NordVPN vs. Mullvad 2024: Let's Mull Over the Best Option

We recommend NordVPN over Mullvad because it provides more features and streaming support, as well as more affordable pricing. Both virtual private networks (VPNs) offer high speeds and encryption levels, but Nord also has 24/7 customer support and a more user-friendly interface.

Let’s jump into our NordVPN vs. Mullvad review to see which service makes the most sense for you based on our detailed testing and research.

NordVPN vs. Mullvad at a glance

NordVPN and Mullvad are two popular VPNs with differences in price, server count and locations, device compatibility, and streaming support. payment options, and customer service.

• NordVPN: Best for overall reliability
• Mullvad: Best for anonymity

How do NordVPN and Mullvad compare?

Star rating	5.0 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.3 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Price	From $3.59/mo (billed every two years)	From €5.00/mo
Max # of connected devices	10	5
24/7 customer support
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and more	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS
# of servers	6,800+ servers in 111 countries	600+ servers in 47 countries
VPN protocol	NordLynx, OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec	OpenVPN, WireGuard
No-logs policy	No logs	No logs
Unblocks Netflix?
Learn more	Get NordVPN Read NordVPN Review	Get Mullvad Read Mullvad Review

NordVPN pros and cons

NordVPN is a premium service that comes at a great value. Beyond offering a VPN, it also comes with unique features like an ad and tracker blocker, dark web monitoring, and specialty servers.

NordVPN easily beats out Mullvad’s server count and locations by a fair margin. It has thousands of servers to choose from in 111 countries. This could be important if you want more servers and locations to choose from, whether to help increase your internet speeds or stream more content.

NordVPN provides 24/7 customer service through its live chat function, which is available to everyone regardless of whether you’re subscribed to NordVPN or not. 

Mullvad pros and cons

Mullvad offers consistent pricing that’s €5.00/mo (about $5 to $5.50) per month no matter which plan you choose. It's a better option than Nord if you want a month-to-month plan.  

Mullvad includes actual cash as one of its payment options, which is kind of unheard of for an online service. But it’s a way to potentially provide users with more anonymity, and it’s something NordVPN doesn’t offer. 

Mullvad also doesn't require your email or other personal information when signing up. All you need to do is generate an account number.

NordVPN vs. Mullvad: prices

	Our Pick
Price range	$2.99–$17.99/mo	€5.00/mo
Best value plan	Two-year plan for $3.59/mo (billed every two years)	Any plan (1 month, 1 year, etc.) for €5.00/mo (about $5.43/mo)
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days	Yes — 30 days
Learn more	Get NordVPN Read NordVPN Review	Get Mullvad Read Mullvad Review

NordVPN costs between $2.99–$17.99/mo, with its lowest-priced option being a two-year plan for $3.59/mo (billed every two years).

Mullvad costs €5.00/mo, no matter which plan you choose. That’s about $5.00-$5.50/mo, depending on the current exchange rate. If you want to avoid the exchange rate, consider buying a Mullvad VPN on Amazon for about $5.00/mo (depending on sales tax).

Overall, NordVPN is the cheaper option because you can lock in a sub-$5 monthly price if you choose its two-year plan. It’s nice that Mullvad’s pricing is consistent, as it hasn’t changed its monthly cost since 2009. But NordVPN and other VPNs, including Surfshark, are still cheaper if you want to save money on your VPN subscription.

Both NordVPN and Mullvad provide 30-day money-back guarantees if you want to test their services. Note that Mullvad can’t refund any cash payments because of anti-money laundering regulations.

Payment options

NordVPN and Mullvad provide multiple payment options, including credit or debit cards and cryptocurrency. There’s no truly anonymous way to pay for a VPN, but Mullvad might have the edge over NordVPN with its cash option.

Paying with cash certainly isn’t the easiest payment choice, but it could help protect your anonymity. Mullvad gives you a payment token that you send with your cash payment to its headquarters in Sweden.

NordVPN payment options

• Credit or debit cards
• PayPal
• Google Pay
  
• Cryptocurrency (bitcoin, ethereum, and more)

Mullvad payment options

• Cash
• Voucher
• Cryptocurrency (bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and monero)
• Credit card or debit card
• PayPal
• Bank wire
• Other options, including Swish, Giropay, eps transfer, Bancontact, iDEAL, Przelewy24

Which VPN is faster?

We tested internet speeds to see if using a certain VPN service significantly reduces the speed of your internet connection or uses up your bandwidth.

We ran speed tests by connecting to servers in the U.S, Canada, the U.K., and Australia with each VPN. The percentages below indicate how much each VPN impacted our speeds depending on the server location.

NordVPN vs. Mullvad download speeds

Platform	Our Pick
US	45% faster	16.73% slower
CA	41% faster	27% slower
UK	31% faster	54% slower
AU	12% faster	34.21% slower
Learn more	Get NordVPN Read NordVPN Review	Get Mullvad Read Mullvad Review

NordVPN increased our speed test results with every server. We expect there to be a decrease in speeds with a VPN, since they're routing your internet traffic through a server, so it was a pleasant surprise during our testing. 

On the other hand, Mullvad slowed down our internet speeds with every server. The U.S. server decreased our download speed by less than 20%, but there was a significant decrease when connected to a U.K. server, which is unexpected. Overall, Mullvad VPN noticeably slowed down our system performance while we conducted the speed tests. 

A significant reduction in speed would mean anything that affects your daily internet usage, whether that’s browsing websites, playing games, or working. However, we also recognize and understand that VPN services will have some effect on your internet speed, especially if you’re connected to distant servers.

Which VPN is more secure?

	Our Pick
Number of servers	6,800+ servers in 111 countries	600+ servers in 47 countries
No-logs policy	No logs	No logs
VPN headquarters	Panama	Sweden
Encryption	AES-256-GCM	AES-256 or ChaCha20
VPN protocol	NordLynx, OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec	OpenVPN, WireGuard
Kill switch
Split tunneling
DNS leak protection
Ad blocker
Learn more	Get NordVPN Read NordVPN Review	Get Mullvad Read Mullvad Review

Both Mullvad and NordVPN provide plenty of useful features, including strict no-logs policies, high levels of encryption, kill switches, and split tunneling.

NordVPN has 6,800+ servers in 111 countries, while Mullvad only has 600+ servers in 47 countries. This is a huge difference in both the number of servers and the number of server locations.

That generally means you have more options to choose from with NordVPN if a certain server is running slow or if you want to stream content from a particular region.

NordVPN also provides a few additional security features over Mullvad, including an ad blocker and dark web monitoring. These features could be important if you want to avoid annoying ads and trackers while staying on top of identity theft protection.

For example, NordVPN’s dark web monitor can alert you if it detects a leak linked to your provided email address. You can then take steps to increase your online security, such as changing your password, deleting the affected account, or setting up multi-factor authentication.

Security and privacy

We like to look at multiple factors when determining whether a VPN provider’s service is both secure and private. That includes checking whether no-logs policies have undergone independent audits to verify their authenticity as well as seeing where companies are located.

Mullvad is located in Sweden, which is a member of the Fourteen Eyes alliance. The Fourteen Eyes Alliance is an offshoot of the Five Eyes alliance, which is a global surveillance organization that shares intelligence with other alliance members.

NordVPN is located in Panama, which isn’t part of the Five or Fourteen Eyes alliances. But that’s not to say that Mullvad is spying on you and NordVPN isn’t. According to their no-logs policies, neither VPN is spying on you. But we still think it makes sense to consider whether a company might have ties to a global surveillance organization.

Both Mullvad and NordVPN have had independent security audits completed. There hasn’t been any indication that user information is being logged or leaked. You can find Mullvad audit information on its blog. NordVPN audit information is available on its blog, too.

From our testing of both NordVPN and Mullvad, we didn’t see any WebRTC leaks and saw sufficient DNS leak protection. They were both also able to successfully mask our IP address.

NordVPN vs. Mullvad: compatibility and customer support

	Our Pick
Windows
macOS
Android
iOS
Linux
Routers
Smart devices
24/7 support
Customer support options	Live chat, email, online guides	Email, online guides
Learn more	Get NordVPN Read NordVPN Review	Get Mullvad Read Mullvad Review

We had no issues setting up the Windows apps for Mullvad and NordVPN on our desktop computer. It was simple and straightforward to download the apps from online links and log in after they were installed.

We primarily used the Windows apps for both VPNs, but you can also use their apps for macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux. Both Mullvad and NordVPN also provide functionality with certain routers.

NordVPN has an edge over Mullvad when it comes to smart devices because Nord has a Smart DNS feature that’s easy to use. NordVPN also has an app for Fire TV devices that you can find on the Amazon Appstore. Mullvad doesn’t have Smart DNS or a Fire TV app.

Interface

Both NordVPN and Mullvad have easy-to-use apps. The Mullvad app is minimalistic and much smaller, about one-third the size of the NordVPN app. But we didn’t have any issues using either app to establish secure VPN connections.

We think the NordVPN app provides a better overall user experience because it has a map with servers you can click on, as well as a server list with a search function. Mullvad has a server list and a search function but no clickable map. We found it quicker to use the map in certain situations rather than typing in a specific location.

We also like how Nord provides specialty servers depending on what you’re trying to do. Mullvad doesn’t have the same type of capabilities for its servers.

NordVPN specialty servers include:

• Dedicated IP: Use a static IP address that you know won’t change.
• Double VPN: Route your traffic through two servers.
• Obfuscated servers: Hide the fact that you’re using a VPN.
• Onion over VPN: Route your traffic through a NordVPN server and The Onion Router (Tor) network.

Support

NordVPN provides 24/7 live chat, while Mullvad doesn’t have a live chat feature at all. Live chat customer service is our favorite way of communicating with most customer support representatives, regardless of the industry. So it’s disappointing to see that Mullvad doesn’t have this option.

You can, however, still find online guides regarding how to use Mullvad VPN, and you can email the Mullvad customer support team. In our experience with emailing Mullvad, they were prompt (though not as quick as live chat) and helpful.

However, you can just use NordVPN’s live chat whenever you need help and start talking with someone very quickly. At least that’s been our experience every time we’ve used Nord’s live chat service. And as long as you’re not getting too technical, Nord’s live chat representatives can typically help you out.

FAQs

NordVPN vs. Mullvad: which is better?

We recommend NordVPN over Mullvad because Nord is more affordable, easier to use, and provides more streaming support. That’s in addition to NordVPN providing high levels of privacy and security, as well as high speeds during our testing.

Mullvad places a large focus on providing users with anonymity and security. But the average VPN user is likely to get more value from Nord’s overall reliability without sacrificing much, if anything, on privacy or security.

If the protections are relatively equal, we would still much rather use NordVPN because we want its streaming capabilities and low cost combined with 24/7 customer support and fast speeds.

NordVPN vs. Mullvad alternatives

If NordVPN and Mullvad don't meet your needs, don't worry. We've reviewed other top VPN services and can recommend the following as alternatives: