There is no need to be a privacy nerd or Guru VPN to have heard about Nordvpn. After officially entering the market in 2012, the supplier is possibly the most famous VPN name that exists.
Test after testing, Techradar reviewers are still sure that this popularity is not just a good marketing. Our experts currently classify NordvPN as the best VPN in the market for most people, in fact, thanks to strong privacy, security and performance.
However, there is a considerable part of the web that does not really like Nordvpn, and is quite vocal. So, when I had the opportunity to sit with the team, I put some of the most recurring complaints directly to the people behind the product. This is what they answered.
Why is Nordvpn marketing so aggressive?
If there is a key reason why NordvPN is the most popular supplier on the web, it is the company's aggressive marketing. Most of which are transmitted by the most followed youtubers and contraction influencers.
While that is absolutely a legitimate form of advertising that many competitors also use, Nordvpn's activities on this front do not feel well with all commentators, who often mention it as the main reason to avoid service. However, the NordvPN team does not agree with this conclusion.
According to Nordvpn CTO, Marijus Briedis, excellent products cannot be alive without marketing. “We have a great product, we know it, but competition is so fierce that we also need a very good marketing strategy,” he added.
As Briedis explains, marketing has been a crucial part of allowing the team to continue growing over the years. Something that allows the company to develop even more products, such as its password administrator tool, NordPass.
Nord Security online reputation leader, Zilvinas Abarius also believes that marketing its product through influencers has been advantageous to increase cybersecurity between the general public. However, some researchers have previously warned that youtubers selling VPNs can represent a safety risk.
In general, Abarius said: “Critics could believe that if it is marketed, it cannot be an adequate product. But we want to break this myth. We want to show that we can create great things, while we have a strong marketing.”
What about Nord's rape in 2018?
Another very controversial and recurring comment against Nordvpn surrounds an event that dates back to 2018: Nordvpn security violation.
On that occasion, one of the provider's VPN servers was pirated due to an error in the data center system. It is said that the supplier was associated with an expert in cybersecurity to patch vulnerability the next day, while closing all servers to ensure that user data were protected.
“In the end no data were leaked,” says Nord Security Public Relations Chief Laura Tyrylyte, since computer pirates failed to obtain user information or credential.
No data were leaked
Laura Tyrylyte, Public Relations Chief of Nord Security
However, NordvPN critics are more concerned about how the company dealt with the incident. Nordvpn would wait more than a year before cleaning and explaining to its users what happened. The web never forgets, and such behavior has stained Nordvpn's reputation to this day.
Tyrylyte admits that the team made a mistake when waiting all that time. She said: “We were a different company at that time, and yes, we made an error. But it was also a very good learning opportunity for us.”
The team also explains that, since then, the company has not only introduced several cyber security processes to ensure that similar incidents cannot occur, but have also taken many steps to increase transparency along the way.
Why is Nordvpn Auto-Renewal misleading?
Perhaps the most expressed concern of all greetings in the way NordvPN deals with the subscriptions of its users. NORDVPN is among the many suppliers working under an automatic renewal payment system.
On paper, automatic renewal allows users to decide to choose not to participate if they wish. However, a combination of difficulties in doing so and incidents in which users regretted that suppliers supposedly did not respect their choice have helped consolidate the idea among angry customers that Nordvpn is “shaded” or “scamming.”
The alleged “deceptive” self-rival price is the reason behind Legal complaints also face the supplier in the United States. There have also been similar demands against the tastes of Expressvpn and Surfshark.
While the judge will have to decide whether NordvPN's behavior can be considered legal or not, said payment model is surely scaring many VPN enthusiasts.
So, is the company taking note and plans to fix its most annoying inconvenience? Not quite.
“This is common throughout the market. We call it a subscription because it is a subscription for the meaning itself, and as with Spotify, Netflix or any other online service, it never has plans that are not repeated,” said Abius, arguing that users can cancel subscriptions within a couple of clicks.
In fact, automatic renewal subscriptions are certainly widespread throughout the VPN industry, but are far from being the only option.
Abarius also ensures that the company is “very flexible with reimbursements”, despite analyzing each case individually. This may be the reason why some former disappointed users have made mass to the Nordvpn Tustpilot page to leave a negative review after their request was rejected.
Why did Nordvpn eliminate Meshnet?
About three years after its launch, Nordvpn was ready to kill its meshnet function as of December 1, 2025. The reason? Lack of use, said the supplier.
The team built Meshnet to provide users with a simple way to connect up to 60 different devices at the same time on private private tunnels. A unique tool in the entire VPN industry that developers expected to transform how users use Nordvpn forever.
The decision to eliminate Meshnet caused a wave of disappointment in online forums between the scarce but vocal part of users who have benefited from the added value of Meshnet.
Some suggested that this may have been simply a “bait and switch tactics” so that more users on board, while others considered an attraction for the supplier to keep Meshnet alive.
To appeal to Nordvpn to keep Meshnet alive? of R/Nordvpn
Public pressure was worth it, and the team has now announced that no, Meshnet will not go anywhere.
“During the past month, many of you have talked about how much Meshnet value, either to play with private networks, sharing files safely or simply play with friends. His passion made us analyze our decision,” the supplier wrote in a blog post.
Nordvpn Product Director Dominkas Virbickas says, however, that the lack of use (less than 1% of Nordvpn subscribers) was the only reason behind the decision to eliminate Meshnet, a characteristic that requires a lot of maintenance.
Meshnet apparently makes it more problematic to maintain the central functionality of the VPN client and slow down the equipment, which makes the process of developing other characteristics (such as the Pro tool protection of threats of supplier threats) is much slower.
While these problems persist, All meshnet features will be maintained live and compatible. The team is now busy looking for ways to reduce development friction and obtain a broader audience on board. So, be attentive to get more news on this front!
End
If these answers will change your mind about Nordvpn, it is difficult to say, nor was that intention. Any of us would have to get our own conclusions and choose the company that is most aligned with our personal values.
That said, if the reason you move away from NordvPN is the elimination of Meshnet, it may now be sure that the company has a plan to save the function. Therefore, it is not necessary to look for alternatives.
If automatic renewal practices are what bothers you the most of the supplier, keep in mind that among the main services that exist, only MullvadvPN currently does not offer recurrent plans. Proton VPN, however, is among the suppliers without an active demand against their own automatic renewal practices.
However, on the Privacy and Security Front, Techradar experts qualify Nordvpn among the best, and can see why reading Nordvpn's complete review. The supplier also regularly suffers independent audits.
The undeniable thing is that NordvPN offers all the basic protection that it would expect from a good VPN, along with some additional features such as Double VPN, as well as malware protection and fraud through its protection of pro threats. If that is enough to make it, you can do it without risks for 30 days with the Nordvpn money return guarantee. So why not try?
