Apps Like Proton VPN: Fast & Secure - The Alternatives Worth Trying

Proton VPN: Fast & Secure is one of the few VPNs on the App Store that earns the trust it asks for. It comes from Proton AG, the Swiss team behind ProtonMail, its apps are open source and independently audited, and its free tier is unusually principled: no ads, no data caps, no selling your traffic to fund the operation. At a 4.61 store rating it sits slightly below several rivals, but the number undersells how seriously this app takes the privacy-purist reader.

Where it falls short is breadth and polish around the edges. The free plan limits you to a handful of countries and slower servers, the fastest streaming-friendly performance lives behind the paid Plus tier, and the interface leans technical rather than friendly. If any of those tradeoffs pinch, one of the alternatives below is likely a better fit. Every app here is free to download with a paid upgrade, so the real question is which set of strengths matches how you actually use a VPN.

If you want to cover every device for less

Surfshark VPN: Fast VPN App is the clearest answer for households and multi-device users. Its headline feature is unlimited simultaneous connections, so one subscription covers your iPhone, iPad, laptop and a partner's devices without counting seats. It also carries the highest rating in this group at 4.71 across a very large review base, which is a meaningful signal of day-to-day reliability. Proton VPN's paid plans cap device counts more tightly, so if you are equipping a family rather than a single phone, Surfshark removes a real friction point.

The honest caveat: unlimited devices and aggressive introductory pricing are a customer-acquisition strategy, and renewal pricing tends to climb. Treat the first-term deal as the offer, not the forever rate, and set a calendar reminder before it renews.

If streaming and raw speed come first

Proton VPN can stream, but two rivals are built around it. NordVPN: VPN Fast & Secure has been on the platform since 2014, runs a huge server network, and its NordLynx protocol is tuned for consistent speed, which is what actually matters when you are trying to load a video library from another region. At 4.66 it is a mature, heavily maintained app. ExpressVPN · Secure & Fast VPN is the reliability play: over 417,000 ratings at a 4.68 average is a hard number to argue with, and its reputation rests on servers that simply keep working when other VPNs get blocked.

Both cost more than the category average, and neither offers a Proton-style free tier - the free download is a trial funnel toward a subscription. You are paying for consistency, and for a lot of readers that premium is justified. Pick Nord if you want the broadest server menu, Express if you value a track record of unblocking that rarely lets you down.

If a genuinely usable free tier is the point

This is the category where Proton VPN already competes well, but it has honest company. VPN Windscribe: Fast & Secure pairs a free allowance with a no-logs policy that has been tested rather than merely advertised, and at 4.64 it has quietly earned a reputation most VPNs only claim on paper. It is the alternative to reach for if you want Proton's principles but a more generous free footprint.

Two more belong here for different reasons. TunnelBear: Secure VPN & Wifi has been around since 2012 and is the friendliest on-ramp in the whole list, with a 4.68 rating and an interface that never intimidates - the right pick for a first-time VPN user or a non-technical family member. And 1.1.1.1: Faster Internet from Cloudflare is not a full VPN at all; its WARP mode reroutes traffic through Cloudflare's fast network for privacy and speed without server selection or region-hopping. At 4.5 it is the lowest-rated here, largely because people expect VPN features it never promised. As a free, set-and-forget privacy layer it is excellent; as a Netflix-region tool it is the wrong device entirely.

Rule of thumb: if you want a free tier you can live on, Windscribe and Proton VPN lead. If you want the simplest possible experience, TunnelBear. If you just want faster, more private everyday browsing, 1.1.1.1.

If you tinker, or you need to get through heavy censorship

VPN by Private Internet Access is the enthusiast's choice. PIA has been running since 2015, its apps are open source, and it exposes more configuration than most rivals, which appeals to readers who want to choose protocols and encryption levels rather than accept defaults. At 4.69 it clearly satisfies that crowd.

For restrictive networks, protocol flexibility matters more than brand. NextVPN: Fast & Secure Proxy leans on the newer V2Ray and Xray protocols that are harder to fingerprint and block than older OpenVPN setups, and it requires no account to start, rating 4.67. X-VPN: VPN Fast & Secure similarly emphasizes obfuscation and one-tap simplicity at 4.66. Rounding out the group, IPVanish VPN: Fast & Secure is a longer-tenured, no-frills option from 2013 at 4.55 that focuses on straightforward, reliable connections rather than a feature race.

The caveat for this tier: apps that require no account and promise instant anonymity deserve extra scrutiny about who runs them and how they are funded, since a VPN sees all your traffic. Prefer the ones with an audit trail, a clear company behind them, and a privacy policy you can actually find.

So which one

Stay with Proton VPN if audited, open-source privacy from a named Swiss company is your top priority and a modest free tier is enough. Pick Surfshark to blanket a whole household cheaply, NordVPN or ExpressVPN when streaming reliability outranks price, Windscribe or TunnelBear for the best free and friendliest experiences respectively, 1.1.1.1 for effortless everyday privacy, and PIA, NextVPN, X-VPN or IPVanish when you want configuration control or censorship-resistant protocols. There is no single best VPN here, only the one that matches the job you are hiring it to do.