Google One VPN is shutting down for good – here are the best alternatives

Time to find an alternative

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Do you useGoogle One’s VPN service? If so, we’ve got some bad news:Googleis about to shut it down for good.

In fact, you might be one of the few people who actually are using it. We weren’t very impressedwhen we reviewed it, and Google has told the news site9to5Googlethat it’s “discontinuing the VPN feature as [it] found people simply weren’t using it.” The company followed up by saying the cancellation would allow it to “refocus” and “support more in-demand features with Google One.”

According to 9to5Google, there’s no specific timeline for when Google One’s VPN will be shuttered, but an official email seen byAndroid Authoritysays that it will happen “later this year.” That means you’ve got a little bit of time to find an alternative among thebest VPN services.

The move is a disappointing one, as it removes a handy feature for anyGoogle Onesubscriber who wants an extra tool to protect their privacy. Fortunately, there are still plenty of other choices out there, although opting for one of them requires an additional subscription, whereas Google One’s VPN came bundled with your membership at no extra cost.

Other Google One features remain intact. It still offers storage for photos, files and emails, device backups, dark web security reports, and more. Google also hasn’t changed the pricing (despite removing its VPN) and plans still start at $1.99 / £1.59 per month.

Just the latest Google cancellation

Google One VPN was introduced in October 2020. Originally it required you to sign up for a $9.99 / £7.99 premium plan, but it later became available on all Google One plans, meaning you could pay $1.99 / £1.59 a month and still have access to it.

The removal of the Google One VPN is just the latest product cancellation by Google, which has a habit of launching interesting features and then dropping them further down the line. In just the last year, Google has discontinuedPlay Movies & TV, theclassic Gmail interface, itsNvidia-powered gaming Chromebooks, and more. It’s such a well-known phenomenon that here’s even adedicated websitecataloguing all the Google products that have been killed off by the company.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

The good news is that Google’s free Pixel VPN service isn’t going anywhere. This wasintroduced in 2022, and at the time Google guaranteed its availability for five years. It does, however, require a recentPixel phone, something that not every Google One subscriber will have. Considering that earlier this year Google announced it had reached100 million Google One subscribers, that’s a lot of people who might be on the lookout for a new VPN service.

So where should you look? Our recently-updated guide to thebest VPN servicesstill rates NordVPN as the best option overall, particularly if you’re looking to watch your favorite Netflix shows abroad, as it had some of the consistently fast speeds in our tests.

But VPN beginners should also check out ExpressVPN, as it has auto-connect feature and automates a lot of the complications found in many VPNs. If you’re on a budget, we also think Surfshark is the best cheap VPN around, as it costs only $2.29 / £3.15 per month if you sign up for a year – not far off the cost of the Google One VPN, only without the Google One subscription.

You might also like

Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he’s learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That’s all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

Is it still worth using Proton VPN Free?

Mozambique VPN usage soars as internet restrictions continue

Your doctor may have an AI assistant taking notes during your next Zoom call