Are you looking for a VPN and are spoilt for choice on whether you should go for NordVPN or SaferVPN?
While NordVPN is one of the big players in the industry, with great reviews and features, SaferVPN is a rather average VPN that does not have much to wow us about.
But how exactly does NordVPN compare with SaferVPN?
We’ll compare them along the lines of their internet speeds, torrenting support and ability to unblock geo-restricted content on various platforms.
I hope that by that end of this SaferVPN vs NordVPN comparison in 2021, you’ll be able to make a choice of either VPN.
Without further ado, let’s get down to it.
About
NordVPN, being a VPN company located in Panama, is a company that provides you with private internet access, thanks to their strict zero-logs policy.
It was founded in 2012 and has been acquiring customers all along and now boasts a customer based of more than 12 million subscribers. Here is a detailed NordVPN review.
SaferVPN, on the other hand, is based in Seattle, United States, and also claims to provide private and anonymous access to the internet, even though privacy freaks are very sceptical about such claims.
It is rather a small VPN company and is it yet to get a sizeable customer base.
Here is my unbiased SaferVPN review.
Server Collection
How does NordVPN compare with SaferVPN in terms of their server collections?
Server count not only comes in terms of the total raw numbers but also on the distribution of these servers across the globe.
If the servers are more evenly distributed, it increases the chances of you finding an appropriate server for you to connect to in your prefered country.
NordVPN has a huge collection of more than 5,811 servers that are based in 59 different countries. So you get a ton of options when choosing a server to connect to.
SaferVPN, on the other hand, has a total of 1,300 servers that are based in 50 different countries.
While the server count is very small compared to NordVPN, SaferVPN has done a great job of spreading their servers across the globe to cover a comparatively wide geographical region.
With their many servers, NordVPN could do a better job by spreading out their servers further.
They hardly have any servers in Africa.
Streaming
How does SaferVPN and NordVPN compare in terms of their ability to unblock content on geo-restricted platforms like Netflix?
In order to unblock Netflix and the likes, a VPN needs to make their IPs undetectable by these streaming platforms. These platforms block the VPN IPs because they don’t want you using them to stream content that is not available in your particular geographical region or country.
Which doesn’t make sense… all subscribers pay the same amount.
Why let some have access to more content while others don’t.
Thanks to VPNs you are now able to stream all of the Netflix libraries even if you are not based in that particular country, simply by spoofing your IP address.
NordVPN is able to unblock Netflix for various countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Brazil.
All you need to do is connect to servers based in any of these countries and then access Netflix.
In addition to Netflix, you’ll also be able to use their servers to unblock content on other streaming platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer.
SaferVPN, on the other hand, has quite limited streaming capabilities.
Using their servers you’ll be able to stream Netflix content, but only for the UK audience. Their US based servers are also able to unblock Hulu.
Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer in the UK are completely blocked.
Sof if you are looking for a VPN that unblocks the largest number of streaming platforms then I recommend NordVPN.
Speed
For a streamlined streaming experience, you need to have fast connection speeds. This way you won’t have to wait for videos to buffer while you watch.
So how do NordVPN vs SaferVPN speeds compare?
I tested the speeds of these two VPNs by connecting to three of their servers based in three different countries i.e. UK, US and Hong Kong.
I then used the speed testing website, speedtes.net, to measure the download and upload speeds.
Here is what I found out.
NordVPN average performed well, with an average download speed that was 83% of my original download speeds. This gives this VPN a speed rating of 4.1/5, which is rather great as this is more than 80% of my initial speeds.
SaferVPN, on the other hand, did not have anything jaw dropping.
I had an average download speed that was only 75% of my download speeds before connecting to their servers.
This leads to a speed rating of 3.8/5, which is very average in my option. It is for this reason that it didn’t even make it to my list of the fastest VPNs for internet access in 2021.
So if you want a VPN that will not disappoint you in terms of their internet speeds then you have to go with NordVPN instead of SaferVPN.
Torrenting
Which VPN has better support for torrenting between SaferVPN and NordVPN?
One of the most important things that you should keep in mind before choosing a VPN for torrenting is to never use a VPN that keeps any kind of logs.
I can excuse some speed drops if I get a strict zero logs policy in exchange.
That being said, let’s now look at which of these VPNs is really prepared for a heavy torrenting enthusiast.
NordVPN has dedicated torrenting servers that you can use to download torrent files. Since not all NordVPN servers support torrenting, all you need to do is first locate these P2P servers by clicking on the P2P option in the application menu.
You’ll then be presented with a list of the best torrenting servers that you can then choose from.
SaferVPN, on the other hand, is a VPN that does not support torrenting at all.
They clearly state on their website that they discourage such kind of activities on their servers. In fact, they do not provide any dedicated P2P servers that you can used for torrenting.
It is therefore clear that NordVPN is the best VPN for torrenting here.
In fact, since NordVPN does not keep logs, as we will establish in a moment, they are the best if you want to have a private and anonymous torrenting experience.
Privacy Policy
What VPN is keen on keeping your internet activities private, between SaferVPN and NordVPN?
If a VPN really means it when they say they want to make you anonymous online, then why should they then keep some logs of your internet activities?
It’s double speak, right?
Let’s dive deep into the privacy policies of these two VPNs to establish which one is worth your time if you are looking for true privacy online.
NordVPN, for the start, is located in a country that is great for privacy… that is Panama.
In addition to that, they state clearly that they don’t keep any logs of your IP address, connection timestamps or even bandwidth usage. So there are no logs on their servers that you can be used either to identify you or tie you to certain activities on their servers.
SaferVPN, on the flip side, is based in the US.
The US is obviously a founding member of the 14 surveillance alliance of countries.
These countries surveille their citizens and then share their personal information… so it is not a privacy friendly place for a VPN company.
To make it even worse, while SaferVPN claims to not keep logs, they actually keep logs of your connection timestamps, total bandwidth usage, location of the server that you connect to as well as your location.
Dammit!
That’s shit ton of logs to keep about me and still tell me that you don’t keep logs.
So as you can see SaferVPN takes you for a ride when it comes to privacy online… you then begin to wonder what is so “safer” about SaferVPN anyway.
If you are looking for a VPN that is great for privacy then the clear winner here is NordVPN.
In fact, I have rated it as one of the best VPNs for privacy.
Encryption and Data Protection
In order to keep your data protected and secure once it leaves your device, you need to encrypt it using an encryption technology that is impossible to crack.
This is because you cannot stop a hacker who is using sophisticated tools like Wireshark from grabbing your data packets from the network. But you sure as hell can stop them from seeing the actual information once they have these packets.
NordVPN and SaferVPN both implement the use of AES 256-bit encryption technologies to secure your data.
It is a military grade encryption algorithm that has never been hacked before.
So this guarantees that your data is secure, even if it lands in the wrong hands.
In addition to that, VPNs also use certain connection protocols in order to communicate with the VPN server.
NordVPN supports OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec VPN protocols.
These are the most secure protocols. OpenVPN is the default protocol used in the desktop and Android apps, while IKEv2 being used in the iOS app.
SaferVPN, on the flip side, supports more connection protocols that include OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec and PPTP.
Even though protocols like PPTP are dated and have proven to be vulnerable to attacks, SaferVPN still supports it anyway. I don’t recommend that you use PPTP unless you know what you are doing.
Overall though, both NordVPN and SaferVPN offer you very secure internet access and you should not be worried that a hacker could hijack your traffic and see your actual information.
Ad Blocker
Are you sick of those intrusive video ads that keep popping up and autoplaying when you are reading some article online?
Apart from being outright annoying, these video ads can quickly exhaust your bandwidth so that you run out of data sooner that you thought. The best way is to block them altogether.
And don’t you feel guilt about that because a ton of other people are already doing that.
How does NordVPN vs SaferVPN compare in terms of their ad blocking capabilities?
NordVPN has an ad-blocking feature called CyberSec that you can use to turn off these video ads… and all the other ads. Once turned on, this NordVPN ad blocker can also block the tracking scripts that these websites install on your browser that they use to create a profile of you and track your around the internet.
In addition to that, it is also capable of blocking any kind of malware that might be introduced into your computer from the internet.
SaferVPN, unfortunately, does not have an ad or malware blocker.
So you are out of luck if you want to use SaferVPN to block ads and malware at the same time. If you are looking for a VPN that supports ad-blocking then NordVPN is your option here.
Dedicated IPs
In a normal case scenario, a VPN would assign you a shared IP address.
This means that you can connect to the internet with an IP address that is shared with many other users… making it hard to trace who did what on that particular server.
However, there are times when you need to access the internet using an IP address that is unique to you. For example, these shared IPs might not work when you try to login to your internet banking platform.
So you need a dedicated IP that you can whitelist on your banking application in order to grant you secure, remote access.
NordVPN provides dedicated IPs for this particularly purpose. You, however, need to purchase them separately as a premium addon and then add them onto your app.
SaferVPN, unfortunately, does not have any dedicated IP or even static IPs.
It, therefore, means that NordVPN is what you’d go with if you are looking for VPNs that support dedicated IPs.
Kill Switch
A kill switch will ensure that your access to the internet is always secured.
It does this by ensuring that anytime that you are not connected to your VPN server, all apps on your device cannot access the internet. This is to prevent any app from accessing the internet and then exposing your IP.
NordVPN and SaferVPN both have an automatic internet kill switch that works to always protect your device.
In fact, the NordVPN kill switch has more functionality such that you can specify particular applications to be cut off from the internet in case your VPN disconnects from the server.
However, I noticed that the SaferVPN kill switch still works even after I turned it off.
This means that unlike NordVPN where I can decide to switch off the kill switch and work without it for a while, SaferVPN just cuts of my internet even if I already turned it off in the settings.
This is very frustrating as sometimes the internet is not working and I want to troubleshoot to know where the problem is coming from.
I wonder why SaferVPN should create a bug that forces everyone on their kill switch.
I recommend the kill switch by NordVPN instead because I can turn it on and off as I wish.
Split Tunnelling
Do you need to split tunnels for your VPN traffic?
Split tunnelling is when you choose certain apps to have their traffic routed through your VPN tunnel while the other traffic is channelled through your ISP. It is great for when some of your applications are having problems working with your VPN tunnel.
Like the banking app I already mentioned above failing to log you in because of the strange IP that the VPN gives you.
If you let its traffic go through your ISP as usually, you’ll be able to login without any problems because it already recognizes that ISP IP address.
Let’s now compare SaferVPN with NordVPN in terms of their split tunnelling capabilities.
As interesting as split tunnelling might sound, neither NordVPN nor SaferVPN really supports this feature at the moment.
So you can’t whitelist certain applications and exempt them from your VPN tunnel.
If you are looking for a VPN that supports split-tunnelling then why not check out my list of the best split-tunnel VPNs in 2021?
Works in China?
Next on this comparison is whether these VPNs will work in China.
China has a deep packet inspection technology that inspects all traffic that passes through their firewall to detect and block any VPN traffic.
The use of VPNs is not allowed in China, so all internet traffic is passed through this firewall so that it can detect your VPN and block you, to prove to you that you are not that smart after all.
And so far they’ve been doing a great job, as most VPNs will not work in China.
So does NordVPN and SaferVPN work in China?
NordVPN works in China, thanks to their obfuscated servers technology that is able to bypass the great firewall of China. All you need to do is activate the obfuscated servers mode so that you are presented with a list of servers that you can connect to, that will work in China.
This way you can then access sites like Facebook.com, Google.com and YouTube.com that are blocked in China.
SaferVPN, on the other hand, is completely blocked in China.
So don’t expect to use it to access the internet while in this country because their VPN traffic is very visible to the DPI technology… so it will detect and block it early in the morning.
NordVPN is therefore the VPN to choose when it comes to the best VPNs for China.
Pricing
As we near the end of this NordVPN vs SaferVPN comparison, let’s look at their different pricing plans to establish the cheaper one.
A cheaper VPN will save you a ton of bucks.
But you should not be blinded by price and end up purchasing a VPN that does not care about your privacy… just because it is cheap.
NordVPN has a 3 year plans that goes for $ 3.49/month, which is also their cheapest.
SaferVPN also has a 3 years plan, their longest plan, that goes for much much cheaper… at only $ 2.50/month, billable upfront.
Before you jump onto SaferVPN and purchase it, simply because it’s cheap, take some time and list out what exactly you are looking for in a VPN so that you make an informed decision.
That being said, SaferVPN is a cheaper VPN than NordVPN… if you are looking to save some $$$.
Payment Options
Let’s finish this SaferVPN vs NordVPN comparison by looking at the payment methods that each one supports.
The more the payments methods the better because it makes it easier to get a payment option that works for you or that is convenient for you.
NordVPN accepts Bitcoin payments as well as credit card payments.
Even though it does not support PayPal payments at the moment, it is great that it support anonymous Bitcoin payments.
SaferVPN, just like NordVPN accepts credit card payments, Bitcoin payments as well as PayPal payments.
So you can see that SaferVPN has a slight edge over NordVPN, for PayPal enthusiasts.
However, it is quite relieving to see that both VPNs actually accept anonymous Bitcoins that you can use if you don’t want to give a lot of personal identifying information at signup.
So if you are looking for best VPNs for cryptocurrency payments then either NordVPN or SaferVPN is an option.
In Conclusion
There goes the NordVPN vs SaferVPN comparison in 2021.
I hope that this comparison of NordVPN with SaferVPN has helped you learn a thing or two about these two VPNs.
Are you now ready to make a choice of the best VPN for you between the two?
If you are willing to pay a little more for a vpn that has a strict zero logs policy, is fast, unblocks Netflix and is great for torrenting then I recommend NordVPN.
However, if you are on a tight budget and are willing to look left when it comes to privacy as long it saves you some bucks then you have to go with SaferVPN.
Have you used any of these VPNs before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
