Does anyone here regard ivpn as a good vpn as well?

I like mullvad i use their dns filtering and their socks5 proxies however it does lack port forwarding so it sucks for torrenting.

Definitely Mullvad, the whole point of VPN is to stay private and Proton does not accept crypto while Mullvad does.

If the VPN has your payment details then any privacy just goes out the window.

Both of them are decent VPN choices at the end of the day. If one is 60% cheaper then the choice should be very easy unless you have too much money on your hand. Try 1 month of each and make a choice.

Vote for the unlisted AirVPN because extremely easy to use, very moderate pricing, and specifically why I needed it, port forwarding.

Moved from Proton to Mullvad to Windscribe

Proton kept getting worse and is moving towards a walled garden.

Mullvad seemed great on the private payment front. Their apps are pretty solid. The device limit was too low for me. For 6-10 devices the price doubles.

Windscribe won me over with their build a plan option. Their apps aren't the most visually appealing but get the job done.

What about AirVPN? I haven't chosen any VPNs yet, mostly because I'm still not sure which to go with, but I never see anyone talk about Air, even though I once heard Proton or Air were the best choices.

Why don't you use a decentralized VPN like NymVPN? It's impossible for the company or anyone to take logs because your traffic is routed over several nodes. It's like Tor but a decentralized one.

If you care about things beyond the operations, the Proton boss came out in support of 47's adminstration with regards to regulating big tech IIRC. I'm not aware the Mullvad chief did something similar.

Proton works well. But it's designed to be the basket for all your eggs (VPN, office suite, email, etc.). They want you to use all their services and push for upgrades to the highest tier. I found their customer support you be ... very ... slow.

If you need port forwarding, AirVPN is another option. I think they're cheaper than Mullvad but it's held together by dedication and duct tape. It works okay but read their website first to see if you're okay with how it's set up.

Why do you want a VPN? Is it just for some light piracy? Staying safe on public wifi? Or do you actually NEED to maintain your privacy, with real consequences if you can't?

If you need true privacy, the answer is Mullvad. But there's also more required than just switching on a VPN if you want privacy. If you want a convenient and easy VPN that's part of a bigger privacy-focused suite of tools, then I'd recommend Proton. They make some pretty good products.

I dont use the well known ones, seems to me that those would be the first to have backdoors since people pick them.

I have a vpn that is never mentioned anywhere. Perfect.