With a price around $3 per month, these budget-minded VPN services are much more affordable than you might think. If you’re already paying $30+ per month for the Internet service itself, it can be hard to justify spending another $10-$15 per month. But picking an annual plan or a three-year plan for an additional service is a bit easier to justify when it’s a VPN. Think of a VPN subscription more like a utility. You might see some changes in encryption technology, but it won’t evolve as fast as a streaming platform like Netflix or an Adobe creative product in a year, or even three. The plans will likely stay flat in terms of pricing. And, even if you pick a VPN service and pay for one year or two years, your need for it—again, keeping yourself safe online—won’t change. But to truly get the best cheap VPN service, you’ll need to sign a longer-term agreement. That’s why we picked the best budget-minded VPNs that all offer low annual or three-year plans. On the opposite end of the spectrum, CyberGhost is actually $12.99 per month when you don’t pay for the annual or three-year plan, but that’s a testament to the value pricing. It’s normally expensive because it’s powerful and feature-rich. While many VPN clients let you access the Internet with protection for up to five devices, IPVanish is also unique in that you can use up to 10 different gadgets—that’s a lot of phones and smart TVs. You may need to evaluate all of the features first (quick tip that CyberGhost is one of our top picks overall and has the most servers of any VPN provider). Once you do, you can pay for the entire three-year term, which works out to about $3 per month in most cases. In fact, the highest-priced VPN on our list is $3.33 per month (TunnelBear) and the lowest-priced VPN service is only $2.75 (CyberGhost). These “cheap” VPN picks are budget-minded but not bottom-barrel picks. In fact, the most affordable VPNs happen to also be the best we have found. We mentioned that CyberGhost has the most proxy servers of any VPN, but TunnelBear is another top VPN service for cost savings and has one of the best interfaces we’ve used and a free ad blocker included. If you keep digging, you can find even more great values. Right now, CyberGhost is running a special for a one-year plan that works out to $2.75 (and they add another six months at that rate), but we’re not sure if this discount will last. Why look for deals like this? For starters, a VPN connection is a necessity in the age of data breaches, hacking wireless feeds, stealing your identity, and even government agencies snooping on which sites you use and your download queue. The only thing that might give you pause is the added price. Some of the premium VPN options such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN tend to cost more than $10 per month. It can be hard to justify if you are already paying for Internet and television service. That’s where a cheap VPN comes in. At the $3 per month price point (when you pay by the year), it’s easier to justify the added price tag. And yet, here’s an overall tip. Think seriously about a VPN service provider even if you decide to skip the annual or three-year plans. It’s important to add up the cost of a data breach or identity theft, as well. It might not seem like a threat right now, and many of us might escape notice by hackers and thieves, but it is better to be safe and protected. A longer-term plan also protects you into the future as the threats increase. One example of this is during the coronavirus pandemic. Phishing scams, viruses (the kind that infect your computer), and malware attacks are now on the rise. A VPN doesn’t have to be expensive. As we discovered, when you pay for a three-year term, you can expect prices to work out to less than $3 per month—quite affordable considering many VPN providers cost north of $10 per month normally.
CyberGhost: Overall price leader when you pay for three years. VPN Unlimited: Second-best annual pricing plans for the budget conscious. Private Internet Access: Best one-year pricing plan. IPVanish: Best monthly price of only $5 per month. TunnelBear: Free ad blocker for Google Chrome.
