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.
Security
Usability
Rank 6 of 68 in the register
United States · Commercial VPN
Exits in 91 countries
Private Internet Access and Proton VPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: Private Internet Access scores 25/100 for security, in the Insufficient band, and Proton VPN 70/100, in the Acceptable band. They share an independent audit. The 45-point gap opens widest on Integrity — “Has it been caught saying one thing and doing another?” — taking 46% from Private Internet Access and 0% from Proton VPN.
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | Private Internet AccessDominant channel: Integrity0 to 0.9, longer is worse | Proton VPNDominant channel: Hygiene0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.459 | 0.000 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.272 | 0.050 |
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.188 | 0.079 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.101 | 0.088 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.071 | 0.071 |
| 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 | 25 | 70 |
Security
Usability
Rank 1 of 68 in the register
Switzerland · Commercial VPN
Exits in 147 countries
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
By circumstance
| Private Internet Access | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | — not established |
| Streaming | Reachable yes | — not established |
| Devices at once | unlimited | 10 |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 6 United Arab Emirates, China, India, 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 | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalent | Orders go through a judge judicial_only |
2 documented demands, none of which produced data
Recent changes
26 changes logged, the latest on 13 Sep 2026
13 Sep 20261 changes
Why this provider is in the catalogueM14_inclusion_basis
hand_picked, adverse_record changed to adverse_record
12 Sep 20263 changes
Chronology of documented enforcement eventsP12_case_history
{"date":"2016-03","kind":"subpoena","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://www.vpncompare.co.uk/private-internet-access-no-log-claim-put-to-the-test/"} changed to {"date":"2016-03","kind":"subpoena","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/transparency-report"}
Security scoresecurity.score
27 changed to 25
Requests received in periodP08_requests_received
30 changed to 19
30 Aug 20261 changes
Weakest protocol still offeredC13_weakest_protocol
wireguard changed to not on the record
36 changes logged, the latest on 12 Sep 2026
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
Open questions
Still open on this record.
What the report is. The security score rests on a Deloitte Audit SRL limited assurance report under ISAE 3000 (Revised), signed 19 December 2025 for the configuration as of 31 October 2025. Read what that is: the conclusion is negative assurance — "nothing has come to our attention" — against a description PIA's own management wrote, and the report states it provides no assurance for any other period.
Who the report is for. The auditor also restricts the report to PIA management and disclaims responsibility to any other reader, so the strongest document in this record is one whose author declines a duty of care toward the person reading it here. Procedures were performed on a sample basis, which is why fleet coverage is recorded as a sample.
What it did not examine. The report covers infrastructure only. C07a_app_sdk and C12_device_identifier are app-side facts it never examined; they now cite the privacy policy instead, which describes analytics for website visitors and opt-in diagnostic reports carrying platform and app version. Reading either as a statement about SDKs compiled into the app is the weakest link in this record, and the open-source clients are where it would actually be settled.
The 2016 subpoena rests on PIA's own word, not the court file. The only detailed account of the McWaters case (S.D. Fla., 9:16-cr-80043) sits on an affiliate site this record cannot cite; CourtListener's docket for that case names no subpoena, no provider and no outcome. P03_court_record and P12_case_history now stand on PIA's own transparency-report statement that it was subpoenaed in 2016-2017 and produced nothing — a B-level self-declaration, not a verified court record.
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.
Notes
On the record as a whole.
First fill 2026-08-26, refreshed 2026-09-12 on P03_court_record, P12_case_history and V12_client_open_source, refreshed again 2026-09-13 on M08_user_scale, P02_disclosure_history, P03_court_record, P05_transparency_report, P06_report_plausibility, P08_requests_received, P09_data_provided and P12_case_history, and refreshed again 2026-09-13 on U04_price_monthly and U04b_price_yearly.
The 2026-09-13 pass found PIA had published its Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 transparency reports since the record's last look at Q4 2025; the record now cites the Q2 2026 post (19 requests received, 0 resulting in data provided, covering April-June 2026, published 2026-08-06) as the freshest, with the same subpoenas/warrants/other/foreign breakdown structure as before.
M08_user_scale, P02_disclosure_history, P03_court_record and P12_case_history were re-read against the same sources and stand unchanged; the main transparency-report page still names no case beyond the 2016-2017 subpoenas already on file. The pricing re-read against the same buy-vpn-online page found both figures unchanged: month-to-month $11.95, one-year plan $47.88 billed for the first year and autorenewing at the same $47.88 with no intro/renewal gap, consistent with PIA's flat-rate pricing noted elsewhere in the catalogue.
Sourced from privateinternetaccess.com's own pages and blog, the two Deloitte ISAE 3000 (Revised) 'Independent Limited Assurance Report' PDFs (April 2024 and December 2025, both opened and read directly), Kape Technologies' own site, the Isle of Man/Companies House-sourced reporting on Kape's 2023 take-private by Unikmind Holdings (Teddy Sagi), and the official pia-foss GitHub organisation for the open-source clients.
The public CourtListener docket for United States v. McWaters (9:16-cr-80043, S.D. Fla.) was opened but names no subpoena, VPN provider or outcome; the affiliate writeup (vpncompare.co.uk) that describes that subpoena in detail was dropped as a forbidden source, and TorrentFreak's own coverage returned HTTP 403 to every fetch attempt this run, curl included. P03/P12 now rest on PIA's own transparency-report self-declaration instead.
Wikipedia was dropped from V12 in favour of the GitHub organisation itself. No affiliate or 'best VPN' aggregator site was used as a factual source anywhere in this record, even though several turned up repeatedly in search results with plausible-looking numbers (server counts, user counts, audit dates) that could not be cross-checked against a primary page and were discarded rather than used.
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.
| Private Internet Access | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 25 insufficient · rank 6 of 68 | 70 acceptable · rank 1 of 68 |
| Usability | 73 out of 100 | 78 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 89% usability 100% | 89% usability 83% |
| Private Internet Access | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | No, servers write to disk noCprotonvpn.com · |
| IP allocation model | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_optionBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Exit address shared between users sharedCprotonvpn.com · |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required noBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredCprotonvpn.com · |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency through a processorBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Cash · Cryptocurrency through a processorCprotonvpn.com · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | Analytics analyticsBprivateinternetaccess.com · | No third-party SDK noneCprotonvpn.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analyticsBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Who owns the hardware | Owned by the provider ownedBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Owned and rented both mixedCprotonvpn.com · |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 6 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, VietnamBserverlist.piaservers.net · 2 sources · | 8 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, VietnamDprotonvpn.com · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | Physical and virtual both mixedBserverlist.piaservers.net · 2 sources · | — 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 | An identifier scoped to the app app_scoped_idBprivateinternetaccess.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 |
| Private Internet Access | 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 infrastructureAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | The no-logs claim itselfAsecuritum.com · |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sample | A sample of servers sample |
| Auditor name | Deloitte Audit SRL (Romania)Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · |
| Private Internet Access | 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 | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produce | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produce |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Pulled its servers out rather than comply withdrew_physical | Pulled its servers out rather than comply withdrew_physical |
| Transparency report | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers |
| 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 | Never had one none | Never had one none |
| Requests received |
| Private Internet Access | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | — not establishedno source published | No documented lie noneCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · |
| Marketing against audit findings | — not establishedno source published | No gap on record noneCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is partly stated partialBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | Ownership is stated and checkable clearCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources |
| Private Internet Access | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | PIA Private Internet Access, Inc., 5555 DTC Parkway, Suite 360, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, USAAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | Proton AG, Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, SwitzerlandCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
| Where the company sits | United States USAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | Switzerland CHCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
| Year the service launched | 2010Cen.wikipedia.org · |
| Private Internet Access | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 9 Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Routers, Android TV, Apple TV, Browser extensionBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | 9 Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Browser extension, Fire TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, WindowsBprotonvpn.com · |
| Countries with an exit | 91 countriesBserverlist.piaservers.net · 2 sources · | 147 countriesDprotonvpn.com · |
| Paying monthly | $11.95 per monthBprivateinternetaccess.com · | $9.99 per month |
| Securitum (Martin Matyja, Maciej Szymczak)Asecuritum.com · |
| Auditor category | One of the Big Four big4Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | A security specialist security_specialistAsecuritum.com · |
|---|
| Assurance standard | ISAE 3000 isae3000Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | Another standard otherAsecuritum.com · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2025-12-19Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | 2026-05-27Cprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregularBprivateinternetaccess.com · 3 sources · | An annual series annual_seriesCprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 3Bprivateinternetaccess.com · 3 sources · | 5Cprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkable |
|---|
| Client source code published | Every client all | Every client all |
|---|
| 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 limitedAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| 19Bprivateinternetaccess.com · |
| 458Bprotonvpn.com · |
| Requests that produced data | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentCeff.org · | Orders go through a judge judicial_onlyCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 1 documented demandBprivateinternetaccess.com · | 2 documented demandsCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Adverse events on the owner group record | A history of adware or malware adware_malware_historyCen.wikipedia.org · 3 sources · | Nothing adverse on record cleanCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_onlyBprivateinternetaccess.com · | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_fundedCprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Claims total anonymity or military-grade encryption yesBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | Covered outside affiliate sites too no | Covered outside affiliate sites too no |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | No incident on record none_known | No incident on record none_known |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standardBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
| App store declaration | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy |
|---|
| 2017Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | Mid: a million users or more midBinvestegate.co.uk · | Mass: 10 million users or more massCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Teddy Sagi, via Unikmind Holdings Limited (Isle of Man), sole shareholder of Kape Technologies plc since the May 2023 delisting; Kape owns PIA Private Internet Access, Inc.Cen.wikipedia.org · 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 review directory · Adtech or adwareCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | A portfolio of other appsCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | IMBcains.com · 2 sources · | CHCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Owner group | kapeBkape.com · 2 sources · | independentCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | 2019-12Bkape.com · | 2024-06Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | A secondary brand secondary_brandCkape.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 | $47.88 a year at renewal, billed onceBprivateinternetaccess.com · | $53.88 a year at renewal, billed onceBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier noneBprivateinternetaccess.com · | A free tier with limits limited_freeBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2Bhelpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com · | 4 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, An obfuscated protocolBprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On every platform all_platforms | On every platform all_platforms |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | unlimitedBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | 10Bprotonvpn.com · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_only | An email address only email_only |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yesBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Reachable yesBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
