Best Cheap VPNs That Actually Work: Complete Guide to Top Low-Cost VPNs in 2023

When working remotely or using public Wi-Fi, a virtual private network or reliable VPN can come in handy to protect your information. However, a free VPN service may not provide you with the level of protection you need, and paid VPNs can be expensive. Fortunately, there are cheap VPNs available that offer both high privacy and speed.

At half the price of premium VPNs, several bargain VPNs can deliver reliable security, speedy connections, as well as a wide array of features. It is possible to connect your phone or tablet to your computer for secure online browsing. Listed below are the five best cheap VPNs with outstanding security reputations and affordable prices.

The Best Cheap VPNs

• ExpressVPN (Best Value for Money VPN)
• Surfshark (Best Cheap VPN Overall)
• NordVPN (Best Low-Cost VPN)
• Hide.me (Best Cheap VPN for SmartTV)
• ProtonVPN (Best Cheap VPN for Businesses)
• Windscribe (Best Cheap VPN for Multiple Features)

Comparison Table

VPN Provider	Logs	Kill Switch	Double Hop	Speed	Number of Devices you can connect	Countries	Router
ExpressVPN	No	Yes	No	FAST	Unlimited	94	Yes
Surfshark	No	Yes	Yes	FAST	Unlimited	61	Yes
NordVPN	No	Yes	Yes	FAST	6	62	Yes
Hide.me	No	Yes	No	FAST	5	34	Yes
ProtonVPN	No	Yes	Yes	Average	10	32	Yes
Windscribe	No	Yes	Yes	FAST	Unlimited	55	Yes

Detailed Overview of the Best Cheap VPNs

1. ExpressVPN (Best Value for Money VPN)

Strengths	Weaknesses
+Large number of servers in different locations	-Slightly on the costlier side
+The user interface is quite stylish	-It doesn’t allow multi-hop connections
+It offers split tunneling
+Excellent privacy and security

While ExpressVPN is slightly costlier with the annual plan costing $8.32 per month, the speed and security that is offered makes it a great value-for-money service.

Servers

With 148 server locations and more than 2,000 servers, the service offers a fast connection in 94 countries. It’s one of the few providers that offers locations in every continent except for Antarctica. The main benefits include higher speeds, a wide range of server locations, and compatibility with both desktop and mobile devices.

Offers Split Tunneling

The ExpressVPN app for Windows, Android, macOS, and routers supports split tunneling, which lets you select which applications connect to the internet without the VPN and which use it. When you use a VPN while using the selected apps, you can still have your other apps connect normally. This is very useful for P2P file sharing.

Secure and private

Security and privacy are key selling points of many VPNs, and ExpressVPN is no different.

The British Virgin Islands, where ExpressVPN is incorporated, don’t enforce any data retention laws. The UK and other high-surveillance countries do not have jurisdiction over this issue.

The VPN does not log any of your internet traffic or your IP address, nor the IP address of the server network you are connected to. They only collect dates (not times) when you connect, where you connect from (and not whether or not you visit a specific server), and how much data you transfer per day. It is not possible to link any of this data back to you, and it is only used to curb abuse.

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Read our full ExpressVPN review.

Strengths	Weaknesses
+Features Strong security	-Due to the lack of split tunneling on iOS, Apple’s software is slightly less robust
+Supports most streaming apps
+Free trial for seven days
+Cryptocurrency support
+Very fast
+Wireguard technology
+Excellent customer service

It is affordable to use Surfshark. It’s among the best cheap VPN options around. Most VPNs offer discounts if you sign up for a longer period. Monthly subscriptions cost $12.95 per month, six-month subscriptions are $6.99 per month, and two-year subscriptions are only $2.49 per month. Their website offers price quotes in euros, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars, and British pounds.

You can purchase two extra privacy functions from Surfshark for $0.99 extra per month. Surfshark Search and Surfshark Alert are two services that are offered. Surfshark Alerts scan the web for leaked email addresses and warn you, and Surfshark Search lets you search without being shown ads.

User Friendly

In terms of user-friendliness, Surfshark excels. They have very convenient options in their software that make using it very easy. Moreover, they have an easy-to-reach customer service department. Using Surfshark as a test, we came to the following conclusions:

• Surfshark is one of the easiest VPNs to use.

• A simple and intuitive interface makes Surfshark’s software easy to use.

• It is very easy to create and manage an account.

• Surfshark’s software has an easy installation process.

• Unfortunately, Linux users can’t use Surfshark.

• Customers can expect prompt responses from Surfshark’s customer support agents.

• In addition to its cheap prices, Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• Several languages aren’t supported in multilingual versions.

Logging and privacy

Surfshark maintains a “no-logging” policy. For your VPN to operate effectively, they try to ask for as little personal information as possible from users. Despite this, they do need any information they can get. You’ll need an email address to set up your account and your payment information to process your payments, just like most other providers.

Surfshark, like most VPN providers, collects information to monitor its services. Their use of anonymized information allows them to determine a connection issue based on how busy their servers are. Problems with their servers and services cannot be traced to a specific user; they affect the general use of their servers and services. Additionally, Surfshark seems not to keep any logs. We found nothing in their regulations to conflict with their strict “no-logs” policy.

Surfshark recently phased out its physical servers to use RAM-only servers, which means no data is stored on physical servers any longer. The data is also deleted automatically when you disconnect from this form of storage. So your data will only be temporarily stored, and you cannot retrieve them subsequently. A growing number of VPN providers are implementing RAM-based servers to increase privacy.

Kill switch

For any VPN, a kill switch is a crucial security feature. In the event of your VPN ceasing to work, your internet connection will be disconnected immediately. This protects you if your VPN fails and results in data leaks (like your IP address). macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android users who use Surfshark can turn the kill switch off. Using the Surfshark app, click on settings and turn on the feature.

Supports P2P

Surfshark has dedicated P2P servers that allow torrenting. You can stream videos using players such as PopcornTime or download torrents using the software.

The company does not support P2P traffic on all of its servers. Your traffic will be automatically diverted to a server that supports torrenting if you connect to one that does not support P2P.

This is important because if you try to access Indian servers simultaneously while watching Hotstar or downloading torrents, you might get redirected somewhere else. Hotstar’s stream may be interrupted if this occurs.

The VPN accepts torrenting applications such as BitTorrent, uTorrent, Transmission, Torrentz3, QBittorrent, and Deluge.

You can torrent using Surfshark at optimal speeds as there are no data limits or bandwidth limits.

Testing the service produced average download speeds (2-5 MB/s), but we did not experience any problems. Therefore, the download of a 2.6GB file took about 15 minutes. However, there may be differences in speed between servers.

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Read our full Surfshark review.

Strengths	Weaknesses
+Great speed test scores	-On the Mac, there is no Shadowsocks/Whitelister
+Low-cost subscription	-Free version is not available
+Unblocks more than one Netflix library
+Connecting to unlimited devices at the same time
+Alerts about data breaches
+Has extensions for browsers

The service is listed in the best VPN overall rankings. With NordVPN, you’ll be able to get an excellent, cheap VPN that’s perfect for the average user. The price is affordable, though on the high side of cheap. Access over 500 servers & enjoy excellent security with a VPN that starts at $3.49.

Year after year, NordVPN remains a favorite and the best low-cost VPN provider. Sometimes we think it makes more sense to compare various VPNs with similar products rather than other VPNs. Consider NordVPN, for instance – it’s $3.71 per month when bundled for two years. There are many cybersecurity products on the market designed to keep you safe, but that costs much less than a single coffee at Starbucks each month. NordVPN offers greater value for money than any other VPN service you can find – that’s what convinced us.

Privacy

When you surf the internet, you leave a trail of traces such as your location, device type, IP address, and browsing history. No matter the intent of the data, it is extremely valuable to an advertiser or to a thief.

VPNs allow you to regain your privacy when surfing online. With it, you can easily access the internet without fear of having your connection decrypted. Additionally, your IP address and location are hidden, so anyone snooping on you will have no idea of your whereabouts.

Speed

Each of us has been there at some point. You hit the play button on the Netflix show you’ve waited for ages, or you’re about to strike your gaming arch-nemesis that final victory blow. When the buffering icon appears, you fear the worst.

No matter where you are, NordVPN is the fastest VPN. In addition to providing enhanced security, it ensures minimal loss of speed. Additionally, it prevents your ISP from slowing down your internet connection.

Security

In a world where everything is connected, there is no safety. In a matter of seconds, your device can be infected with malware after clicking on a mysterious attachment or pretty pop-up. It only takes a few minutes for a cybercriminal to learn your credentials when using public Wi-Fi in your local cafe.

Even weak security networks cannot access your data with a VPN, as your connection is encrypted. The CyberSec feature of NordVPN prevents the app from connecting you to malicious websites or ads, so even if you’re in the wrong line of work, it won’t let you access dangerous content.

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Read our full NordVPN review.

Strengths	Weaknesses
+Free version	-A better kill switch would be appreciated
+Protocols for cutting-edge tunneling	-Apps for mobile devices
+It unblocks most streaming services	-Expensive
+App-level kill switch
+Connecting 10 simultaneous devices
+Excellent customer service
+A jurisdiction that respects the privacy

Several pricing options are available for hide.me VPN, including free, cheap, and expensive. Premium pricing is best found in the 2-year plan, which costs about $4.99 a month.

With a free VPN plan, users can occasionally use the site, but there are some limitations. In addition to having just five server locations, there is a 10 GB transfer limit, and one connection is allowed at a time. Each of the 5 servers resides in one of four countries. On the East Coast and West Coast of the United States, there are two servers. The remaining three are located respectively in the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada. In addition to always being free and having no ads, this option has many positives.

While the Premium plan gives access to all their servers and unlimited data traffic and up to ten simultaneous connections added to this, you can also use a static IP address and dynamic port forwarding. Despite this, the premium plan is very expensive.

Kill switch

If your connection with a VPN server is interrupted, most VPN providers offer a kill switch that will shut everything down. We decided to test the client’s reaction by blocking the server’s IP address and forcing the app process to close.

The results of the first test were mixed. A ping command was still running on a router after the IP address was blocked, indicating that not everything was blocked. When the kill switch is working it would display unreachable errors or timeouts, but that isn’t happening here. This issue was quickly corrected by disabling DNS. Although it does cover some possible holes if your connection goes down, it doesn’t cover all of them.

A short window elapsed between the process being killed and the kill switch being triggered in the second test. Despite these measures, there is still a small risk window, which is not optimal. Compared to the previous test, the window of opportunity was much smaller.

Hide.me VPN’s kill switch shows in both tests that it isn’t failproof, so you should pay attention if you are using the VPN for sensitive tasks. It may occur that the kill switch doesn’t work in some situations.

Logging

As the home of Hide.me VPN, Malaysia is an out-of-the-way location for the Five Eyes alliance and an exotic location for a VPN provider. Malaysia does not have any laws that require VPN providers to retain data, so the data may not be stored. Providing this service ensures that users remain anonymous.

The service is completely anonymous and does not keep any logs, according to Hide.me’s Privacy Policy. Apparently, they do not store any information about connections or exchanges. Thus, whatever online activity you plan to engage in, you won’t be tracked.

Wide range of security features

A feature of the VPN is Stealth Guard, which allows you to choose applications and services that won’t work except when you are connected to the VPN.

You can prevent yourself from accidentally using a service or app with a VPN that might compromise your privacy.

It is possible to set up custom DNS and create a random port, sometimes referred to as Dynamic or Ephemeral Ports, depending on the connection. By using a VPN, you are making it harder for your ISP to track and block your connection.

You even get a password generator and a DNS leak detection tool with the VPN service.

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Read our full Hide.me review.

Strengths	Weaknesses
+ Friendly to users	-Sometimes the servers are slow
+Respects the privacy of its users	-Does not offer 24/7 customer service
+Has its headquarters in Switzerland

To meet their mission to provide everyone with secure, private internet access, ProtonVPN’s VPN should be affordable enough to suit that need. You can subscribe to ProtonVPN for free, for basic, or plus. Free powered by ProtonVPN, it offers bare-bones VPN services at no cost. You can upgrade to the Basic plan from Free, which gives you access to more servers in any country. In addition to providing you with fast server speeds, the Plus tier also provides you with additional servers, making it one of the best cheap VPNs for business.

You can pay monthly or yearly for both the Basic and Plus plans. When you commit to a full year, you receive a 20% discount. It’s important to know that ProtonVPN offers 30-day money-back guarantees, so if you’re unhappy with ProtonVPN, you can request a refund for the prorated number of days left in your subscription. We might try paying monthly for a few months before taking the plunge into annual payments, as the price difference is not that large.

ProtonVPN Keep Logs

ProtonVPN is based in privacy-friendly Switzerland and relies heavily on anonymity to provide users with complete protection. Transparency and simplicity are the hallmarks of the privacy policy.

Providing strictly no-logging policies backed up by Swiss law, ProtonVPN does not retain any data about your online activity or connection, including session bandwidth, IP address, or connection information.

We can’t force ProtonVPN to hand over any user-identifying information because we don’t keep any logs of its users.

You may also consider the Tor over VPN service, which allows you to bypass the Tor browser without having to download it, allowing you to benefit from true anonymity.

Split Tunneling 

All your web data is sent through the encrypted tunnel that VPNs create. Split tunneling creates two tunnels that correspond directly to your ISP and another that routes your traffic through the encrypted VPN tunnel. This feature, for example, would allow you to watch Netflix in your home country while surfing the web through your VPN simultaneously. Several people consider split tunneling a crucial feature, whereas others view it as merely a nice-to-have. On Android and Windows, Split Tunneling is available with ProtonVPN.

It is fast 

VPN services need to be fast and offer privacy, which is one of the most important features. In our tests, we used a UK connection capable of 1Gbps speeds and a 600Mbps line. We used TestMy.net and Ookla’sSpeedTest to record speeds.

OpenVPN speeds delivered by ProtonVPN in the UK were 300-310Mbps, which were impressive speed results. It was much the same in the US, where speeds averaged between 280 and 290Mbps, peaks exceeding 400Mbps.

Overall, we found that these speeds are very usable and are up there with some of the fastest OpenVPN speeds we have ever experienced, especially in the United States. In contrast, providers with WireGuard capability like NordVPN and internal protocols will achieve much higher speeds than those using OpenVPN.

With WireGuard integration, we should expect ProtonVPN to run a lot faster, even if it’s already quite fast.

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Read our full ProtonVPN review.

Strengths	Weaknesses
+Strong privacy and encryption features	-Slow
+Safe to use	-A bit pricey
+Can bypass Netflix restrictions
+Torrenting is allowed
+Supports various devices

With Windscribe, you don’t need to worry about breaking the bank. It offers three types of paid subscriptions among the cheap VPNs – monthly, yearly, and 2-year.

Windscribe provides great value for its monthly subscription fee.

Longer subscriptions are offered at good discounts, which makes it even more affordable. Student discounts are also available from the company.

If you’d like a static IP, you’ll need to pay extra per month.

Compared to some of its top competitors, Windscribe’s long-term plans are still slightly more expensive.

Good for Torrenting

On most of the servers in its network, Windscribe VPN allows torrenting.

Users can identify which servers should not be used for file sharing as a P2P service using the designated servers menu. A crossed-out P2P icon identifies them.

Security

Trusting the security of your VPN is crucial. Windscribe appears to be accomplishing its tasks.

We conducted multiple leak tests while connected to Windscribe VPN, and we did not notice any DNS leaks.

While connected to a VPN server in the UK, the websites we visited displayed the following view of me:

We were located in the United States, but my IP address was in the United Kingdom. An ideal VPN looks exactly like this when it is doing its job.

Using Windscribe can prevent your location from being revealed due to DNS/IPv6 leak protection.

Besides WebRTC leak protection, Windscribe has an automatic kill switch it calls a firewall. If your VPN connection drops, the kill switch will terminate all internet traffic.

In case of a VPN loss, your data can be exposed without a kill switch.

In addition to port forwarding and split tunneling, you can easily customize your security using double hop and split tunneling.

Windscribe VPN’s Refund Policy

Compared to many of its competitors, Windscribe VPN has pretty strict refund policies.

Refunds can only be requested within 3 days after purchasing the service. The time spent isn’t very much, but it’s reasonable because you can try it out for free.

After three days of purchasing a subscription, you must ask for a refund by submitting a written request to our support team.

It is important to remember that you can only receive a refund for less than 10GB of data used.

There are a lot of popular VPNs that offer longer money-back guarantees without these types of restrictions.

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Read our full Windscribe review.

Why Do You Need A Cheap VPN?

You don’t need to pay a fortune to protect your online privacy if you work from home. Cheap VPN services will protect your online activities. You should always use a VPN or virtual private network if you want to keep your online information secure, particularly if you’re working remotely or using public WiFi.

We compiled this list based on the following methodology

We collected, assessed, and then created data lists via a variety of tests.

History and culture

In addition to studying VPN companies, we also examined their history. Using detailed history, structure, and operation analysis, we eliminated dozens of VPNs.

We also examined the cultures of VPN companies to determine how much attention is paid to their client’s needs.

Jurisdiction

VPNs offer a variety of security and privacy options to make sure your data is secure. It was important to determine which countries the companies were based in to determine which jurisdiction they fell under and whether they were members of any alliance or sharing information, such as the 14-eyes alliance.

The laws governing data breaches varied from country to country. Data consumers and users of privacy laws deserve laws that safeguard their data and punish those whose privacy is violated. VPNs from countries with no data security laws or have them but not to the level that we require were eliminated automatically.

Speed

An analysis of speed involved three components; upload speed, download speed, and ping speed. Rather than going directly to and from your ISP, you use a VPN to route all your traffic. Therefore, download and upload speeds will deteriorate over time. In other words, the fastest VPNs with free trials are those, which don’t cut down much on connection speeds.

During the VPN setup, since the traffic will flow over an additional channel, VPN latency will occur. The latency measurement unit is milliseconds.

With a faster VPN, the latency or ping increase is lower. To obtain estimates of VPN speeds for various VPNs, we measured the speed of the Chrome browser without using a VPN. We measured the traffic after the VPN had been enabled and after the VPN had been turned on. Following this, we compared the speed and calculated the percentage drop.

User experience

Referrals and testimonials from users best determine a VPN’s quality, so we considered customers’ opinions when compiling our list. Google Play Store ratings and Apple Store comments were consulted in this case as highly reliable sources. We screened VPN users who frequently used VPNs based on physical interviews.

Customer Support

Customer experiences played a major role in determining user ratings. Our review of the VPN included checking its email contact options and its live chat feature, as well as its response time to emailed inquiries.

Pricing

Each VPN provides a website with information about its features and pricing. In this way, we gained access to pricing data and identified VPNs that offer the best prices.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best cheap VPNs?

The best cheap VPNs are those that offer top-notch services at a friendly cost, such as ExpressVPN, Surfshark, NordVPN, Windscribe, ProtonVPN, and Hide.me.

Are cheap VPNs safe?

The good news is now it’s possible to locate a cheap VPN that does not compromise speed or security. At less than half the price of premium VPNs, a bargain VPN offers reliable security, a fast connection, and plenty of features.

Why are some VPNs cheaper than others?

Various protocols of communication offer different levels of security and protection. Several of these are old and have been compromised by hackers. You can generally use the default protocols provided by most VPN providers since they are generally secure for their customers.

How much do VPNs cost on average?

A VPN costs roughly $10 a month on average. Nevertheless, they are costlier if you sign up for a longer-term contract; for instance, an average annual contract costs $8.41 when broken down monthly, while a two-year contract costs $3.40.