Conflict of interest note: Windscribe is commercial open source VPN service provider based in Canada.
Why is ProtonVPN lying about running price sensitivity testing on their customers?
Their pricing page gives you one of two prices at random. This is A/B testing, but instead they’re saying the price difference is due to remnants of a sale.
Their own code says otherwise.
Price sensitivity testing is when a company quotes different people different prices for the same product to see if sales hold steady at the higher price. Not to be confused with adaptive or dynamic pricing which uses your personal data to adjust prices to you.
People on ProtonVPN’s subreddit noticed they were being quoted different prices for the same thing. ProtonVPN’s General Manager replied that the differences were due to remnants of a recent sale that wasn’t “universally refreshed”.
This was a lie, and we have proof.
That proof is their own code sorting every visitor into a price variant. It’s labeled right in the HTML tag:
ab-test:VpnHpAndPricingVpnPlusSensibility300726
Which in plain English is:
VPN Homepage and Pricing for the VPN Plus plan, Sensibility test tagged 30/07/26.
The price continues to flip-flop as of writing this. Expired sales don’t do this.
Something like a Cloudflare-cached page doesn’t add price sensitivity A/B tests to your HTML code.
Proton, if you want to run A/B tests, at least don’t lie about it to your users.
Do you think that “We are a neutral and safe haven for your personal data, committed to defending your freedom” is fulfilled by a transparency page?
Edit: after I asked this question, malebedo shut down. There is no further constructive dialogue after this point.
This is a lie.
Which provider do you use? Should be easy to answer.
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And I’m going to assume that, since I asked you two questions earlier, one implicit (is Proton an outlier when it comes to handling subpoenas), and another explicit (which service do you use instead of Proton), and, instead of answering, you would rather keep peddling the same FUD over and over again, that you are full of shit.
I don’t care if Proton is just as bad as everybody else, assuming that’s even true.
I care that you refuse to answer
Because your silence sounds like an admission that you believe Proton is lying.
And I care that you refused to answer either of my questions, which I asked first.
Which by the way, makes you a hypocrite.
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I did not say that. Again, putting your beliefs before the facts.
But I can play this game too.
You have admitted that you use a service that necessarily follows the same legal framework as Proton, which makes you a hypocrite. On top of that, your refusal to admit it and your systematic and continuous campaign against Proton, suggests that you may actually be just a marketing asset astroturfing for some other company and/or organization.
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