Mullvad Review 2024: Features, Speed, Unblocking & More

Mullvad is an advanced VPN tailored to privacy-conscious users. It boasts strong encryption, a no-logs policy, and obfuscation, ensuring top-tier security regardless of connection location.

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Bleeping Computer Rating: 8.8

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What impressed us:

• Secure apps for all popular platforms. Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora)
• Compatible with various VPN routers including DD-WRT, ASUS Merlin, OpenWRT, and pfSense.
• Excellent zero-logs policy never tracks your IP address or your web browsing habits.
• Obfuscation for added privacy in countries like the UAE, China, Iran, Egypt, and Oman.
• Port forwarding and split tunneling features make it a fantastic choice for torrenting.
• Kill switch on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux.
• Extremely fast server speeds.

What it could improve:

• Smaller server network than most of its chief competitors.
• Doesn’t work to access popular streaming services like Netflix US and BBC iPlayer.
• No discount for committing to the service longer.
• No live chat support is available on its website.

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Editor’s opinion:  

Mullvad is a market-leading privacy solution with robust security features. It offers high levels of online data security, with strong AES encryption, a choice of VPN protocols, and a strict no-logging policy – ideal for those who value watertight digital privacy.

Its system-wide kill switch and MultiHop features make it suitable for sensitive online use cases, making it a go-to for journalists, activists, lawyers, and anybody else who needs reliable online protection. A Shadowsocks proxy helps users bypass restrictions in countries with overreaching censorship and surveillance. This helps to stay connected in countries like China and the UAE. 

Mullvad is great for torrenting, and other techy users who require extra features like split tunneling and port forwarding. However, it is a touch pricey compared to its chief competitors and doesn’t work to access Netflix, Hulu, and other popular streaming services. This rules it out for most people’s needs.

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Mullvad VPN overview

Mullvad was first launched in Sweden, in 2009. This makes it one of the longest-running consumer-facing VPNs on the market. In Swedish, the name Mullvad means mole, which is fitting for a service that provides users with a secure VPN tunnel!

In 2018, Mullvad commissioned a full third-party audit of its apps. This evaluation identified seven vulnerabilities that were consequently fixed by the provider, helping to further increase trust and security on the platform. To its credit, Mullvad has never suffered any breaches or data scandals in the 14 years since it launched.

For many years, Mullvad concentrated its efforts on providing secure VPN apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux. However, in 2020, it published mobile clients for Android and iOS. This improved its accessibility, making it more suitable for regular consumers who own multiple devices.

Despite this, Mullvad remains a VPN that is best suited to techy users who desire sophisticated security features. The apps are jam-packed with advanced features like port forwarding, split tunneling, MultiHop, obfuscation, and a Shadowsocks proxy.

The only caveat is that Mullvad could be confusing for beginners and is better suited to users who will actually make use of its advanced features. If that isn’t you, it may be better to opt for something else. Mullvad fails to access many popular streaming services and it has fewer server locations to pick from compared to some of its cheaper competitors.

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Mullvad highlights

• Secure apps for all devices
• Many high-tech privacy and security features
• Accepts cryptocurrency and cash payments for added privacy
• Has anti-censorship technologies (obfuscation and bridge mode)
• Maintains self-owned servers for added privacy
• Has diskless servers that run in RAM for added security

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Detailed Mullvad VPN review

We spent two weeks rigorously testing Mullvad's functions across seven important categories: Features, Pricing, Streaming, Speeds, Privacy, Security, and Customer Service. 

We used dedicated test servers, home broadband, mobile devices, and various different Operating Systems to make a thorough assessment of the service. Below, you can see the result of our tests.

Features

Mullvad is one of the most advanced and feature-packed VPNs available on the market. To give you an idea of exactly what you get with a subscription, we have listed each of its features below.

Apps for all popular devices

Mullvad has custom apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux. This means you can install the VPN directly on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and a wide variety of smartphones. 

Unlike many VPNs, the Linux app (for Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora) has a full Graphical User Interface. This makes it easy to use and convenient. Mullvad also provides guides for setting its service up on various different VPN-compatible routers:

• DD-WRT
• ASUS Merlin
• pfSense
• OpenWRT

Mullvad’s router guides are well-written and fully illustrated. This makes the task of accessing your router’s admin page to set up an OpenVPN or WireGuard connection extremely straightforward.

Note that Mullvad does not have a dedicated app for Firestick in the Amazon App Store. Instead, you have to sideload the Android APK. You can download this app from F-Droid or directly from Mullvad’s website.

To install this APK onto a Firestick or FireTV, you can either use the Downloader app (available in the Amazon App Store) or sideload manually from a PC or mobile device. Note that you will need to enable apps from unknown sources to sideload Mullvad.

We like that Mullvad provides all of its apps, including its Android APK on its website. This allows anybody to download and install the VPN onto their device – even if the application is removed from Google Play in their country. This helps to improve freedom of access.

Mullvad also added a layer of security by digitally signing all of its apps with a GPG signature. This allows anyone who is installing the app to verify its authenticity, thus protecting themselves against malicious clones that may contain malware.

If you feel more comfortable using a third-party client to connect to Mullvad’s servers, you have the option to download OpenVPN and WireGuard config files on its website. Just bear in mind that third-party clients don’t have as many features as Mullvad.

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Browser extensions

Mullvad provides a browser extension for Firefox called Mullvad Privacy Companion. This extension provides additional protection by disabling WebRTC and giving you access to a SOCKS5 proxy. It also recommends a bunch of useful privacy extensions with the click of a single button – which helps to protect you online!

Remember, while a SOCKS5 proxy provides location spoofing, it does not include the added encryption you get with the full VPN client. You should stick to using the VPN tunnel for privacy purposes. Mullvad browser extensions are not currently available for Chrome, Edge, or any other browsers.

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Simultaneous connections

Mullvad lets each subscriber connect up to five of their devices to its servers. This is enough for most power users to leave their desktop computer hooked up at home (torrenting, for example), while they also use their VPN on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or perhaps a work computer too.

It is worth noting, however, that some VPNs nowadays (Surfshark, AtlasVPN, IPVanish) give you an unlimited number of connections. So, if you have a large family, or want to share your VPN with friends, you may decide to go with an alternative.

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Global server network

Mullvad is unusual because of the amount of detail it provides about its server network. Its website shows you how many servers are running and how many are down for maintenance. 

It also shows you search for servers using various criteria: 

• Whether the server runs on a physical hard drive or in RAM (diskless)
• What type of server it is (WireGuard or OpenVPN)
• Whether the server is rented or owned by Mullvad

Once you have found the server you want on Mullvad’s website, you can make a note of the server’s name and head over to the app to connect to that server. This is a fantastic system that is extremely well thought out and not something we have seen with any of its competitors.

With a total of 800+ servers across 70+ cities in 41+ countries, this VPN provides plenty of options to help you find the ideal server for your needs.

We will note, however, that Mullvad has fewer options than you get with many of its competitors. CyberGhost, for example, has over 9,000 servers in 89+ countries, and Surfshark has 3,200+ servers in 100+ countries.

In the US, Mullvad has server options in Ashburn, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, and Los Angeles. This makes it easy to access the best speeds based on your current location.

We will note, however, that Mullvad may not be ideal for accessing state-level TV services (for bypassing NFL and MLB blackout games, for example), as it has been blocked by most major streaming platforms.

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Kill switch

Mullvad provides a system-wide kill switch in all three of its desktop apps (Windows, Mac, and Linux). These cut your internet to prevent data from leaking outside of the VPN tunnel if the VPN drops out for any reason. We tested the Windows kill switch by simulating a loss of WiFi, and by purposefully crashing the Mullvad app. Our internet became unavailable both times.

Next, we checked to see whether our IP address would leak during reconnection. We did this by checking our IP address once a second using a page refresh website connected to an IP checking tool. We checked it a few times and never detected our actual IP address, which means the kill switch successfully prevents leaks during reconnection. 

It is worth noting that Mullvad comes with the kill switch turned on by default. This is better for your security and online privacy. If you decide to turn it off, you can find it in VPN Settings > Kill switch.

On mobile devices, Mullvad makes use of features available within the Operating System to provide a kill switch. On Android, you can set up a full OS-level kill switch (available in Android 8 and later). This Android kill switch blocks traffic from all the apps on your device until the VPN connection is re-established. 

On iOS, there is no native kill switch available in the Operating System. However, Mullvad leverages the VPN on-demand rules to keep the VPN connected if there is a network outage. This feature is always on by default and cannot be disabled in the app. 

Note that VPN on-demand is not designed to be, and is not 100% reliable, as a kill switch. This means that Mullvad’s kill switch for iOS may leak under some circumstances. Keep this in mind if you require watertight privacy.

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Split tunneling

A split tunneling feature allows you to pick which apps connect to the internet using the VPN tunnel and which use your regular home internet or mobile data plan. This is useful if you want to torrent with the VPN while performing other tasks using your usual IP address. 

Note that Mullvad’s split tunneling feature only lets you select which apps you want to exclude from the VPN tunnel. Some competing VPNs also let you pick specific URLs to be excluded.

Mullvad provides split tunneling in its apps for Windows, Android, and Linux. You will not find it on iOS or macOS. In our experience, this still makes it one of the most comprehensive split tunneling features available.

We found the feature to work without problems, and we could easily exclude Firefox from the VPN tunnel to browse using our home IP address – while also browsing securely from a remote location in Chrome. Nice!

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Port forwarding

Port forwarding is a feature in your router that lets you access resources on your home network from the internet. It works by forwarding a request from the internet to a predefined port number on your router. The router then redirects this traffic to a specific device on your home network. 

By being compatible with port forwarding on your router, Mullvad lets you securely access your home network from anywhere in the world, while also benefiting from the privacy and data security provided by the VPN.

This makes Mullvad extremely useful for gaining secure remote access to your home network to host game servers or access a NAS drive, or some other physical device. 

Port forwarding is also important for allowing other internet users to access torrents hosted on a computer. This is why many people who regularly seed torrents require a VPN that allows port forwarding.

If you want to set up port forwarding with Mullvad, the VPN has a detailed guide that explains all the steps. We found this illustrated guide excellent, so even newbie torrenters can set up port forwarding if they need to.

To surmise, this is what you need to do: 

1. Head to Accounts in the VPN app and make a note of your device’s name (if you want to use WireGuard).
2. Log in to the member’s area of the website, and click port forwarding. 
3. Select the server location you want to forward from and the protocol you want to use. 

As soon as you click Add port, you will see the number of the port that you need to open in your router and add to your torrent client.

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Auto-connect

Mullvad helps to protect you by ensuring you never forget to launch and connect to the VPN with its Launch app on start-up and Auto-connect features. These features are available for desktop clients. 

On Android, you can set up the VPN to connect as soon as you launch it. However, you will need to launch the VPN manually when you start up your device. On iOS, no auto-connect or launch on start-up features are currently available.

Note that the VPN will always automatically connect you to the last location used. If you require a different location, be sure to check in the app after it connects.

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Obfuscation

Mullvad has various other features for gaining additional privacy and bypassing censorship in countries that enforce blocks. When using the OpenVPN protocol, you can enable Bridge mode by selecting VPN settings > OpenVPN settings.

This will proxy your traffic to an intermediary server using Shadowsocks for added obfuscation. This adds an extra layer of protection to help bypass VPN blocks and to prevent your ISPs from detecting that a VPN is in use.

If you set Bridge mode to auto, Mullvad will decide whether to implement obfuscation on-the-fly depending on your location. This will ensure that you always connect using additional obfuscation when you connect from countries that engage in overreaching online surveillance and censorship.

When connecting using the WireGuard protocol, you can set up rudimentary obfuscation by selecting TCP over ports 80, 443, or 5001. Of these, we ‌recommend opting for 443, which is the port commonly used by secure HTTPS website traffic.

The Shadowsocks proxy is not available when you connect using WireGuard, however, you can use MultiHop with this protocol. This will route your traffic through two VPN servers for added privacy. 

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Advert, tracker, and malware blocking

To help protect you as you use the web, you can ask Mullvad to filter out a list of domains known to contain ads, trackers, and malware. You can also choose to block adult content and gambling websites, which means it doubles up as a parental block feature.

Once this is enabled in the app, Mullvad’s DNS servers will automatically prevent you from visiting a list of malicious websites, as well as blocking annoying third-party tracking scripts and adverts. This is a superb extra that helps you get a better experience online.

This feature is available natively in the apps for Windows and iOS. In the other apps, you have to select Use custom DNS server and then enter Mullvad’s blackholing DNS server manually. 

The IPs for Mullvad’s ad-blocking DNS servers are:

• 100.64.0.1 – for ad-blocking
• 100.64.0.2 – for tracker-blocking
• 100.64.0.3 – for ad and tracker-blocking
• 100.64.0.4 – malware blocking only
• 100.64.0.5 – ad and malware blocking, no tracker blocking
• 100.64.0.6 – rracker and malware blocking, no ad blocking
• 100.64.0.7 – ad, tracker, and malware blocking 

If you want to find out more about how Mullvad blocks ads, trackers, and malware, you can check out its Github page where it explains exactly what DNS blocklists it leverages. 

Remember that while VPN malware filtering is a useful extra, it is not the same as a proper anti-virus program that scans your device for malware and removes it when an infection is detected. We always recommend using a full antivirus program with real-time protection.

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Bandwidth allowance

Mullvad VPN provides unrestricted VPN access with no bandwidth or download limits. Once your account is registered, you will have unlimited access to the VPN with no data or speed caps. This is perfect for downloading torrents, streaming HD videos, playing games, making video calls, and other data-intensive tasks.

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Other features

In addition to the features mentioned above, Mullvad has other advanced features in its apps. This makes Mullvad one of the techiest VPNs we have ever reviewed:

• Local network sharing. This VPN feature allows you to either allow access or block access to other devices on your network. This helps to protect you against cyberattacks originating from within that network. Just remember that you will need to disable this feature to regain access to printers and other devices on your network. 
• Enable IPv6. This allows IPv6 connections to communicate through the VPN tunnel. 
• Lockdown Mode. This is a feature that works alongside the kill switch. It ensures that you can never choose to use the internet without a VPN. If you enable this feature, you will never be able to connect to the internet without first connecting to a VPN server.
• Port selection. Lets you select which port you want to connect to the VPN using. This can help to bypass firewalls on local networks that are attempting to block VPN connections.

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Mullvad pricing & subscriptions

Mullvad is one of the most unusual VPNs we have ever encountered in terms of pricing.

Most competing services offer monthly, six-month, annual, and potentially even longer subscription plans. These services offer a discount the longer you subscribe, which means that you get a better price if you commit long-term.

With Mullvad, the pricing never changes. You pay a flat rate of €5 per month no matter how long you need the VPN (this is the equivalent of $5.28 at the time of writing). This makes Mullvad’s pricing easy to understand.

It also makes the service better value for users who want a VPN to go on vacation or to go on a business trip. For example, a single-month Mullvad subscription is considerably cheaper than NordVPN ($12.99), Surfshark ($12.95), CyberGhost ($12.99), and ExpressVPN ($12.95).

Anybody who wants a VPN on a more permanent basis, however, may feel they are better off shopping elsewhere. Most competing services offer large discounts if you commit for a year or more. A two-year Surfshark subscription, for example, reduces the cost to $2.49 per month – which is half the price of Mullvad.

It is also important to remember that while Mullvad offers a lot of advanced features; it lacks some things that average home users prefer (such as accessing streams). So, unless you are in need of a tech-heavy VPN, there is probably going to be a cheaper option that is better suited to your needs.

Not that a Mullvad subscription is self-renewing. This means that you will be charged €5 each month until you decide to cancel your subscription. 

Payment options

Mullvad accepts more payment methods than just about any other VPN. You can pay by credit or debit card, PayPal, Swish, Giropay, Eps transfer, Bancontact, iDEAL, and Przelewy24. You can also pay by bank transfer if you want to.

Anybody who wants to pay for a subscription while maintaining the highest possible levels of anonymity can pay using cash through the post or with various cryptocurrencies (using a burner email). Mullvad accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Monero.

Just note that if you intend to pay with cash it is probably worth paying for multiple months upfront to avoid posting $5.50 each month.

Money-back guarantee

Mullvad offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with its service. This allows anybody to test the VPN risk-free. Just bear in mind that you will not be eligible for a refund when you pay using cash or cryptocurrencies. These payments are final. 

For all other payment methods, a refund is available and Mullvad provides clear instructions on how to claim a refund in its refund guide. This means that you can compare the VPN to other services, or try it on your devices to see whether it has everything you need.

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Speeds

We tested Mullvad's server speeds to compare it to other options on the market. We tested the VPN using the desktop version of Ookla Speed Test on a 5 Gigabit dedicated test server in Ohio. To get the best speeds possible, we tested the WireGuard protocol. 

To give you both local results and global averages, we tested servers in London, New York, and Hong Kong at three-hour intervals. These tests are designed to give you an understanding of the VPN’s top speeds. 

To give you a more realistic idea of how the VPN will slow down your internet at home, we also tested Mullvad using a home broadband setup. This lets you see what kind of an average drop in speeds you can expect in a real-world setting. 

Below, you can see the results of the tests using our 5 Gigabit test server:

As you can see, Mullvad is an unbelievably fast VPN. 

It has top speeds that exceed just about any other VPN we have tested. This makes it an extremely good option for anybody who has a fast home internet connection and wants to be able to make use of those speeds even when connected to their VPN. 

Home broadband tests

Next, we tested Mullvad’s performance while connected to Virgin Media Broadband in the UK. We tested the VPN using the desktop version of Ookla Speedtest on an Asus Zenbook laptop. Our base speed without connecting to the VPN was 33 Mbps on the day of testing. Our connection speed results while connected to the VPN are shown below:

• UK London server. Download speed of 30.62 Mbps. This is a 7% drop.
• US New York server. Download speed of 27.39 Mbps. This is an 18% drop.
• Hong Kong server. Download speed of 24.83 Mbps. This is a 24% drop.

As you can see, our real-world tests were decent. The VPN performed well across all three server locations, causing our internet speed to drop a maximum of 24% on the Hong Kong server. This is not bad considering the massive distances involved.

Our local Mullvad server in London caused our internet to drop by just 7%, which means the VPN barely affected our connection speed at all. Overall, this makes Mullvad a decent option for streaming, torrenting, gaming, and making video calls.

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Streaming

Using a VPN to access international streaming services is a major reason for uptake. Many people use VPNs to access home streaming services on vacation – or to bypass streaming blocks at work, in school, or on public WiFi networks.

Unfortunately, Mullvad is not a great option when it comes to streaming. The VPN is primarily designed to provide online privacy and security and does not spend time or effort optimizing its servers for streaming. As a result, we found that many popular streams have blocked Mullvad.

First, we connected to a server in New York to see whether Mullvad would work to access US-exclusive shows and movies on Netflix. We could stream shows without getting an error message, but the catalog did not update to include US exclusives. 

We had the same experience while connected to the London server. We could not find any UK-exclusive shows or movies. This rules out Mullvad for accessing regional Netflix libraries. 

Next, we tested Mullvad’s US servers to access Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and ABC. Unfortunately, its servers did not work with any of these services. 

On the plus side, Mullvad did work to access Amazon Prime Video USA, CBS, and NBC (we could even watch Blacklist season 10 episode 1 without needing to log in using valid US cable TV provider details, which was a nice surprise!)

Next, we connected to a UK server in London and tested the VPN with BBC iPlayer. It worked fine as long as we used an incognito window (presumably because cookies left in our browser were preventing the VPN from working). The VPN also worked to watch Channel 4. Unfortunately, however, Mullvad would not let us watch ITV X, Sky Go, or BT Sport.

Finally, we decided to watch Australia’s Seven Network while connected to a server in Melbourne. The VPN worked perfectly, which is a decent result.

As you can see, access to streams was not great with Mullvad. If you are in the market for a streaming VPN, you will be much better off shopping elsewhere. 

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Security

The security features provided by a VPN are essential for gaining data privacy. This is why we always check under the hood to see how the VPN is implementing its various protocols.

The good news is that Mullvad provides two different protocols for you to choose from. You can connect using OpenVPN (UDP or TCP) or WireGuard. We have included the encryption implementation standards for each protocol below:

• WireGuard is implemented using ChaCha20 for symmetric encryption and Poly1305 for authentication. Perfect Forward Secrecy is provided using Curve25519 for ECDH.

• OpenVPN is implemented with an AES-256-GCM cipher, 4096-bit RSA handshake, and SHA512 for authentication. Perfect Forward Secrecy is provided by DHE-4096.

These are both highly secure and future-proof encryption standards. 

To give you additional privacy and the ability to bypass censorship, Mullvad also provides obfuscation by bridging data through a Shadowsocks proxy on its way into the VPN network. You can also connect using various different ports (80, 443), which helps to bypass firewalls and conceal VPN use from your ISP.

Leak tests

Next, we conducted tests to determine whether the VPN would expose our real IP address to ISPs, local networks, or the websites we visit. These kinds of leaks mean that the VPN service cannot be trusted for online privacy purposes.

To get reliable results, we conducted our tests using the website browserleaks.com in a private window. Using incognito mode prevents cookies from interfering with the results. To be thorough, we checked for IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. You can see the result below:

As you can see, Mullvad did not leak our real IP address in any of the tests. The VPN was also completely free of WebRTC leaks, giving a full clean bill of health. 

We were also happy to find that the VPN proxies DNS requests to its own servers. This is the most secure way for a VPN to handle DNS requests because it means that no third parties are involved.

Note that you can also opt to switch to a custom DNS resolver if you want to. So, if you have a particular preference such as OpenDNS, OpenNIC, or DNSWatch, you can set this up within the app. Just remember that you will need to set this up on each device individually.

Finally, Mullvad has been expanding its diskless infrastructure to cover more countries. These servers run completely in RAM, which improves their security (and the privacy of users) by allowing the VPN to pull the plug and instantly erase all data should the authorities raid the server. 

It has both rented and self-owned diskless servers in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and London (bridge mode). And, you can search for these diskless servers on Mullvad’s server page if you want to use them.

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Privacy

Jurisdiction

Mullvad is based in Sweden. This is a country that is favorable in terms of privacy because it has no mandatory data retention directives that apply to VPNs.

On the first of August, 2020, the Swedish government passed the Electronic Protections Act (EPA). This made amendments to the existing Electronic Communications Act (LEK). 

The good news is that these laws do not categorize VPNs as a public communications network. As a result, VPNs are not affected by existing mandatory data retention directives. (ISPs are required to keep IP address logs for six months.)

As a result, Sweden remains a safe place for a VPN to be based. Mullvad does not legally need to keep any logs regarding what its users do while connected to the VPN, and it cannot be compelled to start logging in the future.

It is worth noting that the Swedish government has passed a law called the Covert Surveillance of Data Act. This allows Swedish authorities to install spyware onto a suspect's machine (with the authority of a court order). 

This kind of spy software could theoretically allow the authorities to gain access to a suspect’s data before it is encrypted by the VPN. However, this would be a highly targeted attack that affected a Swedish citizen suspected of serious crimes, and no other VPN users.

Privacy policy

Mullvad has a well-written and transparent no-logging policy. The legal document promises never to track the user’s source IP address, the VPN servers they connect to, or any of their browsing activities or personal data that passes through the VPN. 

The VPN clearly explains the legal basis for storing the minimal data it has access to. This is to provide services the customer pays for. The policy is also fully compliant with GDPR, meaning that its customers can invoke their rights to access, amend, remove, or transfer their data. 

From the policy:

As you can see, Mullvad does not log any connection time stamps, bandwidth used, or any other connection information that could potentially be used to ascertain what a user did online at a later date (using a correlation attack).

This shows that Mullvad’s logging policy is watertight, making it the best kind of VPN policy available on the market today. The policy even explains how it tracks simultaneous connections to its servers using tokens that allow it to know the number of connections, but nothing else.

The VPN also admits to using some completely non-invasive aggregated information for the purpose of keeping its service running smoothly. This includes:

• “Aggregated application data, such as the total number of current VPN connections.”
• “Generic system metrics, such as CPU load per core and total bandwidth used by the server.”

Mullvad states that it never shares usage statistics with third parties such as Google Analytics, and it only works with email service providers and payment processing partners. No other third parties are involved other than the server companies it rents servers from.

As mentioned earlier in this review, however, Mullvad maintains plenty of servers in its network that are self-owned and self-administrated. This allows users to connect using proprietary bare metal servers that no third parties are involved with.

Third-party security audits

Mullvad has undergone various third-party audits of its applications. These audits are carried out every two years by Atredis Partners. This allows Mullvad to continuously update its apps and keep its systems running effectively from a security perspective. 

These regular audits have uncovered some minor security vulnerabilities. However, they allowed the VPN to patch those issues, improving its apps, and maintaining the highest possible level of security across its network. The results of the most recent audits in 2022 stated that “Atredis Partners would rate the Mullvad VPN clients as sound from a security perspective.”

Mullvad also pays for the third-party security company Assured AB to carry out an audit of its server infrastructure. The most recent audit concluded in May 2022, with proposed fixes to the network to improve security implemented by June. The independent audit concluded that Mullvad’s systems are appropriately processing data in accordance with its no-logging policy.

Most recently, Mullvad also paid for a third-party audit of its account and payment services. This helped to analyze any potential vulnerabilities to risks caused by exposure to third-party attack surfaces. Assured AB found Mullvad’s API to be secure, and found no critical, high, or medium-rated issues during its penetration testing.

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Customer support

In supporting its subscribers, Mullvad is not as good as the very best providers. Many services nowadays have followed in ExpressVPN’s footsteps by offering round-the-clock live chat support. Even providers like Surfshark, PrivateVPN, and CyberGhost (which all offer a subscription for $2.50 per month or less), have 24/7 live chat support pageants.

With Mullvad, you must make do with email support, which usually takes between 12 to 24 hours to respond. The good news is that the support agents are knowledgeable and can provide answers to most techy questions.

It is also worth noting that Mullvad has a knowledge base full of excellent guides, FAQs, and blog posts. The articles are all neatly archived going all the way back to 2010 when the VPN first started making blog posts. 

Those blogs cover a wealth of privacy topics, including legislation that affects people’s privacy rights, information about audits, detailed explainers for bypassing censorship in countries where it is hard to access the VPN, and new features it is adding to the VPN.

We found the guides to be of high quality, with clear instructions and screenshots to help you install and use the VPN on a wide variety of devices. When it comes to providing technical information, the VPN is extremely good. The website is full of details about the VPN’s security features, encryption implementation, and other important details about the VPN.

Needless to say, this sets Mullvad apart from the vast majority of VPNs, which often provide no information about how their encryption standards are implemented. Overall, we found the resources available on Mullvad’s website to be fantastic. Ultimately, however, paying $5 per month for a service that has no live chat seems steep considering its competitors.

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Is Mullvad easy to use?

Mullvad VPN is a high-tech, feature-rich VPN service that is perfect for users who need advanced privacy and security settings. Compared to many other VPNs, it is hard to use. However, this is to be expected considering its many advanced settings.

That said, we think this is fairly easy to use for such a feature-packed VPN. Even complete novices who live in countries like the UAE, China, Egypt, Oman, etc, will find that the important security features they need are set to 'automatic' by default. 

This makes Mullvad a great option for beginners who require high levels of protection but are still in the process of learning to understand complex privacy features, such as obfuscation and port selection. 

For those who need a VPN for streaming services, Mullvad may not be the best choice, but for anyone seeking a secure and versatile VPN for watertight privacy and data security, it is an excellent option.

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Our verdict

Mullvad is a well-respected privacy service that has maintained a solid reputation with its users for nearly 15 years. Being based in Sweden means it cannot be subjected to any mandatory data retention directives, and the VPN prides itself on a high-quality no-logging policy that provides the highest possible levels of privacy for its users.

The application packs a serious punch, providing many advanced features that you often don’t always get packed into a single VPN. That makes it perfect for people with an elevated threat model who want to be able to get the highest possible levels of protection online.

Mullvad’s server network may be a touch smaller than what you get with its chief competitors. However, the speed of its servers impressed us, and it is nice to be able to search those servers using specific criteria. We love the VPN’s MultiHop and bridging modes, which can give you added online privacy. And the encryption implementation in its protocols is second to none.

The biggest caveat is that this VPN is quite expensive compared to its competitors, and it does not work to access popular streaming services like Netflix. This makes Mullvad a service that appeals to users who want strict privacy, rather than accessibility. 

On the other hand, if you need to bypass blocks on social media, news websites, educational resources, VoIP services – or anything else blocked by an oppressive government – this VPN will give you freedom of access while completely shielding your privacy.