NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN: Speed, Security, Servers and Price Compared 2024

1. What are the best cheap VPNs in 2024?

VPN has attracted more and more people's attention, and the field is full of many famous names. The three most popular ones include NordVPN, Private Internet Access and PureVPN.

These are cheap and well-known VPN providers, proud of their zero-logging policy, good speed, and ability to unblock Netflix and other streaming services. So, what differences should you consider when subscribing to a VPN? Which is the best VPN for you?

Choosing between these 3 VPNs can be challenging. To help you determine the most suitable options, we have conducted extensive testing and analysis on them.

In the comparison of NordVPN, Private Internet Access and PureVPN, we will compare them in terms of speed, security, features, and compatibility with streaming media services.

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Quick Summary – The Ultimate Winner

Don’t want to read the whole comparison? Well, NordVPN turns out to be the winner of our comparison. But Private Internet Access competes fiercely with PureVPN, and they are also cheaper.

#1 NordVPN

NordVPN – Best VPN service, premium features at an affordable price

NordVPN turned out to be the #1 VPN provider in our testing of the best VPN services.

• 5500+ servers in 62+ Countries

• Double VPN feature for extra privacy

• Unlimited Streaming in Ultra HD quality without data caps

• Unlimited P2P/Torrenting anonymously with dedicated P2P servers

• Unblocks International services Netflix, Hulu, Prime, HBO, iPlayer, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

• CyberSec to avoid malware and block ads

• Reliable kill switch

• Strict No-logs policy

• 30 Days Full Refund Policy

Visit NordVPN Now!

#2 Private Internet Access

PIA — Best for Windows

• 20000+ Servres in 77+ Countries

• Unblocks Hulu, Amazon Prime, Show Time, and other streaming services.

• Standard Encryptions for enhanced privacy

• P2P Torrenting support (unlimited bandwidth)

• Bonus features for chrome with additional settings

• 10 Simulatenous device connection

• 30 Days Full Refund Policy

Visit Private Internet Access VPN Now!

#3 PureVPN

PureVPN — Best Server Base

• 6500+ Servers in 78+ countries

• P2P Torrenting with unlimited bandwidth

• Unblocks Netflix, Hulu, Prime, HBO, iPlayer, and other streaming sites

• Military grade security with port forwarding

• 10 Simultaneous device connections

• Zero logging

• Available for Linux, iOS, Android and Windows, browser extensions

• 24/7 customer support

• 31 Days Full Refund Policy

Visit PureVPN Now!

Here are the test categories we looked at for this NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN comparison:

• Price 

• Speed 

• Servres

• Security 

• Privacy

• Features

• Streaming

• Torrenting

• Compatibility and connections

• Ease of use and support

So now let’s examine the results, starting with plans.

2. Pricing and discounts: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

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NordVPN

NordVPN provides everything that you could ask from a VPN, and it doesn't cost a fortune. Whether you're looking for online anonymity or want to unblock censored websites, NordVPN can do all of these things and more.

The company's two-year VPN subscription plan costs $3.13 a month. That price is lower than most contenders, but creeps up for the one-year plan ($4.92 a month) and the monthly plan ($11.95 a month). 

I recommend using this VPN for the long term so you have to pay very few dollars per month. Still, if you try the service and don't like something, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee.

PIA

PIA has a bit different duration periods. If you distribute these costs by monthly sums, the prices will be $11.95, $3.33/month for a year, and $2.03/month for three years. Across all the plans, PIA is cheaper than NordVPN, back to back.

PIA is a cheap VPN compared to others in the market offering great value for money and one of the best among cheap VPNs available right now. PIA offers 10 simultaneous device connections at this price range.

PIA also offers a 30-days money-back guarantee program like NordVPN does. But they are posing some fine to be aware of. They will not directly refund your complete amount or might terminate your account for some reason.

Pure VPN

PureVPN does not often appear in our VPN roundups, because although it is a reliable provider, it cannot match the biggest competitors such as NordVPN and Surfshark in terms of performance.

But the price it offers is so good, so we still recommend that you consider using this cheap but high-quality VPN service.

PureVPN seems to be quite affordable, ranging from $1.99 to $10.95 per month. It is now 88% lower than the regular price (as long as you are willing to subscribe for a 5-year subscription).

 Additionally, you can pick some extra benefits along with general features.

• Port forwarding: $0.25 for the trial, $11.88 per year after the trial. Gives you an add-on that allows you to set up port forwarding.

• Dedicated IP: $0.99 for the trial, $35.88 per year after the trial. When buying, you have to select the country for the IP (US, UK, Singapore, Malta, Germany, Australia, Canada).

• DDoS protection: $0.99 for the trial, $47.88 per year after the trial. You get a DDoS protected IP picked from the following countries: US, UK, New Zealand, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Germany, France.

For some reason, it is not possible to select all three options at once - only two are allowed. However, even with two extra options, the yearly price of PureVPN grows significantly.

PureVPN offers 31 days money-back guarantee program to know the value of the service. If you’re not satisfied with the service, you can claim a refund within 31 days. Some payment methods are not eligible for refunds such as Google Pay.

3. Speed and performance: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

We run our speed test using the fastest VPN protocol supported by each service.

The fastest protocol for both NordVPN and PIA is WireGuard. The fastest protocol of PureVPN is OpenVPN UDP.

All speed tests were conducted on a 500 Mbps internet connection using the latest VPN apps.

In our recent speed test, NordVPN surpassed many competitors in performance and won the first place in speed.

NordVPN

We found that NordVPN is very fast. There has never been any sudden drop or service interruption, and where we expected VPN to perform poorly, it still proved itself capable of this task.

The main reason for this effect is that NordVPN has used WireGuard, the fastest VPN protocol in the industry in the past two years.

And NordVPN just used its modified version and called it NordLynx, which is more secure and private than the original WireGuard.

PIA

At the same time, PIA should probably study how to modify WireGuard on its own, because its download speed is much lower than NordVPN. On the bright side, it provides a better upload speed.

Pure VPN

Unfortunately, PureVPN does not provide WireGuard, which is the fastest VPN protocol available today. Therefore, we can only compare its UDP protocol!

In general, the two providers are the same in TCP mode, NordVPN downloads faster in UDP mode, and WireGuard works better with NordVPN.

All in all, it is clear that NordVPN is faster and has fewer connection problems. The next best performer is PIA. PureVPN is at the mid-end level of the industry in terms of performance, but it is not very stable, and sometimes the network connection is very slow.

4. Servers: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

NordVPN

NordVPN is at #1 on our list because of its all-around performance. It has fastest servers all around the world. 

NordVPN is currently upgrading its entire network with:

Self-owned (colocated) servers, which will replace all rental servers.

High speed hardware capable of 10 Gbps (I have not seen any other VPN service offer this).

NordVPN has huge network of 5,400+ servers in 61 countries across the world increasing every day. A large number of servers allows you to connect fast servers and bypass geoblocks and restrictions easily.

To connect to the fastest server you can just click on Quick connect on top right corner, it will automatically connect you to the fastest server. You can also choose the location by clicking on the map or pick from left side. With few clicks you can connect to VPN and start browsing Internet, downloading torrents and streaming safely.

NordVPN does not have any virtual server locations and instead uses real servers in all advertised locations.

NordVPN runs all servers in RAM-disk mode. This is more secure as it ensures no user data can ever be stored on physical hard drives. Both ExpressVPN and Surfshark also run servers in RAM-disk mode.

Unlike NordVPN, PIA does not run servers in RAM-disk mode. PureVPN still uses disk servers (Hardrives). 

PIA

PIA claims to have 23,000 servers in 77 countries. And, since over 10,000 of these are reportedly in the US, the majority of its users should expect good speeds no matter where they are.

It also appears that most of these are virtual server locations, rather than physical servers. You can see these are labeled as “geo-located” on their server page.

Often times VPNs will use cheap virtual servers instead of dedicated premium servers. Virtual servers are usually logged by the server host, so this creates privacy concerns.

Unfortunately with PIA, it’s also difficult to find any details on the quality of the servers they use. Many VPNs have undergone various security audits, such as with NordVPN. However, with PIA and PureVPN, we do not see any server security audits.

Pure VPN

If price is the only positive factor for PureVPN, we would not recommend it at all. Fortunately, it has many other advantages that cannot be ignored.

First of all, it has more than 6,500 servers worldwide, an account can connect to 10 devices at the same time, and it also performs well in removing geographically restricted streaming services-Netflix US, Disney+ and BBC iPlayer are all on the success list.

Back to the servers.

PureVPN owns 6500+ servers in more than 96+ locations. Its server’s reach is the best selling point making this one of the best traveling VPN, covering locations in Africa, America (central & south) while these regions are ignored by the best VPNs in the market. PureVPN manages to beat ExpressVPN which is the global market big bull. CyberGhost gives tough competition to PureVPN owning 7300 servers.

PureVPN also achieves global coverage with its virtual servers(not physically located), though this practice isn’t good it’s useful when VPN providers want to cover some unsafe area placing their server in a secure location. 

5. Security and Privacy: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

Jurisdiction

NordVPN is based in Panama, a privacy-friendly country that doesn’t have any data retention laws and doesn’t belong to the infamous 14-Eyes intelligence alliance.

Meanwhile, PureVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands. It used to be located in Hong Kong – but with this change, PureVPN users now benefit from the same level of data retention laws as NordVPN users.

One major drawback with Private Internet Access is that it is based in the United States. This is generally considered to be a bad privacy jurisdiction because it is part of the Five Eyes alliance. 

Logging

NordVPN, PIA and PureVPN are all proven no logs VPN services. Each VPN has had its logging policies verified with real-world tests.

In its privacy policy, NordVPN states that it doesn’t keep logs on its users. The VPN has also been independently audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in 2018 and 2020. NordVPN only collects crash reports and application diagnostics data, but you can easily opt-out from this.

It’s also worthwhile to mention that most of NordVPN’s regular servers are run on RAM, which means that the info they store gets wiped out every time a server is rebooted.

Private Internet Access has been around since 2010, swears by its no-logging policy and routinely offers new updates and features.

Let's start with the not-so-great news. PIA is based in the United States, and this just isn't ideal when it comes to privacy, seeing as invasive organizations like the CIA and NSA also make their home in the US. Furthermore, the United States is very much a founding member of the 5 Eyes Alliance. The better and more reassuring news is that PIA has proven its no-logs policy in court on numerous occasions. 

PureVPN also claims to not collect any personal information or logs. Also, its privacy policy has been audited by Altius IT in 2019. However, in 2017, PureVPN was involved with the FBI, providing the logs (email accounts and the real IP address) of an alleged cyberstalker. This might be the reason for the subsequent auditing, which was probably done to regain users’ trust.

Encryption and protocols

In terms of encryption, all three programs use AES-256. AES-256 is the current industry standard of encryption, trusted by the US government, military, and companies that deal with sensitive data. 

However, there are differences in tunneling protocols. NordVPN has a slight advantage over PIA and PureVPN here. This is because it provides NordLynx, a fast and safe custom modification of WireGuard that provides a combination of speed and safety.

In addition to NordLynx, NordVPN also has OpenVPN (UDP and TCP) and IKEv2/IPsec.

PIA also supports the WireGuard protocol, but this protocol is not a modified version.

When it comes to PureVPN, the choice of protocols is wider, but some protocols themselves are not so good. Therefore, the program allows you to choose OpenVPN (UDP and TCP), IKEv2/IPsec, SSTP, L2TP/IPSec, and PPTP.

Among them, PPTP and SSTP are fast, but these two protocols are outdated because of possible security vulnerabilities.

6. Features: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

From a consumer's point of view, most providers will provide you with the ability to hide your identity. However, few split tunnels or network filters can give you more control over your connection.

Although PureVPN and PIA can match many of NordVPN's features, some features are a bit problematic, and some are not available. In terms of functionality, this is a decisive victory for NordVPN.

Exclusive features are one of the ways that VPN services are unique. This makes NordVPN one of the most recognized brands in the VPN field. NordVPN also provides dedicated IP options, Double VPN, Tor network, and P2P servers. We did not find any privacy leaks during the test.

PureVPN offers a lot of features, but many of these simply do not work well. The apps are buggy and slow, and the service can’t even unblock popular streaming websites.

Private Internet Access is a basic VPN with minimal features, but the features seem to work well. Their main features/settings are an a VPN ad-blocker called PIA MACE, a kill switch, and IPv6 leak protection.

SmartDNS

NordVPN’s SmartDNS is a feature that allows you to watch Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and other streaming services on devices that don’t support VPNs. You may encounter this feature on some other VPN services - it’s usually called SmartPlay. Keep in mind that SmartDNS will not encrypt your traffic, as it allows you to access geo-blocked content in a different way to VPN.

Kill switch

A good kill switch is an essential feature of any VPN. A VPN kill switch is a feature that automatically disconnects your computer, phone, or tablet from the internet if your VPN connection drops out. This means there’s no chance that your IP address and other sensitive information could be exposed if your VPN stops working. So the security and anonymity of your internet connection won’t be compromised.

Split tunneling

Split tunneling allows you to conserve bandwidth by letting you choose the applications (or, sometimes, websites) that will use the VPN connection. In other words, the traffic of some of your apps will be encrypted, while the rest of your internet traffic will go through an open network.

Route your internet traffic between VPN and ISP Connection.

At the moment, you can find the split tunneling feature only in the Android app of PureVPN.

Web filters

Your connection can be made safer by using various DNS filters that block websites associated with malware or advertising. NordVPN and PIA both have such filters. PIA's version is called MACE, while NordVPN calls theirs CyberSec.

Double VPN

This is an advanced VPN security feature that routes your traffic through two VPN servers and encrypts them twice. This will act as double protection for privacy, enhanced security, IP Protection, and complete privacy.

Dedicated IP

Have a personal IP just for yourself maximizing your security over the internet.

Port Forwarding

The Port-Forwarding add-on helps you access your device or a service from anywhere in the world securely.

Obfuscated servers 

Designed to access the VPN service in countries that make VPN use difficult, e.g. China.

7. Streaming and Torrenting: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

Netflix and streaming 

It isn't a secret that one of the VPN use cases is access to streaming platforms. Some of them, like Netflix, have different library sized for each country, while others may simply be unavailable. So, the ability to effortlessly unblock media websites is one of the most important ones for most users.

NordVPN

NordVPN is a brilliant website or streaming content unblocker. 

While many VPNs struggle in unblocking Netflix because of its strict VPN detection. But for NordVPN it is a piece of cake. NordVPN conquers 1st position of best Netflix VPNs. All the servers are working fine with reliable speeds and it is easy to unblock the Netflix UK, Japan, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Egypt, Mexico, Canada, and India.

NordVPN can also unblock Amazon Prime, ESPN, HBO Now, Hulu, Disney+, Vudu, Sky, BBC iPlayer, etc.

Unfortunately, neither PureVPN nor PIA is a good choice for Netflix.

PureVPN

Though PureVPN is not a well-known VPN for streaming, it does a decent job of unblocking geo-blocked content on various streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO, BBC iPlayer, and others. Though the speeds are low, you will be able to stream in HD.

PIA

PIA used to have some issues with streaming support, but in our latest round of reviews, we saw a great improvement. Now, it's capable of unblocking just about any service, including US Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer and more. 

However, PIA's ability to unblock Netflix is very unstable, sometimes it can succeed, sometimes it can't. Even if Netflix in the US can be used, the speed is a bit slow and the video quality is not very good.

In general, PIA is also much less in terms of the number of unlocked streaming services.

Generally speaking, I don't think either of these two VPNs is very suitable for streaming. However, at least PureVPN can connect to Netflix slightly faster, even if it has buffering problems, it can successfully unblock most of the time.

So if streaming is one of the main reasons you need a VPN, then the choice is obviously NordVPN.

Torrenting and P2P

All three VPNs are P2P compatible. Therefore, no matter which provider you use, you can download torrent files.

Although NordVPN is our first choice for downloading torrents, in some cases, choosing PIA is a better idea.

One situation is that you need to upload a lot of data before downloading. NordVPN does not have port forwarding, so if other users cannot reach you due to routers or other reasons, PIA will do the job.

PIA does not divide its fleet into dedicated and non-P2P, so there is no difference in the server you connect to. At the same time, NordVPN works slightly differently. It has a dedicated seed download server and an ordinary server. Technically, you can use any server for torrenting, but if P2P traffic is detected, you will automatically reconnect to the P2P server.

In addition, both providers include a free SOCKS5 proxy, so although it is less secure, it can be helpful when you need better speed. It can be configured on the torrent client and route your downloads through intermediate servers. However, unlike the VPN application, it does not encrypt your connection.

PIA is also very reliable in the technical aspects of this problem, but not as fast as we hoped. Although they do support port forwarding, which is good for torrent downloading, the speed is relatively slow.

PureVPN supports secure torrenting with its special P2P servers. But the thing is, there aren’t any dedicated servers mentioned for torrenting. On digging this deeper, this service provider allows torrenting only where it’s legal. 

The VPN provider has blocked P2P on servers located in countries that prohibit file sharing (the US, the UK, Canada, etc.).

Fortunately, there are still many servers available for torrent downloading. And the download effect is better, but the speed is not very good.

8. Compatibility and connections: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

Just by looking at the table, you can see that each provider does an excellent job of supporting applications. 

NordVPN, PIA and PureVPN all have apps for major platforms, apps for Android TV and Fire TV, and browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.

They can all be set manually on routers, firewalls and NAS.

NordVPN is compatible with a wide variety of devices and operating systems. We have tried installing this VPN on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, FireStick, Smart TV, and other platforms. The app will have a similar interface on almost all of these platforms which is convenient.

The desirable WireGuard VPN protocol is currently available on all of PIA's platforms, which range widely and include Windows, Android, Mac, iOS and Linux. This cheap VPN also offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Opera, as well as a new private browser for iOS that wipes your data when you close it. If you're ready to make the leap to VPN routers, PIA has those, too. 

In addition, PIA and PureVPN allow you to have 10 simultaneous connections while NordVPN offers only six. Sorry, NordVPN - you’re the loser in this category.

9. Ease of use and support: NordVPN vs. PIA vs. PureVPN

All three VPN services have easy-to-use applications.

PIA

A service that does exactly what it says in the name, Private Internet Access has been around for years but has only recently really been climbing our VPN rankings.

In our most recent testing, we lauded the quality of its clients and apps. Not only are they easy and friendly to use, but they really pack in the extra features for anybody who wants to fully customize their VPN experience.

Even though this cheap VPN provider doesn't offer live chat, PIA does promise 24/7 support and accepts a wider range of payment options than most VPN service providers. 

PureVPN also has a user-friendly application that is easy to download and configure. Their customer support features an informative knowledge base that is nicely designed. However, there have been claims that customer support is not as good compared to NordVPN. 

When it comes to Customer support, it’s not that PureVPN doesn’t provide quick customer support – it does. But can you actually get what you need when you contact PureVPN?

Many customers are inclined to say “not really” and some of them have altogether given up on live support.

This is not at all the case with NordVPN’s 24/7 live chat support. They claim to serve over 3,000 user inquiries each day and, from our experience with them, at least, they seem in no way overcrowded or rushed. Additionally, NordVPN has recently launched a very useful chatbot, which can solve many of the more common issues.

10.   If you want the cheapest VPN, choose PureVPN

If you want to pay as much subscription time as possible with the least price, or just want to surf encrypted, then PureVPN is the cheapest option.

The prices of this VPN provider have recently become very favorable, and they often offer special discounts and packages, some of which you can get a five-year subscription for less than $100, and so on.

If you only want to buy a one-month subscription, PureVPN is currently the cheapest option among the three. NordVPN and PIA are the same.

For long-term subscriptions, NordVPN has the most expensive subscription price. But the discounted price is more reasonable than some VPNs on the market!

11.   If you want blazing speeds, choose NordVPN

We have been conducting speed tests to compare different VPN providers. We connect to nearby, distant, and large countries' servers such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Since we tested all 3 VPN services at the same time, we believe that NordVPN is the fastest of the 3 VPN services.

PIA is getting better and better, but they still lag behind NordVPN. PureVPN is somewhere between first-rate and slow, depending on the server you are connected to. Therefore, you can easily find a fast PureVPN server, but you may find a slower server first, and then a fast server.

12.   Do you want to watch Netflix? Choose NordVPN

All the VPN providers mentioned can unblock Netflix, but there are still some differences.

They may all cooperate with US Netflix.

However, with NordVPN, you can access Netflix content in more than 10 other countries. PureVPN supports in 8 countries/regions, and IPA only supports Netflix content in 3 countries/regions.

Netflix has been blacklisting certain identified VPN IPs. Therefore, Netflix blocks many IPA and PureVPN servers. If you happen to connect to these servers, then you can only see the original content of Netflix. At this time, you need to manually discover which VPN servers will actually unblock Netflix.

NordVPN has a SmartDNS function, which means you will automatically use an IP that can be used with Netflix. So when you use NordVPN, you can stream the actual Netflix content you are looking for more easily without manually connecting to various servers.

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