Compare GOOSE VPN and Mullvad on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: ExpressVPN
Netherlands· VPN Services
Needs review
Shortlist GOOSE when you want a simple Dutch B.V. consumer VPN with multi-platform apps, optional Cyber Alarm threat alerts, and prepaid/lifetime packaging. Skip when you need independent no-logs audits, WireGuard-first fleets, or strict anonymity ops—prefer Mullvad, Proton VPN, or AirVPN instead.
Sweden· VPN Services
Needs review
Shortlist when you need a Swedish founder-owned privacy VPN with numbered accounts, GPL clients, RAM-only relays, and a dense public audit trail. Skip when you need dedicated IPs, remote port forwarding, or productized enterprise SSO/ISO packaging—consider Proton VPN for suite/free-tier onboarding or AirVPN for inbound ports.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | GOOSE VPN | Mullvad |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Netherlands | Sweden |
| Category | VPN Services | VPN Services |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | Netherlands | Sweden |
| Legal entity | GOOSE B.V. (KvK 34278975), Treubstraat 31, 2288 EH Rijswijk | Mullvad VPN AB (reg. no. 559238-4001); parent Amagicom AB |
| Governing law | Dutch law; competent court Rotterdam (terms) | Swedish / EU law (GDPR); see Swedish legislation help page |
| US parent / control | No known US parent | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Medium | Medium |
| Hosting / residency | Vendor claims VPN server network owned/administered by Goose B.V. (NL) with 100+ exits in ~30 countries including US and other non-EU regions. No public DC/subprocessor register for infrastructure. Website/support path cookies name Cloudflare, Google Analytics, Facebook, LiveChat, Trustpilot, and affiliate tooling (US-group/global SaaS). | Multi-region VPN exits (EU and outside EU, including USA) on owned and rented colo (public provider list: e.g. M247, DataPacket, xtom, Zenlayer, Blix). RAM-only VPN OS. Account/payment personal data claimed stored only in EU/EEA. Payment subprocessors include Stripe and PayPal (US-group) plus SEB for bank/Swish when those methods are used; support email self-hosted by Mullvad since 2024. |
| Summary | Dutch GOOSE B.V. VPN for consumers: multi-platform apps, IKEv2/OpenVPN, optional Cyber Alarm threat alerts, streaming and P2P-labelled servers, subscription or lifetime packaging. | Swedish privacy VPN with numbered accounts (no email), GPL-3 clients, RAM-only relays, and repeated third-party security audits—built for anonymity over enterprise packaging. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | GOOSE VPN | Mullvad |
|---|---|---|
| HQ | Rijswijk, Netherlands (GOOSE B.V.) | Not listed |
| Founded | Around 2016 (company materials) | Not listed |
| Protocols | IKEv2 (default), OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, PPTP | WireGuard (primary), OpenVPN; bridges/obfuscation |
| Network | 100+ servers / ~30 countries (vendor) | Not listed |
| Open source | No | Not listed |
| Self-host | No (SaaS VPN) | Not listed |
| Commercial model | Subscription + lifetime; device tiers; 30-day refund | Prepaid access; no free tier; cash/crypto/card/PayPal (see site) |
| HQ / entity | Not listed | Gothenburg, Sweden — Mullvad VPN AB (parent Amagicom AB) |
| Ownership | Not listed | 100% founders Fredrik Stromberg and Daniel Berntsson |
| Clients | Not listed | GPL-3 apps (Win/macOS/Linux/Android/iOS); WireGuard configs + CLI |
| Sessions | Not listed | Five simultaneous connections; shared exits only |
| Infrastructure | Not listed | RAM-only VPN relays; multi-region colo (owned + rented) |
| Independent audits | Not listed | Multiple public app/infra audits (Cure53, ROS, Assured, X41, …) |
| B2B packaging | Not listed | Self-serve consumer ToS; no productized enterprise pack found |
| Key capabilities | GOOSE VPN | Mullvad |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch GOOSE B.V. | Yes | Not listed |
| Multi-platform apps | Yes | Not listed |
| IKEv2 + OpenVPN | Yes | Not listed |
| Cyber Alarm (optional) | Yes | Not listed |
| Lifetime plan option | Yes | Not listed |
| EU-operated (Sweden) | Not listed | Yes |
| Numbered accounts | Not listed | Yes |
| GPL-3 clients | Not listed | Yes |
| WireGuard + multihop | Not listed | Yes |
| Public security audits | Not listed | Yes |
| RAM-only relays | Not listed | Yes |
Dutch-operated multi-platform VPN apps
Native clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Android TV, and many routers under GOOSE B.V. (Rijswijk). One-click connect with autopilot for trusted networks. Plan tiers cap simultaneous devices (commonly 1/5/10)—confirm the current package before multi-device rollouts.
IKEv2 default plus OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP
Official FAQ lists IKEv2 as the standard protocol, with OpenVPN (harder to block, more HTTPS-like), L2TP/IPSec (routers), and legacy PPTP. WireGuard is not listed on the primary protocol FAQ—teams standardising on WireGuard should verify client builds or consider another provider.
Streaming- and P2P-labelled server map
GOOSE advertises 100+ servers across about 30 countries (including EU exits plus US, Canada, Asia, Oceania, and Brazil). Dedicated streaming labels and P2P-allowed nodes; terms ban P2P on servers marked No P2P and may terminate accounts for violations.
Cyber Alarm in-tunnel threat notifications
Optional Cyber Alarm analyses traffic inside the VPN tunnel against a malware/ransomware database (updated frequently) and pushes alerts plus a dashboard/weekly report. Vendor FAQ: not fully anonymous while Cyber Alarm is on; switch to a normal VPN server for stricter anonymity.
Kill switch and stated 256-bit encryption
Marketing and product pages claim AES-style 256-bit encryption and a kill switch that blocks traffic if the VPN drops. Useful on public Wi-Fi; still validate DNS/IPv6 leak behaviour on your OS stack—GOOSE does not publish a third-party security audit PDF.
Numbered accounts (no email required)
Signup generates a random account number with prepaid time remaining—no username, password, or email by default. Multiple people can share a number; recovery without the number is intentionally hard. Best when identity linkage is a risk; use cash or self-hosted crypto payments if you also want to avoid card/PayPal trails.
WireGuard-first apps with multihop and obfuscation
Official clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS use WireGuard with multihop, quantum-resistant tunnel options, DAITA traffic-analysis resistance, and bridge/obfuscation modes (Shadowsocks, UDP-over-TCP, QUIC, LWO on selected servers) for censored networks. Kill switch and tunnel DNS are on by default. Up to five simultaneous connections per account.
GPL-3 open-source clients
Desktop and mobile client code is published under GPL-3 (github.com/mullvad/mullvadvpn-app) with public audit reports in-repo. WireGuard config export and a CLI support non-GUI deployments. iOS App Store distribution uses Apple's EULA rather than GPL for the shipped binary.
RAM-only relays and public audit trail
VPN infrastructure completed migration to diskless/RAM-only operation so reboots discard volatile state. Multiple independent infrastructure and app assessments (Cure53, Radically Open Security, Assured, X41, and others) publish findings; Cure53's work explicitly looked for privacy-impacting flaws on sample relays.
DAITA and quantum-resistant tunnels
DAITA (Defense Against AI-guided Traffic Analysis) adds padding/cover traffic patterns against modern traffic-analysis models. Quantum-resistant WireGuard tunnel modes are available across platforms and were rolled out as defaults on supported clients—useful for long-lived confidentiality threat models, at some performance cost.
| Assurance & compliance | GOOSE VPN | Mullvad |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | Not found Privacy policy claims no activity/DNS/connection-IP logging on VPN path; no public third-party audit PDF located | Verified Public Cure53 infrastructure reports (e.g. 2021, 2024) and other third-party app/infra audits; Cure53 stated no PII on assessed systems and no anonymity compromise found in 2024 sample. April 2023 Swedish police search reported no customer data seized. |
| ISO 27001 | Not found | Not found |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Not found | Not found |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed Dutch controller GOOSE B.V.; privacy policy cites GDPR Art. 6 bases and data-subject rights via contact form | Vendor claimed Swedish EU entity; privacy policy addresses GDPR rights and states personal data stored/processed only in EU/EEA. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Partial EU entity / no known US parent, but public site uses Cloudflare, Google Analytics, Facebook, LiveChat and similar US-group SaaS; VPN exits include US locations. Not legal advice. | Partial EU entity, founder-owned, no known US parent. Partial residual exposure: Stripe and PayPal as payment processors (US-group) when those methods are chosen; multi-region exits include US colo. Not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | Not found Privacy policy mentions processor agreements with subprocessors; no public B2B DPA download/portal found | Not found Consumer privacy policy and ToS published; no productized enterprise DPA flow found on primary pages. |
| EU AI Act | Not applicable Consumer VPN / threat filter product, not an AI system offering under typical AI Act scoping | Not applicable VPN connectivity product; not an AI system under typical procurement framing (DAITA is a traffic-defense feature, not a general-purpose AI product). |
| Considerations & known limitations | GOOSE VPN | Mullvad |
|---|---|---|
| No public independent no-logs audit | High Security and privacy claims rest on first-party policy language. High-sensitivity buyers should demand audit evidence or choose an audited peer. | Not listed |
| US-group website and support subprocessors | Medium Cookie/privacy tables list Cloudflare, Google Analytics, Facebook, LiveChat and others on the marketing/support path—separate from the claimed self-run VPN tunnel but relevant for account and support data. | Not listed |
| PPTP and L2TP still offered | Medium Official FAQ still documents PPTP and L2TP/IPSec. Misconfiguration can weaken security; enforce OpenVPN or IKEv2 in managed environments. | Not listed |
| Cyber Alarm reduces anonymity | Medium Vendor states Cyber Alarm analyses tunnel traffic and is not fully anonymous. Enable only when threat alerts outweigh anonymity goals. | Not listed |
| Netherlands Fourteen Eyes jurisdiction | Low Dutch HQ is EU/GDPR-friendly for many buyers but is not a classic privacy-haven jurisdiction. Align with your threat model. | Not listed |
| Fair-use bandwidth policy | Low Terms allow GOOSE to contact heavy users (about 1% of network bandwidth) to reduce use or pay more despite unlimited marketing language. | Not listed |
| Consumer packaging, not enterprise control plane | Not listed | Medium Self-serve numbered accounts without productized SSO/MDM org admin, ISO/SOC claims, or click-through DPA. Procurement that requires those artifacts needs offline negotiation or another vendor. |
| US payment processors when card/PayPal used | Not listed | Medium Stripe and PayPal process identity-bearing payment data outside the pure numbered-account model. Cash or self-hosted crypto reduces that trail; card/PayPal does not. |
| Multi-region exit nodes including non-EU | Not listed | Medium Traffic can leave the tunnel outside the EU depending on server choice. Strict residency policies need operational EU-only exit controls, not HQ branding alone. |
| No new port forwarding; no dedicated IP | Not listed | Low Remote port forwarding was disabled for new ports in 2023; dedicated IPs are not offered by design. Choose AirVPN or self-hosted WireGuard if inbound reachability is required. |
| Weak recovery without the account number | Not listed | Low No email-based reset by default. Losing the number can mean losing access; treat it as a secret in team runbooks. |
| US CLOUD Act residual path (indicative) | Not listed | Low No known US parent. Residual exposure mainly via US payment SaaS and optional US exits—not ownership. Not a guarantee against other LE cooperation. |
When: You need audit-led no-logs evidence and anonymous account options
Consider: Mullvad
Stronger independent reputation and cash/crypto-style anonymity culture than GOOSE's retail model
When: You want an EU brand with broader suite integration and published security programme depth
Consider: Proton VPN
Better fit when VPN is part of a wider EU privacy stack
When: You need power-user configuration, port forwarding, and community-driven server transparency
Consider: AirVPN
Prefer when GOOSE's consumer simplicity is not enough
When: You need inbound remote port forwarding or Dynamic DNS
Consider: AirVPN
Mullvad disabled new port forwards in 2023; AirVPN remains port-forward oriented.
When: You want a free tier plus mail/drive in one European privacy suite
Consider: Proton VPN
Proton is account-based with a broader product suite; Mullvad optimizes for minimal identity.
When: You need maximum consumer server footprint and streaming-oriented features
Consider: NordVPN or Surfshark
Trade a denser feature catalog for weaker accountless/audit differentiation vs Mullvad.
When: You need enterprise zero-trust mesh or org-wide device VPN with SSO
Consider: Self-hosted WireGuard, Tailscale, or NetBird
Different product class than consumer privacy VPN.