NordVPN vs. CyberGhost: Which VPN is best for you?

If you’re looking for the best VPN, you may have come across a lot of different choices, but a few may stick out to you due to how popular they seem to be among analysts and experts. While that may narrow it down some, there seem to be so many VPN deals on the internet that you quickly get overwhelmed with the abundance of options to choose from. The Digital Trends team is here to help you make your choice with our new series of comparative articles that compare and contrast the biggest VPN names on the market. For today’s article, we present you with two huge names in the industry: NordVPN and CyberGhost.

Whatever you may use your VPN subscription for, this article will go over the pros and cons of each service and whether it may be right for you. If you want to find the best VPN for streaming with a good Netflix VPN, we’ll discuss that in this article. Conversely, if you care more about security and privacy, we’ll go extremely in-depth about what makes these VPNs tick. Or, if you’re just looking to compare prices between two services and bag yourself a potential VPN free trial, we’ve got your back. Without further hesitation, let’s dive in and analyze NordVPN vs CyberGhost and which may be better for you.

NordVPN vs. CyberGhost: Devices

Whether you live alone or have a full family in a packed household, it’s estimated that the average household has around 25 connected devices, up from 11 in 2019. That’s a massive amount that even shocked us when we found out, so it’s a no-brainer that a VPN needs to provide paying customers with many simultaneous connections. Unfortunately, both NordVPN and CyberGhost falter in this aspect. NordVPN currently allows six devices at a time, while CyberGhost allows seven. It would be much better if both could offer more to customers given the price tag for a premium subscription (which we’ll get into later), but it’s not the worse we’ve seen on the market.

Both VPNs provide comprehensive protection and digital identity obfuscation for the major clients and operating systems. You’ll find it extremely easy to download NordVPN and CyberGhost for your computer or smartphone, but what about the other more niche devices? NordVPN touts itself as the most popular and widely downloaded VPN app (which it no doubt is), but does its tendrils of influence spread to other more underrepresented devices? In terms of smart TVs, NordVPN only supports usage on the Android TV, whereas CyberGhost supports the LG SmartTV and Samsung SmartTV. Both are great Apple TV VPN solution, which is a comforting middle ground.  You can also find both companies have a Chrome VPN as well as one for Firefox. In general, though, CyberGhost takes the cake for “most inclusive” VPN, as it provides comprehensive support on a plethora of devices like the Sony Playstation series, Xbox, Nintendo Switch & Wii, Kodi, Raspberry Pi, and a whole slew of other devices.

Both VPNs have a little secret that not many customers know about. If you have a compatible router, you can set up a VPN on it instead of individually on each of your devices. If the 25 devices per household statistic holds any weight, six and seven simultaneous connections respectively just won’t cut it. Connecting directly on a router allows you to bypass the simultaneous connections cap and instead protect your whole internet connection from the source. Doing this is more manual work compared to just downloading an app on your phone or computer and pressing a button to connect to a VPN server. You’ll need to know your DNS settings and other technical information, but a quick Google search can easily help you do all that. The information is accessible and easy to find on your VPN account page.

All in all, both NordVPN and CyberGhost are amazing for mainstream devices. You’ll have no problems whatsoever with downloading and using these VPNs on smartphones or computers, but it’s the more underrepresented devices where problems may occur. Both VPNs provide services for a respectable array of devices, but CyberGhost is just a step ahead of NordVPN in this aspect. It seems as if the team thought of more avenues where consumers may connect online and may need protection and have gone that step ahead to accommodate them. Even if not many people may use a VPN on a Raspberry Pi or a PS3, it’s great that CyberGhost has thought of them and decided to represent them when other companies may not. For this reason, we think CyberGhost beats out NordVPN in terms of devices.

NordVPN vs. CyberGhost: Features

On the surface, it seems as if there are a lot of similarities between NordVPN and CyberGhost in terms of features. The biggest difference between the two is the number of global servers and how many countries the respective VPN has servers in. In that sense, CyberGhost beats NordVPN handily with over 6,900 servers in over 91 countries compared to NordVPN’s 5,400+ in 59 countries. That, in tandem with CyberGhost’s additional extra simultaneous connection, may entice users to choose it over its main competitor. However, many other features aren’t mentioned here that you may need to consider before you dive into a purchase.

First of all, NordVPN is renowned for its advanced security. While CyberGhost is no slouch by any means, not many companies can compete with NordVPN as it simply has much more budget to finance developments and maintain servers. When you first research NordVPN’s security measures, you’ll notice it has its own protocol, called NordLynx. This, in combination with OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPsec, sets the standard for modern protocols in the VPN space. These three protocols basically ensure that your connection is secure and uncrackable while maintaining fast connection speeds. To complement its protocols, NordVPN set up military-grade 256-bit encryption. A hacker would need more time than there is left in the observable universe to crack 256-bit encryption — so you can feel pretty safe.

What may be surprising and not commonly known is the existence of a malware blocker on CyberGhost. The difference with NordVPN’s “malware blocker” is that it just alerts users about a flagged website that NordVPN has collected intel about it containing malware. It’s not necessarily a malware blocker — it’s called CyberSec, and while very useful for internet browsing, it doesn’t actively protect you from viruses if you were to get one. Now CyberGhost has an additional service you can purchase for the low price of around $1 a month that gives you access to its antivirus software and security updater. Technically, the antivirus software is provided by Intego, but we’ll just call it CyberGhost’s for convenience sake. While you do have to pay for this additional service, it may be extremely useful because we know how notoriously bad most antiviruses have become and how much data they collect from users.

In our opinion, these two VPNs are almost inseparable when it comes to the features they offer. They are both mainstays on our best VPNs list, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon as both constantly push the boundaries of excellence in the field of privacy and data protection. If you care a lot about your digital information staying protected, you can’t go wrong with either of these two options, but NordVPN is probably better due to its protocols and encryption. The CyberGhost antivirus package is a nice touch, though, and is definitely something worth checking out if you’ve been on the lookout for antivirus as well. It’s super cheap and effective while staying compact and out of the way so that you don’t have to worry too much about it.

NordVPN vs. CyberGhost: Speed

Most modern VPNs spoil users with speeds these days. It was quite well known back in the early days of VPNs that your internet speed would skydive when you connect to a server, and you would just have to live with the slow internet speeds. Good luck trying to watch a Youtube video when connected to a VPN server — you’d just be watching the loading wheel all day. Now, you can watch ultra HD Netflix movies without having to worry about buffering or lag, and better yet, you can do all that without even worrying about data caps. The reason behind this quality-of-life improvement is the modernization of protocols. As internet bandwidth and connectivity were a more widespread, essential attribute of daily life, VPNs invested heavily into infrastructure, modernized protocols, and upgraded server hard drives. This allows more people on the servers while keeping them safer. If you’re just getting into VPNs now, you’re lucky!

Both NordVPN and CyberGhost have very reliable connection speeds, and you’ll barely notice any lag when connected to the servers. You can expect high download and upload speeds around the clock, and both are amazing VPNs for streaming. Alternatively, if you’re active in the P2P scene and enjoy transferring and sharing files with peers, you can easily do so with full P2P-supported servers. A lot of ISPs discourage this behavior as they may fear the unknown, but VPN companies fully realize the power of the internet is in its uncensored nature and how regular users can empower their daily lives. It’s important to note that, while NordVPN does allow P2P, it’s restricted to only a couple of servers, but with CyberGhost, you have unlimited access to P2P traffic.

Due to bigger investments in infrastructure, obviously, NordVPN will be the faster VPN. It’s hard to beat such a VPN that has such deep pockets and financial backing, which is a shame because CyberGhost could perhaps be the undisputed best VPN if it had the same resources as its counterpart. NordVPN servers rarely, if ever, go down for service maintenance. You can constantly expect hyperfast speeds that allow you to watch your favorite content in HD, browse the internet, and conduct sensitive transactions, all while staying safe and reliable. We hope to see CyberGhost rise to the top and match NordVPN’s connection speeds soon!

NordVPN vs. CyberGhost: Price

One of the most important aspects to consider when comparing two products, no matter what they are, is the price. Unless a VPN is a clear-cut winner in terms of features, security, speed, and overall brand recognition, the price can be a determining factor for most customers. That’s because it can be difficult for a casual user to understand the differences and nuances between the implementation of a particular protocol over another, harddrive erasing policies, etc. But price and what comes out of the user’s wallet is something very understandable. What makes it even harder is that NordVPN and CyberGhost cost relatively the same! Two excellent products are advertising and competing in the same space while costing almost the same amount, which can make the customer’s choice a difficult one.

We should start out by giving a disclaimer: You should only purchase the one-month plans if you know you’re going to be using a VPN for the short term. The price is not justifiable when you can get much longer plans for significantly cheaper. Let’s pretend you think you might use a VPN for five months and purchase the one-month plan but resubscribe every month. You’re spending $60 on NordVPN and $65 on CyberGhost, when you could purchase the one-year plan and pay $59 and $48, respectively. It may be wise to calculate the estimated time you plan to use the VPN for and see if it costs more than purchasing a one-year plan. If it does, we encourage you to simply go for the long-term option as it’s much more economical.

If you’re looking for some VPN deals, both NordVPN and CyberGhost give you heavy discounts the longer you subscribe for. However, CyberGhost gives you extra discounts on its antivirus and security updater. What is usually around $6 per month as an addon is $1 with the special discount. While NordVPN costs less on a monthly rolling basis ($12), it does not offer as generous offers as CyberGhost does, with its one-year plan costing $59 and its two-year plan which costs $99. On the flip side, CyberGhost costs more on a monthly basis at $13 but gets cheaper than NordVPN the longer you subscribe for, with its one-year plan costing $48 and its two-year subscription at $88. If you were to isolate the prices of these two services, it’s obvious that CyberGhost beats NordVPN, especially if you go for the cost-friendlier long-term options.

NordVPN vs. CyberGhost: Verdict

It may come as a surprise, but there is really not a lot of difference between NordVPN and CyberGhost. Many experts and opinionists will have you believe that NordVPN is miles ahead of the rest of the competition, but after being at the top for so long, the rest seem to have caught up. While it’s true that NordVPN has deeper pockets, more marketing prowess, and more widespread adoption, we think that CyberGhost is extremely close to NordVPN, if not neck and neck, in terms of functionality. First of all, you get more high-quality servers in more countries, which means that for citizens residing in oppressive regimes, you can get around censorship blocks and unlock global content with servers that are closer to your location (which means they will be faster in general). But also, you get all that for cheaper than NordVPN if you purchase the long term subscription plans.

It would be hard to distinguish one as a favorable option over another. If you feel more comfortable choosing the more popular service, that’s completely understandable, and NordVPN is a brilliant VPN through and through. If you think you can get more value out of a more underrated service like CyberGhost, though, more power to you. We suggest you do some more research into the two to determine which one fits your needs and budget. Do you need an antivirus along with your VPN? CyberGhost would be the better option then. Are you more into streaming and consuming data-heavy content? NordVPN has a bigger budget to maintain higher-cost servers.

It’s worth keeping an eye out on both regularly and staying up to date with the Digital Trends website for more information about VPNs. There are always VPN deals to look out for, and you could even try out some VPN free trials. If there’s ever a major update to either NordVPN or CyberGhost, you can be sure that we’ll be on it instantly to give you the latest news. If you want to continue your research into VPNs even further, we recommend you take a look at our best VPNs list so you can find some more options on the matter.

To conclude, we are split on the competition between NordVPN vs. CyberGhost, but if we were forced to pick one, we would go with NordVPN as it may be seen as the “safer” option. We trust its advanced security technology, server maintenance, hard drive support, and all-around features. While it may not have as many servers around the globe and it may be a bit more expensive than CyberGhost, if you want a VPN that can keep your data private and your identity hidden while providing lightning-fast speeds, NordVPN is a great option.