Comparing PureVPN vs NordVPN isn’t easy as both NordVPN and PureVPN are well-known, well-respected VPN services within the VPN industry and with their sizeable customer base.

Both have also been around for longer than most other providers.

However, while both NordVPN and PureVPN are good, one is undoubtedly better than the other.

The question is, which is it?

Of course, the internet is filled with VPN comparisons of NordVPN, PureVPN, and other VPN providers praising the service that they are reviewing, but that is not of much help on its own.

Look at one VPN website, and you’ll find positive feedback for both, look at another, and you’ll find negative.

Instead, we have decided to create this NordVPN and PureVPN comparison, where we will look into the most sought-after VPN security features, privacy tools, and more to see how these two high-profile VPN providers compare to each other.

By the end, you will be able to tell which of PureVPN and NordVPN is better right away for your individual needs, not the needs of someone else.

But, if you cannot wait, you can skip to the results of the comparison right now.

If, however, you want to compare NordVPN and PureVPN in detail and see how all the basic features (and indeed advanced features) stack up against each other, this comparison is the article for you.

1. Logging

NordVPN

The first thing we would talk about when comparing NordVPN vs PureVPN is the logging policy of these two services, and we will start with NordVPN.

As one of the most reputable services in the industry, NordVPN has a stringent no-logging policy. It does NOT retain user logs or process your browsing data.

The only information that does get collected is the minimal amount of data you provide during the registration process. This is the necessary minimum that NordVPN requires for delivering its services, and that is all that it collects.

It does not, and will not collect anything else, thanks to two things – automated technical processes that do most of the work along the way, and the privacy-friendly laws of Panama, in which the service is based.

This location is up there with the British Virgin Islands as the best place to base a VPN business.

NordVPN has always been known for its privacy-friendly ways, and this remains the case today. Unfortunately, that is not the case with PureVPN.

PureVPN

PureVPN is trying to be as privacy-friendly as possible, but unlike NordVPN, it has had a controversial past when it comes to logging. As a result, many are still sceptical of it today.

The controversies came in late 2017 when the FBI managed to identify an individual accused of online harassment. The problem is that the user was identified even though they were using PureVPN.

The authorities managed to match the real IP address of the user to the one used in the crime, thus identifying the user.

Of course, we do not condone online harassment or any similar activity, nor do we recommend the use of a VPN for conducting such behaviour.

However, the fact is that the user was exposed even when using PureVPN, a time when they should have been guaranteed total privacy.

A rumour suggested that PureVPN cooperated with authorities to provide such log-based evidence. For a VPN connection service that claims to collect no user logs, that is a serious breach of user trust.

Winner: NordVPN

Both PureVPN and NordVPN claim to have a no-logs policy. But with PureVPN’s past controversies, the service’s reputation is not what it was.

Meanwhile, NordVPN remains as private and as reliable as ever, and although it suffered a server breach, has made numerous changes to shore up its security and guarantee the privacy of their users. So we give this point to Nord VPN.

30-day money back guarantee

2. Streaming

NordVPN

The use of VPN services to unblock and protect privacy when using streaming platforms has skyrocketed over the past decade.

This is hardly a surprise, considering the amount of censorship and geo-restricting policies that have been introduced over the years and the huge spike in streaming platforms that are available.

Whether it’s Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, or another service you want to watch, we’re all using our VPNs for streaming these days, it seems.

When it comes to NordVPN, specifically, the service offers a blazing-fast download speed across all its VPN servers that are perfect for using all the big streaming platforms.

With it, you can stream any content on almost all of the most popular streaming websites, even if they are geo-restricted or censored in your country.

Best of all, you can stream high-quality videos without buffering or other interruptions.

NordVPN offers over 5,457 servers in 60 countries around the world, and with it, you can unblock virtually anything.

In our tests, we found that it is easy to use NordVPN to access Netflix, BBC iPlayer and all the major streaming services, although you may find that some obscure ones harder to access.

PureVPN

Interestingly, Pure VPN is not that bad if you want to unblock Netflix and other streaming services either, although it doesn’t exactly match NordVPN when it comes to speeds.

The service covers 78+ countries and offers more than 6,500 servers. However, we found only the servers closest to your physical location are good enough for fast streaming.

As you move away from your location, the PureVPN speeds get slower. This is, of course, not surprising. Physical distance is a huge factor when it comes to the speeds that you can achieve.

In the end, PureVPN is not bad for internet users that want to use their internet connection to stream movies or TV shows on the most popular streaming platforms.

The service equally works with a lot of services from Netflix to Disney+ and many more inbetween. Unblocking is on par with NordVPN and perhaps just slightly better. But in our opinion, we found NordVPN’s servers to be slightly faster.

Winner: Draw

While NordVPN is undoubtedly the faster of the two services and unblocks almost every popular streaming service, PureVPN does compete on services it can access.

PureVPN struggled a little more when streaming services at a distance, but due to them being able to access a couple of rarer streaming services, we’re declaring this PureVPN NordVPN head-to-head a draw!

3. Concurrent Connections

NordVPN

Considering the fact that we all have multiple devices that we use to connect to the internet these days, we need a VPN that can keep them all safe at the same time.

NordVPN allows you to protect up to 6 devices with a single license. That means that six devices can use NordVPN apps simultaneously, which is pretty good for small families, or for people with multiple devices.

NordVPN is a VPN provider that covers a wide range of devices and systems, including an Android app, and apps for iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android TV, and more.

It even has browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, which allows you to use it on any device that can handle the two browsers.

With unlimited bandwidth too, that makes it the ideal VPN for streaming, file sharing, and protecting your internet connection regardless of which internet service provider you use.

PureVPN

Surprisingly enough, PureVPN performs better than NordVPN in this area.

The service allows for as many as 10 simultaneous connections, which is an exceptional number of devices that you can protect at once.

This was not always the case, and the service used to provide only five concurrent connections. However, with the number of connections doubled, PureVPN clearly wins this time.

Not only that but in terms of the devices you can use it on, it is just as good, if not better than NordVPN.

It offers dedicated desktop apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux and mobile apps that include an Android app and iOS, plus apps for Chrome, Firefox, and 50 other types of devices.

Winner: PureVPN

While it does have its flaws, we must give PureVPN credit for the pure (no pun intended!) number of concurrent connections that it allows. It beats NordVPN in this area fair and square.

4. Apps

NordVPN

We have already listed which devices and systems you can protect with your NordVPN app. Now, let’s take a look at the app itself.

Setting up the NordVPN app is pretty straightforward, and anyone who has ever installed an app or a program will quickly complete the process in seconds.

Once you are down with the installation and you log in, the first thing you will see is a big map of the world. This is NordVPN’s way of presenting you with a server list so that you can connect to VPN server locations anywhere you want.

Not only that, but you can easily see where exactly you have connected to, instead of trying to remember where a specific country or location is.

We like this simplistic nature, but if geography isn’t your strong point, there’s an additional country listing to the side to help you connect where you want.

Other than that, using the app is straightforward. You have a big connect/disconnect button, as well as settings that allow you to set certain modifications if you so desire.

NordVPN users also benefit from a wide range of advanced features to help with their data security and protect their VPN traffic. NordVPN comes with Double VPN servers, which allows you to connect to two VPN servers at the same time.

There is also an internet kill switch, split tunneling (which helps with faster connection speeds), IP leak protection, a kill switch, and a wide range of VPN protocols, including the new WireGuard protocol.

You can pay a bit more to get a static IP Address (static IP addresses gives you dedicated IP addresses rather than a shared one), and all apps benefit from NordVPN’s military grade encryption and dedicated servers for different tasks.

PureVPN

Now, let’s see how the PureVPN apps compare. As we have already noted, they are available on most operating systems, and full details can be found on the PureVPN website. There are browser extensions available too.

The installation process is just as straightforward as the one you will find at NordVPN.

After you log in, you will once again see the connect/disconnect button; the server network is easy to navigate, and you can also approach the settings and make modifications with ease.

This will help improve internet speed and help to choose the best server or local servers that suits your need, whether that be file sharing, enhancing your internet freedom or anything else.

All in all, the app is simple to use, and the service did a good job when it comes to making it easy to navigate and straightforward.

It also offers features like split tunneling, obfuscated servers, ‘military’ grade encryption, a dedicated IP address, kill switch, and various other security features.

The problem lies in the fact that the mobile apps look slightly different to the desktop ones, whereas NordVPN has attempted to keep them as similar as possible. It’s not a huge issue, but if you’re a beginner, it will take you longer to navigate.

Winner: NordVPN

As mentioned, NordVPN offers a user-friendly app with an entire world map on which you can pick servers to connect to.

It is user-friendly and precise regardless of the platform you use it on, which is why it gets the point where PureVPN, although not bad can take a little more time to get used to for new users.

But, on balance in comparing the apps of NordVPN and PureVPN NordVPN beats PureVPN on this one.

30-day money back guarantee

5. Price

NordVPN

Lastly, when comparing NordVPN vs PureVPN, let’s talk about price. Both NordVPN and PureVPN offer a range of price packages, so lets start with NordVPN.

NordVPN offers three levels of package – standard, plus, and complete. We will focus on the standard package that doesn’t come with their password manager or cloud storage features.

Nord VPN users can choose from three different length plans which are priced as follows:

• 1-month plan:  $5.29 (£9.99) per month
• 1-year plan: $3.99 (£3.79) per month
• 2-year plan: $2.99 (£3.09) per month

Of course, before choosing the plan, you should remember that you pay the full price of each plan right away. The monthly prices are simply there to show you the benefits of choosing a specific plan.

Now, we like NordVPN prices and they come with good discounts for signing up for longer-term deals. This is something that both NordVPN and PureVPN do and which is standard across the industry.

For an established VPN, a two-year commitment is not too much of a risk, and given the size of the NordVPN server network and the range of security features it offers, we think this is a very good deal.

PureVPN

While both NordVPN and PureVPN offer long-term discounts, it is PureVPN that offers the longest deal.

Their plans are priced as followed:

• 1-month plan: $10.95
• 1-year plan: $3.24 (70% discount)
• 5-year plan: $1.33 (88% discount)

Yes, that is a five-year deal, you see and yes, it is a very low price, but remember, you pay the whole fee upfront, so it will still be a sizeable chunk of money.

When it comes to comparing PureVPN vs NordVPN on price, PureVPN is definitely cheaper.

However, we would be wary of committing for five years as the quality of any VPN can ebb and flow, and once you sign up, you are locked for half a decade.

For us, the one year deal offers the safest bet and the best saving, so this is the one we recommend. PureVPN also comes with a 31-day money-back guarantee, trumping NordVPN by a single day.

Winner: PureVPN

In the price battle between PureVPN vs NordVPN, both PureVPN and NordVPN offer good value for money. But it is PureVPN that is the best VPN price deal available.

If price is a decisive factor for you, then PureVPN is cheaper, comes with a longer money-back guarantee, and also a longer deal option as well.

In the price contest of NordVPN v PureVPN, it is PureVPN that wins out for us.

Overall winner: NordVPN

In the end, when comparing PureVPN vs NordVPN, we believe that NordVPN is a better service, although it only wins by a hair-breadth based on the aspects we covered in this review.

NordVPN comes with all the key features you need from ‘military’ grade encryption and a robust privacy policy to a kill switch, obfuscated servers, unlimited bandwidth, terrific apps and a good range of browser extension options.

They also feature a great selection of server locations, fast and reliable download speed, and are headquarters in Panama which, while not quite as preferable as the British Virgin Islands, still has no mandatory data retention laws to worry about.

If you are focused on price, then a NordVPN vs PureVPN comparison will show you that PureVPN is the cheapest. But when it comes to value for money, we think NordVPN offers a better all-round service.

A decisive factor in the NordVPN vs PureVPN contest is logging. NordVPN offers a more dependable logging policy and will help to keep you private in a way that we just are not convinced that PureVPN can.

I thought NordVPN also had a bit more functionality in its app, which are available across a huge range of devices, including all the major desktop and mobile devices and I really enjoyed the layout of the most used functions.

I also found it also offers better speeds and a more useful server selection, both in key locations and across the world as a whole. Plus it was the best for streaming and I had no problems watching all my favourite shows and movies

However, PureVPN is better when it comes to simultaneous connections and it has affordable prices. So, if you don’t care much for streaming, and simply want to browse the web safely, either service should do perfectly well for you.

Conclusion

Finally, which VPN should you choose?

That choice is up to you.

We believe that NordVPN is slightly better overall. They’re great for streaming and have a strong no-logs policy.

Don’t just take our word for it.

British newspaper The Sun has also concluded that NordVPN is both “easy to use” and “well worth its price”.

This newspaper might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they are Britain’s most-read newspaper and don’t make recommendations lightly, so who are we to disagree with them?

PureVPN isn’t particularly bad, but in the areas that matter most, NordVPN is far superior.

Don’t forget, NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you give them a try and they don’t match your expectations, then you can always get a refund and give PureVPN a go.

Looking for other choices? Why not see how ExpressVPN compares to NordVPN or contrast the available features of all the leading VPN services.