Nowadays, cheap VPNs equipped with all the features required for the security of computing devices (PCs, Macs, smartphones, tablets, and smart devices) are available. Contrary to what people think, it is not always necessary to spend a lot to have a good service.
In the following guide, you can find the best low-cost VPNs available. These products are ideal for those unsatisfied with a free VPN (often too limited) but do not yet want to invest in a subscription.
In the following paragraphs, you can find an overview of the best VPNs for your phone or PC. You can immediately choose the one that best suits your needs regarding privacy, server speed, choice of servers, and security of the encrypted connection.
Those who want to focus on a complete VPN service from all points of view can undoubtedly opt for NordVPN. This is characterized by a strict no-logs policy (which respects user privacy), a large server network (6,200 in 104 countries), robust encryption (AES-256), and a tracker and adware blocking mechanism. The picture is completed by a scanning system against malware and scam links and a selection of servers optimized for streaming and high-speed P2P downloads. It should also be remembered that NordVPN represents one of the best VPNs for IPTV.
The cheapest subscription for this service is β¬3.69 per month (two-year plan), associated with the simplest subscription version ( Standard ). Those who want higher protection or more advanced security features can consider the Plus and full subscriptions. With NordVPN, you can use the Satisfied or refunded formula within 30 days of subscription.
NordVPN accepts the PostePay card, any credit or debit card, and cryptocurrencies, PayPal, and Amazon Pay as payment methods.
The list of the best cheap VPNs continues with Surfshark. With this service, you have a very large server network (over 3,200 servers in 65 countries) supported by a solid no-log policy, an automatic connection system to the best server available (the fastest or the closest), an effective split tunnel mechanism to divert traffic from some apps and a system for blocking unwanted content (including trackers and malicious links). With Surfshark, connecting an unlimited number of devices is possible, which is a considerable advantage for those with many devices to protect.
The cheapest Surfshark subscription, the Starter version, costs β¬2.49 per month (2-year plan). The One and One+ options have more security features (such as a private search engine, an anti-malware system, and digital identity monitoring). Even with Surfshark, you can use the Satisfied or refunded formula (with a full refund within the first month of use).
You can pay for your Surfshark subscription with a credit card, prepaid card, PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or cryptocurrency.
CyberGhost is a VPN service that combines speed, performance, and an economical price. This service provides a very large server network (over 8,000 servers in 100 countries), servers optimized for 4K streaming and P2P downloading, and specific servers for online gaming. Several features are designed for maximum security.
With CyberGhost, you can use split tunneling, an automatic connection system, a kill switch, and a mechanism for blocking unwanted content and malicious links. From a privacy point of view, you can benefit from a strict no-log policy and military-grade encryption (AES-256), which makes it impossible to identify traffic generated within the VPN.
The lowest-priced subscription is β¬2.11 per month (on the 2-year plan with 3 additional months free). You can try CyberGhost for free through the Satisfied or Refunded service. After signing up for the subscription, we can benefit from a 45-day trial period, within which it is possible to request a total refund of the expense made if the VPN does not fully meet our expectations or problems arise.
The Surfshark subscription can be paid by credit card, prepaid card (PostePay), PayPal account, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or cryptocurrency.
As you might guess from its name, PrivateVPN prides itself on protecting your privacy and personal data, which can be tracked or intercepted while you browse online. By choosing this service, users benefit from reliable servers, a strict no-logs policy, advanced security protocols such as OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec and IKEv2, and systems to optimize and stabilize the connection. It does not record connection or server usage data and takes advantage of Sweden’s protective legislation.
Among the features, honorable mention goes to Stealth VPN, which is designed to overcome the filters of countries with rigorous censorship. Still, it is also effective for hiding the connection in Italy or elsewhere. It also includes a kill switch; however, it is only available for Windows users.
PrivateVPN’s network extends to over 200 servers in 63 countries, ensuring global coverage and allowing up to 10 devices to connect simultaneously. Although few servers are optimized for streaming, those with dedicated IPs allow seamless access to the main streaming platforms and support the P2P protocol.
For customer support, PrivateVPN provides live chat and email, including remote assistance via TeamViewer, with operators intervening directly on the user’s desktop to resolve problems. With a three-year subscription, the cost is just β¬2.08 per month, a highly competitive price.
Private Internet access (also known as the acronym βPIAβ) is one of the cheap VPNs we can use safely. Despite the very low cost of the subscription, it is a complete and secure VPN.
The service boasts over 35,000 servers in 91 countries equipped with fast connections (optimized for 4K streaming). It also added a robust user-configurable encryption system (you can also choose AES-256, the most effective and secure), an effective no-logs policy, open source apps, an unwanted content-blocking system, and automatic connection to the fastest server available. With PIA, it is possible to protect any device without limits by installing the app and using the service without being subject to limits on devices connected simultaneously.
The cheapest subscription is β¬1.92 per month for a 2-year plan (with 3 additional months free). As with other services, PIA also allows its customers to obtain a refund within 30 days.
PIA supports all the most popular payment methods, giving the user a wide choice of methods; in fact, it is possible to pay by credit card, prepaid cards ( PostePay ), PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and cryptocurrencies.
One of the cheap and next-generation VPN services is AdGuard VPN. This service is free (with 3 GB included monthly) but can be used without bandwidth and transmission limits by subscribing to a monthly subscription.
Both the free and paid versions offer all the features you would expect from a cutting-edge VPN: a rapidly growing server network (over 1,000 servers in 50 countries), a very strict no-logs policy, an advanced encryption system, and a system for unblocking any streaming content.
The free version is limited to the number of selectable servers and can only protect 2 devices at a time. Still, by subscribing, the number expands to 10 devices, and limitations on speed and selectable servers from the app are eliminated.
The cheapest AdGuard VPN subscription costs β¬2.69 per month (2-year plan), and you can get a guaranteed refund within 30 days. This is excellent for thoroughly testing the service’s functionality and deciding whether to keep the subscription active.
A good cheap VPN, regardless of the subscription price, must meet certain standards regarding speed, security and privacy, usability, support and monthly costs, and the benefits of effective refund policies.
The speed of a VPN depends on the network’s size and the number of servers available. To get the highest speeds, you need a good number of servers close to the location where you connect.
For those connecting from Italy, there must be at least two connection positions (usually Rome and Milan ); however, to unblock online streaming services, many servers must be present in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The presence of servers with fast connections (at least 10 Gbit/s) also determines the connection speed, which is difficult to obtain if you choose a free service or a VPN with very small networks.
From a security and privacy point of view, it is important to read the active policies and conditions of use of the chosen service. Even if all services boast a no-log policy, some data is always collected (connection time and amount of data downloaded or sent). It is necessary to understand if personal data or information on the VPN connection made is also collected.
A military-grade encrypted connection ( AES-256 ) and modern connection protocols (just think of WireGuard, a true point of reference in the sector) help keep our devices safe, whatever the server chosen and the location of the geographic location from which we connect.
On the privacy front, it is also essential to analyze where the registered office of the chosen VPN service is located; a service based in one of the Five Eyes countries can create some problems compared to countries outside the surveillance area (such as Panama), even if normally no one can provide information on what we have done inside the VPN without a warrant from a judge.
A VPN app must be simple to use, especially for users who are not familiar with the technology and may find it difficult to encounter an overly technical interface. For this reason, most apps have a simple automatic connection button, which can immediately establish a connection with the closest server and/or the fastest server.
In addition to the automatic connection, the app must allow you to quickly select an alternative server, particularly when you need to use the VPN to access foreign streaming catalogs; in this case, a map or list of servers is provided, from which it is possible to select the USA, UK, or other countries, create the encrypted connection, and obtain a new anonymous IP address.
All VPN services provide valid assistance via chat, ticket, email or FAQ (help pages). Good support is available 24/7, but not all services can afford to maintain such an expensive service.
By using cheap VPNs, you can always benefit from assistance via email or chat, ready to provide all the help you need in case of problems with apps, servers or access to streaming content (one of the problems more frequent).
To save money, it is ideal to choose a long-term subscription plan.
The lowest and most competitive prices are available, especially with the two-year or three-year plans, for which you undertake to subscribe to a long-term service, spending the sum in advance to cover the entire indicated period. Once the period ends, the subscription price usually becomes annual unless otherwise indicated.
If you want to pay for a VPN for a month, six months, or a year, the prices inevitably rise (around β¬10 per month), and thus, you lose all the advantages of choosing a cheap VPN.
All VPN services, including low-cost ones, provide a full refund policy: within the first 30 days (45 days for CyberGhost), you can get your subscription money back by contacting customer support before the end of the period reimbursement coverage.
Some VPNs only provide this refund policy on annual or multi-year subscriptions, making signing up for a long subscription mandatory.
Some mobile apps also provide a 7-day free trial, which can be used without an active subscription; in this case, creating the account directly from the phone without going through the PC is necessary.
Cheap VPNs comply with all the security and privacy standards this type of service requires. Therefore, the subscription price should not be misleading; these are safe and reliable services. The savings are achieved by giving up some secondary function or feature or providing assistance based only on tickets or email, thus avoiding using a real-time chat or telephone support service (definitely expensive to maintain).
Some cheap VPNs have a smaller server network than higher-priced competitors. This does not translate into a lower speed than expected, given that in many cases, the servers chosen are still very fast and can handle a high quantity of simultaneous connections to the point that, in case of problems, it will be enough to exit and choose a new server to restore maximum speed.
Between a cheap VPN and a free VPN, choosing a service that requires a subscription is always better. The reasons for this choice are the following:
In addition, many cheap VPNs provide a 100% money-back guarantee (within the first few days of your subscription) or a free trial without paying for a subscription.
You can use a cheap VPN to protect your Internet connection, hide network traffic (i.e., the history of sites visited and pages opened during an anonymous search), or access streaming catalogs that are inaccessible from Italy.
The word “cheap” should not mislead users. Behind these services, high-quality VPN apps can be found that can create an encrypted and secure connection from smartphones and PCs and protect privacy while browsing.
The average price of a cheap VPN is around β¬5 per month, but you can usually save on a long-term subscription.
VPNs that offer a very competitive price are AtlasVPN, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost, Surfshark, Adguard VPN and NordVPN. The cheapest subscription is AtlasVPN.
A cheap VPN costs less than β¬5 per month, with some subscriptions often available for under β¬3 per month. This price is not applied every month since it is usually associated with a multi-year subscription; we will, therefore, pay the entire promotional period in a single installment (often with prices close to β¬50-60 every two years or every three years).
For online gaming, it is advisable to use a VPN with a very large server network to choose the fastest server at any time of the day. CyberGhost is a service that has servers dedicated to gaming, but NordVPN and Surfshark also provide servers with high speeds and low ping, excellent for streaming games without slowdowns while hiding your identity.
To access streaming services, it is necessary to immediately focus on a service that constantly updates the servers and adds new ones every month or at regular intervals. Netflix and other services block VPN connections by identifying both IP addresses and the type of encrypted connection; to circumvent these blocks, it is advisable to focus on any of the services seen in this guide, all of which have an excellent network of servers optimized for online streaming (in particular, CyberGhost, NordVPN, and Surfshark).
Starting from the assumption that every VPN connection inevitably slows down the connection (even the most expensive ones), if you choose a service with a large network and very fast servers, we will obtain high performance in every scenario, impacting very little on the real speed. By selecting one of the services listed in this guide, you will always get at least 80% of the maximum speed detected, in particular, if you use the VPN connection to access the Internet via already fast connections (for example, FTTC, FTTH, and 5G network).