NordVPN Review

Updated Oct 20

The Bottom Line

NordVPN is the jack-of-all-trades VPN. It costs a little less than ExpressVPN, has leading privacy and security features, and it’s packed with features that are useful for both beginners and power users. While its usability has room for improvement, if you’re on the fence about which VPN to get, NordVPN is a great choice.

Speed

Privacy

Server Locations

User Experience

Additional Features

Streaming

Security

Torrenting

Device Compatibility

Pros

✅Excellent privacy & security features

✅Works with US Netflix, Disney+ & more

✅IP addresses from 127 countries

✅Fast download speeds with NordLynx

✅Apps for every popular platform & device

✅3-day Android free trial

Cons

❌Retains connection timestamps

❌Dedicated IP feature is a privacy risk

❌Expensive on renewal

❌Less user-friendly apps than competitors

❌Paywalls many advanced features

Since it’s almost impossible to avoid a NordVPN ad nowadays, it understandably comes with a lot of hype and expectation.

We’ve fact-checked its claims, dissected its buzzwords, and stress-tested its apps, to provide you with the unfiltered truth: it’s a very good VPN, but it’s not as good as you’re made to believe.

It’s undeniably a high-end VPN service, and performs exactly how you’d expect: it’s very fast, encrypts your traffic securely, and unblocks most streaming services easily. We think it’s especially well-suited if you enjoy tinkering with your setup, thanks to its feature-rich apps.

But this level of customization is a double-edged sword: NordVPN’s apps are difficult to use and navigate, even for experienced users. Even usually straightforward actions, like disconnecting, can be exasperating.

Despite what it advertises, it’s also not as private as competitors, since the VPN retains some logs for 15 minutes after a session.

That’s why, on balance, we prefer ExpressVPN. Its apps are so much easier to use, it unblocks more streaming services, and, unlike NordVPN, it allows torrenting on all servers. ExpressVPN’s slightly higher price may be a dealbreaker for some, but NordVPN is actually more expensive on renewal.

Still, we strongly recommend NordVPN — it ranks as the second-best VPN overall in our testing methodology for good reason.

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