Are lifetime VPN subscriptions worth it? Black Friday insights

If you're on the lookout for a great deal on the best VPN, you might think Black Friday is the best time to do this – and you'd be right!

This time of year sees all the top providers put their products on offer, but you may not have heard of arguably one of the best Black Friday VPN deals – and that's a lifetime VPN subscription for just one payment. That's right, a VPN to use for the rest of your life, and you only have to pay once for it!

While this may initially seem like a really good deal, and one that only gets better as time goes on, there are some things you need to consider before signing up for a lifetime VPN. Here we explore them all.

Benefits of a lifetime VPN

One of the major benefits of a lifetime subscription is the fact that you just have to pay once. This means that you don't need to deal with auto-renewed billing, monthly costs or any of the other things that come with paying for a VPN on a regular basis.

Another is not dealing with increased subscription costs. Some VPN providers may have good deals for one, two, three or even five year subscriptions, but these often come with hefty price hikes after the subscription has ended. With a lifetime VPN, you won't have to worry about this.

Not only this, but a lifetime subscription to a VPN only gets better value for money the longer you use it. Plus, FastestVPN's upfront price of $30 (or $23 with code BFCM24) is a lot cheaper than the upfront cost of even the best cheap VPNs.

Drawbacks of a lifetime VPN

While there are definitely some benefits to getting a lifetime VPN, there are some negatives you should be aware of. First and foremost is that a lifetime is a pretty long time, and this may lead to your VPN software becoming outdated. This could mean that your VPN isn't able to protect you as well as a non-lifetime VPN.

Another drawback is the fact that lifetime VPN providers see a lot less income than non-lifetime providers, meaning that you could see lower quality over time also. This is why lower-rated VPNs are typically lifetime VPNs.

While it is cheap, FastestVPN is not one of our top-rated VPNs and falls behind in terms of performance when compared to the likes of NordVPN, Surfshark and ExpressVPN – in our FastestVPN review, we awarded it 3.5/5. So, while these VPNs may be more expensive than FastestVPN, they have more to offer in terms of speeds, unblocking power and security.

How much does a lifetime VPN cost?

How much a lifetime VPN costs is relative to how long you use it for, and also how much you pay for it upfront. It also depends on the provider.

For FastestVPN, whose Black Friday deal is a lifetime subscription for $23 with code BFCM24, their price works out at $1.92 per month for one year, $0.96 per month for two years, $0.64 per month for three years and $0.38 per month for five years, with this cost only getting smaller the longer you use it.

This is even cheaper than our top-rated budget VPN on the market, Surfshark, which is currently on offer for $1.99 per month. While some providers have deals cheaper than Surfshark, for example Privado VPN's deal of $1.48 per month, this is an upfront cost for a two year contract (with three months free) and the likelihood is that this price will increase after this period.

Other lifetimeVPN subscriptions are more expensive. For example, AdGuard's lifetime VPN costs $20 more than FastestVPN at $43.99, and VPN Unlimited's lifetime VPN is even more expensive at $199.99.

Which VPNs offer lifetime deals?

As you may expect, there are not that many VPNs that offer lifetime subscriptions, as these providers need a recurring income from their users in order to maintain their servers. However, this does not mean that lifetime VPN subscriptions don't exist.

As part of its Black Friday offering, FastestVPN is offering a lifetime subscription for $30 (or $23 with the code BFCM24). There are other VPNs that offer lifetime VPN subscriptions, like VPN Unlimited, but these subscriptions are far more expensive than FastestVPN – VPN Unlimited's lifetime plan costs $199.99. While AdGuard's lifetime VPN is cheaper than this at $43.99, this is still more expensive than FastestVPN.

Lifetime VPNs: bottom line

Lifetime VPNs can seem convenient and cheap, but they do come with some drawbacks, and often aren't the best-performing VPNs on the market.

If you're looking for a VPN that stands out in terms of performance, you'd be better off looking at a non-lifetime VPN, and getting a good deal on it in the Black Friday sales.

However, if you're looking for the absolute best deal on a VPN, then getting a lifetime VPN and using it for several years is the way to go.