Data study
The VPN Renewal Price Report
Every VPN advertises the first-year price. We checked what 22 of them charge in year two, on each vendor's own pricing page — and whether they publish the number at all.
22 providers · prices verified 09 Jul 2026 · official vendor pages only
Do not publish a renewal price
8
of 22 providers
Median renewal multiple
2.34×
of the advertised price
Charge the same in year two
4
Mullvad, Private Internet Access, Windscribe, hide.me
What the second year costs
Cheapest long-term plan per provider, monthly-equivalent, in the currency the vendor charges. "Not published" means the vendor does not state a renewal price anywhere on its pricing page. The last column is what the same plan costs without committing — for most providers the renewal is still cheaper than paying monthly, which is the part the outrage coverage usually leaves out.
| Provider | Advertised | Renews at | Multiple | Month-to-month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPVanishUS pricing | $2.19 | $7.50 | 3.42× | $12.99(5.9×) |
| ExpressVPNUS pricing | $2.49 | $8.33 | 3.35× | $15.99(6.4×) |
| NordVPNUS pricing | $3.49 | $11.59 | 3.32× | $14.99(4.3×) |
| Hotspot ShieldUS pricing | $2.42 | $8.00 | 3.31× | — |
| PrivateVPNUS pricing | $2.00 | $6.00 | 3.00× | $9.90(5.0×) |
| SurfsharkUS pricing | $2.49 | $6.58 | 2.64× | $16.45(6.6×) |
| ProtonVPNUS pricing | $2.99 | $6.99 | 2.34× | $9.99(3.3×) |
| CyberGhostUS pricing | $1.59 | $3.45 | 2.17× | $12.99(8.2×) |
| Avast SecureLine VPNUS pricing | $3.99 | $8.33 | 2.09× | — |
| PureVPNUS pricing | $2.15 | $4.00 | 1.86× | $12.95(6.0×) |
| MullvadEU pricing | €5.00 | €5.00 | 1.00× | €5.00(1.0×) |
| Private Internet AccessUS pricing | $3.33 | $3.33 | 1.00× | $11.95(3.6×) |
| WindscribeUS pricing | $5.75 | $5.75 | 1.00× | $9.00(1.6×) |
| hide.meUS pricing | $2.59 | $2.59 | 1.00× | $11.99(4.6×) |
| Mozilla VPNUS pricing | $4.99 | not published | — | $9.99(2.0×) |
| AirVPNEU pricing | €2.75 | not published | — | €7.00(2.5×) |
| VyprVPNUS pricing | $3.00 | not published | — | $10.00(3.3×) |
| TunnelBearUS pricing | $3.33 | not published | — | $9.99(3.0×) |
| Norton VPNUS pricing | $6.67 | not published | — | — |
| StrongVPNUS pricing | $3.97 | not published | — | $11.99(3.0×) |
| iTop VPNUS pricing | $1.66 | not published | — | — |
| F-Secure VPNUS pricing | $3.75 | not published | — | — |
Averaged across the 14 providers that do publish a renewal price, the first year costs $37.07 and the second $75.62 — a difference of $38.55 that no checkout page shows you. Providers that quote in euro are converted at the current ECB reference rate for this average only; every price in the table above is shown in the currency the vendor actually charges.
Method, and what this does not measure
Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page — no gray-market resellers, no affiliate feeds. For each provider we take the cheapest plan of twelve months or longer, since that is the one the marketing points at, and record its monthly-equivalent introductory price alongside the renewal price stated in the same place.
Where a vendor states no renewal price, we record that rather than guessing. That silence is the finding, not a gap in our data.
VPN vendors set different prices in different countries — not converted prices, genuinely different ones. We checked Surfshark from two locations and the figures were not exchange-rate equivalents of each other. So this table shows the market each price comes from and we do not convert anything into your local currency: a converted number would be one no vendor will ever charge you. Open the provider's own page to see what they quote where you are.
Prices move and promotions rotate. The verification date is printed above; treat anything older than a few weeks as indicative. We re-check on a schedule and this page recalculates itself from the same numbers that drive our price comparison.
No sponsored placements and no commission influenced this table — the ordering is purely by renewal multiple. Our methodology is public.