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Cybersecurity · head to head

NordVPN vs Very Good Security

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
Rated
-
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: NordVPN covers NordLynx, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which NordVPN and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where NordVPN and Very Good Security differ
AttributeNordVPNVery Good Security
Starting price$3.99/month$1000/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month
PlatformsWeb, Desktop, Mobile, ApiWeb, API
Founded2012Unknown

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

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 NordVPN

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

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

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

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 Very Good Security
  • Households and individuals wanting one subscription across ten devices including a smart TVnot Very Good Security
  • Travellers and remote workers on hotel and airport networks who need obfuscation where plain VPN protocols are blockednot Very Good Security
  • Small teams needing basic remote access to a shared resource, via the NordLayer business product rather than the consumer appnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot NordVPN
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot NordVPN
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot NordVPN
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot NordVPN

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose NordVPN if

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

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.

Questions people ask

Is NordVPN or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. NordVPN starts at $3.99/month and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, NordVPN or Very Good Security?
NordVPN starts at $3.99/month and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does NordVPN or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
NordVPN runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile, Api. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is NordVPN best used for?
NordVPN is most often used for a buyer choosing on evidence rather than claims, who wants a no-logs policy that has been audited more than once by a named firm, households and individuals wanting one subscription across ten devices including a smart tv, travellers and remote workers on hotel and airport networks who need obfuscation where plain vpn protocols are blocked, small teams needing basic remote access to a shared resource, via the nordlayer business product rather than the consumer app. Of those, a buyer choosing on evidence rather than claims, who wants a no-logs policy that has been audited more than once by a named firm and households and individuals wanting one subscription across ten devices including a smart tv are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can NordVPN do that Very Good Security cannot?
NordVPN covers NordLynx, Audited no-logs policy, RAM-only servers, Threat Protection. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

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.

Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

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.

Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

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.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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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