How to cancel NordVPN subscription for a full refund

You’re here because, like any savvy internet user, you refuse to compromise your online privacy and security. But let’s face it: committing to a VPN service is an investment, and you want a safety net. You’re asking the critical question: “What if the service doesn’t live up to its hype?” That’s where NordVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee comes into play. Now, you’re likely skeptical – and rightly so. The tech world’s contracts are full of fine print that you’d need a law degree to decipher.

But don’t worry; we’ve done the heavy lifting for you. Our team conducted rigorous testing on NordVPN’s refund promise, and we can confirm that they do honor their commitment. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the exact steps to capitalize on this deal. We’ve gone the extra mile to tackle potential roadblocks you might encounter so you can secure a full refund.

So, let’s dive in. By the time you finish reading, you’ll know how to get your hard-earned money back if needed.

Note: When initially signing up for NordVPN, it appears as if only the three-year deal is eligible for the 30-day money-back guarantee, as a note regarding the policy only appears under the highlighted three-year plan. However, all durations, even 1-month plans, come with the same option (clicking each one reveals the guarantee), so you don’t have to pick the longer duration if you don’t want to.

How to cancel NordVPN and receive a full refund

Follow this step-by-step process to terminate your NordVPN account (don’t worry; you can always sign up again at a later date if you decide you want to).

Here’s how to cancel your NordVPN subscription for a full refund:

1. Log in to NordVPN.com with your account credentials.
2. Navigate to the Account page.
3. Click on the icon next to Change Plan and confirm cancellation.
4. Start a conversation with a live chat agent.
5. Confirm that you wish to cancel and request a refund.
6. Wait for the money to be credited back to your bank account!

Let’s go into this process in more detail.

Step 1

Navigate to NordVPN.com and sign in to your account.

Step 2

Go to the Accounts page and click the icon represented by three dots next to the Change Plan button. Select Cancel automatic payments.

Step 3

Once you click the button, another screen will pop up. You’ll be asked whether you really want to continue with the cancellation process. Clicking this button won’t cancel your account effective immediately; it’ll just stop all automatic payments. This means you’ll still be able to use the service until the next payment cycle.

When you click on the Confirm Cancellation button, you’ll be shown this screen:

Step 4

After confirming the cancellation, you might have assumed that the refund is on its way. However, that’s not actually the case. You must now contact NordVPN customer support and request a refund either via live chat or using an email request form.

Choosing the live chat option is quicker and gives you the option to speak with an actual human agent. Here’s how to get started:

• Click on the chat icon — that’s the speech bubble in the bottom-right corner of NordVPN’s website. An FAQ section will pop up relating to common queries.
• Proceed to click on the Chat button at the bottom. Input your name, the email address associated with your NordVPN account, and a brief description of your request (we’ve included a screenshot below for your reference).
• Click on the ‘Start chatting’ button and wait for a customer support representative to join the chat room.

Step 5

Understandably, support representatives will try to retain you as a customer. After all, no business likes losing clients. However, they are very friendly, and there’s no aggressive questioning of any nature. In fact, they’re trying to determine whether something is lacking in their service and if they can do anything to improve it.

Step 6

Now that you have confirmation of your refund request, all you have to do is sit back and wait for your credit card company to process the task. As customer support mentioned, it shouldn’t take longer than ten business days.

Note: If you paid via PayPal, just log on to your account and make sure that automatic payments are canceled from there, too.

Canceling your NordVPN subscription by email

As we mentioned earlier, it’s also possible to cancel your subscription using an email ticket form. For this method, follow steps 1-3, just like we explained in the previous section. Once that’s done, click on the email icon on the NordVPN website and type out your request.

Once you click Send, the process is straightforward. You should receive a confirmation email to say you’ve canceled NordVPN within an hour, after which there might be an inquiry as to why you want to cancel. After you’ve signaled your intention to continue, customer service will go ahead and process your refund.

How to cancel NordVPN on Android

1. Go to the Google Play Store and sign in to your Google account.
2. Tap on the profile icon in the top right corner.
3. Open the section called Payment & subscriptions.
4. Select the NordVPN app from the list.
5. Click on Cancel subscription.
6. Provide the reason you’re canceling (you can “Decline to answer” if you wish).
7. Press Continue, and that’s it. You’ve now successfully canceled.

Note that the above steps only cancel your NordVPN subscription. You’ll need to contact NordVPN’s customer support in order to request a refund.

How to cancel NordVPN on iOS

1. Navigate to Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the profile icon.
3. Select Subscriptions.
4. Tap on NordVPN.
5. Press Cancel subscription.

You’ve now canceled your NordVPN subscription. However, if you would like to request a refund on iOS, you’ll need to get in touch with Apple Support.

NordVPN alternatives

We rate NordVPN highly, but if you’re looking to cancel the service, you might be in the market for an alternative VPN. In this section, we’ll talk about some worthy alternative VPNs you could consider instead.

1. Surfshark

Surfshark is an exceptional budget VPN that offers excellent value for money. It has over 3,200 servers in 100 countries, perfect for travelers accessing home content while abroad. In addition, Surfshark has all of the premium security features a VPN could ever need, including multi-hop technology that makes you even harder to detect. The Wireguard VPN protocol is another huge perk.

When it comes to performance, Surfshark is one of the speediest providers on the market. We tested its US servers at multiple different times of day and walked away with an average speed of 202.72 Mbps — well above what you’ll need for any day-to-day task. Here’s how it performed in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon:

Surfshark is one of the few VPNs on the market that allows users to benefit from unlimited simultaneous connections. This way, you can protect all of your devices without needing a second subscription. There are easy-to-use apps for Android, IOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux. As well as affordable pricing, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee available.

BEST BUDGET ALTERNATIVE:Surfshark is an affordable, but extremely powerful alternative to NordVPN. Worldwide servers and premium security make it great for accessing home content. Protect every device with ultimate simultaneous connections. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read more in our Surfshark review.

---

2. IPVanish

IPVanish provides more than 2,400 servers in over 100 countries. This helps when bypassing content blocks or when trying to connect to a fast server close to home. It’s a solid pick for streaming, torrenting, and playing games online. We found it worked well with Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and more.

IPVanish is known for its impressive performance, in no small part due to its speedy 10 Gbps servers. Still, we wanted to see what its US servers were capable of, so we tested them three times on a 250 Mbps connection. It delivered an average speed of 166.5 Mbps, which is fantastic, though we’d like its results to be a little more consistent throughout the day.

This is a particularly good option for families because it doesn’t place a limit on the number of devices you can connect simultaneously. It certainly stands up when it comes to security, too, thanks to 256-bit AES encryption, protection from DNS and IPv6 leaks, and a kill switch in all of its apps. You’ll also have split tunneling, which lets you choose which apps use the VPN connection and which can bypass it. There is also a recently created advanced tier to this VPMN that gives subscribers access to a secure server and a whopping 1TB of cloud storage.

IPVanish apps can be found for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. If you’d like to use it with Linux or your VPN-compatible router, IPVanish provides instructions for manual setup.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY VPN:IPVanish lets you secure all of your devices under a single account. It’s very fast, so it is ideal for streaming Netflix US and BBC iPlayer. No-logs VPN that also offers split tunneling. Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full IPVanish review.

---

3. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPN services, and for good reason. This provider is exceptionally fast, uses well-designed and intuitive apps, and offers customer support around the clock. With over 3,000 servers in 100+ countries, ExpressVPN can help you get an IP address from just about anywhere in the world, including North America, Asia, Europe, Australia, and South America.

This service boasts a large server presence in the US, but that doesn’t mean much if it can’t deliver adequate speeds. Luckily, after testing it multiple times, we recorded an average speed of 124.37 Mbps. There are definitely quicker providers on the market, but ExpressVPN is absolutely still competitive. Here are the full results:

ExpressVPN doesn’t log any user data, so your digital footprint is safely hidden. Plus, it uses effectively uncrackable encryption protocols, so any hackers or snoopers are kept safely at bay. You can use this provider to unblock many streaming services, including BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and others.

BEST NORDVPN ALTERNATIVE:ExpressVPN is secure,, fast, and easy to use. Excellent for streaming, browsing, and security. Try it with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.

Here’s our full review of ExpressVPN.

---

4. CyberGhost

CyberGhost is another worthy contender, especially if you’re on the lookout for a budget deal. It offers over 11,000 servers, so a stable, private internet connection isn’t far away. The speeds on offer are very fast, with low server latency and high uptime. And what’s more, CyberGhost offers a generous money-back guarantee of 45 days.

This service has an extremely large network and has historically ranked well in our industry-wide speed testing. During our most recent retest, it delivered an average speed of 148.25 Mbps. That’s impressive and means you’ll be able to stream, play games, torrent, or make video calls without the slightest performance issue. Let’s see how it performed at different times of day:

This provider is primed for beginner users, and it’s very easy to get connected. Plus, it offers one-click unblocking of several streaming services, such as Netflix. All web traffic is protected by 256-bit AES encryption, and additional security measures such as anti-malware defense and an ad-blocker ensure you remain safe and secure online.

BEST FOR BEGINNERS:CyberGhost makes it very easy to get started with VPNs. Its speeds are great, and customer service is knowledgeable. Try it with a 45-day money-back guarantee.

Here’s our CyberGhost review.

---

5. PrivateVPN

PrivateVPN has an excellent track record of ultra-fast, secure streaming. While its server network is the smallest on this list, numbering only around 200, this provider has focused on quality over quantity. These servers have consistently excellent accessing abilities and are strategically located across 60+ countries. Further, it has a high connection limit, allowing you to protect up to 10 devices at once.

PrivateVPN might not be the fastest service available, but with an average speed of 56.41 Mbps, it’s still suitable for virtually any task, from torrenting to watching TV. What’s more, this was the most consistent service we tested, with just 6 Mbps of difference between its highest and lowest results. See for yourself:

PrivateVPN doesn’t log any personally identifiable information, including IP addresses. All traffic is secured by 256-bit encryption and additional security measures like perfect forward secrecy. Plus, it can enable secure access to services like Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, BBC iPlayer, and more.

FAST AND SECURE:PrivateVPN gives you consistent speeds along with a reliable product that is easy to use. Strong security and privacy protocols, excellent unlocking and streaming abilities. Make use of its 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our PrivateVPN review.

Methodology: How we found the best NordVPN alternatives

If you tried NordVPN and decided it wasn’t right for you, that’s alright! There are dozens more services out there that might have what you need. To identify the best alternatives to NordVPN, our experts conducted exhaustive testing and rated VPN providers in five key areas.

Speed

Your VPN’s speed determines how fluid your browsing experience will be. Too slow, and you’ll notice sites take a long time to load and videos only play at low resolutions (assuming they start at all). However, due to the inherent randomness of the internet, it’s difficult to get an accurate idea of a VPN’s performance.

To limit the number of variables and get the most representative result, we ran speed tests in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon on a 250 Mbps connection, since this is roughly the average US home broadband speed. All servers tested were based in the US too. The resulting average speeds were then normalized to give us a score out of 10 for each provider. Take a look:

Surfshark was the quickest provider on average, so it earned a perfect 10 points. However, IPVanish and CyberGhost also performed very well. We would like to see them offer slightly more consistent speeds, though.

Features and functionality

Next, we tried to get an overall feel for each VPN’s functionality. This involved looking into the scale of their networks, how many countries each supported, whether they had port forwarding, allowed users to split tunnel (let certain sites pass through the VPN unencrypted), and how many simultaneous connections they permitted. Here are the ratings once all the data was considered:

Once again, Surfshark took the top spot. IPVanish was a close second since it also had no connection limit. CyberGhost scored well thanks to its network of 11,000 servers.

Security and privacy

If a VPN can’t adequately protect your privacy, nothing else matters. We looked into what each candidate had in 16 separate security-related areas and deducted points for every one where improvements could be made. Here’s a full list of the things our team considered when assigning security and privacy scores:

None of our top picks scored below 8.6, so it’s clear that this was a tight race. Ultimately, Surfshark was the winner. We really appreciated all of its advanced functionality, no-logs policy, and strong commitment to privacy. That said, ExpressVPN’s automatic obfuscation was another highlight.

Ease of use

Nobody wants to spend their free time trying to get a VPN to work. Here at Comparitech, we prioritize providers that go above and beyond in ease of use. This might be by offering task-specific servers, scrapping connection limits, or providing 24/7 support via live chat. The table below shows every area we considered when rating providers on ease of use:

IPVanish took first place in this category. Its website boasts an extensive help section, its apps are easy to use (even if you’re a complete beginner), and it generally works very reliably for tasks like streaming. Not only that, but it also allows you to secure every device you own with a single account.

Streaming ability

Streaming is one of the most popular tasks people have in mind when buying a VPN. That’s why our team personally tested each potential recommendation against a gauntlet of stubborn services. After all, if they’re able to access notoriously tricky platforms like Netflix, there’s a strong chance they’ll go undetected by pretty much everything else. Take a look at our full judging criteria in the following table:

ExpressVPN and Surfshark both scored an impressive 9.2 points. They each worked with every platform we tested and very rarely required us to try more than one server. Additionally, they don’t make you use special streaming servers because the general-purpose ones do such a good job of accessing geo-restricted content.

Believe it or not, this is just a small part of our testing process. If you want to know about it in more detail, you can check out our complete testing methodology post to learn more.

Canceling a NordVPN subscription: FAQs