10 Best Paid Monthly VPN Plans in 2026: Cheap & Reliable

Paige Henley Former Editor
Published on: April 29, 2022 Updated 16 times since publishing

I get it — long-term subscriptions aren’t for everyone. Maybe you’re traveling, working on a short-term project, or just trying out a VPN for the first time. Monthly plans give you the flexibility to cancel any time, but the downside is that many of them come with a high price tag — so finding one that’s actually worth it can be tricky.

After testing the top VPNs in 2026, I narrowed down the best monthly plans that balance cost, performance, and privacy. ExpressVPN is my personal favorite, but every option on this list is worth considering depending on your needs.

Editor's Note: ExpressVPN and this site are in the same ownership group.

Quick Summary of the Best Paid Monthly VPNs

Editor's Note: Intego ONE, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost and ExpressVPN are owned by Kape Technologies, our parent company.

🥇1. ExpressVPN — Best Monthly Paid VPN

ExpressVPN offers the best monthly plan at $12.99 / month, and it’s my favorite VPN overall — it includes industry-leading security features, such as an ad and tracker blocker, and it has the fastest speeds on the market.

If you’re looking for the best VPN for streaming and torrenting, ExpressVPN is a solid choice. It works with 100+ streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and many others. It’s also compatible with all P2P clients, and I like that it’s great for gamers, with DDoS protection on all servers and compatibility with any cloud gaming services such as Xbox Game Pass and Nvidia GeForce Now.

You get access to split-tunneling, which lets you pick which apps use the VPN and which apps use your local network. For example, you can route your streaming apps or torrenting apps through the VPN’s secure tunnel, while routing the rest of your traffic via your local network — and save on bandwidth to get slightly faster speeds. Unlike most competitors, this option is available on all major operating systems, including macOS, which typically gets left out.

Another cool feature is ExpressKeys, which is a good free password manager that ExpressVPN includes in its monthly plan. I used it to store all of my passwords, logins, and personal information, such as passport details, in a secure vault. Not only is it very intuitive and handy to use, but you can keep using it even after your ExpressVPN subscription expires.

ExpressVPN works in restrictive countries, including Iran, Indonesia, and Russia, and bypasses all network blocks, so you can access a free and open internet. This is thanks to its automatic obfuscation across all servers and protocols, which hides your VPN traffic to blend in with all the other ordinary traffic.

ExpressVPN lets you test it risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Its 2-year deal is the best value at $2.49 / month (and it usually includes additional months for free).

Read the full ExpressVPN review

🥈2. Private Internet Access (PIA) — Affordable Monthly VPN

Private Internet Access (PIA) has a very affordable monthly plan ($11.95 / month) that’s great for torrenting. It allows P2P traffic on servers in 91 countries, supports port forwarding, and also has SOCKS5 proxy support, which changes your IP address while torrenting but doesn’t encrypt your traffic — so you get much faster download speeds, including on public Wi-Fi networks.

The monthly plan comes with PIA MACE, which is the best VPN ad blocker on the market. In my tests, PIA MACE always got rid of annoying ads and stopped me from connecting to shady websites.

PIA also has obfuscation via Multi-Hop, which uses Shadowsocks, an encrypted open-source proxy, to obfuscate your traffic. When you use this feature, your traffic is first sent through Shadowsocks, which hides your VPN traffic before it reaches the VPN server. It works perfectly for bypassing all network blocks, including those in restrictive countries, though you’ll have to manually set it up, unlike ExpressVPN, which has it automatically on all servers.

Finally, PIA is great for advanced users, as it allows very granular control over all of its settings. You can change 20+ settings, including encryption and packet size, and even rearrange the order and display of features on the home screen.

Private Internet Access covers its monthly plan with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also get it for 6 months for $7.50 / month if you don’t want to commit to a longer plan. If you like PIA, its longest and best-value deal is only $1.33 / month.

Read the full Private Internet Access Review

Editor's Note: Private Internet Access and this site are in the same ownership group.

🥉3. PrivateVPN — Very Intuitive (Good for New Users)

PrivateVPN has an affordable monthly plan that costs $11.99 / month. The VPN is very easy to use, so I always recommend PrivateVPN’s monthly plan to people who have never used a VPN.

I love that there’s a Simple View mode on the desktop apps that keeps functionality to a bare minimum (like connecting to a server and accessing live chat support) — the Advanced View allows for more customization, like choosing your protocol and encryption level.

PrivateVPN is great for streaming and torrenting. It works with all of the top streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and more), and allows P2P traffic on all servers in 63 countries, though this is still far from ExpressVPN’s 105.

PrivateVPN has a Stealth protocol, which uses obfuscation to hide your VPN traffic. Like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, it works well in restrictive countries, including China and Russia. It’s also great for bypassing restrictions on school or work networks.

PrivateVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on its monthly plan. It also has a 3-month plan ($6.00 / month) rather than a 6-month plan, and yearly plans that cost $2.00 / month — all backed by the same money-back guarantee.

Read the full PrivateVPN review

4. Proton VPN — High-End Security & Privacy Features

Proton VPN provides strong security and privacy on its monthly plans (which cost $4.99 / month). I particularly like its Secure Core servers that add an extra layer of protection by routing your traffic through 2 VPN servers, one of which is located in a privacy-friendly country.

This is why Proton is perfect for anyone concerned about government surveillance or online tracking, especially when accessing sensitive information online — you can choose your exit server from any of Proton VPN’s 148 countries.

NetShield is another cool feature I found very useful. It’s a reliable blocker of all kinds of unwanted online content, from malicious websites to ads and trackers. In my testing, it worked perfectly, blocking every suspicious site I visited and notifying me about dozens of trackers it managed to stop.

I also like ProtonVPN’s support for Tor over VPN. You have multiple server options (the US, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Hong Kong) located in a separate “Tor” tab. Connecting to one of these servers automatically routes your traffic through the Tor network, even when using regular browsers like Firefox or Chrome, so your browsing is much faster than using Tor directly.

Proton VPN backs all purchases with a prorated 30-day money-back guarantee and has a great free plan. It also has long-term plans that start at $2.99 / month.

Read the full ProtonVPN review

5. Mullvad VPN — Flat-Rate Pricing Model

Mullvad VPN is one of my favorite monthly VPNs ($5.70 / month) because it offers a flat pricing model. This means its plans are set at a fixed price, so you won’t pay more whether you purchase 1 month, 3 months, or 12 months at a time. As a monthly user, I like this a lot since it’s super flexible and fair.

I’m also a big fan of Mullvad’s obfuscation feature since it works reliably in censorship-heavy countries like China, Iran, and Russia. It’s not available on iOS, but it does work on the WireGuard protocol, so you get faster speeds even with obfuscation active (it normally significantly reduces your speeds).

It’s also pretty good torrenting since it works with all popular torrent clients and has an ad blocker to block ads on P2P sites. Unfortunately, it’s not so great for It’s also pretty good for torrenting since it works with all popular torrent clients and has an ad blocker to block ads on P2P sites. Unfortunately, it’s not so great for streaming and won’t work for most sites — it only sometimes works with Netflix and BBC iPlayer and doesn’t work with Amazon Prime, Hulu, or others at all. I recommend ExpressVPN or Private Internet Access for streaming instead.

Mullvad VPN’s monthly plan is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read the full Mullvad VPN Review

6. CyberGhost VPN — Excellent for Streaming & Gaming

CyberGhost VPN provides great streaming and gaming support via dedicated servers on its monthly plan (which costs $12.99 / month). It has 100+ streaming servers located in 20+ countries that work with 50+ streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Max, plus smaller channels like ruutu and C MORE Finland.

There are also dedicated gaming servers in 4 countries (the UK, France, Germany, and the US), all of which are available in the monthly plans. The servers are solely designed to maximize your download speeds and provide low ping, so you won’t have to deal with too much lag while on slow public networks (like in a hotel). In tests, my ping increased by just 15 ms, which didn’t really affect my gameplay at all.

CyberGhost is also a good option for torrenting on its monthly plans. It has dedicated torrenting servers located in 85+ countries, but I prefer the convenience of ExpressVPN because it allows torrenting on all of its servers.

CyberGhost VPN’s monthly plan is backed by a 14-day money-back guarantee. It has a 6-month plan, which costs $6.99 / month, and you can get it for $1.59 / month on the longest term deal — both of which have a generous 45-day money-back guarantee.

Read the full CyberGhost VPN review

Editor's Note: CyberGhost and this site are in the same ownership group.

7. NordVPN — Secure VPN With Multiple Monthly Plans

NordVPN’s tiered pricing monthly plans (starting at $14.99 / month) have excellent security features. They include a dark web monitor, a top-notch ad and malware blocker, and double VPN connections, which provide an extra layer of security. Plus, it scans files you download, looks for potential malware, and deletes it before it gets to your computer.

NordVPN is one of the top VPNs on the market for streaming — it works with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and tons of other popular streaming apps. When it comes to P2P traffic, it supports torrenting in 110+ countries and has SOCKS5 proxy servers.

There’s also a unique and completely free feature called Meshnet, which lets you create a secure, private network for all of your devices. For example, it allowed me to remotely share files between my devices securely.

The VPN offers 4 different monthly plans backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee — Basic, Plus, Complete, and Prime. The Basic plan costs $14.99 / month and provides full access to the VPN. The Plus plan costs $15.29 / month and adds NordPass (one of the best password managers on the market), the malware protection and ad blocker, and a data breach scanner. Complete ($18.69 / month) adds Nordlocker, which provides you with 1TB cloud storage; and Prime adds identity theft protections (US only).

NordVPN offers the same tiered pricing model for long-term plans, too, with prices starting at $3.39 / month.

Read the full NordVPN review

8. VyprVPN — Good for Getting Around Internet Restrictions

VyprVPN has a great monthly plan costing $10.00 / month and is great for circumventing web restrictions — it’s one of the top monthly plans I always recommend to friends who need a VPN for a one-off visit to a restrictive country.

It has its own proprietary Chameleon protocol that uses obfuscation to help you avoid VPN blocks, and it changes your IP address frequently, which reduces the chances of your IP address being blocked.

VyprVPN has good streaming and torrenting support. It works with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and BBC iPlayer (but not with Disney+), and it has P2P-friendly servers in 60+ countries.

You can connect up to 5 devices simultaneously, which should be more than enough for solo travelers, though it’s not great if you’re looking to take a family trip or are a content creator with tons of devices.

VyprVPN offers a 1-year plan ($4.00 / month) and a 2-year plan ($3.00 / month), all of which are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read the full VyprVPN review

9. IPVanish — Good P2P Support & Decent Security

IPVanish costs $12.99 / month per month and has great torrenting support on its monthly plan — it has P2P-friendly servers in 112 countries, and it provides access to multiple SOCKS5 proxy servers on its monthly plan. This allows you to get the fastest possible speed, no matter where you travel.

IPVanish also has an ad and tracker blocker that’s great for visiting ad-heavy P2P sites. In my tests, it stopped all ads from loading, which significantly improved my page loading times, especially on my older laptop.

IPVanish doesn’t work in restrictive countries, but it does have obfuscation for bypassing less sophisticated network blocks like those at school or work. Its obfuscation tool is called Scramble, which is available through the OpenVPN protocol. It’s slow, but it hides your VPN traffic from your ISP effectively.

IPVanish is decent for streaming. It works with Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Max, but unfortunately, it can’t access Disney+, like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access.

Unfortunately, IPVanish’s monthly plan doesn’t come with a money-back guarantee. Its 30-day money-back guarantee is reserved for longer-term plans, which start at just $2.19 / month.

Read the full IPVanish review

10. TunnelBear — User-Friendly & Fun to Use

TunnelBear has a great monthly plan ($9.99 / month) and user-friendly apps for beginners. Its apps feature a digital map where cute animated bears dig a tunnel to a VPN server’s location when you connect to it. On mobile, the provider’s app even roars when you connect to a server, which is adorable.

TunnelBear works in all restrictive countries like China, Iran, and Russia and uses the GhostBear feature to do it. GhostBear is the VPN’s obfuscation feature and is very easy to use since it has an auto setting so it activates on its own when it detects network restrictions.

When it comes to streaming, TunnelBear is a good choice. It works with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and smaller channels like Pluto TV and Crunchyroll. However, I was a bit disappointed that it doesn’t work with Disney+, though. TunnelBear also supports torrenting.

TunnelBear has a free plan and offers long-term plans that start at $4.17 / month. But TunnelBear’s plans are not backed by a money-back guarantee.

Read the full TunnelBear review

Bonus. Surfshark — Great For Streaming + Useful Extras

Surfshark’s monthly plan costs $15.45 / month and comes with really good streaming support. It works with most of the popular streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

It’s good for torrenting, too — it allows P2P traffic on half of its servers, works with the top torrenting clients, and has a good ad blocker that blocks ads on torrent sites. You get obfuscation as well via its Camouflage Mode, but it only works for bypassing normal network restrictions, like at work.

I like that Surfshark includes lots of unique extras. This includes IP Rotator, which randomly changes your IP address without dropping your VPN connection, and its Alternative ID feature, which lets you create a made-up persona you can use to sign up to online services to protect your personal data (like your email).

Surfshark’s best-value plan costs just $1.99 / month, and it’s one of the cheapest VPN plans on the market. All plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read the full Surfshark review

Bonus. Windscribe — Family-Oriented Build-a-Plan VPN

Windscribe has a really interesting pricing option that lets you build your own plan. You’re able to choose your own server location(s) that you need, so you only pay for what you’ll use. The minimum plan is only $3.00 / month, and you can add an ad blocker and unlimited data for an extra $1 USD per month. It’s by far the cheapest monthly plan available.

The VPN has a great feature called Secure Hotspot that lets you share your secure VPN connection with others by creating a hotspot for them to connect any of their devices to (including things like gaming consoles!). I did this with a friend to test it out, and we were able to play multiplayer on our Switch 2 consoles with no issues.

It has several anti-internet censorship tools, too. It comes with a Circumvent Censorship feature that helps you bypass restrictions in “hostile environments” like restrictive countries or school/work networks that limit your internet access. And there’s also 2 protocols for bypassing restrictions: Stealth and WStunnel, both of which hide your VPN traffic and use port 443.

Windscribe is really good for streaming and torrenting. It works with popular international streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Max, and in my tests, the streaming speeds were enough for full HD streaming without any buffering issues. Also, it works with all torrent clients, has port forwarding (like Private Internet Access), and supports torrenting on nearly all servers.

If you want full access to all of the server locations, Windscribe’s monthly plan starts at $9.00 / month. Its long-term plan starts at $5.75 / month. Unfortunately, Windscribe only comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee, but it also has a good free plan if you need more time to test it out.

Read the full Windscribe Review

Quick Comparison Table

Editor's Note: Intego ONE, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost and ExpressVPN are owned by Kape Technologies, our parent company.

Testing Methodology: Comparison & Ranking Criteria

While testing each VPN, I kept our proven testing methodology in mind. I put each VPN through a variety of real-world tests and evaluated their performance based on several categories. Here are the standards I used to compile the VPNs that made my list and how I ranked each one.

• I researched to find VPNs that offer cheap monthly plans. Each VPN on my list has plans that won’t break the bank, and most, if not all, include every feature offered in the long-term plans. My top pick is ExpressVPN, as it combines affordability with comprehensive features.
• I looked for excellent security features. I only recommend VPNs that include industry-standard VPN security features like 256-bit AES encryption, a kill switch to prevent data leaks if the VPN disconnects (I made sure it worked every time), leak protection, and a strict no-logs policy to prevent the VPN from logging your data.
• I tested the VPN’s speeds on nearby and distant servers. Since all VPNs reduce your connection speeds because of the added layer of encryption, I only recommend VPNs that are able to maintain fast speeds across all servers — ExpressVPN is the fastest on this list.
• I checked for reliable streaming and torrenting support. All the VPNs I recommend will let you use platforms such as Netflix and allow torrenting on the majority of their servers.
• I made sure each VPN offers good value. The VPNs I recommend allow at least 5 simultaneous connections, come with extras like split-tunneling or an ad blocker, accept multiple payment methods, and come with a free plan or a money-back guarantee.

Monthly VPNs vs. Long-Term VPNs

Choosing between a monthly VPN and a long-term VPN depends on your needs. Here’s a simple breakdown to help you make a more informed decision:

Choose a monthly VPN if:

• You need short-term protection (e.g., when traveling abroad or using public Wi-Fi) — ideal for occasional use.
• You’re in a restrictive country and want unrestricted internet access without a long-term commitment.
• You want to test a VPN before making a longer commitment, or you need flexibility to switch providers.
• You can’t commit to a larger upfront payment — monthly plans let you pay as you go.

Long-term VPN plans, on the other hand, are a smarter choice for regular VPN users because:

• You use a VPN regularly — if you’re accessing sensitive data, streaming, or torrenting frequently, long-term plans offer better value.
• Want to save money — monthly plans can end up costing up to 3x more than annual or multi-year plans, and many providers offer deeper discounts on 2-3 year subscriptions.
• You want consistent protection without the risk of price hikes that could happen month-to-month.
• You want access to premium features — long-term plans often offer better features (for example, better speeds, priority customer support, or exclusive tools).

Ultimately, a long-term VPN subscription plan provides the best value. While monthly VPNs have their temporary uses, long-term VPNs offer more advantages, including access to more features and cheaper prices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Editor's Note: ExpressVPN and this site are in the same ownership group.

Quick Overview of My Top Recommendations: