VPN provider justifies the higher cost, and it’s totally worth your money.
/ 10
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NordVPN Review
Is NordVPN worth the money? Is NordVPN a good VPN? I’ve tested over 250 VPNs and rated NordVPN after the thorough examination. From its encrypted computer-server tunnels to speed performance, ability to outclass geo-blocking to privacy from the other parties, including law enforcement agencies, this NordVPN review 2021 will unfold everything considering the its capability. But before that, if you’re tight on time, these eight points matter most.
Tight on time? These eight points matter most to make a buying decision promptly
1. Can NordVPN unblock the Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services?
Yes, NordVPN unblocks the streaming services 100%. It unlocks the content on almost every streaming site, including Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer, ESPN, HBO, and many others. It also works flawlessly with Amazon Fire Stick and Codi.
2. Is NordVPN fastest VPN?
NordVPN is as fast as it claims to be. One of the best in terms of speed performance. My vote goes for it.
3. Does NordVPN work with every platform and device?
Yes, NordVPN runs efficiently with windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and Android TV. It also has Chrome and Firefox extensions; when extensions turned on, it protects internet surfing only on that specific browser (Firefox or Chrome).
4. Does NordVPN work with video game consoles?
Yes, although using a VPN with video game consoles isn’t an easy process, but NordVPN exceeds the expectations here as well. It delivers an excellent performance with the video game consoles. It involves a few technicalities with Xbox, whereas setting up it with PS 4 is straight forward.
5. Is NordVPN expensive, comparatively?
The VPN provider has built a solid infostructure with over 5,000 servers in 59 countries. Additionally, it secures up to 6 devices simultaneously (you can simultaneously run a single account on six devices). These are a few reasons that NordVPN is expensive comparatively.
6. What’s the price? And is NordVPN worth the money?
For a 2-year package, the price is $89.00 ($3.71 monthly). You’ll save 68% with the 2-year package.
For a 1-year package, the price is $59.00 ($4.92 monthly). You’ll save 58% with a 1-year plan.
With a monthly package, you’ll save 0% and pay $11.95.
NordVPN also offers exclusive deals such as a cyber month special, coupons, and black Friday. Plus, it gives a gift in the shape of extra subscription time on top of the purchased package’s period.
There is no trial, but there is a no-strings-attached money-back guarantee inside the 30 days if you feel NordVPN isn’t worth the money.
Want to try NordVPN? Grab the 2-year package here7. Does NordVPN work effectively on mobile?
Yes, in fact, it’s one of the best VPN for mobile VPN users. It’s a no-brainer even for non-tech savvy due to its super-easy navigation and functionality.
8. What’s my verdict?
After extensive testing and comparison with over 50 VPNs, I rate NordVPN 9.2 out of 10.00*. A couple of the main reasons that I’ve deducted .8 are:
- No trial period is offered.
- And It’s too expensive to start on a monthly package; however, if you commit for the long-term, NordVPN is worth your money and trust.
What is a VPN? And is VPN worth the money?
To shed light on how good is NordVPN, first, it’s essential to know what’s VPN exactly?
Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows you to hide your online activity and unblocks the content you can’t access otherwise. VPN builds the secure tunnel from your computer to the VPN server and encrypts the traffic to make your online actions untraceable. It duplicates the internet protocol (IP) – showing the user location thousands of miles away from its actual place.
Why would someone ever need to use a VPN?
There are many reasons for everyone to use a VPN in today’s world. First of all, it protects your privacy in the online world, as unprotected connections make your information vulnerable to hackers and the government. This information can be your bank transaction details, medical history, vital data, and much more. In other words, without a VPN, whatever you do online is susceptible to government and hackers.
Another core reason is the geo-blocking placed on the various streaming platforms such as Netflix. You can’t access the content if it’s available for a particular area and you’re out of that region. The same goes for the video game consoles, including Xbox and PS; they also bard gamers to access certain games because of the geo-blockage. Plus, in a few countries, the government also prevents access to particular sites for various reasons. E.G., China and Russia.
As you discover what’s VPN and why it’s essential, the next question is NordVPN worth your money? And Is a NordVPN a good VPN? If so, why?
A bad or free VPN can’t able to protect your privacy, unlock the banned content, and even make your online activity unsecured. Thus, law enforcement agencies can still track you if you’re doing something illegal (but ethical). This is mainly vital for journalists and people who want to access prohibited data from their countries. Your personal details, including bank and medical information, get exposed because of the unreliable VPN. On top of it, you can’t unblock the streaming services to watch the shows that aren’t available in your region.
Thus, it’s imperative to run a 100% working and trustworthy VPN on your machine.
NordVPN overview
NordVPN is registered in Panama, which is safe heavens to get away from all the disclosure laws. It means NordVPN isn’t liable to disclose the user data. Also, the company doesn’t keep the user data for more than 15 minutes, and it ensures whatever you do online will never be exposed to anyone, including governments and courts.
NordVPN has built a massive infostructure with 5,421 servers in 81 locations across 59 countries, including South Africa. So wherever you’re, Africa to Asia, Europe to the Americas and Australia, you’ll hit an excellent speed with the NordVPN besides the online security.
NordVPN client support
NordVPN provides fantastic client support. They have a vast range of tutorials on VPN’s various aspects in multiple languages on their YouTube channel. Tutorials are available in English, Deutsche, Francis, Het Nederland, Italian, Espanyol, Portuguese, and a few more languages.
In addition to it, a 24-7 online client support team is ready to help. I’ve asked them uncomplicated questions as well as difficult ones, and every time they answered professionally (10 out of 10).
NordVPN apps for various Platforms
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Android TV, and Linux, NordVPN has customized apps for each of these platforms. Plus, Firefox and Chrome extensions also set apart NordVPN. Other than that, it works with many different platforms and devices, including Amazon Fire Stick, Codi, PS4, and Xbox. What’s more? It’s best for all streaming services, including Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO, and many others. Access the blocked content in just a couple of clicks on every platform. It’s so simple, and this makes NordVPN one of my favorite VPNs for streaming geo-restricted content limitlessly.
If you face any issue while setting up or need a guide to run a NordVPN on your device, official site explains the installation procedure for every platform in great details.
Fastest VPN speed
If I have to pick a NordVPN for one reason, that would be its speed. I’ve tested it with the double VPN even, and it still outclassed all other VPNs. Speed along with stability and consistency – the VPN provider has got 9 out of 10.
IPLeak.net, Perfect-Privacy.com, BrowserLeaks, IPX.ac, and VirtualTotal.com tests have verified the company’s non-DNS leakage claims besides the fast speed. So, speed and non-DNS leakage come together with the NordVPN.
30-day money-back guarantee
NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee without playing any sneaky trick. And 30 days are more than enough to have a feel how service performs. You just need to log-in, cancel your plan and upcoming payments, and go to the live chat option. If you believe NordVPN doesn’t worth your money, tell a client support team to refund your payment. Within a couple of days, your money will land in your account. Note: Refund is hard with Apple iTunes/App Store Purchases, because you have to request a refund with Apple iTunes/App Store client support. And the NordVPN support team can’t do anything about it. Also, payment made through gift cards can’t be undone. So, a refund isn’t applicable in this case as well.
To keep your identity hidden and considering the comfort, the company provides a lot of payment options. You can pay via cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies (only coin payments), Amazon Pay, UnionPay, and SOFORT Banking.
Get this jaw-dropping $2.99 deal with a 45-day money-back guaranteeHow secure is NordVPN?
There are enough boundaries placed to keep you safe and protected online.
1. Kill switch
Ever thought if you’re using VPN and the VPN connection is lost in the middle, what would happen then? Your device will revert back to the original domain name system (DNS). This way, your internet service provider (ISP) will discover what site you’re visiting. It means your privacy is still compromised despite using VPN. This is called DNS leaking, and it’s the major issue with average VPNs.
Luckily, DNS leaking isn’t an issue if you’ll use NordVPN, as it guarantees DNS leak protection (I also tested). To prevent DNS leaking, NordVPN has put a kill switch in place. With NordVPN, your device is only connected to the NordVPN servers, and if the VPN connection is lost in the middle, the kill switch blocks your device from accessing the internet. Here, NordVPN has two kill switch types: General kill switch will block your machine from accessing the internet if the VPN connection is lost. In contrast, the app kill switch will restrict your selected apps from accessing the internet if the VPN connection is lost.
Plus, if you still believe that DNS leaking is happening, NordVPN will urgently look into the matter and solve the issue right away. So the kill switch is the edge that puts your security and privacy upfront and makes NordVPN a highly trustworthy VPN.
2. Double VPN system
If you wish for an extra layer of security, you can browse the internet with a double VPN. NordVPN offers the option of a double VPN. You can activate this option manually. Your traffic is encrypted and goes to the first server, then again, it’s re-encrypted and heads off to the second server, and finally, it is sent to the final destination. Double VPN makes it almost impossible to trace back the original internet protocol, making your internet surfing absolutely safe and secure. However, the double VPN will result in slightly service slowness.
In most cases, people don’t need to use the double VPN. You might also not need to use it, but you should know that It’s there when you need it.
3. Onion over VPN
Onion over VPN is a bit similar to the double VPN. In this method, your traffic is encrypted and sent to NordVPN’s server. And subsequently, it’s sent to an onion, and from there, you reach the final place on the internet. This double obfuscation will cause the service slowness, but it makes it near to impossible to trace an action back to you. The best thing is you don’t need to know anything about onion; it’s an automated procedure once you go to the client to connect to one of NordVPN’s specialist Onion over VPN routers. Rest; your system will handle everything else.
4. Military-Grade encryption
National security agency (NSA) recommends 256-bit keys for protecting any classified and top-secret information. And the good news is that NordVPN has placed an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit keys, that even makes your internet service provider unable to check your online activity. Note: If you think your information isn’t vital that requires this level of security, you’re incorrect. The data is sold to third parties, and it’s processed for various objectives. So you should be on top of securing and protecting your data with a top-notch VPN, and NordVPN is one of the best in this regard. It’s worth your money and trust.
Get the NordVPN to protect your data as per the guidelines of the NSA.What’s NordVPN’s logging policy?
After the speed performance, this is the second of all reasons that I trust NordVPN. It stands out from competitors in its ‘logging policy.’ Although many VPNs claim they don’t keep your logging information, they leave things unexplained. However, NordVPN takes the lead by telling almost everything clearly, saying:
“Nord guarantees a strict no-logs policy for NordVPN Services, meaning that your internet activity… is not monitored, recorded, logged, stored, or passed to any third party. We do not store connection time stamps, used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses, or browsing data.”
NordVPN non-logging policy communicates everything clearly, and to confirm the NordVPN claims, the company hired a third party (Price Waterhouse Cooper) in 2020. This third-party evaluated the NordVPN infostructure, services, and its ‘no-logging policy.’ Describing the scope of third party audit, NordVPN said:
“It involved interviews with our employees, server configuration inspections, technical log inspections, and inspections of other servers in our infrastructure. PwC Switzerland’s practitioners also verified that we were actually using the configurations that they had inspected.”
Third-party confirmed the NordVPN’s claims and its promise of ‘no-log policy.’ Where other VPNs are just playing with words, I highly appreciate the NordVPN for these steps and its ‘no-log policy.’
Does NordVPN support torrents? And will it protect privacy while torrenting?
Although NordVPN doesn’t claim about its torrent support aggressively, however, it does support torrents. I found that not all the servers work with torrents in my testing, but you can always switch to various servers for torrenting. Servers in the USA, UK, and many other locations worldwide are friendly for P2P traffic, making NordVPN one of the top choices for torrenting. Additionally, you can connect with the best servers for torrenting with Nord’s server recommendation feature. At the same time, VPN provider claims that it’s a top VPN for P2P file-sharing; thus, it’s demonstrating itself good enough for torrenting as well. I believe ExpressVPN and NordVPN are neck to neck concerning the torrenting experience.
VPNs that don’t support torrents on all the servers can be annoyed, especially when you connect to non-P2P-server and find it doesn’t work right in the middle of the process. But NordVPN is smarter than we think; it automatically connects with the best P2P supported server near your location. And the best part is you don’t have to do this manually; as soon as VPN detects the P2P activity, it’ll switch to the best friendly P2P server. Yes, NordVPN is worth your money if you’re on the lookout for the VPN that supports P2P activity, including torrenting.
Fast speed to no-logging policy, security (multiple layers of DNS, double VPN, onion over VPN) to payment accepted through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – these pluses make the NordVPN the best choice for torrenting. Onion over VPN (NordVPN’s feature) even prevents the entry node from seeing your IP address.
Does the NordVPN browser extension perform well?
Launching an app, choosing the location and server, and waiting until the VPN is connected. That’s a little annoying process to use a VPN. To deal with this problem, NordVPN has Firefox and Chrome proxy extensions; this enables users to turn on VPN inside the browser window. Since these are proxy extensions, so they protect only browsers.
Does NordVPN have the best browser extensions?
In my opinion, ExpressVPN has gone further with regard to user comfort and interface navigation. Plus, if the ExpressVPN is connected even through a browser extension, it’ll still protect the whole system. In contrast, the NordVPN extension will secure only the browser traffic. To secure the entire system, NordVPN requires you to connect it through an application.
In a few situations, NordVPN’s extension is helpful. For instance, if all the applications don’t work with a VPN, you won’t wish to connect the whole system with a VPN. In this case, you’ll need a VPN connection on the browser to access some sites instead of protecting the entire system. If the VPN is working with a browser alone, it’ll have less impact on the speed as well.
Many VPNs don’t have browser extensions at all. So, NordVPN is already ahead of them. However, if you’re entirely concerned with the browser extension, you have the option between ExpressVPN and NordVPN. I would put them equally; however, you’ll give your call depending on the differences as mentioned above. My take:
Security = ExpressVPN extension. Click here to get it.
Instantly access blocked sites without protecting the whole system = NordVPN. Click here to get it.
The bottom line
NordVPN is undoubtedly included in the top 3 VPNs, and as you read throughout in this NordVPN review 2021, the reasons are fair enough to put it in the top 3 VPNs. From data privacy to unblocking the restricted content, NordVPN takes the lead in this highly competitive market. Along with that, its world-class client support team makes you feel taken care of and protected throughout. I absolutely recommend NordVPN if you’re looking for the best privacy and online security solutions, even for a slightly higher price. By all means, VPN provider justifies the higher cost, and it’s totally worth your money.
Get NordVPN today with my 9.2 out of 10.00* ratingDisclosure Policy
Thedarkweb.co uses affiliate links, and we may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no additional cost to you. The commissions help us keep testing VPN services to suggest the best pick according to your needs. All experts are paid separately, and the website doesn’t share any percentage of commission with writers to ensure honest and unbiased opinions.
