- Jurisdiction
- Panama
- Founded
- 2012
- Owner
- Nord Security (Nordsec Ltd)
- Best price
- $3.09/mo
- Devices
- 10
- Free tier
- No
Best for
- · Speed and large server choice
- · Streaming and general use
- · Audited no-logs at scale
Not ideal for
- · Fully anonymous signup (email required)
- · Open-source purists (apps only partly open)
Strengths
- ✓Six independent no-logs audits; RAM-only fleet
- ✓Fast NordLynx (WireGuard) protocol with post-quantum option
- ✓Huge network (~110 countries)
- ✓Panama jurisdiction outside the Eyes alliances
Weaknesses
- ✗Email required; no cash payment
- ✗Apps only partially open source
- ✗Part of the Nord Security group that also owns Surfshark
- ✗2018 server breach (no user data, but a trust dent)
Protocols & encryption
The tunnelling protocols this service offers and the cryptography behind them.
WireGuard
ModernA modern, lean protocol (~4,000 lines of code) that is fast and easy to audit. Its cryptography is fixed and state-of-the-art, with no weak options to misconfigure.
- Data cipher
- ChaCha20-Poly1305
- Key exchange
- Curve25519 (ECDH)
- Integrity
- BLAKE2s
OpenVPN
TrustedThe mature, widely-trusted open-source standard. Flexible and heavily audited over two decades, though slower than WireGuard.
- Data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Key exchange
- RSA-4096 / ECDH
- Integrity
- SHA-256 / SHA-512 HMAC
IKEv2 / IPsec
TrustedA fast, stable protocol that reconnects quickly when you change networks, so it is popular on mobile. Built natively into most operating systems.
- Data cipher
- AES-256-GCM
- Key exchange
- Diffie-Hellman (ECP)
- Integrity
- SHA-256 / SHA-384
- Stated data cipher
- ChaCha20 / AES-256
- Stated handshake
- Curve25519
- Perfect forward secrecy
- Yes
- Post-quantum resistant
- Yes
- RAM-only servers
- Yes
- Kill switch
- Yes
- First-party DNS (leak protection)
- Yes
- IPv6
- Blocked
Post-quantum: ML-KEM (formerly CRYSTALS-Kyber), NIST-standard, added to the NordLynx protocol via a hybrid key exchange; rolled out across all apps (Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, tvOS).
Full data sheet
Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.
| Based in | Panama |
| Eyes alliance | Outside 5/9/14 Eyes |
| Enemy of the Internet | No |
| Owner | Nord Security (Nordsec Ltd) |
| Conglomerate | Nord Security |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Traffic / activity | None kept |
| DNS requests | None kept |
| Timestamps | None kept |
| Bandwidth | None kept |
| Source IP address | None kept |
No-logs policy audited six times (PwC, Deloitte); all servers run from RAM.
| Anonymous signup | No |
| Accepts cash | No |
| Accepts crypto | Yes |
| PGP key | Unknown |
| OpenVPN | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes |
| Proprietary protocol | NordLynx |
| Multi-hop | Yes |
| Obfuscation | Yes |
| Kill switch | Yes |
| First-party DNS | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Yes |
| Port forwarding | Unknown |
| P2P / torrenting | Unknown |
| IPv6 | Blocked |
| Data cipher | ChaCha20 / AES-256 |
| Handshake | Curve25519 |
| Open-source clients | Partial |
| Independent audits | 3 |
| Transparency report | Yes |
| Court / seizure-tested | Unknown |
Panama has no data-retention law. A 2018 breach of a rented Finnish server (disclosed 2019) exposed a TLS key but no user activity; Nord moved to RAM-only colocated servers afterward.
| Simultaneous devices | 10 |
| Countries | 110 |
| Servers | n/a |
| Linux support | GUI app |
| Month-to-month | $12.99 |
| Best $/mo | $3.09 |
| On plan | 2-year (Basic) |
| Free trial | n/a |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Free tier | No |
| Logging policy | Consistent |
| Marketing honesty | No overclaiming |
Independent audits
- Deloitte· 2025 · no-logs assurance
- Deloitte· 2023 · no-logs assurance
- PwC· 2022 · no-logs
Tiered Basic/Plus/Complete plans; higher tiers bundle a password manager and storage.
Sources
Last verified 2026-06-17. Point-in-time data, so always confirm on the provider's own site.