NordVPN vs Malwarebytes VPN comparison: Which wins?

NordVPN and Malwarebytes share something in common. They’re both more than just a VPN. NordVPN started as a VPN and expanded its services to malware protection, dark web monitoring, a password manager, and more. Malwarebytes is best known for its real-time protection from malware but launched its own VPN in 2020. Both can better be described as security suites, but which one are you best off using?

Finding the right VPN can be a bit of a headache. There’s no shortage of services, and an increasing number are introducing new features to set themselves apart. NordVPN and Malwarebytes are no exception, and we’ll break down everything they have to offer in this in-depth VPN comparison. We’ll put everything from their server speeds, security features, and pricing side-by-side before determining an overall winner.

NordVPN vs Malwarebytes: Highlights

NordVPN

• Fast speeds for streaming and torrenting
• Reliable unblocker of streaming services
• Significantly larger server network
• Independently audited no-logs policy

Malwarebytes

• Extra secure when paired with its antivirus
• Easy-to-use desktop and mobile apps
• More affordable choice than NordVPN
• Very generous money-back guarantee

Pricing and discounts

NordVPN is similar to most VPNs in that it gives you the option of one-month, one-year, and two-year subscription plans. Where it differs from some VPNs is that it also provides multiple subscription tiers: Basic, Plus, Complete, and Prime. Malwarebytes doesn’t offer the same flexibility, with only one-year and two-year options and no single-month subscription in sight.

A one-month subscription with NordVPN costs anything from $11.99 to $16.99, depending on the subscription level you choose. The advantage of the single-month subscription is that you can pay a smaller amount upfront, and you also have the flexibility to switch VPNs at short notice if you’re not happy.

With NordVPN, a one-year subscription works out between $4.99 a month and $9.99 a month, a saving of 56–67% over the one-month plan. You’ll have to pay the full amount in advance, however, and this costs between $59.88 and $119.88, depending on the subscription tier. With Malwarebytes, selecting only the VPN means you’ll pay $39.99 a year ($3.33/month), whereas Malwarebytes Plus (includes antivirus protection) is $59.99 ($4.99/month).

For those looking for a longer-term solution, NordVPN’s two-year subscription plans save you the most, with the Basic plan priced at $3.39/month ($81.36 in total) and the top tier Prime plan costing $8.39/month ($201.36 in all). There’s no real reason to commit for an extra year with the Malwarebytes VPN plan because there’s no added discount. However, the Malwarebytes Plus plan lets you save 15 percent on the second year which works out at $110.98 ($4.62/month).

One way in which Malwarebytes does stand out is with its very generous 60-day money-back guarantee. NordVPN also has a money-back guarantee, but it’s 30 days, which is the norm for a VPN service. Either way, it’s possible to try everything these VPNs have to offer risk-free and request a full refund if unsatisfied.

Best Deal for NordVPN: Save 72 percent and pay just $8.39 a month with the NordVPN Prime two-year subscription plan.

Best Deal for Malwarebytes: Get 15 percent off on the second year of the two-year Malwarebytes Plus subscription and pay $4.62 a month.

NordVPN vs Malwarebytes: Features

If you’ve got a wide range of devices to secure, NordVPN is by far the better bet. Both VPNs offer apps for desktop (Windows and Mac) and mobile (Android and iOS). NordVPN also offers apps for Linux, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV and allows up to 10 simultaneous connections, double that of Malwarebytes.

NordVPN is the only one of the two VPNs that’s compatible with routers, providing manual setup instructions to help you get started. Installing a VPN on your router extends protection to all devices connecting to that router’s wifi network. By doing this, you can bypass NordVPN’s already generous simultaneous connection limit and protect unlimited devices.

Malwarebytes lets you connect up to five devices at the same time. That should be enough for most individual users, but it’s still on the low side, particularly if you plan on sharing your VPN with family or friends at home. Both NordVPN and Malwarebytes VPN offer split tunneling, so you can choose which apps can bypass the VPN connection. The difference is that, unlike Malwarebytes, NordVPN doesn’t offer this for Mac but does have it for Android TV.

As for extra features, NordVPN comes out on top. Both VPNs offer ad and tracker blocking. With NordVPN, this is available via all but the Basic subscription tier. For Malwarebytes VPN, you’ll find it as part of the Malwarebytes Plus plan, which also includes comprehensive malware protection. NordVPN provides malware protection, servers optimized for P2P, and Double VPN for an extra layer of encryption.

Another difference between NordVPN and Malwarebytes is that only the former offers browser extensions. Available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, the browser extensions offer a lightweight solution for when you only need to secure your browser traffic, and not that of your apps.

Streaming capabilities

While some people primarily use a VPN to browse more securely, others use a VPN’s location spoofing ability to get around geographic restrictions. Geo-blocking is particularly common when it comes to streaming services, which, in order to protect copyright and licensing agreements, take steps to ensure that content is only available to stream in certain locations.

This isn’t too much of a problem if you’re at home and just trying to access your usual streaming services. However, if you travel abroad on vacation, you’ll come across error messages that say the content isn’t available or that a VPN has been detected. Some VPNs are better at navigating these restrictions than others.

NordVPN and Malwarebytes are more than fast enough for streaming and other bandwidth-heavy tasks, be it torrenting or online gaming. This is evident in their streaming performance. NordVPN’s proprietary NordLynx protocol is built around WireGuard. Malwarebytes also uses WireGuard, which is a lightweight and fast protocol. This, coupled with unlimited bandwidth, allows for high-resolution streaming that’s free from lag and buffering.

When it comes to actually accessing popular streaming platforms from overseas, you can only really rely on NordVPN. It has consistently proven to be one of the best VPNs on the market for this purpose, having success with multiple Netflix regions, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and more. Malwarebytes VPN seriously struggled and only successfully unblocked BBC iPlayer in our latest round of testing.

Evading VPN censorship (China)

Content restrictions aren’t limited to streaming services looking to protect licensing agreements. Online censorship is a real issue in some countries, particularly China, whose Great Firewall blocks access to many foreign websites. This includes the websites of most major VPN providers, including NordVPN. Interestingly, Malwarebytes’ website isn’t blocked in China although VPN traffic is still blocked all the same.

Malwarebytes doesn’t offer any cloaking or obfuscation and fails to work in China, where several methods are employed to block VPN traffic, including IP range bans, DNS spoofing, and URL filtering. Fortunately, NordVPN is the best VPN in China thanks to its ability to stay one step ahead of the Great Firewall’s VPN blocking.

To use NordVPN in China, you’ll need to use its obfuscated servers before selecting your preferred location. You’ll find this option located under the Specialty Servers heading which is below the list of countries in which servers are located. Note that Obfuscated Servers only appear as an option when you’ve already switched to the OpenVPN protocol via settings.

Setup and interface

In our experience, downloading and installing NordVPN and Malwarebytes VPN was very straightforward. An automatic setup wizard guides you through the process, including the permissions you may need to grant for the VPN to function properly.

NordVPN features both a server list and map-based selection. These things can sometimes be a little bit clunky, but in NordVPN’s case, it works well. All you need to do is hover your cursor (or drag your finger on mobile) to the desired server location and click or tap to connect. You don’t have to use the map, but it does dominate the screen on both desktop and mobile.

Although there is a map view in Malwarebytes VPN’s app, it’s not interactive and simply displays the location to which you’re connected. There’s also a quick toggle on/off button and a button for changing server location. With far fewer features on offer, Malwarebytes’ apps are nowhere near as cluttered as those of NordVPN, offering a far more minimalistic aesthetic. It’s more beginner-friendly as a result.

Neither VPN lets you select specific servers, and there’s no option to view server load or ping either. In theory, they’re supposed to automatically select the best server available at the time of connecting. Malwarebytes’ apps feel somewhat unfinished in that roughly a dozen of the 49 VPN country locations covered haven’t had their corresponding flags assigned. It’s a small point, but it’s not unreasonable to expect better from a paid app.

Overall, NordVPN apps have more features, but it’s harder to find your way around. The settings page, though as accessible as that of Malwarebytes VPN, is just not as intuitive to get around. Having said that, Malwarebytes’ apps may be too simplistic for experienced VPN users, lacking the more advanced options that come with NordVPN.

Servers and performance

There’s a huge gulf in the server networks of these VPNs. For its part, NordVPN has one of the largest server networks in the VPN market. This exceeds 7,000 servers and covers a hugely impressive 118 countries. In contrast, Malwarebytes offers a little over 500 servers in 49 countries.

You might think that the more servers a VPN offers, the better the performance is likely to be. After all, user load can then be more evenly distributed across the network. However, it’s all relative to the number of users the VPN is serving. NordVPN is one of the biggest VPNs around, and it’s likely serving far more users than Malwarebytes VPN. As such, it needs to provide more servers to cater to its users.

Having said that, the fact that NordVPN offers more than double the number of locations makes it much more suitable for bypassing content blocks from home and when traveling abroad. Although both VPNs have servers in the most popular locations, such as the US and UK, if you’re in a country such as Argentina, Egypt, or India (or simply want to access geo-blocked content from such a country), then you won’t find servers there with Malwarebytes VPN.

As for performance, NordVPN consistently ranks among the fastest VPNs, averaging 230 Mbps in our most recent tests. Malwarebytes is certainly no slouch, but it still doesn’t quite hit these heights. I typically recorded 200 Mbps on its servers. Either way, speeds are such that you won’t have any problem using these VPNs for streaming. I found this to be seamless, with no buffering or lag except when connected to servers very far from my physical location.

Country list

Here’s the full list of countries in which NordVPN and Malwarebytes offer servers:

Malwarebytes vs NordVPN: Security

NordVPN and Malwarebytes tick what we’re looking for in terms of security in that they both provide secure VPN protocols and strong encryption. NordVPN’s default protocol is NordLynx, which is built around WireGuard. Malwarebytes also offers WireGuard which is now arguably the most popular VPN protocol for major VPN providers. It’s lightweight and able to offer excellent performance while still providing a high level of security.

You have the option of OpenVPN with NordVPN. This is a more established VPN protocol that’s secure and highly configurable. It can also help get around firewalls and VPN blocks. With both providers making use of 256-bit encryption, your internet traffic is about as secure as it can be. Even if it were to be intercepted, it would be almost impossible to read.

Both VPNs include a kill switch. In NordVPN’s case, this is available on the Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS apps. Although there’s no kill switch within the Android app, you can replicate this through Android’s “Always on VPN” feature. A kill switch is a key security feature that cuts your internet traffic in the event that the VPN connection drops, preventing any accidental exposure of data.

Only NordVPN offers any kind of cloaking through its obfuscated servers which can help you get past VPN-blocking firewalls such as China’s Great Firewall. You also have the option of Double VPN and Onion Over VPN servers for an extra layer of protection.

Privacy

Malwarebytes is headquartered in the United States, which is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. This raises concerns about government surveillance, data requests, and legal obligations to share data. Malwarebytes claims to operate a no-logs policy. Unfortunately, this no-logs policy, unlike that of most major VPNs, hasn’t been independently audited.

NordVPN operates out of Panama, which is advantageous because there are no mandatory data retention laws there. This makes it a much safer choice for privacy-seekers, particularly because it has also subjected itself to multiple independent audits to prove it doesn’t keep any identifying logs of users. The most recent audit came at the end of 2024 and was carried out by Deloitte.

When it comes to signing up with these VPNs, the process is much the same as most in that an email address is required to create an account. Only a very small number of VPNs don’t have such a requirement, Mullvad being one of them.

As for payment, it would be nice to see Malwarebytes offer an anonymous payment option. Some privacy enthusiasts look for the option to sign up to a VPN anonymously without a credit card or PayPal. Cryptocurrency can be an option, but this depends on the payment processor, which makes cash and gift cards preferred.

NordVPN accepts cryptocurrency but uses CoinGate to process payments. Fortunately, there’s also the option of purchasing a NordVPN subscription box in select stores in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, or Japan. The box includes an activation code for a prepaid NordVPN account.

Configuration

As is the case with most VPNs, you’ll be assigned a shared IP address with NordVPN and Malwarebytes VPN by default. You share this IP address with other VPN users connected to the same server. All of your online activity is mixed up with that of other users, making it more difficult to connect you with specific online actions.

There are times when a dedicated IP address may be more suitable. When using a shared IP address that has acquired a poor reputation due to the sheer number of people using it – some for questionable activities – you might encounter frequent CAPTCHAs and IP blocks. Having an IP address that you and you alone use avoids such issues.

Only NordVPN offers dedicated IP addresses. The price varies according to the subscription plan you choose. With the basic one-month plan, it’ll set you back $8.99 a month, whereas with the two-year Prime plan, it’s just $4.19 a month. You can choose between two dozen different countries, including the US, UK, and Switzerland.

VPNs don’t tend to offer dedicated DDoS protection but can still help protect you against DDoS attacks by hiding your real IP address. If your current VPN IP address were to be targeted in a DDoS attack, all you’d need to do is switch servers to continue your activities as normal. NordVPN has far more servers than Malwarebytes, which makes it better suited to defend against DDoS attacks.

Customer Service

NordVPN and Malwarebytes are easy enough to use, but you never know when an issue may arise. If you do need any assistance, NordVPN and Malwarebytes VPN both provide live chat and email support 24 hours a day. In our experience with NordVPN’s support, it’s quick to reply, and answers generally meet a high standard.

Malwarebytes VPN’s support is generally good, but it wasn’t very helpful when I tried to find out why I was only able to install it on one device despite its claims of a five device connection limit. Perhaps not too surprisingly, neither VPN has phone support. IPVanish is one of the few VPNs that offers this, although there are numerous antivirus providers with VPNs that have phone support if that’s something you particularly want.

Alternatively, the two VPNs have support sections on their respective websites. Both provide plenty of informational and troubleshooting articles as well as setup guides. You can navigate via the various categories or use the search bar. The help content is well laid out, often with step-by-step instructions, although NordVPN goes even further by including annotated screenshots in many cases.

As for video guides, Malwarebytes VPN does have a few tutorial videos and some articles in its help center, but its YouTube channel hasn’t seen any recent uploads. In comparison, NordVPN’s YouTube channel is extremely active. Pushing 1,000 videos, it includes setup guides, product updates, and news on discounts on subscriptions.

NordVPN vs Malwarebytes: The Winner

Malwarebytes VPN is secure and simple to use, and you have the option of combining it with its popular antivirus protection for even greater protection. It’s also more affordable than NordVPN and with an even longer money-back guarantee. Having said that, NordVPN wins this comparison, and by a fair distance.

NordVPN just does everything better than Malwarebytes VPN. It offers faster server speeds and more reliable unblocking, making it a far better option for streaming. It has a significantly larger server network, offers more apps, and has far more features. NordVPN does all this without compromising on security or privacy. In particular, it stands out for its independently audited no-logs policy.

Malwarebytes VPN may do enough if you just want a VPN to further secure your online activities alongside reliable anti-malware protection. However, if you plan to use your VPN for bandwidth-intensive activities such as streaming, torrenting, or gaming, NordVPN’s superior performance and selection of features make it hard to beat.