The 2026 VPN renewal price database

RSBy the RankedTrue test team · intro and renewal figures checked against provider pricing pages, October 2026

Affiliate disclosure: Affiliated, never sponsored. We earn commissions through links on this page, but commissions don't move rankings — picks with no affiliate program are still mentioned where they're the honest choice. See “How we test” for the protocol behind every score.

Lab status: intro prices · renewal prices · money-back terms

The short answer

Every VPN you're shown has two prices: the one in the ad and the one on your second bill. We computed the gap for all five providers we cover. NordVPN (IPVanish) has the steepest climb — renews at 3.4× its intro monthly rate. Private Internet Access is the only one that renews honestly, at 1.1×. Everything else is somewhere between a discount and a trap. Sort the table — the multiples do the talking.

Get NordVPN Get Private Internet Access

The database

One row per provider. Renewal multiple = renewal monthly equivalent ÷ intro monthly rate. Click any header to sort — it opens sorted worst-first, because that's the number that costs you money.


IPVanish	$2.19/mo 2-year Essential plan (security.org, Oct 2026 — verify at checkout)	$89.99/yr Renews at $89.99/yr — a 242% jump from the $52.56/2-yr intro	3.4×	30-day guarantee	Get IPVanish — $2.19/mo
NordVPN	$3.49/mo 2-year Basic plan	$139.08/yr Renews at $139.08/yr	3.3×	30-day guarantee	Get NordVPN — $3.49/mo
Hotspot Shield	$2.99/mo 3-year plan ($107.64) per official affiliate page — verify at checkout	$107.64/3 yrs Renews at $107.64 per 3 yrs (1-year plan: $95.88/yr)	3.0×	45-day guarantee	Get Hotspot Shield — $2.99/mo
Surfshark	$2.49/mo 2-year Starter plan	$79/yr Renews at $79/yr	2.6×	30-day guarantee	Get Surfshark — $2.49/mo
ExpressVPN	$3.49/mo 2-year Basic plan (promos vary)	$99.95/yr Renews at $99.95/yr	2.4×	30-day guarantee	Get ExpressVPN — $3.49/mo
Proton VPN	$2.99/mo 2-year Plus plan	$83.88/yr Renews at $83.88/yr	2.3×	30-day guarantee	Get Proton VPN — $2.99/mo
CyberGhost	$2.19/mo 2-year plan (Gizmodo, Oct 2026 — promos drift, verify at checkout)	$56.94/yr Renews at $56.94/yr (2-yr term converts to annual billing)	2.2×	45-day guarantee	Get CyberGhost — $2.19/mo
TunnelBear	$3.33/mo Annual Unlimited ($39.99 first year; renews $59.88/yr — travelsecurely, Oct 2026)	$59.88/yr Renews at $59.88/yr after the $39.99 first year	1.5×	0-day guarantee	Get TunnelBear — $3.33/mo
Private Internet Access	$2.03/mo 3-year plan	$79 / 3 yrs Renews at $79 per 3 yrs	1.1×	30-day guarantee	Get Private Internet Access — $2.03/mo

Click any column header to sort. Multiples marked unverified mean the provider doesn't publish a renewal figure we could verify — we won't guess one.

Who punishes loyalty, who renews honestly

The loyalty tax (worst first): NordVPN, 3.3× — $3.49/mo intro becomes $139.08/yr at renewal, i.e. $11.59/mo, the steepest climb of the five. It's the best-audited VPN we cover; this is the price of that paperwork. Surfshark, 2.6× — $79/yr against a $2.49/mo intro. Cheaper in dollars, but the jump is real. ExpressVPN, 2.4× — $99.95/yr, the priciest renewal in absolute terms, though the multiple is gentler than Nord's. Proton VPN, 2.3× — $83.88/yr ($6.99/mo) against $2.99/mo intro; the most modest increase among the big names.

The honest renewer: Private Internet Access, 1.1× — $79 per 3 years against a $2.03/mo intro. There's barely any jump because the intro price was barely discounted. The trade-off is US jurisdiction, but on pricing honesty alone, nobody else is close.

Get PIA — 1.1× renewal Get Proton VPN — 2.3× renewal

Methodology: how the multiples are computed

Renewal multiple = (renewal price ÷ renewal term in months) ÷ (intro monthly price). Worked example — NordVPN: $139.08/yr ÷ 12 = $11.59/mo; $11.59 ÷ $3.49 intro = 3.3×. PIA: $79 per 3 years ÷ 36 = $2.19/mo; $2.19 ÷ $2.03 = 1.1×. Intro and renewal figures were checked against provider pricing pages in October 2026. Promos drift — prices move with sales seasons, so verify at checkout before you buy. Where a provider doesn't publish a verifiable renewal figure, we mark it unverified rather than guess; all five providers in this edition have verified renewal data.

Questions, answered

Why do VPNs raise prices at renewal?

Intro pricing is customer-acquisition spending. The first-term discount is funded by what you pay in years two and beyond — the standard SaaS playbook. The providers aren't eating a loss out of generosity; they're buying your subscription, then charging full price once you're settled. The renewal multiple in our table is the honest measure of how steep that payback is.

Can I avoid the renewal jump?

Three options. One: cancel before the renewal date and re-sign as a 'new' customer — this usually works with a different email address, though check the provider's terms. Two: buy during Black Friday / Cyber Monday, when intro deals are deepest and sometimes stack. Three: skip the game entirely and pick a provider whose renewal is close to its intro price — Private Internet Access renews at just 1.1× its intro rate, so there's almost no jump to dodge.

Is the intro price a lie?

No — it's a real price for a real first term. What's misleading is presenting it as 'the price' without the renewal figure beside it. That's exactly why this database exists: the intro price tells you what you pay today, the renewal multiple tells you what the VPN actually costs. A $3.49/mo VPN that renews at 3.3× is an $11.59/mo VPN with a two-year coupon.

Final verdict

Judge a VPN by its second bill, not its first. At 3.3×, NordVPN's renewal is the loyalty tax to beat — buy it for the audits, with eyes open. At 1.1×, PIA is the only provider whose price doesn't jump. Proton at 2.3× is the sane middle ground if Swiss jurisdiction matters to you.

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