NordVPN vs PureVPN 2020: The two of the top ones! 1 Winner

last updated: 17 December 2019 written by: Sebastian Petrosi

This is not an easy and plain battle. It is kind of like the past vs the present battle. PureVPN is one of the pioneers of the VPN industry and NordVPN is one of the new comers who have made their way up to the top quite quickly and nicely.

In today’s NordVPN vs PureVPN battle, we are going to test both the services and put the results in comparative styles so you can easily see which is better and which offers what. In this comparative analysis, we are going to examine the performance, price, servers, security, locations, features and a few more things of both the services.

To make it easy and more understandable, we are going to divide the battle into some rounds. These rounds include:

  • Performance and Speed
  • Streaming and Unblocking
  • P2P and Torrenting
  • Price and Features
  • Apps and Functionality
  • Security and Protocols
  • Servers and Locations

So, without further ado, let the battle begin!

NordVPN vs PureVPN: Performance and Speed

The speed and performance mainly decide the caliber and quality of the service which is why we have tested the speed of both the services first. Our results are mentioned in the table below.

VPNNo VPNUSUK
NordVPNUpload: 9.43 MbpsUpload: 7.67 MbpsUpload: 5.53 Mbps
Download: 58.84 MbpsDownload: 49.49 MbpsDownload: 32.24 Mbps
Ping: 16 msPing: 64 msPing: 197 ms
PureVPNUpload: 9.54 MbpsUpload: 7.07 MbpsUpload: 4.87 Mbps
Download: 58.82 MbpsDownload: 48.23 MbpsDownload: 26.04 Mbps
Ping: 14 msPing: 71 msPing: 219 ms

The speed tests showed that NordVPN has comparatively better speed than PureVPN but the difference is not too much. Still, NordVPN is faster than PureVPN. We used OpenVPN for the tests and our connection time and reliability with NordVPN was better than PureVPN. PureVPN sometimes took more time to connect than NordVPN. So, in this round, the victor is NordVPN and our scores are:

NordVPN: 9
PureVPN: 8

Get NordVPN

Streaming and Unblocking

Another very important and popular purpose of using a VPN is to get access to those sites and services which are geographically restricted. Many people usually go for the entertainment and streaming sites which are geo blocked to access their desired content.

So, in this test, we are going to only test both the VPN services for the most tricky streaming website i.e. Netflix. After the VPN crackdown by Netflix, it has become extremely difficult to access US Netflix and there are only just a few services left in the industry which are able to unblock US Netflix for the users.

First we tested NordVPN to access US Netflix and we were able unlock it and stream our favorite title on the US Netflix. The streaming speed and experience was decent and we actually enjoyed the service. When we tried PureVPN, it partially unblocked the US Netflix, but it was not smooth and consistent. So, considering this, we scored the VPN services as:

NordVPN: 9
PureVPN: 7

NordVPN vs PureVPN: P2P and Torrenting

Using a reliable VPN for torrenting is another very popular use and one of the most reasonable as well. There are some VPN services which do not support torrenting, so in order to use a VPN for P2P, the users need to make sure that they choose a VPN which do support torrenting.

In NordVPN vs PureVPN, both the services offer P2P support and both of these offer limited severs for torrenting. These servers are optimized for peer to peer file sharing and are placed in those countries where torrenting is legal.

Overall, NordVPN’s performance for torrenting has been a little better only in terms of better download speed and reliable connection. PureVPN has been decent as well, but in comparison, it was less than NordVPN. Additionally, NordVPN is a strict no logs VPN and PureVPN is been into a logs controversy which is another downside for PureVPN. So, considering all of this, our scores are:

NordVPN: 9
PureVPN: 7

Price and Features

We also compared the prices of both of these services and here’s what our comparison looks like.

PureVPNNordVPN
Highest Price
$10.95/Mo$11.95/Mo
Lowest Price
$3.54/Mo$3.29/Mo
1-Year Price
$64.99$69.00
Money-Back Guarantee
31 days30 days

So, the pricing of both the services are quite competitive. Now we will look at the features comparison, by which we will decide the winner of this round. The main features and offering in NordVPN vs PureVPN are compared below.

PureVPNNordVPN
Simultaneous Connections
56
Apps
Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, RouterWindows, macOS, iOS, Android
Manual Setup
Set-top boxesLinux, routers, and set-top boxes
Extras
Free Browser extensions for Chrome and FirefoxFree Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. Malware blocker

So, as per these two tables, the offerings and features also are quite competitive. In addition, both the services also offer some advance VPN and security features as well. SO, this is going to be a tie between the two in this round.

NordVPN: 9
PureVPN: 9

Apps and Functionality

In the NordVPN vs PureVPN match-up, we will now look at the comparison of the apps that both of these services offer to the users. It is quite obvious that both of them do offer apps, because these are two of the biggest VPN services in the industry. However, the apps offered by NordVPN are easier to use and more functional than PureVPN’s apps.

The options and features are filled in both, PureVPN and NordVPN, apps. However, the usability and UI is better in NordVPN. Additionally the performance is also better on NordVPN’s apps as we faced slight connection issues in PureVPN’s apps. So, considering all that, our scores in this round would be:

NordVPN: 10
PureVPN: 8

Get NordVPN

Security and Protocols

It is essential for the VPN services to offer tight security so that the data of users cannot go to the wrong hands. Therefore the first thing we analyzed was the level of encryption both of these services offer. Likie all the top ones out there, PureVPN and NordVPN offer the AES 256-bit encryption, which is oten dubbed as the military grade encryption.

In addition to this high level of encryption, NordVPN offers PPTP, L2TP, IKEv2, and OpenVPN protocols. On the other hand, PureVPN offers PPTP, L2TP, SSTP, IKEv2, OpenVPN and the Stealth protocol. Considering the fact that PureVPN does offer more protocols than NordVPN, both the services are secure enough to be trusted. However, PureVPN has a significant controversy on its name which is why, it is not commonly considered to be a very secure VPN service. So, our scores in this one would be:

NordVPN: 9
PureVPN: 8

Servers and Locations

Now we will look at the battle of the networks of the servers in NordVPN vs PureVPN. It is very important because the performance, speed, and the level of freedom mainly depends on the network of servers that your service offers. So, to make the comparison easier for you, we have made the following table.

VPNServersCountries
PureVPN2000+140+
NordVPN5100+62

In this case, NordVPN has more than double number of servers as compared to PureVPN. However, PureVPN offers servers in more than double number of countries as compared to NordVPN servers. So, in terms of server load and performance, NordVPN is better than PureVPN, and PureVPN is better at covering the number of countries. In this case, we would recommend NordVPN, because performance and reliability matter more than hassle. So, our score is:

NordVPN: 9
PureVPN: 8

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Final Words

The overall scores of NordVPN vs PureVPN in numbers.

CategoriesNordVPNIPVanish
Performance and Speed98
Streaming and Unblocking97
P2P and Torrenting97
Price and Features99
Apps and Functionality108
Security and Protocols98
Servers and Locations98
Total (70)6457

So, in the battle of PureVPN vs NordVPN, we have found NordVPN to be the victorious one. Although both the services are among the top ones, but NordVPN has proved to be better than PureVPN. You can read brief Nordvpn review to catch more details about it.