Black Friday 2026, through November 30: Proton Unlimited is 50% off the 1-year plan ($6.49/month), VPN Plus is 75% off the 2-year plan ($2.49/month), and Mail Plus, Drive Plus and Pass Plus are 60% off the 1-year plan ($1.99/month). The links on this page apply the Black Friday price automatically. For the VPN deal in detail, see Proton VPN Black Friday 2026: 75% off VPN Plus.
The TL;DR for 2026: if you're paying separately for Dropbox + a VPN + Gmail / Workspace, you're overpaying. For Black Friday, Proton Unlimited is 50% off the 1-year plan: $6.49/month, $77.88 for the first year - that one subscription replaces all three. There's a 30-day money-back guarantee, so trying it costs nothing. Coupon code is auto-applied through the links below - no code to copy, just click through.
Get 50% off Proton Unlimited (Black Friday)
Why I switched (and what I'm paying now)
I was paying for two separate services until this year:
- Dropbox Plus - $20/month for 2 TB cloud storage
- NordVPN - $8/month, renewed
That's $28/month or $336/year for cloud storage and a VPN. Encrypted email and a password manager were extra.
Today I'm paying $15/month for a Proton Unlimited family plan that covers two users. Per user that's $7.50/month - and that gets each of us:
- 2 TB encrypted Proton Drive (split across users/devices however you like)
- Proton VPN with 10 simultaneous device connections per user (20 total on the family plan)
- Proton Mail with custom domains + 15 email addresses
- Proton Pass password manager
- Proton Calendar (encrypted, syncs across devices)
- Proton Wallet (encrypted Bitcoin wallet)
- Proton Docs (encrypted real-time-collaborative docs)
That's a net savings of ~$150/year while getting more features and better privacy. The math is the math.
Proton Unlimited - the headline deal (50% off for Black Friday)
Proton Unlimited is the bundle plan. Coupon codes are auto-applied at checkout - no copying / pasting needed. The Black Friday 2026 prices through the affiliate link below, valid through November 30:
| Plan length | Effective price | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year (Black Friday deal) | $6.49/month ($77.88 for the first 12 months, then $119.88 per year) | 50% off the $12.99/mo regular price |
| 1 month (try-before-commit) | $1 first month, then $12.99/month | 92% off month 1 |
The 1-year plan is the Black Friday deal and the cheapest per-month rate. Comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee - if it's not working for you in the first month, contact support and you get a full refund. Even at year 2, the per-month cost beats most single-service VPNs alone.
Get the 50% off Unlimited deal
Proton VPN - coupon-code pricing for 2026
If you only want the VPN and not the rest of the bundle, Proton VPN sells standalone. It's the privacy-first option (Swiss jurisdiction, audited no-logs policy, the same team that built Proton Mail). What you get:
- 10 simultaneous device connections per account (most VPNs cap at 5-6)
- 20,000+ servers in 140+ countries, full WireGuard support
- NetShield ad/tracker/malware blocker built-in
- Tor-over-VPN routing if you need it
- Open-source apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android - independently audited
- No-logs policy enforced by Swiss law (the courts have actually upheld it)
For Black Friday, VPN Plus is 75% off the 2-year plan: $2.49/month, $59.76 for the first 24 months, then $83.88 per year. The full breakdown is in our Proton VPN Black Friday guide.
Get 75% off Proton VPN Plus (Black Friday)
Proton Drive vs Dropbox - the comparison that made me switch
| Feature | Proton Drive | Dropbox Plus |
|---|---|---|
| 2 TB storage | Yes | Yes ($11.99/mo annual) |
| End-to-end encryption | Yes, default for every file | No (at-rest encryption only, Dropbox holds the keys) |
| Zero-knowledge architecture | Yes | No |
| Encrypted file sharing with expiry + password | Yes | Yes (paid add-on) |
| Web, desktop (Win/Mac/Linux), iOS, Android | Yes | Yes |
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland (strong privacy laws) | USA (CLOUD Act applies) |
| Annual cost | From $23.88 for the first year (Drive Plus, 200 GB, Black Friday) | $143.88 |
Black Friday: Drive Plus (200 GB) is 60% off, $1.99/month for the first year ($23.88), then $47.88 per year.
For me the killer feature is end-to-end encryption by default. With Dropbox, the company holds the decryption keys - meaning a subpoena, a rogue employee, or a breach exposes your files. With Proton Drive, files are encrypted client-side before they ever hit the network. Proton can't read them even if they wanted to.
The same October 2026 Google policy update covers Drive and Photos: connected content can now inform ads. Proton Drive files are end-to-end encrypted, so there is nothing for an ad system to read.
Proton Drive - 60% off the annual plan
Proton Mail vs Gmail / Google Workspace - privacy is the differentiator
| Feature | Proton Mail | Gmail / Google Workspace |
|---|---|---|
| End-to-end encryption (Proton-to-Proton) | Yes, automatic | No (requires manual S/MIME setup, paid tier only) |
| Encrypted external email (password-protected) | Yes, built-in | No |
| Custom domain | Yes on paid plans | Yes (Workspace only, $6+/user/mo) |
| 15 email addresses per user | Yes on Mail Plus | No (one per Workspace seat) |
| Ads / data mining for advertising | None - paid service, no ad model | Gmail free reads content for personalization signals (Workspace doesn't scan, but the platform still profits from Google ads ecosystem) |
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland | USA |
| Source code | Open-source clients, independently audited | Closed-source clients |
| Coupon-code price (annual) | $1.99/month for the first year (60% off, Black Friday) | Workspace Business Starter: $6/user/mo |
For most people the everyday Gmail experience is fine - until you stop and think about what Google knows. Subject lines, recipients, message bodies, attachment names, calendar invites, locations from email confirmations... all of that lives in Google's index and is accessible to anyone with a valid subpoena (or a lapse in Google's internal controls). Proton Mail just doesn't have access to that data even if it wanted to share it.
Google moved the other way this year. Since October 16, 2026, Google's privacy policy lets Gmail, Drive and Photos content shape your ads if you connect those apps to its Personal Intelligence feature. Connecting is opt-in and is not offered in the EU, the UK or Switzerland. Proton Mail stores messages with zero-access encryption, so Proton cannot read them under any setting. What Google changed, and how to turn it off.
Proton Mail - 60% off the annual plan
Proton Pass - the password manager
Proton Pass is included with Unlimited, but if you only want the password manager:
- $1.99/month for the first year (60% off for Black Friday, then $35.88 per year) - coupon auto-applied
- End-to-end encrypted password vault
- Email aliases (forward to your real address, can be disposed of)
- 2FA codes built into the vault
- Web, desktop, iOS, Android + browser extensions
If you're already on 1Password or Bitwarden you don't need this - but if you're going Unlimited, it comes free.
30-day money-back guarantee
One of the things that pushed me to actually switch (vs. just thinking about switching) is that Proton offers a no-questions-asked 30-day refund. Sign up, set everything up the way you'd want it for the long haul, and if it doesn't work - request a refund and you get your money back. That removes the "what if I commit and hate it" anxiety entirely.
FAQ
Is the Proton coupon code automatic, or do I need to enter something?
Automatic. The links on this page apply the current promotional pricing at checkout - no code to type. If you reach a page that shows the regular $12.99/mo Unlimited price without the discount, refresh through the link again (sometimes the affiliate cookie needs to set first).
How is Proton different from any other VPN deal?
Two things. First, Proton VPN is the only major VPN whose no-logs policy has been tested in court (Swiss courts ruled in Proton's favor when they couldn't produce logs that didn't exist). Second, the same subscription gets you encrypted email, drive, password manager, calendar, and docs - the others only sell you a VPN.
What's a Family plan and is it worth it?
The Family plan covers up to 6 users at $19.99/month (or less with the annual discount). For two people sharing 2 TB of storage and 20 total VPN device slots, it works out to ~$7.50/user/month - cheaper than each person buying Unlimited individually.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Annual plans aren't refundable past 30 days, but you can cancel auto-renewal at any time from the dashboard. The 2-year plan locks in the discount; you're committing to pay for the term you signed up for, but at half the monthly rate.
Does Proton work with custom domains?
Yes - Mail Plus and Unlimited both support custom domains. You can use yourname@yourdomain.com end-to-end-encrypted, with as many email aliases as you want forwarding to that one mailbox.
Where do these discounts come from?
Standard Proton affiliate / partner pricing. The links on this page route through Tuxxin's affiliate code - we earn a small commission when someone signs up, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the same as (or better than) hitting proton.me directly. Editorial choices on this page aren't influenced by the commission rate; we'd still pick Proton Unlimited as the best privacy bundle if we earned nothing on it.
Bottom line - which plan should you pick?
| If you... | Get this | Per-month cost |
|---|---|---|
| Already use a cloud drive AND a VPN | Unlimited 1-year (50% off, Black Friday) | $6.49 |
| Just need a VPN | VPN Plus 2-year (75% off, Black Friday) | $2.49 |
| Just need encrypted email | Mail Plus annual (60% off, Black Friday) | $1.99 |
| Just need encrypted cloud storage | Drive Plus annual (60% off, Black Friday) | $1.99 |
| Sharing with family (up to 6 people) | Family annual | ~$19.99/mo total |
The headline deal for most people: Proton Unlimited, 1 year, 50% off for Black Friday. Replaces Dropbox + a VPN + email service all in one, and the 30-day refund means trying it is risk-free.
Get 50% off Proton Unlimited (Black Friday)
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. We earn a small commission when you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. We use Proton Unlimited ourselves and would recommend it regardless.