proton VPN charges in US dollars. The table below is read from its pricing page and updates automatically; the Australian-dollar figure is an approximate conversion, and your bank’s rate and any international transaction fee will change what you pay. Named offers, such as a Black Friday deal, are on our VPN deals in Australia page once we have checked them on the provider’s site.

Checked 19 Oct 2026 Price and plan details read from protonvpn.com.

Visit Proton VPN

The headline monthly price covers a two-year first term, paid upfront. After that each plan renews every 12 months at a higher monthly rate. VPN Plus is the VPN on its own. Proton Unlimited adds Proton’s other services, such as Proton Mail and Proton Drive, so it only pays off if you would use them.

Here is what the cheapest plan adds up to over three years, once the renewals kick in.

The free plan

Proton’s free plan needs no payment details and, Proton says, has no data cap. It covers one device, Proton chooses the server for you, and torrenting is not allowed. That makes it a good way to see whether a VPN suits you, but not a way to be sure of an Australian or US connection.

Is Proton VPN safe? Privacy and audits

Proton VPN is based in Switzerland and says it keeps no logs of what you do online. It says Securitum, an independent security firm, has verified that policy in an audit, and that the code for all its apps is open source. Open code means outsiders can check what the apps do, rather than take Proton’s word for it.

Top10VPN’s October 2026 review adds that Proton publishes its audits and was the first VPN to open-source its apps. Few of the providers we cover can show as much.

Apps, devices and Australian servers

A paid Proton VPN account covers 10 devices at once.

Proton’s server list counts five Australian cities. We have tested only Melbourne so far.

It supports WireGuard and OpenVPN, plus Stealth, its own protocol for networks that block VPNs. The extras that matter:

• Kill switch blocks your traffic if the VPN connection drops. It is off until you turn it on.
• Split tunnelling lets your banking app or Stan skip the VPN while everything else uses it.
• NetShield blocks ads and trackers before they load.
• Secure Core routes you through a second server for extra privacy, at a speed cost.
• Port forwarding helps torrent clients reach more peers.

Using Proton VPN in Australia

• Australian servers: 5 cities, according to Proton VPN's server list.
• Billing: charged in USD, so the Australian-dollar cost moves with the exchange rate.
• Where it is based: Switzerland, according to its own site.
• Refund period: 30 days.

Australian law requires internet providers to keep customers' metadata for two years. A VPN encrypts the connection between your device and the VPN server, so your internet provider can see that you are using a VPN but not which sites you visit. It does not make you anonymous to the VPN provider itself, which is why the provider's logging policy and audits matter.

Alternatives to Proton VPN

These are picked by a fact in our data. For services whose prices we check every morning, see the Best VPN for Australia table and the cheapest VPNs in Australia.

PrivateVPN

Lowest advertised price we track: US$2.00 a month

NordVPN

Servers in 150 countries, the most we track

Visit NordVPN

IPVanish

No limit on devices per account

Visit IPVanish

Proton VPN FAQ

How we keep this review current

Prices, plans and server details are read from Proton’s own website, with the date of the last check beside each figure. Our test results carry the date they were measured, and each retest is added here with its own date. Every 2026 figure comes from our test log, and the independent reviews we cite are linked so you can read them in full.

Sources

Proton’s own pages, read on 13 October 2026: pricing, servers, features and no-logs policy. The free plan’s limits are from Proton’s free VPN page, read on 13 October 2026. Independent reviews: Top10VPN (updated October 2026) and Security.org (September 2026). Our own results are from 17 October 2026 (Proton VPN macOS app 4.5.0, Melbourne).