Surfshark's Starter plan gets you unlimited devices, 4,500+ servers, ad-blocking, split tunneling, IP rotation, and a no-logs policy - all for $1.99 a month on a two-year commitment. For a small team where everyone's running a laptop, phone, and tablet, the unlimited connection policy alone saves you from doing awkward per-seat math. That's not something most VPNs offer at this price.

Setup took me under 10 minutes. The desktop app is clean, server selection is two clicks, and I didn't need to consult any documentation. If you're handing this to a non-technical employee, they'll be up and running without hand-holding.

Review: Surfshark VPN

The main catch is the renewal rate. After two years, Surfshark renews at $79 per year (around $6.58 a month), which is still competitive but a noticeable jump from the intro price. It also doesn't offer the centralized admin tools that larger teams might need. For a small business that just wants solid, no-fuss protection, though, it's the easiest win on this list.

Surfshark features: WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols | CleanWeb ad and malware blocker | Kill switch | Split tunneling (Bypasser) | Dynamic MultiHop double VPN | Rotating IP | 4,500+ RAM-only servers

If your business handles regulated data, Proton VPN deserves a serious look. It operates under Swiss jurisdiction, which provides stronger legal privacy protections than most other countries, and every app is open-source and independently audited. That kind of transparency is not something you commonly find in this category.

Business plans start at $6.99 per user per month on annual billing or $12.99 per user per month for the full Proton Business Suite. The Suite is worth paying attention to, because it bundles VPN access with Proton Mail, Calendar, Drive, and Pass in a single subscription. For a small team already paying separately for those tools, the consolidation could add up to meaningful savings.

Review: Proton VPN

Secure Core routes your traffic through hardened servers in Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden before exiting to the destination, which adds a useful extra layer of protection for sensitive sessions. It slows things down a little, but the tradeoff is worth it for high-risk use cases. I also appreciated the 14-day free trial, which requires no corporate card upfront - plenty of time to properly evaluate the platform.

Proton VPN features: Secure Core multi-hop routing | NetShield ad and malware blocker | WireGuard protocol | AES-256 encryption | Audited no-logs policy | SSO and access controls on business plans | 15,000+ servers across 120+ countries

NordLayer is built specifically for businesses, and the difference from a consumer VPN is obvious the moment you log in. The admin dashboard gives you clear visibility into users, active sessions, and gateway health, and adding new team members is a genuinely fast process. I had a test organization up and running in about 10 minutes, which matched the company's own claim.

Plans are structured around what your team actually needs. Lite covers basic VPN access and centralized billing. Core adds biometric authentication, auto-connect, and site-to-site capabilities. Premium unlocks network segmentation, API access, and SSO integrations with providers like Azure AD and Okta. Pricing starts at $8 per user per month on an annual plan, with a minimum of five users. That minimum is lower than many competitors, which often require 10 or 20 seats to start.

Also: NordLayer set to release a new security-focused browser for the enterprise

NordLayer also meets SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR standards, which matters if you're in a regulated industry. For a growing business that wants to build proper security infrastructure now rather than retrofit it later, this is the most mature option on the list.

NordLayer features: Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) | Site-to-site VPN | DNS filtering | Network segmentation | Centralized admin dashboard | SAML/SSO integration | Compliance coverage: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR