NordVPN Review: Tested in 2024 — Safe, but Is It Worth It?

On the surface, NordVPN looks like a really impressive service. It claims to have a huge global server network, a speedy and reliable connection, and iron-clad security and privacy features. Plus, you can get it all for just $2.99/month. That all sounds great, but is there a catch?

To find out, we did an in-depth analysis of NordVPN. The team and I tested its speeds and how well it performs when you’re streaming, torrenting, or gaming. Additionally, I dug deep into its security features, making sure it can truly keep you safe online. I also looked into its location, privacy policy, and independent audits to see how trustworthy it is.

Overall, NordVPN is a fast, safe, and reliable VPN. I got consistently fast speeds on nearby and long-distance servers, so I was able to enjoy various online activities without any lag or interruptions. NordVPN also has world-class security and privacy features, and it’s backed by a legit 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out without risk.

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NordVPN Pros, Cons, and Needed Improvements

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NordVPN is excellent for streaming. Although it doesn’t have streaming-optimized servers, its proprietary NordLynx protocol offers fast speeds, making it possible to stream in Ultra HD quality. Plus, its fast and reliable global server network can securely access content from anywhere.

Our global team of testers confirmed that NordVPN offers smooth and reliable connections for several major streaming platforms. Each team member reported no hiccups in their streaming quality. Platforms that were tested include Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, (HBO) Max, BBC iPlayer, and more.

We confirmed NordVPN works with 30+ global streaming platforms, including:

Works With: 15+ Netflix Libraries

NordVPN has a huge global server network across 111 countries, making it possible to access Netflix from anywhere in UHD. My team tested NordVPN from 15+ locations, and it provided seamless connections for Netflix US, UK, Canada, and Japan. From the UK, I watched Scavengers Reign on Netflix UK in Ultra HD without interruptions.

My colleague reported that the picture quality remained the same throughout the entire episode of Your Honor

Works With: Disney+

I used the auto-connect feature to connect to the fastest UK server based on my UK location, and Disney+ loaded within seconds. I watched Shōgun in UHD without any buffering the entire time.

Use Quick Connect to get the optimal streaming speeds for your location

My US colleagues also successfully accessed Disney+ in great quality. Even when connected to servers in states thousands of kilometers away from their location.

Works With: Hulu

NordVPN has a huge US server network with 17 locations, making it easy to find a reliable server for streaming Hulu. Our team in the US tested a couple of servers on the East and West Coasts, and each gave them a speedy and reliable connection.

Our testing team noted that the video loaded instantly with no buffering throughout the stream

Seeing as NordVPN offers multiple Japanese servers (in Tokyo and Osaka) you can also use it to stream Hulu JP shows securely in HD.

Works With: BBC iPlayer

NordVPN can also safely access UK-exclusive platforms like BBC iPlayer. There are over 440 fast and secure UK servers spread across London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. I tested each of NordVPN’s UK server locations from my location in Glasgow, and each one let me stream securely in UHD.

NordVPN played Dinosaur on BBC iPlayer safely and in great quality

Also Works With: ITVX, ESPN+, DAZN, and others

During my tests in the UK, I also had no problem watching ITVX. Our global team also reported that NordVPN can access Max, ESPN+, and DAZN in great quality. Our US testers watched live NBA games on ESPN+. They loaded in less than 10 seconds, and the video quality never dropped below UHD.

Doesn't Work With: Amazon Prime Video and Sky Go

Unfortunately, NordVPN doesn’t work with Sky Go or Amazon Prime Video. I tried all of NordVPN’s UK servers, but each one gave me an error message on Sky Go.

Neither I nor my team members could access our local Amazon Prime Video libraries. I reached out to its customer support through the 24/7 live chat. The chatbot Nordbot gave me some good troubleshooting tips, like clearing my cache and connecting to the newest server on the server list, but none of these worked.

I was shown an error code on Amazon Prime Video with all NordVPN UK server locations

But, overall, the team and I were impressed by NordVPN’s streaming abilities. It worked well with almost all platforms we tried and got consistently fast speeds for smooth streaming.

NordVPN offers very fast speeds on most servers. Considering it’s normal for a VPN to drop your speeds by at least 20%, I was impressed by how fast it is, especially on some of the longer-distance servers.
Here is what we focused on while testing NordVPN's speeds:

• Download speed refers to the time it takes to download data, such as images, music, and video from the internet to your device. It’s measured in Mbps (megabits per second).
• Upload speed is the time it takes for data to travel between your computer and the internet. It can affect how long it takes to upload a video from your computer to the internet. It’s also measured in Mbps.
• Ping refers to how long it takes for data to travel back and forth between your device and the game server. The lower the ping the better speeds for gaming you will get. Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms).

We measure all of the top vendors’ speeds from the same location in the UK on a regular basis. This makes for fairer comparisons, and each result is the average of several tests done at different times of the day. Our NordVPN tests were conducted using NordLynx since it offered the fastest speeds.

Take a look at how NordVPN stacks up to its competition

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  • hide.me VPN
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186.48 Mbps

39.94 Mbps

11 ms

161.91 Mbps

60.22 Mbps

78 ms

73.48 Mbps

69.79 Mbps

71 ms

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29.73 Mbps

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210 ms

These tests are conducted from the USA

*N/A indicates that we do not currently have speed test data for this location

These are some of the best VPN speeds in the industry. On nearby servers, it’s barely noticeable you’re using a VPN. Speeds on some of the long-distance locations, are particularly impressive, and far better than what some other VPNs have to offer.

Local Speed

NordVPN has a Quick Connect option, which connects you to the fastest location available. Studying months of testing, I’ve seen that this rarely lowered our speed expert’s rates by more than 10%. That’s a great result, and we’ve even had tests where servers over 5,000km away only dropped speeds by 7%.

The Paris server was even faster than the UK server, where our tests were conducted

With that in mind, it’s safe to say you’ll get excellent speeds if you use NordVPN’s nearby locations for streaming or browsing, even if your base speeds aren’t as fast as ours.

Long-Distance Speed

As expected, NordVPN’s speeds dropped more the further away the server was, but were still very fast. For instance, I’m consistently impressed by the results on servers in the US. I regularly see average speed losses of around 25% on the American servers, which is above average compared to most VPNs.

NordVPN is surprisingly fast on faraway servers, with speeds rarely dropping by more than 45%

Many VPNs drop your speeds by well over half at distances of over 15,000km, so this is impressive.

Overall, NordVPN offers excellent speeds. Even if you have lower base speeds, you won’t encounter speed losses that are too significant, so you’ll most likely experience no considerable slowdowns while using the VPN.

NordVPN is a good VPN for gaming. It let me play without lag on nearby servers, but it struggled on servers further away. Naturally, the ping increased the further away the server was from my location.

To test how the VPN performs, I played Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on my Windows PC while connected to the optimal server for my location. It only took around 3 seconds for the game to start, and my ping remained consistently below 50 ms.

I used the NordLynx protocol while playing CS: GO for the best speeds

A ping rate under 100 ms is usually considered optimal for gaming, so these are excellent results. I recorded a ping of 28 ms with no VPN connected, so there wasn’t any noticeable difference in gameplay when I played with NordVPN on local servers.

To see how the VPN performed at longer distances, I first tried the New York server (from the UK). I had a ping of 116 ms, which resulted in longer loading times (over 5 minutes), and I noticed some instances of lagging during the game. I even got killed off a few times because I couldn’t respond fast enough. This may be okay for slower-paced games, but it’s not suitable for fast-paced shooters like CS: GO.

As expected, the Los Angeles server experienced even more lag, with a ping of over 169 ms, which rendered most games unplayable. The ping only got higher on servers further away in Singapore, Japan, and Australia.

Overall, though, NordVPN is a solid VPN for gaming as long as you stick to servers that aren’t too far from your location. Luckily, the VPN operates a huge server network worldwide, so finding an optimal server for lag-free gaming shouldn’t be a problem.

NordVPN has the best global coverage of any VPN I’ve tested, with 6,700 servers in 111 countries. Its servers are well spread across the globe, with a large number of servers in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

It covers smaller European countries like Andorra and Liechtenstein but doesn’t offer VPN locations in restricted countries such as China and Russia. I found its US coverage a little disappointing — it currently only has 17 server locations across the States. This could make it challenging for US users to find a nearby server if they’re in a more remote location.

Almost all of NordVPN’s servers are colocated (owned and maintained by its staff). The only exceptions are its remote locations. This is a much safer alternative than simply renting their VPN servers. Plus, it uses RAM-only servers (volatile memory), which means your data isn’t written to memory like it is on traditional hard drive servers.

You can also connect to the fastest server for your location with “Quick Connect”

Previously, NordVPN operated exclusively physical servers. However, since expanding its server network, it introduced 50 virtual server locations, making up around 45% of its network. Virtual servers offer more global connections — and sometimes perform better if it’s closer to the user's physical location than the actual country.

NordVPN provides specialty security servers: Double VPN, P2P optimized, and Obfuscated servers. It also offers Onion Over VPN servers, which add an extra layer of protection on the Dark Web. These prevent your ISP from seeing that you’re using Tor and possibly flagging your activity as suspicious or alerting authorities. Plus, they let you access .onion websites from any browser.

P2P Optimized Servers

Unfortunately, it doesn’t support torrenting on all servers, but NordVPN has an optimized server network for P2P sharing.

P2P servers are available in 50+ countries worldwide

Obfuscated Servers

NordVPN’s Obfuscated servers offer the ultimate stealth by disguising your VPN traffic as normal internet traffic. They’re so effective that they’ve allowed NordVPN to work on restrictive networks like at work and school.

If you’re not seeing the obfuscated server option in the main dashboard, simply change the protocol in your VPN’s settings to OpenVPN (TCP), and you’ll see them listed under Specialty Servers.

You can only connect to an obfuscated server with the OpenVPN(TCP) protocol

Double VPN Servers

These servers are also known as multi-hop servers. When you use NordVPN’s Double VPN servers, your traffic goes through two servers. So, you’ll get an extra layer of encryption, which makes your data practically uncrackable.

Note that double encryption always slows down speeds more than usual

Even though it can boost your security, it’s not recommended for everyday use, torrenting, or streaming because it will slow your speeds down.

I tested the speeds to see what kind of results I would get. It wasn’t as bad as I expected (after all, my traffic had to run through two different servers), but I still wouldn’t recommend it. A 34% drop can be really huge for someone with lower download speeds.

Dedicated IP

NordVPN also offers Dedicated IP addresses for an extra fee. Since regular VPN IPs are shared by multiple users connected to the same server, they increase the chances of being detected and blocked by websites. Dedicated IPs, therefore, can offer safe HD access to popular streaming services. They also reduce your exposure to annoying CAPTCHAs.

If you’re willing to pay extra for a dedicated IP address, you can choose between 6 US locations (Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Miami) and the following:

NordVPN gives you all of the security essentials plus more. This includes military-grade encryption, strong protection against IP/DNS leaks, a powerful malware blocker, and a highly customizable kill switch. It also uses multi-factor authentication, so you can safeguard your NordVPN account from unauthorized logins.

There are also several reputable protocols to choose from, including NordLynx, which is NordVPN’s very own proprietary protocol. For added protection, NordVPN lets you connect to its Double VPN servers that route your traffic through an additional VPN server.

Overall, security is one of NordVPN’s strongest sides. It outperforms most other VPNs in this category, and it’s hard to think of any security feature that’s missing.

Military-Grade Encryption and 2 Secure Protocols

NordVPN protects your data with AES 256-bit encryption, which is a standard in the industry and used by governments and banks. This encryption is so hard to crack through with brute force attacks that it would take hackers billions of years to get through it.

Plus, it uses the SHA-512 hash function, which means it scrambles your login credentials into 512 meaningless pieces of data. These hashes are compared to the ones stored on the server upon signing up. You are only given access to your account if they match.

NordVPN is one of the few VPNs to offer the SHA-512 function (most providers use SHA-256). This makes it very difficult for hackers to gain access to your account.

You also get protected by Perfect Forward Secrecy, which changes your encryption key regularly. So, even if a hacker grabs the key and accesses your data, it limits how much of your information they can access.

NordVPN offers 2 secure protocols:

• NordLynx protocol — Based on WireGuard, this speed-boosting protocol is set as the default on NordVPN’s apps. Since WireGuard isn’t the safest protocol yet, NordVPN combines it with double NAT, which ensures that no identifying data ends up on the server. It’s available on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS.
• OpenVPN protocol — You can choose between UDP and TCP versions. UDP is the faster one, so it’s good for streaming, but the TCP version is more secure. It’s available on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.

The NordLynx protocol was consistently the fastest protocol in my tests

Strong Leak Protection and Advanced Kill Switch

NordVPN offers full protection against DNS, WebRTC, and IP leaks. Your DNS requests can be used by your ISP to snoop on your browsing activity, so it’s essential for a VPN provider to keep them private.

Thankfully, NordVPN runs its own DNS servers, which ensures strong DNS leak protection and privacy. The best part is that this feature is turned on by default, so there’s no need to change any settings to stay safe.

I felt confident that no-one could snoop on my connection while I was using NordVPN

I tested 10+ of its servers across the globe with ipleak.net, and I never experienced any data leaks. With each test, the site only showed the IP address and DNS server that I was connected to with NordVPN, while my real IP address and location remained hidden.

NordVPN’s kill switch ensures your personal info and data won’t be revealed, even if your VPN connection drops. On Windows and macOS, NordVPN has two different kill switch options.

• Internet Kill Switch will completely shut down your internet access when you’re not connected to the VPN or if your connection drops. It’s available with every NordVPN app except the macOS OpenVPN client (you need to use its IKEv2 client, which has both types of switches). This is great for added security when you’re torrenting or using Tor.
• App Kill Switch allows you to choose which apps will get closed if your connection fails. So, for example, you can choose to shut down Google Chrome or a different browser but not your other apps. This is available on Windows and Mac OS. It’s good to use when you’re streaming, so the streaming platform won’t detect that you’re using a VPN and block you.

Like with most other VPNs, the kill switch option is not on by default, so you have to manually enable it when you download the VPN app. But, you only have to toggle it on once.

The app kill switch option is only available on Windows and macOS

Once I turned on the internet kill switch, I got temporarily disconnected from the internet every time I switched servers.

The kill switch function is available on all NordVPN apps, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. To activate it on Android, you need to enable the Always On VPN and Block Connections Without VPN options in the device’s settings.

Split Tunneling

With the split tunneling feature, you can choose which apps you want (and don’t want) encrypted. This helps free up some bandwidth and speed up your connection. It’s useful when you need extra protection to use certain websites since you can protect those and leave the rest of your traffic unencrypted.

This option is available on Windows and Android (Android TV as well). To turn this on, just go to settings and press the toggle button. Then, pick what apps should use a VPN connection.

Since it doesn’t encrypt unnecessary traffic, split tunneling also helps prevent speed loss

If you turn this setting off, all of your traffic will be routed through NordVPN. The same thing happens if you get a NordVPN extension — essentially, you’ll only protect your browser but not all of the traffic traveling from your device. You can also select which websites can bypass the VPN connection.

Threat Protection

NordVPN’s Threat Protection protects you from ads and trackers while browsing. Plus, it detects malware on any files downloaded. Threat Protection is available on the Windows and Mac apps, and you can also get it as a separate product; no active VPN subscription is required.

What’s particularly impressive about this feature is that it works continuously, even when the VPN is disconnected.

You can set the ad/malware blocker to run even when the VPN isn’t connected

I tested Threat Protection on my Windows PC and was impressed by the results. It effectively blocked most banner and pop-up ads on sites like Forbes and Daily Mail. I also tried visiting a few known malicious websites, but Threat Protection stopped me every time.

This only applies to the Windows and Mac apps, though. On Android, iOS, and Linux devices, the feature is called Threat Protection Lite, and it only works when you connect to a VPN server. Also, Threat Protection Lite doesn’t delete malware from downloaded files.

Meshnet

Meshnet is one of NordVPN’s most unique features. It allows you to connect different devices all over the world through encrypted private tunnels. Powered through NordVPN’s NordLynx technology, it works as a virtual encrypted LAN to connect your devices. For example, you could easily access files from a friend in another country, and the connection between your 2 devices would be secure.

You can also funnel traffic from 2 devices through one IP address. This gives you access to additional residential IPs. You’ll typically be using data center IPs with a VPN, which are more likely to get banned than home addresses (residential IPs). However, connections like this won’t be encrypted, leaving the data on your devices vulnerable.

It’s easy to use Meshnet — simply enable it on your device and link a new device by sending an invitation link through email. This will send a special IP address assigned to the device you installed the NordVPN app on. Once you’re linked up, you can use Meshnet for sharing files, streaming, and gaming.

You can connect up to 10 devices to NordVPN, which will automatically be linked with Meshnet once it’s enabled. In addition, you can connect up to 50 external devices with Meshnet.

Dark Web Monitor

This is another unique feature — NordVPN’s Dark Web Monitor detects if your email address appears on a leaked database on the dark web.

It’s available on macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS, and it’s simple to set up — you can enable it with a single click. The tool runs quietly in the background, and you don’t need to be connected to the VPN for it to work.

It's relieving to know that my account email wasn’t detected in any data leaks

I enabled it on my Windows PC and was immediately notified that there were no leaks associated with my email address on the dark web.

Incogni

Incogni is a bonus security feature that you can only get for an extra fee on top of your regular NordVPN subscription. It’s a data removal service that sends that contacts various data brokers that likely have your personal information, such as your email, phone number, and location, and asks them to remove it from their database.

NordVPN claims it keeps no logs, and this has been proven true several times with audits by independent organizations like Deloitte. It’s also based in Panama, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction that’s outside the reach of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance.

Overall, it has a strong reputation as one of the most trustworthy VPNs today. Still, it’s recently made a small change in its privacy policy that has raised some concerns and is worth taking a closer look into.

NordVPN did have one security incident in 2018. It involved a third-party server that was breached due to an exposed remote management system that an unauthorized party exploited, potentially compromising user data. However, NordVPN assured users that their data wasn't intercepted.

Does NordVPN Keep Logs? No, but It May Oblige Legal Requests

NordVPN has a strict no-logs policy — it collects no personal information that can be used to identify you, like your IP address, or traffic and connection logs. It does log your username and connection timestamp after a session ends, but it deletes this information after 15 minutes.

It only retains information needed to create your account, like your email address, subscription data, and billing information. This isn’t a huge deal, as you can always use a burner email address and pay with cryptocurrency if you want added anonymity.

NordVPN has recently made a subtle change in its privacy policy that is a bit concerning, though. The new wording implies that it will comply with data requests made by law enforcement only if it’s in line with the regulations of the jurisdiction in which it operates.

Thankfully, it’s based in Panama, so it’s not obliged to store logs of user data, so it won’t have anything to share

The company has since clarified that the wording was misinterpreted and that even though it stores no user data, it would have no other option if required to do so by law. Luckily, it’s been proven that NordVPN doesn’t log vital information, like your IP address or online activity, so it doesn’t have much to share.

Was NordVPN Audited? Yes

At the end of 2023, NordVPN’s no-logs policy was audited for the fourth time. The audit was performed by Deloitte, an independent security organization, and it proved that NordVPN really stands by its no-logs claims — it doesn’t monitor user activity or store any personally identifiable information on its servers.

On top of that, it underwent a security audit performed by Cure53 in 2022. In this analysis, the third-party auditor conducted a thorough test on NordVPN’s servers, infrastructure, and apps. All vulnerabilities that were found were fixed by NordVPN’s developers and approved by Cure53.

Based in Panama

One of the great things about NordVPN is its location. It’s owned by nordvpn S.A., and its headquarters are in Panama, which is based outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. This Alliance is an organization of countries and governments that have intrusive data retention policies, and it includes countries like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, etc. Since Panama is not a part of it, it doesn’t have to share your information with others.

The privacy policy also verifies that it would only react to a request from a court in Panama.

As a bonus, NordVPN publishes a warrant canary on a daily basis. This means that it shares any requests for user information it gets from governments and companies, such as gag orders, warrants, etc.

Does NordVPN Work in China? It Might

NordVPN might be able to work in China, but it may require some configurations. It didn’t work in China in the past, but its support team confirmed it should — although this is not guaranteed.

The live chat agent forwarded me a guide to set up a manual IKEv2 connection to use the VPN in China. Plus, they sent me a list of servers that work best there. I also learned that this method doesn’t currently work on Windows devices, but its team is currently working on a solution to fix this.

The live chat agent informed me that it couldn't guarantee that it would work in China

China has one of the toughest internet restrictions of any country, so it’s a huge plus that NordVPN is committed to finding ways to get around them.

NordVPN doesn’t currently have any servers in China, so you can’t get a China IP address if you need one.

Please bear in mind that most VPNs are banned in China and other countries with strict censorship. The vpnMentor team and I don’t condone using VPNs illegally, so you should always read up on your local law and use VPNs responsibly.

NordVPN doesn’t allow torrenting on all its servers, but it has dedicated servers for P2P sharing that are built for fast speeds and strong security. These servers are easily accessible from the Specialty Servers section in the main interface. They are located in 100+ countries worldwide, so you have tons of options to choose from to torrent securely.

Plus, the VPN will automatically connect you to one of these servers if it detects P2P traffic, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally using a regular server while torrenting.

To test how these servers perform, I first connected to the fastest P2P server for my location. Then, I started downloading Carnival of Souls (copyright-free) on qBittorrent. The 1.16GB file took less than 6 minutes to download. This is impressive and no different from the time it usually takes for me to download a 1GB file without a VPN connection.

Next, I connected to a P2P-optimized server in Serbia, as I wanted to see how the VPN holds up when torrenting over long distances. It didn’t take more than 3 minutes to download It’s a Wonderful Life (700MB).

NordVPN will automatically find the fastest P2P server for you based on your location

NordVPN’s privacy features ensure your personal data will stay safe and private while torrenting, like its advanced kill switch, IP/DNS leak protection, and privacy-friendly headquarters.

NordVPN doesn’t support port forwarding, unfortunately. This helps your torrenting client get the necessary data packets to connect directly to other clients, which can otherwise get blocked by your router. It also improves speeds but is not considered safe, so it’s not offered by many VPNs.

My team and I don’t condone any illegal activities. Remember that most P2P content is protected by copyright, so downloading it is illegal. You should always check the laws and regulations of your country before using NordVPN for torrenting and make sure the content you want to download is in the public domain.