Do you use Google One’s VPN service? If so, we’ve got some bad news: Google is 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 impressed when we reviewed it, and Google has told the news site 9to5Google that 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 by Android Authority says that it will happen “later this year.” That means you’ve got a little bit of time to find an alternative among the best VPN services.
The move is a disappointing one, as it removes a handy feature for any Google One subscriber 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 discontinued Play Movies & TV, the classic Gmail interface, its Nvidia-powered gaming Chromebooks, and more. It’s such a well-known phenomenon that here’s even a dedicated website cataloguing all the Google products that have been killed off by the company.
The good news is that Google’s free Pixel VPN service isn’t going anywhere. This was introduced in 2022, and at the time Google guaranteed its availability for five years. It does, however, require a recent Pixel phone, something that not every Google One subscriber will have. Considering that earlier this year Google announced it had reached 100 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 the best VPN services still 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.
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