NordVPN vs Proton VPN: scale against principle

The shape of the choice

NordVPN is the largest VPN network and one of the most complete products in the market: more servers, more features, more audits, more marketing. Proton VPN is the product of a company whose primary business is encrypted email, controlled since 2024 by a non-profit foundation, with open-source apps and a habit of building things for people in censored countries. For years the comparison was easy — Nord was the better product, Proton the better citizen. The product gap has narrowed enough that the citizenship now decides it for most readers of this site.

Where NordVPN is ahead

The network, and everything that follows from it. With more than twice Proton’s server count and deeper capacity in the US, UK and Japan, Nord keeps more Netflix regions working at once and recovers faster when one is flagged. The feature list is longer: Tor-over-VPN, Double VPN, Meshnet for linking devices, Threat Protection Pro, dedicated IPs in a dozen countries. NordLynx has tested slightly faster than Proton’s WireGuard. Four Deloitte no-logs audits is the longest run of any provider.

Where Proton VPN is ahead

Verifiability. Proton’s apps are open source, its audits are published in full, and its ownership is a non-profit foundation whose charter cannot be sold. Nord’s audit reports are available on request and its apps are closed; Nord Security is a commercial group with the incentives that implies. Censorship: Stealth and alternative routing are built for Iran, Russia and China and are used at scale there; the free tier works where payment is impossible. Port forwarding, which Nord has never offered. And this month’s App Store analysis puts Proton’s iOS app well ahead of Nord’s, whose billing-complaint rate is the highest we track.

Price

Both follow the industry pattern of a two-year intro and a higher renewal. Proton Plus is about $108 for two years, renewing at about $144; roughly $5.24 a month over the months it covers. NordVPN Basic is about $83 for two years, renewing at about $278; roughly $7.53 on the same basis. Nord is cheaper for the first two years and considerably dearer after, and Proton’s free tier is a real product.

Who should pick which

NordVPN if streaming breadth, the feature list, or raw speed decide it, and you will manage the renewal. Proton if ownership, open source, censorship resilience, port forwarding or the free tier decide it. Anyone in Iran, Russia or China: Proton first, Nord as the backup. Anyone whose main use is Netflix in six regions: Nord.

What we have not tested

Speed and leaks on either. Published tests favour NordLynx by a small margin; our own numbers are pending and the speed dimension is excluded from both scores until they land.