A VPN also secures Wi-Fi connections when you’re on public Wi-Fi networks in cafes, airports and hotels. Almost all VPN services offer deals where you pay for a one, two or even five years up front. This can reduce the monthly cost by 80% or more: a huge saving. Here, we’ve rounded up the best deals from the top VPN services, including Surfshark, NordVPN and others. NordVPN is still of the best VPN services and while its deal isn’t as tempting as others in terms of pure cost, it it worth paying for. Often what you’ll find when you go to a VPN service’s website is misleading monthly prices which are made to look lower than the price you actually pay really are. This, and the fact you don’t even pay monthly, is why we quote the total cost of the subscription in the deals below. The discounts are normally in reference to the price the service charges for a single month of use, but NordVPN bases its discount off the renewal price – the higher cost you’ll pay when the subscription renews. That’s another thing to watch out for: many services have small print which tells you that you’ll pay the same price when the subscription renews. That sounds good, but often that subscription will be half the length of your original deal, meaning it’s twice as expensive. Price isn’t the only factor of course, but if you only want to unblock video and websites, you don’t need to worry too much about the privacy credentials of each service. Just check, ideally by reading our VPN reviews, that the provider you’re considering signing up to actually unblocks the streaming services you want to watch.

VPN deals: What to look for

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is designed to keep prying eyes away from your online activity by preventing websites from knowing your true location and, to some extent, your identity. VPNs don’t make you anonymous if your activity reveals who you are, such as when you log into a website. Was: $454.10 / £389.61 Now: $56.94 / £43.94 (81% off) Private Internet Access is offering four 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 28 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. Was: $597 / £517.20 Now: $60 / £52.08 (90% off) 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 / £52.08 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 deals around. Was: $461.58 / £339.78 Now: $71.49 / £52.63 (85% off) Atlas VPN is owned by Nord Security and is effectively the company’s low-cost alternative to NordVPN. Atlas VPN doesn’t tick as many boxes as NordVPN or Surfshark, but if you’re just looking for the low monthly price, then this deal should be tempting, especially as Atlas VPN doesn’t put any restrictions on the number of devices you can use with the service at the same time. Was: $657 ($10.95/mo) Now: $74.95 ($1.24/mo) (89% off) PureVPN’s deal is for a five-year subscription that will cost you $74.95 (around £62). 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. Was: $223.83 / £177.93 Now: $99.63 / £100.12 (inc VAT) (55% off) NordVPN’s deal gets you two years and three months’ access to this top VPN service. Was: $337.74 / £313.63 Now: $56.94 / £49.92 (84% off) CyberGhost is a great VPN service and is currently offering a two-year subscription with four months free at the end You’ll find CyberGhost in our roundup of the best VPN services. Was: $310.80 / £324 Now: $53.28 / £52.76 (84% off) Surfshark is offering 84% off its usual monthly price if you opt for its two-year subscription. Was: $600 Now: $20 (95% off) 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 $20 – around £15 – that’s unbeatable.  Plus, you’ll get a year’s cloud storage thrown in – 2TB with Internxt – and a password manager.  FastestVPN isn’t the best VPN service around, and it’s not the fastest either. It has far fewer locations and servers than most. When we tested it, speeds were good over IKEv2, but terrible over OpenVPN, which is what you need to use to unblock services such Netflix and Disney+ in the US. Was: $72/£119.76 Now: $59.88/£78.96 (20% / 44% off) 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 you don’t want to sign up for a long time: it’s around half the cost of its rivals if you just need a VPN for a month. However, the technology can help protect your identity and sensitive information, particularly on public Wi-Fi networks since they encrypt the connection, and most public Wi-Fi doesn’t require a password, which means there’s no encryption. A VPN can also allow you to access blocked content, which is the primary reason most people are looking to get a VPN. Obviously, look for a service that has servers in the country you want to access content in (such as Japan and USA) but check, too, that it can unblock the services you want to watch, such as Netflix, iPlayer and others. You can also find out everything you need to know about using a VPN and see which are our favourites in our best VPN roundup.

Does a VPN make you anonymous? How to hide your IP address What is a VPN and how does it work? How to use a VPN How to speed up a VPN Best VPN services (plus free options)

Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.