How much should a VPN cost in 2026?

Shop for a VPN and you’ll see everything from “completely free” to the price of a streaming subscription — often for what looks like the same product. So what should a VPN actually cost, and what are you really paying for at each end of the range? Here’s a grounded guide.

The going rate

Paid VPNs usually land somewhere around £2–£12 a month, and the price you pay depends heavily on how you commit. Month-to-month is the most expensive way to buy; longer plans drop the monthly rate substantially. A fair, honest range for a quality service on a longer plan is roughly £2–£5 a month — more than that and you’re often paying for a brand name.

Why “free” usually isn’t

Running servers in dozens of countries and paying for everyone’s bandwidth costs real money. When a VPN is free, that money comes from somewhere — usually your data, sold to advertisers, or a service so throttled and crowded it barely works. We dug into this in free vs paid VPNs. A free tier funded transparently by paying subscribers is fine; a “free” app with no visible business model is the product.

Why the cheapest paid deal can cost more

Rock-bottom, pay-for-three-years-upfront deals look great until you factor in overloaded servers (hello, CAPTCHAs), poor speeds, or a company that vanishes. Price is one input; server quality, a real no-logs policy, working apps and support matter just as much. A slightly higher price that you actually keep using beats a cheap one you abandon.

What fair pricing looks like

Look for a clear monthly price, a free trial or money-back guarantee so you can test before committing, one subscription that covers all your devices, and honest renewal pricing — not a low first term that quietly triples later. You can see exactly what each of our plans costs, including local pricing for your country, with no renewal surprises.