Best cheap VPNs: Stay anonymous online without going broke

Cue the Jaws theme song: Surfshark takes a bite out of expensive VPN services by offering tons of features at a great value, including a kill switch, DNS protection, an ad blocker, and AES 256-bit encryption. This no-logs VPN is capable of handling even high-bandwidth activities like torrenting, offering a fleet of P2P-friendly servers and split tunneling for fast speeds. Moreover, the company is located in the British Virgin Islands, a country where there are zero data retention laws, so you can rest assured that your data will never fall into the wrong hands.

It's worth mentioning that Surfshark is a relatively new company that's still solidifying a reputation among users. (It was founded in 2018.) Still, we think it's more than capable of competing with older VPN services like PureVPN and NordVPN, which have been around since 2007 and 2008, respectively.

The only real downside to using Surfshark is that it hikes up the rates for its 12- and 24-month plans after your initial term — both of them increase to $4.99 a month from $3.99 and $2.30 a month, respectively. But hear us out: That's still an incredible value for all of the features you're getting. (The sticker shock is also pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. For comparison's sake, the cheapest plans at NordVPN and Private Internet Access exceed the $11-a-month mark after your initial term ends.)

Optional add-ons: For an additional $1.49 a month, you can activate a security package called Surfshark One that complements your VPN with an antivirus tool, data leak protection, and an ad-free private search tool.

Supported platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Read our full review of Private Internet Access.

If you had no clue what "VPN" stood for prior to clicking on this post, Private Internet Access is the provider for you, our sweet summer child. This simple but solid VPN boasts servers in 84 countries and a live tech support team that's available 24/7, along with useful features like a kill switch, split tunneling, a built-in ad/malware blocker, and a free email breach monitor.

Privacy-wise, PIA (as it's commonly known) upholds a verified no-logging policy just like all of the other providers on this list. But it's also one of the few VPN providers whose client source code is publicly available, meaning it's open to inspection by anyone. Basically, it's got nothing to hide.

But for all the perks PIA affords its users, it lacks reliable support for both Netflix and torrenting; its service is pretty hit or miss in both of those departments and works best just for plain ol' browsing. Note that it's also based in the United States, a country that's part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. (More on that here.)

Optional add-ons: PIA also offers an antivirus tool (starting at $1.12/month) and dedicated IPs (starting at $3.75/month).

Supported platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, gaming consoles, and smart TVs.

Read our full review of CyberGhost.

So, here's the thing: It's really hard to find a good VPN for Netflix. The streaming service cracks down hard on VPNs because they help people access the content that's geo-restricted by its licensing deals (a violation of its terms of service), and typically bans any providers it detects. As a result, VPNs that actually work with Netflix nowadays are quite rare. CyberGhost is one of them.

This Romania-based provider's massive global network of more than 8,000 servers includes dedicated streaming servers that have been optimized for speed and stability. (Not a Netflix person? That's chill — these servers can also help you bypass geo-restrictions on movies and shows on platforms like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, NBC, Hulu, and the BBC.) CyberGhost users also have access to a split tunneling tool that keeps their connections fast.

But the best part? CyberGhost doesn't lure you in with heavily discounted introductory prices that get more expensive later on. What you pay at signup is what you'll pay forever.

We do have to dock CyberGhost a few points for its customer service offerings: There's no live tech support in case you run into an issue when you try to boot up Bridgerton on your trip abroad. At least it maintains a robust support site with some helpful step-by-step tutorials.

Optional add-ons: You can add a dedicated IP address to your plan for an extra $3.75 a month.

Supported platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Android TV, Apple TV, smart TVs, gaming consoles, and routers.

Read our full review of PureVPN.

PureVPN has a decent-sized network of more than 6,500 servers that are scattered across 96 locations in 78 different countries, including places in Asia, Central America, and Africa. Most impressively, its 89 servers in Africa are spread throughout six different countries there, which is basically unheard of as far as VPNs go; the other VPNs on this list only have one or two server locations on the whole continent. The only catch is that half of PureVPN's African servers are virtual, not physical, which sometimes (but not always) results in slower speeds. 

Overall, though, PureVPN is a highly qualified provider, offering a split tunneling feature to conserve bandwidth, a kill switch, DNS leak protection, 256-bit encryption, and support for all security protocols. 

It bears mentioning that the company came under fire in 2017 when it turned over a user's data logs to the FBI as part of a criminal investigation. But nowadays, they claim to abide by a certified no-log policy.

Optional add-ons: You can upgrade your PureVPN plan with a dedicated IP address, a port forwarding tool, and IP whitelisting starting at $3.95, $1.99, and $3.95 a month, respectively.

Supported platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and routers.

Read our full review of NordVPN.

The peer-to-peer (P2P) mechanisms of torrenting make your IP address visible to everyone in your "swarm" — i.e., the group of people who have the other pieces of the file you're downloading. If that freaks you out, you should definitely download NordVPN, a Panama-based VPN provider with tons of security offerings and a bunch of BitTorrent-optimized servers that's affordable in the short run. (Those yearly plans get ridiculous price hikes after your first term's up.)

Feature-wise, NordVPN keeps your connection secure with double AES 256-bit encryption, an automatic kill switch, a built-in ad/tracker blocker, and DNS leak protection. (That's all on top of a strict no-logging policy, too.) It's also one of the few VPNs that lets you route your traffic between its own secure VPN servers and the Tor network, which creates an extra, extra secure connection and makes your online activities super difficult to track. 

The downside to enabling all of these privacy features while you're torrenting on a NordVPN server is that they can seriously slow down your connection — but if you're comfortable sacrificing a little security for speed, you can always tinker with your settings and temporarily disable certain tools.

Optional add-ons: You can tack a few more tools onto your plan, including a password manager (starting at $2.49/month) and up to 2TB of cloud storage (starting at $0 a month).

Supported platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Android TV, gaming consoles, Raspberry Pi, Chromebook, Chromecast, Kindle Fire.