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 £1.79/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 ↗
Paid plans start at £1.79/mo (Surfshark Starter); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at £3.29/mo (Surfshark One+). It bills by country — entry $2.49/mo to a US reader and €2.49/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads.
ExpressVPNsite ↗pricing ↗
Paid plans start at £2.19/mo (Basic); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at £5.49/mo (Express Pro). It bills by country — entry $2.99/mo to a US reader and €2.49/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads. Its published prices moved on 2026-08-27 — the change log holds the rows.
NordVPNsite ↗pricing ↗
Paid plans start at £2.59/mo (Basic); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at £6.29/mo (Ultimate Max). It bills by country — entry $3.49/mo to a US 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.
Proton VPNsite ↗pricing ↗
Paid plans start at £7.99/mo (VPN Plus); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at £10.39/mo (Proton Unlimited). It bills by country — entry $9.99/mo to a US 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 | £1.79/mo | — | GBP | 2026-08-29 | page |
| ExpressVPN | £2.19/mo | — | GBP | 2026-08-29 | page |
| NordVPN | £2.59/mo | — | GBP | 2026-08-28 | page |
| Proton VPN | £7.99/mo | Yes | GBP | 2026-08-29 | 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.