Mullvad vs CyberGhost: privacy or price?

Mullvad’s flat €5 a month is built to win price fights on patience: rivals’ intro rates expire, renewals jump, and the flat rate sits still. CyberGhost never gives it the chance. Its long plan renews at $56.94 a year — about $4.75 a month — which stays below Mullvad’s €5 (about $5.71) not just during the promo, but permanently.

That removes the argument Mullvad usually falls back on and narrows its case to the thing almost nobody else does: sign-up generates a random account number, no email or name attached, payable with cash by post or Monero — our Mullvad review covers how deep that goes. CyberGhost runs a standard email checkout and spends its effort on consumer comfort instead: 7 device slots to Mullvad’s 5, 100 server countries to 50, three protocols to one, no-card trials on four platforms to none, and 45 days to change your mind on long plans against 14.

Every number below comes from the two providers’ own pricing, policy, server, and audit pages, as of 23 Jul 2026; the speed and streaming claims rest on two named third-party comparisons. Both providers appear in our full VPN rankings.

Mullvad vs CyberGhost at a glance

Mullvad vs CyberGhost, from each provider's own pages as of 23 Jul 2026

	Mullvad	CyberGhost
Monthly price	€5 — about $5.71	$12.99
Best long-term deal	€5/mo — no term discounts exist	$2.19/mo — $56.94 for 26 months
Renewal after intro term	€5/mo, flat since 2009	$56.94/yr — about $4.75/mo
Money-back window	14 days, selected payment methods	45 days; 14 on the monthly plan
Free trial	None	24 h desktop, 3 days Android, 7 days iOS — no card
Simultaneous devices	5	7
Server network	584 servers, 50 countries — no virtual locations	100 countries — some virtual, flagged in the list
Protocols	WireGuard only since 15 Jan 2026	WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2
RAM-only servers	Yes — STBoot, no persistent storage	Yes — wiped on every reboot
Latest audit	Cure53 infrastructure audit, Jun 2024	Deloitte Audit Romania no-logs audit, 2025 (3rd)
Anonymous sign-up	Yes — random account number, no email	No — email required
Jurisdiction	Sweden (Mullvad VPN AB)	Romania — outside 5/9/14 Eyes

Why doesn’t Mullvad’s flat rate win here?

Because CyberGhost’s renewal price is lower than Mullvad’s only price. Month to month, Mullvad is the clear pick: €5, about $5.71 at the exchange rate its pricing page displayed on 23 Jul 2026, against $12.99. Commit to anything longer and CyberGhost takes every row. Its “2 Years + 2 Months” deal bills $56.94 up front for 26 months — $2.19 a month under the 83% summer promotion running at the time of check — while the same 26 months of Mullvad costs €130, about $148. The usual intro-rate trap is present, and for once it doesn’t bite: renewal more than doubles the effective price to $56.94 a year, about $4.75 a month, and that doubled price still sits under Mullvad’s flat rate.

What you pay	Mullvad	CyberGhost
One month, rolling	€5 (about $5.71)	$12.99
First 26 months	€130 (about $148)	$56.94, billed up front
Each year after that	€60 (about $68.50)	$56.94

Three fine-print notes. CyberGhost’s headline discount rides a rotating promotion, so the durable number is the $56.94 renewal on its buy page. Mullvad bills in euros with VAT included, so its dollar figure moves with the exchange rate. And Mullvad’s one discount anywhere is 10% off for paying with cryptocurrency — no sales, and the price is unchanged since 2009.

How easy is it to try — and to walk away?

CyberGhost holds the widest exit doors of this pair, and of our full VPN rankings generally: a 45-day money-back guarantee on plans of six months or longer — the monthly plan gets 14 days — plus free trials that need no payment card: 24 hours on Windows and macOS, 3 days on Android, 7 days on iOS.

Mullvad sells no trial of any kind, and its 14-day guarantee is limited to credit card, PayPal, Google Play, Swish, and bank-wire payments. The methods that make a Mullvad account anonymous forfeit the guarantee: cash is ruled out by anti-money-laundering rules, and cryptocurrency and vouchers are excluded too, while App Store purchases refund through Apple. Anonymity and an easy exit are a pick-one pair here.

Which network do you actually get?

CyberGhost advertises servers in 100 countries but publishes no headline fleet total; some locations are virtual — in-country IP address, hardware elsewhere — and its public server list flags which. Mullvad publishes the opposite kind of list: 584 servers in 50 countries and 91 cities, counted live on 23 Jul 2026, with no virtual locations and no OS-level access for hosting providers. Mullvad covers half as many countries, so check its public list before paying if you need a specific one.

Protocols fork harder. CyberGhost switches between WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2; Mullvad has been WireGuard-only since 15 January 2026, when OpenVPN was removed client- and server-side, so a router or legacy setup that depends on OpenVPN can no longer connect to it. On top of its one protocol Mullvad runs quantum-resistant tunnels and DAITA traffic obfuscation — no equivalent appears on CyberGhost’s features page.

Who proves their privacy better?

The paperwork differs in kind, and the split is the honest heart of this matchup: CyberGhost works harder to prove it keeps nothing; Mullvad is built to have less to keep. Deloitte Audit Romania has audited CyberGhost’s no-logs policy three times — 2022, 2024, and 2025 — under ISAE 3000 (Revised), most recently covering incident response, the server network, configuration and change management, and the dedicated-IP token system, with the full report downloadable and quarterly transparency reports published alongside. Mullvad’s most recent infrastructure audit is Cure53’s fourth, from June 2024: scoped to anything that would impact privacy, it found no way to compromise a user’s traffic anonymity — though it is a security audit, not a formal no-logs attestation, and Mullvad’s 2025–2026 audits covered other components. What each engagement type does and doesn’t demonstrate is unpacked in no-log VPN audits explained.

Jurisdictions favor neither side clearly. Mullvad VPN AB is Swedish, and its legal help page states VPN providers fall outside Sweden’s data-retention rules under the LEK statute. CyberGhost operates from Romania — outside the 5/9/14 Eyes alliances, per its no-logs page, with no mandatory data-retention law for VPNs. Both fleets are RAM-only: CyberGhost’s servers wipe on every reboot, and Mullvad’s boot through its own STBoot with no persistent storage.

Speed, streaming, and torrenting

No neutral benchmark with a published methodology covers this pair among the sources here. The two third-party comparisons that do exist — vpn-picker.com and fahimai.com — agree on direction twice over: Mullvad ahead on raw speed, CyberGhost ahead for streaming, with Mullvad described as hit-or-miss at reaching major platforms. Neither publishes a repeatable test setup, so take the direction and not a margin. If streaming decides the purchase, start with our best VPNs for streaming and use CyberGhost’s 45-day window to test the services you actually watch.

Torrenting adds one hard fact: Mullvad removed port forwarding — new ports were disabled on 29 May 2023 — which matters to heavy seeders. CyberGhost’s stance on port forwarding isn’t covered in the sources here, so that point stays open rather than counted.

Choose Mullvad if

• Privacy leads: a numbered account with no email, and cash or Monero payment.
• You pay month to month — about $5.71 against CyberGhost’s $12.99.
• You want dedicated hardware only: no virtual locations anywhere on its map.
• WireGuard-only fits your devices — quantum-resistant tunnels and DAITA included.

Get it at Mullvad — the streaming trade-off above is the main thing to weigh first.

Choose CyberGhost if

• Total cost decides: cheaper than Mullvad at every commitment length, including after renewal.
• You want room to back out — 45 days on long plans, and no-card trials on four platforms.
• You need reach or protocol breadth: 100 countries to 50, three protocols to one.
• Streaming is part of the job, where the third-party record consistently favors it.
• Seven device slots cover your household better than five.

Check current terms at CyberGhost; the trade-offs get full treatment in our CyberGhost review.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Mullvad or CyberGhost?

CyberGhost for most people: it costs less at every commitment length ($2.19 a month for the first 26 months, then $56.94 a year), protects 7 devices to Mullvad's 5, covers 100 countries to 50, and refunds for 45 days on long plans. Mullvad is better when privacy outranks everything: no email at sign-up, and cash or Monero accepted.

Is Mullvad more private than CyberGhost?

At sign-up, yes: Mullvad generates a random account number and collects no email or personal details, while CyberGhost requires an email address. Both run RAM-only servers under no-logs policies. CyberGhost's policy has been audited three times by Deloitte Audit Romania, most recently in 2025; Mullvad's infrastructure was last audited by Cure53 in June 2024, which found no way to compromise user anonymity.

Which is cheaper, Mullvad or CyberGhost?

It depends on commitment. Month to month, Mullvad: €5 (about $5.71) against CyberGhost's $12.99. On any longer term, CyberGhost: $56.94 buys the first 26 months, and renewal stays at $56.94 a year — about $4.75 a month — while 26 months of Mullvad costs about $148 and each further year about $68.50.

Which VPN is faster, Mullvad or CyberGhost?

The third-party comparisons covering this pair, including vpn-picker.com and fahimai.com, put Mullvad ahead on speed. None publishes a reproducible methodology, so the margin is unknown. Both services run WireGuard, and Mullvad runs nothing else.

Which is better for streaming, Mullvad or CyberGhost?

CyberGhost, per the third-party write-ups that cover the pair — they describe Mullvad as hit-or-miss at accessing major streaming platforms. None publishes reproducible region-by-region results, so the practical test is CyberGhost's 45-day money-back window on plans of six months or longer.

How many devices can you use with Mullvad vs CyberGhost?

CyberGhost allows 7 simultaneous connections per subscription; Mullvad allows 5 per account. Neither sells a bigger allowance — if you need more, Surfshark, Private Internet Access, and Windscribe all advertise unlimited connections.