Is ProtonVPN Leaking Your Real IP?
First, the quick question: does your traffic leave through ProtonVPN’s network at all? Then the full test checks IPv4, IPv6, DNS, WebRTC and geolocation - the five channels that can expose you while the app still reports a healthy connection.
Reads your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses from ipify, then looks up the network behind each one via ip-api.com. Your addresses are not stored.
🧪 Our lab also connects to ProtonVPN every six hours - 257 cycles measured so far.
ProtonVPN (free servers), measured on a schedule
Our measurement stand connects to ProtonVPN’s free servers through a server in NL every six hours and runs the same battery each time, from one rented server in a datacentre (Kamatera, Toronto). Each figure is the median of 257 cycles.
Last 30 days: nothing moved beyond the lab's noise. The timeline
- “Flagged as a proxy” is ip-api.com’s classification of the exit address. Sites that block VPNs use lists like it; which sites use this one is not something we measure.
- The stand left through 4 different exit addresses over those cycles.
- The datacentre line is much faster than a home connection, so the speed is the ceiling this provider delivered to one client, not what you will see at home. The test at the top of this page measures your own connection.
- These figures come from our stand only. They are never mixed with results visitors share on the results database.
🧪 Method, and every provider we measure ⚖️ ProtonVPN vs Mullvad Last cycle aggregated 1 hour ago.
What This Test Tells You About ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN publishes the source of all its client apps and has had them independently audited. It offers a permanent kill switch that survives reboots, NetShield DNS filtering, and Stealth - an obfuscated protocol for networks that block VPNs outright.
The result you see above measures your own connection, right now - your device, your operating system, your version of the app and the server you happen to be on. It is not a verdict on ProtonVPN as a product, and it is not a lab benchmark. Leak behaviour varies enormously between platforms and client versions, which is precisely why measuring your own setup beats reading anyone’s provider ranking.
Supported protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, Stealth
ProtonVPN Settings That Affect Leak Results
Before concluding anything from a failed row, check these: a setting can be the explanation, and it is quicker to rule out than a defect.
| Setting | Where to find it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Kill switch | Settings → Connection | Blocks traffic when the tunnel drops. |
| Permanent kill switch | Settings → Connection | Stricter variant: blocks all traffic whenever the VPN is not connected, including at boot before the app starts. This closes the startup gap a normal kill switch leaves open. |
| NetShield | Settings → NetShield | DNS filtering for ads, trackers and malware. Determines which resolver answers your queries. |
| Stealth protocol | Settings → Protocol | Obfuscates VPN traffic to look like ordinary HTTPS. Use on networks that actively block VPN connections. |
| Secure Core | Server list | Routes through a second server in a privacy-friendly jurisdiction before exiting. Costs speed; changes the exit address the test reports. |
Settings as described in ProtonVPN’s own apps and help pages. Menus move between app versions - check yours. If a control is not where this table says, search the app’s settings for the nearest equivalent term rather than assuming the feature is absent.
Common ProtonVPN Leak Scenarios
Slower than expected
Secure Core routes through two servers by design, which costs speed. Disable it and re-test before concluding the connection is slow.
Exposure right after boot
A standard kill switch only acts once the app is running. Enable the permanent kill switch, which blocks traffic from startup onward.
The DNS row shows a Proton resolver you did not choose
That is NetShield selecting a filtering resolver based on your blocking level. It is expected behaviour, not a leak.
How to Read Your Results
Expand any row to see the raw values. The single most reliable way to interpret an ambiguous result is to run the test twice - once with ProtonVPN disconnected, once connected. Any address or resolver identical across both runs is travelling outside the tunnel.
- IPv4: the ISP and organisation fields should name ProtonVPN or its hosting partners, not your home ISP.
- DNS: resolvers should sit in the same network as your ProtonVPN exit. Your ISP’s name, or a public resolver such as
1.1.1.1, means your lookups are leaving the tunnel - even if you chose that resolver deliberately, this test reports it as a leak. - WebRTC: a
192.168.x.xor10.x.x.xaddress is your local network and harmless. A public address differing from your exit IP is a real leak. - IPv6: either nothing at all, or an address on VPN or hosting infrastructure. One on your ISP’s network while IPv4 goes through ProtonVPN escaped the tunnel.
- Geolocation: your browser timezone should be on the same continent as the exit. A mismatch does not expose your IP, but it tells a site the address is not where you are.
Why a Connected VPN Can Still Leak
The word “connected” in any VPN client describes one thing: the IPv4 tunnel came up. It says nothing about DNS resolution, IPv6 routing or WebRTC, each of which uses a different part of the operating system and can bypass the tunnel independently. A client that fails to capture them will still display a green badge.
This is why single-number IP checkers are misleading. They query one endpoint over IPv4, see the VPN’s address, and report success - while DNS queries go to your ISP and your IPv6 prefix identifies your household to every site that supports it.
Re-test after anything that touches the network stack: a client update, an OS upgrade, a protocol change or a new server. Those are the moments when leak protection regresses, and a regression produces no visible symptom at all - which is the entire problem.
🧰 Test ProtonVPN Further
The tests run in your browser. Where one needs to know whose network an address is on, our server looks it up and keeps no address. Nothing is stored unless you choose to share the result.
📚 Read next
The longer version: what this test is looking for, and what to do with the answer.
ProtonVPN Leak Test - FAQ
Provider-specific questions about ProtonVPN, its settings, and what a failed check actually means.
What is ProtonVPN’s permanent kill switch?
The standard kill switch reacts when an established connection drops. The permanent version blocks all internet traffic whenever the VPN is not connected - including during boot, before the client has started. That closes the startup window a normal kill switch cannot cover, and it is the setting to enable if your reason for using a VPN would be undermined by a few seconds of exposure.
Does ProtonVPN leak DNS?
ProtonVPN routes DNS through its own resolvers inside the tunnel, and NetShield may direct you to a filtering resolver depending on your blocking level - both are expected and neither is a leak. A genuine leak shows your ISP’s resolver, which normally means a system-level DNS override or browser DNS-over-HTTPS bypassing the tunnel.
What is ProtonVPN Stealth?
Stealth is an obfuscated protocol that disguises VPN traffic as ordinary HTTPS, for networks that detect and block VPN connections - some corporate networks, campus Wi-Fi and national filtering systems. It is slower than WireGuard because of the extra encapsulation, so use it only where a standard connection fails.
Is ProtonVPN’s free tier as secure as the paid one?
The encryption and no-logs policy are identical; the free tier limits server choice and omits extras such as Secure Core and NetShield, and Proton says free servers can be slower at busy times. Our lab measures Proton VPN on its free servers, so the lab figures on this page come from them. Importantly the kill switch is available on the free tier, so the core leak protections are intact. What you give up is capacity and convenience, not security.
How do I test ProtonVPN for leaks?
Connect to ProtonVPN as you normally would, then run the test at the top of this page. It checks IPv4, IPv6, DNS, WebRTC and geolocation consistency in a single pass. For a definitive reading, run it once disconnected and once connected - any address or resolver that stays the same across both runs never entered the tunnel.
Do you store my ProtonVPN test results?
Not unless you ask us to. The checks run in your browser - only the lookup of which network an address belongs to goes through our server, which keeps no address - and by default the results exist only in the page in front of you; closing the tab discards them. After a test you can tick a box to share the result anonymously for our public VPN database; it is off by default. When you do share, we store the outcome, your VPN provider, the exit network, country and city, your browser and OS family, and where your visit came from - never your IP address. The privacy page lists every field.
Is this page affiliated with ProtonVPN?
No. VPNMeter is independent and this page is not endorsed by or connected to ProtonVPN. We describe settings you can verify in the app yourself, and the test measures your own connection rather than reporting results from a lab; our lab also measures ProtonVPN, and its figures are shown separately above. Provider and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.