VPN services can give you online privacy, unblock regional content on streaming services like Netflix, and allow you access websites or streaming services that aren’t available in your region. They are an essential tool if you have a MacBook and connect to open Wi-Fi networks in cafes, hotels, airports and other places. We can help you find the cheapest VPN to suit your needs.
Choosing which VPN service to subscribe to can be difficult and this is compounded by the fact that there are so many offers and discounts. That’s where we come in. All of the services you’ll find below are ones we’d use ourselves – and we do on a daily basis.
All these deals save a significant amount compared to paying for each of these services on a rolling monthly subscription. VPN providers tend to offer year-round discounts.
- One of the best discounts is 90% off Ivacy. It’s for a five-year subscription, but for an up-front payment of $60/£52 ($1/80p month) that’s one of the cheapest deals we’ve seen.
- Another deal to take a look at is for FastestVPN’s Lifetime plan – which with 93% off makes it an absolute bargain as you pay once and have access to the VPN for life. It’s $40 (approx £33).
Read How to use a VPN on a Mac for more information, and if you still aren’t sure why you need a VPN read: Should I use a VPN on my Mac/iPhone?
Just beware with most of these deals that at the end of the trial period you will start paying the full price – so we recommend setting a reminder in your calendar to cancel and look for a new deal to replace the one you had.
Best VPNs for Mac
You’ll find these services in our round up of the best VPNs for Mac, and there are more deals available currently from all the major VPN providers, which you’ll find below along with expert buying advice.
Here are our top recommendations for Mac VPNs:
- Best all-rounder: Surfshark (has 82% off a two year subscription and two months free)
- Most features: NordVPN (68% off NordVPN and 3 extra months)
- Most premium: ExpressVPN (has 49% off a one year subscription and 3 free months additional free)
- Most countries: PureVPN (has 89% off a five year subscription)
- Most servers: Private Internet Access (has 85% off a two year subscription and two months free)
Most VPNs cost less than $5/£5 per month, with some less than $3/£3. There are even some free VPNs, but these are usually very limited and could be collecting data about you.
As we said above, just remember to take a note of the renewal date when you start a subscription so that you can cancel it before you get charged the full price.
Best VPN for Mac, iPad & iPhone deals
Now read on to find the best deals right now. Just note that many of these discounts are taken from the normal monthly price, but you still have to pay up front for the subscription. That’s why we list both the full and monthly price. Also note that the usual monthly price will kick in a year or so after you start your subscription.
Top 10 VPN Deals
FastestVPN Lifetime plan
Unlike most VPN deals which are subscriptions for a set number of years, FastestVPN’s is for a lifetime subscription. We asked the company exactly what that meant and were told “we will never terminate their accounts”. And for just $40 – around £30 – that’s unbeatable. FastestVPN has fewer locations and servers than the biggest services, but now has a no-logs audit and unblocks Netflix, Disney+ and BBC iPlayer.
Ivacy five-year VPN subscription
Ivacy’s deal is one of the best around, knocking a whopping 90% off the usual monthly price. It’s a five-year subscription that works out at $1 per month, or 80p if you’re in the UK. The up-front payment of $60 / £50 is a real bargain, as that’s what most VPN services charge for two years, or even one year.Ivacy offers a great service which supports P2P downloads, unblocks streaming services (including Netflix and Disney+) and, like any VPN service, gives you security when using public Wi-Fi and privacy when browsing the web. You can use it on up to 10 devices at the same time, but even if you use it only on one or two, it’s still one the cheapest VPN services around.
PureVPN five-year subscription
PureVPN’s five-year deal costs just $79.95 (around £63).
That’s $1.25 per month (£1), and you can use the subscription on 10 devices at the same time.
As with all the deals here (and with all VPN subscriptions longer than a month), you pay for the full subscription up front – not per month.
Surfshark two-year subscription
Surfshark is offering 82% off its usual monthly price if you opt for its two-year ‘Starter’ subscription.
It’s a good deal overall, even if the two ‘free’ months aren’t actually free at all if you go by Surfshark’s monthly price claims. The UK price above includes VAT, which is the other reason why it’s higher than the price you’ll initially see on Surfshark’s website.Buyers in the US will also have to pay local taxes on top of the price shown above.
However, Surfshark is a top VPN service, which doesn’t put a limit on the number of devices you can connect to the service at the same time, and has now had an audit of its no-logs policy, so it’s a better choice than ever before.
Private Internet Access two-year subscription
Private Internet Access is offering two free months on top of its two-year subscription. The monthly price shown on PIA’s site counts those extra ‘free’ months not as free but as paid, though your subscription will last for 26 months instead of 24. It’s just a cheeky way of making the monthly price look cheaper than it really is. But it’s a good deal overall for this trusted service: it’s one of few VPN services that have made the source code for its apps public so it can be scrutinised. Read our full PIA review for more details.
CyberGhost two-year subscription
CyberGhost is currently offering a two-year subscription with two extra months free at the end.
At this price, it’s a good deal for a VPN service that can unblock a lot of popular streaming services.CyberGhost has apps for Fire TV and Android TV, too, and lets you connect up to seven devices at the same time. It also has thousands of servers around the world.
You’ll find CyberGhost in our roundup of the best VPN services.
NordVPN two-year subscription
NordVPN is by no means the cheapest VPN service (it’s still cheaper than ExpressVPN though!) but because it is one of the best out there, it’s arguably worth paying more for.
It offers amazing speeds, loads of servers, unblocks streaming services, and has just done a third audit of its no-logs policy.If you’re happy to compromise on features and speeds, you can get a similar length subscription from several other VPN services here for around half the price NordVPN charges. That’s why NordVPN’s deal features down here in our list..
Hidden24 two-year subscription
Hidden24 is a VPN service with a difference: it doesn’t require an app. It will suit anyone wanting a VPN for absolute privacy as it logs precisely nothing.Your device will need to support a VPN connection natively, but Windows, Android, iOS and macOS all do. Hidden24 is also a great option if don’t want to sign up for a year or two. It’s around half the cost of its rivals if you just want a VPN for a month.
Express VPN one-year subscription (3 months free)
From: ExpressVPN
Was: $155.40/£133.92 ($12.95/£11.16 a month)
Now: $99.95/£83.83 ($6.66/£5.59 a month) (49% off)
Get 49% off ExpressVPN, which is one of our favourite VPNs. When you click through to the deal, the monthly cost you see is the average cost when spread over 15 months.
How to find the best VPN deal for Mac
VPN subscriptions typically work out cheaper if you commit for a year or longer, which saves a lot of money. Prices rarely exceed $6/£6 per month with multi-year subscriptions and are often closer to $2/£2… or even less.
Many major VPN providers offer discounts through the year, and sometimes even offer permanent discounts. These discounts can look impressive at first. It’s not uncommon to see a countdown timer telling you when the deal ends – but these are almost always to induce FOMO – the fear of missing out – in order to persuade you to sign up immediately.
Large discounts are par for the course with VPN services, especially when you’re subscribing for several years. This makes it all the more important to look into the various providers and what each has to offer, before jumping into a long-term commitment.
All VPNs we’ve tested offer cross-device coverage too, so you can use them on your Mac, iPhone, iPad and more. We’ve separately rounded up the best iPhone VPNs and iPad VPNs.
Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld almost two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.