Two different arguments for trust
NordVPN’s argument is structural: a Panamanian entity outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes, RAM-only servers, and four no-logs audits by Deloitte. PIA’s argument is empirical: it is US-based, inside the Five Eyes, owned by Kape — and its no-logs claim has been tested in US federal court twice, in 2016 and 2018, and both times it had nothing to produce. Every PIA app is open source, so the claim about the software can be checked as well.
Which argument you find stronger decides much of this comparison. A court test is better evidence than an audit; a jurisdiction that cannot serve a National Security Letter is better structure than one that can. This site weighs both and, for the general user, puts NordVPN’s structure slightly ahead — while noting that PIA’s owner Kape also owns three of the largest VPN review sites, which is the conflict this site exists to name, and which applies to PIA’s coverage elsewhere.
Where PIA wins
Torrenting: port forwarding, a firewall-level kill switch, unlimited devices. Linux: the best desktop client of any provider, with a full GUI. Price: about half of NordVPN over three years, and the yearly plan renews at the price it starts at. Open source: every app. And, this month, the iPhone app: PIA’s is the top-scoring iOS VPN app in our App Store analysis, with the lowest critical-complaint rate we track; NordVPN’s carries the largest billing-complaint flag.
Where NordVPN wins
Breadth: 126 countries against 91, more Netflix regions working at once, consistent iPlayer. Censorship: obfuscated servers and NordWhisper with a real record in China, the UAE and Russia, where PIA’s Shadowsocks option is unreliable. Features: Tor-over-VPN, Double VPN, Meshnet, Threat Protection Pro, dedicated IPs. Jurisdiction: Panama, outside the alliances. Speed, in published tests, though PIA has closed the gap.
Price
PIA’s long plan — three years plus bonus months — brings the intro near $2 a month, and its yearly plan is about $40, renewing at $40. NordVPN’s two-year Basic plan is about $83, renewing at about $278 for another two years, roughly $7.53 a month across the months that covers. PIA is the value pick by a wide margin; the caveat is that its long plan’s renewal price is not clearly published, so the true cost calculator on this site marks it unconfirmed.
Who should pick which
PIA if you torrent, run Linux, want open source, or want the lowest price from a provider with a court-tested record — and can accept US jurisdiction. NordVPN if you stream across many regions, travel to censored countries, want the feature set, or want a provider outside the Five Eyes. Both are far better than the average of the market; the choice is about what you do.
What we have not tested
Speed and leaks. Published tests favour NordLynx; our own numbers are pending, and the speed dimension is excluded from both scores until they land.