Expert Guide

The Best VPN for Small Business in 2026

NordLayer is the seat you can price before the call. Cloudflare's free plan already covers app access and web filtering under 50 people.

Louis CorneloupFounder, Dupple · 920,000+ readers · Updated Sep 2026

Product links may be affiliate links. How we rate 8 tools compared

TL;DR

NordLayer is the best VPN for a small business in 2026 when you want a company account and a published seat price. Lite is $8 per user per month, five users minimum, and NordLayer charges in US dollars.

Use Cloudflare Zero Trust under 50 people when app access and web filtering can stay free, and put the seat budget elsewhere. Use Tailscale when the job is connecting servers and laptops, not an office gateway.

Choose Twingate Teams when you can pay yearly, because the monthly rate is a different bill and you are replacing the tunnel with per-resource access.

Proton VPN Essentials is $6.99 per user per month with a two-user minimum, so two people can buy a panel without a five-user floor.

OpenVPN CloudConnexa's yearly Essential rate counts a connector as a seat, so a site link is not a free extra. Check Point SASE, the product formerly sold as Perimeter 81, prints no USD list price, so it cannot close a comparison this week.

Key facts8 tools compared: NordLayer, Cloudflare Zero Trust, Tailscale, Twingate, Proton VPN for…

Updated: September 25, 2026
Top pick: NordLayer (best for: Companies that want a published seat price and a shared gateway)
Top pick price as of September 25, 2026: NordLayer: From $8/user/mo (Lite, monthly, USD); 5-user minimum; Core's dedicated IP server is $40/mo.

8 tools compared: NordLayer, Cloudflare Zero Trust, Tailscale, Twingate, Proton VPN for Business, OpenVPN CloudConnexa, Check Point SASE, Mullvad
Cloudflare Zero Trust (best for: Teams under 50 people that need app access and web filtering): Free under 50 users; Pay-as-you-go is $7/user/mo, billed monthly, with no user cap.
Tailscale (best for: Engineering groups connecting servers and laptops, not an office gateway): Personal is free up to 6 users, non-commercial; Standard is $8/user/mo.
Twingate (best for: Companies replacing a shared VPN concentrator with per-resource access): Teams is $5/user/mo yearly or $12/user/mo monthly; Starter is free up to 5 users.

The test that matters is whether an admin can name everyone who can connect and remove one of them the same day. A generalist who must show that list, and a seat price finance will accept, should buy NordLayer. If the assets are machines rather than an office gateway, Tailscale fits better.

A personal VPN on a company card has no directory.

The person who leaves keeps the password, and a stolen laptop is already inside whatever that account can reach.

Some of these products bill a user, and some bill a seat that includes a connector.

A fixed IP for an allowlist is often a second line on the invoice.

Toolradar data: the September 2026 VPN ranking evaluated 33 tools.

Profiles worth opening before a proof of concept include NordLayer, Proton VPN, OpenVPN, and Mullvad.

Per-application access, which is a different buy, is our zero trust guide.

How we ranked: eight products, prices checked on each vendor's pricing page on 23 September 2026, with US dollars where the vendor prints them.

We ordered them by whether a company under a few hundred people can buy from the page, whether an admin can remove a user, and whether a fixed IP or private-app access is on that invoice.

The NordLayer console is in the NordLayer review.

Top Picks

Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.

Best VPN for Small Business in 2026: 8 tools compared, updated Sep 2026
Tool	Pricing	Best for
NordLayer	From $8/user/mo (Lite, monthly, USD); 5-user minimum; Core's dedicated IP server is $40/mo.	Companies that want a published seat price and a shared gateway
Cloudflare Zero Trust	Free under 50 users; Pay-as-you-go is $7/user/mo, billed monthly, with no user cap.	Teams under 50 people that need app access and web filtering
Tailscale	Personal is free up to 6 users, non-commercial; Standard is $8/user/mo.	Engineering groups connecting servers and laptops, not an office gateway
Twingate	Teams is $5/user/mo yearly or $12/user/mo monthly; Starter is free up to 5 users.	Companies replacing a shared VPN concentrator with per-resource access
Proton VPN for Business	From $6.99/user/mo (VPN Essentials); 2-user minimum; prices exclude tax.	Teams of two or more that want a Swiss business VPN and an admin panel
OpenVPN CloudConnexa	Essential is $7/seat/mo on yearly billing (USD); Starter is free for 5 seats.	Teams that will count connectors as seats and can bill yearly
Check Point SASE	No USD list price on the product site; the quote is the price.	Buyers already on Check Point who can wait for a SASE quote
Mullvad	Flat monthly rate, shown as a $5.70 equivalent including VAT; no team admin.	Individuals who want one flat rate and no email account

Pricing read from each vendor's own published pricing page, checked Sep 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.

Lowest monthly figure each vendor publishes, checked Sep 2026. A tilde marks a figure the vendor states approximately. Per-seat and usage charges can sit on top of it. 2 of 8 do not publish a comparable monthly price and are left out rather than estimated.

NordLayer

Top Pick

Best for: Companies that want a published seat price and a shared gateway

PricingFrom $8/user/mo (Lite, monthly, USD); 5-user minimum; Core's dedicated IP server is $40/mo.

+Lite is the monthly USD rate on the card, tax on top, with a 14-day refund from the initial purchase if the pilot fails.

+Six devices share one license, so a laptop and a phone are not a second seat, and SSO for Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, Google, and JumpCloud is included.

+Download Protection and Web Protection sit on Lite, so malware in a new download and malicious domains are not a reason to buy a higher tier.

−Five users is the minimum on Lite, Core, and Premium, which rules out a two-person company entirely.

−Core and Premium require a dedicated IP server at an extra monthly charge, so an allowlist makes the seat rate the wrong invoice.

Visit NordLayer →

Cloudflare Zero Trust

Best for: Teams under 50 people that need app access and web filtering

PricingFree under 50 users; Pay-as-you-go is $7/user/mo, billed monthly, with no user cap.

+The free plan stops at 50 users, and zero trust network access plus the secure web gateway are included, not a second product.

+Pay-as-you-go drops the user cap, and the seat buys logs for up to 30 days, a 100% uptime SLA, and chat plus ticket support.

+Identity-provider login, device posture integrations, and split tunneling are on the free plan, so a pilot does not wait on a contract.

−Free logs last up to 24 hours, support is community forums and Discord, and there is no uptime SLA, so an incident from yesterday has no vendor record.

−Dedicated egress IPs are missing on free and on pay-as-you-go, so a partner allowlist is a contract add-on, not a switch.

Visit Cloudflare Zero Trust →

Tailscale

Best for: Engineering groups connecting servers and laptops, not an office gateway

PricingPersonal is free up to 6 users, non-commercial; Standard is $8/user/mo.

+Personal includes unlimited user devices, three ACL groups, and 50 tagged resources, but a public email such as Gmail stays on that free plan, which is not a company directory.

+Standard adds SCIM, MDM deployment, and device posture with MDM and EDR, up to 10 ACL groups, which is when you can provision people and check laptops.

+The business trial runs 14 days with no user limit, and only a custom domain enrolls the tailnet, so a Gmail address cannot start it.

−Tailscale says the Personal plan is not for commercial use, so a company on a work domain takes the paid path after the trial.

−There is no secure web gateway, so a team that must filter the public web still needs a second product.

Visit Tailscale →

Twingate

Best for: Companies replacing a shared VPN concentrator with per-resource access

PricingTeams is $5/user/mo yearly or $12/user/mo monthly; Starter is free up to 5 users.

+Starter is free for up to five users with resource-level policies, so a tiny team can drop a concentrator before it has a seat budget. Teams then raises the cap to 100 users and adds Google Workspace SSO and device posture.

+Business, on the yearly price, adds Okta and Entra ID provisioning, a 500-user cap, and a 14-day trial, so the step up is directory sync and headroom.

+Teams and Business share one monthly seat price, so paying month to month buys features and a higher cap, not a higher rate.

−The yearly Teams rate and the monthly rate are far apart, so copying the yearly card and then paying monthly will miss the budget.

−DNS filtering is a Business add-on, and static IPs are an Enterprise add-on, so neither web filtering nor a fixed address comes with the Teams seat.

Visit Twingate →

Proton VPN for Business

Best for: Teams of two or more that want a Swiss business VPN and an admin panel

PricingFrom $6.99/user/mo (VPN Essentials); 2-user minimum; prices exclude tax.

+Proton's business-plans article lists Essentials at the rate on this card, with a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can still unwind the purchase.

+Essentials includes a central admin panel, organization-wide 2FA enforcement, a kill switch, always-on, and up to 10 devices per user, enough to offboard a small team.

+The same article lists VPN Professional at $9.99 per user per month and adds SSO and SCIM, which Essentials leaves out, so directory sync is a higher seat.

−That Professional line also requires at least one dedicated server at $39.99 per server per month on top of the seats, so the seat may not be the full invoice.

−VPN and Pass Professional is $10.99 per user per month with a three-user minimum, so the password manager is a separate bill with a higher floor.

Visit Proton VPN for Business →

OpenVPN CloudConnexa

Best for: Teams that will count connectors as seats and can bill yearly

PricingEssential is $7/seat/mo on yearly billing (USD); Starter is free for 5 seats.

+Starter includes five seats and does not ask for a card, and a 14-day trial covers Essential or Premium, one trial per account.

+With yearly billing selected, in USD, ten Essential seats are $70 a month and ten Premium seats are $95 a month, which is the yearly budget figure.

+Premium adds SCIM and a 99.9% uptime SLA, and the page lists SOC 2 Type 2, which is what you attach when a questionnaire asks for uptime.

−A connector takes a seat the moment it is created, online or offline, so two site links are two licenses even while the tunnels are down.

−The page says yearly billing saves up to 20% against monthly, so a month-to-month pilot costs more than the yearly row you copied.

Visit OpenVPN CloudConnexa →

Check Point SASE

Best for: Buyers already on Check Point who can wait for a SASE quote

PricingNo USD list price on the product site; the quote is the price.

+Check Point's page titles the product SASE and says it was formerly Harmony SASE, so a Perimeter 81 shortlist is this vendor now.

+Private Access and Internet Access are separate menu lines, so a quote can be one or both, and you should ask only for the line you need.

+A company already on Check Point firewalls can stay with that vendor and avoid a second console, which is the reason to wait for a quote.

−The product page prints no USD list price, so a 15-person bill is a salesperson's reply and this row cannot be ranked on cost.

−You cannot line it up with NordLayer's seat or Cloudflare's free plan until that reply arrives, so do not park a decision that is due this week.

Visit Check Point SASE →

Mullvad

Best for: Individuals who want one flat rate and no email account

PricingFlat monthly rate, shown as a $5.70 equivalent including VAT; no team admin.

+The same monthly rate covers one month, one year, or one decade, and the page prints $5.70 including VAT, so there is no term discount to chase.

+Mullvad accepts USD beside the euro price it leads with, but that dollar is still the VAT-inclusive equivalent, not a pre-tax US price.

+The account is a number you generate, which is the privacy people buy, and it is also why you cannot see who still has access.

−There is no admin, no SSO, and no directory, so you cannot remove a leaver as a row. Offboarding means changing the password and telling everyone who used it.

−The dollar on the card is a VAT-inclusive equivalent, not a US price with tax broken out, so it does not drop into a pre-tax seat budget.

Visit Mullvad →

What it is

A business VPN is a company-managed encrypted tunnel, with an admin who can add and remove users. It is not a personal subscription shared on a company card, and it is not, by itself, per-application zero trust.

The admin view is the control that matters the day someone leaves.

It shows who can connect, which gateway or resource they were given, and whether the device was allowed. Without that view, IT is guessing from a tray icon, and a departed laptop can stay enrolled.

A shared gateway puts every connected laptop on a network, so a stolen machine can reach whatever that network reaches.

A zero trust product brokers one application at a time, which limits the damage to that one system.

If a questionnaire asks who reached which system, the gateway log and the per-app log are different answers, and the zero trust guide compares the second kind of product.

Why it matters

The unit on the invoice changes the bill more than the name on the client.

Five NordLayer Lite seats for a year, at the monthly rate, are $480 before tax and before the yearly discount the page advertises.

That is the floor, because the plan will not sell fewer than five users, so a smaller company cannot complete the purchase here.

A company under 50 people can run Cloudflare's free plan at no seat charge and still get private-app access and web filtering.

The same headcount on a consumer account looks cheaper until the leaver still has the password.

A server or a connector can also be a seat, so a three-person shop with two site connectors is not a three-seat bill.

Cyberpresso data: the newsletter reaches 27,000 security readers at a 28% open rate, from the audience file updated 20 September 2026.

Pair the tunnel with MDM so the laptop is encrypted before it is allowed to connect, and keep the admin login in a password manager.

Key features to look for

Who can be removed

An admin console lets you delete a leaver the same day. A shared password outlives them, and the laptop stays on.

What the license meters

You are billed per user, per seat, or per connection. A connector can count as a seat, so site links are not free.

Where the fixed IP sits

An allowlist needs a dedicated address, often billed as a second line. The seat rate is then not the whole invoice.

How long the log lasts

A day of logs and a month of logs answer different incidents. If you need last week, the short log has already dropped it.

Gateway or one application

A stolen laptop on a shared tunnel can reach the network. Per-resource access exposes one application instead, so the blast is smaller.

Pricing

USD figures below were checked on 23 September 2026. Mullvad leads with a euro price and prints a dollar equivalent, so the card is not a pre-tax US list price. Check Point asks for a quote, so leave it out of any comparison that needs a number this week.

Five NordLayer Lite users is the smallest company that vendor will sell.

A month of ten Lite seats is $80, and ten Lite users for a year are $960 before the yearly discount. The page advertises 20% off Lite, 21% off Core, and 22% off Premium when you pay yearly.

Core is $11 per user per month and Premium is $14, and both require the dedicated IP server, so an allowlist sits on top of the seats.

Ten Core seats for a year, before that server, are $1,320. Ten Premium seats for a year, before the server, are $1,680.

Ten Cloudflare pay-as-you-go users are $840 for a year.

Ten Proton Essentials users are $838.80 for a year before tax, with a lower minimum than NordLayer.

Ten Twingate Teams users on the yearly rate are $600 for the year, and only if you actually pay yearly.

The monthly Teams rate matches the monthly Business rate, so that yearly total is not the month-to-month bill.

Ten CloudConnexa Essential seats, yearly, are the $70 a month in the table, and two connectors inside that ten are not free.

NordLayer's CrowdStrike add-ons are a separate device line, and the CrowdStrike review is that endpoint product on its own invoice.

Plan	Price	Best for
NordLayer Lite	$8/user/mo	USD, monthly; 5-user minimum; yearly advertised at 20% off
NordLayer Core	$11/user/mo	Dedicated IP server required; yearly advertised at 21% off
NordLayer Premium	$14/user/mo	Finer segmentation; yearly advertised at 22% off
NordLayer dedicated IP server	$40/mo	Required on Core and Premium, on top of seats
NordLayer Enterprise	From $6/user/mo	200-user minimum; starts from Lite capabilities
NordLayer CrowdStrike Falcon Go add-on	$2/device/mo	Endpoint add-on on the NordLayer price list
NordLayer CrowdStrike Falcon Enterprise add-on	$9/device/mo	Adds detection on that same add-on list
Cloudflare Zero Trust Free	Free	50-user limit; logs up to 24 hours
Cloudflare Zero Trust Pay-as-you-go	$7/user/mo	Billed monthly; no user cap; logs up to 30 days
Cloudflare Log Explorer, after 10 GB	$1/GB/mo	Add-on on free and pay-as-you-go; first 10 GB free
Tailscale Personal	Free	Up to 6 users; Tailscale says not for commercial use
Tailscale Standard	Same rate as Lite	Monthly per user; SCIM, device posture, 14-day business trial
Tailscale Premium	$18/user/mo	300 ACL groups; 10,000 ephemeral minutes a month
Tailscale tagged resource, past 50	$1/mo each	Servers and subnet routers, on top of seats
Twingate Starter	Free	Up to 5 users
Twingate Home	$15/mo	Up to 7 users; non-commercial; 14-day trial
Twingate Teams, yearly	$5/user/mo	Up to 100 users; Google Workspace SSO
Twingate Teams, monthly	$12/user/mo	Same monthly seat rate the page shows for Business
Twingate Business, yearly	$10/user/mo	Up to 500 users; Okta and Entra provisioning
Twingate Business, monthly	$12/user/mo	Month to month, not higher than Teams
Proton VPN Essentials	$6.99/user/mo	Minimum 2 users; tax extra; up to 10 devices each
Proton VPN Professional	$9.99/user/mo	Adds SSO and SCIM; support article adds a server
Proton dedicated server	$39.99/server/mo	At least one, on the Professional support article
Proton VPN and Pass Professional	$10.99/user/mo	Minimum 3 users; includes the password manager
CloudConnexa Starter	Free	5 seats; a seat is a user or a connector
CloudConnexa Essential, 10 seats, yearly	$70/mo	USD; yearly toggle; page says yearly saves up to 20%
CloudConnexa Premium	$9.50/seat/mo	Yearly toggle; 10 seats are $95/mo billed yearly
OpenVPN Access Server, 10 connections, yearly	$70/mo	USD; simultaneous connections, not named users
Mullvad	$5.70 equivalent	Flat rate, VAT included; same figure for a month or a decade
Check Point SASE	Quote only	Formerly Harmony SASE; no USD list price on the site

Mistakes to avoid

×Budgeting NordLayer Core at the seat rate forgets the dedicated IP server. That server is required on Core and Premium, and Lite has no fixed address for an allowlist.

×Cloudflare's free plan and pay-as-you-go both include private-app access, and they are not the same buy. The free plan keeps logs for up to 24 hours and has no uptime SLA, so yesterday's incident is already gone.

×Signing the yearly Twingate Teams price and then paying monthly misses the budget. The monthly seat rate is the higher number, and it matches Business.

×Counting OpenVPN seats as people, rather than connectors, understates the bill. A connector takes a seat when it is created, even offline, so two site links are two seats.

×Mullvad, or a Tailscale Personal tailnet on a Gmail domain, is not a commercial admin. A leaver does not show up as a row you can delete.

Expert tips

→If a partner only accepts an address you own, price NordLayer Core with the dedicated server. On Cloudflare, that dedicated egress IP is a contract add-on, not a free or pay-as-you-go switch.

→If the company is under 50 people and a day of logs is enough, start on Cloudflare's free plan and spend the seat budget on MDM. Encrypting the laptop is a separate control from the tunnel.

→Price Tailscale as seats plus tagged resources, because a subnet router is not a free device once you pass the included pool.

→Before you sign, disable one test user and confirm the laptop cannot reconnect. A tray icon that still connects means you bought a shared password.

The bottom line

NordLayer Lite is the buy when you want a console and a seat price you can defend this week. Use the monthly rate if you may cancel, and treat the yearly discount as a commitment, not as the monthly card.

Move to Core only when the allowlist is real, because the dedicated server joins the invoice.

Choose Cloudflare under 50 users when private apps and web filtering matter more than a fixed IP.

Choose Tailscale when the estate is machines, Twingate when you will pay yearly for per-resource access, and Proton when two or more people need a panel without a five-user floor.

Choose OpenVPN when connectors should sit on the same meter as users.

Choose Check Point SASE only when you can wait for the quote, because there is no public seat to compare this week.

Skip Mullvad as a company standard, because a generated account number cannot offboard anyone.

Enroll the laptop in MDM, keep admin passwords in 1Password or Proton Pass, and treat mail as its own control in the email security guide.

The Cyberpresso brief is where the next renewal price shows up.

Cite this: Cyberpresso, "Best VPN for Small Business in 2026", September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best VPN for a small business in 2026?

NordLayer is the best VPN for a small business in 2026 when you want a company admin and a published USD seat price. Lite's monthly per-user rate, with a five-user minimum, is the first row of the pricing table, checked on NordLayer's pricing page on 23 September 2026. A company below that minimum cannot buy the plan. Cloudflare Zero Trust is the better start under 50 users if 24-hour logs are enough. Tailscale is the better start when you are connecting machines rather than sending every laptop through a shared gateway.

How much does a VPN cost a small company in 2026?

These products do not share a meter, so use the pricing table checked on 23 September 2026 rather than one blended seat price. Five NordLayer Lite users for a year at the monthly rate are $480 before tax, which is the smallest quantity that vendor will sell. Ten Cloudflare pay-as-you-go users are $840 for a year. Ten Proton VPN Essentials users are $838.80 for a year before tax. Check Point SASE has no public USD price, and Mullvad prints $5.70 as the equivalent of its flat monthly rate, including VAT.

Is there a free VPN for a small business in 2026?

Cloudflare Zero Trust is free up to a 50-user limit and includes private-app access and web filtering, so a company under that cap can run it for real work. Twingate Starter is free up to five users, and OpenVPN CloudConnexa Starter includes five seats that can be connectors rather than people. Tailscale Personal is free up to six users, and Tailscale says it is not for commercial use. None of those free plans includes a dedicated egress IP. NordLayer has no free tier, only a 14-day money-back window.

NordLayer vs Cloudflare Zero Trust: which should a small company buy?

Buy Cloudflare Zero Trust under 50 users when you want per-application access and web filtering and you can accept logs of up to 24 hours on the free plan. Buy NordLayer when you want a shared gateway and a published seat price. On Core or Premium, add the dedicated IP server at $40 a month if an allowlist needs a fixed address. Cloudflare does not offer that dedicated egress IP on free or on pay-as-you-go, so the allowlist is what pushes you off the free plan.

Is Tailscale a business VPN or a mesh for engineers?

Tailscale is a mesh that connects devices by identity, which suits servers and laptops and does not put the office on one gateway. Standard is a per-user monthly seat and adds SCIM plus device posture, so that is the commercial row. Personal is free up to six users and is not the commercial plan. It does not include a secure web gateway, so it does not filter the public web. A subnet router or other tagged resource past the included 50 is $1 a month each, on top of the seats.

Is a consumer VPN enough for a small company?

A consumer VPN encrypts one person's traffic and hides an IP. It does not give you a user list, SSO, or a way to revoke a leaver, so the person who leaves keeps access. Mullvad's pricing page prints a dollar equivalent of its flat rate, including VAT, and the account is a number, not a directory. NordLayer is the company product beside that, with a five-user minimum and an admin panel a two-person shop cannot buy.

What is the user limit on Cloudflare Zero Trust's free plan?

Cloudflare's free Zero Trust plan has a 50-user limit, and the seat charge starts when you cross it. Pay-as-you-go is $7 per user per month, billed monthly, with no user limit, logs up to 30 days, and a 100% uptime SLA. The free plan stores standard logs for up to 24 hours and does not include that SLA, so the paid seat buys history and an uptime promise. Dedicated egress IPs stay on the contract plan, an annual custom price per user.

Sources

Prices and plan details come from each vendor's own pricing page, re-checked by the Toolradar pricing tracker.