Cyberghost vs. NordVPN comparison: which is better?
Cyberghost and NordVPN are virtual private network providers, which we have reviewed previously here on the website. Both providers operate a large fleet of servers, are relatively cheap when you subscribe for 12 months or longer, and support several interesting extra features, such as specialized P2P servers.
The goal of the comparison is to help you pick the right VPN provider for your use cases. Is Cyberghost the one to choose, or NordVPN?
Here is what the comparison covers:
- Jurisdiction and privacy -- do the providers keep their privacy promises, e.g. that nothing is logged?
- Application and protocol support -- which apps are provided and which VPN protocols are supported?
- Features -- which VPN provider offers the better features?
- Media Streaming -- how good is the streaming support, e.g. can customers watch Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime?
- Speed tests -- how good are the servers?
- Support -- which company has the best support options?
- Price -- which of the two providers offers the best value?
Cyberghost vs. NordVPN at a glance
| Cyberghost | NordVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Romania | Panama |
| Servers | More than 7000 servers in 91 countries | More than 5181 in 60 countries |
| VPN Apps | Windows Mac Linux Android iOS Router/other devices | Windows Mac Linux Android iOS Router/other devices |
| Devices | 7 | 6 |
| Protocols | WireGuard IKEv2 OpenVPN | NordLynx (Wireguard) OpenVPN IKEv2/Ipsec L2TP/IPsec |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Logging | No | No |
| P2P/Torrents | Yes | Yes |
| Streaming (unblock) | Yes | Yes |
| Features | Content Blocker Streaming Servers P2P Servers Smart DNS No-Spy Server add-on | CyberSec P2P Servers Obfuscated Servers Tor-over-VPN Double-VPN servers Killswitch Split Tunneling |
| Performance | Very Good | Very Good |
| Support | Email, chat support | Email, chat support |
| Privacy | No IP leaks No DNS leaks Killswitch works | No IP leaks No DNS leaks Killswitch works |
| Price | $12.99 per month $3.99 for 12 months ($47.88 per year) $2.25 per month for 36 months ($87.75) plus 3 extra months | $11.95 per month $4.92 for 12 months ($59 per year) $3.30 per month for 24 months ($89) plus 3 extra months |
CyberGhost vs. NordVPN jurisdiction
NordVPN and Cyberghost have their headquarters in countries that don't belong to the 14-eyes countries. NordVPN's headquarter is Panama, Cyberghost's Romania.
Note that Cyberghost is owned by Kape Technologies, which has its headquarter in London, United Kingdom.
Server Comparison between NordVPN and Cyberghost
Both companies operate a large fleet of servers. NordVPN operates more than 5100 servers in 60 countries. The company has full control over its server network, which are co-hosted and run on RAM disks.
NordVPN operates specialized servers that are optimized for certain tasks. Besides P2P servers, which are optimized for peer-to-peer activities, NordVPN does operate obfuscated servers, designed to bypass restrictions in networks or countries, Tor-over-VPN servers, to access onion sites, and double-VPN servers, which routes traffic through two VPN servers that are in different countries.
Cyberghost operates more than 7000 servers in 91 countries. It is not clear if these are also co-hosted or rented.
Cyberghost runs specialized streaming, torrenting and gaming servers. Streaming servers are optimized for specific streaming services, e.g. U.K. Netflix or Sweden HBO. Gaming servers are designed to provide better routing and thus better pings for online games or streams.
VPN Apps supports
Cyberghost has dedicated applications Windows, Linux and Macintosh programs, and applications for Android and iOS. Customers may furthermore configure devices manually, e.g. routers or consoles, to make use of the service.
The applications are easy to use and configure. Test installations on Windows and Android systems worked without issues. The applications support WireGuard, a state of the art protocol that promises better performance and security compared to other protocols. Several options are accessible under privacy settings and smart rules.
NordVPN customers may use dedicated desktop programs and apps for mobile devices. It supports Windows, Mac and Linux on the desktop side, and Android and iOS on the mobile side. Options to configure routers and other devices manually are available as well.
All test installations worked without issues. Settings are available in the clients to configure functionality such as the content blocker or kill switch functionality.
Encryption and Security: Cyberghost vs NordVPN
Cyberghost uses an AES-256 cipher, an ECDH-4096 key exchange and SHA-256 has authentication. The clients support the protocols WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2. WireGuard was not set as the default protocol during tests, which customers should switch to.
NordVPN encrypts traffic with an AES-256 cipher, a 4096 key exchange, and SHA256 authentication. The company supports the protocols WireGuard (using its own implementation NordLynx), OpenVPN, IKEv2, and L2TP.
NordVPN supports double-VPN servers next to that, which route traffic through two servers that are located in different countries. Another feature that may be interesting to some users is support for Tor-over-VPN servers, to access onion sites using the VPN.
NordVPN is open about its server infrastructure. The company runs servers in RAM-mode, which means that hard drives are not used. The company does control its server network through co-location, and audits have been done in the past to verify the claims.
We ran leak tests to find out if the providers leak IP information or other information that can be used to identify a user. Both services passed all leak tests that we ran.
Cyberghost vs NordVPN logging
Both companies state that they don't log data.
Cyberghost states on its website that it does not keep logs of the online activity of its users.
As a team, we’re committed to protecting your privacy. That’s why we have a strict no-logs policy. Despite numerous legal requests over the years, we’ve never breached our users’ trust or compromised their anonymity.
In the words of our co-founder, Robert Knapp, “The only way to secure your data is not to store it.”
We do not collect or store:
- Your IP address
- Your DNS queries
- Your browsing history
- The web content you accessed
- Your connection timestamps
- Your disconnection timestamps
- Your session duration
- Your bandwidth usage
- The VPN servers you connect to
We have no idea what you do online after you connect to one of our servers, or how much bandwidth you’ve used. It’s none of our business.
The claim has not undergone a third-party audit. Cyberghost publishes quarterly transparency reports on its website.
NordVPN states on its website that it is not keeping logs of the online activity of its customers:
We offer a zero-logs VPN service. It means that NordVPN does not store connection timestamps, session information, bandwidth usage, traffic data, IP addresses, or other data. Nothing to store – nothing to share with anyone.
The no-logging claim has been confirmed in a third-party audit by the Swiss firm PricewaterhouseCoopers AG.
Streaming and P2P: Cyberghost vs. NordVPN
Cyberghost supports specialized streaming and P2P servers. P2P servers, called for torrenting by the company, are servers that P2P traffic is allowed on (based on the jurisdiction of the server).
We allow P2P traffic via our Torrenting special servers. No further adjustments are required in our applications to securely connect to the P2P servers, as your P2P and normal traffic is already protected.
It appears that the servers are not optimized in any other way for P2P traffic.
Streaming support is excellent. Cyberghost operates streaming servers that are designed to work with a media streaming service in a specific country, e.g. Netflix in the United Kingdom or HBO Nordic in Sweden.
One example: United States servers are available to access the following streaming services: Comedy Central, CBS, Spotify, NBC, ESPN+, Netflix FireStick, Sling TV, Crunchyroll, Fox, YouTube, YouTube TV, Netflix Android TV, Amazon Prime US, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu Android TV and Netflix US.
Other servers, those not tagged as streaming servers, may also unblock streaming servers, but the best option is to select the streaming optimized servers first before trying any other.
Most streaming services that I tested worked without issues during tests. Smart DNS functionality is also provided, which may help with streaming functionality.
NordVPN operates servers that are optimized for P2P traffic. It is possible to use other servers, but these may offer the best performance.
Specialized streaming servers are not supported by NordVPN, but a good number of services could be unlocked while using the VPN. Cyberghost has the edge when it comes to streaming, thanks to its optimized servers.
Cyberghost vs. NordVPN features
Cyberghost offers the following features:
- Kill Switch functionality -- to terminate the Internet connection when the VPN connection drops.
- Content Blocker -- disabled by default to block certain advertisement, trackers and malware. Does not work that good.
- Smart Rules -- automatic rules for applications or connections, e.g. to connect to the VPN automatically when a certain app is started.
- Streaming servers -- optimized to access specific streaming media providers, e.g. Disney+ or Amazon Prime, in specific countries.
- Torrenting servers -- servers on which P2P traffic is allowed.
- Gaming servers -- servers optimized for online gaming.
- No-Spy servers -- cost extra, no-logging policy guaranteed, hosted and managed by the Cyberghost team in Romania.
NordVPN has the following features:
- CyberSec – protects against known malicious sites and advertising by blocking these outright when enabled.
- Killswitch – blocks Internet traffic if the VPN connection drops. May also be used to terminate apps that you specify when the VPN connection is no longer available.
- Split Tunneling – Use some apps with a VPN connection and others without. Ideal for apps and services that block you if you are connected to a VPN.
- P2P servers – special servers optimized for torrent traffic.
- Obfuscated servers – designed to access the VPN service in countries that make VPN use difficult, e.g. China.
- Double-VPN servers – option to chain the connection so that it is routed through two VPN servers instead of just one.
- Tor-over-VPN – option to access Tor .onion sites using the VPN.
Cyberghost vs. NordVPN performance
Cyberghost and NordVPN offer a solid performance when it comes to download and upload speeds, and ping. Mileage varies depending on the selected server, based on geographical location, server load, routing, and local factors, including the local Internet connectivity.
Cyberghost vs. NordVPN price comparison
Price varies depending on the subscription period. The cheapest Cyberghost subscription gives customers 36 months of access to the VPN service for $2.25 per month, plus three extra months on top of it. That's $87.75 for the entire subscription period.
NordVPN subscriptions are more expensive. The cheapest that you can get costs you $3.30 per month for a subscription period of 24 months. That's $89 in total for the entire subscription period.
Special deals are run regularly, e.g. on Black Friday, which may drop the subscription price further.
Conclusion of our Cyberghost vs. NordVPN comparison
Cyberghost has the edge in some departments. The price of a subscription is cheaper, and streaming support is better. If all you need is access to streaming services, then you may want to try out Cyberghost to see if it unlocks the services that you are interested in.
For privacy, security and P2P, NordVPN is the better choice. The company's no logging claim has been proven in an audit, and it operates its own RAM-disk servers. Customers get access to double-VPN servers, which improve privacy further by routing traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one.
All in all, it depends on what you need the service for.
Disclaimer
Ghacks strives to be a trusted and unbiased website. In some specific cases, we may earn an affiliate commission or write a sponsored article, but an explicit disclaimer will always tell our readers when an advertiser or an affiliate partner is supporting one of our articles. If no disclaimer, it means that we work with total editorial independence.
Good to find this place since TOPG seems to have problems and the new SafetyDetectives seems to be selling opinions and ratings.
I have been through two Vpn providers to find NordVpn which has proved to be adaptable for my needs.
Cyberghost : Do not forget that Romania has been a member of the European Union since 2007 which has agreements with the USA and whose member states have police and judicial agreements between them. M2C, if you live in the European Union, it doesn’t seem very wise to use this VPN.
@Bruno
GDPR in Europe is probably the strongest regulation in the world currently.
Cap Technologies? No Thanks…
I tried both CyberGhost and Nord. CyberGhost failed miserably in the frolicking performance, utterly useless and no help from their customer services. Nord helps me immensely and continues to offer excellent service through obfuscation feature and IP address updating. Nord wins my business.
And you all realize that nordvpn does not have Netflix right now is the system has been down for a couple of weeks. I’m waiting for my refund as I wanted to test nordvpn. Finally got a hold of somebody and they said oh they have no idea when they’ll get it back.
I’m sorry, but what is a “ECDH-4096”? I didn’t know people used curves bigger than 521.
This is eye-opening:
https://blog.windscribe.com/were-not-paying-for-1-25b4e55ca10f/
Both company’s are not safe for users from beginning to the end.
Both company’s sending all you data directly to anybody who barks to them like the USA and the outer 14 ( 15 Total), who have a treaty to give all they information of the user to each outer.
Next to the fact that these company’s are not delivering the most important thing there selling to there costumers is that the prices that this company’s are charging, for giving you no security at all for your data, are more than ridiculous, its robbing you at daylight.
Both of them are offering you nothing more than you can log in into a other country.
Nothing more!
@Paul(us): well said.
@Paul(us)
And your evidence is?
I don’t expect a sensible reply that provides any form of reputable evidence.
Go ahead, prove me wrong. I suspect nothing will be posted.
Or please stop constantly posting rubbish here.
Sadly, he’ll keep posting completely paranoid delusional posts with zero real evidence.
Kape = Israeli intel. If you need more evidence than that you are beyond help.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/06/09/from-israel-unit-8200-to-ad-men/?sh=3473936226e2
@Dr.Know, I am sorry but I do not see the need for a polemic!
And your evidence is?
Prove me wrong and provide evidence that ‘they’ are directly sending information to anyone.
Silence will say it all.
Kape Technologies is an Israeli software company. It was originally found under the name of Crossrider in 2011 developing advertising apps (adware) until they changed their name in 2018. However, their software was treated as malware by companies such as Malwarebytes and Symantec.
Crossrider profited from infecting devices with malware, which would then use browser hijacking to direct traffic to partner advertisers. This pernicious line of work earned Crossrider a notorious reputation. This business model goes hand-in-hand with data collection, while also abusing the privacy and security of the end-user who suffered the misfortune of being infected with Crossrider malware.
Crossrider’s first big VPN acquisition was in March 2017 when it purchased CyberGhost VPN for about $10 million.
Kape then moved on to purchase Zenmate VPN, based in Germany, for around $5 million.
Kape purchased Private Internet Access (PIA) for $127 million in cash and shares.
ExpressVPN announced plans early Oct 2021 to be acquired by Kape Technologies. ExpressVPN’s CIO, **Daniel Gericke**, also has ties to state surveillance activities. According to Reuters, Gericke and two others, “admitted to violating U.S. hacking laws and prohibitions on selling sensitive military technology” to the United Arab Emirates. According to reports, this “sensitive military technology” helped the UAE spy on dissidents and human rights activists.
In May 2021, news broke that Kape had purchased a company called Webselenese. Like Kape, Webselenese also operates out of Israel and runs the websites vpnMentor and Wizcase.
Visiting vpnMentor’s homepage today, we find that the parent company’s 3 large VPN services all hold the top 3 spots in the rankings of the best VPNs for 2021.
Similarly, we find the exact same top 3 rankings on Kape’s other website Wizcase.
ANY CYBERGHOST TAKERS ?
@Klaas Vaak
Yes, you are right… I mean, the background of Kape Technologies should already dissuade people from using their services and giving them money, but as you know, most people are not doing any kind of proper research – otherwise these types of services wouldn’t be on top.
NordVPN is a similar case by the way, they have very strong connections to Tesonet (data mining company) and they also got hacked rather trivially a few years ago, that should tell you what you need to know about their, ahem, “security practices”.
The VPN industry is a mess and most services do have untrustworthy owners. As far as this is concerned, I also believe the criticism of @??? to be somewhat valid. I too am getting a bit tired of reading reviews of VPNs owned by always the same scumbags who, coincidentally, also run massive affiliate programs. If it helps fund this website, OK, but the shilling of Kape Technologies and Tesonet is getting a bit too strong as of late.
If people are interested in more sensible options, they can take a look here (these providers have no affiliate programs, so no gHacks review for ya, sorry): https://www.privacyguides.org/providers/vpn/
Btw, how are you doing, Klaas? Hope you are doing well!
@Iron Heart: hi there, long time no speak. I am keeping well. Being on a Mac means fewer of the Ghacks articles are relevant to me, but sometimes there are, like the current article.
I am using the browser extension Windscribe VPN, which I picked up from someone’s comment here a long time ago. They seem to be upfront about what they do and don’t do. AFAICT it is not open source, and the company is located in a 5-Eyes country: Canada.
If you have other important info let me know.
Talk to you soon !
NordVPN and ExpressVPN are always in top 3 in many reviewing websites simply because they (and many other VPN companies) spend money to be on top!
Meanwhile any software (like Cyberghost) with a link to Israel is a nightmare for privacy. Just stay away from them! There is no need to use these dangerous tools while there are much better alternatives. In this case we have ProtonVPN, Mullvad and Windscribe.
However if all you want is changing your IP address to use streaming services all of these VPNs, and even free ones, do a decent job. But if privacy is your top priority, none of those VPNs can beat Swiss-based ProtonVPN.
Proton VPN is also owned by NordVPN.
I agree about Mullvard and Windscribe, they guys are community VPNs. I use PureVPN for streaming though, cheaper and gets the job done.
Not a day without advertising-comparison of services from the same owner.
@???: if that bothers you so much, why do you read the articles? No one is holding a gun to your head to do so?
I like the other materials on the site and reviews from Martin. I do not like advertising of 10 services (Nord, Shark, Express, Vanish, Cyberghost and other) from one owner under the guise of a comparison-review.
On the Internet, there are so many pseudo-ratings from the owner and partners who compare the same thing.
In terms of features, NordVPN is better. But If you are looking for a affordable and value for money VPN provider then Cyberghost is no doubt a better option, there are few other alternatives worth to try as well like PureVPN and Surfshark.
@pollard mike: CyberGhost is a better option if you don’t mind being spied upon.
I like the other materials on the site and reviews from Martin. I do not like advertising of 10 services (Nord, Shark, Express, Vanish, Cyberghost and other) from one owner under the guise of a comparison-review.
On the Internet, there are so many pseudo-ratings from the owner and partners who compare the same thing.
Nord.
Until, and if, Kape’s offerings are shown by legitimate testing organizations to provide privacy and security equivalent to Nord, Mullvad, Air, VPNac, IVPN and a handful of others, I wouldn’t consider for a second any of their products given Teddy’s shady history.