Mozilla VPN vs. NordVPN

A lot of tech companies have been getting into the virtual private network (VPN) game lately. Usually, they’re known for some other service. Maybe they offer antivirus or, as in the case of Mozilla, a secure web browser, so putting out a VPN seems like the next logical step.

You might be tempted to sign up for a plan from one of these companies. After all, Mozilla already secures your browsing experience. Why not give it a shot at encrypting your online connection too?

The thing about new VPNs, though, is that they’re untested. Mozilla has a strong track record when it comes to making web browsers. That doesn’t mean it can make a VPN, and it certainly doesn’t mean it can produce a VPN that measures up to the best VPN on the market, NordVPN.But we won’t beat around the bush here. We were actually pleasantly surprised by Mozilla’s VPN offering. For a VPN from a company that makes browsers, it’s not bad. It does what’s necessary to keep you safe. But again, can Mozilla compete with NordVPN in terms of features or overall security?

To find out, we’ve compared them point by point.

Security

A VPN’s primary job is to keep you and your data safe and secure when you’re online. If your VPN can’t do that job, it’s just an expensive way to slow your device down. How do these two VPNs compare when it comes to security?

• Encryption: Encryption is at the heart of what VPNs do. In fact, the very definition of a VPN is an encrypted tunnel. What type of encryption a VPN uses, then, is essential to how well it protects its users. NordVPN uses AES-256. As the name implies, this encryption method employs a 256-bit key to encode your information into a cipher. How good is AES-256? It’s used by the U.S. military to encode military secrets. Mozilla uses a 256-bit encryption method as well, which it creates by combining the ChaCha20 and Poly1305 keys. Supposedly, this speeds up the encryption. However, we’re placing our trust in the tried-and-true AES-256.

• Protocols: The next most important feature of any VPN, after its encryption method, is its protocol. A VPN’s protocol is the instructions that tell it how to employ its encryption. Here again, NordVPN uses the top-of-the-line protocol, OpenVPN. OpenVPN has been around for more than 20 years. It’s open source, and it’s been tested by every hacking expert out there. Mozilla uses WireGuard. Like OpenVPN, WireGuard is open source, so it’s been subject to a great deal of testing from the web community. And, again, it’s supposedly faster than OpenVPN. It’s still a relatively new protocol, though, so it hasn’t been tested nearly as much as OpenVPN.
• Location: What does location have to do with your VPN’s security? Plenty. If your VPN is headquartered in a country that belongs to the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes surveillance alliances, government agencies can force it to turn over customer data. NordVPN is located in Panama, a non-member of these alliances. However, Mozilla is located in the U.S., the ringleader of all three alliances.
• Privacy policies: Another essential way to tell whether a VPN will safeguard your personal data: privacy policies. That’s where the company tells you upfront exactly what information about you it keeps. NordVPN keeps absolutely nothing related to your online activities: no time stamps, no browsing histories, and no IP addresses. That makes it impossible for anyone to get this information and exploit it. Mozilla, on the other hand, records your actual IP address. That can be used to figure out who’s logging on to the service and, depending on where you live, might even be used to prosecute you. And don’t forget that Mozilla is located in the U.S., so that information is available with just a subpoena.
• Camouflage mode: Camouflage mode is one of the newest inventions in the world of VPNs. It hides the fact that you’re using a VPN. NordVPN has specific obfuscated servers devoted to providing camouflage mode. Mozilla hasn’t yet added this technology to its VPN service.

To be fair, Mozilla does have some valuable security features. For instance, the Mozilla VPN offers a kill switch and multi-hop technology. The thing is, NordVPN offers those as well. And, in all the other important security categories, NordVPN goes well beyond Mozilla.

Productivity and Entertainment

You get a VPN for safety and security. Since you’re putting down some cash, though, it’s nice when a company offers you additional features. Here’s how NordVPN and Mozilla stack up against one another when it comes to offering tools for productivity and entertainment.

• Split tunneling: Split tunneling lets you log on to the regular internet at the same time you’re logged on to the VPN. Why is that so important? Because you’re a multi-tasker and not all of those tasks actually need a VPN. You can probably get away with streaming your Spotify playlists over the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi, and when you do, you save bandwidth and get better speeds out of your VPN. NordVPN offers split-tunneling. Mozilla offers split-tunneling as well, but only for Android devices.
• Servers: The more servers your VPN offers, the more likely you are to find one with low traffic. That boosts speeds as well. The more places where your VPN has servers, the more likely you are to find one in the location you need. NordVPN maintains over 5,500 servers in 60 countries. Mozilla has around 300 servers located in 30 countries. That’s not terrible, but it’s far below NordVPN’s numbers.
• Streaming access: Remember we said that NordVPN has camouflage mode? That’s important for logging on to streaming services outside your home country. Netflix, Max, Disney+, and other streamers offer lots of content in other countries that you can’t see here in the U.S., and vice versa. They’ve developed technology, though, that blocks VPNs. Camouflage mode allows you to get around those blocks. It’s probably no surprise to you, then, to hear that Mozilla struggles to connect to Netflix and other streaming services since it doesn’t have any obfuscated servers.

Once again, we’d be lying if we said Mozilla doesn’t offer some nice bonus features, like P2P servers that help with torrenting. In the end, though, NordVPN winds up besting it again.

Pricing

Last, but certainly not least, we move to the issue of pricing. And there is a bit of good news for Mozilla. NordVPN charges $12.99 for a one-month subscription. Mozilla beats that with a price that’s $3 cheaper.

Sadly, that victory is fleeting. If you compare the two VPNs in terms of annual price, NordVPN manages to draw even. An annual subscription to Mozilla costs $4.99 per month, the same price as an annual NordVPN subscription. And, NordVPN offers a two-year subscription that will run you just $3.19 per month.

The Bottom Line

Mozilla’s VPN certainly has its strong points. It’s fast, it seems to have some decent security features, and its single-month price is about 33 percent cheaper than NordVPN’s. When it comes down to brass tacks, though, it can’t compete with most of NordVPN’s features, and where it can compete, it’s largely untested. A 256-bit encryption method using ChaCha20 and Poly1305 is probably strong, but there’s absolutely no doubt that AES-256 is secure.

Of course, we’ll leave the final decision to you.

Sign up with NordVPN if you want

• The best security on the market
• Access to streaming content libraries in other countries
• A two-year subscription
• Split tunneling
• An airtight privacy policy

Sign up with Mozilla if you want

• A single-month subscription price below $10.00
• Access to the WireGuard protocol