NordVPN Price Guide 2023: Best Plans, Deals & Value
You can get one month of NordVPN for $12.99, one year for $4.59 per month or two years for $3.99 per month. Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The internet can be a scary place. Internet safety is a concern for everyone these days. Like me, you might be on the lookout for reliable VPN services within your budget. NordVPN is a great fit if you’d like a premium provider with affordable plan options. If you haven’t got a clue about the NordVPN price plans and you’re wondering, “how much does NordVPN cost?” I’ve got you covered.
- Best NordVPN alternative
From the monthly prices and the differences between the plans to the payment methods you can use and the trial periods, I’ll cover everything you need to know about NordVPN pricing before you sign up. If you want more information about NordVPN besides pricing and value, read the full NordVPN review.
Is NordVPN cheap?
Yes, if you lock in the value of the long-term plans, which bring down the prices.How much does NordVPN usually cost?
NordVPN’s actual annual cost is $155.88 through the monthly plan, but you can bring down this cost significantly by opting for the one-year or two-year plan.How much does three years of NordVPN cost?
NordVPN currently doesn’t offer a three-year plan, but you can get three years by getting a one-year and a two-year plan consecutively, amounting to a total cost of $176.58.Is NordVPN worth the money?
Yes. NordVPN is one of the best premium providers you can use and provides amazing value for money, especially on its long-term plans.
NordVPN Price Comparison
NordVPN offers three pricing tiers: Standard, Plus, and Complete. You can subscribe to each of those three plans on a monthly, yearly or bi-yearly basis. All three of them come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
It’s also important to note that no matter which one you choose, you’ll get the entire VPN service, including all its features and the malware and ad blockers. The tiers higher than Standard are simply ways to bundle NordVPN with the rest of the Nord family of security products.
Of the long term plans, you have two choices.
NordVPN Standard
The Standard NordVPN subscription comes with the complete NordVPN service, including its entire VPN server network of 59 countries. The account can be connected on up to six devices at once, though there’s no limit on how many can be logged in at the same time.
Standard includes malware protection, which alerts you when you’re about to visit a doman associated with malware. It also scans every file you download and deletes the suspicious ones, much like an antivirus (but you should still use an antivirus). The Standard NordVPN subscription also blocks ads and third-party cookies.
All this can be yours for $4.49 per month ($67.35 total) if you pay for a year in advance, or $3.69 per month ($99.63 total) if you pay every two years. These prices include a bonus three months for your first payment. If you stay on for additional periods, the price goes up to $5.61 per month (for one year in advance) or $4.15 per month (for two years).
NordVPN Plus
NordVPN’s Plus subscription comes with everything included in the Standard package, with a subscription to NordPass rolled in. NordPass’s basic features are free on their own, but this version comes with cross-platform functionality and a data breach scanner, which cost money whether or not you get NordPass as a package deal.
NordPass is NordVPN’s password manager. If you’ve never used a password manager, I encourage you to consider it. You can have strong passwords for every one of your accounts, but you only have to remember the one for the password manager itself. It can also scan the internet to see if any of your passwords have been compromised in data breaches.
NordPass isn’t my favorite password manager, but it does the job, and there’s a lot to be said for the convenience of bundling it with NordVPN. On its own, NordPass costs $1.99 per month for a year or $1.49 per month for two years. Packaging it with NordVPN only costs $1 more per month for any length of time.
A NordVPN plus subscription costs $5.49 per month ($82.35 total) for one year, or $4.69 per month ($126.63 total) for two years. As before, those prices factor in that you get three months for free the first time you pay. If you stay after that, the price goes up to $6.86 per month (for one year in advance) or $5.28 per month (for two years).
NordVPN Complete
NordVPN Complete comes with all the features from Standard and Plus, including the VPN and password manager. On top of these, it adds a terabyte of encrypted cloud storage via NordLocker.
Unlike NordPass, which I generally like, NordLocker is a pretty disappointing service. It does a good job of encrypting your files in a secure and user-friendly way, but that’s all it is — a box for your files. You can’t share them or do much of anything else. Comparing it to a site like Sync.com or pCloud is like comparing a bicycle to a limo.
If you do decide you want it, though, NordVPN Complete will cost you $6.79 per month for one year ($101.85 total) or $5.99 per month for two years ($161.73 total). After the first subscription period, which includes three months for free, the one-year price rises to $8.49 per month, and the two-year price to $6.74.
How Much Does NordVPN Cost Per Month?
If you’d prefer not to make a longer commitment and just want the NordVPN app for one month at a time, I understand — but the monthly prices will rise sharply. One month of Standard at a time costs $11.99. One month of Plus costs $12.99, and a month of Complete costs $14.29.
NordLayer Business Plans
NordVPN offers special plans to protect business networks. These solutions look a lot like the original purpose of a VPN: to serve as a private internet that can only be accessed with a password. Employees use the a private cloud app called NordLayer to create an encrypted tunnel between their own devices and the company network, ideal for working from home.
NordLayer comes in three pricing tires, each of which your business can subscribe to on a monthly or annual basis.
The Basic plan includes encryption and unlimited data, but gateway NordVPN server locations are shared with other subscribers, potentially sacrificing security. There’s also a limit on the number of gateways you can use at once, though it isn’t clear what that limit is. It costs $9 per user per month, or $7 per user per month ($84 per user total) when you subscribe annually.
The Advanced plan grants you a virtual private access point with the same IP address every time. It also includes priority tech support and your own account manager. It costs $11 per user per month, or $9 per user per month ($108 total) annually. For an additional $40 per month, you can get your own dedicated VPN server with a fixed IP.
Finally, there’s the Custom plan, designed for large enterprises with special needs. This has no stated price; the NordVPN sales team will work with you to provide a quote. Custom plans come with a dedicated account manager and NordVPN customer support for your individualized build.
Dedicated IP Addresses
If you pay extra for a dedicated IP address from NordVPN, your IP address will be the same for every VPN connection — though it’s still separate from your real address. It costs an additional $8.99 per month on a monthly plan, $5.29 per month ($63.48 total) on a one-year plan and $3.69 per month ($88.56 total) on a two-year plan.
There are a few benefits to a dedicated IP. Your address can be allowlisted on secure networks, allowing you to connect while retaining VPN protection. If you bank online with your VPN active (as you should), your bank is far less likely to flag a dedicated IP address as fraudulent.
Shared IPs can sometimes get banned from websites or connected to shady activity (the VPN equivalent of the teacher punishing the whole class for one kid chewing gum). You can avoid those addresses with a dedicated IP.
NordVPN Free Trial & 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
NordVPN does not offer a free trial. You can’t use the VPN without entering a payment method. That said, it does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans — essentially a free trial with extra steps.
To take advantage of the 30-day guarantee, you’ll first have to subscribe to NordVPN and create an account as normal. At any point before your 30 days are up, go to the NordVPN help center and tell the live chat bot that you’d like a refund.
The guarantee is a “no-questions-asked” policy, so you shouldn’t have to provide a reason or press NordVPN too much in order to get your money back.
NordVPN Prices: Deals & Discounts
NordVPN’s main discount is the one we’ve already mentioned, which includes three months for free with the first year of an annual or two-year subscription. Remember that the free months are a one-time deal, so monthly prices will go up after the first billing period.
NordVPN frequently offers special discounts for its birthday in February, along with other occasions like Easter, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. It also pegs deals to national holidays in different countries, so check regularly around your home country’s biggest special occasions.
There’s also a standing referral deal. If you refer a friend to NordVPN, both you and the friend get one month free. This works for as many friends as you can refer, so all you need is 12 friends to get a full year (though who has that many friends in this economy?).
Be warned: for you to get the free month, your friend has to install NordVPN and keep it for a full 30 days — so you can’t game the system by having a friend repeatedly join and quit.
Payment Methods for the NordVPN Subscription
NordVPN accepts credit and debit cards (including Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover and JCB), PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay. You can also pay through an ACH transfer via Plaid.
Cryptocurrency is an option as well — NordVPN accepts bitcoin, Etherum and X-coin. Unfortunately, there’s no cash option for the extremely privacy-conscious.
How to Cancel Your VPN Service Subscription
You can cancel your NordVPN account at any time, but it’s not always clear how. If you want a refund, you’ll need to contact NordVPN’s customer support, but if you’re outside the refund period or don’t care, you can cancel without talking to anybody. Just follow these steps.
A quick note before we start: if you bought NordVPN through the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, you’ll have to cancel (and request a refund) there as well. NordVPN doesn’t handle those transactions.
1. Find the billing settings
Log in to your NordVPN account on NordAccount and click on “billing.”
2. Locate your subscription options
Open the “subscription” tab. Next to the “change plan” button, click on the three dots.
3. Cancel your subscription
From the drop-down menu that appears, click “cancel auto-renewal.”
NordVPN Value vs Competitors
Trying to decide between NordVPN and one of its close competitors? I don’t recommend making the decision based on price alone — it’s more important to ensure the VPN you choose has the features you need.
But if the race is so close that price is the tiebreaker, here’s how much NordVPN costs compared to two of its nearest rivals, ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. For the table below, we’ve used the pricing for NordVPN’s standard plan. All prices are monthly.
| Plan Term: | NordVPN | ExpressVPN | CyberGhost |
|---|---|---|---|
| One month | $12.99 per month | $12.95 per month | $12.99 per month |
| Six months | N/A | $9.99 per month | N/A |
| One year | $4.59 per month | $6.67 per month | $6.99 per month |
| Two years | $3.99 per month | N/A | $2.11 per month |
As you can see, NordVPN has the cheapest plan month-to-month. If you need a short-term VPN, it’s the best deal. It also has a one-year plan almost half the price of ExpressVPN’s, and much cheaper than two periods of CyberGhost’s six-month plan.
CyberGhost becomes cheaper if you subscribe for two years at a time, but for any shorter term, you’ll get the best price from NordVPN. However, this isn’t just about price — it’s also about value. Is every dollar you spend on NordVPN worth what it gets you?
You can check out NordVPN’s pricing here on its website.
Is NordVPN Worth It?
Now that you know what NordVPN costs, it makes sense that you’d wonder what you get for that money. To my mind, NordVPN is one of the best VPN services in the business, rivaled only by ExpressVPN. Your subscription fee gets you access to an extensive VPN server network, great performance, high security and guaranteed unblocking of all major streaming platforms.
Streaming
Streaming gives you one of the biggest returns on investment. Say you live in Canada and want to check out content on Hulu, which is restricted to the United States. Just hop on NordVPN, pick one of its 15 American VPN server locations, and binge Brooklyn Nine-Nine to your heart’s content.
NordVPN is one of the best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. We’ve also listed it among the best VPNs for Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ and even BBC iPlayer. From my tests, the content also streamed lag-free and rarely threw up the proxy errors we all hate.
Safety and Security
NordVPN also has security covered. All its protocols use AES-256 bit encryption, the current gold standard. Its strict no-logs policy is backed up by a guarantee that all its VPN servers are unable to store data on NordVPN users — which has been independently verified.
Advanced Features
Beyond these standard features, NordVPN also offers double VPN protection, which means your web traffic can get routed through two separate, encrypted VPN servers. There’s also an Onion Over VPN option that will additionally route your traffic through the Tor network. There are even servers dedicated to torrenting.
You can also use split tunneling to cherry-pick which apps you want to route through the VPN’s protection while keeping others protection-free. For example, you can protect your browser traffic while keeping finicky banking apps unprotected (they can sometimes block you when you use a VPN).
Lastly, the VPN allows up to six simultaneous connections. You can set up the app on your phone, your desktop and even your Android TV if you want. You also have the option of sharing your subscription with your family or roommates as long as only six connections run at any given moment.
These extra features aren’t a must for everyone, especially if you’re just doing some random browsing but knowing they’re there should you need them can help put your mind at ease.
Conclusion: NordVPN Price Comparison
Since NordVPN revamped its pricing system, it’s gotten a bit harder to tell what you’ll have to pay for its acclaimed VPN service. Hopefully, this article will help you make an informed decision.
If you’ve paid for NordVPN, do you feel like it was worth it? If not, what would need to change before you’d do it again? Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
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