CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Clean Sweep by the Winner for 2020

VPNs are all the rage these days due to an increase in privacy concerns and recent scandals regarding public data leaks. CyberGhost, NordVPN, and PureVPN are some of the most recognizable names in the industry.

To help you decide which VPN to opt for, we have prepared an in-depth analysis of all three VPNs based on their speed, server performance, features, price comparison, etc.

Quick Summary – Which VPN is the Best?

Lets quickly go through the main features of each VPN and rank them according to the value they provide.

#1 NordVPN

You can think of NordVPN as one of the pioneers amongst VPNs. It’s one of the most feature-rich VPNs and has a well-developed infrastructure to provide maximum speeds. NordVPN ranks as the best VPN on our list.

#2 CyberGhost

CyberGhost is one of the best-selling value VPNs. It’s perhaps best known for its no-frills privacy protection and amazing deals. This makes CyberGhost suitable for streaming and casual browsing. CyberGhost is the second-best of our comparison.

#3 PureVPN

PureVPN has some stand out features, such as superior compatibility with the Chrome browser, and multiple short-term packages at a low cost. PureVPN is designed with casual users in mind.

CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Price Comparison

VPNs companies position their software depending on their target audience and the features they offer. The table below illustrates the monthly costs of each VPN as well as their long-term deals.

Next, we take a look at discounts being offered by all three VPNs. PureVPN provides substantial deals for up to 6 months at 24% off. On the other hand, NordVPN offers discounts on its 1, 2, and 3-year deals.

CyberGhost may be the most expensive VPN upfront, but it offers the best discounts for its 1, 2, and 3-year plans.CyberGhost and PureVPN both offer free trials for their paid services. This reassures customers before they make any payments. NordVPN, unfortunately, lacks this option.

On the other hand, all the VPNs do offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The Winner: Considering all these factors, CyberGhost is a clear winner in terms of pricing and discount deals among all three VPNs. You can find out more about it in our CyberGhost VPN review.

CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Speed Test

VPNs mask your IP by rerouting the data that travels through your system. This is bound to decrease your internet speed in most cases. Let’s take a look at other factors that affect your internet speed.

• Connection speed: Naturally, the bandwidth offered by your ISP will be the upper limit for your internet speed.
• Bandwidth throttling: Some ISPs use bandwidth throttling for their consumer-level connections, reducing internet speed. Quite often, they also limit download speeds for large files and P2P sharing
• Servers: The proximity of your VPN servers and their performance can have a noticeable impact on your connection.

With constant innovation in technology and security protocols, VPNs have optimized their performance. We have analyzed the performance of all three VPNs in the section below.

Benchmark

We initiated our benchmarks by calculating the bandwidth provided by our Internet Service Provider. For reference, the data is provided in the screenshot above.

CyberGhost Speed

CyberGhost is a well-performing VPN and retains sufficient bandwidth for most tasks. However, it does suffer from high latency and slow upload speed.

NordVPN Speed

NordVPN gave us the most consistent results. A high download speed coupled with a decent upload to provide satisfactory results for most people.

PureVPN Speed

PureVPN performs more or less like CyberGhost and offers the same download speed. However, it has a very low ping, which can be beneficial for some latency intensive activities, such as online multiplayer gaming.

The Winner: Conclusively, our tests rank NordVPN as the clear winner, owing to its superior download and upload speeds.

CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Ease of use (Setup/Interface)

A software’s success is determined by how well its users can utilize the features. Therefore, it’s integral that VPNs be user friendly, and aid users in the navigation process.

In this section, we’ve compared each of the three VPNs based on the following metrics:

• How modern and up to date the software looks
• How easy is it for users to activate the VPN
• Are the add-on features easily accessible?

CyberGhost

CyberGhost has a unique interface. The users are initially welcomed with a dark themed vertical window with an auto-connect button. This makes it easy for devices to connect, without having to fiddle with anything. But for users that need more control, the yellow tab on the bottom left allows them to choose the server of their choice.

In addition, the interface also offers selective options for users under the ‘connection features’ tab.

The settings tab is located on the bottom left and is easily accessible. It contains a preference menu as well as various connection settings.

NordVPN

NordVPN has perhaps the most intuitive front page. It shows a world map of available servers and highlights the one you’re connected to. The section on the left lets you select specific servers or countries of your preference.

The settings section is simple and offers a range of add-on options you can turn on. It also lets you set preferences such as start-up settings.

For power users, it also offers advanced settings such as obfuscated servers and custom DNS settings.

PureVPN

PureVPN takes a different approach and asks you to select the type of usage you want. Depending on your choice, it selects the best server for you.

Once you’re connected, PureVPN shows the location of your server and various characteristics of your anonymous connection.

The Winner: When it comes to the user interface, NordVPN sweeps the competition. It’s modern and unique design shows the visual location of the server you’re connected to. In addition, the tab on the left allows you to select your server type as well as your preferred country.

CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Features comparison

A VPNs list of features shows how much value they provide, over and above the barebones privacy protection.

NordVPN has a few unique Selling points – it comes with native support for .onion domains. In addition, it offers dedicated IPs, exemplary support for P2P servers, and a robust infrastructure of high-speed servers across the globe.

Let’s discuss these features in a bit more detail. Starting with CyberGhost, it allows you to “Stream and browse without limitations.” According to Tech Radar, “With unlimited bandwidth and traffic, CyberGhost stands out from many of the other VPNs.”

CyberGhost’s unlimited bandwidth and compatibility for most consumer platforms are its standout features.

PureVPN offers the highest number of multi-logins for your devices. It also provides dedicated IP and P2P support, but these features come at an additional cost. Overall, PureVPN is a solid VPN that provides all the basic features most users require.

The Winner: Our features comparison suggests that NordVPN is a clear winner when it comes to features, because of its native support for .onion, as well as dedicated specialty servers.

Unblocking Capability

Streaming has been on an all-time rise recently. Netflix has more than 182 million subscribers as of Q1 2020. Due to regional restrictions, streaming sites offer limited content in some regions, especially where privacy laws are strict.

VPNs can be utilized to unblock streaming sites and access region free streaming. And in some regions, up to 29% of monthly Netflix users use a VPN to stream their favorite shows. This section compares CyberGhost, NordVPN, and PureVPN in this regard.

CyberGhost

CyberGhost allowed us to access Netflix without any issues. Moreover, CyberGhost also works fine when accessing Hulu, and BBC iPlayer.

NordVPN

As expected, NordVPN worked just fine when unlocking Netflix US on Windows. Moreover, it let us access Hulu and BBC iPlayer.

PureVPN

PureVPN worked just as well with Netflix, followed by BBC iPlayer, and Hulu. However, users have reported issues with connecting to Netflix via certain servers. So, your mileage may vary.

The Winner: When it comes to unblocking capabilities, all three VPNs passed with flying colors. However, NordVPN is expected to perform better, as it offers higher bandwidth and download speeds.

CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Servers and performance comparison

Servers and performance of a VPN rely on many different factors, such as:

• Number of servers across the world
• Performance of each server and its unblocking capability
• Compatibility of servers with various uses, such as streaming, P2P sharing, split tunneling, etc.

This section briefly discusses these features and compares each VPN on these metrics.

NordVPN has positioned itself as a multi-purpose VPN capable of handling any task. Therefore, it offers speciality servers:

1. Dedicated IP: Dedicated IP allows you to access all your bandwidth and bypass bandwidth throttling.
2. Dedicated P2P servers: These servers are designed with high-speed large file downloads in mind. They let you download large files over torrents while hiding your identity.
3. Onion over VPN: NordVPN is perhaps the only server that natively supports .onion domains.

PureVPN also offers Dedicated IP and additional P2P support, but as add-on features that cost extra. On the other hand, PureVPN loses the competition when it comes to unblocking capabilities, as some of its servers are blocked by streaming sites, according to many users. In comparison,

CyberGhost comes with its own set of unique features. However, its servers do not offer any standout features.

The Winner: Considering all these aspects, NordVPN comes out on top. Its stellar features and a robust network of servers provide better stability and speeds.

Security Protocols Comparison

Security protocols are the framework that allows VPNs to encrypt data and hide your IP. Support for various protocols is always a bonus feature, as each VPN protocol has its own pros and cons.

Here is the performance comparison of some of the most popular protocols.

Now, let’s take a look at the security protocols supported by CyberGhost, NordVPN, and PureVPN.

CyberGhost offers the most barebones support for security protocols. On the other hand, PureVPN and NordVPN support numerous other protocols so their users have more options. Support for multiple protocols is an added bonus, as they help users in case they face connectivity issues with OpenVPN or IKEv2.OpenVPN is one of the most used security protocols.

In fact, most VPNs support this protocol by default. On the other hand, PPTP is one of the oldest, but fastest protocols. Although it’s not as secure, it offers blazing fast speeds ideal for streaming.

One thing to beware of is CyberGhost asking permission to install SSL certificates. Many customers complained about this, and we had a similar experience. These SSL certificates can give root access to CyberGhost, which compromises your privacy in obvious ways.

The Winner: When it comes to security protocol comparison, NordVPN wins. That’s because it supports Wireguard – an innovative protocol that’s more efficient and offers faster speeds.

Privacy / Data required to Sign-up

VPNs compete by offering more accessibility to its customers at competitive rates. The convenience of having multiple payment methods goes a long way for many users. Let’s take a look at supported payment methods by CyberGhost, NordVPN, and PureVPN.

There is a caveat that CyberGhost users have brought up repeatedly. There is no easy way to unsubscribe from CyberGhost. This means users have to keep paying for the service unless that contact support and go through hoops to manually cancel their subscription. Privacy is of utmost importance for VPN users. Therefore, VPNs must offer a secure and safe way to hold client information for billing purposes. All three VPNs require your payment details, and your email, at the time of registration.

The Winner: Looking at the payment solutions, it is evident that NordVPN takes the trophy. It offers the most flexibility when it comes to payment methods, and has a transparent payment process.

CyberGhost vs NordVPN vs PureVPN – Customer Service Comparison

Customer service can make or break a customer’s experience with a product or service. This rule applies to VPNs as well. Therefore, we have prepared an in-depth customer service comparison so you can have an idea of what to expect from each VPN when it comes to customer support.

Let’s start by taking a look at how accessible customer support is for each VPN

Moving one, we had a similar experience with our ‘live chat’ test. We contacted customer support for each VPN and asked them to help solve our connectivity issues. When it comes to the website layout, PureVPN loses from the competition. It does not have an easily accessible help/support button.

CyberGhost has a visible tab for help/support, but it opens a separate window that won’t let you go back to the CyberGhost home page. This makes navigating through the site a bit inconvenient. NordVPN has a much better layout and does not have these issues.

Cyberghost

CyberGhost’s live chat worked well. While we were able to connect with a representative, it took a while for them to respond to our queries. Moreover, the representative wasn’t able to diagnose the issue directly and asked us to try a few possible solutions before we were able to connect via VPN.

NordVPN

The NordVPN live chat support worked flawlessly, and their representative was able to diagnose our issue and instruct us on how to solve our connectivity problem.

PureVPN

Unfortunately, we could not get PureVPN’s chat to work on our system. Their site was slow and wouldn’t let us access the ‘live chat’ feature.

The Winner: In conclusion, NordVPN ranked first in customer service comparison as well. Their easily-accessible website, knowledgeable representative, and real-time response further helped in setting NordVPN apart from the competition.

Final Verdict

While there is no best VPN in every case, this is what our comparison suggests:

NordVPN ranked first in most of our comparisons. It offers a robust framework of fast servers, lots of add-on features at no extra cost, and provides excellent value. CyberGhost ranked second on our list, as it offers a safe and secure connection at a lower price.