Should you pick Brave VPN or Proton VPN if you want maximum security, privacy, speed, and everything else? Based on our experience, we would choose Proton VPN simply because it’s better in every aspect. More importantly, Proton VPN costs less, making it a far more exciting offer.
During our Brave VPN vs Proton VPN testing, we examined both providers in depth. But, after numerous tests, we couldn’t help but think that Brave VPN is undercooked, while Proton VPN, despite its attractive price tag, is a nearly ideal VPN. Wondering how we came to this conclusion?
Well, you’ll have to read this Proton VPN vs Brave VPN comparison until the end. Countless testing rounds are ahead, so sit comfy, grab something nice to drink, and follow along.
Brave VPN vs Proton VPN: A Quick Comparison
| Proton VPN 🏆 | Brave VPN | |
| 📋 Our Current Ranking | #4 | TBD |
| 🔖 Prices | Starts at $3.59 monthly | $99.99 annually |
| 💸 Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days for all plans | No |
| 🆓 Free Version/Free Trial | Free plan with unlimited traffic | No/7 days |
| 📓 Logging/Jurisdiction | No logging/Switzerland | No logging/USA |
| 🔐 Protocols | OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard | WireGuard, IKEv2 |
| 🌐 Servers | 12,500+ in 125+ countries | 300+ in 20+ countries |
| 🔝 Specialty Servers | Dedicated IP, Tor Over VPN, Streaming, Torrenting | No |
| ⛔ Ad Blocking | Yes | Yes |
| 💾 RAM-Only Servers | No | No |
| 📺 Working With Netflix | Yes (10+ catalogs) | No |
| 🔽 P2P Allowance | Yes | Yes |
| 📱 Concurrent Connections | 10 | 10 |
Applications & Ease of Use
Proton VPN and Brave VPN work on a myriad of popular systems and devices. macOS, iOS, Android, and Windows are some. However, Brave VPN’s compatibility ends here, while Proton VPN extends to Linux, where it’s one of the best choices thanks to a nice-looking GUI.
Bear in mind that the most popular VPNs, including NordVPN and ExpressVPN, don’t offer a GUI on Linux. But hey, why complain when Brave VPN doesn’t even support Linux distros?! Nevertheless, Proton VPN also works on streaming devices, so it’s a nice choice for, let’s say, a Fire TV Stick.
Do you need a VPN for Apple TV? Proton VPN has you covered! Routers? Same!
Brave VPN is a browser-based service, bound to the eponymous browser. Now you see why it doesn’t support other systems. We hope to see dedicated apps at some point, but for now, we’ll have to be satisfied with this, and ten simultaneous connections per account. Proton VPN offers the same number.
However, it offers dedicated VPN apps AND browser extensions with some impressive features, excellent performance, and surprisingly decent streaming abilities.
Are They Easy to Use?
Before we tackle all that, let’s examine their apps. Here’s Brave VPN’s app:
We believe you already know how to use it. Smash the connection button and connect to a server! Wanna alter your location? Click the displayed country to unwrap the server list. Then, click Connect next to the country, and you’re good to go. No settings, no tweaks; nothing! Brave VPN is empty.
To its credit, the service includes a kill switch, but only on iOS.
On other systems, you get this basic VPN, which shouldn’t cost anything considering its features and overall possibilities. We’ll have fun with that soon. Let’s not forget Proton VPN’s app, which looks like this:
It resembles NordVPN, with the high-tech world map and servers on the left. It’s smooth, responsive, and quick to connect. Plus, you get easy access to dedicated servers and elementary features, such as a kill switch, which Brave VPN misses. Other settings are easy to fetch.
Click the three horizontal lines, choose Settings, and have fun. Proton VPN’s mobile apps look identical, speaking the same language of simplicity. Proton VPN is simultaneously advanced and beginner-friendly. How is that possible? Because of well-organized apps! Good job.
Winner: Proton VPN
Proton VPN is the obvious winner if you want a combo of straightforward apps, excellent overall compatibility, and a satisfying number of simultaneous connections. Pick Proton VPN below and enjoy it on every device without restrictions.
Price Comparison: Brave VPN vs Proton VPN
It’s not uncommon to see that a better VPN costs less than the worst one.
We performed many such comparisons, and this is one of them. Brave VPN is up first, and its pricing is pretty simple: spend $9.99 monthly or splurge $99.99 upfront for an entire year. If we do some basic math, Brave VPN’s cheapest offer is roughly $8.34 monthly, when we divide $99.99 by 12.
Brave VPN’s initial 7-day free trial means you don’t have to spend money immediately. However, you must provide a credit card, so if you forget to cancel your trial, you’ll be charged. You may not like this, particularly because of Brave VPN’s lack of a refund policy.
Proton VPN offers a more traditional pricing structure. We have three plans: biennial, annual, and monthly. The first two are heavily discounted, especially the biennial plan at $3.59 monthly or $86.16 for the first two years. It also renews at about $80 annually, which is less than Brave’s $99.99.
The annual plan is $3.99 monthly for the first year, with the same renewal price.
However, Proton VPN has two distinct advantages:
- 100% free plan that you can use forever without paying a cent.
- 30-day money-back guarantee to get a full refund on the premium plan.
As you can see, Proton VPN is much more generous, letting you test its service in whichever way you find suitable. We praised this in our Proton VPN review, and mentioned its free version, which offers unlimited traffic, several server locations, and more features than Brave VPN’s premium version!
Winner: Proton VPN
We could end this Proton VPN vs Brave VPN comparison right here. The former costs less, offers more, and even has a handy free plan, which you can use forever or for testing purposes, before purchasing the service. The math is clear: Proton VPN offers incredible value for money!
Features Analysis
Oh dear, Brave VPN barely has any features, and it doesn’t bode well for the orange team. Proton VPN is the opposite. It offers the most advanced features you’ll find on the market.
Similarities
We’ll immediately address their similarities because there aren’t many:
- Kill switch. Same, but not the same. Brave VPN offers it only on iOS, while Proton VPN offers an automatic kill switch on all devices and systems.
- WireGuard. Both VPNs use this fast and secure protocol. While Brave VPN also offers IKEv2 on iOS, Proton VPN has OpenVPN, IKEv2, and Stealth for sidestepping censorship.
- Ad-blocking. Proton VPN has a NetShield ad blocker, which blocks ads, trackers, and malicious sites. Brave VPN offers a firewall, which does the same, but less efficiently, at least in our tests.
- 256-bit encryption. Many VPNs share this feature. It’s the base of all VPNs and presents the strongest, most robust encryption form.
Bear in mind that Proton VPN offers many other ‘basic’ features, such as split tunneling, torrenting servers, Tor over VPN support, and others. We tested their security through a few IP leak tests and found nothing of concern. Both are excellent at keeping you safe online, at least in this aspect.
Unique Features
Still, Proton VPN offers a few advanced features that will, let’s say, keep you even safer.
One of them is Secure Core. This is essentially a double VPN, which routes traffic through two servers in different countries, rendering you untraceable. The main ‘catch’ is that one of the two servers is owned by Proton VPN, which reduces the influence of a third-party server owner.
By extension, you’re in Proton VPN’s safe hands.
Another feature we like is Alternative Routing, which masks your VPN traffic and makes it look ‘regular’, allowing you to slip under specific firewalls and bypass censorship. macOS users can use Stealth VPN, which does the same. Interestingly, the provider doesn’t have RAM-only VPN servers.
Instead, it uses robust, full-disk encryption, allowing the provider to protect your data efficiently. Meanwhile, there’s Perfect Forward Secrecy, which assigns unique encryption keys to every connection for added security. We mentioned Tor over VPN servers, which are essential for accessing the dark web.
They provide additional security and privacy, preventing prying eyes from detecting you while you’re browsing the darker side. It’s worth noting that Proton VPN lets you manually control DNS and IPv6 leak protection for maximum customization and user control.
Winner: Proton VPN
With no leaks displayed in our test, Brave VPN performed just as well as Proton VPN. Sadly, it’s overpowered by Proton VPN’s onslaught of extraordinary security features and technological advancements that promote stronger security and superb customization.
Do Brave VPN and Proton VPN Store Logs?
Security and privacy are often mentioned together. Some VPNs provide ample security, but aren’t exactly privacy-friendly. Privacy is all about how the VPN handles your data and if it stores any.
During our Proton VPN vs Brave VPN analysis, we were pleased to discover that both are incredible in this aspect. Both have no-logs policies and multiple third-party audits. When we say a no-log policy, we refer to not storing sensitive user information that typically includes:
- Originating IP
- DNS requests/DNS queries
- Traffic destination
- User location
- Transmitted bandwidth (not necessarily sensitive), and more.
We’re happy to report that not a single bit of sensitive data ends up on their servers. Most of the information they store is redundant and of a technical nature, i.e., for troubleshooting. If you’re worried about that, this information is anonymized and removed after a while, so you get a clean slate.
Both VPNs store data of current simultaneous connections, but as you can guess, that’s used to enforce the simultaneous connection limit when you use a VPN on multiple devices.
Winner: Tie
The first-ever tie for Brave VPN in this comparison. Both VPNs are extraordinary for privacy, having audited no-logs policies and no data-leaking scandals in the past. If this is your #1 priority, pretty much any of the two will do the job.
Speed Tests: Which Service is Faster?
Our Proton VPN vs Brave VPN comparison takes us to the speed test. We performed many speed tests, but ultimately found that neither VPN offers breakneck speeds. However, let’s not divulge our results yet.
First, we’ll set the base with our native internet connection speed test:
We were in Belgrade at the time, with a connection speed of 50/10 Mbps.
After this test, we tested Brave VPN vs Proton VPN following the usual procedure: three-day testing, three times a day, using three server locations. We opted for the UK, the USA, and Japan, emphasizing farther locations to test their speed retention rates. Noteworthy is that we used the best results.
Speaking of them, here’s what we measured:
| DL/UL Speed UK | DL/UL Speed USA | DL/UL Speed Japan | |
| Proton VPN | 46.25/9.43 Mbps | 36.79/8.73 Mbps | 29.96/7.42 Mbps |
| Brave VPN | 35.97/9.30 Mbps | 19.75/8.07 Mbps | 26.57/8.54 Mbps |
These results are on Proton VPN’s side, but here are their speed retention rates for easier comparison:
| Proton VPN | Brave VPN | |
| DL Speed Retention (%) | 72% | 60% |
| UL Speed Retention (%) | 85% | 76% |
Winner: Proton VPN
Proton VPN’s speeds were higher than Brave VPN’s across all three locations. With superior retention rates, this VPN provided more stability and reliability for bandwidth-hungry activities. While not the fastest pick we tested, it’s sufficient for streaming, torrenting, and gaming.
Streaming & Torrenting Comparison
Speaking of streaming and torrenting, we believe it’s time to address these. We have the results ready, but we’ll warn you: they’re terrible for one VPN. Can you guess which?
Streaming Test Results
Exactly: that’s Brave VPN!
Brave VPN’s streaming abilities are… well, let’s just say they lack the punch. We tested primarily Netflix libraries, BBC iPlayer, and a few random foreign TV channels. We were lucky with the latter, as Brave VPN accessed otherwise easy-to-unblock region-locked channels from Europe.
US TV channels posed a problem, while Netflix and BBC iPlayer wouldn’t work at all!
We tested it on all supported systems and even used its Smart Proxy Routing, but without success. Then, we switched to Proton VPN and discovered its streaming servers, which we used to access at least ten popular Netflix libraries without issues. What about BBC iPlayer?
It worked phenomenally using UK-based streaming servers. Proton VPN has drastically improved its streaming prowess in 2026, and thanks to stellar performance, it now allows us to broadcast Ultra HD videos without buffering. We used this to access a few MotoGP races on free channels.
Torrenting Experience
Proton VPN has dedicated torrenting servers. They’re tailored to P2P users who want additional speed, privacy, and security. We paired these with Proton’s VPN Accelerator to maximize the performance.
The result?
Fantastic! We downloaded Linux Mint, a copyright-free operating system, in the blink of an eye. We used a VPN server in Serbia to ensure top-tier speeds, and in this case, Proton VPN performed like a champ.
You’d think Brave VPN isn’t P2P-friendly, but would you look at that?
It works exceptionally, and since it encrypts all traffic, you can be sure your P2P activities are anonymized. All you must do is connect, and you can download and seed torrents all you want.
Winner: Proton VPN
Our definitive choice would be Proton VPN because of a more compelling streaming experience and dedicated servers for streaming and torrenting. Coupled with faster speeds, Proton VPN is ideal for 4K content consumption and shorter download times when you need them.
Server Locations
Proton VPN’s server fleet was never its strong suit, but in 2026 is when the provider decided to clench its fists and change some things. At the time of writing, Proton VPN has a massive server fleet of 15,000+ servers in 125+ countries. For reference, NordVPN has 8,100+, while ExpressVPN has 3,000+.
You do realize how big Proton VPN is?
We mentioned its variety. All servers have 10 Gbps ports, and the VPN has dedicated servers for streaming, torrenting, and Tor over VPN. It also offers 110+ Secure Core servers in 64 countries. Proton VPN uses physical and virtual servers, allowing for a massive IP address pool.
Brave VPN’s server fleet is strictly physical, and with 300+ servers in 40+ locations, it sounds anemic. Its server network is strategically organized, but still can’t beat Proton VPN’s superb distribution. Brave VPN claims to offer 10 Gbps server ports, but realistically provides 500 Mbps speeds, as proven in our Brave VPN review.
It doesn’t offer dedicated servers, dedicated IP addresses, or other notable varieties.
Winner: Proton VPN
This was another unfair comparison. Proton VPN virtually mauled Brave VPN with a multiple-times larger server network in more countries, with superior server variety and distribution. Interesting, Proton VPN is the largest VPN service server-wise, right after Private Internet Access.
Bypassing Censorship: Which VPN Does It Better?
Can you bypass censorship with Proton VPN and Brave VPN? Yes, but with a caveat!
Neither VPN works in China, so if you’re there or plan your trip, choose another VPN. Preferably NordVPN, Surfshark, or Astrill VPN. However, Proton VPN offers Alternative Routing and Stealth VPN.
Brave VPN offers nothing similar.
We tested Proton VPN’s above-mentioned features in the UAE, Turkey, and Qatar. These censored regions allowed us to use the VPN regularly, without issues. Brave VPN also worked fairly well, although with occasional connection issues in Turkey, especially amidst political unrest.
Winner: Proton VPN (Marginally)
Neither VPN is specialized for overcoming heavy censorship, but Proton VPN has an advantage because of its Stealth VPN and Alternative Routing, which help in specific scenarios. Don’t expect them to work in China in 2026. This list contains the best options instead.
Conclusion: Pick Proton VPN Over Brave VPN
Okay, so now that we (and you) know their pros and cons, features, prices, and everything else, we know which VPN is right. We prefer Proton VPN, and believe you will, as well, as it’s less expensive but with more features, faster speeds, and vastly superior streaming capabilities.
Do we need to stress that getting more for your money is always better?
This time, you’re spending much less and getting much more! Brave VPN makes sense if you’re a hardcore Brave fan and want nothing else. Or if you live under a rock and haven’t heard of any other VPN. However, with Private VPN on the table, you’d be a masochist for going with the other option.