NordVPN is one of the best VPN providers on the market, thanks to its ease of use, excellent security and extensive network of servers. Find out more about what we liked and didn’t like about the service in this comprehensive NordVPN review.
NordVPN has always held a special place in our hearts here at VPNetic and we were happy to sit down this year and do a whole new review from scratch.
Although on the other hand, we are glad to see that much of the service is as it was, with several improvements, too, a more exhaustive search found a handful of things that should have changed but have not.
Not that NordVPN risks losing its place in our first three VPN reviews, it’s an excellent service that will find wide appeal among people interested in keeping their data secure, but they also want an easy-to-use experience.
However, a pair of glasses keep you from beating our best VPN provider, ExpressVPN, from the first place (read our ExpressVPN review to see what we think).
However, NordVPN does have the ExpressVPN number in one key aspect: price. Although its regular plans are reasonably priced, to say the least, NordVPN is currently executing an agreement in which, if you enroll for three years, you pay only $ 99.
That works out to $ 2.75 a month, which may be the best deal on the market today.
Read on to learn more about NordVPN, its features, and what we like and dislike.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Pros :
At a good price
Quick connection
High security
Six simultaneous connection
Double hop server
Cons:
Lack of details on server location
There are no divided tunnels
Features
NordVPN has several cool, useful, and even exciting features that give users a lot of flexibility and customization, although real owners may want to look at TorGuard instead, read our TorGuard review to find out why.
However, as VPNs become available, NordVPN may be the most secure, or at least targeted at people looking to protect their use of the Internet, especially.
The first of these features that will come to your mind is CyberSec, which will be offered to you, free of charge, at the time of installation.
CyberSec is an add-on that blocks adware and malware, detects phishing attacks and avoids all sorts of cybercrime issues.
Turning it on means an additional level of protection while browsing, in addition to the protection offered by a VPN, and should be a must for people concerned about hackers and the like. Being free, we see no reason not to install it.
NordVPN and Torrenting
Another nifty feature is NordVPN’s “specialized servers,” which are designed for very specific types of Internet behavior, such as torrenting (P2P servers) and gaming (dedicated IP servers). The most interesting types of servers for the NordVPN target are probably those designed to combat specific threats, such as DDoS attacks and government eavesdropping.
Onion on VPN means that you will connect to the Internet using a VPN while also using TOR, an anonymous browser used to access, among other things, the so-called dark network (for other uses of TOR, see our article on proxy differences, VPN and TOR).
Last but not least, there are DoubleVPN servers, also known as ‘double-hop’ encryption, which routes traffic to one VPN after connecting to another, meaning that if an intelligence agency manages somehow to break a VPN tunnel, you would still have to deal with another one.
Streaming with NordVPN (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu)
This is all wonderful in itself, of course, but NordVPN is also good at breaking geoblocks. We are pleased to report that during testing we were able to access various streaming services including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
NordVPN has always had a place of honor in our lists of the best VPN for Netflix and the best VPN for BBC iPlayer and it seems that the team behind the service has not missed a beat since the last time we reviewed it. If it is available for streaming, NordVPN will take you, although as you will read in the “speed” section, distance is definitely a factor to consider.
Pricing
As we said during the introduction, NordVPN gets excellent value for money. Although the monthly plan is quite prohibitive at $ 12 per month, year one, the two year and especially the three year plan is big business, as you can see from the table below.
Some providers may work a little less, but none of them will be as secure or as easy to use as NordVPN, with the exception perhaps of Private Internet Access, which also offers fantastic value as you can read in our PIA review. For an example of a cheaper service that just resonates, take a look at our PureVPN review carefully.
The downside to NordVPN’s pricing structure is that you are forced to sign longer, which may make you hesitate a bit. However, the service also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee which, as far as we know, is always honored, meaning you have plenty of time to decide if you like NordVPN enough to take a dip in multiple years.
Regarding payment methods, the registration page offers the usual options for all major credit cards, as well as PayPal (registration emails should not be the same) and a host of local options such as AliPay, Sofort , iDeal etc. For those who want to remain anonymous to the end, NordVPN also accepts bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.
Servers location
As for the server network, NordVPN is definitely a market leader: the service has 3,357 servers in 60 countries, and most of the bigger countries also offer different locations, although, as we mentioned before, you need to guess a bit. .
Aside from wailing, it is one of the best networks out there, with servers on every continent except Antarctica. However, it must be said that Latin America is somewhat underrepresented, and that Africa is reduced to South Africa only.
At first glance, one might think that Asia is as well, except that most countries have almost one hundred servers each, especially Japan.
All offered servers are “dedicated” in the sense that they are physical machines located where they advertise. NordVPN does not use virtual servers (spoofed locations, in short), which is confirmed by our tests.
The result is that NordVPN is more than likely to have a physical server close to the general location, which means it will typically have decent speed wherever you go.
This extensive network is also one of the reasons why NordVPN is one of the best VPNs for gamers, since ping is often low.
In my opinion, if you want to eliminate the anonymous eyes from you and secure your data then don’t waste time subscribe to nordvpn now.
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