NordVPN Review – All Features, Pros and Cons + Special Deal
Detailed NordVPN Review
NordVPN is one of the most popular VPNs available in the market in 2021. It has the best combination of price and features. It is a VPN that tries to give maximum features at a very reasonable price. Its number of features that forced many websites to declare as best VPN for 2021.
No VPN can even stand against it's 5700+ excellent servers and advanced military-grade security measures. Today, I will do a detailed NordVPN review covering every single detail and then we will see whether this VPN is worth its price or not. So let's get started.
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NordVPN Review
NordVPN
Supports
Streams
Kill Switch | Yes (Excludes Android) |
Zero Log Policy | Yes |
Protocols | NordLynx, IKEv2, OpenVPN |
Encryption | 256-bit AES |
Split Tunneling | Yes |
Servers | 4900 |
Locations | 59 |
Torrenting | Yes |
Video Streaming | 4K UHD |
Download Speed | 115 Mbps |
Money Back Guarantee | 30 Days |
Plans And Pricing
Now lets start the NordVPN Review with plans and pricing. It is available in four different plans i.e. monthly plan, annual plans, two-yearly plan, and three-yearly plan. The cost of the monthly plan of NordVPN is $11.95 per month, while it is just $6.99 per month for an annual plan of NordVPN.
In the two-year plan, the price drops to $4.99 per month and in the three-year plan, it further drops to $3.49 per month which is a very reasonable price. You have to pay a large sum of money while buying the three-year plan as it amounts to $125.64, but in the long run it benefits the most.
The monthly plan and annual plan have moderate price and almost every good VPN service charge this much however many small VPNs offer their services at a very cheap price.
For instance, there is Kaspersky whose connection will cost you as little as $4.99 while a Windscribe VPN could be as cheap as $3. So, the best VPN depends on your own budget, but if you prefer features more than money then NordVPN will best suit you. Also, keep checking whether any NordVPN discount is available and grab the best NordVPN deals.
With one subscription, you can connect six devices to its VPN services, which is one more than what is the market average. Six connections are generally enough for the devices of a whole family, which make the NordVPN sound more reasonable.
But again, there are many small VPNs who offer unlimited connections to their users over a single subscription. The popular VPNs of this genre are Encrypt.me VPN, Surfshark VPN and Windscribe VPN.
Yet, six simultaneous connections will be enough for most of you. So, NordVPN is neither the cheapest nor the costliest VPN. Its price is somewhat reasonable and there is no doubt on that. Mostly people look for 2 years NordVPN discount. If you want to grab big NordVPN deals, then check out their Black Friday offers.
Server and Its Locations
The number of servers which a company has and the locations of these servers is the most crucial point to consider before purchasing a VPN. If a good number of servers are located at your desired location, then it will help you in both Geo-unblocking and high-speed Internet. We collected lots of information about its server location and we updated the details under our NordVPN Review.
They have servers at over 60 locations in the world, which is not best but it is above average. But against NordVPN, CyberGhost covers 80+ countries while ExpressVPN has servers in 90+ countries in the world.
However, their score is not too bad and all of its servers are placed in major countries of the world including India, the Middle East and China. They also have servers in South Africa, a country ignored by most of the VPN companies.
With this level of biodiversity in server locations, NordVPN will be great to cater to your Geo-unblocking and Internet needs.
NordVPN is also excellent in terms of a number of servers. It has a boastful network of over 5700 servers in over 59 countries in the world, which is the second-largest network of servers after CyberGhost which has 6400+ servers.
With these large numbers of servers, you will rarely get connected to an overcrowded server and your internet-speed will never get compromised.
NordVPN doesn't use any virtual servers, which is both good and bad thing. Virtual servers are software-defined servers, which means you can host multiple servers through a single piece of hardware. Many VPNs configure them to appear in a different country from the actual one.
For instance, a virtual server of china may be actually located in the UK and you will stay totally unaware of this fact forever. Therefore, the use of Virtual Servers secretly by any VPN is an act of compromise of privacy of their VPN users.
However, in some cases, it is good to use a virtual server for increasing the number of servers for meeting demand, or for virtual hosting servers in repressive countries like turkey. So, virtual servers are not bad themselves, but the VPN companies should declare their virtual servers to their users.
But in the case of NordVPN, there is no need of worrying about virtual servers as according to the sources, NordVPN doesn't have a single virtual server.
NordVPN on Privacy
The privacy of people on the internet is getting worse day by day. The companies try to sell their users data to third parties for some extra cash which is not good for anyone.
There are many VPN service providers who got caught selling their users data. The users who were using that VPN just for privacy got back-stabbed by their own VPN.
Therefore, I have evaluated every VPN and have reviewed in terms of the privacy they give to their users. So, let's see how NordVPN performs in this test.
Privacy Policy Towards Logging
NordVPN claims to follow a strict policy of storing no-logs. The privacy policy of the company states that they never store connection time stamps, session information, used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses, or other data.
However, NordVPN stores the username and time of the last session of a user for 15 minutes after the disconnect from the VPN. NordVPN never stores session-logging details, which makes it different from other VPN service providers who collect some session-details of their users.
A clear no-log policy assures that your personal data will never be misused by anyone. Our sources also tell that NordVPN earns through subscription money and it doesn't sell it's users’ data.
Third-Party Audit
Every VPN company claims to have a no-log policy, but only a few take the courage to have a third-party audit of their service and verify that. Well, NordVPN is one of the few VPNs who do third-party audits annually.
In 2018, NordVPN underwent a third-party audit from PricewaterhouseCoopers to verify their no-log policy. And the result was amazingly positive. The audit verified that NordVPN does not store their user's data, which means it is true to its no-log policy. You don't have to worry about your privacy when you use NordVPN. So subscribe to this VPN by just clicking the button given below.
Located In Panama
NordVPN does not come under the jurisdiction of the EU (European Union) and the US(United States), but it is located in a country like Panama there are no laws for companies to retain customer data. This means that your personal identity will not be revealed to any authority under any circumstances.
These points make NordVPN a legitimate VPN service that can be trusted with your personal data without any hesitation.
NordVPN on Security
It is not a secret that the Internet is not a secure place, and there are many people who are just waiting for victims to get money. A good precaution for this problem is to use a good VPN.
A VPN that regularly updates it's security standards and provides advanced-level security is the one you should look for. So, let's see how NordVPN performs in terms of the security, data encryption, leak-test etc.
Encryption Technology
NordVPN OpenVPN client uses an AES-256-GCM cipher and HMAC SHA256 hash authentication, which is military-grade encryption. It also uses the Perfect Forward Secrecy feature with a DHE-4096 key exchange.
A new key is assigned to you for every 60 minutes, when the session is open, which means that if a hacker will break into your system finding the key, then he will not be able to hack your device for more than 60 minutes.
With these strong encryption standards, there will be not a single hacker who will try to break into your system.
Protocols
Protocols that you use while connecting to a VPN affects your security and speed while surfing on the internet.
I recommend the OpenVPN protocol for establishing a reliable VPN connection as it is an open-source project and all potential loopholes of this protocol have been thoroughly revised by people.
It is the best protocol for security and speed. If you don't want to connect through an OpenVPN, or it is not working due to some conditions, then you can use IKEv2/IPSec protocols, which are as good as OpenVPN. NordVPN supports these protocols on all platforms.
NordVPN is also working on the latest WireGuard protocol, which has the potential to bring revolution in the VPN sector. As of now, it is under development and it is also an open-source project.
NordVPN has implemented it in it's Linux program and it's working great there. I hope that we will see it on other platforms too in the future.
NordVPN CyberSec Feature
Next topic in our NordVPN review is CyberSec Feature. This is a security feature that is exclusively provided by NordVPN. It includes a sites-filter and ad-blocker, which worked amazingly when I tested them. The CyberSec feature is activated through the NordVPN client app.
Blocking ads help a lot in increasing your device's performance, privacy and security.
Ads consume a lot of data, which makes sites loading slow. They also collect some of your data regarding your response to the ads, which is not good for your privacy.
Moreover, there are many instances where the ads by malicious third-party domains are used to hack the victim's system and steal important information from it. But these all problems can be solved by an ad-blocker which is provided by NordVPN CyberSec feature.
Double-VPN Feature of NordVPN
In the Double-VPN feature, your data-traffic passes through two separate servers which means that your data-traffic gets encrypted two times. It gives you an extra layer of security on one hand and stops hackers from tracking you on the other.
NordVPN currently offers 31 Double-VPN configurations, which are just great for you if you want an extra layer of security, then you should surely consider the Double-VPN feature.
This feature is great for security but however it affects the internet-speed of a device significantly. So, use this feature only when you need maximum security otherwise a normal VPN will be enough for you. Always select your closest Double-VPN as it will affect the internet-speed minimum.
Kill-Switch Feature
The Kill-Switch feature plays a very important role in saving you from de-anonymization while you accidentally get disconnected to the VPN. NordVPN offers two-different kinds of kill-switch to its users which makes it different from other VPNs. These are:
- Internet kill switch
In this feature, all of your data-traffic will get blocked if your VPN connection drops. This is highly recommended because it will not leave a single trace of you behind. - App kill switch
In this feature, all open apps will get closed if VPN connection drops, but it will not affect the traffic. It can show your real identity to the third-parties, which will not be desired by many-of-you. But still, this feature has its own benefits, which you can't deny.
NordVPN Leak Tests
I have checked NordVPN thoroughly to verify that it does suffer from DNS leaks and IP address leaks. I am happy to inform you that I didn't see any single instance of the leak and every security feature was working at it's best.
The most significant feature to look in a VPN is security. Overall NordVPN is outstanding in terms of security, and you can completely rely on this VPN as it provides the perfect security and privacy for you. If you are concerned about your security, then subscribe to NordVPN by clicking the button given below.
Speed and Performance
Security and the speed are generally inversely related and with a highly-secure VPN like NordVPN, speed becomes a more concerning topic. So let's see whether NordVPN manages to provide a good internet speed or not.
I ran many speed-tests to check the performance of NordVPN. I found that NordVPN does not provide the fastest Internet and its internet speed is slower than CyberGhost and ExpressVPN. But it is better than most VPNs and enough for most of the day-to-day activities.
With NordVPN you can easily watch HD videos over streaming platforms, and you can also download huge files through it. The NordVPN company also never throttles the internet speed of their users, and provides unlimited bandwidth to them, which is also a green-flag from NordVPN.
NordVPN on Netflix
If you are one of those people who want to buy a best VPN just for accessing geo-restricted content from a variety of media platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, then NordVPN will be perfect for you. I have checked the geo-unblocking capacity, and performance of NordVPN on US Netflix and I observed that NordVPN was working great with US-Netflix.
I checked their random US servers and all of them unblocks US-Netflix very easily. However, some servers will not be compatible with Netflix, this is because Netflix and other media service providers regularly block the IP address of VPN servers.
So, if you can't find the right server on your own, then you can approach customer support and they will give you a server according to your need in a minute.
NordVPN is also compatible with other media platforms like Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Hulu and Youtube. NordVPN is not only great in Geo-unblocking through its widely-diverse servers, but it also provides a good speed internet. It allows you to watch a video in Hd and even in 4K on some servers, which makes NordVPN a best option to go for. So if you are searching for a VPN to unblock Netflix at affordable price, then NordVPN is the ideal choice. You can grab the best NordVPN deals here.
NordVPN on Torrenting
Torrenting is very famous nowadays due to its high-speed downloads and content availability. But torrent sites are blocked in many countries, and there are also legal restrictions on many of them due to cases of piracy through them.
Therefore, you need a VPN to access torrent sites and download your favorite content without any restrictions. For this, you need a high-speed VPN with high security-standards, which are readily available in NordVPN.
Moreover, there is a P2P option in the apps, which can help you to connect to the best P2P-friendly server near you. It is a rare feature to find in VPNs, because most of them ignore P2P connections. These all things make NordVPN an excellent option for considering and nobody can deny that.
NordVPN on Different Platforms
NordVPN is available for Android, Chrome, Firefox, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows. It's Linux and iOS client supports WireGuard, which is an underdevelopment protocol and very few VPNs are currently using it.
NordVPN is also compatible with router installation, which is a great way to connect every device of your home to NordVPN without worrying about number of connections.
It is also useful for devices that can't install and run this VPN on their own. NordVPN also gives plugins for Chrome and Firefox, which help to secure the traffic of that browser exclusively.
NordVPN's Customer Support
First of all, the company offers a support website to its users, which is user-friendly and you can search your desired article by searching through a keyword or through scrolling in the categories. It is helpful for searching set-up guides and other information.
On the sites tutorial page, there is a step-by-step detailed guide for all platforms, which is amazingly great. Other than this, the company also offers 24×7 customer support to its users which is worth mentioning.
With live chat, you will get connected to an agent in minutes and they will help you with your problem in a very friendly manner, and you can completely rely on them to solve your issue.
I tested the live chat by posting some simple questions in the live chat, 5 times and every time I got a friendly response from an agent in minutes. NordVPN also offers email-support, which is not as fast as live-chat, but it doesn't take more than an hour to respond towards customer's problems.
So, NordVPN truly understands the significance of customer support and they are performing great in this region. After reading the NordVPN review, if you are interested to subscribe to their service, then you can do it by just clicking the below given button.
Conclusion
We have come to the conclusion of NordVPN review. After analyzing every single feature of NordVPN, I can say that it gives a true value for your money. This VPN service keeps its users' privacy at top and it never collects or sells any of your personal information. This NordVPN review is an in-depth summary of test results and research.
Good customer support from NordVPN which can solve your problems in seconds is an additional advantage of this service.
However, this VPN is a bit costly when you buy it for the short-term. The annual and monthly plans of this VPN are not reasonable, but the features of this VPN cancels this draw-back. Moreover, if you buy it for three years, then the price will not be an issue for you as it gives huge NordVPN discount on its 3-year plan. If you think that three-year plan is not available at your budget, then try 2 years NordVPN deals.
This was all about the NordVPN review. If you liked the article then please share this NordVPN review article with your friends.
Also if you have any doubts regarding any topic we discussed in this article, then you can comment it down and I will try to solve your problem. If you have used NordVPN, then you can also share your review with me by commenting on this article.
That's all for today. I will meet you next time with some other interesting and knowledgeable article.
We are a group of Technical experts who are very much concerned about Online Privacy. Every review that we write is the result of multiple testing on various devices. We verify the locations and the server that provides the IP and check whether it is safe to work with or not.