Just found my Vivaldi update contained a little more than just bugfixes… it now has Proton VPN built in.
It’s actually part of the browser, not an extension, so I’m in two minds whether I like that… or not.
You need either a Vivaldi account or a Proton account, so it’s not completely anonymous, but it’s a start.
The free-tier of Proton VPN also appears to be bandwidth limited and your exit point is randomised, so… yeah, it’s ok…
I’d use vivaldi if they used Firefox engine
Proton VPN built in
Seems like it’s still an extension and can be removed; but personally I’d rather not have random extensions installed with browser updates…
Not really a big problem I don’t think but also:
- Why? Why not let your users decide?
- How much are they being paid for this?
- Agreed
- Well, if it’s the free tier option, then I guess not a lot…?
I’m all for revenue income to support these tools - as long as I’m not the product - I just won’t be using this option.
if it’s the free tier option, then I guess not a lot…?
The free tier option exists for a reason. It’s basically free advertising.
Definitely not a good thing. I use Proton VPN, but only because I paid for a license before I realized the CEO is a scumbag. A lot of people are moving away from Proton’s platform, so a browser choosing to bundle it in is just privacy-violating bloatware for everyone except for a subset of users who are also still using Proton, and also for some reason don’t just have the standalone app installed.
I’m curious as to why you think the CEO is a scumbag? This article does a good job of clearing up the outrage I had seen towards the CEO.
The article is a PR puff piece. What Andy said made absolutely zero sense at the time, and even more so now. “…tables have completely turned.” Sir, the table is round and covered in shit. Always has been.
Yeah, just read a bit more, where it’s implied that Vivaldi recommend you share your Vivaldi account recovery with Proton, which was the problem recently:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/privacy/proton-vpn-for-vivaldi/
Allow Vivaldi to share your account’s recovery email address with Proton (only shown during first use).
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/27/vivaldi_proton_vpn/
Proton VPN is operated by the same company behind the encrypted email service, Proton Mail. The business found itself in hot water in 2024 after complying with a legal request to hand over the recovery email address for a Proton Mail account.
Hmm… this doesn’t sound good to me.
Id be very curious to see numbers on how many are actually moving away.
Thankfully I have been switching to Zen Browser just earlier this week :) I am very happy with the UI and ‘firefox backend’ (I get addons from here, not the highly censored google chrome webstore.)
I think they had an issue with a back door needing to be patched, has that been done yet? It seems very sleek otherwise. I’m running librewolf though, so UX upgrade would visually be better for me if Zen does have that fixed
Was that the one with the vertical task bar that couldn’t be changed??
Or is it better now…?
i do not trust proton to not share data with the us government considering how chummy the ceo is with trump and the republican party.
proton is just another big tech cryptofash broligarchy company and its shameful vivaldi is getting in bed with them
Glad you beat me to the post. I just signed on to bitch about this. Incredibly disappointed Vivaldi did this. Proton and it’s leadership are clearly no longer oriented with true privacy. Even if I didn’t despise Proton, most of us that care about this sort of thing already have VPN accounts and don’t want this bloat injected into our browser. This feels like Vivaldi finally jumping the shark to me. Each version feels more and more bloated.
Regardless if you like Proton or not, having it bundled by default isn’t good. It should be opt-in.
