I switched from ProtonVPN Free to Mullvad last month when I needed to torrent something. ProtonVPN Free doesn’t allow P2P traffic, and Mullvad is cheaper than ProtonVPN Pro (or whatever it’s called these days).

The AI doesn’t seem too bad, but I’d prefer it not be there at all. I have no opinions about the crypto, as there is a legitimate use for it, but I have no use for the wallet as I have had a lot of trouble getting ahold of any cryptocurrency.

I’m also happier with the company and the experience. I paid with a card, but I liked that they accept cash and Monero.

On top of that, nobody seems to have anything bad to say about Mullvad. Privacy? They keep no logs and are pretty damn transparent. Limitations? No port forwarding, but I can just use Windscribe if I need that. Clients? They don’t exclude Linux or arm64, and BSD users can just use wireguard-go or something.

There’s also a story when one time the Polisen came to Mullvad HQ with a search warrant, but had to leave after discovering that there were no logs kept, and therefore nothing they could do.

Furthermore, they’ve made my favourite web browser (which is essentially Tor Browser without Tor) by collaborating with the Tor Project. It’s one of only three browsers which give good results in Cover Your Tracks (although I have not yet tested anything with CreepJS; and I tend to change the settings in everything, so your mileage may vary).

TL;DR: I recommend Mullvad over ProtonVPN, but not because of the AI or crypto.

I also recommend Posteo over ProtonMail, Filen over Proton Drive, Bitwarden over Proton Pass, and I stopped using Proton before we got Proton Wallet.