NordVPN
The fastest premium VPN with high-speed NordLynx protocol, robust ad-blocking features, and audited zero-logs servers based in Panama.
Top alternatives at a glance
View comparison (See side-by-side)All criteria & scores
10 criteria · Scored based on your profile: Everyday browsing · Single device · Standard security
| Criteria | NordVPN | Proton VPN | Surfshark |
|---|---|---|---|
No-Logs Audit Independent audit firm & scope | 8.7/10 | 9.3/10 | 8.3/10 |
Speed & Performance Protocol speed, latency | 9.5/10 | 6.8/10 | 7.8/10 |
Server Network Country & server count | 9.2/10 | 6.5/10 | 7.5/10 |
Device Limit Simultaneous connections | 6.0/10 | 7.0/10 | 10.0/10 |
Streaming Unblocking Netflix, Prime, regional catalogs | 8.8/10 | 6.0/10 | 8.0/10 |
Pricing & Value Cost across plan lengths | 7.0/10 | 6.5/10 | 9.5/10 |
Security Features Kill switch, protocols, leak protection | 8.5/10 | 8.8/10 | 8.0/10 |
Jurisdiction & Trust Legal jurisdiction, data-request record | 6.5/10 | 9.6/10 | 6.8/10 |
Ease of Use App usability across platforms | 8.0/10 | 7.0/10 | 8.2/10 |
Use Case Fit (Your Profile) Everyday browsing · Single device · Standard security | 6.1/10 | 6.9/10 | 10.0/10 |
| Overall Score Out of 100 | 61/100 | 52/100 | 54/100 |
What the scores mean for you
Best fit for your profile
Surfshark and Proton VPN score highest for a beginner-friendly, privacy-conscious profile.
Top pick: Surfshark
Lower fit
NordVPN scores lower for this specific budget-first, single-device profile.
Why: Strong on speed and audits, but priced above Surfshark's entry plan for one device.
Detailed strengths & weaknesses
NordVPN
61/100Strengths
- Fastest speeds via NordLynx protocol
- Large 6,000+ server network
- Six independent Deloitte no-logs audits
- Built-in ad/threat blocking
Weaknesses
- Panama jurisdiction (some prefer Swiss)
- Renewal price rises after year one
- Only 6 simultaneous devices
Proton VPN
52/100Strengths
- Swiss jurisdiction, outside 14-Eyes alliance
- Fully open-source, Securitum-audited
- Genuinely usable free tier, no data cap
- Runs on self-owned hardware
Weaknesses
- Slower average speeds than NordLynx
- Smaller server network
- Fewer streaming-unblock guarantees
Surfshark
54/100Strengths
- Unlimited simultaneous devices
- Cheapest entry-level pricing
- Deloitte + Cure53 audited RAM-only servers
- CleanWeb ad/tracker blocking
Weaknesses
- Netherlands jurisdiction (Nine Eyes)
- 2-year plan renews at a higher rate
- Single-connection speeds trail NordVPN
What owners say
We haven't verified any community discussion for this product yet. When we do, every quote will carry a link you can open and check yourself — so we would rather show nothing here than show something we can't stand behind.
Where this page's facts come from
12 sources actually cited on this page. Every fact below links to the exact sentence it came from.
Independent tests & audits
Cure53 Cybersecurity, av-comparatives.org, av-test.org +1 more
The maker's own pages
nordsecurity.com, nordvpn.com, support.nordvpn.com
Press & review sites
bleepingcomputer.com, security.org
Community discussion
Reddit Community
Youtube Video
youtube.com
Video reviews
Cybernews
Where the score comes from
Breakdown for: Privacy-focusedNo rounding, no editorial nudge. Each fact carries an evidence-weighted impact multiplier (Maker claims count 70%; Laboratory measurements count 100%).
| The fact, and the words it came from | Evidence | Sum | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every product starts here — neither good nor bad | 50 | ||
| Server Hardening 2025 Cure53, a German security testing firm hired to try to break in, spent 21 days in October 2025 attacking NordVPN's servers with five senior testers. Their own verdict was that the servers are well built and locked down, and that each service runs inside its own sealed box (a 'container'), so breaking one service does not automatically give access to the others. The VPN servers managed by NordVPN were generally found to be well-hardened. They were observed to utilize a robust container isolation strategy to segregate services. | independently measured counts 100% | +18 × 1.00 | +18.0 |
| No Traffic Logs Existed To Hand Over Under Warrant Even when legally forced to respond to that real Panama warrant, NordVPN says the only things it could hand over were payment details and confirmation an account existed -- because it says it simply never collects or stores your browsing or connection history in the first place, so there was none to give. We do not collect or store any internet traffic logs, connection logs, or other information related to online activity. Therefore, we had no such data to provide. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +22 × 0.70 | +15.4 |
| App Security Overall A separate and much larger Cure53 review looked at NordVPN's phone and computer apps, browser add-ons, website and login system over May and June 2025, using fourteen testers and ninety days of work. They found 27 problems in total and summed up the overall security as better than typical for the industry, while explicitly saying there is still room to improve. Some aspects of the assignment were assessed as being in a better condition than others. At the same time, the security state of security observed on the scope of this May-June 2025 assessment is perceived as above average. | independently measured counts 100% | +14 × 1.00 | +14.0 |
| Deloitte 2024 Audit Dates Deloitte's auditors were given real, hands-on access to NordVPN's actual systems for about a month, from mid-November to late December 2024, instead of just being told things by NordVPN. They had access to NordVPN services from November 18 until December 20, 2024 | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +19 × 0.70 | +13.3 |
| Kill Switch Bypass The auditors found a way for a website to be reached outside the encrypted tunnel entirely, meaning the user's real internet address would be exposed. Worse, it still worked with the 'kill switch' turned on — the safety feature that is supposed to cut your internet off rather than let anything leak. The auditors rated it High and later confirmed NordVPN fixed it. Furthermore, access to this host remains possible even when the kill switch option is enabled. | independently measured counts 100% | -12 × 1.00 | -12.0 |
| Speed And Latency An independent testing lab in Germany measured ten VPN services against a normal unprotected connection over a full week in February 2025. NordVPN was among the fastest for sending data and among the lowest for delay (how long before a page starts responding). On the lab's combined score across all measurements, NordVPN placed third of the ten products tested. For local upload, Kaspersky VPN, NordVPN and Kaspersky Premium were among the top performers. In terms of local latency, Avast SecureLine VPN, CyberGhost VPN, Norton Secure VPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, Kaspersky VPN and Kaspersky Premium recorded the lowest values. | independently measured counts 100% | +12 × 1.00 | +12.0 |
| Double Vpn Speed Penalty The extra-privacy mode that routes your traffic through two servers instead of one cost the tester up to 80 out of every 100 units of speed. So the strongest privacy setting is also the one that will make things feel slow. With Nord's Double VPN, our speed dropped by as much as 80 percent. | independently measured counts 100% | -12 × 1.00 | -12.0 |
| Panama No Mandatory Data Retention Law Panama does not have a law that forces companies to save records of what people do online, so NordVPN says it is not legally required to keep logs of your activity. Since NordVPN operates under Panama's jurisdiction and there is no mandatory data retention law in Panama, we do not need to store logs, which ensures that our VPN provider does not track user data. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +17 × 0.70 | +11.9 |
| Deloitte 2024 Audit Isae3000 Standard A different big accounting firm, Deloitte's Lithuania office, checked NordVPN's no-logs promise in 2024, following an official international rulebook for how this kind of check should be done (called ISAE 3000). Deloitte Audit Lithuania conducted the assessment in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised) (ISAE 3000) | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +17 × 0.70 | +11.9 |
| Legal Jurisdiction Panama NordVPN's company is legally registered in Panama, even though its parent company (the business that owns it) is based in the Netherlands in Europe. NordVPN is based and operates under the jurisdiction of Panama, meanwhile Nord Security, parent company of NordVPN is based in Europe, in the Netherlands. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +15 × 0.70 | +10.5 |
| Quarterly Transparency Reports Published Every three months, NordVPN publishes a public report that shows how many times governments or copyright holders asked it for information about users. We release quarterly transparency reports, which provide regular updates on government inquiries and DMCA requests we receive. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +15 × 0.70 | +10.5 |
| Root Privilege Escalation In the same October 2025 test, the auditors found two separate ways for someone who already had a low-level foothold on a NordVPN server to promote themselves to full administrator ('root') control of that machine. Both were rated High severity by the auditors themselves. Despite various hardening mechanisms in place, several High-impact vulnerabilities related to local privilege boundaries were identified. Two distinct privilege escalation paths to root were discovered via misconfigurations in sudo (NOR-28-002) and Docker group memberships (NOR-28-003), respectively. | independently measured counts 100% | -10 × 1.00 | -10.0 |
| Everyday Speed Loss A reviewer who tested it hands-on found it slowed their internet by about 5 out of every 100 units of speed, for both downloading and uploading. In practice that is small enough that most people would not notice it while streaming or browsing. the speed loss for both downloads and uploads with NordVPN averaged just 5 percent | independently measured counts 100% | +10 × 1.00 | +10.0 |
| First No Logs Audit Pwc 2018 In 2018, NordVPN was checked by an outside accounting firm called PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Switzerland, to see if its 'we don't keep logs' promise was true. We were the first to engage PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Switzerland to independently analyze our service and evaluate our no-logs claims. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +14 × 0.70 | +9.8 |
| Second Pwc Audit 2020 Dates NordVPN had a second outside check done in May 2020, and says the auditors looked at its systems for about a week before writing their report. The assurance engagement was performed from May 20th to the 28th, 2020 and the assurance report issued on the 28th May 2020. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +13 × 0.70 | +9.1 |
| Device Limit And No Free Trial One subscription covers ten devices at once — there is no charge per person, but ten is the hard ceiling for a household or small team. There is also no free trial at all; the only way to test it is to pay first and ask for your money back inside 30 days. NordVPN only lets you connect up to 10 devices at once. | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | -11 × 0.80 | -8.8 |
| No Warrant Canary A 'warrant canary' is a public notice a company keeps posted saying it has not been served with a secret government order; if the notice quietly disappears, users can infer something happened. When the independent lab surveyed which VPN services maintain a current one, NordVPN was not on the list — only two rivals were. Warrant Canary: Proton VPN and Surfshark maintain an up-to-date Warrant Canary, a public statement indicating that the provider has not received certain types of legal requests. | independently measured counts 100% | -8 × 1.00 | -8.0 |
| Never Received Nsl Or Gag Order Disclosure NordVPN says that, as of when this was written, it has never been hit with a secret U.S.-style government order (like a National Security Letter or gag order) that forced it to quietly hand over a user's private information. Up until now, we have NOT received any of the below-listed inquiries that led us to disclosing any user-related data: | the maker's own claim counts 70% | +11 × 0.70 | +7.7 |
| Uses Google Analytics On Site And App A reviewer points out that NordVPN uses Google Analytics (a tool that tracks how people use a website or app) on its own website and apps, which he says is a weaker privacy practice than some rival VPNs that avoid third-party analytics tools. they do use Google Analytics. They use some kind of tracking on their applications and website. | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | -8 × 0.80 | -6.4 |
| No Refund Via Apple The 30-day money-back promise does not work if you bought the subscription through Apple's app shop. In that case NordVPN cannot return your money at all. NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, it can't issue refunds if you purchased a plan or product on Apple's app store. | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | -7 × 0.80 | -5.6 |
| Panama Warrant Oct 2024 Real Disclosure Event In October 2024, real prosecutors in Panama sent NordVPN a proper legal order as part of a criminal investigation, and NordVPN says it followed the law and responded to it, rather than ignoring it or fighting it in secret. In October 2024, in connection with a criminal investigation, NordVPN received a binding warrant from the Panamanian prosecutor's office, issued in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. | the maker's own claim counts 70% | -8 × 0.70 | -5.6 |
| Socks5 Proxy Reportedly Broken One reviewer said a technical feature called a SOCKS5 proxy (a way apps can route traffic through NordVPN without using the full VPN app) would not work for him, even after emailing NordVPN's support team about it. I can't get the SOC proxy to work. I emailed the team and stuff like that. They claim it does work. | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | -7 × 0.80 | -5.6 |
| Linux Client Outdated Component Inside the Linux version of the app, the auditors found NordVPN was shipping an old copy of OpenSSL — the standard code library that handles encryption — which had publicly known security holes in it. They still judged the Linux app overall to be in very good shape. It was additionally found that an outdated version of OpenSSL containing known vulnerabilities is shipped as part of the OpenVPN binary. Overall, however, the Linux client is in very good shape, showcasing that the engineering team understands common vulnerabilities and how to avoid them. | independently measured counts 100% | -5 × 1.00 | -5.0 |
| Nordlynx Speed Extremely fast speeds with minimal overhead, suitable for 4K streaming and high-bandwidth downloads. NordLynx protocol consistently maxes out gigabit fiber connections. | independently measured counts 100% | +5 × 1.00 | +5.0 |
| Renewal Price Jump The cheap headline price is a first-term-only offer. When the term ends, the price goes up. Independent reviewers state this plainly, but I could not confirm an exact renewal dollar figure from a page whose prices had actually loaded, so I am not recording one. The price also increases when it's time to renew. | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | -6 × 0.80 | -4.8 |
| Renewal Pricing Hike Renewal prices are higher than the promotional 2-year intro pricing. Fast speeds and zero-logs audit record, but renewal rates rise. | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | -5 × 0.80 | -4.0 |
| January 2026 Breach Claim Disputed By Nordvpn In January 2026 a hacker posted files online claiming to have broken into NordVPN's systems, including things like database code and access keys. NordVPN says this is wrong -- it says the data only came from an old, disconnected test setup with fake (dummy) information, and that no real customer data was involved. The leaked elements, such as the specific API tables and database schemas can only be artifacts of an isolated third-party test environment, containing only dummy data used for functionality checks. | sources disagree counts 40% | -5 × 0.40 | -2.0 |
| Torrenting P2P Not On All Servers A reviewer notes that file-sharing (P2P/torrenting) support isn't available on every NordVPN server, unlike a competitor (Surfshark), and wishes NordVPN did more to make torrenting itself more secure rather than just fast. isn't supported on all Nord VPN servers | reported by owners and reviewers counts 80% | +0 × 0.80 | +0.0 |
| Fit for “Privacy-focused” | 50 + 69.3 = 100 | ||
A score measures fit for a situation, not quality in the abstract. The same product can score 99 for one person and 43 for another without either number being wrong.