NordVPN Review

As you can see, despite advertising itself as a “true no-logs VPN,” NordVPN does retain a small amount of user data. The VPN logs your username and a connection timestamp for 15 minutes after a session ends.

Importantly, though, no third party can use this to link any of your online activities to you as an individual. NordVPN’s privacy policy has been audited four times, as recently as December 2023, to confirm it does not retain any personally identifiable information.

One downside is that NordVPN has clarified it could start logging the activity of a user under criminal investigation. However, according to its transparency reports, there has been no evidence of cooperation with law enforcement requests for user information.

Based in a Private Jurisdiction

NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction with no affiliation to any international surveillance alliances. Panama has strong data privacy protection, allowing NordVPN to only retain minimal user data without being subject to government interference.

Cyberspace, the company behind NordVPN, is registered in the Netherlands. After contacting it, a NordVPN representative confirmed this does not affect NordVPN’s Panama jurisdiction. NordVPN still operates in Panama and continues to benefit from its privacy-friendly laws.

Dedicated IP Feature Is a Privacy Concern

NordVPN provides a dedicated IP feature for an additional $4.19 per month. However, we’ve found that it contains a serious privacy issue as the dedicated IP address is directly connected to your NordVPN account.

Consequently, if law enforcement suspects any criminal activity associated with a dedicated IP address, NordVPN would be obligated to provide the user’s full details. As a result, the dedicated IP feature doesn’t offer any privacy advantages over a regular ISP connection.

NordVPN’s dedicated IP address is linked to user accounts.

Other VPNs, like CyberGhost and PIA, have addressed this issue by using a token-based system. In short, this prevents the VPN service from linking the dedicated IP address to the user’s account.

Given NordVPN’s reputation as a privacy-focused VPN, we trust that it will fix this vulnerability soon, now that we’ve alerted it. But for now, we strongly recommend avoiding its dedicated IP feature.

Excellent Privacy-Enhancing Technical Features

NordVPN includes many technical features that make it a top choice for protecting web privacy. Here’s a quick summary of them and how well they worked in our tests:

NordVPN itself and other VPN review websites credit NordVPN’s excellent streaming performance to its branded SmartPlay feature, which switches between DNS servers when you access geo-blocked content.

However, this feature is not unique to NordVPN. All of the top VPNs for streaming, including Windscribe and PrivateVPN, use a similar DNS-based method to access streaming services, often with a higher success rate across various content platforms.

Read on to find out more about our NordVPN streaming tests.

Reliably Streams 17 Netflix Libraries

NordVPN is currently one of the best VPNs for Netflix. In every test over the past three months NordVPN has always been able to access the US content library. This marks a significant improvement from our previous experience, where Netflix often blocked NordVPN’s IP addresses.

Our hands-on analysis found that, unlike competitors such as ExpressVPN and PrivateVPN, NordVPN automatically connects you to a server that’s compatible with US Netflix. This means you don’t have to waste time finding a working server.

NordVPN works reliably with US Netflix.

We also tested NordVPN servers in 111 countries to see if it could access popular Netflix libraries.

NordVPN unblocked almost all of the most popular Netflix libraries. You can view NordVPN’s compatibility with popular Netflix libraries in the table below:

However, NordVPN is currently unable to access Netflix’s India and Netherlands libraries. We hope to see improvements in this area, especially considering that competing VPN services like Windscribe and PrivateVPN successfully provide access to these regions.

Works with US Streaming Services

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs for accessing HBO Max, Hulu, YouTube TV, Peacock, and all other US-based streaming websites from abroad.

The first server we tried was successful with each platform, but NordVPN also has multiple servers in 16 US cities to switch between if you encounter any issues.

When connecting to a US NordVPN server from Europe, videos always loaded instantly in 1080p (Full HD) and performance was comparable to our home non-VPN connection.

NordVPN can bypass HBO Max’s geo-blocks

Unlike Surfshark, the VPN doesn’t come with a fake GPS feature for Android. We couldn’t bypass location checks on our Android phone to stream blackout games on NBA League Pass or MLB.tv.

Accesses BBC iPlayer, Sky Go & Other UK Streaming Services

NordVPN is our top-rated VPN for BBC iPlayer. Over years of testing, the VPN has consistently bypassed geo-blocks on the platform. Using NordLynx and connecting to a UK server from the US, we didn’t experience any buffering and videos displayed at the maximum resolution.

NordVPN is one of the most reliable VPNs for streaming BBC iPlayer.

Impressively, the VPN could stream BBC content on all of its UK servers. This contrasts with other leading VPNs, including ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, where we had to contact customer support to find a compatible server.

NordVPN also worked to unblock Channel 4 from overseas, ITVX, and every other streaming service that requires a UK IP address. Our speeds even remained fast enough to stream live Premier League games on Now and Sky Go without any issues.

Works Well with Kodi

NordVPN is a good choice for hiding your Kodi activity from your ISP due to its excellent streaming performance and private logging policy.

With its Fire TV and Android TV apps, NordVPN is compatible with all popular Kodi boxes. Using it on an Nvidia Shield, we accessed popular geo-restricted Kodi add-ons, like Adult Swim, without encountering any error messages or detecting data leaks.

NordVPN concealed Kodi traffic from our ISP.

Here’s a table showing NordVPN’s speed test results:

As you can see, even in locations as far away as Australia, NordVPN maintained incredibly fast speeds — well above what we typically see from other VPNs.

NordVPN can sustain this excellent speed performance as it has more servers than other VPNs. It also automatically connects you to a less-congested server, preventing overloaded servers and throttled performance.

In the chart below, view how NordVPN’s local and average international download speed compares to other top VPNs:

These results show that NordVPN is one of the fastest VPNs you can get. It’s quick enough for streaming content from international libraries, quickly downloading torrent files, and general web browsing.

Low Latency for Lag-Free Gaming

NordVPN maintains a low ping rate across its server network. While connected to a nearby server, we recorded a ping of just 8ms, making it one of the best VPNs for gaming.

Using it, we were able to play fast-paced games, like CS:GO, without encountering any lag or performance issues. As you’d expect, ping was a lot slower when using it to access easier gaming lobbies in Brazil. But 119ms was still low enough for a smooth experience.

Our ping never exceeds 8ms on NordVPN servers.

NordVPN’s low latency can be credited to its NordLynx protocol, which is based on WireGuard. WireGuard is built to optimize data transmission, which reduces the time it takes to send packets between your device and the VPN server.

Impressively, NordVPN conducts regular independent security audits and offers a bug bounty program to ensure these features are implemented correctly in its apps. That way, the VPN can fix any security vulnerabilities before they’re discovered by a bad actor.

You can read our analysis and findings of NordVPN’s security and technical features in the following sections.

Uses Safe & Open-Sourced Tunneling Protocols

NordVPN uses cutting-edge VPN protocols to protect your personal data from third parties.

All of NordVPN’s software uses NordLynx by default, which is simply WireGuard with the addition of double NAT. This is no different from every other VPN that uses WireGuard, but NordVPN has chosen to brand it to try and differentiate itself.

WireGuard is our preferred VPN protocol as it’s open-source and widely used. This makes NordVPN’s security protocols more trusted than ExpressVPN, NordVPN’s top competitor, which uses an exclusive protocol instead of WireGuard.

Secure Encryption Prevents Third-Party Monitoring

NordVPN secures traffic using trusted encryption algorithms. The VPN uses ChaCha20 to encrypt the traffic in its VPN tunnel and establishes the connection with a 2048-bit DH key.

To verify this worked as advertised, we analyzed the packets passing through our network using Wireshark. As you can see in the screenshot below, NordVPN’s encryption meant that our internet traffic was shown as random text, preventing any third party from monitoring our activity.

NordVPN kept our internet traffic private and secure.

Strong Server Security Prevents Unauthorized Access

Following a minor server vulnerability in 2018, NordVPN now includes more server security protections than almost any other VPN.

In contrast to the vast majority of other VPNs that rent servers from third-party data centers, over 10% of NordVPN’s servers are colocated. This means they are owned by NordVPN and only it has access to them, avoiding any vulnerabilities caused by third-party providers.

NordVPN has pledged that all 6,328 of its servers will be colocated in the future.

In addition, NordVPN only uses diskless VPN servers. These servers don’t contain any storage devices, making it almost impossible for a third party to extract any user data from the server.

Kill Switch Stops Data Leaks

In our tests, NordVPN successfully prevented our IP address from leaking both when our connection dropped and when we switched between server locations.

NordVPN passed all of our kill switch tests by concealing our IP address.

Uncommonly, NordVPN provides two different types of VPN kill switch: an internet kill switch and an app kill switch.

The internet kill switch works by blocking your device’s connection to the internet if the VPN connection drops suddenly. The app kill switch — available on Windows and macOS only — lets you apply kill switch protection to selected apps only.

We recommend using the system-wide internet kill switch for added security, especially if you’re torrenting files.

Using NordVPN, you can browse the internet as if you’re located in many popular countries, including the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. These locations also include city-level servers, so you can connect to a specific city within the country.

NordVPN’s US city servers on iOS.

While city-level server options aren’t available in all countries, you’ll still be able to get an IP address from almost every country in the world.

NordVPN offers servers in far more countries than many popular VPNs. For instance, it has servers in 6 more countries than IPVanish and 67 more than Mullvad.

This represents an expansion of over 80% compared to 2023, when the VPN service had servers in just 60 countries.

This growth has been achieved through the use of virtual server locations. Though these introduce minor concerns about transparency and potential speed reductions, the trade-off is worth it to access more server locations.

We found installing NordVPN to be straightforward. We simply visited the website, clicked “Get NordVPN,” created an account, and downloaded the appropriate software for our device.

However, the onboarding experience was disappointing. Unlike many competitors, NordVPN didn’t provide a tutorial to help us navigate its features when we opened the app for the first time. This made it a bit challenging to get started, especially for beginners.

NordVPN’s apps are packed with features, but we felt the interface was often cluttered and unintuitive. Many functions, like server options and Threat Protection, were hidden behind unlabeled icons. This required us to hover over each one to figure out what they did, which became frustrating.

We found NordVPN easy to use on a daily basis, with features like auto-connect making it convenient to stay protected without manually opening the app. Split tunneling was another favorite, as it let us exclude certain apps, like smart home devices, from the VPN tunnel without disconnecting entirely.

However, some features, like the Pause button, didn’t feel useful to us. We rarely found a need to temporarily disconnect, and we would’ve preferred if this button didn’t take up prominent space on the home screen.

NordVPN’s apps come with small quality-of-life features, like auto-connect.

We also felt the 2022 redesign was a step backward. The new interface hides more settings behind icons, making it less intuitive than the older version.

NordVPN is compatible with all popular torrent clients, including uTorrent, qBittorrent, and Vuze. We also verified that it works with magnet links, allowing us to instantly start downloading the torrent file.

NordVPN’s best-in-class security features, like the kill switch and safe NordLynx protocol,
conceal your torrenting activity. Additionally, its private logging policy means that NordVPN has never forwarded DMCA requests to its users.

Sadly, NordVPN doesn’t allow you to torrent while connected to servers in 14 countries, including Argentina, Israel, and South Korea. However, the VPN app automatically reroutes P2P traffic through dedicated servers in Canada or the Netherlands, causing minimal impact on speed.

To connect to one of these servers, simply select P2P from the top of the server list.

NordVPN includes servers optimized for torrenting activity.

In the table below, you can compare how fast NordVPN could download a 20GB torrent versus other VPNs:

As you can see, NordVPN downloads files faster than most competing services. However, to further improve its performance, we’d like to see NordVPN add port forwarding. This advanced P2P feature typically boosts torrent download speeds and is included with some other VPNs, like Proton VPN and PIA.

Disappointingly, unlike ExpressVPN, you have to manually install NordVPN on a router because it has no dedicated app.

10 Simultaneous Connections

NordVPN allows you to use it on up to 10 devices at once. This is above the industry standard, but still less than competitors like Surfshark that offer unlimited device connections.

To bypass the simultaneous connection limit and secure all devices in your household, install the VPN on your home router.

NordVPN is one of only a few VPNs to include a multi-hop feature. Unlike a standard VPN connection, this routes your internet traffic through two separate VPN servers and encrypts the traffic twice.

This improves your network security by making it more difficult for an attacker to track your traffic and identify your real IP address.

Based on our tests, NordVPN has the best multi-hop feature of any VPN. It is compatible with WireGuard and, unlike Proton VPN, encrypts traffic twice instead of merely routing it through an additional location.

To enable it, find the ‘Specialty servers’ option in the app’s server list and select Double VPN.

NordVPN’s multi-hop servers are easy to discover.

However, we would like for NordVPN to provide multi-hop servers in more locations. As it stands, they’re limited to just nine countries, all in either Asia, North America, or Western Europe. Broadening this would improve performance for users in other regions.

NordVPN’s Threat Protection feature is one of the best VPN ad and malware blockers we’ve used.

According to our research, the VPN’s ad blocker blocked 60% of ads and 66% of analytic trackers. You can see an illustration of our findings in the chart below:

NordVPN blocks the majority of ads and analytic trackers.

An ad blocker improves security as malicious ads are sometimes used to infect your device with malware. By preventing most ads from loading, Threat Protection reduces the risk of your device being compromised.

As well, on Windows and Mac, Threat Protection can scan any files for malware before you download it. When using it, the feature correctly flagged all tested unsafe files as malware.

Disappointingly, though, unlike PIA, Surfshark, and other VPN services, NordVPN’s ad blocker is not available in the base plan. You’ll need to be subscribed to the more expensive ‘Plus’ or ‘Ultimate’ tiers.

Meshnet is a unique feature of NordVPN. Available for free, it allows you to route internet traffic through a regular internet-connected device, like a laptop, rather than a VPN server.

NordVPN primarily promotes Meshnet as a tool for file-sharing and LAN gaming, but those are both rather niche. Instead, we recommend using Meshnet as a way to get a residential IP address for free.

If you’re overseas, you can connect to your PC at home to get your regular ISP IP address. That way, you can access your local streaming services from anywhere. Using Meshnet, we were able to access geo-blocked streaming services more often than when using a standard VPN server.

We got a residential IP address for free using Meshnet.

NordVPN includes more extra technical features than almost every other VPN service. But here are some features we’d like the VPN to add in a future update: