NordVPN vs PIA (2026): Speed and Streaming Against a $79 Three-Year Plan

NordVPN vs Private Internet Access (PIA) is a fight between a premium all-rounder and a cheap, customizable veteran. NordVPN costs more up front, caps you at 10 devices and renews at a higher price. PIA is far cheaper over the long run, lets you connect unlimited devices and opens up its source code, but the reviewers I read found it slower and less polished.

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 and policy 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. PIA appears here as plain text with no link from me, and I have tried to be as fair to it as I am to Nord.

The Short Answer: Who Each One Fits

If you want fast speeds, streaming that opened every Netflix library PCMag tested, a long list of locations and a service that runs on 10 devices, 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 priority is the lowest long-term price, unlimited devices, port forwarding or open-source apps, PIA is the better fit. It costs a fraction of Nord once Nord moves to its renewal price, and the reviewers agree its privacy basics are solid.

The trade is speed and polish. PCMag measured PIA cutting download speeds by 32.08% against 1.94% for NordVPN, and CNET called PIA’s apps clunky in places. Whether that matters depends on your internet connection and how many devices you want covered.

What Each Service Is in 2026

NordVPN

NordVPN sells three tiers on its pricing page: Basic, Complete and Prime. Basic is the VPN with scam and phishing protection, Complete adds extras such as antivirus, a password manager and cloud storage, and Prime adds identity tools. All three list a 30-day money-back guarantee and 10 devices at once.

PCMag’s NordVPN review describes a feature-rich service with a password manager, encrypted file storage and dark web monitoring, and it earned a PCMag Lab Award for fastest VPN. PCMag’s pricing section still uses older tier names (Standard and Plus), so the plan names and bundles you see at checkout may not match every review.

Private Internet Access

PIA says it has a decade of experience and a strict no-logs policy, with native apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS plus browser extensions and router support. Its own site pitches unlimited device connections, a 10 Gbps server network and a built-in ad, tracker and malware blocker called MACE.

The positioning is different from Nord’s. PCMag’s PIA review calls it highly customizable and open source, while TechRadar describes it as a budget-friendly privacy VPN for niche audiences that lags a little on innovation. There is no password manager or identity protection bundle, only optional add-ons for a dedicated IP and antivirus.

Price Compared: Intro Deals, Renewals and the Long Run

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. Those are the same figures I use in my NordVPN pricing guide.

PIA’s own buy page, as I read it, lists $11.95 a month on the monthly plan, $47.88 for the first year on the 1-year plan (renewing at $47.88 a year) and $79 for the 3-year plan, which it says includes 3 extra months and renews at $79 every three years. All amounts are in US dollars on that page.

The reviewers do not match that page exactly, so treat PIA’s numbers as a moving target. PCMag lists the 1-year plan at $3.33 a month and a three-year plan at $1.59 a month, CNET says $40 for the first year renewing at $50, and TechRadar says $3.33 a month for a year and $2.03 for three years. I could not tell whether those are older promotions or different plan structures, so confirm the live figures at checkout.

The table below is my own arithmetic using the figures on each company’s own page. It assumes you buy the cheapest term that covers the period and never switch plans.

Read that table in three parts. For one year, PIA is cheaper by $18 on the 1-year plans and by about $36 month to month. For the first 27 months, PIA’s $79 three-year plan also undercuts Nord’s $94.23. After that, the gap widens fast, to $492.55 at 75 months, because Nord renews at $139.08 a year while PIA renews at $79 for three years.

There is one way to soften the renewal. CNET’s NordVPN review says you can avoid the expensive auto-renewal by stacking subscriptions, meaning you buy a new plan before the old one expires. That only works if the new plan 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.

PCMag also reports that users complain about large Nord renewal increases, and says NordVPN has been involved in a class action in California and North Carolina over renewal tactics, which it described as awaiting arbitration as of September 2025. I could not find a newer update, so treat that as an allegation, not a finding. PCMag praised PIA’s pricing for being transparent about renewal rates.

Add-ons and the three-year commitment

PIA’s core features are the same on every term, with optional extras on top. TechRadar and CNET both put the dedicated IP at $5 a month, while PCMag gives a range of $2.50 to $5.00 a month depending on term. CNET lists PIA’s antivirus at $4.50 a month, $24 a year or $36 for three years, and PCMag gives $1.50 to $4.50 a month. Nord’s pricing page lists a dedicated IP as a checkout add-on without a price I could read, and CNET puts it at $9 a month, $71 a year or $100 for two years, so confirm it at checkout.

A three-year plan is also a three-year bet. CNET specifically does not recommend paying for more than a year up front, since speeds, streaming support and your needs can change, and the money-back window covers only the first 30 days. If you are unsure, start with PIA’s monthly or 1-year plan and decide later.

Privacy, No-Logs Claims and Audits

What each company says it collects

PIA’s privacy policy says it needs two things to open an account: an email address and a payment. PCMag quotes PIA saying it does not retain browsing history, user IPs, connection timestamps, bandwidth logs or DNS queries. NordVPN’s checkout also asks for an email address, and Nord’s servers page says its no-logs policy has been audited and approved four times by independent experts.

Neither is anonymous the way an account-number service is. CNET notes that paying with crypto is not total anonymity, and both companies tie your subscription to an email and a payment record.

The audits, as each side lists them

PCMag lists these Nord audits: PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2018 and 2020, penetration testing by VerSprite in 2021, a Deloitte no-logs audit in January 2023, two Cure53 audits of its apps and infrastructure in February 2023, and another Deloitte no-logs audit in February 2025. CNET adds that Nord moved from a warrant canary to quarterly transparency reports in 2024.

For PIA, PCMag says Deloitte audited it in 2022, 2024 and 2025, and that members of the public can request the report from Deloitte. TechRadar’s PIA review also counts three Deloitte audits but says the most recent was in early 2026 and that the full report is available only to PIA customers. CNET, whose PIA review is dated October 2025, mentions the April 2024 audit and expects another in 2025. The sources disagree on the dates and on who can read the report, so check PIA’s current audit page before relying on it.

Court orders and transparency reports

PCMag reports that in October 2024 NordVPN received a warrant demanding a user’s data, and that it complied by handing over payment-related data, confirmation that the account existed and the account’s email address. PCMag says no connection or activity data was given. CNET quotes Nord saying the warrant came from the Panamanian prosecutor’s office.

PIA’s record, per CNET, includes two court cases in 2016 and 2018 where it had no logs to hand over, and a quarterly transparency report that showed 57 requests from October 14 to December 31, 2024 with zero logs produced. TechRadar says the most recent report showed 30 requests in the last three months of 2025 with no information provided. A no-logs claim only goes so far, and what both cases show is that the email and payment record is the part that can be requested.

Ownership and Jurisdiction

This is where the two differ most on trust. PCMag says PIA is owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and ExpressVPN and, according to PCMag, various VPN review sites. PCMag adds that Kape was formerly known as Crossrider and was accused of being a platform for adware, and that PIA told it the VPN infrastructure remains separate from other Kape properties.

TechRadar calls the 2019 Kape acquisition the one black mark on PIA’s record and says regular no-logs audits have helped win back trust. CNET says it would like PIA to address data sharing within Kape more forcefully, though it found the privacy policy reassuring overall. PIA’s own policy says neither PIA nor anyone at Kape Technologies logs or stores substantive personal data or browsing data. PIA’s privacy policy still names Kape Technologies as I read it. I could not confirm who owns Kape above that level or whether the group has since changed its name, so check PIA’s current policy if ownership matters to you.

On jurisdiction, PCMag says NordVPN is incorporated in Panama, which has no legal requirement for companies to retain data. CNET also notes Panama sits outside the Five, Nine and 14 Eyes alliances. PCMag says PIA is based in Colorado and operates under US law, and CNET points out the US is in those alliances, which some privacy-minded buyers will dislike. I would not pick on country alone, and PIA’s record of producing no logs under legal requests is part of the picture.

Speed and Streaming

PCMag’s tests used the Ookla Speedtest tool. It found NordVPN cut download speeds by 1.94% and upload speeds by 5.54%, while PIA cut downloads by 32.08% and uploads by 48.76%, with latency up 100%. PCMag also cautions that results depend on time and place and should not be weighted too heavily.

The other reviewers lean the same way. CNET reports about a 3% average download speed loss for Nord and about 48% for PIA in its tests (PIA’s from March 2025), and says PIA’s results swung from run to run. TechRadar measured PIA’s WireGuard at 419 Mbps and OpenVPN at 129 Mbps on a 10 Gb line, down from earlier tests, and scored its speed 6 out of 10. On a fast home connection you may not notice, and on a slow one you would.

Streaming results conflict, so read this part carefully. PCMag says NordVPN opened Netflix in all five countries it tested, which were Canada, Japan, the UK, the US and Australia. It says PIA opened the US, Japan and Canada but was blocked in Australia and the UK.

CNET found PIA unblocked Netflix libraries including the UK and Australia, though some of its streaming-optimized servers failed. TechRadar’s body text says PIA unblocked all Netflix regions but failed on YouTube in every region except the UK, and on Prime Video everywhere except the UK and Australia, while its FAQ says Prime Video and Disney+ work fine. 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.

Devices, Features and Apps

PIA lets you connect unlimited devices on one account, according to its own site, PCMag and CNET. NordVPN lists 10 simultaneous connections on its pricing page, up from 6 in 2024 per PCMag. If you want to cover a whole household plus a router, that gap matters.

PCMag says PIA’s whole platform is open source and available on its GitHub page. It also found that MACE worked on text-based sites but did nothing about pre-roll ads on video sites, and TechRadar’s phishing test was blunter, with MACE blocking 2 of 100 fresh malicious URLs. I would not treat MACE as a security layer on its own.

The apps differ in feel. CNET calls Nord’s apps intuitive, while PCMag calls PIA’s app a playground of options that may overwhelm less experienced users, and CNET calls it occasionally overwhelming and somewhat clunky. TechRadar, by contrast, calls PIA’s apps well-designed and simple.

Servers, Locations and IP Quality

Server counts conflict across sources, which is worth knowing before you compare. NordVPN’s servers page, as I read it, says 7,130 servers in 150 countries. CNET says 8,000-plus servers in 126 countries and PCMag says 126 countries as well.

PIA’s own site says 104 countries, while CNET and TechRadar say 91 countries, PCMag says 90, and TechRadar counts 152 locations. CNET and PCMag cite more than 35,000 servers or IP addresses, with servers in all 50 US states. Roughly half are virtual according to PCMag, and TechRadar says more than 80 of PIA’s locations are virtual. To its credit, PIA marks them clearly as geolocated servers.

PCMag says most of Nord’s servers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific are virtual, so a listed country is not always physically there. For a US-based reader PIA’s footprint is excellent, and for far-flung locations TechRadar says it lags NordVPN.

One more detail from CNET matters if you log in to ad accounts. It said it hit many CAPTCHAs with PIA that it did not see with NordVPN or Proton VPN, and PIA told CNET it planned to address IP quality in 2025. I cannot confirm whether that was fixed, so test your ad accounts in the refund window.

Support and Day-to-Day Use

NordVPN provides 24/7 support by email and live chat, with no phone line, according to CNET. PIA also offers 24/7 live chat and email tickets, and PCMag and CNET both liked its help center. Experiences with response time vary, with PCMag hearing back in three hours, CNET within an hour, and TechRadar finding replies sluggish.

PCMag also notes that PIA sends a preset username and password by email, and the username cannot be changed. That is a small annoyance, but it means you should change the password right away.

Where Each One Falls Short

NordVPN

The renewal price is the big one, and the class action allegations make it worth reading the billing terms before you pay. It requires an email and a payment record, as the 2024 warrant shows. Its apps are polished, but you pay for a bundle you may not use, and the 10-device cap is lower than PIA’s unlimited.

PIA

The cons are speed, streaming that varies by reviewer, CAPTCHAs, an interface some find dated and virtual servers that account for roughly half of its network. PCMag also faults it for being pricier than the best budget VPNs at its monthly rate, and TechRadar says innovation is lagging. The Kape ownership and US jurisdiction will bother some buyers, even though the audit record helps.

Which Fits a Store Owner or Digital Nomad

I think most store owners should treat 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. 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, speed, streaming and consistent locations decide it, and that points to Nord on the evidence I read. My guide to the best VPNs for digital nomads compares more options. If you want to put a VPN on every device and a router for a small team and care most about cost, PIA’s unlimited connections are hard to ignore.

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 fast speeds, streaming that worked across all five countries PCMag tested, 24/7 chat and an optional bundle with a password manager and cloud storage. You can live with a 10-device limit, and you will either take the cheap 2-year intro price or put the renewal date in your calendar.

Pick PIA if

You want the lowest long-term cost, unlimited devices, port forwarding or open-source apps, and you have a fast enough connection that a larger speed loss will not bother you. You are comfortable with Kape ownership and US jurisdiction, and you will confirm the current price at checkout before committing to three years.

Look elsewhere if

You want anonymous signup, or a service that is both very fast and unlimited on devices. My guide to NordVPN alternatives covers those cases. For anonymous signup, my NordVPN vs Mullvad comparison is the better read, and the Surfshark comparison in my related reading below covers unlimited devices with faster speeds.

My Verdict on NordVPN vs PIA

If I had to pick one for most readers of this site, it would be NordVPN. Most people want a service that is fast, opens their streaming libraries and has a polished app, and Nord is the one the reviewers rated higher on speed. The downside is the renewal, so decide at signup whether you will keep it, stack a new plan or let it go.

If cost and unlimited devices matter most, I would not talk you out of PIA. At $79 for three years it is hard to beat on price, and the audits and transparency reports are real points in its favor. You give up speed, some streaming consistency and, for some buyers, comfort with its ownership. Whichever you choose, use the refund window to test your real logins before the money is committed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is NordVPN better than Private Internet Access?
It depends on what you value. NordVPN was faster in PCMag’s and CNET’s tests, opened more Netflix libraries in PCMag’s tests and has a more polished app. PIA is cheaper over time, allows unlimited devices and publishes open-source apps.

Which is cheaper, NordVPN or PIA?
On my math, PIA is cheaper at every length I checked, for example $79 for 39 months against $233.31 for Nord’s 2-year plan plus one renewal. Nord’s Basic intro price of $94.23 for 27 months is competitive, but its renewal is $139.08 a year. Confirm both prices at checkout, since promotions change.

Who owns Private Internet Access?
PCMag and CNET both say Kape Technologies, which acquired PIA in 2019 and also owns CyberGhost and ExpressVPN. PIA’s own privacy policy says neither PIA nor anyone at Kape logs or stores substantive personal data or browsing data. I could not confirm whether Kape has changed its name or ownership since those reviews, so check PIA’s current privacy policy if it matters to you.

Are NordVPN and PIA audited?
Both publish audit claims. Nord lists no-logs audits from PwC and Deloitte, while PIA lists Deloitte audits, with the dates and report access described differently by PCMag and TechRadar. Audits cover a period and a scope, so read the reports themselves and treat the no-logs claims as the companies’ claims.

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. PIA also offers 30 days to new subscribers only, and purchases through app stores follow the store’s own terms. 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 ProtonVPN in 2026: Audit-Driven Feature Breadth vs Swiss-Jurisdiction Privacy Maximalism
• Best VPNs for Digital Nomads in 2026: Protect Your Business While You Travel
• NordVPN vs Mullvad (2026): Price, Privacy, Audits and Who Should Pick Which

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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