Skip to content
Top 4 Picks
Four picks. One of them is yours.

Mullvad VPN review

One price for a month or a decade, unchanged since 2009, and no affiliate programme.

ARecommended

The verdict

The most honest pricing and the strongest privacy posture in the category, from a product that deliberately does less than its rivals.

Mullvad VPN homepage with the headline "Privacy is for the people"
The Mullvad VPN homepage as it looked on 1 September 2026.

How the 8.1 is built

Score breakdown for mullvad, criteria set Software and apps
CriterionWeightScore
Capability

Multihop, quantum-resistant tunnels and DAITA traffic analysis defence are ahead of the category, and there is no port forwarding, a smaller network than the mainstream brands, and no interest in unblocking streaming services.

30%7.5
Usability

Generate an account number, pay, connect, with no email address and no upsell anywhere in the flow, though the deliberate absence of hand-holding will not suit everyone.

20%8.0
Value

Five seventy nine a month forever is within four cents of the cheapest ongoing price here and is the one that has never moved, and unlike every renewal in this comparison the number quoted on day one is the number paid in year three.

20%9.5
Integrations

Router configs, WireGuard config generation and a command line client, and almost nothing else, because there is almost nothing else the product wants to do.

10%6.5
Support

Email and a genuinely good knowledge base, with no live chat and no phone line.

10%7.0
Trust

Anonymous numbered accounts, Cure53 audits published in full, Swedish jurisdiction, a price unchanged since 2009, and no affiliate programme at all, which means no site earns anything for recommending it.

10%9.8
Weighted total100%8.1

Pros and cons

What works

  • The advertised price and the renewal price are the same number, which is true of almost nothing else here
  • Accounts are random numbers with no email address, and cash by post is accepted
  • Cure53 audits published in full, and every app open source
  • No sales, no countdown timers, no affiliate programme for anyone to earn from

What does not

  • Five devices where Surfshark, PIA and Windscribe all give unlimited
  • No port forwarding, and no interest in unblocking streaming services
  • A smaller network than the mainstream brands, in fewer countries
  • Fourteen days money back, where the five vendors here that publish one all offer thirty

What Mullvad VPN costs

From $5.79 per month · 14-day money back

Mullvad VPN pricing tiers
PlanMonthlyAnnual, per monthWhat you get
One month5 devices$5.795 euros including VAT, shown as $5.79 on the pricing page · Everything included, there is only one plan · Top up whenever you like, nothing auto-renews by surprise
One year5 devices$5.79Exactly the same rate as one month · No discount, because there is no discount to give · The pricing page lists it to make the point
One decade5 devices$5.79Still the same rate, and the pricing page really does list a decade · Cryptocurrency payments take ten percent off · Cash by post is accepted, in nine currencies

The pricing page is one row long and its point is that the row does not change. Five euros a month, which the page itself converts to $5.79, whether you buy one month, one year or ten years. No sales, ever, and the page says the rate has not moved since the company launched in 2009. There is nothing to anchor here because the introductory price and the renewal price are the same number, which is why Mullvad sets the floor for this comparison rather than competing on a headline. Cryptocurrency is discounted ten percent. Accounts are numbers rather than email addresses and can be topped up with cash sent by post.

Key specs

Mullvad VPN key specifications
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android
Support channelsEmail, Knowledge base
JurisdictionSweden
Countries48
Devices at once5
Independent auditCure53 infrastructure, fourth audit June 2024
Audit report public
Anonymous signup
Kill switch
Open source apps
Renewal price published

Who it is for

Best for

  • Anyone who wants a VPN for privacy rather than for Netflix
  • People who would rather pay a fair price forever than a low price for two years

Not for

  • Households wanting one subscription across many devices
  • Anyone whose main use is streaming from another country

In more detail

A pricing page that is one row long

Mullvad's pricing page lists three options. One month, one year, one decade. All three cost $5.79 a month.

That is not a summary of the page, it is the page. Five euros including VAT, which Mullvad itself converts to dollars on the same line, at every term length, with no discount for committing and no penalty for not. The page adds that the rate has not moved since the company launched in 2009, and answers the question "do you ever have any sales" with no.

On a comparison anchored to renewal prices this makes Mullvad a strange entity to write about, because it has no second number. Everything else here advertises one price and charges another. NordVPN advertises $3.49 and renews at $11.59. Mullvad has never had a headline to fall from.

It scores 8.1 under how we rate and it is our Best Value pick, which on this page means the lowest amount you will actually be paying in three years.

What you give up

A review that only praised this product would be useless, so here is the list, and it is longer than the fans admit.

Five devices. Surfshark, Private Internet Access and Windscribe all give unlimited, and for a household that difference is the whole decision.

No port forwarding, which Mullvad removed deliberately and explains at length. If you seed torrents or run anything that needs an inbound connection, that is a hard stop.

No interest in streaming. Mullvad does not chase the platforms as they block VPN address ranges and does not pretend otherwise. If your reason for buying a VPN is watching something from another country, buy almost anything else on our list.

A smaller network in fewer countries than the mainstream brands. And fourteen days of money-back, where the five other vendors here that publish a guarantee all offer thirty.

None of that is an oversight. It is a product that has decided what it is for, and what it is for is not being the most VPN for the money.

Anonymous accounts, described accurately

You do not create an account. You press a button and are given a randomly generated account number, and that number is your identity. No email address, no name, nothing to leak in a breach because nothing was collected.

Payment can be a card, or PayPal, or Bitcoin, or Monero, or literally cash in an envelope sent to Sweden with your account number written on a slip of paper, in any of nine currencies. Cryptocurrency takes ten percent off.

Say precisely what that buys, because the marketing around this idea is usually worse than the idea. It means Mullvad does not hold a record linking you to your traffic, because it never collected one. It does not mean you are untraceable, it does not defeat browser fingerprinting, and it does not protect you from anything you do while logged into your own accounts. It is one specific hole closed properly.

Cure53 has audited the infrastructure four times, most recently in June 2024, and Assured has audited the web app. Every report is published. The apps are open source.

Why it rarely appears at the top of a list

Here is a fact about this category that explains a lot of what you will read elsewhere.

Mullvad runs no affiliate programme. Not a small one, not a selective one, none. No site earns anything for sending it a customer.

Every other VPN in our comparison runs one, NordVPN's among the largest in software. And of the seven, two are owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns the review sites vpnMentor and Wizcase.

None of the four comparison pages we checked on 30 August 2026 ranked Mullvad first. We are not suggesting those pages are dishonest; several test properly, and Mullvad genuinely does less than the products above it. We are saying that a product nobody gets paid to recommend starts at a disadvantage that has nothing to do with the product, and that we can point it out because this site earns nothing from any of them.

Who should buy it

Buy Mullvad if you want a VPN for privacy rather than for Netflix, if you would rather pay a fair price forever than a low price for two years, and if five devices covers you. On that brief it is the best thing here and it is also within four cents of the cheapest, which almost never happens.

Buy it too if the idea of a company not knowing who you are appeals to you more than a longer feature list.

Do not buy it for a household, because five devices runs out. Do not buy it for streaming. And do not buy it expecting hand-holding: support is email and a knowledge base, there is no live chat, and the product assumes you know why you are there.

If you want most of what Mullvad stands for with a broader product around it, Proton VPN at $6.99 is the version with streaming, ten devices and a support team.

Prices, device limits and audit details on this page were read from the vendor pricing page and audit index on .

Alternatives to Mullvad VPN

Where Mullvad VPN appears

Mullvad VPN questions

How much is Mullvad?
5 euros a month including VAT, which the pricing page itself converts to $5.79. That is the rate for one month, one year or one decade. There are no discounts except ten percent for paying in cryptocurrency. Verified on 30 August 2026.
Does Mullvad really not know who I am?
You are issued an account number rather than creating an account with an email address, and payment can be made in cash sent by post or in Monero. That is as close to anonymous as a paid service gets, and it is not the same as untraceable.
Why does no VPN comparison site put Mullvad first?
Mullvad runs no affiliate programme, so no site earns a commission for recommending it, and none of the four comparison pages we checked on 30 August 2026 ranked it first. We earn nothing from anyone, which is the only reason we can point that out.
Can I use Mullvad for streaming?
Sometimes, and it is not a design goal. Mullvad does not chase streaming platforms as they block VPN address ranges, and it says so. If unblocking is your reason for buying, buy something else.

Ready to try Mullvad VPN?

One price for a month or a decade, unchanged since 2009, and no affiliate programme.

Sources