NordVPN Threat Protection Review: Up to 75% Off the Complete Plan With Antivirus Built In

For years NordVPN sold one thing: a tunnel for your internet traffic. Its Threat Protection feature started as a modest ad and tracker blocker bolted on to the side. It has since grown into something NordVPN now calls a next-gen antivirus, built on what used to be sold as Threat Protection Pro, and it sits inside the Complete and Prime plans rather than in a separate box. The question for most readers is simple: can it replace a standalone antivirus, or is it a useful extra on top of one? We looked at the prices, the independent tests and the small print to find out.

NordVPN Threat Protection Promo Code box

• Offer: up to 75% off the 2-year Complete plan, US$4.49 a month (£3.37 / €4.00) with 3 extra months
• Promo Code: No Promo Code needed
• Who qualifies: new customers buying direct from nordvpn.com
• Key terms: Complete is billed US$121.23 (£90.97 / €107.97) for the first 27 months, then renews at US$219.48 a year (£164.70 / €195.47). Sales tax may apply. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Offer detail	What you get
Promo Code	No Promo Code needed: the discount is applied automatically on NordVPN’s pricing page
Welcome offer	Up to 75% off the 2-year Complete plan, US$4.49 a month (£3.37 / €4.00) with 3 extra months
Who qualifies	New customers buying direct from nordvpn.com
Key terms	US$121.23 (£90.97 / €107.97) billed for 27 months, renewing at US$219.48 (£164.70 / €195.47) a year; sales tax may apply; 30-day money-back guarantee
How to claim	Pick Complete or Prime on NordVPN’s pricing page, choose the 2-year term, check the total and pay

Get the NordVPN Threat Protection offer

At a glance

• Owner: Nord Security (NordVPN S.A., Panama jurisdiction)
• Price from: US$4.49 a month (£3.37 / €4.00) on the 2-year Complete plan, which includes the full antivirus
• Renewal price: US$219.48 a year (£164.70 / €195.47) for Complete
• Free option: basic scam and phishing protection comes with every NordVPN plan, including Basic
• Full antivirus platforms: Windows 10 (64-bit) and 11; macOS 12 Monterey or newer (sideloaded app only)
• Devices: 10 at once
• Independent tests: AV-Comparatives anti-phishing certification in 2024, 2025 and 2026
• Money-back guarantee: 30 days
• App Store: 4.7 from 710K ratings (US)
• Trustpilot: 4.2 from 51,199 reviews (NordVPN)

What NordVPN Threat Protection is, and who owns it

NordVPN is the flagship brand of Nord Security, a cybersecurity group that also runs NordPass, NordLocker, NordLayer, the Saily eSIM and the Coveron identity theft service. NordVPN itself operates under the jurisdiction of Panama; Nord Security is headquartered in the Netherlands.

Threat Protection comes in two strengths, and the naming has changed more than once, which is where most of the confusion online comes from.

The lighter version, now listed as Scam and phishing protection, is DNS filtering. It stops your device reaching known malicious and phishing domains. It is included in every NordVPN plan, works on almost every platform NordVPN supports, and on desktop it only works while you are connected to the VPN.

The stronger version was sold as Threat Protection Pro. NordVPN has since folded it into what it markets as a next-gen antivirus, and in the app it appears as Scam, phishing, and malware protection. It adds file scanning and quarantine for downloads, an ad blocker, a tracker blocker, scam and fraud alerts, a URL cleaner, a cookie banner hider and, on Windows, an app vulnerability scanner. Crucially, it keeps running when the VPN is switched off.

That last point is the one that matters. A VPN-dependent filter only protects you while you remember to connect. An always-on scanner behaves much more like conventional antivirus.

Prices: which NordVPN plans include the antivirus

NordVPN sells three tiers. Only Complete and Prime include the full antivirus; Basic gets the DNS-level scam and phishing protection only. All figures below come from NordVPN’s own pricing page, which lists prices in US dollars; sterling and euro figures are conversions.

Plan	1 month	1 year	2 years (27 months)	Renewal (per year)
Basic (no antivirus)	US$14.99 (£11.25 / €13.35)	US$5.49 (£4.12 / €4.89) a month, US$65.88 (£49.44 / €58.67) billed	US$3.49 (£2.62 / €3.11) a month, US$94.23 (£70.71 / €83.92) billed	US$139.08 (£104.37 / €123.86)
Complete	US$19.99 (£15.00 / €17.80)	US$6.49 (£4.87 / €5.78) a month, US$77.88 (£58.44 / €69.36) billed	US$4.49 (£3.37 / €4.00) a month, US$121.23 (£90.97 / €107.97) billed	US$219.48 (£164.70 / €195.47)
Prime	US$29.99 (£22.50 / €26.71)	US$9.49 (£7.12 / €8.45) a month, US$113.88 (£85.46 / €101.42) billed	US$7.49 (£5.62 / €6.67) a month, US$202.23 (£151.75 / €180.11) billed	US$296.28 (£222.33 / €263.87)

Complete is the plan built around the antivirus. As well as the VPN and the full Scam, phishing, and malware protection, it adds a password manager (NordPass), 1TB of encrypted cloud storage (NordLocker), Dark Web Monitor Pro covering phone numbers, cards and national ID, bank transaction monitoring for US accounts, call and message protection (message protection is Android only), and email protection for Gmail and Yahoo on desktop.

Prime adds identity theft insurance up to US$1 million and cyber extortion insurance up to US$100,000, plus one-bureau credit monitoring and credit freeze assistance. Those extras are aimed at US residents. If identity cover is what you are really after, our Coveron review looks at Nord Security’s standalone identity service in detail.

Readers who want the VPN and antivirus as one bundle can also go straight to the NordVPN plans with antivirus built in.

Free plan, free trial and money-back guarantee

There is no free version of the full antivirus. What every customer gets, including those on Basic, is the DNS-level scam and phishing protection.

NordVPN offers a 7-day free trial for first-time customers in selected countries, including the UK and US, on 1-year and 2-year Prime plans, which include the antivirus. A card or PayPal is needed to start it, and it is not available through Apple’s App Store. Everyone else relies on the 30-day money-back guarantee, which covers all plans on the first purchase.

A worked example: what the 2-year deal saves

Take a self-employed bookkeeper in Leeds who runs her business from one Windows laptop and wants a VPN for hotel Wi-Fi and something to scan the invoices clients email her.

On the 2-year Complete plan she pays US$121.23 (£90.97 / €107.97) for 27 months. NordVPN’s struck-through price for the same 27 months is US$493.83 (£370.57 / €439.80), so the headline saving is US$372.60 (£279.60 / €331.84). Paying month by month at US$19.99 for the same 27 months would cost US$539.73 (£405.01 / €480.68).

The more honest comparison is with Basic, the VPN without the antivirus. Over the same 27 months, Complete costs US$27 (£20.26 / €24.05) more. For that she gets the always-on scanner, the ad blocker, the password manager and the cloud storage. After 27 months, though, Complete renews at US$219.48 (£164.70 / €195.47) a year, against US$139.08 (£104.37 / €123.86) for Basic, so the gap widens considerably at renewal.

Key features of NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus

• Malware scanner: checks the files you download and deletes dangerous ones. NordVPN says detection is supported by cloud-based scanning and AI-assisted analysis.
• Malicious and phishing site blocker: stops pages loading before they can do harm, including fake shops.
• Ad and tracker blocker: removes banner ads and stops many tracking scripts. On desktop, the full version blocks ads without the VPN running.
• Scam and fraud alerts: warnings when a page looks like a scam.
• Hijacked session alert and URL cleaner: the first flags signs of a stolen browser session; the second strips tracking parameters from links.
• Crypto wallet address checker: flags wallet addresses linked to known scams.
• Email protection: scans Gmail and Yahoo inboxes on desktop (Complete and Prime).
• Vulnerability scanner: Windows only, it checks installed apps for known security flaws.

What it does not list matters too. The feature list includes no firewall and no parental controls. NordVPN pitches this as protection against the threats you meet online rather than a complete replacement for a desktop security suite.

Independent lab results

NordVPN’s antivirus has not been through the same malware-protection tests as the big security suites. It does not appear in AV-TEST’s main Windows consumer antivirus test for July and August 2026, in which Bitdefender, Norton, McAfee and Malwarebytes all scored the maximum 6 out of 6 for protection, performance and usability.

Where it has been tested is phishing. AV-Comparatives approved it in its Anti-Phishing Certification in June 2024, making NordVPN the first VPN provider to pass. It was approved again in June 2025, with a 90% detection rate, and for a third time in May 2026, detecting 96% of 275 phishing URLs with no false alarms against 200 clean ones. In AV-Comparatives’ Q3 2026 comparative test it blocked 94% and ranked third in the security products category. NordVPN also displays an AV-TEST badge from 2024 for its threat protection network and a West Coast Labs validation.

In short: the phishing results are strong and consistent; the malware results, as yet, rest largely on NordVPN’s own claims.

Platforms and availability

The full antivirus runs on Windows 10 (64-bit) and Windows 11, and on macOS 12 Monterey or later, but only in the version of the Mac app downloaded from NordVPN’s website, not the Mac App Store version. On Android and iOS you get the lighter protection, which on phones works even without a VPN connection, plus mobile-only extras such as an adult site blocker.

The DNS-level protection is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV, and in the Chrome, Firefox and Edge browser extensions. Any NordVPN plan covers 10 devices at once.

How to sign up and switch it on

1. Go to NordVPN’s pricing page and choose Complete or Prime. Pick the 2-year term for the lowest monthly price.
2. Check the total, the term and the renewal price, then pay by card, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, crypto or another listed method.
3. Download the NordVPN app for Windows, or the sideloaded app for macOS from NordVPN’s website.
4. Sign in with your Nord Account.
5. Open the Scam, phishing, and malware protection section of the app and switch it on. It will now run whether or not the VPN is connected.
6. Optionally, add the browser extension for Chrome, Firefox or Edge.

Privacy and security

NordVPN runs RAM-only VPN servers, uses post-quantum encryption and has had its no-logs policy assessed independently six times, most recently by Deloitte in late 2025. Our NordVPN review covers the VPN side in more depth, including the 2018 data centre incident, which NordVPN disclosed in 2019 and said affected no user data.

For the antivirus itself, the trade-off to consider is that file scanning involves NordVPN checking files and links against its cloud systems. That is normal for modern antivirus, and Bitdefender and Norton do the same.

App ratings and what users say

NordVPN’s app scores 4.7 out of 5 from 710K ratings on the US App Store, and the brand scores 4.2 from 51,199 reviews on Trustpilot. These ratings cover NordVPN as a whole rather than the antivirus specifically.

Across verified reviews, the recurring praise is for easy setup and fast connections. The recurring complaints are about renewal prices that come as a surprise, support that starts with a chatbot before a human agent, and connection problems on some devices. Comments specifically about the antivirus are rarer, and tend to mention that the ad blocker works well on desktop.

Customer service

NordVPN offers 24/7 live chat, starting with an AI assistant before handing over to a human agent, plus a help centre at support.nordvpn.com. There is no phone line.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Full antivirus keeps working with the VPN off
• Strong, repeated AV-Comparatives anti-phishing results with zero false alarms
• Complete costs only US$27 (£20.26 / €24.05) more than Basic over 27 months
• Password manager and 1TB cloud storage included in Complete
• 10 devices and a 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

• Full malware protection is desktop only, and on Mac only outside the App Store
• No entry in AV-TEST’s or AV-Comparatives’ main malware-protection tests
• No firewall or parental controls listed
• Complete renews at US$219.48 (£164.70 / €195.47) a year
• Identity insurance in Prime is aimed at US residents

NordVPN Threat Protection vs Bitdefender vs Norton

Prices are from each brand’s official US store. Bitdefender and Norton list first-year prices; NordVPN’s is for a 27-month term.

	NordVPN Complete	Bitdefender Premium Security	Norton 360 Deluxe
Price	US$121.23 (£90.97 / €107.97) for 27 months	US$79.99 (£60.02 / €71.24) first year	US$119.99 (£90.04 / €106.86) for a 1-year plan
Devices	10	5 (individual)	5
VPN	Yes, unlimited	Yes, unlimited	Yes
Antivirus on Android and iOS	Lighter scam and phishing protection	Yes	Yes
AV-TEST, July to Aug 2026	Not tested	6/6/6, Top Product	6/6/6, Top Product
AV-Comparatives	Anti-phishing certified 2024, 2025, 2026	Top-Rated Product 2025	Top-Rated Product 2025
Money-back	30 days	30 days	60 days on annual plans

If you mainly want a VPN and would like something sensible guarding your downloads, NordVPN Complete is good value. If malware protection is the priority, particularly across phones and tablets, Bitdefender has the better lab record and a more complete suite. McAfee Total Protection and Malwarebytes Premium also scored full marks in AV-TEST’s latest Windows round, and McAfee’s suite includes a VPN. If the VPN is still the main purchase, compare NordVPN with Surfshark before you commit.

For readers who want privacy beyond the browser, our Proton Mail review covers encrypted email from a different angle.

NordVPN Threat Protection FAQs

Is there a NordVPN Threat Protection promo code?
No Promo Code is needed. The discount is applied automatically on NordVPN’s pricing page, with the 2-year Complete plan at US$4.49 a month (£3.37 / €4.00), up to 75% off.

What happened to Threat Protection Pro?
NordVPN rebuilt it as its next-gen antivirus. In the app it now appears as Scam, phishing, and malware protection, and it is included in the Complete and Prime plans.

Does NordVPN Threat Protection work without the VPN connected?
The full version does: it stays active regardless of VPN status. The lighter DNS-based protection needs an active VPN connection on desktop, but not on mobile phones.

Is NordVPN Threat Protection a real antivirus?
It scans and quarantines downloaded files and blocks malicious sites, so it covers the main ways malware arrives. It lacks a firewall and has not been through AV-TEST’s main malware-protection test, so many people will treat it as an extra layer rather than a full suite.

Does NordVPN Threat Protection work on Mac?
Yes, on macOS 12 Monterey or later, but only in the app downloaded from NordVPN’s website. The Mac App Store version gets the lighter protection.

Which NordVPN plan includes antivirus?
Complete and Prime. Basic includes only the DNS-level scam and phishing protection.

How did NordVPN do in AV-Comparatives tests?
It passed AV-Comparatives’ Anti-Phishing Certification in 2024, 2025 and 2026, detecting 96% of phishing URLs with no false alarms in the 2026 certification.

Is NordVPN Threat Protection better than Norton?
For phishing protection inside a VPN subscription, it holds its own. For all-round malware protection across phones, tablets and computers, Norton 360 and Bitdefender have fuller suites and top AV-TEST scores.

Can I get a refund on NordVPN Complete?
Yes. All plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase. Purchases made through Apple or Google must be refunded by those stores.

Verdict

NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus has grown into a credible extra. It keeps working when the VPN is off, it catches phishing pages as well as many dedicated security products, and on the 2-year plan it costs very little more than the VPN alone. For a freelancer with one laptop and a habit of opening attachments from strangers, Complete is a neat way to cover both jobs with one subscription.

It is not yet a full replacement for a dedicated suite. Malware protection is desktop only, the lab record is built mainly on phishing tests, and the renewal price is steep. Our view: buy it for the VPN, enjoy the antivirus as a strong bonus, and add a dedicated suite if you need protection across a family’s phones and tablets.

Browse more tools in our security hub or compare providers in our VPN rankings.

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