Visually Reviewed rate NordVPN a 10/10
Quick Summary
NordVPN is easily one of the best VPN providers and has been for the past few years. It comes packed with amazing features, great speeds and thousands of secure servers from all over the world. Not only this, but it offers special types of servers such as Double VPN, Onion over VPN and much more, all whilst maintaining its great pricing.
Pros
- 5,200+ servers across 59 countries, fast and reliable
- Unblocks streaming services such as Netflix
- Great security and no logs
- Packed with great features
Cons
- Limited to six simultaneous connections
NordVPN review
NordVPN is a personal Virtual Private Network (VPN) service provider. NordVPN has been considered one of the best VPN providers for years and years, and for good reason! As of the time of writing this review, NordVPN offers over 5,200 secure servers found across 59 different countries. Not only does NordVPN provide secure and encrypted servers, but it goes above and beyond by offering additional types of servers such as:
- Double VPN
- Onion over VPN
- Dedicated IP servers
- P2P servers
- Obfuscated servers
NordVPN uses next-generation, military-grade encryption to ensure the highest degree of security. It uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit keys which is used worldwide by the likes of governments and cybersecurity experts. NordVPN also has a strict no-logs policy and are based and operate under the jurisdiction of Panama, this is key as there are no mandatory data retention laws there.
NordVPN is available on Windows, macOS, Android (& Android TV), iOS, Linux, Chrome (Browser extension), and Firefox (Browser extension). The NordVPN app across all platforms has a great user interface throughout with easy to use controls. You can also use NordVPN on all of your devices, up to 6 devices at once. Alongside this, if you ever have any questions or concerns, NordVPN provides 24/7 customer support so you’re never left in the dark.
NordVPN review: Servers
NordVPN offers a plethora of over 5,200 servers across 59 different countries. According to their website, there are currently 2,244 servers in the Americas, 2,224 servers in Europe, 645 servers in the Asia Pacific, and 124 servers in Africa, the Middle East and India. NordVPN provides the most servers we’ve seen from any VPN and because there are so many, you won’t have any trouble finding the perfect server for you.
NordVPN offers a range of different servers which includes: Standard, Double VPN, Onion over VPN, Dedicated IP, P2P, and Obfuscated servers. For most people, the standard encrypted server is all that they need but if you’re looking for something more specific, one of these other servers could be perfect for you.
Standard server – the regular, default server that encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP address.
Double VPN – this solution sends your internet traffic through two different encrypted servers, resulting in double the encryption.
Onion over VPN – this solution sends your internet traffic through an encrypted server and then through the Onion network. Usually, you can only access the Onion network with The Onion Router (TOR) browser. However, whilst using this, you don’t need to download the browser, instead, all you need to do is connect to an Onion over VPN server.
Dedicated IP servers – these servers are for NordVPN users that have purchased their own dedicated IP. Most people won’t use this type of server so we won’t go into detail about this option. If you want to know more about this, NordVPN explains what these servers are and how to get one.
P2P servers – P2P stands for Peer-to-Peer networking and is one of the best methods of file sharing with large groups of people.
Obfuscated servers – these servers are great at bypassing internet restrictions such as network firewalls. These servers are highly recommended for countries with restricted internet access.
NordVPN review: Features
We’ve already covered NordVPN’s encryption and the different server types, but these are just two of many features NordVPN has to offer. NordVPN has a great feature it calls ‘SmartPlay’. NordVPN’s SmartPlay feature allows you to access content you otherwise wouldn’t have access to by combining VPN and Smart DNS technologies.
Traditionally, Smart DNS allows you to get past geo-block restrictions, however, it doesn’t use any encryption. NordVPN’s SmartPlay feature works automatically with no setup required, meaning you can access geo-blocked content whilst staying secure and encrypted.
As well as this, NordVPN also has a ‘Kill Switch’ feature. A kill switch is a technique used to quickly terminate an application if something goes wrong. NordVPN’s Kill Switch continuously monitors your connection to the VPN server. If it detects that your connection drops, the Kill Switch will block your device or the apps you specified from access to the web. When the tunnel to the VPN server is reestablished the Kill Switch will restore your secure internet connection.
In addition to this, NordVPN also has a feature it calls ‘CyberSec’. NordVPN’s CyberSec feature protects you from ads, unsafe connections and malicious websites. Due to Google’s policies, CyberSec doesn’t block ads in the NordVPN app which you can find in the Google Play Store. However, you can download the same NordVPN app for Android devices from NordVPN’s website in which CyberSec does block ads.
Has NordVPN ever been breached?
Unfortunately, NordVPN was breached back in March 2018. NordVPN reported that one of its rented servers located in Finland was breached due to a third-party security flaw. The breach was very limited and involved no user-identifying information, this goes to show NordVPN really doesn’t keep any logs of user activity.
As a response to the security breach, NordVPN invited a security research group to audit its apps and help to identify and fix any security issues. As well as this, they launched a bug bounty program which gave a money incentive to anyone who discovered and reported potential security issues.
NordVPN review: Pricing
The pricing for NordVPN is amazing considering the quality of service you get. The three plans NordVPN offers are:
- The two-year plan that costs £2.86 a month, totalling just £68.53 for the first two years.
- The six-month plan that costs £6.93 a month, totalling £41.58 every six months.
- The one month plan that costs £9.20 a month.
NordVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee which means if you’re not satisfied with the service, you can get your money back! Because of this, we recommend users to purchase the longer plans as they have the cheapest cost per month.
Quick Answers
How much is NordVPN?
NordVPN offers three different plans, 1-month, 6-month, and 2-year plans. The 1-month plan costs £9.20/mo, the 6-month plan costs £6.93/mo, and the 2-year plan costs £2.86/mo.
What can you watch with NordVPN?
With NordVPN, you can unblock countless websites and streaming services, here are some of the most popular:
Is NordVPN good?
NordVPN is easily one of the best VPN service providers on the market. It offers thousands of fast servers from all across the world allowing for an unblocked and uninterrupted experience from streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. NordVPN also has many great features and special server types that greatly improve security.
Have NordVPN ever been breached?
NordVPN was breached back in March 2018. NordVPN reported that one of its rented servers located in Finland was breached due to a third-party security flaw. The breach was very limited and involved no user-identifying information, this goes to show NordVPN really doesn't keep any logs of user activity.
NordVPN review: Conclusion
In conclusion, NordVPN is easily one of the best VPN service providers on the market. It offers thousands of fast servers from all across the world allowing for an unblocked and uninterrupted experience from streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. NordVPN also has many great features and special server types that greatly improve security. This is all on top of the next-generation, military-grade encryption NordVPN uses to ensure the best possible security.
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