Hotspot Shield vs Proton VPN

Hotspot Shield is a VPN service for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, with free and paid plans. Its Basic plan costs nothing and covers one device, 500 MB of daily data, one U.S. virtual location, and a 2 Mbps limit. Paid plans include unlimited data and access to 115+ locations. Plus costs $6.99 a month with yearly billing and covers 5 devices; Premium costs $7.99 a month with annual billing and covers 10 devices. Family costs $11.99 a month with yearly billing and includes 5 member accounts and 25 devices. Listed features include streaming and torrent support, a kill switch, and WireGuard support. A verified no-logs audit is listed, and the pricing note mentions a 7-day trial. The maker is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The free and paid tiers differ in data allowance, location count, speed limit, and device coverage, so the Basic plan's stated limits are important to consider before choosing a plan.

Proton VPN is a virtual private network service from Proton, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It encrypts traffic with AES-256 or ChaCha20 over WireGuard or OpenVPN, and lists a kill switch, streaming support and torrent support. Proton describes the service as no-logs, open-source and independently audited. Its free plan has unlimited data, no artificial speed limits and no ads; it supports one device at a time and connects to randomly selected servers in 10 countries. Paid plan listings show VPN Plus and Proton Unlimited at $0.00 per month, with the first month and renewal also listed at $0.00; both support 10 devices. Apps are listed for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, as well as browsers, Chromebook, Android TV, Apple TV and Fire TV. NetShield uses DNS filtering to block ads, trackers, phishing scams, malicious sites and malware. The service advertises 20,000+ servers in 140+ countries. Payments can be refunded within 30 days, and subscriptions can be canceled at any time.