NordLayer review
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NordLayer is a business VPN that’s based on NordVPN, a market-leading consumer VPN service. It’s an effective and cost-efficient solution for securing your organization’s employees and ensuring that crucial business data is only accessible to those who need it. Typical users will have an easy-to-use app that masks their activities, while administrators gain a customizable and comprehensive dashboard to control every facet of the security software.
In this NordLayer review, I’ll cover all of the service’s noteworthy benefits, features, pricing options, and other crucial details. Then you’ll have a better idea of whether this business VPN is suitable for your organization.
| 📖 No logs policy: | Collects access logs |
| 💵 Price: | From $8.00/month |
| 🖥️ Servers: | 33+ countries |
| 🍿 Streaming services: | Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer |
| 🔥 Coupons: | Now up to 22% OFF! |
NordLayer pros & cons
We spare no effort to test the products & their features. All information is gathered by our in-house research team & fact-checked by our team of experts. Discover the ins and outs of our testing procedures.
What it is like to use NordLayer
Getting started with NordLayer is pretty straightforward, making it a great option for organizations even without an experienced IT team. Naturally, before you can begin with the set-up process, you must pick a subscription plan. The main difference between the plans is the number of features and organization members.
Once you’ve picked a plan, you can build your organization’s structure using the Control Panel. The intuitive dashboard streamlines every process into one cohesive package, allowing administrators to adjust every little detail from one place. The VPN integrates with plenty of third-party technology stacks (e.g., JumpCloud, Amazon AWS, Google Workspace, Okta, etc.) if you want it to complement an existing setup.
The final step is downloading the NordLayer app on every employee’s device. NordLayer works with desktop and mobile devices (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) to accommodate every user in your company. You can log in using a separate account or via SSO (single sign-on).
Using NordLayer ensures your company’s cybersecurity is compliant with worldwide regulations like SOC 2 type 2, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR. This is good in terms of appearance since compliance with these standards means your company takes cybersecurity seriously. Secondly, it grants a whole host of security benefits that are well documented.
As expected, NordLayer also brings plenty of its own default security features for end users. For example, it employs AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption to make user connections impenetrable to outsiders. Tunneling protocol options include the proprietary NordLynx protocol alongside OpenVPN. Additionally, you can enable split tunneling, a kill switch, and ThreatBlock to block malware.
Meanwhile, the back-end security features will depend on your chosen plan and what the administrators enable. Available perks include IP allowlisting, a cloud firewall (FWaaS), custom DNS, deep packet inspection, and so much more.
Plans and pricing
In terms of pricing, NordLayer is not the most expensive business VPN, especially compared to the likes of Perimeter 81, which costs $12/user/month on its cheapest plan. When getting a long-term plan, you can pay as little as $8.00 per user a month, which is pretty reasonable.
Also, NordLayer has a minimum number of users – 5, whereas Perimeter 81 has a minimum number of 10 or 20 users, so you can really save money if you need a VPN for a small business. You also get a 14-day money-back guarantee and 6 devices per license.
| Yearly | Monthly | |
| Lite | $8.00 user/month | $10.00 user/month |
| Core | $11.00 user/month | $14.00 user/month |
| Premium | $14.00/user/month | $18.00/user/month |
| Enterprise offer | $7.00/user/month | $10.00/user/month |
Let’s take a closer look at each type of subscription separately.
Lite
With Lite, you can either pay $8.00/month or $10.00/month for a user, depending on your subscription period (of course, the yearly subscription is cheaper than the monthly subscription).
This plan includes:
- Cloud VPN
- Intuitive control panel
- Centralized settings
- Kill switch
- Multi-factor authentication
- SSO with Google, Azure AD, Okta, OneLogin, JumpCloud
- Auto-connect
- Shared access to 30+ gateway locations
- 24/7 customer support
- Always On VPN
- ThreatBlock
Remember that you can’t get a dedicated IP with the Lite subscription.
Core
The Core subscription costs $11.00/month per user (yearly plan) or $14.00/month per user (monthly plan). You can also purchase a dedicated server with a fixed IP for $40 per month.
The Core subscription offers everything included in the Lite one, together with:
- Purchase dedicated servers
- Choose between 25+ virtual private gateway locations
- DNS filtering
- Deep Packet Inspection (Lite)
- Custom DNS
- Network segmentation
- Dedicated Account Manager
If the Core plan doesn’t suit your needs, you can choose the Premium or Enterprise offer subscription. You’ll need to request a consultation in order to talk about your specific requirements.
Premium
The Premium plan combines network access control solutions with more granular network segmentation and the ability to interconnect websites and devices. It starts from $14.00/month/user for a yearly subscription or $18.00 with a monthly option.
The premium plan offers everything that the Core plan does, together with:
- Device Posture Security
- 10 Cloud Firewall (FWaaS) rules
- 6 devices per user
- Site-to-Site connector
- Smart Remote Access
- Browser extension
- User provisioning
- Priority tech support and a dedicated account manager
Speed performance
NordLayer is a pretty fast VPN service, thanks to the implementation of the speedy NordLynx tunneling protocol. During our tests, the tool managed to maintain about 96% of the original speed (both download and upload) in the best cases. The speeds were actually better than those of NordVPN, which is an impressive achievement.
Baseline: 299.01 Mbps download, 296.27 Mbps upload
| Location (NordLynx) | Download | Upload |
| UK | 290.48 | 284.29 |
| US | 259.44 | 284.66 |
| Australia | 207.40 | 210.32 |
| Switzerland | 270.49 | 269.55 |
| Japan | 245.26 | 125.19 |
Meanwhile, OpenVPN UDP sometimes retained over 90% of the original upload speed. However, the download speeds weren't as impressive.
Finally, OpenVPN TCP slows down the speed even more, retaining only about 12% of the original download speed on average. Of course, this drop in performance can be expected from this tunneling protocol, as it favors security over speed. When using OpenVPN TCP, I could even notice some lagging, which wasn’t the case with other protocols.
Is NordLayer safe?
Yes, NordLayer is completely safe to use. It uses market-leading AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption, which is used by organizations that require flawless security, such as online banks and government bodies.
When it comes to its tunneling protocols, NordLayer doesn’t disappoint either. For example, you can choose NordLynx, which is NordVPN’s upgraded version of WireGuard. It retains all the speed while being even more secure.
You can also use OpenVPN TCP or OpenVPN UDP, both of which are staples in the VPN world. Meanwhile, the IKEv2 tunneling protocol was removed from NordLayer apps in June 2024, but you can still configure it manually. It’s even available for site-to-site configurations.
Logging and jurisdiction
We have some concerns about the provider’s jurisdiction. In 2020, NordLayer relocated from Panama to the US, a less privacy-friendly country belonging to the Fourteen Eyes alliance. On the other hand, you should look at the service’s logging policy to see what kind of data it truly collects.
Luckily, there’s nothing worse than what you’d see in the logging policies of other business VPNs. NordLayer will keep your company’s original IP and email address, as they are necessary for the provision of the services.
Keep in mind that NordLayer's website keeps a bit more information, including your operating system, IP address, cookie data, and browser info.
Interface and ease of use
It’s important for a business VPN to be user-friendly, especially when there are a lot of new members coming in – it might be difficult to train everyone to use an advanced application. Luckily, NordLayer is easy to use, as the user apps don’t include lots of settings and are pretty self-explanatory.
NordLayer is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux (the latter doesn’t have a graphical user interface). Browser extensions are also available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave.
Desktop applications
NordLayer's Windows app has a dark, clean theme. It’s very easy to navigate – the Settings tab simply includes the General options, Auto-connect options, selection of tunneling protocols, and account options. Also, its ThreatBlock feature worked perfectly.
The ThreatBlock feature is similar to NordVPN’s Threat Protection, so you might already be familiar with it. ThreatBlock prevents the user from accessing malicious websites that not only display dangerous ads but might also steal sensitive company data. This feature successfully passed all our tests. It prevented ads from showing up and even blocked malware-containing pages specifically created for testing.
Meanwhile, the macOS app's interface looks totally different. Instead of a right-side menu, the app has the menu placed at the top of the screen. Also, the Preferences window is light in contrast to the dark Windows look. The app offers the biometric login option but lacks the kill switch feature, just like the iOS version of NordLayer.
Mobile applications
Just like with Windows, the Android application isn’t difficult to use at all. It has the same dark theme that’s easy on the eyes.
Similarly, the iOS app is also dark themed. It looks almost identical to the Android application. Interestingly, it also has nearly all the features that the Android version offers, which is quite rare in the world of VPNs. Note that the kill switch is only available on Android.
Unfortunately, I have nothing good to say about the ThreatBlock feature on both the Android and iOS apps of NordLayer. It didn’t block the websites we tested on it, which was rather disappointing.
Features of NordLayer
Even though NordLayer can be perfectly used as a personal VPN, it also offers a bunch of features that a regular user wouldn’t even know what to do with. That’s because, first and foremost, it’s a business VPN. This means that, aside from all the regular stuff like hiding your real IP address, it packs lots of features that most companies will truly appreciate. These include:
- Two-factor and multi-factor authentication
- Shared Gateways
- Virtual Private Gateways
- Fixed IP & IP allowlisting
- Site-to-Site connector (access to company's internal data)
- Smart Remote Access
- DNS filtering by category
- Deep Packet Inspection (Lite)
- Custom DNS
- Always On VPN
- Auto-connect
- ThreatBlock
- AES 256-bit encryption
- User provisioning
- Device Posture Security
- Activity monitoring reports
- Browser Extension
- Idle Session Timeout
- Network Segmentation
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Biometrics
- Cloud Firewall (FWaaS)
Let’s take a look at the most important ones.
Gateways and servers
With Shared and Virtual Private Gateways, NordLayer operates over 30 server locations worldwide, allowing businesses to connect securely to their local and cloud networks.
Shared Gateways establish encrypted tunnels between remote users and the internet. They facilitate access to geo-specific content and support various activities such as conducting Q&A sessions and running automated tests from different virtual locations.
Virtual Private Gateways, on the other hand, utilize dedicated servers to enable organizations to connect their devices securely to both their cloud-based resources and their local on-premises network. This type of gateway empowers organizations to implement IP allowlisting and precise network segmentation, enhancing security.
Having a dedicated server with a fixed IP is one of the most important things when it comes to protecting a company’s resources. This prevents unauthorized access to documents, financial data, and other confidential info.
Security features
The comprehensive security tools include Virtual Private Gateways, Fixed IP, Network Access Control, Network Segmentation, DNS filtering, Deep Packet Inspection, AES 256-bit encryption, and the anticipated Cloud Firewall.
NordLayer also offers Cloud Firewall (FWaaS), an agile network security layer operating as a cloud Security Service Edge element. The service is adaptive, scalable, and low maintenance compared to traditional physical firewalls.
Network segmentation is an advanced feature that can be rather useful for companies, especially those with many employees. It lets you divide the network into subsections to improve security and network performance.
For example, you can restrict certain branches from accessing the financial reporting system of your business. In other words, you can manage your employees’ access to the company's resources.
User authentication & management
With features like MFA, Biometric authentication, Single sign-on (SSO), and User Provisioning, NordLayer ensures robust authentication and user management.
If you’re concerned about unauthorized access to the VPN (and, consequently, your company’s data), then you definitely want your employees to use two-factor authentication. Luckily, NordLayer offers this feature, and you can choose 2FA via SMS authentication or TOTP (authenticator application).
Instead of logging into Apps or the control panel with a username and a password, users can log in with preferred Single Sign-on (SSO) options. Currently, NordLayer supports logins from:
- Azure AD
- JumpCloud
- Okta
- OneLogin
Product applications
NordLayer offers a user-friendly Control Panel, centralized billing, license transferability, and integration with multiple network vendors, enhancing administrative efficiency.
NordLayer’s Control Panel (which is not an app but a web client) is easy to use and navigate, making the service one of the most beginner-friendly business VPN solutions.
Here’s what it allows you to do:
- Invite new members, assign roles and teams
- Create Virtual Private Gateways and assign dedicated servers
- Set up user provisioning with the most popular SCIM providers
- Enforce multi-factor authentication
- Set preferred login methods
- Implement network access control features like Network Segmentation, IP Allowlisting, Cloud Firewall
- Implement internet access security features like DNS Filtering, Custom DNS, DPI, Threatblock
- Create Device Posture Security profiles
- Monitor network connections, devices and administrator actions
- Setup features that establish remote connections between sites or devices
- Enforce additional security settings like Always On VPN, Auto-connect, Idle session timeout
- Manage your subscription, download invoices
The control panel itself looks pretty minimalistic. You will find these main sections:
- Organization. Here, you can manage both your teams and individual members. For example, you can add new members or gateways to different teams. When it comes to members, you can see their status (Active, Suspended, Invited, or Inactive).
- Network. In this section, you’ll be able to manage all the info related to your gateways and servers.
- Settings. Here, you’ll be able to set up the Smart Remote Access feature, which lets you use the company’s resources even when there’s no internet connection. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to do it – your account manager will help you with that.
- Downloads. This section contains links to all the NordLayer applications. It also allows you to send manual configuration instructions to your employees.
- Activity. This section showcases two types of activity information – user actions activity and connection activity information.
- Device security. This lets admins check and evaluate member's devices according to predefined security rules and get notified about devices that are non-compliant.
Network connectors
Network connectors like Site-to-site and Smart Remote Access provide more options for hybrid ways of working.
Site-to-site is useful for companies with multiple offices in different geographic locations needing regular corporate network access. They function as secure VPN tunnels between two or more networks, providing safe pathways to exchange private data - away from external users.
Smart Remote Access helps to create a virtual Local Area Network and access devices on the internal network. It secures all endpoints and enables file sharing between company devices and servers without the barriers of a traditional LAN.
NordLayer also offers a browser extension. The Secure Web Gateway browser extension service enables access to resources exclusively via an internet browser. The secure connection is established by installing the browser extension and logging in with your account. It is kept within the browser limits — all other internet traffic goes through the default device and network configuration.
Network monitoring
Network monitoring is enhanced with Activity Monitoring reports for visibility over user-level connections to and from gateways showcasing names of the members, devices, and source IP addresses. Reports provide member activity history, including the date and time of a particular member connection session.
Moreover, NordLayer offers Device Posture Security, a security feature that allows organization administrators to check and evaluate member devices according to predefined security rules and get notified about non-compliant devices.
Security controls
Options like Auto-connect, Always On VPN, and Idle Session Timeout add extra layers of control and security to network management.
Auto-connect is one of those features that you can also find in personal VPNs, like the NordVPN app for regular users. In short, you can set up the VPN to activate as soon as an internet connection is detected – this reduces the risk of an employee forgetting to turn on their VPN app.
Unfortunately, during our tests, the feature showed itself to be rather buggy: sometimes, it took a long time for NordLayer to connect to a server.
Torrenting
As we check the torrenting capabilities of every VPN we review, NordLayer and other business solutions are no exception. After all, this might come in handy at certain jobs.
So, torrenting worked, which is great, but the speeds were not amazing. It was possible to reach only 5-6 Mb/s on the UK server. However, the speeds with the US server were even worse, dropping to a mere 3-4 Mb/s.
All in all, even though NordLayer allows P2P connections, it wouldn’t be our first choice for torrenting.
Streaming
Whether your job requires unblocking various streaming libraries or you simply want to catch up with your favorite show during your break, it’s good to have a VPN that can bypass the blocks of streaming services.
| Netflix | ✅ Yes |
| Hulu | ✅ Yes |
| Disney+ | ✅ Yes |
| BBC iPlayer | ✅ Yes |
So, we were quite lucky with Netflix during our in-house testing – we could access the US, UK, and Swiss libraries. However, the tool didn’t work with the libraries in Belgium, Germany, Canada, Italy, Australia, and Spain. On the other hand, the situation can always change, and you might just be able to unblock these libraries in the future. You can also try using another server if your current one doesn't work with the library you need.
Meanwhile, Disney+ worked with quite a few countries except for the US, Australia, and Spain. While BBC iPlayer wasn’t a tough nut to crack.
How to download NordLayer?
- Go to the NordLayer website, and click the button Downloads
- Click Download NordLayer. You will be directed to the dedicated app store
- Open the downloaded file. Follow the instructions, install the app
- Login to your account with your credentials
- Connect to your chosen server and protect your business with this advanced VPN provider!
Customer support
NordLayer's customer support is really good. You can reach out to an agent 24/7 using live chat or email. In addition to this, NordLayer also has an extensive knowledge base. We tried out the live chat and received a very quick answer – we didn’t need to wait for even a minute.
It’s also important to mention that there are some customer support differences based on your subscription tier. For example, Core subscribers get a dedicated account manager, while priority support is given exclusively to Premium plan holders.Meanwhile, those who purchase the Enterprise offer plan get premium live 24/7 support for custom technical implementation, as well as a dedicated account manager.
NordLayer video review
Have a look at our NordLayer video review on YouTube if you'd like to learn more about the best business VPN while seeing its interface in action.
Conclusion
NordLayer is an excellent business VPN that is flexible enough to suit small teams and large-scale organizations alike. Whether you need just the essentials or a comprehensive cybersecurity package to cover all fronts – NordLayer has a suitable plan for you. Crucially, the plans are pretty affordable, meaning you get great value for money.
End users will receive an easy-to-use app that runs quietly in the background without causing any internet slowdowns or inconveniences. Meanwhile, administrators can oversee everything using the all-in-one Control Panel that easily integrates into your existing IT infrastructure.
FAQ
What does NordLayer do?
NordLayer provides safe network access for both big and small businesses. In other words, it is a cloud VPN service for companies. It can help to control access to the network, the company’s resources, and sensitive info.
Is NordLayer a VPN?
While it could be considered a VPN for enterprises, NordLayer is actually a SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) service that relies on VPN technology. It creates a secure platform through shielded visibility, data protection, and increased security for the network perimeter.
