NordVPN

Verdict

NordVPN is a great choice for any everyday VPN use case. It’s fast, flexible and security-audited – but it isn’t cheap.

Introduction

NordVPN is one of the most recognisable VPNs on the planet, thanks to a strong advert campaign. It’s also well known for an infamous breach in 2018, which is badly mishandled.

But Nord has done a lot of work to restore its reputation, with one of the very best performances you can find, as well as a generous suite of features. I still find its YouTube-led advertising bombastic and excessive, but there’s a genuinely good service beneath all the hype.

Its warrant canary page has recently been updated to clarify that the company is committed to its no-logging policy and that it “will only comply with requests from foreign governments and law enforcement agencies if these requests are delivered according to laws and regulations”.

To back up its no-logging claims, NordVPN has had independent audits carried out by PwC that are made available for all subscribers to read.

Pricing and Subscriptions

NordVPN’s subscriptions are more costly than those of its rivals. You’ll also find that VAT is not included in the prices listed on Nord’s website, and only applied when you get the payment screen. For UK users, this means that a monthly subscription listed at £10.98 costs 20% more, at £13.07 – the most expensive monthly fee in my 11 VPN group test.

NordVPN is increasingly expensive, as you’d expect from one of the fastest and most widely promoted VPN services around. Its subscription deals get better the longer you sign up for, although you have to watch out for a price hike on renewal. Renewing subscribers are charged the current full price, without the introductory discount that first-time subscribers benefit from.

So, a new subscriber will pay £68.22 (including VAT) for their first year and receive an extra three months free on top of that, but their subscription will renew at the standard rate, currently £124 per year. Similarly, a two-year introductory subscription costs £109.84 – again with an extra free three months on top of that – but renews at £223.24 for two years.

On NordVPN’s subscription page, you can also select more expensive subscription options which include the NordPass password manager and 1TB of secure cloud storage. Both are actually good things to have, but make sure you know what you want and what you’re getting: Iif all you need is a VPN, make sure you choose the NordVPN Essential tier.

No free tier or trial is available, but there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, and those in search of extra anonymity can pay using a selection of cryptocurrencies.

Features and Usability

• Supports a wide range of devices
• Lots of security features included
• Map-like interface is simple to use

NordVPN provides clients and connection instructions for a massive range of devices and platforms. These range from desktop computing platforms and smartphones to routers, servers and one of the best proxying browser plugins I’ve seen from a VPN service, making it easy to move your web browser traffic around the world at a whim.

On Windows, the client’s main display shows a map of endpoint locations, alongside a searchable list of available servers, categorised by features and geographic location. It also provides shortcuts to endpoints with specific extra security features, including double VPN, DDoS protection, onion routing via the Tor network, and support for peer-to-peer torrenting.

In its advanced settings, NordVPN offers a wide range of features, including auto-connection, ad and malware protection, invisibility to your local network, split tunneling to exclude certain applications from the VPN, and both internet and app-specific kill switches to block traffic if your VPN connection goes down. You can also set a custom DNS provider and attempt to avoid VPN blocking in places where it’s restricted by using some of NordVPN’s obfuscated servers.

Like a number of its peers, NordVPN is currently in the process of upgrading its integrated defences against malware and malicious websites to provide a more comprehensive security solution. It switched over to a fully RAM-disk-based infrastructure in 2021.

Performance

• Ranked in the top three during the latest performance group test
• Great support for video streaming

NordVPN’s performance is always good, and while it wasn’t as quick as stablemate Surfshark in my latest tests, it comfortably claimed the number two position, just ahead of ExpressVPN.

NordVPN uses its NordLynx protocol by default for its desktop clients, and its performance is consistently impressive. NordLynx is an implementation of WireGuard protocol with extra security customisations. Performance is excellent – credit to Nord’s high-quality network infrastructure.

This VPN service’s video streaming is as good as ever. You don’t need to use any kind of specialist endpoints, which is convenient for anyone who wants to keep their VPN connected at all times without having to use split tunneling to get access to iPlayer or Sky.

Latest deals