Most people buying a VPN are told, correctly, to buy the 1-year plan for the best balance of savings and flexibility. But sometimes that advice doesn’t fit: a short trip, a project with a defined end date, or just not wanting to commit before you’ve tried the service properly. For those cases, here’s how the monthly, no-commitment option actually compares.
Monthly pricing, compared
| VPN | Monthly price (no commitment) | 1-year plan (per month) | Monthly markup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mullvad | $5.50 | $5.50 (same) | 0%, flat rate always |
| ProtonVPN | $9.99 | $3.99 | +150% |
| NordVPN | $12.99 | $4.99 | +160% |
| ExpressVPN | $12.99 | $4.99 | +160% |
| CyberGhost | $12.99 | $2.75 | +372% |
| Private Internet Access | $11.95 | $3.33 | +259% |
| Surfshark | $15.45 | $3.19 | +384% |
Mullvad is the only provider on this list where the monthly price and the discounted long-term price are identical. Every other provider charges a substantial premium, sometimes close to 4x, for the freedom of no commitment.
Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.
Why Mullvad’s flat pricing is structurally different
Mullvad doesn’t run promotional pricing, doesn’t offer 2-year plans, and doesn’t discount for commitment. Its $5.50/month rate (roughly, converted from its base EUR pricing) is the same number whether you’ve been a subscriber for one month or five years. That’s a deliberate brand choice: Mullvad markets itself on refusing typical subscription pricing tactics, including the very markup-for-flexibility structure that makes every other provider’s monthly plan expensive.
The tradeoff is that Mullvad’s flat rate isn’t the cheapest number on a 2-year comparison table, since it doesn’t compete on an artificially low headline long-term price. But if month-to-month flexibility is specifically what you want, it’s the only major provider where you’re not paying a penalty for that flexibility.
Compare NordVPN’s monthly and annual plans
When paying the monthly markup still makes sense
A single trip or short-term need. If you need a VPN for three weeks of travel and have no intention of using it afterward, paying $12.99 for one month is cheaper in absolute dollars than committing to a 1-year plan you won’t use for the other 11 months, even accounting for the per-month markup.
Testing before committing. If you’re unsure a provider fits your needs and want to try it for real before a longer commitment, a month at the higher rate is a reasonable cost to pay for that certainty, particularly for providers with a shorter or more conditional money-back guarantee than NordVPN’s 60 days.
Genuinely unpredictable ongoing need. Freelancers or contractors whose VPN need depends on which client or project they’re on this month may rationally prefer paying the monthly premium over guessing wrong on a 1-year commitment.
When the math clearly favors an annual plan instead
If your need extends past roughly two to three months, the annual plan is almost always cheaper in total, even if you end up canceling before the year is up and losing the remaining months. Do the simple math before deciding: multiply the monthly rate by the number of months you’re fairly confident you’ll actually use the service, and compare that to the 1-year plan’s total cost. For most providers on this list, the crossover point where the annual plan wins outright happens somewhere between month two and month four.
The middle ground: short commitments without the full monthly penalty
A few providers periodically offer 3 or 6-month plans as a middle option, priced between the full monthly rate and the deepest annual discount. These aren’t standard across the industry and availability changes, so check the current pricing page directly rather than assuming one exists. When available, they’re worth considering if you know your need is longer than “one trip” but shorter than a full year.
Mullvad is the only major VPN where the monthly, no-commitment price doesn't carry a markup, making it the clear choice if flexibility matters more to you than the absolute lowest long-term price. Every other provider charges 2-4x more per month for the same freedom, which is worth paying only for genuinely short-term or uncertain needs. If your use case will likely run more than two or three months, a 1-year plan is almost always the better deal even with some cancellation risk factored in.
Keep reading: VPN 1-Year vs 2-Year Plan: Which Should You Buy in 2026? and Best VPN Money-Back Guarantee and Refund Policies Compared 2026.