Most providers charge around $3 to $5 a month for annual products, and even less for longer-term contracts ( Private Internet Access offers a three-year plan covering up to 10 devices for $2.19 a month). That's at the high-end of the normal VPN price range. The paid VPN (opens in new tab) starts at $12.99 billed monthly, dropping to $7.99 on the annual plan (opens in new tab) to protect up to five devices. There’s also a big plus – there are no annoying ‘per month’ bandwidth limits, and you can use it as much as you like – but unless you really have no VPN budget at all, it’s impossible to recommend. Hotspot Shield's free VPN plan offers one location (US), almost no features, no email or live chat support, and a host of annoying ads on the mobile apps.

You can either pay by card or PayPal (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Hotspot Shield pricing The service supports from 5 to 25 simultaneous connections, depending on your plan. WireGuard support was added only recently, with OpenVPN or IKEv2 available as a backup in some situations. And if all that still isn’t enough, the support site has guides on manually setting up the service on these and other platforms (routers, too). There are apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, a command line app for Linux, and a TV app for Amazon Fire TV or any smart TV with access to Google Play.

36 month plan - $2.49 per month ($89.64 total cost) (opens in new tab).Want to try Hotspot Shield Premium? Check out the website here (opens in new tab).All servers are P2P-friendly, and built-in blocking of malicious and phishing sites helps keep you safe online. The core service has a sizeable network of 3,200+ servers across 80+ countries and 125 cities. Hotspot Shield is a popular VPN with just enough interesting and unusual features to help it stand out from the crowd.

Hotspot shield free