VPN introductory and renewal pricing

Initial offer versus ongoing price

Many personal-VPN cards print an effective monthly figure for a prepaid term. That figure is an average of the introductory billed total over covered months. It is not the cash taken at purchase, and it is not the price that applies after the intro term unless the stored renewal equals that same average. Calculation clock 2026-09-12. Product last_verified dates stay on the research records.

Formula: cash12_cents = introductory_billed_total_cents; teaser12_cents = effective_monthly_equivalent_cents * 12; covered_months = term_months + bonus_months. Inference, not a vendor slogan: when those two cash figures differ, the teaser times 12 is not what you pay in the first year of a prepaid SKU.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says businesses must display a total price as a single figure — the minimum total cost including taxes, duties and unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees — and that a 2-year contract may be advertised as a per-month fee only if the total cost over the two years is at least as prominent. ACCC, Price displays (fetched 12 Sep 2026). That is a display rule. It is not a finding that any named VPN vendor has broken it. This page does not reconstruct checkout.

ACCC also describes drip pricing as advertising a price at the start of an online purchase then adding fees later. GST, card conversion and merchant FX are omitted here because they are not on the stored billed rows. Same ACCC price-display page. Listed cents in one currency are not an Australian checkout ranking.

Bonus months are service, not a smaller bill

Covered months are term_months + bonus_months. Extra months change how long the intro payment lasts. They do not shrink the cash taken at purchase. NordVPN Basic 2-year and Surfshark Starter 2-year are stored as 24+3=27 months. ExpressVPN Basic 2-year is 24+4=28 months. Private Internet Access 3 Years + 3 Months EXTRA is 36+3=39 months. Proton VPN Plus 2-year has no bonus (24+0=24).

Worked example: billed cash, not the teaser

Hand checks on stored AUD intros: 479*12=5748 ≠ 12933 (NordVPN Basic 2-year, 27 covered months), 349*12=4188 ≠ 9423 (Surfshark Starter 2-year, 27 months), 559*12=6708 ≠ 13416 (Proton VPN Plus 2-year, 24 months), 249*12=2988 ≠ 9711 (Private Internet Access 3 Years + 3 Months EXTRA, 39 months). Surfshark One is not used (dual public intro).

Compare those three 2-year AUD SKUs in the cost tool. Cap three plans. The 39-month PIA row is in the mixed-currency query below.

Renewal is a later charge, not another intro

Renewal starts at covered months. A 27-month intro is still only one charge inside 12 and 24 months. The 1-year list is added once it falls inside 36 months. Hand checks: 12933+18708=31641 (NordVPN Basic 2-year), 9423+11012=20435 (Surfshark Starter 2-year), 13416+13428=26844 (Proton VPN Plus 2-year). PIA’s 39-month prepaid is billed in full inside 12, 24 and 36 months, so cash36 stays 9711.

Surfshark listed amounts are exclusive. NordVPN and Proton GST are unknown on the stored rows. Confirm tax at checkout. Method: How we test. Machine-readable cents: cash.json.

When effective monthly × 12 equals the intro

A 12-month prepaid at a flat rate makes 500*12=6000 equal the intro. Do not print a false ≠. Mullvad’s 1-year prepaid is a time-bank at €5 per month including VAT on the public grid — not a discounted intro that later jumps. 36-month cash 6000+6000+6000=18000 EUR if the same 1-year SKU is bought again. IVPN Standard 1-year is also 6000 USD; Standard monthly is 600 cents, and 600*12=7200 is not that yearly intro.

Native currencies stay unconverted

ExpressVPN Basic 2-year is billed USD: 299*12=3588 ≠ 8372, covered 28 months, 36-month cash 8372+9995=18367. An AUD ranking is unknown without a dated HTTPS FX quote and is still not checkout. Query: PIA 39-month, Mullvad 1-year, ExpressVPN 2-year.

Monthly seats versus yearly seats

Tailscale Standard is billed monthly. 12-month cash is twelve charges: 800*12=9600 ≠ 800. NordLayer Lite yearly intro is 9600 USD per user; 800*12=9600 equals that yearly intro. Identical per-user 9600 versus 9600 is not a ranking. NordLayer’s 5-user minimum makes 5*9600=48000 the 12-month listed floor. Tailscale Standard has no 5-seat floor. Twingate Teams yearly intro is 6000 USD; 500*12=6000 equals that intro. 600*12=7200 is Teams monthly, not the yearly intro. Both listed amounts are exclusive. Query: Tailscale Standard monthly, NordLayer Lite yearly, Twingate Teams yearly. Not Tailscale Personal, not the Mullvad add-on, not a fabricated Tailscale yearly 8*12=96 SKU, not NordLayer Core yearly, not Twingate Starter, Home, Teams monthly or Business yearly.

Unknown renewal is not a free extension

If a renewal billed total is missing, the model keeps the known intro sum and marks later horizons partial. It does not copy the intro rate forward. That is an assumption of the cost model, not a vendor promise that the intro repeats.

Australian claims, and what they are not

ACCC’s 2026–27 compliance priorities include unfair contract terms with a focus on harmful cancellation terms, including those associated with automatic renewals. ACCC, Compliance and enforcement priorities (fetched 12 Sep 2026). A priority is not a determination about any VPN on this page. Only a court decides whether a term is unfair. ACCC, Contracts. Automatic cooling-off on that page is for telemarketing and door-to-door sales, not a general right on a website VPN purchase.

ASD’s ACSC October 2021 Using Virtual Private Networks publication is about organisational remote-access VPNs. It is not a consumer shopping list and it does not set intro or renewal prices. ACSC Using VPNs (October 2021 PDF). Buying a personal VPN does not make you anonymous, legally compliant, or universally protected. Threat-model selection sits in the buying guide.

Decision checklist

• Read the billed total and covered months, not only the effective-monthly teaser.
• Find the named renewal amount and interval. Do not assume the intro repeats.
• Treat bonus months as extra service, not a smaller first bill.
• Keep native currencies separate until you have a dated HTTPS FX quote. That estimate is still not checkout.
• For seat SKUs, multiply any documented seat minimum. A per-user yearly figure is not the team floor.
• Confirm GST, auto-renewal and cancellation on the vendor terms before paying. This site is not legal advice.

Sources

• ACCC, Price displays (consumers) checked 2026-09-12
• ACCC, Price displays (business) checked 2026-09-12
• ACCC, Contracts and unfair contract terms checked 2026-09-12
• ACCC, Compliance and enforcement priorities 2026–27 checked 2026-09-12
• ASD’s ACSC, Using Virtual Private Networks (October 2021) checked 2026-09-12
• NordVPN pricing (Basic 2-year billed total) checked 2026-09-11
• Surfshark pricing (Starter 2-year billed total) checked 2026-09-11
• Proton VPN pricing (VPN Plus 2-year billed total) checked 2026-09-12
• Private Internet Access pricing (3 Years + 3 Months EXTRA) checked 2026-09-12
• Mullvad pricing (1-year prepaid) checked 2026-09-12
• ExpressVPN pricing (Basic 2-year billed total) checked 2026-09-11
• Tailscale pricing (Standard monthly) checked 2026-09-12
• NordLayer pricing (Lite yearly) checked 2026-09-12
• Twingate pricing (Teams yearly) checked 2026-09-12
• IVPN pricing (Standard 1-year versus Standard monthly) checked 2026-09-12