VPN Australia: Can you trust the country’s most popular age verification downloads?

Another introduction of age verification laws blocking access to adult website and, yet again, another surge in people looking for VPNs is only seconds behind.

Australia has followed the likes of the UK in demanding age checks for over 18 access to online content, and the leading VPN to rise up Australian App Store charts is VPN – Super Proxy Unlimited, which is the no. 2 in the free app charts, closely followed by Proton VPN (no. 11) and NordVPN (no. 12), at the time of writing.

While you might recognise those final two from TechRadar's Best VPN buying guide, it's the first – and most popular since the laws landed Down Under – that will be raising the most eyebrows today. So, is VPN – Super Proxy Unlimited safe to use?

And, for that matter are NordVPN and Proton VPN a good idea for users faced with Australia's age verification privacy issues going forward? Are they legal, and are they effective?

Well, we can answer one of those pretty quickly: VPNs are legal to use in Australia.

In fact, we have a list of what we believe are the best Australia VPNs that you can take a look at now.

All of those can be used to change your IP address, mask your identity and all will encrypt any personal information you send and receive to maximise your privacy too.

As for NordVPN, Proton VPN and VPN – Super Proxy Unlimited specifically for this use case, though, here's what we think:

VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy

OK, full disclosure, first: we have not done a full review of VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy. But, we haven't really felt the need to until now.

Why? Because we've not been super-impressed by the way it uses customer data in the past. In fact, we warned against using VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy when it last topped Apple App Store charts back in August 2025, not long after age verification laws landed in the UK.

Back then, we said that it recorded usage data which tracked customers across third-party apps and websites. We also said that it collected sensitive data like your location and other identifiers.

We got VPN Technical Editor Mike Williams to decompile the code of the Android app version of VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy and the news is a little better. His conclusion this time is that there's nothing on the surface particularly out of the ordinary.

While noticing that it has many more trackers and ad providers than most – and it uses a lot of permissions – there's no evidence that it's doing anything harmful.

It's based on reliable code from existing projects like OpenVPN and strongSwan, as also used by many other VPN vendors.

So, nothing too alarming, but why are so many people taking the risk of those extra advert and tracking permissions for a product that, at $5.99 (AUS $8.99) per month, is more expensive than almost all of the recognised top VPNs available? It's because, actually, it's free. Sort of.

The premium, $5.99 (AUS $8.99) version is only required for the Windows app. Whereas VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy is free to use on both Android and iOS which is, perhaps, enough for what many people need when viewing adult websites.

VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy's marketing says that it offers unlimited usage of its free version, without any data caps either. It also says that you don't have to watch any adverts in between connections, unlike rival EventVPN, and we certainly applaud that.

We also like the fact that you don't have to sign up to start using it, which is also very positive. That way, even your email address stays safe.

One key area that it might not deliver enough for your video streaming needs, however, is in terms of speed. It says that specialized streaming servers and faster speeds are available on the premium plan only.

Given the added demands on VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy, owing to its very recent surge in popularity, you might find that the free version becomes too overloaded to perform as well as you'd like.

Most free VPNs save the best speeds and service for their paying customers and it certainly reads as if VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy is no different on this front.

Were it us, though, we'd feel a little concerned about those added trackers and ads, particularly given the sensitive nature of the information that we'd be passing through the VPN tunnel.

If that's of concern to you, then take a look at some of our best free VPN recommendations. If, not, then by all means, give VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy and let us know how you get on.

Proton VPN

Speaking of our best free VPN recommendations, it turns out that the a lot of people in Australia have a pretty good idea about online privacy. Proton VPN has been another of the three big rising VPNs in the Australian App Store since the adult website age verification laws arrived.

Proton VPN Free places second in our rankings, just behind PrivadoVPN Free.

Proton has an excellent reputation for privacy and security but misses out as our top choices because you can't choose which sever you connect to. Instead it automatically routes users through one of its 10 free server locations (US, Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, and Canada).

That means anyone using Proton VPN in Australia will have an IP address that looks like it's coming from another country.

Proton VPN Plus ($2.99 per month)
Faster fuller usage of Proton VPN comes with the premium version of the service, Proton VPN Plus. We rate Proton as one of the best VPNs with its fast streaming speeds and a huge server network that's unlikely to let you down no matter how busy it gets. It's excellent at unblocking streaming services and it's built from the ground up as a privacy-first product, meaning that it's a great one to trust to keep browsing data private and secure.

View Deal

On the plus side, like VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy, you do get unlimited usage.

As we say, though, it's on the safety side where Proton VPN really excels.

One of the big advantages for Proton VPN users is the protection they get from the strict Swiss data privacy laws. The Geneva-based company also has a water-tight no-log policy, which is audited every year, and ensures that it doesn't store any of your internet traffic data.

Again, though, as with VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy, you might find that the free servers get pretty overloaded with Proton's recent surge in popularity. One way around this is to upgrade to the premium version, Proton VPN Plus.

Proton VPN Plus works out as $2.99 (AUS $4.79) per month right now on its lowest monthly subscription – although that does mean signing up for 24 months.

Going for the 12 month version takes about 35% off the total price if you'd rather dip your toes in the water first, although, obviously you only get 1 year of usage.

NordVPN

NordVPN is a very much a paid VPN. You won't find a free version here. The very best you can get is a 30-day money back guarantee. So, if it turns out you don't like it, or you feel like you've made a terrible mistake, then you can get back everything you spent without a problem. Don't worry, we've tried it.

As we said above, though, you get what you pay for with a VPN, which is why free VPNs don't always quite cut the mustard.

Thankfully, there's no danger of that with NordVPN which we rate as the very best VPN available right now. Again, NordVPN one of the fastest rising apps on the Australian App Store, privacy-conscious Australians seem to be a pretty wise to it already.

VPN deal of the week

NordVPN: Get an Amazon gift card when you sign up for a two-year plan
Choose a NordVPN Plus plan for your age verification privacy needs and you can you'll get a $20 Amazon gift card into the mix with a two-year plan. Pick the Complete for a $40 card and Prime for the big $50. Maybe best not to be blinded by the offer, though. A Basic or Plus plan will do if all you want is a little privacy and a lot of streaming.

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We also rate NordVPN as the best streaming VPN. It's the most reliable for unblocking and playing video on all kinds of services.

Like Proton, it also has a regularly-audited no logs policy and even some post-quantum level encryption which will keep your browsing and user data super secure even when computing power gets a whole lot more capable.

The downside, of course, is that you'll need to pay to use it. There is a NordVPN deal on at the moment, though, where you can get a free Amazon Gift Card of up to $50 when you sign up.

Bonus inclusions: PrivadoVPN, Windscribe Pro and Mullvad

If the free VPNs aren't quite doing it for you, and the paid ones are a bit too much of a financial commitment, then here are three alternatives for you.

We rate all three for their security, performance and streaming abilities. They'll all be excellent for keeping you safe while accessing adult sites in Australia.

PrivadoVPN has a free plan but the paid version is very reasonable. At $20 for two years of unlimited use, it really doesn't get much cheaper.

As for Windscribe Pro and Mullvad, what's great about these is there are no long contracts. It's just a monthly payment which you can exit at any point with no penalties and no large payments upfront.

And, if you want another couple of kind-of-free-kind-of-not choices, then try Surfshark or Norton VPN.

Both are excellent paid VPNs but, crucially, they also have free trials so that you can give them a go for nothing before you commit. Just don't forget to cancel within the trial timeframe, if that's what you intended to do.

Stay safe!