NordVPN vs Astrill VPN
Over the last decade, the internet has evolved into uncharted territories. The number of people online at any single point in time is staggering.
With this increased popularity, the internet has become a hub for cybercrime and online security threats. Hackers and other cybercriminals have taken advantage of this to launch attacks on internet users.
This is why VPNs are important.
NordVPN is by far better service than Astrill VPN. NordVPN has far more advanced security features, is affordable, and offers an overall great user experience. It also has better speeds and privacy policies that ensure the privacy and anonymity of users’ data.
In this article, we are going to put these two VPNs in a head to head comparison. We will discuss each of their features and capabilities under several categories and see who comes out on top at the end.
So stick around and read on to find out which is the best choice for you.
NordVPN
You may not be a big VPN geek or a cybersecurity enthusiast, but if you’re reading this you’ve probably come across NordVPN. It’s one of the most popular VPNs out there and rightly so.
It’s a widely known service and is trusted by a whole range of people for their online security solutions. It was founded in 2012 and since then it has grown to be among one of the best VPNs in the world.
NordVPN has built quite a name for itself in the VPN industry. One of the things that make it stand out from all other VPNs is the degree of credibility it has accumulated over the years.
It has some of the best and unique features that a subscriber could ever wish for. It can be accessed from any corner of the world.
NordVPN has one of the most highly encrypted networks boasting of a military-grade encryption protocol that is uncrackable and impregnable. This gives users top-grade security whenever they are online.
It also has a strict no-logs policy. While most VPNs claim to have a no-logs policy, very few of them can back this claim up.
NordVPN is one of the few services that have been proven to keep no logs. They are audited by third party auditing firms that have verified it’s no logs claims.
It is located in Panama which has zero logging laws. NordVPN isn’t therefore legally required to track, collect, monitor, or store users’ data. This ensures online privacy and anonymity.
With NordVPN, the security and privacy of your data are always assured. Some of its pros and cons include:
Pros of NordVPN
- It’s the no-logs policy and Panama jurisdiction is a huge plus.
- It has amazing and stable speeds no matter your location on earth.
- It has some of the industry’s strongest security protocols to safeguard users’ data.
- It has one of the largest server coverages in the world, with over 5500 servers in over 60 countries.
- It has great customer support through live chat, text, and emails.
- It supports a wide range of online activities like streaming, torrenting, browsing, etc.
Cons of NordVPN
- It’s a little costly.
- Some of its servers don’t have stable speeds.
- Some servers don’t work well for torrenting.
Astrill VPN
When you’re looking for a VPN, Astrill VPN may not be the first name that comes to your mind. Despite this, it is certainly worth your consideration. It’s one of the most advanced VPNs out there.
It was founded in 2009 and is located in Seychelles.
Just like NordVPN, Astrill VPN has some of the industry’s best security features and protocols that ensure the safety of users’ data.
So if you are seeking a VPN with top-of-the-line security, Astrill VPN is a good choice for you.
It also claims to have a no-logs policy and doesn’t therefore track, collect, or store users’ data. It’s located in Seychelles which is a privacy haven. The country has no logging laws.
It’s a relatively affordable VPN service and gives amazing features for its price ranges. It also has a good server count spread out over the world, which is no mean feat considering it’s a relatively new company.
It also has relatively good speeds for several online activities.
So even though Astrill VPN isn’t so much of a big VPN service, it’s also a good choice.
Some of its pros and cons include:
Pros of Astrill VPN
- Good speeds.
- Good server coverage.
- Works well for streaming, torrenting, and browsing.
- Good customer support.
- Great security protocols.
Cons of Astrill VPN
- Its annual plan is a bit expensive.
- Has a strict no refund policy.
- Speeds on some servers are not stable.
- It’s no-logs claim isn’t proven.
NordVPN vs PIA: Which One Is Better?
To be clear, both NordVPN and Astrill VPN are good service providers. They are some of the few VPN services that can be trusted to provide the best online security solutions to users.
The distinguishing factor among them is that they have different features and capabilities and for this reason, one is better than the other.
Both of these VPNs claim to have the best security features, privacy policies, speeds, pricing plans, and overall performance.
But in truth, there can only be one winner. We’re going to analyze each of them under some categories and in the end determine the winner. So sit tight and read on.
1. Pricing
When it comes to comparing VPNs, price is one of the major distinguishing factors. The result is that one usually comes out on top as the best budget-friendly choice.
This is just the case for NordVPN and Astrill VPN. The good news is that both of them are reasonably priced for the variety of features that they offer to users.
They offer some of the industry’s best features and for this reason, they can be considered to be a little pricey.
The winner in this category without a doubt is NordVPN. NordVPN has a 1-month, 1-year, and 2-year plan. The 1-month plan is at $11.95, the 1-year plan at $3.29 per month, and the 2-year plan at $5.75 per month.
This is quite affordable.
Astrill VPN is a little bit pricier than NordVPN. This is surprising considering NordVPN has more features. It has a 1-month, 6-month, and 1-year plan.
The 1-month plan is at $15.90, the 6-month plan at $6.99 per month, and the 1-year plan is $9.99 per month.
When you consider the return on investment, NordVPN is the best choice in this category. It has better performance. So NordVPN wins this round.
| Plan | NordVPN | Astrill VPN |
| 1-month | $11.95 per month | $15.95 per month |
| 6-month | – | $6.99 per month |
| 1-year | $3.29 per month | $9.99 per month |
| 2-year | $5.75 per month | – |
2. Speeds
Nowadays, one of the most important things to people online is the speed. It’s an important consideration that most people can never ignore.
To be honest, we all prefer fast and stable speeds no matter what time of the day and our location on earth.
But there’s one huge problem. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) usually throttle the internet speeds of their subscribers.
This leads to slow speeds that are unstable and don’t support most online activities. This can be quite frustrating.
So this is where VPNs come in handy. They work by passing all your online traffic through an encrypted tunnel that is inaccessible to your ISP. The ISP is therefore unable to throttle speeds.
With a good VPN service, you always get fast and stable speeds from anywhere in the world. Most VPNs with large server networks provide reliable speeds for all manner of activities.
Luckily, both NordVPN and Astrill VPN have great speeds. But there can only be one winner. To determine the faster VPN, we conducted speed tests.
First of all, connected to servers in the UK. NordVPN recorded speeds of up to 148Mbps. Astrill on the other hand recorded speeds of up to 70Mbps.
Next, we connected to servers in the US. NordVPN recorded speeds of 143Mbps.
Astrill VPN recorded speeds of 80Mbps. We then connected to servers in Canada. NordVPN recorded speeds of 133Mbps. Astrill VPN recorded speeds of 65Mbps.
So as you can see, NordVPN comes out on top in terms of speed. Several factors can be attributed to this.
First of all, it has a larger server network. The second is that it uses the WireGuard protocol which increases speeds. Astrill VPN lacks these two essential features.
| Server location | NordVPN | Astrill VPN |
| UK | 148Mbps | 70Mbps |
| US | 143Mbps | 80Mbps |
| Canada | 133Mbps | 65Mbps |
3. Servers
This is one of the most essential parameters that most people look at when choosing a VPN service.
The performance of a VPN is to a huge extent determined by the number and distribution of its servers all around the world.
A common occurrence for most VPNs is the overcrowding of servers. When you connect to the servers of such VPNs, you get slow speeds that are unstable.
This can be quite frustrating. The best VPN choice will always be one that has uncrowded servers.
Another important thing is server distribution around the world. A VPN that has well-distributed servers all over the world gives users a wide variety of choices to choose from.
This enables users’ to choose the best servers from their location and therefore effectively spoof their location.
In this category, NordVPN outshines Astrill VPN in a major way. NordVPN has one of the world’s largest server networks. It boasts of 5500+ servers in 60+ countries. This makes it a huge service.
Astrill VPN on the other hand has 300+ servers in 60+ countries. This is quite a small number.
When you compare these two figures, you get to see just how much of a huge difference there is. NordVPN, therefore, wins this round.
| NordVPN | Astrill VPN | |
| Number of servers | 5500+ | 300+ |
| Server locations | 60+ | 60+ |
4. Security
One of the most important things to consider in this day and age is online safety and security.
There are so many online threats nowadays that we all require some form of protection whenever we are online. At this point, online security is a no-brainer and this is where VPNs come in handy.
VPNs provide security by encrypting all your online traffic and passing it through an encrypted tunnel which is virtually impregnable.
This creates a secure network and makes it impossible for hackers and other online threats from accessing your information and data.
A VPN that is good for security should have strong and foolproof security features and protocols, as well as other security protocols. These work hand in hand to protect users’ data from online threats.
A VPN service provider’s foremost important role should always be to ensure the security of users’ information.
Having a VPN service that is no good when it comes to online security defeats the purpose of getting the VPN in the first place.
In this category, both VPN services have OpenVPN and AES-256 encryption protocols. They also offer DNS/IP leak protection and a Killswitch feature.
NordVPN, however, takes things a step further. It has DoubleVPN, Onion over VPN, CyberSec, and Obfuscated servers.
So NordVPN has more security features than Astrill VPN, it gets the win in this category.
| Security feature | NordVPN | Astrill VPN |
| OpenVPN | Yes | Yes |
| AES-256 encryption | Yes | Yes |
| DNS/IP leak protection | Yes | Yes |
| Killswitch | Yes | Yes |
| Onion over VPN | Yes | No |
| DoubleVPN | Yes | No |
| CyberSec | Yes | No |
| Obfuscated servers | Yes | No |
5. Logging policies, Privacy, and Jurisdiction.
For most people, anonymity, and privacy while on the internet is an important factor.
There are so many online threats and spies lurking on the internet so it’s understandable why so many people are concerned for their privacy.
It’s common knowledge that using the internet without proper protection can expose a person to privacy breaches by third parties like spying agencies, hackers, and government agencies.
This situation has brought about a necessity for VPNs which play a huge role in ensuring all your online activities and personal information remains private.
So if you desire to maintain and safeguard your privacy whenever you are online, a VPN is the way to go.
But not all VPNs are a good fit for privacy. Some have terrible privacy policies.
A VPN service’s logging policies determine whether it tracks, monitors, collects, or stores users’ data.
This, therefore, means that the privacy of users is directly linked to a VPN service’s logging policies. An ideal VPN for privacy will have a verified no-logs policy.
Jurisdiction also plays a role in privacy. The jurisdiction under which a VPN falls determines whether it’s legally required to keep laws.
Those in the 5 Eyes (Australia, U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and the UK) and under the EU jurisdiction are legally required to keep user logs.
An ideal VPN for privacy will, therefore, be based in a country outside of these jurisdictions.
NordVPN is located in Panama which is outside of the above jurisdictions. It also has a proven no-logs policy, having been audited several times. For this reason, NordVPN is a good choice for privacy.
Astrill VPN is based in Seychelles which is also a suitable jurisdiction. The only issue is that its no-logs policy has never been proven nor the company audited to verify this.
So in this category, NordVPN is the clear winner.
| NordVPN | Astrill VPN | |
| Verified no-logs policy | Yes | No |
| Jurisdiction | Panama | Seychelles |
6. Streaming
This is a popular pastime for most people nowadays. Without VPN protection, streaming has become quite a risky activity.
Most streaming services geo-restrict their content to certain areas making it impossible to access certain libraries when you aren’t in these locations.
VPNs encrypt all your traffic whenever you’re streaming. They also unblock geo-restricted content and therefore give you access to the libraries of streaming services.
The best VPN in this category should have fast speeds, excellent security, and great unblocking capabilities.
NordVPN can unblock a lot of streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Showtime, and more.
Astrill VPN can unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and HBO.
NordVPN is the clear winner in this category since it can unblock more streaming services. It also has faster speeds that support streaming without buffering.
It also has some of the best security protocols to protect users’ whenever they are online.
| Streaming service | NordVPN | Astrill |
| Netflix | Yes | Yes |
| BBC iPlayer | Yes | Yes |
| HBO | Yes | Yes |
| Disney+ | Yes | No |
| Hulu | Yes | No |
| Showtime | Yes | No |
7. Torrenting
Torrenting and P2P file-sharing have become quite popular activities for most people online. But to be honest it’s quite a risky activity.
When torrenting your IP address is usually visible to anyone connected to the network. This means that hackers and other cybercriminals can launch an attack against you.
The files shared and downloaded through torrenting are usually large and as such excellent speeds are a necessity.
A good VPN for streaming services will have excellent speeds that can download and share large files. It will also have servers that are dedicated to torrenting.
Good privacy policies are also essential to protect people in cases of copyright infringement.
NordVPN is a good choice for torrenting. Like we’ve already discussed, it has great security features and excellent speeds. In addition to these, it has dedicated P2P servers that support torrenting.
Astrill VPN has slower speeds, fewer security features, and lacks dedicated P2P servers for torrenting.
So NordVPN is still the winner in this category.
| NordVPN | Astrill VPN | |
| Dedicated P2P servers | Yes | No |
All in all, NordVPN is a better service than Astrill VPN. It outperforms and outmatches Astrill VPN as we’ve seen above. So our pick for the best VPN is NordVPN.
