3 Best NordVPN Alternatives in 2024
We rounded up three VPNs that give NordVPN a run for its money. Surfshark, Private Internet Access, and CyberGhost made the list.
Last Updated on Jul 15, 2024
There’s little doubt that NordVPN is the overall best VPN, but it’s not the best at everything. Rather, it’s an awesome general-purpose VPN that works for most use cases without specializing. That means other VPNs can beat it in specific categories. Some NordVPN servers, for example, do not support torrenting.
In this article, we’ll look at niche use cases to find the right NordVPN alternative for you based on your needs. But first, we’ll give you an overview of how NordVPN and all three alternatives compare. Let’s get started!
Comparison of the Best NordVPN Alternatives
| System |
Surfshark
|
Private Internet Access VPN
|
CyberGhost
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| Ratings | 9.5/10 | 9.4/10 | 8.9/10 |
| Server count | 3,200+ | 35,000 | 11,700 |
| Server locations | 100 | 91 | 100 |
| Price | Starting at $2.19 per month | Starting at $1.98 per month | Starting at $2.03 per month |
| Read Review | Surfshark Review | Private Internet Access VPN Review | CyberGhost Review |
Best NordVPN Alternatives
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1. Surfshark
Product Specs
Multi-hop Yes Camouflage Mode Yes Kill switch Yes Split Tunneling Yes Netflix Yes Torrenting Yes 
Why Choose Surfshark Over NordVPN?
Like NordVPN, Surfshark also offers multiple tiers that bundle additional digital security products, such as malware protection, with its VPN. They even share a few tools. Surfshark created Incogni, and now NordVPN offers it as an add-on service. But it doesn’t come with all NordVPN plans. Surfshark includes it in One+.
When testing Surfshark’s antivirus software, we liked it more than the malware detection that comes with NordVPN Plus. The Surfshark antivirus is an actual antivirus software that can scan your computer for malware. NordVPN’s malware detection only looks at sites you visit and files you download. Surfshark, however, does not offer identity theft coverage with any of its plans.
Pricing
For most users, Surfshark’s price is one of its selling points. When you pay for a year or more up front, its prices beat NordVPN. But if you want to pay for only a month at a time, Surfshark gets expensive. It goes from one of the most affordable to one of the most expensive services.
Here’s an overview of Surfshark’s pricing:
Surfshark Starter Surfshark One Surfshark One+ 1 month $15.45 $15.95 $17.95 12 months + 3 months free $2.79 $3.19 $5.09 24 months + 3 months free $2.19 $2.69 $4.29 Surfshark Starter comes with Surfshark’s VPN. Surfshark One adds its antivirus software and a few other digital protections, such as webcam protection and email breach alerts. The premium One+ plan adds Incogni. We think the price increase is worth it, but find out if it’s right for you by reading our Incogni review.
Device Limit
When looking only at its VPN, Surfshark supports unlimited devices. There are no bandwidth limits, so that’s true support for unlimited devices. Some providers try to hide behind a bandwidth limit, making it hard to leverage their unlimited-device offers. We never ran into that while using Surfshark.
FYI: A bandwidth limit on a VPN sets how much data you can use. Online activities use that bandwidth. If you stream a movie, for instance, expect to use several GB of your bandwidth limit. They’re most common for free VPNs, so we recommend avoiding the limits entirely with a quality paid VPN.
The antivirus, however, has a device limit of five. We thought it should be higher. If you bought Surfshark for you and your significant other, that could already hit six devices if each of you has one computer, one tablet, and one phone. You’d need to decide who gets protection for what. All the best antivirus software has device limits, though, so it didn’t surprise us.
Torrenting and Streaming
During our hands-on test with Surfshark, we got to unlock our Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and ESPN+ subscriptions to new geographic regions. That means we got to watch dramas available only on France’s Netflix and keep up with our hometown football team even though we moved away three years ago. All of Surfshark’s servers also support torrenting, so it’s great for that too.
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2. Private Internet Access VPN
Product Specs
Multihop Yes Camouflage Mode No Kill switch Yes Split Tunneling Yes Netflix Yes Torrenting Yes 
Why Choose Private Internet Access Over NordVPN?
If you’re like us, you’ve felt your budget getting a bit tighter over the years. That’s why we appreciated that Private Internet Access gave us a way to bring our VPN cost down to less than $2 per month. Best of all? It keeps its prices that low despite having more servers than any VPN we’ve tested. It sits at over 35,000 servers, which dwarfs NordVPN’s 6,300 servers. If you’re trying to keep your costs low, Private Internet Access gives you a way to do it.
Pricing
Private Internet Access lets you bring your VPN price down to less than $2 per month, but we had to sign up for three years to get that price. That means an up-front payment of $79 to get three years of service. Not too bad if you ask us, but we can see how that up-front payment could make some people nervous. Here are all of Private Internet Access’ plans, if you’re looking for an alternative.
Subscription length Price 1 month $11.95 12 months $39.96 ($3.33 per month) 36 months + 4 months free $79 ($1.98 per month) One thing that may make a long-term commitment a bit less scary is the 30-day money-back guarantee.
Device Limit
Private Internet Access is another VPN that supports unlimited devices and unlimited bandwidth. You can use your VPN to your heart’s content. For reference, NordVPN sets a 10-device limit. It offers only a VPN, though, so there aren’t any other pieces of software it could put a device limit on like with Surfshark.
Torrenting and Streaming
Private Internet Access has more servers than any other VPN we’ve tested, but it doesn’t have servers in as many locations. It has them in 91 countries, compared to NordVPN’s 111 countries. That’s not much, but if a show or movie you want to watch is geo-restricted to one of those 20 countries, you won’t be able to stream it with Private Internet Access.
Did You Know: Torrenting is not illegal in the U.S. even though many frown upon it. We’re always concerned our ISP will throttle our connection if we torrent too many files, though, which is why we use a VPN for torrenting.
That said, it has a server in each of the 50 U.S. states, so you won’t have any trouble watching U.S. shows and movies while abroad. Also, all of Private Internet Access’ servers support torrenting. It’s a give and take.
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3. CyberGhost
Product Specs
Multihop Yes Camouflage Mode No Kill switch Yes Split Tunneling Yes Netflix Yes Torrenting Yes 
Why Choose CyberGhost Over NordVPN?
Remember how we said NordVPN struggles with torrenting? Some of its servers don’t support torrenting, and there wasn’t an easy way to automatically connect to servers that supported it. That’s CyberGhost’s specialty. All of its servers support torrenting, and some are optimized for it. You can easily select those optimized servers, giving them faster speeds for peer-to-peer connections (the ones you use to download torrents).
Pricing
Building off its price for a dedicated IP address, CyberGhost’s VPN subscriptions are relatively low across the board. We don’t get into sub-$2 territory like with Private Internet Access, but we get close at $2.03 per month — and that’s with a two-year subscription instead of three.
Here’s what CyberGhost’s pricing looks like.
Subscription length Price 1 month $12.99 6 months $41.94 ($6.99 per month) 24 months + 4 months free $56.94 ($2.03 per month) Since the two-year plan costs only $15 more than the six-month plan, we don’t see too much of a point in it. We would have preferred a one-year plan at $3.33 like we got with Private Internet Access, but CyberGhost’s prices are still competitive for monthly and two-year plans.
Device Limit
This is where CyberGhost falls short. We already complained about NordVPN’s 10-device limit. CyberGhost makes things worse with a seven-device limit. We struggled to work with that limit on our own. If we were trying to get a VPN to cover our whole family, we’d run into the device limit regularly.
Torrenting and Streaming
CyberGhost checked our boxes for streaming. It worked on all our favorite platforms, such as Netflix and Hulu, as well as servers in 100 countries, so we could get around any geo-restrictions during our tests.
Where CyberGhost stood out was with torrenting. Its optimized servers made a difference in our download speeds. Even though we couldn’t turn off the kill switch to ensure a continuous download, we appreciated the extra layer of security. It ensured we didn’t accidentally start a torrent without our kill switch enabled, which could cause our IP address to leak as associated with torrenting.
Bottom Line
As we said from the start, we think NordVPN is the best VPN overall. If you want a multipurpose VPN that works sufficiently for everything from streaming to keeping your privacy secure, NordVPN is a great choice. If you’re getting a VPN for a specific purpose, though, there may be better options.
We think Surfshark is the smarter choice if you want all your digital security tools bundled into a single subscription. Its antivirus is surprisingly good for a VPN company. Private Internet Access is great if you’re on a budget, with its sub-$2 plans. If you’re getting a VPN for torrenting, CyberGhost’s optimized servers are hard to beat.
FAQs About NordVPN Alternatives
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What’s the best NordVPN alternative?
Our favorite NordVPN alternative depends on what you want to use your VPN for. If you’re using a VPN for digital security, we prefer Surfshark’s suite of digital security tools. For an affordable alternative, go with Private Internet Access. If you want to torrent, we like CyberGhost.
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Is NordVPN the best VPN?
Overall, we think NordVPN beats every other VPN on the market, but there are niches where other VPNs excel.
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Can I use NordVPN for torrenting?
You can use NordVPN for torrenting, but we recommend CyberGhost. It optimized some of its servers specifically for torrenting to give you faster speeds.
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Are there free alternatives to NordVPN?
If you’re looking for a long-term free alternative to NordVPN, we recommend Hotspot Shield. Check out our list of the best free VPNs for more options. We think paid VPNs are well worth the subscription price, though, for added features and flexibility.
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Can I stream using NordVPN?
Yes, streaming on NordVPN worked well for us. We successfully streamed movies from Netflix and Hulu while connected to NordVPN.