Best VPN services
VPN pricing is a term game — the headline is an intro rate for a long commitment, and the renewal is the price you live with. The figures below are each vendor's published monthly-equivalent on the date shown; open a comparison before trusting any of them. Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page on the date beside it. The ordering is cheapest entry price first — a basis you can check rather than a ranking you have to trust.
What “best” means on this page
“Best” is not a mood — it is whichever axis you actually care about, measured. Our record can say which tool is cheapest to start, whose free plan is real, who bills local currency and whose prices just moved; it cannot say which tool fits your work, which is what the full comparisons are for. Cheapest never means best — it means cheapest. Each verdict below names its axis, and every tool links to its own site so you can check us against the source. No vendor paid for any position.
Entry at $2.49/mo — the lowest published paid plan in this set. Cheap is a fact, not a verdict; the profile below says what you get for it.
site ↗pricing ↗Prints the renewal price next to the intro price on its own page — the number rivals make you hunt for.
site ↗pricing ↗Showed us different money in different countries on the same day — measured, not assumed. The profiles carry the figures.
A change only counts once a second clean read agrees. The change log →
Tool by tool
Surfsharksite ↗pricing ↗
A consumer VPN that allows unlimited devices on one account, sold alongside an antivirus and identity-monitoring bundle. Paid plans start at $2.49/mo (Surfshark Starter); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at $4.49/mo (Surfshark One+). It bills by country — entry £1.79/mo to a UK reader and €2.49/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-09-16 — the change log holds the rows.
CyberGhostsite ↗pricing ↗
A consumer VPN with a large server fleet and streaming-optimised locations. Paid plans start at $2.5/mo (Dedicated IP ); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at $4.5/mo (CyberGhost Security Suite for ). It bills by country — entry £2.25/mo to a UK reader, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-09-25 — the change log holds the rows.
ExpressVPNsite ↗pricing ↗
A consumer VPN focused on speed and ease of use, with apps across desktop, mobile and routers. Paid plans start at $2.99/mo (Basic); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at $7.49/mo (Express Pro). It bills by country — entry £2.19/mo to a UK reader and €2.49/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-09-25 — the change log holds the rows.
NordVPNsite ↗pricing ↗
A consumer VPN with a large server network, bundling a password manager and file storage in its higher tiers. Paid plans start at $3.49/mo (Basic); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at $7.49/mo (Prime). It bills by country — entry £2.59/mo to a UK reader and €3.49/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads. Prints the renewal price beside the intro price on its own pricing page — rare candour in this category.
IPVanishsite ↗pricing ↗
A consumer VPN that allows unlimited simultaneous connections, with apps across the usual platforms. Paid plans start at $3.89/mo (Essential); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at $5.39/mo (Advanced). It bills by country — entry $2.49/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-10-04 — the change log holds the rows.
ExpressVPN for Teamssite ↗pricing ↗
Paid plans start at $9.09/mo (1 Month (10 licenses)); no free plan is published. Its published prices moved on 2026-10-02 — the change log holds the rows.
Proton VPNsite ↗pricing ↗
A VPN from the maker of Proton Mail, Swiss-based and open-source, and the rare consumer VPN with a genuinely free tier. Paid plans start at $9.99/mo (VPN Plus); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at $12.99/mo (Proton Unlimited). It bills by country — entry £7.99/mo to a UK reader and €9.99/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-08-28 — the change log holds the rows. Publishes a real free plan; its paid ladder only renders in a browser session, which is how we read it.
Side by side
| Tool | Paid from | Free plan | Currency | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfshark | $2.49/mo | — | USD | 2026-10-13 | page |
| CyberGhost | $2.5/mo | — | USD | 2026-10-13 | page |
| ExpressVPN | $2.99/mo | — | USD | 2026-10-13 | page |
| NordVPN | $3.49/mo | — | USD | 2026-08-28 | page |
| IPVanish | $3.89/mo | — | USD | 2026-09-10 | page |
| ExpressVPN for Teams | $9.09/mo | — | USD | 2026-09-07 | page |
| Proton VPN | $9.99/mo | Yes | USD | 2026-10-13 | page |
How to choose in this category
- The intro price is not the price — renewal rates run higher and commitment terms stretch past two years in this set.
- Compare the renewal row, not the banner figure.
- A refund window is not a free tier — look for a plan actually priced at zero.
Questions the record can answer
How much do VPN tools cost?
Between $2.49/mo and $9.99/mo. The lowest entry price we hold for any of the 7 VPN tools we track is Surfshark, at $2.49/mo; the highest is Proton VPN, at $9.99/mo. Both are the vendor's own published list price, read on 2026-10-13. Cheapest is not best; it is cheapest, and it is the one axis a price record can settle on its own.
Which VPN tools publish a plan priced at zero?
1 of the 7 we track: Proton VPN (Proton Free) — the entry each zero price sits on is named beside it. A free trial is not counted here: a trial is a deadline, not a price.
Do VPN tools charge in my own currency?
Some do. We read every pricing page from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany on the same day, and 5 of the 7 VPN tools we track showed us a different currency in at least two of those three markets: Surfshark, CyberGhost, ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Proton VPN. The rest billed the same money to all three.
Have any VPN tools changed their prices recently?
Yes — 6 confirmed changes in this category, most recently IPVanish on 2026-10-04. A change is confirmed only when the vendor's own page showed us one set of figures and then another; the old reading stays in the record rather than being overwritten.
How many VPN tools does Wicketry track?
10 in this category, last read on 2026-10-13. 7 of them publish a plan ladder we can put in the table; we also track Mullvad, Private Internet Access and Windscribe, but hold no named ladder for them in US dollars yet, so they are absent rather than converted or guessed.