The Usual Periodic Crass Commercialism

I'm a very satisfied Proton Mail customer, and yes, that is an affiliate link -- if you sign up for any of their paid plans, I get some credit toward my own monthly payments to them for my "Mail Plus" plan. They do offer a "free" account option, and you get a free month of "Mail Plus" via that affiliate link.

They offer email (including PGP encryption), a calendar, online storage and document editor a la Google Drive, a password manager, a cryptocurrency wallet, a proprietary AI, and VPN. I use the email, calendar, password manager, and VPN (I may eventually start using the drive/docs thing more; I'm very happy with Edge as a crypto wallet and have no plans to move).

I had occasion to think about the VPN this morning because there's a review of it in Wired, which calls it "The Best VPN for Most People":

Cheaper than most VPNs. Excellent free plan. Fastest speeds I’ve tested. Full-featured apps on most platforms, including TV operating systems. Convenient connection profiles. Public track record of user privacy protection.

The review does, however, also note that the VPN's "browser extensions and Linux client need some love," and that "some features aren’t available across all clients."

The VPN features that come with "Mail Plus" are the same as with the "free" plan, so don't get that particular level of paid plan just for the VPN.

I use the VPN's Linux desktop client rather than a browser extension. It lets you choose from servers in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Singapore, and the US. More countries available if you pay for the VPN service. It also has a strict "no logs" policy, in addition to being located in a country with strong privacy laws (Switzerland).

I've only tried a few VPN options, but Proton is my go-to when I want a VPN ... which, admittedly, is almost never. It works well. Whether it works better than some other offerings, I can't really speak to.