Not many VPNs in the industry have garnered the kind of reputation that NordVPN has, and we aim to illuminate its remotest corners and darkest alleys through this NordVPN review.
So, by the end of this article you’ll be a better judge of how well deserving NordVPN exactly is of the praise it receives.
What will NordVPN do for you?
Considering this is a NordVPN review, it’s only fair if we shed some light on what exactly in it for you, right?
1. Change Location and be Anonymous
IP addresses are what determine your location on the Internet, they can also be used to link back to your real-life identity.
So when you employ NordVPN, you get to choose from a number of IP addresses of your choice, which change your virtual location on the Internet, so you appear to be from somewhere else rather than from your actual location.
Also, this new IP address can’t be linked back to your real-life identity in any way, so you’re getting a new virtual location as well as anonymity.
2. Unblock Restricted Content
One of the primary helps that NordVPN provides is unblocking restricted web-content. (Using its SmartPlay feature).
The content on the web is generally blocked using geo-specific IP addresses, meaning the IP addresses of a specific location, a school, a state, or a country per say are blocked from accessing that particular content or website.
So when you employ NordVPN and change your IP addresses, you break free from those parameters because now you have a new, fresh IP address (and hence a new location) thus being able to access the blocked content.
Not every VPN is capable of unblocking streaming services, especially those with advanced VPN-detection algorithms such as Netflix. Well, NordVPN can. It unlocks Netflix libraries from:
- U.S
- U.K
- Denmark
- Japan
- Spain
- France
- Italy
- Australia
- and Netherlands.
It’s not limited to Netflix. Many other streaming services can be unblocked using NordVPN as well.
3. Prevent Hacking Attempts
Among the many ways that hackers use, their favorite and easiest is gaining access to your IP address, installing a back-door on your system and wreaking havoc.
In other words, it’s not favorable for you if someone else gets a hold of your IP address.
So when you use NordVPN and change your IP address, even if someone else gets a hold of this new IP address, there’s no damage that can be done to your system because the IP doesn’t exactly lead back to you, but to some random NordVPN server.
NordVPN Introduction and Features
Now there are quite a few VPN in the industry already, so what makes NordVPN special and deserving of this NordVPN review?
Well, in our own experience, it did everything that those other VPNs did, and then some, and it did it better. In other words, there just were more features and options for us to choose from than we normally get to fiddle around with other VPNs.
So without beating around the bush, let’s get this NordVPN review going, and get you a front-row seat at all the other features being offered.
1. User Interface
Like any other review, let’s take up User interface before digging into any other feature of this NordVPN review.
The User-Interface of NordVPN is modern, illustrative, and graphic-rich. It’s also pretty simple and newbie-friendly.
As the screenshot above well illustrates, users can connect to countries simply by clicking on the country’s icon on the map, or they can opt for a “list based” choice, where the countries are listed instead of being shown on a map, and you can choose from there.
Apart from that, all the other important options are listed right there on the top, and the big round connect/disconnect button at the center couldn’t be any simpler.
Bottomline, as far as user-experience for this NordVPN goes, it’s a 5/5.
2. 1374 Servers in 60+ Countries
NordVPN offers one of the most diverse country-lists in all of the VPN industry. A very rare number of other VPNs in the industry offer as many options.
Some of the available countries are:
- USA
- UK
- Canada
- Germany
- Italy
- Netherlands etc.
Bottomline, you won’t run out of countries to choose from, period.
Furthermore, these countries are categorized into different “purposes”, and on their official site, NordVPN tells us which countries have the servers best suited for which purposes. You can also get these purpose-oriented options from the “specialty servers” option.
The categories are:
- Double VPN
- Dedicated IP
- P2P
- and Onion Over VPN
It’s one of the very few VPNs in the industry capable of offering Dedicated IPs. These IPs are static and only used by you. The other IPs you get are shared with others, which at times leads to IPs being blocked, you having to solve captchas and many other problems.
Dedicated IPs are only used by you. They come in handy when you need to access bank accounts, private networks and other IP-specific portals which allow access only to certain IPs or people from a specific region/locality/organization.
The “Onion over VPN” IPs are perfectly suited for those who stroll the Dark web alleys every once in a while. P2P-customized IPs allow sharing large files without compromising privacy or security.
3. 2 Connection Protocols
Not every type of connection protocol is suitable for every purpose, at times you need speed, while other times security might be your priority.
It’s for those reasons that NordVPN has armed itself with not one but 2 of the strongest and most secure connection protocols on the planet:
a. OpenVPN- TCP/UDP
TCP and UDP are the two connection types which can be employed via OpenVPN. It’s one of the simplest to setup, and is the default connection type of most VPNs in the industry.
TCP is the abbreviation for Transmission Control Protocol, it’s one of the most secure and reliable connection protocols in existence.
That’s so because it works on a “check and balances” algorithm, it checks the successful delivery of each data packet before sending in another one. This makes it reliable, but also tad bit slower because of the whole process.
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) also is secure and reliable no doubt, but not nearly as much as TCP, that’s because it doesn’t check, or care if your earlier data packet got delivered where it was intended to, and it keeps sending in the packets regardless.
Well, that does make it faster as compared to TCP without doubt.
b. IKEv2/IPSec
If you’re looking for the most secure connection protocol, without compromising speed right off the bat, then this is the answer.
It’s the latest addition to NordVPN, using AES-256-GCM keys for encryption and a number of other advanced elements such as Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) and 3072-bit keys.
Bottomline, there are enough connection protocols in the arsenal of NordVPN than we might actually need.
Now that we’ve established its country-list and connection protocol capabilities, let’s stroll around some of the other features it has hidden around its alleys.
Update: NordVPN did support 2 other protocols in its earlier days, but they’ve been decommissioned pertaining to their “less-secure” nature.
4. No Logs Policy
This I believe is the most important aspect of a VPN, because a VPN is employed to be anonymous, and if it keeps logs, it’s going against the basic purpose of its existence.
Well so one of the strongest suits of this NordVPN review after its features is that it has a strict “No logs policy”, it doesn’t record or keep track of anything, hence there’s nothing to share even when compelled by any authoritative third-party!
It’s one of the only VPNs which actually got its “No logs policy” audited by an independent third-party. This proves that the VPN truly is a no-log VPN.
5. 6 Simultaneous Devices Supported
Have more than one devices? (We all do, don’t we?) Why spend more when a single NordVPN account lets you connect to as many as 6 devices with a single account?
Yeah this was one of the primary features which pushed us towards getting this NordVPN review out there, cause it’s literally saving us money by offering that many devices for a single account isn’t it?
Note that if you order a dedicated IP, only 2 devices can use the IP address at a time.
6. Unlimited Speed, Bandwidth, and Server-Switching
NordVPN has really been generous with its features, well nope it’s not being said because this is a NordVPN review, but because:
It provides unlimited Bandwidth for starters, so you can browse and use as much data as you want to without worrying about the data being exhausted for the day, week or month.
The same generosity can be witnessed with its server-switching as well, change your IP address as many times as you want, NordVPN never imposes a restriction on it.
And finally, the same speed can be experienced any day of the month, after using any amount of data. There are no speed caps or limits whatsoever!
7. Kill-Switch
Its Kill-switch makes sure you at no times are left unprotected. Meaning, when you’re browsing the internet over NordVPN, and the VPN connection for some reasons gets disconnected, your Internet connection is terminated as well.
So as long as you’re connected to the Internet, you can be sure of being under the shield of the VPN.
8. DNS Leak Protection
A common problem with most VPNs is DNS-leak. At times, your computers might refuse to use the VPN servers and use the default DNS servers instead to fetch a website, which might as a result jeopardise your anonymity.
Well, that’s where the DNS-leak protection from NordVPN comes in handy, there absolutely is no chance of anything of such sort happening with this beast.
9. Other Advanced Features
Apart from the aforementioned features, NordVPN is also brimming with additional bonus features it provides for free which add to our security and anonymity:
- Double VPN: NordVPN encrypts your traffic not just once, but twice. In essence, it simply uses two VPN servers instead of one before relaying the traffic to the intended destination. ! Needless to say it means double the anonymity and security for the users, and the best part is, it’s provided free of cost with NordVPN compared to most other VPNs either not having this feature at all, or charging extra for the same.
- CyberSec: The internet is a dangerous place to wander around, full of malicious websites and scams trying to harm you one way or another. NordVPN’s CyberSec automatically blocks such websites hence providing for added security.
- SmartPlay: It’s basically the “SmartDNS” feature, renamed as SmartPlay by NordVPN. It allows users to stream videos and unblock restricted content with the same speed and stability as with SmartDNS.
- Allows Secure and Encrypted P2P Sharing: P2P stands for Peer to Peer sharing and is one of the most efficient ways to share files among a large group of people. Not many VPNs offer this feature out there, but well NordVPN does and it doesn’t only offer it, but also offers military-grade encryption along with it.
- No Speed Loss: NordVPN has over 1300+ servers, mostly in tier-1 countries which makes sure there’s no speed loss when you’re on the VPN. In fact it’s one of the few VPNs which truly got us the “no speed loss” feature we so desperately seek (most promise, but don’t deliver).
Pricing Plans
So I believe we’ve gone through most of the important, decisive features for this NordVPN review, now let’s just see how well it weighs on our pockets.
It has 4 plans, all with the exact same features. The only “concept” is, you pay less when you go for a longer-duration plan, simple as that.
- $11.95/month- Pay Monthly.
- $6.99/month- Pay for 1 year.
- $4.99/month- Pay for 2 years.
- $3.49/month- Pay for 3 years.
And every single one of these plans comes bundled up with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Final Verdict on NordVPN Review
Let’s wrap this NordVPN up. Do we think it’s worth it? I personally do, even though it’s a personal opinion, I’m sure you’ve got an idea of why it is so.
Simply because, there are more features than we get with most VPNs out there, then there are nearly half a dozen additional, advanced bonuses, and the pricing plans don’t burn a hole in my pockets either.
Anyway, do let me know your verdict on the VPN and this NordVPN review folk, it helps us understand the platforms better from a different perspective.
