In Feb 2022, Nord Security and Surfshark announced that they were merging. In a blog post, the companies said that both would continue to work as separate companies and VPN infrastructure despite the merger. The food for thought is, “Will this merger impact the privacy and security both VPNs provide? Will they manage to outshine each other, or will they remain at the same levels?” The best way to see which provider stands out is to compare the VPN providers in-depth regarding privacy, security, streaming, and torrenting aspects.

A Comparison of Privacy and Security Features

A VPN’s primary purpose is to maintain your online security and privacy, for which a VPN uses various features. Thus, you must look for the extra features that a VPN offers. The following table highlights the security and privacy-boosting features NordVPN and Surfshark VPN offers.

The above table shows that this category has a close match. Most of the advanced features are found in both VPNs. Both VPN providers have an integrated kill switch that protects from VPN leaks. It allows you to block ads or suspicious web pages and prevents your devices from malware invasion.

Both VPN providers offer Tor compatibility, too, to help users with anonymous browsing. You can use the Onion over VPN feature to use the Tor browser and connect to the dark web. Similarly, if you want to enhance your security, the double VPN feature will do the job for you. However, unlike Surfshark VPN, Nord VPN has more Tor-centric features and servers. Moreover, it has a more extensive selection of double VPN connections, giving it a lead over Surfshark. NordVPN provides a dedicated IP address guaranteeing greater anonymity, but it comes at an additional price. You can access online banking services, stream and download torrents more securely.

NordVPN and Surfshark also offer some extra supported features. Surfshark additional features include Surfshark Alert and Surfshark Search. But, NordVPN’s additional features are much more advanced and consist of a password manager, file encryption software, and a business VPN. These features come with an extra cost but are worth using. Thus, for providing a range of security and privacy features, NordVPN is the winner in this category. 

Privacy

A reliable VPN protects your activities from all online threats and snooping eyes. A VPN avoids monitoring, logging, or sharing your data with agencies or third parties to ensure no one can see your activities. Moreover, it belongs to a country that doesn’t impose harsh data retention laws that violate users’ privacy. In short, to better understand the privacy a VPN might offer, it is best to look into its jurisdiction and the logging policy.

Jurisdiction

Tefincom & Co, S.A., a company in Panama, owns NordVPN. Panama is one of the most secure VPN locations because it doesn’t follow any data retention laws. Also, the country is not subjected to any other regional anti-privacy laws. Moreover, Panama isn’t a member country of the five eyes, nine eyes, and 14 eyes alliance. The VPN company won’t be storing and sharing your data with the intelligence agencies of other countries. 

In contrast, Surfshark VPN has a shady jurisdiction in the Netherlands. Admittedly the VPN provider was initially located within the safe jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands. However, the young company is now undergoing significant corporate development, which also involves changing its headquarters to the Netherlands, which favours better business growth.

Since the Netherlands is a part of the nine-eyes alliance and has local data retention laws, such as the Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act (Dragnet Act), it raises significant privacy concerns. However, Surfshark claims to have looked closely into the matter. According to the VPN provider, the Netherlands offers a friendly and liberal political environment and a legal system, allowing them to continue being a truly no-logs VPN. Moreover, it claims that the GDPR applies to the Netherlands further helps protect data privacy and security.

Logging Policy

Looking into the logging policy helps users determine if the VPN ensures user privacy or not. A VPN’s logging policy also specifies the privacy level. The best VPN is the one that follows a strict no-log policy that’s backed with a log audit report. Otherwise, VPN logging data is the same as ISPs or any other surveillance agency logging user data since the VPN provider might also sell it to third parties. NordVPN and Surfshark VPN are secure VPNs with a strict no-logs policy backed by a log audit report.

According to NordVPN’s privacy policy:

It is evident that NordVPN follows a zero-logging policy. Moreover, it has undergone an independent log audit process twice to prove its stance. The PwC firm audited the VPN’s logging policy after the company’s name was under the radar after one of its servers got hacked. In 2019, VerSprite audited NordVPN’s apps and declared it a private VPN.

Surfshark VPN follows a no-log policy and doesn’t log the users’ IP addresses and browsing data. The privacy policy states that:

Like NordVPN, Surfshark hired Cure53 to audit their log policy. The audit results prove that Surfshark won’t record your activity logs and browsing data. Also, the same company audited its infrastructure but detected no security flaws. Therefore, it is safe to use.

Privacy Verdict

Surfshark and NordVPN follow a no-log policy. However, NordVPN has a safer jurisdiction than Surfshark. Surfshark enjoys a cleaner reputation because it hasn’t been the subject of any hacking incident like NordVPN; however, its jurisdiction is sceptical. But since both VPNs have their log policy audited, they maintain your digital privacy. However, as NordVPN has undergone a more in-depth log and application audit and has a secure jurisdiction, it stays ahead of Surfshark.

Security

Ensuring online security is one of the most critical uses of a VPN. Since online monitoring, data collection, and surveillance have recently become a norm, enabling online security using a secure VPN has become crucial. The best way to gauge a VPN’s security is to look into its encryption methods and tunnelling protocols. 

Encryption

NordVPN and Surfshark use military-grade AES-256-bit encryption that’s uncrackable and makes it impossible for anyone to know about your activities. Besides this, NordVPN also uses a 4096-bit RSA key and SHA-512 hash key, while Surfshark uses 2048-bit RSA. Though it is slightly less, it won’t compromise your online security.

Protocols

NordVPN and Surfshark use similar, secure and fastest VPN protocols. Both service providers support OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols. The IKEv2 boosts speed and is best to use on mobile devices. Likewise, the OpenVPN protocol improves speed and security and works on all supported devices. The only difference is that NordVPN uses the proprietary NordLynx protocol, and Surfshark uses WireGuard. But as NordLynx is built around the WireGuard technology, it won’t make much difference. The only reason these protocols stand out is that Nord has worked on NordLynx to eliminate the security issues present in WireGuard.

Security Verdict

NordVPN and Surfshark are among the most secure VPN providers that use the industry’s highest encryption standards. By using such strong encryption, both VPNs signify that by no means a hacker, ISP, or other prying eyes can see what you’re doing. Moreover, they use advanced tunnelling protocols to boost the security levels further. The only difference is between the authentication keys and the choice of protocols.

As a whole, there’s close competition in this category. But if authentication keys matter to you, NordVPN will lead this category again.

Streaming and Torrenting

Along with ensuring security and privacy online, VPNs help mitigate several issues regarding streaming and torrenting, such as ISP throttling, bypassing geo-restrictions, and maintaining online anonymity. However, not all VPNs are capable enough of this. Many VPNs don’t support torrenting since it often falls under a grey area. Similarly, since Netflix started imposing VPN bans, many VPNs don’t work well on streaming platforms. The best VPN for streaming and torrenting enables fast speeds and security through dedicated servers and various features.

Streaming

NordVPN offers a global server comprising more than 5200 servers in 60 countries. Also, its speed is super-fast, consistent, and without significant lagging. All these factors ensure an excellent streaming performance. With NordVPN, you can unblock streaming content from Amazon Prime, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, and Netflix. It unblocks 19 Netflix libraries, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, and hence is one of the best VPNs for Netflix.

Like NordVPN, with Surfshark, you can stream the UK and US Netflix in HD quality. Surfshark also allows you to access the blocked streaming content from Amazon Prime, Hotstar, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and Hulu. The VPNs offer a Smart DNS feature and can watch the streaming content on any device even if it doesn’t support the VPN connection. Moreover, you can use obfuscated technology to bypass the restrictions and enjoy a seamless streaming experience. 

 The only difference is in the number of the server network. The VPN provider comes with less server network than NordVPN. It consists of 3500 servers in 65 countries, that’s half the number of NordVPN; hence, the speeds are not blazing-fast.

Torrenting

Since torrenting can cause several privacy and security issues thus, it’s necessary to use a VPN compatible with torrenting. NordVPN and Surfshark both allow unrestricted torrenting. They offer torrent-supported features like P2P servers, active kill switch, split tunnelling, and torrent IP leak protection, ensuring a safe and fast torrent downloading process.

But NordVPN is a better choice to consider. It has thousands of dedicated P2P servers in Canada, France, the UK, the US, and other countries. In comparison, Surfshark has only 18 dedicated P2P servers. As the server network determines speed, NordVPN offers a consistently faster download speed than Surfshark. In addition, NordVPN also provides a SOCKS5 proxy that provides flexibility during torrenting.

Streaming and Torrenting verdict

NordVPN and Surfshark support streaming and torrenting. You can use both on any streaming platform to access the blocked content. Also, the VPN providers bypass the Netflix proxy error and ensure a fantastic streaming experience. 

You can use it on famous torrent clients and download torrents from blocked websites. But, NordVPN comes on the top in both streaming and torrenting. It’s because of its extensive server network, fast speed, and extra features. Surfshark should expand its server network to attract a large user base.

Conclusion

NordVPN and Surfshark are top-quality VPN providers similar in security, privacy, and performance. Both offer the utmost online protection to the users and allow them to stream and download whatever they want. But NordVPN is the overall winner as it has a slight edge over Surfshark in all the categories discussed in this article.

The post NordVPN vs Surfshark: See Which Provider Stands Out? (Updated) appeared first on BeEncrypted.

Since both VPNs still uphold their reputation for providing robust security with super-fast speeds, distinguishing between them is a complex task. To fully determine which VPN is better to use in 2024, there has to be an in-depth comparison regarding privacy, security, various security features, streaming, and torrenting.

A comparison of privacy and security features

NordVPN and ExpressVPN’s popularity is not only because they provide top-notch security and privacy. They also offer a range of security and privacy-boosting features that improve your user experience. These features make both VPN providers a reliable and secure option to consider. The table below gives you a comparison of all the security and privacy features that both VPNs offer. Here is an overview of them:

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN have quite a few features in common. The service providers offer basic security to the users by preventing IP leaks via a kill switch. They ensure maximum online security by protecting against various types of VPN leaks. Moreover, you can also use a split tunneling feature to make your torrent downloading process more secure and private. But, NordVPN’s split tunneling feature is only available on Android and Windows platforms. 

Both VPNs have obfuscated technology that can help bypass China’s deep packet inspection and browse the web safely. Moreover, both VPNs offer impressive advantages over Tor compatibility, but using NordVPN over ExpressVPN is better. NordVPN has dedicated Tor browser servers that ensure better connection and security.

Besides this, NordVPN has a cybersec feature blocks ads and malware from infecting your device. It even offers a dedicated IP address by which you can maintain more anonymity on the web. In addition, you can even double your security with a double VPN and benefit from NordVPN’s password manager and file encryption software. As ExpressVPN lacks such features, the ultimate winner in this category is NordVPN.

Comparison of privacy Aspects

A VPN’s jurisdiction and logging policy determine how private they are. A private VPN must have a secure jurisdiction away from the 5,9, and 14 eye alliance and be devoid of data retention laws and a strict no-logs policy. A secure jurisdiction and a no-logs policy build users’ trust instilling a sense of reliability that the VPN provider won’t be forced to record and share user information. 

Jurisdiction

NordVPN and ExpressVPN belong to a safe jurisdiction that isn’t a part of the five eyes, nine eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance alliance. NordVPN’s parent company is in Panama, while ExpressVPN’s headquarters is in the British Virgin Islands. The countries don’t follow any mandatory data retention laws or other data privacy laws. Therefore, the companies won’t record and share your data with the ISP, government, or intelligence agencies.

Logging Policy

NordVPN and ExpressVPN are among the best no-log VPN providers. They follow a strict zero-logging policy and refrain from collecting activity or connection logs. 

NordVPN’s privacy policy states that:

Similarly, according to ExpressVPN’s privacy policy:

The VPN providers underwent a log audit process to prove their stance on being a no-log VPN. NordVPN has twice audited their log policy by the PwC log audit firm. Also, in 2019, the company hired VerSprite to audit NordVPN’s apps. The reports of the audit process prove that the VPN was free from any vulnerabilities and security flaws. Also, it doesn’t log or share users’ IP addresses and other information that can expose them.

ExpressVPN also underwent a log audit process and proved true with all their claims. But the VPN has only once audited its log policy. It has yet to gain people’s trust again, was somewhat lost after Kape Technologies bought it, and due to their CIO’s involvement with a hacking program.

Privacy verdict

NordVPN and ExpressVPN belong to a privacy-friendly jurisdiction that isn’t a part of the global surveillance alliance. Moreover, they follow a verified no-log policy, but NordVPN surpasses ExpressVPN in this category. NordVPN has several times audited its log policy and has undergone other tests to prove its credibility after its servers were hacked in 2019.

Meanwhile, ExpressVPN has only once audited its log policy. Also, they’re now acquired by a company with a shady track record and can put users’ privacy at risk. Thus, NordVPN outshines ExpressVPN in this category.

Security comparison

Security is one of the most crucial elements of a VPN, which can be determined by thoroughly inspecting the encryption algorithms and tunneling protocols it uses. Only a VPN deploying robust encryption algorithms and tunneling protocols can ensure that the user information and identity remain safe from snooping eyes.

Encryption

NordVPN and ExpressVPN use military-grade encryption to safeguard user data from prying eyes. There can’t be any comparisons since both the VPN providers use strong AES-256-bit encryption, 4096-bit RSA key, and SHA512 hash key. Hence, both VPN providers seem reliable when encrypting user information. 

Protocols

NordVPN and ExpressVPN support a range of all popular tunneling protocols. They both widely use OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols. You can use Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows protocols and enjoy maximum security. The OpenVPN protocol supports the UDP and TCP ports and allows users to configure them per their needs. But if you’re using an Android or iOS device, it’s better to use the IKEv2 protocol. It’s because it offers a speedy connection without compromising security. 

Along with these generic protocols, these two VPN providers’ respective proprietary protocols stand out. NordVPN uses the NordLynx protocol built around the WireGuard technology. The WireGuard protocol, which serves as its base, is the latest open-source and widely accepted protocol that maintains speed and security. The protocol helps connect to NordVPN servers faster and significantly improves connection speeds without compromising security or privacy.

ExpressVPN also has its proprietary Lightway Protocol. It is a lightweight and secure VPN protocol that offers super-fast speeds, a stable connection, and robust online security. The Lightway protocol uses wolfSSL, a well-established cryptography library thoroughly examined by third parties, specifically against the FIPS 140-2 standard.

ExpressVPN has the protocol open-sourced, with its core code published on GitHub to further vouch for its security and enable user traits. Moreover, it has also undergone an independent security audit by the renowned cybersecurity firm Cure53.

Security verdict

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN provide robust security and protection to users. They use the industry’s highest AES-256-bit encryption and secure OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols. What differs between the two VPN providers is their proprietary protocols. The NordLynx protocol and Lightway are both secure protocols enabling super-fast speeds and robust security.

Moreover, these protocols are also reliable since they are both open-source codes. However, it seems that the Lightway protocol by ExpressVPN might be a bit more reliable since the VPN provider has the code independently audited through Cure53. Therefore, this slight difference gives ExpressVPN somewhat of an upper hand when providing user security.

Streaming and Torrenting

Streaming and Torrenting come with a hoard of online privacy and security issues. There are annoying geographical restrictions, for starters, and along with that comes the ISP throttling issues. While these two might be your only concern when streaming if you decide to torrent, another problem that adds to the list is “maintaining online anonymity.”

In short, streaming and torrenting might be fun, but data snoopers and various restrictions take all the fun out of it, which is why you need a reliable VPN with them. Since not all VPNs might help, it is crucial to look for specific features to determine if the VPN allows streaming and torrenting.

Streaming

Bypassing geo-restrictions on streaming platforms has slowly become arduous, especially since Netflix’s VPN bans. As the online restrictions grow, it is hard to find reliable VPNs managing to bypass them easily. However, ExpressVPN and NordVPN are the few VPNs that work perfectly with Netflix. Both VPNs allow access to restricted content from several regions, including the UK, the US, Canada, and Germany.

It is not only Netflix that these VPNs are compatible with; instead, they allow users to stream content on every available streaming platform, including Amazon Prime, BBCiPlayer, Hulu, HBO, and Disney Plus. Both VPN providers are also compatible with various streaming devices, including SmartTVs, FireStick, or even Chromecast. 

While allowing streaming, ExpressVPN and NordVPN help bypass geo-restrictions and provide super-fast speeds. There are no buffering issues while streaming with NordVPN or ExpressVPN, and both VPNs allow streaming in HD Quality. To further facilitate their users in streaming, both VPNs offer a SmartPlay feature that allows casting or mirroring. Therefore, this feature allows users to stream content on any platform that does not even support a VPN.

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN seem dedicated to enabling their users a secure, fast, and stable streaming experience. Where NordVPN continuously evades geo-restrictions by regularly updating its server list, ExpressVPN has the SmartDNS known as MediaStreamer that helps bypass online restrictions by spoofing IP addresses.

Torrenting

A stable torrenting experience demands bypassing geo-restrictions, maintaining user anonymity, and ensuring super-fast speeds. While few VPNs support torrenting, NordVPN and ExpressVPN support torrenting through dedicated P2P servers and various P2P-friendly features.

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN enable secure and reliable P2P file sharing and transfer through multiple features like network kill switch protection, split tunneling, and torrent IP leak protection; however, there are a few key differences.

For starters, there is a difference in the number of server networks, which somewhat ultimately impacts users’ downloading speeds. NordVPN offers a vast P2P server consisting of more than 2000 servers. These servers are spread across the globe, including the UK, US, and France.

Thus, the downloading speed NordVPN offers is blazing-fast and without significant buffering and connection lags. In contrast, ExpressVPN has 180 P2P servers. Though it ensures fast speed and even allows you to test the server speed before establishing a connection, the server network is not as vast as NordVPN; hence it can impact the speeds.

Another significant difference between the two VPNs is that NordVPN helps enable a much more secure, stable, and reliable downloading experience due to its SOCKS5 Proxy. The proxy helps provide a better user experience through a much more stable P2P connection.

Moreover, in most countries, torrenting is a somewhat risky business, even for legitimate downloading, that can result in fines, DMC notices, and often even jail time. Since the privacy provided by ExpressVPN does seem somewhat hazy, precisely due to the involvement of their CIO in a hacking program, using it for torrenting might be somewhat risky.

Streaming and Torrenting Verdict

NordVPN and ExpressVPN are good options when streaming blocked content or downloading torrents. They offer the essential features that ensure the best experience. But as NordVPN has more global and P2P servers than ExpressVPN, which is much more reliable in privacy, NordVPN ultimately seems like a better option than ExpressVPN.

Conclusion

ExpressVPN and NordVPN provide top-quality performance. Both offer fast speed, an extensive server network, and excellent streaming and torrenting abilities. But based on the above ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN comparison, NordVPN seems to be a better option. 

Overall, NordVPN is the best VPN service in 2024, which uses advanced features and has undergone an in-depth audit process. ExpressVPN comes second because of privacy scandals, Kape Technologies’ acquisition, and lack of features.

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