NordVPN review: the most reliable VPN for streaming US Netflix

rating : 10/10 | price : £ 8.84 per month , £ 43.66 per year , £ 65.86 per two year at

NordVPN

WIRED

Audited no-logging policy; excellent for international video streaming; reliably quick throughput; ample security features; good range of endpoints

TIRED

Monthly subscriptions are relatively expensive

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NordVPN has a long-standing and well-founded reputation as a fast, reliable and privacy-conscious virtual private network service. Following a poorly communicated security breach in 2018, the company has dialled back on the kind of  advertising that got it in trouble with the ASA and has made good on its commitment to improve its security, communication and transparency since Autumn 2019.

NordVPN has never had its no-logging claims proven through a documented request to provide them by a court or law-enforcement agency. This is in contrast to rivals such as Private Internet Access and ExpressVPN – both of which have since come under new ownership. However, parent company Tefincom has had independent audits carried out to to back up both its no-logging claims and overall security, the latest in June 2021. 

Read our WIRED Recommends guide to the best VPN services to see how Nord VPN compares.

The company says that RAM disk servers, which can retain no data, are currently deployed across 90% of its network, and the bottom of the company’s Security page includes a Warrant Canary, updated daily to indicate whether it has received or complied with any gag orders or government warrants – none are reported to date.

Tefincom is legally registered and headquartered in Panama, which has no data retention laws and is safely outside the legal influence and control of members and allies of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance. While that won’t matter to most users, those with major geopolitical security concerns may find this reassuring.

In our latest speed tests, using a high-speed connection with un-VPN’d reference speeds of up to 567Mbit/s, NordVPN has consistently been among the best performers. Currently, we’re seeing speeds of over 400Mbit/s from all our endpoint test locations – the UK, Netherlands and New York in the USA – making it faster than any of its rivals, although ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and Mullvad are all similarly quick.