Cybercrime isn’t slowing down and there are plenty of people who’d love to get their hands on your personal data without asking nicely. The fix, thankfully, is simple. A VPN encrypts your connection and makes your online activity difficult to intercept. Even better, you don’t have to pay much for decent protection right now.
Tons of top-rated VPN services like Express and Surfshark are offering massive discounts for first-time subscribers, with prices starting at just $2 a month. To help you get signed up for less, CNET’s deal experts have rounded up the best of these offers below. We’ll continue to update this page as deals come and go, so be sure to check back often.
Best VPN deals
CNET’s team of experts tested and reviewed the VPNs in this group. We can broadly recommend them with the caveats noted below. The fast-changing ownership landscape in the VPN market may keep shaking things up, but we’ll keep updating this list as we uncover more.
ExpressVPN: $2.49 a month for 28 months
Devices: Up to 8
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 30 days
ExpressVPN still tops our list of the best VPNs, and you can save on a subscription by going for its 24-month plan, which also gets you four months free. That drops the average price to just over $2 a month, paid upfront as $70. You can step up to the Advanced plan with a few more perks for $3 a month, paid as $84, or go all-out for the Pro plan at $5 a month, paid as $154.
We evaluate VPNs based on their overall performance in three main categories: speed, security and price. Express isn’t the cheapest, but it’s among the fastest and the most secure so far, even after its acquisition by Kape Technologies.
Surfshark: $2.49 a month for 27 months
Devices: Unlimited
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 30 days
Surfshark, a relative newcomer to the VPN market, has quickly become known for its speed, which is why it’s one of our VPN experts’ top picks. Surfshark also supports unlimited devices, which is great for large households. Currently, all the plans are discounted by up to 86%. If you commit to 27 months of Surfshark Starter VPN right now, you’ll be billed $67 upfront, averaging just $2.49 a month.
If you want a few more perks, you can try Surfshark One, which costs just over $2.79 a month or an upfront payment of $75 for 27 months. This gives you additional features, such as a private search engine and 24/7 virus protection. In a similar deal, you can get Surfshark One Plus for just over $4.49 a month for a 27-month subscription. This will be billed at $121 upfront. You’ll get everything the other two packages offer, plus data removal from companies’ databases and people-search websites.
Surfshark merged with rival NordVPN in 2022, although the companies continue to operate independently.
NordVPN: $3.49 a month for 27 months
Devices: Up to 10
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 30 days
An industry heavyweight and still one of CNET’s top picks, NordVPN has some substantial savings right now, with up to 75% off its plans, which can support up to 10 devices. The basic two-year plan is $94 upfront for 27 months. If you want the upgraded Complete plan, with its added malware, ad-blocking and password management tools, you can get a 27-month subscription for just $121, which works out to $4 a month. There’s also the $7.49-per-month Prime plan, which will cost you $202 upfront.
As we noted, NordVPN and Surfshark have merged but have continued to operate autonomously so far.
Proton VPN: $3 a month for 24 months
Devices: Up to 10
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 30 days
Proton VPN is the only free VPN we recommend, but if you need more functionality, you can upgrade to Proton VPN Plus for $3 a month for 24 months. Keep in mind that you’ll be billed $72 upfront for this two-year plan, and that it renews at $84. You can also get a one-year subscription for just $42 upfront, or pay just $5 month-by-month. Proton VPN Plus has no data caps or server-switching limits. Its ease of use, Tor support and ad-blocking capability also make Proton VPN popular.
PIA VPN: $1.33 a month for 26 months
Devices: Unlimited
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 30 days
Private Internet Access earned a spot on our list of the best VPN services as one of our favorite budget options. Right now, you can get this VPN for even less. You can get the two-year plan with two extra months for just over $1 a month, billed as $35 upfront — thanks to an 89% discount.
Despite its affordable price, PIA’s VPN tested fairly well. It offers AES 256-bit encryption, as well as a kill switch function. It delivers a respectable speed loss of just 24%. You also get 500GB of cloud storage with this deal. It’s worth noting that PIA does fall under US jurisdiction, which might be a concern for security-focused users, although the company appears to be doing everything in its power to alleviate those concerns, including making its source code openly available.
Norton VPN: $3.33 a month for 12 months
Devices: Up to 5
Return policy: Fully refundable for 60 days
Norton might be a company better known for its antivirus software, but Norton VPN is a solid option for those who want a way to keep their data private while browsing the internet. Right now, you can save up to 60% on its annual plans. Prices start at $3 a month for the Standard plan, which is paid as a $40 upfront. You can also upgrade to the Plus plan for $50, which offers some extra protections, or get the Ultimate plan for $100, which extends coverage to up to 10 devices.
IPVanish: $2.19 a month for 24 months
Devices: Unlimited
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 30 days
With one of the best user interfaces in the field, according to our reviewer, IPVanish is good for those who want to customize settings and for those who are new to a VPN. If this is your first time at the rodeo and you want to know more about the technology, IPVanish is a reliable service with a gentle learning curve. Normally, IPVanish goes for about $156 a year, but this deal gets you two years of service for just $53 (a little more than $2 a month). Note that IPVanish is also based in the US, which may be a concern if you’re focused on security. (Disclosure: IPVanish is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as CNET.)
Additional VPN deals
We haven’t fully tested the following VPN. Because of that, we can only recommend it for casual use, such as bypassing geographic restrictions while streaming media.
PureVPN: $3.55 a month for 27 months
Devices: Up to 10
Refund policy: Fully refundable for 31 days
PureVPN presents another affordable option if you’re in the market for a simple VPN without a big price tag. With a solid server fleet numbering more than 6,500 in 78 countries, PureVPN promises reliable service, although we haven’t had the chance to verify that. Another disclaimer: PureVPN was reported by our sister site ZDNET as having provided timestamp-only logs to the FBI in a cyberstalking case in 2018. PureVPN has since stopped the timestamp logging practice and undergone a third-party audit to ensure that it keeps to its no-log policy.
It’s currently offering up to 83% off its two-year plans, which include three free months of service and range from just $2 to $4 a month. That’s a super cheap plan for the long term if you’re certain PureVPN is the service for you. Different service tiers offer additional features, like password management and up to 10 logins.
What is the best VPN deal right now?
If you’re on a budget, Surfshark offers the best VPN deal. Starting at just $2 a month, it’s the most affordable of our top three VPN services. It also comes with a few other services, such as an ad blocker and a masked email generator.
How we evaluated these VPN deals
This list focuses almost exclusively on VPN services tested and reviewed by our team of experts, because you don’t want to risk having your personal information leaked just to save a few bucks. Fortunately, almost all of our top-rated VPNs are offering some excellent deals right now. We’ve analyzed the discounts, subscription length, refund policy, internet speed loss, the maximum number of devices allowed and what each service is best suited for to bring you the best offers available.
There are also a few factors you should be aware of when choosing one of these deals:
- Some of these offers have countdown clocks saying the VPN deals end today. These are usually marketing gimmicks that have no relationship to the deal’s actual end date.
- We’ll update sale prices when we notice a change, so check back often.
- The VPN industry has undergone significant changes in the past few years, with all three of our top VPN choices announcing major shifts in corporate ownership. In 2021, ExpressVPN announced that it had joined Kape Technologies, a company that already owns several other VPNs and has raised privacy concerns in the past.
- In 2022, NordVPN and Surfshark announced they were merging, although they continue to operate autonomously. We regularly give ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark fresh reviews in light of these changes and continue to evaluate other VPN services as well. Our rankings are subject to change, as they reflect our latest findings.
- Most of the offers above are for two-year or longer subscriptions, which is a long time to tie yourself to a service that could change ownership or terms of service, or even have a security incident. Although most services have a 30-day free cancellation policy, check the terms of service before signing up for a long-term commitment.
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