Hello, fellow privacy enthusiasts!

I’ve been on a journey to find a VPN provider that aligns with my privacy values, and I wanted to share my experiences and concerns here, hoping for some insights and recommendations.

Primary Criteria:

  • Outside of the 14 Eyes: Ideally, I’d prefer a provider outside of the 14 Eyes intelligence-sharing countries.

  • Accepts Monero: Given its the only real privacy coin there is, I’m keen on providers that accept Monero as a payment method.

  • I need port forwarding for the services I host.

Current Options: I’ve considered Mullvad and IVPN, both of which I trust for their privacy focus. However, they recently disabled their port forwarding support, which I need since I host services from home. SPN by Safing sounds really interesting too but they also do not offer port forwarding sadly.

ProtonVPN seemed like a close alternative, but I’ve come across several red flags:

  • Logging Concerns: ProtonMail, under the same parent company, provided IP logs in response to a Swiss court order. This contradicts ProtonVPN’s claim on their website that “we can’t be obligated to start logging” under Swiss law.

  • Use of Google Analytics: Despite being a privacy-focused service, ProtonMail has used Google Analytics on their website, raising questions about their commitment to user privacy.

  • No Monero Support: Proton has not added Monero as a payment option, despite numerous requests from the community over the years.

Seeking Recommendations: Given the above, I’m reaching out for advice. Are there any VPN providers you’d recommend that fit my primary criteria? Or any insights into the concerns I’ve raised about ProtonVPN?

Thanks in advance for your help!

  • alphonseEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    have you seen safing.io? a bit more expensive, also doesn’t support android or port forwarding like ivpn would… but a great tool and tech

    • OwlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      From a technical standpoint I would prefer SPN over any VPN. If they somehow manage to add port forwarding and let their apps and infrastructure being audited, then I would use nothing else.

    • OwlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      They look like they might be a good choice for me. Thanks for the recommendation.

  • monerobullMEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I might be biased because I got a nice voucher for it at Monerokon but IVPN is great. The killswitch doesn’t give me as much confidence as Mullvads but so far I haven’t received a letter from my ISP for torrenting🤷‍♂️ On that note, Mullvad is great too, used it for like a year before IVPN.

    • OwlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I agree but sadly they both dropped port forwarding recently. I used both of them for years.

  • OwlOPEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    deleted by creator

  • crabEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    (giving more options)

    You might want to consider hosting your own vpn, should make port forwarding a lot easier since you can use whatever port you want. I2P might be an option too.

    -Happy Mullvad customer but I dont need to port forward

    • OwlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I prefer using services that allow me to share my IP and email domain aliases, which is why I don’t opt for self-hosting. When it comes to VPNs, Mullvad has always been my top choice, though I was disappointed when they dropped PF. On the topic of VPS providers, mine requires KYC, which raises concerns as it could easily trace activities back to me. It’s unfortunate that more privacy-friendly VPS options come with a higher price tag. Additionally, I was sad to hear that SimpleLogin was acquired by Proton.

  • Cam@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    Honestly, as long a VPN takes bitcoin, you can pay with Monero by using a swap service when paying, just remember to set the swap to a fixed rate, not a floating rate. And ProtonVPN does take bitcoin I believe. Protonmail allows bitcoin as payment

    • OwlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yes, that is true and I do that very often but the issue is not that they do not accept monero but that they somewhat refuse to accept it which I think is a red flag considering they claim to be all about privacy. It is also a bit weird that they separate their BTC payment option and that you need an account first. You are only given PayPal and CC as an option directly when trying to sign up for a plan.