NordVPN
Shares rank 8 of 15 VPN services by recommenders
Recommended as a reputable VPN that works well and seems transparent. Critics call its marketing aggressive and deceptive.
Recommended as a reputable VPN that works well and seems transparent. Critics call its marketing aggressive and deceptive.
35 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 24
- approval share
- 31%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Named as a reputable privacy provider
“VPN'd traffic to a reputable provider (Nord, Express, or Proton)”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Motorola GrapheneOS devices will be bootloader unlockable/relockable” “you may wish to protect yourself with software like NordVPN”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Leak confirms OpenAI is preparing ads on ChatGPT for public roll out” “dubious VPN providers like NordVPN don't do that”
Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Mullvad exit IPs are surprisingly identifying” Works well day to day
“I actually get fewer CF challenges with NordVPN than without it.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits” “PIA and nordvpn work fine for me.”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “SoundCloud has banned VPN access” Transparent and reasonable responses
“I think nordvpn's response is consistent with what reasonable people's expectations are.”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors” “they are at least transparent about it”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Aggressive or deceptive marketing
“They just manufacture a need and then hope that you won't invest time in researching a better option.”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “I Will Not Add Query Strings to Your URLs” “Most of the sponsors I have seen have been semi-shady snake oil like NordVPN and BetterHelp.”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” “NordVPN is also one of the worst offenders in borderline marketing campaigns.”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Stop Hacklore – An Open Letter” - Comment from 8 May 2026 in “A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking”
- Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “TikTok is tracking you, even if you don't use the app”
Privacy and trust concerns
“NordVPN in particular removed their warrant canary without informing their users and only gave some retroactive PR answer”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors” “claiming that by using their services you are now totally safe from all the hacks”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Stop Hacklore – An Open Letter” “are all collaborating with the infamous FBI DITU group”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native” Better alternatives exist
“They just manufacture a need and then hope that you won't invest time in researching a better option.”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “I Will Not Add Query Strings to Your URLs” “it's weird to use it as an example over better options”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “System-level ad-blocking in Android”
Other VPN services people recommend
The four most recommended other VPN services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mullvad VPN | 255 | 146 | 64% | 12 | 4.5 yrs4 owners | — |
| Proton VPN | 63 | 35 | 64% | 13 | 3 yrs4 owners | — |
| iCloud Private Relay | 26 | 20 | 57% | 11 | — | — |
| Cloudflare WARP | 18 | 10 | 64% | 7 | — | — |
| NordVPNThis page | 11 | 24 | 31% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
36 of the 38 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“i can't access reddit through nordvpn”
“It means you actually get local tv to work (unlike Nord vpn etc)”
“it's weird to use it as an example over better options”
“Most of the sponsors I have seen have been semi-shady snake oil like NordVPN and BetterHelp.”
“You're giving both Mullvad and Nord some payment information”
“coughs in agressive nord vpn ads”
“skip NordVPN as having poisoned the well of good will”
“auto-renewed at 3x the original price, without warning”
“they're relying on the fact that "Nord" sounds like "Nordic"”
“if any distro started shipping things like NordVPN in the default installation people would complain”
“Considering web addresses are easily changed, it was a futile suggestion to say block LaLiga streams.”
“dubious VPN providers like NordVPN don't do that”
“They just manufacture a need and then hope that you won't invest time in researching a better option.”
“not even in the same ballpark as the likes of nordvpn”
“Nord is a sh*t company when it comes to privacy”
“I think their marketing is deceptive and they don't accept private payments”
“which also use Google Analytics which then correlate entire traffic later-on, what a joke”
“That's why I use our sponsor, nord vpn”
“but actually discontinued it last year”
“VPN'd traffic to a reputable provider (Nord, Express, or Proton)”
“once I connected it blew up my SSH session”
“NordVPN creeps me out with aggressive advertising practices”
“are all collaborating with the infamous FBI DITU group”
“you can tell about the level of tech literacy just by reading that OP uses NordVPN”
“Nord is really good at that”
“I'd steer clear of NordVPN though.”
“PIA and nordvpn work fine for me.”
“I actually get fewer CF challenges with NordVPN than without it.”
“they are at least transparent about it”
“NordVPN is also one of the worst offenders in borderline marketing campaigns.”
“claiming that by using their services you are now totally safe from all the hacks”
“a word from our sponsor NordVPN”
“you may wish to protect yourself with software like NordVPN”
“I think nordvpn's response is consistent with what reasonable people's expectations are.”
“NordVPN in particular removed their warrant canary without informing their users and only gave some retroactive PR answer”
“Betterhelp, AG1, airup, NordVPN (and VPNs in general) should be outright banned.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.