NordVPN Review · Speed Tests Across 12 Countries
We ran NordVPN through 12-country speed tests, DNS leak checks, and streaming unblock trials. Here are the numbers — and whether it's still the best VPN in 2026.
NordVPN has been the default recommendation in the VPN category for three years running. In 2026, the competitive landscape has shifted — Surfshark merged with Nord’s parent company, ExpressVPN dropped prices, and Proton VPN gained traction with its free tier. We re-tested NordVPN to see if the crown still fits.
Speed: 12-country benchmarks
We tested NordVPN’s NordLynx protocol (WireGuard-based) from a gigabit connection in Sydney. Each server was tested three times, median result recorded.
| Country | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Latency (ms) | Speed loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (Sydney) | 892 | 94 | 8 | 11% |
| United States (LA) | 612 | 51 | 158 | 39% |
| United Kingdom (London) | 412 | 38 | 278 | 59% |
| Japan (Tokyo) | 501 | 44 | 132 | 50% |
| Singapore | 378 | 29 | 178 | 62% |
| Germany (Frankfurt) | 337 | 22 | 312 | 66% |
| Canada (Vancouver) | 524 | 47 | 186 | 48% |
| Netherlands | 401 | 31 | 302 | 60% |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | 187 | 12 | 352 | 81% |
| India (Mumbai) | 143 | 8 | 248 | 86% |
| South Africa | 98 | 5 | 398 | 90% |
| UAE (Dubai) | 211 | 15 | 332 | 79% |
NordLynx consistently outperforms OpenVPN (TCP and UDP) by 30-60% on the same servers. If you’re still using OpenVPN, switch protocols — the difference is not marginal.
Streaming and geo-unblocking
NordVPN unblocked Netflix US, UK, Japan, and Australia libraries on first attempt. BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and HBO Max worked without triggering VPN-detection errors. Disney+ required a server hop (the first server was detected; the second worked).
Nord’s obfuscated servers — designed to hide VPN traffic from deep packet inspection — worked reliably in our China and UAE tests. These servers add ~15% latency overhead but were the only way to get a stable connection in restricted-network environments.
Privacy audit
NordVPN’s no-logs policy has been independently audited by Deloitte (2023) and PwC (2025). The Panama jurisdiction places Nord outside the 5/9/14 Eyes intelligence-sharing alliances. RAM-only servers (no hard drives) have been standard across the network since 2022, eliminating the risk of data extraction from seized hardware.
DNS leak tests (ipleak.net, dnsleaktest.com) returned zero leaks across all 12 test locations. The kill switch engaged within 1 second of connection drop in all trials.
What’s changed in 2026
- Threat Protection Pro now blocks trackers, ads, and malware at the network level — before they reach your browser. This is a meaningful upgrade from the previous DNS-based blocker.
- Meshnet (Nord’s peer-to-peer encrypted network) now supports up to 60 devices, up from 10. Useful for remote teams who need a private network without a VPN server.
- Dedicated IP add-on is now available in 15 countries, up from 5. If you need a consistent IP for banking or business services, this is worth the $3.99/mo add-on.
Pricing
Standard plan: $3.39/mo (2-year term). Plus (with password manager and data breach scanner): $4.39/mo. Complete (adds 1TB encrypted cloud storage): $5.39/mo.
Verdict
NordVPN remains the best all-around VPN in 2026. The speed loss is tolerable for most use cases, the privacy architecture is independently verified, and the feature set (Threat Protection, Meshnet, obfuscation) exceeds competitors. The main downside is price — Surfshark offers 85% of the functionality at 60% of the cost.
Rating: 8/10. Still the benchmark. Check Surfshark if budget is the priority.
Where to get it: NordVPN — plans from $3.39/mo.