I made a spreadsheet comparing different open source VPN providers.

Part 2 here

Providers

• IVPN
• Mozilla VPN
• Mullvad VPN
• NymVPN
• Proton VPN

Notes

• Please do not start a flame war about Proton.
• Please do not start a flame war about cryptocurrencies. Monero is the only cryptocurrency listed because of its privacy.
• The very left column is the category for each row, the middle section is the various VPN providers, and the right section is which VPNs are the best in each category.
• IVPN has two differing plans, which is why "Standard" and "Pro" are sometimes differentiated.
• For accounts, "Generated" means a random identifier is created for you to act as your account, "Required" means you must sign up yourself. Proton VPN allows guest use under specific conditions (e.g. installed from the Google Play Store), but otherwise requires an account.
• Switzerland is seen as more private than Sweden. Gibraltar is seen as privacy neutral.
• All prices are in United States Dollars. Tax is not included.
• Pricing is based on the price combination to achieve the exact time frame. For example, Proton VPN does not have a 3 year plan but you can achieve 3 years by combining a 2 year plan with a 1 year plan.
• The availability section is security based. Availability is framed around a GrapheneOS and secureblue setup.
• The Proton VPN Flatpak is unofficial, but based on the official code.
• Availability on secureblue is based on the ujust install-vpn command. Security features must be disabled on secureblue in order to use the GUI for IVPN and Mullvad VPN, but not for Proton VPN. Mozilla VPN and NymVPN are available as Flatpaks, which are safer than layering packages.
• I wanted to include more categories, such as which programming languages they are written in, connection speed, and security, but that became far too difficult and complex, so I decided to omit those categories.

Takeaways

• NymVPN is very very new, but it's off to a strong start. It wins in almost every category. I actually hadn't heard of it until I started this project.
• If you want a free VPN, Proton VPN is the only one here that meets that requirement.
• If you want to pay week-by-week, IVPN is the only one that allows that.
• If you're paying month-by-month on a budget, Mullvad VPN is the cheapest option.
• NymVPN is the cheapest plan for anything past 1 month.
• If you want to use Accrescent as your main app store, IVPN is the only VPN available there for now.
• If you want to pay for a bundle of apps, including a VPN, Proton sells more than just a VPN.
• Mozilla VPN is terrible. The only thing it has going for it is a verified Flatpak, but NymVPN also has that so it doesn't even matter.

The 8232 Project

2025-10-10 20:53:49

VPN Comparison 2.0

After making a post about comparing VPN providers, I received a lot of requested feedback. I've implemented most of the ideas I received.

Providers

• AirVPN
• IVPN
• Mozilla VPN
• Mullvad VPN
• NordVPN
• NymVPN
• Private Internet Access (abbreviated PIA)
• Proton VPN
• Surfshark VPN
• Tor (technically not a VPN)
• Windscribe

Notes

• I'm human. I make mistakes. I made multiple mistakes in my last post, and there may be some here. I've tried my best.
• Pricing is sometimes weird. For example, a 1 year plan for Private Internet Access is 37.19€ first year and then auto-renews annually at 46.73€. By the way, they misspelled "annually". AirVPN has a 3 day pricing plan. For the instances when pricing is weird, I did what I felt was best on a case-by-case basis.
• Tor is not a VPN, but there are multiple apps that allow you to use it like a VPN. They've released an official Tor VPN app for Android, and there is a verified Flatpak called Carburetor which you can use to use Tor like a VPN on secureblue (Linux). It's not unreasonable to add this to the list.
• Some projects use different licenses for different platforms. For example, NordVPN has an open source Linux client. However, to call NordVPN open source would be like calling a meat sandwich vegan because the bread is vegan.
• The age of a VPN isn't a good indicator of how secure it is. There could be a trustworthy VPN that's been around for 10 years but uses insecure, outdated code, and a new VPN that's been around for 10 days but uses up-to-date, modern code.
• Some VPNs, like Surfshark VPN, operate in multiple countries. Legality may vary.
• All of the VPNs claim a "no log" policy, but there's some I trust more than others to actually uphold that.
• Tor is special in the port forwarding category, because it depends on what you're using port forwarding for. In some cases, Tor doesn't need port forwarding.
• Tor technically doesn't have a WireGuard profile, but you could (probably?) create one.

Takeaways

• If you don't mind the speed cost, Tor is a really good option to protect your IP address.
• If you're on a budget, NymVPN, Private Internet Access, and Surfshark VPN are generally the cheapest. If you're paying month-by-month, Mullvad VPN still can't be beat.
• If you want VPNs that go out of their way to collect as little information as possible, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, and NymVPN don't require any personal information to use. And Tor, of course.

ODS file: files.catbox.moe/cly0o6.ods

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