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Government · head to head

CentralSquare Asset Management vs NordVPN

CentralSquare Asset Management logo

CentralSquare Asset Management

Government

Public sector enterprise asset management, sold for years as Lucity

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
NordVPN logo

NordVPN

Cybersecurity

Consumer and business VPN from Nord Security, registered in Panama, with repeated third-party no-logs audits.

From
$3.99/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CentralSquare Asset Management the Lucity name is now only a suffix on a CentralSquare product, so long-standing customers should confirm which capabilities carry forward under the current release rather than assuming continuity from the Lucity they know.; NordVPN a server in a Finnish datacentre was accessed in March 2018 through a remote management interface left exposed by the hosting provider, and NordVPN did not disclose it until October 2019, so a buyer relying on the company's transparency is relying on a track record that includes a nineteen-month delay.
  • They diverge on capability: CentralSquare Asset Management covers Esri ArcGIS integration, NordVPN covers NordLynx.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CentralSquare Asset Management and NordVPN actually diverge.

Attributes where CentralSquare Asset Management and NordVPN differ
AttributeCentralSquare Asset ManagementNordVPN
Starting priceOn request$3.99/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Cloud, On-premiseWeb, Desktop, Mobile, Api
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown2012

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in CentralSquare Asset Management

  • Esri ArcGIS integration
  • Public works asset breadth
  • Citizen request intake
  • Condition assessment
  • Inspections
  • Suite integration

Only in NordVPN

  • NordLynx
  • Audited no-logs policy
  • RAM-only servers
  • Threat Protection
  • Obfuscated servers
  • Double VPN
  • Kill switch
  • Dedicated IP

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CentralSquare Asset Management

  • A city consolidating streets, water, parks and facilities maintenance into one asset register instead of four departmental spreadsheetsnot NordVPN
  • A county needing auditable stormwater and backflow inspection records for a regulatory programmenot NordVPN
  • A public works department wanting citizen-reported potholes and blocked drains to become work orders without manual re-keyingnot NordVPN
  • A municipality already running CentralSquare finance that wants asset and work costs to land in the general ledger without an integration projectnot NordVPN

NordVPN

  • A buyer choosing on evidence rather than claims, who wants a no-logs policy that has been audited more than once by a named firmnot CentralSquare Asset Management
  • Households and individuals wanting one subscription across ten devices including a smart TVnot CentralSquare Asset Management
  • Travellers and remote workers on hotel and airport networks who need obfuscation where plain VPN protocols are blockednot CentralSquare Asset Management
  • Small teams needing basic remote access to a shared resource, via the NordLayer business product rather than the consumer appnot CentralSquare Asset Management

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CentralSquare Asset Management

  • The Lucity name is now only a suffix on a CentralSquare product, so long-standing customers should confirm which capabilities carry forward under the current release rather than assuming continuity from the Lucity they know.
  • CentralSquare is private-equity owned and grew by acquisition, so asset management competes for development attention against public safety and finance products with larger revenue, and its roadmap is not independently controlled.
  • Pricing is unpublished and quoted per municipality, and asset management is often presented alongside other suite modules, so a department must work to get a clean, unbundled number it can defend at council.
  • Esri ArcGIS is effectively a prerequisite for the spatial capability that makes the product worth buying, and that licence is a separate cost the software quote will not include.
  • It is North America focused, aligned to United States municipal practice, funding structures and regulatory programmes, which limits its fit for local authorities elsewhere.

NordVPN

  • A server in a Finnish datacentre was accessed in March 2018 through a remote management interface left exposed by the hosting provider, and NordVPN did not disclose it until October 2019, so a buyer relying on the company's transparency is relying on a track record that includes a nineteen-month delay.
  • Pricing depends on a long initial term and reverts to the standard rate at renewal, so the monthly figure that justified the purchase is not what the subscriber pays in the third year, and the cheapest way to stay is usually to cancel and re-subscribe.
  • Panamanian registration is selected for the absence of a data retention law, but it also means a subscriber with a dispute has little practical recourse, and the protection rests on a corporate structure the customer cannot inspect or enforce against.
  • NordLynx is unavailable for manual and router configurations, so the one device that could cover an entire home network falls back to OpenVPN or IKEv2 with the associated throughput loss, and obfuscated servers likewise only run over OpenVPN.
  • Features such as Threat Protection are implemented in the client rather than in the network, so any device using a manual configuration, a router or an unsupported platform receives a bare tunnel without the protections the subscription is sold on.

Pricing, plan by plan

CentralSquare Asset Management

On request
  • CentralSquare Asset Management$undefined/year
    • Subscription or on-premise licensing, quoted per municipality
    • Priced on population, module selection and user counts
    • Esri ArcGIS licensing purchased separately

NordVPN

$3.99/month
  • Standard$3.99/month
    • 6 devices
    • 5,500+ servers
    • Threat Protection Lite
  • Plus$4.99/month
    • All Standard features
    • Threat Protection Pro
    • NordPass password manager
  • Complete$5.99/month
    • All Plus features
    • NordLocker 1TB encrypted cloud
    • Identity theft protection

Which should you pick?

Choose CentralSquare Asset Management if

  • You need esri arcgis integration.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, On-premise.
  • You also want public works asset breadth.
CentralSquare Asset Management review

Choose NordVPN if

  • You need nordlynx.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile, Api.
  • You also want audited no-logs policy.
NordVPN review

Questions people ask

Is CentralSquare Asset Management or NordVPN better?
Neither clearly leads. CentralSquare Asset Management starts at On request and NordVPN at $3.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CentralSquare Asset Management or NordVPN?
CentralSquare Asset Management starts at On request and NordVPN at $3.99/month.
Does CentralSquare Asset Management or NordVPN run on more platforms?
CentralSquare Asset Management runs on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, On-premise. NordVPN runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile, Api.
What is CentralSquare Asset Management best used for?
CentralSquare Asset Management is most often used for a city consolidating streets, water, parks and facilities maintenance into one asset register instead of four departmental spreadsheets, a county needing auditable stormwater and backflow inspection records for a regulatory programme, a public works department wanting citizen-reported potholes and blocked drains to become work orders without manual re-keying, a municipality already running centralsquare finance that wants asset and work costs to land in the general ledger without an integration project. Of those, a city consolidating streets, water, parks and facilities maintenance into one asset register instead of four departmental spreadsheets and a county needing auditable stormwater and backflow inspection records for a regulatory programme are not what NordVPN is typically brought in for.
What can CentralSquare Asset Management do that NordVPN cannot?
CentralSquare Asset Management covers Esri ArcGIS integration, Public works asset breadth, Citizen request intake, Condition assessment. NordVPN covers NordLynx, Audited no-logs policy, RAM-only servers, Threat Protection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CentralSquare Asset Management: Can I still buy Lucity?

Not under that name alone. It is sold as CentralSquare Asset Management powered by Lucity, and quotes and contracts will use the CentralSquare name.

NordVPN: What jurisdiction is NordVPN under?

The VPN service company is registered in Panama, which has no mandatory data retention law for these services. The wider Nord Security group operates from Lithuania.

CentralSquare Asset Management: Do I need Esri?

In practice yes. The spatial asset handling that distinguishes the product depends on ArcGIS, licensed separately from Esri.

NordVPN: Has the no-logs claim actually been audited?

Yes, more than once. PwC Switzerland examined it in 2018 and 2020 and Deloitte in later engagements. Each is a point-in-time assurance report over stated policy and server configuration, not ongoing monitoring.

CentralSquare Asset Management: Is it cloud only?

No. Both hosted subscription and on-premise deployment are available, which matters for municipalities with data residency or network policy constraints.

NordVPN: What happened in the 2018 breach?

An attacker reached one rented server in Finland via an insecure remote management tool left in place by the datacentre provider, and obtained a TLS key that had expired. NordVPN disclosed it in October 2019, nineteen months later, and afterwards moved the estate to RAM-only servers.

CentralSquare Asset Management: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted per municipality based on population, modules and users, usually through a public procurement process.

NordVPN: How many devices does one subscription cover?

Ten simultaneous connections. A router configured with the service counts as one connection regardless of how many devices sit behind it.

NordVPN: Does it work on restrictive networks?

There are obfuscated servers intended for networks that block VPN protocols, but they run over OpenVPN only and no provider can guarantee access in a country that actively filters. Treat it as best effort.

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