Best VPNs for Privacy Phones in 2026: Mullvad vs Proton VPN vs IVPN
An honest, affiliate-free comparison of the only three VPNs worth using on a privacy phone. Mullvad, Proton VPN, and IVPN compared on privacy, pricing, audits, and GrapheneOS setup.
TL;DR: The only VPNs worth running on a privacy phone are Mullvad (€5/mo flat, anonymous accounts, RAM-only servers), Proton VPN (free tier, Swiss jurisdiction, Secure Core routing), and IVPN (flexible pricing, multi-hop, anonymous signup). All three have passed independent audits, accept anonymous payment, and don’t log your activity. Skip NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark — they’re marketing machines with questionable privacy track records.
Most VPN Review Sites Are Lying to You
Let’s get this out of the way: the VPN review industry is an affiliate-driven scam. The vast majority of “Top 10 VPN” lists rank providers by commission percentage, not by actual privacy merit. NordVPN pays reviewers up to $100 per signup. ExpressVPN (owned by Kape Technologies, a former adware company) does the same. These are not privacy tools — they’re subscription products with enormous marketing budgets.
We don’t run affiliate links. We don’t get paid to recommend anything. This guide exists because if you’re running GrapheneOS on a Pixel (see our GrapheneOS beginner’s guide and setup guide) and you’ve thought carefully about your threat model, you deserve an honest answer to the question: which VPN should I actually use?
The answer is short. There are exactly three worth considering.
The Three VPNs We Recommend
1. Mullvad VPN — The Gold Standard
Price: €5/month. Always. No discounts, no annual lock-in, no tricks.
Mullvad is the VPN that privacy engineers actually use. It has never raised its price since launching in 2009. There are no accounts — you get a randomly generated account number. No email required. No name. You can pay with cash mailed in an envelope, cryptocurrency (Bitcoin or Monero), or card.
What makes Mullvad exceptional:
- RAM-only servers (diskless infrastructure). Mullvad completed its full migration to diskless servers in September 2023 using their custom bootloader “stboot.” Every server runs entirely in RAM — if it’s seized or powered off, all data vanishes. This has been independently audited.
- Regular independent audits. Mullvad’s most recent app security audit (late 2024, conducted by X41 D-Sec) concluded the apps have “a high security level.” Their infrastructure has been audited by Cure53 multiple times, most recently in June 2024. All reports are published publicly.
- WireGuard support. Mullvad was one of the earliest commercial VPN providers to adopt WireGuard and continues to be a major contributor to its development. They also support OpenVPN.
- Owned servers. Mullvad owns a significant portion of its server fleet and is transparent about which servers are rented vs. owned.
- 5 simultaneous devices. Straightforward — no account tiers to manage.
- Kill switch (Lockdown Mode). Built into the app, ensures no traffic leaks outside the tunnel.
- DAITA (Defense Against AI-guided Traffic Analysis). A newer feature that pads and shapes traffic patterns to resist machine-learning-based traffic fingerprinting — an attack vector that most VPNs don’t even acknowledge exists.
Limitations:
- No free tier. You pay €5/mo or you don’t use it.
- Smaller server network than commercial giants (but this is quality over quantity).
- Deliberately does not optimize for streaming. Mullvad is for privacy, not for watching Netflix from another country.
- Customer support is email-only. No live chat.
Best for: Anyone who wants maximum privacy with minimal trust required. Journalists, activists, security professionals, and anyone who values anonymity over convenience.
2. Proton VPN — The Accessible Option
Price: Free tier available. Paid plans from ~$3.59/mo (2-year) to $9.99/mo (monthly).
Proton VPN is built by Proton AG, the Swiss company behind ProtonMail. It’s the most accessible privacy VPN because of its genuinely usable free tier — no data caps, no time limits, no ads. The free plan covers servers in 8 countries (US, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Norway, Canada, Poland, Romania) and uses the same no-logs policy as paid plans.
What makes Proton VPN strong:
- Swiss jurisdiction. Switzerland has strong privacy laws and is outside the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing alliances.
- Secure Core architecture. Paid plans route traffic through privacy-friendly countries (Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden) before exiting, making end-to-end correlation attacks significantly harder.
- Fully open source. All Proton VPN apps (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux) are open source and have been independently audited. The Android app is available on F-Droid.
- Annual no-logs audits. Proton VPN has passed four consecutive annual no-logs audits by Securitum (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), with all reports published publicly. The 2025 audit confirmed that free and paid users receive identical privacy protections.
- NetShield ad/tracker blocking. Paid plans include DNS-level blocking of ads, malware, and trackers — useful on a privacy phone where you might not run a separate ad blocker.
- Proton ecosystem integration. If you already use ProtonMail, Proton Drive, or Proton Calendar, the VPN integrates cleanly with your existing Proton account.
Limitations:
- Free tier is limited to servers in 8 countries — fine for privacy, less ideal for geo-flexibility.
- Paid plans use tiered pricing that incentivizes long-term lock-in (the monthly price of $9.99 is steep compared to the 2-year rate).
- Requires an account with an email address (though you can use a ProtonMail address created without phone verification).
- Not as anonymous at the infrastructure level as Mullvad — Proton knows your email, even if Swiss law protects it.
Best for: Users who want a solid privacy VPN with a free tier, especially those already in the Proton ecosystem. Great first recommendation for people new to privacy phones.
3. IVPN — The Underrated Contender
Price: Standard plan from $2/week or $6/mo. Pro plan from $4/week or $10/mo. Annual discounts available.
IVPN is the VPN that privacy-focused communities like Privacy Guides consistently recommend but that most people have never heard of. It operates with radical transparency — their website includes an “Ethics” page that openly discusses what VPNs can and cannot protect you from, and actively discourages people from subscribing if they don’t need one.
What makes IVPN stand out:
- Anonymous accounts. Like Mullvad, IVPN doesn’t require an email address. You generate an account ID and go. They accept cash, Bitcoin, Monero, and card payments.
- Flexible, honest pricing. IVPN offers weekly, monthly, and annual plans with no manipulative “lifetime deal” nonsense. The weekly plan ($2 Standard / $4 Pro) is genuinely useful for travelers who need short-term coverage.
- Multi-hop (Pro). The Pro plan lets you route traffic through two VPN servers in different jurisdictions simultaneously, adding a layer of protection against single-server compromise.
- AntiTracker. DNS-level tracker and ad blocking, similar to Proton’s NetShield.
- WireGuard support with a clean, minimal app design.
- Annual security audits by Cure53. IVPN completed its sixth annual security audit in 2024 and has committed to a seventh in 2025. All audit reports are published in full.
- Servers in 40+ countries across 56 locations, with regular expansion.
Limitations:
- Smaller brand recognition means less community support and fewer tutorials.
- The Standard plan limits you to 2 devices (Pro allows 7).
- No free tier.
- No Secure Core-style routing on the Standard plan — you need Pro for multi-hop.
Best for: Privacy-conscious users who value transparency and flexible pricing. Excellent choice for travelers and anyone who appreciates a VPN company that doesn’t try to oversell its product.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | Mullvad | Proton VPN | IVPN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | €5 (~$5.50) | Free – $9.99 | $6 – $10 |
| Anonymous Signup | ✅ No email needed | ❌ Email required | ✅ No email needed |
| Cash Payment | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Crypto Payment | ✅ BTC, XMR | ✅ BTC | ✅ BTC, XMR |
| WireGuard | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Open Source Apps | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Independent Audits | ✅ Regular (X41, Cure53) | ✅ Annual (Securitum) | ✅ Annual (Cure53) |
| RAM-Only Servers | ✅ All servers | ❌ | ❌ |
| Multi-Hop | ❌ | ✅ (Secure Core) | ✅ (Pro plan) |
| Ad/Tracker Blocking | ✅ DNS blocking | ✅ NetShield (paid) | ✅ AntiTracker |
| Free Tier | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Kill Switch | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Why We Don’t Recommend NordVPN, ExpressVPN, or Surfshark
This isn’t snobbery — it’s risk assessment.
NordVPN is owned by Nord Security (formerly Tefincom), registered in Panama but operated from Lithuania. Their 2019 server breach (disclosed over a year late) revealed a compromised rented server. The marketing-first culture remains concerning — they spend more on YouTube sponsorships than on transparency reports.
ExpressVPN was acquired by Kape Technologies in 2021. Kape was previously Crossrider, a company that distributed adware. Kape also owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and ZenMate. When a single entity owns four VPN brands and several VPN review sites, your privacy is not the priority.
Surfshark merged with Nord Security in 2022. Same ownership concerns apply.
These services prioritize subscriber acquisition over privacy engineering. If you’re reading privacyphones.com, they’re not for you.
VPN on GrapheneOS: Setup Guide
(If you’re setting up a new device from scratch, our full privacy phone setup guide includes VPN + app recommendations in context.)
Setting up a VPN on GrapheneOS is straightforward because GrapheneOS inherits Android’s robust VPN framework and adds no unnecessary complications.
Step-by-Step Configuration
- Install your VPN app from the provider’s website (APK), F-Droid, or the sandboxed Google Play Store in GrapheneOS.
- Open Settings → Network & Internet → VPN.
- After connecting through the VPN app once, your VPN will appear in this system list.
- Tap the gear icon next to your VPN connection.
- Enable “Always-on VPN.” This ensures the VPN reconnects automatically after reboots, network changes, and app crashes.
- Enable “Block connections without VPN.” This is the critical step. It acts as a system-level kill switch — if the VPN drops, no traffic leaves your device. Not DNS queries, not connectivity checks, nothing.
Important Notes
- The “Block connections without VPN” toggle is more aggressive than most VPN apps’ built-in kill switches. It operates at the OS level and affects all apps, including those you might want to exclude. If you need exceptions (e.g., for local network services like KDE Connect), you’ll need to temporarily disable it.
- GrapheneOS supports per-user VPN profiles, so if you use multiple user profiles (a strong privacy practice), configure the VPN in each profile separately.
- Mullvad, Proton VPN, and IVPN all support WireGuard natively on Android, which provides better battery life and faster reconnection times than OpenVPN.
Do You Even Need a VPN?
Honest answer: maybe not. A VPN is not a magic privacy shield, and the VPN industry has spent years lying about what VPNs actually do. Let’s be precise.
When a VPN helps:
- On untrusted networks (coffee shops, airports, hotels). A VPN prevents the network operator from seeing your DNS queries and traffic destinations.
- Hiding your IP from services you access. Your ISP sees a VPN connection; the destination sees the VPN’s IP. Neither sees the full picture.
- Preventing ISP data selling. In the US, ISPs can legally sell your browsing data. A VPN makes that data useless.
- Circumventing censorship. In countries that block services, a VPN can route around restrictions.
When a VPN doesn’t help:
- If you log into accounts. Google knows it’s you whether your IP is from Mullvad or your home connection. A VPN doesn’t make you anonymous to services you authenticate with.
- Against browser fingerprinting. Your browser’s canvas, WebGL, font list, and screen resolution uniquely identify you regardless of your IP.
- If you’re the target of a state-level adversary. VPNs protect against passive surveillance, not active, targeted attacks.
The honest bottom line:
A VPN is one layer in a privacy stack. It’s not the most important layer (that’s your OS and browser choices), but it’s a meaningful one for most threat models. If you’re running GrapheneOS, you’ve already made harder choices than picking a VPN.
VPN vs. Tor vs. Both
A VPN hides your traffic from your local network and ISP, and hides your IP from destination servers. You trust the VPN provider instead of your ISP.
Tor routes your traffic through three volunteer-operated relays, so no single entity sees both your IP and your destination. You don’t trust any single operator. Tor is slower but provides stronger anonymity than any VPN.
Using both: You can route VPN traffic through Tor (VPN over Tor) or Tor traffic through a VPN (Tor over VPN). Tor over VPN (connect to VPN first, then open Tor Browser) is the more common and generally more useful configuration — it hides your Tor usage from your ISP and prevents Tor entry nodes from seeing your real IP.
Our recommendation: Use Tor Browser for activities requiring strong anonymity. Use a VPN for everyday browsing. Don’t overcomplicate it — running both simultaneously for all traffic is usually unnecessary and can introduce its own risks.
Does Cape Make a VPN Unnecessary?
No. Cape and VPNs protect against different threats, and they complement each other.
Cape is a privacy-focused MVNO that runs its own mobile core infrastructure. It protects you at the carrier level — it prevents your cell carrier from collecting and selling your location data, call records, and subscriber identity. Cape limits what data exists in the cellular network itself, provides encrypted voicemail, offers secondary phone numbers to protect your primary one, and defends against SIM-swap attacks and SS7 exploits. Cape even bundles Proton VPN Plus with its plan, acknowledging that the two tools serve different purposes.
A VPN protects you at the internet traffic level — it encrypts your data in transit and hides your IP address from the services you connect to. Your carrier can still see that you’re sending encrypted data to a VPN server, but they can’t see what’s inside.
Cape doesn’t encrypt your browsing or hide your IP from websites. A VPN doesn’t prevent your carrier from logging cell tower connections or selling location data. If you’re serious about mobile privacy, you want both: Cape for the cellular layer and a VPN for internet traffic. They are complementary tools, not substitutes.
Our Verdict
There is no single “best” VPN — the right choice depends on your priorities:
-
Choose Mullvad if you want maximum anonymity and the simplest possible setup. No account, no email, pay with cash or Monero, and trust that RAM-only servers can’t retain data even if seized. This is the default recommendation for anyone with a serious privacy threat model.
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Choose Proton VPN if you want a free tier to start with, you’re already in the Proton ecosystem, or you value Secure Core routing. It’s the easiest recommendation for someone setting up their first privacy phone.
-
Choose IVPN if you want flexible pricing (especially the weekly plan for travel), multi-hop connections, and a company that’s radically honest about what VPNs can and can’t do.
All three are trustworthy. All three have been independently audited. All three are open source. You genuinely cannot go wrong with any of them.
What you can go wrong with is using a VPN that spends more on marketing than on engineering, logs your data behind a “no-logs” marketing page, or is owned by a company that once distributed adware. You know who we’re talking about.
Pick one of the three. Turn on Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN in your GrapheneOS settings. Move on to the next thing on your privacy checklist.
Related Guides
- How to Set Up a Privacy Phone in 2026
- Cape Privacy Carrier Review
- What’s Your Threat Model? (Framework)
- Signal vs SimpleX vs Briar vs Session (Messaging Apps Compared)
Have questions about VPN setup on your privacy phone? Reach out — we read every message.