NordVPN Review: Does the Most Famous VPN Still Deserve the Hype?
NordVPN is the name everyone knows. With 8,400+ servers in 127 countries, 10 simultaneous connections and features like Onion Over VPN, it backs the marketing with real substance — we checked how much.
Table of contents
Ask a random person to name a VPN and they'll say NordVPN — years of YouTube sponsorships made sure of that. Marketing budgets don't encrypt packets, though, so we spent several weeks checking whether the product matches the fame.
NordVPN: brand vs. reality
The short version: the product is genuinely good. Speeds with NordLynx are among the best we measured, country coverage is the widest in our ranking, and the security feature set goes deeper than most rivals. The catch isn't quality — it's the sales machine around it, which we'll get to.
Pricing — and the renewal trap
| Plan | Price per month |
|---|---|
| Monthly | €12.99 |
| 24 months + 3 free | €2.99 |
€2.99/month long-term is competitive. But pay attention: NordVPN is the most aggressive upseller in our comparison — expect persistent nudges toward higher tiers (NordPass, NordLocker bundles), and renewal prices that jump significantly after the intro term. Set a calendar reminder before renewal and renegotiate or switch. 30-day money-back guarantee applies.
Server network: 127 countries, strong CEE coverage
8,400+ servers across 127 countries — the widest country list in our ranking, useful if you need IPs in less common locations. Central European coverage is excellent: 57 servers in Czechia, 27 in Slovakia at the time of testing. City-level selection is available in major markets.
Speed tests with NordLynx
NordLynx — Nord's WireGuard implementation — delivered the fastest nearby result of our whole test field on a 500 Mbps line:
- Nearby (Vienna): ~470 Mbps down, ping 11 ms
- US East: ~350 Mbps down, ping 94 ms
For everyday use the VPN is effectively transparent; even transatlantic 4K streaming had headroom to spare.
Streaming results
Netflix US, Disney+ and Hulu all unblocked reliably in our tests. NordVPN doesn't badge servers by streaming service the way CyberGhost does, but the standard servers handled everything we threw at them, and SmartPlay DNS quietly fixes most failures.
Security: protocols, kill switch, special servers
AES-256 (ChaCha20 on NordLynx), OpenVPN as the fallback protocol, a dependable kill switch and clean leak tests. The differentiators are the specialty servers: Onion Over VPN routes traffic through Tor after the VPN, obfuscated servers disguise VPN traffic for restrictive networks, and Double VPN chains two servers. Threat Protection blocks ads and malware even when the VPN is off.
No-logs and audits
NordVPN's no-logs policy has been audited multiple times (PwC, Deloitte) and the company operates under Panama jurisdiction, outside intelligence-sharing alliances. After its 2018 third-party-datacenter incident, Nord responded with RAM-only server conversion and a bug-bounty program — the right response, worth crediting.
Apps and devices
Polished apps on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV and Apple TV, plus browser extensions. 10 simultaneous connections covers a typical household, short of the unlimited policies at PIA and Surfshark.
Pros and cons
Pros: fastest nearby speeds in our tests (NordLynx) · 127-country coverage, best-in-class CEE presence · Onion Over VPN, Double VPN, obfuscation · repeatedly audited no-logs · strong streaming results
Cons: aggressive upselling and renewal price jumps · no unlimited devices · specialty servers can be slower
Verdict: who gets the most out of Nord
NordVPN earns its reputation on substance: top-tier speed, the broadest country map and serious security extras. Buy the long plan, ignore the upsells, diarise the renewal date — and you're getting one of the best services in the world for under €3 a month.
Try it yourself
127 countries, one click away. Try NordVPN risk-free for 30 days.
