NordVPN Review - is this The #1 VPN for India in 2023?

Overview

Company Information

As stated on the official website, NordVPN was started by four childhood friends. All of them spent a considerable amount of their adulthood in different parts of the world. This includes places where there was content control, government intruding privacy, content control, and overall administration on what one does and can do.

Removing that “administration” and liberating the internet was the primary goal with NordVPN. And they have achieved it (for their users)! 

Today, with its zero-logs policy, NordVPN offers total privacy; with its server infrastructure spread across the globe, content control is out of the question; and because it’s headquartered in Panama ⁠— a country with one of the best privacy laws ⁠—  there’s no government intrusion.

Apart from these things, there’s a lot more to NordVPN that makes it perhaps the best VPN choice in the commercial market. Let’s check those out!

Things that make NordVPN the best

1. Features

Among the quality VPNs we have tested, NordVPN is the features-king. 

With all the fundamental features such as top-notch encryption, a no-logs policy, a kill switch, DNS & IP leak protection, unlimited bandwidth, unblocking geographically-confined content, and a 30-day money-back guarantee, it has it’s base strong. 

On top of that, NordVPN also offers may valuable features, including Double VPN, CyberSec, Onion over VPN, and dedicated IP.

Let’s check out how all these features makes your experience better.

- Kill Switch

The functionality of a kill switch is to disconnect the device from the internet as soon as (and if) the VPN gets disconnected automatically. 

NordVPN has two variants of kill switch:

- CyberSec

This is a NordVPN-specific feature to add another security layer for the best online experience. CyberSec is developed to block sites known for hosting malware and/or phishing scam. 

- Double VPN

You can call it a VPN for a VPN. Essentially, it routes your traffic through two servers of their network. Meaning, double the encryption, double the privacy. 

- DNS & IP leak protection

A DNS’s function is to convert a domain name into IP address, and vice versa. E.g., When you enter “forrst.me”, the query is sent to a DNS server, which resolves it to an IP address. 

Ideally, when connected to a VPN, your DNS queries should go through an encrypted VPN tunnel. 

However, with some VPNs, there’s a security flaw, and the DNS query goes to the default DNS server owned by ISP. You can check such flaws using tools like DNSleaktest.com. In our tests, NordVPN was DNS leak-proof.

Similar is the case with IP leakage. When you are connected to NordVPN, your IP is hidden, your location is unknown, and your usage is fully encrypted and private.

- Up to 6 concurrent devices

The heading says it all. You can use the same NordVPN account on up to six devices simultaneously.

- Onion over VPN

Onion routing is a technique of anonymous communication over the computer network. Essentially, your messages go through numerous encryptions and nodes before reaching the receiver. 

With NordVPN’s Onion over VPN, firstly, Nord will hide your IP and encrypt your traffic and then leave the message to the random entrance in the Onion network.  

To keep it short, NordVPN will keep your traffic/message secure, and Onion will give you anonymity.

- Dedicated IP

NordVPN also offers dedicated IP. Meaning, everything you do on the internet will be from that particular IP (which isn’t your device’s). 

Two of the common benefits of using a dedicated IP includes:

However, with dedicated IP, you can only surf from two devices simultaneously. Plus, it’s relatively easy to track a dedicated IP. So, choose according to need.

- SmartPlay

This feature keeps you private and secure while you are stream videos, play games, or access geo-blocked content.

All in all, NordVPN has numerous features that will make your internet-life better. It’s the features-king, in our opinion!

2. Easy to use

NordVPN is the most used commercial VPN in the business. So, it’s obvious they know a thing or two about customer experience.

NordVPN’s UI/UX is top-notch. By that, we mean anyone ⁠— ranging from a tech-savvy person to a complete newbie who can just read ⁠— can easily use it.

Sign up process

It’s straightforward.

That’s it.

Apps for devices

NordVPN has apps for almost all major devices. It has extensions for browsers like Chrome & Firefox. Other than that, it has dedicated apps for devices running on Windows, iOS, macOS, Android, and even Amazon Firestick.

That covers pretty much every device in the world.

Just install the app and log in.

Using the VPN

As soon as you open the VPN, you have an option to Quick Connect. It will connect you to the fastest and least congested server.

However, if you want to manually connect to a server, say for surpassing geo-blocks, it’s also right there. On desktop apps, on the left side, there is a list of all the servers NordVPN has. On the right side, there’s a world map with all the servers marked ⁠— you can click on any pinned-location and connect to that server. For mobile apps, it’s the same ⁠— just the experience is more vertical.

Moreover, to change settings or access the features we discussed above, you can go to “Settings” and navigate. There, you can choose to auto-connect, switch on/off CyberSec, set kill switch, choose to use TCP only, etc.

Overall, the A-Z experience on NordVPN is smooth. It’s one of the easiest to use VPNs in the market!

3. Servers & Speed

Servers

One of the primary reasons why NordVPN tops our list of being the best VPN for India is its number of server choices.

As a user, you can choose from more than 5000 servers across 59 countries. There are quite a few benefits of having so many options:

Speed

We also tested NordVPN’s servers for its effects on speed after connecting.

We picked a few random servers and averaged the speed and ping difference. And honestly, we weren’t disappointed.

On our 100 Mbps plan, the average download speed we received after connecting to NordVPN was approx. 80 Mbps and the upload speed averaged at about 85 Mbps. The average ping was 100 ms.

Meaning, you won’t have any difficulties while streaming/downloading. Also, unless you play professionally, online gaming with NordVPN is entirely possible.  

In a nutshell, NordVPN’s server choices and quality of maintained speed make it a top choice.

4. Security & Privacy

Security

There is no securer VPN option out there than NordVPN.

NordVPN uses the AES 256-bit encryption algorithm to protect your data. This is the best in the market, military-grade encryption technique. It’s practically impossible to view that data. In addition to that, it uses a 2048-bit DH key, SHA2-384 authentication, and perfect forward secrecy.

All combined, it encrypts/decrypts, creates a key, and authenticates the data sent and received. The key here changes every time you connect to NordVPN ⁠— meaning, your previous activity is gone; you are a completely new user on the internet when you reconnect to the VPN.

That was all about encryption. The security protocols NordVPN follows are also the best. It uses OpenVPN and IKEv2/IP Sec ⁠— two of the securest out there!  

Privacy

NordVPN has a strict zero-logs policy. They don’t track, collect, or share your data ⁠— as simple as that. Apart from your email, password, and payment details, they don’t save anything!

All things considered, secure browsing and privacy are NordVPN’s priorities, like they are yours. 

5. Torrenting/P2P

Many countries have strict laws against torrenting and have blocked torrent sites to fight piracy. 

Torrenting or P2P is a way to transfer data without the need for a central server. It’s just a technology, which isn’t illegal per se. However, people generally use to download movies, TV shows, music, software, etc. without the creator/owner’s approval. Now, that’s illegal. And that’s the reason why some countries like India have banned torrent sites.

Still, there are many countries where torrenting works perfectly fine. With VPN, one can switch to one of those countries’ servers and use torrent.

Apart from that, you are a criminal when you use such sites to download illegal content. Thus, the government/police can track you and fine you/arrest you. A VPN like NordVPN can save you from such happenings because of its security & privacy laws.

NordVPN has hundreds of P2P-specific servers. There’s no throttling in these servers while torrenting, so you can download/upload consistently at high speeds. Plus, strong encryption & no logs policy prevent you from legal liability. Also, the app-only kill switch feature of NordVPN can be extremely useful in a torrenting scenario.

So, collectively, NordVPN is a fantastic choice for torrenting or P2P data transfer.

6. Geo-blocked unblocking

Because of its extensive network of servers and the ability to evolve along with algorithmic changes by top streaming players like Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu, NordVPN has always been successful in unblocking geo-blocked content.

NordVPN has its servers optimized for streaming geo-blocked content. a) In our experience, we were consistently streaming at UHD quality b) Almost all servers of NordVPN unblocks the content of that specific region. 

E.g., Want to watch Avengers: Infinity War, a movie available on Netflix US and not India? No problem - connect to a US-based NordVPN server and enjoy!

Similarly, NordVPN works with Hulu, Disney+, Hotstar, BBC iPlayer, ESPN, and more.

In short, NordVPN can bypass geographic limitations.

7. Customer support

NordVPN’s support team is incredible ⁠— extremely polite & helpful, knowledgeable, and timely.

NordVPN offers 24/7 live chat & email support. Apart from that, it also has a thorough knowledge base and video tutorials ⁠— we found most of our answers here.

In our experience with 24/7 live chat, the support agent connected almost instantly, gave all the right answers, and was professional in his behavior. 

So, if you are technically-illiterate and want some answers, you know where to go!

8. Pricing

This is the best part about NordVPN ⁠— the sheer value for money!

You can buy a 2-year plan or a 3-year plan at a mere $3.49/month. This plan allows concurrent connections for six devices.

The value you get for the cost with NordVPN is better than the value you would with any other VPN. This is a statement we stand by! Cyberghost (Link to review) comes a close second.

If we had to choose the only reason why NordVPN is the #1 VPN for India, this would be it.

Conclusion - Do we recommend NordVPN?