NordVPN Review 2026

NordVPN is a VPN service run by Nord Security, a company headquartered in Lithuania, while the VPN itself operates under Panamanian jurisdiction. This review covers its privacy record, security features, apps and prices, using the figures NordVPN publishes itself. We have not run our own speed or streaming tests, so this review makes no claims about either.

NordVPN at a glance

Servers: 7,000+nordvpn.com/trust · checked 2026-11-08
Countries: 150 (incl. virtual locations)api.nordvpn.com/v1/servers/countries · checked 2026-11-08
Devices per plan: 10nordvpn.com/pricing · checked 2026-11-08
Money-back: 30 daysnordvpn.com/pricing · checked 2026-11-08
Jurisdiction: Panamanordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
Owner: Nord Security (parent company, headquartered in Lithuania)nordvpn.com/about-us · checked 2026-11-08
Latest audit: 2025Deloitte · no-logs policynordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
RAM-only servers: Yes (all server data is stored in RAM)nordvpn.com/trust · checked 2026-11-08
Protocols: NordLynx (WireGuard-based, default), NordWhisper, OpenVPN UDP/TCP, IKEv2/IPSec (manual setup only)nordvpn.com/servers · checked 2026-11-08
Logging policy: Says it does not log or keep users' browsing activity; stores only what is needed to provide the servicenordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
Lowest price: $3.49/moUS prices; prices and currencies vary by countryBasic, 27 months, Black Fridaynordvpn.com/pricing · checked 2026-11-12

+ Pros

The no-logs policy has been checked by independent auditors many times, first by PwC and then by Deloitte almost every year
NordVPN says all of its servers run from RAM, so nothing is written to disk
A large network that covers every country in our country guides
Apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV and Apple TV, plus browser extensions
A kill switch and the WireGuard-based NordLynx protocol by default

− Cons

Renewal prices are much higher than the intro price on the long plans
Split tunneling is only in the Windows, Android and Android TV apps
A server at a rented datacenter was breached in 2018, and NordVPN only found out about it the following year
Some locations are virtual, so the server is not physically in the country you pick
No free plan is listed

Price and refunds

NordVPN prices
Plan	First term	Per month	First term total	Then renews at
Basic	27 months	$3.49¹	$94.23	$139.08 a year
Complete	27 months	$3.99¹	$107.73	$219.48 a year
Prime	27 months	$6.99¹	$188.73	$296.28 a year
Basic	15 months	$4.99¹	$74.85	$139.08 a year
Complete	15 months	$5.99¹	$89.85	$219.48 a year
Prime	15 months	$8.99¹	$134.85	$296.28 a year
Basic	1 month	$14.99	$14.99	—
Complete	1 month	$19.99	$19.99	—
Prime	1 month	$29.99	$29.99	—

US prices; prices and currencies vary by country.

Regular prices in USD as NordVPN's website showed them to visitors in the US on November 12, 2026 (nordvpn.com/pricing). Prices and offers change often; the checkout page shows the current price.

NordVPN sells three tiers — Basic, Complete and Prime — each on a long plan, a slightly shorter plan and month by month. The long plans are where the low monthly price comes from, and that price only applies to the first term. After it, the plan renews yearly at NordVPN’s standard rate, which is much higher. NordVPN’s own pricing page shows the current intro and renewal price of every plan, so check both before you buy, and put a reminder in your calendar a few weeks before the renewal date to compare prices again. The monthly plan has no intro discount, so it costs the same every month; it is the most expensive way to pay but the easiest to stop.

The money-back guarantee in the card above covers every plan. NordVPN does not list a free plan, so the guarantee is the way to try it: subscribe, check the apps and the services you care about, and ask for a refund within the period if it does not suit you.

Privacy: who runs it and what it logs

NordVPN is owned by Nord Security, which is headquartered in Lithuania. The VPN service itself is operated under the law of Panama. Ownership matters as much as jurisdiction: Nord Security is a private company with several products, so the privacy policy and the audits are the evidence to judge it by, not the country on the terms of service.

NordVPN says it does not log or keep users’ browsing activity, and that it stores only what it needs to provide the service, such as your account and payment details. That claim has been put to outside auditors repeatedly:

2025Deloitte · no-logs policynordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
2024Deloitte · no-logs policynordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
2023Deloitte · no-logs policynordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
2022Deloitte · no-logs policynordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08
2020PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Switzerland · no-logs policy (expanded: incl. obfuscated, Double VPN and P2P servers)nordvpn.com/blog/nordvpn-audit · checked 2026-11-08
2018PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Switzerland · no-logs policynordvpn.com/features/no-log-vpn · checked 2026-11-08

The audits in this list cover the no-logs policy: whether NordVPN’s servers and systems are set up so that activity logs are not kept. The 2020 audit was wider than the first one and included the obfuscated, Double VPN and P2P servers. These audits are a check of how the service was configured when the auditor looked; they do not prove what happens between audits, and they are not a review of the apps’ code. Even so, a run of audits by two of the large accounting firms is more evidence than most VPNs publish.

Security features

NordVPN’s apps use NordLynx by default, NordVPN’s own protocol built on WireGuard. The apps also offer NordWhisper, a newer NordVPN protocol, and OpenVPN over UDP or TCP. IKEv2/IPSec is only available through manual setup, not as an option in the apps.

The apps include a kill switch, which blocks your internet connection if the VPN drops, so your real IP address is not exposed during a reconnection. NordVPN says its servers run entirely from RAM: server data is held in memory and lost when a server restarts, which limits what an attacker or a seized server could reveal.

Split tunneling lets you choose which apps go through the VPN and which use your normal connection — useful for a banking app that blocks VPN addresses, or a local printer. NordVPN offers it in its Windows, Android and Android TV apps, and its browser extensions let you exclude individual websites. It is not listed for macOS, iOS or Linux.

Security incidents

2018One server at a third-party datacenter in Finland was breached around March 2018; NordVPN says it learned of it in April 2019, no user credentials or activity logs were affected, and the attacker obtained TLS keys that could not decrypt VPN traffic.nordvpn.com/blog/official-response-datacen… · checked 2026-11-08

The 2018 breach affected one server that NordVPN rented in a third-party datacenter in Finland. According to NordVPN, the attacker obtained TLS keys from that server. NordVPN says those keys could not be used to decrypt VPN traffic, and that no user credentials or activity logs were on the server. The weak point is the timeline: the breach happened in 2018, and NordVPN says it learned of it in 2019. NordVPN now says all its servers run from RAM, and its no-logs policy has been audited almost every year since. We found no other reported security incidents involving NordVPN.

Server network

The server and country counts in the card above include virtual locations. A virtual location gives you an IP address from the country you pick, but the server hardware is in a neighboring country — for example, NordVPN’s Indian locations are all virtual. For most uses, such as reaching a local website, that makes no difference; it matters if you need your traffic to stay inside a particular country.

Besides its standard servers, NordVPN runs specialty servers: obfuscated servers that make VPN traffic harder to spot on restrictive networks, Double VPN servers that route your connection through two locations, and P2P servers for file sharing.

For the number of servers NordVPN has in a particular country, see our country guides:

Apps and devices

NordVPN has apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, TV apps for Android TV and Apple TV (tvOS), and browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. One subscription covers the number of devices in the card above at the same time, which is enough for a household with a few phones, a laptop and a TV.

The apps are not identical. Split tunneling, as described above, is only in some of them. IKEv2 is not in any of them and has to be set up by hand. The browser extensions only protect the browser’s own traffic, not other apps on the same computer, so on a laptop the desktop app is the better choice. If your device has no app, such as a router or a games console, you need a manual setup or a router that runs the VPN for the whole network.

Streaming, torrenting and speed

We have not run our own speed or streaming tests yet. This is where our results will appear, with the date and setup of each run:

Our spot checks of NordVPN
Our spot check	Result
Streaming playback on a US server	No spot check yet

A spot check is our own: run in the US on a US server, five minutes of continuous playback to pass, with no fixed schedule. Results for other countries come from other sites' published tests.

Until then, below is what we know, followed by what one other review site measured; use the refund period to check the services you care about.

Streaming: we have not tested which streaming services or regions work with NordVPN, and streaming services block VPN addresses from time to time. Test the services you use within the refund period before you rely on it.
Torrenting: NordVPN runs dedicated P2P servers, and its 2020 no-logs audit covered them. Check the copyright rules where you live; a VPN does not change what is legal.
Speed: we make no speed claims without our own tests. NordLynx is the default protocol in the apps, and your own speed depends on your connection, the server you pick and how far away it is, so try a nearby server first.

What other testers found

These are other sites' tests, not ours. Each one is credited and linked, and nothing is merged or averaged.

Streaming · In the US

Safelyo (Netflix; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Netflix US played the full catalog in 4K UHD
Top10VPN (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): Netflix US worked; the reviewer noted that the VPN picked a server on its own that reached the US library
CNET (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): The US Netflix library opened
Comparitech (Netflix; article updated Aug 2026): In Comparitech's own Netflix benchmark, which measures how often the US library opens, the US catalog loaded on 86.21% of 29 measurements
vpnMentor (Netflix; article updated Jun 2026): The US Netflix library opened on the first server tried
Safelyo (Hulu; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Hulu played in the US in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Top10VPN (Hulu; article updated Oct 2026): Hulu US worked
vpnMentor (Hulu; article updated Jun 2026): Hulu worked
Safelyo (Prime Video; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Prime Video played in the US in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Top10VPN (Prime Video; article updated Oct 2026): Prime Video US worked
Safelyo (Disney+; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Disney+ played in the US in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Safelyo (Max; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Max played in the US in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Top10VPN (Max; article updated Oct 2026): HBO Max US worked
Safelyo (Peacock; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Peacock played in the US in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Safelyo (Sling TV; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Sling TV played in the US in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Safelyo (ESPN; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): ESPN streamed live sports in the US without lag

Streaming · In the UK

Safelyo (Netflix; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): Netflix UK played the full catalog in 4K UHD
Top10VPN (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): Netflix UK worked
CNET (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): The UK Netflix library opened
vpnMentor (Netflix; article updated Jun 2026): The UK Netflix library opened on the first server tried
Top10VPN (Disney+; article updated Oct 2026): Disney+ UK worked
Safelyo (BBC iPlayer; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): BBC iPlayer streamed live sports without lag
Top10VPN (BBC iPlayer; article updated Oct 2026): BBC iPlayer worked
vpnMentor (BBC iPlayer; article updated Jun 2026): BBC iPlayer streamed smoothly
Safelyo (ITVX; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): ITVX played in 4K UHD with no proxy errors
Top10VPN (ITVX; article updated Oct 2026): ITVX worked

Streaming · In Canada

Safelyo (Netflix; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): The Canadian Netflix library worked, one of the 23 of 40 regional libraries that did
CNET (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): The Canadian Netflix library opened
vpnMentor (Netflix; article updated Jun 2026): The Canadian Netflix library opened on the first server tried
Top10VPN (DAZN; article updated Oct 2026): DAZN Canada did not work

Streaming · In Australia

Safelyo (Netflix; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): The Australian Netflix library worked, one of the 23 of 40 regional libraries that did
CNET (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): The Australian Netflix library opened

Streaming · country not stated by the source

Safelyo (Netflix; article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): 23 of the 40 regional Netflix libraries they tested worked; the other 17, Brazil, Thailand and Turkey among them, showed only Netflix Originals
Top10VPN (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): 17 Netflix libraries opened; the Indian and Dutch libraries would not stream
CNET (Netflix; article updated Oct 2026): Besides the US, the UK, Canadian, Australian, French, German, South African, Japanese and Romanian Netflix libraries opened; Netflix Egypt did not, and showed the US library instead
vpnMentor (Netflix; article updated Jun 2026): More than 15 Netflix libraries worked, the UK, Japan, Canada, Argentina, Malaysia and Thailand among them, each on the first server tried
vpnMentor (Prime Video; article updated Jun 2026): Amazon Prime Video worked
vpnMentor (Disney+; article updated Jun 2026): Disney+ worked
vpnMentor (Max; article updated Jun 2026): Max worked
vpnMentor (Sling TV; article updated Jun 2026): Sling TV worked
vpnMentor (ESPN+; article updated Jun 2026): ESPN+ worked
vpnMentor (DAZN; article updated Jun 2026): DAZN worked

Speed

Safelyo (article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): On NordLynx, an average of 410.9 Mbps download across 8 server locations, keeping 47.7% of an 860.71 Mbps no-VPN baseline measured from Vietnam; the US Los Angeles server gave 446.39 Mbps, or 51.9%
CNET (article updated Oct 2026): They measured an average 27.2% download speed loss in 2026, ranging from 15% on macOS over Wi-Fi to 41% on Windows over Wi-Fi
CyberInsider (article updated Sep 2026; run from the US): On a 1 Gbps connection in the US with NordLynx, NordVPN downloaded at 903 Mbps on a Seattle server and 868 Mbps in Los Angeles, with 658 Mbps on a London server

Torrenting

Security.org (article updated Oct 2026): Their tests measured downloads about 60% faster with NordVPN's SOCKS5 proxy, which hides the IP without encrypting the traffic
Tom's Guide (article updated Oct 2026): Torrent downloads were speedy and reliable across the torrents they tried, and P2P is supported on all servers, but port forwarding is not offered on any platform

Leaks and kill switch

Safelyo (article updated Nov 2026; run from Vietnam): No leaks in the ipleak.net, dnsleaktest.com and browserleaks.com tests: IPv4 and IPv6, DNS and WebRTC all passed. The Internet Kill Switch cut off all traffic whenever the connection was down, and the App Kill Switch closed qBittorrent when the VPN dropped, though restarting it while the VPN was not connected downloaded over the normal connection
Top10VPN (article updated Oct 2026): The VPN passed all of the reviewer's data leak tests, and when they simulated a sudden connection drop the kill switch stopped the real IP address from leaking
CNET (article updated Oct 2026): No leaks were detected in their 2026 testing, but the Windows kill switch stays engaged after a manual disconnect and has to be toggled off by hand
CyberInsider (article updated Sep 2026; run from the US): No IP, DNS or WebRTC leaks on the Windows and macOS desktop apps, and no IPv6 leaks because the desktop apps block IPv6 at the engine level
vpnMentor (article updated Jun 2026): The reviewer's kill switch and leak protection behaved as expected: during forced disconnections both the internet kill switch and the app kill switch prevented data exposure, and leak tests on ipleak.net across 12 servers found no DNS, WebRTC or IP leaks

Several sites have tested NordVPN, and they do not all say the same thing. On US servers, Safelyo, vpnMentor, Top10VPN and CNET all report that Netflix US played; Safelyo also reports that Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video and Max played in the US, and Top10VPN that Prime Video US worked. Outside the US the results are more mixed: the UK services the sites tried worked, but Top10VPN found that the Indian and Dutch Netflix libraries would not stream and that DAZN Canada had stopped working, Safelyo found that many of the Netflix libraries it tried showed only Netflix Originals, and CNET could not open Netflix Egypt. Comparitech took a different measurement, how often the US Netflix library opens rather than whether it opened at all, and its result is below one. On speed the picture depends on where the test was run from: CyberInsider used a gigabit line in the US and reported speeds close to the baseline, while Safelyo measured from Vietnam and reported a much larger drop. The kill switch tests all passed, with one caveat Safelyo found: the app-level kill switch closes the torrent app when the VPN drops, but starting the torrent app again while the VPN is not connected sends the download over your normal connection. These are other sites’ tests, on their own days and with their own setups, and some of them disagree. None of this is our own result, and none of it feeds into our verdict. Our own kill switch test is on the list above.

NordVPN alternatives

NordVPN alternatives compared
#	VPN	Best for	Jurisdiction	Simultaneous devices	Money-back guarantee
1	Surfshark	Best for unlimited devices	Netherlands	Unlimited	30 days
2	Proton VPN	Best if you want a free plan	Switzerland	10 (VPN Plus)	30 days
3	PureVPN	Best for a paid trial week	British Virgin Islands	10	31 days

Every figure from the provider's own website, checked 2026-11-07 to 2026-11-09. A dash means the provider does not publish it; we don't estimate.

Surfshark – choose it if you need to cover more devices than NordVPN allows; it has no device limit, and it is based in the Netherlands.
Proton VPN – choose it if you want a free plan, for example for public Wi-Fi. The free plan has limits on devices and locations; the paid plan is run from Switzerland.
PureVPN – choose it if you want a short paid trial before a long plan, rather than relying on a refund. Read our PureVPN review.

How we checked these facts

Every figure on this page comes from NordVPN’s own website or official API, and we re-check prices every two weeks and other figures at least every four months. Where NordVPN does not publish a figure, we leave it out rather than estimate it. We have not run our own speed or streaming tests; the test results we quote are other sites’ and are credited to them. The verdict, pros and cons are our editorial judgment based on these facts.

FAQ

Is NordVPN safe to use?

NordVPN has had its no-logs policy checked by independent auditors many times, runs its servers from RAM, and its apps include a kill switch. Its one reported security incident, a server breach at a rented datacenter in 2018, did not expose user credentials or activity logs, according to NordVPN.

Does NordVPN keep logs?

NordVPN says it does not log or keep your browsing activity and only stores what it needs to run your account, such as payment details. PwC and later Deloitte have audited that no-logs policy several times.

Where is NordVPN based, and who owns it?

The VPN service operates under the law of Panama. It is owned by Nord Security, a company headquartered in Lithuania.

How many devices can I use with one NordVPN subscription?

One subscription covers several devices at the same time, shown in the card at the top of this review. If you need more, Surfshark has no device limit.

How much does NordVPN cost after the first term?

The low monthly price only applies to the first term. After it, the plan renews yearly at the standard rate shown on NordVPN’s own pricing page, which is much higher than the intro price on the long plans.

Does NordVPN have a free plan or free trial?

NordVPN does not list a free plan. You can try it with the money-back guarantee instead and ask for a refund within the period if it does not suit you.

Is NordVPN worth it?

For the first term, it is a well-priced VPN with a strong audit record, RAM-only servers and apps for nearly every device. At the renewal price it is worth comparing again, especially if you do not use the extra features.

What happened in the NordVPN server breach?

An attacker got into one NordVPN server at a third-party datacenter in Finland and obtained TLS keys. NordVPN says it learned of it in 2019, that the keys could not decrypt VPN traffic, and that no user credentials or activity logs were affected.