Best Cheap VPNs (2026)

Best cheap VPN for tinkerers and torrenting · from $2.03/mo · 30-day money-back

PIA is the value pick for people who like knobs: open source apps, port forwarding, unlimited devices and a no-logs record repeatedly tested in US courts, at a price nothing else in this tier matches.

• No-logs claim proven in US court more than once, which no marketing audit can match
• Open source apps with unusually deep configuration control
• Unlimited devices and port forwarding, a rare combination

Best value for households and heavy device users · from $2.49/mo · 30-day money-back

Surfshark gives you most of what NordVPN does for about half the money, with unlimited devices as the headline. The Dutch jurisdiction and the Nord Security ownership are the trade-offs.

• Unlimited simultaneous devices on every plan, which no other top-tier VPN matches
• Cheapest of the majors, at roughly half NordVPN money
• Audited no-logs policy and RAM-only servers

Best VPN for privacy, and the best free tier anywhere · Free tier, paid from $3.59/mo · 30-day money-back

Proton VPN is the strongest overall package for anyone who cares why they are buying a VPN: open-source audited apps, Swiss jurisdiction, and a free tier with no data cap and no catch.

• Every app is open source and independently audited, with the reports published in full
• The only genuinely good free tier: unlimited data, no ads, no logging
• Swiss jurisdiction outside every intelligence-sharing alliance

Best flexible pricing and best paid-tier free plan · Free tier, paid from $1/mo · 3-day money-back

Windscribe is the enthusiast's value pick: a genuinely useful 10 GB free tier, a pay-per-location plan nobody else offers, deep controls, and a company that talks to users like adults.

• Free tier gives 10 GB a month with unlimited devices
• Build a Plan lets you pay $1 per location instead of buying the whole network
• R.O.B.E.R.T. gives you DNS-level control over ads, trackers and whole categories

Best cheap VPN with a usable free tier · Free tier, paid from $1.11/mo · 30-day money-back

PrivadoVPN pairs a genuinely useful free tier with one of the lowest paid prices anywhere, but it has no audit and a thin feature set, so it is a budget pick rather than a privacy pick.

• Free plan gives 10 GB a month across 13 locations, generous for a freemium tier
• Very cheap on the two-year plan
• Swiss jurisdiction outside the Eyes alliances

Cheapest honest renewal price · from $1.88/mo · 30-day money-back

FastVPN is a plain, cheap tunnel from a company with a reputation to protect. The renewal price under $3/mo is the real selling point, since almost nothing else stays cheap after year one.

• One of the lowest renewal rates in the industry, under $3/mo
• Backed by an established registrar rather than an unknown startup
• Accepts cryptocurrency

Best all-round VPN for most people · from $3.49/mo · 30-day money-back

NordVPN is the safest default pick: consistently the fastest big network, an audit history no rival matches for length, and apps that a first-time user can operate without reading anything. Budget for the renewal price.

• Fastest large network in most independent testing, thanks to the WireGuard-based NordLynx protocol
• No-logs policy re-audited by Deloitte, one of the longest audit track records in the industry
• Full diskless RAM-only server fleet

Best for torrenting and port forwarding · from $2/mo · 30-day money-back

AirVPN is built by and for technical users: live server statistics, superb port forwarding, and operators who argue with you in public. Beginners will hate the interface; power users rarely leave.

• Real-time public server monitoring: live load, bandwidth and user counts per server
• Best port forwarding implementation in the category, with up to 20 ports
• Open source Eddie client and Tor-over-VPN support built in

Best free tier that does not ask for your email · Free tier, paid from $2.59/mo · 30-day money-back

hide.me is an underrated all-rounder: audited, Malaysian-based, generous with protocols and features, and its free tier asks for nothing at all, not even an email address.

• Free tier gives 10 GB a month and needs no email address
• Unusually wide protocol support including SoftEther and SSTP
• Audited no-logs policy with a Malaysian base outside the Eyes alliances

Cheap paid plan with a decent free tier · Free tier, paid from $1.39/mo · 30-day money-back

ZoogVPN is a small Greek provider with a surprisingly generous free tier and very low long-term pricing. The network is small and nothing has been independently verified.

• 10 GB monthly free tier, among the more generous freemium plans
• Very cheap three-year pricing with 10 devices
• Greek jurisdiction outside the Eyes alliances