The price on a VPN’s homepage is rarely the price you pay per month. That headline figure usually assumes you pay for two years up front, and month-to-month billing for the same VPN can cost four or five times as much.
Then the first term ends, and the renewal arrives at a higher rate. So the honest answer depends on how long you commit, which plan tier you choose, and when you buy. Here’s what each of those choices does to the bill.
VPN Prices at a Glance
- Long-term plans: about $2 to $4 a month for a well-known VPN, paid up front for two years or more.
- Month-to-month billing: about $10 to $16 a month for the same VPNs.
- Bundles with extra security tools: about $4 to $8 a month on a two-year plan.
- Renewal: usually two to three times the first-term monthly rate.
- Free plans: available from Proton VPN, Windscribe, and PrivadoVPN, with limits on servers, data, or devices.
VPN Prices Compared
The table lists approximate prices per month in US dollars, current as of November 2026. The long-plan price is the lowest monthly rate on a VPN’s longest plan, paid up front. Black Friday discounts are already live on several of them.
| VPN | Month-to-month price | Long-plan price per month | Longest plan |
| NordVPN | $15 | $3.50 | 2 years + 3 months |
| Proton VPN | $10 | $2.50 | 2 years |
| ExpressVPN | $15 | $3 | 2 years + 4 months |
| Private Internet Access | $12 | $2 | 2 years + 2 months |
| Surfshark | $16.50 | $2.50 | 2 years + 3 months |
| CyberGhost | $13 | $2 | 2 years + 2 months |
| PureVPN | $13 | $1.70 | 5 years |
| PrivadoVPN | $11 | $1 | 2 years + 3 months |
| Windscribe | $9 | $5.75 | 1 year |
| Mullvad | $5.50 | $5.50 | Same price on every plan |
| Astrill VPN | $30 | $12.50 | 2 years |
Across the nine VPNs in the table that sell both kinds of plan, month-to-month billing averages about $13. On the longest plan, the average falls to under $3 a month. Mullvad is the one exception to the pattern, since it charges a flat rate regardless of length. Astrill, meanwhile, is far more expensive than the rest.
The Best Value VPNs
For most people, these six offer the strongest value for what they cost:
- NordVPN: Best overall, at about $3.50 a month on its two-year Basic plan
- Proton VPN: Best for privacy, with a free plan if you’re not ready to pay
- ExpressVPN: Best for beginners, at about $3 a month on its Basic plan
- Private Internet Access: Best for the lowest renewal price, at around $2 a month
- Surfshark: Best for streaming value, with no device limit
- CyberGhost: Best for a longer refund window, at 45 days on long plans
NordVPN is the #1-rated VPN in our rankings, yet its price is near the middle of the table. The best VPN options rarely cost the most, as long as you buy a long plan.
Why Do VPNs Cost So Much?
A VPN company pays for servers in dozens of countries, the bandwidth they use, staff to keep apps updated, and independent audits of its privacy claims. Four choices on your side then decide how much of that cost ends up on your bill.
Subscription Length
Start with the plan length, because VPNs charge less per month the longer you commit. Take NordVPN, the best option overall. Month-to-month, it costs about $15, so two years of monthly billing would cost about $360.
Its two-year plan, by contrast, adds three free months, and its Basic plan costs about $3.50 a month. That’s under $100 for 27 months, paid at checkout. No NordVPN coupon is required for that rate, either.
Every VPN in the table works the same way, apart from Mullvad. Long plans keep subscribers for longer, so VPN companies reward the commitment with a lower rate.
Plan Tier and Extra Features
The second choice is the tier. NordVPN’s Basic plan is the VPN alone, while Complete adds next-gen antivirus against malware and phishing, plus a password manager and 1 TB of encrypted cloud storage. Prime adds identity theft protection for US subscribers.
Surfshark and NordVPN follow the same ladder: Surfshark’s One plan adds antivirus to the Starter plan. Each step up usually costs another $1 to $4 a month on a long plan. If you already pay for a password manager or antivirus, the Basic or Starter plan is enough.
During sales, however, the gap can shrink to nothing: this season, Surfshark sells its One plan for the Starter price.
Server Network Size
Large networks are expensive to operate, since every server requires hosting, bandwidth, and maintenance. Even so, a big network doesn’t have to mean a high price. Private Internet Access covers more than 100 countries with servers in every US state, and it’s one of the cheapest VPNs in the table.
Network size is a clearer dividing line between free and paid VPNs. Free plans usually offer a handful of countries, while paid ones cover around 100 or more. A dedicated IP address, a fixed IP address that only you use, costs extra on most VPNs.
Streaming and Torrenting
Streaming services block VPN servers they detect, so keeping Netflix or BBC iPlayer working is an ongoing cost for the VPN company.
Free plans often don’t unblock streaming services, and some block torrenting. Streaming and torrenting are the most popular reasons to use a VPN, so this is often what you pay for.
Hidden Costs: Renewals, Taxes, and Add-Ons
The checkout price is only the first part of the bill. These are the costs that show up later:
- Renewal price: once the first term ends, most VPNs renew at two to three times the introductory monthly rate. Private Internet Access and CyberGhost increase the least, and NordVPN increases the most.
- Automatic renewal: plans renew unless you disable auto-renewal in your account, and the renewal is often a one-year term.
- Sales tax: NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark add tax at checkout where it applies, so the final charge can exceed the advertised rate.
- Add-ons: a dedicated IP address usually costs a few dollars a month on top of the plan, and some VPNs sell antivirus separately.
- Refund rules on short plans: CyberGhost’s monthly plan has a 14-day refund window, compared with 45 days on its longer plans.
A two-year plan still costs less in total than paying monthly, even after renewal. Still, compare the renewal price before you buy, because it decides what the third year costs you.
Expensive vs Cheap VPNs: Should You Always Pay More?
In most shops, a higher price buys better quality. With VPNs, a paid VPN is better than a free one, but a more expensive paid VPN isn’t automatically better than a cheaper one. Take NordVPN and Astrill VPN, which costs $30 a month.
NordVPN costs about a ninth as much on its long plan and offers more for the money: Double VPN, next-gen antivirus on the Complete plan, unlimited data, and servers in more countries. Astrill’s main advantage is that it’s better known for working in China. Even on its two-year plan, Astrill costs about $12.50 a month.
NordVPN’s top Prime plan, with identity theft protection added, costs less than that on its own two-year term. So don’t treat a high price as proof of quality. The opposite warning applies too. A VPN that’s suspiciously cheap, or free with no paid plan, often makes its money from your data.
The paid VPNs in the table have independently audited no-logs policies or a long privacy record, and that’s part of what you pay for.
How Much Does a Business VPN Cost?
Business VPNs charge per user, and they cost more because they add a central admin panel, user management, and dedicated servers for the company. NordLayer, from the team behind NordVPN, starts at about $8 per user a month on annual billing, with a 5-user minimum.
Proton VPN for Business starts at about $7 per user a month. Plans that include a dedicated server, so staff can reach company systems from a fixed IP address, add roughly $40 a month per server.
For a sole trader or a small team without shared systems, a consumer plan from NordVPN or Proton VPN covers the same basic protection for less.
How to Cut the Total VPN Cost
A VPN is one of the easier subscriptions to pay less for, because the discounts are large and predictable. These tips make the biggest difference.
Choose a Long-Term Plan
Long-term plans offer the biggest discount. Choose a one-year or two-year plan, pay for the whole term at once, and the monthly cost drops from over $10 to $2 or $3. If you plan to use a VPN for privacy every day, this is the cheapest way to do it.
Don’t Always Choose the Longest Plan
That said, a long plan only pays off if you keep using it. Some people use a VPN for a week or two: a trip to a country that blocks websites, or a holiday when you want to watch TV from home. For them, one month at $10 to $15 costs far less than two years paid at once.
Timing helps as well. Most VPNs offer their deepest discounts in late November, and the current Black Friday VPN deals are already live.
If the lowest monthly rate is the priority, the cheapest VPNs that are still safe are compared side by side, with their renewal prices.
Use a Free Trial, Free Plan, or Refund Window
You don’t always have to pay to test a VPN. NordVPN and ExpressVPN offer short free trials on Android, and Private Internet Access and Surfshark offer 7-day trials on mobile. These trials require payment details, so cancel before they end if you don’t want to keep the VPN.
On a computer, the money-back guarantee works as a longer trial: 30 days on most VPNs and 45 days on CyberGhost’s long plans. For an ongoing free option, Proton VPN’s free plan is uncapped, while Windscribe and PrivadoVPN cap free accounts at 10 GB a month.
The steps to claim a VPN free trial differ slightly from one VPN to the next.
What About Lifetime VPN Plans?
Lifetime plans are rare. FastestVPN sells one for a one-time payment, and KeepSolid’s VPN Unlimited offers another, often discounted through deal sites. Mullvad comes close in a different way, with a single payment covering ten years at its usual flat rate. Lifetime usually means the lifetime of the service.
A company that takes one payment per customer earns nothing more from you after the sale, so it has less reason to keep servers fast or apps updated. If it closes, the money goes with it. Big VPNs such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN don’t sell lifetime plans, and a two-year plan at $2 to $4 a month costs little enough that a lifetime deal isn’t much of a saving.
Our lifetime VPN subscription guide covers the plans that exist in more detail.
Final Thoughts
A good VPN costs less than most streaming subscriptions if you commit for a year or two. Monthly billing is the expensive way in, and it only makes sense for a short trip or a one-off job. The renewal is the number to check before you pay, since it’s what the VPN costs once the introductory rate ends.
Avoid lifetime deals and VPNs that are free with no paid plan, because they make their money in ways you can’t see. These three VPNs offer the most for their price on a long plan:
9200 servers
128 covered countries
30 days money-back guarantee
10 simultaneous connections
9.4 /10
20396 servers
148 covered countries
30 days money-back guarantee
10 simultaneous connections
9.2 /10
3000 servers
105 covered countries
30 days money-back guarantee
10 simultaneous connections
9.1 /10
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a VPN worth paying for?
Yes, for most people. A paid VPN offers more server locations, faster speeds, and reliable streaming access, and reputable ones back their privacy claims with independent audits instead of collecting user data.
Are cheap VPNs safe?
Yes, if they come from a reputable company. Private Internet Access, CyberGhost, and Surfshark cost little on long plans but still use strong encryption and keep no logs of user activity.
Why is a monthly VPN plan so expensive?
Monthly subscribers can leave at any time, so VPN companies charge more to cover that risk. Long plans are paid up front, which lets companies offer a much lower monthly rate.
Do VPN prices go up after the first term?
Yes, usually. Most VPNs renew at a higher rate than the introductory price, and many switch a two-year plan to yearly billing once the first term ends.
Can you get a VPN for free?
Yes. Proton VPN, Windscribe, and PrivadoVPN offer free plans from reputable companies. Expect fewer server locations, data caps on some, and weaker access to streaming services than on paid plans.
Can you get a refund on a VPN subscription?
Yes. NordVPN, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and Private Internet Access refund new subscribers in full within a month, and CyberGhost offers longer refund periods (45 days) on its long-term plans.