# NordVPN

11 Hacker News commenters recommended NordVPN and 24 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a reputable VPN that works well and seems transparent. Critics call its marketing aggressive and deceptive.

## Why people recommend it

- Named as a reputable privacy provider (3 comments): "VPN'd traffic to a reputable provider (Nord, Express, or Proton)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47252056)) "you may wish to protect yourself with software like NordVPN" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087298)) "dubious VPN providers like NordVPN don't do that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48144860))
- Works well day to day (2 comments): "I actually get fewer CF challenges with NordVPN than without it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46261827)) "PIA and nordvpn work fine for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46277286))
- Transparent and reasonable responses (2 comments): "I think nordvpn's response is consistent with what reasonable people's expectations are." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46040433)) "they are at least transparent about it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258681))

## What people warn about

- Aggressive or deceptive marketing (5 comments): "They just manufacture a need and then hope that you won't invest time in researching a better option." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48084407)) "Most of the sponsors I have seen have been semi-shady snake oil like NordVPN and BetterHelp." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874337)) "NordVPN is also one of the worst offenders in borderline marketing campaigns." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46101474))
- Privacy and trust concerns (3 comments): "NordVPN in particular removed their warrant canary without informing their users and only gave some retroactive PR answer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46038957)) "claiming that by using their services you are now totally safe from all the hacks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46101403)) "are all collaborating with the infamous FBI DITU group" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46839200))
- Better alternatives exist (2 comments): "They just manufacture a need and then hope that you won't invest time in researching a better option." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48084407)) "it's weird to use it as an example over better options" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984175))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Mullvad VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mullvad-vpn.md): 255 recommend
- [Proton VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/proton-vpn.md): 63 recommend
- [iCloud Private Relay](https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud-private-relay.md): 26 recommend
- [Cloudflare WARP](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-warp.md): 18 recommend
- [Firefox VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-built-in-vpn.md): 16 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://nordvpn.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "NordVPN", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nordvpn/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).