NordVPN Review 2024: Does It Live Up to the Hype?

NordVPN is an excellent service that provides just about everything you might want in a VPN. This includes access to regional streaming libraries, high levels of security and privacy, and fast connection speeds.

The lowest NordVPN subscription price for a two-year Standard plan is higher than some top-tier competitors, but the price could be well worth it for additional features and reliability. Keep reading our NordVPN review to see a complete breakdown of this VPN’s features, test results, pricing, and more.

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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.

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VPN

NordVPN

Up to 66% off 2-year plans + 3 months extra

• Ultra-secure, high-speed VPN complete with malware protection and automatic blocking of intrusive ads and third-party trackers
• Other benefits include a premium password manager, dark web monitoring, and access to IP-restricted content
• 3 plans to choose from for custom protection on up to 10 devices
• Too many confusing plans

NordVPN overview

Who is NordVPN best for?

• Recommended for people who want a high-speed VPN that offers loads of features, unblocks streaming libraries, and doesn’t compromise on cybersecurity or privacy.

A virtual private network (VPN) is designed to offer opportunities for people to privately and securely connect to the internet. NordVPN does this by using secure protocols such as OpenVPN and NordLynx (its version of WireGuard).

It also has a strict no-logs policy which means it won’t track your online activity. And although many VPNs might say their no-logs policies are strict, NordVPN has sound reasoning to back up its claim. This is because NordVPN headquarters are located in Panama, a country that doesn’t force VPN service providers to save users’ data.

Even better, using NordVPN typically doesn’t sacrifice your internet bandwidth (beyond a reasonable amount). As our test results show, you can connect to a server in Australia from the U.S. and still have fast speeds.

NordVPN also supports torrenting, as evidenced by its specialty "P2P" servers located in different countries worldwide. These are specific servers that are optimized for torrenting use.

NordVPN pros and cons

NordVPN prices and subscriptions

NordVPN has three different plans — Standard, Plus, and Complete — that offer access to different features. The more expensive plans, Plus and Complete, provide more features than the Standard plan.

You also have the option to choose between a monthly, one-year, or two-year plan. The longer the plan, the cheaper the monthly cost.

• The cheapest option for NordVPN: Standard two-year plan at $3.99/mo
• The most expensive option for NordVPN: Complete monthly plan at $15.99/mo

Paying under $4 per month isn’t the most expensive option out there for popular VPN services, but it’s also not the cheapest. ExpressVPN starts from $6.67/mo (billed annually), which is quite expensive, whereas CyberGhost, Surfshark, and Private Internet Access all start at about $3 per month or less.

Sometimes, however, NordVPN offers discounts that bring its cost below $3 a month. Waiting for one of these holiday promos might be worth it if your budget is tight.

NordVPN cost

NordVPN plan comparison

The only real difference with moving up plans is accessing more features, such as the data breach scanner and malware protection. For the average VPN user, we recommend the Standard plan because it's the most affordable while still providing access to the secure VPN and ad blocker.

Considering NordVPN doesn’t cost much more than similar options (and is a lot cheaper than ExpressVPN), it could be well worth the price for the value it offers. Payment options include:

• Credit card
• Debit card
• Amazon Pay
• Google Pay
• ACH bank transfer by Plaid
• Cryptocurrencies (bitcoin, ethereum, and more)
• PayPal

NordVPN features

NordVPN’s highlights include its overall server count, no-logs policy, and security features (strong encryption and protocols). However, it might be helpful for NordVPN to label certain servers that typically work with different streaming platforms (something that CyberGhost does well).

Additional features such as Threat Protection and Meshnet are not essential for all users but could be helpful in specific scenarios.

Server count and countries

• 6,200+ servers in 111 countries

NordVPN has more than 6,200 servers in 111 countries. Offering about 100 server locations worldwide is considered a top-tier industry average compared to other popular VPNs such as ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Surfshark, but NordVPN surpasses them all. Plus, NordVPN regularly works to expand its server network.

Having more servers and countries is typically a good thing because it gives you more opportunities to establish the connection you need. For example, if you’re trying to stream content from another country, but it’s not working, simply try another NordVPN server.

If your VPN advertises that it can unblock streaming content and has loads of servers (like NordVPN), you’re likely to find a server that works eventually. Keep in mind that rules about using a VPN could vary depending on the country. See if NordVPN is legal before using it in another country.

Nord also has a section on its server list called “Specialty Servers.” Here, you’ll find these features:

• Double VPN: Routes traffic through two VPN servers rather than one.
• Onion Over VPN: Combines The Onion Router (Tor) privacy with a VPN.
• P2P: Optimized for torrenting and large file sharing.

No-logs policy and headquarters

• NordVPN logs policy: No logs
• NordVPN headquarters: Panama

If you want to use a VPN for privacy purposes, no-logs policies are essential. NordVPN has a strict no-logs policy, which means it won’t track (or keep logs of) your online activities.

The primary issue with some no-logs policies is that the VPN company doesn’t actually follow through with its claim. This isn’t the case with NordVPN for two important reasons:

1. It has a third-party company (PricewaterhouseCoopers AG) verify its claims
2. It’s headquartered in Panama

Having independent experts find no saved logs in their audit is easy enough to understand, but what does Panama have to do with it?

Depending on where a VPN company is located, it might be legally required to save user data. Panama doesn’t have these data retention laws, so NordVPN isn’t obligated to hold onto this information and turn it over to the police or government officials — which could happen with some VPNs.

Kill switch

NordVPN has a kill switch feature, which automatically disconnects your device from the internet if you disconnect from the VPN or the VPN connection drops. You can also use this feature with specific apps.

Kill switches are important because they help prevent any of your online traffic from traveling through an unencrypted connection. The NordVPN kill switch can be easily found and turned on in the NordVPN settings. We turned it on and tested it with complete success.

After turning it on while connected to the VPN, we disconnected from the VPN and tested our internet connection through a web browser. We were unable to connect to the internet (load any pages) until we turned our VPN connection back on.

Split tunneling

NordVPN offers split tunneling, a feature that allows you to allow certain programs direct access to the internet for faster speeds. This means only the programs you allow would bypass the VPN connection.

To turn on split tunneling, head to your NordVPN app settings and select the “Split tunneling” option. Here, you can toggle the feature on and add apps you want your VPN to work or not work with.

Encryption

NordVPN uses AES-256 encryption. This is considered the best VPN encryption currently available because it’s nearly impossible to crack.

But nearly impossible means possible, right? Correct, but also not really. It’s calculated that it would take billions of years for a supercomputer to crack this security, so it’s likely that time is on your side in this case.

VPN protocol

NordVPN uses both the OpenVPN and NordLynx protocols, and NordLynx is built around WireGuard. OpenVPN and WireGuard are typically considered to be two of the strongest protocols available. Additionally, Nord uses the IKEv2/IPsec protocol, which is said to be one of the most stable VPN protocols available.

Select your NordVPN protocol options in the “Auto-connect” area of your settings. VPN protocols and servers are automatically chosen by default, but you can toggle this off to make manual adjustments.

Threat Protection

Threat Protection is a fairly new feature from NordVPN that’s advertised to block risky websites, stop web tracking, clean up ads, and protect your device from malware and computer viruses (much like antivirus software). You can turn it on by selecting its icon from the sidebar.

We tested the service’s ad-blocking features by visiting a site we know has loads of ads (Forbes) before and after turning on Threat Protection. The results were a huge success, with NordVPN blocking all ad attempts while we scrolled through a few different articles.

Note that this feature isn’t to be confused with the Dark Web Monitor feature found in your app settings. Turning on dark web monitoring basically alerts you if Nord finds any leaked information on the dark web that’s linked to your email address.

This feature comes in two flavors: Threat Protection and Threat Protection Lite. If you're looking for a full security suite that blocks ads, trackers, malicious sites, and malware, turn on Threat Protection. If you prefer to just get rid of ads and trackers, turn on Threat Protection Lite. 

Meshnet

NordVPN provides an interesting feature called “Meshnet” that links remote devices over secure connections. This could be useful for:

• Playing video games with friends from wherever
• Working on projects with co-workers
• Remotely accessing your files from anywhere

If you’re into “LAN” parties with faraway friends (and no cables) or want a quick way to access movies, photos, or other files from anywhere, this sounds like an ideal solution.

Currently, Nord offers Meshnet for free so you can connect 10 of your own devices and up to 50 other devices. Meshnet is an excellent way to get around Netflix's password-sharing ban, so it's well worth checking this feature out to see if it works for you.

Access Meshnet by selecting its icon from the sidebar.

NordVPN test results

We test VPNs to help ensure we can fairly judge whether they work as intended and deserve our recommendation. We conducted three tests — a speed test, a DNS leak test, and a WebRTC leak test — to see how NordVPN performs with internet speed and overall privacy.

NordVPN passed its tests with flying colors. Check out these details for each test.

Speed tests

• What was the outcome of the speed tests? NordVPN passed its speed tests.

The purpose of this test is to find out if your internet connection becomes significantly slower when using NordVPN to connect to different servers worldwide. We tested this by first running an internet speed test without being connected to the VPN and then running speed tests while connected to different VPN servers.

These tests were run using a MacBook Pro running macOS Monterey and Wi-Fi from a physical location in the U.S.

Here are the speed test results for VPN connections to servers in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

NordVPN speed test results

Connecting to a nearby U.S. server caused slightly slower download speeds and a small bump in ping compared to not using a VPN at all, but this could have been due to normal speed fluctuations. All in all, the difference wasn't noticeable.

Connecting to servers in Europe and Australia had a larger impact on download speeds and ping. However, these changes are to be expected because you’re connecting to servers across the world. And the change in download and upload speeds was small compared to some other VPNs we've tested.

Overall, it was simple and easy to scroll through and connect to different servers. You can also use the Quick Connect option if you want Nord to choose a nearby recommended server for you.

It took NordVPN 10 seconds or less to make each connection, and any changes to download speeds and ping weren’t beyond reasonable ranges.

NordVPN Netflix tests

• What was the outcome of the Netflix tests? NordVPN passed its Netflix tests.

You might use a VPN to watch Netflix if you want to watch content from Netflix libraries other than where you’re physically located. For example, if you’re located in the U.S., you might connect to a VPN server in the U.K. to watch the Netflix content from that region.

We tested NordVPN with Netflix and didn't have any trouble connecting to libraries in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and the U.S. We did experience some lag and issues getting the Netflix site to load while connected to a Melbourne, Australia server, but quickly resolved this by swapping over to an Adelaide server.

Note that you typically don’t need to connect to specific servers for different streaming services to work with NordVPN — which is the case with some VPN providers, including CyberGhost. Any Nord server should work just fine (more on this later when we discuss our chat with a customer service representative).

NordVPN Netflix test results

DNS leak tests

• What was the outcome of the DNS leak tests? NordVPN passed its DNS leak tests.

A VPN is supposed to keep your internet traffic concealed in an encrypted tunnel, but it’s possible to have domain name system (DNS) leaks that might show some of your activity. A DNS leak test basically lets you know if these leaks are happening and causing a privacy risk.

We used the DNS Leak Test service from BrowserLeaks to test whether we had DNS leaks before and after using NordVPN. Before connecting to the VPN, a lot of information showed up, including a list of servers, IP addresses, our internet service provider (ISP), and locations.

But after connecting to NordVPN, the information changed to mask all the previously visible information. Instead of showing our actual IP address, BrowserLeaks showed the IP address of the Seattle server we connected to. 

One thing to note is that there was no large list of servers, which means our online traffic was being correctly routed through the VPN server we connected to.

WebRTC leak tests

• What was the outcome of the WebRTC leak tests? NordVPN passed its WebRTC leak tests.

A VPN is also supposed to mask your location by hiding your true internet protocol (IP) address. But your IP address might be exposed if you’re suffering from WebRTC leaks or a vulnerability that can occur in certain web browsers and other applications.

We used the BrowserLeaks website to test for WebRTC leaks before and after using NordVPN. We specifically wanted to see if our IP address was exposed before and after testing.

Our true IP address showed up while running the test without connecting to the VPN, but once we connected to the VPN, the IP address for that server showed up instead. This is a good thing because it means Nord is working correctly to mask our IP address.

NordVPN compatibility

You can set up NordVPN with a variety of mobile devices, mobile apps, and operating systems, including:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux
• Android app
• iOS app
• AndroidTV
• Chrome
• Firefox
• Microsoft Edge

NordVPN customer support

NordVPN has a Contact Us page and a help center. The contact page isn’t extensive but offers quick links that could be helpful, including to the help center or the live chat feature (also available at the bottom right of most pages on the website).

There are also emails here for different departments, such as support, business development, affiliate partners, business sales, and press. The support email is support@nordvpn.com.

Note that NordVPN advertises 24/7 live chat but doesn’t have a call center. You can also contact NordVPN through its social media channels, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Video tutorials are available on the NordVPN YouTube channel.

Bugs and feedback

NordVPN encourages feedback in the form of bug reports. If you encounter an issue, submit a detailed report. The Report a Problem button is shown as an exclamation point on the server list screen.

NordVPN also offers a bug bounty program for ethical hackers to find and report any vulnerabilities in its system. This program — offered through the HackerOne platform — provides cash rewards for successful and accepted hacks

Chatbot

The chat function is typically available throughout the NordVPN website and shows up as a clickable button in the bottom right corner of the page.

If you click on the chat button, you get the NordVPN chatbot and a list of prompts to choose from, including “Order NordVPN,” “I'm having connection issues,” “How to use NordVPN on a specific device?,” and “Non-English support.”

We decided to take the chatbot for a spin and see whether it could be useful. We chose the “I’m having connection issues” prompt and went from there. Everything was fairly standard as we went through more prompts until we arrived at a point where the chatbot proposed a solution.

The solution was actually quite detailed and easy to follow, including steps and screenshots of the process. But the solution was also outdated and no longer applicable to the version of NordVPN we had running. Turning off CyberSec isn’t an option in our settings, most likely because the Threat Protection feature replaced it.

It’s likely not an easy process to update the chatbot solutions all the time, but it could be disappointing to end up in a situation in which you aren’t receiving updated solutions. Maybe we’d have better luck with a live representative.

Chat with a representative

After testing the chatbot feature, we moved on to see how a discussion with a live representative would go. Using the same chat window from above, we used the magical phrase “speak with a representative” to initiate the conversation.

To continue the process, you must enter a valid email address, and then you’ll be put in the queue to speak with a representative. There was only one person ahead of us when we entered the queue, and we were connected to an agent (who said they were in Lithuania) in a matter of seconds.

The agent was quick to respond, easy to understand, and helpful in answering our inquiry about whether we needed to connect to specific U.S. servers to get streaming services to work while traveling internationally.

Overall, it was a pleasant chat experience that actually gave us useful information. We left the chat knowing that you can basically connect to any U.S. server from an international destination and access the U.S. content libraries of most major streaming services.

The agent mentioned that there were some rare cases (such as with Acorn TV) where you might have to select a specific server to get a streaming service to work.

Help center

The help center is located at support.nordvpn.com. Here, you can search for relevant keywords, browse main support topics, and see frequently asked questions.

This is primarily a resource for finding answers to questions you might have about NordVPN on your own — whether about general information, billing, connectivity issues, or something else.

This can also be a resource for finding tutorials with step-by-step instructions for installing and using NordVPN on different devices and platforms. For example, you might want a quick guide on how to install NordVPN on an iPhone, Android, or router.

NordVPN alternatives

NordVPN is one of our top picks for fast and reliable VPNs. But every VPN has its strengths and weaknesses, so it makes sense to compare your options. Based on our testing and research, we'd also recommend these highly-rated VPN services.

• ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPNs available, and for good reason. ExpressVPN has fast speeds, boasts its proprietary Lightway protocol, and provides high levels of privacy and security for its users.

Get ExpressVPN | Read Our ExpressVPN Review | Compare ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN

• Surfshark is an affordable and easy-to-use VPN that provides unlimited simultaneous connections. It's an excellent choice if you want to share a VPN between many devices in your household.

Get Surfshark | Read Our Surfshark Review | Compare Surfshark vs. NordVPN

• Private Internet Access (PIA) is another affordable option that provides unlimited simultaneous connections across multiple devices. This is a great VPN if you like to customize your app interface and security settings.

Get PIA | Read Our PIA Review | Compare PIA vs. NordVPN

NordVPN FAQs

Bottom line: Is NordVPN good?

Yes, NordVPN is one of the best — if not the best — VPNs on the market because it offers an easy-to-use interface with high levels of security and privacy. You also have plenty of plan-based advanced security features to choose from, the server count reaches more than 6,200, and NordVPN's server network is more expansive than competitors.

If you want a thoroughly tested, fast, and secure VPN connection, NordVPN is likely right for you. But you might forgo using NordVPN if you want a cheaper option and don’t necessarily need some of its additional features.

For a less expensive alternative, check out Surfshark, CyberGhost, or Private Internet Access.

Customizable Coverage That is Simple to Use

4.9

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.

Editorial Rating

Learn More

On NordVPN's website

VPN

NordVPN

Up to 66% off 2-year plans + 3 months extra

• Ultra-secure, high-speed VPN complete with malware protection and automatic blocking of intrusive ads and third-party trackers
• Other benefits include a premium password manager, dark web monitoring, and access to IP-restricted content
• 3 plans to choose from for custom protection on up to 10 devices
• Too many confusing plans

Author Details

Ben Walker

About the Author

Ben Walker is a writer at All About Cookies with a passion for all things internet and technology, whether it's using VPNs while away from home or organizing his life with password managers.