Mullvad is a VPN provider headquartered in Sweden. It was founded in 2009, and its founders have privately owned it since its inception. Instead of providing an email address and password like most online services, you're assigned a randomly generated account number. You can then use a variety of payment methods to add time credit. They have applications available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, all of which are open-source with publicly reviewable code. There are several additional features like multi-hop, obfuscation, resistance to quantum computer attacks, and Defense against AI-guided Traffic Analysis (DAITA).
Our Verdict
Mullvad is great for torrenting. It has acceptable security that mostly keeps your IP address and DNS queries within its tunnel, and it's properly configured to protect you from man-in-the-middle attacks. You can register without providing personal information like an email address or even a password. This is beneficial if the VPN provider experiences a data leak, as there's less recorded information about its users. It doesn't have any data limits and doesn't place any restrictions on downloading torrents, either.
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Anonymous registration.
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Accepts a variety of privacy-preserving payment options.
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Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Functional kill switch.
Mullvad has excellent security. It doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries while you're connected to it, and it has proper TLS implementation, protecting you from man-in-the-middle attacks. Its kill switch also works to prevent any unencrypted data from leaking from your device in case it restarts or loses internet.
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Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Functional kill switch.
Mullvad delivers great speeds for quickly downloading files, making video calls, and streaming. Its latency, despite occasional spikes, delivers a responsive experience suitable for online games.
Changelog
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Updated Aug 14, 2025:
We've added a link to an investigation we conducted between WireGuard and OpenVPN in the Protocols section of the review.
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Updated Jun 03, 2025:
We've added a link to our newly published 'Best VPNs For Mac' recommendation article in the Compared to Other VPNs section of the review.
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Updated May 14, 2025:
After converting this review to Test Bench 0.9.1, this VPN no longer fails the Kill Switch Robustness test. We've revised the text accordingly throughout the review.
- Updated May 14, 2025: We've converted this review to Test Bench 0.9.1. This redefines what we consider to be a leak.
- Updated Mar 31, 2025: Review published.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
Mullvad only offers a single paid plan with a flat monthly fee.
Popular VPNs Comparisons
Mullvad has some key differences that set it apart from other VPNs. Unlike many VPN services, you get a randomly generated account number instead of signing up with your email address and password. This is advantageous if you're wary of providing personally identifiable information to third parties. Also, it has a rather unique flat-rate pricing model. This differs from the industry norm of offering discounts for purchasing multi-month or year-long plans.
Privacy-concerned users appreciate Mullvad's transparency, frequent publication of incidents, community interaction, and open-source software. These practices make it a standout choice among other VPN services.
For our recommendations, check out our picks for the best VPNs, the best VPNs for Windows PCs, and the best VPNs for Mac.
Proton VPN and Mullvad are both outstanding VPN services, but Mullvad has a slight edge. It does a better job of preserving your personal information since you get assigned a randomly generated account number upon registration instead of providing an email address. It also has better latency performance, so browsing the web feels snappier, and it performs better when low latency counts. That said, Proton has a few more nice-to-have features, like servers in more countries, and you can connect up to 10 of your devices simultaneously.
ExpressVPN and Mullvad have similar security performance, but Mullvad is significantly faster than Express. Also, Mullvad has better anonymity-preserving registration options, as your only login credentials are a randomly generated account number instead of having to provide an email address. That said, ExpressVPN has servers in more countries.
Mullvad is a better VPN service overall than NordVPN, but the latter has a few distinct advantages. Namely, it delivers slightly faster download speeds and has servers in more countries, and you can connect with up to 10 devices simultaneously compared to five for Mullvad. Unfortunately, however, Nord's kill switch doesn't function effectively, as it leaks some data outside of the tunnel after a system reboot. Mullvad also has the leg up when it comes to preserving your privacy, since you don't have to provide any personal information like your email address, but instead get assigned a randomly generated account number.
Before subscribing to a VPN service, it's important to understand its limitations and how it actually works. VPN providers often make bold claims about how their service ensures privacy, but these claims don't always tell the full story.
Test Results
Upon creating your account, you're assigned a randomly generated account number, which is the only identifier required to use the service. You can pay with cash, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Monero, bank wire, credit card, PayPal, Swish, Eps transfer, Bancontact, iDEAL, and Przelewy24 to load time onto your account.
Like most VPN services, this VPN doesn't implement BGP properly.
Mullvad has consistent download speeds that are fast enough for relatively fast downloads, 4k video streaming, and general browsing.
Mullvad delivers consistent upload speeds that are suitable for tasks like video calls or quickly uploading files.
This VPN has pretty low and consistent latency, so it's snappy while browsing the web or playing games. That said, there are occasional latency spikes that could be disruptive for video calls or online gaming.
In addition to native Windows and macOS apps, Mullvad VPN is available via their repository servers for Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora Linux distributions. If you're using an unsupported Linux distribution, you can download the .deb or .rpm files manually.
This VPN also has mobile apps available on iOS and Android.
Mullvad VPN has announced that it will remove OpenVPN support in January 2026. See their blog post for more details.
If you want to learn about the performance differences between WireGuard and OpenVPN, check out our comparison.
Mullvad's website has a page that shows real-time info on server status, service issues, and scheduled maintenance.
Comments
Mullvad: Main Discussion
Let us know why you want us to review the product here, or encourage others to vote for this product.
Update: We’ve added a link to an investigation we conducted between WireGuard and OpenVPN in the Protocols section of the review.
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Hey, did you enable Mullvad’s Lockdown Mode ? I feel this should be mentioned in the article.
Hey!
Yes, we always enabled the most secure version of the kill-switch for each VPN. You can check out the main R&D article we put out talking more in detail about these settings, though I’ll forward this to the writing team to see if we’d mention it in the reviews themselves.
Thanks for the interest in our review!
- 21010
Hey, did you enable Mullvad’s Lockdown Mode ? I feel this should be mentioned in the article.
- 32120
Mullvad doesn’t allow for port forwarding which hinders torrent seeding. Shouldn’t this affect the score?
Hey!
Currently, we don’t look at port forwarding as a feature yet. I know it’s a feature that a lot of people care about and I’ve already added it to our suggestions for the next test bench update on VPNs.
That said, our ‘perfect’ score on the Downloads box in the review is a 9.5 because we feel we’re not at a state where we can say an aspect of the VPN is a real 10/10 when it comes to that test. But, we’re happy to iterate upon our testing in the future to make sure we hit everything that matters when it comes to a VPN.
- 32120
Mullvad doesn’t allow for port forwarding which hinders torrent seeding. Shouldn’t this affect the score?