Proton VPN vs Hide.me: two free plans, one clear security leader
Proton VPN scores 6.12 and Hide.me 3.97 out of 10. Proton VPN leads overall; the table shows where each one is stronger.
Proton VPN vs Hide.me
| What we compare | Proton VPN | Hide.me |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 6.12 (better) | 3.97 |
| Privacy and jurisdiction | 6.0 (better) | 5.0 |
| Security and protocols | 7.9 (better) | 2.5 |
| Price and fair terms | 5.3 | 5.4 (better) |
| Censorship bypass | 2.4 (better) | 1.9 |
| Network and streaming | 8.7 (better) | 3.1 |
| Platforms and support | 7.1 (better) | 5.7 |
| Cheapest price, € a month | €3.00 | €2.69 (better) |
| Renewal vs first term | 2.0× | 1.0× (better) |
| Refund window, days | 30 | 30 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Independent no-logs audit | Yes | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes | Yes |
| Obfuscation | Yes | Yes |
| Crypto payments | Yes | Yes |
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland (outside 14 Eyes) | Malaysia |
| Platforms supported | 10 (better) | 9 |
Proton VPN leads in five of the six areas VPNRadarLab scores, taking the overall result 6.12 against Hide.me's 3.97, with the widest margins in network and security. Hide.me wins one row only, price and fair terms, by a tenth of a point, because its renewals never go up. As a free starting point both work; for one paid subscription, Proton gives noticeably more.
Starting free: what each free tier gives and what it holds back
| Free tier | Proton VPN | Hide.me |
|---|---|---|
| Data | unlimited | unlimited |
| Locations | 10 countries, picked at random | 8 |
| Devices | 1 | 1 |
| Speed | medium | capped |
| Reserved for paid plans | streaming, P2P, NetShield | streaming, fixed IP, port forwarding |
Proton's free tier runs ad-free at medium speed, though you cannot pick the country. Hide.me gives 8 locations and needs no card. Whether its free tier shows ads is not documented, and the free VPN ranking covers other options if neither fits.
Security: open code and audits against a thin published record
Proton VPN publishes a kill switch, DNS leak protection through its own NetShield resolver, WireGuard and OpenVPN plus the Stealth protocol, perfect forward secrecy, external audits, open-source apps on GitHub, a bug bounty and Secure Core multi-hop through Switzerland, Iceland and Sweden. RAM-only servers, post-quantum encryption and 2FA are what it does not claim. Hide.me lists WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, SSTP and SoftEther, plus a kill switch that ships switched off, so enable it manually. DNS leak protection, an audit, forward secrecy, multi-hop and a bug bounty are all absent from its documentation, and that silence pins its score at 2.5.
Privacy is closer than the security gap suggests
Only one point separates the two. Each runs a no-logs policy verified by an outside auditor (neither names the firm). Proton's Swiss jurisdiction sits outside the 5, 9 and 14 Eyes alliances, and the company maintains a warrant canary plus a published transparency report; details are on the is Proton VPN safe page. The cost on its side: temporary connection IP checks for abuse and fraud, and no published stance on session timestamps. Hide.me states it keeps neither connection IPs nor session times, which claws points back; the site data has no alliance status for Malaysia, so Hide.me gets no credit there.
The paid plans: first bill and every bill after it
| Plan | First term | Price | Per month | Renews at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proton VPN Plus | 24 months | $83.76 | $3.49 | $83.88 per year |
| Proton VPN Unlimited | 24 months | $191.76 | $7.99 | $119.88 per year |
| Hide.me Premium | 24+2 months | €69.99 | €2.69 | same price, same length |
| Hide.me Premium | 12+1 months | €54.99 | €4.23 | same price, same length |
| Hide.me Premium | 1 month | €11.99 | €11.99 | same price |
Proton's problem is the second bill: after the two-year term, Plus renews yearly at roughly double the monthly rate, and that penalty drops it to 5.3 on price. Hide.me's Pricing Guarantee renews every plan at the same price for the same length, and its cheapest rate is €2.69 a month against €3.00 for Proton VPN (the site's euro conversion of $3.49). Cash payment and self-service cancellation from the dashboard keep Proton within a tenth of a point.
Servers, censorship and apps: three more rows for Proton
The network margin is the largest on the card. Proton documents over 20,000 servers across 140+ countries on its own bare-metal hardware, some of it on 10 Gbps ports, with named streaming claims for Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video. Hide.me runs 2,600 servers on its own network, covers Dubai, Cairo, Marrakesh and Istanbul, and leaves its country count and torrenting policy unpublished.
Censorship bypass is the weakest row for both: Proton offers Stealth and alternative routing plus a Telegram fallback, Hide.me counters with StealthGuard and SoftEther, and neither publishes VLESS Reality, Shadowsocks or Hysteria2, so neither crosses 2.4 here. The app lineups overlap almost fully; Proton's edge comes from NetShield, a server status page and a Chromebook build, while Hide.me answers with Discord and a community forum.
Refund rules, payment and the companies behind them
Both grant 30 days. Proton allows a single refund on a first direct purchase, excluding cash and bank transfers; Hide.me promises the same window but publishes no conditions. Proton AG of Geneva owns Proton VPN; eVenture Limited, registered in Labuan, Malaysia, owns Hide.me. On payments, Hide.me takes more routes: nine cryptocurrencies, SEPA and Apple Pay against Proton's cards, PayPal and Proton credits.
Proton VPN and Hide.me: short answers
Which one is faster?
Unknown. VPNRadarLab scores published documents only and runs no speed tests.
Can I stream or torrent on either free plan?
Proton VPN's free plan allows neither streaming nor P2P. Hide.me keeps streaming for Premium and does not publish its torrenting rules.
Why do Trustpilot users rate Hide.me higher?
Hide.me averages 4.3 there against Proton's 2.2, while on Google Play the order is reversed: Proton VPN 4.7, Hide.me 4.5. Review ratings never move our score.
Which one to install
Start on Proton's free tier for uncapped, ad-free browsing, and pay for Proton when audits, open-source apps and a large network matter. Choose Hide.me Premium when a bill that never grows, a fixed IP and port forwarding top your list. Its free plan needs no card, at the cost of restricted speed.