Why VPN monthly prices look so low

The price on the button

Imagine two hypothetical offers. The first takes £5 from your account every month. The second advertises £2 per month and asks for £48 today to cover two years. Both quotes are mathematically sound. Only one of them lets you spend £5 and stop after your first month.

When a price is described as an equivalent monthly cost, the provider has spread one payment across the months supplied. The comparison becomes more revealing when you write down the first payment alongside that monthly figure.

Count the months you will actually use

Suppose you want protection on a laptop during a four-month trip. Four separate £5 payments would cost £20. Paying £48 for the plan would cost £28 more over the time you expect to use the service, even though it carries the lower advertised rate.

In that example, monthly payments cross £48 in month ten. If you expect to use the service for almost a year, the longer offer becomes worth a closer look. A plan advertised as annual can also include bonus months. Read the first renewal date to find the true length of the introductory term.

Look beyond the first charge

Open the checkout and find the amount due today, the date of the next charge and the amount it will take. Where the renewal figure is missing, leave it unknown in your own comparison. A low introductory rate gives you no basis for filling in the next bill.

Keep dollars and pounds separate until you know the exchange rate and any card fee. If an offer is quoted as a range, use the checkout figure for your own calculation.

Try the comparison

Use the VPN comparison to switch between monthly and longer plans. Pick two offers in the same currency and compare the total plan costs first. Then divide each payment by the number of months you realistically expect to keep the service.