NordVPN vs PureVPN Comparison

NordVPN vs PureVPN: Speed, Streaming & Torrenting Comparison in 2021

Privacy and anonymity online is becoming harder and harder to come by these days.

Initially, it used to be that ISPs would log all your internet and activity… which led to them owning your entire life online.

Then vpns came to the rescue to make your internet access invisible to your ISP… and anyone else for that matter.

Except these vpns also started keeping logs of your internet usage.

It is therefore very important that you use a vpn that has been proven to no keep logs of your internet usage if you want real privacy online.

In this article we are going to do a NordVPN vs PureVPN comparison head to head.

I hope that by the end of this PureVPN vs NordVPN comparison you’ll be able to choose the best vpn for you: NordVPN or PureVPN?

We’ll compare NordVPN and PureVPN along the lines of connection speeds, torrenting support and streaming capabilities… among others.

So let’s get started…

Here is a quick summary.

NordVPNPureVPN
Websitenordvpn.compurevpn.com
Servers5,8002,000
JurisdictionPanamaHong Kong
StreamingNetflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayerNetflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer
Speed4.1/53.8/5
TorrentingP2P serversP2P servers
Kill SwitchYESYES
Works in China?YESYES
Devices610
Pricing$ 3.49/month$ 3.33/month

About

NordVPN is a company that offers private and anonymous internet access through a vpn and is located in Panama.

Here is a detailed NordVPN review.

PureVPN is a vpn company based in Hong Kong that enables you to access the internet privately and unblock geo restricted content on sites like Netflix.

Here is a detailed review of PureVPN.

Server Collection

The more servers a vpn company has the better the more options you’ll have when choosing a server to connect to.

NordVPN has a collection of more than 5,200 servers that are based in 59 different countries spread across different geographical regions.

PureVPN, on the other hand, has a total of 2,000 servers that are spread across 140 different countries.

Even though NordVPN has a larger collection of servers that PureVPN, PureVPN has a better distribution of its servers across more countries.

If you are looking that will avail a server in almost any country that you visit then PureVPN it is.

Streaming

Before writing this NordVPN vs PureVPN review in 2021, I carried out some tests to find out whether these two vpns are able to unblock some of the most popular streaming platforms like Netflix.

I did this because accessing geo-restricted entertainment content is the main reason people purchase VPNs in 2021.

So it is in order to ascertain which streaming sites you ‘ll be able to access before you buy the vpn.

Nord is able to unblock Netflix in different countries like Brazil, Japan, UK and US.

In addition to Netflix, I was also able to access content on other streaming platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer.

PureVPN was also able to unblock Netflix on most of its servers based in different countries.

However, it didn’t always work out because there are times when I connected to a blocked server and had to switch servers in order to be able to access Netflix.

It was also able to unblock other streaming sites like Hulu, iPlayer and Amazon Prime.

As you can see in this PureVPN vs NordVPN comparison, both vpns are great for streaming but NordVPN delivers a better streaming experience than PureVPN.

If you are looking for a vpn that is particularly great for streaming then I recommend NordVPN.

Speed

Which is the faster vpn: NordVPN or PureVPN?

First, it is acceptable for your connection speeds to drop a little whenever you connect to a vpn.

The problem is when the speeds drop to an extent that your usual internet browsing is affected.

In order to test NordVPN vs PureVPN connection speeds, I connected to three different servers based in the US, UK and Hong Kong

I then used speedtest.net to test for the ping, download and upload speeds.

NordVPN as able to deliver an average of 83% of the original connection speeds for the servers that I connected to… which gives NordVPN speeds a rating of 4.1/5 stars.

PureVPN, on the hand, gave me an average of 76% of my original download speeds before connecting to the vpn.

I consider that an excellent vpn should be able to give me at least 80% of my original connections speeds.

Clearly, PureVPN fell short of my minimum threshold for a fast vpn.

If you are looking for a vpn that will deliver great connection speeds then I recommend NordVPN instead of PureVPN.

Torrenting

Even though a larger percentage of people would buy a vpn for streaming entertainment content online, a great number of people need a vpn for the purpose of anonymous torrenting.

This is more so because anti piracy laws are tight these days and you don’t want to be caught downloading copyrighted material.

In fact, you should never start torrenting without first connecting to a proxy server or vpn server.

So which one between PureVPN vs NordVPN supports torrenting?

NordVPN currently only supports torrenting activities on specialized P2P servers.

You first need to connect to the right torrenting server in order to start torrenting in order to get the best speeds and anonymity.

PureVPN also only allows torrenting on certain servers that it has optimized for torrenting.

It has restricted torrenting to servers located only in certain countries and all the P2P optimized servers are labelled.

Ensure you connect to the appropriate P2P server first before you start torrenting or your traffic will either be throttle or blocked if you try to torrent from normal servers.

This is rightfully so because torrenting is server resource heavy so PureVPN doesn’t want you slowing down other users sharing the same server by your torrenting activities.

If you are looking for a vpn that is great for torrenting I recommend NordVPN instead of PureVPN because you are guaranteed private and anonymous torrenting with NordVPN as they don’t keep any logs of your torrenting activities.

Privacy Policy

In order privacy and anonymity online, a vpn service should not keep logs of any kind of data that could be used to identify you or tie you to certain activities on a particular server on a  particular day.

While all vpns need some kind of logs in order to be able to function properly, some vpns collect too much identifying information about you.

In this NordVPN vs PureVPN we are going to looking at whether these vpns are safe based on their geographical location and privacy policies.

NordVPN is based in Panama which a privacy haven because it is located away from the 14 eyes countries.

Panama also doesn’t have any data retention laws that require vpn companies to keep logs of their user data.

I also read their privacy policy and discovered that NordVPN actually does not keep logs of your IP address, connection timestamps, bandwidth usage or DNS queries.

PureVPN is based in Hong Kong, a country that does not form part of the 14 eyes countries but is close to China… a country that is also big on citizen surveillance.

After reading their privacy policy, I found out that even though PureVPN does not log your IP address, they keep logs of the location of the server you connect to, your bandwidth usage and your ISP.

It clearly not a privacy friendly vpn.

If you are looking for a vpn that keeps their work when it comes to keeping no logs about your internet usage then you definitely want to get NordVPN.

Encryption and Data Protection

In order for your personal information to be safe when it is being transmitted over the internet, it needs to be encrypted using the strongest algorithms possible.

Luckily, most vpns employ the use of the strongest encryptions technologies that have been tested and proven to be safe from hacking.

Which encryption technology does PureVPN or NordVPN use?

Both NordVPN and PureVPN use AES 256-bit encryption technology to encrypt your data during transmission.

It the same kind of encryption that is used by militaries to encrypt sensitive information and is impossible to crack.

In addition to these encryption technologies, vpns also use a number of protocols to establish communication between the vpn apps and vpn servers to ensure that your data is securely transmitted.

NordVPN supports two of the most secure vpn protocols: OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec.

OpenVPN is used in the desktop apps whereas IKEv2 is used in the iOS app.

PureVPN, on the other hand offers more options when it comes to supports more connection protocols than NordVPN.

It supports OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP, SSTP and PPTP.

If you are looking for a vpn that will give you more control over the protocols that you choose to connect with then I recommend PureVPN.

Ad Blocker

If you feel intimidated by the huge number of ads that display on most websites that you visit, then you probably need an ad blocker.

Even though most of these websites get their revenue primarily from ads, some are too aggressive with their ad placements.

Too many ads leads to a horrible browsing experience.

It is for this reason that most premium vpn services come with ad blocking features inbuilt in their apps.

I also wanted to check out the ad blocking capabilities of both vpns before writing this PureVPN vs NordVPN review in 2021.

NordVPN has  security feature called CyberSec that when turned on is capable of blocking ads on most of the websites that you’ll visit.

CyberSec also has a malware blocking feature that prevents your device from being infected with malware in case you accidentally visit a malware infected site.

It is also able to prevent your devices from being used to launch DDoS attacks on other servers even if it has already been infected by malware.

PureVPN, similarly, has an ad blocker that when you turn on will be able to block ads on the websites that you visit.

In addition to the ad blocker, you’ll also be able to block malware from infecting your connected device.

When it comes to adware and malware blocking capabilities, both NordVPN and PureVPN square it out here.

Dedicated IPs

Usually, a vpn allocates you a new IP address every time you connect to the internet through its servers.

Some applications are very security conscious and only give you access through an IP address that has been whitelisted.

It is at this point that you need an IP address to whitelist in case you need to access for example your work network.

NordVPN will provide you with a dedicated IP address that you can whitelist in your apps at no additional cost because all NordVPN apps come inbuilt with a dedicated IP feature.

In the menu you’ll an option for dedicated IPs that when you click presents you a list of servers with dedicated IPs.

PureVPN also has a dedicated IP option where you can choose an IP address that you always want to use when connecting to the internet.

However, this dedicated IP comes as a separate addon and you’ll have to purchase it separately.

Even though NordVPN offers you a dedicated IP, if you really want an IP address that is not shared by any other person then I recommend PureVPN.

Kill Switch

Every time you are connected to the internet you’ll experience connection drops.

Usually your connection drops and reestablishes again without you even realizing it.

When you connection drops, your vpn app disconnects from the server and your real IP address is revealed.

It is for this reason that you need an automatic internet kill switch to ensure that you only access the internet through a vpn tunnel.

NordVPN has an automatic kill switch in all of its apps that ensures that internet access for your entire device is cut of whenever your connection drops and your app disconnects from the server.

PureVPN also has an inbuilt kill switch that will help you stay safe even if your internet connection drops and your vpn disconnects from the server.

A kill switch is also handy for example when your are switching between different vpn servers.

Split Tunneling

Even though a kill switch is great, there are times when you’ll need to exempt certain applications from having their traffic channelled through your vpn tunnel.

It could be your backup app that you don’t want slowed down by your vpn.

A split tunnel enables you to whitelist certain applications on your devices that should be able to access the internet without a kill switch.

Remember that applications specified in the split tunneling do not benefit from the anonymity provided by your vpn… so the internet traffic through these apps is available to your ISP.

Both NordVPN and PureVPN has an in built split tunneling feature in all their apps that ensures that you can exempt certain apps from the kill switch we mentioned above.

If you are looking for a vpn with split tunneling capabilities then both NordVPN and PureVPN are capable.

Works in China?

Since vpns make you invisible to your ISP and government, some governments are not particularly happy about this.

In some countries like China, the use of vpns is prohibited because the government wants to have a record of everything you do online.

As if that is not enough, access to certain websites like Google, Facebook and Twitter is blocked.

If you want to be able to use a vpn in these countries, you need to have one with a powerful obfuscation technology.

Your vpn needs to make your encrypted vpn traffic look like normal https traffic so that it is not detected by the deep packet inspection technology of the great firewall of China.

Both NordVPN and PureVPN are able to bypass China’s firewall and access censored websites in China.

PureVPN even has servers based in China that you could directly connect to.

If you are looking for a vpn for internet access in China then either NordVPN or PureVPN would be a great option.

Pricing

How much does NordVPN or PureVPN cost?

Let’s finish this PureVPN vs NordVPN review by looking at their pricing plans to establish the cheaper one.

Either PureVPN or NordVPN have their monthly plan being expensive… if you want a greater discount you need to choose a longer plan.

NordVPN has their cheapest plan being the 3 year plan that costs $ 3.49/month while PureVPN has the 2 year plan that cost $ 3.33/month being the cheapest.

It is therefore clear that PureVPN is a cheaper vpn compared to NordVPN.

Payment Options

When comparing PureVPN vs NordVPN payment options I was particularly looking for a vpn that provides anonymous payment methods.

If you pay for your subscription using anonymous payment methods like gift card or Bitcoins, you can ensure you provide as little information about you as possible by signing up with a disposable email address and untraceable Bitcoins.

Both NordVPN and PureVPN support payments through all the major credit cards and payment platforms.

NordVPN, however, does not support PayPal at the moment.

In addition to that, both vpns support cryptocurrency payments like Bitcoins among others like Ethereum etc.

Even though both vpns support crypto payments, PureVPN supports more cryptocurrencies than NordVPN.

So if you are looking for a vpn that supports more crypto payment options then I recommend PureVPN instead of NordVPN.

In Conclusion

I hope this PureVPN vs NordVPN review has helped you decide the best vpn for you: either NordVPN or PureVPN.

If you are still not decided then here is what I think… 

If you are looking for a vpn that has excellent unblocking capabilities for streaming sites like Netflix and delivers excellent connection speeds then buy NordVPN.

However, if you are looking for a vpn that has better servers distribution, that has physical servers in China and supports the largest collection of cryptocurrency payments the PureVPN it is.

Have you use either NordVPN or PureVPN before?

Please share your experience in the comments below.

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