Mullvad VPN Review

Mullvad VPN employs a minimal-logs policy that only collects anonymous connection metadata relating to server usage.

The VPN doesn’t log any traffic, user bandwidth, or originating IP addresses. However, the service monitors a user’s total number of simultaneous connections. This data is never stored, though.

Additionally, Mullvad collects some anonymous usage stats, namely CPU load per core and total bandwidth used per server.

Anonymous usage stats are used to maintain reliable server performance. This data is stored indefinitely, but it won’t affect your privacy since it’s completely anonymous.

You also don’t need to submit any personal details to create an account, not even your email address. You’re simply assigned a randomly-generated account number, which functions as your login credentials.

Mullvad’s privacy policy is as close to zero-logs as you can get without potentially jeopardizing performance.

Mullvad is based in Sweden

Mullvad VPN is owned by Amagicom AB and run by its CEO, Jan Axel Jonsson.

The company is incorporated in Sweden, part of the ‘Fourteen Eyes,’ an intelligence alliance made up of 14 countries who collect and share mass surveillance data.

This is usually a red flag, but Mullvad doesn’t log your web activity so there is no user data that can be linked back to you.

Mullvad registered fast speeds in our extensive tests. It’s not the fastest VPN we’ve reviewed, but it’s a very quick VPN nonetheless.

We tested Mullvad’s short-distance speeds by connecting to one of its UK servers from our physical location in London, UK. Here are the results:

The speed results above show how fast Mullvad is connecting to nearby servers. A 6% speed drop is very good, and something few VPN services attain.

In fact, the VPN is quickly catching up some of the fastest VPNs we’ve reviewed. Our Hotspot Shield speed tests came in at even higher speeds, though.

Sadly, we did experience a number of connection drops during our speed tests. As such, Mullvad’s connection reliability needs improving.

International speed test results

Over longer distances, Mullvad slows down a fair amount, although many VPNs experience this.

We also tested Mullvad’s speeds connecting to other countries, from closer ones to far away ones.

Although speeds drop as high as 39% connecting to Australia, these are actually very good long-distance speed results.

There are still faster VPNs out there, though.

High latency is an issue

The VPN’s latency is a let down, unfortunately. Mullvad’s best average ping time was 14ms – way above our most highly-rated VPNs.

High ping times cause lag, particularly when gaming online. For this reason, we can’t recommend Mullvad for avid gamers. Instead, we recommend these online gaming VPNs.

Unexpected connection drops

We also experienced a few connection drops during our tests, particularly connecting to city-level servers rather than general country ones.

Connections drops are from ideal and symbolize Mullvad’s less than optimal reliability.

At least, Mullvad’s VPN kill switch kicked in each time to ensure our true IP address wasn’t exposed and this seems to happen less and less.

Mullvad’s speeds compared to other VPNs

The graph below illustrate Mullvad’s speeds compared against three top VPNs: ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Private Internet Access.

We use our internal automated speed test tool to calculate the average download speed loss on a capped 100Mbps connection.

The tool runs VPN speed tests automatically four times a day, seven days a week on our New York server.

The chart above shows how Mullvad’s average download speed loss isn’t much worse than ExpressVPN. The VPN is also beating Private Internet Access, and matching NordVPN’s speeds.

Mullvad’s VPN apps have many extra security features, ideal for anyone seeking high levels of internet security.

VPN connections are encrypted via the AES 256-bit cipher and you can choose between two VPN protocols: OpenVPN (desktop only) and WireGuard (desktop and mobile).

Mullvad’s multi-hop setting

Similarly to Surfshark, ProtonVPN and NordVPN, Mullvad also offers a server multi-hop function.

Multi-hop, or Double VPN as it’s sometimes known, routes your connection via two VPN servers before taking you to a website or application.

While it worked well in our tests, speeds suffered considerably. This isn’t uncommon, we experience the same slowdown when we tested ProtonVPN’s Secure Core servers.

Mullvad’s built-in kill switch

The built-in VPN kill switch prevents your true IP address from being exposed during connection drops.

The kill switch runs at all times and automatically kicks in upon a connection failure.

While testing Mullvad, we did run into one or two connection failures. This isn’t optimal, however the VPN did temporarily block the internet and prevented our true IP address from leaking.

Mullvad didn’t suffer any DNS or IP leaks

Mullvad also operates its own DNS servers, meaning your web traffic isn’t routed through potentially less secure third-party servers.

The apps also feature integrated DNS leak protection to prevent your DNS credentials from becoming visible to a third-party.

In fact, the VPN service successfully masked our IP and DNS credentials in our battery of VPN leak tests.

Split tunneling on Android and Linux

Split tunneling lets you decide which programs should use the VPN connection, and which ones shouldn’t. This can help fix connection issues when the VPN is running.

This feature is only available on the Android and Linux apps, though. For Windows and macOS, there is a manual split tunneling process, but it’s more complicated.

Mullvad’s ad blocker

Mullvad’s iOS application is equipped with a working ad and tracking blocker.

We visited a number of websites on Safari with the setting enabled and the VPN blocked all ad units.

Mullvad’s apps are built in Rust

For more our more technical readers, Mullvad’s apps are developed using Rust, a programming language made for building secure programs. They’re also built using code signing for app and server code.

For starters, Mullvad VPN allows torrenting and P2P activity on all its private servers.

We tested it using several safe torrent clients like qbittorent, and the VPN’s download speeds were quick and stable.

While it wasn’t as fast as our best torrenting VPNs, it’s certainly a VPN that torrents at high speed and privately.

Mullvad’s P2P-friendly settings

One of Mullvad’s strengths is its P2P-friendly settings: a built-in kill switch for security; port forwarding and a SOCKS5 proxy for faster file-sharing speeds.

Mullvad performed terribly in our latest streaming tests.

In the past, the VPN unblocked both US Netflix and BBC iPlayer. However, recently we couldn’t stream neither.

Not only does Mullvad no longer work with Netflix or BBC iPlayer, it doesn’t unblock HBO Max, DAZN, Hulu, Disney+, or any other major platform, either.

Luckily, there are much more effective VPNs for watching US Netflix and VPNs for BBC iPlayer.

Due to China’s crackdown on VPN services, Mullvad rarely worked in our China VPN tests.

While Mullvad’s Shadowsocks proxy worked very infrequently, it’s not enough for us to recommend getting Mullvad for use in China.

The VPN is also unlikely to work in other high-censorship countries, such as Turkey, Iran, UAE, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

Our review of Astrill VPN illustrates the unblocking capabilities of a top-rated anti-censorship VPN, which Mullvad simply doesn’t have.

Sadly, there isn’t any live chat support available, and the speed of email replies can vary from a couple of minutes to 12 hours. This is frustrating if you need quick answers.

At least, Mullvad’s customer support agents are friendly and helpful.

Mullvad’s website contains detailed FAQs and user guides that answer most common queries.

There’s no website search functionality, though, so it’s quicker to search for your question on a search engine to find the answer on Mullvad.net.