Private Internet Access vs Proton VPN

Private Internet Access and Proton VPN both list 106 countries. 7 countries are listed only by Private Internet Access, and 43 only by Proton VPN.¹

What our measurements show

Proton VPN's list gives no server addresses, so none of its locations can be measured. The measurements on this page cover only Private Internet Access.
For 1 of Private Internet Access's 215 measured locations, the server is outside the listed country. Measurements on two days showed this, and Private Internet Access's list does not mark any of them as virtual.
At 41 of Private Internet Access's measured locations, the server is outside the listed country. Private Internet Access's own list marks each one as virtual.
Private Internet Access's list shows which locations are virtual: 95 of 215. Proton VPN's list has no such field, so it does not tell you whether any of its locations are virtual.
On a first visit, Private Internet Access's home page loads 4 advertising or analytics services and Proton VPN's loads 0, before anything is clicked.

From our own data: the server lists we read, our measurements, and our check of each home page. Apps, speed, and streaming are not tested.²

Private Internet Access
Proton VPN

Metric	Private Internet Access	Proton VPN
Countries	113	149
Countries not listed only as virtual	51	–
Locations	215	195
Servers listed	406	18,744
Marked as virtual	44 %	–
Measured	215	–
Matches the country	100	–
Server outside the country	42	–
Networks	20	–
Locations in shared networks	94 %	–
In Fourteen Eyes countries	47 %	27 %
Third-party services loaded	9	0
Advertising or analytics services among them	4	0
Lowest price per month	$2.03as of Nov 2, 2026	$3.49as of Nov 2, 2026
Per month after the initial term	$2.19	$6.99
Server list source	the list the provider's own published tools read	a page on the provider's website

A dash: not in the list, or not collected yet.³

Country by country

Each row is a country that both providers list. In each of them, at least one provider has a measured location or both use the same network. The status comes from our own measurement of the server address each provider publishes. “Within … km” means the server is at most that far from the listed country.

Country	Private Internet Access	Proton VPN	Same network⁴
Albania	matches the country within 49 km	not measurable	no shared network
Algeria	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Andorra	server outside the country	not measurable	no shared network
Argentina	matches the country matches the country within 36 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Armenia	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Australia	matches the country no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible matches the country matches the country no conclusion possible within 20 km 7 locations	not measurable 5 locations	no shared network
Austria	matches the country matches the country within 48 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Azerbaijan	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Bangladesh	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Belarus	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Belgium	matches the country matches the country within 22 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Bhutan	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Bolivia	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Bosnia & Herzegovina	no conclusion possible	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Brazil	matches the country matches the country within 53 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Brunei	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Bulgaria	matches the country within 38 km	not measurable	no shared network
Cambodia	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Canada	matches the country matches the country matches the country matches the country no conclusion possible within 21 km 5 locations	not measurable 3 locations	no shared network
Chile	matches the country matches the country within 70 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
China	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Colombia	matches the country within 46 km	not measurable	no shared network
Costa Rica	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Croatia	matches the country within 5 km	not measurable	no shared network
Cuba	no finding	not measurable	no shared network
Cyprus	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Czechia	matches the country within 44 km	not measurable	no shared network
Denmark	matches the country matches the country within 124 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Dominican Republic	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Ecuador	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Egypt	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Estonia	matches the country within 603 km	not measurable	no shared network
Finland	matches the country matches the country within 950 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
France	matches the country matches the country within 752 km 2 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Georgia	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Germany	matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible within 356 km 3 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Ghana	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Greece	matches the country within 959 km	not measurable	no shared network
Greenland	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Guatemala	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Honduras	no finding	not measurable	no shared network
Hong Kong SAR China	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Hungary	matches the country matches the country within 31 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Iceland	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
India	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Indonesia	matches the country within 110 km	not measurable	no shared network
Ireland	matches the country within 49 km	not measurable	no shared network
Israel	matches the country matches the country within 11 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Italy	matches the country matches the country matches the country within 50 km 3 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Jamaica	no finding	not measurable	no shared network
Japan	matches the country matches the country within 29 km 2 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Kazakhstan	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Kenya	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Laos	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Latvia	matches the country within 69 km	not measurable	no shared network
Lebanon	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Liechtenstein	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Lithuania	matches the country matches the country within 25 km 2 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Luxembourg	matches the country matches the country within 188 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Macao SAR China	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Malaysia	matches the country within 531 km	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Malta	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Mexico	matches the country matches the country within 95 km 2 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Moldova	matches the country within 29 km	not measurable	no shared network
Monaco	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Mongolia	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Montenegro	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Morocco	no conclusion possible	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Myanmar (Burma)	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Nepal	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Netherlands	matches the country matches the country within 34 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
New Zealand	matches the country no conclusion possible within 36 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Nigeria	virtual, as stated	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
North Macedonia	matches the country within 23 km	not measurable	no shared network
Norway	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Pakistan	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Panama	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
Peru	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Philippines	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Poland	matches the country matches the country within 31 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Portugal	no conclusion possible matches the country within 539 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Puerto Rico	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Qatar	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Romania	no conclusion possible no conclusion possible 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Saudi Arabia	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Serbia	matches the country matches the country within 9 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Singapore	matches the country matches the country within 106 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Slovakia	matches the country matches the country within 47 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Slovenia	matches the country within 81 km	not measurable	no shared network
South Africa	matches the country matches the country within 115 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
South Korea	matches the country matches the country within 108 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Spain	matches the country matches the country matches the country within 34 km 3 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Sri Lanka	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Sweden	matches the country matches the country within 21 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Switzerland	matches the country matches the country within 16 km 2 locations	not measurable	no shared network
Taiwan	matches the country matches the country within 35 km 2 locations	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
Thailand	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Türkiye	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Ukraine	no conclusion possible	not measurable	no shared network
United Arab Emirates	matches the country within 29 km	not measurable 2 locations	no shared network
United Kingdom	matches the country matches the country matches the country matches the country matches the country within 136 km 5 locations	not measurable 6 locations	no shared network
United States	matches the country no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country matches the country matches the country matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible matches the country no conclusion possible no conclusion possible no conclusion possible within 46 km 56 locations	not measurable 22 locations	no shared network
Uruguay	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Uzbekistan	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Venezuela	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network
Vietnam	virtual, as stated	not measurable	no shared network

Countries listed by both providers or by only one of them

Countries listed by Private Internet Access or Proton VPN

listed by both: 106 (68 %)
only Private Internet Access: 7 (4 %)
only Proton VPN: 43 (28 %)

only Private Internet Access (7)

only Proton VPN (43)

Networks both use

No known network hosts locations from both Private Internet Access and Proton VPN.

Private Internet Access or Proton VPN: questions and answers

Which is better, Private Internet Access or Proton VPN?

This site does not pick a winner: which one fits depends on what matters to you. Private Internet Access lists 113 countries, Proton VPN lists 149. Private Internet Access's pricing page promises a refund within 30 days, Proton VPN's within 30 days. Private Internet Access is based in the United States, Proton VPN in Switzerland.

Find a VPN that fits you

Which is cheaper, Private Internet Access or Proton VPN?

Both state prices in the same currency: Private Internet Access starts at $2.03 and Proton VPN at $3.49 per month for the initial term. After the initial term, Private Internet Access costs $2.19 and Proton VPN $6.99 per month.