Mullvad Review
Mullvad is the least commercial VPN on the market and the most credible on privacy: no account, flat pricing, cash accepted, code published. If you do not need streaming, it is close to ideal.
Review last updated 2026-08-20 · How we rate providers
Scorecard
Pros
- No account, no email address: you get a random number and pay against it
- Flat EUR 5 per month forever, no tiers, no promos, no auto-renewal traps
- Accepts cash in an envelope and Monero for genuinely anonymous payment
- Open source apps, published audits and an all-RAM server fleet
- Co-developed the DAITA traffic-shaping defense against traffic analysis
Cons
- Streaming is essentially not supported and Mullvad says so up front
- Smaller network than the big brands, 45 countries
- Email-only support, no live chat
- Swedish base is inside the 14 Eyes arrangement
Privacy, jurisdiction & audits
Who the company answers to legally, what it keeps, and whether anyone independent has checked.
| Legal jurisdiction | Sweden in the 14 EyesSweden is a 14 Eyes member, but Mullvad holds no account data to hand over: signup requires no email address. |
|---|---|
| Logging policy | No-logs, independently audited |
| Independent audits | Assured AB, 2025 infrastructure and server security audit Cure53, 2024 app and browser review, published in full |
| RAM-only servers | ✓ |
| Warrant canary | - |
| Anonymous payment | Crypto accepted, cash by post |
Mullvad plans & pricing
Advertised rates as of August 20, 2026. VPN promo rates normally require the prepaid term shown and renew at the higher rate; proxy pricing falls with volume. Confirm on Mullvad's own site before buying.
| Plan | Price | Devices | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat rateConsumer VPN | $5.50/momonthly, no discounts ever | 5 | One price, EUR 5/month, no tiers, no promos, no auto-renewal |
Features
Our Mullvad review
Mullvad does not want to know who you are. Signup generates a random 16-digit account number and nothing else. No email, no username, no password. You can post an envelope of cash with that number written on a slip of paper and they will credit the account. Nothing about the process is theater: there is no identity to leak because none was ever collected.
Pricing follows the same philosophy. EUR 5 a month, forever, whether you pay for one month or twelve. No two-year prepay, no renewal cliff, no countdown timer on the pricing page, no auto-renewal by default. In a category built on discount psychology, Mullvad simply opts out.
The technical work backs it up. Apps are open source, audits by Cure53 and Assured are published in full including the unflattering findings, the fleet is diskless, and Mullvad has been an active contributor to WireGuard's ecosystem and to quantum-resistant tunnel work. DAITA, its defense against traffic-analysis attacks, is an unusually serious feature to ship to consumers.
Its 2023 police visit is the strongest evidence any VPN has. Swedish police arrived with a warrant to seize customer data, and left with nothing, because there was nothing stored to seize. Mullvad published the account afterward.
The trade-offs are real. Streaming barely works and Mullvad refuses to play the cat-and-mouse game, saying openly that unblocking is not what it sells. The network is smaller, at around 700 servers in 45 countries. Support is email only. There is no port forwarding either: Mullvad removed it in 2023 after sustained abuse.
Buy Mullvad if privacy is the actual reason you want a VPN. Buy something else if you want to watch a different country's Netflix catalog, because you will be disappointed and Mullvad will not apologize for it.
Notable facts
- Swedish police raided Mullvad in 2023 and left with no customer data
- Accepts cash sent by post, alongside Monero and Bitcoin
- Removed port forwarding in 2023 to curb abuse of the network
At a glance
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Service types | Consumer VPN |
| Servers | 700 |
| Country coverage | 45 |
| Protocols | WireGuard, OpenVPN |
| Apps | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Router |
| Starting price | $5.50/mo |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days |
| Free tier | No |
| Support | email, knowledge-base |
Frequently asked questions
Does Mullvad work with Netflix?
Generally no. Mullvad does not chase streaming unblocking and says so publicly. If streaming is your goal, choose Proton VPN, NordVPN or Surfshark instead.
How can Mullvad have no account?
Signup issues a random account number that acts as your credential. Payments are matched to that number, so the company never holds an email address, name or password tied to your traffic.
Is Sweden a bad jurisdiction for a VPN?
Sweden is part of the 14 Eyes arrangement, which is a genuine downside on paper. In practice Mullvad holds no user data to compel, a position tested when Swedish police raided the office in 2023 and left empty-handed.
Bottom line
Mullvad is the least commercial VPN on the market and the most credible on privacy: no account, flat pricing, cash accepted, code published. If you do not need streaming, it is close to ideal.
Check current Mullvad pricing →
