5 Best Cheap VPNs
20 Jul 2014 | Peter Selmeczy
There are many ‘FREE VPN’ services masquerading around out there but we do not fancy these at all because as the saying goes “if you’re not the buyer then you’re the product” and more often than not you’re limited in some way or another. The only free VPN that is worth having a glance at is found below in our list as a Bonus.
Most VPN providers charge less than $10 a month which we think is a great deal for the level of security they provide but for this review we have capped the price at $7/mo with the lowest costing just under $3/month! Of course to get these prices you will have to sign up for a longer period of time but luckily most have a free trial that allows you to test their services and our reviews should also help you out. The only other way your going to achieve lower prices is if you plan on using a SmartDNS or OpenSSH service both of which have plenty of caveats compared to VPN.
So let us begin with a summary of the VPN services we recommend which will then be followed by brief details of them.
Summary
| RANK | PROVIDER | STARTING PRICE | REVIEW | LINK |
1 |  | $4.58/mo | 9.8 | |
2 |  | $7/mo | 9.7 | Visit Site |
3 |  | $5.45/mo | 9.6 | Visit Site |
4 |  | $3.33/mo | 9.4 | Visit Site |
5 |  | $2.92/mo | 9.3 | |
B |  | $0/mo | 9.0 |
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Winner – CactusVPN
Positives: great client, Moldovan based, blazing fast
Negatives: only 4 countries, no BitCoins
CactusVPN is a fairly new Moldovan company that ranks high in so many of our lists without surprise. They have a great set of software, low prices and some of the fastest speeds we have seen from a VPN and all this without logs.
It is therefore a slight shame that they only have servers in 4 countries and do not accept BitCoin but overall they are a fantastic service.
Try Out the Best Cheap VPN Today!
2. Mullvad
Positives: accepts BitCoins, no logs, good speeds, great client
Negatives: some complaints about potential security lapses and performance
Mullvad is a very small company from Sweden but with a large server presence in Germany. Being Swedish based means that they do not keep logs and to further improve security they used shared IPs and if you really wish you can even send payment via post!
Their client is superb with DNS leak protection and a kill switch and on top of this they also allow 3 simultaneous connections. Unfortunately (though we haven’t experienced it ourselves) we have had some comments about lapses in performance.
3. NordVPN
Positives: no logs, accepts BitCoins, allows P2P, 2 simultaneous connections
Negatives: inconsistent connection speeds
Being Panama based, NordVPN couldn’t care less about EU or US VPN laws which means they have an absolutely no logs at all policy which it matches with a great 256bit AES encryption, allowing Tor and accepts anonymous payments using BitCoins.
They have an innovative double hop system though this means that they have inconsistent speeds. With servers across a number of countries NordVPN is a great little service that also ranks high on our Top 10 with good reason.
4. Private Internet Access
Positives: fast, no logs, 5 simultaneous connections, accepts BitCoins
Negatives: no free trial, US based
PIA is a high profile provider with some of the cheapest prices on the market so it is a shame that they are based in the US as this exposes them in some manners.
On a more positive note they have a no frills but great client (just like the rest of their website) though they only use the less secure 128bit encryption it is still more than adequate.
5. Kepard
Positives: 15 day free trial, fast, good client, unlimited traffic
Negatives: some logs, lot of details asked for at sign up
Kepard, just like CactusVPN is a small Moldovan company with some basic yet great product and along their 15 day free trial they also allow two simultaneous connections.
Though their OpenVPN encryption is only 128bit it still serves its purpose well and with their stylish and consistent apps across the different platforms they provide a good service.
Bonus. VPN Gate
Positives: open source, no useage logs, mirror sites and daily email updates
Negatives: limited European servers, varying quality service
Developed by the University of Tsukuba VPN Gate is an open-source, volunteer run VPN solution. Unfortunately this means that the speeds can vary a lot and server quality changes from location to location.
However if you’re not looking to carry out anything risqué and instead just want to escape government censorship then this free service could be great for you.
Conclusion
There are definitely some great services out there which won’t break your bank if your tight on money. Needless to say protecting your privacy is priceless so if you’re not using a VPN yet then it’s about time to start. Check out the table below for a recap of the cheap VPNs we recommend if you haven’t made up your mind yet.
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