NordVPN Review

How NordVPN meets the 5 criteria?

1. Main Security Features

Encryption
When it comes to data encryption, NordVPN delivers according to expectations by using the highest security standard on the market today: 256-bit encryption. It uses a combination of two different security protocols: the OpenVPN type for its high-end security, and the IKEv2/IPsec type for its speed and mobile compatibility. Users have the option to choose between two different VPN connection protocols (UDP (faster) and TCP (more secure)), although NordVPN by default selects and recommends using the UDP protocol, because it works better with the OpenVPN security protocol.

NordVPN urges users not to mess with the advanced settings in the console, unless they know what they’re doing. Obviously, you can make changes whenever you choose to, but it doesn’t harm you to use the recommended settings, especially if you don’t have the necessary knowledge to justify changing a setting.

Connection
To be able to get the most out of your VPN, it helps to connect to a server that is located close to you. Obviously, this is not always an option and depends largely on the reason for using the VPN, but if it is just for the sake of privacy protection, you can connect to the nearest server which will benefit the connection speed. With a network of more than 5,100 servers spread over 62 countries across the globe, NordVPN has its users covered as far as physical proximity goes.

When you want to connect to one of the NordVPN servers, you open the console and select the Servers tab that shows all the locations available to connect to, as well as the available specialty servers for specific purposes such as P2P sharing, double VPN, Onion over VPN, or dedicated IP. Connecting to a server is simple, you either click the specialty server option you want to use, or the country to connect to from the list on the left side of the NordVPN window and the system will connect. You prefer a different server location? Just click the new location and the system will connect to that server instead.

In the Settings tab, you can set NordVPN to start up when you start Windows, with the additional option to auto connect to a specific server location. This setting can be convenient in case you’re always connecting to the same server location, but otherwise it is fairly redundant, because the system – if set to connect on startup – will connect to the server you were last connected to anyway.

You can set a few other options, including the Internet Kill Switch option that prevents you from accessing the internet unless you’re connected to a VPN server. The second kill switch option, the App Kill Switch, lets you choose the apps that should be turned off immediately in the event your VPN connection fails. Additionally, you can set NordVPN to make your PC invisible to other computers on a local area network, receive connection and disconnection notifications, and start minimized.

Connection logs
NordVPN sports a strict No Logs policy. This means your personal data is not stored anywhere outside your own PC, and your online activity and browsing history are unmonitored and uncollected, which means third parties can’t get access to that information. The fact that NordVPN is based in Panama, adds weight to the No Logs claim, due to the legal room the Panamese authorities leave companies to do their business.

DNS Leak Protection
DNS leaks are the result of a security flaw in the VPN connection, allowing the ISP to see DNS requests, which basically tells them what sites a user visits, which services he uses and which files he downloads for the duration of the leak. Obviously, VPN services want to prevent DNS leaks as much as possible. For this reason, NordVPN has implemented a DNS leak protection technology that protects users’ online activity and privacy, even when the DNS servers queries are routed outside the safety of the VPN tunnel. On top of the DNS leak protection, users also have the option to activate the Internet Kill Switch option, which breaks the internet connection if the VPN service is down.

2. Resource Consumption

How much of your PC’s available CPU power does it take for NordVPN to run at full capacity? Not much. NordVPN doesn’t pass the 2% CPU power mark, with the level normally at an even 0%. NordVPN runs at full power without noticeably affecting the device’s performance, which is in line with what we found for other modern VPN providers. NordVPN is an efficiently running software package, performing its tasks without slowing down or influencing other programs, or the PC’s general performance.

Upon checking the up- and download speeds with and without NordVPN running, the results are remarkably close. The measurements from three different speed tests (speedtest.net, meter.net, and fast.com) show basically the same download speed when NordVPN is running: 34.42 Mbps vs. 34.49 Mbps. The upload speed results are almost equally close together: 37.71 Mbps vs. 36.99 Mbps. The registered PING value with an active VPN connection is measured at 8 ms, which is not as low as it is without the VPN (2 ms). It is still a solid PING value, indicative of a fast connection, which is especially good considering the connected jitter score (0.1 ms) indicates a high level of connection stability. The results are clear and very favorable to NordVPN: running NordVPN hardly has any impact at all on the speed and stability of your internet connection.

3. Connection Stability

With its impressively low jitter score, we already received a good indication of how stable our connection is while running NordVPN. Very stable, to be precise.

The stability of a VPN connection is affected by several different variables, among which device influence, network influence, and distance. With VPN providers that have a smaller number of servers available to connect to, the physical distance to a server may have a negative impact on the connection stability. NordVPN’s server network is quite impressive, covering 62 countries worldwide with a total of more than 5,100 servers. Physical distance from a user to the nearest server is, for most users at least, not big enough to have a negative impact on the quality and the stability of the connection. The slightly higher PING value we found, indicates that our data has to come from a server located further away than our ISP’s closest server, since PING values are usually higher when the data needs to come from further away, but the difference is rather small – meaning that the VPN server is still in close proximity. Which was according to our expectations based on NordVPN’s geographical coverage

4. Platforms/Devices Accessibility

NordVPN offers apps for a range of different operating systems: Windows, MacOS, Linux for desktop/ laptop devices, Android and iOS for mobile devices. Mid 2018, it launched an app specifically designed for the Android TV platform. On top of that, it offers extensions for Google Chrome and FireFox browsers and it is possible to run NordVPN on a wide range of different routers, for which NordVPN conveniently supplies installation instructions on its website.

Users with a NordVPN subscription are able to install and run the software on six separate devices simultaneously. It might not be enough to equip every device in a standard family household of four with the safety of a VPN, but it is more than what you get from most other providers and, when handled efficiently, you actually can manage to cover all main devices. Install NordVPN on the household router so your connected devices at home (PCs, laptops) are protected with one device (the router), which leaves you five more installs, for mobile devices. This is just an example; naturally, you are free to install on whichever devices you prefer.