Cheapest VPN (2026): real prices, renewals and refunds compared

The cheapest VPN by headline price is PureVPN, at $1.49 a month on a 63-month plan, but the cheapest one we’d trust is Private Internet Access (PIA): $81.20 up front buys 40 months, and it renews at the same price. Over about three years, nothing else we compare came close.

Headline VPN prices are built to look small: they need a long plan paid in full on day one, they’re often a promotion, and they usually rise at renewal. This guide puts all ten providers we cover on the same footing, with the up-front total, the renewal price, the month-to-month price and the refund window, then works out what the cheapest options actually cost over three years. Prices are as listed on each provider’s site on November 12, 2026, except NordVPN’s, which blocks automated checks, so its prices are as reported by Gizmodo on October 21, 2026¹. Several providers were running Black Friday promotions that day. Prices change often; check before you buy.

How did we compare VPN prices?

We took each provider’s cheapest tier that includes the full VPN, in US dollars, and recorded five things: the lowest per-month price, the plan length and up-front total it needs, the renewal price, the month-to-month price, and the refund window.

Then we added the cost over roughly three years, including the first renewal where the provider shows one, so a cheap first term with an expensive renewal doesn’t win by default. Finally, we ranked the cheap options by how much evidence backs their no-logs claim, because a VPN that logs is expensive at any price. We didn’t run speed tests, and price is the only thing this guide ranks; our no-logs roundup covers privacy in full.

What are the cheapest VPNs you can trust?

PIA, CyberGhost and IVPN, in that order on three-year cost, with Surfshark and Mullvad close behind. All five have independent checks of their no-logs claims or real-world tests that found nothing.

1. Private Internet Access, $81.20 for 40 months. Pick it if you want the lowest long-term price with three Deloitte reviews behind it. Skip it if you’d rather avoid Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and ExpressVPN.
2. CyberGhost, $61.32 for 28 months, then $61.32 a year. Pick it if you want the longest refund window (45 days). Skip it if you want port forwarding, which its features page doesn’t list, or a non-Kape provider.
3. IVPN, $140 for 3 years, or $2 a week. Pick it if you want simple pricing and a privacy-first provider. Skip it if you need more than 5 devices on Standard, or port forwarding.
4. Surfshark, $67.23 for 27 months. Pick it if you want unlimited devices for the price. Skip it if you want to know your renewal price before you buy, since its page didn’t show one.
5. Mullvad, €5 a month, flat. Pick it if you hate long commitments and want to pay anonymously. Skip it if you need more than 5 devices or a refund on cash or crypto.

Which VPN has the lowest price?

PureVPN, at $1.49 a month on its 63-month Standard plan, followed by PIA at $2.03 and CyberGhost at $2.19. Every headline price below needs the whole term paid up front.

The chart flatters long plans. PureVPN’s $1.49 needs you to commit for more than five years; Proton’s $2.99 needs one. That’s why the up-front total and the renewal price, in the table below, matter more than the per-month figure.

What do VPNs cost up front, at renewal and month to month?

Up-front totals for the cheapest plans ranged from $35.88 (Proton, one year) to $94.23 (NordVPN, 27 months, reported). Renewals are higher than the first term at most providers that show them.

As listed on each provider’s site on Nov 12, 2026 (NordVPN as reported by Gizmodo on Oct 21, 2026). Surfshark’s page says renewals are charged at “the applicable renewal price” without stating it. ExpressVPN’s order page appears to test different prices on different visitors, so you may see something else. PureVPN’s prices were part of a Black Friday sale.

What does a VPN really cost over three years?

Including the first renewal, PIA was cheapest at $81.20, then PureVPN at $93.87, CyberGhost at $122.64 and IVPN at $140. NordVPN Basic was the most expensive of the ten at a reported $233.31.

The arithmetic, for whatever it takes to cover at least 36 months on each provider’s cheapest route, assuming you don’t catch another promotion at renewal:

• PIA: one payment of $81.20 covers 40 months. $81.20 ÷ 40 = $2.03 a month.
• PureVPN: one payment of $93.87 covers 63 months, so three years are paid for with more than two to spare. $93.87 ÷ 63 = $1.49 a month.
• CyberGhost: $61.32 for the first 28 months, then $61.32 for the next 12: $61.32 + $61.32 = $122.64 for 40 months, about $3.07 a month.
• IVPN: $140 for 36 months, about $3.89 a month.
• Surfshark: $67.23 for 27 months, then a renewal the page doesn’t show. The page’s underlying plan data lists $79.00 per 12 months for Starter; if that’s what you’re charged, $67.23 + $79.00 = $146.23 for 39 months, about $3.75 a month. Treat that as indicative.
• Mullvad: €5 × 36 = €180, about $199.80 at the $5.55 Mullvad shows for €5.
• ExpressVPN Basic: $83.72 for 28 months, then $99.95 for 12: $183.67 for 40 months, about $4.59 a month.
• Proton VPN Plus: $35.88 for the first year, then $83.88 twice: $35.88 + $83.88 + $83.88 = $203.64 for 36 months. Proton’s 2-year plan ($83.76) is cheaper for the first 24 months, but the page doesn’t show its renewal.
• Windscribe Pro: $69 × 3 = $207, if it renews at the same $69.
• NordVPN Basic (reported): $94.23 for 27 months, then $139.08 for 12: $233.31 for 39 months, about $5.98 a month.

Month to month is far dearer: 36 months of NordVPN or ExpressVPN at $14.99 comes to $539.64. The flip side is that you can stop any month. If you aren’t sure you’ll want a VPN in a year, a short plan you can cancel is worth more than a long discount you won’t use.

Is Mullvad’s flat €5 a good deal?

It isn’t the cheapest, but it’s the most predictable: €5 a month whether you pay for one month or a year, with no introductory price to expire. Over three years it costs more than PIA, CyberGhost or IVPN.

Mullvad’s pricing page⁸ lists €5 a month including VAT (about $5.55) for any term, offers 10% off for crypto payments, and says it never runs sales. You can pay by cash, wire, card, PayPal or crypto, and the account is a number rather than an email address. The catches: up to 5 devices, no port forwarding, and a 14-day refund window that excludes cash and crypto⁹. Mullvad’s record is strong: in 2023 Swedish police came to its office with a search warrant for customer data and, Mullvad says, left with nothing, and Cure53 audited its infrastructure in June 2024²⁶. For a full comparison, see Mullvad vs Proton VPN.

Can you pay for a VPN by the week?

Yes, at IVPN: its Standard plan was listed at $2 a week on Nov 12, 2026. Windscribe’s Build-A-Plan is the other low-commitment option, at $1 per location per month with a $3 minimum.

IVPN’s pricing page¹⁰ lists Standard at $2 a week, $6 a month, $60 a year, $100 for two years or $140 for three, on up to 5 devices. A week is enough for a trip or to test it on your own connection, and $6 month to month was the lowest monthly price of the ten. Note that IVPN’s refund policy¹¹ excludes cash, vouchers and IVPN Light, and allows one refund per customer. IVPN had Cure53 audit its no-logs claim in 2019 and has had yearly Cure53 security audits since, the latest published November 9, 2026²⁵.

Windscribe’s Build-A-Plan¹⁸ charges $1 per location per month, minimum $3, up to 7 locations, each adding 10 GB a month to its free allowance. If you only need one or two countries, that can undercut every full plan here. Windscribe’s free plan, covered in the best free VPNs, may be enough on its own.

Is PureVPN worth it as the cheapest VPN?

Only if price matters more to you than evidence. PureVPN has the lowest headline price and the weakest no-logs record of the ten: its records helped the FBI identify a user in 2017, and its later audit reports aren’t published.

In 2017, according to an FBI affidavit, PureVPN determined that the same customer had connected from a cyberstalking suspect’s home IP address and his employer’s, which helped identify him, as TorrentFreak reported²³. PureVPN advertised “no logs” at the time, but its privacy policy said it recorded connection times and bandwidth. It says it adopted a stricter policy afterwards and has had several no-logs assessments since, one announced as by KPMG in 2020; its no-log assessment page²² names the auditor only as a well-known audit firm, and the reports aren’t published. Compare that with PIA and CyberGhost, below, whose Deloitte reviews are at least named and dated. The $1.49 also needs a 63-month commitment; if you change your mind after the 31-day refund window²¹, that money is gone.

What’s the cheapest VPN you can trust?

PIA. It was the cheapest over three years, its no-logs claim has been reviewed three times by Deloitte, and it has twice had user data sought in US court cases without producing any.

Our ranking, cheapest first among providers with independent evidence behind their no-logs claims:

1. PIA ($81.20 for 40 months). Deloitte Audit Romania reviewed it in 2022, 2024 and, most recently, in a review completed December 19, 2025¹⁴. In a 2016 FBI case, a subpoena to PIA yielded only that the IPs used were on the US east coast. The reports go to customers rather than being published openly, and PIA has been owned since 2019 by Kape Technologies²⁴.
2. CyberGhost ($122.64 for 40 months). Three Deloitte assessments, the latest completed in late 2025 (CyberGhost’s announcement¹⁷), plus the longest refund window. Also Kape-owned.
3. IVPN ($140 for 3 years). A 2019 Cure53 no-logs audit and annual security audits since, from a small company in Gibraltar, at round per-term prices with no first-term discount shown.
4. Surfshark (about $146 if the plan data is right). A Deloitte no-logs report in 2025²⁷, though a misconfigured test server was breached in 2026; Surfshark says no user data was affected.
5. Mullvad (about $200). The 2023 police search that found nothing and Cure53 infrastructure audits, with no sales and no renewal surprises.

ExpressVPN ($183.67), Proton VPN ($203.64), Windscribe ($207) and NordVPN ($233.31) all have good records but cost more over three years; NordVPN and Proton have the deepest audit histories of all, so if you can pay more, see Proton VPN vs NordVPN and NordVPN vs PIA. How to judge the evidence yourself is in our guide to checking a no-logs claim.

Who should skip the cheapest plans?

Anyone who isn’t sure they’ll want a VPN for years, and anyone who needs a feature the cheap tier leaves out.

If you only need a VPN for a trip or the odd café visit, a free plan or a week of IVPN costs less than any multi-year deal; see Do I need a VPN? If you need port forwarding for torrenting, check that the cheap plan includes it (CyberGhost’s features page doesn’t list it, and PureVPN sells it as an add-on); the best VPNs for torrenting covers that. If you want a VPN for streaming, remember that using one to reach another country’s catalog usually breaks the streaming service’s terms, and “works with” claims change often; see the best VPNs for streaming.

Which cheap VPN should you pick?

Pick PIA if you want the lowest cost over three years from a provider with audited no-logs claims. Pick CyberGhost if you want 45 days to change your mind. Pick IVPN or Mullvad if you’d rather pay by the week or month than commit for years. Pick PureVPN only if the lowest headline price outweighs its 2017 record for you.

Whatever you choose, buy on the provider’s own site, test it inside the refund window, and switch off auto-renewal straight away. Our reviews of PIA and CyberGhost have the details, and the comparison table lists all ten providers side by side.

Visit PIA Visit CyberGhost