NordVPN Review & Test (2023) — Are The Rumors True?

On the surface, NordVPN looks like a really impressive service. It claims to have a huge global server network, the ability to unblock tons of streaming platforms, and iron-clad security and privacy features. Plus, you can get it all for just $3.49/month. That all sounds great, but is there a catch?

To find out, I did an in-depth analysis of NordVPN. 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 superfast speeds on nearby and long-distance servers. Plus, I was able to unblock an impressive number of geoblocked streaming platforms. 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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It was simple to access some of the most popular streaming platforms with NordVPN. The only sites NordVPN couldn’t unblock were Amazon Prime Video and Sky Go. Although the VPN offers streaming-optimized servers, I was able to unblock most other platforms without these. I performed my tests connected to the NordLynx protocol since it gave me the fastest speeds.

I experienced some buffering when connected to certain servers, but most of the time I had a smooth streaming experience. Disney+ and Hulu were the only services I had trouble unblocking; in the end, I got them to work.

After testing 45+ of its servers across the globe, I managed to unblock these streaming sites:

Start Streaming With NordVPN

Unblocked: 14 Netflix Libraries

NordVPN successfully unblocked 14 Netflix libraries, including ones in the US, Canada, the UK, Japan, Germany, and more. Netflix is constantly updating its VPN-detection software, so finding a VPN that reliably overcomes this is impressive.

Netflix worked well with NordVPN — I had really fast speeds and could watch content seamlessly on long-distance servers.

NordVPN has 80 servers in Tokyo, so you can always find one that's not crowded

While connected to Tokyo server #604, I was able to watch Alchemy of Souls on Netflix in HD. Even though Tokyo is over 5,500 miles from my current location, I was really impressed with how smooth the stream was.

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Unblocked: Hulu

I had one small issue unblocking Hulu. During testing, I easily bypassed its geoblocks while connected to servers in New York, Manassas, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City. The only time I got blocked was when I connected to Dallas #8105 — but after refreshing the page, Hulu loaded immediately.

You'll also be able to unblock Hulu + Live TV with NordVPN

All the servers I tested not only gave me access to Hulu’s shows but also allowed me to unlock Hulu’s entire add-on library, which is great for sports streaming.

I wanted to make sure its speeds were fast enough for streaming live sports. So, I connected to NordVPN’s Virginia, Charlotte, Denver, and Atlanta servers to watch an MLB game, and my speeds were fast enough to stream without interruptions.

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Unblocked: Disney+

NordVPN worked well with Disney+ on US servers. But, when I accessed the Australian library, Melbourne server #689 was slower and caused some annoying buffering. However, it improved after I reloaded the page.

The US Disney+ library always gets new releases first (plus, you get the lowest subscription prices in the US), so I wanted to make sure there were servers that could access the US catalog. I tested NordVPN’s locations in New Jersey, San Jose, and Salt Lake City — the servers all bypassed Disney+’s geo-restrictions.

I watched 3 episodes without any loading times between videos or buffering

I also tested servers in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth and managed to access Disney+ Australia with each one.

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Unblocked: HBO Max

I didn’t experience long load times or buffering during any of my tests with HBO Max. Every US server I tested was able to unblock the service.

I was impressed that every video instantly loaded with the highest picture quality available

I tested 10 servers in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Virginia, and all of them worked well.

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Unblocked: BBC iPlayer

There was a time when NordVPN couldn’t unblock BBC iPlayer, but since testing it again, I was happy to find that NordVPN bypassed all restrictions with ease.

NordVPN worked great with live sports events on BBC iPlayer too

I connected to 12 different UK servers, and they all gave me access to BBC iPlayer without issues.

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Blocked By: Amazon Prime Video

Unfortunately, NordVPN is one of the many VPNs that fail to get around Amazon Prime Video’s strong geoblocks.

I started out by testing its servers in Charlotte and Buffalo. While they accessed the US site, Prime Video still detected that I was using a VPN and prevented me from watching any shows. I then tried switching to its New York server #6718, but I still received the VPN error message.

I was also blocked when I tried to access libraries from the UK, Germany, and Japan

If you want a VPN that consistently bypasses Amazon Prime Video’s geoblocks, there are quite a few options available.

Blocked By: Sky Go

I tried a few different servers for Sky Go, including the UK and Ireland, but NordVPN was unable to unblock it with any of them. Sky Go improved its VPN-detection technology and it’s consistently one of the toughest streaming apps to access with a VPN — none of the UK servers I tested got around its blocks.

Sky Go has notoriously strong geoblocks so most VPNs can’t unblock it

However, I contacted NordVPN’s support about it, and they said that the developers are working on fixing this issue.

This means that NordVPN might unblock Sky Go in the future so it’s worth it to check again

NordVPN also has a useful section on its website that tells you the best servers to use for unblocking certain streaming sites. It also has a general troubleshooting guide for streaming. So, if you’re struggling to unblock a specific platform, I recommend checking this out.

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I was really impressed by NordVPN’s consistently fast speeds. Every VPN will slow you down a little bit as it sends your traffic to different servers (and the further away a server is, the slower your speeds will be). But while testing different NordVPN servers across the world, I didn’t notice the speed drops at all as there was no difference in my browsing, streaming, or even gaming experience.

I examined 3 main components during the speed tests:

• Download speed shows how fast the data is downloaded from a server. You need about 5 Mbps for HD streaming and 25 Mbps for 4k streaming.
• Upload speed shows how fast the data is sent to a server. You need around 2 Mbps for high-quality video calls, and around 5 Mbps to send files quickly.
• Ping (measured in ms) shows how long it takes for data to travel to and from your device. This is important for gaming, and you need less than 100 ms to play online games without lag.

With NordVPN’s servers, you’ll get fast speeds no matter how far the server is from your location

NordVPN’s fast download speeds allowed me to stream shows for hours without lag or buffering, while the low ping made it easy for me to play games. I even managed to have high-quality video calls thanks to its upload speeds.

While NordVPN’s speeds are impressive once connected to its servers, it took a long time to establish that connection sometimes (especially on US and Canadian ones). Sometimes it took so long (more than 5 minutes) that I had to force-quit the app and reopen it. However, usually after I did this it would connect much faster.

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NordLynx Protocol Gives You The Fastest Speeds

NordVPN recently launched a new protocol called NordLynx. It’s based on WireGuard which is currently the fastest protocol in the industry. But while WireGuard is great for speeds, it’s not the most secure. So NordVPN made it stronger with double NAT technology.

I wanted to see how fast NordLynx is in comparison to other protocols, so I tested its speeds (as well as OpenVPN’s speeds) on 6 server locations.

The difference was especially noticeable on far-away servers like the one in Japan or Australia

NordLynx was the fastest protocol on all server locations — but that’s not its only benefit. I noticed that it only took me 5 seconds to connect to a server with NordLynx (in comparison, it took 30 seconds with OpenVPN). This is great because your connection drops every time you switch servers, so NordLynx’s quick connections will save you from annoying wait time.

Because NordLynx had the fastest speeds, I performed all my other speed tests using the NordLynx protocol.

Local Speeds

I started out by collecting my base speed (with NordVPN disconnected) so I could compare the speed drops later on with the VPN connected.

No VPN connection (Pozega, Serbia):

After that, I used its “Quick Connect" feature which connected me to a server in Belgrade. There was almost no slowdown at all and it wasn’t noticeable when I was streaming, browsing, or gaming.

Quick Connect (Belgrade, Serbia):

Then I connected to Croatia, which is close to my location in Serbia. I maintained high speeds which was surprising because most VPNs my team and I test decrease our speed by at least 15%.

Zagreb, Croatia (539 km from base location):

So, you can use servers in your country and countries nearby without worrying about your speed changing (you’ll be able to stream and browse without lag).

International Speeds

I was impressed with NordVPN’s speeds on its international servers. While my speeds did drop, the decrease wasn’t significant enough to affect my online activity. It was still easy to stream without lag, browse, and even play games on some servers.

First, I tested its servers in Italy since it’s close to my location in Serbia. The distance didn’t make any difference at all.

Rome, Italy (630 km from base location):

The same thing happened when I connected to a UK server — my speed dropped by only 11.37% which is really impressive for a server 2,830 km away from my location in Serbia.

London, UK (2,830 km from base location):

I was impressed by my results when connected to a New York server — this is 7,294 km overseas from where I’m located, and the speed was even better than when I connected to the UK server. While the ping increased a bit, it was still good for lag-free gaming.

New York, US (7,294 km from base location):

The first significant drop in speeds happened when I connected to a server in Tokyo. It’s understandable, considering that it’s 9,270 km away from me. But even though my speeds decreased by 42.07%, I didn’t have any issues when streaming. The only instance when I did notice the difference was when playing online games — due to 123 ms latency, there was a lot of lag.

Tokyo, Japan (9,270 km from base location):

Finally, I tested NordVPN’s server in Adelaide (Australia) which is the furthest location from where I am. I expected speeds to drop drastically to a point where I’d experience lots of lag and long page loading times — but this was not the case. Though speeds dropped by 44.66% (which sounds like a lot), I still managed to get impressive download speeds of over 60 Mbps which allowed me to continue streaming in HD without buffering and browse the internet with quick page loading times.

However, the ping was really high on the Australian servers, so it was less than ideal for gaming. I got shot several times when playing Apex Legends because of the slow response times, but I could still play some of the less demanding games like Hearthstone or Civilization V.

Adelaide, Australia (14,749 km from base location):

NordVPN's Speed While Streaming: 4K No Problem

Even on super faraway servers, I still had speeds more than fast enough for streaming in 4K (you need at least 25Mbps for this). It's important to keep in mind that this will only be the case for you if you have a fast baseline connection. But overall, NordVPN's speeds are great for streaming in the highest quality.

NordVPN's Speed While Downloading: Fast

NordVPN's speeds are also great for fast downloads. While connected to nearby servers, I didn't notice my torrent downloads taking any longer than they normally would. That being said, NordVPN offers torrenting servers in a limited number of locations, so depending on where you are, you may not be able to use a server that's super close by for the best speeds. In contrast, some VPNs support P2P traffic on all servers, giving you much more flexibility to choose the best possible connection.

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NordVPN is a good gaming VPN, but it’s not one of the best. Its speeds are fast enough for lag-free gaming on a lot of servers. But, I had issues with a few, so it could give you some lag depending on where you live.

First, I tried playing Apex Legends while connected to NordVPN’s Germany server, and I didn’t experience any issues. Usually, when I connect to a VPN, I miss a lot of shots due to lag, but I managed to win 3 matches without missing any targets (or getting killed because lag makes it hard to see the enemies).

Apex Legends needs fast internet speeds, and NordVPN didn’t make me lag once while I played the game

After that, I switched to playing Valorant on a US server. While I did experience some lag, it wasn’t too bad considering that it was in New York, which is almost 4,500 miles away from my location.

Even though my game lagged sometimes, I could still play without major issues

I tried playing on other servers in Japan and New Zealand, but the distance made the ping really high, which caused lag and glitches.

NordVPN makes smooth gameplay possible on local servers and some long-distance ones. However, you have to make sure that the server enables ping lower than 100ms. Anything above that, and it will be harder to play.

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NordVPN has 5,791 servers in 60 countries. Most of its servers are in the US and the UK, but you can also find servers in Australia, across Asia and Africa, as well as Europe and South America

NordVPN also allows you to select a specific region or a specific server

Unfortunately, it took a long time to establish a connection on some servers (especially on US and Canadian servers). Sometimes it took so long (more than 5 minutes) that I had to force-quit the app and reopen it. However, usually, after I did this it would connect much faster.

NordVPN only has physical servers, and there are no virtual server locations. This is rare because most VPNs have at least some virtual servers in hard-to-reach locations. They can cause a decrease in your download speed and higher ping because they’re usually far away from the country you want to connect to.

NordVPN is also working on establishing full ownership of its network. So far, it’s been renting servers after thoroughly vetting each provider. As it moves into private server ownership, NordVPN will be able to offer you better security and stronger privacy.

In addition, NordVPN started using 10 Gbps servers (most VPNs only have 1 Gbps servers). This means that you’ll be able to get even faster speeds — especially if your base connection is faster than 500 Mbps.

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P2P Servers

Unfortunately, it doesn’t support torrenting on all servers, but it has an optimized server network for P2P sharing. These servers offer fast speeds which means you’ll be able to use uTorrent, BitTorrent, Popcorn Time, and others without issues.

You can also choose a specific P2P server in a dropdown menu below the ‘Country’ menu

I’ve definitely used other VPNs that make torrenting way easier than NordVPN. It's nice to have specialty servers for P2P, but way easier to just use a VPN that's entire network supports it. That way you don’t even have to worry about connecting to a specific server before opening your BitTorrent client.

NordVPN has a strict no-logs policy so your torrenting activity won’t be stored or accessible by third parties. It has a kill switch that immediately stops all internet traffic if a VPN connection drops so your data (or activity) won’t be revealed to hackers or your ISP. Plus, when testing NordVPN, I didn’t get any DNS leaks so I was confident that my IP address remained hidden the entire time I used Popcorn Time.

Obfuscated Servers

Obfuscated servers help to hide your VPN traffic so it looks like you’re just browsing from your computer without a VPN. It helps to avoid detection by network administrators or other parties who may be monitoring internet traffic or blocking VPN connections.

Unfortunately, these servers don’t let you use NordVPNs in restrictive countries like China (although it does work in Russia), but they do let you use it on restricted networks like at school, work, or on public WiFi.

To set up obfuscated servers on NordVPN, go to settings and select OpenVPN (TCP) as your protocol. Then, turn the obfuscated servers button on — after that, you’ll be able to see the option on your server list.

When you open the ‘Country’ dropdown menu, you’ll be able to choose a specific country to connect to

You can choose from several countries, including the US. The app also gave me several server options per location.

Onion Over VPN Servers

When visiting the Dark Web, you need an extra layer of protection. If your ISP knows you’re accessing the Dark Web, they could alert the authorities or flag your traffic as suspicious. This can put you in a tough spot if something bad happens.

These servers will protect you by showing your ISP only that you’re using a VPN, not that you’re accessing the Dark Web. This way, only NordVPN will know that you’re using Dark Web — but since it doesn’t keep any logs and all of your data is wiped from the servers with every reboot, this won’t affect your privacy.

Onion over VPN has the added benefit of allowing you to access .onion websites from any browser (which saves you the trouble of downloading and using Tor or another onion browser).

Double VPN Servers

These servers are also known as multi-hop servers. When you choose Double VPN, your traffic goes through two servers for double encryption. You can use it on Windows, macOS, and iOS.

You can also just select ‘Open VPN (TCP/UDP) and go to the main page, all specialized servers will appear in the sidebar menu

Even though it can boost your security, it’s not recommended for everyday use, torrenting, or streaming because it will slow your speeds down. If you just want to browse, stream, or torrent, it’s best to have it off.

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 54% drop can be really huge for someone with lower download speeds.

US to Canada

Dedicated IP

NordVPN can also give you a dedicated IP address. This means that you’ll get an IP that no one else can use except you. This is great for online banking — if your location changes too often when accessing your account, your bank could block you.

It’s also beneficial for businesses. If you want secure access to your systems, you can give each employee a dedicated IP address and whitelist them, effectively banning anyone who’s not on the list (thus keeping your sensitive files secure).

Shared IP addresses can also end up on blacklists by a lot of websites (you don’t know how someone before you used the IP). So, you can get blocked by a website without doing anything wrong. Having a dedicated IP prevents this.

While this is great in some cases, it’s also not necessary to use it all the time. It limits you to only one location, which is not ideal for streaming or torrenting.

Diskless (RAM) Servers

In an effort to make its service more secure, NordVPN has a completely diskless server network. This is a colocated server network, which means that nothing will be stored locally on the servers (not even the operating system). These servers are fully owned and maintained by NordVPN, so there is no third-party involvement. This further reduces the chances of a data breach.

This is excellent news for NordVPN’s users because even if a hacker breached into one of the servers, they wouldn’t get any information. It would just be an empty piece of hardware. The same thing would happen if a government seized these servers. So, your data will be even more secure and private than ever.

Browse Safely With NordVPN

Encryption and Security Protocols

NordVPN has AES 256-bit encryption which is a standard in the industry and used by governments. This encryption is hard to crack through with brute force attacks so it would take hackers billions of years to get through it. In addition, it uses Perfect Forward Secrecy which means that the encryption key changes with each session so it can’t be stolen.

When it comes to security protocols, NordVPN offers several choices:

• 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 your data doesn’t end 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.
• IKEv2/IPSec protocol —This protocol is good for boosting security and privacy and it’s available on Apple devices. It’s also good for mobile devices using a 3G or 4G LTE connection because it can restore the connection that dropped faster.
• L2TP/IPsec and PPTP — These protocols used to be supported but this is no longer the case because they have weaker security.

Stay Safe With NordVPN

DNS Leak Protection

When you connect to a VPN, your traffic is routed through an encrypted tunnel. This means that all of your personal identifiers (such as your IP address) get stripped down so you can stay private. However, sometimes pieces of your information leak through and can reveal your identity and activity to third parties (like hackers or your ISP). This is not a good thing when you’re hoping to stay anonymous.

Here are some elements that are susceptible to leaks:

• DNS leaks happen when your DNS requests run through your regular traffic (reaching your ISP) instead of your VPN. DNS translates domain names into IP addresses (of the websites you visit). This is bad because then your ISP can easily see what you’re doing online.
• WebRTC is a technology that allows you to have calls without having to use plugins or apps for this (for example, over Google Hangouts). While this tech is awesome, it has a flaw where it reveals your IP address to these websites. This way, your real identity is revealed to that site and your ISP.
• IP address leaks happen when your real IP is exposed to your ISP. There are two types of IP addresses — IPv4 (which is older) and IPv6 (which is newer). Most VPNs can hide your IP if you’re using IPv4 but problems happen when you use IPv6 because many VPNs still haven’t caught up with this tech. You can turn off your IPv6 and solve this problem (or simply use a good VPN like NordVPN which can hide this as well).

I performed leak tests on the following sites:

• IPLeak.net
• VirtualTotal.com
• Dnsleaktest.com
• Perfect-Privacy.com
• BrowserLeaks.com
• IPX.ac

DNS leaks are dangerous because this means that hackers can easily see your real information

During my tests, I focused on all three types of leaks. I was impressed to find that NordVPN didn’t leak my DNS, WebRTC, or IP address.

The fact that it didn’t leak my DNS is not surprising considering that NordVPN runs its own DNS servers (which means you get better DNS leak protection and privacy). As you can see in the screenshot above, the DNS server my traffic went to is in the United Kingdom (it would be a DNS leak if it was in Serbia).

My IP address stayed hidden as well — the screenshot shows an IP from the UK even though I’m from Serbia. If there was an IP leak, it would show my country and city. I have IPv4 enabled on my Windows desktop and it didn’t leak. I ran the same tests from its Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux apps and didn’t experience any leaks.

Kill Switch

NordVPN’s kill switch ensures your personal info and data won’t be revealed, even if your VPN connection drops. NordVPN has a few 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 only 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.

I’ve used a lot of VPNs, so I know that sometimes you have to enable the kill switch yourself in settings and that's the case with NordVPN. If you forget to turn it on after you log in, you're susceptible to leaks, which is a pretty big disappointment considering NordVPN is good for privacy in almost every other way.

If you want to protect only certain apps, click on “App Kill Switch" and choose which ones

I tested it out by downloading a game from BitTorrent. Breaking a VPN connection this strong is hard, but I found that switching to a different server will do it (albeit briefly). As soon as I changed my server, my internet connection was shut down (I used the internet kill switch on my Windows desktop). My download from BitTorrent stopped completely as well. The moment the connection was restored, so did my traffic.

NordVPN’s kill switch is natively integrated into the macOS, Windows, iOS, Linux, and Android devices 8.0 or higher apps. It can be enabled on Android devices running on 7.0 or below by enabling “Always On VPN” and “Block Connections Without VPN” in the device’s settings.

If you’re using Linux, you can enable the system-wide kill switch feature by typing the “nordvpn set killswitch on” command. To disable it, type the “nordvpn set killswitch off” command. The current status of the kill switch can be found by typing the “nordvpn settings” command.

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Split Tunneling

With NordVPN’s split tunneling feature, you’ll be able to choose which apps you want (and don’t want) to use through the VPN connection. It’s useful when you need to access certain websites with your real IP address (like sensitive business files, bank accounts, smart home devices, etc.). For example, I use it to access my bank account on my regular traffic while streaming shows on HBO Max.

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

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.

CyberSec

Another great aspect of NordVPN is its built-in ad blocker (which you won’t find with many providers). Not only will it reduce the number of ads you see, but it will also block malware-infested websites and trackers. It’s a great feature if you spend time reading content on blogs, websites, and forums, but don’t expect to get rid of ads on YouTube or similar websites that offer a free plan with ads.

Here are its other benefits:

• Boosting your load speeds. When ads show up on your screen, they have to be downloaded (which takes up a ton of bandwidth). But if you block them, you can significantly increase your speeds (especially on mobile devices).
• Better privacy. Ads have built-in tracking capabilities so advertisers can create a better picture of what you might need at any given time. This isn’t harmful on its own, but data breaches happen all the time, and all of the data that the advertisers accumulate could end up in the hands of criminals. By blocking ads, you’re effectively protecting your online privacy.
• Fight malware. Ads and other files that you may run into while using the internet could be ridden with malware. This isn’t really obvious, so you might miss it and inadvertently download something malicious. NordVPN’s CyberSec is there to block your access to this type of content. However, its scope can be limited because it only blocks websites that are already on a threat blacklist.

I tested it with Forbes since its annoying ads always make it hard for me to read its articles.

With CyberSec, I could read Forbes without any distracting ads on the page

I also tested it with other websites like Daily Mail, BuzzFeed, The Guardian, etc., and each time the ads disappeared. However, it didn’t block ads on YouTube or Spotify — you have to get a premium subscription for these services to do that. I couldn’t get it to work on Facebook either.

CyberSec is pretty easy to turn on — just go to settings and press the toggle button.

By turning CyberSec on, I got rid of ads on pages like Forbes, BuzzFeed, DailyMail, and others

Threat Protection

Threat Protection is a good feature to use along with CyberSec. It gives you additional protection from malware with these functions:

• Detects malware on web pages and files. It will block files and URLs that are infected and also delete downloaded malware from your device.
• Protects you continuously, including when you’re not connected to the VPN. While CyberSec requires you to be connected to the VPN, Threat Protection works whether you are connected to the VPN or not.

Threat Protection provides an extra level of security by letting you know if you have downloaded infected files

Threat Protection is available on the Windows and macOS desktop apps. However, to use it on my MacBook, I had to download the app from the website — it wasn’t available on the App Store. Threat Protection on iOS and Android is the Lite version. This does most of the same things as the full version, but it can’t delete malware from your device. The Lite version is also available on Linux.

Protect Yourself With NordVPN

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). So, this function can be helpful for streaming. For example, you could connect to a family member’s IP in the US to access US Netflix. However, I recommend sticking to the VPN’s servers more often than not because connections like this won’t be encrypted, leaving the data on your devices vulnerable.

It’s easy to use the Meshnet feature. All you have to do is enable it on your device and link a new device by sending an invitation. You’ll send this link through an email. This will send them 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 6 devices to NordVPN, which will automatically be linked with Meshnet once it’s enabled. In addition, you can connect up to 50 external devices. I really like this feature, and it makes NordVPN stand out.

Dark Web Monitor

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

It’s available on the macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS services, and it’s simple to set it up. On the desktop apps, go to “Preferences,” then “Dark Web Monitor,” and turn it on. On the mobile apps, you can find it under “Settings,” then “Tools” to enable it. The tool runs quietly in the background, and you don’t need to be connected to the VPN for it to work.

NordVPN's Dark Web Monitor notified me of the services affected, so I could ensure I changed my passwords

When I enabled the Dark Web Monitor, I was surprised to see that it returned 16 leaks linked to my email address. Most of these were many years old, but I was impressed with the level of detail about the possible leaks and breaches.

ioXt Certification

NordVPN has ioXt certification for its mobile apps, which is not something that many VPNs have. The ioXt Alliance aims to ensure industry-wide compliance with the highest privacy and security standards. Being a certified product holder and partner, you can rest assured that NordVPN meets these strict standards.

To be certified, VPNs must go through a very rigorous testing process. NordVPN scored the highest marks on the assessed criteria for its mobile apps. This includes areas such as password management, vulnerability reporting program, proven cryptography, and others.

Security Breach

NordVPN doesn’t have a scandalous past like many other providers and their parent companies do, but there was one incident in 2018. One of its servers in Finland was hacked.

However, the criminal couldn’t get anything since there was nothing to steal. NordVPN doesn’t keep any logs, so the data of its users remained safe. Since then, NordVPN is determined to improve its security and plans to roll out these changes in response:

• All servers to be diskless (RAM) so that no user data is ever stored. This way, even if a breach occurs, there’s no data or even configuration files to steal.
• A privately-owned server network means that it would have full control over its server park and thus provide better security to its users.
• Security audits (even for vendors). NordVPN plans on running thorough audits of its own infrastructure as well as of the infrastructure owned by its vendors.
• Bounties for anyone who catches a bug in NordVPN’s code.
• Partnership with a cybersecurity firm (VerSpite) which will perform penetration tests to prevent future issues and make NordVPN more secure.

Invisibility on LAN

This security feature will keep your device hidden on both private and public networks — basically, the owners of the network won’t be able to see that you’re using their WiFi. This is great for public WiFi networks because it boosts your security and privacy.

However, it’s not so great when you’re at home and using your private network or at work. You won’t be able to use printers, connect to your TV or any other devices. So it’s best to use this option when you’re on the go.

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Logging Policy

NordVPN doesn’t keep any logs. My team and I did a deep dive into its privacy policy and, after lots of analysis, concluded that it really doesn’t keep any information about you. This means that your IP address, online activity, and sensitive data won’t get recorded.

In fact, NordVPN is so confident in its privacy policy that it employs an independent audit company called PwC (from Zurich, Switzerland) which checks its no-logs claims (it’s been done twice since 2018 and both audits confirmed the zero-logs policy). Plus, NordVPN makes all of these reports publicly available so anyone can take a look and see what the results were.

It’s important to note that NordVPN actually does retain pieces of data about you. It needs to store your email address to communicate with you, and your payment details to keep your subscription active and process refunds. However, storing this information is very common and it doesn’t affect your privacy. Basically, it can only see that there’s an account in your name, but not what you’re doing with it.

There are also two algorithms that we wanted to explore (that seemed like they could be collecting data):

• An algorithm that checks the server load. NordVPN uses this to assess what the fastest server is for you at any moment. So, it aggregates data across all users to monitor this, but it can’t personally identify you.
• An algorithm that limits the simultaneous connections. NordVPN offers 6 simultaneous connections which is more than enough to cover all of your devices. However, it needs a way of knowing how many devices you’re using with one account. To do this, NordVPN keeps your username and the timestamp of your last session while the session is active. This data is held for only about 15 minutes after your session ends and it can’t be traced back to you.

It did strike me as a little concerning that NordVPN does comply with legal requests to turn over user data according to its privacy policy. It has also confirmed this by updating a blog post in 2022 regarding the issue. However, even if it does receive a lawful request, it "might not" be possible to identify the user or provide any identifying information about them.

This is because NordVPN only holds limited data about users, so even if it complies with the request, it doesn't store any personal information anyway. In short, while NordVPN is committed to providing the privacy you need to protect your identity, it doesn't make any guarantees that this is always possible under legal circumstances.

Location

One of the great things about NordVPN is its location. It’s owned by Tefincom 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.

Its privacy policy also confirms that it would only respond 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.

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NordVPN is certainly a viable choice for secure torrenting. Nevertheless, it wouldn't receive the highest marks for user-friendliness in this aspect, given that torrenting isn't supported on all of its servers.

However, it does have certain features that make it a decent VPN for torrenting:

• It has optimized P2P servers in 45+ countries. Even if you forget to connect to one of its torrenting servers, NordVPN will redirect you to it as soon as it detects P2P traffic.
• NordVPN has a kill switch that stops all of your internet traffic if your VPN connection drops. So, you’re protected from accidental leaks.
• It’s based in a privacy-friendly location and has a strict zero-logs policy. This means that even if leaks happen (which is nearly impossible), third parties won’t be able to access your data.
• It has DNS leak protection, which I thoroughly tested and didn’t find any leaks.

Thanks to all of these features, you’ll have an easy time accessing qBittorrent, BitTorrent, Kickass Torrents, RARBG, Pirate Bay, uTorrent, Deluge, Vuze, Kodi, Transmission, and Popcorn Time.

During my tests, I didn’t experience any connectivity issues and my speeds were more than fast enough for uninterrupted torrenting. I downloaded music files like The Complete Mozart’s Edition (which includes over 160 CD’s worth of music) without experiencing any lag.

An additional notable feature is the SOCKS5 protocol, which has the potential to enhance torrenting speeds (albeit at the cost of security, as your traffic remains unencrypted). This demonstrates that NordVPN is capable of safeguarding its users and ensuring the security of their information.

Nonetheless, I should note that my team and I do not condone illegal torrenting or streaming. However, you can use P2P services to share files legally. It’s always good practice to research any sites you use to download torrents to ensure they’re not sharing copyrighted material.

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Does NordVPN work in China? No

Unfortunately, despite NordVPN’s obfuscated servers, it doesn’t currently work in China. This is the case for many VPNs due to China’s “Great Firewall” — the name given to the Chinese authorities' system of internet censorship and regulation.

NordVPN doesn’t have any servers in China either, so you won’t get access to exclusive content available there. However, there are servers available in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam that will unblock similar alternatives.

It can’t work in other restrictive countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE. However, it does work in Russia.

Simultaneous Device Connections — One Account Supports 6 Devices

You can connect up to 6 devices simultaneously to your NordVPN account. I tested this out by installing NordVPN on my Android phone, my Windows desktop, Linux laptop, MacBook desktop, and Samsung TV. With all of these devices using the connection at once, I still didn’t notice any drop in speed.

For expanded device coverage, it is possible to install the VPN directly on your router. By doing so, your entire network will benefit from VPN protection. It's important to note that not all routers are compatible with VPNs, so be sure to select a router that supports this feature. Additionally, it is worth considering that you may encounter limitations when attempting to install a VPN if you are using an ISP modem.

As a side note: I’ve used other top VPNs that offer more device connections — For example, it’s common for many top VPNs to offer 10 device connections and some VPNs won’t limit you at all (like Surfshark and IPVanish). So if you have a big family or just a ton of devices and don’t want the hassle of setting it up on your router, there might be better options for you.