NordVPN: Pricing and plans
NordVPN isn’t the cheapest VPN out there, but it’s far from the most expensive. It costs a little more than Surfshark and ExpressVPN, but for what you’re getting, I think it’s excellent value. You get a market-leading VPN, a generous 10-device limit and a growing suite of security tools – it’s a really comprehensive package. Better still, every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you’ve got plenty of time to decide whether it’s right for you.
A word of advice: if you go for a two-year plan, set a reminder to cancel it before it renews. Once those initial two years are up, you’ll be charged a steep fee for another two years.
The biggest change since my last review is the subscription tiers itself. Now that NordVPN is an entire cybersecurity platform, the old Plus and Ultimate plans have gone. You can now choose from Basic, Complete and Ultimate Max, with each tier adding more security features.
NordVPN Basic
With the Basic plan, you get the company’s market-leading VPN, support for up to 10 devices, ad and tracker blocking and access to its huge global server network. It’s the best tier if you just want a VPN and nothing more.
The two-year plan costs £69.93 (about £2.59 a month); the one-year plan costs £49.99 (£4.09 per month) and the monthly plan costs £9.69 per month.
NordVPN Complete
NordVPN Complete is essentially NordVPN’s rebranded product, taking it from a simple VPN to a full security suite. As well as the VPN, you get a next-generation antivirus, phishing and scam protection, a password manager, 1TB of encrypted cloud storage and Dark Web Monitor Pro. The jump in price is relatively modest, but the added features are worth the dosh.
A one-month plan costs £14.79 per month; a one-year plan costs £57.78 (about £4.79 per month), while the two-year plan comes in at £91.53 (roughly £3.39 per month).
NordVPN Ultimate Max
Ultimate Max includes everything NordVPN has to offer. As well as the VPN and the company’s new security platform, you also get identity monitoring, scam call protection, a dedicated IP address, cyber insurance and scam recovery cover worth up to £5,000. I think that, unless you specifically want those identity protection features, Complete is a better proposition for value.
The monthly plan costs £17.59; the one-year subscription costs £93.48 (£7.79 per month); and the two-year subscription costs £169.38 (£6.29 per month).
NordVPN: Privacy and features
NordVPN has always been one of the best VPNs in terms of security features, but the company has taken a massive step in 2026, turning into a complete security platform, with its excellent VPN now sat happily alongside malware protection, phishing and scam detection, identity monitoring and password management. And the rebrand is obvious from the moment you launch the app, where you’re encouraged to enable security features before the VPN itself is even mentioned.
Impressive as ever, NordVPN uses RAM-only servers, meaning no data is stored permanently on hard drives, while AES-256 encryption protects your internet traffic using the same standard trusted by governments and banks. It also supports NordLynx, NordVPN’s WireGuard-based protocol, as well as OpenVPN. I stuck with NordLynx throughout testing because it’s incredibly fast, but it’s easy enough to switch protocols if you prefer. These are basically high-security protocols that create an encrypted tunnel between the VPN client and the server. You can also install the VPN on your router.
NordVPN has also rolled out post-quantum encryption across its apps. This will help protect VPN traffic against future attacks from quantum computers when using NordLynx.
There’s also a built-in kill switch that’s turned on by default. If your VPN connection drops, it cuts off internet access altogether, so your data doesn’t leak. The split tunnelling feature is there, too, letting you exclude certain websites from the VPN tunnel.
While those are all features I’d expect from a premium VPN, NordVPN goes even further. Double VPN routes your traffic through two encrypted VPN servers instead of one, while Onion over VPN lets you access the Tor network without needing a separate browser. There are also dedicated P2P servers for torrenting, which delivered virtually identical speeds to standard servers during my testing.
One of my favourite quality-of-life features is that nifty little pause button. If you don’t want to disconnect completely, you can pause your VPN for five minutes, 30 minutes or an hour before it reconnects automatically – perfect if you’ve accidentally left it running and websites start thinking you’re in another country.
NordVPN also introduced Meshnet in 2023. It lets you securely connect multiple devices over a private encrypted network, ideal for transferring files, accessing another computer remotely or even hosting LAN-style gaming sessions online.
The biggest upgrade has to be the company’s antivirus, with malware protection, phishing detection, scam prevention, malicious website blocking, tracker blocking and vulnerability scanning all in one dedicated section of the app. And the best part, most of it works even when you’re not connected to the VPN. You also get access to Dark Web Monitor Pro, which watches for leaked email addresses, phone numbers and payment details.
The antivirus is brilliant – it successfully blocks harmful websites, intrusive ads and malware downloads. There’s also a scam check section where you can paste text, files and links before you click.
The password manager is a nice bonus if you don’t want to pay for something like 1Password. The Ultimate Max tier is probably only worth it for business users. Bu upgrading to the most expensive tier, you get cyber insurance and 1TB of cloud storage.
NordVPN: Logging
If you’re worried about your internet traffic being tracked, you shouldn’t be. NordVPN was the first major provider to undergo an independent no-logs audit. The first one was in 2018, and it’s completed four more since then.
In 2018, PricewaterhouseCoopers found that NordVPN didn’t keep logs of your connection data or browsing activity. That means your IP addresses, VPN usage, websites visited, and files downloaded were all kept private. A second audit in 2020 confirmed the same thing.
After that, NordVPN switched to Deloitte for future audits. In 2022, Deloitte interviewed staff, checked server configurations, and examined technical logs. Again, no user activity data was stored. In late 2023, Deloitte audited its infrastructure again, including obfuscated, double VPN, Tor and P2P servers, and found no evidence of logging.
Most recently, in early 2026, NordVPN completed a sixth independent no-logs assurance engagement with Deloitte, again confirming that its servers were not storing user activity or connection data.
NordVPN: Design, performance and speed
It’s only been a year since NordVPN first revamped its app. It’s now gone through yet another makeover to match its upgraded positioning as a security suite. The map-based user interface hasn’t come back (thankfully), so it still features the cleaner, dashboard-style layout on both Windows and Mac. While some people liked the map for picking out countries visually, I always found it a bit overcrowded. The new layout is much easier to use.
The onboarding process has been redesigned. NordVPN asks you to enable its security features before any VPN features are even mentioned, making it clear that the VPN is now just one part of a much bigger security platform. Even server selection has become smarter thanks to AI-powered recommendations from Nord’s Nexos AI, which automatically suggests the fastest and most reliable server based on your location and network conditions.
Once all set up, you’re taken to the main dashboard, which still puts the VPN front and forward. It’s where you can quickly connect to the fastest server, view your recently-connected servers, scroll through your VPN and Threat Protection usage statistics (and number of threads blocked). Right at the bottom, there’s a button to turn on the Dark Web Monitor Pro and the MeshNet.
On the sidebar, there’s a new section for Scams, phishing and malware protection. You can use the scam checker, view threats and threat recommendations and customise advanced protection. Here, you can turn on settings that auto-delete malware files when downloaded, scan links in your emails for scams and display warnings if the site you’re visiting is known for scams. You can also turn on the ad and tracker blocker here.
Below that are sections for MeshNet and the Dark Web Monitor Pro, where you can add more email addresses, phone numbers, credit cards, and national IDs to protect your accounts.
Split tunnelling is still only available on Windows. Even then, it’s not flawless. I had a few issues where streaming services didn’t recognise that they were whitelisted and thought I was still using the VPN. A bit of a letdown, considering how polished the rest of the experience is.
As for speed? NordVPN is seriously fast. It’s one of the quickest VPNs I’ve tested. Using the quick connect UK server, I only saw a 4 per cent drop on my 67 Mbps broadband. Connecting to the US server resulted in about a 9 per cent slowdown. Still pretty snappy.
NordVPN: iOS and Android apps
The same redesign has now rolled out across Android and iPhone, bringing the new security-first onboarding and cleaner interface to NordVPN’s mobile apps. Like the PC dashboard, it’s much easier to navigate now. While both apps still include a map and server list, the latest redesign makes the interface much nicer to use on a small screen, with quicker access to connection controls and security features.
That said, the Android app has a couple of key advantages. It supports split tunnelling, letting you choose which apps use the VPN and which bypass it – something iOS doesn’t offer, mainly due to Apple’s restrictions. The Android app also provides more granular controls, such as the ability to set custom DNS servers and access obfuscated servers. NordVPN has also added features such as scam-call protection for Android users, which can flag suspected spam or fraud calls before you answer.
Still, they deliver a really good level of performance, speed and reliability on both Android and iOS.
NordVPN for streaming
If you’re travelling abroad and want to stream your favourite shows or catch up on sports from back home in the UK, a VPN can make that possible. While it isn’t technically illegal to use a VPN to stream geo-restricted content on platforms such as Netflix or BBC iPlayer, it does violate most streaming services’ terms of service, so proceed with caution.
I tried NordVPN on a few different devices and with various different streaming services and it performed admirably. I was able to watch ITVX, Channel 4, Sky Go and Prime Video without any issues on my iPhone, Mac and Windows laptop. Speeds were still fast, without any annoying buffering.
Overall, streaming worked like a charm, and I didn’t have to jump servers trying to find one that would work with my streaming service of choice. Speeds were decent, too – I didn’t experience any issues with buffering on my various devices.
NordVPN Support
NordVPN has 24-hour live chat support, which can be accessed through the provider’s website. There is no live chat in the mobile app, but I was able to send a message through the ‘contact us’ button located inside the app settings.
NordVPN’s support staff were extremely responsive. It took me just 10 seconds to get connected to a human agent, and you can ask to speak to a person at any point during your conversation with the chatbot. That said, I probably didn’t even need the agent’s help – the chatbot is surprisingly thorough, answering almost every question I threw at it. Chances are, you’ll figure out what you need just by talking to the bot.
