NortonLifeLock tells us that Norton Secure VPN uses multi-hop connections, but it's not a user-facing feature. Some VPNs include multi-hop connections, which route your traffic through two VPN servers to ensure it's not intercepted. Norton Secure VPN provides all the assurances of a VPN, but other services provide more tools to protect your privacy. 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.
Bundles are also available to new customers purchasing Norton security products. Avira Phantom VPN, IPVanish VPN, Editors' Choice winner Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN place no limit on the number of simultaneous connections.Īs you may have heard, Norton also sells a few other security products. Some VPNs have abandoned these restrictions. We appreciate this level of flexibility since it lets customers tailor the offering to their needs. Five is the most common allowance of simultaneous connections among VPNs we've reviewed. Norton Secure VPN does this, and it lets you create VPN connections for one, five, or 10 devices simultaneously, depending on your plan. This makes it much harder for your ISP (or anyone else) to monitor your online activities and hides your IP address in the process. The basic function of a VPN is to encrypt all your traffic and route it through a remote server. Norton Secure VPN has no additional features for sale. Other VPNs also offer extra cost add-ons like dedicated IP addresses. Interestingly, you can purchase Norton Secure VPN subscriptions in some brick-and-mortar locations, such as BestBuy, and make the payment in cash. Editors' Choice winners IVPN and Mullvad VPN accept cash payments mailed to their respective HQs, and both use a rarely seen privacy-first account system. Other VPN services accept cryptocurrencies, sometimes at a discount. NortonLifeLock only accepts major credit cards, Google Pay, and PayPal.
NortonLifeLock does not offer a free subscription for Norton Secure VPN. ProtonVPN is one of the few products that does not place a data cap on its free subscription, making it the best free VPN we've yet seen. Norton Secure VPN is a contender for one of the best cheap VPNs, but there are some free VPNs that are also worth consideration. Still, Norton represents a remarkable, and remarkably flexible, value.
Several other VPNs manage to beat that price and offer excellent service, such as Editors' Choice winner Mullvad which costs a flat 5 euros ($5.73 at time of writing). As of this writing, the average per-month cost of a VPN is about $10.05. Monthly plans start at $4.99 for one device, $7.99 for five devices, and $9.99 for 10 devices. Seen through that lens, Norton Secure VPN compares quite favorably. When we review VPNs, we focus on the monthly pricing for comparison. Norton lets you choose a subscription that renews monthly or annually, with a discount for the longer of the two.
Add to this the lifting of the ban on BitTorrent and P2P traffic, and Norton Secure VPN has become a competitor worth watching in the VPN space.
A refreshed design for its client software along with new features such as split tunneling and a kill switch help enormously. Norton Secure VPN has a strong security pedigree from the NortonLifeLock name and an affordable, flexible pricing scheme that places it well within impulse-purchase territory.
How to Set Up Two-Factor Authenticationīy now, every major security company has probably rolled out its own virtual private network, or VPN.