Censorship Monitor · VPNs & privacy toolsLast test
Where is NordVPN blocked?
VPN provider’s website · nordvpn.com
Russia announced a block on NordVPN in 2021, and China and Iran were blocking its website in 2026. NordVPN itself left the Russian market and, in 2022, decided to stop keeping servers in India over a data law.
Every day we open NordVPN from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
4 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of NordVPN
Blocked in China, Iran, the UAE and Russia. NordVPN itself turns away visitors from Belarus. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open nordvpn.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means NordVPN itself refused visitors from that country.
* First observed on this date: the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where NordVPN is restricted, and why
In March 2019 Roskomnadzor told NordVPN and nine other VPN services to connect to the state system that holds Russia’s list of banned websites, giving each a month to reply. NordVPN pulled its servers out of Russia that year, and in September 2021 Roskomnadzor announced it was blocking six more VPN services, NordVPN among them.
In July 2024 Apple removed NordVPN’s app from its Russian App Store, one of 25 VPN apps taken down at Roskomnadzor’s request. NordVPN has also left the Russian market, its own decision rather than a government order: in January 2026 it told TechRadar that it doesn’t operate in Russia and has “no plans to return under the present circumstances”.
China’s telecoms ministry banned unlicensed VPNs in 2017, and a new crackdown on VPN services began in April 2026; independent tests from inside China found nordvpn.com blocked in October 2026. In Iran, where the Supreme Council of Cyberspace banned unlicensed VPNs in February 2024, tests in September and October 2026 found a block page served in place of nordvpn.com.
NordVPN’s retreat from India was also its own choice. After CERT-In ordered VPN providers in April 2022 to keep customers’ names, IP addresses and other details for five years, NordVPN said it could no longer keep servers in India. TechCrunch reported in January 2025 that NordVPN still served Indian customers, though it had stopped marketing its apps there.
Key dates
NordVPN tells TechRadar it doesn’t operate in Russia and has no plans to return under the present circumstances.
Apple removes NordVPN from its Russian App Store, one of 25 VPN apps taken down at Roskomnadzor’s request.
NordVPN says it can no longer keep servers in India after CERT-In orders VPN providers to store customer data for five years.
Roskomnadzor announces blocks on six more VPN services, NordVPN among them.
Roskomnadzor gives NordVPN and nine other VPN services a month to connect to Russia’s registry of banned websites.
Get past a block
NordVPN blocked where you are?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a local block on NordVPN no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
NordVPN
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Obfuscated servers for networks that block VPNs
Connects you through a server in another country
Encrypts what your internet provider could otherwise see
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Russia has restricted it since 2021: Roskomnadzor announced a block on NordVPN in September 2021, two years after the company pulled its servers out of Russia, and Apple removed its app from the Russian App Store in July 2024. NordVPN says it no longer operates in Russia.
Why Is NordVPN’s Website Blocked in China?
China bars VPN services without government approval: its telecoms ministry banned unlicensed VPNs in 2017, and Freedom House says illegal VPN operations are increasingly targeted for closure or blocking. Independent tests from inside China found nordvpn.com blocked in October 2026.
Is NordVPN Banned in India?
No. NordVPN chose to stop keeping servers in India in 2022 rather than store customer data for five years under CERT-In’s rules, and TechCrunch reported in January 2025 that it still served Indian customers, though it had stopped marketing its apps in India.
