Mozilla VPN vs. NordVPN

Many tech giants have recently entered the VPN scene, using their existing services to reach more people and expand. Take Mozilla, for example. While it’s known for its secure browser, it recently ventured into VPNs.

Considering you already trust Mozilla with your browsing security, why not extend that trust to encrypting your online activity? Well, let’s not be hasty. New VPNs are uncharted territory. While Mozilla has a solid history with web browsers, this doesn’t guarantee that its VPN matches up to the likes of NordVPN – one of the top VPNs in the industry. So in this comparison review, we paid for a subscription to both VPNs so that we could put them head-to-head.

Can Mozilla’s VPN offering compete with that of NordVPN? Let’s find out.

Security

A VPN’s primary job is to keep you and your data safe and secure when you’re online. If your VPN can’t do that job, it’s just an expensive way to slow your device down. How do these two VPNs compare when it comes to security?

• Encryption: Encryption is at the heart of what VPNs do. In fact, the very definition of a VPN is an encrypted tunnel. What type of encryption a VPN uses, then, is essential to how well it protects its users. NordVPN uses AES-256. As the name implies, this encryption method employs a 256-bit key to encode your information into a cipher. How good is AES-256? It’s used by the U.S. military to encode military secrets. Mozilla uses a 256-bit encryption method as well, which it creates by combining the ChaCha20 and Poly1305 keys. Supposedly, this speeds up the encryption. However, we’re placing our trust in the tried-and-true AES-256.

• Protocols: After encryption, the VPN protocol is the next most crucial factor to consider. A VPN protocol is a set of rules that guides how the encryption is applied. NordVPN opted to use the two most commonly-used protocols, namely OpenVPN and WireGuard. OpenVPN has been around for more than 20 years. It’s open-source and has been extensively tested by security experts. On the other hand, WireGuard is also open source, but it’s newer. However, it’s believed to be faster than OpenVPN. Mozilla offers only one of the two options – WireGuard.
• Location: What does location have to do with your VPN’s security? Plenty. If your VPN is headquartered in a country that belongs to the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes surveillance alliances, government agencies can force it to turn over customer data. NordVPN is located in Panama, a non-member of these alliances. However, Mozilla is located in the U.S., the ringleader of all three alliances.
• Privacy policies: Another vital aspect to consider in assessing a VPN’s security is its privacy policy. This is where the VPN outlines what data it collects about you. NordVPN stands out by keeping no logs of your online activities – no timestamps, browsing histories, or IP addresses. This ensures your information remains inaccessible to anyone else, even NordVPN itself. In contrast, Mozilla’s policy includes logging your actual IP address. This data can potentially identify users and, depending on jurisdiction, could lead to legal trouble. Moreover, Mozilla’s U.S. location means this information could be obtained with a simple subpoena.
• VPN obfuscation: VPN obfuscation is one of the newest inventions in the world of VPNs. It hides the fact that you’re using a VPN. NordVPN has specific obfuscated servers devoted to providing utmost secrecy. Mozilla hasn’t yet added this technology to its VPN service.

To be fair, Mozilla does have some valuable security features. For instance, the Mozilla VPN offers a kill switch and multi-hop technology. The thing is, NordVPN offers those as well. And, in all the other important security categories, NordVPN goes well beyond Mozilla.

Productivity and Entertainment

You get a VPN for safety and security. Since you’re putting down some cash, though, it’s nice when a company offers you additional features. Here’s how NordVPN and Mozilla stack up against one another when it comes to offering tools for productivity and entertainment.

• Split tunneling: Split tunneling lets you log on to the regular internet at the same time you’re logged on to the VPN. Why is that so important? Because you’re a multi-tasker and not all of those tasks actually need a VPN. You can probably get away with streaming your Spotify playlists over the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi, and when you do, you save bandwidth and get better speeds out of your VPN. NordVPN offers split-tunneling. Mozilla offers split-tunneling as well, but only for Android devices.
• Servers: The more servers your VPN offers, the more likely you are to find one with low traffic. That boosts speeds as well. The more places where your VPN has servers, the more likely you are to find one in the location you need. NordVPN maintains over 6,400 servers in 111 countries – one of the largest networks we’ve seen. Mozilla has around 300 servers located in 30 countries. That’s not terrible, but it’s far below NordVPN’s numbers.
• Streaming access: Remember we said that NordVPN has obfuscation? That’s important for logging on to streaming services outside your home country. Netflix, Max, Disney+, and other streamers offer lots of content in other countries that you can’t see here in the U.S., and vice versa. They’ve developed technology, though, that blocks VPNs. Obfuscation allows you to get around those blocks. It’s probably no surprise to you, then, to hear that Mozilla struggles to connect to Netflix and other streaming services since it doesn’t have any obfuscated servers.

Once again, we’d be lying if we said Mozilla doesn’t offer some nice bonus features, like P2P servers that help with torrenting. In the end, though, NordVPN winds up besting it again.

Pricing

Last, but certainly not least, we move to the issue of pricing. And there is a bit of good news for Mozilla. NordVPN charges $12.99 for a one-month subscription. Mozilla beats that with a price that’s $3 cheaper.

Sadly, that victory is fleeting. If you compare the two VPNs in terms of annual price, NordVPN manages to draw even. An annual subscription to Mozilla costs $4.99 per month, the same price as an annual NordVPN subscription. And, NordVPN offers a two-year subscription that will run you just $3.19 per month.

You should also note that Mozilla isn’t available everywhere yet. As of the time of writing, it’s only accessible in 33 countries. That includes the U.S., fortunately.

The Bottom Line

Mozilla’s VPN certainly has its strong points. It’s fast, it seems to have some decent security features, and its single-month price is about 33 percent cheaper than NordVPN’s. When it comes down to brass tacks, though, it can’t compete with most of NordVPN’s features, and where it can compete, it’s largely untested. A 256-bit encryption method using ChaCha20 and Poly1305 is probably strong, but there’s absolutely no doubt that AES-256 is secure.

Of course, we’ll leave the final decision to you.

Sign up with NordVPN if you want

• The best security on the market
• Access to streaming content libraries in other countries
• A two-year subscription
• Split tunneling
• An airtight privacy policy

Sign up with Mozilla if you want

• A single-month subscription price below $10.00
• Access to the WireGuard protocol