Browsing & traffic
Claims no storageDenies recording browsing or traffic.
Policy section: General remarks
PROVIDER PROFILE
NordVPN
Basic VPN access, with annual and longer introductory subscriptions.
Source-based profile. We have not performed hands-on speed, leak, or streaming tests.
Plans, with the full bill.
| Plan & term | Monthly equivalent | Upfront bill | Renewal bill | Observed / source | Keep an offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic15 months · 3 bonus included | $4.99USD / month equivalent | $74.85First 15 months | Renews at $139.08/year | 2026-11-06 Dated observation | Save this offer locally |
| Basic27 months · 3 bonus included | $3.49USD / month equivalent | $94.23First 27 months | Renews at $139.08/year | 2026-11-06 Dated observation | Save this offer locally |
Sales tax may apply. Introductory promotions and availability may vary. A successful build does not refresh prices.
MATCH THE TIER AND THE DEVICE
What can you use with this plan?
Provider documentation describes these setup paths and conditions. We have not installed or tested them. An available app does not establish feature parity, streaming access or identical support on every operating-system version.
Basic · paid scope
Simultaneous VPN connections: 10. NordVPN plan comparison and simultaneous connections (opens in a new tab)
Setup documentation describes available connection paths. It does not establish identical features on every app, server or subscription variant.
Scroll horizontally for platform conditions and official documentation.
| Platform / feature | What is established | Provider documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | App listed App listed; confirm the supported OS version. | NordVPN app directory (opens in a new tab) |
| macOS | App listed App listed; confirm the supported OS version. | NordVPN app directory (opens in a new tab) |
| Linux | App listed Linux app listed; verify distribution and feature requirements. | NordVPN app directory (opens in a new tab) |
| Android | App listed App listed; confirm the supported OS version. | NordVPN app directory (opens in a new tab) |
| iPhone / iPad | App listed App listed; confirm the supported OS version. | NordVPN app directory (opens in a new tab) |
| Android TV | App listed App listed; confirm the supported OS version. | NordVPN TV apps and router alternatives (opens in a new tab) |
| Apple TV | App listed App listed; confirm the supported OS version. | NordVPN TV apps and router alternatives (opens in a new tab) |
| Router | Manual setup Manual setup listed; compatible hardware and configuration required. | NordVPN supported OpenWrt router setup (opens in a new tab) |
| Port forwarding | Add-on required Dedicated Server add-on required; standard servers and Dedicated IP do not qualify. macOS App Store limitation applies. | NordVPN Dedicated Server add-on versus standard servers (opens in a new tab) |
| Bundle scope | Documented Basic VPN tier. Other named bundles and add-ons are separate. | NordVPN plan comparison and simultaneous connections (opens in a new tab) |
Download the scoped plan and feature evidence. Unknown is not the same as unsupported; add-ons are not included in the captured base-plan price.
WHAT IS KEPT, AND FOR HOW LONG?
Logging, field by field.
Temporary session controls and a 90-day service-use flag sit alongside its no-activity-logs claim.
Provider policy statements · Standard consumer VPN; dedicated products have additional identity links. These are attributed claims, not StealthVPN observations of the service.
DNS queries
Not establishedDNS-query retention is not separately itemized in this notice.
Policy section: General remarks
IP addresses
Claims no storageDenies stored VPN IP logs.
Policy section: General remarks
Session records
Temporary recordsLast-session control data: deleted within 15 minutes of termination; also records use within the last 90 days.
Policy section: Additional information processed
Bandwidth counters
Claims no storageDenies storing used bandwidth.
Policy section: General remarks
App diagnostics
Conditions applyEssential technical data; optional analytics and advertising data.
Policy section: NordVPN applications
Account identity
CollectedEmail and account details.
Policy section: Personal data; account creation
Payment records
CollectedBilling/payment information: 10 years after the last transaction.
Policy section: Data retention and deletion
Retention & deletion
Conditions applyAccount data until deletion; billing has its own 10-year period.
Policy section: Data retention and deletion
Feature-specific exceptions
- Dedicated IP links the assigned address to the account; dedicated-server terms have separate scope. NordVPN privacy notice (opens in a new tab)
A no-storage claim applies to the category described. It does not rule out account records, website tracking, payment-processor data or an optional feature. “Not established” means the reviewed source did not settle this field. Read the separate assessments and event record
OPEN-SOURCE PRIVACY INTELLIGENCE
Follow the jurisdiction.
Outside listed 14Reviewed 2026-11-06
- Service operator
- nordvpn S.A.
- Declared jurisdiction
- Panama
- Country-set membership
- Not in the listed Five / Nine / Fourteen country sets
- Ownership / group
- Nord Security / shared holding group with Surfshark
- Parent / owner country
- Not established in this review
- Evidence basis
- Provider documents + published country-set research
What the location tells you
The contracting entity in the reviewed terms is Panamanian. Corporate-group relationships and the locations of servers or staff are separate questions.
Nord Account terms: nordvpn S.A. contracting entity (opens in a new tab) · ODNI: Five Eyes oversight council (opens in a new tab) · Daniel Byman / CSIS: Improving U.S. Intelligence Sharing with Allies and Partners, January 2025, p. 11 (PDF p. 15) (opens in a new tab)
Look through the ownership
The shared holding relationship is documented by Surfshark. The complete holding-company chain and its jurisdiction were not established in this review.
Surfshark: shared holding company with Nord Security (opens in a new tab)
What the provider says it retains
Read the logging categories and retention periods
Temporary session controls and a 90-day service-use flag sit alongside its no-activity-logs claim.
NordVPN privacy notice (opens in a new tab) · Nord Account privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
Country grouping is our classification of the declared service jurisdiction. It is not evidence that a VPN shares customer data, or a finding that an unlisted jurisdiction is safe. Provider policy statements are not independently verified here. Read the practical implications
THE SOURCE, THE SCOPE, THE LIMIT
Read the privacy evidence.
An on-site evidence view, not a privacy score. Policy claims, commissioned assessments and historical events answer different questions. Event dates below retain their documented precision; a year or month is not an exact day.
Provider statementCourt recordThird-party researchCommissioned assessmentCompany filingUnresolved
Labels identify the source, not a security rating or independent StealthVPN testing. Read the document scope and limits.
Logging and retained records
Temporary session controls and a 90-day service-use flag sit alongside its no-activity-logs claim.
NordVPN privacy notice (opens in a new tab) · Nord Account privacy policy (opens in a new tab) Field-by-field breakdown
Who operates and controls the service?
nordvpn S.A. · Panama
Nord Security / shared holding group with Surfshark
The shared holding relationship is documented by Surfshark. The complete holding-company chain and its jurisdiction were not established in this review.
Nord Account terms: nordvpn S.A. contracting entity (opens in a new tab) · Surfshark: shared holding company with Nord Security (opens in a new tab)
Assessments and their boundaries
No scoped assessor document is curated here for this provider. That means not reviewed in this selection, not that the service has never been assessed.
Documented event timeline
Newest event first. Responses are attributed; an announced remediation is not independently verified by StealthVPN. A related product or former owner is identified in the event scope.
- Legal requests
NordVPN disclosed account and payment information
Scope: NordVPN account data; Panamanian criminal investigation
Record or attributed account
Provider statementNordVPN says a binding warrant from Panama’s prosecutor required it to provide the user data it held. Its statement was updated on October 29, 2024.
Data outcome and relevance
Provider statementThe company reports providing payment-related information and confirming the existence of an account tied to an email supplied by the authorities.
Response / reported subsequent action
Provider statementNordVPN says it had no traffic, connection or online-activity logs to provide.
Unresolved / not establishedOpen the case and document locatorsThis is an acknowledged account-data disclosure, not evidence here of browsing-history disclosure. The underlying warrant, exact payment fields and case outcome were not reviewed. A no-activity-logs policy does not eliminate account identification.
- Ownership & people
NordVPN and Surfshark share a holding group
Scope: Shared corporate group; separate service operators
Record or attributed account
Provider statementSurfshark’s company page dates its merger with Nord Security to 2022 and describes shared holding-company ownership.
Data outcome and relevance
Provider statementThe relationship establishes common corporate control, not evidence that the services share VPN traffic logs.
Response / reported subsequent action
Provider statementSurfshark says the services operate independently. Our jurisdiction dossiers continue to show the distinct service operators.
Unresolved / not establishedOpen the case and document locatorsThe complete holding-company chain, beneficial ownership and internal data-access arrangements were not established. A group relationship does not transfer NordVPN’s Panamanian operator jurisdiction to Surfshark.
- Security incidents
NordVPN’s 2018 Finland server incident, disclosed in 2019
Scope: One third-party-hosted server in Finland
Record or attributed account
Provider statementNordVPN’s October 2019 response dates unauthorized access to a Finland server to March 2018, and says it learned of it in April 2019.
Data outcome and relevance
Provider statementThe company reports stolen TLS keys, no affected user credentials and no signs of traffic monitoring. Its report says the server contained no activity logs.
Response / reported subsequent action
Provider statementNordVPN says it terminated the hosting relationship and began a broader service audit.
Unresolved / not establishedOpen the case and document locatorsA provider incident account is not an independent reconstruction. A historical key exposure is different from a court-ordered production of logs; absence of reported monitoring is not proof that every possible impact was excluded.
No country label or corporate association is a finding of guilt, safety or customer-data access. Jurisdiction context · Investigation method.
BEFORE YOU CHOOSE
Details worth a closer look.
The Basic plan is separate from Complete and Prime bundles.
Introductory subscriptions can include extra months; renewal is billed on a different schedule.
Refund window: 30 days; terms apply.
Provider documentationMORE PERSPECTIVES
Read the published reviews.
These reviews belong to their publishers. Their methods, commercial relationships and testing dates differ. Our provisional editorial metascore groups eligible overall ratings by publisher family; all original summaries and source caveats remain below.
4 review publications represent 3 source families for this service. The editorial metascore shows eligible opinions and family weighting; it does not rate this exact subscription or certify security. Inspect this provider’s speed evidence
- AV-TEST · 2025 comparative report (opens in a new tab) — Commissioned laboratory report; Commissioner: Kaspersky, which also has products in the comparison.
TechRadar · Future family
NordVPN review: still the pinnacle of VPNs
Overall editorial rating: 4.5 / 5REVIEW IN BRIEF
TechRadar’s verdict emphasizes dependable speeds, streaming access, phishing protection and a consistent app design.
Main caveat: Features differ between operating systems, and keyboard-only navigation is limited. These are platform-specific judgments, not a promise for every device.
Our paraphrase · source checked 2026-11-06
Coverage: Not captured.
Article updated: 2026-11-04; originally published 2022-10-24
Test period: not captured. Article updates may cover only part of a review.
Metadata collected 2026-11-06. External publisher; may earn affiliate commissions.
Tom’s Guide · Future family
NordVPN review
Overall editorial rating: 4.45 / 5REVIEW IN BRIEF
Tom’s Guide praises the breadth of the security suite, streaming performance, server coverage and live support.
Main caveat: Renewal increases and paid upgrades weaken the value proposition. It also finds the mobile layout cramped and some macOS features missing.
Our paraphrase · source checked 2026-11-06
Coverage: Not captured.
Article updated: 2026-10-20; originally published 2022-10-28
Test period: not captured. Article updates may cover only part of a review.
Metadata collected 2026-11-06. External publisher; may earn affiliate commissions.
Top10VPN · Top10VPN family
NordVPN review (paid service)
Overall editorial rating · paid service: 9.2 / 10REVIEW IN BRIEF
Top10VPN describes NordVPN as a capable all-rounder with strong streaming, fast NordLynx connections and useful advanced controls.
Main caveat: It finds the apps less approachable than some competitors and warns about renewal costs, paid feature upgrades and briefly retained connection timestamps.
Our paraphrase · source checked 2026-11-07
Coverage: Paid service; exact subscription not captured.
Article updated: 2026-10-22
Test period: not captured. Article updates may cover only part of a review.
Manually checked 2026-11-06. Affiliate-supported. The publisher’s methods describe self-funding/no paid reviews; its terms also allow commercial influence on ordering and scores. This verdict is not treated as an independent extra vote or a StealthVPN test.
RTINGS · RTINGS family
NordVPN lab review (paid service)
Private Browsing: 6.4 / 10Category ratings only; no overall score imported.
REVIEW IN BRIEF
RTINGS finds NordVPN’s connected-session IP/DNS protection and retested kill switch effective in its technical checks.
Main caveat: Its weaker Private Browsing verdict reflects concerns about policy clarity, registration privacy and business practices. Passing technical checks does not settle those questions.
Our paraphrase · source checked 2026-11-07
Coverage: Paid service; see source for tested tier.
Retest: 2026-07-13; originally published 2025-03-31
Test period: not captured. Article updates may cover only part of a review.
Manually checked 2026-11-06. Membership and affiliate-supported publisher. Category score manually checked. A retest or writing update does not date all measurements.