NordVPN vs PureVPN

PureVPN is one of the cheapest ways to buy a VPN if you prepay for two years. NordVPN is one of the most expensive once the first term ends. The gap between them on price is real, and so is the reason it exists.

The 2017 case, and what has been checked since

In 2017 PureVPN supplied a customer's connection records to the FBI while advertising a no-logs policy. That is not an allegation and not an audit finding; it happened, and it is the fact that follows the company around.

Its answer since has been assessments, and there have been four. The most recent ran in February 2023, and the pages describing it no longer name the firm that carried it out — which is an odd thing to remove, and it makes the assessment harder to weigh rather than easier. The current policy does at least name the specific record categories it says it does not keep, rather than gesturing at no-logs in general.

NordVPN has been through six outside reviews, the most recent by Deloitte in December 2025, and has no comparable episode. Its report is readable only from inside a paid account, which is its own kind of unhelpful, but the record is current and the firm is named.

Both are registered outside the intelligence-sharing agreements — NordVPN in Panama, PureVPN as GZ Systems Limited of Tortola, with the group run from Karachi.

Add-ons against an inclusive plan

PureVPN's low rate covers twenty-seven months, and port forwarding and a dedicated address are both sold on top of the subscription rather than included. NordVPN includes what it includes, then renews at more than three times the advertised rate, so both bills grow — just in different ways and at different moments.

On capability NordVPN is ahead: multi-hop, a route into Tor without a separate browser, a SOCKS5 proxy, and servers holding nothing on disk and rebuilding on restart, none of which PureVPN has. PureVPN answers with IPv6 protection, streaming support and apps down to Apple TV and Fire TV, with ten simultaneous devices — the same ceiling NordVPN sets.

PureVPN's speed has not been measured on the bench the other entries here use; the independent figure that exists puts it around a fifth slower, having been considerably worse two years earlier.

Which should you choose?

Choose NordVPN if a current, named audit and a broader feature set are what you are paying for, and you will handle the renewal. Choose PureVPN only if the long prepayment price is decisive and you have read the 2017 case and accepted it.