Windscribe and NordVPN are two VPNs that are very popular in 2021, but for different reasons.
So how do NordVPN and Winscribe compare against each other?
In this NordVPN vs Windscribe comparison, we are going to compare these two VPNs in order to establish their pros and cons.
We’ll compare them along the lines of their speed, streaming and torrenting capabilities, among others.
I hope that by the end of this Windscribe vs NordVPN comparison you’ll be able to decide which is the better VPN for your needs between the two.
So let’s get started.
About
NordVPN is a VPN service provider located in Panama that enables you to access the internet at very fast speeds, as well as unblock geo-restricted content on popular video streaming platforms like Netflix.
It is a pretty old company, being founded in they year 2012 and currently has more than 12 million subscribers.
Here is a detailed NordVPN review.
Windscribe, on the other hand, is a VPN company located in Canada that also provides secure internet access, at rather acceptable speeds. They grew in popularity thanks to their free VPN plan that attracted many freeloaders. Here is a complete Windscribe review.
Server Collection
How does Windscribe and NordVPN compare in terms of their server collections?
In order for a VPN to be able to provide better services, they need to be able to have a ton of servers so that server loads are evenly spread out.
This way, no one particular server is over burdened which can then lower down its performance.
NordVPN has more than 5,811 servers that are based in 59 different countries, at the time I was writing this comparison of Windscribe and NordVPN.
Windscribe on the other hand only has a total of 450 servers that are located in 60 different countries.
So even though NordVPN has more servers than Windscribe, Windscribe does a better job of getting their handful of servers to cover a geographical just as wide as NordVPN.
However, NordVPN will still give you more server options than NordVPN.
Streaming
How do NordVPN and Windscribe compare in terms of their streaming capabilities?
Since streaming has been deemed the most popular activity among VPN users, a VPN that is able to successfully unblock the most popular streaming platforms quickly becomes darling of the people.
Popular streaming platforms that offer geo-restricted content have become smarter at detecting and locking the VPN IP address that are used to access their platforms.
So I tested these VPNs with the different streaming platforms that most people would be interested in, to establish if they can stream content on these platforms.
NordVPN is able to unblock Netflix libraries for different countries like the UK, UK, Canada, Brazil and Japan.
In addition to Netflix, you can also stream Hulu and Amazon Prime using any of their servers based in the United States. If you want to stream BBC iPlayer, any of their UK based servers would work.
Windscribe, on the other hand, was also able to stream content on various streaming platforms using their dedicated streaming servers.
Winscribe streaming servers are labelled as Windflix and can be used to stream content in different countries.
At the time of writing this Windscribe vs NordVPN comparison, Windscribe is able to unblock Netflix in various countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Japan.
Using their streaming servers based in the United States, you’ll also be able to stream Hulu and Amazon Prime. If you want to unblock BBC iPlayer then you should connect to their UK servers.
As you can see, both NordVPN and Windscribe have great streaming capabilities.
So if you are looking for a VPN that will be able to unblock your favourite streaming platform of choice then either Windscribe or NordVPN will get the job done… even though I’ll skew more towards NordVPN.
Speed
How do Windscribe vs NordVPN speeds compare?
In order to have a great user experience when streaming content on these platforms, you need to have fast internet speeds.
While it’s acceptable for your internet speeds to drop to a little extent when connected to VPN, some VPNs will bring your internet connection speeds to a grinding halt… which interferes with your normal browsing.
These are the VPNs that we want to weed out so that they can up their speeds before they regain their seat at the table.
I tested the speeds of both NordVPN and Windscribe using speedtest.net website using servers based in three different countries. I then calculated the average drop in speeds to see which VPN was able to keep the highest percentage of my original download speeds before connecting to their servers.
NordVPN had an average download speed that was 83% of my original connection speeds, which gives its speeds a rating of 4.1/5.0.
Windscribe, however, had very dismal performance when it came to speed tests.
With an average download speed that was 72% of my initial download speeds, I consider Windscribe to be terribly slow.
So even if you are able to unblock Netflix, you’ll get a far more better user experience with NordVPN than trying to force Windscribe to be fast enough.
In fact, it is for this reason that NordVPN made it to the list of the fastest VPNs for streaming in 2021.
Torrenting
Will you be able to download torrent files when using either NordVPN or Windscribe?
If you want to torrent safely, you should ensure that you are using a VPN that does not keep records of your internet activity. Torrenting is only safe if you can remain private and anonymous.
Otherwise you should be ready for a surprise lawsuit for copyright infringement.
So which one between NordVPN and Windscribe is best suited for downloading torrent files?
NordVPN supports torrenting on their special P2P servers. So if you want to download torrent files, you first need to click on the P2P option in the app menu where you’ll then get a list of the dedicated servers for torrenting.
Just choose any server and once you are connected you can enjoy anonymous torrenting.
Windscribe, on the other hand, also has dedicated servers for torrenting.
However, they are labelled quite the opposite. While NordVPN would label the servers that are best for downloading torrent files, Windscribe labels the servers that are not suitable for torrenting.
So if you see a server with the P2P label crossed out in front of it, then you should not use it for torrenting.
What does this mean?
It means all the other servers except the ones with P2P labels crossed out are optimized for downloading torrent files.
Even though both VPNs support torrenting activities on their servers, we’ll establish below that NordVPN is a more attractive VPN for torrenting than Windscribe because of their true zero logs policy.
Privacy Policy
Which of these VPNs will provide you true privacy online?
Let’s now compare Windscribe vs NordVPN in terms of their privacy policies to establish the one that keeps the least logs of your internet usage.
The less logs a VPN keeps about you the better.
If they don’t have a ton of information about you, it makes it harder for them to identify you or tie you to certain activities on their servers… and that’s the objective of using a VPN… to make this impossible.
NordVPN, first of all, is located in Panama which is a privacy haven for a VPN company that is concerned about the privacy of their users.
In addition to that, they state clearly in their privacy policy that they do not keep logs of your IP address, DNS queries, bandwidth usage or even connection timestamps.
Windscribe, on the other hand, is based in Canada.
Since this country is a member of the 14 eyes surveillance alliance countries, it is not a great place to base a VPN company. In this country, VPN companies are obliged to provide logs of any particular user anytime that the government asks for it through a court order.
In addition to that, Windscribe also states clearly in their privacy policy that even though they do not keep logs of your connection timestamps, IP address or session durations, they do log your last connection time and bandwidth usage.
They claim that they need these logs for administering their free plans.
While some might say that that is nothing to worry about, I’d quickly go for NordVPN that does not keep any logs at all than stay with Windscribe.
In fact, NordVPN is one of the best VPNs for privacy.
Encryption and Data Protection
If you want to protect your data from malicious hackers, then you need to encrypt it in a format that is impossible to decrypt.
Most VPNs employ the use the most secure encryption algorithms and you should not accept anything less.
Both Windscribe and NordVPN use AES 256-bit encryption technology to encrypt your data at the time of writing this Windscribe vs NordVPN comparison.
It is a military grade encryption technology that is impossible to crack.
In fact, it is even used by militaries and governments to encrypt sensitive classified information.
Apart from the encryption technologies that VPNs use, VPNs also employ the use of certain VPN connection protocols to enable the VPN apps to communicate with the VPN servers.
Both Windscribe and NordVPN use two of the most secure VPN protocols: OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols.
While OpenVPN is the default protocol for the desktop and Android apps, IKEv2 is used in the iOS app, where it delivers faster connection speeds.
Overall, both NordVPN and Windscribe are pretty much secure as they use the best encryption technologies and connection protocols available today.
So here it is a win for both Windscribe and NordVPN.
Ad Blocker
Are you looking for a VPN that can block ads?
I wouldn’t say it is outrageous if you have been harboring thoughts of blocking ads completely on the sites that you visit.
This is because most sites have become very aggressive with their ads placements to an extent that is delivers a very poor user experience, as you have to scroll through multiple ads before you can read the content that you want to read.
So which one between Windscribe and NordVPN has ad blockers?
At the time of writing this NordVPN vs Windscribe comparison, I established that NordVPN has a powerful ad blocker that goes by the name CyberSec.
Once turned on, CyberSec is able to block ads from displaying on most the sites that you’ll visit.
And that’s not all.
You’ll also be able to block the tracking scripts that these ad networks install in your browser to use to track you around the web.
CyberSec also comes with a malware blocker that will protect your device from being infected by malware when you accidentally visit a known malware-infected website.
Windscribe also wins when it comes to ad and malware blocking.
It has a security feature called ROBERT that is able to block ads and malware, just like CyberSec from NordVPN.
In fact, ROBERT does more than just block ads. With it you also have the option of blocking ad trackers and cryptominers that try to use your cpu resources to mine Bitcoins. It seems powerful for that matter.
Overall, both NordVPN and Windscribe are great VPNs for ad blocking.
Dedicated IP
If you want to always access the internet using the same IP address then you need to use a dedicated IP address.
With a dedicated IP address you can avoid the endless captchas that ask you to prove you are not a robot anytime you visit some of these websites.
They do this because you probably are using a shared VPN IP address that has been used for DoS attacks by another malicious user.
With a dedicated IP address you are able to eliminate the bad neighbor effect.
Do Windscribe and NordVPN have dedicated IPs?
NordVPN has both a static and dedicated IP option. Static IPs are free by NordVPN and come with all plans.
In order to access static IP address, you need to first click on the dedicated IP option in the application menu… you’ll then be presented with a list of static IP servers that you can choose to connect to.
However, these static IPs could still be used by multiple other people as they are available to everyone.
But if you want a dedicated IP address that is only used by you, then NordVPN still has you covered… you can purchase it separately as a premium addon.
You can then whitelist this dedicated IP in you security sensitive applications or networks and then use it for secure remote access.
Windscribe also provides you with a static IP. They do not have fully dedicated IP addresses.
However, unlike NordVPN that provides static IPs for free, Windscribe will charge you an additional fee in order to have access to a static IP. Just like I already mentioned above, a static can still be shared by a couple of other people.
But it gives you a static address you can use to access to the internet every time because it does not change.
Overall, NordVPN is a better alternative if you want a VPN with a dedicated IP address or at least one that will provide a free static IP address.
Kill Switch
In order to ensure that your real identity never gets exposed to the websites that you visit, you should ensure that you are always using a VPN for every website that you visit.
A VPN will hide your real IP and instead show their own IP address as your IP.
However, most people get discovered during the few seconds when you let your guard down. Say your internet connection drops for a few seconds and your VPN disconnects from the server, or you are switching VPN servers.
It is during these few seconds that you let your guard down that other applications on your device access the internet without you VPN connection and the expose your IP.
A VPN kill switch ensures that anytime you are not connected to a VPN server, internet access for your entire device is halted.
NordVPN has an automatic internet kill switch that once turned on will ensure that you only access the internet through a secure tunnel. It also gives you the option of specifying certain apps whose access to the internet you want terminated whenever the VPN app disconnects from the server… in case you don’t want to lock down your entire device.
Windscribe also offers a VPN kill switch that works just as well.
However, they choose to call it a firewall instead of a kill switch… so don’t go about looking for a kill switch as you won’t see anything like that in the app.
Once you turn the firewall on, it works just like the kill switch to ensure that internet access for your entire device is cut off any time that your VPN disconnects from the VPN server to protect your real IP address.
However, it does not give you the option to only block certain apps, like you’d get with the NordVPN kill switch.
Split Tunneling
Do you want to exempt certain applications from your VPN altogether?
There are times when you need to split your internet traffic into two channels… some to go through your secure VPN tunnel and the rest to go through your ISP. This is especially the case if you have certain apps that are not performing optimally when connected to the VPN.
For example, say you don’t want your apps that runs backups on the background slowed down because of the speed drops caused by a VPN connection.
In that case, you whitelist this application in your VPN split tunnel so that its traffic is not encrypted and channelled through the VPN tunnel, but instead allowed to flow as usual through your ISP.
However, this also means that this traffic is then not encrypted and so does not benefit from the additional security and anonymity that a VPN tunnel provides.
So does Windscribe and NordVPN have split tunnels?
Unfortunately, nether NordVPN nor Windscribe supports split tunneling at the time I was writing this Windscribe vs NordVPN comparison.
If you need split tunneling, here are some VPNs with a split tunnel.
Works in China?
Are you looking for a VPN that you can use in China?
Since China is a popular travel destination, many would be interested in being able to continue using their VPNs in China to access content away from home.
This could range from being able to stream popular sites like Netflix, as well as being able to access censored websites in China, like Google.com.
So let’s now compare NordVPN vs Windscribe in terms of the their ability to bypass the great firewall of China.
In order to work in China, a VPN needs to make its internet traffic look like normal HTTPS traffic so that it is not picked on and blocked by the deep packet inspection technology of the great firewall of China.
NordVPN has an obfuscated server mode that you can turn on if you want to use it to access the internet in China. When in this mode, NordVPN will obfuscate your VPN traffic to make it impossible for China’s firewall to detect it as VPN traffic.
So then, you can access all the censored content like YouTube without being blocked.
Windscribe also has the ability to bypass the great firewall of China, thanks to its stealth VPN mode.
However, unlike NordVPN where you need to first flip on a switch to make it China compatible, Windscribe has this stealth mode inbuilt into their apps.
So you don’t need to do anything special in order to use Windscribe in China, as the process is automatic and does not need any intervention from you… it will just detect the environment and trigger the stealth mode.
Overall, both NordVPN and Windscribe are great options if you are looking for a VPN that will work in China.
Pricing
As we near the end of this NordVPN vs Windscribe comparison, let’s look their different pricing options to establish which is cheaper between the two.
Even though privacy online is a precious thing to have in this day and age, I don’t believe that you should break the bank to have it.
And just like other VPNs, the longer the plan that you choose the greater the discount that you’ll get.
NordVPN has a 3 years plan, their longest plan, that goes for $ 3.49/month. This amount is billable upfront and recurs in every three years cycle.
Windscribe on the other hand is a little bit more expensive, as their cheapest plan in the 1-year plan that costs $ 4.08/month… again billable upfront.
So it is evident that while NordVPN would cost a little less if you go for their 3 years plan, both VPNs are rather competitively priced.
If you are looking to save a few buck, then NordVPN is a cheaper VPN.
Payment Options
Let’s now finish this Windscribe vs NordVPN by looking at the payment options that each one provides.
The more the payments methods that a VPN supports the better because it increases the chances that you’ll find a method that works for you.
I am particularly big on anonymous payments methods because they enable me to give as little information about myself as possible… and this is so because these payment methods do not require a billing address.
Anonymous payments methods on point are Bitcoins and gift cards.
NordVPN accepts all major credit card payments as well as Bitcoins, except PayPal.
On the other hand, Windscribe supports more payment options than NordVPN.
Windscribe lets you pay for your subscription using any credit card, PayPal as well as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins. So if your only payment option is PayPal then you have to go with Windscribe.
Overall, both Windscribe and NordVPN are great VPNs that accept cryptocurrency payments like Bitcoin.
In Conclusion
So that is it with the Windscribe vs NordVPN comparison in 2021.
I hope that this comparison has helped you learn about the similarities and differences between NordVPN and Windscribe.
Are you now ready to make a choice between NordVPN and Windscribe?
If you want a VPN with fast speeds, great streaming capabilities and that has a dedicated IP then I recommend NordVPN. However, if you want a VPN that will first give you a limited free plan to try out before you purchase the premium version, then Windscribe is the option here.
Have you used either NordVPN or Windscribe before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
