There’s something very sneaky going on in the VPN industry and it’s time it got called out. A lot of very large and successful VPN companies have been pulling a bait and switch on their customers, with a shiny introductory rate and a shady renewal price. The methods companies use to do this have a bit of variance, but generally this process goes something like this:
- Offer starter price for $4/month, billed as a lump-sum with "EXTRA MONTHS" (note, these are not free, you ARE paying for them), enable auto-renewal by default
- Bury clause written in legalese in terms of service that explains that upon renewal, you’ll be paying a "renewal price" aka paying full price, or another price of the vendors choosing
- Auto-renew at a MUCH higher yearly lump-sum fee (now $15/month), explain to angry customer that they should have read the fine print
In general, this is a pretty shitty practice. You’re selling something under the premise of a lower price, while hiding your true intentions to upcharge once you’ve locked me into your ecosystem. Guilty parties to this in our industry include, but are not limited to:
NordVPN's Pricing Obfuscation
One of the most guilty parties of this practice, they’ve conveniently summarized this at the top of the respective page, likely because they’ve gotten so many complaints about it.
Please note
The price of our Services in the introductory offers displayed to you is valid only for the first period of your Subscription.
- After the first period, your Subscription will be renewed automatically, and you will be charged then-current price valid at the time of your renewal.
- You have the right to cancel the Subscription for the upcoming period. We will notify you about the upcoming automatic renewal in advance.
Surfshark's Pricing Nightmare
“All subscription plans are charged in the currency in which the first payment was made and will renew automatically at full price”
Translated, we will only give you an introductory offer for your initial sign up period. This shouldn’t be a surprise as Surfshark is owned by Nord btw.
ExpressVPN's Pricing Can Change at a Whim
“ExpressVPN reserves the right to amend subscription fees or institute new fees at any time upon reasonable advance notice”
They could have just said, “we will not honor your introductory deal upon renewal”
Private Internet Access Pricing Is Unclear
“PIA reserves the right to change the fees at any time and at its discretion. Any fee changes will apply on any subsequent automatic renewal”
In other words: “we will raise the price when you renew”
CyberGhost's Pricing S*cks
“CyberGhost reserves the right to amend subscription fees or institute new fees at any time upon reasonable advance notice posted on the Site or sent via email”
They then go on to say:
“The renewal term will be stipulated in your subscription terms at the time of purchase”
This one is really sneaky. This kind of legalese is purposely opaque, and gives CyberGhost the right to change the price at the time of renewing.
Some of these companies, namely Surfshark, take things a step further and force you to contact support to cancel your subscription. If you can sign up for a paid subscription with a simple click of the button, it should be equally simple to cancel it. Anything otherwise is incredibly deceitful and frankly unethical.
And that’s just the big names. This industry already has a debatable reputation, so best believe this sort of behavior is widespread and unpunished. Don’t believe me? Take a look at our VPN Map and tell me you still believe this is a generally ethical industry. The VPN industry is highly attractive to many business-minded folks with money and power because it is incredibly scalable, especially if you’re upselling customers 2, 3, or even 4x times their entry price upon renewal. This isn’t something you should expect to see in any of the shill “review” websites that get paid per click on each of their NordVPN “reviews”.
You have our word, when you lock in a price with Windscribe, it will stay that way as long as you don't cancel your existing plan with us. We want you here for a good time and a long time.
