Norton VPN Standard Review in 2024

Norton VPN Standard belongs to the time-tested Norton brand, which first released its flagship antivirus software in 1990. While the antivirus is very well-known today, Norton VPN is a far newer service offering and is available as either a standalone VPN or as an add-on to the antivirus product. With its ties to the brand, this VPN is a solid choice for existing Norton 360 subscribers, but it’s also a respectable standalone service.

I purchased and tested Norton VPN so that I could write this thorough Norton VPN review, as well as reaching out to the company to answer key questions. My tests focused on key VPN criteria, including speed, security, and unblocking geographical restrictions. However, I also benchmarked Norton against other providers I’ve tested, such as my own personal choice, NordVPN.

Norton VPN overview

I tested Norton VPN Standard on both a 8 GB Macbook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) and Alienware Aurora R16 (Windows 11, Intel Core i7, 512 GB SSD). I also vetted Norton’s dedicated apps for Android and iOS on mobile devices, and Norton’s software client works seamlessly across all devices. So, read on for a full breakdown of Norton VPN Standard, a comparison with top providers, and my independent analysis.

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How much does Norton VPN cost?

Norton VPN pricing starts at $3.33/month but it can climb to $9.99/month if you opt for a shorter plan. This can get a little complicated, as Norton VPN Standard is available in a bundle with Norton 360 antivirus, which is pricier. But for now, I’m focusing solely on Norton VPN Standard subscriptions.

Norton VPN Standard is the most affordable plan, while Norton VPN Plus is the most popular. Norton VPN Plus Plus is the most expensive tier, but it also represents the best value for money thanks to additional features. This is what makes Norton such a flexible VPN. For individual use, the basic Norton VPN Standard plan will give you robust online protection with AES-256 encryption, website unblocking, and an ad-blocker, plus 5 connections.

However, Norton VPN Plus suits gamers, torrenting fans, and streamers best, improving on the basic tier with added malware protection and password management tools to keep things organized and secure. Finally, Norton VPN Plus Plus gives you unobtrusive but invaluable insight into your family’s protection. You can access GPS tracking, content filtering, and screen time management tools, along with twice the number of simultaneous connections.

With VPNs, it’s usually true that longer plans offer better value for money than short-term subscriptions. In Norton’s case, the value for money offered by the Ultra VPN Plus plan is the best choice. There isn’t much price difference between them considering the number of extra features you’ll have access to. That said, consider whether you’ll use those features, as it’s not the best-value-for-money VPN overall. For example, NordVPN has a kill switch and split tunneling that works on all devices while being cheaper and faster. You can read more about this on my comparison of Norton VPN and NordVPN.

Norton VPN has no free version, though the 30-day free trial is quite generous. You’ll need to register a credit card or other payment method to sign up. Then, you can cancel before the 30 days lapses if you decide not to start paying for Norton.

Norton antivirus with a VPN options

Norton VPN is available alongside Norton Antivirus if you’re interested in the full protection of both products. The Norton 360 Antivirus plan is the only plan that doesn’t have the VPN – here’s a quick overview of the available plans:

• Norton Antivirus Plus: $2.49/month
• Norton 360 Standard: $3.33/month
• Norton 360 Deluxe: $4.17/month
• Norton 360 with Lifelock Select: $8.33/month

Norton 360 VPN and Norton VPN Standard are often confused – Norton VPN Standard is the brand’s VPN service, while Norton 360 offers complete protection, including the company’s VPN, antivirus, and numerous other security tools. A simple way to remember this is that it provides “360-degree” coverage against attacks from multiple sources.

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Is Norton VPN safe?

Yes, Norton VPN is safe as it uses military-grade AES-256 encryption to cloak your location and hide your activity from your ISP and other third parties. A Norton representative assured us that they have a strict no-logging VPN policy. This reduces the risk of cyber threats like identity theft, cyberstalking, and malware infections. However, I’d like to see an official, independent third-party report verifying Norton’s no-logs policy. I have no reason to doubt Norton’s policy, but an independent report provides assurance that it can be fully trusted with your data.

Norton VPN Standard privacy policy analysis

A Norton representative told us that the company does not collect user-specific information and follows a no-logs policy, which means it shouldn’t keep any stored personal information or online activity logs for its users. Still, some VPN services make those claims but continue to harvest sensitive data. Therefore, I carefully analyzed Norton VPN’s privacy policy.

Norton’s privacy policy is quite lightweight and the list of data they collect is neither excessive nor worrying. Aside from routine diagnostic data, the company may gather device name, type, and OS, among other data points that can’t be tied to you specifically.

Norton VPN gathers basic information for diagnostic and communication purposes, such as your device type and operating system, and your bandwidth consumption. Your IP address is also listed, though crucially, it is not stored.

I also checked NortonVPN’s jurisdiction, as the location of a VPN can greatly affect your privacy and data security. Norton is based in the United States. As a member of the 5-Eyes Alliance, the US isn’t a particularly privacy friendly jurisdiction. I’d rather that the service was headquartered elsewhere – for example, NordVPN is headquartered in Panama. As Panama has no mandatory data retention legislation, your overall privacy is more secure in this case.

Does Norton VPN effectively hide your IP address?

Yes, Norton VPN effectively hides your IP address and prevents IP and DNS leaks that could risk exposing your true location – if you’re on Windows or Android. The question is less clear cut on Mac computers. The kill switch is one of the most crucial aspects of a VPN. Since NortonVPN does not offer this feature for Mac, I recommend exploring other top VPNs for Mac to ensure your privacy is protected.

Here are other features that safeguard your anonymity with Norton VPN:

• Encryption. Norton uses industry standard 256-bit AES encryption, which is a strong standard used by governments and militaries worldwide – it’s secure and reliable.
• Tunneling protocols. Norton VPN Standard offers numerous VPN protocols, including IKEv2, Mimic, Lightway, and the highly secure OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols. WireGuard is my recommendation for speed and security.
• Kill switch. A kill switch blocks your internet if your VPN connection drops. This prevents your true IP from leaking while your VPN reconnects. While Norton has a kill switch, I was disappointed to see that it’s absent from the macOS version of the software.

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Is Norton VPN good for torrenting?

No, Norton VPN is a poor choice for torrenting because it has just a single server for torrenting. The “Torrent-Optimized Region” server is geared toward P2P file sharing, but when testing this server, I saw speeds no higher than 5 Mbps. Initially, I couldn’t actually find the server and had to contact customer support for clarification.

The situation became more confusing when a colleague advised me that he could access the server. So, I checked the knowledge base on their website and found more conflicting information. One article clearly stated that Norton will disconnect you if torrent traffic is detected, while another suggested using the torrent-optimized server.

Based on this investigation and some conflicting information, it appears that this is another feature that isn’t available on Mac. I could only access the server when I logged into my account on a Windows device. If you need a torrent VPN, I recommend choosing NordVPN – the best VPN for torrenting. All servers are torrent-optimized and offer the best VPN speeds available, as well as robust security features to protect you when P2P file sharing.

Norton VPN server locations

Norton VPN has 5000+ servers across 30 countries. This includes 1,970+ US servers, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and numerous other locations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Norton VPN’s server roster is smaller than premium competing VPNs like NordVPN and Surfshark, which have 7000+ servers and 3200+ servers respectively. Norton’s server fleet has already proven itself in my tests, unblocking BBC iPlayer, YouTube TV, and HBO Max. However, its inconsistency on other streaming sites means that it’s not the best choice for streaming, which is a shame given the promising speed test results listed below.

Norton VPN Standard speed test results

VPN speed can be influenced by the server location and distance from you, VPN server load, and the protocol that you are using. Other factors have an impact too, such as the encryption strength and routing methods that the VPN service uses.

In my speed tests, Norton VPN maintained roughly 421 Mbps download speed on average, across the servers I tested. Meanwhile, it maintained approximately 325 Mbps upload speed. Compared to my usual internet speeds, that’s roughly 96%/86% download and upload speed retention, respectively.

To benchmark Norton’s speed, I used a wired LAN internet connection and a 2024 M3-processor Apple Macbook Air running macOS Sonoma. I connect to each server tested in turn, before loading speedtest.net to capture my download and upload speeds while connected to Norton VPN.

Overall, I was impressed with Norton VPN’s speeds, which were more than sufficient for gaming, streaming, and even torrenting. However, some far-away servers gave me a ping of 100+, which could seriously hamper your online gaming, so make sure you choose a nearby server before joining a lobby.

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Norton VPN streaming sites unblocking results

Norton VPN struggles to unblock some streaming platforms, so I don’t recommend it if you need one of the best VPNs for streaming. I could unblock the UK’s BBC iPlayer and ITV, plus YouTube TV and Max, but I couldn’t unblock most Netflix libraries. Norton was also blocked by Hulu and Peacock in the US.

Based on my latest tests, Norton VPN Standard does not work with US Netflix. While I could unblock some Netflix libraries like the UK, others didn’t work such as the US and Japan. I saw the usual geographical block error, suggesting that the websites could often see I was using a VPN. When I contacted Norton VPN customer service, they said I should connect to different VPN regions and use the Split Tunnel feature, but nothing helped. Therefore, Norton VPN is not the best choice for streaming, as it struggles to unblock many popular streaming platforms.

Review of the Norton VPN app interface on different devices

Norton VPN is compatible with major operating systems Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. One of Norton VPN’s positive traits is that installation and usage is largely identical across each of these devices. I found this useful during testing because I knew what to expect opening each application.

Norton VPN Standard for iPhone and Android

As we’ve seen, functionality can vary widely between devices, so I tested Norton VPN Standard on an iPhone 15 Pro Max (iOS 18) and a Google Pixel 8 (Android 18 ‘Upside Down Cake’). Immediately, I noticed that the interface looks very similar to Norton’s desktop offering. However, I went into this test expecting the app to mirror my Mac apps functionality – and I was correct in my assumption. Some VPN services struggle with Apple because the OS is much more closed-down to developers than Android, particularly for software that requires system-level permissions. In short, there’s no split tunneling, kill switch, or torrenting.

Instead, you get strong Internet Security browser protection against third-party trackers, plus anti-phishing and anti-malware. It can also block annoying pop-ups with its native ad blocker, and there’s even an SMS feature that will block malicious links sent to you in a text.

In summary, Norton VPN works well on Android, mirroring the functionality of the desktop application. On iOS, Mac is missing key features that protect your security and enable torrenting. This is frustrating, because Norton’s antivirus is excellent and the VPN has real promise in terms of speeds and unblocking power – but on any Apple device, I would choose an alternative to ensure my online security remains protected.

Norton VPN Standard for Mac

Norton VPN Standard’s interface is quite stripped-back, which makes navigation and usability very simple. Installation was quick and very straightforward on a 2024 M3-processor MacBook Air. Aside from your account and settings menu buttons, the client consists of a server selector and an on/off switch.

I was disappointed to see that you can’t choose specific servers within a country; you can only change the country you’re connected to. Otherwise, clicking the small cog button at the top of the interface takes you to settings. There, you’ll be able to toggle:

• Auto-connect: starts your VPN connection automatically on computer startup
• Auto VPN: automatically start your VPN when you join a public Wi-Fi network
• Kill switch: stops your true IP from leaking if your VPN connection drops
• Ad Tracker Blocking: blocks annoying ads and trackers that follow you online
• Split Tunnel: allows you to separate your VPN and normal internet traffic

The Settings menu is split into tabs, with the above options nestled beneath the VPN Preferences menu. However, I recommend you first visit the Privacy tab and disable Related offers if you want to avoid potential marketing hassle. I would rather this option was disabled by default.

Unfortunately, the macOS version of Norton VPN lacks certain features that are present in the Windows application. Split tunneling is absent, which means that you can’t separate your VPN traffic from regular internet traffic. There’s no kill switch either, and this is a bigger problem as it leaves you at risk of leaking your true IP address.

Norton VPN for Windows

One of Norton’s strong points is its design consistency across operating systems. The interface looks identical regardless of the OS you’re using. Of course, certain features are missing on Mac as I’ve discussed, but from a visual point of view it’s easy to move from one device to another.

You’ll find the same settings available on Mac under the Settings menu, as well as individually listed within the Identity, Security, and Family tabs. Log into your online account with a browser, and you can access additional controls including parenting options.

Additional features you get with Norton VPN Plus

Norton VPN Plus comes with everything from the lower-price tiers, in addition to security and family features that make it good value for money:

• Antivirus: scans your system for threats that have compromised your device.
• Malware and scam protection: protects you against malware and other viruses.
• Parental controls: let you manage your kids’ device access and use tracking.
• Password manager: gives you a secure online medium to store all of your passwords.
• Dark web monitoring: scans the dark web for any breaches containing your data.

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Is Norton VPN worth buying in 2024: final verdict

Norton VPN Standard might be worth buying if you’re an existing Norton subscriber who can add on the VPN for a low price. However, my analysis of Norton’s privacy policy and functionality across different devices revealed some troubling flaws. The biggest Norton VPN Standard drawbacks are a missing kill switch, no split tunneling, and no torrenting on Mac. While Windows users can access these features, you’ll get far better speeds and more servers by choosing an equally or lower-priced competitor.

It’s unfortunate that Norton can’t stand up there with NordVPN and Surfshark in terms of quality, as bundling your antivirus and VPN together makes things simple. However, with all of my research and testing in mind, I will be canceling my Norton free trial and continuing to use my preferred service, NordVPN.

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You may also like to read:
Norton VPN vs NordVPN
NordVPN review
Surfshark VPN review
IPVanish Review
Proton VPN review
CyberGhost review
Bitdefender vs Norton

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FAQ

What is the difference between Norton 360 VPN and Norton VPN Standard?

Norton 360 is a complete cybersecurity package that includes Norton VPN Standard as one of its services. Norton 360 can also be bundled with password management software, anti-malware tools, and other features depending on your subscription. Norton VPN Standard is available as a standalone product, too.

What are the disadvantages of Norton VPN?

Norton VPN's main disadvantages affect Mac users, with split tunneling, the kill switch, and torrenting support absent on macOS. As a result, I don’t recommend choosing Norton VPN for Mac. A kill switch is one of the most basic and crucial tools to protect your anonymity while using a VPN.

Can I be tracked with Norton VPN?

No, Norton VPN encrypts your internet traffic, which stops tracking from your ISP, the government, and other third parties. Norton VPN also has a strict zero-logs policy, meaning your IP and the websites you visit aren't logged.

Does Norton VPN slow down internet speed?

Yes, Norton VPN can slow down your internet speed. It's a small trade-off for far stronger online protection against cyberthreats. The key is to choose one of the best VPNs with the smallest impact on internet speeds. With a peak of 92% speed retention in my tests (458 Mbps), NordVPN is the fastest VPN available.

Should Norton VPN be on all the time?

Your personal data will only be encrypted, and your activity hidden, if you keep Norton VPN switched on. If you disable your VPN connection, your true IP address will be exposed, meaning your ISP will be able to see what you do online. As a minimum, I strongly recommend you use your VPN connection when torrenting, using public Wi-Fi, and online gaming.

Which countries does Norton VPN work in?

Norton VPN Standard has servers in 29 countries across the Americas, Europe and Africa, and Asia Pacific, including popular VPN locations like the UK, US, France, Italy, and Australia. For the majority of streaming and sports fans, Norton VPN is more than sufficient to unblock Netflix, access the best free sports streams, and more.

Can Norton VPN be used in China?

No, Norton VPN cannot currently be used in China and won’t get you past the Great Firewall. I confirmed this with customer support after being blocked in my tests. China has particularly powerful anti-VPN software and policymaking, which means a lot of VPNs don’t work. I recommend you choose a VPN that has been tried and tested as working in China in 2024.