NordVPN vs Kaspersky VPN in 2023

Nord Security and Kaspersky Lab are well-established names in the cybersecurity industry with various products available to the public. Both brands have made VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) for online security and privacy. However, the two companies are on opposite sides in terms of reputation due to recent events.

In particular, Kaspersky is in hot water because of its jurisdiction in Russia and alleged ties to the FSB (Federal Security Service). It’s unclear how deep the connections between the Russian government and Kaspersky Lab are, but keep in mind that the Kremlin blocks foreign VPNs.

Meanwhile, NordVPN is a top-notch provider with a flawless reputation and reliable performance. To illustrate just how amazing it is, we’ll compare NordVPN vs Kaspersky VPN in several categories, such as speed, security, privacy, and more.

NordVPN vs Kaspersky VPN: specifications

NordVPN is a superb VPN provider with an extensive server fleet, accompanied by fantastic speeds because of its unique NordLynx protocol. It has strong security features that will enhance your security and extraordinary streaming and torrenting capabilities.

On the contrary, Kaspersky VPN comes with a smaller server network. Also, it has slower speeds and no proof of being audited. The jurisdiction – Russia – certainly doesn’t make things better.

Judging by this and the in-depth analysis we do below, the clear winner in this is NordVPN. Let’s see why.

📈 Our rating	9.6 ⭐	4.0 ⭐
🏷️ Current offer	Get NordVPN 69% OFF!	Get Kaspersky VPN 50% OFF!
💵 Price starts from	$2.99/month	$2.84/month
🗓️ Money-back guarantee	30 days	30 days
🗒️ No-logs policy	Independently-audited	Not audited
🎮Simultaneous connections	6	5
🌐 Servers	5800+ servers in 60+ countries	2000+ servers in 72+ countries
✔️ VPN protocols	NordLynx, OpenVPN, IKEv2	Hydra, WireGuard, and OpenVPN
🍿 Streaming	Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, and more	Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and more
🖥️Platforms	All major OS, Linux, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Kodi, routers, firewall, NAS, Roku	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

NordVPN vs Kaspersky VPN: pricing

Regarding pricing, both VPNs are pretty affordable, but NordVPN is the winner. Although it may seem that Kaspersky VPN is the better option due to lower prices, don’t be fooled. You’ll only be able to purchase the subscription via credits card, and there’s no way to test the premium version beforehand. And the free version is certainly not enough to get a grasp of how good (or bad) the service is.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

NordVPN pricing

NordVPN comes with a 7-day free trial but only for Android users. Also, you can have a risk-free experience due to its 30-day money-back guarantee. Let’s explore its three plans:

• $12.99/month when paying each month
• $4.49/month when paying annually
• $2.99/month when paying every two years

But that’s just the Standard tier. Other tier options include:

• Plus – comes with the VPN, the NordPass password manager, and a Data Breach Monitor
• Complete – comes with the VPN, the NordPass password manager, a Data Breach Monitor, and 1 TB of secure cloud storage

Besides the virtual private network service, users can supplement a subscription with a dedicated IP option. It grants one exclusive IP address from five countries (USA, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands) and costs $89.00/year.

Once your shopping cart is filled, you can complete the transaction using various payment methods, including credit card, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and ACH transfer. Alternatively, you can opt for an anonymous option via cryptocurrencies or cash at a retail store.

Kaspersky VPN pricing

Kaspersky doesn’t offer a free trial, but it comes with a free version. In addition, it provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for its paid plans, so let’s have a look at them:

• $6.99/month when paying monthly
• $2.84/month when paying annually

Eager users can get a hands-on approach with the product before committing by utilizing the Kaspersky VPN’s free version. Unsurprisingly, it comes with annoying limitations as well, such as the 200MB daily data cap and one automatically-chosen virtual server.

If you’ve grown tired of the free plan, you may upgrade to a premium version by paying via credit card. Which is very restrictive, especially since there’s no option to pay for the purchase anonymously.

Speed comparison

Connectivity is the backbone of any VPN since it influences all other aspects of the product. It will either run smoothly in the background without notice or frustrate you incessantly with extensive load times and stuttering videos.

NordVPN is arguably the fastest VPN provider, thanks to its proprietary NordLynx tunneling protocol. It’s based on the open-source WireGuard protocol, which is currently the de facto standard when aiming for blazing-fast connections.

With Kaspersky VPN, your tunneling protocol depends on your device. Windows users facilitate connections with Hotspot Shields’ Hydra protocol, while Android and iOS platforms use the age-old OpenVPN. WireGuard is also available, but only on Windows and macOS.

Although the Hydra protocol is pretty swift, its absence from mobile devices means that Kaspersky VPN can’t provide consistently fast connections across the board, unlike its competitor. As such, the first point goes to NordVPN.

For more information about the recent performance of some of the best-known providers, visit our VPN speed test.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

NordVPN vs Kaspersky VPN: which is more secure?

It shouldn’t surprise readers that NordVPN takes the lead once again. While both services share certain similarities – AES-256 encryption, a kill switch, IP & DNS leak protection – they’re not on equal footing in terms of security and reliability.

Kaspersky VPN is headquartered in a very questionable jurisdiction. The fact its no-logs policy is dubious and there are no RAM servers to prevent data collection certainly doesn’t help matters.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

Privacy

For starters, NordVPN is located in privacy-ensuring Panama. The country is away from the Five Eyes alliance and doesn’t bend the knee to government overreach. There’s no incentive for the provider to snoop on what you’re doing while connected to the VPN or report it.

With Kaspersky VPN, it’s difficult to overlook the numerous red flags. Firstly, the provider is based in Russia, a warmongering dictatorship notorious for online censorship and surveillance. Additionally, the country blocks VPNs that aren’t approved by the government. That leads us to believe that Kaspersky VPN is in cahoots with the Kremlin.

Additionally, all Kaspersky Lab software is prohibited from use in US government institutions since 2017. This is because of alleged confidential data theft from an NSA contractor via antivirus software. Unsurprisingly, the company denies any ties with the Russian government and foul play.

Logging

When it comes to the no-logs policy, NordVPN went through multiple independent no-logs policy audits to prove that user confidentiality is of the utmost importance. To further illustrate this, customers can pay for a VPN anonymously using various cryptocurrencies or even cash. And the whole server network runs solely on RAM modules.

On the contrary, Kaspersky claims to have a no-logs policy, but there isn’t any record of it being audited. And the company discloses that they do tend to collect identifiable data about you when you’re installing the software for the first time.

Kaspersky VPN may collect device ID, OS ID, OS edition, unique device ID, software installation ID, country code, installation date and time, time when the software was activated, software localization, flag indicating whether the software is connected to Web-Portal, your device’s network activity and activity on the internet, and so much more.

Servers location

Having a wide-reaching server network is crucial for two reasons. First, connecting to servers near your actual location improves performance tremendously. And secondly, a diverse selection of geographical regions unlocks more foreign content that’s normally unavailable in your home country.

NordVPN is responsible for 5800+ servers in 60+ countries. No locations are virtual, meaning all hardware is located in the same region that you’re connecting to. Additionally, privacy is guaranteed, thanks to all servers utilizing RAM-only technology to prevent data storage on hard drives.

Kaspersky VPN users can select from 2000+ servers in 72+ countries. Besides the proprietary tunneling protocol, the service also makes use of Hotspot Shield’s server infrastructure. This could result in faster connectivity, but renting hardware from third parties is not ideal.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

Features comparison

Kaspersky VPN is pretty barebones on the feature front. It appears that customers will have to buy separate products if they need well-rounded security. That’s not the case with NordVPN, as it includes an expansive arsenal of features for protection against various online threats.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

Smart DNS

NordVPN has a SmartDNS feature known as SmartPlay. In other words, it lets you bypass geo-blocks on devices and streaming peripherals that don’t support VPNs natively. Its SmartDNS feature also comes with an extra security layer, which ensures a high level of protection across all devices.

Unfortunately, Kaspersky doesn’t have a SmartDNS feature, limiting its usage only to devices that this VPN officially supports. Which isn’t much.

Ad & malware blocker

Ad & malware blockers help you stay safe online by preventing you from clicking on suspicious links and websites. Depending on the provider, you may get other perks with this feature. Only NordVPN offers this.

It’s called Threat Protection and it works both on PC and mobile. It blocks instructive adware, user trackers, and malicious websites. Even your downloads (up to 5 Gb) get scanned for malware. It’s one of the best ad & malware blockers out there, and you can leave it to run silently in the background.

Split tunneling

It’s nothing surprising that NordVPN has a split tunneling feature for Windows, Android, and Android TV. As a result, you can route your traffic through a specific tunnel and choose which apps work only when the VPN is turned on.

Compared to NordVPN, Kaspersky offers split tunneling only on Windows.

Specialized servers

Both services offer specialty servers for different online activities. NordVPN includes:

• Obfuscated servers. Circumventing online censorship requires specialized technology that can deal with DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) and VPN blocks. And these servers are capable of just that by masking your VPN traffic as regular HTTPS traffic.
• Double VPN. Redirecting your web traffic through multiple VPN servers grants greater security and nullifies the risk of IP or DNS leaks. Keep in mind that performance can plummet significantly with this feature.
• Onion over VPN. NordVPN provides servers that are integrated with the Tor Network. Using them grants exceptional privacy and easy access to the Tor Browser.
• P2P-optimized. These boost torrenting traffic for faster downloads and uploads.

Kaspersky VPN has the For Streaming servers optimized for unblocking streaming platforms. And there’s For Torrenting that automatically selects the best server for P2P file-sharing.

Other features

If you want a more versatile security toolkit with Kaspersky VPN, it will cost extra. NordVPN doesn’t do this, instead including various perks with the regular subscription. We’re talking about a SOCKS5 proxy, Invisibility on LAN, Dark Web Monitoring, Meshnet, etc.

Netflix and streaming comparison

Besides privacy, users often purchase a VPN for unlocking bonus TV shows and movies on geo-restricted streaming platforms.

NordVPN is the best VPN for streaming for a variety of reasons. First off, it’s wicked-fast and has no trouble loading UHD video content without buffering. Additionally, the vast server network enables users to access content from anywhere globally. Besides Netflix, the VPN works wonderfully with platforms like BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Disney+, and many more.

On the flip side, Kaspersky VPN can be used with a handful of Netflix libraries, such as the US or the UK. However, it struggled with alternative platforms. Plus, the lack of apps for home-entertainment devices makes it a poor choice for streaming.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

Device compatibility

A versatile VPN is usable in many scenarios and with practically any device from your household. NordVPN fits this description perfectly, while Kaspersky VPN is left in the dust.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

Desktop applications

With NordVPN and Kaspersky VPN, you get applications for Windows and macOS. Both are easy to navigate, the designs are intuitive, and they are pretty secure. However, only NordVPN comes with a visual server map. And worthwhile features at that, as Kaspersky VPN severely lacks them.

NordVPN’s Windows and macOS clients look identical, and you get the same perks across the board. The only feature we missed on Apple computers is split tunneling, but that’s the usual case with many VPN providers.

Kaspersky VPN doesn’t differ much in terms of design whether you’re using Windows or macOS. And the clients are very easy to use, but what do you expect when there’s almost no features to speak of. As such, they’re very underwhelming.

Mobile applications

These VPN providers also include apps for Android and iOS. Again, they are simplistic and maintain similar designs to their desktop counterparts.

NordVPN tries to upkeep the same level of functionality between the operating systems. Yet again, there’s a noticeable lack of split tunneling on iOS. And the Tapjacking Protection feature is Android exclusive as well.

As for Kaspersky VPN, well. It didn’t offer much on desktop, and the mobile clients certainly aren’t better. You’re not getting any extras here.

Torrenting

Thankfully, both providers have zero restrictions on P2P traffic and enable it in all server locations. Of course, NordVPN comes out on top once again, thanks to the abundance of bonus bells and whistles.

As mentioned earlier, NordVPN customers have the option to utilize a SOCKS5 proxy to secure their torrenting activities. Alternatively, split tunneling can be enabled if you want the VPN connection to run exclusively for a particular app, for example, your torrent client. The only thing that could be considered lacking is the absence of port forwarding. Luckily, you can peruse our list of best torrenting VPNs and pick one with it.

It should go without saying that Kaspersky VPN is not recommended for torrenting due to its alleged ties with the Russian government.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

China

Circumventing online censorship with a VPN is a delicate game of cat and mouse since both parties are trying to outplay each other. NordVPN takes this game seriously and provides numerous options for dealing with obstacles like the Great Firewall of China. Meanwhile, Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection concedes from the start and clearly states that it doesn’t work in countries where VPN technology is restricted.

However, no VPN is 100% reliable as the CCP works diligently to block any means of avoiding surveillance and censorship. The best way to improve your chances in the region is to arm yourself with multiple VPNs for China. Naturally, you also need to install the software before entry as VPN websites are blocked in China.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

Customer support

Lastly, we come to the part of our NordVPN vs. Kaspersky VPN comparison. It shouldn’t be surprising that NordVPN is the winner yet again.

More precisely, only NordVPN comes with 24/7 live chat. It’s a crucial option to have, especially when you run into critical errors and need help ASAP. Other than this, both providers provide email support, along with a knowledgebase and other guides and tutorials.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

NordVPN vs Kaspersky VPN – which is better?

It wasn’t a complete landslide, but NordVPN easily topped Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection in this comparison. The Panama-based provider is superior in every conceivable way. Meanwhile, the Russian service has too few perks and a questionable history to be worth considering.

Winner:

Visit NordVPN

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FAQ

Is NordVPN better than Kaspersky VPN?

Yes, it is. NordVPN is better than Kaspersky as it comes with stronger security features, faster speeds, amazing streaming and torrenting capabilities, and effective bypassing of online censorship.

Which is faster – NordVPN or Kaspersky VPN?

NordVPN is faster than Kaspersky because of two things. Its bigger server range of 5800+ servers in 60+ countries and the superb NordLynx protocol that ensures fast and consistent connections.

Is Kaspersky VPN any good?

Kaspersky VPN is below average as a VPN and not worth considering as there are plenty of better options out there. It has military-grade encryption and a kill switch, but otherwise, nothing noteworthy except a questionable reputation.

Is it legal to use a VPN?

Yes, it’s perfectly legal to use a VPN in most parts of the world. However, some countries restrict VPN usage because of their ability to circumvent online censorship and hide from surveillance.