- No Logging Policy
- Advanced security
- Up to 6 simultaneous connections
- Works with Netflix
- Server coverage in 140 countries
- Affordable price plans
- Very responsive customer support
- Easy-to-use interface
When I initially started my search for a VPN provider, there weren’t as many options on the market as there are today. However, as much as it is a positive thing that VPNs and their use are on the rise, it’s also somewhat difficult to choose the right service provider.
The market is overcrowded with VPN service, but it’s limited in terms of quality and performance.
Only a handful of VPNs offer superb performance for an affordable price.
It’s not impossible to find a VPN that’s an excellent value for your money, but you need to know where to look.
I understand how challenging and frustrating this process can be, so I want to help you out by comparing two of my favorite VPNs – PureVPN vs. NordVPN.
After using both of them, I concluded that PureVPN and NordVPN are very satisfactory, yet they have their differentiations. That’s why I will go over all of their features, their pros and cons in detail, and hopefully, this will help you make a well-calculated decision.
Let’s begin.
Why I Chose NordVPN and PureVPN?
It’s not very difficult to run into these two names in the VPN industry, as both providers have a built brand and are a popular choice.
At first, I was skeptical about the providers, because it’s easy to make a mistake by just trusting what the company promises to you.
But I decided to give them a go.
What I check for in a VPN to know whether it’s worth my time is the following:
- Privacy policy to see the company’s logs policy;
- Basic and (if any) advanced security features;
- The server count, locations, and their speed;
- The ability to unblock geo-restrictions and to what extent;
- The price.
I always follow this plan to see if the VPN I choose can be used in the long run or not.
Both PureVPN and NordVPN lived up to my expectations. They have their unique traits and peculiarities, but in general, both providers can fit just about anyone’s needs.
So if you want to torrent content, if you are a gamer, a privacy-freak, a passionate Netflix binge-watcher, these two will work for you.
However, to help you decide on one provider, I will now go through every relevant aspect of a VPN and compare both providers with all of their pros and cons.
Features and Comparison
Privacy & Jurisdiction
Let’s start with one of the most significant things in a VPN – its privacy.
Checking the overall privacy of a VPN service provider should include:
- The country’s jurisdiction;
- The VPN’s privacy policy and how much logs they store;
- The option to pay anonymously through cryptocurrency.
NordVPN is based in Panama, a country without stringent rata retention policies, where companies are not obliged to store any logs on you. Therefore, NordVPN keeps no logs that could be used to identify you, making it an ideal option for privacy-conscious users.
To make your experience completely private, NordVPN allows payments in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. That is a nice final touch to their overall privacy.
PureVPN is based in Hong Kong. At first, this might sound like a huge red alert, considering the correlation with China, which happens to be one of the biggest opponents tp VPNs.
However, Hong Kong is actually a decent destination for a VPN company.
It’s outside the 5/9/14-Eyes jurisdiction and has loose regulations on privacy.
Plus, PureVPN manages and hosts its network and hardware, which gives this provider an extra layer of security and privacy, compared to average providers.
According to its privacy policy, PureVPN does not keep any logs, except for the bare minimum needed for a better user experience.
In terms of payment, PureVPN also offers the option for you to pay with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, apart from the usual means of payment.
It seems like both providers are pretty much the same in terms of privacy, although NordVPN is slightly in the lead thanks to its better location.
Winner: NordVPN
Market Popularity
Both providers are prevailing in the VPN market. They have millions of satisfied customers all around the world. However, in recent years, as the company expanded and improved its features and marketing, NordVPN managed to surpass PureVPN.
Now, NordVPN is one of the leaders in the industry.
Back in the day, PureVPN was more popular with users. Nevertheless, despite the downfall of popularity, PureVPN is still a very relevant and trustworthy VPN choice.
Winner: NordVPN
Server Coverage
The server coverage can be a tremendous advantage in a VPN. More servers mean:
- Diverse content;
- Better server speeds;
- Better chances of unblocking geo-restrictions and censored content;
- Access to local content while traveling.
Also, having a comprehensive server list is quite important for people who often stream content, as well as for gamers. Although I think we can all agree that it’s nice to have more options no matter what our primary concern is.
Both NordVPN and PureVPN have excellent server coverage.
However, while NordVPN excels in the number of servers, PureVPN covers a large number of locations around the world.
At the moment, NordVPN covers six continents and 59 countries with a total of 5191 servers.
Most of them are located around Europe and the U.S.
PureVPN has fewer servers, or just above 2,000, but its coverage is excellent.
The provider covers most countries in the world or over 140 of them.
Winner: TIE
Streaming and Torrenting on the Servers
With so many servers, it’s safe to say that both PureVPN and NordVPN are an efficient solution for passionate streamers.
But how effective are they, and can these providers go over some of the most robust firewalls and geo-blocks? That is something that can make or break a VPN, and the good news is that both providers showed promising results when it comes to streaming.
From what I’ve seen in NordVPN vs Tunnelbear comparison too, NordVPN is one of the principal choices for accessing Netflix because the provider has top-notch technology that can circumvent all kinds of geo-blocks. Hence, NordVPN works with streaming services such as Hulu, HBO, Amazon Prime and many more.
I should add that you might run into servers that won’t work, but, more often than not, you won’t have any problems with this.
PureVPN has had difficulties with Netflix in the past, but the provider currently works with most major streaming services including Hulu and HBO.
To circumvent the problem with geo-blocks, you can always get one of PureVPN’s dedicated IP addresses. That will increase your chances of accessing these streaming service providers.
Finally, both NordVPN and PureVPN allow torrenting. You will find this feature on specific servers in countries that allow P2P torrenting.
Winner: NordVPN
What’s The Speed Rate?
Whether you want a VPN for your own online protection or for accessing content on the internet, we can all agree that the speed is essential for the overall experience.
Buffering can be very annoying, and you’d want your connection to be stable at all times.
NordVPN is a fast provider, if not one of the fastest you can find on the market.
You can see that even in more distant locations, the speed won’t drastically decrease, which is a good sign.
PureVPN promises the fastest speeds on the market, but does it really deliver them?
Compared to NordVPN’s nearby server, and the London one, PureVPN does not fall much behind. As a matter of fact, the UK server is faster than the one run by NordVPN.
However, what was really disappointing for me was the result of the UK server. I tried several, and they all seemed to be relatively slow, at least compared to NordVPN.
Winner: NordVPN
Security Features
The principal thing when it comes to security is to check the VPN’s choice of protocols, and its levels of encryption. It’s nice to have options, but keep in mind that some protocols such as the PPTP are outdated and don’t support stronger encryption like AES-256-bit.
PPTP mainly assists users who put the focus on the VPN speed (as PPTP is faster than the other solutions), rather than getting the full security.
NordVPN and PureVPN are both very reliable providers thanks to their extensive list of advanced security VPN solutions.
PureVPN supports many security protocols, including the PPTP. The provider also has advanced VPN protocols such as OpenVPN and Stealth protocol. Its encryption goes up to AES-256-bit, which is the equivalent of military-grade protection, and it’s one of the safest options in the industry.
NordVPN no longer offers the outdated security protocols, and it limits its protocol list to OpenVPN for most devices and IKEv2/IPSec for mobile use. The provider also enables AES-256-bit encryption.
Both PureVPN and NordVPN have additional security features such as their IP leak protection, and the kill switch. However, NordVPN goes one step farther with its advanced technology, including the double encryption, its CyberSec, Onion Over VPN, etc.
Winner: NordVPN
Device Compatibility and Connections
NordVPN and PureVPN are both compatible with most devices including Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. They also enable browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome.
One minor difference between the two is that while PureVPN allows up to five simultaneous connections, NordVPN allows up to six devices.
In both cases if you are not satisfied with how many devices you can use at the same time, there is the option to connect the VPN to your router, and they use NordVPN or PureVPN on as many devices as you want.
Winner: NordVPN
Customer Support
NordVPN has excellent customer support. I must admit, however, that they sometimes can be a bit less straightforward, but they always get the job done.
You can either contact them through the live chat button on their website or through email support. For quick info, you can also check their extensive knowledge base, their excellent tutorials, and installation guides.
PureVPN offers a live chat, although I’ve experienced issues with it in the past when the chat window would not load.
However, they also have a quick ticketing system that can be really helpful for advanced issues, and an excellent knowledge base, guides, and tutorials that can help you with some more common problems.
Winner: TIE
Price Comparison
I have already mentioned in my previous NordVPN vs CyberGhost comparison, NordVPN stands as one of the most cost-effective solutions on the market.
However, PureVPN goes even further with economical prices that even those on a tight budget can afford.
It’s impressive how much you will get for less than $70 on PureVPN’s longer subscriptions.
What I didn’t like in both providers is that they don’t offer any type of free trial or free plan.
So if you want to check out one of the providers, you will have to really on their return policies in case they don’t fit your needs.
Then again, it’s worth mentioning that NordVPN used to have a free trial, but the provider removed this as an option after users took an advantage of this to use the provider for free.
Overall, I am really content with the prices of both PureVPN and NordVPN, although we have a clear winner here.
Winner: PureVPN
Read Also: PureVPN vs PIA
Overall User Experience
I like both NordVPN and PureVPN because they have many features and they are all nicely included in their VPN clients. NordVPN, however, is neatly organized and much more simplistic compared to PureVPN.
You can either choose one of NordVPN’s servers from the list or on the map.
As you can see, there is also the option to choose one dedicated IP, P2P servers, as well as to activate Onion Over VPN.
You also have the Settings button in the upper right corner, where you can find important things such as the security settings, the obfuscated servers, the kill switch, etc.
PureVPN is a bit crowded, but nonetheless, it’s still fairly easy to use.
What I really is how they separate the types of VPN uses, and allow you to choose the mode that is currently your priority, such as streaming, P2P or security.
When you choose, for example, the streaming mode, you also get a list of servers together with a list of popular websites that PureVPN can help you access.
Similar to NordVPN, PureVPN also has the Settings Button in the upper right corner on the interface, but it’s not as well organized. Nonetheless, the menu has all of the necessary basic and advanced settings.
Winner: NordVPN
FAQ
Which Provider Is Faster?
Since both VPN providers are quite fast, it’s difficult to choose a winner. However, based on the speed test results, NordVPN performs better on more distant locations. Still, PureVPN doesn’t fall much behind, making both VPNs a great option.
Which Provider Is Cheaper?
Although both NordVPN and Pure VPN are quite affordable, PureVPN is the cheaper between the two. It’s an excellent choice if you are on a tight budget.
Is PureVPN Reliable?
PureVPN is a reliable VPN choice. It ranks well in almost all criteria, including privacy and security. Also, you will get excellent server speeds and a reliable connection.
Is NordVPN Better Than PureVPN?
Both providers have their pros and cons. However, NordVPN’s slightly in the lead over PureVPN thanks to its faster server speeds, advanced security, and streaming properties.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as I believe you’d agree with me, both VPNs are an excellent value for the money.
I think that no matter which one you’ll choose, you won’t make a mistake.
However, if you want complete privacy and security, NordVPN would be the better of the two.
On the other hand, if you want excellent performance for very economical prices, then you already know to choose PureVPN.
The final decision is up to you, but make it your priority to always stay safe while browsing the internet.
