It’s so difficult with so many options and all these bullshit “discounts”, coupled with the fact that different VPNs charge different prices based on what country you’re connecting from…

What is the cheapest functional VPN you’ve come across? Bonus points if it supports IPv6.

  • Libb
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    5 months ago

    Imho, ‘cheapest’ and ‘useful’ are rarely a great combo for a VPN.

    I mho, Mullvad is the best available, at 5€/month.
    Close second, I would place Proton VPN.

    Most of the others are just, well, I don’t care much about their existence.

  • AlexisFR
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    05 months ago

    Mullvad. It does not not really get cheaper if you want something reliable.

    • @lud@lemm.ee
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      05 months ago

      Mullvad is fairly expensive though. If you want cheaper slightly cheaper go with a 1 or 2 year subscription of Proton VPN.

      • @MissGutsy@lemmy.world
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        05 months ago

        Which is only really needed for hosting a torrent, something most people don’t do. Most VPN users do not even know what torrenting is and most torrent users are leechers so they don’t use it either.

  • ProdigalFrog
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    05 months ago

    AirVPN has a pretty good reputation AKAIK, and their 2-year plans are cheaper than Mullvad and Proton.

  • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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    05 months ago

    Most VPN software is free. OpenVPN is FOSS and a popular product.

    What are you trying to achieve?

    • @rcbrk@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      It’s no use. “VPN” means gateway/MITM service, just like “crypto” means digital tulip mania.

      Today’s episode brought to you by our friends CoinSkank™ and EchelonVPN.

    • @HopesBeyondTheSky@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      The OP said he/she wanted a “functional” VPN that supports IPv6 and is the cheapest (and said nothing more). Hmmm…

      (Excuse me for digressing, but if what the OP wanted was something like privacy, then a free VPN is a bad choice.

      Honestly, I don’t believe that free VPNs will protect your privacy. If you just need something like unblocking websites, you can use a free VPN. If you care about privacy, do the opposite—pay for a VPN).

  • @sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today
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    05 months ago

    I think Proton has a free tier. It would be the most legit free one. Otherwise the best VPNs would be Proton, Mullvad, and IVPN with their no log policies, anonymous account creation and payment methods, audit history, and legal track records

  • Notamoosen
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    05 months ago

    Proton has a free package with unlimited bandwidth. It doesn’t offer as many countries or advanced features but it works just fine.

      • Matt
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        05 months ago

        I’m surprised too. Since it’s a mesh VPN, you can set up your exit node anywhere you like.

        • Rolling Resistance
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          05 months ago

          I assume you need to pay for exit node hosting + traffic, right? Which would be comparable to the price of a classic VPN.

    • @phanto@lemmy.ca
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      05 months ago

      Agreed. I have a VPS exit node for 4$/month, took an hour to set up, never once come within a mile of hitting my bandwidth cap on it.

      The clients run on everything.

  • @Ilandar@aussie.zone
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    05 months ago

    Proton VPN has a free plan that is fine if you just want general privacy from your ISP. If you want to do more like torrenting or circumventing geoblocking, there are probably cheaper options although Proton VPN does have significant Black Friday sales (which I think you just missed, unfortunately).

    • I’m on the Proton train, but know now, you’ll never see a discount once you’re a customer. They will promo you up to a more premium plan, but I recommend only comparing proton at full price.

      • _cryptagion [he/him]
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        05 months ago

        I get promo emails every so often, especially last weekend. Maybe they’re getting snagged by your spam filter. I always ignore the promos, because I’m grandfathered into the older price which was cheaper for a single account with all their services. As long as I don’t cancel, I get to keep that price.

  • @lemming741@lemmy.world
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    05 months ago

    PIA is $40/yr and if you’re just dodging hollywood lawyers, it is perfect for that. I can easily saturate my 1Gbps connection. It’s a well known service so some companies block their IPs and you’ll get captchas but I think that’s unavoidable.

    If you have state actors interested in your activities, keep shopping.