You can’t go wrong if you choose Astrill VPN or NordVPN. We’re talking about two distinguished VPNs, both with a wealth of advanced features, apps for all devices, and robust security. Best of all, they’re all-arounders, meaning they compromise on very few things.
In our Astrill VPN vs. NordVPN comparison, we found both capable of streaming, torrenting, and even overcoming censorship in China, where the former particularly excels. NordVPN is more modern, with a larger server fleet, more simultaneous connections, and cheaper subscription plans. Today’s review features eight tests, but in the end, only one can emerge victorious.
Having tested NordVPN and Astrill VPN beforehand, we’re ready to share our results. We strongly recommend reading carefully to catch all the details. Astrill VPN is significantly pricier, but as you’ll see, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the better or more capable VPN overall. Read on.
Astrill VPN vs NordVPN: All You Need To Know
To cut it short for those impatient, NordVPN is better in all major aspects but Astrill VPN is superior if you need a reliable VPN for China. We recommend the former, plus, it’s way more affordable and superior for speeds, streaming, privacy, compatibility, server variety, etc.
Let’s swiftly compare them in a table and then move on to a more intricate comparison.
| Astrill VPN | NordVPN | |
| Our Current Ranking 📋 | TBD | #1 |
| Prices 🤑 | Starts at $12.50/mo | Starts at $3.39/mo |
| Money-Back Guarantee 🪙 | No | 30 days |
| Free Version/Free Trial 🆓 | No | No/7 days (Android sign-up) |
| Logging/Jurisdiction 🕵️ | No/Seychelles | No/Panama |
| Protocols 🌐 | OpenWeb, StealthVPN, WireGuard, OpenVPN | NordLynx, OpenVPN, IKEv2 |
| Servers 🏠 | 300+ in 56+ countries | 7,300+ in 117+ countries |
| RAM-Only Servers 🛡️ | Yes | Yes |
| Specialty Servers ✅ | VIP Add-ons, Private IPs | Double VPN, Torrenting, Onion over VPN, Obfuscated, Dedicated IP |
| Working With Netflix 📺 | Yes | Yes |
| P2P Allowance ↔️ | Yes | Yes |
| Simultaneous Connections 📟 | 5 | 10 |
Applications & Ease of Use
We’ll kick off the duel with compatibility and ease of use, where NordVPN will habitually win. After examining both, we found that Astrill VPN lacks native apps for Firestick and Apple TV. NordVPN offers native clients instead, both downloadable from the respective app stores.
You can install Astrill VPN on Firestick but via the Downloader, which essentially “sideloads” the app. Other than that, both VPNs support all desktop and mobile platforms to which we’ll add router support for advanced users (read more about our favorite router VPNs here).
NordVPN allows for 10, while Astrill VPN provides for only 5 simultaneous connections.
The latter is also very outdated and clunky interface-wise. Its desktop apps are insultingly cluttered and very difficult to get used to. You get this tiny window with a prominent connection button. It’s like trying to fit an elephant into a fridge – very annoying.
Astrill VPN’s mobile apps are a tad better but still dated and lack the freshness of NordVPN.
NordVPN’s apps scream modernity while simultaneously providing exceptional usability. Its apps have this nice world map, which you can use to connect to the server. If not, you can click once on the location from the server list and connect within a few seconds.
In our NordVPN test, we also praised its iOS and Android apps with nearly the same features and level of polish. It’s a shame that NordVPN lacks a Linux GUI but so does Astrill VPN whose GUI on all other platforms is one of our least favorite. So, who wins the round?
Based on more simultaneous connections, superior ease of use, and better compatibility, NordVPN will naturally win this round by a long shot.
Astrill VPN vs NordVPN Price Comparison
By far the most controversial aspect of Astrill VPN is the price. If you compare it to all other VPNs, you’ll notice just how pricey it is. To give you a better overview, we’ll put a screenshot below, which displays Astrill VPN’s ludicrous pricing. It starts at $12.50/mo for 2 years.
Bear in mind that the 2-year plan is paid upfront, so right away, you’re parting with $300. The good news is the renewal price is the same, so it’s $300 biennially. We then have the 1-year plan at $15/mo or $180 annually, and finally, a monthly plan at a whopping $30.
At this price, you’d think Astrill VPN offers everything but there’s more.
A private IP is $5/mo per IP address, while a VPN add-on starts at $10/mo, with 100 GB to 1 TB of traffic. VIP add-ons are speed-optimized servers with reduced latency in Asia, with the addition of MultiHop for added privacy. A private IP is, however, a dedicated IP address.
NordVPN is up next and as we see, this is a more realistic representation of typical VPN prices. NordVPN starts at just around $3.40/mo and goes up to $8.40 for the Prime plan but this time, you get everything that the VPN offers plus additional non-VPN tools.
They include NordPass, NordLocker, and NordProtect, depending on the chosen plan. All NordVPN plans are discounted by 70% and more, and even its annual plans, which are displayed below, have noticeable discounts for new users. We need to point out this as well.
Namely, NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee for ALL plans. Even if you pick a monthly plan, you have 30 days to be refunded if you don’t like the VPN. Astrill VPN doesn’t have a money-back guarantee and it doesn’t offer a free trial, so you can’t test it.
So, What’s the Takeaway?
This blatant behavior of Astrill VPN screams arrogance. If you’re spending this much, at least you should be able to “test-drive” it. Having everything in mind, Astrill VPN offers a less user-friendly environment and without a doubt, costs multiple times more than NordVPN.
With NordVPN, you even get a 7-day free trial via Android devices, which you can then use on all other devices. Paired with discounted prices and lots of built-in features for the money, we can only conclude that NordVPN undoubtedly wins the pricing round.
Get the Lowest Price on NordVPN
NordVPN vs Astrill VPN: Features Analysis
Whether you choose Astrill VPN or NordVPN, you’ll be amazed at the number of features. Both are very secure, with plenty of protocols, no IP/DNS leaks, and other more-than-essential tools. So let’s dive deeper and see precisely what they bring to the table.
Shared Features
NordVPN and Astrill VPN share a significant number of features, such as:
- 256-bit AES encryption
- Split tunneling
- Automatic VPN kill switch
- Ad-blocking
- OpenVPN protocol
- MultiHop (Double VPN)
The first few features work virtually the same in both VPNs – we all know how a kill switch works. It disables your internet if the VPN connection breaks. In our tests, both worked smoothly and reacted promptly to our intentional VPN connection interruption.
Split tunneling is identical in both, allowing you to exclude certain apps from the VPN tunnel or include specific applications that will be protected by a VPN. Now, ad-blocking in Astrill VPN is… well, ad-blocking, which, again, works fairly well but not better than NordVPN.
NordVPN offers Threat Protection Pro, which incorporates ad blocking, malware protection, and tracker blocking in real time. Threat Protection Pro is way more efficient but it’s unavailable in the Basic plan, which can be disappointing. What about MultiHop?
We’ve seen it in PIA VPN in our review, so it’s nothing new (that rhymes, even).
Well, Astrill VPN likes to think it’s new stuff, so it locks it to its VIP add-on servers, which endorse MultiHop for “increased anonymity”. NordVPN at least includes its Double VPN servers in all plans, so you can double your encryption and stay anonymous at any moment.
Unique Features
We haven’t mentioned features like Perfect Forward Secrecy, Private DNS, and RAM-only servers because they’re a staple of flagship-level VPNs. No doubt, Astrill VPN and NordVPN have them and we’re extremely thankful for that because they boost online security.
However, we still found some differences in our NordVPN vs Astrill VPN comparison.
Protocol Options
For example, Astrill VPN offers more protocols than NordVPN. NordVPN comes with:
- OpenVPN
- IKEv2
- NordWhisper
- NordLynx
NordLynx is a proprietary WireGuard-powered protocol, which we found better than other in-house solutions, including Hydra and even Lightway in ExpressVPN. NordWhisper is a protocol designed for sidestepping network filtering and does so efficiently in our tests.
Astrill VPN offers:
- OpenWeb
- StealthVPN
- WireGuard
- OpenVPN
Its protocols, except for WireGuard, are usually built to overcome censorship and security. OpenWeb and StealthVPN are Astrill’s proprietary protocols. The former is lightweight and virtually connection-less, so it’s set up easily and is useful for scrambling your VPN traffic to avoid DPI, making your traffic look like an “ordinary” one.
StealthVPN is obfuscation, which ensures undetectability by automatic firewalls. It works in both UDP and TCP modes, uses 256-bit encryption, and is frequently used in China. We’ll see how well both protocols work in China later in this NordVPN vs Astrill VPN duel.
Various Extras
Both Astrill VPN and NordVPN have some unique features that aren’t necessarily security-oriented:
- Meshnet – NordVPN
- Dark Web Monitor – NordVPN
- Smart Mode – Astrill VPN
- VPN Sharing – Astrill VPN
Meshnet allows you to connect up to 60 devices and group them in a network that enables secure file sharing, remote device access, and IP routing. We explained how Meshnet can help you overcome the Netflix password-sharing ban but that’s just one of its many abilities.
It can be used for online gaming parties, accessing other devices, and so much more. Meshnet is part of NordVPN’s app but it’s free and can be used without subscribing to NordVPN. Its Dark Web Monitor is also there to monitor for potential data breaches.
It then informs you if you’re at risk so that you can alter your login credentials.
Smart Mode in Astrill VPN automatically assigns you a VPN IP address suitable for overcoming application blocking and censorship in general. Simply enable it using the button and Astrill will do everything for you. There’s also VPN Sharing, which we found very interesting.
It lets you share the VPN connection with other devices, including those non-VPN friendly. It’s like a VPN hotspot, which “radiates” the VPN network to which you can connect as if it were a router. This is handy for using a VPN on your PS5, Firestick, and other similar devices.
Who Wins?
Whenever it’s hard to pick the winner, we have to go with a tie. Astrill VPN stood its ground against NordVPN and even outperformed it by providing more protocols and a handful of quality-of-life features. Sadly, MultiHop is locked behind a paywall, which is disappointing.
All things considered, we won’t deviate from the initial conclusion, thus, the round is a tie.
Do Astrill VPN and NordVPN Store Logs?
No, they don’t and that can be seen from a mile away.
NordVPN is based in Panama and its rival is in Seychelles. Both are jaw-dropping locations not only aesthetics-wise but in terms of privacy, as well. There’s no 5 Eyes interference here, and because they’re off-shore, privacy laws in these locations are better than ever!
With no government involvement, NordVPN and Astrill VPN have clear zero-log policies with no logs of:
- IP addresses
- DNS requests/queries
- Geolocation data
- Browsing history
- File downloading history
- Connection metadata, etc…
They retain some logs to keep their services “alive” but that’s not really an issue. Things like your email and, perhaps a payment method, are normal because of their importance for your subscription. Simultaneous connections as well, for enforcing the 10 or 5-device limit.
It’s worth noting that Astrill VPN retains information about used traffic to plan network expansions. However, everything this VPN stores is deleted right after the user disconnects or within 30 days, so nothing stays on the server for the long term. Now, let’s discuss audits.
NordVPN has several audits on its no-log policy and infrastructure, in general.
PwC and Deloitte completed a few audits, giving NordVPN leverage over its countless rivals. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for Astrill VPN whose third-party audits are either missing or not mentioned but we suspect the latter is the case. Audits are always mentioned when they’re there!
We’re sure that Astrill VPN is no less privacy-friendly than NordVPN. However, the latter wins the round because its claims are confirmed by third-party security firms.
Take Care of Your Privacy With NordVPN
Which VPN Is Faster: NordVPN or Astrill VPN?
We tested Astrill VPN vs NordVPN multiple times and always ended up impressed with their speed. Not all of their protocols are speed-oriented, so we used NordLynx and WireGuard as pretty much identical options. Also, we tested both VPNs across 3 server locations:
- UK
- US
- Japan
All tests were repeated for 3 days in a row, 3 times a day, ensuring we tested each VPN location 3 times for a total of 9 tests. Important to mention is that our results will display their average speed drops and average speeds, which will be gauged in this comparison.
We can’t proceed without the starting point, which is our location and non-VPN speeds. As you can see, we were in Belgrade and our speeds were roughly 340 Mbps and 20 Mbps for downloads and uploads respectively. Let’s look at the average speed losses first:
| NordVPN | Astrill VPN | |
| Avg. Download Speed Loss | 18% | 36% |
| Avg. Upload Speed Loss | 7% | 52% |
This table shows us that NordVPN is faster than Astrill VPN but the difference isn’t as eye-piercing as you may have expected. Astrill VPN is still a solid performer, which can also be seen in the next table with the concise average download and upload speeds.
| UK (Download/Upload) | US (Download/Upload) | Japan (Download/Upload) | |
| NordVPN | 324.25/18.68 Mbps | 292.75/18.31 Mbps | 223.54/17.85 Mbps |
| Astrill VPN | 294.62/9.83 Mbps | 236.38/12.39 Mbps | 126.75/6.09 Mbps |
Enjoy Fast VPN Connections With NordVPN
Streaming & Torrenting Comparison
After testing TorGuard and NordVPN, we were disappointed by the former’s streaming add-ons. At least Astrill VPN allows P2P and streaming out of the box like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and pretty much all other VPNs on the market. Is it comparable to NordVPN, though?
Streaming Performance
When it comes to streaming, it’s very close. We were actually surprised with the results.
No matter the choice, Astrill VPN or NordVPN, you’ll be able to enjoy more than a few Netflix libraries. Netflix unblocks more – around 20+, while Astrill’s Netflix performance can be “flimsy” with less popular ones. Interestingly, Astrill VPN struggles with BBC occasionally.
However, after a few tweaks and switching between different UK servers, it works well.
NordVPN offers a nifty browser extension with location spoofing, which increases its efficiency. That’s how you can unblock Tubi TV, Pluto TV, and other channels and services abroad. Additionally, there’s Smart DNS to stream content on a plethora of devices.
In general, both providers perform about on par, with NordVPN edging out by a notch.
Torrenting Performance
To punch back, Astrill VPN excels in torrenting speed and security much like NordVPN.
You don’t get dedicated P2P servers but you don’t need them. Just connect to the nearest one, launch the torrent client, and enjoy. NordVPN’s P2P servers are there but after switching between them and “normal” servers, we noticed no stability or speed differences.
While NordVPN has SOCKS5, Astrill VPN includes Port Forwarding, both of which are often employed for P2P.
They’re not privacy features, per se, but they’re great for giving a “nudge” to the performance and ensuring torrenting goes smoothly. Now, we have to declare the winner of our “entertainment” round and that will be NordVPN for the reasons we’ll solidify now.
NordVPN is slightly better at streaming and equally good for torrenting. This tiny advantage justifies the win, even though it’s marginal. A win is a win – you’ll agree!
Server Locations
So far, no VPN has been dethroned but this is the first NordVPN vs Astrill VPN round where we’ll see a major difference. The situation is as follows:
| NordVPN | Astrill VPN | |
| Server Count | 7,300+ | 300+ |
| Server Locations | 118 countries | 56 countries |
| RAM Servers | Yes | Yes |
| 10 Gbps Ports | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated IPs | Yes | Yes |
The server count is vastly on NordVPN’s side. We always say the number of servers is less important but when the difference is as baffling as this, it is. You get roughly 24 times more servers in NordVPN and about 2 times more countries. The latter is more important.
This instantly grants NordVPN superior server distribution, especially because it implemented virtual servers in specific locations. This means you can easily change your IP to India, Bolivia, Armenia, the Cayman Islands, and other “exotic” locations unavailable in some VPN services.
While both providers have 10 Gbps server ports and RAM servers, it’s interesting that Astrill VPN has more dedicated IP locations. For example, there are private IPs in Serbia, Turkey, South Korea, Luxembourg, the USA, and a lot more countries we didn’t expect to find.
Astrill VPN’s dedicated IPs are pricier ($5/mo vs $4.19/mo).
NordVPN offers more variety in terms of dedicated servers for Onion Over VPN, Obfuscation, P2P, and Double VPN. Despite the differences and Astrill VPN’s numerous private IPs, the provider can’t compete with NordVPN‘s sheer size which ultimately takes the crown.
Which VPN Is More Efficient at Bypassing Censorship?
Astrill VPN has a noticeable advantage over any other VPN in China.
As mentioned previously, the VPN employs two important protocols for this purpose; StealthVPN and OpenWeb. Having tested both, we were impressed at how reliable they were. Each connection to the VPN was successful, be it with OpenWeb or StealthVPN.
Additionally, speeds and general stability were better than expected. Astrill VPN has these VIP add-ons, which enhance these further. You can enjoy lower ping for gaming and get so-called “prioritized traffic” from 100 GB to 1 TB a month if you pay $10 to $100 monthly.
NordVPN works in China but not as efficiently as Astrill VPN, at least in our tests.
China has strengthened its Great Firewall so in 2026, NordVPN started to fall short occasionally. It works approximately 8 out of 10 times, which is inferior to Astrill VPN’s noteworthy performance. Their performances in other countries are on par.
This means you can use them in Russia, India, Turkey, Iran, and other locations without hassle. Astrill VPN takes the round but NordVPN is probably the second-best provider for overcoming censorship, which is admirable.
Conclusion: Choose NordVPN Over Astrill VPN
Based on our eight tests and the final score, NordVPN is a clear winner.
However, the math alone doesn’t give us a full picture, which is why we implored you beforehand to read the comparison carefully. If you did, you know that Astrill VPN isn’t much worse than NordVPN and is, in fact, on par, if not better in some instances than this provider.
Specifically, Astrill VPN works better in China and has more dedicated IP locations.
On the flip side, NordVPN excels in more important categories, such as affordability, speed, streaming, compatibility, privacy, and server locations. Affordability is the primary aspect here because, for the average Joe, Astrill VPN will be a noticeable investment.
$300 biennially is no small feat – we’ll be honest. Yet, NordVPN, which won all the major rounds, costs 30%+ less in its beefiest, most expensive Prime plan. If you choose the Plus plan as the best value, you’ll spend roughly $100 for 2 years instead of $300 on Astrill.
Having said everything, we think it’s smarter to spend money on NordVPN except if you specifically need a VPN for the Chinese Mainland. In that case, Astrill VPN is better. In 90% of other cases, you’ll enjoy NordVPN more.