Monthly price: the shortest commitment
Start with the monthly rate, because every brand here quotes one and it is the one figure that sits on the same basis across the list. 12VPN lists $29.99 for a month, and CactusVPN asks $15. Betternet sits at $12.99, ClearVPN at €9.99, and Banana VPN at $8.
The lower end of the same list runs the other way. Cloudflare charges $4.99 a month, Avast SecureLine VPN charges $4.99, AirVPN charges €7, and AzireVPN charges €5. Astrill VPN lists $30, and AfricaOnline Namibia lists NAD 550 in a currency none of the others use, so convert that one before setting it beside the rest.
Long-term price and the term behind it
The cheapest rate a brand advertises almost always comes with the longest commitment, so read the long-term figure together with the term that locks you in. AirVPN pairs €2.75 with a longest plan of 36 months. Avast SecureLine VPN pairs $3.99 with 36 months, and AzireVPN pairs €3.75 with 12 months. CactusVPN drops to $3.96 on a term of 24 months.
Term length varies a lot, and that matters as much as the rate. 12VPN and Astrill VPN both stretch to 24 and 24 months, while ClearVPN stops at 12 months. A long commitment lowers the rate only if you are certain you will still be using the service when the term ends, so treat the term as part of the price rather than a detail.
Brands that charge the same at every term
Not every long-term rate is a discount. Amnezia VPN shows $3.30 monthly and $3.30 on a term of 24 months, so committing buys you nothing on price. AfricaOnline Namibia lists NAD 550 a month and NAD 550 on a term of 36 months, which is the same pattern over a much longer term.
Cloudflare also shows no gap between the two figures: $4.99 monthly and $4.99 on a term of 1 month. If you want a service you can leave after a short spell, these are the ones where the rate you start on is the rate you keep on.
Renewal price: what the same subscription costs later
Renewal is where a low headline rate stops telling the whole story, so check it before you commit. Avast SecureLine VPN renews at $8.33, which sits above its own long-term rate of $3.99. Work out what the second term would cost you at that figure before you treat the opening price as the real one.
The other renewal figures are steadier. 12VPN renews at $29.99, matching its monthly price of $29.99, and Betternet renews at $12.99, the same as its $12.99 monthly rate. CactusVPN renews at $3.96 and Cloudflare at $4.99, so for those the first term already tells you what comes next.
Currencies and single-rate listings
Euros and dollars both appear across these prices, and that shapes the comparison more than the numbers do. AirVPN, AzireVPN, ClearVPN and CyberGhost quote in euros, so long-term rates such as €2.75, €3.75, €3.75 and €2.19 are not like-for-like with dollar figures until you convert them. 12VPN, Amnezia VPN, Astrill VPN, Avast SecureLine VPN, Banana VPN, Betternet, CactusVPN and Cloudflare list in dollars.
Some brands give you only one rate to work from, and the shape of that rate changes how you should use it. For Banana VPN the published figure is a monthly rate of $8, so read it as the cost of a month rather than a commitment. For CyberGhost the published figure is a long-term rate of €2.19, so it tells you what a long commitment costs, not what a first month costs. That difference is easy to miss and easy to get wrong.
Turning the numbers into a shortlist
Price narrows the field, it does not settle the choice. Use the figures to cut the list down, then move to the VPNs ranking to see which of these brands hold up overall, and check the Free VPNs ranking if a paid plan does not fit your budget, since paying month by month can cost more over a long stretch than a free tier.
Then read the individual reviews, because only they tell you what a low long-term rate and a high monthly rate on the same product actually mean for you. The 12VPN review is the clearest case: $29.99 a month against $11.25 on 24 months. The AzireVPN review covers the same trade-off across a shorter term, and the Astrill VPN review shows what paying $30 monthly buys next to $12.50 on a longer one.