CyberGhost vs NordVPN – Which is More Secure & Better? Let’s find out in this guide.
Romanian VPN provider CyberGhost has been an attractive choice among users for some time now. It offers a massive list of VPN servers, and it has the capability to unblock Netflix and other streaming services. It claims to deliver on its promise of providing “the one-click solution for your privacy needs.”
However, NordVPN has been the ultimate choice of privacy-concerned users and streaming enthusiasts for years. The provider is based in Panama, which isn’t a part of the Five Eyes and Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing alliances. Its commitment to protecting user privacy is commendable. Considering that NordVPN is a feature-rich VPN service, its subscription plans offer excellent value for money.
However, both CyberGhost and NordVPN have a few things in common. It probably has made you and others brought up the question of which of the two is a better VPN solution. After all, a VPN is more than just its number of servers and website unblocking capabilities.
You can find the answer to your question in this in-depth comparison of CyberGhost vs NordVPN, where we have discussed several major factors of the VPN services in detail.
CyberGhost vs NordVPN: What’s The Better Choice?
There are several things you should check out for in a VPN service, whether it’s the variety of VPN protocols, security features, or the reliability of the provider. Some tend to look out for an easy-to-use user interface, while others want total control over the VPN connection. It mostly depends on what your necessities are for a VPN service.
Below is a list of some of the crucial factors of a VPN service, and we have highlighted the offerings of CyberGhost and NordVPN based on the particular context. It will help you decide which of them is a better choice.
VPN Security and Privacy
Most VPN users care about privacy and security, and it should be the highest priority when selecting a VPN service. No matter how fast it is or how many servers you can connect to – you should never skimp on encryption or dismiss the fact that a VPN is configured to collect your data anonymously.
There’s no doubt that CyberGhost is all about protecting the digital identity of the user. In fact, it uses military-grade AES-256 encryption to secure the connection between the client and the server, just like most other VPN providers.
You can choose between the typical OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols, but you can also select WireGuard, which promises better data encryption and decryption and blocks DNS leaks more efficiently compared to OpenVPN standards.
CyberGhost also forces websites to load with the HTTPS protocol so that you can safely browse the web.
CyberGhost also claims to follow a strict zero-log policy. It neither stores your connection logs nor your real IP address and any other sensitive information. While they didn’t run independent audits, they do provide users with a yearly transparency report on their product page, which explicitly mentions zero user data collection and distribution.
However, not everything’s good news for CyberGhost. Its parent company Kape Technologies (previously named Crossrider) has a very shady history of including spyware in their products, as well as hoarding customer data and selling it to third-party companies.
While CyberGhost operates independently despite the acquisition of Kape Technologies, it’s something you should be concerned about.
NordVPN, on the other hand, is a trusted leader in the VPN industry, offering secure and private access to the internet. You get AES-256 encryption, along with support for IKEv2/IPsec and OpenVPN (UDP/TCP) support.
NordVPN also offers its proprietary VPN protocol called NordLynx, which combines WireGuard and Nord’s double-NAT system for establishing a secure VPN connection between the client and the server. The provider also guarantees DNS and WebRTC leak protection.
NordVPN’s no-logs policy doesn’t collect any user data, including session logs, browsing activities, IP address, bandwidth usage, connection timestamps, etc. Its claims are backed up by the independent auditor PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers), and they didn’t find any flaws in NordVPN’s privacy policies.
Although NordVPN did encounter a server hack in 2018, it didn’t hamper customer privacy by any means. The company has taken the help of VerSprite, a security consultancy agency to fix unpatched exploits.
Aside from the lack of transparency about the whole situation, NordVPN has managed to win back the confidence of its existing userbase.
VPN Servers
A VPN should offer its servers in dozens of countries so that users can take advantage of its services worldwide. The larger is the list of servers, the better are the possibilities of unblocking geo-restricted websites and offering a stable peer-to-peer connection to the users.
CyberGhost has an extensive network of more than 6200 VPN servers in 110 locations across 89 countries. You will find 1000+ servers to connect to in the United States, followed by 646 servers in Germany, 528 in the United Kingdom, 478 in France, 395 in Canada, and 134 servers in Australia. Other servers are scattered across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.
CyberGhost offers special servers capable of unblocking Netflix libraries in four different countries, which are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.
You can also unblock Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, CBC Gem, CBS, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Hulu, Spotify, and several other popular streaming services.
NordVPN covers 59 countries and has 5200+ servers, which might sound unimpressive at first compared to CyberGhost’s offerings. In the Americas, NordVPN provides more than 1800 US servers and over 450 CA, alongside Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico.
You will find 2000+ servers in European countries like the UK, Germany, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, etc.
The additional 800+ servers are spread throughout the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific countries.
CyberGhost offers a vast collection of VPN servers, but it can’t compete with NordVPN’s selection of privacy-specialized servers. Users can connect to “Double VPN,” which sends the internet traffic through two of NordVPN servers, encrypting the data twice in the process.
Those who want to access the Onion or the Tor network can connect to “Onion over VPN” servers. Users can also buy a Dedicated IP on NordVPN’s servers and connect to it for accessing services that restrict heavy user traffic from single IP addresses.
In countries where VPN usage is restricted, you can take advantage of NordVPN’s Obfuscated servers, which converts OpenVPN traffic to standard HTTPS traffic.
While NordVPN doesn’t claim to unblock specific streaming services, its servers can still unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Prime Video without issues.
VPN Connection Speeds
VPNs usually tend to slow down internet speeds, depending on the layers of encryption and distance between the client and the server. Since the download speed matters a lot for a buffer-free stream playback, many consider slow VPN connection speeds to be a dealbreaker.
To compare the connection speeds between CyberGhost and NordVPN, we chose to connect to servers in the US and the UK, as the vast majority of regular VPN users want to stream either Netflix or BBC iPlayer on their devices.
When connected to one of CyberGhost’s US servers over OpenVPN, we saw an 11% reduction in speed, which is quite respectable considering that the server is nearby to our current location.
However, there was a 50-70% reduction in connection speed when connected to a UK server overseas, giving you less headroom to stream BBC iPlayer in full quality. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live.
NordVPN gave us much more consistent results in this regard. On both US and UK servers, we observed only a 10-25% reduction in connection speeds on our 100Mbps fiber line, which is quite impressive. Plus, NordVPN’s servers gave us much better ping results compared to CyberGhost.
As far as VPN server coverage is concerned, CyberGhost edges out NordVPN by quite a bit. In terms of VPN connection speeds, however, NordVPN managed to get the crown.
P2P Support
P2P (Peer-to-Peer) connections are widely used for sharing and distributing files on the internet. However, internet service providers in several countries block P2P connections on purpose, so that users can’t download copyright-protected content via torrents. Many VPNs unlock access to secure and anonymous peer-to-peer connections for users.
As VPNs also spoof your IP address and redirects network traffic through encrypted servers, your ISP won’t be able to block the connection, throttle your internet speeds, or send you copyright infringement notices.
CyberGhost heavily advertises the fact hundreds of its servers support peer-to-peer connections. The client app also labels a dedicated server list “For Torrenting” as well. You can also enable or disable malicious URL and magnet link filters from CyberGhost’s client app.
NordVPN also offers hundreds of servers with P2P support in 46 countries, and you can easily connect to the fastest one thanks to the Quick Connect feature found in NordVPN clients. These P2P-supported servers are located in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand, India, Netherlands, Germany, France, Hong Kong, etc. It’s labeled as ‘P2P’ under the “Speciality servers” category in NordVPN’s official client app.
NordVPN is one of the few VPN providers that offer SOCKS5 proxies, which you can set up with a BitTorrent client.
Additional Features
Both CyberGhost and NordVPN come with different features that you can enable or disable as per your preferences. While power users can appreciate the inclusion of additional features on VPN service, it should also be user-friendly, which applies to both of the VPNs in this comparison.
Let’s start with the features of the CyberGhost VPN first. It has an integrated Ad-Block that filters intrusive ads from web pages, as well as Malware protection that blocks dangerous and shady sites from being accessed by the user.
You can also enable CyberGhost’s Data compression feature, which compresses image and web content and reduces data usage on metered connections.
Turning on Hotspot Security on the CyberGhost client will automatically connect you to a nearby VPN server every time you join unsecured public Wi-Fi hotspots. You can select your preferred VPN protocol, and enable CyberGhost’s Kill Switch function.
It terminates your internet connection in case there’s a connection failure between the client device and the server. However, some of these features are locked to particular devices as of now.
NordVPN’s features are much more consistent throughout all the supported platforms. Its CyberSec feature boosts your network security and protects you from malware, phishing scams, and other threats. It also blocks advertisements in the process.
NordVPN also gives you manual controls over the VPN connection, letting you set a custom DNS and choose the VPN protocol. On the Windows client, you can enable two kill switches.
One of them disables your internet access, whereas the other one closes selected apps in case you get disconnected from a NordVPN server. You can also opt to go invisible on a LAN connection so that smart TVs, printers, and other devices can’t communicate with your device.
NordVPN even lets you set up connection rules on Wi-Fi, which auto-connects to a server whenever you join an untrusted Wi-Fi network.
Overall, both CyberGhost and NordVPN offer feature-rich VPN eco-systems for the users. However, CyberGhost’s Ad-Block feature isn’t as effective as NordVPN’s CyberSec or client-side browser extensions.
If you are in the market for a VPN that packs loads of user-customizable features, then NordVPN is the one you should go for.
Device Support
It all comes down to the device compatibility aspects of a VPN service. Whether you are using a smartphone or PC, it’s important to secure your browser sessions with a VPN.
Both CyberGhost and NordVPN support a wide range of devices, including Android smartphones/tablets, iPhone/iPad, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, as well as Windows, macOS, Linux, and Raspberry Pi PCs. You can also get the VPNs as browser extensions for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and other Chromium-based web browsers.
Users can also use CyberGhost’s and NordVPN’s Smart DNS feature to get VPN connections on incompatible devices, such as LG and Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TV, Roku, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and NAS (Network Attached Storage) systems.
Both VPNs can be configured on supported Wi-Fi routers (e.g., DD-WRT, Tomato, AsusWRT, pfSense). However, setting up NordVPN on routers is much simpler compared to CyberGhost. As previously mentioned, NordVPN’s SOCKS5 proxies can be configured on BitTorrent clients, which is useful for those who use a device dedicated to torrenting purposes.
VPN Pricing and Simultaneous Connections
Both of the VPN providers offer flexible subscription plans that are covered by a money-back guarantee. You can also pay for the VPN plans over anonymous payment solutions so that your sensitive information doesn’t get leaked somehow.
CyberGhost’s monthly plan will cost you $12.99, while you can save a lot of money by opting for the semi-annual or the eighteen-months plan. The monthly plan has a money-back guarantee of 14 days, whereas the long-term options extend it to 45 days. CyberGhost offers VPN protection for up to seven devices at once.
If you choose to pay every month, then NordVPN will you $11.95/month. There are one-year, two-year, and three-year plans to choose from, and you can save up to 70% on your monthly VPN expenses. Only the yearly plans are eligible for a refund in 30 days. You can connect to NordVPN on up to six devices simultaneously on a single subscription.
Customer Support
It’s possible that you might run into connection issues or other problems with your VPN subscription. This is why it’s important for you to choose a VPN provider with customer support that’s already ready to help you out.
Both CyberGhost and NordVPN offer 24/7 live chat support on their website. You can also contact them via email or the ticket system.
However, the vast majority of users on community forums share their positive experiences with NordVPN’s support solutions, whereas others consider CyberGhost support to be above average.
Fortunately, you will find user troubleshooting guides on both CyberGhost’s and NordVPN’s official website.
Also, Read – Avast SecureLine vs NordVPN – Which is Better?
Verdict: CyberGhost vs NordVPN
In this CyberGhost vs NordVPN comparison guide, we have extensively discussed various features of CyberGhost VPN and NordVPN services.
Although both of the solutions have many things in common, privacy-focused users should avoid CyberGhost until they address the security concerns associated with its parent company, Kape Technologies.
While NordVPN has fewer servers compared to CyberGhost, its no-logs policy is trustworthy, and it’s packed with several essential features. It can also deliver fast and reliable VPN connections without hampering the security.
