Best Cheap VPN for 2024: Privacy on a Budget – CNET

Updated Nov. 30, 2023 4:30 p. m.

PT We intensively test each VPN, making sure it meets our standards for privacy, speed and usability. How we test VPNs Extensive features at a great price Surfshark offers solid privacy features, a polished interface, unlimited simultaneous connections, fast speeds and an impressive global network of VPN servers at a price that’s considerably lower than many of its top competitors. Even though Surfshark’s monthly plan is relatively expensive at $14 per month, it’s much more wallet-friendly if you sign up for a year or longer.

Following an introductory $48 for the first year, the annual plan renews annually at $60. You can also opt for a two-year plan that starts at $54 for the first two years combined, then recurs annually at $60 — though CNET doesn’t recommend signing on with a single provider for more than a year at a time, given how quickly things tend to shift in the VPN industry. Surfshark offers ad and malware protection, camouflage mode and split tunneling .

You’ll also get standard features like DNS leak protection, AES 256-bit encryption and a kill switch . The company’s Nexus Network can help enhance user privacy even further by facilitating features like Dynamic MultiHop and IP Rotator. Surfshark is an excellent option for streaming as well, and can help you unblock multiple Netflix libraries along with other streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus and Max.

You can get a seven-day free trial on Android , iOS and MacOS if you sign up through Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store. If you’ve purchased Surfshark and you’re not satisfied with the service for any reason, the VPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Budget-friendly and transparent Private Internet Access (PIA) is an OG VPN provider based in the United States.

Its software is fully open-source and its apps are highly customizable, making PIA a solid choice for the techie crowd and privacy-conscious folks who appreciate transparency. It’s also one of the cheapest premium VPN providers around, at $12 per month, $40 per year or $79 every three years. PIA had its no-logs policy independently audited in 2022, regularly releases transparency reports and has had its no-logs claims tested in the wild on multiple occasions.

Along with standard privacy features like AES 256-bit encryption, DNS leak protection and a kill switch, PIA also offers multihop connections, obfuscation and an ad and malware blocker. You can expect decent but not blazing-fast speeds with PIA, and a large server network spanning 91 countries worldwide. However, we experienced a fair bit of trouble accessing certain streaming content like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, so if you’re looking to stream a wide range of content, consider a different option.

In any case, PIA is an excellent cheap VPN that provides top-notch privacy and is more than capable in handling most anything you’d want to do online. The only free plan we recommend Proton VPN is a VPN product developed by the Swiss-based company behind the popular secure email service Proton Mail. The VPN built a reputation for top-notch security and maximum transparency.

Proton VPN’s apps are fully open-source, and its regularly auditedsoftware affirms the security of the VPN for users without the time or know-how to inspect the code. Proton VPN offers a kill switch and DNS leak protection along with extras like malware protection, Tor over VPN and a stealth protocol to help hide the fact that you’re using a VPN. onnecting to Proton VPN’s Secure Core servers lets you route your traffic through secure data centers located in Switzerland, Sweden or Iceland before exiting through another location.

This provides a critical extra layer of security if you’re a user with heightened privacy needs , like a journalist, dissident, whistleblower, physician or attorney. And while it’s not the cheapest on this list, Proton VPN is more affordable than IPVanish in the long run if you decide to stick with the provider for more than a year. The service costs $10 per month, $72 per year or $120 every two years.

Proton VPN offers 10 simultaneous connections and 3,000-plus servers in 69 countries. You can get a full refund within 30 days of purchase if you’re not satisfied. Proton VPN also makes our list of the best cheap VPNs thanks to its impressive free tier.

Proton’s free VPN doesn’t include torrenting support or access to its Secure Core servers, but it doesn’t limit speed, data or usage time. Free users are allotted one connection at a time and access to about 100 servers in three countries (US, Netherlands and Japan). Simple, newbie-friendly interface It’s not the fastest VPN on the planet, but IPVanish is an excellent VPN for casual users, offering plenty of speed for activities like streaming and video conferencing.

In our tests, we experienced issues with the Quick Connect feature, which didn’t always connect us to the fastest server available. If you’re looking for the fastest server, we recommend connecting manually based on the current server load readings displayed in the Locations section of the IPVanish app. IPVanish costs $13 per month, $45 for the first year (then $90 annually) or $67 for two years (then $180 every two years).

With IPVanish, you’ll get unlimited simultaneous connections, so it’s a good option if you live in a large household or have a lot of devices you want to secure at once with a single VPN account. The VPN kill switch worked well during our tests, and the newly redesigned apps were a breeze to use. With IPVanish, you’ll get access to more than 2,000 servers in over 75 locations, as well as 24/7 support via live chat, email or phone.

The best cheap VPN in 2024 One of the best ways to protect your privacy online is by picking the right VPN. But if you’re on a strict budget, adding yet another annual subscription charge may not be on your list of priorities. Luckily, there are still options because online privacy should always be a priority.

The best cheap VPNs can give you all of the privacy protections their higher-priced counterparts do at a price that won’t break the bank. Choosing a cheap VPN that’s reliable, affordable and secure is a smart way to go if you’re looking to save some money. CNET’s VPN experts have years of experience testing dozens of VPNs and have compiled a list of great budget-friendly options below.

Each of our cheap VPN suggestions includes impressive privacy features, strong security and fast connection speeds, all for a fraction of the price of other premium options. VPN providers are changing rapidly, resulting in a constantly evolving VPN market, so we advise against signing up for a two-year or longer subscription because the VPN industry tends to shift on a dime. We recommend choosing the cheapest plans based on their one-year or one-month rates and have the best money-back guarantees.

While a lot of VPN providers offer better month-to-dollar value when you go for these long-term plans, you should be cautious with those kinds of lengthy VPN commitments. Watch this: Top 5 Reasons to Use a VPN What’s the best cheap VPN right now? Surfshark is CNET’s top pick for the best cheap VPN, thanks to its innovative feature set, outstanding speed performance, top-notch privacy protections and budget-friendly annual subscription plan. Surfshark is easy to use across all platforms and excellent for streaming — especially if you want to maximize your Netflix viewing options.

Granted, Surfshark’s monthly subscription is more expensive than the competition, but if you sign up for a yearly plan, you’ll pay far less than what you would for most other top VPNs’ annual subscriptions. Other VPNs we tested Mullvad VPN Along with Proton VPN, Mullvad is another open-source VPN provider that offers its services at a competitive rate. Mullvad’s simple pricing structure is vastly different than most others.

The service costs $5 per month, whether you use it for a month, a year, 10 years or longer. Mullvad doesn’t offer any sales or discounts, just a flat $5 fee for however many months you want to use it. That comes out to $60 for a year, which matches Surfshark for the lowest annual price in this list when not considering introductory prices.

And because Mullvad says it strives to know as little about its customers as possible, it has completely done away with recurring subscriptions so it can’t hang onto payment data longer than absolutely necessary. You can even mail Mullvad an envelope with cash to pay for the service. Mullvad automatically generates a random 16-digit account number when you sign up, and you can prepay for one, two, three, six or 12 months at a time.

The company is so focused on security and privacy that you don’t have to enter any personal data whatsoever at signup; no email or username is required. Mullvad is fast and offers excellent privacy, but isn’t optimized for streaming. I streamed content on Netflix without any issues during my tests, but couldn’t watch anything on Disney Plus.

It’s otherwise an excellent option for budget-conscious VPN users who value extra attention to privacy and appreciate simplicity and straightforwardness, but you may want to go with another provider if you’re interested in streaming. Read our Mullvad VPN review . How we test cheap VPNs We test cheap VPNs much like we do any VPN, but we pay special attention to the cost of the service to determine its overall value.

We test each VPN’s features, speeds and usability across platforms. We also evaluate how well the VPN performs when streaming and unblocking content from different regions worldwide. Additionally, we run DNS leak tests and look for trust signals like transparency reports and third-party security audits.

Factors to consider in a cheap VPN Based on our experience testing, using and researching VPNs, these are the most important factors to consider when choosing a cheap VPN. Cost If your objective is to find the cheapest VPN for your needs, then the cost of the VPN will likely be your primary consideration. While some VPNs cost up to $100 or more per year, you can get a top-notch cheap VPN with many of the same features, usability and privacy protections for $40 to $60 per year.

Privacy Privacy is a major consideration for any VPN, regardless of what kind of VPN you want. The best VPNs all have privacy protections like a kill switch and DNS leak protection, along with a no-logs policy and AES 256-bit encryption. Depending on the level of privacy you need, you can get a cheap VPN that offers additional features like TOR over VPN, obfuscation and multihop connections.

Speed A VPN will often slow down your connection speeds by 50% or more. So you’ll want to look for a VPN that will cut your speeds by as little as possible — ideally less than 20% so that you’ll barely even notice a difference. Fast VPN speeds are essential for data-heavy activities like streaming, gaming, downloading or video conferencing.

A fast VPN will easily handle all of those activities, whereas slow VPN speeds may only be suitable for basic internet browsing. Usability Getting a VPN on the cheap doesn’t necessarily have to mean that you have to sacrifice usability. In fact, many of the more budget-friendly VPN options are miles ahead of their pricier peers in terms of user-friendliness.

Look for a VPN that works well across all the devices you want to use. Your VPN should be as easy to use as any other app you may download and should require little to no learning curve. Cheap VPN FAQs Can I get a free VPN? Proton VPN’s free tier is the only free VPN option we recommend.

Otherwise, we don’t recommend using a free VPN for various reasons. First, free VPNs are typically slow, lack premium features, offer a small selection of servers and impose usage limits. Worse, there are free VPNs that sell your personal data to make money and some are even riddled with malware.

You’re much better off getting a full, premium VPN experience with a cheap VPN than risking your privacy with a free VPN. How much does a cheap VPN cost? As with many services, the longer you commit, the bigger the savings over time. While a VPN may have an expensive monthly rate of around $12 to $14 per month, it can still be considered a cheap VPN if its annual subscription prices are more budget-friendly.

You can get a cheap VPN for anywhere from around $40 to $70 per year. Can I get in trouble for using a VPN? Using a VPN is perfectly legal across most of the globe, so you shouldn’t have to worry about getting in trouble simply for using a VPN. That said, check your local laws and regulations before purchasing a VPN.

And keep in mind that if you do anything illegal while using a VPN, it’s still illegal. If you’re in a region where VPN use is restricted, you can connect to an obfuscated server to hide your VPN usage. .