NordVPN vs Private Internet Access

To test local speed performance, we connected to both VPNs using the automatic server selection feature.

NordVPN and PIA’s download speeds are as fast as each other on same-country connections, with our download speed dropping by just 5%.

We ran NordVPN and PIA through our independent speed test tool.

We also connected to NordVPN and Private Internet Access servers in five different continents and recorded our download speeds.

Fast international speeds are important for streaming geo-blocked streaming services. As you’ll often be connecting to a server on the other side of the world, a VPN needs to maintain fast download speeds across its server network.

Here’s a summary of the results:

As you can see, NordVPN’s and PIA’s international download speeds are very similar.

NordVPN was faster in more locations, such as in Australia and Japan. While this would usually mean NordVPN wins out in this category, it was up to 9Mbps slower than PIA on its Brazil and South Africa server.

In our manual tests, both PIA and NordVPN enabled a local ping time that was fast enough for gaming. However, NordVPN slowed down our ping time to 8ms, which was a little more than PIA’s ping time of 6ms.

We also tested the VPNs by setting them up on our router and playing a variety of console and PC games, including Fortnite, Minecraft, and CS:GO.

Although the latency difference wasn’t noticeable in most games, PIA was better when playing fast-paced competitive games, like CS:GO.

Despite their speed differences, both VPNs qualify for our list of top-rated VPNs for gaming.

Online games were more responsive using PIA compared to NordVPN.

NordVPN accesses 11 more Netflix libraries than PIA, making it the superior Netflix VPN.

In total, PIA can unblock Netflix in 6 countries, and NordVPN can stream 17 Netflix libraries.

PIA fails to unblock many popular Netflix regions, including Canada, France, Mexico, and Brazil. Though, unlike NordVPN, it can access Netflix India.

Here’s how the VPNs compared in our Netflix testing:

PIA has dedicated servers for streaming in the US, UK, Australia, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Finland, and Sweden, though the Denmark and Finland ones don’t work for Netflix. They are labeled “Streaming Optimized” in the PIA app.

NordVPN doesn’t have dedicated servers for streaming. Its SmartPlay feature makes it easy to unblock Netflix using any server in a compatible location. It can be much more frustrating using PIA as you might need to test several servers until you find one that works.

NordVPN works reliably with US Netflix.

Though NordVPN is better than PIA for Netflix, if you want the very best VPN for Netflix streaming, Windscribe unblocks 32 libraries, and ExpressVPN is our top recommendation.

Both NordVPN and PIA are great at unblocking other streaming services, in addition to Netflix. PIA has fixed its UK streaming server so that it now unblocks BBC iPlayer.

NordVPN still has the edge on PIA, though, as it has better platform support. PIA’s Smart DNS feature has never worked in our testing, so we couldn’t use it to stream on our Smart TV or games consoles.

On the other hand, we used NordVPN’s Smart DNS tool to stream Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO Max. It doesn’t work with Netflix or BBC iPlayer, though.

In the video below, watch us using NordVPN to access US Netflix, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer.

NordVPN and PIA are two excellent choices for streaming, but they’re not the very best. ExpressVPN is more reliable at streaming geo-blocked content platforms than NordVPN, and it works with far more libraries than PIA.

NordVPN and PIA allow you to use WireGuard or OpenVPN on all devices – two of the fastest and most secure VPN protocols. We recommend using WireGuard (or ‘NordLynx’) for unblocking content, and OpenVPN when maximum security is the priority.

For OpenVPN connections, both services use AES-256 encryption. For WireGuard, both VPNs encrypt traffic using ChaCha20. AES-256 and ChaCha20 have no known vulnerabilities.

If you have enabled it in the app’s settings, NordVPN will choose the best protocol for you based on your network and location. We’d prefer it if PIA had this feature, too, as you can’t always be sure you’re getting the best performance.

If you connect using OpenVPN, PIA gives you granular control over the encryption that the VPN uses. You can choose whether to use AES-128 or AES-256 for encryption, as well as RSA-2048 or SHA-384 for the handshake operation.

Unlike NordVPN, PIA allows you to manually choose the level of encryption used.

This is an excellent feature for advanced users to tailor the encryption exactly to their requirements. However, NordVPN’s overall simplicity is better for most casual VPN users.

NordVPN and PIA passed all of our tests for IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks.

As you can see in the screenshot below, both NordVPN and PIA hid our real network details in the UK:

NordVPN and PIA prevented our IP or DNS from leaking.

Both VPNs operate their own DNS servers too, so your ISP doesn’t see your web requests.

To stop your IP address from leaking if the VPN connection fails, there are kill switches in both NordVPN and PIA. They’re available in the Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android apps. NordVPN also has Linux VPN software with a kill switch.

To test whether the kill switches were functioning correctly, we deliberately disconnected our VPN connection while running an IP checker tool. Both PIA and NordVPN protected our IP address every time.

NordVPN and PIA passed our kill switch tests.

Whereas the kill switch is an option you can turn off and on in PIA’s iOS app, on NordVPN it’s automatically enabled and invisible.

NordVPN gives you more control than PIA because it offers an app-specific kill switch, as well as an internet kill switch that blocks everything if the VPN connection goes down. We recommend you use the internet kill switch because it’s safer.

PIA has a unique kill switch feature that blocks your internet connection until the VPN app launches.

NordVPN and Private Internet Access include an adblocker with the VPN subscription. These block adverts and trackers on popular websites, like YouTube, Google, and Facebook.

Our investigation into VPN ad blockers found that PIA’s ad blocker, named PIA MACE, is the best on the market. It blocked 80% of the ads we tested it with, as well as 100% of analytics trackers.

NordVPN’s ad blocker, called Threat Protection, was a close second. Still, it blocked 20% fewer ads than PIA MACE, as well as 36% fewer analytics trackers.

You can see how the two ad blockers compare head-to-head in the chart below:

Both NordVPN and PIA offer additional security features, including VPN split tunneling, diskless VPN servers, and SOCKS5 support for faster torrenting.

We’ve found NordVPN to be more fully-featured than Private Internet Access on the whole, though.

On the other hand, the only major security feature that PIA has that NordVPN doesn’t is open-sourced apps. This means that anyone can view the code running Private Internet Access, decreasing the risk of any glaring security vulnerabilities.

While we wish NordVPN had done the same, the sheer number of advanced security features it includes means it beats PIA here.

NordVPN and PIA have two of the most impressive privacy policies we’ve seen. They don’t collect any logs that could be used to identify you from your activity.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has audited NordVPN twice to confirm it does not log your traffic or store any VPN connection logs. PWC also confirmed no IP addresses or browsing activity is kept by NordVPN.

However, PIA has been subpoenaed in the US to provide data on users twice. But, as the official court documents in the first case show, PIA had no data to share.

Private Internet Access’ no-logs privacy policy has been verified several times.

On the other hand, NordVPN has conceded that, if ordered by a court, it could start collecting data on a user under criminal investigation. We don’t expect this to be an issue given the VPN provider’s committal to transparency reports, but it’s still worth taking into consideration.

We prefer real-world tests like the ones PIA has passed to third-party audits. There’s no guarantee that a VPN doesn’t change its behavior while an audit is ongoing, only to revert back once it’s finished.

NordVPN is based in the privacy-friendly jurisdiction of Panama, which isn’t part of any international intelligence-sharing alliances. Any company incorporated there doesn’t have to collect any user information.

In contrast, PIA is headquartered in the US. The US is part of the Five Eyes countries, making it one of the worst places to base a VPN service. This is why PIA’s no-logs privacy policy is so important. As it doesn’t collect any user data, it has no logs to provide.

Following several real-world tests of its logging policy, we’re confident that PIA’s base in the US isn’t a concern. That said, we’d prefer it matched NordVPN by moving to a privacy-friendly jurisdiction, like Panama.

NordVPN and PIA are two of the most reputable VPNs on the market. They’ve both worked to improve their privacy offerings after coming under some scrutiny in the past.

NordVPN suffered a server hack in 2018. No users were compromised, but it was slow to disclose the vulnerability. Since the incident, NordVPN has drastically improved its security systems to rebuild trust. It introduced a bug bounty programme, regular penetration tests, as well as co-located servers.

PIA hasn’t had any such security vulnerabilities, but its ownership has come into question. It’s owned by Kape Technologies, which made money through adware under previous ownership.

However, Kape has since moved on and become a privacy-first company. It’s also the owner of popular VPN services ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. All of the VPNs it owns, including PIA, still operate with the same strong privacy protections they’ve always had.

Private Internet Access supports torrenting traffic on all 18,651 servers in 91 countries. No matter where you are, you’ll always be able to connect to a fast nearby server.

NordVPN requires you to use its P2P-optimized servers. That cuts out about 15% of its server network. NordVPN doesn’t support torrenting in these 14 countries:

• Argentina
• Costa Rica
• Cyprus
• Egypt
• Georgia
• Indonesia
• Israel
• Malaysia
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates
• Vietnam

This means NordVPN allows torrenting on servers in 38 fewer countries than PIA. Using PIA, you’re more likely to have a server close to you, which should mean faster downloads.

PIA allows you to use all of its servers for torrenting.

PIA is one of the only top VPNs to support port forwarding. In theory, port forwarding should improve the speed of your torrent downloads as it allows you to connect to more peers at a time.

However, we recorded identical torrent download speeds with PIA when its port forwarding feature was turned on and off. It still improved our performance when seeding torrents, though.

That said, both PIA and NordVPN are extremely fast VPNs for torrenting. On our 10MiB/s connection, PIA’s average bitrate was 9.6MiB/s and NordVPN was 9.5MiB/s.

No matter how large the torrent file, PIA and NordVPN will download it almost as fast as your regular internet connection.

You can view our torrenting speed tests in the video below. It takes Private Internet Access and NordVPN almost exactly the same time to complete the download.

Both VPNs include a kill switch on all platforms, too. Your real IP address won’t be exposed if your connection drops out.

NordVPN’s apps are simpler to use and are generally more intuitive than PIA’s. As the VPN automatically selects the best settings and server location for you, you can start using it within seconds.

Here’s a video of us connecting to both NordVPN and PIA side-by-side:

As PIA’s interface is configured for more advanced users, there are more settings and elements on the screen at once. This makes it slightly more difficult to navigate. This might not be a drawback, though, depending on your experience level.

Both NordVPN and PIA have excellent apps for Windows. PIA and NordVPN both offer OpenVPN and WireGuard. NordVPN offers a great experience, though, which makes it one of the best VPNs for Windows.

PIA’s desktop apps allow for more customization.

NordVPN offers two versions of its app for the Mac. We recommend the version available in the App Store, although it doesn’t include the Double VPN and obfuscated server features. The version available from NordVPN’s website does include these features but doesn’t have a system-wide kill switch.

PIA’s Mac app is fully-featured and enables a fast connection, but it can be frustratingly slow to start up.

NordVPN has slightly better mobile apps than PIA. Its Android app is easy to set up, it’s user-friendly, and works for streaming and torrenting. There’s no built-in kill switch, but you can enable one in the Android settings.

NordVPN’s mobile apps are simpler to use.

PIA’s Android app has a simple interface and a strong feature set, including a kill switch, split tunneling, and an option to set the device to vibrate when you connect to the VPN. Ad blockers are not allowed by Google, so PIA also provides an APK version of the app you can download from the PIA website that includes its MACE ad blocker.

On the iPhone, both NordVPN and PIA offer the OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols. PIA adds WireGuard and IPsec. Unlike PIA, NordVPN offers obfuscated servers on iOS, but not all of the servers work. You might need to use manual configuration.

Both VPNs provide dedicated apps for Fire TV Stick, Android TV, and Apple TV. But NordVPN is a better choice than PIA on these devices.

We found that PIA could only unblock US Netflix on 25% of its US servers. The PIA desktop and mobile apps work with almost every server.

NordVPN is better than PIA when it comes to Fire TV Stick and Android TV.

Using NordVPN’s TV apps, you can watch Netflix in the US, UK, Canada, Japan, and France, so you can enjoy several of the most popular libraries.

They also allow you to use P2P-optimized servers, making it easier to torrent movies using add-ons from within Kodi. It’s just one example of how fully-featured NordVPN’s Android and Fire TV apps are: they also include split tunneling, a choice of protocols, and a kill switch.

You can’t install a VPN on some streaming devices, including Smart TV and PS5. The easiest way to access geo-blocked content on these is to use Smart DNS.

This feature allows you to connect to a proxy server and spoof your location. However, Smart DNS doesn’t encrypt your connection like a full VPN service.

Both Private Internet Access and NordVPN include Smart DNS with every VPN subscription. However, PIA’s Smart DNS didn’t work with any streaming service we tested.

Using PIA, we weren’t able to stream Netflix, Hulu, or BBC iPlayer on our PS5.

On the other hand, NordVPN’s Smart DNS tool worked with US Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video.

Setting up NordVPN’s Smart DNS tool on PS5.

If you plan on using PIA or NordVPN to unblock content on a Smart TV or games console, NordVPN is the much better option.

While NordVPN and PIA both offer Firefox and Chrome apps, only PIA supports Opera. PIA’s Opera extension is one of the best we’ve seen.

NordVPN has a much better Chrome browser extension than PIA. It includes a built-in ad blocker, a ‘Bypass List’ which acts like split tunneling for your browser, and the full server list.

NordVPN’s browser extensions include many extra features.

Both apps have a WebRTC leak blocker to protect your IP address from leaking and successfully unblock Netflix and BBC iPlayer. We rank NordVPN as the second-best Chrome extension (after ExpressVPN).

NordVPN also has a better Firefox app than PIA. Like the NordVPN Chrome extension, the Firefox extension includes the Threat Protection feature for ad blocking and effectively unblocks geo-restricted video content.

Though NordVPN’s server network is big enough for most users, it compares poorly to PIA. NordVPN has 6,328 servers in 111 countries. On average, NordVPN has 100 fewer servers per country than PIA.

NordVPN and PIA give you a similar level of control over the servers you use. Private Internet Access has 18 individual server locations in the US and NordVPN has 16.

Both VPNs also have excellent city-level server choices in other countries, including Australia, Canada, and Germany. NordVPN also provides them in India, while PIA does not.

The main benefit of this is that you can connect to a server closer to you. It also allows you to access localized content, like sports blackouts in the US.

PIA’s server list displays more information but is more difficult to navigate than NordVPN.

Here’s the number of countries covered in each continent:

NordVPN provides a wider selection of country options across every continent, making it more likely to have servers in the specific country you wish to appear from.

As you can see, PIA is cheaper than NordVPN when you commit to a two-year subscription.

The monthly cost for PIA is $11.95. It’s slightly higher at $11.99 for NordVPN. The price drops to $2.03 per month for PIA if you prepay for two years. NordVPN is nearly as cheap as PIA at $3.29 per month when prepaid for the same period.

Both NordVPN and PIA accept a wide range of payment options, including credit and debit cards. For private payment, both VPNs accept Bitcoin. You can also buy a gift card for PIA or a license key for NordVPN. For PIA, you can also use major brand gift cards.

Private Internet Access and NordVPN offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans, allowing you to test the service out before committing to a subscription. Both VPNs make it easy to get your refund, so we recommend taking advantage of this.

NordVPN only offers a genuine seven-day free trial on Android, while PIA also offers it on iOS.

PIA stands as the only effective option among the two for accessing restricted content in China, enabling users to reach blocked applications like Instagram and YouTube.

Despite this, both VPNs offer services in other regions known for strict internet censorship, such as Russia, Turkey, and the UAE.

Private Internet Access can bypass web censorship thanks to the Shadowsocks proxy. Shadowsocks is an open-source proxy that’s been designed specifically for bypassing Chinese censorship.

PIA first sends traffic through a regular encrypted VPN server, before relaying it to the proxy server. Make sure to manually connect to the Japan Shadowsocks server to get the best performance from China.

On the other hand, NordVPN’s servers use built-in obfuscation technology. This attempts to disguise VPN internet traffic as regular HTTPS web traffic. Unlike Shadowsocks, it’s compatible with every NordVPN server, as long as you connect with OpenVPN.

PIA’s Shadowsocks proxy is simple to set up.

While NordVPN’s implementation is simpler and has better speed performance, the bottom line is that PIA works more often.

We tested both VPNs support teams by asking them a series of questions. We measured the accuracy of the response, as well as how long it took to get the answer.

Here’s how NordVPN performed:

Here’s how Private Internet Access performed:

As you can see, NordVPN’s customer support team gave us answers to our questions much faster than PIA’s.

Its chatbot can answer a lot more questions than we typically see from other VPNs. We also appreciate how it gave us the answer in the chat window, rather than sending us a link to a help page.

NordVPN’s automated chatbot is fast and helpful.

We only needed to speak to a person on NordVPN’s support team once. When we did, they responded in under two minutes.

On the other hand, PIA’s support team is frustratingly slow. There’s often a queue for its live chat team, which regularly takes a few minutes. Even when we did get through, we had to wait at least three minutes for an answer to our question.

PIA’s support agents were also more likely to send us to a support article, rather than answering our query directly.