NordVPN Review
Connect up to 6 devices simultaneously
Browse the internet with total privacy
30-day no hassle money-back guarantee
Fast connection speeds
24/7 live chat and email support
Pros & Cons
- 24/7 customer support
- Up to 6 simultaneous connections
- Process-specific kill switch
- Obfuscation features & double VPN
- Can’t choose specific region to connect to
- Don't offer competitive pricing
Plans & Pricing
NordVPN has three subscription plans. You can choose to pay on a monthly basis or 1 or 2 years in advance. The longer you commit to, the lower the cost per month will be. A 1-month subscription costs $11.95. A 1-year plan is $4.92/month ($59.00 in total), and a 2-year plan is $3.71/month ($89.00 in total), getting you the greatest savings. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Overview
NordVPN has been providing VPN services for over ten years and claims to provide military-grade protection for your internet data. With NordVPN, you can easily access websites and content that are restricted to specific countries. The company’s servers are under the jurisdiction of Panama, where there are no mandatory data retention laws, so users can rest assured that their activity is not logged or stored in the NordVPN servers and their privacy is protected.
- Compatible with 6 devices
- 5,455 + servers in 59 countries
- 24/7 chat and email support
- Advanced online security
Features & Functionality
NordVPN has a number of security features that make it particularly unique and attractive for users looking to protect their privacy.
Double data encryption
NordVPN has a double encryption system called DoubleVPN which uses a double-node server link in order to lock down inbound and outbound data. This is done using AES-256-CBC encryption, which is considered military grade and is applied twice to increase security levels.
Automatic kill switch
To ensure users are protected even if their connection is somehow disrupted, NordVPN offers a kill switch that shuts down all applications that may be able to access your information or location due to a temporary disconnect from the VPN service. This feature is particularly popular among users who access location-sensitive services such as online gaming or file sharing.
DNS leak resolver
DNS servers can often become a security risk because they can send queries that are not encrypted, giving external entitles access to private information, such as your IP address and the websites you’ve visited. In most cases, you won’t even know that such information has been sent. NordVPN prevents this by ensuring that all of your DNS queries are secure whenever you’re connected to the service.
Strict no-logs policy
In order to remain completely anonymous online, NordVPN never logs your activities on its servers. It uses a Tor over VPN solution to send encrypted traffic over the Tor network. The traffic is always encrypted as it bounces to different locations around the world in order to make it near-impossible to trace.
Privacy and Security
NordVPN places a strong emphasis on protecting their users’ privacy and has the added benefit of ensuring that all user activity and logs are never saved on their servers. In addition to the multiple security measures mentioned above, NordVPN offers security extras such as web proxy extensions for Chrome and Firefox browsers. Multiple protocols are available, including PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2/IPsec, and OpenVPN.
Additionally, Nord offers users an ad-block feature called CyberSec that blocks dangerous websites and allows users to block annoying ads.
Customer Support
NordVPN has a help desk and knowledge center on their website where you can access tutorials and articles about different topics. It’s a great place to search for specific questions that you may have about using the software or any technical difficulties. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for on the website, you can contact the support team via email or chat and their response time is pretty fast.
If you’d like NordVPN to add more features to their software, you can post a suggestion on their community board and be updated if the feature you wanted has been added to the latest version.
Speed
NordVPN offers over 5,455 servers in 59 countries around the globe, and you can choose servers that are customized for specific actions. For example, if you are using the VPN service to stream legal video, you can connect to the ultra-fast servers. But if you are looking for high security when browsing websites, connect to the Tor over VPN or DoubleVPN servers. NordVPN also offers anti-DDoS servers for users who want to be protected against DDoS attacks.
When using NordVPN, we saw no delay or change in speed when streaming videos, accessing online games, or browsing sites.
Ease of Use
NordVPN is very easy to install and use and requires zero technical experience or knowledge.
Download and installation take only about a minute and the process doesn’t require any configuration on the user’s end. Once installed, all you have to do is enter your username and password and you can start using NordVPN.
The main interface screen lets you choose two different views for choosing servers. You can view a list of countries and simply click the country you’d like to connect to, or you can look at the servers list if you want to connect to a specific type of server. The entire process is very straightforward and simple. The interface is designed in a way that makes it very clear what you need to do in order to use it.
In the settings menu, you can configure simple settings like whether or not it starts automatically when your computer is turned on, whether or not you’d like to add DNS leak protection, the default protocol, and more.
Final Word
Overall, NordVPN is a great choice, especially if you’re not very technical or don’t want to deal with too many configurations or technical features. The prices are very low compared to other VPNs on the market, especially if you choose the 3-year subscription. Support is provided around the clock via email, chat, and even Facebook.
NordVPN’s interface itself is extremely straightforward and simple to use and takes only a minute to install and get connected. One of the great things about NordVPN is the fact that it provides high security and privacy protection without compromising your internet speed. So if you plan on streaming legal videos online or playing online games, it’s a great VPN option.
