The Cheapest VPNs of 2023
Our cheapest VPNs reviews are the result of over 40 hours of research on 24+ cheapest VPNs companies from across the web. These reviews and our cheapest VPNs guide help small businesses and startups find the best cheapest VPNs for their business.
Written by: Digital.com Staff
Updated November 21, 2022Our Top Picks
- Supports more protocols and ports than the competition
- Receives regular compatibility updates and bug fixes
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Most of Surfshark’s recent updates cover bug fixes, compatibility updates, and other small changes rather than introducing any major features or functionalities. For example, Surfshark 3.4.0 was released for Mac devices in April 2021, but the main benefit of this release was simply to make the VPN client compatible with the new M1 chip. With that in mind, you can trust Surfshark to keep supporting the latest software and firmware, but we don’t expect any substantial updates in the near future.
Like the other VPNs we’ve covered, Surfshark offers significant discounts in exchange for longer commitments. You can currently get access to the platform for $12.95 per month, $6.49 per month when paid for six months, or $4.98 per month when paid annually. However, Surfshark is currently providing two years for the price of one as an introductory offer for new customers, bringing the cost down to $2.49 per month for the first two years.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Supports more protocols and ports than the competition
- Receives regular compatibility updates and bug fixes
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- More expensive than most alternatives
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- One-month: $11.95
- 24-month plan: $1.99/month
- 12-month plan: $5.99/month
- Free Trial/Demo30-Day Free Trial
- Both consumers and professional reviewers report strong speeds
- Receives regular updates
- Just $2.19 per month when paid for three years
Private Internet Access has released a total of six updates in 2021, with most releases covering simple changes like design tweaks, bug fixes, and performance optimizations. With that in mind, you can at least trust their team to keep the VPN compatible with the latest releases of major operating systems like Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
This VPN has a similar pricing scheme to Ivacy, with monthly plans available for $9.95 per month. That drops to $3.33 per month for annual subscriptions ($39.95 per month) or $2.19 per month when you pay for three years at a time. On top of credit cards and other conventional payment options, you can also open a Private Internet Access subscription with anonymous methods like cryptocurrencies and third-party gift cards.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Both consumers and professional reviewers report strong speeds
- Receives regular updates
- Just $2.19 per month when paid for three years
Cons
- No Tor or multihop connections
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- One month: $9.95
- 2 years plan: $2.69/month
- 1 year plan: $3.33/month
- Free Trial/Demo*30 Days Money Back Guarantee Only
- Largest worldwide infrastructure coverage
- Excellent VPN protocol support
- Free version and money-back guarantee
PureVPN offers Military-grade encryption alongside its killswitch and split tunneling capabilities. Video streaming on all major platforms is supported and encouraged with up to 10 GB a month in bandwidth. The service is relatively easy to set up and use, but if users have trouble, there is a 24/7 support line and a set of excellent installation guides. As it pertains to speed, PureVPN tested excellent, including higher than average upload speeds across the globe. Lastly, all major protocols are well-supported security and privacy ? OpenVPN, L2TP, SSTP, PPTP, and IKEv2. PureVPN is located in Hong Kong, a country outside of any privacy laws nationwide.
PureVPN offers a monthly, biyearly, yearly, and two-year subscription plan. The best deal is the two-year plan totaling $3.33 per month and slightly lower than its competitors like ExpressVPN and NordVPN. PureVPN does offer a free trial of its services and is currently supported on all major PC and mobile operating systems. Lastly, it also offers a 31-day money-back guarantee if you aren't fully satisfied with its solution.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Largest worldwide infrastructure coverage
- Excellent VPN protocol support
- Free version and money-back guarantee
Cons
- Customer service lacks technical knowledge
- Unreliable at times in China
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- One-month: $10.95
- 6 months plan: $8.33/month
- Free Trial/DemoFree Trial
- Worldwide coverage
- Most extensive platform and device support
- A great incentive for long-term plans
Outside of offering many more popular security protocols, CyberGhost also includes WireGuard protocol support, which is unique to the Linux operating system. CyberGhost also has military-grade 256 bit encryption in combination with SHA256 authentication and RSA key 4096. For those that value privacy, CyberGhost offers the ability to use TOR in tandem with the CyberGhost VPN, which helps also disguise your activity in countries where it may be frowned upon.
CyberGhost is one of the more expensive solutions on the market, pushing the envelope at $12.99 a month. It offers a six-month plan at $7.99 per month and a yearly plan at $2.75 per month that encourages users to subscribe for the entire year to reap the benefits. Unfortunately, it only offers a one-day free trial but, on the flip side, it honors a 45-day money-back refund if the user isn't happy.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Worldwide coverage
- Most extensive platform and device support
- A great incentive for long-term plans
Cons
- Doesn't work out of the box
- More expensive than leading competitors
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- One-month: $12.99
- Six-mont: $7.99/month
- 1 year plan: $2.75/month
- Free Trial/Demo1 Day Free Trial
- Up to 10 devices per account
- Bundled with 2 TB of cloud storage when you pay for two years
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Ivacy also stands out from the competition when it comes to cloud storage, offering a full 2 TB with each two-year subscription through a partnership with Internxt. At $2.45 per month when paid for two years, this is a surprisingly good deal for a VPN + cloud storage bundle.
Meanwhile, you’ll have to pay $9.95 per month to keep a monthly plan open. That’s discounted to $3.66 per month with the annual option or, again, $2.45 per month for a two-year term with free cloud storage. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, giving you plenty of time to test out the service.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Up to 10 devices per account
- Bundled with 2 TB of cloud storage when you pay for two years
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Free Lite plan appears to no longer be available
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- 2 Years: $2.45/month
- 1 Year: $3.66/month
- 1 Month: $9.95/month
- Free Trial/DemoFree Version Available
- More than 3,000 servers in 94 countries
- Receives regular updates
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Furthermore, ExpressVPN regularly comes out with new releases of its apps for iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, Windows, browsers, and other devices and operating systems. Most of these changes cover simple bug fixes and compatibility updates, but some of them also add new features and functionalities. For example, ExpressVPN 10.6.0 for Windows was released on September 1, 2021, and introduced narrator and keyboard navigation to make the app more accessible.
ExpressVPN offers a single subscription with pricing dependent on the length of your commitment. It’s currently available for $12.95 per month, $9.99 per month for six months, or $8.32 per month for a full year. Those prices make it noticeably more expensive than many of the alternatives. Mullvad, for example, offers VPN access for 5 euros per month (roughly $5.90) with no long-term commitment.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- More than 3,000 servers in 94 countries
- Receives regular updates
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Expensive compared to the competition
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- One month: $12.95
- Six months: $9.99
- 15 months: $6.67
- Free Trial/DemoNot Provided
- Advanced features like split-tunneling and multihop connections
- Recent updates added several important features
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Recent updates to the NordVPN Windows client introduced support for Japanese along with multi-factor authentication, referral benefits, location markers, and split-tunneling. While some of the other VPNs on this list mostly stick to minor releases, NordVPN truly goes above and beyond when it comes to client updates, and the platform has far more features today than it did one year ago.
NordVPN seems relatively expensive when you look at the monthly option, which costs $11.95. On the other hand, longer subscriptions are much more affordable on a per-month basis, with one year available for $4.92 per month and 27 months for $3.30 per month. This is advertised as $3.30 per month for two years “plus three months free,” but the monthly rate of $3.30 accounts for those three additional months. All plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Advanced features like split-tunneling and multihop connections
- Recent updates added several important features
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Victim of high-profile security breach in 2018
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- One month: $11.95
- 2-year plan: $3.49/month
- 1-year plan: $6.99/month
- Free Trial/Demo30-Day Free Trial
- Accepts cash, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other alternative payment methods
- Simple pricing scheme, no contracts
- Independent audits
Mullvad is unique for its incredibly transparent list of servers, which shows their current status along with other information such as the server’s speed and whether it’s owned or rented by Mullvad. They’ve also committed to annual security audits, with the last one taking place in December 2020. While that audit uncovered vulnerabilities, they have since taken steps to address those issues. It’s worth noting that none of the vulnerabilities included information that could potentially compromise user privacy.
Mullvad’s pricing system is simple — 5 euros per month (approximately $5.90), with no long-term commitments and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You don’t even need to provide an email address or any other personal information. The only caveat to that is that they offer a 10% discount for cryptocurrency payments to incentivize more private payment methods.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Accepts cash, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other alternative payment methods
- Simple pricing scheme, no contracts
- Independent audits
Cons
- Fewer servers and countries (779 in 38 countries) compared to ExpressVPN and some other competitors
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- €5/month
- Free Trial/DemoNo Free Trial
- Excellent free plan
- Strong Linux application
- Two paid subscription options
It’s also worth mentioning that ProtonVPN recently released a fully featured application for Linux users, making them one of the more Linux-friendly providers on this list. While ProtonVPN had previously supported Linux with a command-line tool, their new Linux app makes it easier than ever for Linux users to install ProtonVPN.
While the ProtonVPN free tier stands apart from the alternatives, you might be interested in upgrading to one of the paid subscriptions. Basic ($4 per month paid annually) comes with more servers, two connections instead of one, higher speeds, support for torrents, and an adblocker. Plus ($8 per month paid annually) adds access to all ProtonVPN servers along with 10 connections, no limits on speeds, Tor connections, support for streaming services, and more.
These plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, but you should know that that guarantee only applies to unused service — if you cancel after 15 days, for example, you might only get back half of what you paid.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Excellent free plan
- Strong Linux application
- Two paid subscription options
Cons
- Deceptive money-back guarantee
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- Free version available
- $4/month for Basic
- $8/month for Plus
- $24/month for Visionary
- Free Trial/Demo7-Days Trial
- Dedicated servers available
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Just $3.21 per month when paid every two years
VPNArea also gives customers the unique option to add a dedicated private VPN to their subscription. With a dedicated server, you won’t have to share resources with any other users. This is available as an add-on for $40 to $88 for a two-year period depending on the type of server you want.
Access to VPNArea is available for $9.90 per month, $4.13 per month when paid annually, or just $3.21 per month when paid once every two years. While it isn’t quite the cheapest VPN we’ve covered, it still comes in well below some of the top competitors. You’ll have to commit to two years to get the lowest price but remember that you’ll be able to cancel for any reason within 30 days.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Dedicated servers available
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Just $3.21 per month when paid every two years
Cons
- No independent security audit
What Customers Are Saying
Summary
- Starting Price
- 24 Months: $3.21/month
- 12 Months: $4.14/month
- 1 Month: $9.90/month
- Free Trial/Demo7-Day Free Trial
How We Chose the Cheapest VPNs
Whether you’re looking to stream region-locked content, avoid website trackers, or keep your internet activity safe from your internet service provider (ISP), a consumer VPN is the best way to get started. Fortunately, there is a long list of providers that offer reliable VPN services at an affordable cost.
With so many options out there, you may not know where to start looking for your next VPN. That’s why we did the work for you and tracked down some of the top cheapest VPNs currently available. We focused on these four features to help you find the cheap VPN that’s right for you.
Pricing
Needless to say, the first thing we looked for was a reasonable price tag. There’s no reason to overpay for a VPN when there are countless budget options that offer most or all of the same features and speeds.
Of course, that isn’t to say that there aren’t some functions that are worth a little extra money. ProtonVPN, for example, offers a free plan that comes with a small selection of crowded servers and significant restrictions on browsing speed. While that might be enough for some situations, most users will likely be better off spending a few dollars per month on a more robust product.
Device Support
Most VPNs offer desktop access through a website or dedicated application, but support for other devices varies widely from one provider to another. You might be interested in using your VPN on a mobile device running iOS or Android, or even on gaming and streaming devices like Xboxes, Fire Sticks, and Chromecasts.
Along with the range of supported devices, we also looked at each provider’s terms and conditions to find out how many simultaneous connections they offer. ExpressVPN limits subscribers to five connections at a time, while Ivacy doubles that figure with 10 simultaneous connections. That makes it a much more practical option for families and other groups who want to share a single VPN account.
Security
No matter what you need a VPN for, security should be one of your top criteria when selecting a provider. While it can be difficult to determine the security profile for a given VPN, we prioritized a few key factors to help you find a provider you can trust.
VPN security starts with basic tools like 256-bit encryption and two-factor authentication to secure accounts. Some providers offer even more transparency by submitting to third-party audits of their security practices.
While a long list of providers have claimed to provide a no-logs guarantee, some of those claims have been proven wrong in practice. Independent audits by reputable organizations are the best way for consumers to find out what their VPN is doing with their data.
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