ProtonVPN vs CyberGhost: which wins?

The top-tier of VPNs have much in common, and it can be difficult to tease out any differences between them. Nevertheless, we’ve done so – and with two of the best VPNs available: ProtonVPN and CyberGhost.

We’ve created a quick summary of ProtonVPN vs CyberGhost, allowing you to compare the features, pricing, and other important information. We’ll also explain what each of these features do so you can decide whether you need it or not.

Highlights

ProtonVPN vs CyberGhost pricing

Depending on the subscription you choose, you can get ProtonVPN for as little as $5 per month by committing to a two-year plan. An annual plan costs the equivalent of $6 a month. Rolling monthly plans cost $10 a month.

CyberGhost is quite expensive on a monthly subscription, coming in at $12.99 per month. However, CyberGhost offers big discounts on its multi-year plans, plus additional free months. You can get it down to as low as $2.03 per month for a two-year plan.

Both of these services include a money-back guarantee. ProtonVPN has 30 days and CyberGhost offers a 45 day cooling off period. This means you can try them out for a month (or a month and half in the case of CyberGhost) and simply get your money back if you’re not impressed.

BEST DEAL FOR PROTONVPN:SAVE up to 33% on a two year plan.

BEST DEAL FOR CYBERGHOST:83% discount on three year plan plus three extra months.

ProtonVPN vs CyberGhost features

Both ProtonVPN and CyberGhost are supported on a range of operating systems and devices, with specialty apps as well as a Linux system installer.

One of the most sought after features with VPNs is split tunnelling. In effect, this enables you to specify certain programs or websites to automatically bypass the VPN. It can be useful for certain services that will not allow you to connect if they detect you are running through a VPN. CyberGhost’s split tunneling is easy to set up on Android and its desktop apps. ProtonVPN has rolled split tunneling out on Windows and Android.

ProtonVPN allows slightly more devices simultaneously connected with 10 compared to CyberGhost’s seven, but they are both above the industry average of five. If you have lots of devices or intend to share a subscription, it’s worth noting that some VPN providers offer unlimited device connections.

Both services come with what is known as a VPN Kill Switch, a feature that cuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection drops out. Also known as an Internet Kill Switch, or Network Lock, it helps ensure that your privacy and privacy and anonymity remain even if your VPN were to go down.

Streaming and torrenting-optimized servers are labelled in the ProtonVPN and CyberGhost apps. CyberGhost additionally labels the servers it recommends for gaming. ProtonVPN provides servers with one-click access to the Tor network.

Streaming and unblocking

ProtonVPN is able to access streaming services like Netflix, as well as regional content libraries from the likes of Amazon Prime Video. It’s also a good choice for BBC iPlayer.

If streaming is important to you, CyberGhost is difficult to beat. It’s able to access Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Crunchyroll, and more. Better yet, its labelled servers remove the trial-and-error approach sometimes needed when searching for a working connection. Also note that CyberGhost has approximately three times more servers than ProtonVPN, making it far more likely to have servers suitable for streaming available during busy times.

Which of these VPNs work in China?

Neither work in China as standard. Many VPNs do not get around the Great Firewall of China.

Some users have reported that CyberGhost can be configured so that it works in China. You should note that the Great Firewall blocks access to the VPN websites themselves, meaning that you’ll have to subscribe to and install CyberGhost before getting to China.

CyberGhost suggests you set the configuration to L2TP protocol to get best performance but can’t guarantee it will work. ProtonVPN has a guide on how to do some advanced configuration that may allow it to work.

Setup and interface

Both desktop versions are simple to install. The menus are slick and easy to navigate. Basic settings are clearly available with both programs offering a quick tour of the software on first opening.

CyberGhost has a clean, simple and easy to navigate interface with a large connect button. There’s also a list of locations and a handy control panel on the right hand side which can launch a lot of different functionality.

ProtonVPN uses clear visual design and color coding to make it easy to see the main features and the status of the VPN. Settings can be changed on a different page, and advanced settings are kept separate. This is reassuring as then it is less likely you’ll accidentally adjust something when clicking around.

Both offer mobile apps with the main features easily accessible, including generally one touch access to turn major features on and off.

Servers and performance

There’s no comparison here: CyberGhost has a much larger network than ProtonVPN, including coverage in more countries and more servers in total. This benefits connection speeds as it’s more likely that you can find a server closer to where you live.

Below, you’ll find a list of every country where these VPNs have servers:

CyberGhost has servers all over the world and is present in 30 countries more than ProtonVPN. That’s not to say ProtonVPN has bad coverage. It doesn’t, it’s just that CyberGhost has an unusually large network.

CyberGhost is much faster than ProtonVPN. Indeed, it made it into the top five fastest VPNs in our most recent speed tests. If you enjoy watching video in 4K or need a VPN for gaming, then CyberGhost is the better option.

Security

Both VPNs use WireGuard, the OpenVPN protocol, and IKEv2. These use either 256-bit AES encryption or ChaCHa20 to secure data, depending on the chosen protocol.

ProtonVPN and CyberGhost both offer a kill switch on every platform, which is great for security while P2P file sharing. Additionally, these VPNs both use private DNS servers, meaning no third party ever has access to your internet traffic.

ProtonVPN allows users to create multi-hop connections, where their data is routed through more than one VPN server. This makes the originating IP address much harder to track.

Privacy

Both services are located in Europe and both comply with the GDPR. ProtonVPN states that it keeps limited logs of your activity and claims that none of them can be used to identify you. This claim has been verified through audits of the company’s infrastructure and apps.

CyberGhost does keep limited logs, but this is in line with most VPNs that keep track of basic data regarding enforcement of their device connection policies. Like ProtonVPN, CyberGhost has undertaken third-party audits of its server network to verify its no-logs policy.

Whichever of these services you use, you’ll be nearly completely anonymous online. If you’d like even greater privacy, you can sign up with a throwaway email address and pay with cryptocurrency.

Configuration

These VPNs use shared address allocation. This system allows everyone to connect via one IP address that is shared, making it impossible to reliably trace activity back to a single user.

For an additional fee, CyberGhost allows you to add a dedicated IP – a static IP address used only by you. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option for ProtonVPN users.

Customer service

CyberGhost has a live chat feature that enables you to pose questions directly to the support team for simple problems. More in-depth issues are better suited to the website’s contact form, which is a ticket system operated via email. ProtonVPN also has a contact form and a live chat system.

In both cases, the live chat function is the easiest way to resolve problems. That said, there might be times when users can’t access live chat (if they’re in China, for instance). With this in mind, we sent both services three questions over email and through the contact form. You’ll find the average response time below, as well as whether our question was answered or not:

These services had a similar average email response time. Replies were easy to follow, and both linked to their websites for step-by-step guides If live chat is unavailable for any reason, these questions can be answered by email.

The winner

CyberGhost

There are a lot of benefits to both VPNs, but CyberGhost is the winner here. It has over 10,000 servers in 100+ countries, so wherever you visit in the world, you can take CyberGhost with you. It’s also extremely fast and an excellent choice for streaming, torrenting and gaming.

Although it may look expensive on a monthly plan, there are substantial discounts available when you subscribe to a CyberGhost biennial plan. There are few VPNs that are able to compete with it on price.

There’s also a lot to like about ProtonVPN. It has an admirable approach to transparency and it’s a great option for those seeking high levels of security and privacy.

See also: 

• CyberGhost vs Hotspot Shield
• CyberGhost vs VyprVPN
• CyberGhost vs Surfshark