NordVPN Review

The Bottom Line

After more than 16 years reviewing VPNs and putting NordVPN through its paces again over the past few weeks, my view is straightforward: this is still one of the best VPN services you can buy in 2026, but the buying decision has got noticeably more complicated.

I found speeds remain fast and consistent, security is genuinely top of the pile (post-quantum encryption is already live, which not every rival can claim), and streaming unblocking is excellent across Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+ and most of the major services I tested.

Privacy is a major strength. The no-logs policy has now been independently audited five times, most recently by Deloitte at the end of 2024. The Panama jurisdiction still gives me peace of mind even after the Surfshark merger.

What I like less is the way pricing has fragmented into multiple tiers with different feature sets in different countries, plus the sharp price hikes that kick in when your subscription auto-renews. Amazon Prime unblocking remains hit-and-miss. The chatbot-first customer support flow is annoying, although the underlying support is actually good.

Overall I still recommend NordVPN to most people, particularly UK users, but you need to pick the right tier and remember to manage your auto-renewal. You can get NordVPN from £2.59 per month on the two-year Basic plan. Let’s get to the full review.

NordVPN at a glance

How NordVPN compares to the main alternatives

If you’re specifically weighing NordVPN against ExpressVPN, I’ve done a dedicated ExpressVPN vs NordVPN head-to-head. For the short version, here’s the quick comparison:

1. Price & Plans

I’ve moved pricing to the top of this review because it’s now the most complicated part of buying NordVPN, and the part most likely to trip people up.

NordVPN sells three plans in the UK and four in some other countries. Subscription length runs from 1 month to 2 years, and as with most VPNs, the longer you commit the cheaper the per-month price.

Which plans you get depends on where you live

This is genuinely confusing if you’re comparing notes with someone in another country. In the UK, you get Basic, Plus and Ultimate. In the US, you get Basic, Plus, Complete and Prime. Canada gets Ultra. Australia gets Complete. The plan names look interchangeable but the contents are not.

Here’s what you actually get in the UK:

• Basic – the VPN itself, plus basic Threat Protection (DNS-level ad and malicious-site blocking only). No password manager. No file scanning.
• Plus – everything in Basic, plus Threat Protection Pro (file scanning, deeper malware blocking, tracker blocking), NordPass password manager, and data breach scanning.
• Ultimate – everything in Plus, plus 1TB of NordLocker encrypted cloud storage and cyber insurance up to £5,000.

Note that NordProtect (the full identity theft protection service with $1 million cover) is currently only available in the US Prime plan. UK users don’t get it.

Current UK prices

If you’re specifically looking for a UK-focused VPN recommendation, our Best VPN for the UK guide covers how NordVPN stacks up against the other main options for British users.

Basic:

• 1-month: £10.09
• 1-year: £3.79 per month
• 2-year: £2.59 per month

Plus:

• 1-month: £10.79
• 1-year: £4.59 per month
• 2-year: £3.39 per month

Ultimate:

• 1-month: £12.79
• 1-year: £6.49 per month
• 2-year: £5.29 per month

Across the board, prices have crept up over the past two years on top of an earlier round of increases. None of this is unique to NordVPN. Most major providers have done the same.

My recommendation: for most people the 1-year Plus plan is the right buy. You get Threat Protection Pro and NordPass for not much more than Basic, you avoid the longest commitment, and Plus genuinely adds value beyond the VPN. Ultimate only makes sense if you actually need 1TB of encrypted cloud storage. If you don’t, save the money.

Watch out for the renewal price hike

This is the part I now feel I have to write in bold. NordVPN’s auto-renewal prices are significantly higher than the introductory prices.

When your two-year deal ends, the renewal isn’t another two years at the same price. It rebills at the standard rate, which can be roughly two to three times what you originally paid. The discount you signed up for was a first-term promotional rate.

In the US, where I have clearer figures to point to, a Basic plan that started at $3.39 per month renews at around $139 per year. That’s a steep jump.

NordVPN doesn’t hide this, but it doesn’t shout about it either, and you’re opted into auto-renewal by default. The first thing I’d do after signing up is turn auto-renew off in your account settings. You can always re-subscribe to grab a fresh promotional deal when your time is up.

This pricing approach is also the subject of two ongoing US class-action lawsuits alleging deceptive auto-renewal practices. Whether those cases have merit will be determined in court, but the practice is real and worth being aware of.

Tax, payment methods and refunds

UK pricing on the NordVPN site shows the price excluding VAT first and then adds it at checkout. It’s a small irritation but means the actual amount you pay is more than the headline figure. Bear that in mind when comparing to other providers who include tax up front.

Payment options in the UK include credit/debit card, PayPal, Google Pay and Direct Debit. Cryptocurrency, UnionPay and AmazonPay used to be available and have been removed in some regions, although crypto is still accepted in the United States.

The 30-day money-back guarantee applies to all plans regardless of length, which gives you plenty of time to test the service properly. I’ve used the refund process myself in the past and it’s been straightforward.

2. Speed

NordVPN has been consistently offering some of the fastest VPN speeds for several years, and that hasn’t changed in 2026.

I tested speeds again over the past few weeks across general browsing, YouTube, gaming, and Ultra HD streaming on the Fire TV Stick via Netflix and other streaming services. Tests were on a typical UK residential Wi-Fi connection using both Fast.com and SpeedTest.net.

The connection speed achieved without using a VPN was: 520 Mbps.

Choosing a random selection of servers, I achieved the following speeds:

These speeds are more than fast enough to stream high-quality video content from across the globe without issues. The consistency across European servers in particular is impressive.

Speed comparisons between providers are always slightly pointless because so many variables affect the result, but for what it’s worth: in this round of testing NordVPN beat ExpressVPN comfortably on long-distance connections, particularly to the US (442 Mbps versus 185 Mbps) and Australia (307 Mbps versus 163 Mbps). Closer to home the gap was smaller. As always, take a single round of tests with a pinch of salt.

Latency and jitter for gaming

Most VPN reviews still focus only on download speed, but if you game online or use voice chat, latency and jitter matter more.

In my testing using NordLynx to a nearby server, latency was around 7ms and jitter around 2ms. Those are excellent figures and close to what dedicated industry testing has reported. Latency that low means you won’t notice the VPN is on during fast-paced gameplay. Low jitter means the connection stays stable rather than introducing micro-stutters.

On longer-distance connections, latency rises predictably (you can’t beat physics), but jitter stayed low across every server I tested. For online gaming, NordVPN is genuinely one of the better choices right now.

3. Privacy & Logging

Like most VPN providers, NordVPN claims to have a no-logging policy. The difference is that NordVPN has now had this claim independently audited five times since 2018, most recently by Deloitte Audit Lithuania at the end of 2024.

The first audit in 2018 was a genuine first-mover move at the time. Few VPNs had taken that step. The most recent audit verified that “NordVPN’s no-logs statement is accurate and in line with the company’s privacy claims.”

Based on the continual audits and the depth of the most recent one, I’m confident that NordVPN’s no-user-logs policy is more comprehensive and robust than most other VPNs.

By comparison, ExpressVPN has carried out extensive audits of its logging policy, but Surfshark has only audited some of its apps and specific features rather than the no-logs claim itself.

Jurisdiction and the Surfshark question

NordVPN remains headquartered in Panama, which keeps it outside the 14-eyes intelligence-sharing network and free of overbearing data retention laws.

The picture got slightly more complicated when Nord Security (NordVPN’s parent) merged with rival VPN Surfshark. Both VPNs continue to operate as separate products with separate apps, infrastructure decisions and audited policies. Nord Security has been clear that NordVPN remains under Panama jurisdiction.

Worth pointing out though: if you’re comparing NordVPN to Surfshark thinking they’re rivals, technically they’re now siblings. That doesn’t undermine the no-logs claim, which has been independently verified, but it’s worth knowing.

In Comparison:

• ExpressVPN – British Virgin Islands
• Surfshark – Netherlands
• IPVanish – United States
• VyprVPN – United States
• CyberGhost VPN – Romania

Simultaneous connections

NordVPN allows you to connect up to ten devices simultaneously. You can install the NordVPN app on more than ten devices, you just can’t have all of them connected at once.

Ten is more than enough for most households and is a step up from the previous limit of six.

In Comparison:

• ExpressVPN – 8 connections
• Surfshark – Unlimited connections
• IPVanish – Unlimited Connections
• VyprVPN – 5 connections

If you genuinely need unlimited connections (a very large household or shared workspace), Surfshark or IPVanish are better picks. For everyone else, ten is fine.

4. Security Features

This is where NordVPN has done the most work in the past two years. The security feature set has gone from “very good” to “genuinely sector-leading”, and several of these features simply aren’t available with any other major VPN.

Encryption and protocols

NordVPN uses AES-256-GCM encryption on OpenVPN with a 4096-bit RSA certificate, and ChaCha20 on NordLynx with Poly1305 for authentication. Both are at the top end of what current VPNs offer.

The available protocols are now:

• NordLynx – NordVPN’s WireGuard-based protocol. Fastest of the three, and the only one with post-quantum encryption (more on this in a moment). My default.
• OpenVPN – available in TCP and UDP variants. Slower than NordLynx but more compatible with awkward networks and routers.
• NordWhisper – new in early 2025, designed to defeat censorship and restrictive networks. Based on the Tor Project’s WebTunnel technology, it wraps your VPN traffic inside a standard HTTPS connection so it looks like normal web traffic.

PPTP, L2TP, SSTP and even IKEv2/IPSec have been retired from most NordVPN apps. If you specifically need one of those legacy protocols, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Post-quantum encryption (already live)

This is one of the biggest things NordVPN has done that competitors haven’t matched yet. NordLynx now supports post-quantum encryption using ML-KEM, a quantum-resistant cryptographic standard.

Why does this matter? Because of “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, where an attacker captures encrypted data today, sits on it, and decrypts it once quantum computers become powerful enough to crack current encryption. Post-quantum encryption protects against that future threat.

Right now this is more relevant to businesses and privacy-conscious individuals with long-lived sensitive data than it is to someone using a VPN for Netflix, but it’s still a meaningful future-proofing step. You enable it with a single toggle in NordLynx settings.

A small caveat: if you turn post-quantum encryption on while using a non-NordLynx protocol, it’ll silently switch off. And it’s not yet supported on Meshnet or obfuscated server connections.

ExpressVPN doesn’t have post-quantum yet. Surfshark and Proton VPN are rolling it out. NordVPN is ahead here.

Threat Protection vs Threat Protection Pro

This is one of the most important distinctions to understand because it determines which tier you should buy.

What used to be called CyberSec is now branded as Threat Protection (on Basic plans) and Threat Protection Pro (on Plus plans and above). They sound similar. They aren’t.

• Threat Protection (Basic): works at DNS level. Blocks ads and known malicious websites. That’s it. It works without you being connected to the VPN, and in my testing blocked roughly 60% of ads.
• Threat Protection Pro (Plus and above): adds tracker blocking, deeper phishing protection, and the big one, file scanning that blocks malicious downloads. Currently desktop only.

In independent testing, Threat Protection Pro blocked around 91% of phishing sites and 86% of malware sites, putting it ahead of Surfshark Antivirus and well ahead of any other VPN-bundled security tool I’ve seen.

It’s not a full antivirus replacement (it can’t scan files already on your computer or remove existing infections), but as an extra layer between you and dodgy downloads it works well. NordVPN has also recently announced a partnership with CrowdStrike to bring CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence into Threat Protection Pro. The full impact isn’t clear yet but it’s a serious credibility boost.

Meshnet (free for everyone)

Meshnet is one of NordVPN’s most underrated features and almost no other VPN offers anything like it.

It creates a virtual private network between your own devices regardless of which physical networks they’re on, letting you securely share files, share screens, route traffic, and even play LAN-only games online. You can link up to 60 devices.

What surprised me when I first looked at this was that Meshnet is free even without a NordVPN subscription. You can install the app, sign up for a free Nord account, and use Meshnet without paying anything.

I’ve used it most often for transferring files between my desktop and laptop without bothering with cloud storage, and to grab files from my home machine while away from home. It just works. For people running small home labs or wanting to play older multiplayer games that only support LAN, it’s brilliant.

NordVPN was toying with the idea of retiring this feature a few years ago but from user feedback they kept it which is an added bonus to your subscription.

Kill switch and split tunneling

The kill switch (which cuts your internet connection if the VPN drops, preventing IP leaks) works well across all platforms I tested. NordVPN even has an “individual app kill switch” on Windows that lets you specify which apps should die if the VPN drops, rather than killing the whole connection.

A small Android quirk: Android’s native kill switch is all-or-nothing because of how the OS handles VPNs. There’s no way around that.

Split tunneling lets you choose which apps bypass the VPN. I find this useful for banking apps, which often refuse to work when they see a foreign IP. Available on Windows and Android. iOS and Mac users don’t get it, which is annoying but is mostly down to Apple’s restrictions.

Obfuscated servers

Obfuscated servers hide the fact that you’re using a VPN at all, which is useful if you’re on a network that blocks VPN traffic (some workplaces, schools, or restrictive countries).

They’re available in 16 countries including UK, USA, Canada, Germany, Japan and the UAE. You’ll need to switch to OpenVPN to access them, which is a workflow gotcha worth knowing.

For most users in the UK or US, you’ll never need these. But if you’re travelling to a heavily restricted country, NordWhisper (which I covered above) is now usually the better option for the same use case.

Other security tools worth knowing about

A few features that don’t quite warrant their own section but are worth flagging:

• Dark Web Monitor – scans the dark web for your email address and notifies you if it shows up in a leaked database. Available on Plus and above.
• Private DNS – NordVPN runs its own DNS servers so your DNS queries aren’t visible to your ISP. I tested for DNS and WebRTC leaks and saw none.
• SOCKS5 proxy – useful for torrenters who want to hide their IP without the speed cost of full encryption. Often skipped in NordVPN reviews and worth knowing about if you torrent.
• Tapjacking protection (Android only) – blocks malicious apps from overlaying invisible elements on top of legitimate ones. No other major VPN offers this.
• Bug bounty program – run via HackerOne. Not flashy, but meaningful: NordVPN actively pays security researchers to find flaws.

5. Server Network

NordVPN currently runs around 9,000+ servers across 135 countries, with a total of 211 server locations when you count cities within those countries. That’s a meaningful jump from 188 locations as recently as March 2026, after a big April expansion.

In April 2026, NordVPN added 30+ new US locations, which means it now has at least one server in every US state. Only ExpressVPN and PIA had previously achieved that. France gained Bordeaux. The UAE gained Fujairah. Eight new countries were added.

By way of comparison, ExpressVPN covers 108 countries, Surfshark 100, and Proton VPN 145.

RAM-only servers

NordVPN’s entire network now runs on RAM-only servers. This means data exists only in volatile memory and is wiped completely whenever a server reboots. Nothing is written to a hard drive.

The privacy benefit is meaningful: even if a server were physically seized, there’d be nothing on it to seize. RAM-only infrastructure is increasingly the standard for serious privacy-focused VPNs and NordVPN was one of the first to commit to it across its entire fleet.

Does the server count actually matter?

Interesting development this year: NordVPN itself has stopped publishing exact server numbers, and argued publicly that the server count metric is meaningless.

There’s a self-serving element to this (NordVPN no longer leads on raw server numbers, Proton VPN has more) but it’s also a fair point. What actually matters for users is server load, location coverage, and whether there’s a fast server near you. A network of 5,000 well-distributed, well-resourced servers is better than 20,000 underpowered ones.

In testing I’ve never had server load issues with NordVPN, even on popular UK and US servers at peak times. So the practical answer is: yes, NordVPN has plenty of servers everywhere I’d want to connect from, and that’s what counts.

Virtual servers

NordVPN now uses virtual servers extensively. 79 of its 211 locations are virtual as of April 2026.

A virtual server is one where the IP address belongs to one country but the physical hardware sits somewhere else, usually nearby. NordVPN’s Indian virtual servers, for example, are physically hosted in Singapore (because Indian law requires Indian-hosted VPN servers to log user data, which would break the no-logs policy).

NordVPN clearly labels which servers are virtual on its website and inside its apps, which I appreciate. They give you wider geographic reach without compromising on hosting standards. Just be aware that a virtual location far from its physical host may run slower than a true local server.

In Comparison:

• ExpressVPN – 108 countries
• Surfshark – 100 countries
• IPVanish – 106 countries
• VyprVPN – 64 countries
• CyberGhost VPN – 100 countries

Speciality servers

6. Streaming

NordVPN includes a feature called SmartPlay, which integrates Smart DNS into all its apps and automatically helps you unblock streaming services from anywhere. There’s nothing to configure: pick a server, go.

In my testing for this update, NordVPN remains one of the strongest VPNs for streaming. It’s not perfect (Amazon Prime is still patchy), but it consistently unblocks the services most readers actually care about.

7. Torrenting & P2P

NordVPN is one of the best VPN choices for torrenting in 2026. Three reasons:

1. Most servers are P2P-optimised. Only four locations don’t allow P2P (North Macedonia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania), and you have plenty of nearby alternatives. If you connect to a non-P2P server and start torrenting, NordVPN automatically reroutes you.

2. SOCKS5 proxy support. This is often left out of NordVPN reviews and shouldn’t be. Configure your torrent client to use NordVPN’s SOCKS5 proxy and you’ll hide your IP without the speed hit of full VPN encryption. Useful if you want maximum download speeds and your priority is hiding your IP rather than encrypting traffic. In testing, SOCKS5 was around 60% faster than the standard VPN connection.

3. Strong kill switch. Critical for torrenting. If your connection drops mid-torrent, you don’t want your real IP suddenly exposed to the swarm. NordVPN’s kill switch handled every disconnect scenario I tried.

A few things to know:

• NordVPN doesn’t support port forwarding, which some torrent users prefer for seeding. Proton VPN does. If port forwarding is critical to you, Proton is a better fit.
• Torrenting in itself is legal in most countries including the UK and US. Torrenting copyrighted material isn’t. A VPN doesn’t change that.

8. Apps

Mobile apps (Android & iOS)

NordVPN’s mobile apps have been redesigned over the past few years and are noticeably more intuitive than the older versions. The Android and iOS apps are available from the Play Store and App Store respectively. For a broader look at iPhone-specific options, see our Best VPN for iPhone guide.

The one-click connect feature is genuinely useful and you can connect to a server faster than with most rivals.

The upper portion of the app shows a map view for picking a server visually. The bottom section gives you futher iptions like Recent servers, All locations and more. You can expand the map view to full screen if needed which I found a handy addition.

I prefer the map view personally. Some VPN apps have removed it, which I think is a shame. Both options are still available, so pick whichever works for you.

Behind the scenes, you can enable Threat Protection, choose between OpenVPN UDP, OpenVPN TCP, NordLynx and NordWhisper, and access advanced features like obfuscated servers.

Android-specific bonus: Tapjacking protection, which I mentioned earlier. No other major VPN offers it, and once it’s on you can forget about it.

The mobile apps are feature-rich and almost match the desktop versions. That’s not always the case with VPN providers, where mobile apps are often stripped down compared to desktop.

Desktop apps (Windows & macOS)

The Windows and macOS apps have both been redesigned to surface NordVPN’s value-added features. Windows users weighing NordVPN against other providers should also check our Best VPN for Windows roundup.

The default opening view is now a “Home” screen with quick connect, weekly usage stats, threat protection stats and Meshnet access. If you prefer the older direct VPN view it’s one click away.

In settings you’ll find split tunneling, the kill switch (including the per-app variant), Threat Protection Pro toggles, custom DNS, post-quantum encryption and protocol selection.

I’m not personally a huge fan of all the extra features bundled into a VPN app, because I want a VPN to do VPN things. But the implementation is clean enough that the added stuff stays out of your way if you don’t want it.

After 14 years in this industry I’ve seen the trend across the major VPN providers: pile in extra features at the same price point. Whether you’ll use them or not depends entirely on you.

Other apps (Linux, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV)

NordVPN has dedicated apps for Linux, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV/Stick, and Apple TV (the latter added in late 2023 once Apple started supporting third-party VPN apps on tvOS).

The Fire TV app is the one I use most outside my desktop. It lets you unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer and others on the big screen, which is genuinely useful when travelling. If Firestick streaming is your primary use case, our dedicated Best VPN for Firestick guide goes deeper on the options.

When you first sign in on Fire TV, you scan a QR code and complete login on your phone. If you use a password manager with long random passwords like I do, this saves you from the misery of typing 20-character strings using a Fire TV remote. Big quality-of-life improvement.

The Fire TV interface has been redesigned and looks better than it used to, although I still prefer ExpressVPN’s simpler Fire TV layout. NordVPN’s requires a bit more scrolling around. Minor gripe.

9. Customer Support

NordVPN’s support is generally good but the entry point is annoying.

The Help section on the website has clearly written guides covering most common issues and many less common ones. For most problems, that’s where I’d start.

If you need to actually talk to someone, NordVPN now leads with a chatbot. The chatbot only appears visible after searching the support centre.

I tested it and it answers a lot of basic questions reasonably well. What I dislike is that you have to enter a name and email before you can even start chatting.

For a privacy-focused company that grates. You can use a fake name and email, but the principle is the wrong one.

Once you get past the chatbot, the 24/7 live chat with real humans is genuinely good. Response times are fast, agents know what they’re doing, and they can escalate technical issues sensibly.

I’ve used it several times over the years for awkward problems and never been let down.

There’s also email support. Any time I’ve reached out by email I’ve had a response within a few hours. The chatbot-first design is now industry-standard, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.

10. Who shouldn’t buy NordVPN

I want to be honest about this rather than write a glowing review with no caveats. NordVPN is a great VPN for most people. It is not the right fit for everyone.

Don’t buy NordVPN if:

• You have a household with more than 10 simultaneously-connected devices. Surfshark or IPVanish offer unlimited connections and are a better fit.
• You’re going to China and absolutely need a working VPN. NordVPN doesn’t reliably work behind the Great Firewall. Look here instead.
• Amazon Prime unblocking is your primary use case. NordVPN is hit-and-miss with Prime.
• You’re on a very tight budget. Surfshark, PIA and a few others are noticeably cheaper. NordVPN isn’t bad value, but it isn’t the cheapest. If price is the main driver, start with our Best Free VPN roundup.
• You need port forwarding for seeding torrents. NordVPN doesn’t support it. Proton VPN does.
• You want a one-feature VPN with no bundled extras. NordVPN’s app has gradually become a bigger suite. If you want a stripped-back tool, Mullvad is more your style.

For everyone else, the case for NordVPN remains strong.

Verdict

NordVPN remains one of the best VPNs you can buy in 2026, and after testing it again for this update I’d still recommend it to most readers, particularly those in the UK.

The strengths are well-established and several of them have improved meaningfully in the past two years. Speeds are excellent and consistent. The five independent no-logs audits put it ahead of most rivals on privacy credibility. Streaming unblocking is among the best in the business, especially for Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Disney+.

What’s improved most is the security feature set. Threat Protection Pro is now genuinely good (the CrowdStrike partnership should make it better still), post-quantum encryption is live on NordLynx (most rivals are still rolling it out), Meshnet is uniquely useful and free, and the entire server fleet now runs on RAM-only hardware. Nobody else offers this complete combination right now.

The server network has expanded to 211 locations across 135 countries, with at least one server in every US state as of April 2026.

The downsides haven’t really changed. Pricing has got more complicated and more expensive, with auto-renewal rates that can sting if you forget to cancel. Amazon Prime unblocking is still patchy.

The chatbot-first support flow is annoying. And the merger with Surfshark, while officially making no difference to either service, is worth being aware of if you’re cross-shopping the two.

I make use of the Amazon Fire TV app most regularly and it continues to be one of the most useful tools I have for travel. The Windows and Android apps remain among the best designed in the industry.

NordVPN passed every leak test I ran (DNS and WebRTC), unblocked everything I expected it to unblock, and held up well across long-distance connections.

If you’re new to VPNs and want one good service that does almost everything well, NordVPN is the easy recommendation. If you’re upgrading from another VPN, the post-quantum encryption, Meshnet and Threat Protection Pro are the standout reasons to consider switching.

The 1-year Plus plan is where I’d start for most people.

Don’t forget the 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you plenty of time to test the service for yourself. If you’re not happy, contact live chat for a full refund.

Try them risk-free today!

30-day money-back guarantee

What do users think?

Trustpilot users currently give NordVPN a score of 4.1 out of 5, down 0.1 since my last review.

For comparison, ExpressVPN is at 4.2, IPVanish at 4.3, Surfshark at 4.4 and CyberGhost VPN at 4.1.

That puts NordVPN solidly in the upper-middle of the pack on user satisfaction. The most common complaints I see in negative reviews relate to billing and auto-renewal, which lines up with the issues I covered in the pricing section. The most common positive comments relate to speed, ease of use and customer support quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is NordVPN safe to use?

Yes. NordVPN uses AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption (both at the top end of current industry standards), now offers post-quantum encryption on its NordLynx protocol, runs all servers on RAM-only hardware, and has had its no-logs policy independently audited five times. There was one server breach back in 2019 (a single server in Finland) and no known security issues since.

Is NordVPN good for streaming?

Yes, particularly for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, ITVX, Channel 4 and most major services. It struggles with Amazon Prime, which is a long-standing weak point. SmartPlay is built into all NordVPN apps and works automatically: pick a server, connect, stream.

How many devices does NordVPN support?

You can connect 10 devices simultaneously to NordVPN. You can install the app on more than 10 devices, you just can’t have more than 10 connected at the same time. If you need more, set up NordVPN on your router so anything connected to your network counts as a single connection.

Does NordVPN work in China?

Not reliably. The standard NordVPN app won’t connect from inside China. Manual setup guides exist, but in our on-the-ground testing the connection was either non-functional or too slow to use practically. If you’re going to China, use one of our recommended VPNs for China instead.

Is NordVPN free?

No, NordVPN doesn’t offer a free tier. However, all plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, which lets you test it risk-free. The Meshnet feature is available free to anyone with a Nord account, even without a paid VPN subscription.

What’s the difference between Threat Protection and Threat Protection Pro?

Threat Protection (included with the Basic plan) blocks ads and known malicious websites at DNS level. Threat Protection Pro (included with Plus and above) adds tracker blocking, deeper phishing protection, and crucially file scanning that blocks malicious downloads. Threat Protection Pro also benefits from a recent partnership with CrowdStrike. Currently desktop-only.

What is NordLynx?

NordLynx is NordVPN’s proprietary VPN protocol, based on WireGuard. It uses a “double NAT” system to remove WireGuard’s standard privacy weaknesses (which would otherwise require storing user identifiers on the server). NordLynx is faster than OpenVPN and is the only NordVPN protocol that supports post-quantum encryption.

What is Meshnet?

Meshnet is NordVPN’s free virtual private network feature, separate from the VPN itself. It links up to 60 of your own devices into a private virtual network so you can share files, share screens, route traffic, and play LAN games regardless of where the devices are physically located. It’s free to anyone with a Nord account.

Can I use NordVPN for torrenting?

Yes. Most NordVPN servers are P2P-optimised, the kill switch is reliable, and SOCKS5 proxy support is available if you want maximum download speed. NordVPN doesn’t support port forwarding, so if you do a lot of seeding, Proton VPN may suit you better.

Does NordVPN keep logs?

No. NordVPN’s no-logs policy has been independently audited five times, most recently by Deloitte at the end of 2024. The only data retained briefly is username and timestamp information used to enforce the 10-device connection limit, which is automatically deleted within 15 minutes of a session ending.

Is NordVPN better than ExpressVPN?

In my testing for this update, NordVPN was meaningfully faster on long-distance connections, has more server locations, includes post-quantum encryption (ExpressVPN doesn’t), and offers Meshnet (which has no ExpressVPN equivalent). ExpressVPN has slightly cleaner Fire TV apps and a marginally better customer support experience. For most users, NordVPN wins overall.

What jurisdiction is NordVPN under?

Panama. Panama isn’t part of the 5/9/14 Eyes intelligence-sharing networks and has no mandatory data retention laws for VPN providers. Even after Nord Security’s merger with Surfshark, NordVPN remains under Panama jurisdiction.