ExpressVPN is closing one of its steepest recent discounts at 11.59pm tonight, April 21, cutting its Basic plan by 80% to £1.99 a month on a two-year term. The offer also adds four extra months at no added cost, bringing the effective term to 28 months and undercutting comparable long-plan pricing from NordVPN and Proton VPN, according to the figures provided with the sale.
The timing matters because VPNs have moved from niche security tools to mainstream consumer software. For many households, they now sit in the same category as password managers and antivirus products: not essential for every user, but increasingly relevant for people who want to reduce tracking, secure public Wi-Fi use, and limit how much of their browsing data is visible to internet providers, advertisers, and malicious actors.
Why this deal stands out
The headline number is straightforward: £55.78 upfront for a two-year Basic subscription, plus four free months, which works out at roughly 6p a day. That is unusually low for ExpressVPN, a service that has historically sold at a premium end of the consumer VPN market. The company says the pricing shift follows its recent move to split subscriptions into Basic, Advanced and Pro tiers, replacing a long-standing one-plan approach.
On price alone, the offer is notable because ExpressVPN does not usually compete as the cheapest major VPN. The current promotion changes that. Based on the prices in the sale material, NordVPN’s entry plan sits at £2.29 a month and Proton VPN’s equivalent long-term deal at £2.39, leaving ExpressVPN below both for this promotion window.
What a VPN actually does for users
A virtual private network encrypts internet traffic between a device and the VPN provider’s server. In practical terms, that means someone on the same public network cannot easily inspect what a user is doing, and an internet provider cannot see the full browsing destination in the same way it could without that encrypted tunnel. It can also mask a user’s apparent location, which is why VPNs are often used to access region-specific services while travelling.
That does not make a VPN a cure-all. It does not make a device immune to scams, weak passwords, or malware, and it does not erase all forms of tracking. What it can do is reduce exposure in a meaningful way, especially on shared Wi-Fi and across devices that are used heavily outside the home. ExpressVPN says its Basic plan covers up to 10 devices and includes ad and malicious site blocking through its Lite Protection tools.
Why ExpressVPN is stressing security credentials
ExpressVPN’s pitch leans heavily on encryption, including AES-256 and updates to its Lightway protocol with post-quantum protections. For most buyers, the practical takeaway is less about the technical jargon than the long-term direction of security software: providers are trying to future-proof encryption against more advanced computing methods while also keeping connections fast enough for streaming, browsing and everyday use.
Speed has long been a deciding factor for VPN buyers because encryption can slow traffic if the software is poorly tuned or routes data inefficiently. ExpressVPN has built much of its reputation on minimising that trade-off, which helps explain why the current price cut is attracting attention. A lower fee matters, but it matters more when attached to a service already known for broad device support across iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, Fire TV and routers.
The catch is the upfront commitment
The low monthly figure only applies if customers commit to the full two-year term and pay upfront, although the company says Klarna and other repayment options are available at checkout. That structure is common across the VPN market: the deepest discounts are usually reserved for long contracts because they reduce churn and lock in subscribers early.
For cautious buyers, the 30-day money-back guarantee is likely to be the deciding detail. It gives new users a window to test whether they actually want a VPN running across their devices before carrying the full contract forward. With the promotion ending tonight, the choice is less about whether £1.99 sounds cheap and more about whether a VPN has a clear place in a user’s broader digital security habits.
