I prefer MullVad

Wired is like the WSJ of tech journalism, tbh

I always look forward to Sunshine's posts. But this is just an AD. :(

If you are looking for VPN for accessing content, Proton is fine, so are many others, just make sure they are open-source, don't save logs and are audited. You will probably be looking more into bandwidth than other technical aspects.
Country is important, but if the VPN endpoint you are accessing is in any of the "several"-eyes country, or some other surveillance state, there are some risks involved.

If you need more privacy, Mullvad is the best option, you can also pay with cash. You can send them with no personal information.

There used to be a spreadsheet with significant details of many providers, but it haven't been updated in a long while. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1UV8RozvFDOMnCcfwryEnyGp5GKYY4XJQHXJUG2gN8hU/htmlview

This one is more recent, but it is missing a bunch of important information. https://vpndatatracker.com/features.html

If your life depends on it (in case you are a whistleblower), you will need many more things in addition to Mullvad.

Can't stand their CEO. Horrible views so no thanks. I'll stick with mullvad

Pretty happy with Proton over all. Service is great, Linux support is pretty good, not to worried that their CEO was cautiously optimistic that one of Trump's appointees might push back against big tech monopolies based on their track record.

Really glad I paid for 2 years.

The "best" Virtual Private Network is a selfhosted one, because it's not hosted by Trump cock-sucking big tech.

I don't think Proton VPN has a bad track record, I couldn't find anything, but Proton Mail has in the past been court ordered by the Swiss government to snoop on users, and closes whistleblower accounts, which is why I'm hesitant to choose their products over Mullvad, at least when privacy is a factor. And if privacy isn't a factor, why choose a product that costs $108 for 2 years when you can get Surfshark (they even have browser extensions/add-ons) for less than half that price at $48 for 2 years (according to OP's article)?

Horrendous Linux support and a fascist CEO. I regret paying for 2 years and can't wait to switch to Mullvad.

This was doing the rounds a while back:

EXPOSING The Billion Dollar SECRET VPN Companies Are Hiding

It's an interesting view / listen.