{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "nordvpn",
 "name": "NordVPN",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "nordvpn.com",
 "category": "IT & Productivity",
 "task": "Security, backup & privacy",
 "summary": "Consumer VPN with threat protection, sold on two-year plans that renew at a higher yearly rate. Teams buy Nord's separate business product, NordLayer.",
 "best_for": "individuals and households who want an easy personal VPN and will set a reminder before the two-year plan renews",
 "skip_if": "you're buying for a team — these are consumer plans; Nord's business product is NordLayer, from $8 per user a month with a five-user minimum",
 "honest_knock": "The €3.49 is a two-year introductory rate: Basic renews at €139.08 a year, about €11.59 a month, roughly three times what you signed up at. It's a solid, easy VPN, but a VPN is one layer of security, not a whole strategy — don't mistake it for endpoint protection.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "€3.49",
  "entry_price_terms": "per month on the two-year plan (€94.23 for the first 27 months), renewing at €139.08 a year",
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(consumer plans re-verified 2026-10-02 and 2026-10-14 in the browser, unchanged; the page is geo-priced and served us euros from a Dutch address) Consumer two-year plans: Basic €3.49/mo, Complete €4.49/mo and Ultimate Max €8.49/mo, each with three extra months. They are charged as €94.23, €121.23 and €229.23 for the first 27 months, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Read the renewal line before you buy: those same plans renew at €139.08, €219.48 and €338.28 a year, so Basic goes from about €3.49 a month to about €11.59 — roughly a threefold step. The business product, NordLayer, is quoted in USD worldwide — read from a European address the page still prints dollars and states priceCurrency USD — and it publishes both billing cycles. Per user per month: Lite $8 on annual billing or $10 month-to-month, Core $11 or $14, Premium $14 or $18, which the toggle labels as savings of 20%, 21% and 22%. There is a five-user minimum and a 14-day money-back guarantee, and Core and Premium require a dedicated-IP server on top: +$40 a month on annual billing, +$50 month-to-month (both toggles re-read on 3 October 2026). An enterprise offer starts at $6 per user per month on annual billing, or $10 month-to-month, from 200 seats and with Lite capabilities. On 14 October 2026 the annual NordLayer prices, the dedicated-IP add-on and the enterprise offer were unchanged; the monthly figures were not re-read that day. Two endpoint add-ons sit beside the ladder: CrowdStrike Falcon Go at $2 per device a month and CrowdStrike Falcon Enterprise at $9. Two things changed between our readings and neither is a price. The top tier was called Ultimate Pro on 17 August 2026 and is called Ultimate Max on 14 September 2026, with the same €8.49 introductory rate and the same €338.28 renewal; it is also the only consumer tier that includes a dedicated IP and the cyber insurance, which pays out up to €5,000 per covered claim. The NordLayer ladder was re-read on 14 September 2026 on nordlayer.com/pricing and the three seat rates are unchanged from 17 August; what is new here is the month-to-month column and the two CrowdStrike add-ons, taken from the plan data the page serves itself. The consumer page was read again on 2 October 2026 with every intro rate, 27-month charge and renewal unchanged; nordlayer.com/pricing served us a bot check that day, so the NordLayer figures stand as read on 14 September 2026.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-14",
  "source_url": null
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "per_seat",
   "label": "Per-seat pricing",
   "evidence": "Per user per month: Lite $8 on annual billing or $10 month-to-month, Core $11 or $14, Premium $14 or $18, which the toggle labels as savings of 20%, 21% and 22%.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-14",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "renewal_jump",
   "label": "Renewal price jump",
   "evidence": "Read the renewal line before you buy: those same plans renew at €139.08, €219.48 and €338.28 a year, so Basic goes from about €3.49 a month to about €11.59 — roughly a threefold step.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-14",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Key features are paid add-ons",
   "evidence": "On 14 October 2026 the annual NordLayer prices, the dedicated-IP add-on and the enterprise offer were unchanged; the monthly figures were not re-read that day.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-14",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "annual_lock",
   "label": "Annual commitment",
   "evidence": "Per user per month: Lite $8 on annual billing or $10 month-to-month, Core $11 or $14, Premium $14 or $18, which the toggle labels as savings of 20%, 21% and 22%.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-14",
   "source_url": null
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Proton VPN or Surfshark",
  "why": "other consumer VPNs sold on multi-year plans with a higher renewal rate"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/nordvpn.json",
  "review": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/b2b/nordvpn-review/",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/nordvpn/",
  "vendor_site": "https://nordvpn.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://refer-nordvpn.com/rCEQOtjfEJX",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "nordvpn:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "nordvpn:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "nordvpn:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "nordvpn:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_checked",
   "detail": "We could not read the vendor's pages as plain HTML.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}