Google One brings VPN to $1.99/month plan, adding dark web info monitoring

Abner Li | Mar 8 2023 - 9:00 am PT

After adding Magic Eraser last month, Google One is significantly expanding the availability of its VPN and introducing dark web monitoring for stolen information.

Google One VPN

Previously, the Google One VPN required the $9.99 per month 2TB plan (or higher) plan. All Google One plans, including the $1.99/month 100GB and $2.99/month 200GB, will soon be able to use it (“starting today, and rolling out over the next few weeks”).

The VPN is available on Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows in 22 countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States.

VPN by Google One is aimed at security — rather than bypassing geographic context restrictions — by masking your IP address from networks and third-parties. It works with all apps and browsers on your device. Google has published a white paper on how it works, while there’s this external audit.

Looking at the landscape, iCloud+ (starting at $.99/month for 50GB) offers Private Relay, which hides your IP address to prevent websites from tracking

Dark web report & monitoring

Meanwhile, after adding more consumer Google Photos features in recent months, Google One is also boosting its security and privacy credentials with a dark web report.

Google will “scan the dark web for your personal info — like your name, address, email, phone number and Social Security Number.” The latter is something you manually add as part of setting up your “monitoring profile,” with that info “handled according to Google’s privacy policy and you can delete any info from your profile or stop monitoring at any time.”

You’ll be alerted if anything is found, with Google providing “guidance on how you might protect that information.”

For example, if your Social Security number was found on the dark web, we might suggest you report it as stolen to the government or take steps to protect your credit.

Your “dark web report will also show you other related info that may be found in those data breaches,” and is rolling out “over the next few weeks to members” to Google One users (all plans) in the US.