NordLayer VPN, known as NordVPN Teams, is one of the best business VPNs in the industry. It has a reputation for providing high-level security features to help businesses side-step all kinds of cyber dangers, including malware, phishing, and ransomware attacks.
NordLayer is an easy-to-use VPN. Its servers offer fast speeds, and its central dashboard has many features to manage teams, including options to monitor how the VPN is used. Moreover, there is a ThreatBlock feature that detects and blocks malicious sites. However, the VPN does not work in China, and you must purchase the Premium plan to get access to advanced features.
In our detailed NordLayer review, we pick apart NordLayer, explaining how it can help your business. We also run various tests, including IP leak tests and speed tests, to evaluate NordLayer’s performance. Keep reading to discover if NordLayer is worth your money.
Limited offer: Get a special NordLayer discount deal
NordLayer: Pros and Cons
What We Like:
- Avoid online dangers thanks to its security features, including AES encryption, a kill switch, and leak protection
- Restrict third parties from accessing your system with dedicated IP address
- Work from different locations around the world thanks to its servers in over 30 countries
- Work from anywhere without suffering any lags thanks to its fast download and upload speeds
- Connect multiple devices and resources using the Smart Remote Access feature
- Easily manage all teams and devices from a central dashboard
What We Don't Like:
- Doesn't work in China
- Many advanced features are not available on the Lite plan
NordLayer is a good choice for any business that wants to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime. It ensures that your workforce uses the internet backed by top-level encryption and anonymity. Plus, it allows you to restrict your company network and keep out snoopers and hackers.
We recommend NordLayer if you want to use or are already using a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework. This security service edge combines many cloud security tools, including zero trust network access (ZTNA), secure web gateway (SWG), and firewall as a service (FWaaS).
We recommend NordLayer VPN for remote/hybrid teams because it allows IT administrators to monitor and control company devices and resources to ensure good cyber hygiene.
Visit NordLayer to learn more about its security features.
| 💵 Price | From $8 per month |
| 📱 Operating systems | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux |
| 💻 Connections | 5 |
| 💳 Payment methods | Bitcoin, Credit card |
| 🔒 Protocols | OpenVPN, IKEv2, Proprietary |
| 📅 Money-back guarantee | Money-back guarantee, 14 Days |
| 📋 Logs | Connection Logs |
| 🌎 Servers in English | |
| 📥 Torrent options | |
| 🍿 Netflix | |
| 🏠 Website in English | |
| 📲 App in English | |
| 🎧 Customer Service in English |
How Much Does NordLayer Cost?
NordLayer’s best deal is the yearly Premium plan, which costs $14 per user per month. This is the best choice if you want a business VPN for a medium-to-large business.
The Premium plan covers a minimum of five users and offers advanced network controls and priority support, including a site-to-site connector, smart remote access, browser extension, and URL-based split tunneling. These are also suited for large teams. You can also get the Premium plan for a month if you want a business VPN for a brief period.
Aside from the Premium plan, NordLayer offers Lite and Core plans. The Lite plan is priced at $8 per user/month. We recommend the Lite plan for small businesses and startups since it offers basic features like multi-platform app support, multi-factor authentication, and activity monitoring reports.
For medium-sized businesses, we recommend the Core plan, which costs $11 per user/month. It has many more features, including virtual private gateway locations, dedicated servers with fixed IP addresses, device posture security, manual configuration, and a dedicated account manager.
- NordLayer VPN 12 months $14/usermth Deal View offer
- NordLayer VPN 12 months $11/usermth View offer
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If you have a much larger business with specific security needs, we recommend you reach out to NordLayer’s customer service for a tailored plan.
You and your team can pay for your NordLayer subscription using the following payment methods:
- Credit and debit cards
- Direct bank transfers
- Bitcoin (for purchases of more than $1,000)
During our NordLayer review, we were happy to discover that NordLayer accepts Bitcoin because it allows your company to remain anonymous. In other words, you don’t have to share as much personal information as credit cards require.
Do you get your money’s worth with NordLayer?
Our team of experts used NordLayer, and we can confirm that the VPN provides value for money. Our IT admins were able to monitor the VPN use from the dashboard and kick out any unauthorized devices. Plus, using dedicated IPs, they were able to restrict access to our systems with ease.
Overall, NordLayer is worth your money, whether you are a small or medium business. Click the button below to get a massive NordLayer discount.
NordLayer Features
NordLayer is primarily a business VPN, so it packs features that help businesses work safely and seamlessly. In this section of our NordLayer review, we’ll highlight NordLayer’s main features and security solutions based on various categories.
Network security
NordLayer VPN offers a massive server network in more than 30 countries, including the US, the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands.
These shared gateway locations offer multiple options for you to switch your virtual location. For example, you can switch your IP to a US IP address while traveling, so you can work as though you’re in the States. This is also a good option if you intend to use Wi-Fi in public areas.
NordLayer also offers virtual private gateway locations (dedicated IPs) in up to 60 countries. With dedicated IPs, you can restrict your organization’s resources from unauthorized access.
If your business operates using the cloud, you’ll find NordLayer’s cloud firewall (FWaaS) handy. It’s an agile network security layer that prevents any third party from accessing your internal cloud resources. Plus, you can create custom cloud firewall rules to grant or deny specific networks access to your cloud.
Internet access security
NordLayer has several features designed to keep your company safe from online dangers like malware, as we discovered during our NordLayer review. First is ThreatBlock, which automatically detects and blocks malicious domains from accessing your company’s resources.
There are also many VPN protocols to choose from to encrypt your traffic. Opt for OpenVPN (UDP/TCP) if you want a good combination of speed and security. IKeV2 is a good choice if your employees will work from their mobile devices.
However, for speed-demanding activities like transferring or downloading large files, choose the NordLynx protocol. It’s built on WireGuard, which has a lightweight protocol designed for fast speeds.
NordLayer VPN offers filtering features to help you block shady websites and domains. The DNS filtering feature lets you block over 50 website categories. This is a good choice if you want to stop your employees from opening certain websites that are distracting or even illegal.
The deep packet inspection (DPI) feature lets you block over 250 applications, services, and protocols. You can also choose your custom DNS service if you don’t trust other DNS services.
There’s also a URL-based split tunneling feature, which lets you choose which websites don’t go through the VPN tunnel. However, it’s only available for browser extensions.
Network connectors
You and your work team can use NordLayer on multiple devices and operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. You can configure NordLayer manually on your device on the Core and Premium plans. NordLayer has browser extensions for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.
NordLayer allows multiple logins on up to six devices. This means that six employees can be connected to the VPN at the same time.
NordLayer also offers a site-to-site connector, which connects all users to a single secure network through a dedicated server. This feature is useful to help remote employees safely access data, devices, systems, and applications regardless of their location.
For example, if you need an employee globetrotting around the world to access your work resources, you can set up NordLayer’s site-to-site VPN to help them access the resources safely as though they were in the office. In addition, you can connect the site-to-site VPN feature to cloud services like Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Entra ID (Azure AD).
NordLayer also offers Smart Remote Access, which enables IT administrators to access, control, and link devices. Let’s say a worker is using a company iPhone away from the office and is facing issues. Using Smart Remote Access, IT administrators can access the device from the office and troubleshoot to resolve the issues.
Smart Remote Access is also vital for file-sharing and collaboration between workers.
User authorization and management
When you have many employees accessing the same system, your security and access controls must be top-notch. NordLayer VPN allows you to set up multi-factor user authentication to make it harder for any third party to get in. You can also add biometric verification, such as face recognition and fingerprint scanning.
You can implement unified single sign-on (SSO) with providers such as Okta, Azure AD, Google, JumpCloud, and OneLogin.
There’s also the Always On VPN feature, which ensures that workers can’t access your company’s resources and systems without connecting to NordLayer. You can also configure NordLayer to automatically connect to a server whenever it detects an internet connection on devices.
If your company onboards many employees or teams, manual onboarding might be tiring. You can automate user onboarding and offboarding with Azure AD and Okta using predefined security rules, a process known as user provisioning.
Visibility
NordLayer gives you a birds-eye view of how and when workers connect to NordLayer. NordLayer also offers server usage analytics to give you details about how workers are using NordLayer’s servers. Such activity reports monitoring helps you make informed decisions, such as determining what subscription of NordLayer to purchase.
There’s also device posture monitoring, which allows IT admins to examine and remove any unauthorized or suspicious devices. This feature is part of NordLayer’s zero-trust network access, which is based on “never trust, but always verify.”
Is NordLayer Safe?
Our NordLayer review revealed that this VPN keeps your business data safe and private online. This business VPN doesn’t suffer from any leaks, be it IP or DNS leaks. Plus, it runs a RAM-only server network, which means your data is erased after every reboot.
Does NordLayer leak your data?
NordLayer doesn’t leak any data, indicating that you can browse anonymously without worrying about your information being exposed.
We run our leak tests on multiple levels during our NordLayer review. First, we checked if NordLayer indeed changed our original location. We connected to NordLayer’s US server and checked our IP address using our IP address tool. We are happy to report that our virtual IP address was on display.
Further, we confirmed if NordLayer leaks our IP using BrowserLeaks.com.
The results showed that NordLayer VPN doesn’t suffer from IPv4/IPv6 leaks.
Finally, we run DNS leak tests and WebRTC leak tests. Again, NordLayer didn’t suffer from any such leaks, showing that it’s a robust VPN that keeps your information hidden.
Can you sign up to NordLayer anonymously?
It would be difficult to sign up for NordLayer anonymously, as we discovered during our NordLayer review. You’ll need your full name, email address, organization name, and organization ID to create an account. If you’re paying with a credit or debit card, you’ll have to enter your payment details as well.
Your best chance to remain more anonymous is to purchase a subscription using Bitcoin. However, transactions on Bitcoin are traceable, so if anyone wants to, they can follow the money and trace purchases back to you.
Your best bet to remain completely anonymous is to use a temporary email address to create a NordLayer account. You can also use a dummy organization name. If you do that, be sure that anyone you onboard from your company also uses a temporary or private email address.
Logging policy
NordLayer is located in the US, which is part of the Five Eyes Alliance. This alliance is an intelligence-sharing arrangement between countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada.
NordLayer doesn’t claim to be a no-logs VPN. Here are some of the information it logs:
- Personal information: Full name, email address, phone number, and professional information
- Access logs: IP address, operating system, and browser information
- Payment data: Basic billing information belonging to a natural person (date of purchase, IP address, postal (ZIP) code, billing address, credit card owner’s full name, credit card information, expiration date, and subscription details
We are concerned that NordLayer VPN collects information related to your IP address and operating system. However, the VPN says it needs the information to prevent DDoS attacks and hacking attempts. However, it’s good to see that the VPN doesn’t collect sensitive information regarding your VPN sessions and connection timestamps.
Protocols and encryption
NordLayer uses AES 256 bit and ChaCha20 encryption ciphers, which are robust encryption protocols. This means that your data is scrambled in a way that makes it near-impossible for any third party to make sense of your internet traffic.
NordLayer pairs these encryption ciphers with various VPN protocols, namely:
- OpenVPN (UDP/TCP): OpenVPN UDP is best if you want a good combination of speed and security. OpenVPN TCP is more reliable over different networks but can be slower.
- NordLynx: This protocol is the preferred choice if you want the best speeds. It has the highest bandwidth and lowest latency.
- IKEv2: This is a stable option, ideal for switching between mobile networks.
NordLayer’s protocol choice is set to automatic by default. We recommend leaving it that way if you’re not sure which protocol to opt for. However, we were able to easily switch between protocols with this business VPN, and we noticed that the protocols properly encrypted our data.
Kill switch
NordLayer has a kill switch, which acts as a failsafe. It prevents your data from leaking when the VPN disconnects accidentally.
We tested NordLayer’s kill switch during our NordLayer review by setting up a continuously refreshing WhatIsMyIPAddreess page on PageRefresher.com.
We connected and disconnected from the internet multiple times while keeping our eyes on the IP address for WhatIsMyIPAddress.com. At all times, only NordLayer’s IP address was visible. This shows that the kill switch works as expected.
NordLayer Servers and Locations
NordLayer has servers in over 30 locations around the world. For a business VPN, this is a reasonably large server network. Plus, NordLayer has a decent server network in many business-focused countries, which is helpful if you run a multi-national company.
Below, we’ve organized NordLayer’s server locations into continents to help you see where they are:
- America: Canada, USA, and Mexico
- Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, and the UK
- Asia-Pacific: Australia, Singapore, and Japan
- Africa and the Middle East: Hong Kong, Israel, and UAE
Dedicated IP address
NordLayer offers dedicated IP addresses, as our NordLayer review revealed. These are unique IP addresses assigned to only you and your business. This allows you to restrict other IPs alien to your organization from accessing your networks and resources.
Note that you can’t get a dedicated IP on the Lite plan, but you can choose from up to 30 dedicated VPN locations on the Core and Premium plans. If you opt for the custom plan, you can get dedicated IP options in up to 60 countries.
NordLayer’s dedicated IP locations include the US, the UK, France, Canada, Germany, France, Lithuania, Cyprus, and South Korea.
How Fast is NordLayer?
NordLayer VPN is an exceptionally fast business VPN. When we connected to a NordLayer server, we didn’t experience any lags or delays while opening websites, including business websites. We also didn’t notice any delays while having meetings on video conferencing apps like Zoom and Google Meet.
In addition, during our NordLayer review, we had no problems uploading content on social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, which are useful for business advertisements.
Speed test results for NordLayer
As with most of our speed tests, we monitored NordLayer’s performance from our base in The Netherlands. We started by checking our download speeds, upload speeds, and pings without a VPN. Those figures helped us gauge our speed drop-offs. Afterward, we connected to NordLayer’s servers across multiple continents and checked our speeds.
We have documented the speed test results in the table below.
| Server | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| No VPN | 204.46 | 248.17 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 195.54 | 231.68 | 8 |
| Germany | 195.72 | 233.65 | 12 |
| US East | 171.13 | 176.12 | 112 |
| Canada | 188.56 | 144.71 | 110 |
| UK (London) | 193.54 | 233.54 | 12 |
| Japan | 127.19 | 78.24 | 243 |
| Australia | 108.41 | 70.38 | 278 |
NordLayer offers great speeds, like many of our fast VPNs. During our NordLayer review, it maintained around 95% of our initial download and upload speeds on locations close to our testing location, including Germany and the UK. Even faraway locations like the US kept at least 80% of our initial download and upload speeds. Our pings were also relatively stable.
This shows that NordLayer is a good choice for many business-related activities, including transferring files, collaborating in real-time, video conferencing, and uploading files.
Is NordLayer Easy to Use?
NordLayer was easy to install during our NordLayer review. It only requires a few minutes to download and install on your device. NordLayer has apps for all the major operating systems, including Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, Linux, and browsers. NordLayer’s user interface is simple and well-organized, and all the settings are easy to find.
NordLayer on Windows
Installing NordLayer on Windows is easy. Even an intern who has never used a company VPN can get it on their device in a few minutes. We were able to install NordLayer on our Windows computer in less than two minutes.
The downloads page on NordLayer’s website has apps for all the major operating systems, including Windows.
To log into NordLayer VPN, you’ll need your organization ID, username, and password. Your organization ID is included in your invitation email.
NordLayer’s app opens up, much like a sidebar at one end of the Windows screen. This might be an issue for you if you prefer a fullscreen app.
Sometimes, the app disappears when you click outside of it, so you’ll need to go to the taskbar and click the NordLayer icon there.
On the home screen, you’ll find a list of all of NordLayer’s servers. You can connect to any of them by clicking on the country name. We didn’t have any problems at all connecting to any of the servers.
To change NordLayer’s settings, click on the “Settings” tab, and it will open in another window. There, you can activate various settings, including ThreatBlock, the kill switch, and Always On VPN.
You can also add trusted Wi-Fi networks and enable auto-connect. Under “Protocols,” users can switch between protocols. Choose “automatic” if you’re not sure which protocol to opt for. In our experience, switching protocols was seamless.
NordLayer on Android
NordLayer’s Android app was also easy to set up during our NordLayer review. We were able to download and install it on our Android phone in under a minute. NordLayer’s Android dashboard is similar to the Windows version. The home screen is essentially a list of NordLayer’s available servers, and you can change the settings by clicking on the gear button at the top-right corner.
The only difference we noticed between NordLayer’s Android and Windows apps is that the Android app offers biometric authentication or two-factor authentication. This provides a more secure way to access your NordLayer account.
Customer Service
NordLayer offers multiple customer support options. First, there is an extensive knowledge base, which is a compilation of articles, FAQs, setup guides, and troubleshooting guides. We scoured through the knowledge base of this business VPN, and we can report that it’s rich and can answer many of the questions you might have.
We also like that NordLayer has video tutorials on its YouTube page that provide easy-to-follow visual guides, ideal for beginners.
If you need to get in touch with an actual agent, you can reach out to NordLayer by emailing [email protected]. There’s also the option to talk to an agent in real time through live chat. When we were writing this review, we asked NordLayer’s live agents several questions. Thankfully, we received prompt and helpful responses on each occasion. The live chat is available round the clock.
Note that priority support is reserved for Premium users. When you purchase the Core or Premium subscriptions (30 licenses or more), you get a dedicated account manager. Custom plans come with a technical solution architect who can help you design and set up NordLayer VPN according to your company’s needs.
NordLayer’s money-back guarantee: How to get a refund
NordLayer has a 14-day money-back guarantee on your first purchase. This means that you can get a full refund on your first NordLayer subscription. However, refunds are not available for subsequent purchases.
To get a refund, get in touch with NordLayer’s customer support, indicating your desire for a refund.
Do We Recommend NordLayer?
We recommend NordLayer if you’re looking for a corporate VPN to secure your business processes.
During our NordLayer review, we discovered a host of excellent security features, including a built-in malware detector, dedicated IPs, a cloud firewall, deep packet inspection, and various protocols. All these features ensure that you and your employees can collaborate and access the internet safely. It’s no surprise that NordLayer ranks second in our list of best business VPNs.
If you want to learn about other business VPNs, check out our articles below:
- The Best VPN for Business: Top Corporate VPN Picks
- Surfshark Review: Powerful VPN for a Great Price
- Proton VPN Review: Is It Worth The Money?
If you still have a few niggling questions about NordLayer, we compiled the most frequently asked questions about this business VPN below. Click on a question to reveal the answer.
NordLayer VPN is a safe VPN thanks to its numerous security features, including AES 256 bit encryption, a kill switch, Always On VPN, a built-in malware detector, and dedicated IPs. It also doesn’t suffer any IP or DNS leaks so you can browse the internet anonymously.
NordVPN is a consumer VPN while NordLayer is built for businesses and teams. This means that NordLayer has more features that allows businesses and teams to collaborate and use the internet safely. For instance, it offers a central dashboard where you can invite team members to use the VPN and keep an eye on all devices and activities.
NordLayer offers the following plans:
- Lite plan: Starts from $8 per user/month
- Core plan: Starts from $11 per user/month (offers a few more advanced features, including dedicated IPs)
- Premium plan: $14 per user/month (packs all of NordLayer’s features)
What Our Experts Think About NordLayer
