NordVPN review: Consistent speed and performance from one of our favorite VPNs

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• I examined the extremely popular NordVPN, and it checks all of the VPN bins of reliability, efficiency, and options.
• As marketed, the NordLynx protocol has quick and safe connections worldwide, and options like specialty servers, an antivirus (offline malware scanner for PCs), and a Darkish Internet Monitor are welcome.
• NordVPN is not with out its disappointments. There is no such thing as a break up tunneling characteristic on iOS, and it would not have the IKEv2/IPSec protocol on most (if not all) gadgets. Generally the app may intervene with different functions.

You’ll come throughout NordVPN very often when procuring round for the best VPN service. The VPN seems in virtually each advice checklist, not by luck or likelihood, however as a result of it is really a high contender, and ZDNET’s decide for the best VPN overall, in addition to the best VPN for streaming and the best VPN for iPhones. That mentioned, experiences will at all times differ. Some customers choose NordVPN’s closest rival, ExpressVPN.

This evaluation is solely to place NordVPN within the highlight. If you need a sneak peek earlier than committing financially to the service, we have now all the small print. I will cowl the expertise on NordVPN connection speeds, server community, streaming/gaming/torrenting capabilities, safety and privateness, user-friendliness, and extra. I will additionally evaluation the pricing and allow you to in on which NordVPN deal plan has one of the best worth proposal. (Learn extra about how we test and review VPNs here.)

View at NordVPN

Many server places, however which one must you select?

NordVPN has 6,400+ servers unfold throughout 111 nations, barely greater than ExpressVPN or Surfshark. A great server distribution community means quick access to safe IP addresses for watching content material anyplace or discovering close by servers with higher connections (the shorter the space to the server, the sooner the pace). 

Do you have to get caught on which server to make use of, you may faucet the Fast Join button and the app will routinely choose the quickest and most optimized server in your location.

The infrastructure additionally contains extra specialty servers, equivalent to;

• Double VPN: These are totally different from the usual servers in that they bounce visitors via a number of servers for further privateness.
• P2P: These are optimized for safe and sooner torrenting (you may’t torrent with the common servers).
• Obfuscated servers: These are designed to camouflage your VPN utilization, enabling you to bypass geo-restrictions with ease.
• Onion Over VPN: These servers not solely route your visitors via the VPN but in addition through the Tor Community, including a layer of privateness to your looking.
• Devoted IP: You should purchase a non-public IP handle, say to make use of in your web site, if you don’t need the shared ones.

Pace and streaming efficiency: Is NordVPN quick?

VPNs will usually decelerate your connections, primarily due to the underlying safe knowledge switch processes, like encryption. 

NordVPN is not an exception to this rule. We noticed a mean 15% dip in obtain speeds from a number of server places. Nonetheless, NordVPN was the fastest. It was marginally sooner than ExpressVPN in North America and Europe, however the latter did higher in South America, Australia, and a few Asian Pacific places. I used the Ookla Pace Take a look at device on-line to document speeds earlier than and after connecting to NordVPN.

Notably, utilizing a VPN affected each obtain and add speeds. It wasn’t a lot of a priority, since speeds have been simply barely under the baseline connections with out a VPN. Servers close to my location did not register pace losses past 7%. You thus shouldn’tt have issues utilizing NordVPN for prime bandwidth streaming or gaming on any quick connections.

NordVPN’s excessive speeds will be attributed to an in-house protocol referred to as NordLynx, which is optimized to attenuate pace losses. It is constructed on the WireGuard protocol that many VPN apps within the trade already use, as a result of its quick speeds.

Streaming

NordVPN labored with most platforms, together with Disney+, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Netflix world wide. I did not obtain any of that “you appear to be utilizing a VPN or proxy” error message. Should you encounter issues accessing geo-restricted websites, you may swap to the OpenVPN protocol. It integrates an obfuscation tech that disguises VPN visitors to keep away from detection by platforms that block VPNs.

Whereas streaming with NordVPN, I may simply swap to one of the best video streaming high quality. It helps ultra-HD content material streaming with none buffering. 

I did not fairly like that streaming servers aren’t clearly marked, like they’re in CyberGhost. The differentiation saves you from  manually testing servers to seek out one which works higher with streaming.

Gaming 

Gaming lovers can play easily with NordVPN. Its strong options, like encryption, vastly assist to keep away from ISP throttling and DDoS (distributed denial of service) assaults, each of which might trigger recreation stuttering whereas enjoying on-line.

You must at all times attempt to connect with server places shut by for one of the best gaming expertise. As famous in my earlier pace take a look at outcomes, latency elevated considerably on distant servers. Latency, or ping, refers back to the time it takes a sign to journey between your machine and the service, after which again once more, and can lead to lag throughout gaming if it is too excessive (above 150ms). 

Should you’re at all times inviting mates over to play video games, you would possibly fall in love with NordVPN’s Meshnet characteristic. It permits you to arrange an encrypted native space community (LAN) for all of your gaming gadgets and revel in multiplayer video games on-line with out experiencing lag.

On-line safety options: How safe is NordVPN?

NordVPN has loads of safety features. I am impressed by the builders’ efforts, persistently including refined safety options you will not discover in different VPNs. This is what you may anticipate.

Encryption and IP safety

NordVPN makes use of AES 256-bit encryption – presently one of the best commonplace for knowledge safety. Encryption refers back to the course of by which knowledge transiting to and out of your machine is remodeled into unreadable characters. This makes it exhausting for web service suppliers (ISPs), Wi-Fi house owners, or hackers to see or observe your on-line actions.

There are additionally id safety options, together with a kill swap that immediately cuts off web entry if the VPN connection by chance fails, stopping your IP handle from being uncovered. 

Plus, you may route your visitors via its personal area title servers (DNS) as a substitute of those issued by your ISP. This acts as leak safety, blocking third events from seeing your DNS requests and monitoring your actions. 

NordVPN handed all of the leak exams I carried out on it. My IP handle, DNS, and WebRTC requests weren’t uncovered on any website. The VPN can forestall leaks on each IPv4 and IPv6 connections, whereas most VPNs solely supply IPv4 safety.

Protocols

You possibly can select between two protocols, NordLynx and OpenVPN. The supplier now not helps IKEv2/IPSec on most gadgets, together with iOS and MacOS. IKEv2 works effectively on smartphone gadgets and was beforehand out there to iPhone customers.

I typically advocate NordLynx due to its quick speeds. OpenVPN can also be handy and customizable, permitting you to decide on between UDP (which is quick) and TCP (which is dependable for many use circumstances). 

Menace safety

NordVPN goes past securing your connections, providing superior instruments for blocking adverts, malware, and hidden trackers utilized by third-party web sites and apps to spy on you. Menace Safety additionally checks the protection of URLs and warns you from opening dangerous websites. The PC model, Menace Safety Professional, additionally has antivirus capabilities, scanning any downloaded recordsdata for trojans, spyware and adware, and viruses.

There are much more safety features:

• Cut up tunneling: You possibly can simply select some apps or web sites to tunnel to utilizing the VPN, and exclude others.
• Darkish Internet Monitor: NordVPN continuously checks in case your delicate particulars, together with emails and passwords, have been leaked on dangerous websites. You possibly can then act swiftly earlier than cybercriminals take full management of your compromised accounts.
• Meshnet: This characteristic permits you to create a digital community (much like a LAN community) and safely switch recordsdata.

Privateness

NordVPN has stringent measures to guard your privateness. Its no-logs coverage has been audited by impartial events for transparency (the latest audit was carried out by Deloitte in 2024). Basically, this implies the VPN strictly adheres to a coverage of not amassing or storing customers’ personal knowledge, together with browser searches. Plus, all NordVPN servers are RAM-only, that means they’re cleaned throughout common server reboots.

Contemplating the corporate is headquartered in Panama, it is far more tough for third events to entry your knowledge. Enterprise entities in Panama aren’t obligated to gather and retailer their clients’ data. Additionally, the nation would not belong to the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances, referring to nations that share surveillance knowledge and intelligence on their residents.

Nonetheless, that you must bear in mind that NordVPN can share your data in some situations. I got here throughout these quotes whereas going via its privacy policy;

“We share your private knowledge with different Nord group corporations to hold out our day by day enterprise operations and to allow us to take care of and supply our Providers to you. We may additionally share the contact data of Nord enterprise clients (i.e., our clients which use our merchandise as a device for his or her enterprise) with Nord group corporations for advertising and marketing of their B2B merchandise functions (enterprise customers have a proper to object to such switch at any time).”

Additionally:

“We might disclose private knowledge to determine or train our authorized rights or defend towards any authorized claims or different complaints. We may additionally share such data if we consider it’s needed in an effort to examine, forestall, or take motion concerning unlawful actions, suspected fraud, and violations of our Normal Phrases.”

What I gathered from these clauses is that NordVPN is not utterly tamper-proof, however it is a privateness limitation you may observe in some VPNs as effectively. Fortunately, suppliers like Private Internet Access (PIA) have prior to now caught to their weapons and bravely refused to adjust to orders to share a consumer’s data. We have but to see NordVPN move this take a look at.

Pricing: Which is one of the best NordVPN deal for you?  

NordVPN provides tiered subscriptions from totally different plans, specifically Full, Plus (with out cloud storage), and Fundamental (lacking some options like advert/tracker/ malware safety). The most affordable (fundamental) plan prices $3.59/month – amounting to $96.93 for your complete two-year (plus three months free) interval. The following most inexpensive subscription, which I extremely advocate as a result of it is filled with elite options, prices $4.49/month (coming to $121.23 for your complete two-year plus three months free interval). Here’s a checklist of the out there plans as of the time of writing:

All NordVPN subscriptions include a 30-day money-back assure, together with the one-month plans. This lets you attempt the service risk-free and ask for a refund for those who change your thoughts. The VPN would not have a free model or a trial. Android customers, nonetheless, can get a seven-day free trial in the event that they obtain the app from the Google App Retailer. 

You possibly can concurrently join as much as 10 gadgets with a NordVPN subscription, and purchases will be made utilizing supported debit or bank cards, Google Pay, PayPal, or cryptocurrencies.

Nice consumer expertise, however some issues chances are you’ll not like…

NordVPN apps are handy even for much less tech-savvy customers. You possibly can simply obtain a local app in your machine and join inside minutes. The app has a map interface the place you may merely faucet a location and join. As I famous in my NordVPN and Proton VPN comparison, the Linux app is not as simple because it’s solely managed via the command line interface (CLI).

NordVPN is appropriate with:

• Cellular gadgets: Android, iOS, and iPadOS
• PCs: Home windows, MacOS, Linux, ChromeOS
• Browsers: Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge 
• Good TVs: Android TV and Apple TV
• Gaming consoles: PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Swap
• Routers
• Media bins: Fireplace TV Stick and Chromecast

I observed some points with the NordVPN app. Most notably, it likes imposing itself over different functions. The VPN insists on operating within the background even after you’ve got disconnected it (you may flip this off underneath Settings > Connections). It will possibly additionally intervene with the functioning of some apps or entry to web sites, mistakenly figuring out them as a risk.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

NordVPN has nice service that is value your cash. It is not one of many cheapest VPNs, however the outstanding checklist of superior safety options is past most VPNs. You possibly can journey anyplace and nonetheless entry geo-blocked content material or digital providers with ease, due to the expansive international server community and speedy connections.

The service is not with out its shortfalls. The corporate has carried out away with the IKEv2/IPSec protocol, which was fairly environment friendly on cellular gadgets. Additionally, the app incessantly asks to put in secondary add-on options, which will be annoying. The drawbacks are, nonetheless, simply overshadowed by the app’s seamless efficiency. 

What to do if NordVPN is not connecting or working?

You possibly can attempt some issues to troubleshoot NordVPN. If you cannot open the app, log in, or join (otherwise you preserve getting disconnected), there could also be a number of causes, from server failure to app malfunction.

First, verify that your web is working correctly. Additionally, test if any new updates can be found and set up them. For login challenges, make sure you’re utilizing the appropriate credentials.

The problem may additionally be the precise server you are connecting to, so attempt totally different servers and see if that helps. Take away different VPNs operating in your machine since they might additionally intervene with NordVPN. Examine whether or not your antivirus or firewall (like Home windows Defender) is obstructing VPN connections. 

Restarting the app or your machine may additionally assist, or you may attempt uninstalling and reinstalling the app. If nothing appears to work, attain out to the NordVPN help crew for help.

How can I cancel my NordVPN subscription?

You possibly can cancel your NordVPN subscription on the corporate’s web site. Sign up to your account, navigate to the billing part, and might cancel auto-renewal. This won’t solely terminate your subscription but in addition cease future recurring funds. You possibly can ask for a refund if 30 days have not lapsed since your buy by contacting the help crew on chat or e-mail.

What are one of the best options to NordVPN?

ExpressVPN is without doubt one of the finest options to NordVPN. It provides a proprietary protocol with quick connections (similar to NordLynx), works with geo-restrictions, and has numerous security options, together with a tracker and malware blocker. Surfshark and Proton VPN are additionally strong choices, offering nice options to safe your on-line actions.

Does NordVPN work in China?

No, NordVPN would not work in China. The corporate has made this clear and many individuals who’ve traveled to China have confirmed as a lot. Most VPN providers are both blocked or restricted by the Nice Firewall of China.