PROS
- Affordable, flexible pricing
- Dramatic new interface
- Compromised network detection on mobile
- Split tunneling
- Ad-tracker blocking
CONS
- No configurable multi-hop
- Few server locations
- No public, third-party audits
NORTON SECURE VPN SPECS
| Blocks Ads | √ |
| Simultaneous VPN Connections | 1 – 10 |
| 500+ Servers | √ |
| Server Locations | 30 Countries |
| Geographically Diverse Servers | √ |
| Free Version | × |
| Free Version Data Limit | No Free Version |
How Much Does Norton Secure VPN Cost?
Norton lets you select a subscription that restores monthly or every year, with a discount rate for the longer of the two. When we evaluate VPNs, we concentrate on the monthly pricing for comparison. Translucented that lens, Norton Secure VPN compares quite positively. Monthly strategies start at $4.99 for one device, $7.99 for five devices, and $9.99 for 10 gadgets. As of this writing, the typical per-month expense of a VPN has to do with $10.05. A number of other VPNs handle to beat that rate and deal excellent service, such as Editors’ Choice winner Mullvad which costs a flat 5 euros ($ 5.73 sometimes of writing). Still, Norton represents an impressive, and extremely versatile, worth.
Norton Secure VPN yearly strategies begin at $24.99 for one device, $39.99 for 5 devices, and $59.99 for 10 devices. Keep in mind that annual plan prices modifications after the very first year( Opens in a new window). After that, you pay $49.99 for one device each year, $79.99 per year for five devices, and $99.99 each year for 10 devices. You can likewise acquire Secure VPN as an add-on to an existing NortonLifeLock subscription at the above decreased rate, but it will reset to the renewal price also.
While longer subscriptions will save you cash, we recommend against starting with one. Rather, join a short-term membership so you can check the VPN on your own. If it satisfies your needs and plays great with your network, you can upgrade to a long-lasting dedication.
While this sort of rates boost has actually been uncommon among VPNs, it is apparently the standard for anti-virus items. Still, we do not like it and prefer the up-front prices of other VPNs. Ivacy and Kaspersky VPN manages to undercut that prices with $29.99 yearly strategies that do not increase over time, making them the least expensive for-pay VPNs we’ve yet reviewed.
Norton Secure VPN is a contender for one of the best inexpensive VPNs, but there are some complimentary VPNs that are also worth consideration. ProtonVPN is among the few products that does not position an information cap on its totally free membership, making it the best free VPN we’ve yet seen. NortonLifeLock does not provide a totally free subscription for Norton Secure VPN
NortonLifeLock just accepts major charge card, Google Pay, and PayPal. Other VPN services accept cryptocurrencies, sometimes at a discount rate. Editors’ Choice winners IVPN and Mullvad VPN accept cash payments mailed to their particular HQs, and both use a seldom seen privacy-first account system. Interestingly, you can buy Norton Secure VPN memberships in some brick-and-mortar areas, such as BestBuy, and make the payment in cash.
What Do You Get With Norton Secure VPN?
The basic function of a VPN is to encrypt all your traffic and route it through a remote server. This makes it much harder for your ISP (or anyone else) to monitor your online activities and hides your IP address in the process. Norton Secure VPN does this, and it lets you create VPN connections for one, five, or 10 devices simultaneously, depending on your plan. Five is the most common allowance of simultaneous connections among VPNs we’ve reviewed. We appreciate this level of flexibility since it lets customers tailor the offering to their needs.
Some VPNs have abandoned these restrictions. Avira Phantom VPN, IPVanish VPN, Editors’ Choice winner Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN place no limit on the number of simultaneous connections.
As you may have heard, Norton also sells a few other security products. Bundles are also available to new customers purchasing Norton security products. A subscription to Norton 360 Standard includes Secure VPN for one device, while a $349.99 per year subscription to Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate includes unlimited VPN installation licenses.
Norton Secure VPN provides all the assurances of a VPN, but other services provide more tools to protect your privacy. Some VPNs include multi-hop connections, which route your traffic through two VPN servers to ensure it’s not intercepted. NortonLifeLock tells us that Norton Secure VPN uses multi-hop connections, but it’s not a user-facing feature. That’s unfortunate.
Some VPNs grant access to the Tor anonymization network—a free, community service that greatly increases your anonymity online by bouncing your connection through multiple volunteer nodes. Norton does not offer these additional features, while Editors’ Choice winners ProtonVPN and NordVPN are among the very few VPNs we’ve tested that have access to Tor and multi-hop connections.
A new feature from NortonLifeLock is compromised network detection, which is currently only available on Android and iOS. Norton Secure VPN checks to see if the network you’re connected with has tell-tale signs of tampering, such as SSL attacker-in-the-middle, content manipulation, and SSL stripping. Depending on your settings, the Norton Secure VPN app can automatically engage the VPN or kick up a warning and let you decide what action to take. We weren’t able to test this feature but are interested to see how it develops.
Previously, Norton Secure VPN did not allow BitTorrent or P2P file sharing on its network. This placed it on the outskirts of the VPN world. Fortunately, the service now welcomes seeding and leeching. The only catch is that P2P is still forbidden on iOS and macOS. A company representative told us that P2P support would be coming soon to macOS but not iOS. That’s still a tremendous improvement.
Your Privacy With Norton Secure VPN
VPN companies outline what information they collect and why in their privacy policies. Norton has many services, but offers a personal privacy policy specific to its VPN item(Opens in a brand-new window). It’s short and simple to check out, which we appreciate. It is, nevertheless, on a page with every other Norton item, which, while a bit frustrating, is unquestionably thorough.
A NortonLifeLock representative told us that the business does not collect any user-specific info from utilizing the VPN. Notably, we were guaranteed that the company does not earn money from sources besides memberships. That’s excellent, as less meticulous companies could offer your personal info for a neat revenue.
Its Privacy Policy indicates that Norton Secure VPN collects user IP addresses, but we’ve been informed this info is anonymized. That’s a good start, however other services do not gather IP addresses at all. Significantly, the business also collects aggregate bandwidth use and info about the gadgets you use– Device Name, and so on. Norton should aim to do much better and collect as little data as possible or erase it as quickly as possible.
Depending on where a VPN business is based, it might be subject to compulsory information retention laws. NortonLifeLock is physically based in Tempe, AZ. The United States presently does not have any laws that require VPN business to gather or maintain user details, so that’s one less thing to worry about. NortonLifeLock says that, were it to receive an order from police to turn over information on user activities, it could not as it does not have that info.
Numerous VPN business engage in third-party assessments to ensure that there are no vulnerabilities that can be made use of. TunnelBear VPN, for example, has actually devoted to launching annual audits. Norton states that it undergoes a number of security audits prior to releasing brand-new versions, however it does not make that info public. Nor has it went through a public third-party audit. Audits are very imperfect tools, however it would work for Norton to undergo these evaluations. Norton likewise does not appear to publish an openness report, which would detail its disclosures to law enforcement. We think the business should start providing this details.
Hands On With Norton Secure VPN for Windows
We had no trouble establishing Norton Secure VPN on an Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7BEH (Bean Canyon) desktop running the current version of Windows 10. We were, nevertheless, really shocked considering that the whole experience– from installation to testing– was totally various from the last time we checked this VPN.
Norton Secure VPN’s installer is now constructed around a dramatic picture of an enormous wave crashing over a lighthouse. There’s plainly a metaphor here. Most significantly, the app has actually lastly been separated from the task bar and made big enough to easily read. This alone is a massive and much-needed enhancement.
Once it’s up and running the app is constructed around a single, dark blue window. A large toggle button at the bottom of the screen makes it easy to rapidly connect the VPN and makes it obvious whether it’s on or off. We truly like the brand-new design compared to its predecessor, but it can’t compare to the brilliant yellow friendliness of TunnelBear VPN.
The Settings menu pops over the main window and functions toggles that turn green when you activate a function. Blue tags mark brand-new features, of which this app can boast lots of. Noteworthy is the addition of a Kill Switch, which prevents your computer system from sending out unencrypted web traffic in the occasion the VPN disconnects suddenly. This feature is found in nearly every VPN, and we’re delighted to see Norton Secure VPN achieve parity. We couldn’t induce a fault that would allow us to check this feature.
Likewise brand-new is Split Tunneling. This lets you choose which apps send their traffic through the VPN connection and which avoid the file encryption. It’s convenient for when you have a high bandwidth however low security activity like video streaming or video gaming. Split Tunneling worked as marketed in our screening, and we appreciate that this function is designed with the presumption that all apps you do not pick will use the VPN. One disadvantage is that you need to select apps for the exception list utilizing the basic Windows Explorer, which suggests you’ll need to contend with the eccentricities of how Windows names and stores applications.
Unfortunately, the server selector still leaves much to be preferred. You can only choose servers at the nation level, not private servers, which might be annoying if you definitely require a working connection in an extremely particular area. Anyone looking for fine-grained control of their VPN experience would be much better served with ProtonVPN, NordVPN, or the remarkably personalized IPVanish. The list of servers exists alphabetically and can’t be reordered or browsed in any way. Its greatest sin is merely being a bit confined; giving this window more space to breathe would assist immensely.
You’ll most likely notice a Torrent-Optimized Region as an option. This is a shortcut to among a number of locations where BitTorrent traffic is legal. A NortonLifeLock agent informed us that the app will instantly switch you to the Torrent-Optimized Region if the app discovers BitTorrent traffic. The representative guaranteed us that Norton Secure VPN only looks at the kind of traffic to make this decision, not the material of your traffic.
One significant feature is the Ad Tracking tab. This shows all the advertisement trackers Norton Secure VPN has obstructed today, in the last 30 days, and considering that you first set up the app. Several VPNs declare to block advertisement tracking, but this is one of the very few that shows its work. We confirmed that the number increased as we ran around the web, but we did not evaluate its efficacy as a tracker blocker.
A danger when using a VPN is that it might leak your true IP address or DNS information. In our screening we validated that Norton Secure VPN concealed our IP address. The DNS Leak Test( Opens in a brand-new window) tool revealed that Norton effectively concealed our DNS details too
Streaming services frequently obstruct VPNs considering that they can be utilized to access region locked streaming content. When we tested Norton Secure VPN, we found we were just able to stream a subset of content from Netflix while connected to an US server. Your mileage, however, may vary.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Norton Secure VPN provides a reliable and user-friendly solution for safeguarding your online activities. With bank-grade encryption, a strict no-log policy, and ad tracker blocking, Norton ensures that your data remains secure and your online footprint stays private. The wide server network and compatibility with various devices add to the overall appeal of the VPN service. While the pricing plans may be perceived as slightly higher, the trusted name in cybersecurity that Norton carries is undoubtedly a significant advantage.
PROS
- Affordable, flexible pricing
- Dramatic new interface
- Compromised network detection on mobile
- Split tunneling
- Ad-tracker blocking
