People who search for the best long-term VPN have usually tried one or two providers already, and been burned once or twice: plenty of routes at purchase, frequent disconnects two months in, support tickets that went from same-day replies to three-day replies. Annual billing concentrates those risks — you pay for twelve months, but your window to test is only the first few days.
So this article skips discount percentages and sticks to the order of checks: first, whether the payment method leaves a record you can point to; second, how long a testing window the refund terms cover; third, how often routes and clients are updated; fourth, whether the terms are written specifically enough. Pass all four and an annual plan can be worth it; if any one is vague, a monthly plan or a data pack is the safer call.
What an Annual Plan Saves — and What It Ties Up
An annual plan is, in essence, buying a block of access up front. What you save is the per-month rate; what you put on the line is cash and optionality. Whether it pays off comes down to three questions.
- Will you still need international routes over the next 12 months? The occasional business trip, a one-off lookup, a season of binge-watching — these are intermittent needs, and a data pack works out cheaper.
- Will this provider still be shipping updates 12 months from now? If the route list, client versions or protocol support stall for more than six months, maintenance is winding down.
- Will you find problems while the refund window is still open? Annual plans are a large sum, and the refund window is your only exit; once it closes there is no second chance.
This site currently offers two billing models: monthly plans from ¥9.9/month with 60GB included, and data packs that you use until they run out and that never expire. The same test applies to buying a large data pack in one go — both mean paying up front for a better rate, and both require checking the provider's maintenance cadence first.
Four Checks, One by One
Payment method: can you leave a traceable record?
An annual plan covers a long stretch in one payment, so the paper trail matters more than the price. A traceable channel meets at least three conditions: it issues an order number, the billing record is visible in your dashboard, and there is a dispute route if something goes wrong. This site accepts Alipay, WeChat Pay and USDT. The first two leave a transaction record on the platform side; USDT transfers are irreversible, so before paying for a long-term subscription in USDT, run a small payment through the full order and refund flow first.
Refund terms: the 14-day window carries more weight on an annual plan
With a monthly plan, a bad experience costs you one month at most; with an annual plan, it costs you the remaining eleven. So read the refund terms as a testing schedule before you commit: how long the window is, what conditions apply, how quickly the money comes back. This site's rule is a 14-day no-questions refund, and those 14 days should be spent on a full test — not ten minutes on activation day.
The most common annual-plan mistake is treating "it connects" as a completed test. What you actually need to run is video, calls and file transfers during peak evening hours, plus a check that split-tunnelling rules behave as expected.
Route update cadence: will 210+ routes turn into a stale list?
Route count is a static number; update cadence is the live one. The check is straightforward: open the route list and see whether route types are labelled (IEPL dedicated, relay, direct), whether new regions or cities have appeared recently, and whether changes are explained. A route list that never moves usually means maintenance has stopped — data-centre changes and routing shifts kill routes all the time, and they need replacing.
Look at the clients too: whether newer protocols are supported (VLESS, Hysteria2, TUIC and similar recent options) and whether legacy bugs are being fixed. Without protocol and client updates, even good routes gradually stop performing. How the subscription link imports also matters — whether node groups appear in the client afterwards and whether rules route traffic as intended says more about maintenance than the total node count.
Clause wording: wherever it is vague is where disputes will start
Read the terms the way you would read a product spec, focusing on four places: when billing starts, how data resets, how upgrades are prorated, and the refund conditions. The more specific these four are, the less you will have to argue later.
- Billing start: counted from your activation date, not aligned to the calendar month.
- Data reset: monthly plans reset every month on your activation date.
- Upgrades: if you upgrade mid-cycle, the price difference is prorated across your remaining days.
- Refunds: 14 days, no questions asked.
Be wary if the terms contain one-sided phrasing such as "the platform holds final interpretation" or "data rules are subject to actual usage", with no public page explaining it. The value of a long subscription rests on stable rules; if the rules themselves are vague, there is no long term to speak of.
Choosing a Billing Model: Three Options
Put price, data rules and usage intensity side by side and the choice gets much clearer. The table below lists the billing models this site currently offers.
| Billing model | Price | Data rules | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly · Small | ¥9.9 / month | 60GB included, resets monthly on your activation date | One person: browsing, social, light video |
| Monthly · Medium | ¥18 / month | 250GB included, resets monthly on your activation date | Two to three devices, remote work and regular video |
| Monthly · Large | ¥28 / month | 500GB included, resets monthly on your activation date | Multiple devices at once, 4K video, frequent file transfers |
| Data pack | From ¥158 / 300GB | Use it until it runs out — never expires | Intermittent use: business trips, holidays, short projects |
Annual billing is not in the table because judging it is not about a price row — it is about a provider's maintenance record over a year. Use the data rules and refund window in the table as your baseline, then evaluate any long-term option against them; the conclusion will be far steadier.
Bottom line: for most individual users, a monthly plan plus the 14-day refund window carries less risk than an annual plan. Annual billing suits people who have already used the service for a stretch, seen no problems with routes or clients, and know they will still need it a year from now.
Before You Buy: A Checklist
Run through the items below before you order; they head off most cases of "I only found out it did not fit after paying".
- ✅ Confirmed that billing starts on your activation date, not on the first of the calendar month.
- ✅ Ran video, calls and file transfers during peak evening hours within the 14-day window.
- ✅ Imported the subscription on two or more devices and confirmed the exit region matches the route you picked.
- ✅ Checked the client's split-tunnelling rules and DNS settings, and confirmed there is no DNS leak.
- ✅ Read the full refund terms and know the conditions and how the money is returned.
- ❌ Going by the route total on the marketing page without opening the route list to check types and regions.
- ❌ Planning to pay for a long subscription in USDT without first running a small payment through the whole flow.
- ❌ Treating "the client says connected" as "the route quality is verified".
Signals to Switch Before the Year Is Up
What long subscriptions should fear is not a price rise but maintenance grinding to a halt. If two or more of these signals show up, it is worth re-evaluating.
- The route list has gone months without additions or changes, and the existing IEPL dedicated, relay and direct labels are no longer updated.
- Clients have not had a version update in a long time, and newer protocols (VLESS, Hysteria2, TUIC) are slow to arrive.
- Ticket responses slip from hours to days, and billing and refund issues take noticeably longer to resolve.
- Terms are changed unilaterally after renewal, especially where the refund window and data rules become vaguer.
- Routes in the same region keep failing, and you have to switch manually again and again to stay connected.
Conversely, if routes have grown, clients have been updated and the terms have not been quietly rewritten over the year, the service is worth keeping. Running the checklist from the previous section before you renew is more reliable than any review.
Common Questions
Is an annual plan always cheaper than monthly?
The unit price is usually lower, but "cheaper" has to account for two costs: your money is tied up for a year, and switching mid-term costs you. Spread the 12 months of payment across the months you actually use, subtract the months you may waste, and many annual plans look far less compelling.
Which suits long-term use better: a data pack or an annual plan?
They solve different problems. A data pack solves irregular usage — use it until it runs out, it never expires, which suits business trips, holidays and short projects. An annual plan solves unit price, and only works if you are sure you will keep using the service for the next year. The order should be: first ask whether your usage is continuous, then whether the unit price is a good deal.
If I upgrade mid-cycle, what happens to the money left?
This site's rule is that on a mid-cycle upgrade, the price difference is prorated across your remaining days. Before upgrading, check how many days are left in the current cycle, then decide whether to upgrade now or wait for the next reset date — the two cost different amounts.
What do I need to get started?
A username and password is all — no email address required. Those two credentials are the whole account, so keep them safe.
In one line: the best long-term VPN is the one that will keep updating its routes, clients and terms over the year. A payment method that leaves a record, a refund window long enough for a full test, a route list that keeps moving, and terms written in specific language — meet all four and an annual plan can be worth it.