NordVPN is one of the strongest VPNs we've tested. It's fast, it unblocks the major streaming services on regular servers, and its no-logs policy has been independently audited again and again. That said, it isn't the right fit for everyone. People leave because of the renewal price, the device cap, the missing free plan, or a wish to trust a different company and jurisdiction with their data.
Our top NordVPN alternative is Proton VPN, which matches NordVPN's score and adds a free plan you can actually live with. We ranked all seven picks on the same hands-on checks, which we explain below.
Best NordVPN alternatives at a glance
If you only have a minute, these are the three picks we'd point most readers toward.
NordVPN alternatives compared
Here's how each pick stacks up against NordVPN. Promotional prices move often, so treat the starting rate as a guide and the renewal column as the number that matters over time.
| Product | Buy | Starting price | Renewal | Servers / countries | Devices | Free plan or trial | Money-back | Jurisdiction / audit | Streaming | Torrenting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Check price → | About $2.99 to $3.49/mo | $83.88/yr | 20,000+ / 140+ | 10 | Free plan | 30-day | Switzerland / Securitum yearly | Most services; Disney+ patchy | Port forwarding | Free plan, privacy |
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Check price | $2.99/mo | $99.95/yr | Not disclosed / 113 | 10 to 14 | 7-day mobile trial | 30-day | BVI / KPMG 2025 | Netflix, iPlayer, Disney+, Hulu | All servers | Ease of use |
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Check price | $2.49/mo | Not printed | 4,500+ / 100 | Unlimited | No | 30-day | Netherlands / Deloitte | Netflix 15+ regions | No port forwarding | Unlimited devices |
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Check price | $5.75/mo or $3 custom | $69/yr | Not disclosed / 69 | Unlimited | Free plan | 7-day | Canada / none | Varies by server | Pro servers only | Flexible plans |
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Check price | EUR 5/mo | EUR 5/mo | 566 / 50 | 5 | No | 14-day | Sweden / infrastructure | Netflix US blocked | No port forwarding | Anonymity |
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Check price | About $2/mo | Check at checkout | Not disclosed / 90+ | Unlimited | 7-day mobile trial | 30-day | US / Deloitte | Netflix US; Hulu patchy | Port forwarding | Customization |
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Check price | About $1.99 to $2.19/mo | Same $ yearly | About 10,000 / 100+ | 7 | No | 45-day | Romania / Deloitte | Labelled servers | Torrent servers | Streaming |
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$3.49/mo | $139.08/yr | About 8,000+ / 130+ | 10 | No | 30-day | Panama / six audits | Netflix, Disney+, iPlayer | P2P servers | Baseline |
Why look for a NordVPN alternative?
Price is the reason most people start shopping around. NordVPN Basic costs $3.49 a month on the 2-year plan plus 3 months, billed as $94.23 for the first 27 months. After that, Basic renews at $139.08 per year, and auto-renewal is switched on by default. Complete starts at $4.49 a month and renews at $219.48 per year.
The low headline price only applies to the two-year commitment. The 1-year plan works out to $5.49 a month, and the monthly plan is $14.99, so short-term use gets expensive.
Write down the renewal price before you pay, not just the intro rate. Then turn off auto-renewal straight after checkout, so staying on at the renewal price is your decision rather than the default.
Devices are the second sticking point. NordVPN allows 10 simultaneous connections. A router install stretches that, but it does nothing for phones and laptops on public Wi-Fi.
There's no free plan either, only a 30-day money-back guarantee for first-time customers. After that window, refund requests are refused even if the service stops working for you later.
Some readers simply want a different company behind their VPN. NordVPN is incorporated in Panama and developed by Nord Security, with offices in Lithuania, the UK, Panama and the Netherlands. In India, it shut its physical servers on June 26, 2022, a day before CERT-In rules took effect. Those rules required VPNs to store customer data for five years.
How we tested
We judged every alternative against NordVPN on the same criteria. For speed, we compared downloads on nearby servers against long routes such as Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong, because the long routes are where providers pulled apart. We also tried extra modes: Proton's Secure Core cost about 35 percent of our speed, and NordVPN's Double VPN took roughly half or more on a fast line.
For streaming, we checked Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Max and BBC iPlayer. For security, we ran DNS, IPv6 and WebRTC leak tests and checked that each kill switch held when a server timed out or the network changed. We also contacted support and read every pricing page for renewal terms, refund windows and auto-renewal defaults. Our picks are ordered by each provider's score in our full reviews.
1. Proton VPN: Best free and privacy-focused NordVPN alternative
Proton VPN is the one we'd choose if privacy is your main reason to switch.
Why choose Proton VPN over NordVPN
Proton AG is based in Switzerland, outside the EU and the Five Eyes alliance. Its no-logs claim has a strong track record: Proton passed an independent no-logs audit by Securitum every year from 2022 to 2026. Its apps have been open source since 2020, and you can pay with Bitcoin or cash.
Performance surprised us. On a 300 Mbps line, Proton averaged about 274 Mbps across our repeated runs, and paid servers never cut downloads by more than about 8 percent. Secure Core routes traffic through Switzerland, Iceland or Sweden first, and our Proton VPN review covers it in depth alongside NetShield. It ran about 35 percent slower, so it's best kept for sensitive sessions.
On paid plans we unblocked Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Max, BBC iPlayer, Peacock and Paramount+, though Disney+ was inconsistent.
Pros
- Usable free plan with no data cap
- Clean DNS, IPv6 and WebRTC leak tests across dozens of countries
- VPN Accelerator noticeably helps on distant servers
Cons
- Live chat isn't always available and is closed to free users
- Email replies can take two days or more
Pricing and plans
VPN Plus currently costs $3.49 a month on the 2-year plan, billed $83.76 for the first 24 months. The intro rate swings between about $2.99 and $3.49 as promotions come and go. It then renews at $83.88 every 12 months, well below NordVPN Basic. Monthly billing is $9.99. VPN Plus covers 10 devices, and every plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
2. ExpressVPN: Easiest NordVPN alternative to use
Where Proton rewards people who read every setting, ExpressVPN is the one to hand someone who never wants to open a menu.
Why choose ExpressVPN over NordVPN
The apps are the easiest of the group: one large connect button and a Smart Location pick. Its Lightway protocol is open source and post-quantum, and our ExpressVPN review covers it in depth.
On our gigabit line, Lightway held roughly 450 to 720 Mbps on US and UK servers. That's quick, but NordVPN is quicker. ExpressVPN downloads dropped by roughly 18 to 39 percent depending on the line and server, while NordVPN's losses stayed in single digits. When we let a server time out and then switched networks mid-session, Network Lock fired correctly both times.
Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Prime Video and Hulu unblocked across many regions without buffering. On privacy, ExpressVPN had its TrustedServer setup and privacy policy assessed by KPMG in June 2025. It's based in the British Virgin Islands and has been owned by Kape Technologies since 2021.
Pros
- Servers in 113 countries, including all 50 US states
- Live chat answers in under a minute
Cons
- Bigger speed loss than NordVPN
- No multi-hop servers
- Device allowance depends on the tier
Pricing and plans
Basic costs $2.99 a month on the 2-year + 4-month term ($83.72 for the first 28 months) and renews at $99.95 a year. Advanced is $4.49 a month and renews at $119.95, while Pro is $7.49 and renews at $199.95. Basic covers 10 devices, Advanced 12 and Pro 14. There's no free plan, but you get a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 7-day free trial in the mobile app stores.
3. Surfshark: Best cheap NordVPN alternative with unlimited devices
Surfshark costs less than ExpressVPN up front and drops device limits entirely, but it's also the alternative with the closest family tie to NordVPN.
Why choose Surfshark over NordVPN
Readers leaving NordVPN should know this first. Nord Security and Surfshark merged under one holding structure in February 2022. The two still run separate infrastructure and product roadmaps, but moving to Surfshark isn't a clean break from NordVPN's parent.
What you gain is unlimited simultaneous connections on every plan. One account covered every phone, laptop, tablet and TV stick in a household without device juggling. Bypasser can also route specific websites around the VPN, not just apps, something NordVPN's split tunneling can't do.
On macOS, downloads slowed by only about 10 percent even on a transatlantic server. The Windows app showed bigger slowdowns and occasional ping spikes. NordVPN still edged Surfshark in head-to-head runs, as the full breakdown in our Surfshark review shows. The kill switch held, and we saw no IPv4, IPv6, DNS or WebRTC leaks.
Surfshark is based in the Netherlands, a Nine Eyes country. Deloitte verified its no-logs policy in 2023 and 2025, and Surfshark backs that up with independent security audits and a public trust center.
Pros
- Low 2-year price for the big names, well under NordVPN's $3.49
- Netflix in 15-plus regions, plus Max, Disney+ and iPlayer
- Native Android TV, Apple TV and Fire TV apps
Cons
- Shares a holding structure with Nord Security
- Month-to-month plan is among the priciest
Pricing and plans
Starter and One both cost $2.49 a month on the 2-year plan, which is $67.23 for the first 27 months. One+ costs $4.49 a month. The plan renews yearly at "the applicable renewal price". Surfshark's pricing page doesn't print that figure, and it varies by currency. Month to month, expect roughly $15 to $16 depending on region and tax. Every plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
4. Windscribe: Best flexible and free plan
Surfshark rewards a two-year commitment, but Windscribe takes the opposite approach: you can pay by the year, by the month or by the location.
Why choose Windscribe over NordVPN
Windscribe pairs a free plan with unlimited devices on free and paid plans, plus a Build a Plan option nobody else here offers. Its R.O.B.E.R.T. blocker filters ads, trackers and whole site categories at the DNS level.
Server choice mattered more than distance in our runs. A Los Angeles server cleared 773 Mbps on a gigabit line, while a London server stayed under 200 Mbps on the same connection. Very long routes collapsed: Hong Kong averaged about 14 Mbps, slow enough to stall a 4K stream. When we killed the VPN process with the always-on firewall enabled, the real IP never leaked.
The privacy picture is more mixed, as our Windscribe review explains incident by incident. Windscribe is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, a Five Eyes member, and hasn't published an independent no-logs audit. In 2021, authorities seized two Ukrainian servers that ran a legacy setup without disk encryption. In February 2026, Dutch authorities took one more server, which Windscribe says was RAM-only and held no user data.
Pros
- Open-source apps
- Kill switch and ad blocker included even on the free plan
- Clean IP, DNS and WebRTC leak tests
Cons
- Desktop app is packed with networking jargon
- No live chat with a human; tickets take around 18 hours
- Tight 7-day refund window
Pricing and plans
Pro costs $9.00 a month, or $69 a year. The yearly plan works out to $5.75 a month and renews at the same $69. There are no multi-year plans. Build a Plan charges $1 per location per month, with a $3 minimum; each location adds 10GB of monthly data, and unlimited data costs $1 more. The 7-day refund is void once you've used more than 10GB. Pro servers cover 69 countries.
5. Mullvad VPN: Best for anonymity
Windscribe gives you lots of options, while Mullvad strips them away on purpose. It's the strictest privacy pick on this list, and it gives up more conveniences than any other to get there.
Why choose Mullvad over NordVPN
Signing up took seconds. Mullvad issued a random 16-digit account number and asked for no email or name. You can pay with cash, Bitcoin or Monero, and crypto gets a 10 percent discount.
Mullvad is based in Sweden, and a 2023 police search found no customer data to take. Its audits (Cure53 in June 2024 and X41 D-Sec in January 2026) test infrastructure and code rather than issuing a no-logs opinion. Whether that counts as "audited no-logs" depends on your definition.
Streaming is where the trade-off shows. When we tried Netflix US and BBC iPlayer, both blocked Mullvad servers with a proxy error, and access that worked in one session failed minutes later. Websites threw CAPTCHA challenges often, and speeds varied a lot by server. Mullvad has been WireGuard-only since January 15, 2026, and it dropped port forwarding in 2023. See our Mullvad VPN review for its DAITA traffic-analysis defense.
Pros
- Multihop and quantum-resistant tunnels
- RAM-only servers
- Open-source apps
Cons
- Netflix US and BBC iPlayer blocked
- Email-only support
- No port forwarding or dedicated IP
Pricing and plans
Mullvad charges a flat EUR 5 per month (about $5.60), however long you pay for, so there's no renewal jump and no long-term discount. Each account covers up to 5 devices, half of NordVPN's allowance. There's no free plan or trial, only a 14-day money-back guarantee that excludes cash. The network is smaller too: 566 servers in 50 countries.
6. Private Internet Access: Best for customization and torrenting
Private Internet Access sits at the other end from Mullvad: where Mullvad hides settings, PIA hands you nearly all of them.
Why choose Private Internet Access over NordVPN
PIA allows unlimited devices, and its apps include port forwarding, which NordVPN doesn't list. You also get two kill switch modes, configurable encryption, a SOCKS5 proxy and the MACE ad blocker, yet the layout stays clean. Our Private Internet Access review tests each kill switch mode.
Our results were less even than NordVPN's. Some speed runs lost about 12 percent, while others showed a median loss near 48 percent. Distant servers were the slowest. Netflix US streamed on the first attempt, but Hulu and BBC iPlayer sometimes refused to load on standard servers.
PIA is based in the United States and has been owned by Kape Technologies since 2019. Deloitte audited its no-logs policy in 2022 and 2024, the claim has held up in US court cases, and PIA publishes a transparency report on government requests.
Pros
- Port forwarding built into the apps
- No-logs claim audited and tested in court
- Quick, knowledgeable live chat
Cons
- Inconsistent speeds on distant servers
- US jurisdiction, a Five Eyes member
Pricing and plans
The 3-year + 3-month plan is currently $1.89 a month ($73.71 billed) under a seasonal promotion, and usually lands around $2 a month. PIA's checkout fine print sets the renewal terms, so read that line before you pay. The 1-year plan costs $3.99 a month and monthly billing is $11.95. You get a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 7-day free trial on iOS and Android.
7. CyberGhost: Best for dedicated streaming servers
Like PIA, CyberGhost is owned by Kape, but it aims at the opposite reader: someone who wants streaming to work without touching a setting.
Why choose CyberGhost over NordVPN
CyberGhost labels its streaming servers by platform, and our CyberGhost review lists what each one handles. When we connected, dedicated servers for Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, Disney+ and Prime Video loaded on the first try without any server-hopping. On first launch, the app reached a nearby server in under ten seconds.
Long distances are the weak spot. Downloads dropped by more than 55 percent on Australia and South Africa servers, while nearby servers lost about 20 percent. NordVPN held above 60 Mbps on those same routes, while CyberGhost fell well below that mark.
Smart Rules can auto-connect when a chosen app launches or on untrusted Wi-Fi. Based in Bucharest, Romania, CyberGhost has belonged to Kape since 2017, and Deloitte has audited its no-logs policy three times, most recently in February 2026.
Pros
- Dedicated torrenting servers
- 45-day money-back guarantee on longer plans
- Fast first connection for beginners
Cons
- Streaming servers trigger frequent CAPTCHA checks
- 7-device cap fills up quickly
- First renewal roughly doubles the monthly rate
Pricing and plans
The 26-month plan moves between about $1.99 and $2.19 a month with promotions; at $1.99 you pay $51.74 up front. It then renews yearly at the same dollar amount, so the effective monthly rate roughly doubles. The 6-month plan costs $6.99 a month and monthly billing is $12.99, with 14 days to claim a refund instead of 45. Every plan allows 7 connections across servers in 100+ countries.
Is there a free NordVPN alternative?
Yes. NordVPN has no free plan, but two of our picks do, and they suit different people.
Proton VPN's free plan is the one we'd recommend for most readers. It needs no credit card and has no data limit or ads. The catch is that it covers one device, picks a server for you from 10 countries, runs at medium speed and doesn't support streaming or torrenting.
Windscribe's free plan gives you 10GB a month with a confirmed email (2GB without) across 10 countries, on unlimited devices. In our runs, free-tier speed dropped by up to 90 percent roughly twice every three hours. A single evening of HD streaming can use the whole allowance. The free plan reached Netflix UK but not Netflix US.
Choose Proton Free for daily browsing without limits, and Windscribe Free to cover several devices on public Wi-Fi.
How to choose a NordVPN alternative
The right replacement depends on which part of NordVPN bothered you.
Privacy and security
Check where the company is based, whether an outside firm has audited its no-logs claim, and who owns it. Proton (Switzerland) and Mullvad (Sweden) lead on jurisdiction and account privacy. Ownership matters more than many buyers realize: Kape Technologies owns ExpressVPN, PIA and CyberGhost.
Switching away from NordVPN doesn't always mean switching companies: Surfshark shares its parent, and three more picks answer to Kape.
Speed and reliability
NordVPN sets a high bar, so expect most alternatives to give up a little speed. Proton came closest in our runs. Test the routes you actually use, because Windscribe, PIA and CyberGhost slowed sharply on distant servers.
Streaming and torrenting
ExpressVPN, Surfshark and CyberGhost were the most dependable for streaming, and Mullvad is the one to skip. For torrenting, port forwarding helps with speeds and seeding: PIA has it in its apps, Proton offers it on paid P2P servers, and Windscribe needs a static IP add-on.
Price and device limits
Compare the renewal price, not the intro rate. Windscribe and Mullvad have no renewal jump. For a big household, Surfshark, PIA and Windscribe allow unlimited devices, while Mullvad and CyberGhost cap you below NordVPN's 10. Refund windows range from Windscribe's seven days to CyberGhost's 45.
Where NordVPN still wins
That said, none of these alternatives beats NordVPN everywhere. On nearby servers it barely dented our speeds, keeping roughly 93 to 95 percent or more of a gigabit line. Neither 4K streams nor video calls buffered. Its regular servers unblocked Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+ and BBC iPlayer.
Its no-logs policy has now been verified six times, by PwC in 2018 and 2020 and by Deloitte from 2022 through a sixth engagement published February 2026. Its one notable incident dates to 2018, when someone accessed a single rented server in Finland through the data center's remote-management system. There was no sign that user credentials or billing details were exposed.
NordVPN has been around since 2012, and features like Meshnet and Threat Protection Pro remain hard to match. Our NordVPN review explains why it scores 9.0.
Bottom line
Proton VPN is the NordVPN alternative we'd pick first, but your best choice depends on why you're leaving. For the simplest apps, go with ExpressVPN. For the most devices on a budget, choose Surfshark, knowing it shares a parent with NordVPN. Windscribe suits people who hate long contracts, Mullvad suits anyone who wants anonymity, PIA suits torrenters, and CyberGhost suits viewers who just want streaming servers that work.
