VPNInfobaseBoth companies publish independent audits and both say they keep no activity logs. They differ in what was audited, who owns them and how the price works. Mullvad (Sweden) charges a flat EUR 5 a month with accounts that are random numbers, has been audited mostly on its systems and apps, and says its two founders own it. NordVPN states a far larger server network, has had six assurance reviews of its no-logs claim from PwC and Deloitte, and its published renewal price is well above its first-term price. There is no winner here: we ran no speed or streaming tests, and every no-logs statement below is the vendor’s own.
Side by side
| Attribute | Mullvad | NordVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Amagicom AB owns Mullvad VPN AB; Mullvad’s about page says Amagicom is 100% owned by its two founders | Nord Security, named as parent on its about page; individual owners not stated there. Merger with Surfshark announced February 2022, both to remain “autonomous” per Surfshark |
| Base | Sweden (Gothenburg), per its about page | The service is stated to be based in Panama; the parent is in Lithuania (vendor no-logs and about pages) |
| Audits | 16 listed from 2018 to June 2026, mostly technical: four infrastructure audits (latest Cure53, June 2024), an account and payment API source review (X41 D-Sec, January 2026), app and web assessments | Six reviews of its no-logs claim, by PwC (2018, 2020) then Deloitte; the fifth by Deloitte Audit Lithuania (2024, ISAE 3000 Revised); sixth reported with fieldwork 10 Nov to 12 Dec 2025 (press; vendor page blocked) |
| Logging claim (vendor’s words) | “We do not keep activity logs of any kind”; no email, username or password asked at sign-up | Says it does not keep logs of user activity and that this has been independently verified six times |
| Servers, as the vendor states | RAM-only on all VPN servers, migration completed September 2023 per its about page | All server data stored in RAM, per its trust page (register reading) |
| Open-source clients | Says the majority of its software is open source; not verified per client | Only the Linux app is stated as open source |
| Incident on record | 18 April 2023: Swedish police visited with a search warrant; Mullvad says no customer data existed and police left empty-handed | 21 October 2019: Nord disclosed a 2018 breach of a third-party datacenter server and an exposed expired TLS key; says its network was not affected |
| Refund | 14 days; not for cash payments | 30 days, new subscriptions only; renewals not eligible |
Price, with currency and date
| Attribute | Mullvad (read 2 Oct 2026) | NordVPN Basic (register, 28 Sep 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan | EUR 5 a month | USD 14.99 |
| 1 year | EUR 5 a month, no discount for longer terms | USD 5.49 a month, USD 65.88 for the first 12 months (register marks the 1-year and 2-year figures “not verified”) |
| 2 years | No 2-year term: the page lists 1 month, 1 year and 1 decade at the same EUR 5 a month | USD 3.49 a month, USD 94.23 for the first 27 months (vendor-stated per-month figure) |
| After the first term | Same price; the page says it does not want to “lock you (and your money) into a long-term payment scheme” | Vendor states USD 139.08 a year |
| Payment | Cash, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Monero, bank wire, card, PayPal and local methods; 10% off for cryptocurrency | Not read on 2 Oct (page blocked) |
Mullvad’s page shows EUR 5 alongside conversions (about USD 5.63 and GBP 4.25 on the day we read it); NordVPN’s pricing is shown in the currency of the visitor’s location, so a reader elsewhere may see other figures. Averaged over 36 months by our method, NordVPN’s two-year plan comes to about USD 5.52 a month (working here), which against Mullvad’s flat EUR 5 is a comparison across two currencies and should be redone at your own exchange rate.
Server counts: the sources disagree
| Source | Count stated | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Mullvad, live server list | 566 servers in 50 countries and 91 cities (544 online, 22 offline) | Read 2 Oct 2026; page carries no date |
| NordVPN support article | “over 8,400+ servers in 167+ countries” | Read 2 Oct 2026; page carries no date |
| NordVPN servers page, as quoted in search results | 7,664 servers in 150 countries | Seen 2 Oct 2026; page itself blocked to us |
| NordVPN home page, as quoted in search results | 7,300+ servers in 150 countries | Seen 2 Oct 2026; page itself blocked to us |
| A third-party comparison (vpnalert, 11 Aug 2026), as recorded in the project’s research file | “7,000+” servers in 150 countries | 11 Aug 2026; not re-read in this audit |
NordVPN’s own pages give three different totals, so we treat the figure as vendor marketing and put no single number in the table above. Mullvad’s count is a live list that changes as servers go online and offline. More servers do not by themselves mean a better connection; we have not measured either network.
Which fits which, going by these fields
- Pick Mullvad if a flat price, an anonymous account with no email and a named founder-owned parent matter to you, and you accept that its audits test systems rather than assure a written no-logs policy.
- Pick NordVPN if you want a vendor with a long run of assurance reviews from large accounting firms and a large stated network, and you accept a first-term price that renews at USD 139.08 a year (as of 28 Sept) and a refund that ends at renewal.
- Neither answers whether a given streaming service or site will accept the connection: see best VPN for Netflix for what Netflix itself says.
For where each stands among the others, read the audit tracker, who owns your VPN, refund policies compared and the Mullvad and NordVPN reviews. Mullvad also appears in Proton VPN vs Mullvad vs IVPN. Country-law context is in VPN jurisdiction explained.
Method
Researched from each vendor’s own pages. Read on 2 October 2026: Mullvad’s pricing, server list and no-logging pages, and NordVPN’s server-list and money-back support articles. NordVPN’s main pages (pricing, trust, no-logs, about) returned an access block to our reader, so those cells use the register recorded on 28 September 2026, from which the audit dates and prices come; the sixth audit date is from press coverage of Nord’s announcement. Logging, RAM-only and audit statements are the vendors’ claims and audits test what they scope, not everything. Nothing was bought or speed-tested by us. Prices change often; reviewed every 90 days. NordVPN is the one provider we earn commission on (disclosure); every cell above is drawn from vendor pages or the register.