Most VPN providers offer subscriptions meaning that you pay a set amount every so often to use the service. The term typically ranges from monthly payments to annual renewals. That works for most customers but what if you don’t fit into the subscription model. For example what if you travel on rare occasions and want the protection of a VPN without paying all the time? A pay-as-you-go VPN service is a good alternative.
What is Pay As You Go VPN service?
We’ll look at a couple providers that offer pay-as-you-go VPN plans in a moment. First I want to quickly explain the concept. Instead of paying for VPN access on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, yearly) you can sign up for a specific amount of data usage with Private Tunnel or a set period of time (non-recurring) with LiquidVPN. Each plan type has it’s advantages depending on your VPN usage.
Private Tunnel Pay-as-you-go VPN Plans
Let’s take a look at Private Tunnel. The service is managed by the same team that developed the popular OpenVPN client. They offer VPN access based on the amount of data you plan to use.
Here’s a full list of their paid data plans:
- 50 GB for $12.00 – 24 cents a gigabyte
- 100 GB for $20.00 – 20 cents a gigabyte
- 500 GB for $50.00 – 10 cents a gigabyte
The Private Tunnel plan is good for those who want to share accounts. They don’t mind how many connections you have since the service is billed based on data use. The data transfer you purchase never expires so you can keep going until the data is all used up. There’s no subscription so when you run out of data you can simply sign up for more. This is a great plan for those who travel infrequently and want privacy protection.
LiquidVPN No-Subscription Plans
LiquidVPN does things a little different. They offer the normal subscription model along with a pay-as-you-go (no subscription) option. Let’s take a look at what they have to offer.
As you can see LiquidVPN plans differ from the Private Tunnel approach. Instead offering plans based on the amount of data you use, LiquidVPN offers time specific accounts without the recurring subscription cost.
- 5 day pass for $2.00 – 40 cents a day
- 30 day pass for $8.00 – 27 cents a day
- 180 day pass for $40.00 – 22 cents a day
- 365 day pass for $75.00 – 20 cents a day
The price per day is lower based on the term you choose. You pay for the access up front but there are no renewals. You can simply top off your account with more days when the term expires or wait until you need more access. LiquidVPN allows up to 3 devices on a single account. They include some advanced features like LiquidDNS, NAT firewall, port forwarding and IP modulation regardless of which term you select.
When Pay As You Go VPN Doesn’t Make Sense
There are plenty of scenarios where pay-as-you-go VPN access isn’t the best choice. That’s why the market offers subscription plans. It’s not just for recurring revenue. If it was there would be more companies taking advantage of the gap in the market and offering no-subscription plans. Especially with so many new VPN services continuing to launch. The truth is that most VPN customers are best served by a subscription plan.
If you plan to use a VPN service on a regular basis then the regular subscription model will save you money. You can sign up for a year of service from a leading VPN provider for under $5 a month. For less than $60 a year you can enjoy unlimited VPN with access to servers around the world from companies like IPVanish, Private Internet Access and PureVPN. With the annual prices so low most people go with this option.
I think the pay-as-you-go approach is best for those who travel. Especially those who travel sporadically and want extra privacy protection a few times a year. For that scenario I suggest a data plan from Private Tunnel or a no-subscription plan from LiquidVPN. Both services will help protect your privacy at home or on the go.
You can visit vpnsp.com to learn more about VPN. Follow us @VPNSP for the latest VPN news and deals.
