Compare Mullvad and OctoVPN on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: ExpressVPN, IVPN
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.
Norway· VPN Services
Needs review
Shortlist when you need a Norwegian-operated WireGuard/OpenVPN with claimed DDoS-protected exits and optional private dedicated IPs for gaming or small-group use. Skip when independent no-logs audits, enterprise SSO/fleet controls, or strict EU-only egress are mandatory—consider Mullvad or Proton VPN instead.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Mullvad | OctoVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Sweden | Norway |
| Category | VPN Services | VPN Services |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | Sweden | Norway |
| Legal entity | Mullvad VPN AB (reg. no. 559238-4001); parent Amagicom AB | OctoSEC AS (org. no. 926185918), Bosmyrkollen 9, 4620 Kristiansand S |
| Governing law | Swedish / EU law (GDPR); see Swedish legislation help page | Laws of Norway; Kristiansand tingrett (per ToS), subject to mandatory consumer rules |
| US parent / control | No known US parent | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Medium | Medium |
| Hosting / residency | 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. | Multi-region VPN exits (EU and non-EU, including multiple US cities). Payments via Stripe (US). Private-server DDoS marketed with Cloudflare Partner. Hosting providers not fully listed publicly; third-party maps associate some PoPs with OVHcloud, Linode/Akamai, BuyVM, and others. No complete official subprocessor register found. |
| Summary | 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. | Norwegian (OctoSEC AS) WireGuard/OpenVPN service focused on DDoS-protected exits, low-latency gaming use, and optional private dedicated servers—not an audited enterprise fleet VPN. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Mullvad | OctoVPN |
|---|---|---|
| HQ / entity | Gothenburg, Sweden — Mullvad VPN AB (parent Amagicom AB) | OctoSEC AS (926185918), Kristiansand, Norway; founded 2020-11-25 |
| Ownership | 100% founders Fredrik Stromberg and Daniel Berntsson | Not listed |
| Protocols | WireGuard (primary), OpenVPN; bridges/obfuscation | WireGuard; OpenVPN TCP/UDP |
| Clients | GPL-3 apps (Win/macOS/Linux/Android/iOS); WireGuard configs + CLI | Not listed |
| Sessions | Five simultaneous connections; shared exits only | Not listed |
| Commercial model | Prepaid access; no free tier; cash/crypto/card/PayPal (see site) | Subscription + optional private servers (see vendor site) |
| Infrastructure | RAM-only VPN relays; multi-region colo (owned + rented) | Not listed |
| Independent audits | Multiple public app/infra audits (Cure53, ROS, Assured, X41, …) | Not listed |
| B2B packaging | Self-serve consumer ToS; no productized enterprise pack found | Not listed |
| Locations | Not listed | Over 40 claimed (NA, EU, APAC); multi-region including US |
| Shared plan sessions | Not listed | 1–3 concurrent devices by tier (vendor site) |
| Private servers | Not listed | Dedicated IP, multi-user, optional Cloudflare Partner DDoS |
| Independent audit | Not listed | No public no-logs audit found |
| Payment processor | Not listed | Stripe (per privacy policy) |
| Key capabilities | Mullvad | OctoVPN |
|---|---|---|
| EU-operated (Sweden) | Yes | Not listed |
| Numbered accounts | Yes | Not listed |
| GPL-3 clients | Yes | Not listed |
| WireGuard + multihop | Yes | Not listed |
| Public security audits | Yes | Not listed |
| RAM-only relays | Yes | Not listed |
| Norway-operated (EEA) | Not listed | Yes |
| WireGuard + OpenVPN | Not listed | Yes |
| DDoS-protected exits (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
| Private dedicated servers | Not listed | Yes |
| Zero-logs (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
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.
DDoS-protected shared VPN exits
All published shared locations are marketed with enterprise-grade DDoS protection on the exit path, aimed at absorbing IP-targeted attacks common in multiplayer gaming while keeping WireGuard/OpenVPN tunnels available. Confirm current coverage and mitigation scope with the vendor for high-risk use.
WireGuard and OpenVPN on every location
Every plan includes both WireGuard (speed/latency focus) and OpenVPN over TCP or UDP for restrictive networks. Protocol choice is productized for mixed device fleets rather than WireGuard-only stacks.
Private dedicated VPN servers with exclusive IP
Optional private servers provide an isolated host, dedicated IP, live resource monitoring, region changes, multi-user management with expiry, and higher concurrent connection limits than shared tiers. Private-server marketing includes Cloudflare Partner anti-DDoS capacity (claimed high-capacity protection).
Gaming-oriented routing and CoD DNS helper
Positioning and server placement target low ping near major exchanges. CoD VPN is a separate DNS-based Call of Duty matchmaking product (not a full-tunnel VPN) that can be combined with OctoVPN when users want both lobby routing and encrypted general traffic.
Cross-platform clients with tight device caps
Official materials list Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and router support under a single subscription model. Standard shared tiers allow only one to three concurrent devices depending on plan—plan capacity carefully for households or small teams.
| Assurance & compliance | Mullvad | OctoVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | 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. | Not found Privacy policy claims zero VPN activity logs; no public third-party audit PDF or firm engagement found on official pages. |
| ISO 27001 | Not found | Not found |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Not found | Not found |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed Swedish EU entity; privacy policy addresses GDPR rights and states personal data stored/processed only in EU/EEA. | Vendor claimed Norwegian EEA entity; privacy policy cites GDPR and Personopplysningsloven; Datatilsynet complaint path listed. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | 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. | Partial No known US parent (Norwegian AS). Medium indicative exposure: Stripe payments, Cloudflare Partner DDoS for private servers, multi-region exits including US hosts; hosting subprocessors not fully published. Not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | Not found Consumer privacy policy and ToS published; no productized enterprise DPA flow found on primary pages. | Not found Consumer ToS/privacy only on public site; no productized B2B DPA flow found. |
| EU AI Act | 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). | Not applicable Connectivity/VPN product; not an AI system under typical procurement framing. |
| Considerations & known limitations | Mullvad | OctoVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer packaging, not enterprise control plane | 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. | Not listed |
| US payment processors when card/PayPal used | 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. | Not listed |
| Multi-region exit nodes including non-EU | 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. | Medium Traffic can exit in the US and other non-EU countries. Strict residency policies need operational controls (allowed server lists), not HQ location alone. |
| No new port forwarding; no dedicated IP | 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. | Not listed |
| Weak recovery without the account number | Low No email-based reset by default. Losing the number can mean losing access; treat it as a secret in team runbooks. | Not listed |
| US CLOUD Act residual path (indicative) | 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. | Not listed |
| No public independent no-logs audit | Not listed | High Zero-logs is first-party only. If vendor risk requires audit letters or ISO/SOC, treat as a blocker until evidence is obtained offline. |
| Incomplete public subprocessor / hosting list | Not listed | Medium Stripe and Cloudflare (private servers) are named; full server-host inventory is not published. Third-party PoP maps are incomplete leads. Demand a written subprocessor list for procurement. |
| US-linked processors and multi-region exits | Not listed | Medium No US parent found, but Stripe, Cloudflare commercial DDoS, and US PoPs/US VPS brands create a non-zero indicative CLOUD Act / US process path versus pure EU hosting. Not legal advice. |
| Low concurrent device caps on shared plans | Not listed | Low Shared tiers advertise 1–3 devices. Households and teams may need private servers or multiple subscriptions. |
| Norwegian jurisdiction (Nine Eyes) | Not listed | Low Norway is often grouped in Nine Eyes intelligence cooperation discussions. Policy claims zero activity data to hand over; still a jurisdiction factor for some threat models. |
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.
When: You prioritise audited no-logs and minimal identity over gaming DDoS features
Consider: Mullvad
Mullvad is stronger on the public privacy/audit narrative; weaker on marketed exit DDoS and private gaming servers.
When: You want a broader European privacy suite (VPN plus mail/storage ecosystem) or a free tier
Consider: Proton VPN
Different product scope; confirm DDoS and dedicated-IP needs separately.
When: You need remote port forwarding and open-source clients
Consider: AirVPN
AirVPN is stronger for inbound ports and GPLv3 Eddie; different eligibility constraints apply.
When: You need a large commercial consumer brand with maximum server footprint
Consider: NordVPN or ExpressVPN
Trade small Norwegian operator transparency for scale and packaging; re-check audit and ownership facts for each.