As far as VPNs go, you may be wondering, what is better than NordVPN? While Nord is the most well-known VPN and famous for its advanced privacy software, many other VPNs on the current market give the VPN titan a run for its money.
One such competitor is CyberGhost. Known as a reliable VPN provider, CyberGhost has a lot to offer in terms of security and geo-unblocking. It’s also slightly cheaper than NordVPN, which is why a lot of people are interested in its services.
However, many customers use NordVPN due to its popularity and stellar reputation within the VPN industry. If you’re interested in comparing the VPN market and seeing how Nord compares to rival VPNs, read on to discover all, you need to know about NordVPN and CyberGhost VPN.
We’ve researched both CyberGhost and NordVPN thoroughly to decide which VPN offers the overall best services. We’ve looked at each VPN closely in various areas to see how each one fares in terms of security, privacy, and cost.
With a VPN, you can add an extra layer of privacy to your browsing data and secure all of your online activity whilst giving yourself more anonymity online. There are several things that users should look out for when browsing VPNs, including tunneling protocols and encryption standards.
NordVPN provides next-generation encryption to users in the form of AES-256 bit encryption with a 4096-bit DH key. The provider also uses Perfect Forward Secrecy to ensure that encryption keys are changed at every session.
CyberGhost also uses AES-256 encryption and Perfect Forward Secrecy to ensure encryption and decryption keys are always different. Both providers offer the highest encryption level, which isn’t surprising, seeing as they are two of the most popular VPNs on the market.
Tunneling protocols are an important factor in encryption and can affect how secure a connection is. NordVPN gives customers a choice of just three protocols: OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec, and NordLynx, which is Nord’s very own protocol creation. OpenVPN is offered over either UDP/TCP, while NordLynx improves upon WireGuard and offers users more privacy. Alternatively, iOS users can opt for IKEv2/IPsec since this protocol runs better on these operating systems.
CyberGhost offers similar protocol options, including OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard, and L2TP/IPsec. We like that both NordVPN and CyberGhost don’t offer weaker protocols like PPTP, which produces a faster connection, but ultimately has many flaws in its code.
A major reason users turn to VPNs is to hide their data from third parties such as their Internet Service Provider (ISP), the government, or snoopers on a public network. When you use a VPN, you are giving the provider the same powers as your ISP and the ability to view all of your web traffic. For this reason, your provider should offer a strict zero-logs policy.
When it comes to data browsing privacy, NordVPN has a no-logging policy that a third party has independently audited. All that the provider stores is user disconnection times for 15 minutes after a session ends. CyberGhost also has a strict no-logging policy and doesn’t store information like browsing history or real IP addresses.
While CyberGhost hasn’t been independently audited, it releases an annual transparency report that details police requests for server data and how your data is handled. It would be great to see CyberGhost undergo an independent audit like NordVPN to reassure users 100% that its privacy policy checks out.
NordVPN is based in privacy-friendly Panama, which enjoys some of the world’s best data retention laws. Moreover, Panama falls outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes alliance, a massive international surveillance operation.
CyberGhost has its headquarters in Romania, another country that doesn’t cooperate with the 5 Eyes and has good data privacy laws. Despite being a member of the EU, Romania does not follow the EU data retention laws. This means that CyberGhost does not need to log what its users do online.
Of course, both providers follow international law and would have to hand over data from their servers if forced to. But, since the two providers both have no-logging policies, they would not have anything to produce in this event.
Additional security features are always a must when it comes to VPNs. Firstly, both providers have an internet kill switch that users can activate in the app settings. A kill switch is an essential feature that will cut off your internet access if the server connection goes down.
As well as a kill switch, NordVPN has IPv6, WebRTC, and DNS leak protection, all of which further protect your identity and keeps you anonymous online. CyberGhost doesn’t offer IPv6 leak protection but is DNS and WebRTC leakproof.
NordVPN has built-in anti-malware protection in the form of its CyberSec. This cybersecurity solution blocks access to malicious sites, ensuring that your device remains safe and acts as an ad blocker. While CyberGhost doesn’t offer something similar, Windows users can add on the CyberGhost security suite, which comes with antivirus software, functions as an ad blocker, and protects Windows users from being spied upon.
Moreover, both VPN providers enable users to ensure their VPN connection is as safe as possible by routing their traffic through multiple servers. There is the Double VPN feature from NordVPN that routes your traffic through two serves for an extra layer of encrypted protection. CyberGhost rivals the Double VPN feature with the CyberGhost NoSpy server network.
The NoSpy network consists of servers based in Bucharest, Romania, that are managed end-to-end by the CyberGhost team. This ensures that security breaches on the network will be flagged up if they occur. Since the server network is based in Romania, this also reassures users that their activity on the servers won’t be logged.
The winner: In terms of privacy and security, CyberGhost and NordVPN are pretty evenly matched, although it is disappointing that CyberGhost does not support the IPv6 protocol at the time of writing. We’d also like to see an independent audit of CyberGhost’s privacy policy, so for this reason. In terms of privacy, NordVPN slightly outperforms CyberGhost.
Additional VPN features are what separates a good VPN from a great one. Fortunately, both CyberGhost and NordVPN deliver in this area, with various extra VPN services on offer for users to employ to enhance their overall VPN experience.
Most VPNs offer five simultaneous connections, but you get six device connections with NordVPN. CyberGhost offers users seven simultaneous connections at any time, which is a decent number.
It’s important to bear in mind that simultaneous connections refer to the number of devices that can run the VPN service simultaneously. So, you can download the VPN app onto more than six or seven devices, but you can’t use it on more than the limit at any given moment.
If you want to circumvent the device cap, you can configure either NordVPN or CyberGhost to your router and provide automatic VPN protection to all devices connected to your local network.
Being able to bypass streaming services’ firewalls is an integral aspect of a VPN service. We all know that NordVPN is one of the best providers for streaming, but is CyberGhost any good? Fortunately, both CyberGhost and NordVPN can access Netflix in multiple regions. This is great news since Netflix has a strong anti-VPN firewall, and it is hard for providers to get past the Netflix VPN block.
NordVPN claims to unblock 14 Netflix libraries, including Canada, Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands. While CyberGhost does unblock Netflix, it only can provide access to 4 Netflix catalogs in the US, the UK, Germany, and France. Still, this is better than none and a great accomplishment considering that Netflix is difficult to unblock.
For fans of BBC iPlayer, you’ll be relieved to know that the two providers are also able to get access to this popular British-based streaming service.
Streaming services aside, users can employ either one of the two VPNs for torrenting purposes. Many VPN providers don’t allow P2P networking on their servers, but both NordVPN and CyberGhost encourage it. NordVPN has over 4000 servers on which P2P networking is permitted, and CyberGhost also offers a whole host of torrent-optimized servers.
On both the NordVPN and CyberGhost apps, users can connect to clearly-marked P2P servers if they want to torrent. This makes it easier for people to get the best downloading experience.
There are extra features available on the native NordVPN and CyberGhost apps intended to make your VPN use easier. For example, both providers offer users the option to purchase dedicated IP addresses.
A dedicated IP address is a good option for people who want to use a VPN for activities like online banking or accessing work cloud drives but need to use a recognizable and the same IP address every time. With NordVPN and CyberGhost, you can get a dedicated IP as an add-on for a small extra charge.
Both VPNs have a quick connect option for the fastest server connections and automatic wi-fi protection in place for when you connect to a new network. However, we really like NordVPN’s pause feature, which allows you to momentarily snooze the VPN and have it automatically reactivate at a pre-scheduled time.
The winner: It’s fairly equal between the two providers regarding extra features, and no provider offers more than the other. However, NordVPN may be a better choice for Netflix fans as it offers more library access regarding this site.
The best VPNs have a large VPN server selection with enough choice to satisfy all users. Location, size, and specialized servers are all important when it comes to choosing a VPN provider.
When it comes to servers, NordVPN has 5500 VPN servers with server locations across 59 countries worldwide. This is pretty good for a VPN, but CyberGhost has a slightly larger network of 6200 servers with 112 server locations operating across 90 countries.
Since CyberGhost has a slightly larger number of VPN servers, it operates in a few countries that NordVPN doesn’t, including Nigeria and Russia. When it comes to servers, the more choice, the better. This is because it provides users with more IP address options, the ability to access content in more places around the world, and generally lower server loads.
Both VPNs offer different dedicated VPN server options in the form of streaming servers and optimized torrenting servers. You can easily connect to these specialized servers in each VPN provider’s apps, as they are clearly marked for ease of access.
On the CyberGhost website, the provider offers a detailed list of which servers unblock which services, which is a handy feature.
In the NordVPN app, you can also access Onion over VPN, which is great for users who want to access the Tor network. While CyberGhost is also compatible with the Tor browser, we like that NordVPN highlights the best servers for users who want to route their traffic through the network.
Finally, NordVPN offers obfuscated servers which are essential if you want to bypass VPN firewalls or use the VPN service in a restrictive country. Obfuscated servers hide the fact you’re using a VPN, making it a lot easier to access restrictive websites. Moreover, obfuscation gives you more protection online as it hides the fact you’re using a VPN from your ISP. Unfortunately, CyberGhost doesn’t as of yet employ obfuscated servers, and this is a real disappointment.
The winner: NordVPN comes out on top in terms of servers. Although NordVPN offers fewer servers than CyberGhost, it has extra specialty servers that users can connect to.
As more people own multiple devices, providers need to ensure that their VPN services are compatible with various operating systems.
NordVPN has dedicated VPN apps for Android, Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android TV. The VPN can also be configured to your router and then used on other platforms such as Smart TVs and Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The NordVPN app provides extreme ease of use, with users able to easily find VPN servers in a list and configure the VPN settings.
CyberGhost also works on a vast number of devices, including those listed above. As well as this, you can use CyberGhost on your Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV and buy a router with CyberGhost VPN pre-configured on it to use the VPN on your gaming console. Like NordVPN, CyberGhost has an easy-to-use app, which provides easy navigation and is incredibly user-friendly.
The winner: NordVPN has an excellent app and supports many different platforms, but CyberGhost is the winner when it comes to device support. This is simply because the provider makes it easier for customers to connect the VPN to other devices via their router and offers informative and clear guides on setting this connection up.
Speed tests are vital when it comes to reviewing a VPN. You don’t want to use a VPN that will drastically affect your download and upload speeds, especially if you’re using the VPN for streaming, torrenting, or any other heavy data-consuming activities.
We ran a few speed tests with both providers to see how they performed over short and long distances. We were very impressed with our CyberGhost speed test results. We started with a base download speed of 39 Mbps and an upload speed of 23 Mbps, which was fast. Connecting to a US server decreased the download speed to 35 Mbps and the upload speed to 20 Mbps, which was not bad.
We then wanted to check the speeds a little further away, so we connected to a Hong Kong server. While there was more of a noticeable dip, with our download speed dropping to 32 Mbps and our upload speed to 17 Mbps. These speeds were lower than what we started with, but again, they didn’t affect our device’s performance.
It was then time to test NordVPN to see how it compared. Firstly, connecting to a US server saw slightly faster speeds; we had a download speed rate of 37 Mbps and an upload speed rate of 21 Mbps. We then ran a speed test while connected to a Japanese server and were happily surprised that the download and upload speeds didn’t change much. Our download speed dropped by only a few Mbps to 34 Mbps and our upload speed to 19 Mbps.
The winner: NordVPN performed slightly better during our speed tests, but overall the speeds from both providers were good. Our test results showed what we believed to be true already: both VPNs are super-fast, with an average download speed of 35.5 Mbps with NordVPN and 33.5 Mbps with CyberGhost.
Cost is often more of an important factor than anything else for customers. While NordVPN, CyberGhost, and many other providers offer frequent price deals, it is good to know what price the providers charge for their services regularly.
CyberGhost
NordVPN
In terms of pricing, CyberGhost is a lot cheaper. Despite its more expensive monthly plan, it is cheaper per month on its one-year and two-year plans. Moreover, while all NordVPN plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, CyberGhost has a 45-day money-back guarantee for all new customers.
The winner: Due to its cheaper long-term plans and long refund policy that far exceeds the industry-standard month-long money-back guarantee, CyberGhost is better if you want to save money.
While both VPNs offer ease of use and impressive features when it comes to their VPN services, that isn’t to say that customers won’t run into issues from time to time. One essential aspect of a VPN is good customer support.
CyberGhost offers great customer support with a 24/7 live chat on its website, a ticketed email support system, and a very informative help center full of detailed guides and tutorials. Even better, you can get in touch with the CyberGhost support team via social media, as the company is active on sites such as Twitter.
In terms of customer support, NordVPN also is great. Users can enjoy a live chat service, a support center full of useful information, and a ticketed email service. One support feature that both VPNs lack is a telephone number, which we think would make a great addition.
The winner: It’s a tie in terms of support for users.
So, is NordVPN really the best? NordVPN is our winner for a few reasons. It provides extreme ease of use on its apps and offers fast server speeds, as demonstrated in our test results. It also offers access to more streaming service libraries than CyberGhost. While CyberGhost has more servers, NordVPN provides obfuscation which is an important privacy and security feature.
Even though CyberGhost is cheaper than NordVPN and is an impressive provider, NordVPN just slightly edges out the Romanian-based provider.
I’m Madeleine, and I'm a writer that specializes in cybersecurity, tech products, and all things related to the internet.
I have a keen interest in VPNs and believe that everyone deserves internet freedom and security. I wr...
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