How To Use a VPN to Snag Cheap Flights and More

A virtual private network (VPN) can help you stay anonymous online, but did you know it can also help you fight price discrimination? By hiding your location with a good VPN and stopping online trackers from collecting any aggregated data about you, you can often find lower prices when online shopping. 

We'll walk you through how to use a VPN to find for cheaper prices and recommend some of the best VPNs for the job. 

How to use a VPN to find cheaper prices

Let’s say you book an Airbnb in Hawaii that turns out to be infested with roaches when you show up. (Yep, that’s a true story.) You obviously can’t stay, so you start searching for hotels for the night.

The hotel websites can see you’re on the island and must be in a jam if you’re looking to check in that day. Up goes the price of any hotel you view. To avoid this, you can take a few steps to trick the website into thinking you’re just casually browsing from somewhere in Japan, dreaming of an island getaway.

1. Log out of any accounts like Expedia or Delta. If you’re shopping online, log out of your account for the store.
2. Make sure your VPN is active on your device and set it to the location you want before you open any websites.
3. Clear all caches and cookies on your browsers.
4. Visit the website where you want to buy something.
5. Choose your item and check out.

What to look for when choosing a VPN for shopping online

There are so many different VPN providers, you may be wondering which one to choose. While free VPNs might be tempting, there are limits to what they can do. Some free VPNs log your data or have shoddy security that leads to DNS and WebRTC leaks, which leave you exposed to price hikes.

Your best bet for beating price discrimination is to use an effective and trusted VPN. Some features to look for include:

• Large server network with lots of server locations to choose from, for price comparisons
• AES-256-bit encryption, which is military grade and won’t leak your IP address
• Server obfuscation, which hides the fact that you’re using a VPN (usually offered a toggle to turn on or a specific protocol)
• Split tunneling, which allows you to check out prices with the VPN turned on and with the VPN turned off at the same time
• Strict no-logs policy so none of your data can be collected
• Kill switch that severs your internet connection in case the VPN drops for any reason
• Fast speeds so you can browse efficiently.

Best VPN services compared

Why you should use a VPN when shopping online

You may not be aware of price discrimination when shopping online. Whether it’s a movie theater charging based on age or an airline watching you while you’re tracking flight prices, aggregated online information is used to adjust prices for you.

Price adjustments also happen regionally, and prices can be drastically higher (or lower) in different countries. That gift you find that’s perfect for your sibling’s birthday might be more expensive in the U.S. than it is in Europe. Someone tracking a flight who lives in New York might be charged more than a person in New Jersey.

It’s an annoying little trick companies use to charge you the most for something you really want. This is why you should always use a VPN when comparing prices from various retailers as well. The more you look at something, the more the retailer thinks you’ll pay an inflated price.

5 ways to save money with a VPN

VPN encryption isn’t just for geo-restricted content and unblocking streaming services. It provides security by masking your traffic. That same technology allows you to shop for anything from flights to reduced subscription prices, even without money-saving apps like Honey and Rakuten.

If you’re looking to save money with online purchases — and in this economy, who isn’t? — then dive into each topic to learn more about it. We even have ways to save money on VPNs if you’re really looking for a deal.

1. Get a cheaper hotel room

Search results are notoriously biased. We decided to test out the VPN price-saving methods on hotels in Los Angeles. The first image is a search for “hotel rooms in Los Angeles tonight” with no VPN active. Since we’re in Los Angeles, we got one hit for under $100.00/night, and then everything else offered to us was at $100.00/night or more.

Next, we turned on our VPN, opened a new browser window, and cleared our history. We then set our VPN server to Salt Lake City. We reasoned that Utah is far enough away that the search matrix knows we aren’t in a bind but close enough that we could be lured into Los Angeles if the price was right.

Sure enough, the search results returned the Freehand Los Angeles hotel for $41.00/night as opposed to the $64.00/night without the VPN.

We also noticed that overall the results returned with the VPN were less expensive than the original results without the VPN. Not only did the price of the Freehand hotel drop, but the hotels offered had a wider variety of price ranges. The next time you’re in need of a hotel, make sure to switch on your VPN to get the best price.

2. Use a VPN for cheaper flights

This is probably the most difficult category to see a difference when price checking with a VPN. There are long-held rumors that browser cookies are the reasons behind flight price increases, while airlines swear that’s false.

A Consumer Reports study conducted in 2016 did see some rapid flight price fluctuations based on regular and scrubbed browsers.^[1] Of the 372 flights searched, 42 returned results showing that browser cookies influenced prices.

It seems like aggregated flight searches are more likely to return wildly different results, but airlines claim that flight prices change rapidly depending on a multitude of factors.

Whether this price discrimination is true, and there is evidence that suggests it is, wouldn’t you rather get the best price you can for your flight? Travel is expensive, and we all need some time away now and again. It couldn’t hurt to activate your VPN, wipe your browsing history, and search for that flight to Thailand.

3. Find cheaper prices for video games

Go to any Reddit board dedicated to gaming, and there will inevitably be questions about saving money on digital downloads. Some people claim success, while others say companies like Xbox and Steam have VPN blockers.

We know dynamic pricing is definitely a thing, so this is worth trying. Your best bet is to use a reputable VPN, like Surfshark, which has obfuscated servers, to avoid looking like you’re using a VPN.

We decided to test this out with Surfshark. First, we searched for Alan Wake on Steam with no VPN connected.

Then, we connected to a server in Moldova and refreshed the search results. We found Alan Wake for a couple dollars cheaper than its price in the U.S.

4. Save money on subscriptions

Subscription services and other online services can have vastly different price points from the same retailers depending on what country you’re in when you make a purchase. Different regions can even vary within the same continent. (For example, Netflix in Pakistan is cheaper than in India, even though they’re neighbors.)

We tested this theory by connecting ExpressVPN to a server in Germany and checking Netflix subscription prices. Lo and behold, the price in Euros is cheaper than in U.S. dollars. 

To compare, 4.99 euros equals $5.27 cents for the cheapest Netflix plan. If you try to purchase the cheapest Netflix plan in the U.S., it costs $6.99/mo. Of course, this may change as the conversion rate fluctuates, so always double-check before you buy.

If you want to unblock content in more than just the U.S., then try checking prices in different countries.

• Netflix: Notoriously less expensive in countries like Egypt, Pakistan, and Bolivia. Try the methods we’ve suggested by scrubbing your browser and then purchasing while logged onto one of those servers.
• Amazon Prime: This could work for Amazon Prime Video, but you could get flagged if you’re having packages delivered in the U.S. If you’re looking to use it only for streaming, then try Brazil, Japan, or Argentina, where it’s significantly cheaper than the U.S.
• Spotify: A monthly subscription in Turkey is less than $2.00/mo. By using your VPN, you can snag it for that price. However, we recommend having your VPN turned on when you listen, so you don’t get flagged for suspicious activity.

5. Rent a car for less

Vacations are expensive already without the price gouging that happens with rentals. You can get the best savings by using your VPN in the city where you’ll be and booking ahead of time.

Above are the rental car prices Hertz showed us when we looked for a car in Atlanta, Georgia from our location in Salt Lake City, Utah. To see if we could get a better deal, we used a VPN to set our location to Atlanta and checked again.

With our location set to Atlanta, we saw lower-priced options from Hertz, like a cheaper Tesla Model 3.

So if you’re traveling to Atlanta, set your VPN to Atlanta, then search for car rentals for the time you’ll be there. Then pay in advance with the lowest price. Your savings could be enough to snag a fancy dinner or a cool show at your destination.

3 best VPNs for buying things cheaper online

If you’re ready to try saving money online but don’t have a VPN already, we’ve suggested some of the best VPN services available. Each of these providers offers all the features you’ll need for encrypting your traffic, as well as plenty of locations to find better prices.

Surfshark

Surfshark has more locations available than most of its competitors. With 100 countries that host servers, global bargain hunting has never been so widely available. It also offers unlimited devices for simultaneous connections as well as obfuscated servers to hide your VPN usage. 

If you’re looking at a Surfshark price analysis, it can feel a little expensive, especially in today’s economy. The 24-month plans are the most economical and give you options for added extras.

Surfshark One offers device and identity protection, while Surfshark One+ includes the standard VPN, device and identity protection, and data removal services. Most cybersecurity solutions cost a little more than Surfshark One and don’t have such a robust VPN.

Get Surfshark | Read Surfshark Review

NordVPN

NordVPN offers a variety of features that will help you save money online. It goes a step further than its competitors with its free Meshnet service. Meshnet can help you save money by continuing to share your Netflix subscription while bypassing the password ban.

That’s because Meshnet allows you to create a network where everything pings off the same IP address, which means you can be in Florida using your parents’ account in South Dakota and Netflix will never know.

The Meshnet feature alone is free, but you can purchase a NordVPN subscription to also enjoy Threat Protection and dark web monitoring. Threat Protection helps prevent malware by blocking ads and trackers as well as other internet threats, to help keep you anonymous and safe online. 

Depending on the plan you choose, you can even get a dedicated IP address. NordVPN is a little more expensive than some of its competitors, but you’ll find a lot of security features that others may not have.

Get NordVPN | Read NordVPN Review

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is the priciest option on this list but also has benefits the others don’t. It sells a proprietary router, Aircove, that comes preinstalled with the VPN software. This means you can cover every device in your home, even if it doesn’t have capabilities for a VPN. It could also help you find better values on digital game downloads through your gaming console.

While it's possible to install a VPN on most routers, the process can be confusing and overly technical for some people. That’s ok. The Aircove makes it much easier to use, as you only have to plug it in and enter your ExpressVPN subscription credentials to have a VPN-enabled router. 

An ExpressVPN price breakdown can help you look a little closer at the actual monthly costs of this VPN service.

Get ExpressVPN | Read ExpressVPN Review

FAQs

Bottom line

There are plenty of price discrepancies across the web. Whether you’re chasing the elusive cheap flight or trying to reduce your monthly subscription prices, a VPN can help you spend less online.

Make sure you connect your VPN to regions that have the lowest prices, like a monthly unlimited Netflix subscription from Argentina for half the price you pay in the U.S. You may have to do a little bit of research, but the overall savings can be substantial.

Whether you’re considering Surfshark, NordVPN, or ExpressVPN, or are looking for something different, we’ve used and reviewed the best VPNs available and can recommend others that might fit your needs better. A VPN can open up a world of possibilities, not just in price cuts but also in geo-restricted content that you may not have been able to access previously.