Mullvad vs. NordVPN

When you’re looking to put your trust in a VPN to protect your data, it’s probably a good idea to choose a brand you’ve heard of. Let’s use NordVPN, for example. It has a reputation for being one of the best VPNs on the market. As for Mullvad, you might have only seen it mentioned if you lurk in VPN subreddits.

So is Mullvad any competition for NordVPN? We bought a subscription to both and tested them over three months to find out. Much to our delight, Mullvad matched NordVPN by including security features like multi-hop and killswitch. However, Mullvad couldn’t compete with Nord VPN’s server offerings, which include obfuscated servers, meaning the connection hides the fact you’re using a VPN. Let’s take a closer look at our findings.

Pricing

One of the first places we head to when shopping around for a VPN is the pricing page. NordVPN has a number of plans based on payment frequency and features. One month will set you back $12.99, whereas one month on a two-year plan is just $3.59. If it’s part of a NordVPN deal, you might even score a few free months.

Mullvad takes a different approach and has one price, no matter how long you stick with them. It works out to be about $5.27 per month. If you decide to pay month to month, it’s cheaper than NordVPN’s $12.99 price tag. But if you know you’ll need a VPN for a year or two, it’s hard to beat NordVPN, even if you’re paying for the entire period upfront.

Price Per Month

A Few Important Commonalities

We should talk about what you get with Mulvad and NordVPN subscriptions – and we don’t mean the extra features like ad blockers. How do these VPNs protect your data when you’re online?

• AES-256 Encryption: At the core of any VPN lies its encryption. Essentially, a VPN functions as a private tunnel for your internet traffic, encrypting all your online activities. So the encryption standard used is pretty important. In this area, NordVPN and Mullvad are evenly matched. They both employ 256-bit AES encryption, which is currently our gold standard encryption. NordVPN also uses ChaCha20, which is an up-and-coming encryption method that offers secure and fast connections.
• Choice of Protocols: A VPN’s protocol dictates how it implements its various encryption strategies. Both Mullvad and NordVPN offer a choice of protocols between OpenVPN and WireGuard. Although NordVPN uses a variation they’ve invented called NordLynx. OpenVPN is the industry standard. It’s been around long enough to have been tested and determined safe. WireGuard is a little newer, but it’s based on the same basic code as OpenVPN, and it’s also faster. In the end, though, you can’t really go wrong with either.
• Multi-hop: This is a new technology, one that both Mullvad and NordVPN have chosen to implement. It routes your internet connection through not just one, but two or more secure servers. That means the connection has to travel through at least two separate encrypted tunnels.
• Tight Privacy Policies: Finally, it’s always important to check a VPN’s privacy policy before you hand over any personal information. You’ll want to see what details they collect and what they do with them. NordVPN and Mullvad maintain strict privacy policies. They keep as little information about you as possible — just enough to keep the services running — and they never share it with anyone. Most importantly, neither of them stores any record of your IP address, your browsing history, or your time stamps.
• Kill Switches: A kill switch shuts down your internet activity whenever you lose the connection to your VPN. That eliminates the possibility that someone might accidentally gain access to your personal data or be able to spy on your online activities. Both NordVPN and Mullvad include kill switches.

As an added perk, Mullvad and NordVPN offer split tunneling. It’s not strictly a security feature, but it’s useful. In essence, it allows you to access the regular internet simultaneously with the VPN. Why is this handy? It enables you to direct sensitive tasks through the VPN while using regular internet for activities like Spotify, conserving bandwidth and ensuring smoother, faster connections for both.

From those security comparisons, we can see that you can’t really go wrong with either option. They both provide airtight security.

Some Key Differences

So we know NordVPN and Mullvad get the basics right. But what are the differences between these two VPNs? More importantly, do they matter?

Toss-Up Differences

With any two VPNs, you’ll find one is better at some features than others, even if there are not many differences between them. That’s the case with these two companies when it comes to servers and privacy policies.

For instance, NordVPN has a few more servers than Mullvad. Mullvad’s numbers are healthy. The company reports that it operates just over 650 servers in over 40 different countries. That’s enough to ensure you should be able to get a fast, secure connection wherever you happen to be in the world. That number isn’t close to NordVPN’s numbers, though. NordVPN has over 6,700 servers in nearly 111 different countries!

On the other hand, Mullvad’s privacy policy is just a little more airtight than NordVPN’s. Again, NordVPN is no slouch in this department. It’s one of our top VPNs with a ‘no-logs’ policy. It never collects any information that could be used to track your online activities. The company doesn’t record IP addresses, or browsing histories, or timestamps. It’s also taken the trouble to hire an independent auditing agency to verify its claims, most recently in January of 2024.1

However, Mullvad goes the extra mile. Mullvad doesn’t ask you to create a username or password. Instead, it assigns you a randomly generated user number. Furthermore, the company encourages users to sign up using cryptocurrency for maximum anonymity.

NordVPN’s Real Strength

When push comes to shove, though, NordVPN has some features Mullvad just can’t match.

First, it offers obfuscated servers. What are these, and why do they matter so much? A normal VPN, such as Mullvad, conceals your identity, so it’s impossible for anyone to track your online activities. That’s one of its most important functions. But it doesn’t conceal the fact that you’re using a VPN.

The trouble is a number of sites — especially streaming media sites — have begun to reject VPN connections. That means that while you’re safe from detection, you may be limited in where you can go online. Obfuscated servers conceal the fact that you’re using a VPN at all, which means websites have no way to block your connections.

Given that it’s the only one of these two VPNs with obfuscated servers, it probably won’t come as a surprise that NordVPN is also far better at providing access to streaming servers. It’s at the top of our list of best VPNs for Netflix, for example. In fact, with NordVPN, you get reliable connections to Netflix, Hulu, Max, Disney Plus, and dozens of other entertainment sites. Mullvad’s access to these sites is hit and miss, and far more often, more miss than hit.

Finally, as an added bonus, NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, a country outside the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance alliances. Mullvad is located in Sweden, a member of 14 Eyes. Mullvad limits what information it keeps in order to hinder government subpoenas, but the bottom line is that a country outside these alliances is safer than one in it.

Want to read even more about NordVPN’s many features? Check out our full NordVPN review.

Bottom Line

We like Mullvad a lot. We’re especially drawn to their stated commitment to a free internet — free from mass surveillance, censorship, and big data. And without a doubt, the company offers some compelling features, particularly when it comes to security. We love the fact that they provide multi-hop technology, a kill switch, and encryption as strong as any VPN on the market. Plus, the company offers one of the lowest single-month subscriptions we’ve come across at $5.27.

In the end, though, we have to give the edge to NordVPN. It’s got all the same security features Mullvad does, plus obfuscated servers. It provides access to all the best streaming servers, so you can log on to content libraries all over the world. And, while its single-month price is considerably higher than Mullvad’s, if you’re willing to sign up for a year or two, its price is actually lower.

You should certainly consider Mullvad if:

• You’re looking for a short-term subscription, anywhere between one and 11 months.
• You want extra layers of anonymity.
• You need a secure VPN but aren’t as interested in entertainment options.

You’ll probably prefer NordVPN if:

• You want reliable access to Netflix, Max, Disney+, and other streaming services.
• You want to conceal the fact that you’re using a VPN.
• You’re planning to invest in a subscription of a year or more.