Billions of dollars are lost to cyber criminals every year, but fortunately, it’s easy to protect yourself. A VPN creates an encrypted connection between your devices and the internet, which helps keep your passwords, banking info and other sensitive data away from prying eyes. If you’re looking to get signed up with a top-rated service, there are some excellent offers out there that can help you save some serious cash.
Best VPN deals
The VPNs in this group have been tested and reviewed by CNET’s team of experts. We can broadly recommend them with the caveats noted below. The fast-changing ownership landscape in the VPN market may continue to shake things up, but we’ll continue to update this list as we uncover more.
Devices: Up to eight
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 includes gets you four months for free, dropping the average price down to just $5 a month, paid as $140 upfront. 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.
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 87%. If you commit to 24 months of Surfshark Starter VPN right now, you’ll get three free months thrown in. That means you’ll be billed $54 upfront for 27 months, averaging a little less than $2 a month.
If you want a few more perks, you can try Surfshark One, which sets you back just under $2.50 a month or an up-front payment of $67. This gives you some added features, like a private search engine and 24/7 virus protection. In a similar deal, you can get Surfshark One Plus for less than $4 a month, with three months free for a 27-month subscription, billed at $108 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 have continued to operate independently.
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 going on right now, with up to 73% off its plans supporting up to 10 devices. The basic two-year plan is $83 upfront and includes three free months of service, which works out to just over $3 a month. If you want the upgraded Plus plan, with its added malware, ad-blocking and password management tools, you can get a two-year subscription for just $108, which works out to just $4 a month and also includes three months free. There’s also the Complete plan, which is just $5 per month and also comes with the free three months, billed as $135 upfront. As we noted, NordVPN and Surfshark have merged but have continued to operate autonomously so far.
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 under $4 a month for 24 months. Keep in mind that this deal is billed as $86 upfront. 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.
Devices:Â 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 use this VPN for even less. You can get the two-year plan with four extra months included for just $57 upfront, which works out to just over $2 per month.
Despite its affordable price, PIA’s VPN tested fairly well. It offers AES 256-bit encryption, as well as a kill switch function. And it boasts 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 if you’re a security-focused user, although the company appears to be doing everything in its power to alleviate those concerns, including making its source code openly available.
Devices: Up to 5
Return policy: Fully refundable for 60 days
Norton might be a company better known for its antivirus software, but Norton Secure 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 50% on its annual plan, which scores you 12 months of service for $50, or just over $4 per month.
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 about $53 (just over $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.
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 over 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 currently has a special offer on a five-year Standard plan, knocking it down to $115, or just $2 a month. That’s a super cheap plan for the long term if you’re certain PureVPN is the service for you. If you’re looker for a shorter commitment, two-year plans start at just $2 a month. Different service tiers are offering 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 is offering the best VPN deal right now. Starting at just $2 a month, it’s the most affordable of our top three VPN services (which also includes ExpressVPN and NordVPN), and there’s no limit on the number of devices you can use. It also comes with a few other services, such as an ad blocker and a masked email generator.
Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.
How we evaluated these VPN deals
This list is almost exclusively focused on VPN services that have been tested and reviewed by our team of experts, as 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 February 2022, NordVPN and Surfshark announced they were merging, although they continue to operate autonomously. We’ve given 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. Though most services have a 30-day free cancellation policy, check the terms of service before signing up for a long-term commitment.
