NordVPN vs Mullvad (2026): Price, Privacy, Audits and Who Should Pick Which

NordVPN vs Mullvad is really a choice between two different ideas of what a VPN should be. NordVPN is the big, feature-heavy service with an introductory price, a renewal price and a stack of extras. Mullvad is the stripped-down, privacy-first service with one flat price and an account number instead of an email address.

I run Ecommerce Paradise, and I live in Bali, so VPN questions come up in my world all the time. If you are still learning what high-ticket dropshipping is, the short version is that you will log in to supplier portals, ad platforms, a payment processor and a business bank from wherever you happen to be, and a VPN is one small piece of keeping that tidy.

This comparison uses both companies’ own pricing, policy and audit pages plus reviews from PCMag, CNET and TechRadar, as I read them on October 7, 2026. I have not run my own speed or streaming tests, so any test result I quote belongs to the reviewer and will change. This is general information, not legal advice, and I am not a licensed advisor.

Disclosure: I may earn a commission if you sign up through my NordVPN link, at no extra cost to you. Mullvad says on its own site that it steers clear of paid reviews and affiliates, so nobody earns anything if I send you there, and I would rather you know that so you can weigh my opinion.

The Short Answer: Who Each One Fits

If you want one VPN for a phone, a laptop and a few other devices, streaming that worked in every country PCMag tested, and live chat available around the clock, I would start with NordVPN. It is the more complete product, and its 30-day refund window gives you time to test it with the logins you actually use.

If your main reason for a VPN is privacy and you would rather not give any company an email address, Mullvad is the stronger fit. It costs the same flat 5 euros a month whether you pay for a month or a year, and it publishes unusually detailed audit and server information.

On price, the answer depends on how long you stay. Nord’s 2-year intro price is the cheapest way in by a wide margin, and Mullvad’s flat rate wins once Nord moves to its renewal price. The cost table below puts numbers on that.

What Each Service Is in 2026

NordVPN

NordVPN’s pricing page sells three tiers: Basic, Complete and Prime. Basic is the VPN alone. Complete adds next-gen antivirus, scam and phishing protection, a password manager, 1 TB of cloud storage and monitoring of emails, phone numbers and card numbers, and Prime adds Coveron identity protection, which the page says is available to US residents.

NordVPN says its parent company, Nord Security, is headquartered in Lithuania and that NordVPN has offices in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland and Panama. Its apps cover the usual desktop and phone platforms plus Android TV and Apple TV, according to the app list on its site.

Mullvad

Mullvad VPN AB is a Swedish company that says it has put privacy first since 2009. PCMag’s Mullvad review puts it as paying for a VPN and getting a VPN, with no bundled malware scanner or security suite.

What it does offer is a feature list that reads like a privacy engineer wrote it: multihop routing, a kill switch, DNS queries sent through the encrypted tunnel, quantum-resistant tunnels, open-source apps and a traffic-analysis defense it calls DAITA. Its feature table lists apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.

Price Compared: A Flat 5 Euros Against an Intro Price and a Renewal

Mullvad’s pricing page shows 5 euros a month, VAT included, for a month, a year or a decade, and says the price has not changed since it launched in 2009. It also says there are no sales, no free plan, and a 10% discount if you pay with cryptocurrency, which works out to 4.50 euros a month on my math.

NordVPN’s pricing page, as I read it, lists Basic at $94.23 for the first 27 months on the 2-year plan, $65.88 for the first 12 months on the 1-year plan and $14.99 a month on the monthly plan. Basic renews at $139.08 a year, Complete at $219.48 and Prime at $296.28, and every plan lists a 30-day money-back guarantee. Those are the same figures I use in my NordVPN pricing guide.

To compare them I converted Mullvad’s price at the $5.60 per 5 euros shown on its own pricing page. PCMag’s review used about $5.90 and TechRadar’s older review used $5.39, so exchange rates move the dollar figures a little. Everything in the next table is my own arithmetic, so confirm the live prices before you buy.

Read that table in three parts. For a year or less, the two are close if you buy Nord’s 1-year plan, and Mullvad is far cheaper if you want month-to-month flexibility. For the first 27 months, Nord’s 2-year plan is cheaper. From the first renewal onward, Mullvad’s flat rate wins.

There is one way around the renewal. CNET’s NordVPN review says you can avoid the expensive auto-renewal by stacking subscriptions, meaning you turn renewal off and buy a new plan before the old one expires. That only works if the new term is priced below the renewal when you do it, and I cannot see future promotions, so treat it as a tactic and not a guarantee. My guide to how to cancel NordVPN walks through turning renewal off.

CNET also called Nord’s renewal hike heftier than most, and noted that Mullvad does not raise its price at all. PCMag’s NordVPN review adds that users report big price increases at renewal and says NordVPN has faced a class action over its renewal tactics for annual plans, which it described as awaiting arbitration as of September 2025. CNET’s review also mentions class action lawsuits in California and North Carolina alleging deceitful autorenewals. I could not find a newer update, so treat that as an allegation, not a finding.

Privacy, No-Logs Claims and Audits

What each company says it stores

Mullvad’s no-logging policy page says, in its own words, that it does not keep activity logs of any kind. It says that for an account it stores the account number and an expiry date, and for WireGuard it stores the account number, a public key and a tunnel address. The page was last updated on June 17, 2026.

NordVPN’s pricing page says it operates under a no-logs policy that it says has been audited and approved four times by independent experts. PCMag adds that Nord’s scam call protection feature logs incoming phone numbers and timestamps, so extras like that deserve a read of the privacy policy before you switch them on.

The audits, as each side lists them

PCMag’s NordVPN review lists PricewaterhouseCoopers audits of NordVPN in 2018 and 2020, penetration testing by VerSprite in 2021, a Deloitte audit confirming its no-logs commitment in January 2023, two Cure53 audits of its apps and infrastructure in February 2023, and another Deloitte no-logs audit in February 2025. CNET says Nord undergoes annual audits and publishes quarterly transparency reports, while PCMag says the transparency report covers requests since September 2024. The two reviews do not describe the schedule identically, so check Nord’s own audit pages for the latest report.

Mullvad’s blog tags a long run of external audits. It says it has audited its apps every other year since 2018, and the 2024 app audit by X41 D-Sec found six vulnerabilities, none critical, three rated high, two medium and one low, which Mullvad says it addressed. Cure53 completed its fourth infrastructure audit in June 2024 and called its overall verdict very positive, and the scope included anything that would impact privacy.

More recently, Mullvad lists an Assured audit of its web app in October 2025 with no critical, high or medium issues, an X41 D-Sec audit of its payment and account services in January 2026, an Assured audit of its GotaTun WireGuard code in March 2026 and a second Android MASA pass from Leviathan Security Group in June 2026. The payment audit found five issues, two low and three medium, and Mullvad says none give access to user data.

What an audit does and does not prove

The two audit histories are not the same kind of thing. Nord’s headline audits are Big Four style assurance engagements on its no-logs claim, which is the question many buyers care about. The audits Mullvad lists are mostly security assessments of its apps, servers and backend, and I did not see a Big Four style no-logs attestation among them, though I could not rule out one elsewhere.

No audit proves a company will never log in the future, because an audit looks at a period and a scope. Mullvad’s answer is architectural, and its policy says the key to running a VPN is to store as little data as possible, since data you do not have cannot be handed over. Nord’s answer is third-party verification. I find both reasonable, and the question is which proof you trust more.

Jurisdiction and Legal Requests

PCMag says NordVPN is incorporated in and operates under the laws of Panama, a country with no legal requirement for companies to retain data for any given period. CNET also lists Panama as Nord’s jurisdiction and notes it sits outside the Five, Nine and 14 Eyes data-sharing alliances. Mullvad’s legal entity is based in Sweden and subject to Swedish law and the GDPR, and its own page lists the Swedish laws it considers relevant and argues that several of them do not apply to a VPN provider.

I would not pick a VPN on the country alone, and I do not think anyone can settle Panama against Sweden for you. What matters more is what a company holds when someone asks for it, and both have faced requests.

In April 2023, according to Mullvad’s own account, at least six Swedish police officers visited its Gothenburg office with a search warrant to seize computers with customer data. Mullvad says no such data existed, and the police left without taking anything. PCMag reports the same event and says the police left empty-handed.

PCMag also reports that in October 2024 NordVPN received a warrant demanding a user’s data in a criminal investigation. The company complied and handed over payment-related data, confirmation that the account existed and the account’s email address, and PCMag says no connection or activity data was given. CNET quotes NordVPN as saying the warrant came from the Panamanian prosecutor’s office and that it had no traffic logs to share. That is consistent with a no-logs claim, but it shows that an account tied to an email address and a card is not anonymous.

Anonymous Signup and Payment

This is the clearest difference between the two. Mullvad generates a random account number and does not ask for a username, password or email address. You pay into that number, and you can pay with cash in an envelope, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash or Monero, as well as card, PayPal, bank wire and several regional methods.

The anonymity has limits that Mullvad spells out. Card, PayPal, Swish and bank wire payments go through third parties that keep records, and Mullvad says those payments are not anonymous. It also says cash payments are excluded from the 14-day money-back guarantee because of anti-money laundering rules.

PCMag says Mullvad does not take recurring payments at all and ended them in 2022, so you top up your account and nothing renews on its own. That is a feature if you hate surprise charges, and a chore if you forget to top up, because the account simply lapses.

NordVPN’s checkout asks for an email address and offers cards, PayPal, wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, cryptocurrency and local bank transfers, plus in-app purchases and prepaid cards in some retail stores. The pricing page says plans renew automatically after the first term at the then-applicable renewal price unless you cancel, which is where the renewal jump comes from.

Speed and Streaming

PCMag’s reviews, both updated in April 2026 and run with the Ookla Speedtest tool, found that NordVPN cut download speeds by 1.94% and upload speeds by 5.54%, and it earned a PCMag Lab Award for fastest VPN. In the same set of tests, Mullvad slowed downloads by 8.04% and uploads by 5.54%. Both numbers are good, and PCMag cautions that speed results are accurate only for a particular time and place.

CNET’s NordVPN review reports about a 3% average speed loss across more than 250 tests. TechRadar’s Mullvad review, last updated in May 2024, also praised Mullvad’s WireGuard and OpenVPN speeds, but that review is older than the others, so I would give it less weight.

Streaming is where they split. PCMag says NordVPN opened Netflix’s library in all five countries it tested, which were Canada, Japan, the UK, the US and Australia. It says Mullvad worked only for the US and Canada, and that Netflix detected and blocked the UK, Japan and Australia.

TechRadar’s older review found that Mullvad unblocked ITV, Channel 4 and 9Now but failed on BBC iPlayer, Prime Video, Disney Plus and every Netflix library except the US one. Streaming results shift as services update their detection, so test the one service you care about during the refund window. If a Fire TV setup is your reason for buying, my guide to the best VPN for Firestick goes further.

Apps, Features and Device Limits

NordVPN lists 10 simultaneous connections on its pricing page. PCMag’s text also says 10, up from 6 in 2024, though its spec box still lists 6. I would go with 10 and confirm at checkout. Mullvad allows up to 5 devices on one account, and its own page says so.

PCMag and TechRadar both call Mullvad’s apps functional but plain, with PCMag using the phrase awkward desktop interface and TechRadar saying the apps lack some basic features. CNET calls Nord’s apps intuitive, though PCMag finds the Windows layout busy.

If you want a one-subscription bundle, Nord’s Complete and Prime tiers cover things Mullvad does not attempt. I would only pay for them if you will use them, because the renewal for Complete is $219.48 a year against Basic’s $139.08.

Servers and Locations

Server counts conflict across sources, which is worth knowing before you compare them. NordVPN’s servers page says 7,400+ servers in 118 countries in its page description, while a line further down the same page says 7,130 servers in 150 countries. CNET says 8,000-plus servers in 126 countries, and PCMag’s text says 126 countries while its spec box says 118.

Mullvad’s numbers are more consistent. Its server page, as I read it, listed 566 servers across 50 countries, 91 cities and 14 hosting providers, and PCMag counted 578 servers in 50 countries in April. Its server page also marks each server as owned or rented, which PCMag called rare among VPNs.

Two caveats apply. PCMag says Nord uses virtual servers for most locations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, so a listed country is not always physically there, and all US and UK servers are physical. Both are described as running RAM-based servers, with PCMag saying all Nord servers are RAM-based and TechRadar saying Mullvad completed its RAM-only upgrade.

Where Each One Falls Short

NordVPN

The renewal price is the big one, and CNET lists extortionate renewal pricing among its cons. It requires an email and a payment record, as the 2024 warrant shows, and the plan names and bundles change often enough that the tiers on a help page may not match the pricing page. Its audit list is long, but Nord’s own pages and the reviewers do not agree on every detail, so check the audit reports yourself.

Mullvad

PCMag’s cons are an awkward desktop interface, a modest server network and inconsistent Netflix unblocking. There is no free plan, no discount for longer terms, no port forwarding, no live chat and a 5-device limit. Because there is no recurring billing, you also need to remember to top up before your account lapses.

It also has no antivirus or password manager attached, and no sales, which I count as a feature and some buyers count as a cost. If you want a household-friendly, set-and-forget service, it asks more of you than Nord does.

Which Fits a Store Owner or Digital Nomad

I think most store owners should look at this as a practical question: what are you protecting, and from where? For logging in to a supplier portal over hotel Wi-Fi, an ad account, a payment processor dashboard or a business bank, either service gives you an encrypted tunnel, so the other differences decide it. The FTC’s tips on using VPN apps say to research the app, review its permission requests, check that it encrypts your information and check whether it shares data with third parties, and both services give you material to check against that list.

If you live abroad or move around, as I do, the practical pull is toward the service with more locations and easier streaming and support, which points to Nord. My guide to the best VPNs for digital nomads compares more options. If your concern is a threat model that involves who can tie an account to you, Mullvad’s numbered accounts are hard to beat.

Whichever you pick, test your real logins during the refund window. That means the dealer portals from my guide to finding suppliers for high-ticket dropshipping, your payment processor and your bank, since I cannot tell you in advance how each site will treat a VPN address.

A VPN is not a business plan. If you are still picking what to sell, my high-ticket niches list is a better use of the week. When you are ready to separate business and personal software spending, my guide to business formation for high-ticket dropshipping explains why it matters, and I am not giving tax advice on how to treat a VPN subscription.

If you want help choosing the tools around your store, my coaching covers that. The free beginner guide shows where a VPN fits in a complete store.

Who Should Pick Which

Pick NordVPN if

You want up to 10 devices on one account, streaming that worked across all five countries PCMag tested, round-the-clock chat support and the option of a bundle with a password manager and cloud storage. You are comfortable with an email-based account, and you will either take the cheap 2-year intro price or put the renewal date in your calendar.

Pick Mullvad if

You value anonymous signup, a single flat price and a company that publishes detailed audits and server ownership. You use 5 devices or fewer, you do not rely on streaming in many regions, and you are fine topping up your account yourself. It is also the better fit if you would rather never see a renewal notice.

Look elsewhere if

You need unlimited devices, a free tier or a very low long-term price. My guide to NordVPN alternatives covers those cases, and the Surfshark comparison in my related reading below covers unlimited devices.

My Verdict on NordVPN vs Mullvad

If I had to pick one for most readers of this site, it would be NordVPN. Most people want a service that works on every device they own, opens their streaming libraries and has chat support if something breaks, and the 2-year intro price is hard to beat for the first 27 months. The downside is the renewal, so decide at signup whether you will keep it or let it go.

If privacy is the point, I would pick Mullvad, and I would not talk you out of it. The flat 5 euros, the numbered account and the audit trail make a stronger case for people who want to be hard to identify, and you give up streaming consistency and a little polish. Whichever you choose, use the refund window to test your real logins before the money is committed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Mullvad better than NordVPN?
It depends on what you value. Mullvad is better for anonymous signup, a flat price and published audits. NordVPN is better for device count, streaming results in PCMag’s tests, speed in PCMag’s tests and a bundle of extras.

Which is cheaper, NordVPN or Mullvad?
On my math, Nord’s 2-year Basic plan is cheaper for the first 27 months, at $94.23 against about $151.20 for Mullvad. After the first renewal, Mullvad’s flat 5 euros a month is cheaper unless you buy a new Nord plan instead of renewing. Confirm both prices at checkout, since exchange rates and promotions change.

Are NordVPN and Mullvad audited?
Both publish audits. Nord lists no-logs audits from PwC and Deloitte, and Mullvad lists security audits of its apps, infrastructure, web app, payment services and Android app. Audits cover a period and a scope, so read the reports themselves and treat the no-logs claims as the companies’ claims.

Does Mullvad work with Netflix?
PCMag found it worked for the US and Canada but not the UK, Japan or Australia. TechRadar’s older review found US Netflix but not Prime Video or Disney Plus. Results change often, so test it in the refund window.

Can I get a refund on either one?
NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on new purchases, and you can check the current terms before you buy. Mullvad offers 14 days, except for cash payments. Renewals are handled differently, so read the refund policy for the plan you buy.

Related Articles

If you found this useful, these guides go deeper on related topics:

• NordVPN Pricing 2026: Every Plan and the $139.08 Renewal
• Surfshark vs NordVPN in 2026: Which Audited VPN Fits Your Priorities?
• NordVPN vs CyberGhost 2026: Which VPN Wins for High-Ticket Dropshippers and Digital Nomads
• Best VPNs for Digital Nomads in 2026: Protect Your Business While You Travel
• Business Formation for Dropshipping: LLC, EIN, Licenses and Banking (2026 Guide)

Trevor Fenner

Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.

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