NordVPN Review

At the bottom of NordVPN’s long server list, you’ll find a few servers different from the others. Double VPN adds a second server to your connection in case one fails. Onion over VPN automatically activates the Tor privacy network after connecting you to a NordVPN server. The 50 or so P2P servers allow torrenting.

The selection of specialty servers isn’t as big as the overall network, but they’re still in plenty of locations and come with clear use cases — double VPN for security, onion over VPN for privacy and P2P for torrenting. For an extra fee, you can get a dedicated IP address and not have to share your VPN with anyone else.

NordVPN’s most basic features can be found in its “preferences” menu. One important feature is the kill switch, which disconnects you from the internet if your VPN connection drops. This ensures you don’t broadcast any private information and that you’re always connected to a legitimate NordVPN server.

Split tunneling is only available on Windows and Android, but it’s a nice perk for those users. VPN split tunneling means that some apps get online through the encrypted tunnel while others connect like they normally would. On NordVPN, simply choose which apps you don’t want to get encrypted, and the rest will be protected.

NordVPN now includes unsecured WiFi detection, which alerts you when you connect to a weakly secured or unsecured WiFi network without VPN protection, helping prevent accidental exposure of your data on public networks.

Threat protection is the catch-all name for a suite of NordVPN features that block ads, malware and any other content you don’t want. When active, it blocks any URL known to be connected to malware or phishing scams, even if you aren’t connected to the VPN. It can also block some ads before they load.

Most users get basic protection, which handles malware, scams and some ads. If you’re on Windows or macOS, you can activate threat protection pro, which also blocks trackers, scans downloaded files for malware and regularly checks installed apps against a database of known security vulnerabilities, alerting you if one is detected.

Meshnet, which we explore in detail in our NordVPN Meshnet guide, creates a direct secure connection between two devices without needing to go through a NordVPN server. You can share files of any size across this connection or get online with a connected device’s IP address, which is useful if it’s in another country. You can use Meshnet without a NordVPN subscription.

NordVPN’s dark web monitor, available for Plus subscriptions and above, scans dark web sites where cybercriminals are known to buy and sell stolen credentials. NordVPN has significantly expanded the dark web monitor’s capabilities, now allowing users to monitor up to 50 email addresses for data breaches.

Speaking of changing passwords, NordVPN adds one more bonus feature to Plus plans and above: NordPass, a password manager that generates strong passwords, stores them and fills them in login fields as you need them. We’ve written a full NordPass review, but to summarize, it’s a solid password management app.

You’ll spend most of your time with the NordVPN app selecting servers; the macOS and Windows apps offer two ways to do so. Selecting from the list is easier than clicking and dragging the map. The list makes it easier to see both regular and special servers, whereas the map doesn’t show you city-level servers until you zoom in.

The control panel is organized in two layers of tabs. NordVPN’s flagship features are on the top level, while the bread-and-butter options like the kill switch and split tunneling (Android and Windows only) are on the gear at the bottom left. It can be annoying to remember which features are located where, but once you find them they’re all easy to use.

NordVPN’s mobile apps run well. Because there’s less space, the advantages of its highly navigable server list are negated somewhat, and the option to choose cities within a country is easy to miss. Click the three dots beside the name of any country and you can choose freely.

On the positive side, NordVPN runs as well on mobile as it does on desktop, with few connection delays and no glitches. The control panel requires a bit more scrolling, but you should find it just as straightforward.

Any NordVPN subscription gives you 10 simultaneous connections — that is, up to 10 devices can be connected to a server at a time. You can install and log in on unlimited devices, but only 10 can actively use the VPN.

NordVPN is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, and has browser extensions for Firefox, Edge and Chrome. In the smart TV world, it works on Android TV — NordVPN has recently released a dedicated Apple TV app, making it one of the few VPN providers offering native support for tvOS without requiring router configuration or AirPlay workarounds.

It also now has an app for Surface Pro and other Windows devices build on ARM architecture, making it one of the first VPN providers to have an app for ARM-based Windows devices.

You can protect other smart TVs, game consoles and all internet-capable devices by installing NordVPN on a router.

NordVPN offers three subscription levels, each of which you can subscribe to for three different lengths of time (one month, 12 months and 24 months) for a total of nine subscription options. The Basic plan includes only the features directly related to the VPN; its best offering is the 27-month plan mentioned above.

The Plus plan includes all the features from Basic, plus malware protection and the data breach scanner. Ultimate, the most expensive plan, adds encrypted cloud storage from NordLocker (read our NordLocker review for more info) and insurance plans that cover the costs of data breaches and ransomware attacks.

NordVPN has no forever free plan; if that’s what you’re looking for, head to our best free VPN list instead. There is a seven-day free trial that doesn’t require a payment method, but it’s only on Android. You can get it by downloading and opening the NordVPN app from the Google Play store.

If you don’t have an Android, don’t despair. NordVPN comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked. In our experience, NordVPN has always honored it. Just pay for one month, try NordVPN out on any device and cancel before 30 days are up. You’ll get a full refund.

The most important detail you’ll notice on the download speed charts is consistency. NordVPN’s average speed loss on our domestic U.S. tests hovered at under 15%. When we pulled back to check its worldwide performance, we still got an average loss of less than 15%. No matter where you connect to, NordVPN is fast.

Upload speeds tell a similar story, with every testing location worldwide losing between 10% and 15%. For comparison, these are incredible numbers. ExpressVPN, one of our other favorite providers, averages about a 25% speed drop worldwide.

In addition to the security features we’ve covered already, such as threat protection and double VPN, NordVPN includes a kill switch that cuts off your internet traffic if the VPN connection drops without warning. It also resolves all requests through a private DNS, which minimizes the chance of leaks by avoiding ISP-controlled systems. 

NordVPN implements DNS over HTTPS (DoH) for additional security, encrypting DNS requests to prevent snooping and man-in-the-middle attacks commonly used by ISPs for tracking.

As on any VPN, NordVPN’s most important security feature is its VPN protocols. It offers a limited but strong selection, as we’ll delve into below.

NordVPN offers three protocols, NordLynx (based on WireGuard), NordWhisper and OpenVPN. OpenVPN can be set to run over one of two transport protocols: the faster UDP or the more stable TCP. There’s no IKEv2, which won’t impact 95% of users but is still a little annoying.

• NordLynx: This protocol uses the open-source WireGuard as its basis but adds a system that assigns new IP addresses for each VPN session. This eliminates WireGuard’s main weakness of needing to store user IP addresses on the server.
• NordWhisper: Designed specifically to bypass VPN blocks in restrictive networks by disguising VPN traffic as regular web traffic.
• OpenVPN: OpenVPN is a time-tested open-source VPN protocol with an active developer community shoring up its weaknesses. It’s a great fallback position if you ever find NordLynx isn’t cutting it.

We used Wireshark to see if NordVPN actually encrypted data packets we sent over the internet connection. Our results are in the screenshot above. As you can see on the left, the only visible data is encrypted with the VPN protocol (NordLynx/WireGuard in this case), and the actual data looks like encrypted nonsense. That’s what a safe connection looks like.

We then went to ipleak.net to check for DNS leaks and WebRTC leaks, which can occur when a VPN uses public web infrastructure without taking precautions. Though we checked several servers, NordVPN was completely watertight each time. We can confidently state that it’s a secure VPN.

NordVPN’s privacy policy states that “your internet activity while using NordVPN Services is not monitored” and that “we do not store used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses or browsing data.” This is what we call a strict no-logs policy, backed up by NordVPN’s history of not complying with investigations. 

The second quote above is especially important. Some VPN service providers claim to be no-logs but still store information that can be used to deduce a user’s identity, but NordVPN doesn’t abuse this loophole.

Nor do we have to take NordVPN’s word for it. It uses RAM-only servers for its entire infrastructure. Even when these servers have to save logs to handle a basic function, they delete that data every time they reset, which happens several times per day. Even if a NordVPN server was compromised, there would be nothing to find.

It’s increasingly common for VPN providers to verify their no-logging policies by having independent firms audit their practices. NordVPN’s privacy policy has been audited four times and was found to be truthful each time. Deloitte Lithuania conducted the most recent audit in January 2024.

Unfortunately, you can only read the results of the audit by creating a NordVPN account, for which we’ve knocked off a few privacy points. However, you can make an account without paying. In the January 2024 report, auditors found no reason to believe NordVPN wasn’t upholding its privacy policy.

Yes, NordVPN can unblock Netflix. We tried several servers and never once saw the Netflix proxy error, nor did the buffering wheel ever pop up while playing videos. That’s why we consider it to be the best VPN for Netflix.

There are too many streaming platforms now for us to report on every one, but we’ve found that the six listed above are good indicators of a VPN’s streaming performance. NordVPN unblocked all six on every server we checked, suggesting it can get into others as well.

NordVPN puts IP addresses on six continents at your fingertips, with many locations in places other VPNs won’t touch — for example, it’s by far your best option right now to get an Indian IP address (that’s not subject to Indian VPN laws). We’re keeping an eye on whether this rapid growth is sustainable, but we haven’t seen any downsides yet.

You can start a live chat conversation from any part of the help center by clicking on the speech balloon at the bottom right. You’ll have to enter your name and email address, then get past a chatbot before you can talk to a real person. This can be aggravating, but it never takes long.

Once you’re in the queue to talk to a human, there’s a short line to wait in before you’re connected. NordVPN’s experts are friendly and knowledgeable; we just wish it were a bit easier to find them. Should live chat be unable to solve your problem, send an email from the “contact us” web page — you should get a reply within a day.