NordVPN Pricing & Plans in Your Currency

So you want to know everything about NordVPN, including how good – and fast – a VPN provider it is, as well as all the latest news on the service? Well, you've come to the right place, because this article comprises of an extensive review of NordVPN complete with a full range of performance tests, combined with a roundup of news pertaining to the service, plus an extensive FAQ that addresses the most commonly asked questions about this VPN.

But first, let's kick off with a quick TL:DR summary of the review for those who don't want the in-depth stuff, and just want to know whether NordVPN is worth buying, and how it compares to rival VPNs, in a nutshell.

NordVPN: 2-minute review

NordVPN's torrent support is a definite strong point, and there's as much to like on the privacy front too, with plenty of smart features to help keep you safe and anonymous online. Performance levels are good, and this is one of the faster VPNs we've ever reviewed, and for Netflix (or other streaming content) unblocking, it got us into what we needed (although sometimes only via the VPN's browser extension).

NordVPN's mobile apps are better than you'll find with most VPN providers, its Windows client is generally pretty good, and they're all quite user-friendly overall. Speaking of which, there are a lot of quality tutorials to help you get set up with the VPN, and great customer support, which is all good for the less tech-savvy folks out there, should they run into trouble somehow.

An expansive network of servers rounds all this off nicely, and NordVPN's commendable no-strings-attached 30-day money-back guarantee is worth a mention. If you aren't happy, you can get your money back in the first month with no hassles.

You can think of NordVPN as a high-quality jack-of-all-trades VPN. It does everything to a good standard, and while some rivals may offer better performance in specific departments, if you want everything doing well – and a consistent service above all – NordVPN won't steer you wrong.

Keen to find out more about NordVPN? Then read on to learn every detail you could ever want to know...

NordVPN: latest news and updates

It hasn't been that long since we last looked at NordVPN, but the company been busily improving its service in several key ways.

A new Threat Protection system blocks ads, trackers and malicious websites, and also scans your downloads for malware. It only inspects downloads so won't catch everything, but you can run it alongside your regular antivirus without any hassles or conflicts. It's in beta and only fully available on Windows and Mac as we write, but mobile support is on the way.

NordVPN has launched an extension for Microsoft Edge. Log into your account and you can access the same NordVPN network direct from the Edge browser. (It'll only protect your browser traffic, of course.)

NordVPN has increased its bug bounty to $50,000, giving more encouragement for ethical hackers to find and fix any security issues.

On the corporate front, Nord Security has signed an agreement to merge with Surfshark. The companies will share information and resources, but still operate separately, with their own product ranges and roadmaps.

NordVPN: our full NordVPN review

Panama-registered NordVPN is a hugely popular VPN provider with more than 14 million customers around the globe. The company sells itself on features, and there are plenty to explore.

How many servers does NordVPN have?

The NordVPN network has 5,500+ servers in 80+ locations across 60 countries.

What platforms does NordVPN have apps for?

You get Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux and Android TV apps, and NordVPN also offers tutorials to set up the service on many more device types.

How many devices can you use with NordVPN?

NordVPN boasts support for six simultaneous connections. That means you can set up NordVPN on as many devices as you like, but only six of them can be connected to the service at the same time. This is probably enough for most people, but other VPNs go further. Private Internet Access supports up to 10 simultaneous connections, Ivacy can handle 12, and IPVanish, Surfshark, Windscribe and others have no fixed connection limits at all.

What features do you get with NordVPN?

NordVPN offers all the technical features you'd expect, including OpenVPN support, and NordVPN's WireGuard-based NordLynx for strong encryption and high performance, a kill switch, and DNS leak protection to keep your identity safe.

Not-so-common extras include double data encryption and Onion support for extra security, and ad, phishing and malware detection and blocking via NordVPN's Threat Protection. P2P support is a major plus, and a clear no logging policy and NordVPN's Panama registration give above average reassurance that your internet activities won't be visible to anyone else.

If you're intimidated by this feature overload, or just run into some unexpected problems, NordVPN's 24/7 support is on hand to point you in the right direction, via email or live chat.

NordVPN's prices are a little above average after a special deal in the first year, and if you're not quite convinced that this is the VPN for you, a 30-day money-back guarantee gives you a risk-free route to sampling the service for yourself.

Got any further questions about the basics of NordVPN? Then see our FAQ at the end of this article (jump straight down to it using the link in the bar above).

NordVPN pricing

NordVPN has three main plans: monthly billed accounts (opens in new tab) are $11.99, and right now annual plans (opens in new tab) cost just $4.92 a month, while opting for the two-year plan (opens in new tab) cuts the price to $3.29. (The company has new offers all the time, but a more in-depth and up to the minute explanation can be found at our dedicated NordVPN price and deals article.)

Beware the small print, though. The one and two-year deals include an introductory discount, and both renew as a standard annual plan, which sees a major price hike to $8.29 a month. NordVPN doesn't exactly make this clear on the website, but you can find these and all the other renewal costs on its Pricing page (opens in new tab).

Is NordVPN good value for money?

On the face of it, yes, at least for the first term, but it's true that bargain hunters can find better deals than NordVPN elsewhere. Private Internet Access' annual plan costs just $3.33 a month, for instance, and Ivacy's five-year plan is a tiny $1.19 a month (that's an upfront $71.64).

Still, it's far from the most expensive VPN around, and we think NordVPN is fairly priced for what you get.

What methods can you use to pay for NordVPN?

There are plenty of payment options provided by NordVPN, with support for cards, PayPal, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (via CoinPayments), and assorted other systems (AmazonPay, UnionPay, SOFORT Banking and more).

Does NordVPN have a free trial?

The company used to have a service-wide free trial, long ago, but unfortunately it was dropped due to abuse.

New Android and iOS users get seven days of app usage for free, though. And if you sign up, NordVPN's 30-day money-back guarantee gives you more than enough time to get a feel for how the service performs.

When it comes to protecting your privacy, NordVPN takes a kitchen-sink approach. Unlike most VPN services, it offers a little bit of everything. It has a large and diverse collection of servers, an impressive arsenal of rarely seen tools, strong privacy and security practices, the latest WireGuard technology, and approachable clients for every major platform. The company has worked to improve the security of its infrastructure, putting it in a good position for the future. It's an excellent service that performed well in our testing. NordVPN is once again an Editors' Choice winner for VPNs.

What Is a VPN?

When you switch on a VPN, it creates an encrypted tunnel between your computer and a server controlled by the VPN service. All your web traffic is routed through this tunnel, meaning that no one—not even someone on the same network as you—can sneak a peek at your data. It also prevents malicious network operators from intercepting your information or using DNS poisoning techniques to trick you into visiting phishing pages. A VPN even protects your web traffic from being monitored by your ISP, which is critically important now that ISPs can sell anonymized user data, and makes it harder for advertisers to track you online.

A VPN can't protect against all ills, however. We highly recommend that you activate two-factor authentication wherever possible, create complex and unique passwords for each site and service with a password manager, and use antivirus software.

How Much Does NordVPN Cost?

NordVPN is comparatively expensive, with a high up-front cost, but the company goes a long way toward justifying that expense. NordVPN offers four pricing options: $11.95 per month, $69.00 annually, or $54.00 every six months. The company accepts credit cards, various anonymous cryptocurrencies, and PayPal, as well as other online payment methods.

As of this writing, the average price for a VPN service is about $10.18 per month and $72.22 per year. This makes NordVPN a pricey up-front purchase, but an above-average savings in the long run. Note that VPN companies frequently offer promotions, so you may see a different price when you go to check out. Some VPNs cost significantly less. Mullvad VPN, for instance, is just €5 ($5.92 USD at the time of writing) per month, and Golden Frog VyprVPN just $45.00 per year.

There are also free VPNs to consider. While all free VPNs have some kind of limitation, ProtonVPN is the only one that doesn't limit the amount of data free subscribers can use. NordVPN has discontinued its free trial offering, stating that scammers were taking advantage of it. Instead, the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can use up to six devices simultaneously on NordVPN. Most VPN services limit you to five simultaneous connections, but that's starting to change. Avira Phantom VPN, Encrypt.me VPN, Ghostery Midnight, IPVanish VPN Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN allow an unlimited number of devices. Some services let you add more device slots to your subscription for a fee, but NordVPN does not give you that option. (Note that IPVanish VPN and Encrypt.me are owned by J2 Global, which also owns PCMag's publisher, Ziff Media.)

Some people may also want a static IP address, which NordVPN can provide for $5.83 per month ($69.96 per year). NordVPN offers dedicated IP addresses in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These are handy for preventing your VPN connection from being blocked, especially if you connect to the same region consistently.

NordVPN's best feature is the variety of additional tools it provides for improving your privacy. It and ProtonVPN are the only two VPN companies that provide direct access to the Tor anonymization network. This makes it even harder to trace your connection, and it lets you access hidden websites, though at greatly reduced speeds.

If Tor isn't already overkill (and in many cases, it is) NordVPN also offers multihop connections, which it calls Double VPN. This way, if one leg of the connection is somehow compromised, you can be assured that your connection is still secure. ProtonVPN is notable for the extreme lengths it goes to secure its multihop connections, in some cases storing secure servers in an old military bunker. Whether that's safer than the average server farm is open to discussion. Less obscure is the fact that NordVPN does not offer split tunneling. This lets you designate traffic that can travel outside the VPN connection. ProtonVPN is the only VPN service to offer all three of these features.

What VPN Protocols Does NordVPN Offer?

There are several ways to establish a VPN connection, and my preference is for services that use the OpenVPN protocol, which is open-source and therefore has been thoroughly examined for potential problems. NordVPN supports OpenVPN and my second-best choice, IKEv2/IPSec, on all platforms.

The new hotness in the world of VPN protocols is WireGuard. This open-source technology has only recently reached the mainstream, but NordVPN has already deployed it at a large scale under the name NordLynx. I've done some limited testing of NordVPN's Linux implementation of WireGuard and the results are, frankly, astounding. In terms of the latest technology, NordVPN is in a good position for the future. 

NordVPN uses NordLynx (WireGuard) by default in its Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows apps. OpenVPN is also available on all those platforms as a backup; you cannot manually change protocols. IKEv2 is available for iOS and macOS apps only.

NordVPN's Servers and Server Locations

The best VPN services offer lots of server locations, giving you many options for spoofing your location and improving the odds that there will be a server near your actual, physical location. That's important, because the closer you are to the VPN server you're using, the better performance you're likely to experience.

NordVPN lets you select one from a list of 59 countries. The bulk of NordVPN's servers are in the US and the UK, which is not unusual for VPN companies. However, NordVPN also has a good mix of servers the world over, covering several locations across Asia, South America, Europe, and a handful in India and the Middle East. The company currently offers one location in Africa (South Africa), a region ignored by most other VPN services. 

Notably, NordVPN offers servers in Hong Kong, Turkey, and Vietnam, all of which have restrictive internet policies. Connecting to one of these servers will not bypass censorship, but it could provide a modicum of privacy when browsing the web within those countries. While other VPN services have pulled their servers out of Hong Kong in response to a new national security law, NordVPN still has servers in the region. We don't make a specific recommendation for a VPN to bypass government censorship, because the stakes of getting it wrong are simply too high. NordVPN does provide obfuscated servers designed to be accessible from within China.

NordVPN provides good geographic diversity with its servers, but other VPN companies outshine it. ExpressVPN, for example, covers 94 countries.

One notable feature of NordVPN is that it has around 5,300 servers available. That's second only to CyberGhost's network of 5,900 servers. VPN services spin up new servers on an as-needed basis, so while there may be some correlation between quality of service and number of servers, the total number of servers is partly a reflection of how popular a service is. 

It's possible to create multiple virtual servers hosted on a single, physical machine. Many VPNs use virtual servers to keep up with demand, but some VPNs configure their virtual servers to appear in a different country than the physical machine that hosts them. Virtual servers aren't necessarily a bad thing, but it should be clear to users where exactly their data is headed. A NordVPN representative told me that all of its servers are dedicated, and none are virtual servers. That means that the servers are physically located where they claim to be.

Beyond VPN

Many VPN companies have begun to expand their offerings beyond VPN protection, and NordVPN is no different. For an additional fee, you can secure your passwords with the NordPass password manager. You can also encrypt your files with NordLocker. 

Hotspot Shield VPN takes a different approach. Instead of charging extra for other tools, it offers free subscriptions to the 1Password password manager, the Robo Shield spam call blocker, and the Identity Guard identity theft monitoring service. 

Your Privacy With NordVPN

When you use a VPN, it has as much insight into your online activities as your ISP does. If it desired, it could examine every bit of information passing through its system. It also can potentially identify you to another party (read: law enforcement), making it possible to track you online. That's why it's important that before you buy a VPN subscription, you understand and are comfortable with the steps the company takes to safeguard your privacy.

NordVPN operates under the legal jurisdiction of Panama, where there are no laws requiring the company to retain data for any period of time. The company says that were it to be subpoenaed, it would only respond to a court order or subpoena issued by a Panamanian court. 

Furthermore, the company says it holds no information on user activity. The NordVPN privacy policy states that the company does not log "connection time stamps, session information, used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses or other data." Instead, NordVPN retains the username and time of the last session, but only for 15 minutes after you disconnect from the VPN. That's good. This was recently verified by a third-party audit, outlined below.

A representative from NordVPN assured me that the company does not profit from the sale of user data. The company does not generate revenue from sources other than customer subscriptions.

NordVPN does not make it easy to find the name of its parent company, or information on corporate leadership, on its website. A company representative told me that it is owned by Tefincom S.A.. NordVPN does not issue transparency reports about requests for information by law enforcement, but does maintain a warrant canary that indicates it has not received any National Security letters, gag orders, or government-issued warrants. A company representative told me it has not received any government or law enforcement requests for information, but this information should be released publicly in a transparency report.

NordVPN joined with several other VPN companies to form a trade group called the VPN Trust Initiative. Its aim, among other things, is to set standards for the industry, perhaps bringing some clarity to this rather opaque world. I look forward to what this organization accomplishes, but it's been quiet for now. The company has also created an advisory board for NordVPN, to get feedback from big names in the industry, like Have I Been Pwned's Troy Hunt. 

Breach and Recovery

In October 2019, it came to light that an attacker remotely accessed one of NordVPN's servers. NordVPN says there is no evidence that the attacker obtained anything significant. We discuss the attack, and its consequences, in much greater detail in a feature article about the breach.

In this era, it's unfair to judge a company too harshly for security incidents because attacks are a frequent occurrence. It's better to judge a company on how it handles a security issue, rather than hold them to the impossible standard of perfection. And it's in that way that NordVPN fell short. The company took over a year to disclose the incident, and then only after being called out on social media. 

Since the breach was disclosed, however, NordVPN has taken several steps to improve its security and win back the trust of the public. The company employed VerSprite to help prune out any potentially dangerous datacenters, and created a successful Bug Bounty on the HackerOne platform that pays out cash for disclosing security issues—and does so in public. This exercise in transparency alone is significant.

NordVPN has removed servers that did not meet its criteria for security, and has begun work to move other servers to co-located facilities. This means NordVPN will eventually own its physical infrastructure. In late summer 2020, the company completed transitioning to diskless servers, which are wiped should they be physically seized and offer better means for protecting important encryption key information. Data on these servers is still encrypted while in memory, and the entire server must be rebuilt whenever it's rebooted.

In addition, the company completed an audit by PriceWaterhouseCooper—its second since 2018. This report was released to customers. Notably, it included an audit of the NordVPN's server infrastructure, and concluded that the company was indeed living up to its claims of not logging user data or information. NordVPN also tells me that it has built out better incident response policies, so it will respond faster and more transparently should other crises occur.

In general, I'm satisfied that NordVPN has made a good faith effort to protect customers. The company has, if nothing else, invested significant time and capital into hardening its systems and practices. In short, they seem to have built on what they have learned from past mistakes.

It is difficult, however, to fully endorse the privacy practices of any given VPN company. To do so would require deep access to the company's code and hardware, as well as the technical expertise to interpret it all. That’s why I’ve been so careful to follow NordVPN’s efforts to rebuild trust, and why PCMag held off so long on restoring the company’s Editors’ Choice award. As always, you, the consumer, must ask yourself whether or not you are comfortable with trusting NordVPN—or any company—with your personal information.

Hands On With NordVPN

While you can always opt to manually set up your VPN, I highly recommend using apps provided by the VPN company. These do all the hard work of staying up to date and they let you access features beyond VPN protection that you simply can't otherwise. I used an Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7BEH (Bean Canyon) running the latest version of Windows 10.

NordVPN has always offered an excellent user experience with its apps, regardless of the platform you use. The Windows client shares a lot of design features with the NordVPN mobile apps, with a monochrome blue map as its focus. It's a bit whimsical, with submarines and ships on the cartoon seas, but it's also an easy way to select the server you want. It's definitely more polished than TunnelBear, but the latter has a charm that NordVPN can't match.

Clicking the Quick Connect option at the top of the screen or the System Tray connects you to the VPN server that NordVPN thinks is best (generally, the closest). That's a great option for people unfamiliar with VPN services. You can change servers by clicking a location on the map, or with the search bar at the top of the screen if your geography skills are lacking, as mine are. NordVPN's specialized servers are at the top of the list, putting them within easy reach. I like that NordVPN gives you the option to drill down to specific cities and servers, and that it shows the current load on those servers.

NordVPN does not support split tunneling, which lets you designate which apps send their traffic through the VPN tunnel and which do not. It's useful for apps that require a more robust connection but don't need additional security, such as video games. TunnelBear and ExpressVPN include this feature. The NordVPN app does include a Kill Switch that shuts off access to the internet for specific applications, should your computer become disconnected from the VPN.

One handy feature included with NordVPN is the option to "pause" your connection. This disconnects you from the VPN and then reconnects you after the interval you select. There are plenty of situations where disconnecting the VPN is the only option, and the pause option saves you the trouble of remembering to reconnect.

One concern is that your VPN may be leaking your true IP address or DNS information. In my testing, NordVPN successfully changed my IP address and hid my ISP information. The DNS leak test tool indicated that the server I was connected to did not leak my DNS information.

NordVPN and Netflix

I am pleasantly surprised that Netflix did not block me from streaming content while I was connected to a US-based NordVPN server when I tested it. That's great, because Netflix blocks VPNs aggressively. Previously, I was able to stream content from Netflix while connected to NordVPN servers in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the UK. But all that could change at any point as Netflix often manages to block services that previously worked well.

Speed and Performance

When you use a VPN, it will affect your web browsing performance. To get a sense of how great an impact a VPN has, we conduct a series of speed tests using the Ookla Speedtest tool. We explain our speed testing methodology, and its limitations, in depth in our piece on How We Test VPNs. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Media, which also owns PCMag.)

In my testing, NordVPN performed very well while connected to a local server. It's in the top ten fastest VPNs. It reduced download speed test results by 63 percent and upload speed test results by 57.3 percent. My tests showed that NordVPN increased latency by 67.5 percent. NordVPN beats the median result in all categories, though it was very close in some cases. 

I did another round of tests in August 2020, using NordVPN's new WireGuard configuration. Due to COVID-19, these tests were carried out on my cluttered, slow home network. The results are promising, but purely anecdotal. I look forward to continuing testing in the PCMag Labs network when it is safe to do so.

You can see how NordVPN compares in the chart below with the top performers among the nearly 40 services we tested. Note that these are ranked by download results, in descending order.

My tests showed that Hotspot Shield VPN is the fastest VPN, having the smallest impact on both download speeds and latency. Surfshark VPN, notably, snuck in excellent upload speed test results. That said, speed alone shouldn't be the only criteria you use to choose a VPN. Value, ease of use, and a commitment to privacy are far more important factors.

NordVPN on Other Platforms

NordVPN supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Notably, its iOS client supports WireGuard. NordVPN's mobile clients both allow you to purchase full subscriptions through their respective app stores. Alternatively, you can configure some routers to connect via NordVPN. Doing so supplies coverage for all the devices on your network, including smart home devices that can't run a VPN on their own.

NordVPN also offers plugins for Firefox and Chrome. Note that, like all proxy browser plugins, the NordVPN plug-ins only secure the traffic of those respective browsers.

An Excellent VPN

NordVPN faces the stiffest competition the VPN industry has yet seen. Services like Mullvad VPN greatly undercut NordVPN on price, while ProtonVPN offers even more features. Surfshark and others now do not restrict the number of simultaneous connections, and CyberGhost recently overtook NordVPN to claim the title of largest server network.

What has always been NordVPN's strength is that it offers all the best features of the competition in one package. It commands an enormous fleet of servers across the globe, and it does all that while still delivering an excellent user experience, featuring simple, approachable apps that anyone can get the hang of in a few seconds. The company is also looking forward, incorporating new technology like WireGuard into its core products.

While the 2018 server breach marred the company's reputation, it has invested in hardening its infrastructure. We're satisfied with NordVPN's efforts and are happy to restore the Editors' Choice award to this excellent service.

NordVPN Specs

Best VPN Picks

Further Reading

One of the biggest players in the virtual private network industry, NordVPN appears to hit all the right notes in providing a service that offers everything a customer would want. NordVPN is super fast, packed with useful features, and it's a breeze to use. It's based in a privacy-friendly jurisdiction and offers all the standard security and privacy features users should expect from a quality VPN, plus a handful of extras like double-hop VPN and Onion over VPN. And it's pretty affordable for how much it can do, even if it's not the cheapest VPN out there.

From a distance, NordVPN almost looks like the perfect VPN. But with a little digging, we uncovered some pretty major cracks in the facade, particularly when it comes to privacy and transparency. Most notably, we found that NordVPN routes some user traffic through residential IP addresses supplied by a company with a questionable history. The company's overall efforts at transparency also leave quite a lot to be desired.

There's a lot that's good about this VPN, and it really is a great option for casual VPN users who just want to unblock content or hide their activity from their ISPs. But for VPN users whose online privacy is absolutely critical, there's too much uncertainty and obscurity surrounding NordVPN to warrant an enthusiastic recommendation. 

When you sign on with a VPN provider, you're putting a lot of faith in that VPN's promise to protect your data and keep you safe and secure online. NordVPN's no-logs claims and multiple security audits are a good start but aren't enough when the company offers nothing in the way of an annual transparency report and is cagey about its partnerships and corporate structure. If NordVPN expects to remain a top player in the VPN industry and in the online privacy space in general, the company should reassess how it approaches transparency. 

Read more: How we review VPNs

Speed: The second-fastest VPN we've tested

• Average speed loss of 13% in summer 2022 speed tests
• Number of servers: 5,400-plus
• Number of server locations: 59

We conducted our latest round of NordVPN speed tests over the course of three days in July and August and were thoroughly impressed with how the VPN provider's speeds improved over previous tests conducted in 2020. During those tests, NordVPN registered an average 53% loss in speeds -- which is on par with what VPN users can generally expect to lose through a VPN connection. However, NordVPN only slowed our regular internet speeds down by 13% in our latest round of tests. That makes it one of the fastest VPNs we've tested so far, and puts it into second place behind ExpressVPN, which registered a miniscule 2% speed loss in April.

We tested NordVPN's speeds while connected to the VPN's servers via OpenVPN in New York, the UK, Australia, France, Germany and Singapore. Our average internet speed without the VPN clocked in at 368.07 Mbps and averaged 321.28 Mbps across our tests when connected to NordVPN servers.

When connecting to New York -- the closest server we tested to our physical location -- NordVPN averaged 343.12 Mbps, which was somewhat surprising considering we achieved faster average results when connecting to servers much farther away in the UK (351.41 Mbps) and Europe (345.70 Mbps). However, New York is a location that consistently sees heavy VPN traffic, so server load may have had a bit of a hand in the slightly slower speeds there. Unlike with some other VPNs, like IPVanish, NordVPN doesn't provide a real-time view of the current load on each server, so there's no way to manually connect to the server with the lightest load if you want to try to improve your VPN speeds. Our speeds through NordVPN's servers in Australia and Singapore -- as expected -- averaged the slowest at 260.81 Mbps and 305.34 Mbps, respectively.

Overall, we found NordVPN's speed performance to be remarkably consistent throughout our testing. We didn't experience any erratic speed fluctuations you might experience with other providers. 

It would be nice to see NordVPN expand its relatively meager network of 59 server locations. While it's not the smallest network, it falls short of other top players in the space like ExpressVPN (94 countries) and Surfshark (95 countries). Having more servers in more locations can ensure users have servers close to their physical locations and can help ensure lighter load on the servers -- both of which can help improve overall speeds.

We also tested speeds through NordLynx -- NordVPN's proprietary WireGuard-based protocol -- which the company says is the fastest protocol it offers, to see how those speeds stacked up against speeds we achieved through OpenVPN. But when connecting through the NordLynx protocol, speeds were approximately 50 Mbps less across the board than what we got through OpenVPN. We recommend OpenVPN anyway because it's the current standard-bearer of VPN protocols, and it offers an excellent balance of speed and security, so seeing higher speeds on the OpenVPN protocol was a convenient surprise.

Cost: Decent introductory prices spike after initial term

• Price: $79 for the first two years or $60 for the first year (then $100 per year afterwards) or $12 a month 
• Available payment options: Credit/Debit Card, AmazonPay, Google Pay, ACH Transfer, Cryptocurrency, Cash (via retail store)
• Money-back guarantee: 30 days
• Apps available on: Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV

VPN pricing has gotten increasingly complicated in the past few years, and NordVPN is no exception. The VPN has jumped on the bandwagon with its lower introductory prices that increase sharply after the first term of the subscription.

NordVPN has three different pricing options available. You can sign up for a two-year plan that costs $79 for the first two years of service, a yearly plan that costs $60 for the first year of service or a monthly plan that costs $12 a month. But after the first two years of service on the two-year plan and the first year of service on the yearly plan, those introductory prices jump to $100 annually for any subsequent years of service. We don't recommend locking in with a single provider for more than a year at a time, though, given the rapidly changing landscape that is the VPN industry. The monthly plan remains $12 per month for the first and any additional months of service you remain on that plan, which adds up to $144 annually. 

NordVPN doesn't accept PayPal payments, but you can purchase a subscription with any major credit or debit card, AmazonPay, Google Pay or ACH transfer. If you'd rather pay anonymously, you can pay with a variety of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ethereum, tether and dogecoin. NordVPN has also partnered with a handful of retail stores like Staples, BestBuy and Walmart where you can even purchase your VPN with cash. 

Platforms, streaming and customer service

Apps are available on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV and Fire TV -- and you can also connect to the VPN via browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. You'll be able to connect up to six different devices at once with a single NordVPN subscription -- which is more than the three to five simultaneous connections offered by most other VPN providers. If you'd like to protect your entire home network with a single connection or use the VPN on your smart TV or gaming console, you can install NordVPN on a compatible router by following Nord's router tutorial. 

We had no issues unblocking streaming sites like Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video when connected to NordVPN's US servers.

Customer support is available 24/7 via live chat or an email ticketing system. NordVPN's live chat bot will be able to help you with general questions, but for anything beyond that, you'll need to speak with a customer service representative. If you're a paying customer, you'll have access to priority chat support. If you'd rather investigate on your own, NordVPN's Support Center is filled with all sorts of FAQs, setup and troubleshooting guides and general info.

And if you're not happy with the service for whatever reason, NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Security and privacy: Excellent encryption, but red flags abound 

• Jurisdiction: Panama (potentially others)
• Encryption: AES 256-bit, Perfect Forward Secrecy, RAM-only server infrastructure
• No annual transparency reports
• Significant transparency problems with ownership structure 

A big part of NordVPN's pitch to users is the breadth of security and privacy features it offers. On top of standard features like DNS leak protection and a kill switch, NordVPN offers double-hop VPN connections, obfuscated servers and Tor-over-VPN. And with additional perks like Dark Web Monitoring and Threat Protection, NordVPN is joining a wider trend among VPNs by offering more non-VPN privacy tools. 

NordVPN's new Threat Protection feature for Mac and Windows machines aims to be an all-in-one protection tool against malware and malicious sites, while blocking ads and trackers. 

"Basically, what we do is we scan each and every file on your device," NordVPN developer Vykintas Maknickas told us in an interview. "We trained our algorithm currently on like 5 million different files in order to understand if we see some patterns where malicious files are a bit different in how they look from the outside."

In our initial interview with Nord and an earlier version of this review, the Threat Protection feature was described as functioning by scanning your entire device when enabled -- much like an antivirus -- and then using the data it gathers to train its AI algorithm. In the previous version of this review, we said this function constitutes an enormous privacy-trust ask by Nord and couldn't recommend the feature without further testing. 

Following the publication of this article, however, Nord reached out to clarify that Threat Protection doesn't actually scan the contents of your entire device. 

"The scanning is done only on files that are downloading from the internet while the feature is on, and currently the function to scan other locally stored files neither exists nor is planned," NordVPN said in an email. "Moreover, we do not inspect any files that could potentially reveal any personal information."

Nord said all document and picture files are automatically excluded from the scan and not uploaded to the cloud, leaving executable files as the focus of the scan. And even then, Nord said, only the file hashes are checked -- not the file contents themselves -- which Nord cross-references against a database of known malware. 

As far as encryption goes, NordVPN's is solid and in line with other top VPNs. NordVPN employs AES 256-bit encryption with Perfect Forward Secrecy and a 4,096-bit key for OpenVPN and IKEv2 connections. The company's proprietary WireGuard-based NordLynx encryption protocol adds a double NAT system on top of its WireGuard foundation to solve WireGuard's widely known, out-of-the-box privacy issue -- collecting temporary IP addresses. 

Following a 2018 data breach of one of its servers in Finland, NordVPN made several moves to shore up its security, including transitioning to diskless RAM-only servers. Theoretically, Nord's server fleet would yield nothing should any of them be seized.

NordVPN says it doesn't log any of the traffic that passes through its servers, though VPN companies' no-logs claims are also virtually impossible to verify with 100% certainty. However, NordVPN has completed several third-party no-logs and security audits in the past few years and tells us that a new audit from Cure 53 that began in July is set to be released in October. 

Unlike other VPNs, however, Nord's full audit reports are available only to registered NordVPN users, which the company says is because of legal and contractual limitations. You don't actually have to pay for a subscription to view the full audit reports, but NordVPN expects you to drop your email address for the privilege -- a prospect made riskier by Nord's tangled ownership web.

NordVPN's corporate structure is more opaque and convoluted than many other VPN companies in the VPN space that have gotten caught up in a recent wave of consolidation in the industry. And after NordVPN and Surfshark merged in February, the waters got even murkier. NordVPN assures us it's liable only to Panamanian jurisdiction, which would be excellent from a privacy standpoint since the country doesn't have any mandatory data retention laws and it's not a member of Five Eyes or other international intelligence rings. However, this privacy is questionable since Nord operates its main offices physically out of Lithuania, processes payments through the US, maintains legal entities in the UK and Germany, and is owned by a holding company based in the Netherlands. 

From records available online across a number of government and archival services, the structure apparently looks like this. A data-mining company called Tesonet has had partial control over certain operations of at least eight companies: Datasec Holdings, Tefincom (or Tefinkom), ProtonMail (and ProtonVPN's two apps), NordVPN, CloudVPN, Symposium Limited, Oxylabs and Oxydata.

In 2008, NordVPN co-founder Tom Okmanas also co-founded Tesonet, and Darius Bereikais was named Tesonet's CEO. Datasec Holdings (registered in Belize) filed ownership for Tesonet's Lithuanian website, registered a now-defunct site for Tefincom -- a Panamanian company managed by a registration agent in Cyprus -- and then signed NordVPN's app. Under its Tefincom label, Tesonet's Datasec Holdings entity redirected Tefincom's site to NordVPN -- then registered the NordVPN trademark and listed itself as the developer of Nord's iOS app. 

Nord's payment processing is handled by Tesonet's CloudVPN, based in Wyoming, and it's currently unclear what amount of customer payment data may be subject to US observation. According to records from the Wyoming Secretary of State, Bereikais and Okmanas were both directors of CloudVPN In 2017. However, Nord users have also previously reported seeing Tesonet's name on their Nord billing statements, along with Symposium Limited (of New Zealand).

For more than a decade, Bereikais has also been listed on the official filings of a number of other companies affiliated with Nord and its one-time parent Tesonet. Along with being a director of ProtonVPN (and its parent, Cyber Alliance), Bereikais was the director of Symposium Limited and Oxydata. 

Flash forward to 2018. Scandal-scarred browser proxy HolaVPN took Tesonet's Oxydata to court in Texas, claiming Tesonet and Okmanas were violating Hola's patent rights with the Oxydata product. Oxydata is a residential proxy service. When you install it on your device you can use it to bypass geoblocks, but the service also uses a portion of your device's resources and may also let another Oxydata user appear to have your personal IP address. That could be a serious liability if your IP address is ever used by someone visiting criminally unsavory sites.

This exceptionally dense thicket of corporate crossover makes it almost impossible to determine which user data may be accessed by which countries' government entities or third-party companies. And it's why NordVPN needs to start posting the transparency reports it already has -- detailing how many subpoenas for user information it has received from each country -- immediately. But some at Nord are worried it may make the VPN look bad.

"We've got it internally, and we just don't publish it just yet. So there are some discussions and two opposing sides there, you know, because the one side is basically about transparency and the other side is about how it looks from the outside," Maknickas said. 

"At the same time, we have some obligations for our investors as well -- you know, to not look like a shady company who gets lots of different requests from the FBI, et cetera."

But transparency reports are only going to become more critical as Nord expands its offerings. 

Observations regarding NordVPN's kill switch

NordVPN offers a kill switch when connecting through OpenVPN or its NordLynx protocol. We tested the kill switch using both OpenVPN and NordLynx and were concerned when it appeared as though the kill switch didn't activate when we jumped from one server to another using the NordVPN MacOS clients. 

NordVPN has two MacOS clients -- one that can be sideloaded from the website and another that can be downloaded from Apple's App Store. The sideloaded MacOS client has a per-app kill switch where you can designate specific apps to kill if your VPN connection is interrupted. For our tests, we set the Chrome browser to be killed but, as we jumped from server to server and the VPN connection broke, our Chrome browsing session continued to chug along uninterrupted. It was only after the client timed out when we attempted to jump to a seventh consecutive server that NordVPN killed Chrome. 

The App Store version of the MacOS client has an automatic internet kill switch rather than an app-based kill switch. This means that your entire internet connection should be killed automatically when the VPN connection drops out. It appeared as though the App Store version also failed to kill our internet connection as we jumped from server to server -- even when we had the "advanced" kill switch enabled, which NordVPN says adds "an additional security layer for protection against rare and very specific IP leaks when you're connected to VPN."

We sent the logs we generated from those sessions over to Nord to see if they could offer an explanation as to why that appeared to be happening during our tests. Maknickas assured us that traffic is indeed halted while jumping between servers in both versions of the app. He added that a new VPN tunnel isn't opened during a server switch; rather, the existing tunnel is reconfigured. That, in addition to the quick reconnection times between server switches, can make it difficult to spot any obvious interruptions in the browsing experience. Maknickas also said that the tunnel closed on our seventh consecutive attempt to switch servers because we reached NordVPN's limit of six active sessions by making multiple reconnections in a short timeframe. 

"In-house, we test the operation of the killswitch by creating a MitM [man in the middle] network and connecting a device with VPN enabled to it," Maknickas said in an emailed response. "We are then generating network traffic on the test device with tools like IPerf3 and perform VPN server switching to see if any packets are not going through the tunnel (and can confirm they are not)."

It's unclear at this time whether the seeming failure to fully sever an internet connection is entirely in Nord's hands, or if it may relate to a recently discovered vulnerability which allows some versions of iOS to maintain a connection outside of a VPN tunnel. Nord is aware of the problem, however, and said that Apple's connectivity controls are preventing the app from fully halting the device. 

"We cannot control the 'killing the internet' part. What we can do is set up your DNS incorrectly so that it wouldn't leak your IP address because your requests don't go to the internet but instead go to some thing we set up incorrectly," Maknickas said, adding that Nord will be pushing users toward the VPN's sideloaded app and away from the App Store. 

"Over the years we came up with these workarounds, but at the same time, what we are looking to do is to basically build the system from the ground up in order for us to be in control."

NordVPN offers a ton of features designed to keep you secure and protect your privacy online, but when we noticed some rather significant faults in the service it became clear that the VPN still has a lot of work to do to improve in terms of security and overall transparency. 

Update, Sept. 8: A previous version of this review accurately reported the content of an interview with NordVPN regarding the service's Threat Protection feature. This article has been updated with additional clarifying comments from NordVPN. 

NordVPN is cheap, so can it compete with pricier rivals like ExpressVPN?
When it comes to security, cheap products worry me. It’s not an area I advise skimping on.
Substandard cheap VPNs have been caught with flawed technology, but Nord seems to rank highly in the VPN industry. We explore if NordVPN really can offer a low price as well as a high-quality VPN.

So what are the biggest issues with cheap VPN providers? DNS and IP leaks are a particular blight of many VPN services (I’ll share my findings from leak tests I ran on NordVPN later in this review).

‘Low-cost’ VPNs are often slow or won’t work with your favorite streaming services such as Netflix.

JUMP STRAIGHT TO:Does NordVPN work with Netflix?

I could go on about the dangers of cutting corners with a VPN, but you get the picture. It costs money to run a good VPN service, which makes me suspicious about services costing as little as NordVPN. App stores are full of cheap and free VPNs making big claims about their speed and privacy, but most of them fail to deliver. No VPN should take chances with your cybersecurity, and you shouldn’t settle for a sub-par experience.

And yet NordVPN scores highly on many review websites. It’s grown to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest name in VPNs. You’ve probably seen or heard it advertised on your favorite website, podcast, or Youtube channel.

I wanted to see for myself if NordVPN was too good to be true.

In my 2022 NordVPN review, I put the service through its paces on both desktop and mobile to find out:

• Can NordVPN securely access websites (Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC and others)?
• Is NordVPN fast enough to stream video?
• How good is NordVPN’s security and what data does it log on users?
• Does it allow torrenting on its network?
• How would NordVPN stand up to the barrage of tests I put it through.
• How does NordVPN compare with its more expensive rivals such as ExpressVPN?

And pretty much everything else you’d want to know. My time with NordVPN ranged from rigorous performance testing to day-to-day usage to find out how it stacks up against the crowded field of competitors.

I’ve summarized my thoughts on NordVPN but you’ll need to read the whole review to see the full extent of what I uncovered during the testing process.

Do I recommend NordVPN?

I recommend NordVPN to people who value both privacy and speed, need something inexpensive, and want something that can unblock websites and apps like Netflix. NordVPN works in China and it’s easy for beginners to pick up in a few minutes. NordVPN’s apps include a handful of specialty services including double VPN, P2P, and dedicated IP addresses.

NordVPN operates more than 5,100 servers in 60 countries, and that number will probably have gone up by the time you read this. NordVPN employs military-grade 256-bit AES encryption. The apps use the NordLynx protocol by default. Torrenting is allowed, and the service doesn’t store any identifying logs.

NordVPN Key data

NordVPN Pros and Cons

I summarized what I liked and what I didn’t from my time reviewing NordVPN. I’ll go into detail on each of these points and more later in the review.

Speed: Is NordVPN fast?

In 2020, NordVPN launched a proprietary VPN protocol called NordLynx that vastly improved its speeds. This secure protocol is an extension of Wireguard, which is newer and more efficient than older protocols like OpenVPN and IKEv2. We saw NordVPN nearly double its speed compared to pre-Wireguard results.

As a result, NordVPN now ranks among the fastest VPNs, after CyberGhost and IPVanish. It’s fast enough to stream video in 4K resolution, live stream HD video, and high-quality video conferencing without sacrificing security.

I ran speed tests at multiple times of day on NordVPN servers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Across all times and locations tested, NordVPN averaged a download speed of 369 Mbps.

Here are the results broken down by region:

• North America: 460 Mbps
• Europe: 349 Mbps
• Asia: 299 Mbps

Most users won’t notice much of a difference unless you’re on a really fast connection, like 100 Mbps or more. I had plenty of bandwidth for high definition on-demand video streams and decent quality live streams without buffering. I was able to play fast-paced online games like Brawlhalla and Rocket League by choosing a VPN server either near myself or the game server.

It’s worth noting that I encountered the occasional slow server, or one that just wouldn’t connect. It seems like the NordVPN app isn’t that great at automatically selecting the best server, and I had better luck going into the server list and choosing one myself. Nord now also offers the option to select a specific city in countries where it operates servers in more than one location, such as the US and UK. Choosing a nearby server improves speeds overall.

Note that these tests can only serve as a general indication of the performance you might see and cannot be considered definitive. The inherent volatility of the internet adds a significant factor of randomness. Users with faster connections will likely see larger discrepancies in speed.

NordLynx is twice as fast as other protocols

NordLynx is the new default VPN protocol on NordVPN apps, though you can also choose from OpenVPN and IKEv2 (on iOS and MacOS devices). These are also good, secure options, but NordLynx offers almost double the speed according to our tests.

NordLynx is an extension of Wireguard, a modern VPN protocol that claims to be more efficient, simpler, and easier to audit than rivals like IKEv2 and OpenVPN. Wireguard, however, assigns each user a static IP address, which requires storing user data on the VPN server.

Because NordVPN is serious about its zero logs policy, it created its own “double NAT” system to establish a secure VPN connection without storing any identifiable user data on its servers. NordVPN dubbed the new and improved protocol “NordLynx”.

The company explains:

“The double NAT system creates two local network interfaces for each user. The first interface assigns the same local IP address to all users connected to a server. Once the secure VPN tunnel is established, the second network interface with a dynamic NAT system kicks in. Dynamic local IP addresses remain assigned only while the session is active and allow not to store any identifiable data on the server.”

Apps: What devices work with NordVPN?

NordVPN allows up to six devices to connect at the same time on one account, so it’s a great option if you want to share with family or a roommate. Apps are available for:

NordVPN also offers encrypted proxy extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browsers. Think of these as VPN-ish tools that only encrypt and reroute web traffic from your browser and not from your entire device.

NordVPN has spent time addressing previous complaints we had about cross-platform functionality. For instance, previously, split tunneling wasn’t available on desktop versions.

That’s now been fixed. And its latest Desktop apps also bring a few new features, like Meshnet and its Dark Web monitoring service.

Meshnet

Meshnet is a new service from NordVPN that allows you to route your traffic through another one of your devices. It’s similar to setting up your own VPN server at home and remotely connecting to that server, except everything here is done from inside NordVPN’s network, and the “server” is another device you own.

To use the service, you first need to link a device.

You can link up to 10 of your own devices and up to 50 external devices. External devices are devices that you allow access to your mesh network. The NordVPN app needs to be installed on all devices participating in the mesh network.

Once you’ve linked a device you own, NordVPN assigns it an IP address and hostname that other devices can use to connect.

To link an external device, you enter the device owner’s email address. NordVPN will send them an email inviting them to join NordVPN and set up their device to participate in your mesh network. When you use Meshnet, the allowed external devices will access the internet through the remote computer’s connection and will be able to reach any LAN devices the host computer has access to (as long as you provide those permissions). Connections to your mesh network are encrypted using WireGuard (NordLynx).

Meshnet is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Dark Web Monitor

NordVPN’s Dark Web monitoring service works pretty much as its marketing describes. Once activated, the service will continuously monitor the Dark Web for any breaches of your personal information. If any of your personal data is found to be compromised, you will be immediately notified and prompted to change your password(s).

Dark Web monitoring is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

NordVPN has clearly made efforts to get closer to feature parity across all of its apps. It’s not quite there yet – for example, Android users still can’t connect to multi-hop servers (iOS users can) – but it’s getting there.

A new feature in the apps allows users to “pause” their VPN connection instead of switching it off entirely. When I un-pause, the VPN instantly reconnects. Switching off my VPN entirely would disable the auto-connect feature, which could leave me exposed, so the Pause feature lets me turn off the VPN without resetting the auto-connect.

Routers

NordVPN also supports a wide range of routers:

• ASUS WRT
• ASUS Merlin
• DD-WRT
• Gl.iNET
• Mikrotik
• NetDUMA
• OPNsense
• OpenWRT
• Padavan
• Sabai
• Tomato
• pfSense
• DrayTek
• EdgeRouter
• TP-Link

Setting up a VPN connection on your router allows you to bypass the limit of simultaneous connections set by the provider (six, with NordVPN). It also enables you to connect to the VPN service without a dedicated app – just connecting to the router does the trick.

If you’d like more information on setting up a VPN connection on a router, check out our guide on VPN routers.

Streaming, Netflix, and Kodi

Does NordVPN work with Netflix?

Yes, and better than most at that.

Check out this video of me accessing US Netflix from Canada with NordVPN to see just how easy it is.

NordVPN works with several streaming sites, including but not limited to Netflix, BBC iPlayer, ABC iView, and Hulu. NordVPN accomplishes this through its trademarked SmartPlay feature, which essentially activates a built-in Smart DNS service whenever you visit a supported streaming site. A quick test by us proves NordVPN works as promised with Netflix. We’ve rounded up here a list of other VPNs for Netflix which have worked in our testing and here are more details on NordVPN and Netflix.

Most VPNs prioritize the US library, but NordVPN actually works with plenty of others too. We were able to securely access Netflix Australia, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, UK, and USA, among others. Interestingly, you can connect to pretty much any server to use Netflix from abroad; if that location’s library isn’t supported, you’ll just be redirected to the US version of the site.

Not all servers in a given country will work for streaming video. Unfortunately, NordVPN doesn’t show you which servers work with which service in the app. For some streaming services, I had to check NordVPN’s knowledge base on the web to find out which servers to use. Thankfully, this is just a small detour and I can favorite the servers that work so I can find them more quickly later.

NordVPN has been working with streaming services a lot longer than most providers, which makes me optimistic that it will continue to do so.

The apps work with all of the Kodi add-ons we’ve tested them with. The Linux and Amazon Firestick NordVPN apps are particularly useful to Kodi users who stream on those devices.

Does NordVPN allow torrenting?

Yes.

NordVPN allows users unlimited P2P filesharing over BitTorrent or any other protocol. Some servers are specifically designated for torrenting, but it’s up to you whether you want to use these or not.

Kill switches are built into the Windows, macOS, and iOS apps (the setting is not exposed in the iOS app – it is enabled by default). When enabled, the kill switch feature will cut off internet to your device to prevent leaks of unencrypted data onto your ISP’s network.

On desktop, you can specify which apps are protected by the kill switch and which are not. For example, you can protect your BitTorrent client from unexpected disconnections, but not your web browser. NordVPN lacks a kill switch on its Android app as of time of writing, but does explain how to replicate this feature using Android’s own security settings.

Security and logging

Here’s the encryption specs:

• 256-bit AES channel encryption
• SHA384 authentication
• 3072-bit DHE-RSA key exchange
• Perfect forward secrecy

If none of that means anything to you, don’t worry. NordVPN’s encryption meets military-grade standards and goes above and beyond the security needs of an average user.

NordVPN previously advertised as a zero-logs service, but updates to its privacy policy show it does collect limited information about users.

The breakdown is as follows:

• Device identifiers. Perhaps the most concerning of NordVPN’s data collection practices, NordVPN can record your mobile device’s identifier for marketing or analytics purposes. These are set by your device operating system and can be reset from your device’s settings.
• Username and timestamp of the last session. This is used to limit simultaneous connections and is deleted within 15 minutes after the session is terminated.
• Whether you’ve used NordVPN in the last 30 days.
• In-app telemetry data about how you use the app’s features, notifications, etc. Users can opt-out of this one and I recommend you do so.
• Device info including model, operating system, and other non-identifying info

NordVPN has twice undergone a third-party audit of its logging policy, in which PWC Switzerland validated NordVPN’s logging claims.

We’d prefer if NordVPN kept no user logs at all. Collecting device identifiers is particularly concerning as these can be tied to a specific user. Timestamps can be used to correlate activity with logs of other services to identify users. That being said, NordVPN does not log your browsing or other online activities, your IP address, the server IP address, or any other personally-identifying info while using the VPN.

As of 2021, NordVPN has completed a transition to RAM-only diskless servers. The VPN server application—and in fact the server’s entire operating system—exist only on temporary memory (RAM). That means no data is ever permanently stored on the server. So if a server is ever seized by authorities or compromised by hackers, there will be nothing on it. RAM-only servers is an emerging trend originally adopted by ExpressVPN, but it is picking up steam among a few top providers.

The apps don’t leak any DNS, WebRTC, or IP traffic while connected. This is an improvement since the last time I reviewed NordVPN, which previously leaked my IPv6 address over WebRTC.

IP Test – Without VPN

IP Test – With VPN

DNS Test – Without VPN

DNS Test – With VPN

When it comes to dropped connections, which Nord has thankfully few, NordVPN has my back. I can opt between an all-or-nothing kill switch that completely disconnects the internet if the VPN connection drops, or an app-specific kill switch that lets me choose which programs are protected.

NordVPN’s Threat Protection, formerly called CyberSec, is an in-app feature that blocks ads, malware, and phishing threats. It’s available on Windows and macOS.

Enabling Threat Protection Lite blocks ads and trackers, can prevent me from landing on a malicious website, and scans for malware.  With it enabled, any time I download an executable file, that file is first uploaded to Nord’s cloud servers, where it’s scanned for malware before being downloaded to my device. You can alternatively toggle Threat Protection Lite, which has all the same features minus the malware scanning.

NordVPN recently added automatic wi-fi protection. With this enabled, the app automatically initiates a VPN connection whenever I connect to a new wi-fi network. I can set it to auto-connect to Nord on both secured and unsecured wi-fi networks. On mobile, I can choose whether auto-connect engages on a cellular connection, wi-fi, or both.

NordVPN is in the early stages of establishing colocated servers. Most VPNs simply rent out servers in data centers around the world. NordVPN says it is now in the process of setting up servers that are fully owned, maintained, and managed by NordVPN, although they still reside in data centers owned by third parties. This allows NordVPN to better control the configuration and security of individual servers, while the data center provides power, internet connectivity, and physical security. The transition to colocated servers started in Finland, and NordVPN hopes to have more of its network overhauled in the coming months.

If you want an additional layer of anonymity, you can opt to use one of NordVPN’s onion over VPNspecialty servers. These servers will route your data through The Onion Network (Tor), allowing for anonymous browsing and access to dark web sites. This is similar to using the VPN with Tor Browser, except it covers all of your apps and services instead of just a web browser.

In 2019, NordVPN was the first VPN provider to launch a public bug bounty programon HackerOne. This program invites hackers to inspect NordVPN’s code and apps for security vulnerabilities in return for a cash reward.

Does NordVPN work in China?

Yes.

NordVPN announced in late June 2017 that it could unblock websites and content that are censored in China. Most users in mainland China should be able to simply connect to a server the normal way to bypass the Great Firewall.

If that fails, however, Nord instructs users to go into its app’s Settings menu, select Advanced Settings, and toggle on Obfuscated servers. Note that you’ll need to switch the protocol to OpenVPN TCP first. This makes encrypted internet traffic look unencrypted, which prevents China’s deep packet inspection system from identifying VPN connections. It might add a small amount of latency, but most users probably won’t notice a difference in speed overall.

The obfuscated servers feature is currently only available in the Windows, Android and MacOS versions of the app. Read more on using NordVPN in China here.

In 2019, NordVPN established an “emergency VPN” service that grants free NordVPN accounts to people under extreme web censorship and heavy internet restrictions.

Is NordVPN’s Customer Service Any Good?

NordVPN offers both live chat and email support. It’s unclear what its live chat’s hours of operation are. When I attempted to get support through the live chat, I wasn’t able to get past NordVPN’s support bot – despite waiting for over an hour to be transferred.

I sent NordVPN an email instead and received a polite and knowledgeable answer within 9 hours. Anything under 24 hours is very good support in my book. But NordVPN should sort out its chatbot issues. Or make it clear on what schedule its agents are available for live chat support.

NordVPN’s website also includes a decent array of searchable help and tutorial articles in the support section, including which servers to use to unblock streaming sites. Both the website and app are ad-free, and I didn’t receive any unsolicited emails during the test period.

NordVPN video review

NordVPN background

NordVPN is incorporated in Panama, a country with no data retention laws located outside of the 14-Eyes intelligence sharing alliance’s jurisdiction. It has offices in Lithuania and Cyprus.

The company was founded in 2012 and has grown to more than 14 million users worldwide, according to NordVPN’s website.

From March 2018 to October 2019, NordVPN was the victim of a data breach due to an exposed private key stolen from a server in Finland. This allowed attackers to create their own NordVPN servers and trick users into connecting to them, which could have led to man-in-the-middle attacks. No user data was stored on the Finnish server from which the key was stolen, and no other NordVPN servers were affected.

In 2019, NordVPN became a founding member of the VPN Trust Initiative, an industry group of top VPN providers that sets quality standards and educates the public about the security benefits of VPNs.

NordVPN Pricing

On a budget? No worries.

NordVPN is cheap, especially if you opt for one of the multi-year plans. And if you’re splitting the bill with a close friend or loved one, it’s basically pocket change. At the current price, it would be tough to find a better all-round VPN.

NordVPN offers three subscription tiers: Standard, Plus, and Complete. The screenshot below lists the differences between the three. The differences are the inclusion of NordVPN’s other security products, such as its password manager, data breach scanner, and encrypted file storage service.

NordVPN’s pricing structure is as follows:

Standard

• Monthly: $11.99
• Yearly: $59.88 – works out to $4.99/month
• Bi-yearly: $83.43 – works out to $3.09/month

Plus

• Monthly: $12.89
• Yearly: $70.68 – works out to $5.89/month
• Bi-yearly: $107.73 – works out to $3.99/month

Complete

• Monthly: $14.19
• Yearly: $86.28 – works out to $7.19/month
• Bi-yearly: $142.83 – works out to $5.29/month

All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try the service risk-free and cancel if you are not entirely happy.

NordVPN also has a custom offering for businesses that want to protect their entire workforce, called NordLayer (previously NordVPN Teams). With NordLayer, staff can connect to the company network remotely, and all of the connections are managed from a single dashboard. You can select one of the existing subscriptions or choose the custom solution, where NordLayer will create a package based on your business’s specific needs. You’ll have to contact sales to find out how much you’ll be paying.

Should I buy NordVPN?

Now that I’ve used NordVPN for a few weeks, would I recommend it to others?

You bet!

Despite its low price, NordVPN offers a quality service with a sterling reputation. I strongly recommend it if you want to unblock region-locked content from abroad, bypass censorship in countries like China, or just hide your torrenting activity from your ISP. The apps are easy to learn whether you’re new to VPNs or have been using them for years.

The desktop apps can be a bit sluggish and the Android app sorely needs a kill switch, but those are minor complaints on the whole. NordVPN keeps more logs than I would like, but none of them can directly identify a user.

NordVPN Coupons

Here’s the latest and only NordVPN coupon

NordVPN alternatives

NordVPN is great, but it has some strong contenders.

ExpressVPN is more expensive, but with that extra cost comes a truly premium experience. It’s about the same as NordVPN when it comes to unblocking streaming sites, speed, and security, but it offers better router support and includes a separate smart DNS proxy service to unblock streaming video on devices that don’t normally support VPNs. The apps also support split tunneling.

If you want a more budget-friendly alternative than Express, consider CyberGhost. It’s the fastest VPN I’ve tested and costs about the same as NordVPN, while offering competitive security. It doesn’t work well in China, though, and it doesn’t unblock quite as many streaming sites.

Here’s a breakdown of how NordVPN compares to two of the most popular services, ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access (PIA).

NordVPN testing methodology

Comparitech puts all VPNs through a series of extensive tests. Our VPN testing methodology includes:

• VPN speed tests
• Testing VPNs for leaks of any information
• Testing compatibility with popular streaming services
• Using virtual servers to test locations that block many VPNs, like China
• And much more. You can see our full VPN testing methodology here.

Visit NordVPN

Screenshots

Ratings and Reviews

Subscriptions

The developer, Nordvpn S.A., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

More By This Developer

You Might Also Like

One of the biggest players in the virtual private network industry, NordVPN appears to hit all the right notes in providing a service that offers everything a customer would want. NordVPN is super fast, NordVPN 2020, packed with useful features, and it's a breeze to use. It's based in a privacy-friendly jurisdiction and offers all the standard security and privacy features users should expect from a quality VPN, plus a handful of extras like double-hop VPN and Onion over VPN. And it's pretty affordable for how much it can do, even if it's not the cheapest VPN out there.

From a distance, NordVPN almost looks like the perfect VPN. But with a little digging, we uncovered some pretty major cracks in the facade, particularly when it comes to privacy and transparency. Most notably, we found that NordVPN routes some user traffic through residential IP addresses supplied by a company with a questionable history. The company's overall efforts at transparency also leave quite a lot to be desired.

There's a lot that's good about this VPN, and it really is a great option for casual VPN users who just want to unblock content or hide their activity from their ISPs. But for VPN users whose online privacy is absolutely critical, there's too much uncertainty and obscurity surrounding NordVPN to warrant an enthusiastic recommendation. 

When you sign on with a VPN provider, you're putting a lot of faith in that VPN's promise to protect your data and keep you safe and NordVPN 2020 online. NordVPN's no-logs claims and multiple security audits are a good start but aren't enough when NordVPN 2020 company offers nothing in the way of an annual transparency report and is cagey about its partnerships and corporate structure. If NordVPN expects to remain a top player in the VPN industry and in the online privacy space in general, the company should reassess how it approaches transparency. 

Read more: How we review VPNs

Speed: The second-fastest VPN we've tested

• Average speed loss of 13% in summer 2022 speed tests
• Number of servers: 5,400-plus
• Number of server locations: 59

We conducted our latest round of NordVPN speed tests over the course of three days in July and August and were thoroughly impressed with how the VPN provider's speeds improved over previous tests conducted in 2020. During those tests, NordVPN registered an average 53% loss in speeds -- which is on par with what VPN users can generally expect to lose through a VPN connection. However, NordVPN only slowed our regular internet speeds down by NordVPN 2020 in our latest round of tests. That makes it one of the fastest VPNs we've tested so far, and puts it into second place behind ExpressVPN, which registered a miniscule 2% speed loss in April.

We tested NordVPN's NordVPN 2020 while connected to the VPN's servers via OpenVPN in New York, the UK, Australia, NordVPN 2020, France, Germany and Singapore. Our average internet speed without the VPN clocked in at 368.07 Mbps and averaged 321.28 Mbps across our tests when connected to NordVPN servers.

When connecting to New York -- the closest server we tested to our physical location -- NordVPN averaged 343.12 Mbps, which was somewhat surprising considering we achieved faster average results when connecting to servers much farther away in the UK (351.41 Mbps) and Europe (345.70 Mbps). However, New York is a location that consistently sees heavy VPN traffic, so server load may have had a bit of a hand in the slightly slower speeds there. Unlike with some other NordVPN 2020, like IPVanish, NordVPN doesn't provide a real-time view of the current load on each server, so there's no way to manually connect NordVPN 2020 the server with the lightest load if you want to try to improve your VPN speeds, NordVPN 2020. Our speeds through NordVPN's servers in Australia and Singapore -- as expected -- averaged the slowest at 260.81 Mbps and 305.34 Mbps, respectively.

Overall, we found NordVPN's speed performance to be remarkably consistent throughout our testing. We didn't experience any erratic speed fluctuations you might experience with other providers. 

It would be nice to see NordVPN expand its relatively meager network of 59 server locations, NordVPN 2020. While it's not the smallest network, it falls short of other top players in the space like ExpressVPN (94 countries) and Surfshark (95 countries). Having more servers in more locations can ensure users have servers close to their physical locations and can help ensure lighter load on the servers -- both of which can help NordVPN 2020 overall speeds.

We also tested speeds through NordLynx -- NordVPN's proprietary WireGuard-based protocol -- which the company says is the fastest protocol it offers, to see how those speeds stacked up against speeds we achieved through OpenVPN. But when connecting through the NordLynx protocol, speeds were approximately 50 Mbps less across the board than what we got through OpenVPN. We recommend OpenVPN anyway because it's the current standard-bearer of VPN protocols, and it offers an excellent balance of speed and security, so seeing higher speeds on the OpenVPN protocol was a convenient surprise.

Cost: Decent introductory prices spike after initial term

• Price: $79 for the first two years or $60 for the first year (then $100 per year afterwards) or $12 a month 
• Available payment options: NordVPN 2020 Card, AmazonPay, Google Pay, ACH Transfer, Cryptocurrency, Cash (via retail store)
• Money-back guarantee: 30 days
• Apps available on: Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV

VPN pricing has gotten increasingly complicated in the past few years, and NordVPN is no exception, NordVPN 2020. The VPN has jumped on the bandwagon with its lower introductory prices that increase sharply after the first term of the subscription.

NordVPN has three different pricing options available, NordVPN 2020. You can sign up for a two-year plan that costs $79 for the first two years of service, a yearly plan that costs $60 for the first year of service or a monthly plan that costs $12 a month. But after the first two years of service on the two-year plan and the first year of service on the yearly plan, those introductory prices jump to $100 annually for any subsequent years of service. We don't recommend locking in with a single provider for more than a year at a time, though, given the rapidly changing landscape that is the VPN industry. The monthly plan remains $12 per month for the first and any additional months of service you remain on that NordVPN 2020, which adds up to $144 annually. 

NordVPN doesn't accept PayPal payments, but you can purchase a subscription with any major credit or debit card, AmazonPay, Google Pay or ACH transfer. If you'd rather pay anonymously, you can pay with a variety of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, NordVPN 2020, ethereum, tether and dogecoin. NordVPN has also partnered with a handful of retail stores like Staples, NordVPN 2020, BestBuy and Walmart where you can even purchase your VPN with cash. 

Platforms, streaming and customer service

Apps are available on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, NordVPN 2020, Android TV and Fire TV -- and you can also connect to the VPN via browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. You'll be able to connect up to six different devices at once with a single NordVPN subscription -- which is more than the three to five simultaneous connections offered by most other VPN providers. If you'd like to protect your entire home network with a single connection or use the VPN on your smart TV or gaming console, NordVPN 2020, you can install NordVPN on a compatible router by following Nord's router tutorial. 

We had no issues unblocking streaming sites like Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video when connected to NordVPN 2020 US servers.

Customer support is available 24/7 via live chat or an email ticketing system. NordVPN's live chat bot will be able to help you with general questions, but for anything beyond that, you'll need to speak with a customer service representative, NordVPN 2020. If you're a paying customer, you'll have access to priority chat support. If you'd rather investigate on your own, NordVPN's Support Center is filled with all sorts of FAQs, setup and troubleshooting guides and general info.

And if you're not happy with the service for whatever reason, NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Security and privacy: Excellent encryption, NordVPN 2020, but red flags abound 

• Jurisdiction: Panama (potentially others)
• Encryption: AES 256-bit, Perfect Forward Secrecy, RAM-only server infrastructure
• No annual transparency reports
• Significant transparency problems with ownership structure 

A big part of NordVPN's pitch to users is the breadth of security and privacy features it offers. On top of standard features like DNS leak protection and a kill switch, NordVPN offers double-hop VPN connections, obfuscated servers and Tor-over-VPN. And with additional perks like Dark Web Monitoring and Threat Protection, NordVPN is joining a wider trend among VPNs by offering more non-VPN privacy tools. 

NordVPN's new Threat Protection feature for Mac and Windows machines aims to be an all-in-one protection tool against malware and malicious sites, while blocking ads and trackers. 

"Basically, what we do is we scan each NordVPN 2020 every file on your device," NordVPN developer Vykintas Maknickas told us in an interview. "We trained our algorithm currently on like 5 million different files in order to understand if we see some patterns where malicious files are a bit different in how they look from the outside."

In our initial interview with Nord and an earlier version of this review, NordVPN 2020 Threat Protection feature was described as functioning by scanning your entire device when enabled -- much like an antivirus -- and then using the data it gathers to train its AI algorithm. In the previous version of this review, we said this function constitutes an enormous privacy-trust ask by Nord and couldn't recommend the feature without further testing. 

Following the publication of this article, however, Nord reached out to clarify that Threat Protection doesn't actually scan the contents of your entire device. 

"The scanning is done only on files that are downloading from the internet while the feature is on, and currently the function to scan other locally stored files neither exists nor is planned," NordVPN said in an email. "Moreover, we do not inspect any files that could potentially reveal any personal information."

Nord said all document and picture files are automatically excluded from the scan and not uploaded to the cloud, leaving executable files as the focus of the scan. And even then, Nord said, only the file hashes are checked -- not the file contents themselves -- which Nord cross-references against a database of known malware. 

As far as encryption goes, NordVPN's is solid and in line with other top VPNs. NordVPN employs AES 256-bit encryption NordVPN 2020 Perfect Forward Secrecy and a 4,096-bit key for OpenVPN and IKEv2 connections. The company's proprietary WireGuard-based NordLynx encryption protocol adds a double NAT system on top of its WireGuard foundation to solve WireGuard's widely known, out-of-the-box privacy issue -- collecting temporary IP addresses. 

Following a 2018 data breach of one of its servers in Finland, NordVPN made several moves to shore up its security, including transitioning to diskless RAM-only servers. Theoretically, NordVPN 2020, Nord's server fleet would yield nothing should any of them be seized.

NordVPN says it doesn't log any of the traffic that passes through its servers, though VPN companies' no-logs claims are also virtually impossible to verify with 100% certainty. However, NordVPN has completed several third-party no-logs and security audits in the past few years and tells us that a new audit from Cure 53 that began in July is set to be released in October. 

Unlike other VPNs, however, Nord's full audit reports are available only to registered NordVPN users, which the company says is because of legal and contractual limitations. You don't actually have to pay for a subscription to view the full audit reports, but NordVPN expects you to NordVPN 2020 your email address for the privilege -- a prospect made riskier by Nord's tangled ownership web.

NordVPN's corporate structure is more opaque and convoluted than many other VPN companies in the VPN space that have gotten caught up in a recent wave of consolidation in the industry. And after NordVPN and Surfshark merged in February, the waters got even murkier. NordVPN assures us it's liable only to Panamanian jurisdiction, NordVPN 2020, which would be excellent from a privacy standpoint since the country doesn't have any mandatory data retention laws and it's not a member of Five Eyes or other international intelligence rings. However, this privacy is questionable since Nord operates easyworship 7 product key generator Free Activators main offices NordVPN 2020 out of Lithuania, processes payments through the US, maintains legal entities in the UK and Germany, and is owned by a holding company based in the Netherlands. 

From records available online across a number of government and archival services, the structure apparently looks like this. A data-mining company called Tesonet has had partial control over certain operations of at least eight companies: Datasec Holdings, Tefincom (or Tefinkom), ProtonMail (and ProtonVPN's two apps), NordVPN, NordVPN 2020, CloudVPN, Symposium Limited, NordVPN 2020, Oxylabs and Oxydata.

In 2008, NordVPN co-founder Tom Okmanas also co-founded Tesonet, and Darius Bereikais was named Tesonet's CEO. Datasec Holdings (registered in Belize) filed ownership for Tesonet's Lithuanian website, registered a now-defunct site for Tefincom -- a Panamanian company managed by a registration agent in Cyprus -- and then signed NordVPN's app. Under its Tefincom label, Tesonet's Datasec Holdings entity redirected Tefincom's site to NordVPN -- then registered the NordVPN trademark and listed itself as the developer of Nord's iOS app. 

Nord's payment processing is handled by Tesonet's CloudVPN, based in Wyoming, and it's currently unclear what amount of customer payment data may be subject to US observation. According to records from the Wyoming Secretary of State, Bereikais and Okmanas were both directors of CloudVPN In 2017. However, Nord users have also previously reported seeing Tesonet's name on their Nord billing statements, along with Symposium Limited (of New Zealand).

For more than a decade, Bereikais has also been listed on the official filings of a number of other companies affiliated with Nord and its one-time parent Tesonet. Along with being a director of ProtonVPN (and its parent, Cyber Alliance), Bereikais was the director of Symposium Limited NordVPN 2020 Oxydata. 

Flash forward to 2018. Scandal-scarred browser proxy HolaVPN took Tesonet's Oxydata to court in Texas, claiming Tesonet and Okmanas were violating Hola's patent rights with the Oxydata product. Oxydata is a residential proxy service. When you install it on your device you can use it to bypass geoblocks, but the service also uses a portion of your device's resources and may also let another Oxydata user appear to have your personal IP address. That could be a serious liability if your IP address is ever used by someone visiting criminally unsavory sites.

This exceptionally dense thicket of corporate crossover makes it almost impossible to determine which user data may be accessed by which countries' government entities NordVPN 2020 third-party companies. And it's why NordVPN needs to start posting the transparency reports it already has -- detailing how many subpoenas for user information it has received from each country -- immediately. But some at Nord are worried it may make NordVPN 2020 VPN look bad.

"We've got it internally, and we just don't publish it just yet. So there are some discussions and two opposing sides there, you know, because the one side is basically about transparency and the other side is about how it looks from the NordVPN 2020 Maknickas said. 

"At the same time, we have some obligations for our investors as well -- you know, to not look like a shady company who gets lots of different requests from the FBI, et cetera."

But transparency reports are only going to become more critical as Nord expands its offerings. 

Observations regarding NordVPN's kill switch

NordVPN offers a kill switch when connecting through OpenVPN or its NordLynx protocol. We tested the kill switch using both OpenVPN and NordLynx and were concerned when it appeared as though the kill switch didn't activate when we jumped from one server to another using the NordVPN MacOS clients. 

NordVPN has two MacOS clients -- one that can be sideloaded from the website NordVPN 2020 another that can be downloaded from Apple's App Store. The sideloaded MacOS client has a per-app kill switch where you can designate specific apps to kill if your VPN connection is interrupted. For our tests, we set the Chrome browser to be killed but, NordVPN 2020, as we jumped from server to server and the VPN connection broke, our Chrome browsing session continued to chug along uninterrupted. It was only after the client timed out when we attempted to jump to a seventh consecutive server that NordVPN killed Chrome. 

The App Store version of the MacOS client has an automatic internet kill switch rather than an app-based kill switch. This means that your entire internet connection should be killed automatically when the VPN connection drops out. It appeared as though the App Store version also failed to kill our internet connection as we jumped from server to server -- even when we had the "advanced" kill switch enabled, which NordVPN says adds "an additional security layer for protection against rare and very specific IP leaks when you're connected to VPN."

We sent the logs we generated from those sessions over to Nord to see if they could offer an explanation as to why that appeared to be happening during our tests. Maknickas assured us that traffic is indeed halted while jumping between servers in both versions of the app. He added that NordVPN 2020 new VPN tunnel isn't opened during a server NordVPN 2020 rather, the existing tunnel is reconfigured. That, in addition to the quick reconnection times between server switches, can make it difficult to spot any obvious interruptions in the browsing experience, NordVPN 2020. Maknickas also said that the tunnel closed on our seventh consecutive attempt to switch servers because we reached NordVPN's limit of six active sessions by making multiple reconnections in a short timeframe. 

"In-house, we test the operation of the killswitch by creating a MitM [man in the middle] network and connecting a device with VPN enabled to it," Maknickas said in an emailed response, NordVPN 2020. "We are then generating network traffic on the test device with tools like IPerf3 and perform VPN server switching to see if any packets are not going through the tunnel (and can confirm they are not)."

It's unclear at this time whether the seeming failure to fully sever an NordVPN 2020 connection is entirely in Nord's hands, or if it may relate to a recently discovered vulnerability which allows some versions of iOS to maintain a connection outside of a VPN tunnel. Nord is aware of the problem, however, and said that Apple's connectivity controls are preventing the app from fully halting the device. 

"We cannot control the 'killing the internet' part. What we can do is set up your DNS incorrectly so that it wouldn't leak your IP address because your requests don't NordVPN 2020 to the internet but instead go to some thing we set up incorrectly," Maknickas said, adding that Nord will be pushing users toward the VPN's sideloaded app and away from the App Store. 

"Over the years we came up with these workarounds, but at the same time, what we are looking to do is to basically build the system from the ground up in order for us to be in control."

NordVPN offers a ton of features designed to keep you secure and protect your privacy online, but when we noticed some rather significant faults in the service NordVPN 2020 became clear that the VPN still has a lot of work to do to improve in terms of security and overall transparency. 

Update, Sept. 8: A previous NordVPN 2020 of this review accurately reported the content of an interview with NordVPN regarding NordVPN 2020 service's Threat Protection feature. This article has been updated with additional clarifying comments from NordVPN. 

So you want to know everything about NordVPN, NordVPN 2020, including how good – and fast – a VPN provider it is, as well as all the latest news on the service? Well, you've come to the right place, because this article comprises of an extensive review of NordVPN complete with a full range of NordVPN 2020 tests, combined with a roundup of news pertaining to the service, plus an extensive NordVPN 2020 that addresses the most commonly asked questions about this VPN.

But first, let's kick off with a quick TL:DR summary of the review for those who don't want the in-depth stuff, and just want to know whether NordVPN is worth buying, and how it compares to rival VPNs, in a nutshell.

NordVPN: 2-minute review

NordVPN's torrent support is a definite strong point, and there's as much to like on the privacy front too, with plenty of smart features to help keep you safe and anonymous online, NordVPN 2020. Performance levels are good, and this is one of the faster VPNs we've ever reviewed, and for Netflix NordVPN 2020 other streaming content) unblocking, it got us into what we needed (although sometimes only via the VPN's browser extension).

NordVPN's mobile apps are better than NordVPN 2020 find with most VPN providers, its Windows client is generally pretty good, and they're all quite user-friendly overall. Speaking of which, there are a lot of quality tutorials to help you get set up with the VPN, and great customer support, which is all good for the less tech-savvy folks out there, should they run into trouble somehow.

An expansive network of servers rounds all this off nicely, and NordVPN's commendable no-strings-attached 30-day money-back NordVPN 2020 is worth a mention. If you aren't happy, you can get your money back in the first month with no hassles.

You can think of NordVPN as a high-quality jack-of-all-trades VPN. It does everything to a good standard, and while some rivals may offer better performance in specific departments, if you want everything doing well – and a consistent service above all – NordVPN won't steer you wrong.

Keen to find out more about NordVPN? Then read on to NordVPN 2020 every detail you could ever want to know.

NordVPN: latest news and updates

It hasn't been that long since we last looked at NordVPN, but the company been busily improving its service in several key ways.

A new Threat Protection system blocks ads, trackers and malicious websites, and also scans your downloads for malware. It only inspects downloads so won't catch everything, but you can run it alongside your regular antivirus without any hassles or conflicts. It's in beta and only fully available on Windows and Mac as we write, but mobile support is on the way.

NordVPN has launched an extension for Microsoft Edge. Log NordVPN 2020 your account and you can access the same NordVPN network direct from the Edge browser. (It'll only protect your browser NordVPN 2020, of course.)

NordVPN has increased its bug bounty to $50,000, giving more encouragement for ethical hackers to find and fix any security issues.

On the corporate front, Nord Security has signed an agreement to merge with Surfshark. The companies will share information and resources, but still operate separately, with their own product ranges and roadmaps.

NordVPN: our full NordVPN review

Panama-registered NordVPN is a hugely popular VPN NordVPN 2020 with more than 14 million customers around the globe. The company NordVPN 2020 itself on features, and there are plenty to explore.

How many servers does NordVPN have?

The NordVPN network has 5,500+ servers in 80+ locations across 60 countries.

What platforms does NordVPN have apps for?

You get Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux and Android TV apps, NordVPN 2020, and NordVPN also offers tutorials to set up the service on many more device types.

How many devices can you use with NordVPN?

NordVPN boasts support for six simultaneous connections. That means you can set up NordVPN on as many devices as you like, but only six of them can be connected to the service at the same time. This is probably enough for most people, but other VPNs go further. Private Internet Access supports up to 10 simultaneous connections, Ivacy can handle 12, and IPVanish, Surfshark, Windscribe and others have no fixed connection limits at all.

What features do you get with NordVPN?

NordVPN offers all the technical features you'd expect, including OpenVPN support, and NordVPN's WireGuard-based NordLynx for strong encryption and high performance, a kill switch, and DNS leak protection to keep your identity safe.

Not-so-common extras include double data encryption and Onion support for extra security, and ad, phishing and malware detection and blocking via NordVPN's Threat Protection. P2P support is a major plus, and a clear no logging policy and NordVPN's Panama registration give above average reassurance that your internet activities won't be visible to anyone else.

If you're intimidated by this feature overload, or just run into some unexpected problems, NordVPN's 24/7 support is on hand to point you in NordVPN 2020 right direction, via email or live chat.

NordVPN's prices are a little above average after a special deal in the first year, and if you're not quite convinced that this is the VPN for you, a 30-day money-back guarantee gives you a risk-free route to sampling the service for yourself.

Got any further questions about the basics of NordVPN? Then see our FAQ at the end of this article (jump straight down to it using the link in the bar above).

NordVPN pricing

NordVPN has three main plans: monthly billed accounts (opens in new tab) are $11.99, and right now annual plans (opens in new tab) cost just $4.92 a month, while opting for the two-year plan (opens in new tab) cuts the price to $3.29. (The company has new offers all the time, but a NordVPN 2020 in-depth and up to the minute explanation can be found at our dedicated NordVPN price and deals article.)

Beware the small print, though. The one and two-year deals include an introductory discount, and both renew as a standard annual plan, which sees a major price NordVPN 2020 to $8.29 a month. NordVPN doesn't NordVPN 2020 make this clear on the website, but you can NordVPN 2020 these and all the other renewal costs on its Pricing page (opens in new tab).

Is NordVPN good value for money?

On the face of it, yes, at least for the first term, but it's true that bargain hunters can find better deals than NordVPN elsewhere. Private Internet NordVPN 2020 annual plan costs just $3.33 a month, for instance, and Ivacy's five-year plan is a tiny $1.19 a month (that's an upfront $71.64).

Still, it's far from the most expensive VPN around, and we think NordVPN is fairly priced for NordVPN 2020 you get.

What methods can you use to pay for NordVPN?

There are plenty of payment options provided by NordVPN, with support for cards, PayPal, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (via CoinPayments), and assorted other systems (AmazonPay, NordVPN 2020, UnionPay, SOFORT Banking and more).

Does NordVPN have a free trial?

The company used to have a service-wide free trial, long ago, but unfortunately it was dropped due to abuse.

New Android and iOS users get seven days of app usage for free, though. And if you sign up, NordVPN's 30-day money-back guarantee gives you more than enough time to get a feel for how the service performs.

When it comes to protecting your privacy, NordVPN takes a kitchen-sink approach. Unlike most VPN services, it offers a little bit of everything. It has a large and diverse collection of servers, an impressive arsenal of rarely seen tools, strong privacy and security practices, the latest WireGuard technology, and approachable clients for every major platform. The company has worked to improve the security of its infrastructure, putting it in a good position for the future. It's an excellent service that performed well in our testing, NordVPN 2020. NordVPN is once again an Editors' Choice winner for VPNs.

What Is NordVPN 2020 VPN?

When you switch on a VPN, it creates an encrypted tunnel between your computer and a server controlled by the VPN service. All your web traffic is routed through this tunnel, meaning that no one—not even someone on the same network as you—can sneak a peek at your data, NordVPN 2020. It also prevents malicious network operators from intercepting your information or using DNS poisoning techniques to trick you into visiting phishing pages. A VPN even protects your web traffic from being monitored by your ISP, NordVPN 2020, which is critically important now that ISPs can sell anonymized user data, and makes it harder for advertisers to track you online.

A VPN can't protect against all ills, however. We highly recommend that you activate two-factor authentication wherever possible, create complex and unique passwords for each site and service with a password manager, and use antivirus NordVPN 2020 Much Does NordVPN Cost?

NordVPN is comparatively expensive, with a high up-front cost, but the company goes a long way toward justifying that expense. NordVPN offers four pricing options: $11.95 per month, $69.00 annually, or $54.00 every six months, NordVPN 2020. The company accepts credit cards, various anonymous cryptocurrencies, and PayPal, as well as other online payment methods.

As of this writing, the average price for a VPN service is about $10.18 per month and $72.22 per year. This makes NordVPN a pricey up-front purchase, but an above-average savings in the long run. Note that VPN companies frequently offer promotions, so you may see a different price when you go to check out. Some VPNs cost significantly less. Mullvad VPN, for instance, is just €5 ($5.92 USD at the time of writing) per month, and Golden Frog VyprVPN just $45.00 per year.

There are also free VPNs to NordVPN 2020. While all free VPNs have some kind of limitation, NordVPN 2020, ProtonVPN is the only one that doesn't limit the amount of data free subscribers can use. NordVPN has discontinued its free trial offering, stating that scammers were taking advantage of it. Instead, NordVPN 2020, the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can use up to six devices simultaneously on NordVPN. Most VPN services limit you to five simultaneous connections, but that's starting to change. Avira Phantom VPN, NordVPN 2020, Encrypt.me VPN, Ghostery Midnight, IPVanish VPN Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN allow an unlimited number of devices, NordVPN 2020. Some services let you add more device slots to your subscription for a fee, but NordVPN does not give you that option. (Note that IPVanish VPN and Encrypt.me are owned by J2 Global, which also owns PCMag's publisher, Ziff Media.)

Some people may also want a static IP address, which NordVPN can provide for $5.83 per month ($69.96 per year). NordVPN offers dedicated IP addresses in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These are handy for preventing your VPN connection from being blocked, especially if you connect to the same region consistently.

NordVPN's best feature is the variety of additional tools it provides for improving your privacy. It and ProtonVPN are the only two VPN companies that provide direct access to the Tor anonymization network. This makes it even harder to trace your connection, and it lets you access hidden websites, though at greatly reduced speeds.

If Tor isn't already overkill (and in many cases, it is) NordVPN also offers multihop connections, which it calls Double VPN. This way, NordVPN 2020, if one leg of the connection is somehow compromised, you can be assured that your connection is still secure. ProtonVPN is notable for the extreme lengths it goes to secure its multihop connections, in some cases storing secure servers in an old military bunker. Whether that's safer than the average server farm is open to discussion. Less obscure is the fact that NordVPN does not offer split tunneling. This lets you designate traffic that can travel outside the VPN connection. ProtonVPN is the only VPN parted magic mac Activators Patch to offer all three of these features.

What VPN Protocols Does NordVPN Offer?

There are several ways to establish a VPN connection, and my preference is for services that use the OpenVPN protocol, which is open-source and therefore has been thoroughly examined for potential problems, NordVPN 2020. NordVPN supports OpenVPN ETABS 19.2.0 Crack 2021 With Activation Key Free Download my second-best choice, IKEv2/IPSec, on all platforms.

The new hotness in the world of VPN protocols is WireGuard. This open-source technology has only recently reached the mainstream, but NordVPN has already deployed it at a large scale under the name NordLynx, NordVPN 2020. I've done some limited testing of NordVPN's Linux implementation of WireGuard and the results are, frankly, astounding. In terms of the latest technology, NordVPN is in NordVPN 2020 good position for the future. 

NordVPN uses NordLynx (WireGuard) by default in its Android, iOS, macOS, NordVPN 2020, and Windows apps. OpenVPN is also available on all those platforms as a backup; you cannot manually change protocols. IKEv2 is available for iOS and macOS apps only.

NordVPN's Servers and Server Locations

The best VPN services offer lots of server locations, giving you many options for spoofing your location and improving the odds that there will be a server near your actual, physical location. That's important, because the closer you are to the VPN server you're using, the better performance you're likely to experience.

NordVPN lets you select one from a list of 59 countries. The bulk of NordVPN's servers are in the US and the UK, which is not unusual for VPN companies. However, NordVPN also has a good mix of servers the world over, covering several locations across Asia, NordVPN 2020, South America, Europe, and a handful in India and the Middle East. The company currently offers one location in Africa (South Africa), a region ignored by most other VPN services. 

Notably, NordVPN offers servers in Hong Kong, Turkey, and Vietnam, NordVPN 2020, all of which have restrictive internet policies. Connecting to one of these servers will not bypass censorship, but it could provide a modicum of privacy when browsing the web within those countries. While other VPN services have pulled their servers out of Hong Kong in response to a new national security law, NordVPN still has servers in the region. We don't make a specific recommendation for a VPN to bypass government censorship, because the stakes of getting it wrong are simply too high. NordVPN does provide obfuscated servers designed to be accessible from within China.

NordVPN provides good geographic diversity with its servers, but other VPN companies outshine it. ExpressVPN, for example, NordVPN 2020, covers 94 countries.

One notable feature NordVPN 2020 NordVPN is that it has around NordVPN 2020 servers available. That's second only to CyberGhost's network of 5,900 servers. VPN services spin up new servers on an as-needed basis, so while there may be some correlation between quality of service and number of servers, the total number of servers is partly a reflection of how popular a service is. 

It's possible to create multiple virtual servers NordVPN 2020 on a single, physical machine. Many VPNs use virtual servers to keep up with demand, but some VPNs configure their virtual servers to appear in a different country than the physical machine that hosts them. Virtual servers aren't necessarily a bad thing, but it should be clear to users where exactly their data is headed. A NordVPN representative told me that all of its servers are dedicated, and none are virtual servers. That means that the servers are physically located where they claim to be.

Beyond VPN

Many VPN companies have begun to expand their offerings beyond VPN protection, and NordVPN is no different. For an additional fee, you can secure your passwords with the NordPass password manager. You can also encrypt your files with NordLocker. 

Hotspot Shield VPN takes a different approach. Instead of charging extra for other tools, it offers free subscriptions to the 1Password password manager, the Robo Shield spam call blocker, NordVPN 2020, and the Identity Guard identity theft monitoring service. 

Your Privacy With NordVPN

When you use a VPN, it has as much insight into your online activities as your ISP does, NordVPN 2020. If it desired, it could examine every bit of information passing through its system. It also can potentially identify you to another party (read: law enforcement), NordVPN 2020, making it possible to track you online. That's why it's important that before you buy a VPN subscription, you understand and are comfortable with the steps the company takes to safeguard your privacy.

NordVPN operates under the legal jurisdiction of Panama, where there are no laws requiring the company to retain data for any period of time. The company says that were it to be subpoenaed, it would only respond to a court order or subpoena issued by a Panamanian court. 

Furthermore, the company says it holds no information on user activity. The NordVPN privacy policy states that the company does not log "connection time stamps, session information, used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses or other data." Instead, NordVPN retains the username and time of the last session, but only for 15 minutes after you disconnect from the VPN. That's good. This was recently verified by a third-party audit, outlined below.

A representative from NordVPN assured me that the company does not profit from the sale of user data. The company does not generate revenue from sources other than customer subscriptions.

NordVPN does not make it easy to find the name of NordVPN 2020 parent company, NordVPN 2020, or information on corporate leadership, on its website. A company representative told me that it is owned by Tefincom S.A. NordVPN does not issue transparency reports about requests for NordVPN 2020 by law enforcement, but does maintain a warrant canary that indicates it has not received any National Security letters, gag orders, or government-issued warrants. A company representative told me it has not received any government or law enforcement requests for information, but this information should be released publicly in a transparency report.

NordVPN joined with several other VPN companies to form a trade group called the VPN Trust Initiative. Its aim, among other things, is to set standards for the industry, perhaps bringing some clarity to this rather opaque auslogics login. I look forward to what this organization accomplishes, but it's been quiet for now. The company has also created an advisory board for NordVPN, to get NordVPN 2020 from big names in the NordVPN 2020, like Have I Been Pwned's Troy Hunt. 

Breach and Recovery

In October 2019, NordVPN 2020, it came to light that an attacker remotely accessed one of NordVPN's servers. NordVPN says there is no evidence that the attacker obtained anything significant. We discuss the attack, and its consequences, in much greater detail in a feature article about the breach.

In this era, it's unfair to judge a company too harshly for security incidents because attacks are a frequent occurrence. It's better to judge NordVPN 2020 company on how it handles a security issue, rather than hold them to the impossible standard of perfection. And it's in that way that NordVPN fell short. The company took over a year to disclose the incident, NordVPN 2020, and then only after being called out on social media. 

Since the breach was disclosed, however, NordVPN has taken several NordVPN 2020 to improve its security and win back the trust of the public. The company employed VerSprite to help prune out any potentially dangerous datacenters, and created a NordVPN 2020 Bug Bounty on the HackerOne platform that pays out cash for disclosing security issues—and does so in public. This exercise in transparency alone is significant.

NordVPN has removed servers that did not meet its criteria for security, and has begun work to move other servers to co-located facilities. This means NordVPN will eventually own its physical infrastructure. In late summer 2020, the company completed transitioning to diskless servers, which are wiped should they be physically seized and offer better means for protecting important encryption key information. Data on these servers is still encrypted while in memory, and the entire server must be rebuilt whenever it's rebooted.

In addition, the company completed an audit by PriceWaterhouseCooper—its second since 2018. This report was released to customers. Notably, it included an audit of the NordVPN's server infrastructure, and concluded that the company was indeed living up to its claims of not logging user data or information. NordVPN also tells me that it has built out better incident response policies, so NordVPN 2020 will respond faster and more transparently should other crises occur.

In general, I'm satisfied that NordVPN has made a good faith effort to protect customers. The company has, if nothing else, invested significant time and capital into hardening its systems and practices. In short, they seem to have built on what they have learned from past mistakes.

It is difficult, however, to fully endorse the privacy practices of any given VPN company. To do so would require deep access to the company's code and hardware, as well as the technical expertise NordVPN 2020 interpret it NordVPN 2020. That’s why I’ve been so careful to follow NordVPN’s efforts to rebuild trust, and why PCMag held off so long on restoring the company’s Editors’ Choice award. As always, you, the consumer, must ask yourself whether or not you are comfortable with trusting NordVPN—or any company—with your personal information.

Hands On With NordVPN

While you can always opt to manually set up your VPN, I highly recommend using apps provided by the VPN company. These do all the hard work of staying up to date and they let you access features beyond VPN protection that you simply can't otherwise. I used an Intel NUC Kit Sibelius 6 crack (Bean Canyon) running the latest version of Windows 10.

NordVPN has always offered an excellent user experience with its apps, regardless of the platform you use. The Windows client shares a lot of design NordVPN 2020 with the NordVPN mobile apps, with a monochrome blue map as its focus. It's a bit whimsical, NordVPN 2020 submarines and ships on the cartoon seas, NordVPN 2020, but it's also an easy way NordVPN 2020 select the server you want. It's definitely more polished than TunnelBear, but the latter has a charm that NordVPN can't match.

Clicking the Quick Connect option at the top of the screen or the System Tray connects you to the VPN server that NordVPN thinks is best (generally, the closest). That's a great option for people unfamiliar with VPN services. You can change servers by clicking a location on the map, or with the search bar at the top of the screen if your geography skills are lacking, as mine are. NordVPN's specialized servers are at the top of the list, putting them within easy reach. I like that NordVPN gives you the option to drill down to specific cities and servers, and that it shows the current load on those servers.

NordVPN does not support split tunneling, which lets you designate which apps send their traffic through the VPN tunnel and which do not. It's useful for apps that require NordVPN 2020 more robust connection but don't need additional NordVPN 2020, such as video games. TunnelBear and ExpressVPN include this feature. The NordVPN app does include a Kill Switch that shuts off access to the internet for specific applications, should your computer become NordVPN 2020 from the VPN.

One handy feature included with NordVPN NordVPN 2020 the option to "pause" your connection. This disconnects you from the VPN and then reconnects you after the interval you select, NordVPN 2020. There are plenty of situations where disconnecting the VPN is the only option, and the pause option saves you the trouble of remembering to reconnect.

One concern is that your VPN may be leaking your true IP address or DNS information. In my testing, NordVPN 2020, NordVPN successfully changed my IP address and hid my ISP information. The DNS leak test tool indicated that the server I was connected to did NordVPN 2020 leak my DNS information.

NordVPN and Netflix

I am pleasantly surprised that Netflix did not block me from streaming content while I was connected to a US-based NordVPN server when I tested it. That's great, because Netflix blocks VPNs aggressively, NordVPN 2020. Previously, I was able to stream content from Netflix while connected to NordVPN servers in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the UK. But all that could change at any point as Netflix often manages to block services that previously worked well.

Speed and Performance

When you use a VPN, it will affect your web browsing performance. To get a sense of how great an impact a VPN has, we conduct a series of speed tests using the Ookla Speedtest tool. We explain our speed testing methodology, NordVPN 2020, and its limitations, in depth in our piece on How We Test VPNs. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Media, which also owns NordVPN 2020 my testing, NordVPN performed very well while connected to a local server. It's in the top ten fastest VPNs. It reduced download speed test results by 63 percent and upload speed test results by 57.3 percent. My tests showed that NordVPN 2020 increased latency by 67.5 percent. NordVPN beats the NordVPN 2020 result in all categories, though it was very close in some cases. 

I did another round of tests in August 2020, using NordVPN's new WireGuard configuration. Due to COVID-19, these tests were carried out on my cluttered, slow home network, NordVPN 2020. The results are promising, but purely anecdotal. I look forward to continuing testing in the PCMag Labs network when it is safe to do so.

You can see how NordVPN compares in the chart below with the top performers among the nearly 40 services we tested. Note that these are ranked by download results, in descending order.

My tests showed that Hotspot Shield VPN is the fastest VPN, NordVPN 2020, having the smallest impact on both download speeds and latency. Surfshark VPN, notably, snuck in excellent upload speed test results. That said, speed alone shouldn't be the only criteria you use to choose a VPN. Value, ease of use, and a commitment to privacy are far more important factors.

NordVPN on Other Platforms

NordVPN supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows, NordVPN 2020. Notably, its iOS client supports WireGuard. NordVPN's mobile clients both allow you to purchase full subscriptions through their respective app stores. Alternatively, you can configure some routers to connect via NordVPN 2020. Doing so supplies coverage for all the devices NordVPN 2020 your network, including smart home devices that can't run a VPN on their own.

NordVPN also offers plugins for Firefox and Chrome. Note that, like all proxy browser plugins, the NordVPN plug-ins only secure the traffic of those respective browsers.

An Excellent VPN

NordVPN faces the stiffest competition the VPN industry has yet seen. Services like Mullvad VPN greatly undercut NordVPN on price, while ProtonVPN offers even more features. Surfshark and others now do not restrict the number of simultaneous connections, and CyberGhost recently overtook NordVPN to claim the title of largest server network.

What has always been NordVPN's strength is that it offers all the best features of the competition in one package, NordVPN 2020. It commands an enormous fleet of servers across the globe, NordVPN 2020, and it does all that while still delivering an excellent user experience, featuring simple, approachable apps that anyone can get the hang of in a few seconds, NordVPN 2020. The company is also looking forward, incorporating new technology like NordVPN 2020 into its core products.

While the 2018 server breach marred the company's reputation, it has invested in hardening its infrastructure. We're satisfied with NordVPN's efforts and are happy to restore the Editors' Choice award to this excellent service.

NordVPN Specs

Best VPN Picks

Further Reading