If you Google “best VPNs”, you will certainly get NordVPN as one of the results. It has definitely made a name for itself by offering super-fast and feature-packed VPN service providers. It is located in a safe haven of jurisdiction at Panama, and offers Tor over VPN, and multi-hop among other advanced features.
Unlike many other VPNs where the ratio to support & against in the same ballpark, NordVPN’s ratio is widely scattered. You will find strong supporters and opposers too. We decided to dig deeper and find out what’s good and what’s not in this epicly honest NordVPN Review that will educate you to the best of your knowledge.
Features At a Glance
| Servers | 5,500+ Servers |
| Server Countries | 60 Countries |
| Simultaneous Connections | Up to 6 Devices |
| Encryption | AES 256-bit CBC encryption with 4096-bit RSA key and SHA-512 HMAC authentication |
| Supported Platforms | Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linus, Boxee, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire, Routers, Apple TV, Chromebook, Nook, BlackBerry |
| Protocols Supported | OpenVPN UDP, Lightway, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, and OpenVPN TCP |
| Advanced Features | Onion Over VPN, Double VPN, Split Tunneling, Multi-hop, Tor Connections, Kill Switch |
Servers and Server Locations
NordVPN provides a list of 5,500+ servers spread across the globe in 60 countries. It does lags behind ExpressVPN’s 94 countries mark, but every VPN has its pros and cons.
Moving on, it has 5,581 servers to be exact. It seems like a lot but when you look for country-wise distribution, there’s an alarming situation.
There’s just one server available in Africa. Although you can connect to servers in Asia and Europe, having a server physically close to your location ensures speedy connection and data transfer. If you are anywhere in Africa and trying to connect to that single server, overcrowding becomes apparent.
Going forward, NordVPN has upgraded some of the servers from 1Gbps to 10Gbps which should give an impeccable performance. It is also important as 5G will surely increase demands for data and that’s where these upgraded servers will come to the rescue.
Unlike ExpressVPN which has 3% of virtual servers, NordVPN ensures there are no virtual servers. Instead, it uses physically-placed and dedicated servers with RAM-only configuration. The setup restrains VPN servers to retain data related to users and their activities. It is imperative since no legal authorities will be able to find traces of data as the servers aren’t designed for storage.
The premium VPN service provider is also looking forward to keeping all its servers in co-location facilities. It has made the transition of 12% servers and is moving forward to add more servers under its belt.
Protocols & Encryption
NordVPN uses a WireGuard implementation dubbed as NordLynx. It is set as default on macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS apps. There’s OpenVPN on other platforms. iOS and macOS devices also have access to IKEv2. It has AES-256-GCM for encryption along with 4096-bit Diffie-Hellman keys that we will get to in a bit.
NordLynx, based on WireGuard, offers improved speeds, features, performance and secure encryption that keeps your online activities like search results private from prying eyes.
NordVPN’s new feature, Meshnet, allows for creating a secure encrypted network for up to 10 devices. It is a powerful feature available to some if not all users. It lets participants share files, access other network devices, and play games to name a few.
Privacy & Security
What’s a VPN without promising privacy and security, isn’t it right? NordVPN was engulfed in the infamous 2018 leak, however, it has so far bounced back. It now offers a myriad of features that keep the privacy and security of the users a priority.
NordVPN uses AES-256-GCM encryption and Diffie-Hoffman keys for password protection. New key generated for every login with Perfect Forward Secrecy. Keys reset after 60 minutes of inactivity. It ensures that even if the session is compromised, it won’t last for more than 60 minutes.
The Onion Over VPN is a security feature that routes traffic through Tor connections. Although it offers much better encryption, you are sacrificing the speed as a whole. On the other hand, the Double VPN feature reduces the effective speed as it relays the traffic through multiple servers to give you some discreteness.
Undoubtedly, these are the only features that ensure proper privacy and security of the users. The kill switch triggers itself in case your VPN connection goes down. It assists in keeping your online presence secure and unfilterable. Additionally, Split tunneling allows users to exclude certain apps from VPN while still using it on others.
For example, banking apps flag VPN while you would need VPN for Netflix US (assuming you are in India). Instead of switching over to VPN, split tunneling excludes selected apps that will automatically run the normal way while other apps will go through the VPN route for added security.
I tried NordVPN and its settings in-depth to find every feature and more spread across the nooks and crannies of the service. Luckily, NordVPN doesn’t leak DNS and neither does WebRTC which makes sure your original and private IP address remains guarded.
On top, NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, a country with no jurisdiction over Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Twelve Eyes which ensures there are no data retention practices ever. Moreover, NordVPN has transitioned to RAM-only servers which again, doesn’t keep any data of users whatsoever. We will get to the no-logging policies in a bit.
Logging Policies
NordVPN outrights claims to provide a no logging policy where it doesn’t retain any information about the users whatsoever. Although there’s no way to verify these claims on any VPN app, NordVPN follows the same tracks. Independent audits by PWC and Cure 53 found that NordVPN is compliant with its logging policies.
NordVPN does know what card and mode you use for the payment but that’s it. There’s no data retention of users’ activities online, history, search results, and others that ensures VPNs are as secure as they claim to be.
Of course, given the 2019 data breach, NordVPN is being looked at with different spectacles although the service provider has done a look to change its public image. NordVPN is also included in the ownership tussle which is another concern for its users as there’s always a risk of fallout. Talking about the moment logging policies, you can be assured that NordVPN doesn’t retain much information as it should.
Speed & Performance
Testing Methodology
We have been testing VPNs on Windows 11 OS for some time now and it’s NordVPN’s turn for the ultimate showdown. Here’s how the methodology works for us,
- First up, we ran five tests from our home network (in Mumbai, India) without any VPN connected to it. I have tagged the best of the five tests as a ‘benchmark’ and that will be used as a reference to compare the benchmark from other servers.
- Next up, I selected five servers – Dubai, London, Johannesburg, São Paulo, and New York City that give us a footprint of the major continents
- Just like India’s test run, I conducted five-speed tests connected to the respective servers selecting the best as ‘Benchmark’.
- I will be comparing the benchmark from India to each of the five country’s benchmarks to give an estimate of the appreciation or depreciation in terms of upload and download speeds.
- Additionally, I have derived an ‘average’ of all five tests for each server that gives a holistic view of the upload and download speeds as an average. It is a better measure than relying on a single speed test.
Device Used
The ISP is D-Vois ION and the connection is 100Mbps UL. We are conducting these speed tests on ExpressVPN connected to a HP Pavilion 15-eh1xxx which sports an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U clocked at 2.10GHz and with Radeon Graphics. It has 16GB RAM and 512GB of SSD storage onboard. We are using Windows 11 Home 64-bit version 22H2. The ‘device used’ can influence the results as well so take it as a reference.
VPN Protocol
Unlike most of our tests using WireGuard as the protocol, we ran a battery of tests on NordVPN using the ‘Auto’ settings for the protocol. Most of the tests were automatically performed on NordLynx although the settings were kept on auto to get the best results based on the location and other factors.
Speed Test Without VPN – India
Speed Analysis: The first test run was for the home country and of course, without the use of any VPN at all. We saw a consistent result of 50Mbps download speeds and above in the majority of cases. The average download speed was 50.896Mbps which is kind of good. On the flip, the upload speed took a hit with the lowest being 6.78Mbps.
We had to change our benchmark a bit from Test 3 to Test 4 to get streamlined data for other servers. It is because 6.78Mbps is the lowest and probably a network glitch whereas the average stands at 30.676Mbps, thus, we had to select Test 4 as the benchmark to be compared against other servers.
| Download Speed (in Mbps) | Upload Speed (in Mbps) | |
| Test 1 | 38.74 | 27.29 |
| Test 2 | 50.54 | 52.83 |
| Test 3 | 55.62 | 6.78 |
| Test 4 (Benchmark) | 55.17 | 37.43 |
| Test 5 | 54.41 | 29.05 |
| Average Results | 50.896 | 30.676 |
Server Tested
New York – USA
Speed Analysis: We tested the NordVPN New York server to find out what it brings to the table. Turns out it did a sweet 45.37Mbps download and 44.96Mbps upload speeds which is phenomenal given the extraordinary distance between the home and VPN server. We did notice a one-fifth drop in the performance at 17.76% in download speeds while the upload speed appreciated 20% above India’s benchmark which doesn’t happen often when we test these VPN servers.
| Download Speed (in Mbps) | Upload Speed (in Mbps) | |
| Test 1 | 33.59 | 49.27 |
| Test 2 (Benchmark) | 45.37 | 44.96 |
| Test 3 | 29.01 | 50.65 |
| Test 4 | 42.38 | 47.09 |
| Test 5 | 39.27 | 45.43 |
| Average Results | 37.924 | 47.48 |
Dubai – UAE
Speed Analysis: When testing on a NordVPN server in Dubai, the download speed remains consistently high, maxing at 48.12Mbps which shows a tiny bit drop of 12.77% from India’s benchmark. However, the upload speed took a major hit at 16.91 (benchmark). The best upload speed that we got was 43.06Mbps, however, it wasn’t the benchmark and thus, we can’t compare it. For perspective, Dubai’s benchmark upload speed dropped 54.82% compared to India’s benchmark.
| Download Speed (in Mbps) | Upload Speed (in Mbps) | |
| Test 1 | 47.7 | 43.06 |
| Test 2 | 44.52 | 18.39 |
| Test 3 (Benchmark) | 48.12 | 16.91 |
| Test 4 | 43.01 | 17.42 |
| Test 5 | 48.03 | 20.21 |
| Average Results | 46.276 | 23.198 |
London – UK
Speed Analysis: We tried connecting to the London server and the results came out to be pretty astonishing. Turns out the download speed remains consistently high with a one-fifth drop compared to the India’s benchmark. However, the upload speeds were incredibly low, not even crossing the 1.5Mbps mark.
| Download Speed (in Mbps) | Upload Speed (in Mbps) | |
| Test 1 (Benchmark) | 43.9 | 1.15 |
| Test 2 | 37.9 | 1.25 |
| Test 3 | 39.56 | 1.24 |
| Test 4 | 40.27 | 1.23 |
| Test 5 | 44.8 | 1.26 |
| Average Results | 37.49 | 1.26 |
Johannesburg – South Africa
Speed Analysis: When tested for a server in Johannesburg that would serve as a gate for the entire South African continent, the best results came out as 48.1Mbps and 30.24Mbps on download and upload speeds. When compared to India’s benchmark, the numbers saw a dip of 12.81% in download speeds and 19.20% in upload speeds. Although it might seem like a huge drop, wait till you see the test results for Vienna in the EU. There’s no denying that Johannesburg tests saw a dip but these are manageable.
| Download Speed (in Mbps) | Upload Speed (in Mbps) | |
| Test 1 | 37.91 | 39.98 |
| Test 2 | 43.71 | 9.53 |
| Test 3 | 41.41 | 44.92 |
| Test 4 | 37.65 | 46.37 |
| Test 5 (Benchmark) | 48.1 | 30.24 |
| Average Results | 41.756 | 34.208 |
São Paulo – Brazil
Speed Analysis: Next up, we connected to a NordVPN server based in Sao Paulo in Brazil. The best results that came out were 25.77Mbps (download) and 16.08Mbps (upload) speeds. For context, it was more than half of what India’s benchmark was, effectively bringing down the speeds by 53.28% and 57.03% in download and upload speeds respectively.
There could be a number of reasons behind this massive drop such as the physical distance between Mumbai and Sao Paulo as well as the number of servers available. Current server load plays a crucial role too as it dictates the overall bandwidth and speeds available at your disposal. However, I would summarise with the fact that connecting to a Sao Paulo’s NordVPN server gave considerably average speeds with a massive drop.
| Download Speed (in Mbps) | Upload Speed (in Mbps) | |
| Test 1 | 18.36 | 7.56 |
| Test 2 | 10.85 | 24.71 |
| Test 3 | 18.53 | 26.26 |
| Test 4 (Benchmark) | 25.77 | 16.08 |
| Test 5 | 23.2 | 19.64 |
| Average Results | 19.342 | 18.85 |
Streaming
Watching geo-blocked content is a primary reason why people use VPN services apart from securing their stand on the internet. Streaming content from libraries outside one’s country is possible by changing the server locations.
Netflix has one of the largest libraries of content and yet, it has a notoriously challenging structure when it comes to unblocking it. Netflix tags VPN as illegal and cracks down VPN users using its automated systems nabbing those accessing geo-blocked content. NordVPN successfully unlocked 21 Netflix libraries, some easily, others with more effort.
Apart from Netflix, you get access to crisp HD content from Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, All4, 10 Play, and BBC iPlayer among others. I was certainly happy with the kind of response Nord provided. Moreover, I tested the service with DNS Leak Test Tool to find if the DNS information was leaked during the streaming process. Turns out, it doesn’t so that’s a good thing for all the Nord users.
Torrenting
For a short answer, yes, NordVPN does support torrenting. You will find many high-speed servers that support P2P traffic. However, not all servers are optimized for torrenting. You might have to undergo trial and error to find the one that makes your torrent downloads fly. Many VPN services face trouble when switching between torrent servers to non-torrent servers but that’s certainly not a problem with NordVPN.
I got several features when torrenting including Double VPN, no logging policy, and high data speeds and that’s something that acts as an all-around package for torrent users. All servers onboard ExpressVPN, in comparison, are P2P supported which draws a big difference between the two major VPN providers.
Gaming
NordVPN advertises itself as one of your partners for all your gaming needs. However, the truth is, it does offer VPN protection over games but eats away a bit of bandwidth adding latency. If you are a gamer, you would understand that this will affect your gameplay to a great extent. Of course, you can still play games such as PUBG Mobile or Apex Legends but expect latency.
On the other hand, other not-so-latency-sensitive games will work just fine. Note that it also depends on the distance and connection between your VPN server and the game server. If you have a robust connection to both, you might not even feel any difference in gameplay even on high-graphics games.
NordVPN does flaunt various benefits of using it with gaming aptly put. You get protection from DDoS, the ability to unblock geo-restrictions, and blazing speeds over NordLynx protocol. You can connect VPN over a myriad of devices including gaming consoles such as Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4/5, and routers giving you an ultimate solution for all your VPN requirements.
Support on Clients
On average, you could be using two devices per account that is a phone and a PC, right? Some users share their NordVPN accounts with family and friends wherein you get up to six simultaneous connections at one go. NordVPN is not limited to Windows or Android but rather offers clients across iOS, Linux, browsers like Chrome and Firefox as well as routers that support OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols.
You won’t find issues enabling NordVPN across a host of platforms even if it is at one go assuming that the max it can handle is six devices per account. You will find NordVPN supportable for gaming consoles as well since 5,400+ servers are optimized for gaming. Other platforms where you can patch NordVPN are Firestick, Raspberry Pi, Kindle Fire, Chromecast, Oculus Quest, and Nintendo Switch in addition to the previously mentioned platforms.
Customer Support & Service
I scoured NordVPN’s website and trust me, you will have enough of the resources already posted on the website should you run into any issues. Need help troubleshooting servers? You will be patched with a written and video guide to resolving the issue. Dive into FAQs to find answers to questions that are asked frequently.
NordVPN doesn’t have a phone number which means you can’t reach out to a human on call. However, the live chat feature lets you interact with a human being whom you can talk to and get all your answers right away. You can also switch to email support for a detailed troubleshooting guide on whatever issue you might have with NordVPN. Although email responses take a few hours, you will get the update asap with all the information mentioned in an understanding manner so that you can follow. It’s that easy, isn’t it?
Does It Have A Free Version?
It’s only logical that before you could spend on a monthly plan (let alone yearly), you will want to try out the app first. There’s nothing like a free NordVPN. You do get a 7-day period to use NordVPN for free the moment you sign-up. A 30-day money-back guarantee ensures you can have a good night’s sleep believing that in case NordVPN doesn’t fall into your expectations, you can get the charges reserved like it never happened.
A free subscription to NrodVPN will get you limited features but with a free trial Premium, you should be able to unlock all the features during the testing period or you can get your money back, no questions asked.
NordVPN (Premium) Pricing
NordVPN offers a myriad of different pricing plans for its premium plan.
Standard: Billed monthly, this is the entry-level premium plan that offers malware protection, high-speed VPN along with a tracker and ad-blocker. It is billed at $11.99/mo, if you go for its 1-year plan, you get it at $4.49/mo plus three months free while its 2-year plan drags it down to $3.69/mo.
Plus: The Plus plan offers a floodgate for features like Data Breach Scanner, and cross-platform password manager along with features listed on the Standard plan starting at $12.99/mo; $5.49/mo for a 1-year and $3.99/mo for a 2-year plan.
Complete: The all-comprehensive plan, ‘Complete’ gives you access to 1TB of encrypted cloud storage apart from all the features listed on previous plans. It is priced at $14.29/mo, $6.79/mo for 1 year, and $5.29/mo for 2 years. There’s an additional 3 months free on the yearly packages as well.
You will see massive differences between pricing for each plan if you switch from monthly to yearly to two-yearly. If you want to keep using a VPN for a long time, it is only advisable to go for yearly plans as you will save a tonne although you will have to bear the high upfront cost as usual.
Can You Try NordVPN For Free?
Previously, NordVPN had a 7-days free trial, however, it has been discontinued. Instead, you get a 30-day money-back guarantee on any subscription you pick from the lot. Once you subscribe to its premium plans after paying the said sum, you can use NordVPN to its extent for 30 days and decide to retain or retire it within the said period. If you do want to cancel your subscription, NordVPN will happily return your subscription amount and that’s how simple it gets. You can read about why using Free VPN is not recommended using the mentioned link to get a clear picture.
Pros
- Connect up to 6 devices on multiple platforms
- Double VPN, Onion Over VPN, & a string of advanced features
- Unblock 21 Netflix libraries along with other streaming services
- Registered in Panama with no data retention laws
- No DNS Leak
Cons
- Some locations have been neglected in server locations
- Not all servers are optimized for torrenting
- Lacks phone support for customer service
- Relatively Expensive
- Browser extensions need overhauling
Final Verdict
NordVPN is undoubtedly one of those VPNs that will feature on top when searching for ‘Top 5’ or ‘Top 10 Best VPNs’. Turns out, it isn’t false. NordVPN proves its caliber in many aspects. It offers good performance and has a slew of basic to advanced features some of which aren’t available on other providers.
NordVPN can unblock 21 Netflix libraries which is almost what ExpressVPN offers. It is slightly expensive and has room for improvement such as in the case of torrenting and gaming, however, it won’t disappoint you even in complicated situations.
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