In a chaotic world, one thing you can count on is your own common-sense steps toward better cybersecurity. Most of the holiday deals are over by now, but plenty of services are still offering excellent prices. With access to a virtual private network (VPN), you can stream TV shows and events from all over the world, protect your information from hackers and thwart online trackers.
We strongly recommend using a VPN, but you might get stuck with a substandard app if you jump on the very first deal you see. You might also mistakenly end up paying more than you want to, as even otherwise respectable VPNs sometimes frame their prices in misleading ways, with advertised deals not always as available as they seem to be.
Even so, there are some great bargains on the table. Many of the best VPNs — including our top pick, Proton VPN — are still running deals that save you anywhere from 70 to 87 percent on annual subscriptions. Most of these discounts only apply if you sign up for a year or more, but if you divide the cost by the months of subscription, it's much cheaper over time.
Best VPN deals
ExpressVPN Basic — $78.18 for a two-year subscription with four months free (78 percent off): This is one of the best VPNs, especially for new users, who will find its apps and website headache-free on all platforms. In tests for my ExpressVPN review, it dropped my download speeds by less than 7 percent and successfully changed my virtual location 14 out of 15 times. In short, it's an all-around excellent service that only suffers from being a little overpriced — which is why I'm so excited whenever I find it offering a decent deal. This discount, which gets you 28 months of ExpressVPN service, represents a 78 percent savings. Be aware, though, that it'll renew at the $99.95 per year price.
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ExpressVPN Advanced — $100.58 for a two-year subscription with four months free (74 percent off): ExpressVPN recently split its pricing into multiple tiers, but they all still come with similar discounts for going long. In addition to top-tier VPN service, advanced users get two additional simultaneous connections (for a total of 12), the ExpressVPN Keys password manager, advanced ad and tracker blocking, ID protection features and a 50 percent discount on an AirCove router. As above, note that it renews at $119.95 annually.
NordVPN Basic — $81.36 for a two-year subscription (70 percent off): NordVPN gets the most important parts of a VPN right. It's fast, it doesn't leak any of your data and it's great at changing your virtual location. I noted in my NordVPN review that it always connects quickly and includes a support page that makes it easy to get live help. NordVPN includes a lot of cool features, like servers that instantly connect you to Tor. This deal gives you 70 percent off the two-year plan.
NordVPN Plus — $93.36 for a two-year subscription (74 percent off): NordVPN has also taken 70 percent off its Plus subscription. For only a little more, you get a powerful ad and tracker blocker that can also catch malware downloads, plus access to the NordPass password manager. A Plus plan also adds a data breach scanner that checks the dark web for your sensitive information.
Surfshark Starter — $53.73 for a two-year subscription with three months free (87 percent off): This is the "basic" level of Surfshark, but it includes the entire VPN; everything on Surfshark One is an extra perk. With this subscription, you'll get some of the most envelope-pushing features in the VPN world right now. Surfshark can rotate your IP constantly to help you evade detection — it even lets you choose your own entry and exit nodes for a double-hop connection. That all comes with a near-invisible impact on download speeds. With this year-round deal, you can save 87 percent on 27 months of Surfshark.
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