Support Center / Account and Billing / Account credit, proration, and coupons

Account credit, proration, and coupons

Proton offers you a variety of subscription plans, and you can activate, change, or cancel active subscriptions at any time. If you change or cancel your plan, the value of any unused subscription days is added to your account as credits.

Here we explain three terms to help you understand how these credits work and give you an example of how we calculate your bill when you upgrade: 

Account credit

Account credit is credit in your account that has not been used toward a new Proton plan.

You can get credit when you cancel or downgrade a plan with some days left in your subscription or when you make a payment by Bitcoin. You can also add credit to your account at any time using your credit card, PayPal, or by sending us cash.

The credit is applied to your account in the currency of your last payment and can be used toward your next subscription.

To find your account credits, log in to your Proton VPN account at account.protonvpn.com/login on a computer and go to Dashboard → Credits.

Proton VPN credits

To add credit to your account:

1. Click Add credits.

Add credits button

2. Select how much credit you want to add (or add another figure) and in which currency.

3. Choose a payment method.

4. Enter your payment details and click Top up when you’re done.

Proration

A proration is the amount of credit you receive for unused subscription days when you cancel, upgrade, or downgrade an active subscription. The proration is calculated by dividing the amount paid for the subscription term by the number of days in the term, then multiplying that amount by the number of days remaining.

Example: You paid 71.88 EUR for an annual Proton VPN Plus plan. You then decide to cancel the subscription with 100 days remaining at the time of cancellation. The proration amount will be: 

71.88 EUR / 365 days x 100 days = 19.69 EUR

You’ll see any proration you have in the Payment summary at the checkout:

Coupons

Coupons are special subscription discounts that we may apply to your account if you:

  • signed up for a special promotion
  • contributed to Proton’s initial crowdfunding campaign 
  • purchased a Lifetime Visionary plan

Our Customer Support team may also give you a discount coupon for special situations, for example, to rectify a billing mistake.

Gift codes are also a type of coupon. You can add a gift code to your account in the Payment summary at the checkout. Click Add a gift code.

Add a gift code button

Plan upgrade example

To illustrate how account credit, proration, and coupons work in practice, let’s suppose:

  • You’re subscribed to an annual Proton VPN Plus plan (71.88 EUR/year) with 100 days left on your annual subscription.
  • You decide to upgrade to Proton Unlimited (119.88 EUR/year).
  • You have a coupon discount of 15 EUR.
  • You also have 20 EUR credit.

At the checkout, your account credit, proration, and coupon would be displayed in this section of the Payment summary.

(Please note: the image below is just to show you where to find credits and proration; it does not show the correct figures from the example above.)

Payment summary showing proration and credits

Here’s how your final price would be calculated:

1. Your new plan’s cost = 119.88 EUR/year.

2. Your existing plan’s proration = 71.88 EUR / 365 days * 100 days = 19.69 EUR.

3. Your coupon discount = 15 EUR.

4. Your existing credit = 20 EUR.

5. The final amount due is the total from 1. minus the amounts in 2, 3, and 4:

119.88 EUR – 19.69 EUR – 15 EUR – 20 EUR = 65.19 EUR.

You can pay the final amount by credit or debit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin. Bitcoin payments require you to first add credit to your account.

Learn how to pay for your Proton VPN plan with Bitcoin

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31 comments

  1. Shagwell

    I want to delete my account, i still have 47€ credit, i will be refund or not ?

  2. ProtonVPN Team

    Hey, If you will delete the account, your unused credits will be lost. Please contact our customer support team so they can assist you if you have experienced any issues: https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  3. ALBERT KRAFT

    NOW THAT I GOT YOUR CONFERMATION EMAIL I WENT TO MY VPN SITE TO LOOK AROUND HOW IN THE NAME OF GOD DO I TURN ON MY LOCATION FOR MY IP ADDRESS OR COUNTRY I WANT TO BE SEAN FROM I CANT EVEN TURN ON YOUR SERVICE WHICH I PAYED FOR THIS MOURNING EVERYTHING LOOKS RIGHT BUT HOW DO I TURN YOUR VPN ON???????????? I AM DUMFOUNDED I HAVE TRYED EVERY THING I COULD THINK OF AND WENT TO YOUR OTHER HOW TO DO THIS OR THAT USELESS INFORMATION.I LOVE YOUR FREE EMAIL SERVICE THAT IS WHY I UPGRADED TO BASIC,THAT WAS MY FIRST MISTAKE. I CANT USE WHAT YOU SAID I COULD HAVE IF I PAYED FOR IT I WANT VPN. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! ALBERT

  4. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Albert. It would be the best if you contacted our customer support team with your device information and we will provide a step by step guide on connecting the vpn. https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  5. Miracle

    Could u help to let me know how to cancel the plan due to i find my other VPN service is not over due ?
    I want to subscribe the ProtonVPN once my other VPN service is closed.

  6. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Miracle, please contact our customer support team and we will help you out with the current issue! https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  7. Corey

    I was trying to purchase Proton VPN Basic, but when I click on upgrade plan, I get a price including Proton Mail. Why is that? I already have Proton Mail paid through Nov 2018. Why can’t I just pay for the one year to Proton VPN?

  8. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Corey, are you trying to upgrade trough our website – protonvpn.com? ProtonMail is not included in Basic – Plus plans, only in Visionary and should not be offered upon upgrading.

  9. User

    Same here, trying to upgrade the system adds one year of Protonmail at €48 to the bill.

  10. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello. Could you please tell us how are you trying to upgrade the plan, since no plan excluding visionary adds protonmail. You can also contact us here for more convenient help https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  11. Hello

    Paying anonymously with PayPal and credit card: Posteo.de (a german email provider) introduced a way to separate payment data and costumer accounts from each other to provide a anonymised payments. I would appreciate efforts in anonymising every payments made to user accounts.

  12. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello. Thank you for the suggestion, we will surely consider your provided feature with our team.

  13. Joe Czarnecki

    i am considering subscribing to the annual plus plan at 96.00. if i pay yearly i am suppose to get a 20% off for paying yearly but when i go to pay the price remains at 96.00. if there a special coupon that is to be used or what?

  14. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Joe. Annual subscription plan has a different price that is 96.00. If you would choose monthly billing cycle, you would pay 120.00 instead of annual 96.00 and no, there is no coupon as the discount is compared to the monthly payment.

  15. nick

    I was wondering, if i use my credit card to do the basic for 1 year and i dont want to do it the folling year, how do i remove my card so it doesnt get charged thefollowing year?

  16. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Nick. You cannot remove your credit card if you have an on going payment, but we can delete the payment method on our systems. Please contact our customer support team for that request. https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  17. Anon

    Is it possible to pay with pre-paid card without identification?
    Card has; card number, exp. date and security code and nothing else.

  18. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello, we dont have a list of supported pre-paid cards as some work and some does not, its the best if you try to pay and let us know how it goes.

  19. Nadeem akram

    I accidentally selected the annual plan, but I only want the monthly plan, because I will only need it for 1 month. I do not want account credit. Can you please refund me the remaining amount that I have in credits to my account. I do not need it for a year. I only wanted it for month Please help.

  20. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Nadeem,
    Please contact our support team to arrange everything for you.
    https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  21. ALBERT KRAFT

    i am new to this I had free account then i upgraded to the next pay level now i am about to download the pay app so i will let every one no of my progress. thanks every one for their kowledge to help every one. ALBERT PS I AM 61 AND LEARNING FAST BECAUSE of OUR CUMMUNITLY. GOD BLESS ALL YOU GUYES AND GALS.

  22. Giannisa Vecco

    Your service is not good for what I need, I want the money back

  23. ProtonVPN

    Hello, please open a ticket through the following link and provide some details regarding the issues that you are experiencing. We would like to ensure that you are satisfied with our services, and we are certain that we can assist you towards resolving the issues:

    https://protonvpn.com/support-form

    Also, if you’d like to receive a refund for your payment please request it in the ticket itself, and provide the reason for your request.

  24. Lawhon

    So far not happy with service. I have read about the canceling subscription, but, “This is Credit available to your account (in the currency of your last payment) to be used with your next subscription”, meaning whatever credit I have will be held or credited back to myself?

  25. ProtonVPN

    Hello,

    We are sorry to hear that. We’d like to ensure that you are getting the best service from our side, and we are certain that we are able to help you overcome the issues that you are experiencing with our service. Please open a ticket through the link below, and let us know what’s the issue that you are experiencing with ProtonVPN. Also, you can request a refund for the credits on your account if you’d like that:

    https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  26. amy

    I accidentally selected the annual plan, but I only want the monthly plan, because I will only need it for 4 months. I do not want account credit. Can you please refund me the remaining $42.68 that I have in credits to my account. I will continue using ProtonVPN, but I do not need it for a year. I only wanted to spend $20 total, not $48. Please help.

  27. ProtonVPN

    Hello Amy,

    Please do the following:

    – Log-in to your protonvpn.com account
    – Navigate to Dashboard
    – In the “Pay” category on the right side, select “Monthly”
    – Select your current plan

    That will switch your payment to Monthly, and the rest of the unused credits will be transferred to your account.

    After you’ve done that, please open a ticket through the following link and request the refund for the rest of your credits:

    https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  28. Another ProtoVPN user

    This page doesn’t explain why “Proration” is increasing my next bill. My subscription ended a couple of days ago and I went to renew for a new period and now I’m getting an increased bill. This page is useless in explaining why such a bug exists.

  29. ProtonVPN Team

    We can see that you are on the ProtonVPN Basic plan and if you are trying to upgrade your account to the ProtonVPN Plus the proration will be higher due to the Plus plan pricing at 96$.

    The unused days from your ProtonVPN Basic subscription are counted towards the Plus plan.

  30. Stephen Schaller

    I cannot find anywhere to cancel VPN service. I am not happy.
    Weeks ago I searched all over your dashboard/web site for cancellation and could not find it.

    How do I cancel!!!?

  31. ProtonVPN

    Hey,

    If you are certain that you want to cancel your subscription, you can do so by navigating to the Dashboard, and selecting the Free plan.

Comments are closed.

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