The massive discounts you see advertised while shopping for a virtual private network often aren’t exactly what they seem. It’s not uncommon to see VPN companies tout seemingly unbelievable savings of 80% or more off the “regular” subscription price. But a lot of smoke and mirrors usually goes into calculating those lofty percentages. There’s a reason the advertised savings seem too good to be true -- because they often are.
It takes a lot to establish and run a VPN company, and all the technical overhead, payroll, legal, compliance, marketing and server infrastructure costs add up quickly. So it’s understandable that a VPN subscription will involve a monetary commitment from the end user. But many VPN companies employ various tricks to make it seem, at first glance, as though you can get their services for cheaper than what they actually end up costing over the long run.
VPN companies are far from the only ones doing this. Price trickery is commonplace across virtually every industry. Just think of how often you see something priced at $9.99 or $19.99, making it seem more cost-effective than $10 or $20, when in reality, the difference is minimal. Still, VPN companies can often be especially shifty with how they frame their subscription prices, sometimes even to the point of being downright deceptive. But if you know their tactics and where to look for pertinent price information, then you can figure out how much you’ll actually pay for your VPN and avoid being blindsided at checkout or when your subscription renews.
Wading through the messy thicket of VPN prices
VPN price structures are often far more complicated than they need to be, which, in many cases, is almost certainly by design. They’re all meticulously crafted and exhaustively tested to funnel customers into specific subscription plans that yield optimal gains for the company, while downplaying the true cost of the service for the end user. VPN companies do everything they can to reduce friction by offering money-back guarantees and framing long-term subscription plans as a much greater value than they actually are. Ultimately, they want to make it as easy as possible for you to click the “Buy” button without giving the true cost of the service much thought.
When you go to a VPN provider’s price page, you’ll typically see a few subscription options based on the length of the subscription or, if the VPN offers additional bundled services, what tools are offered with each subscription tier. Usually, you’ll see the different subscriptions broken down into monthly, yearly and two-year increments, with some VPN companies offering other options like six-month, three-year or even lifetime subscriptions.
VPN companies want you to commit for the long term and use various tactics to try steering customers toward the annual or two-year plans rather than monthly subscriptions. You’ll often see a specific selection highlighted on the pricing page, with a bit of text that says something like “Best value,” “Most popular,” “Exclusive deal” or “Free extra months.”
Sometimes, if you click on a “lesser” plan, you’ll get a pop-up that further pushes you to the plan the VPN company really wants you to buy, by mentioning something about popularity or bigger savings associated with the longer-term plan. Invariably, long-term prices displayed in large, bold font are framed as monthly rates, even though you have to pay for the full year or two up front. Seeing a price of $1.99 per month looks a lot friendlier than seeing that you have to pay $55 upfront.
To be fair, I also recommend going with an annual subscription plan for the most value while minimizing the risks associated with committing for too long. I don’t recommend signing up for more than a year at a time, given how quickly things can change in the VPN industry. Companies can be bought and sold, performance and network quality can fluctuate, streaming capabilities can change, policies can shift and features can come and go from one year to the next.
While VPN companies try to make deals seem more attractive than they are, long-term plans do offer greater savings
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