Pay for Proton

Proton’s own plan guide lists prices in euros. Mail Plus is €4.99 a month on monthly billing, or €47.88 for a year (€3.99 a month). Proton Unlimited is €12.99 a month, or €119.88 for a year (€9.99 a month). Duo, for two people with 2 TB of shared storage, is €19.99 a month or €179.88 a year; Family, for up to six people with 3 TB, is €29.99 a month or €287.88 a year; and Visionary, with 6 TB and extras, is €39.99 a month or €359.88 a year. VPN Plus and Pass Plus are also sold on their own, on 1-, 12- and 24-month terms whose prices change with Proton’s promotions — check the pricing page for the current figure.

Proton accepts all major credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and outside those it also takes Bitcoin, cash sent by post to its Geneva office, and bank transfer. Worldwide you can pay in Swiss francs, euros or US dollars, with some regional currencies available for card and PayPal payments. Paying in US dollars means a dollar-funded Mehbit card is charged without any currency conversion on the way.

So why use a card when Proton takes Bitcoin directly? Because of how renewals work. Bitcoin payments do not renew anything by themselves: they are converted into credit on your Proton account, and Proton’s own help page says it is not possible to pay for your subscription automatically with Bitcoin. You have to send a fresh payment manually at least 24 hours before each bill is due, and confirmations can take up to a day. Bitcoin also is not offered during sign-up — you create a free account first and upgrade from settings. A card, by contrast, is charged automatically on each renewal date, so your mailbox, VPN and vault never lapse because you forgot a transfer. If you prefer crypto end to end, Bitcoin is a perfectly good option; if you want a subscription that simply keeps running, a USDT-funded card is the more convenient route.

Know the renewal rules before you pay. Proton subscriptions renew automatically for the same length you first bought — a month renews for a month, a year for a year — and at the price that applies at renewal time, which can differ from an introductory price. To stop a renewal, downgrade the plan before the current period ends. With a card on file, keep enough balance on it ahead of the renewal date; an empty card is declined even though Proton accepts the card itself.

The refund policy is straightforward. Proton’s terms give a full refund if you cancel within 30 days of the initial purchase. It can be claimed only once per user, is processed within 30 days of the request, and is paid back in the original currency to the original payment method — for a card purchase, that means back onto the Mehbit card you used. Cash and bank-transfer payments cannot be refunded at all, which is one more reason the card is the practical choice if you want the guarantee.