In the wake of the Proton controversy, I’ve been looking towards alternatives towards their services. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a good alternative to ProtonVPN. I’m looking for the following in a VPN service:
- Port forwarding support
- Open source
- Android app and Firefox extension available
- Relatively cheap, around $3-4 month (okay with annual pricing)
The only options I found were Private Internet Access and Windscribe, but I found issues with them. If I’m cutting ties with Proton based on ideals I disagree with, I should be rejecting alternatives on the same basis.
Based on what I saw in the PIA subreddit, Private Internet Access seems to have some issues with service reliability and concerns about its ownership having ties to Israel, implying Zionist affiliation. Windscribe seems to have better service, but they have had a questionable social media history: edgy marketing including an AI-generated Hitler and a controversy where, according to them, they joked about a guy being mentally ill but their post easily looked like they were saying trans people are mentally ill.
Is there an option I missed? Should I try one of these options despite their faults? I’d like to know your thoughts.
Not all of their servers are created equal.
I tried 3 different servers and they all sucked. At some point you stop giving them the benefit of the doubt
One of the things I noticed it that it was absolutely fine for downloading… things… from various file sharing type resources, but I had to fiddle with the settings to steam HD video. I just followed a setup guide I found with google to troubleshoot that, but it probably is worth mentioning that streaming can be a problem if you don’t.