Whether it's protecting your internet privacy or unblocking your favorite streaming services, VPNs are a handy online companion.
Thanks to regular sales and offers, you can pick up one of the best VPNs for a relatively affordable price. Some are more expensive than others but the VPNs we feature on Tom's Guide can be yours for between $1 and $4 per month.
Despite being advertised as a monthly cost, taking advantage of the best VPN deals requires you to pay for a plan up front – with two-year deals the most cost-effective.
Free trials
A free trial is, simply put, the most user-friendly way of testing out a VPN. The biggest advantage of a free trial over, say, a money-back guarantee, is that it doesn't require you to make an upfront purchase – or even enter your credit card details, for that matter.
You can simply sign up for the VPN and activate the free trial, which would then allow you access to the full product (meaning no features are locked behind a paywall) free of charge.
It's worth noting that all three top VPN services offer a free trial. NordVPN provides a 7-day free trial to Android users; Surfshark's is the same length, but it's available for all users, and ExpressVPN's 7-day trial is available on iOS and Android.
However, even the best VPN free trials are not without their drawbacks, with the biggest one being that they're often very, very short (from 24 hours to 7 days), so you might not get enough time to see if the VPN works day-to-day. Also, fewer and fewer providers are offering free trials.
Additionally, VPN free trials are often mobile only, giving desktop users little to no opportunity to test the service out without having to spend cash first.
Using a free trial may also mean that you miss out on special deals, and you end up paying more after the trial is up. However, this isn't as common as VPN sales tend to last more than one week.
Money-back guarantees
Money-back guarantees give you the most amount of time to try out a VPN risk-free. The industry standard is 30 days but some, like CyberGhost, give you a 45-day to cancel anytime and get a full refund.
Although it does require you to pay upfront, you'll get full access to the product. Plus, you don't have to put up with any restrictions on what device you can use the VPN on – mobile, desktop, routers, gaming consoles, and smart TVs are all allowed.
It's also worth noting that money-back guarantees allow you to get the best price for the VPN if you do stick around. This is because they're often only available for long-term plans, which offer discounted rates as compared to monthly subscriptions.
The biggest drawback is that the upfront cost can be quite significant. Moreover, a money-back guarantee is only available once per VPN and is only valid for the first 30 (or 45) days from the date of purchase. That said, you can get another with the same provider should you choose to sign up with a different email.
Tester plans
Right off the bat, I should point out that tester plans aren't quite as good as free trials, but they can be a decent option for some users. Essentially, these allow you to use the VPN for a short time period in exchange for a very small fee – the norm is around $1 for 7 days.
It can come in handy if you want to try out a VPN that either doesn't offer a free trial, or you'd rather not go through the app store to get it.
However, the drawback's that it's not free, and it may auto-renew at a more expensive price, so you'll have to keep an eye out and cancel before.
Alternatively, I believe that a cheap monthly VPN plan offers a better proposition, not just for testing purposes but also if you're headed on holiday for a few weeks. Plus, it might offer a refund period, too, allowing you to get out scot-free if you're not impressed.
Bottom line
The main takeaway is that you must be able to test the VPN in some way before committing your money. If a provider doesn't offer a single avenue to do so, it's usually a red flag, and we'd suggest you stay away and look at other VPNs.
Speaking of ways to try on a VPN for size, money-back guarantees are, quite frankly, the best choice, seeing as they offer full access to the VPN and more than enough time. However, it involves paying for the full term (1, 2, or 3 years) upfront, meaning it won't suit everyone.
Free trials and tester plans, as well as the best cheap VPNs, are, therefore, really good choices for people who'd like a more affordable way of testing out a VPN.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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