Every VPN pricing page is built the same way: three columns, the middle or right one highlighted, and a badge that says something like “Best value” over the 2-year plan. It’s not dishonest. The 2-year plan usually is the best deal per month. The question is whether “per month” is the number that should decide this for you.
Here’s the actual math, using current pricing, and the cases where the 1-year plan is the smarter buy despite costing more per month. Spoiler: it comes down less to arithmetic and more to how confident you are that you’ll still want this exact provider in two years.
The per-month math, provider by provider
| VPN | 1-year plan (total / per month) | 2-year plan (total / per month) | Savings on 2-year |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | $59.88 / $4.99 | $83.43 / $3.48 | ~30% |
| ProtonVPN | $47.88 / $3.99 | $71.76 / $2.99 | ~25% |
| Surfshark | $38.28 / $3.19 | $47.76 / $1.99 | ~38% |
| ExpressVPN | $59.88 / $4.99 | $83.76 / $3.49 | ~30% |
| CyberGhost | $33.00 / $2.75 | $45.50 / $1.90 | ~31% |
| Private Internet Access | $39.95 / $3.33 | $52.56 / $2.19 | ~34% |
| Mullvad | $66.00 / $5.50 | Not offered | N/A |
Surfshark’s discount is the most aggressive of the group: the 2-year plan runs 38% cheaper per month than its own 1-year plan. Mullvad is the outlier: it charges a flat rate regardless of term length and doesn’t offer a 2-year option at all, which is consistent with its no-discount, no-gimmick pricing philosophy.
Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.
Why the 2-year plan isn’t automatically the right call
The savings are real. What the pricing table doesn’t show is what you’re actually buying: 24 months of a service, paid in full, before you’ve used it for a single day beyond whatever trial or guarantee window exists.
The money-back guarantee doesn’t cover the whole term. It covers the first 30 to 60 days. After that window closes, a 2-year subscriber who wants out has no recourse but to eat the remaining cost or sell/transfer the account where that’s even allowed (usually it isn’t).
Providers change. Ownership shifts, jurisdictions get reinterpreted by new governments, apps get worse after an acquisition. NordVPN and ExpressVPN have both gone through structural changes in recent years without warning subscribers mid-term. A 1-year commitment gives you a yearly checkpoint to notice and react. A 2-year commitment means you might not check in until you’ve already been unhappy for a year.
You might not need it in a year. Digital nomads whose contract ends, students who graduate, travelers on a fixed trip: plenty of VPN use cases have a natural end date shorter than 24 months. Buying 2 years of coverage for an 8-month need isn’t a discount, it’s a loss.
There’s also a simpler risk that’s easy to overlook: buyer’s remorse on the app itself. Streaming unblocking that works today can stop working after a platform update, a server network that felt fast in testing can get congested as the provider adds subscribers faster than infrastructure. None of that shows up on a pricing page, and none of it is refundable once the guarantee window closes.
When the 2-year plan is clearly the right call
If you’ve already used a provider on a 1-year plan and you’re satisfied, renewing into a 2-year term is close to free money: you know the service, you know the company hasn’t done anything alarming in the past year, and you lock in a lower rate before the next round of price increases.
It also makes sense if your need is genuinely long-term and structural: a household router-level VPN, a small business protecting remote workers, or anyone whose privacy requirements (journalism, activism, living under a restrictive government) aren’t going away in 24 months.
How much this actually saves over a decade
Zoom out and the difference between committing on a 1-year cadence versus a 2-year cadence over, say, six years is smaller than the monthly percentages suggest. Someone who buys NordVPN on three consecutive 1-year plans at $4.99/month pays roughly $179.64 over three years. Someone who buys one 2-year plan at $3.48/month plus a third year at the 1-year rate pays around $143.64, a real gap, but not one that should override genuine uncertainty about whether you’ll want the same provider for the full stretch. The savings compound nicely for people who are already sure. They’re close to irrelevant for people who aren’t, because switching providers after a bad 2-year purchase erases the discount and then some.
The decision, simplified
First VPN, or trying a new provider you haven’t used before: 1-year plan. The discount is still meaningful (20-30% off monthly pricing on most providers), and you cap your downside at 12 months if the provider disappoints you.
Already using a provider you trust, renewing rather than trying: 2-year plan. You’re not gambling on an unknown at that point, you’re locking in savings on something you’ve already validated.
Need that’s inherently short (a trip, a semester, a project): monthly plan, full stop, even though it’s the worst per-month value. Paying 4x the per-month rate for 3 months costs less in absolute dollars than a 2-year plan you cancel after month four.
Buying for a family or shared household: this changes the math slightly, because the cost of switching providers later (re-configuring every device, re-teaching everyone the new app) is higher than for a single user. That extra friction tips the balance toward locking in a 2-year plan a little earlier than you otherwise would, once you’ve done even a short trial period and confirmed the app works across everyone’s devices.
What about 3-year plans or lifetime deals?
A handful of providers occasionally push a 3-year term or a one-time “lifetime” payment. Neither shows up in the table above because neither is standard across the market, and both carry more risk than a 2-year plan for a similar or smaller per-month improvement. A 3-year commitment stretches the ownership-change and jurisdiction-shift risk even further without meaningfully improving the price over a well-timed 2-year purchase. Lifetime deals are their own separate problem (a company promising unlimited future service for a fixed upfront payment is making a bet on its own longevity that it may not win), and deserve a longer look on their own.
The renewal trap applies either way
Whichever term you pick, the promotional rate is for the initial period only. Both 1-year and 2-year plans typically renew at a higher rate unless you actively shop for a new promotion before the renewal date hits. A 2-year plan just means you have twice as long before that reminder matters, which is exactly why it’s worth setting a calendar note now rather than trusting yourself to remember in 2028.
The 2-year plan wins on pure math almost every time, with Surfshark's roughly 38% discount the deepest in our comparison. But math isn't the only variable: first-time buyers and anyone with an uncertain timeline should start on the 1-year plan and upgrade to 2 years once the provider has proven itself over a full cycle. Reserve the 2-year commitment for renewals, not first purchases.
Keep reading: NordVPN Pricing Guide 2026: When to Buy for the Best Deal and Best VPN Money-Back Guarantee and Refund Policies Compared 2026.