Is NordVPN Free? Free Trial and 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee (2026)

01Is NordVPN free?

No. NordVPN has no free version of the kind Proton VPN offers. The App Store listing says it plainly: “Users must buy a subscription to be able to use the app” (App Store). If you type nordvpn.com/free-vpn into your browser, you’re redirected to the home page.

02NordVPN free trial: 7 days, but not in the Czech Republic or Slovakia

NordVPN does have a 7-day free trial, but only in 15 countries: France, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy and Poland. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are not on the list (NordVPN Help Center).

Even where it is available, there are conditions. It is for new customers only and applies just to 1-year and 2-year plans on the top tier. You have to enter a credit card or PayPal, and if you don’t cancel within seven days, the paid plan starts at the price you saw when you signed up. NordVPN emails you a reminder first. You cancel the trial in your Nord Account under Billing.

03NordVPN Android free trial: 3 days through Google Play

For anyone in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, the only real free trial is the one on Google Play. According to NordVPN’s Help Center, it is open to first-time Android users who download the app from Google Play and lasts 3 days. It is limited to one per customer and is unavailable only in Bangladesh, India, South Korea and Sri Lanka (NordVPN Help Center). The Google Play listing only says “Free trial for new users” and gives no length (Google Play). Seven days applies only to the website trial; for Android, NordVPN’s Help Center says three days as of October 18, 2026.

The trial is run by Google Play, not NordVPN. Under Nord Security’s terms of service, a paid subscription starts automatically when the trial ends, and you are charged the price in effect at that point. You have to cancel through whoever provided the trial, in this case Google Play (Nord Security terms). The Google Play website doesn’t say which plan starts after three days or at what price, so check the offer on your phone carefully before you confirm.

1. Download NordVPN from Google Play and pick the offer with the free trial in the app. Read carefully which plan starts afterwards and what it costs.
2. Confirm the purchase in Google Play. Google Play handles both the payment and the trial.
3. Set a reminder right away for the second day. You need to cancel before the end of day three.
4. Cancel in Google Play, not by deleting the app. Open Subscriptions in Google Play, choose NordVPN and tap Cancel subscription.

Google points out that uninstalling the app does not cancel your subscription. After you cancel, you keep access until the end of the period that has already started (Google Play Help). If you do get charged, you can ask NordVPN support for a refund under the 30-day guarantee, and within 48 hours of the payment you can also request one directly in Google Play (NordVPN Help Center).

04Is there a free trial on iPhone? No

NordVPN offers no free trial on the App Store. The in-app purchases on the Czech store list a monthly subscription at CZK 329 to 349 and a yearly one at CZK 2,290 or 2,690 (App Store). On the Slovak store, a month costs €11.99 to €14.99 (App Store). And since the 7-day website trial isn’t offered in either country, iPhone users have no free option.

Refunds work differently here. NordVPN can’t refund App Store purchases; Apple decides (NordVPN Help Center). You request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com and should hear back in about 24 to 48 hours (Apple Support). A refund isn’t guaranteed. If you want the certainty of NordVPN’s 30-day guarantee, buy on the NordVPN website and simply log in on your iPhone. To cancel an App Store subscription, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions (Apple Support).

05How NordVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee works

In practice, the 30-day guarantee is the most reliable way to try NordVPN. It covers every plan bought on the website, including the monthly one (NordVPN), and you don’t need a special reason. NordVPN only asks that your account is “in good standing,” meaning you haven’t broken its rules (NordVPN). Buy on October 18 and the guarantee page tells you to cancel before November 17.

The fine print to know before you buy

• First purchase only. The guarantee covers your initial subscription. Once it renews, it is no longer refundable under this policy, unless local law says otherwise (Help Center).
• Once only. If you get a refund and buy NordVPN again later, the guarantee doesn’t apply to the new purchase (terms).
• Refunds go back to the original payment method. Prepaid and gift cards may not be refunded if the card provider doesn’t support it.
• A refund ends your subscription. Once NordVPN issues it, the contract ends and you lose access.
• Store purchases follow store rules. Apple handles App Store refunds; for Google Play you can go through NordVPN support or Google Play; purchases from retailers (an activation code, for example) are handled by the retailer.
• If you break the rules, NordVPN reserves the right not to refund you (terms).

On top of the guarantee, you have 14 days to withdraw from a contract made online. In the Czech Republic this is section 1829 of the Civil Code, and if you asked the service to start straight away, you pay for the time you used (section 1834) (Czech Civil Code). In Slovakia it is section 20 of Act No. 108/2024, and you lose the right if you agreed to an immediate start and the service has been provided in full (section 19) (Slovak Consumer Protection Act). NordVPN’s own guarantee is the better deal: it lasts longer and refunds the full amount.

06How to get a NordVPN refund, step by step

1. Open the support chat on support.nordvpn.com and say you want a refund. An automated assistant answers first and hands you over to an agent if it can’t help.
2. Open the link support sends you and verify that it’s your account.
3. Click Refund next to the payment. The button only appears on payments the guarantee covers.
4. Choose a reason and click Submit and Continue.
5. Confirm with Refund on the summary screen. You get an email confirming the refund has been ordered, and the payment status changes to Refund Processing.
6. Wait for the money. Processing takes up to 4 hours, the status changes to Refunded, and depending on your payment method, the money reaches your account within 10 business days.

Steps from NordVPN’s Help Center (refunds, support). The chat runs 24/7; NordVPN has no phone support. If you don’t see a Refund button, it’s usually because more than 30 days have passed, you’ve already had a refund, or the payment is a renewal. If you believe the automated system got it wrong and you’re entitled to a refund under the law, write to the chat again and NordVPN will review your case. If the money hasn’t arrived after 10 business days, contact support again.

What happens to auto-renewal

After a refund, the subscription ends, so nothing renews. If you keep NordVPN, it renews automatically. The 2-year Basic plan renews after the first 27 months at €139.08 a year before VAT, or €168.29 with 21% Czech VAT (about CZK 4,094) (NordVPN). If the renewal price changes, NordVPN emails you before renewal (Help Center). To turn off auto-renewal, go to Billing in your Nord Account, click Cancel next to auto-renewal, and you’ll get a confirmation email (Help Center). Note that turning off auto-renewal doesn’t refund anything by itself; it only stops future charges.

07How to try NordVPN for free, legitimately: buy and get a refund

If you don’t use Android, or three days aren’t enough, the remaining option is to buy a plan and request a refund within 30 days. You pay upfront but get the full amount back. Website prices are shown before VAT; if you buy from the Czech Republic, 21% VAT is added at checkout. You pay in euros, so the amount your bank charges and refunds in koruna depends on its exchange rate.

For a trial, the monthly Basic plan makes the most sense: you risk the least and get the same VPN as on the pricier plans. If you already know you want NordVPN, go straight for the 2-year plan. It works out at €3.49 a month before VAT, and the guarantee covers it just the same. Per month, the 2-year Basic plan is 77% cheaper than the monthly plan, which is where the number on our button comes from. NordVPN itself advertises 69% off the 2-year Basic plan (up to 75% on pricier plans), but it measures the discount against the renewal price.

Note down the purchase date and set a reminder a few days before the deadline, say on day 25. During the trial, test what you’re buying a VPN for: hotel or office Wi-Fi, streaming, speed on your own connection. How NordVPN did in independent tests is summed up in our review.

Try NordVPN: 77% off + 3 months free

08Cracked, shared or bought NordVPN accounts: why they’re a bad idea

You’ll find sites promising free NordVPN: account generators, cracked apps, or cheap second-hand “premium accounts” that people look for on marketplaces such as G2G and Z2U. NordVPN warns directly that many of these sites are malicious. Use one and your account could be hacked or your personal data stolen, and since you are breaking the terms of service, NordVPN can suspend the account at any time (Help Center). According to NordVPN, cracked versions and unofficial key generators often contain malware or adware (Help Center).

• A crack is software from an unknown source that you are handing all your traffic to, when the whole point of a VPN is to protect it.
• A bought or shared account isn’t yours. The terms forbid selling, transferring or making an account available to anyone else (terms). The seller knows the password and can change it at any time, and NordVPN can suspend the account.
• The account holder is responsible for everything done on the account (terms). On a shared account, you don’t know what others are doing with it, and the limit of 10 devices at once fills up fast (Help Center).
• Only buy activation codes from official or authorized retailers, as NordVPN itself recommends (Help Center).

Existing customers have one more legitimate way to get free time: refer a friend and you get a month of NordVPN free (Help Center).

09A free alternative to NordVPN

If you don’t want to pay for a VPN at all, use the free version of a trustworthy service rather than an unknown app. In our comparison, the best is Proton VPN Free: no data cap, no ads, based in Switzerland, with its no-logs policy audited every year. The limits are clear: one device, 10 countries picked by the app, and no streaming. If you need more devices, Windscribe gives you 10 GB a month free with a verified email.

A free VPN is fine for the occasional public Wi-Fi connection or for travel. If you want to stream without a data cap, fully protect lots of devices or choose specific servers across the whole network, a paid service is worth it. All the free VPNs you can trust, and the ones to avoid, are in our Best free VPN 2026 guide. How the paid NordVPN compares with Proton VPN is covered in NordVPN vs Proton VPN.

10When a NordVPN trial is worth it

NordVPN is one of the fastest and most thoroughly audited VPNs, but also one of the priciest, especially after renewal. A trial makes sense when you need more than a free VPN offers: obfuscation for networks that block VPNs, a dedicated IP address (a paid add-on) or reliable streaming. Before deciding, compare NordVPN with Surfshark, ExpressVPN and CyberGhost, which gives you 45 days on plans of 6 months or longer. Our best VPNs of 2026 guide covers fourteen services.

Try NordVPN: 77% off + 3 months free

11FAQ

12Bottom line

NordVPN isn’t free, and the 7-day free trial doesn’t cover the Czech Republic or Slovakia. You can try it without paying only on Android, and only for three days. For everyone else, there’s the 30-day guarantee: buy the monthly Basic plan, try it, and if it isn’t for you, ask for a refund in the chat. Keep an eye on the deadline, and remember the guarantee works only once and only on your first purchase.

A well-designed trial and clear terms matter for your customers too. If you’re planning a website or app with subscriptions, see how we build custom websites, what it costs and how we work.

13Sources

• NordVPN: pricing
• NordVPN: money-back guarantee
• Nord Security: terms of service
• NordVPN Help Center: free trial
• NordVPN Help Center: refund policy
• NordVPN Help Center: renewal price
• NordVPN Help Center: canceling auto-renewal
• NordVPN Help Center: plans and payment
• NordVPN Help Center: discounts and referrals
• NordVPN Help Center: customer support
• NordVPN Help Center: account generators
• NordVPN Help Center: activation codes and cracks
• NordVPN Help Center: device limit
• Google Play: NordVPN
• Google Play Help: canceling a subscription
• App Store (Czechia): NordVPN
• App Store (Slovakia): NordVPN
• Apple Support: cancel a subscription
• Apple Support: request a refund
• Czech Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012)
• Slovak Consumer Protection Act (No. 108/2024)
• Czech National Bank: exchange rates

Prices and terms as of October 18, 2026. Prices with VAT and in koruna are our own calculations (Czech National Bank rate of CZK 24.325 per euro, October 16, 2026).