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 7 of 68 in the register
United States · Censorship tool
Exits in 4 countries
2 documented demands, none of which produced data
1 documented demand, 1 of which produced data
Security
Usability
Rank 1 of 68 in the register
Switzerland · Commercial VPN
Exits in 147 countries
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
Open questions
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.
Still open on this record.
Hardware ownership is not stated. Riseup's own government FAQ describes physical control of its core Seattle infrastructure ('not hosted in the cloud'), but says nothing about the VPN gateway machines in Montreal, Paris and Amsterdam, which sit on IP ranges typical of commercial hosts. C08_servers_ownership stays unknown rather than assumed from the Seattle statement.
The bare-minimum VPN log is described only by exclusion. The security page lists everything the 5-day rotating log does not contain (no IP, no fingerprint, no DNS requests, no metadata) but never states what it does contain. C01 is filled none_linkable on that exclusion list, but a reader who wants to know what the bytes actually are will not find it here.
Several usability fields have no documentation to read at all. Split tunneling, simultaneous device limits, P2P policy and streaming access are not addressed on any RiseupVPN page found this session, and the kill switch is confirmed only for the desktop tray client, not for Android.
The only independent audit is a client/infrastructure pentest, not a logging audit. The 2025 SRLabs report examined Bitmask and the Menshen bridge registrar for intercept and DPI risks; it never asked what the VPN servers retain, so V11_audit_findings is not_stated and the retention claim in C01 rests on Riseup's own word alone.
The 2012 seizure often cited against Riseup did not touch Riseup's own data. U.S. federal agents took a server from a colocation facility Riseup shared with May First/People Link, but the machine and its data belonged to a third tenant (European Counter Network); no Riseup account or user data was on it, which is why P01_seizure_event reads none_known rather than crediting an event that was never Riseup's to resist.
Notes
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.
On the record as a whole.
RiseupVPN is a free client of Riseup Networks, a US 501(c)(4) non-profit collective (riseup.net) operating since 1999; the VPN carries no price of its own and is sustained entirely by donations, which is why U04/U04b are not_applicable. RiseupVPN is a rebrand of the older Bitmask/Riseup-Black client built on the LEAP platform; its four gateways (Seattle, Montreal, Paris, Amsterdam) all sit in countries carrying a logging mandate per countries.csv, and hosting there is physical rather than virtual.
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
Proton VPN and RiseupVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: Proton VPN scores 70/100 for security, in the Acceptable band, and RiseupVPN 25/100, in the Insufficient band. They share an independent audit and independent ownership. The 45-point gap opens widest on Retention — “Does a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked?” — taking 8% from Proton VPN and 50% from RiseupVPN.
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | Proton VPNDominant channel: Hygiene0 to 0.9, longer is worse | RiseupVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.079 | 0.497 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.050 | 0.200 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.000 | 0.200 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.071 | 0.097 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.088 | 0.070 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.087 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 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 | 70 | 25 |
By circumstance
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | — not established | — not established |
| Streaming | — not established | — not established |
| Devices at once | 10 | — not established |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 8 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam | None |
| Hosting in those countries | — not established | — the question does not arise |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | Orders go through a judge judicial_only | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalent |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 70 acceptable · rank 1 of 68 | 25 insufficient · rank 7 of 68 |
| Usability | 78 out of 100 | 65 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 89% usability 83% | 88% usability 64% |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | No, servers write to disk noCprotonvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| IP allocation model | Exit address shared between users sharedCprotonvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Signup without email | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared |
| Anonymous payment options | Cash · Cryptocurrency through a processorCprotonvpn.com · | The service takes no payment at allBriseup.net · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredCprotonvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | No third-party SDK none | No third-party SDK none |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | — not establishedno source published | No third-party tracker noneBriseup.net · |
| Who owns the hardware | Owned and rented both mixedCprotonvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 8 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, VietnamDprotonvpn.com · | NoneBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| 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 | None held none | None held none |
| Weakest protocol still offered | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | — not establishedno source published | Traffic passes through unaltered noneBriseup.net · |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 itselfAsecuritum.com · | The infrastructure · The protocol · The app's securityAopentech.fund · |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sampleCsecuritum.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Auditor name | Securitum (Martin Matyja, Maciej Szymczak) |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| 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_knownCprotonvpn.com · | Account data was handed over account_data_disclosedBriseup.net · |
| Court record of compelled production | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produceBprotonvpn.com · | Produced account data produced_account_dataBriseup.net · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Pulled its servers out rather than comply |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Nothing adverse on record clean | Nothing adverse on record clean |
| How the service is paid for | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_funded | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_funded |
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | — not establishedno source published | Makes no such claim noBriseup.net · |
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Proton AG, Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, SwitzerlandCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | Riseup NetworksBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
| Where the company sits | Switzerland CHCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | United States USBriseup.net · |
| Year the service launched | 2017Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | 1999Briseup.net |
| Proton VPN | RiseupVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 9 Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Browser extension, Fire TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, WindowsBprotonvpn.com · | 4 Linux, macOS, Windows, AndroidBriseup.net · |
| Countries with an exit | 147 countriesDprotonvpn.com · | 4 countriesBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
| Paying monthly | $9.99 per monthBprotonvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Paying yearly |
| Security Research Labs (SRLabs)Aopentech.fund · |
| Auditor category | A security specialist security_specialist | A security specialist security_specialist |
|---|
| Assurance standard | Another standard otherAsecuritum.com · | No standard stated noneAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2026-05-27Cprotonvpn.com · | 2025-05-16Aopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | An annual series annual_seriesCprotonvpn.com · | One-off one_offBopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 5Cprotonvpn.com · | 1Bopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableAsecuritum.com · | The report does not address retention not_statedAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Client source code published | Every client all | Every client all |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredCprotonvpn.com · | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAopentech.fund · |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
withdrew_physical| — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Transparency report | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbersBprotonvpn.com · | No report noneBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausibleBprotonvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | Never had one noneBprotonvpn.com · | Kept current maintainedBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Requests received | 458Bprotonvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | 0Bprotonvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | Orders go through a judge judicial_onlyCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 2 documented demandsCswissinfo.ch · 2 sources · | 1 documented demandBriseup.net · |
|---|
noDoes 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_knownCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | Disclosed by someone else third_party_disclosedAopentech.fund · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | — not establishedno source published | No affiliate programme noneBriseup.net · |
|---|
| 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 |
|---|
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | Mass: 10 million users or more massCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Proton Foundation (Swiss non-profit, controlling shareholder since 06/2024); employees; FONGITCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | Riseup Collective (self-governed autonomous collective; no external owner)Briseup.net · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | A portfolio of other appsCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | None disclosedBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | CHCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | USBriseup.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Owner group | independent | independent |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | 2024-06Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | The group's principal brand principal | The group's principal brand principal |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | Separate infrastructure separate | Separate infrastructure separate |
|---|
| — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Usable free tier | A free tier with limits limited_freeBprotonvpn.com · | A free tier with no data cap unlimited_freeBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 4 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, An obfuscated protocolBprotonvpn.com · | 2 OpenVPN, An obfuscated protocolBapi.black.riseup.net:443 · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On every platform all_platformsBprotonvpn.com · | On desktop only desktop_onlyBriseup.net · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yesBprotonvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 10Bprotonvpn.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_onlyBaccount.protonvpn.com · 2 sources · | No account needed no_accountBriseup.net · |
|---|
| P2P allowed | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | — not established | — not established |
|---|
