How many devices does one VPN subscription cover?
It varies a lot: from 5 to unlimited. Surfshark, Private Internet Access, and IPVanish have no limit, NordVPN and Proton VPN cover 10, ExpressVPN 8, Mullvad 5. For a household full of devices this is a key buying criterion.
Every VPN provider caps how many devices can be connected at the same time on one subscription. If you only protect a phone and a laptop, you will never hit the limit. But in a family with phones, tablets, laptops, and a smart TV, a cap of five gets tight quickly.
The most generous providers are Surfshark, Private Internet Access, and IPVanish: unlimited devices on one plan. That means a subscription costing a few dollars a month covers the entire household. NordVPN and Proton VPN allow ten simultaneous connections, which is plenty for most families too.
A tip: count not just today's devices but what is coming, like a new TV, a games console, or kids' phones. Or install the VPN on your router; your whole home network then counts as a single device, though that requires some technical comfort.