VPN Review · Australia · 2026

Mullvad VPN review: the privacy pick, not the marketing pick.

Q: Is Mullvad VPN good in Australia?

Yes. Mullvad runs servers in Sydney and Melbourne, so latency for Australian users is low — typically 10–30ms of added delay on a modern phone. The bigger reasons to choose it are privacy-specific: anonymous account numbers instead of email signup, multiple public independent audits, a no-log policy that was court-tested when Swedish police raided its offices in 2023 and found nothing to seize, and a flat €5/month price with no upsell tiers.

Q: How much does Mullvad cost in AUD?

Mullvad charges a flat €5 per month (roughly A$8–9 depending on the exchange rate) regardless of how long you sign up for. There are no discounted multi-year plans, no "first year" pricing, and no tiers. You can pay by card, PayPal, bank transfer, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Lightning, or even cash sent by post. Every Privacy Devices phone includes a paid 12-month Mullvad licence in the device price.

Q: Is Mullvad better than NordVPN or ExpressVPN?

For privacy, most security professionals rate Mullvad above the large commercial VPNs. It collects no personal information at signup, runs no affiliate programme (so it never appears in paid "best VPN" listicles), and has a court-tested no-log record. NordVPN and ExpressVPN have more servers, better streaming unblocking, and slicker apps — so if unblocking US Netflix is your goal, they win. If your goal is genuine privacy with minimal data exposure, Mullvad is the stronger pick.

Q: Does Mullvad keep logs?

Mullvad states it keeps no activity logs and no connection logs tying an account to a server session. This is not just a marketing claim: in April 2023 Swedish authorities executed a search warrant at Mullvad's office seeking customer data, and left empty-handed because there was nothing stored to hand over. That real-world test is stronger evidence than any privacy-policy wording.

Q: Can I use Mullvad anonymously?

More anonymously than almost any mainstream VPN. You generate a random 16-digit account number with no email, name, or phone number attached, and you can fund it with cash or cryptocurrency. That said, no VPN makes you fully anonymous — your mobile carrier still sees your location at the radio layer, and your own account logins (Google, banking) reveal far more than a VPN can hide. Treat Mullvad as one strong layer, not an invisibility cloak.

Q: What are the downsides of Mullvad?

Three main ones. It is poor for streaming — US Netflix and similar services are usually blocked. It has no permanent discounts, so heavy multi-year users pay more than they would with a discounted competitor. And the app is deliberately minimal, so people who want "one-tap optimise everything" dashboards may find it spartan. For a privacy-first user none of these are dealbreakers.

A straight Australian-focused review of Mullvad VPN — what it does well, where it falls short, what it costs in real terms, and who should actually use it. No affiliate spin, because Mullvad doesn't run an affiliate programme to spin.

4.6 / 5 Verdict: the best choice for users who want real privacy over streaming convenience. Anonymous signup, audited, court-tested no-logs, flat €5/month. Weak for Netflix; no bargain multi-year tiers.

Who Mullvad is for

Most "best VPN" content online is an affiliate-commission contest. Mullvad sits outside that game entirely — it pays no influencers, runs no affiliate programme, and refuses to discount its way onto comparison sites. That alone tells you who it's built for: people who treat a VPN as a privacy tool, not a Netflix unlocker. If you're a journalist, lawyer, executive, business owner or anyone handling sensitive material, Mullvad is the VPN the GrapheneOS community and serious privacy operators standardise on. It is the VPN we pre-configure on every GrapheneOS phone in Australia we ship.

If your main goal is unblocking US streaming libraries, this is the wrong review — pick a large commercial VPN instead. Mullvad will frustrate you there, and we'd rather say so up front.

Mullvad at a glance

Feature	Mullvad	Why it matters
Signup	16-digit account number, no email	Nothing personal to leak, subpoena, or breach
Price	Flat €5/mo (~A$8–9)	No tiers, no "first-year" tricks, no upsell
Payment	Card, PayPal, Bitcoin, Lightning, cash by post	You can pay with zero financial trail
Protocol	WireGuard (OpenVPN fallback)	Fast, modern, easy to audit
Audits	Multiple public audits (Cure53, others)	Claims independently checked, reports public
No-logs	Court-tested (2023 raid found nothing)	Proven in the real world, not just on paper
AU servers	Sydney & Melbourne	Low latency for local browsing & banking
Streaming	Weak / unreliable	Not the tool for US Netflix
Jurisdiction	Sweden (EU privacy law)	Outside Five Eyes core; strong data protection

What Mullvad does well

Anonymous, no-account signup

Mullvad accounts are identified by a random 16-digit number you generate at signup. No email, no name, no card-bound identity required. You can post cash to fund an account if you want zero trail. The point isn't doing anything illegal — it's that Mullvad genuinely cannot be served a request to "identify the user with email X" because no email was ever collected.

Independent audits you can actually read

Mullvad has commissioned multiple independent security audits — including by Cure53 — covering both the apps and the server infrastructure, and the reports are published. That's a meaningfully higher bar than the marketing-grade "audited!" badges some larger VPNs wave around with opaque ownership behind them.

A no-log policy that survived a raid

In April 2023, Swedish authorities arrived at Mullvad's office with a search warrant for customer data. They left with nothing, because there was nothing stored to take. No marketing line matches a real-world test like that.

WireGuard-first performance

Mullvad runs WireGuard as its primary protocol — faster, leaner, and easier to audit than OpenVPN. On a modern Pixel the overhead is barely measurable, and Australian users connecting to the Sydney servers see only single- to low-double-digit millisecond latency added. For a deeper look at VPNs on hardened phones, see our guide to the best VPN for GrapheneOS in Australia.

The honest downsides

Strengths

Anonymous account numbers, no email
Cash & crypto payment options
Public independent audits
Court-tested no-log record
Flat, honest pricing
WireGuard-first, low latency on AU servers

Trade-offs

Poor for streaming (US Netflix usually blocked)
No discounted multi-year plans
Minimal, spartan app by design
Fewer servers than mega-VPNs (~600 vs thousands)
No 24/7 live chat (email support only)

None of these are dealbreakers for a privacy-first user, but they're real. If you want a do-everything VPN with flashy dashboards and reliable streaming, Mullvad will feel bare. That minimalism is the point — less surface area, fewer data-collecting features, fewer things to go wrong.

Mullvad vs the big commercial VPNs

	Mullvad	NordVPN / ExpressVPN
Privacy at signup	Account number only	Email + payment identity
Affiliate marketing	None	Extensive
Streaming	Weak	Strong
Server count	~600	Thousands
Pricing	Flat €5/mo	Cheap on 2-yr, dearer monthly
Best for	Privacy & anonymity	Streaming & convenience

This isn't a knock on the big players — they're competent at what they optimise for. They're just optimised for a different buyer. If you bought a hardened phone to reduce your data exposure, pairing it with a VPN whose entire business is built around not knowing who you are is the consistent choice.

Skip the setup — get Mullvad configured properly

Every Privacy Devices Pixel ships with a paid 12-month Mullvad licence, WireGuard, an OS-level kill-switch and DNS-over-HTTPS — configured before dispatch, working from first boot. No app to install, nothing to set up.

Browse Pixels → How we configure it

Frequently asked

Is Mullvad VPN good in Australia?

Yes — Sydney and Melbourne servers keep latency low (10–30ms added), and its privacy credentials (anonymous signup, public audits, court-tested no-logs) are best-in-class.

How much does Mullvad cost in AUD?

A flat €5/month, roughly A$8–9. No tiers, no multi-year discounts. Every Privacy Devices phone includes a paid 12-month licence.

Is Mullvad better than NordVPN or ExpressVPN?

For privacy, yes. For streaming and raw server count, the big commercial VPNs win. Pick based on your actual goal.

Does Mullvad keep logs?

No activity or connection logs. Proven when a 2023 Swedish police raid found nothing to seize.

Can I use Mullvad anonymously?

More than most — random account number, cash/crypto payment. But no VPN is total anonymity; your carrier and your own logins still reveal a lot.

What are the downsides of Mullvad?

Weak streaming, no bargain multi-year plans, and a deliberately minimal app. Non-issues for a privacy-first user.