CyberGhost Review (2026): Cheap Intro, 45-Day Safety Net, Fine Print Included

By the VPNUncovered team · Checked 26 August 2026

What it is

CyberGhost is a paid VPN app for the usual platforms. Same basic job as the others: your traffic runs through a CyberGhost server, so your internet provider sees a connection to that server instead of your browsing.

One account covers 7 devices at once. Checked 26 Aug 2026. That is fewer than the 10 NordVPN and Proton VPN allow, so check it against your device count.

Who owns it: CyberGhost was acquired by Kape Technologies in 2017. Kape also owns ExpressVPN (2021), Private Internet Access (2019) and ZenMate (2018). In March 2021, Kape also bought Webselenese, the parent of the VPN review sites vpnMentor and Wizcase, for a total of about $149.1 million. Both of those review sites now carry an ownership disclosure. Kape itself was taken private in 2023 and delisted from the London AIM market, so it no longer files public accounts.

None of that is an accusation. It is disclosure. It means that when you line up CyberGhost, ExpressVPN and PIA on a comparison table, you are looking at three brands with one owner, and that some of the sites ranking them share that owner too. More in who owns your VPN.

What's actually good

45 days is a long time to change your mind. On the 6-month and 26-month plans, the money-back window is 45 days. On the 1-month plan it is 14 days. Checked 26 Aug 2026. Take the long window seriously, because a refund window is the only real test of a VPN. Speeds depend on your line and your distance to the server. Six weeks is enough to learn what happens on your own connection, on the services you pay for.

The intro term is genuinely long. The headline plan is 26 months: two years plus two free months. Checked 26 Aug 2026. If you know you want a VPN for the next couple of years, a long first term at an intro rate is the cheapest way to buy one.

The renewal number is on the page. CyberGhost prints its renewal terms on its own pricing page. Surfshark's, by comparison, states only that you will be charged the applicable renewal price and gives no figure. Low bar, cleared.

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See CyberGhost's current plans

What's actually bad

The renewal is the whole story, and it is worth understanding properly. The intro deal covers 26 months. After that, the plan renews annually, and the renewal total is about the same as the total you paid for the entire intro term. Checked 26 Aug 2026. Read that twice. The same amount of money that bought you more than two years buys you one year on renewal. It is stated on the provider's own page. But if you signed up for the monthly rate on the sticker and stopped reading there, the second bill will not feel like the deal you agreed to.

US prices, checked 26 August 2026: the 26-month plan runs $2.19/month — $56.94 billed for the whole first term — and then renews at $56.94 every 12 months. Same number, less than half the time: that is the jump, and CyberGhost states it in its own fine print. The monthly plan is $12.99. Read the renewal line under the price before you pay; it is right there.

Nobody is going to make cancelling easy. In the United States, the rule that would have required simple cancellation for auto-renewing subscriptions was struck down on 8 July 2025, days before it was due to take full effect. A calendar reminder two weeks before your term ends is worth more than any discount code.

Seven devices, not ten. Fine for one or two people. Tight for a family with phones, laptops, tablets and a TV box. Count first.

We do not promise any streaming service will play. CyberGhost labels servers for streaming. That is what the provider offers. It is not a guarantee, and we have not tested it, so we are not going to invent a result. Netflix has said publicly since January 2016 that people using proxies and unblockers will see only the catalogue of the country they are physically in, and its current help page adds that VPNs are not supported for live events or on an ad-supported plan. If streaming is your reason to buy, use the 45-day window on the long plans (14 days on the 1-month plan) to find out. Our streaming page lays out that test.

Who it's for, and who should skip it

Buy it if: you are confident you want a VPN for the next two years, you have seven or fewer devices, and you want the longest possible window to back out. The 45-day window on the 6-month and 26-month plans (14 days on the 1-month plan) is the best reason on this page to pick CyberGhost over the default.

Who should NOT buy this:

• People who care who owns their VPN. A VPN moves your trust from your internet provider to somebody else, so who that somebody is should matter. Kape owns four VPN brands and, since 2021, two large VPN review sites. If that bothers you, buy elsewhere. Proton VPN is not part of either of the ownership groups we track.
• Households with a lot of devices. Seven is the cap. NordVPN and Proton VPN both allow 10. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
• People who will not diarise a renewal date. A 26-month term is long enough that you will have forgotten you bought it. If forgotten subscriptions are a pattern for you, this plan shape is the wrong one, no matter how cheap the first term looks.
• People who want to test with no card. There is no free tier here. A refund window means paying first and asking for it back. If that is a problem, start with a provider that has a free tier instead.
• People buying protection they will not get. A VPN does not stop you typing your password into a fake login page, does not stop malware, and does not make you anonymous. Consumer Reports evaluated 16 VPNs in December 2021 and found 12 of them either misrepresented their products or made exaggerated claims about what they protect. Read our public Wi-Fi guide before you buy on fear.

Price, and what we can actually confirm

Verified 26 Aug 2026 from the provider's own materials:

• Devices: 7 at the same time. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
• Money-back window: 45 days on the 6-month and 26-month plans; 14 days on the 1-month plan. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
• Intro term: 26 months, sold as 2 years plus 2 free months. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
• Renewal: the renewal total is equal to the intro total, billed annually once the intro term ends. Checked 26 Aug 2026.
• US dollar prices: not verified on 26 Aug 2026. We are not printing one.

Prices move, and a stale price is worse than no price. The checkout page is the only number that binds anyone.

Three questions people actually ask

Is the 45-day guarantee real?

It applies to the 6-month and 26-month plans. The 1-month plan gets 14 days. Checked 26 Aug 2026. Read the refund terms at checkout, and start testing on day one rather than week five.

What happens when the 26 months are up?

It renews annually, and the annual renewal total is about what you paid for the whole 26-month intro term. Checked 26 Aug 2026. That is a large step up per month, and it is disclosed. Set a reminder so the decision is yours rather than automatic.

Does it matter that Kape owns it?

It matters as information, not as a verdict. Kape acquired CyberGhost in 2017 and also owns ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access and ZenMate. Since 2023 it has been privately held and no longer files public accounts. Nothing there says the app is bad. It does say that some of the "independent" comparisons you find while researching are not as independent as they look, and that four of the alternatives on your shortlist may be one company.

Still deciding?

The direct comparison is on NordVPN vs CyberGhost. If the cheap first term is what drew you in, read cheap VPNs with the renewal maths beside you, and if you were considering a free app instead, start with are free VPNs safe.

Not sure it fits you? The 60-second quiz will tell you

Check CyberGhost's price and refund terms