NordVPN Standard vs Plus vs Complete (Pricing Plans Explained)

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NordVPN is one of the most reliable VPN service providers that gives you superior privacy and security on the Internet. Here, I will explain and compare NordVPN pricing and plans ⇣ to help you better understand what is offered.

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Key Takeaways:

NordVPN’s pricing structure is competitive with other popular VPN providers, offering 1-month, 1-year, and 2-year plans that provide a range of features and benefits to users.

NordVPN offers additional subscription options, such as business plans and a family plan, that can be purchased separately and added on to a user’s existing plan.

NordVPN prioritizes user data privacy and protection, with strict no-logs policies and advanced security protocols, while also offering additional features such as cloud storage, ad blockers, and password managers.

NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN services in the world. There are many VPN providers out there, but NordVPN is the best choice for most people. NordVPN is famous for its cheap AND fast-speed and highest-security features.

Eight million people paying for NordVPN can’t be wrong. Or can they? 

“Without a doubt one of the best VPN options in the world right now”

Techradar

“I use NordVPN every single day. It’s fast, it’s reliable. It’s safe. It helps me access epicness”

PewDiePie

“The cheap NordVPN price deserves a spot on our list of best VPNs for a multitude of reasons”

 Cnet.com

“NordVPN packs a top-notch threat protection feature and other privacy features into a slick client, powered by the latest VPN technology. It’s a privacy juggernaut at a premium price.”

 PCmag.com

In today’s age when selling fake reviews is part of a colossal industry, data is shamelessly manipulated by large companies, and people gleefully investing millions in scam projects, asking yourself whether a product is worth your time and money is a very wise choice.

Reddit is a great place to learn more about NordVPN. Here are a few Reddit posts that I think you’ll find interesting. Check them out and join the discussion!

Too many hands over their money (and what’s worse, credit card details) to someone they clearly should not have trusted – and with looming cybercrime and scam project statistics, who you trust and do business with is as important as ever. 

NordVPN is based in Panama and the company has over 40+ years of experience in the VPN industry. NordVPN is a zero-logs VPN service provider that does not keep any of your browsing activity, IP address, or DNS request logs.

But can you really trust NordVPN? If yes, is it worth your money? It seems ideal at first glance: 

  • it helps you torrent, 
  • doesn’t believe in data retention, 
  • has over 8 000 000 people believing in it too, 
  • over 5000 servers in 60 countries, 
  • provides shockingly fast streaming, 
  • a kill switch,
  • includes a free trial (what’s not to love?),
  • and does military-grade encryption. 
  • and how about double-VPN-ing, just in case? 

The question that begs to be asked is: why wouldn’t you choose it? But what about the NordVPN pricing?  Considering this is just the beginning of the full list of its features, you’re probably thinking this is going to cost an arm and a leg.

But actually, if you love it so much that you’d like to make the relationship official, $102.33 for two years puts you at less than 20 cents a day

Too good to be true? Let’s find out. 

How much does NordVPN cost?

So is NordVPN pricing reasonable? Well, the features we described are pretty impressive (in my humble opinion!).

But what makes it more irresistible than a monthly pass to an unlimited chocolate fountain with strawberries is its price, which, if you play your cards right, ends up at less than a cup of coffee a month.

Does a VPN service get any better than this? 

NordVPN Pricing PlanCostEpicness
2-year (+3 months for free)$3.99 per monthVery affordable price. Much epic. 
1-year$4.59 per monthSlightly less epic, but will you notice the difference? Not really. 
1-month$12.99 per monthStarting to get kind of expensive. 
Students 15% extra student discount on a 2-year plan + 3 months FREEDiscounts and coupons rock!

NordVPN Bundle Offers: Standard vs Plus vs Complete

NordVPN offers three plans: Standard, Plus, and Complete.

NordVPN Plans

The Standard plan is the most basic plan offered by NordVPN. It includes all the essential features you need to protect your online privacy and security, such as next-generation encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and an automatic Kill Switch. It also includes Threat Protection, which blocks malicious websites and ads.

The Plus plan includes all the features of the Standard plan, plus a dedicated, IP address, Data breach scanner, and a cross-platform password manager. A dedicated IP address is a static IP address that is assigned to you only. This can be useful for things like P2P file sharing or streaming geo-restricted content.

The Complete plan includes all the features of the Plus plan plus six simultaneous connections per device, obfuscated servers, the CyberSec feature, and 1TB of encrypted NordLocker storage. NordLocker is a cloud storage service that encrypts your files. This means that your files are protected from unauthorized access.

CompletePlusStandard
Secure, high-speed VPN
Malware protection
Tracker and ad blocker
Cross-platform password manager
Data breach scanner
1 TB encrypted cloud storage (from NordLocker)

The price of NordVPN plans depends on the length of your subscription. Here is a breakdown of the prices:

  • Monthly plan: This is the most expensive option, with prices starting at $12.99 to $14.99 per month.
  • 1-year plan: This is a more affordable option, with prices starting at $4.59 to $6.99 per month. You will only need to make one payment for the whole year.
  • 2-year plan: This is the most economical option, with prices starting at $3.99 to $5.79 per month. You will only need to make one payment and get top-notch protection for two years.

As you can see, the longer the subscription, the lower the monthly price. This is because NordVPN offers discounts for longer subscriptions. So, if you are planning to use NordVPN for a long time, it is a good idea to sign up for a 1-year or 2-year plan.

If you are looking for the most affordable plan, the Standard plan is a good option. If you need a dedicated IP address or obfuscated servers, the Plus plan is a better choice. If you need all the features and want to store your files securely, the Complete plan is the best option.

Visit the NordVPN website for more information, and their latest deals

… check out my detailed NordVPN review here

Wait, what’s a VPN again?

Put simply, a VPN is a private tunnel that masks your data from prying eyes (hackers, government hackers who are “on your side” but really aren’t, dozens of intelligence agencies that constantly collect and swap your data, those citizens who just like to watch, identity fraudsters, people who like using your PC to mine crypto – just take your pick). 

VPNs are infinitely complicated, but three things to bear in mind are:

  1. If you’re browsing without a VPN you’re defenseless and unprotected
  2. Many services are unavailable without a VPN, including cool movies, academic website content, and some X-Files. 
  3. Yes, we did just say X-Files. Did you think your government isn’t hiding anything from you? 

What do I get for my money with NordVPN?

nordvpn features

Sensationally fast streaming

Of course, the biggest problem with VPNs (or so everyone thinks) is that they slow down your Internet. Rejoice! There will be no throttling or anything of the sort – just lightning-fast connection speeds with NordVPN. And protection, of course. 

A dedicated IP

NordVPN Dedicated IP

Don’t get blacklisted for sharing IPs, increase your level of safety, and get more freedom and customization opportunities.

Got your back

NordVPN’s location (Panama) means its hands can’t be twisted to force it to give up your data to third parties.

NordVPN Pricing – Cheaper than ExpressVPN and others

Granted, there are cheaper options but if you compare what NordVPN offers to you, you’ll find no doubt this is the best deal in town. 

NordVPN Pricing and Plans

Easy cancellation

Remember trying to cancel your streaming subscription? Well, it’s nothing like that. The NordVPN team knows honesty is the best policy, and therefore there are no tricks, hidden costs, or delays: canceling is a straightforward and easy process, and the support is always there for you. 

Multihop, split-tunneling, and Tor connections

NordVPN Split-tunneling

NordVPN doesn’t just stop at 100%. It knows that in a fiercely competitive world full of undeniable threats the latest technologies are a must if you want to stay protected. 

Multihops will help you cover your tracks, split-tunneling will allow you to confuse your trackers, and TOR doesn’t need an introduction. If it does, however, you’re in for a wildly interesting adventure

Here’s what these highly confusing terms mean BTW:

“A multi-hop VPN adds an extra layer of encryption and an additional server to your normal VPN connection by “chaining” or “cascading” two or more VPN servers together. NB: Multi-hop VPNs are sometimes called double VPNs, although any number of VPN servers can be included in the chain.”

Comparitech

“With a split tunnel connection, users can send some of their internet traffic via an encrypted VPN connection and allow the rest to travel through a different tunnel on the open internet.”

Fortinet

“Tor is useful for anyone who wants to keep their internet activities out of the hands of advertisers, ISPs, and websites. That includes people getting around censorship restrictions in their country, people looking to hide their IP address, or anyone else who doesn’t want their browsing habits linked to them.”

Lifehacker.net

Logging stops here

Nord VPN No-log vpn

You know that if someone logs your data, it’s only a matter of time until someone else gets to it. Not even the NSA can keep their data secure

The magnitude of cybercrime hacking these days is truly terrifying, and if you add to that the growing numbers of scam projects and the fact that only 1 crime in 4 is reported and only 1 in 4 is recorded and only 1 in 4 is successfully resolved (multiply the damage by 64 to get to the real picture of the damage)…ouch! It becomes obvious the less your activity gets logged the better. 

That’s why NordVPN doesn’t record IPs, visited websites, downloaded files, and so on. But don’t forget that it will keep some data on file (like payment info). 

Make sure you visit the FAQ here to do your own research on what’s in small font at the back of the T+Cs.

Compatibility across the board

NordVPN multiple devices

Compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Android TV, Firefox, Chrome, and Linux

Global access

With a huge list of countries available, you can start using the NordVPN app from more or less anywhere. 

Nordvpn global coverage

Here’s an example of one of the technologies NordVPN uses to keep your data safe: PFS:

“The idea of ‘Perfect Forward Secrecy’, or sometimes simply ‘Forward Secrecy’, is that something that is encrypted and so considered ‘secret’ now, should remain encrypted and so not easier discovered in the future. If there is a means whereby the ‘secret’ can be revealed in the future, then there is no ‘forward secrecy’, meaning that while the information may be protected now, it may not be at some future point in time…

Perfect Forward Security protects a secure message exchange from future disclosure by breaking of the encryption due to loss or disclosure of the private key used in the key exchange. It achieves this by extending the key exchange mechanism and using intermediate temporary encryption to protect the exchange of the symmetric encryption key. This means a future loss or disclosure of the private key can no longer be used to decrypt the secure message, e.g. perfect forward security”.

CISO Central

“IKEv2/IPSec offers improved security and privacy through the use of very strong cryptographic algorithms and keys. For instance, NordVPN uses Next Generation Encryption (NGE) in its implementation of this protocol. The ciphers used to generate Phase1 keys are AES-256-GCM for encryption, SHA2-384 to ensure integrity, combined with PFS (Perfect Forward Secrecy) using 3072-bit Diffie Hellman keys. IPSec then secures the tunnel between the client and server using AES256 encryption. IKEv2/IPSec provides users with peace of mind, security, stability and speed.”

Techradar.

Questions and Answers

Does NordVPN offer a free trial?

Yes! However, bear in mind it’s not a “free” free trial as in you just download the software, install it, and use it for a month. You will need to give up your card details and get charged. 

But as you will no doubt agree, it’s so worth it – plus, cancellation is easy and straightforward (don’t miss that confirmation email!) and the support is always there to help. By the way, the crypto option is still there.  Plus, there’s always an awesome new deal coming out on the conveyor belt. 

How does NordVPN pricing compare against competitors?

As you’ll see, there are cheaper options out there but (if we can be so bold) you can’t really think of a price alone. What matters is how much quality you’re getting for it.

For example, just buying cheap food may prove a great choice in the short term but can also prove to bring some unexpected medical bills. It’s the same with NordVPN pricing and plans. There are cheaper options out there. Considering the service you’ll get? This is by far the best deal possible.

nordvpn vs competitors

What is their money-back policy?

You can find out more here (source) but the short and sweet version is: the support is brilliant, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee policy (similar to other VPNs like ExpressVPN), and cancellation doesn’t take long and doesn’t require a lot of effort.

NordVPN 30-day money-back guarantee

Why does strong encryption like AES-256 matter?

VPNs are essential to privacy and security. However, not all VPNs have the same level of encryption – some are even vulnerable to cyberattacks by design. Yet others will actually plant malicious software in your system. Ouch!

AES-256 is 256-bit encryption that has become the standard for VPNs, and it’s a very good sign if your VPN has it. 

The reason AES-256 is so important and considered to be one of the best options for a VPN is that it offers some serious security features.

Like perfect forward secrecy (PFS) and data authentication with message integrity. More on that later.

This deal is so good it sorta kinda sounds suspicious

Understandable, but also imagine: the cybersecurity niche is truly colossal these days, with Statista quoting it as a $23.6 billion industry in 2019 that will hit $35.73 billion in 2024.

In this business, competition is fierce, to say the least. Whoever gets ahead stands to win untold fortunes. Therefore, it’s perfectly natural for large companies to ferociously compete and offer their clients fantastically tempting deals. 

I heard that if I really want to get to know the product I should find out who the team is. Can you help?

You’re totally right to want to research the team before you deal with a project. In fact, it’s what billion-dollar Wall Street investors do. You can read about the agenda from the point of view of NordVPN’s co-founder Tom Okman here.

You’ll also find out who owns it, what companies are involved under the umbrella, and what the legal and licensing situation is thanks to a small investigation launched by ZDnet.com in May 2020 (May the Fourth be with you). 

Is NordVPN all there is?

According to ZDNet, In fact, NordVPN is only a part of a family of products (some of them you may have heard of): 

“NordVPN: The consumer VPN offering designed to protect mobile devices.

NordVPN Teams: An extension of NordVPN with SMB and enterprise capabilities.

NordLynx: An extended protocol based on the widely-lauded open-source WireGuard technology.

NordPass: NordSec’s version of a password manager.

NordLocker: Secured cloud-based file storage.”

I’m a student. Is there anything you can do for me?

Not only are students’ quests for knowledge and their courage to brave the terra incognita admirable, but we’re also certain young people are the future, and as one of the leading companies in the field, NordVPN knows that. Students get a special discount with Student Beans that you can check out here. Nothing is more valuable than learning. Great job!

Is there somewhere I can read more? I like to know everything there is to know about a subject.

Cybersecurity is an endlessly exciting field on just about every level there is. Check out NordVPN’s exciting blog for fresh and intriguing information and see how far the rabbit hole takes you! And please don’t tell anyone we used the word “fresh” in order to appeal to young people, we know it’s dated. Like, carbon-dated.

I am a hardcore crypto fan, and I strongly believe crypto is the future. Please tell me you’re on the same page!

The creators of NordVPN actually do believe that new technologies are the future. In fact, history shows that all the way through the existence of any civilization, whether it came to business, military, economics, or pretty much anything else, the companies and people who won were the ones with the best technology. This is a foundational rule of doing business in the 21st (or any) century. 

Therefore, not only is NordVPN this popular thanks to a huge variety of the latest tech it uses – it also accepts crypto as payment (credit cards, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, UnionPay, ACH Transfer, and cryptocurrencies to be exact). 

Doesn’t this make your heart beat faster, crypto enthusiast?

nordvpn pay with crypto

Where would we be without crypto? Dogecoin for the win! Just kidding.

P.S.S.T. Actually, some of the algorithms NordVPN uses to encrypt your data life like PFS come from crypto, so if you like crypto for its safety, you’ll love NordVPN.

Our Verdict – Is NordVPN worth the money?

With amazing features like fast streaming, strong encryption, a kill switch, clearly superior connection speeds, and unparalleled technologies plus a very customer-loyal attitude, to name just a few, NordVPN, with its laughably low pricing, is a must on every PC and device in every home!

Take advantage of the deal here now; this will be one of the best investments you have ever made!

NordVPN - Get The World's Leading VPN Now
From $3.99/month

NordVPN provides you with the privacy, safety, freedom, and speed you deserve online. Unleash your browsing, torrenting, and streaming potential with unparalleled access to a world of content, no matter where you are.

How We Review VPNs: Our Methodology

In our mission to find and recommend the best VPN services, we follow a detailed and rigorous review process. Here’s what we focus on to ensure we provide the most reliable and relevant insights:

  1. Features and Unique Qualities: We explore each VPN’s features, asking: What does the provider offer? What sets it apart from others, such as proprietary encryption protocols or ad and malware blocking?
  2. Unblocking and Global Reach: We assess the VPN’s ability to unblock sites and streaming services and explore its global presence by asking: How many countries does the provider operate in? How many servers does it have?
  3. Platform Support and User Experience: We examine the supported platforms and the ease of the sign-up and setup process. Questions include: What platforms does the VPN support? How straightforward is the user experience from start to finish?
  4. Performance Metrics: Speed is key for streaming and torrenting. We check the connection, upload, and download speeds and encourage users to verify these on our VPN speed test page.
  5. Security and Privacy: We delve into the technical security and privacy policy of each VPN. Questions include: What encryption protocols are used, and how secure are they? Can you trust the provider’s privacy policy?
  6. Customer Support Evaluation: Understanding the quality of customer service is crucial. We ask: How responsive and knowledgeable is the customer support team? Do they genuinely assist, or just push sales?
  7. Pricing, Trials, and Value for Money: We consider the cost, available payment options, free plans/trials, and money-back guarantees. We ask: Is the VPN worth its price compared to what’s available in the market?
  8. Additional Considerations: We also look at self-service options for users, such as knowledge bases and setup guides, and the ease of cancellation.

Learn more about our review methodology.

References

Mathias Ahlgren is the CEO and founder of Website Rating, steering a global team of editors and writers. He holds a master's in information science and management. His career pivoted to SEO after early web development experiences during university. With over 15 years in SEO, digital marketing, and web developmens. His focus also includes website security, evidenced by a certificate in Cyber Security. This diverse expertise underpins his leadership at Website Rating.

The "WSR Team" is the collective group of expert editors and writers specializing in technology, internet security, digital marketing, and web development. Passionate about the digital realm, they produce well-researched, insightful, and accessible content. Their commitment to accuracy and clarity makes Website Rating a trusted resource for staying informed in the dynamic digital world.

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