PrivadoVPN Review: The Cheapest VPN in Our Ranking — What's the Catch?
At €1.11 per month, PrivadoVPN is the cheapest service in our comparison. We looked at what you actually get for pocket change — and where the limits show.
Table of contents
€1.11 a month. That's not a typo — PrivadoVPN's long-term plan costs less than a third of what NordVPN charges. Prices like that usually mean a data-selling free-VPN business model wearing a paid costume, so we went in skeptical. The reality turned out more interesting.
The €1.11 question: too cheap to be good?
The economics aren't as crazy as they look: Privado runs a network of hundreds of servers rather than tens of thousands, spends little on sponsorships, and uses the rock-bottom intro price as its entire marketing strategy. The product itself is a real VPN with a real no-logs policy — the question is whether the smaller scale bites you specifically.
Pricing
| Plan | Price per month |
|---|---|
| Monthly | €10.99 |
| 24 months + 3 free | €1.11 |
The gap between monthly and long-term pricing is the widest in our ranking — the monthly plan is forgettable, the 24-month plan is the headline. As always, note the renewal price before the term ends. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Server network: small — but is it enough?
This is the honest trade-off: hundreds of servers across roughly 50 countries, versus 35,000 at PIA. What does that mean in practice? In our testing, mostly nothing — connections succeeded, nearby servers existed, speeds were fine. Where it shows: fewer city choices, occasional busier servers at peak hours, and fewer fallback options when a streaming service blocks an IP range.
Speed tests
WireGuard on a 500 Mbps line:
- Nearby (Frankfurt): ~380 Mbps down, ping 17 ms
- US East: ~240 Mbps down, ping 105 ms
Genuinely respectable numbers — faster than several mid-priced services we've tested, and far beyond what any streaming or browsing scenario requires.
Security and no-logs
The stack covers the essentials: AES-256, WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2, a kill switch, and clean DNS/IP leak tests on our runs. PrivadoVPN is headquartered in Switzerland, with a zero-logs policy under Swiss jurisdiction — the same legal umbrella Proton enjoys, at a third of the price (albeit without Proton's open-source code and audit trail).
Streaming results
Netflix US worked in our tests, Disney+ worked after one server hop. With a smaller IP pool, expect somewhat more frequent re-connecting as streaming services rotate their blocklists — this is where the network size genuinely matters. SmartStream technology helps on TV platforms.
Apps and devices
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV and Fire TV, with 10 simultaneous connections — a spec normally found at three times the price. Apps are simple, stable and unremarkable in the best way.
Support 24/7
Live chat ran 24/7 with humans, not bots, in our checks — response times were short and answers competent. At this price tier, that's not a given.
Pros and cons
Pros: €1.11/month — cheapest in our ranking · Swiss jurisdiction, zero logs · 10 devices · real 24/7 human support · solid everyday speeds
Cons: small network (~50 countries, hundreds of servers) · streaming needs occasional server hops · no audits or open source to verify claims · steep renewal vs. intro price
Verdict: who can safely save the money
If your VPN life is browsing privacy, public Wi-Fi protection, geo-shifting for a few services and covering the family's devices — PrivadoVPN does all of it for almost nothing, with a 30-day exit hatch. If you depend on bulletproof streaming or want audited, verifiable privacy claims, spend the extra euro on PIA or Proton.
Try it yourself
A real VPN for the price of a coffee refill. Try PrivadoVPN risk-free for 30 days.
