Best cost-effective cloud VPN solutions for small businesses in 2024

As more businesses move to the cloud and remote work becomes increasingly popular, cloud VPNs offer the perfect security solution. They secure the connections between the company’s network and the devices used by remote workers via end-to-end encryption, granular access controls, and rock-solid authentication procedures.

While cloud VPNs are undoubtedly necessary for protecting a company’s network and resources against unauthorized users, such as snoopers who may exploit unsecured public Wi-Fi networks, they don’t have to cost a fortune.

TechRadar’s VPN experts have tested and compared dozens of cloud VPN solutions, and I’ve picked their brains to prepare a detailed guide that reviews the top 5 affordable cloud VPN solutions for businesses. For my rankings, I’ve considered factors such as privacy and security, ease of use, server network, and, of course, affordability.

The best cloud VPNs of 2024

Best cloud VPN overall

Although ExpressVPN is not an out-and-out business (or cloud) VPN because it doesn’t have a plan for businesses, it’s unarguably one of the best consumer VPNs on the market right now, and considering its recent price drop, we believe it has what it takes to serve small businesses with remote employees and freelancers.

Speaking of ExpressVPN’s pricing, it’s available for just $5.32 per month on a 2-year subscription, and you’ll also get 3 months of extra protection for free. Even better, unlike other business VPNs that charge on a per-user basis, ExpressVPN allows 8 simultaneous connections on every plan, which, believe it or not, makes it cheaper.

Other advantages include ExpressVPN’s vast server network (3,000+ servers in over 160 locations), incredible speeds, rock-solid security (thanks to a wealth of tools and a regularly audited no-logs policy), and its ability to unblock geo-restricted content, including streaming platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and BBC iPlayer.

Additionally, it’s the best VPN for beginners, with plug-and-play apps for every single operating system, from Windows to iOS and even Linux, Chromebooks, and gaming consoles. Furthermore, 24/7 customer support and a comprehensive web knowledgebase top off what’s an excellent all-around VPN service.

Needless to say, though, ExpressVPN lacks the benefits of a cloud VPN, as it cannot authenticate users or secure remote access to a private company network. This is why we only recommend it for small teams that work with individuals who can be relied upon to use the VPN to look after both their personal and the company’s security.

Read our full ExpressVPN review

Best simple cloud business VPN alternative

Right off the bat, it’s important to note that Twingate is not your typical VPN service. It’s, in fact, a VPN alternative that works by implementing a zero trust network wherein remote employees of a company can securely access the corporate’s private network (which isn’t “exposed” to the Internet as we know it, so to speak) only after they’ve verified their identity via an authentication process.

With Twingate, your employees don’t have to worry about picking the right server or configuring the VPN client the right way. Additionally, the Twingate client requires no user interaction after the user has logged in, nor do they have to remember any hostnames or IP addresses. It’s well and truly a simple way for remote employees to access company resources.

Twingate’s authentication process is much more robust than what you’ll find in other business VPNs. The admins can establish and manage granular permissions for individuals and groups through an easy-to-use app. Both zero-trust network and application-level filters are used to verify users and provide them with access to only the resources they need. This means that in the event of a security breach, only the particular resource in question will be compromised, not the entire network.

Twingate also has Single-Sign-On methods like Okta and Google, and its native 2FA functionality for added security is another massive advantage. There’s also user activity logging and a promise to never log your employees’ usual personal traffic, including video calls and messages.

The best part about Twingate as a cloud “VPN” service is its free plan, which allows up to 5 users and 1 admin to access up to 10 remote networks. The good news keeps coming as Twingate’s Teams plan (the first paid plan) is one of the cheapest out there, priced at just $5 per user per month. It allows you to onboard up to 100 users and 3 admins and provide them access to up to 20 remote networks. Plus, it comes with a 14-day trial for a risk-free test of the service.

Read our full Twingate review

Best cloud VPN for small teams

NordLayer, as the name suggests, comes from NordVPN, one of the most popular and reliable brands in the industry. Like its brethren, NordLayer, too, comes jam-packed with security features and an affordable price tag, making it a top choice for both small and large-scale businesses worldwide.

For starters, you can use NordLayer to create virtual private gateways in up to 60 countries worldwide, with dedicated IP addresses allowing you to keep your work systems protected against snoopers. The VPN will also allow you to set certain rules, based on which it will restrict non-compliant devices from accessing your network.

What’s more, the VPN offers powerful mobile and desktop apps, which come with all the essentials that work perfectly. These include a rock-solid kill switch, strong AES-256 encryption, split tunneling, and ad and tracker blocking, as well as Nord’s proprietary WireGuard-based protocol, NordLynx, which ensures lightning-fast connection speeds without compromising privacy.

A small gripe I have with the service is that it doesn’t offer biometric authentication on its most basic plan (Lite). However, it does include features such as multi-factor authentication, always-on VPN, auto-connect (the VPN connects automatically every time the employee establishes an internet connection), and Single Sign-On support for Google, Azure AD, and Okta, which make it a solid pick for businesses looking for a bargain.

It’s priced at $8 per user per month (if you opt for annual billing), which is exactly what Perimeter 81 costs. However, one key difference is that NordLayer requires a minimum of just 5 users, unlike Perimeter 81’s 10, making it more suitable for businesses with smaller teams. With that said, the Core plan (at $11 per month per user) is arguably the one we’d recommend, seeing as it doesn’t miss out on any key features.

Read our full NordLayer review

Best cloud VPN for security

Perimeter 81 is a leading cloud VPN provider offering class-leading configurability, excellent security, and easy-to-use apps across all device types (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS), and it does all that at very reasonable prices, making it our top pick.

With over 700 servers and 40 data centers spread across 35 countries, Perimeter 81 offers your business’s remote employees a fast VPN server that’s close to their location, irrespective of where they are on the map. Even better, the service allows you to deploy multiple VPN protocols (choices include WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IPSec) at once, meaning employees can connect according to their environment and connection.

Security is top-notch, too. You can segment your business’s network and establish access rules for individual users and groups, who’d have to pass authentication checks to gain access. These authentication checks include multi-factor authentication via SMS and Google Authenticator.

Additionally, the VPN boasts strong AES-256 encryption and the ability to automatically connect to a VPN server when your employees access unsecure public Wi-Fi networks. Other security features include SSO, private DNS, split tunneling, DNS and web filtering, and malware protection, among others.

You can get started with Perimeter 81 for $8 per month per user (billed annually) for the Essentials plan, but note that you’d require a minimum of 10 users. Although there’s no free trial, you get a generous 30-day money-back guarantee, meaning you can take it for a test run absolutely risk-free.

Read our full Perimeter 81 review

Best cloud VPN for affordability

Windscribe ScribeForce is Windscribe’s business-oriented solution that allows everyone in your team to secure themselves online. It comes with all the benefits of Windscribe’s consumer VPN and the ability to configure and manage a team from a single dashboard, where you can generate, assign, reset, and delete passwords for all user accounts.

In addition to controlling user logins, you can also tweak access privileges and customize VPN rules for extra security. There’s also centralized billing and static IP addresses that can be shared between all the employees. However, if you want dedicated static IPs, we’d recommend looking into Perimeter 81.

One of the biggest benefits of Windscribe ScribeForce is its low price: just $3 per user per month, with a minimum of five users. In addition to being dirt cheap, the pricing is also super simple, seeing as there are no plans to choose from – you get everything the VPN has to offer, from incredible security benefits to blazing-fast speeds.

Speaking of security, Windscribe comes with strong encryption, a reliable kill switch, and effective filtering systems to protect users from phishing and malicious sites. That’s not all, though, as you also get comprehensive browser extensions that block annoying and often malicious cookies and ads.

A minor downside of the service is that you only get a 3-day money-back guarantee, which isn’t as generous as the competition. However, a cheap price tag is, in our opinion, more than enough to look past the short refund policy.

Read our full Windscribe review

How we tested the best cloud business VPNs

We followed our carefully curated VPN testing methodology to test the top cloud VPNs for businesses. We started at the provider’s website, where we analyzed its privacy policy, support options, and all the features it claims to offer. Next, we signed up for the service and downloaded its apps on various devices, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.

We then tested the VPN clients’ security features, including their ability to quickly and accurately authenticate users, as well as verifying if important cloud VPN offerings such as Single Sign-On, kill switch, and split tunneling work as advertised. We also evaluated features such as always-on VPN, auto-connect, and malware protection.

Speed is another important criteria for VPNs. To find out the connection speeds of a VPN, we tested it at least 120 times by using two systems (a UK data center and a US home connection), multiple speed test sites, and various VPN configurations to make sure our results were as accurate as possible.

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