Lifetime VPN subscriptions: Great deal or scam?

VPNs are necessary tools for anyone who runs a business. But if you’re looking to save money, can you count on lifetime VPN subscriptions?

Businesses can no longer pretend like they don’t need a VPN. A VPN is an invaluable business tool. It makes remote work possible and secure, improves your SEO strategies, and adds a much-needed layer of encryption over your VoIP traffic. And those are just some of the highlights.

But here’s the problem – VPNs aren’t exactly cheap. Some services can cost as much as $9.99 per month, so over $100 per year. That might not sound like much at first, but don’t forget – that’s on top of all the other huge costs of running a business.

So it’s only natural you’d like to find a way to save money, like a special offer or discount. And that’s how you might come across lifetime VPN subscriptions. But are those subscriptions legit? Or do they just sound too good to be true?  We’ll take an in-depth look at them in this article and give you a verdict.

How are lifetime VPN subscriptions supposed to work?

Like the name implies, it’s a subscription you get for life. You just pay a onetime fee and get the service forever. The onetime fee is usually anywhere between $50 to $100, sometimes a little more or less.

The VPN provider might sell the lifetime subscription through their website or through third parties.

So are they legit or scams?

Let’s start on a positive note. Yes, there are some legit VPN lifetime subscriptions. For example, Windscribe did that, and they’re a trustworthy VPN provider. They likely offered the deal because:

• It helped expose them their product to a large audience through third-party platforms (like Stocksocial).
• It offered a nice cash injection into their business. It also offered them the chance to get a few lifetime users that would refer their service to their friends. So they’d get new non-lifetime users while also making around $30-$50 off a lifetime customer.
• They were able to establish lucrative partnerships with companies that promoted lifetime deals (US TV networks, in this case).

But here’s the thing – Windscribe has a legitimate business model backing it up. They only offered the lifetime deal for a limited period, and they did it to get decent advertising out of it.

Other legitimate VPN providers might offer lifetime subscriptions for a short period when they launch their service, launch a new feature, or just want a quick way to increase their client base. New users that don’t pay recurring fees are still users you can up-sell or cross-sell other subscriptions and services to, after all.

However, if the VPN builds its entire business model on offering lifetime subscriptions, it’s very likely a scam.

Take DissembleVPN, for instance. They drew people in with an amazing $13 lifetime subscription. The offer was obviously non-refundable. And when the company made enough money, they closed up shop and disappeared.

Here’s another example – Blacklogic/VPNLand. They didn’t run away with the money, but they revoked the lifetime privileges many users bought. According to this Reddit user who paid $47.50 for a lifetime subscription, the company argued that the offer was bought through a third-party site, so they could revoke it.

And according to this user, a representative from the company actually said “Just fyi. A ‘lifetime’ account does not mean it will be valid till someone dies. It could be anyone’s lifespan – such as a cat, or lifespan of hardware.”

Nice loophole. So yeah, if you end up buying lifetime VPN subscriptions from a provider you don’t know anything about, and the deal sounds too good to be true, you’ll likely get scammed.

Even if they don’t run away with your money, you can’t count on quality support. They don’t have an incentive to bother solving your problems. You already paid, so you can’t vote with your wallet anymore.

Here’s why the “Lifetime” business model just doesn’t work

How would the company support itself if all its users only paid a onetime fee? Running a VPN is pretty expensive. The provider has to deal with tons of costs:

• Bandwidth for all its users.
• Paying for a large network of servers.
• Running maintenance on all their servers.
• Developing and testing software for different platforms.
• Running marketing campaigns.
• Paying customer support reps (especially if they offer 24/7 support).

Considering all that, it’s obvious this business model just isn’t sustainable. Even if the provider wouldn’t close up shop after getting your money, and they were actually a legit service, they wouldn’t last long. They’d probably end up bankrupt really fast.

What’s the option then? Settle for an expensive VPN or make your own?

Corporate VPNs are still popular in the business world, and you could definitely set one up.

But can you afford it? If you’re looking for lifetime subscriptions, we’ll take a wild guess and say you don’t have an extensive budget that could accommodate an entire IT team and VPN server costs. Sure, you could just rent one VPS, but you’ll still need a dedicated security expert to keep tabs on it. Otherwise, security threats might slip by, putting your company data at risk.

So what then, just get a pricey VPN? Not necessarily. There are VPNs that have decently-priced subscriptions too – like around $1.50 or $2.22 per month. You just need to find them.

Unfortunately, that can be pretty hard. There are hundreds of VPNs on the market and going through all of them is just too much. You already got tons of work to deal with running a business (especially if it’s in a male-dominated field).

The last thing you need is more work piling up in your free time, causing burnout. It could even distract you, causing you to make a mistake and pick a VPN that doesn’t have the features you need. Instead of dealing with all that hassle, we suggest checking out the cheapest VPNs from ProPrivacy. They have an excellent guide chock-full of great recommendations and useful tips.

What’s your experience with lifetime VPN subscriptions?

Did you ever buy one? If yes, was it from a reliable VPN provider? And did you get quality services for that price tag? Also, if you had any unpleasant experiences with lifetime VPNs, or know other providers that run lifetime scams, please tell us about them in the comments.