NordVPN might be one of the most popular VPNs, according to our VPN statistics, but is it any good? There’s a lot of stiff competition out there and NordVPN is far from perfect. For example, NordVPN limits the number of simultaneous connections. Surfshark does not.
As our guide to VPNs explains, there are many factors to consider when it comes to assessing a VPN. We always consider factors like server fleet, speed, encryption protocols, and more. After our latest assessment, we can confidently say that NordVPN is one of the best VPN services of 2025. Why? Because it delivers so well on the essentials: a large server fleet, strong no-logs policy, and user-friendly experience.
NordVPN Quick Highlights
| Encryption | 256-bit AES or ChaCha 20 |
|---|---|
| VPN protocol | OpenVPN, WireGuard (NordLynx), NordWhisper |
| Servers | 7,000+ in 118 countries |
| Apps | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Apple TV, and web browser extensions |
How Much Does NordVPN Cost?
Because there are different plan tiers and term lengths, the cost of a NordVPN subscription isn’t exactly straightforward. We’ll start by breaking down those package tiers and what they give you in return for your hard-earned money.
NordVPN Subscription Packages
Those four packages are “Basic,” “Plus,” “Complete,” and “Prime,” but no matter which you go with, the VPN service stays the same. You can connect to any of the servers, enjoy unlimited speed and data, use all available encryption and VPN protocols, and get ads and malicious domains blocked. You also get a 10-device limit on simultaneous connections with any package.
The “Basic” plan includes just the VPN. The rest offer additional tools and services, from a password manager to a bare-bones identity theft protection service with coverage up to $1 million (similar to the best identity protection services). We made a table to make it easier for you to decide:
| Basic | Plus | Complete | Prime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN (Virtual Private Network) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Threat Protection Pro | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NordPass (password manager) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NordLocker (encrypted cloud storage) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| NordProtect (identity theft protection) | No | No | No | Yes |
Buying Advice: We recommend at least the “Plus” plan because of “Threat Protection Pro.” The “Basic” plan with “Threat Protection” can filter ads and malicious domains using NordVPN’s private DNS servers. “Threat Protection Pro” adds to that by also blocking fraudulent websites (phishing and hosting malware) and stopping you from downloading files that contain malware.
NordVPN Subscription Pricing
The price for NordVPN subscriptions ranges from $3.09 to $17.99 per month, depending on the length of commitment and package tier. As is typical, the longer the VPN subscription, and the lower the tier, the better the rate: That $3.09 per month rate is for the two-year NordVPN Basic plan. Nord will occasionally tack on extra free months to lower the prices even further.
| Subscription options | Basic | Plus | Complete | Prime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | $12.99 | $13.99 | $14.99 | $17.99 |
| 1 year | $59.88 ($4.99 per month average) | $71.88 ($5.99 per month average) | $83.88 ($6.99 per month average) | $119.88 ($9.99 per month average) |
| 2 years (+3 extra free months) | $83.43 ($3.09 per month average) | $107.73 ($3.39 per month average) | $134.73 ($4.99 per month average) | $188.73 ($6.99 per month average) |
We recommend signing up for a two-year subscription to enjoy the reduced rate, especially since NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee. It’s risk-free to try; it’s one of the best VPN free trials. You’ll pay the full subscription price up front, and if you decide you don’t want it, you have the first 30 days to cancel and get your money back. If you do decide to keep it, keep in mind NordVPN is also one of our favorite long-term VPNs.
Now, we know NordVPN isn’t the cheapest around. Surfshark plans start at $2.19 per month, and Private Internet Access subscriptions cost even less at $2.03 per month over three years. But NordVPN remains one of the most affordable VPNs around when you consider its features compared to the competition.
NordVPN’s Features
VPNs are now more than just VPNs. They offer additional features to widen the scope of their digital protections – NordVPN, most of all. We welcome the change, but we understand it can be overwhelming to nonexperts. So when we tested NordVPN, we categorized its features into privacy, security, and server network features.
- Privacy features: These are features that relate to your online privacy, from how NordVPN changes your IP address – or more accurately, hides it – to the company’s privacy policy and data collection.
- Security features: These are features that protect you from various online threats, including malware and malicious domains. We also cover encryption and other features that protect your online traffic as it traverses the web.
- Server network features: These are features and capabilities related to NordVPN’s servers, particularly how well they can access streaming sites and provide users a safe torrenting experience.
A “no-logs” VPN is non-negotiable. We thoroughly reviewed NordVPN’s privacy policy and were pleased to see it promises not to record sensitive data while you’re connected to its service. But we never take the company’s word for it. After further digging, we found NordVPN has undergone audits by independent third parties. The audits confirm that NordVPN follows its policy. That was good enough for us to put NordVPN on our best “no-logs” VPN list.
NordVPN Privacy Features
Highlights:
- Independently audited privacy policy
- Panama location outside of Five Eyes surveillance
- Kill switch
- Double VPN
- Onion Over VPN
Privacy is the primary reason most people use VPNs, and for that, you should first look for a “no-logs” VPN. That’s nonnegotiable. A “no-logs” VPN, such as NordVPN, promises through its privacy policy never to record any sensitive information related to your VPN usage that can compromise your online anonymity. This includes your web activity and your real IP address.
NordVPN even went a step further by submitting its privacy policy to independent audits. Even as experts, we can’t confirm through our tests that NordVPN follows its privacy policy. Those audits can, and they did.1 That’s why NordVPN is in our best “no-logs” VPNs list.
NordVPN’s headquarters are in Panama, which is by design. The Central American country isn’t part of data-sharing alliances so you don’t have to worry about getting wrongly swept up in an international dragnet.2 Panama is also particularly robust when it comes to data privacy laws.3 Bottom line: You should feel assured that your use of the VPN is kept private by NordVPN.
That’s just the start. Now let’s discuss NordVPN’s privacy features we actually tested.
Kill Switch
A VPN hides your real IP address, but if your connection suddenly drops, a feature known as a kill switch will disconnect you to prevent your real IP from leaking. During our testing, we used the VPN to change our Netflix region. When the video suddenly buffered and stopped, Netflix said there was a network error, but it turned out our NordVPN connection had dropped. Instead of Netflix suddenly seeing we were based in the US, our NordVPN app activated the kill switch and shut down the entire connection.
Now, imagine if something like that happened while you’re torrenting or doing something that requires anonymity, and your VPN doesn’t have a kill switch. The website you’re on will see your real IP address, and you can kiss your online privacy goodbye. That’s why we believe that a VPN kill switch is a nonnegotiable feature every VPN should have.
You can choose how and when NordVPN’s kill switch activates. We chose the default option – by blocking all traffic only when the VPN connection drops unexpectedly. But you can also set the kill switch to activate when you disconnect the VPN manually, or even set select apps to shutdown when the kill switch activates. We think those options are overkill for regular internet users, but if you want absolute privacy, you can tweak those settings to tailor the experience.
Double VPN
Double VPN is another feature we find can come in handy to those seeking complete privacy. It’s exactly as it sounds – it connects you to the VPN twice, hiding your IP address behind two VPN servers. It’s also a security feature because it doubles the encryption. However, all those extra steps make double VPN connections much slower than a normal VPN – by as much as 80 percent in our experience. That’s why we don’t use it that much; we only do it when we want to be sure about our anonymity.
NordVPN’s double VPN feature is also not our favorite because it limits users to only 10 server locations. That’s fine if you only need to be as private as possible. But if you also need to connect to a specific location and it’s not on the list, it won’t work out for you. We found Surfshark’s “Dynamic MultiHop” a much better way to deliver a double VPN. It let us select the location of the first and second servers from its entire pool of 100 countries, which allowed for full customizability.
Onion Over VPN
We also tested how well NordVPN works with other privacy networks, particularly the Onion network or Tor. It did amazingly well thanks to its specialized “Onion Over VPN” servers. Now, you might not need to know about all this. If you don’t use Tor, feel free to skip ahead. But if using the Onion network is part of your privacy strategy, NordVPN will fit right in.
Onion network relays are operated by volunteers, so it’s possible for malicious actors to set up nodes that can monitor the traffic and IP addresses passing through it. Using a VPN along with Tor adds an extra layer of privacy and encryption to protect you from snoopers.
Not all VPNs work well with the Onion network, so we tested NordVPN’s “Onion Over VPN” servers. We connected to one of the specialty servers and started up Tor. It connected to the Onion network like normal, albeit slower by around 30 seconds, and we didn’t notice any significant slowdowns while browsing the dark web. At least, not any more than we experience when using Tor, anyway. We’d even say that NordVPN worked better and faster than when we tested IPVanish’s Tor over VPN.
Security Features
Highlights:
- VPN and encryption protocols
- “Threat Protection Pro”
- Obfuscation
- Post-quantum encryption
- Identity protection
NordVPN can keep you private and anonymous online really well – we’ve seen as much – but it can also keep you safe from online threats. The main thing here is encryption. All VPNs encrypt traffic that they route through their servers, so even if it’s intercepted, your online activity and data is safe. But that’s just the bare minimum. Let’s take a closer look at how NordVPN’s features offer online security.
VPN and Encryption Protocols
If you’ve ever wondered how a VPN works, the VPN protocol is the answer. It’s a set of detailed instructions that tells the VPN software how to route traffic from your device to the server. This includes how to encrypt data, which network ports to use, and how to chop up blocks of data into data packets. We won’t get into the specifics, but we made a VPN protocol guide that explains everything you need to know.
NordVPN lets you choose which protocol to use, as VPNs normally do. The options we saw were OpenVPN, NordLynx (based on WireGuard), and the new NordWhisper protocol.
- OpenVPN: We found this to be the most robust in terms of encryption, as it uses the gold standard 256-bit AES. However, it’s not the fastest (5 to 10 percent slower than NordLynx in our tests) and it appears to use more resources than NordLynx. The iPhone we use for testing tends to heat up faster when using OpenVPN, so we recommend using it on desktops and laptops.
- NordLynx: NordVPN created this protocol based on WireGuard, which has emerged as a great and faster alternative to OpenVPN. While it’s incapable of using 256-bit AES, it uses the similarly secure ChaCha20 encryption. Plus, it’s the only protocol offered by NordVPN that supports post-quantum encryption (more on this later).
- NordWhisper: NordVPN also built this protocol with the primary purpose of securing data in restrictive local network environments, such as office and school networks. We are yet to test it extensively because it’s new, but we asked our IT team to monitor and block VPNs on our office network. NordWhisper was able to get through.
Keep in mind, NordVPN’s app can choose the best VPN protocol for your connection automatically. That’s the default setting when we installed the app. We recommend keeping it at that unless there’s something specific you want to achieve (such as bypassing VPN blocks on your local network using NordWhisper).
Threat Protection Pro
We’d consider any VPN good as long as it has strong encryption and trustworthy VPN protocols, but NordVPN didn’t stop there. It offers “Threat Protection” with any subscription, and “Threat Protection Pro” for “Plus,” “Complete,” and “Prime” users.
- Threat Protection: This feature filters ads and third-party trackers as you browse websites. It doesn’t get rid of all ad banners – there are better ad-blockers out there. But it was able to hide about 80 percent of ads on ads-heavy websites we visited.
- Threat Protection Pro: In addition to blocking ads and trackers, this feature also blocks you from accessing fraudulent websites (such as phishing sites) and from downloading files that contain malware. We tested this by downloading the EICAR malware test file,5 and sure enough, “Threat Protection Pro” denied it.
The best part isn’t even that NordVPN offers those features, but that they run even if you’re not connected to the VPN. It’s not quite as robust as antivirus software, but “Threat Protection Pro” is the reason we have NordVPN in our list of the best antivirus/VPN bundles.
“Threat Protection Pro” has another nifty feature exclusively for Windows computers – vulnerability scanner. Essentially, it scans the computer for risky and outdated apps so you can remove or update them. We’re pretty good at staying on top of these types of stuff, but we’re sure there are busy folks who will find good use for the vulnerability scanner.
Obfuscation
We mentioned earlier how NordWhisper can bypass local network restrictions on VPNs, but some VPN blocks go beyond local networks. For example, there are countries with strong internet censorship that don’t allow the use of VPNs, or allow it but under strict monitoring. Obfuscation is the answer. It camouflages VPN traffic so it looks like normal traffic and to evade surveillance.
However, unlike Surfshark that can obfuscate pretty much all of its servers, we noticed NordVPN offers obfuscated servers as specialty servers. Only 16 locations (countries) have obfuscated servers, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Japan, Poland, and Spain. Just like with double VPN, the locations you can access with obfuscation are limited. Nonetheless, obfuscation is a great feature to have if you’re living in or traveling to a restrictive country. It’s why we recommend NordVPN as a great VPN for traveling.
Post-Quantum Cryptography
Those were NordVPN’s primary security features, but there are a couple of others we’d like to mention. First is post-quantum cryptography (PQC), available optionally through NordLynx connections.
The current encryption standards (256-bit AES and ChaCha20) are practically unbreakable even with today’s supercomputers but could be threatened once quantum computers are developed. NordVPN developed a type of PQC that could protect users – especially businesses – if or when that happens. We don’t think it’s necessary to use the feature now, but it shows NordVPN is looking ahead and future-proofing its products.
Identity Protection
The other feature is identity protection, which can protect you from identity theft – a more immediate threat. The reason we don’t consider it a main feature is that it requires the NordVPN “Prime” plan. It covers dark web monitoring and credit monitoring.
The highlight of NordVPN’s identity protection is insurance and restoration. If you fall victim to identity theft, your losses are covered for up to $1 million. The same is true if you fall victim to cyber extortion (e.g., ransomware), but the coverage for that is only up to $100,000. We don’t absolutely recommend you upgrade to the “Prime” plan, but those are nice protections to consider.
Server Features
Highlights:
- 7,200 servers in 118 countries and counting
- RAM-based servers
- Streaming
- Torrenting and P2P support
- Meshnet
- Dedicated IPs
We can talk about NordVPN’s exciting security and privacy features all we want, but the truth is without servers or with only a few of them, it just won’t work.
NordVPN has a large network of over 7,200 servers and an impressive global reach – 118 countries. It’s not resting on its laurels either because we still see those numbers rising. At the start of 2024, NordVPN only had around 6,000 servers in about 60 countries.
NordVPN’s current server network is one of the biggest among the VPNs we’ve tested. Here’s a quick comparison between our top five VPNs.
| Top 5 Highest Rated VPNs of 2025 | No. of Servers | Server Locations (countries) |
|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | 7,200+ | 118 |
| Surfshark | 3,200+ | 100 |
| Private Internet Access | 10,000+ | 91 |
| Hotspot Shield | 1,800+ | 80 |
| Norton Secure VPN | 1,500+ | 31 |
Having a presence as wide reaching as NordVPN is good for you. It means that wherever in the world you might find yourself, there’s a good chance you’ll find a server nearby. And in our experience, the closer you are to a server, the faster the speed is.
There are some exemptions to that. NordVPN’s network consists of both physically located and virtually located servers. A physical server is literally where it says it is – a server that gives you a U.S. IP address is really in the U.S. Virtual servers, on the other hand, are located somewhere else. NordVPN’s Indian servers are actually in Singapore because of India’s controversial CERT-In law. You’ll still get an India IP address, but because they’re in Singapore, you’ll see better speeds by connecting to a neighboring country (Pakistan, Nepal, etc.) than if you’re in India.
The More You Know: India’s CERT-In law aims to protect the Indian government and citizens from cybercrime, but it has a provision that requires VPN servers set up in the country to keep users’ logs, violating the “no-logs” policies of VPNs. That’s why most VPNs have now removed their servers in India.
RAM-Based Servers
NordVPN’s servers also run on random access memory (RAM). We noticed a lot of the top VPNs have switched to RAM-based servers from servers that use hard disk drives (HDD) to store data. Take a look at our ExpressVPN review. It’s another VPN that uses RAM-based servers, which it calls “TrustedServer.”
There’s a good reason for that switch. RAM is ideal for server data storage because it uses volatile memory – in simple terms, once the server is shut off or cycled, it loses all stored data. In contrast, HDD has data remanence, where residual data can remain even after you delete a file. That means with the right recovery software, you can recover deleted files from a hard disk. That’s a security and privacy risk, especially for VPN servers that potentially contain sensitive data (e.g., encryption keys). In short, VPNs that use RAM-based servers are slightly more secure.
Streaming
Let’s move on to the more fun stuff – streaming. We’ll tell you outright that NordVPN is one of our favorite streaming VPNs. For one, it’s fast. We’ll show you our speed tests in a minute. The other reason is that it can access streaming services with excellent reliability. We’ve used the VPN to watch Netflix, Disney+, Max, ESPN+, and even YouTube TV. In fact, we were able to access YouTube TV on a trip abroad by connecting our laptop to NordVPN. In case you didn’t know, YouTube TV is available only in the U.S.
Of course, streaming platforms are working hard to fend off VPNs that can bypass their content restrictions. They are successful at times. While testing for the top VPNs for Disney+, the streaming platform noticed and blocked NordVPN 3 in 10 of our tries. Still, a 70 percent success rate on a platform known as one of the best VPN blockers is a passing grade to us.
We should also note that unlike VPNs like Private Internet Access, which only have select streaming-optimized servers, all NordVPN servers (the ones we connected to anyway) can access streaming sites. That means you get more options, as you can connect to any of NordVPN’s 118 server locations and (most likely) access content available to that region.
Torrenting and P2P
Besides streaming, people use VPNs to download torrent. Torrenting is technically legal in the U.S., but it’s in a gray area because some use it to download pirated media, which is illegal. Internet providers also frown upon customers who download or seed torrent files because of how much bandwidth they consume. So even if we only download noncopyrighted media via torrent, we still use VPNs so our internet provider doesn’t see what we’re doing and throttle our speeds.
We’ve confirmed through testing that the best VPNs to use for torrenting are those that have servers that support P2P connections. P2P servers allow faster downloads and are more likely to work with torrent clients. NordVPN has P2P servers in almost all its 118 locations; we counted only four countries that don’t. That’s pretty good, although keep in mind we have tested some VPNs that allow P2P traffic on all their servers. Surfshark, Private Internet Access, and IPVanish are good examples.
>> Compare: IPVanish vs. NordVPN
Extra Features
There are a couple of other server features we want to mention, namely “Meshnet” and dedicated IPs.
“Meshnet” is a free feature you can use without signing up for a subscription. It creates a virtual local area network for your devices, but they don’t need to be connected to the same router to join the network. That means you can securely share files (we use “Meshnet” for this in the office), share screens, or even play LAN games (remember those?) from anywhere. It is part of why NordVPN made our list of the best gaming VPNs, especially for those who prefer old-school LAN gaming.
NordVPN offers dedicated IP addresses as an add-on you can buy. This gives you an IP address only you can access, as opposed to sharing IP addresses with other users. NordVPN charges an additional $4.19 per month on top of your monthly subscription plan for this service. While we didn’t test this service, buying this add-on might be worth it if you need a static IP address, such as to log into a remote workspace.
Other Options: Lots of other VPNs offer dedicated IPs, but one of the most affordable is Private Internet Access (PIA VPN). Each IP address can cost as little as $2.50 per month. However, PIA’s dedicated IPs are from only 10 countries, whereas NordVPN has servers that have dedicated IP addresses in 24 countries.
Speed Tests
In addition to testing NordVPN’s many features, we also ran some tests to measure the quality of its connections. The first we tested was the speed.
Of course, almost all VPNs will cause your internet to slow down. Encrypting your traffic and running it past a VPN server will result in slightly slower site load times, downloads, and even streaming. The question is, “By how much?”
Before we discuss the results of our tests, just know that there are lots of factors that can affect your VPN speed. Some of the variables include your distance to the server, your device’s operating system, and the version of the VPN app you’re running.
Even if our VPN speed tests show that NordVPN is one of the fastest VPNs around, we can’t guarantee that the results will always be the same for you. It certainly wasn’t for us; NordVPN performed well in our speed tests, but while using the VPN, we noticed that some server locations are slower, resulting in longer buffering times when streaming.
In any case, we were satisfied with the speeds NordVPN gave us. We tested it several times by running speed tests with and without the VPN side by side, and these were the results.
| NordVPN Speed Test Results | Upload Speed | Download Speed | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed before using NordVPN | 95 Mbps | 95 Mbps | 3 ms |
| Avg. speed with NordVPN connected | 91 Mbps | 89 Mbps | 78 ms |
| Difference | ~4% drop | ~6% drop | ~2,500% increase |
In those tests, we always connected to a server in Australia (~10,000 miles from where we ran the tests). We used a Windows 11 laptop connected to a 100 Mbps wired, fiber-optic network. Also note that we used OpenVPN, and as mentioned earlier, WireGuard (NordLynx) has the potential to be faster. We opted to use OpenVPN to level the playing field, because it’s the only protocol that all the other VPNs we tested offer. Of those 12 VPNs, NordVPN ranked third overall.
