Last Updated on April 18, 2018 by Larious
An awesome VPN provider doesn’t need to be expensive. Some of the best VPNs can be very affordable, some can be bought through a special deal at a much lower price, although others can be demanding on your wallet, it has to be said. That’s not surprising when you consider that you’re paying for top-notch performance, security and privacy.
However, it’s definitely possible to get a good VPN provider and pay a relatively cheap subscription fee, and those are the services we’re pointing out in this article.
VPN users need to know what a service provider is going to offer and how minor differences can impact user experience. For this reason, I decided to build my list of 5 cheapest VPN services on an unorthodox comparison. I evaluated the industry’s leading VPN apps on the basis of the prices that they offer.
Table of Contents
Main Features To Look For In A Cheap VPN Provider
The hallmark of a cheap VPN service is its price, but that should not be the only feature you should consider when selecting a VPN. There are other distinct features that a low priced VPN should have. To help you out, we have come up with the following attributes you should look for when purchasing a cheap VPN service provider:
- Performance: It is critical that the VPN you select offers the best performance regardless of the price. You should test different servers of your VPN provider to gauge its overall performance. The best VPNs should not compromise your internet speeds in any way.
- Number of Servers Offered: The power of VPN lies in its server network and global spread. With servers in major location around the world, you can access any website or streaming service if your choice. For starters, look for servers in US, UK, Australia, and Europe.
- Protocols & Encryption Strength: A VPN can be used for many purposes but the most important of them all is the protection it offers against different cyber threats. This is achieved through protocols & encryption levels offered. You should look for at least OpenVPN protocol along with AES 256 bit encryption level in the best cheap VPN service.
- Reliability: This is where uptime and service quality comes in. It is important that even the cheapest VPNs offer maximum uptime (99.99%). You should check if the VPN offers protection against VPN disconnections, such as internet kill switch.
- Level of Customer Support Offered: It is important that a VPN offers different avenues for support to its customers. You should look out for live chat support feature, knowledge base, FAQs, email ticketing support and any other support method offered by a VPN service.
- Number of Simultaneous Connections Offered: A VPN should be able to cover multiple devices in your home. The best cheap VPN should offer 3 or more simultaneous connections.
- Is The Use of P2P & Torrents Allowed? Not many VPNs allow the use of file sharing services. If you are looking for a best cheap VPN for torrenting, here is a list of top torrenting VPNs which allow this feature.
1. ShadeYouVPN
ShadeyouVPN offers a 1 month subscription for $3.95, 1 Year Plan: $2.16 and industry news confirms that frequent discounts bring the price down even lower from time to time. Boasting over 20 servers in over 10 countries, ShadeyouVPN stands proud with OpenVPN, PPTP & L2TP protocols secured with 256-bit encryption.
Other factors that justify ShadeyouVPN’s inclusion in this list of cheap VPNs include high quality customer support and 360 degree compatibility that ensures that the VPN runs effectively and efficiently across all devices/OSs.
- PPTP, L2TP/IPSec & OpenVPN protocols
- 19+ servers in 10 countries
- 5 Multi login
- 7-Day Money Back Guarantee
- Upto 256bit encryption
2. Windscribe
Best option for unlimited devices
A generous free plan and the ability to use unlimited devices is what makes Windscribe really stand out. The provider offers clients for Windows and Mac, plus iOS and Android (although the latter is freshly released and may still be a bit flaky). You also get great browser extensions, which have some added extras like an ad blocker.
As mentioned, the main attraction here is unlimited connections, which means that you can connect as many devices as you like, which is a great feature that you don’t see often. Unfortunately, in our testing, Windscribe’s performance proved to be a little lacklustre, especially over longer distances. While it’s still perfectly usable, you probably won’t be satisfied if you value speed above all else.
As for the security, the provider is solid on that front with 256-bit encryption and OpenVPN as its default security protocol. The privacy policy is clear and precise: the firm insists that there is no logging of historical sessions or records of incoming or outgoing IP addresses, or individual activities.
Windscribe also has a smart free plan which offers a generous 10GB of monthly data (that’s certainly more than most other VPNs). Of course, there are some restrictions – you are limited to only one device, and there’s no OpenVPN configuration.
The plan selection is scarce, and apart from the free offering, your only other option is the Pro plan that comes with unlimited devices and data. You can choose to pay on a monthly plan of $ 4.08 or annual basis, the latter of which is cheaper.
3. ibVPN
This world class VPN service provider offers a reasonably priced 1 month plan at $4.83 per month. There is a 15 day money back guarantee if you don’t like the way it work, but that very rarely happens with ibVPN. As one of the cheapest VPN services, ibVPN gives you more than your money’s worth with multi-protocol support and feature-rich software.
- Great for strong privacy and security, heavy streaming, unblocking restricted websites, torrents & p2p activity. The most complete package.
- High-Speed Connections
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180+ Servers In 57 Countries
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P2P/Torrents Allowed
- 5 Simultaneous Connections
- Proxy Servers In ALL Locations
- Socks5 Proxies
- NEW TOR over VPN
- NEW Double VPN
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- NAT Firewall
- OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP, SSTP, SoftEther, IPsec
- NEW Stealth VPN
- NEW Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera Extensions
- Windows, MacOS, iOS & Android Apps
- High Priority Support
4. PureVPN
PureVPN ranks as the cheapest VPN service providers when considered for Lifetime Subscription. PureVPN is currently offering an exclusive deal in which you get 81% off on its annual plan. This the service extremely cheap as it brings the per month cost of PureVPN to a comfortable $10.95!, 1 Year: $4.92, 2 Years: $ 2.88.
As one of the top few cheap VPN service provider, PureVPN offers a 1 month subscription for only $10.95. The plan comes powered with PureVPN’s expansive server spread and diverse array of protocols. PureVPN qualifies as one of the best cheap VPNs in the market on account of economy, service quality and customer support. The website features a reservoir of information and the device compatibility remains unparalleled.
5. NordVPN
NordVPN is certainly amongst the cheapest VPN services out there. It is offering 50 percent off on its yearly plan, lowering the per month const to $11.95. When you compare these prices to other VPN providers, NordVPN offers amazing savings with top-notch performance and service. Best offer 3 Years Plan: $2.75, 1 Year Plan: $5.75.
If you consider the above overall prices of different VPN services, almost all of them offer packages less than $10.00 per month. By our reckoning, this is a reasonable cost to setup a VPN. For this nominal cost, you get online privacy and security, anonymity, unlimited internet accessibility, and much more.
Some VPN providers also offer free apps for Android and iOS devices, allowing users to enjoy the service without any cost. And, if a VPN offers free trial, you can try out the VPN service provider, test its performance, service quality, and other features before making the final decision.
