More and more users are choosing to download VPNs to protect their online anonymity and gain access to geo-restricted content and websites; but out of NordVPN vs CyberGhost, which is the best VPN?
NordVPN and CyberGhost are two of the most popular VPNs on the market and are two VPNs that tick almost every box in terms of security and additional features. But which one is right for you? We’ve gathered the information you need to know below.
CyberGhost is one of the most popular VPN providers on the market thanks to its impressive network of over 7,200 servers across 90 countries, as well as its user-friendly security features.
CyberGhost offers a range of advanced security features and an excellent server network. CyberGhost excels when it comes to the basics of a VPN. The large CyberGhost server base means that you will never be stuck for choice when looking for a streaming, gaming, or torrenting server. Also, thanks to the extensive CyberGhost network, no single server will ever become congested or overwhelmed by too many users at once.
CyberGhost offers a range of built-in security features on all apps, including a kill-switch, ad-blocker, IP and DNS leak protection, and Double VPN encryption software to encrypt your data traffic twice rather than just once.
CyberGhost is an excellent choice for streaming fans, too, thanks to its excellent unblocking capabilities. The provider easily overcomes geo-blocks on streaming sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.
A subscription with CyberGhost comes with 7 simultaneous connections, which is more than most VPN providers offer and sufficient for a typical VPN user. The app is compatible with various devices and operating systems, including macOS, iOS, and Android.
NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN providers on the market, thanks to its state-of-the-art service and excellent user experience.
NordVPN is consistently investing and improving its product and has recently launched its own proprietary NordLynx protocol, which promises faster and more reliable speeds than ever.
NordVPN is based in Panama, a country that enjoys relaxed data privacy laws. The company offers an excellent no-logs policy which means that it never stores, misuses, or sells private user information.
The VPN is great if you are looking to gain access to geo-restricted streaming content on sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and more. NordVPN reliably gains access to a host of Netflix sites. However, BBC iPlayer does require a workaround. The VPN provider’s SmartDNS technology enables you to access streaming sites on devices that do not typically support a VPN connection, such as a smart TV or gaming console.
A single subscription plan with NordVPN comes with 6 simultaneous connections, and there are apps compatible with Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, Chrome, and Firefox.
When it comes to user-friendly features, both CyberGhost and NordVPN offer many. With NordVPN, users have access to over 5,300 servers; with CyberGhost, there are more than 7,200 servers. NordVPN’s server network spans over 80 locations, while CyberGhost’s is slightly bigger, with more than 110 locations worldwide.
Price is one of the most important factors when comparing VPN services, so it makes sense to compare CyberGhost and NordVPN based on the subscription options.
If you sign up to CyberGhost on a desktop, you will receive a meager 24-hour free trial that comes with only limited features. On the CyberGhost iOS app, you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial, but you will have to sign up for an account with your email address and password. However, on Android, you can get a 7-day free trial without the need to sign up, which is likely the best option as long as you have an Android device.
A 45-day refund policy accompanies all plans.
There is a 30-day guarantee on all plans to allow you to decide whether the product is right for you. You won’t be charged if you decide to cancel before the month is up.
Privacy is another important thing to take into consideration when choosing a VPN provider. Both CyberGhost and NordVPN operate on AES-256 bit encryption as standard and offer an integrated kill switch to protect your data if the VPN connection fails for any reason.
When it comes to user privacy and security, NordVPN is one of the best providers in the industry. It uses Perfect Forward Secrecy technology which ensures the encryption and decryption keys are altered upon login and every hour after that. This means that even if a VPN session became compromised, the attacker would only gain access for an hour.
You can activate Onion over VPN, which will reroute your web traffic data through the encrypted Tor network. This will result in a significant speed reduction, but you will gain complete privacy and anonymity online. There is Double VPN technology too, which will encrypt your data twice by rerouting it through two different VPN servers rather than just one.
Also, in locations where the use of VPNs is restricted, NordVPN offers a range of obfuscated servers that will mask the fact that you are using a VPN service. This may also help you to gain access to geo-restricted content on streaming sites such as Netflix.
CyberGhost offers secure protocols like OpenVPN and L2TP for a safe VPN connection. As well as this, it provides users access to the NoSpy server network, which allows them to send their internet traffic via secure servers in Romania for extra privacy.
A VPN provider should offer a no-logging policy to reassure users that it does not store private, identifying information.
CyberGhost offers a no-logging policy and is based in Romania, a country free from data retention laws that may compromise user privacy. Both Romania and Panama are renowned for their powerful support of user privacy, and neither is part of the 5-Eyes or 14-Eyes agreements.
The VPN provider also offers a transparent no-logging policy. It is reassuring to know that the provider does not collect private user information or sell it to third parties for profit. The company states that it does not monitor or record user browsing history, websites accessed, data transmitted, or search history. It also does not collect user IP addresses, VPN connection timestamps, or bandwidth used.
However, it is disappointing that CyberGhost has not yet undergone an independent audit of its policy and software. Although we trust the company’s privacy claims, we would like to see them evidenced by a complete security audit. CyberGhost does offer a Transparency Report, which is somewhat reassuring, but we would like to see this combined with an audit.
Like CyberGhost, NordVPN operates a strict no-logging policy and claims not to store users’ online activity records. NordVPN states that user activity is not monitored, recorded, logged, stored, or sold to any third party. The company does not store VPN connection timestamps, bandwidth used, data traffic logs, IP addresses, or online browsing data. Nor does the provider store VPN session logs, unlike many other VPNs.
However, unlike CyberGhost, NordVPN has completed an independent audit of its policies and services. The audit was completed by a renowned security company PricewaterhouseCooper and served to back up NordVPN’s no-logging claims, which is reassuring.
The streaming compatibility of VPN providers is becoming increasingly important as more and more users are installing VPNs to access geo-restricted television shows and movies on streaming sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, iPlayer, Hulu Disney+, and more.
NordVPN does not openly state its support for any particular streaming services on its website; however, it is successful at accessing content on most popular sites. NordVPN performs well under speed tests, too, meaning that you will be able to watch your favorite shows in high definition, without lag or buffering.
The NordVPN desktop client was unable to access content on BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video; however, the NordVPN browser extensions were successful at unblocking content on both services and Netflix. NordVPN unlocked Netflix reliably on all of its servers despite the site’s powerful VPN blocking technology. It accesses YouTube and Disney+ with ease too.
CyberGhost offers handy server filters based on their compatibility with different streaming services and locations. This makes it one of the best VPN providers for accessing geo-restricted streaming content on sites including Netflix, iPlayer, YouTube, Hulu, and more.
Many users choose to sign up for CyberGhost to use its handy filtering system to identify the best servers to unlock the content they want to watch. Cyberghost had no issue unlocking Netflix and was successful at accessing a range of libraries across the world.
The BBC iPlayer is somewhat harder to access with CyberGhost, and the VPN provider’s operating systems struggled to access it. It did, however, enable access to Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ on a range of different servers.
Although CyberGhost is an excellent streaming VPN thanks to its handy filtering system, we would argue that NordVPN is slightly better when unlocking a greater range of sites, including Netflix, iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu. However, if you are not a fan of UK streaming content, CyberGhost is just as good.
VPN products vary significantly when it comes to server connection speeds and overall performance. However, it is important to consider server speed and strength if you want to avoid annoying buffering and lagging when streaming or gaming in high definition.
During a server speed test, NordVPN and CyberGhost provided decent speeds that were sufficient for most online activities. Our test results showed that NordVPN does boast a major advantage when it comes to its US servers, but both providers averaged 170Mbps on their UK server connections during an upload and download speed test.
CyberGhost is designed for streaming fans, and it is thus necessary that its server connection speeds are powerful. On its UK servers, CyberGhost reached speeds of up to 180Mbps, which is impressive, although not as fast as Nord’s NordLynx protocol. In the US, speeds reached 240Mbps, which is more than sufficient for the typical VPN user.
Nord’s NordLynx protocol reached average speeds of up to 350Mbps on both US and UK servers which is much faster than CyberGhost and most other VPNs on the market, for that matter. So, if you are looking for a super-fast VPN provider for streaming, torrenting, or gaming, NordVPN is arguably the best choice.
Many users choose to download a VPN product to secure and anonymize their torrenting and P2P sharing activities. The two VPNs on this list are well suited to torrenting. They both offer DNS leak test protection, AES-256 encryption as standard, high-speed server locations, excellent server coverage, kill switches, and do not keep any logs.
CyberGhost openly declares its support for such activities with a list of torrenting-compatible VPN servers. You can also configure the client to automatically connect to a particular server when you launch a P2P sharing application. Not All of CyberGhost’s servers are optimized for torrenting and P2P sharing due to some locational restrictions.
Once you are connected to one of the provider’s torrenting servers, speeds are impressive. However, we would like to see torrenting support across all of the provider’s servers.
NordVPN claims that it is one of the best VPNs on the market for torrenting activities on its website. There is access to countless torrenting-friendly NordVPN servers across the globe. Although the NordVPN torrenting network may not be as widespread as a VPN that offers unlimited P2P support, it is impressive.
It is easy to find torrenting compatible servers with NordVPN too. Simply go to the NordVPN Server Recommendation page and select P2P under Service Type. NordVPN will redirect your torrenting traffic through private VPN servers located in the Netherlands and Canada.
NordVPN also offers the option to automatically reconnect you to one of the P2P servers if it detects torrenting traffic. This is a useful feature for users worried about forgetting to connect to the VPN whenever you launch a torrenting application.
A good VPN should provide extreme ease of use when it comes to using the desktop client.
The process of installing NordVPN on your desktop is quick and easy. The NordVPN desktop app opens to reveal a large map revealing its VPN server coverage; users can select a server location by simply clicking on the server location map for ease of use.
There is a standard list revealing all of the NordVPN servers in various countries and cities and a range of additional easy-to-use features. Disappointingly, the provider has replaced the previous Favorites system with a Recents list, which is significantly less useful. Server connections are fast, as long as your internet speed is decent and switching between different servers is easy.
CyberGhost’s desktop apps for macOS and Windows are relatively similar, and both offer a simple, easy-to-navigate interface. There is a list of servers, a large Connect button, and an option to filter server coverage.
The provider usefully offers a current load/capacity indicator next to every server, which is useful and offers a quick suggestion of the server that will offer the best speeds. There is a Favorites option and a system tray button that offers quick access to all essential features.
Additional features include a tracker and ad blocker, protection from malicious websites, data compression to enhance performance and reduce traffic, and HTTPS everywhere. Smart Rules is another helpful feature that enables you to choose which server automatically connects when you launch your device or a particular app, such as a torrenting client. You can also configure split tunneling by adding certain sites and applications to a whitelist.
CyberGhost and NordVPN both offer apps for iOS and Android devices. CyberGhost offers a well-designed mobile app, although the NordVPN is more configurable.
Like its desktop versions, NordVPN’s mobile apps display a map-based interface. Auto-connect is available on smartphone apps and enables the VPN to connect whenever you access unknown or unsecured Wi-Fi networks. The whitelist features allow you to choose which apps or websites bypass the VPN connection too. Also, with CyberSec, NordVPN will protect you from malicious ads, malware, and phishing attempts too.
NordVPN offers the option to enable a kill switch through the app if using iOS or through the Settings on Android.
CyberGhost’s iOS and Android clients offer OpenVPN and WireGuard support, which is good to know. On iOS, there are few other options. There is a simple interface with a list of locations and a Favorites system.
The Android app offers a lot more and offers similar powerful features to the desktop client. There is the option to select a random port when connected to the VPN provider, which helps unblock geo-restricted sites such as Netflix that employ strong VPN blocking technology.
There is split tunneling too, which is helpful if you want to ensure one app is protected by the VPN’s encryption while all of your other apps run through your normal ISP connection. There are ad and tracker blockers, too, as well as a data compression feature.
Cyberghost does not offer a kill switch on its mobile devices. Nor does Cyberghost offer the option to choose between VPN protocols, unlike NordVPN, which offers IKEv2/IPsec, and OpenVPN TCP or UDP. So, when comparing Cyberghost and NordVPN based on mobile apps, NordVPN comes out on top thanks to its configurable clients.
The best VPNs offer first-rate customer support to users, and NordVPN and CyberGhost excel in this area. Good customer service ensures that should you run into any issues with the VPN, you’ll be able to solve the problems.
NordVPN and CyberGhost VPN offer excellent customer support. The NordVPN site features a detailed FAQ for ease of use. There is also a live chat for 24/7 assistance as well as an email customer support option.
CyberGhost VPN offers a greater range of support articles on its site; however, they are not as detailed as those offered by NordVPN. It also offers a live chat customer support option, which is useful, and when we tested this, we found the customer service agents extremely helpful.
Hi, I'm Cliff. I'm based in Cleveland, Ohio, with my wife and two kids.
I have a keen interest in cybersecurity and have been writing about it for around a decade now. Due to my background in computer science, I am familiar ...
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