NordVPN vs TunnelBear ✅ Which VPN is Better?

When it all boils down to the best VPN provider, NordVPN and TunnelBear always rise as great options. Both of these VPN providers have excellent features but at the end of this article, only one will come off as the ultimate winner.

Today, we will compare NordVPN and TunnelBear head to head and determine which is better in terms of ease of use, speed, streaming and torrenting, security and privacy, support, and pricing.

I won’t waste your time with unnecessary information and you can guarantee that this is a reliable list as I have personally tried both VPNs by subscribing to their paid plans. This way, I’m able to fully test them both out and provide you with the most comprehensive comparison and save you time from having to do it yourself. 

I will leave a special discounted link in the description below where you can get the cheapest NordVPN and TunnelBear plan for you when you’re ready to proceed.

Let’s get started.

1. Setup & Feature – NordVPN

I’m using the Windows app of both VPNs but you can still download these VPNs to other devices like Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, routers, Kindle Fire, or add their extension to your browser.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the layout of NordVPN and TunnelBear app. In both VPNs, you can instantly connect to the fastest server based on your location using their quick connect feature. However, NordVPN has a simpler layout than TunnelBear which I personally prefer as it adds to the ease of use.

NordVPN has more than 5,000 servers in 59 countries, which is more than TunnelBear’s over three thousand servers across 34 countries.

If you want to test these servers first, you’re not in the good position with NordVPN because it doesn’t offer a free trial. TunnelBear, on the other hand offers a seven-day free trial aside from its amazing free plan that provides 500 megabytes of data per month. 

Speaking of devices, TunnelBear allows you to use five devices simultaneously whereas NordVPN is capable of six devices. It’s just a single number difference but a VPN connection to one device can actually save a bunch of data already.

NordVPN and TunnelBear have their own unique features and both of them are user-friendly but the point goes to NordVPN as all of its apps are so much easier to use and it has more servers and countries compared to TunnelBear.

2. Speed – NordVPN

Now, we’re off to determine which one is faster in the race. I’ll record my original speed first without connecting to any of our top VPNs. The Ookla tool recorded my speed of 19.5 megabits per second.

For this demo, we’ll connect to three countries using each VPN and find out the percentage reduction of speed. Up first in the U.S. server, TunnelBear recorded a speed of 15.8 mbps while NordVPN got a speed of 17.2 mbps. In the United Kingdom, NordVPN beats TunnelBear with speed of 13.1 mbps versus 12.1 mbps. And lastly in Canada, the competition is tight as TunnelBear recorded a speed of 16 mbps and NordVPN recorded a speed of 15 mbps.

Both VPNs here have an average percentage reduction of lower than 30 percent which is impressive but since NordVPN snatched two wins over TunnelBear’s victory in the United Kingdom speed, the point in this category will have to go to NordVPN.

3. Streaming & Torrenting – NordVPN

In terms of unblocking streaming platforms, most especially Netflix, NordVPN and TunnelBear fall under the best and the worst. While NordVPN can successfully unblock Netflix libraries. NordVPNs also work its magic in unblocking other streaming platforms like Disney Plus, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, HBO and Amazon Prime, TunnelBear is unable to perform the task.

But when it comes to torrenting, both NordVPN and TunnelBear are guaranteed supporters. So, if you’ve been torrenting unprotected, exposing your IP address to everyone you share files with, NordVPN and TunnelBear are both good recommendations. But in case you’re torrenting but not connected to their supporting server, NordVPN will automatically switch you to their torrenting server without you being aware of it and I think that’s really a good feature.

In this category, NordVPN takes another win as it has powers to unblock streaming platforms that TunnelBear cannot do. Moreover, all of its servers are specialized for torrenting which adds up to the fact that it offers more location choices to support P2P and torrenting.

4. Jurisdiction, Security, & Privacy – NordVPN

TunnelBear was born in Canada in 2011. A year later, NordVPN was born in Panama. There is a big difference between these two VPNs in terms of jurisdiction. Why? It’s because NordVPN is not affiliated with the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes alliances which means that it is located in a country that doesn’t have mandatory law for data retention. TunnelBear, on the other hand, is based in Canada which is one of the countries that make up the Five Eyes alliance.

Both VPNs have been audited to be adhering to the strict no logs policy where they don’t keep records of any of their users’ personal information, credentials, and online activities.

While TunnelBear remains unbreached since it started, NordVPN has confirmed in 2018 that one of their servers in Finland has been accessed by a hacker. But thanks to the no logs policy, no user has been compromised.

Still, NordVPN and TunnelBear are both on top of the game when it comes to the type of data encryption they use which is a 256-bit encryption, the standard and currently the longest encryption advised by government and banks for website security.

Both VPNs also have the kill switch feature that automatically pauses all Internet activities to protect your identity if the VPN connection drops for some reason. TunnelBear has it under the name VigilantBear, FYI.

TunnelBear offers three highly-secure protocols, IKEv2, IPSec, and OpenVPN, to help VPN safely send your data through the Internet. NordVPN, on the other hand,  offers a set of protocols including WireGuard which is currently the best VPN protocol for faster speed, security, and privacy. 

NordVPN and TunnelBear also have a split tunneling feature where you can choose which apps in your device will use or bypass the VPN connection. Unfortunately, TunnelBear only has this feature on Android devices while NordVPN offers this significantly to Windows, Mac, Android devices, and even routers.

NordVPN has its unique ad blocker called CyberSec. It also offers Double VPN and Dedicated IP as a paid add-on which are two important features that TunnelBear doesn’t have in its bag.

Both VPNs are doing extremely well in the field of security and privacy but still, NordVPN gets the point in this category since it has more unique features plus security and privacy innovations that could possibly change the game for VPNs in the coming years.

5. Support – NordVPN

NordVPN and TunnelBear both do not have phone support but they have 24 7 email support which I have dealt with multiple times. One thing, though, that separates these two VPNs when it comes to customer support is the fact that NordVPN has live chat support while TunnelBear does not have it which is kinda bad.

When it comes to my experiences with their email teams, NordVPN, has a rigorous and systematic live chat channel where you have to interact with a robot first who will only provide you sources before you can have the option to connect to a live agent. Because of this, the normal inquiries could take up to more than five minutes to get resolved with response time ranging from three to four minutes. While with TunnelBear, I got a very detailed response with references on it after roughly 24 hours.

So based on the availability and accessibility support channels which are significant in urgent inquiries, NordVPN bags the point again in this category.

6. Price – TunnelBear

In terms of pricing, NordVPN has plans that are more subjected to changes because of discounts and promotional offers, while TunnelBear has more complex plans that are mainly based on features and the needs of their target customers.

NordVPN offers a one-month subscription for $11.95. If you prefer a longer plan, NordVPN offers a 58 percent discount on their one-year plan for $59, where the monthly price has been heavily reduced to only $4.92.

TunnelBear offers three kinds of plans, the free plan, the premium plan, and the team plan. As I have mentioned, the free plan gives you 500 megabytes of data every month. The premium plan, which has no data cap, costs $9.99 per month.

But just like NordVPN, TunnelBear gives major discounts if you prefer to subscribe to longer plans. You can save 50% if you choose the one year plan and pay only $4.99 per month. But the big deal lies with their three-year plan which only costs $3.33 per month which sums up to a bill of $120. Their team plan, on the other hand, offers a seven-day free trial but basically costs $5.75 per user per month.

If you’re not satisfied with the performance of these VPNs, NordVPN offers a risk-free, 30-day money-back guarantee while TunnelBear only refunds on a case-to-case basis. Both VPNs accept cryptocurrency methods of payment aside from credit cards and Paypal if you want to be more anonymous.

In this category, TunnelBear finally grabs a win since it offers a cheaper and wider variety of plans compared to NordVPN. It also earns recognition for offer ing a reliable free plan and team plan which are plans that NordVPN lacks.

Final Verdict: NordVPN wins

Over the years, NordVPN and Tunnel have proven themselves to be the royalties of all VPN providers. As a summary, NordVPN got five category wins which include the Set-up and Features, Spead, Streaming and Torrenting ,Jurisdiction, Security, and Privacy and Support and Reliability. On the other hand, TunnelBear has the crown if we’re going to talk about Price.

It was a close fight but overall, NordVPN has the slight advantage over TunnelBear. It might be a bit pricey but every penny that comes out of your wallet is absolutely worth it with its excellent and top-tier features.

If you’re ready to try NordVPN and Tunnel, you can click on the link below to get your chosen plan with massive discounts. For a demo on how to set up and use NordVPN and Tunnel, you can watch these next tutorials. I’ll see you over on that next article!