According to recent research, 1 in every 4 four people who use the internet have used a vpn.
This means there is a growing need for privacy and anonymity online.
But with a huge collection of vpns to choose from, how do you know which is the best vpn for you.
In this article today we are going to do a NordVPN vs StrongVPN comparison in order to establish the best vpn for you between the two.
We’ll compare NordVPN and StrongVPN in terms of the connection speeds, torrenting support and no log policies among others.
Let’s get started.
Here is a quick summary.
| NordVPN | StrongVPN | |
| Website | nordvpn.com | strongvpn.com |
| Servers | 5,800 | 950 |
| Jurisdiction | Panama | United States |
| Streaming | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon |
| Speed | 4.1/5 | 4.2/5 |
| Torrenting | P2P servers | All servers |
| Kill Switch | YES | YES |
| Works in China? | YES | YES |
| Devices | 6 | 12 |
| Pricing | $ 3.49/month | $ 5.83/month |
About
NordVPN is a VPN service provider based in Panama that enables you to browse the internet privately and anonymously.
Here is a detailed NordVPN review.
StrongVPN, on the other hand, is a VPN company that provides anonymous Internet access services as well as the ability to bypass internet censorship in internet restricted countries like China.
Here is a more in depth StrongVPN review.
Server Collection
Every vpn company is always trying to increase their server count in order to broaden their reach geographically.
How many servers does StrongVPN and NordVPN have?
NordVPN as a company has approximately 5,200 vpns servers based in 59 different countries and their server count is always increasing.
StrongVPN, on the other hand, has a paltry collection of 950 servers based in 30 different countries.
It is therefore clear that NordVPN has a much larger collection of servers as compared to StrongVPN.
So if you are looking for a vpn that gives you a larger collection of servers to choose from when connecting, then I recommend NordVPN.
Streaming
Watching tv shows from popular online streaming platforms like Netflix is a favorite activity for many internet users.
However, because of different contracts with different countries, content on these platforms is always restricted to certain audiences in different geographical locations.
It means you cannot access tv shows destined for the Brazilian audience when you are in the UK for example.
A vpn gives you an IP address belonging to that specific country.
That way you are able to access content from that country… like you were actually living there.
NordVPN will enable you unblock tv shows on Netflix destined for different audiences like the USA, UK, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Japan e.t.c.
In addition to Netflix, you’ll also be able to stream video content on other platforms like Hulu, iPlayer and Amazon Prime.
StrongVPN, similarly, will enable you to unblock and watch your favorite tv series on Netflix.
Apart from Netflix, you’ll also be able to stream content on Hulu.
However, you won’t be able to stream content from other platforms like Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer.
Even though both StrongVPN and NordVPN are great for streaming, NordVPN unblocks more streaming platforms than StrongVPN.
If you are looking for a vpn that is particularly great for streaming the I recommend NordVPN instead of StrongVPN.
Speed
Internet connection speeds is very crucial when you are considering purchasing a vpn.
You don’t want to purchase a vpn that will bring your internet connection speeds to a screeching halt whenever you connect to them.
Before writing this StrongVPN vs NordVPN review, I used speedtest.net by Ookla to test these two vpns.
I connected to three different servers based in the US, UK and Hong Kong and then measured their ping, download and upload speeds.
NordVPN had an average speed drop of upto 83% of my original download speeds while StrongVPN speeds dropped upto 83% as well.
From this NordVPN vs StrongVPN speed comparison, it is clear that StrongVPN is a real match for NordVPN in terms of connection speeds… it is just as good.
Since both vpns maintained at least 80% of my original connection speeds, they are both the best vpns for fast internet speeds.
Torrenting
What about torrenting?
Which one between NordVPN or StrongVPN supports P2P file sharing?
As a rule of thumb, never start your torrent client without first connecting to a vpn or proxy server if you don’t want your torrenting history used against you.
You don’t want to be caught torrenting copyrighted material.
NordVPN has in built support for torrenting but only if you connect to its P2P optimized servers.
In order to access the torrenting enabled servers, click on the torrenting option in the app menu and you’ll be presented with a list of P2P servers to choose from.
StrongVPN, similarly, supports anonymous torrenting but they take it a notch higher… all StrongVPN servers support torrenting.
So you don’t need to connect to any specialized servers in order to start torrenting.
It looks like StrongVPN has better support for torrenting than NordVPN even though they less servers in general.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for torrenting then either NordVPN or StrongVPN will get the job done.
Privacy Policy
According to a recent research, 56% of the respondents admitted to always accepting privacy policies without even reading them.
It is for this reason that most vpn companies hide dangerous privacy clauses within their policies, knowing that you won’t even bother to read them anyway.
Always ensure you read the privacy policy of a vpn back to back to ensure there isn’t more than meets the eye.
I read both StrongVPN and NordVPN privacy policies and this is what I found out.
But first, let’s begin by looking at the jurisdiction of NordVPN vs StrongVPN.
NordVPN being located in Panama is pretty much in a privacy haven because Panama does not form part of the 14 eyes countries and also does not have any mandatory data retention laws that obligate vpn companies to keep activity logs of their users.
In addition to that, NordVPN states clearly on their privacy policy that they do not keep logs of your IP address, connection timestamps, bandwidth usage or DNS queries.
I believe with all this information it won’t be hard to tie certain activities on a particular server back to you.
StrongVPN on the other hand is located in the United States, which is far from a privacy haven.
To begin with, the USA is a founding member of the 14 eyes countries that surveille their citizens 24 hours in 7 days and share this information among themselves.
Secondly, the law requires a vpn company to comply anytime the government asks for logs via a court order.
That notwithstanding, StrongVPN mentions on their privacy policy that they do not keep logs of your activity while you are connected to their servers.
However, when I tried to signup for a StrongVPN plan I was blocked because I was using a vpn.
It means that they want to get your real IP address and log it when you are signing up… I wonder why.
Overall, I find myself skeptical of the privacy policy by StrongVPN… I doesn’t mention what exactly they keep and what they don’t keep. So we are all left guessing.
If you are looking for a vpn that you can be sure will not keep any logs of your activities then I strongly recommend NordVPN instead of StrongVPN.
Encryption and Data Protection
Your personal information needs to be encrypted with a tamper proof algorithm to ensure that it is secure during transmission.
With proper encryption a hacker won’t be able to decrypt and see your credit card details even if they hijacked your traffic during checkout on an online store.
It for this reason that vpns should also employ strong encryption technologies that guarantee your security.
How does NordVPN vs StrongVPN encryption and data protection technologies compare?
Both StrongVPN and NordVPN use a powerful AES 256-bit encryption technology that is impossible to crack.
This NSA recommended encryption is even used by governments to encrypt classified information.
NordVPN also uses two of the most secure vpn protocols in addition to this encryption: OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec.
StrongVPN, on the other hand, provides more options when it comes to supported vpn connection protocols.
It supports OpenVPN, IKEv2, SSTP, L2TP and WireGuard protocol.
Even though StrongVPN provides more options when it comes to choosing the vpn protocol you want to use, I find the two protocols provided by NordVPN rather satisfactory all the time.
However, if you are particularly looking for a vpn with more connection protocols then StrongVPN it is.
Ad Blocker
Most premium vpns today have ad blockers inbuilt into their apps.
It enables you to block ads from displaying on the sites that you visit and have an ad free browsing experience.
Let’s look at StrongVPN vs NordVPN ad blocking capabilities.
NordVPN has an inbuilt ad blocker called CyberSec that enables you to block ads on most websites and video platforms like YouTube.
In addition to blocking ads, CyberSec is also able to protect your devices from being infected with malware from the internet when you are browsing.
This could happen for example when you visit a phishing website that tricks you and steals your personal information.
Does StrongVPN have an ad blocker?
At the time I was writing this NordVPN vs StrongVPN comparison, StrongVPN does not have an ad blocker.
It also does not have the ability to protect your connected devices from malware infection from the internet.
If you are looking for a vpn with a great adware and malware blocker then I recommend NordVPN.
Dedicated IPs
A dedicated IP enables you to always connect to the internet using the same IP.
You therefore get an IP address that you can whitelist in your applications that will not let you have remote access with a strange IP address.
For example when you want to be able to access your work network from home.
So do you get a dedicated IP address with either NordVPN or StrongVPN?
NordVPN has dedicated IPs that you can use to access certain applications or services that need a dedicated IP.
In order to use these vpn dedicated IPs, click on the dedicated IPs option in the app menu and you’ll be presented with a list of servers with dedicated IPs that you can connect to or whitelist in your applications.
StrongVPN, unfortunately, does not have dedicated IPs so you won’t be able to connect to the internet using the same IP addresses.
If you are looking for a vpn that will provide dedicated IPs for your use, then I recommend NordVPN.
Kill Switch
Once you connect to a vpn, all your traffic is encrypted and channelled through a tunnel that is invisible to your ISP.
But this protection only remains in place as long as you are connected to the vpn server.
If your connection drops and your vpn app disconnects from the server, your real IP is revealed and your traffic becomes visible to your ISP.
You should especially be worried if this happens when you are torrenting.
In order to ensure that your are always protected even if your connection drops, you need an automatic internet kill switch.
A kill switch will cut off your internet access anytime your app disconnects from the server until it reconnects.
Both StrongVPN and NordVPN have inbuilt kill switches that will stop your internet access, including your torrent client, anytime your connection drops or when you are switch servers in your vpn apps.
If you are looking for a vpn with a kill switch then either NordVPN or StrongVPN will server you.
Split Tunnelling
What if you want to exempt certain applications from having their traffic channelled through your vpn?
A split tunnel enables you to whitelist certain applications so that their are routed normally, through your ISP, and not through your vpn.
It is important to understand that applications whose traffic is exempted from the vpn will not benefit from anonymity and protection that a vpn provides… especially from malware infections and phishing attacks.
NordVPN has a vpn split tunnel that lets you exempt certain apps from the vpn.
Like your backup app that you don’t want slowed down by vpn speed drops.
StrongVPN does not have a split tunnel so whenever you activate your vpn or kill switch, everything is channel through your vpn.
If you are looking for a vpn that has a split tunnel… then knock yourself out. It’s Nord.
Works in China?
Getting a vpn to bypass China’s firewall takes a lot of work.
The great firewall of China is able to detect vpn traffic and either throttle or block it if it is trying to access censored content.
It is especially great at blocking OpenVPN traffic because it the protocol that is used by most vpns.
In order to bypass this firewall and access restricted content like Google, Facebook, Twitter among others, your vpn needs to make your traffic look like normal https traffic.
Fortunately, NordVPN is able to bypass this restriction and access censored websites in China without being detected.
But for this to work, you need to first connect to its obfuscated servers.
In the menu section of your apps, click on the obfuscated servers option and you’ll be presented with a list of obfuscated servers.
These servers will enable you to access internet in restricted countries like China, UAE, Qatar among others.
NordVPN works in China.
StrongVPN also has a strong obfuscation technology on all of its servers that enables it to work flawlessly even in internet restricted countries like China.
It will also work in China.
If you are looking for a vpn that functions China then either StrongVPN or NordVPN will work.
However, remember to download and install these apps before you go to China because these vpn websites are blocked in China… so you won’t be able to access the website and download the apps.
Pricing
Let’s finish this NordVPN vs StrongVPN comparison by comparing their various pricing plans.
Which is the cheaper vpn between the two: NordVPN or StrongVPN?
NordVPN has three pricing plans but their cheapest plan is the 3 year plan that goes for $ 3.49/month.
StrongVPN, on the other hand only has two pricing plans, and the cheapest is the 1 year plan that costs $ 5.83/month.
It means that NordVPN is a cheaper vpn in the long term than StrongVPN.
Payment Options
What payment options does StrongVPN and NordVPN provide.
When comparing StrongVPN vs NordVPN pricing plans I was particularly interested in find the vpn that supports anonymous payment methods like gift cards and crypto.
NordVPN support payments through all the major credit cards and payment platforms except PayPal.
In addition to that, it also supports crypto payments through currencies like Bitcoin.
StrongVPN also supports the major credit cards and payment platforms including PayPal payments.
Even though NordVPN does not support PayPal it accepts cryptocurrency payments like Bitcoin that enable you to give as little information about you as possible.
If you are looking for a vpn that support cryptocurrency payments then I definitely recommend NordVPN.
In Conclusion
I hope this NordVPN vs StrongVPN has helped you understand the pros and cons of both vpns.
While StrongVPN has less servers in total compared to NordVPN it allows you connect more devices and torrent on all their servers.
NordVPN, on the other hand, has better streaming support and allows Bitcoin payments.
However, because I was forced to reveal my real IP address when signing up for a StrongVPN I have a gut feeling they log your real IP and so I won’t recommend it if you want a vpn with a strong and consistent privacy practices.
Have you used either NordVPN or StrongVPN before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
