Best Open Source VPN Services for Photographers
For a photographer who wants an open source VPN, Windscribe covers the most of a working day: port forwarding to reach the drive back at the studio, no limit on connected devices, and no email needed to sign up, for $9 a month. If privacy comes first and you never need to reach home, Mullvad VPN is the leaner pick at a flat 5 euros (about $5.81), with a numbered account in place of an email.
The six split on two features that seldom come together. Proton VPN and Private Internet Access both forward ports and run the biggest networks, in 140 and 91 countries, but tie the account to an email address. Mullvad and IVPN take no email but do not forward ports. Windscribe is the only one here that does both.
Our picks
- Reaching a home archive from a shoot: Windscribe. Port forwarding built for reaching your own computer, unlimited devices, and signup without a name or email, at $9 a month.
- An anonymous subscription: Mullvad VPN. A randomly generated account number instead of an email, cash or Monero accepted, and one flat 5 euro rate with no lock-in.
- Uploading from abroad: Proton VPN. Servers in 140 countries, ten devices per subscription, port forwarding, and a free plan for one device with no data cap.
- Every device on one account: Private Internet Access. No cap on connected devices, servers in 91 countries and port forwarding on selected servers, at $11.95 a month.
At a glance
| Option | Monthly price | App license | Devices at once | Server countries | Signing up | Port forwarding | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5.81source | GPL version 3source | Up to 5source | No email neededsource | Not offeredsource | Swedensource | ||
| GPL version 3source | 6 to 10source | 140source | Account or email requiredsource | Includedsource | Switzerlandsource | ||
| $6source | GPL version 3source | Up to 5source | 41source | No email neededsource | Not offeredsource | Gibraltarsource | |
| $9source | GPL version 2source | Unlimitedsource | 69source | No email neededsource | Includedsource | Canadasource | |
| $11.95source | GPL version 3source | Unlimitedsource | 91source | Account or email requiredsource | Includedsource | United Statessource | |
| $9.99source | Mozilla Public License 2.0source | Up to 5source | 30source | Account or email requiredsource | United Statessource |
Port forwarding for a NAS or studio machine
Port forwarding is what lets you open a connection back to a machine at home, so a card dump can go straight to the studio drive while you are on location. Proton VPN, Windscribe and Private Internet Access include it, PIA on selected servers. Mullvad dropped it in 2023 and IVPN says plainly it does not offer it. Mozilla VPN does not document it either way.
If you only want a clean tunnel on hotel or venue Wi-Fi, that gap does not matter, and Mullvad and IVPN become the strongest privacy picks: both skip the email at signup and take cash or Monero.
How many devices one plan covers
A laptop, a phone, a tablet and an editing desktop add up quickly. Windscribe and Private Internet Access set no limit. Proton VPN allows ten on its VPN Plus plan. Mullvad, IVPN and Mozilla VPN stop at five, though IVPN sells a pricier tier that doubles it.
Network size matters more when you travel. Proton's 140 countries and PIA's 91 lead, Windscribe lists 69, IVPN 41, and Mozilla VPN has the smallest network at about 30.
Monthly cost, free plans and jurisdiction
Month to month, the paid plans run from Mullvad's $5.81 (its own conversion of 5 euros, so it moves with the exchange rate) and IVPN's $6, through Windscribe at $9 and Mozilla at $9.99, to PIA at $11.95. Two let you try before paying: Proton's free plan is one device with no data cap, and Windscribe's comes with a monthly data allowance.
An open license tells you what the app does, not who can compel the company. That is set by where it is based: Sweden for Mullvad, Switzerland for Proton, Gibraltar for IVPN, Canada for Windscribe, and the United States for both PIA and Mozilla.
The options in detail
Mullvad VPN
A flat 5 euro a month whatever term you pick, with no discounts to chase and no annual lock-in. The account is a randomly generated number rather than an email address, and Mullvad will take cash in an envelope or Monero, so the subscription need not point back at you at all. The desktop and mobile apps are published under the GPL and the company is Swedish. The austerity cuts both ways: there is no free tier, and Mullvad dropped port forwarding in 2023, so it suits a photographer who wants a clean tunnel on hotel Wi-Fi more than one who needs to reach a drive at home.
Proton VPN
The widest network in this comparison by a distance, which is the practical argument for it: shooting abroad, you are more likely to find an exit server near the client gallery or cloud backup you are uploading to. One subscription covers ten devices, port forwarding is available, and Proton runs the only genuinely usable free plan of the group, capped to one device but not to data. The apps are GPLv3 on GitHub and the company is Swiss. Signing up ties the account to an email address, so it is not anonymous the way Mullvad or IVPN are.
IVPN
The cheapest paid plan here, from a small Gibraltar company that refuses to take an email address at signup and has closed its affiliate program, which is why it rarely shows up in sponsored VPN roundups. The apps are GPLv3, the gateways are dedicated bare metal rather than rented virtual servers, and payment can be cash or Monero. IVPN says plainly that it does not offer port forwarding, so if the point of your VPN is reaching a home archive from a shoot, this is the wrong one. The Standard plan covers five devices; a pricier tier doubles that.
Windscribe
The one option here with no ceiling on simultaneous connections, which is the honest answer for a photographer running a laptop, a phone, a tablet and a desktop at the same time. You can create an account without giving a name or an email, and port forwarding is built to let you reach your own computer or home network while connected, so a card dump can go straight to the drive at the studio. The desktop client is published under GPL version 2 and the company is registered in Ontario. There is a free plan with a monthly data allowance if you want to try the network before paying.
Private Internet Access
The priciest month to month plan in this table, and also the broadest coverage after Proton, with servers in 91 countries and no cap on how many devices one account protects. PIA has published its app source code for years, so the same inspectability argument that people make for Mullvad applies here at a mainstream price. Port forwarding works on selected servers. The catch for a privacy minded chooser is the rest of the paperwork: the company is American and signup needs an email address plus payment, so the account is tied to you even though the code is open.
Mozilla VPN
Firefox's own subscription VPN: ten dollars a month, five devices, and the smallest network in this comparison at roughly 500 servers across 30 or so countries. The client is published under the Mozilla Public License, so it is as inspectable as the others, but a Mozilla account is required, which means the subscription is attached to an email address. Nothing on Mozilla's pages documents port forwarding. The reason to pick it is a name you already trust and a subscription that sits beside the rest of your Mozilla account, rather than any privacy feature the others lack.
How we researched this
Open source on this page means the provider publishes its own desktop app code in a public repository under an open license, and we read the license file or repository notes for each: GPL version 3 for four of them, GPL version 2 for Windscribe, and the Mozilla Public License for Mozilla VPN. Obscura was cut because its client license, PolyForm Noncommercial, lets you read the code but is not open source. OVPN has no public client repository we could find, Tailscale is a mesh network rather than a VPN service, and NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark and CyberGhost do not ship open source apps. AirVPN belongs on the list, but its site would not show us a price, device limit or home country.
There is no speed column, because no provider publishes speed figures that compare fairly with anyone else's. Prices are single-month rates, the most comparable basis across these providers; longer terms cut most of them by very different amounts. Three cells are empty: Proton's price never showed on a page we could read, Mullvad states no country count in its own words, and Mozilla says nothing about port forwarding. Server counts are the providers' own and shift often (Windscribe's two pages disagree on its city count), so read them as approximate.