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The Tom's Guide team spends all day, every day navigating the world of VPNs to find you the best deals and recommend which privacy tool is right for you.
When it comes to the best VPN for most people, NordVPN is the clear winner. It's a class-leader in many areas, boasting super-fast speeds, powerful performance, and top-tier privacy and security.
Four tiers of plan
NordVPN offers up to four tiers of plan, depending on your region. Two-year plans costs more upfront, but the equivalent price per month is the cheapest. Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and right now, two-year plans come with an extra three months of protection.
You can check out our NordVPN prices and plans page for a full rundown of each available plan:
- NordVPN Basic: 2 years + 3 months FREE: $3.09 per month (billed as $83.43)
- NordVPN Plus: 2 years + 3 months FREE: $3.59 per month (billed as $96.93)
- NordVPN Complete: 2 years + 3 months FREE: $4.99 per month (billed as $134.73)
- NordVPN Prime: 2 years + 3 months FREE: $6.99 per month (billed as $188.73)
Near-flawless streaming unblocking and top-tier privacy
NordVPN is a high performer in most areas, but streaming is one of its best. In our testing it unblocked almost everything we threw at it. It unblocked every region of Netflix and Disney+ first time, as well as regional services like BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, 9now, and TVNZ+.
No issues were encountered with Amazon Prime Video in the US, UK, Canada, or Japan. It did fail to unblock Amazon in Australia and New Zealand, and it struggled with the notoriously tricky US YouTube test – but this was a common theme across most VPNs in this round of testing.
We saw peak speeds of 1,284 Mbps, and with 211 server locations in 135 countries, you'll almost certainly find the server you need.
Post-quantum encryption is supported on all platforms, and NordVPN had its no-logs policy independently audited for the sixth time in February 2026 – passing with flying colors.
10 devices can be protected on one plan, and core VPN features include a kill switch, Double VPN, Onion over VPN, and Meshnet.
If you go for a premium NordVPN plan, extra features include Threat Protection Pro, which protects against ads, malware, and trackers, the NordPass password manager, scam protection, and NordProtect.
Price hikes and apps
Arguably NordVPN's biggest downside is its price hike on renewal. It's the worst offender out of the major VPNs, with price hikes exceeding 280%. However, this will only happen if you let your plan auto-renew. Simply add more time to your subscription before it ends to get around this. So, if you're already a NordVPN subscriber, this deal can be added to your existing plan.
While $3.09 per month is a good NordVPN deal, it's not the greatest. We're not expecting the price to drop much lower anytime soon, but when it comes to Black Friday, it's safe to say plans will cost less than $3 per month.
Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and Proton VPN – NordVPN's three biggest rivals – all cost less, but their feature offerings vary.
NordVPN's apps have undergone a UI update in recent months, but they're still not the most intuitive or beginner-friendly. They're by no means tricky to use, but VPNs like ExpressVPN and Surfshark cater more directly to beginners and ease-of-use.
Overall, NordVPN is the best VPN for most people. It's fast, powerful, and secure. Right now you can pick up a 27 month subscription, starting at around $3 per month.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
