NordVPN VS CyberGhost: how and which VPN to choose

This in-depth analysis stems from the many emails that arrived in the editorial office about users who were undecided between subscribing to the offer of one or the other VPN and from the answers we gave them based on our experience of use and our tests. This is a real challenge between titans, and two services that the editorial team uses and continues to use with great satisfaction. NordVPN and CyberGhost are always at the top of our ranking of the best VPN services.

Both services have had two in-depth reviews from us that we invite you to consultbefore reading our comparison: Nord VPN review, CyberGhost review.

Being two really top services, it will be really difficult to find a real winner on each front, but we will deepen the peculiarities of each service so that you can have the information for choose the service that best suits your needs.

Both offer a lot on the security front

We repeat this every time an insecure paid VPN is useless. On this front both solutions have always been the TOP. Both teams are always focused on guaranteeing excellent performance, always protecting the anonymity of their customers as much as possible.

These are two completely no-logs VPNsand who carefully implement the best security protocols, even the most recent such as WireGuard.

On the logs front, both VPNs stand out for very restrictive policiesnone of the independent tests have ever found any particular problems.

NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, the lack in their order of a law that obliges them to keep track of data could be an additional guarantee for customers and the company. It also uses servers without hard disk, so the data is saved only on volatile memories, this should further increase security.

CyberGhost is based in Romania, is a less exotic country but which has data retention legislation more similar to Panamanian than ours, with the lack of obligation to retain customer data. Furthermore, the company’s very strict no-logs policy has so far always protected customers from cyber attacks and any attempted investigation by the authorities.

So from the point of view of safety we are faced with a draw, both services manage to offer optimal protection.

Different approaches to hardened servers

Both services offer enhanced security links, using two different but both winning approaches.

NordVPN, for users who prefer security over speed, offers two options, connecting via a double server and connecting via a VPN and then the Onion network. It also offers among the protocol obfuscation optionsuseful for circumventing attempts to block the use of VPNs.

CyberGhost instead offers special servers called “Without lights“Dedicated to those who want even greater security.

In terms of security-enhanced links, we have to say that we prefer NordVPN simply because it provides more options, and because protocol obfuscation can be useful for connecting from countries that use censorship or from offices, schools or universities.

The many servers available

Both services offer a large number of servers allowing you to connect from a large number of locations around the world.

Here too we have a real fight between titans:

• NordVPN offers 5489 real and fast servers spread across 60 countries;
• CyberGhost VPN offers 7800 servers located in more than 91 countries.

There is a slight predominance of the latter, but with such numbers the differences are negligible, even considering that they are real and fast servers.

Servers are especially useful for bypassing geo-blocks, as you can see from both the numbers, and the services are really strong from this point of view.

The ability to bypass geo-blocks

I geo-blocks are an annoying reality, all those who try to watch Italian TV abroad know very well, as well as Italians who try to access services available only in other countries (such as the Hulu streaming service accessible in only two Countries, i.e. the United States and Japan).

A territorial block is an attempt to allow access to a Web service only to users connected from a certain country. VPNs are very useful for getting around geoblocks, but keepers of streaming services (like Netflix, Raiplay, RSI, and many others) rarely sit on their hands, so good services need to update their server IPs often to continue to effectively circumvent territorial blockades.

In this respect CyberGhost VPN is almost unbeatable, offers an important number of servers dedicated to streaming, divided by country and by service. The attention to detail in this section is truly admirable, almost artisanal, in that almost every service has its own dedicated server for each country.

NordVPN also has many servers although it does not offer a section dedicated to streaming, they are often very useful for bypassing territorial blocks.

So much so that both solutions are the protagonists of our article on the best VPNs to watch Italian TV abroad and both are excellent for unblocking the catalog of other countries of services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus.

In any case, if we have to choose a winner in this section it can only be CyberGhost VPN given the care taken in the servers dedicated to streaming.

The simplicity of use

Both VPNs are very simple to use, once you have downloaded the client and installed, launched and logged in, just choose a server to start browsing safely. In addition, these are two feature-rich clients on all platforms, both of which have essential and easy-to-use interfaces.

Both solutions have great clients for many platforms Windows, Mac and Linux, mobile (Android and iOS), Android TV etc.

It is a practically equal fight, the only thing that could make us lean towards CyberGhost VPN is that the client is translated into Italian (although the options of a VPN service are usually understood well in English too).

Performance to the test

Speed ​​is important for a VPN, so we ran several tests at different times to see which of the two solutions was capable of delivering more convincing performance.

To have a yardstick, with a free line I have a Ping of 7 ms and I can connect at an average speed of 150 Mb / s in download and upload.

Here are some results, first the tests carried out with the WireGuard protocol (NordLynx is the version of WireGuard customized by NordVPN).

• NordVPN: out of 10 tests with different Italian servers, it has an average of the results, with Ping of 28 ms, download speed 137 Mb / s, upload speed 144 Mb / s.
• CyberGhost VPN: on 10 tests with different Italian servers, it has an average of the results, with Ping of 33 ms download speed 130 Mb / s upload 120 Mb / s.

There is a slight advantage from NordVPN, which appears to be showing better performance.

We then tested the speeds on servers in 5 European countries (Spain, England, France, Germany, and Switzerland) and then took the average, here are the results:

• NordVPN: the average of the tests gave as results, Ping 55 ms, download speed 135 Mb / s, upload speed 140 Mb / s.
• CyberGhost VPN: the average of the tests gave as results, Ping 51 ms, download speed 125 Mb / s, upload speed 130 Mb / s.

Here both VPNs presented truly noteworthy performance, with a ping that remains low despite the increase in distances and performance in line with that of national servers.

Finally we tested the speed on the US servers:

• NordVPN: the average of the tests gave as results, ping 120 ms, download speed 132 Mb / s upload 145 Mb / s.
• CyberGhost VPN: the average of the tests gave as results, Ping 117 ms, download speed 110 Mb / s, upload speed 130 Mb / s.

In this test we see a clearer prevalence of NordVPN, with server speeds overseas that are really noteworthy.

Finally we abandoned the WireGuard protocol and did some tests with the Open VPN security protocol. Here are the results:

• NordVPN: the average of the tests gave as results, Ping 30 ms download speed 115 Mb / s upload 70 Mb / s.
• CyberGhost VPN: the average of the tests gave as results, Ping 29 ms download speed 102 Mb / s upload 90 Mb / s.

Again the contenders are very close.

We can conclude that both VPNs offer really fast transfer speeds. In all tests it prevails (often slightly) NordVPN, so if you are looking for pure performance, maybe P2P download should be your choice.

Support

Technical support is great from both teams, both respond quickly and are competent on technical issues. Each time the live chat service has put us in contact with real people. Unfortunately, the customer service of both services only responds in English.

In fact, on this front, the services are practically equivalent.

Prices

Here the situation is more fluid because both services often make offers that change the picture, to keep up to date on the latest offers we invite you to consult the NordVPN reviews and the CyberGhost VPN review.

We can compare prices as of today, at the moment the cost per month of NordVPN is € 10.49, while that of CyberGhost is € 11.99. The price of the single month is slightly lower in the first case.

On the two-year plan, the situation is reversed, NordVPN’s costs € 83.76 (€ 3.49 per month), CyberGhost’s costs € 70.8 (€ 2.95). At the moment CyberGhost VPN also offers a three-year plan on offer that allows further savings, costs € 77 (only € 1.99 per month).

NordVPN’s right of withdrawal lasts 30 days that of CyberGhost 45. In this period, both services return the amount paid without problems.

From the point of view of the price then CyberGhost wins who manages to provide a high level service at a decidedly affordable price. The fight would be tougher if NordVPN offered a three-year plan.

Conclusions NordVPN VS CyberGhost

As we had anticipated, this was a real fight between the titans, with two services of the highest level, here is a synthetic result of the different aspects.

• Safety Draw
• Enhanced security links NordVPN
• Number of servers CyberGhost
• Ability to bypass territorial blockades CyberGhost
• Performance NordVPN
• Ease of use Draw
• Support Draw
• Price CyberGhost

Summing up it is very difficult to crown a real winner, so here are our recommendations based on your needs:

• If you need a VPN mainly to get around territorial blocks of services (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney +) then CyberGhost is for you.
• On the other hand, if you need a VPN to download at maximum speed, then NordVPN should be your choice.
• If you are connecting from an institutional location (school, university, offices) it is worth opting for NordVPN as it offers protocol obfuscation.
• Finally, if you do not have particular specific needs and are simply looking for a Top service at the lowest possible price, it is definitely worth opting for CyberGhost VPN.