Head to head
The gap
The security score is not a total of good things. It starts at 100 and eight channels each take a share of what is left, so one channel can settle a record on its own. Both records are drawn here on the same scale — the model’s own cap of 0.9 — rather than on a scale fitted to this pair, which would make every comparison look equally dramatic.
Line by line
Every field the contract publishes about a provider, in the contract’s own groups, including the rows where the two agree — a table that printed only differences would invent a disagreement, and one that printed only the interesting rows would be us choosing what is interesting. Open a group to read its rows; each one says how many it holds and how many of them the two records answer differently.
A green cell means the methodology itself prices that value below the other one, not that we prefer it. Rows the model does not price carry no mark at all: price is never marked, because nothing in the model says cheaper is safer, and neither is coverage, platform count or devices. Where a value was never established the cell says so instead of showing a zero.
What actually happened
Other pairs
Pairs within the top ten get a page — 80 comparisons in all. Records below that are not paired here: a comparison earns a page where the choice between the two is a real one, and that choice is made near the top of the register.
No demand on the public record
Security
Usability
Rank 1 of 68 in the register
Switzerland · Commercial VPN
Exits in 147 countries
Security
Usability
Rank 9 of 68 in the register
Romania · Commercial VPN
Exits in 91 countries
2 documented demands, none of which produced data
Notes
On the record as a whole.
Deloitte's third no-logs assurance report (the only one of three published as a full downloadable PDF rather than gated behind login or an email request to Deloitte) is a limited assurance, ISAE 3000 (Revised) engagement dated as of 31 October 2025 and signed 19 December 2025; it examines CyberGhost's description of its own no-logging controls on a sample basis, not the full fleet, and its conclusion is negative assurance ("nothing has come to our attention"), not a positive finding of no logs.
The privacy policy's non-personal-data list names the Google Advertising ID and gyro-sensor data under website-style language that only a mobile app can actually read.
On the record as a whole.
The 2021 Swiss order that compelled prospective logging targeted Proton Mail, not the VPN, and is deliberately absent from P12: charging the VPN for a sibling product's order would be a fact about Proton AG, not about this service.
U08 is all_platforms because the support document gives enabling steps for Windows, macOS, Linux (GUI and CLI), Android and iOS/iPadOS — every platform with an app. The same document states two limitations that the value cannot carry and this note can: on macOS the real IP may be exposed briefly while switching servers, and on iOS some Apple service DNS requests can bypass the tunnel with the kill switch on.
U04b_price_yearly records the first-term charge on the 1-year VPN Plus plan: $53.88 for the first 12 months ($4.49/month), stated on the pricing page beside its own renewal line — "then renews at $83.88 every 12 months" ($6.99/month) — which is not the field's value.
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
Open questions
Still open on this record.
Owner-group history. Kape Technologies, CyberGhost's parent since March 2017, traces back to Crossrider, an ad-injection SDK platform whose services were widely abused by adware and malware distributors before the 2016 pivot to VPNs. No documented lie or claim gap ties this history to CyberGhost's own conduct, but the adverse record is why this provider is catalogued at all rather than by a neutral selection rule.
Scale and reach are undocumented. No CyberGhost-specific user count could be sourced from the provider's own pages beyond "millions of customers," so M08_user_scale stands unknown, and no clean 12-month plan exists to price against U04b_price_yearly — CyberGhost sells only 1-month, 6-month and 26-month terms.
Client and build transparency are unexamined. No official CyberGhost source-code repository, reproducible-build attestation or standalone application pentest (Cure53's public index has no entry for CyberGhost or Kape) could be found, leaving V12, V13 and V14 unknown rather than a finding either way.
A disputed breach claim was not independently resolvable. A September 2024 third-party report alleged leaked CyberGhost account credentials; CyberGhost's own response denies a service-side compromise and attributes the credentials to user-side malware, but the underlying report could not be read in this session, so X09_incident_handling stays unknown rather than taking either side's account.
Two of CyberGhost's own pages disagree on its street address: the imprint names 70-72 Dionisie Lupu street, the privacy policy names 68 Polonă street, both in the same Bucharest district and both current pages rather than one being an archived leftover. Neither was treated as authoritative over the other, and the discrepancy is left for a future refresh to resolve rather than guessed at here.
Still open on this record.
What the audit actually checked. The no-logs finding is strong and narrow at once. Securitum inspected production servers in person in August 2025 and has done so annually since 2022.
The limits the report states itself. It is a point-in-time check, a guided review of systems demonstrated by Proton's engineers rather than an unsupervised forensic examination, and a representative sample rather than the whole fleet. CI/CD, source code and the account-management systems were explicitly out of scope, so nothing here speaks to what the billing side holds.
The appeal, and what it does not settle. The 22 October 2021 appeal is cited here with a caveat worth stating plainly: the Federal Administrative Court ruled that email services are not telecommunications providers, and neither the judgment coverage nor Proton's own account of it mentions the VPN.
What actually settles the two fields. What settles C10 and C11 is that Switzerland carries no mandate basis in the catalogue's own country list; the appeal corroborates how Swiss authorities treat Proton and is not by itself a finding about Proton VPN. A ruling on a sibling service is thinner ground than the citation makes it look.
The single largest open item. Proton offers exit locations in eight countries that impose a logging mandate. Whether hardware actually sits in any of them is not established: Proton withdrew physical servers from India in 2022 and documents Smart Routing for locations it serves from elsewhere, which points to virtual, but that was verified for India alone. Establishing C09b_mandate_hosting is the single largest open item on this record.
12 Sep 20265 changes
Security scoresecurity.score
75 changed to 70
Security verdictsecurity.verdict
strong changed to acceptable
Platforms with a clientU01_platforms
android, android-tv, apple-tv, fire-tv, ios, linux, macos, windows changed to android, android-tv, apple-tv, browser-extension, fire-tv, ios, linux, macos, windows
Friction to start using itU11_signup_friction
no_account changed to email_only
Usability scoreusability.score
80 changed to 78
CyberGhost VPN and Proton VPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: CyberGhost VPN scores 21/100 for security, in the Insufficient band, and Proton VPN 70/100, in the Acceptable band. They share an independent audit. The 49-point gap opens widest on Retention — “Does a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked?” — taking 45% from CyberGhost VPN and 8% from Proton VPN.
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | CyberGhost VPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse | Proton VPNDominant channel: Hygiene0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.450 | 0.079 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.325 | 0.000 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.181 | 0.071 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.150 | 0.088 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.136 | 0.050 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 0.050 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 21 | 70 |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 21 insufficient · rank 9 of 68 | 70 acceptable · rank 1 of 68 |
| Usability | 69 out of 100 | 78 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 76% usability 92% | 89% usability 83% |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Aggregate counts only aggregates_onlyBcyberghostvpn.com · | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableBprotonvpn.com · |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | No, servers write to disk noCprotonvpn.com · |
| IP allocation model | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_optionAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Exit address shared between users sharedCprotonvpn.com · |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required noBcyberghostvpn.com · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredCprotonvpn.com · |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency through a processorBcyberghostvpn.com · | Cash · Cryptocurrency through a processorCprotonvpn.com · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | — not establishedno source published | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredCprotonvpn.com · |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | Install attribution attributionBcyberghostvpn.com · | No third-party SDK noneCprotonvpn.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analyticsBcyberghostvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Who owns the hardware | — not establishedno source published | Owned and rented both mixedCprotonvpn.com · |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 7 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey, VietnamBcyberghostvpn.com · | 8 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, VietnamDprotonvpn.com · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | Physical and virtual both mixedBcyberghostvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | No such regime no | No such regime no |
| Persistent device identifier | A resettable advertising identifier resettable_ad_idBcyberghostvpn.com · | None held noneBplay.google.com · |
| Weakest protocol still offered | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | — not established | — not established |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified |
| How the report is published | The full report is published full_pdf | The full report is published full_pdf |
| Subject of the audit | The no-logs claim itself | The no-logs claim itself |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sample | A sample of servers sample |
| Auditor name | Deloitte Audit S.R.L. (Deloitte Audit Romania)Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Securitum (Martin Matyja, Maciej Szymczak)Asecuritum.com · |
| Auditor category | One of the Big Four big4 |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | No seizure on record none_known | No seizure on record none_known |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_known | No disclosure on record none_known |
| Court record of compelled production | No court record none_knownno source published · | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produceBprotonvpn.com · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | — not establishedno source published | Pulled its servers out rather than comply withdrew_physicalBprotonvpn.com · |
| Transparency report | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | No documented lie none | No documented lie none |
| Marketing against audit findings | No gap on record none | No gap on record none |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is stated and checkable clear | Ownership is stated and checkable clear |
| Adverse events on the owner group record | A history of adware or malware adware_malware_historyCen.wikipedia.org · | Nothing adverse on record cleanCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_onlyBcyberghostvpn.com · |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | CyberGhost S.R.L.Bcyberghostvpn.com · | Proton AG, Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, SwitzerlandCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
| Where the company sits | Romania ROBcyberghostvpn.com · | Switzerland CHCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
| Year the service launched | 2011Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 2017Cen.wikipedia.org |
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 9 Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Routers, Browser extensionBsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · | 9 Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Browser extension, Fire TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, WindowsBprotonvpn.com · |
| Countries with an exit | 91 countriesBcyberghostvpn.com · | 147 countriesDprotonvpn.com · |
| Paying monthly | $12.99 per monthBcyberghostvpn.com · | $9.99 per month |
By circumstance
| CyberGhost VPN | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | — not established |
| Streaming | Reachable yes | — not established |
| Devices at once | 7 | 10 |
| Under censorship | — not established | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 7 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Vietnam | 8 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam |
| Hosting in those countries | Physical and virtual both mixed | — not established |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | — not established | Orders go through a judge judicial_only |
A security specialist security_specialistAsecuritum.com · |
| Assurance standard | ISAE 3000 isae3000Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Another standard otherAsecuritum.com · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2025-12-19Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | 2026-05-27Cprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregularBcyberghostvpn.com · | An annual series annual_seriesCprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 3Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 5Cprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Aggregate counts only aggregates_onlyAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableAsecuritum.com · |
|---|
| Client source code published | — not establishedno source published | Every client allCprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not establishedno source published | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredCprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | A limited-assurance conclusion limitedAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausible | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausible |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | — not establishedno source published | Never had one noneBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Requests received | 11Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 458Bprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | — not establishedno source published | Orders go through a judge judicial_onlyCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 0 No demand on the public recordBcyberghostvpn.com · | 2 documented demandsCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · |
|---|
A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_fundedCprotonvpn.com · |
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Makes no such claim noBcyberghostvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | — not establishedno source published | Covered outside affiliate sites too noCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | — not establishedno source published | No incident on record none_knownCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standardBcyberghostvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| App store declaration | — not establishedno source published | The store form matches the published policy matches_policyBapps.apple.com · 3 sources · |
|---|
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | — not establishedno source published | Mass: 10 million users or more massCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Teddy Sagi, sole owner of Unikmind Holdings Limited (Isle of Man), which holds Kape Technologies plc — CyberGhost's parentBunikmind-holdings.com · 2 sources · | Proton Foundation (Swiss non-profit, controlling shareholder since 06/2024); employees; FONGITCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | Antivirus · A portfolio of other apps · A review directoryBkape.com · | A portfolio of other appsCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | IMBunikmind-holdings.com · | CHCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Owner group | kapeBkape.com · 2 sources · | independentCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | 2017-03Bkape.com · | 2024-06Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | A brand the group acquired acquired_brandBkape.com · | The group's principal brand principalCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | — not establishedno source published | Separate infrastructure separateCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Paying yearly | — not establishedno source published | $53.88 a year at renewal, billed onceBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier noneBcyberghostvpn.com · | A free tier with limits limited_freeBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | — not establishedno source published | Claimed to work claimedDprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2Bsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · | 4 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, An obfuscated protocolBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On some platforms partialBcyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · | On every platform all_platformsBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 7Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 10Bprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_only | An email address only email_only |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yesBcyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Reachable yesBcyberghostvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
