Best Cheap VPNs for 2025 That We've Tested and Reviewed

Surfshark is CNET’s top pick for the best cheap VPN, thanks to its innovative feature set, outstanding speed performance, top-notch privacy protections and budget-friendly annual subscription plan. Surfshark is easy to use across all platforms and is excellent for streaming -- especially if you want to maximize your Netflix viewing options. Granted, Surfshark’s monthly subscription is quite a bit more expensive than the competition, but if you sign up for an annual or two-year plan, you’ll pay far less than what you would for most other top VPNs’ long-term subscriptions. Surfshark isn't just one of the top affordable VPNs -- it's one of the best VPNs on the market, period.

Private Internet Access, or PIA, is another solid budget-friendly VPN that has a strong reputation for privacy and transparency. PIA's apps have lots of options for customization and are simple to use. It's also a great option for streaming, but users with slow connections may struggle with PIA's rather slow speed performance. Nevertheless, PIA is an excellent cheap VPN at just $40 per year.

Mullvad rounds out our list of the best cheap VPNs. Its fast speeds, easy-to-use app and innovative privacy features all for a flat fee of $5 per month make this Swedish-based provider a great choice for privacy-conscious users on a budget. It's decent for streaming, but Mullvad struggles with some streaming services and doesn't offer full native app support for smart TVs or streaming devices. It's an otherwise well-rounded privacy-focused VPN that's a fantastic bargain.

While there's a lot to consider when selecting a VPN, from speed to streaming performance, price is one of the main factors. Whereas monthly prices range from around $5 to $15, annual plans vary from $40 to $100 for the first year -- most VPNs hit you with price hikes. However, price isn’t the only factor -- you'll want to think about value, and thankfully, many wallet-friendly VPNs punch well above their weight class.

What we’ve learned from testing VPNs over the last decade is that you can’t just buy the most expensive VPN and expect to get the most bang for your buck. We've found expensive VPNs that failed to deliver in just about every way you can think of, from poor device support and buggy client apps to completely inadequate speeds and shocking privacy practices. The upside to this is that you don’t necessarily need to pay a premium price to get access to a top-notch VPN. There are a select few VPNs that tick all the boxes and even deliver unique features you won’t find elsewhere, all while maintaining very competitive pricing.  

If you want to maximize your savings, we recommend springing for a yearly subscription rather than month-to-month, because you'll typically enjoy greater long-term savings. While a monthly plan gives you the flexibility to cancel at any time, most VPN companies offer a yearly plan that boasts a lower per-month rate than a monthly plan. Although a multi-year subscription typically delivers the greatest savings, we generally recommend sticking to annual packages –- they offer significant savings without locking you into a single provider for too long. It’s a fast-moving industry, so your VPN provider may suffer slower speeds, get acquired or have a data breach during the course of a year.

The cheap VPNs we've highlighted on this page are all excellent, top-tier options that cater to a wide variety of use cases, from basic privacy to streaming. Best of all, each one is supremely gentle on your pocketbook.

We test cheap VPNs much like we do any VPN, but we pay special attention to the cost of the service to determine its overall value. We test each VPN’s features, speeds and usability across platforms. To determine speed loss, we run over 250 internet speed tests with a VPN enabled and disabled, across multiple VPN servers. We also evaluate how well the VPN performs when streaming and unblocking content from different regions worldwide. Additionally, we run DNS leak tests, inspect the VPN's privacy policy and look for trust signals like transparency reports and third-party audits.

Proton VPN

Proton VPN was developed by the Swiss-based company behind the popular secure email service Proton Mail. The VPN has built a reputation for top-notch security and maximum transparency. Proton VPN's apps are fully open-source, and the software is also regularly audited to help affirm the security of the VPN for users without the time or know-how to inspect the code. On top of security features like a kill switch and DNS leak protection, Proton VPN offers extras like malware protection, Tor over VPN and a stealth protocol to help hide the fact that you're using a VPN. If you connect to Proton VPN's Secure Core servers, you'll be able to route your traffic through secure data centers located in Switzerland, Sweden or Iceland before exiting through another location. This provides a critical extra layer of security if you're a user with heightened privacy needs. Aside from its robust privacy protections, Proton does well at unblocking content from various streaming providers, including Netflix.

Proton VPN is an excellent choice for budget-conscious VPN users looking for a free VPN. Proton VPN offers the only free VPN wholeheartedly recommended by CNET because it's private and doesn't put limits on speed, data or usage time -- which is something the vast majority of free VPNs can't claim. The free tier doesn't include torrenting support or access to its Secure Core servers, but it delivers the same encryption standards and includes the same basic privacy protections like a kill switch, DNS leak protection and a no-logging promise.

Free users are allotted one connection at a time and access to servers in five countries (Japan, The Netherlands, United States, Poland and Romania). It’s a great way to test out the service before you upgrade to the premium version, as there are no bandwidth limits or connection timeouts. The only real downside is that you can’t specify the server you connect to, but it’s still totally possible to access Netflix and other streaming sites if you want to see how it performs as an unblocking VPN. If you want to purchase a subscription to Proton VPN, it's more affordable than premium VPN providers like ExpressVPN, although initially not quite as wallet-friendly as rivals including Surfshark and PIA. The monthly plan is on the cheap side at $10 per month, while the annual plan costs $60 for the first year before jumping to $80 annually, and the two-year plan costs $108 for the first 24 months (then $80 annually). Proton's premium plans offer access to 11,800-plus servers peppering 117 countries, and you'll get 10 simultaneous connections. Ultimately, Proton VPN is one of the best cheap VPNs for privacy enthusiasts and entertainment buffs alike.

Read our Proton VPN review

PrivadoVPN

PrivadoVPN is a wallet-friendly VPN provider that sets you back $11 monthly, $20 for the first year (then $60 annually) or $30 total for the first two years (then $96 total for two years). This is an exceptionally cheap introductory offer that even other budget providers like Surfshark and PIA struggle to match. Aside from its paid premium plans, PrivadoVPN offers a free VPN tier giving you access to 13 different international servers, including spots in the US, UK, Canada, France, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. The zero-cost service lets you pick any server you like, but you're limited to 10GB of monthly usage.

With a paid plan, PrivadoVPN offers hundreds of servers in 49 different countries. That's fine for casual users, but well below the thousands of servers in 100-plus countries that competitors like ProtonVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark and ExpressVPN boast. In our testing, Privado was decent for casual users, providing largely user-friendly apps, solid streaming service unblocking and privacy-friendly jurisdiction.

However, its small server network, unreliable internet download speeds and lack of third-party audits make it tough to recommend for all but basic privacy. Power users seeking blazing-fast speeds for streaming, international travelers or folks with critical privacy needs (like political activists, asylum-seekers or paranoid torrenters) should look elsewhere. But if you need fundamental privacy for web browsing or streaming on a budget, Privado's free or low-cost plans may fit the bill.

Read our PrivadoVPN review.