NordVPN Review

NordVPN’s Features

Comparing VPNs is pretty much like comparing cars. Any car can take you from point A to point B, but what we seek are the experience-enhancing features – engine torque, acceleration, cargo space, etc. Similarly, any VPN can protect your privacy by hiding your IP address and encrypting your online traffic. However, it’s how those functions are done that separates the best VPNs from the mediocre ones.

In this section, we’ll take you through NordVPN’s features and what it has under its hood. One thing we’d like to highlight, though, is how innovative NordVPN has been throughout the years. We remember testing NordVPN over a year ago, and even though it was already good then, it wasn’t as good as now. They’ve added new features, improved its speed, and developed a new VPN protocol. The bottom line is, NordVPN continues to evolve.

Servers Around the Globe

NordVPN has over 5,500 unique servers (and growing!) in total, but more than just the sheer number of servers, NordVPN offers virtual locations in 59 countries and over 100 cities. That makes NordVPN one of the best VPNs for travel. Wherever you may end up using it, there’s a good chance you’ll find a nearby server that offers fast speeds.

Additionally, people use VPNs all the time to change their virtual locations; for example, to get a U.S. IP address when they’re miles away from home. NordVPN’s server menu, which offers over 100 location options, is one of the largest on the market.

Headquartered in Panama

Though NordVPN operates worldwide, its headquarters are in Panama. That’s a big plus for us because Panama falls outside of Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes jurisdiction.1

For all the VPN newbies out there, those are surveillance alliances among countries. Depending on a VPN company headquarters location, government entities could force a company to give up data it gathered about its customers. For instance, governments can ask VPN companies to provide IP address logs for use in criminal investigations. While we don’t condone cybercriminals, it’s a huge red flag in our book if the government can willy-nilly access user logs of VPNs. And that’s why we love NordVPN. It’s outside the jurisdictions of government bodies that can do that.

Kill Switch

NordVPN knows that although its products are pretty good, they are not perfect. That’s why it built a kill switch into its apps. The kill switch is a necessary feature for stealthy VPNs. Apps with a kill switch offer better protection because they are able to stop your device’s internet connection in case the VPN gets disconnected.

Here’s why that’s important. If you’re browsing with a VPN, all your traffic is secure and private. The moment the connection drops, however, the cloak hiding your traffic is gone. Not only does that make your browsing activity visible to your ISP going forward, it could also reveal your previous activities that were hidden by your VPN.

With a kill switch, the moment the VPN is connected, all traffic from your device screeches to a halt. You actually get disconnected from the internet to prevent you and your device from sending anything over the web without protection.

The kill switch feature came in handy when we were doing investigative research on online privacy. We used NordVPN because we didn’t really want Big Brother to know we were poking around, but unfortunately, NordVPN timed out. Lucky for us, the kill switch activated. Otherwise, we would have continued browsing and our ISP would have seen what we were doing. And who knows what could have happened if it did?

Data Usage

If you’re worried that NordVPN might hold your internet browsing back, let us assure you based on our experience that it won’t. It has fast speeds and unlimited VPN data.

NordVPN lets you do what you normally do on the internet, but with more privacy. You can browse, download, and stream all you want. As a nice little side-effect, you can even change your Netflix region to access shows not available on Netflix U.S. by connecting to a server in a different country. We’ve tried that and it works.

Minimal Logging

Using a VPN means entrusting your data to the VPN provider. The VPN encrypts your internet traffic to hide it from your ISP and others who might be trying to track your online activities, but at the same time, the VPN can decrypt the very data it encrypted. If they choose to, VPNs can easily log your online data and possibly profit from it.

That’s why we always check how much data a VPN logs, and when it comes to NordVPN, we were pleased with what we found. First and foremost, whatever you do while connected to the VPN is not recorded. NordVPN doesn’t know which websites you visited, what you’ve downloaded, and what you streamed. It also doesn’t know your original IP address.

However, NordVPN logged some data, but these types of data weren’t related to our online activities. For example, it logged contact and personal information necessary to maintain our accounts, such as email addresses. It also remembered our default payment information.

As for the VPN usage itself, NordVPN logged things like timestamps of our last session, information we provided customer support whenever we contacted them, and some information about the NordVPN app we were using (version, device ID, etc.). We were fine with NordVPN collecting those types of data as they help improve the company’s VPN service and because the data can’t be tied back to us specifically.

Moreover, PricewaterhouseCoopers Switzerland has audited NordVPN’s logging policy twice, once in 2018 and again in July 2020. Most recently, in June 2021, VerSprite, a third-party consulting firm, completed an independent audit of NordVPN’s application security and found no critical vulnerabilities.2 Bottom line? All audits found the VPN to be completely secure when it comes to customer data.

Our NordVPN privacy report has more details on how the company handles user data.

Strong Encryption

The main point of using a VPN is to hide your online activities from the prying eyes of ISPs, government agencies, and hackers. To do that, VPNs like NordVPN encrypt all your online traffic to scramble the data and keep it private.

NordVPN uses the highest encryption standard available to VPNs today: 256-bit AES encryption. Just to show you how secure it is, 256-bit AES is otherwise known as “military-grade encryption” because it’s what the U.S. government uses to encrypt top-secret communications.

We also saw the same encryption standard when we reviewed Surfshark, another high-rated VPN, which means it’s what the leading VPNs use. Though we felt secure using both Surfshark and NordVPN, we did notice that SurfShark offered fewer servers than NordVPN, making connection times a bit slower depending on our location. Read our comparison of Surfshark and NordVPN if you wish to learn more.

Internet Protocols

In addition to strong encryption, NordVPN uses some of the best VPN protocols for speedy and secure delivery of online traffic. These protocols are OpenVPN and WireGuard.

OpenVPN has long been the gold-standard of VPN protocols. It’s fast and incredibly secure, as it seamlessly supports 256-bit AES encryption. It’s also versatile, allowing different kinds of data packets to pass through. It’s the VPN protocol we recommend to most desktop users.

Alternatively, users can opt to use WireGuard in the form of NordLynx. WireGuard is newer compared to OpenVPN, but it’s quickly gaining attention because of its speed. Unlike OpenVPN, WireGuard is great for mobile users because the protocol itself is lightweight, meaning, it won’t eat up much processing power and battery juice.

Aside from those protocols, NordVPN offers IKEv2/IPSec, an older and less secure protocol, but useful in niched applications, such as high-speed downloads or online gaming that requires stability.

Split Tunneling

By default, NordVPN encrypted all of our web traffic automatically and routed it through a secure VPN server. This is known as a full-tunnel mode. But did you know that NordVPN also offers split tunneling?

Split tunneling allows for some traffic to pass through the VPN tunnel and others to pass through normal, unencrypted networks. How exactly is that beneficial?

Picture this: You’re using a VPN to access Netflix U.K. on your commute to work. However, since you’re using full-tunnel mode, all your apps are connected to a U.K. server, even your weather app, and that means you’re seeing the weather in the U.K. and not in your local city. With split-tunneling, you can force your weather app to use the normal network so it fetches your city’s weather information.

Double VPN

NordVPN also employed a double VPN, meaning that our data went through multiple servers to gain multiple layers of encryption. This concept, known as VPN server chaining or multi-hop, enhanced our security so that absolutely no one knew what we were up to.

Even if, let’s say, a hacker managed to get through one layer of encryption, a second encryption layer would stand as extra protection. Most VPNs only use one server, so we felt good knowing that our data had twice the encryption protecting it before it reached its final destination.

Dedicated IP Address

While NordVPN uses shared dynamic IP addresses by default – meaning, multiple users can share the same IP address and address changes every time you connect – dedicated IP addresses are also available for an extra fee. With a dedicated IP address, NordVPN will assign you a server IP address that only you can use.

There are several advantages to having a dedicated IP address, one of which is that you’re less likely to have to fill up CAPTCHAs. Websites can see when multiple users are connecting to them using the same IP address, and that’s a red flag to them. That’s why you may notice an increased occurrence of CAPTCHAs when using a VPN with shared IP addresses. With NordVPN’s dedicated IP addresses, no one else will be using the same IP address as you, so online services are less likely to flag down connection requests from you.

NordVPN has dedicated IP addresses in the United States, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Germany, Canada, and Japan. We’ll discuss the cost below, under the ‘Subscription Options’ section.

Speed Tests

VPNs will sometimes slow down our internet speed, as the traffic has to go through an encryption server on top of a public network’s server. Regardless, we still wanted to see fast internet speeds while we were connected, so we made sure to test NordVPN ourselves. We used a MacBook Pro and an Acer Aspire 5 running Windows 10.

Lots of factors determine speed, like distance to the server, the device’s make and model, and the operating system, so keep in mind that there are a lot of things at play aside from the VPN itself.

In our results below, NordVPN worked much faster on our Acer Aspire 5 than on our MacBook Pro.

On our MacBook Pro, our download speed was about 25 percent slower while using NordVPN, while speed only decreased by eight percent on our Acer Aspire.

Our upload speeds were slower on our Mac than on our Windows, but download speeds on the Mac still excelled. For instance, when we needed to download a few files to share with our team, our Mac handled the task in just a couple of minutes.

Although NordVPN worked better on our Windows, it still held its own when we used our Mac, making it a versatile option no matter the device.

We should also note that NordVPN uses the NordLynx protocol, an adaptation of the Wireguard VPN protocol. Wireguard averaged 59 percent faster than OpenVPN in download speed tests.4 The NordLynx switchover hadn’t happened yet at the time of our NordVPN tests, but it’s safe to say that NordVPN’s download speeds have improved in recent years thanks to the NordLynx protocol.

DNS Leak Tests

DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is like yellow pages to the worldwide web. It’s a directory that converts domain names to IP addresses and vice versa, so that when you type in a domain name (e.g. Google), your traffic knows to go to the right IP address. We put all the VPNs we review through a test to make sure that they are hiding our DNS when we connect to them. Fortunately, the company passed our evaluation, meaning that there were no DNS leaks when we connected to NordVPN.

WebRTC Leak Tests

We liked WebRTC because it allowed all the things we had going, like Netflix, video chats, and files we had to download, to use less bandwidth. However, WebRTC comes at a cost: the devices know each other’s private IP addresses, a big no-no for us. We conducted a WebRTC test to make sure that our IP addresses didn’t leak when we were using NordVPN. Luckily, NordVPN passed with flying colors on both Windows and Mac, showing different IP addresses than the real ones on our computers.

Subscription Options

We know that the bottom line matters when choosing a VPN, so we gathered all the relevant information for you to compare VPNs. For NordVPN, we found the pricing structure to be a little bit confusing. But that’s why we’re here, right? Let’s unpack NordVPN’s pricing.

NordVPN offers three levels of service. There’s the Standard plan, the Plus plan, and the Complete plan. What you have to know beforehand is that NordVPN is a part of Nord Security, and aside from NordVPN, Nord Security operates NordPass (password manager) and NordLocker (secure cloud).

Now, back to the plans. The Standard plan is a standard VPN plan, so everything that NordVPN offers is in this plan. Stepping up to the Plus plan, you’ll get both NordVPN and NordPass features. And lastly, with the Complete plan, you’ll get NordVPN, NordPass, and Nord Locker features.

We’ll discuss the specifics below, but let’s get the price out of the way first. Each plan is available in monthly, annual, and two-year subscriptions, with the monthly option having the highest rates and the two-year option offering the lowest prices.

As for the features, the Plus and Complete plans include access to NordPass’ multi-platform password manager plus a data breach scanner that scans recent breaches for emails and passwords of NordVPN users. With the Complete plan, additional access to one TB of encrypted cloud storage is included, courtesy of NordLocker.

After choosing a plan, you can also add a dedicated IP address at checkout. Pricing for dedicated IPs is similar to the VPN pricing in that you can choose the length of the subscription, and the longer you subscribe for, the better the price.

Before you buy, make sure to check out NordVPN’s deals to see how you can unlock savings.

24/7 Customer Support

NordVPN offered several options for its customer service, like 24/7 live chat, email support, and an in-depth database of submitted user questions to leaf through. When we wanted to dig into the details on what data the VPN logged, for example, we navigated to NordVPN’s support page. While NordVPN doesn’t provide a phone number in case we wanted to talk to a human, we still had access to plenty of resources on NordVPN’s support page.

Video Review

In our video review, we take you through what it’s really like using NordVPN. You’ll get a better sense of exactly how this service works to help choose a VPN for you. And we’ll take you along on our process of testing NordVPN for speed and leaks.

In Summary

Overall, we give NordVPN a 9.7 out of 10 rating based on the numerous factors we measured like features, reliability, performance, and cost-value correlation. It’s currently our highest-rated VPN.

Is NordVPN the only good option? No. Some other VPNs come close to NordVPN. For example, here’s our ranked listing of NordVPN competitors:

• Surfshark: 9.5/10 (2nd place)
• Private Internet Access: 9.4/10 (3rd place)
• UltraVPN: 9.2/10 (4th place)

However, if what you’re looking for is a versatile option with a global reach and first-class software, NordVPN definitely deserves to be one of your top considerations.

We loved that NordVPN’s headquarters is in Panama because that meant we didn’t have to stress about the possibility of the government seeing our data. We were also more than happy to see its set of features, which includes rare ones like DoubleVPN, Dedicated IP, and a proprietary VPN protocol in NordLynx. Lastly, NordVPN passed all of our speed and security tests with top marks, making us confident that it could protect our privacy while we used the internet however we pleased.