NordVPN offers FREE VPN subscription for 6 months in fresh blockbuster deal

Of course, you can also choose to apply the six months to your own contract — extending it by half a year at no cost.

To unlock the maximum discount and free subscription, you'll need to subscribe to NordVPN's two-year plan.

If you’ve not used the brand before and are concerned about the commitment of a two-year plan, NordVPN offers a 30-day no-quibbles money-back guarantee on all subscriptions.

That means you can treat the first month of your subscription like a free trial and walk away without spending a penny if you're not happy with the VPN service. If you stick around, you'll get 27-months at a huge discount.

NordVPN works across a dizzying number of platforms, including Android, iPhone, iPad, Fire TV Stick, Windows, Linux, Mac, Google Chrome, and dozens more.

With a single subscription, you'll have access to its complete line-up of browser extensions, desktop and mobile apps.

The launch of the NordVPN giveaway comes a few months after the company, which is an official shirt sponsor for Atlético de Madrid, announced upgrades for all customers. It has increased the number of simultaneous connections from 6 to 10.

That means you can run NordVPN across 10 devices with a single subscription.

That puts it ahead of the closest competition, ExpressVPN, which increased its number of simultaneous connections to 8 devices at the end of last year. However, rival Surfshark VPN offers an unlimited number of connections.

NordVPN has also increased the number of countries with its secure VPN servers from 60 to 83. In the coming months, the VPN brand aims to have over 100 supported countries. You'll get unlimited bandwidth as standard with NordVPN, which makes it ideal for streaming video and gaming.

NordVPN offers free tiers: Standard, Plus, and Ultimate.

All of these plans unlock access to its award-winning Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, ad blocker, and malware protection.

Upgrading to Plus or Ultimate will include its password manager NordPass, which encrypts and stores your login details for every website or online service. It can create unique alpha-numeric passwords, which are synced across your devices, so you'll be able to login with a tap.

NordPass also warns about any data breaches that might impact your personal information, which is especially handy given the unprecedented leaks that have already taken place this year.

Finally, Ultimate is the only subscription that also bundles 1TB of encrypted cloud storage for your files, photos, and backups, known as NordLocker.

What is a VPN?

For those who don’t know, Virtual Private Networks, more often referred to simply as VPNs, create a tunnel for everything you do online, shielding your website history and personal information from prying eyes. Since anything routed through this tunnel is encrypted, it’s impossible for your broadband provider, advertisers, or hackers to keep tabs on what you’re doing.

This unlocks a number of perks. For example, if your broadband supplier restricts your download speeds for certain types of traffic (online gaming, streaming video at peak time), then encrypting everything you're doing online will mean it's impossible for them to impose these limits on you. It also means advertisers won't be able to track your activity to target you with eerily-accurate ads.

It’s the reason that employers usually insist that you switch on a VPN when working remotely on a company laptop. But VPN providers, like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark and others, offer that same enterprise-level protection to your personal devices and web browsing.

Without a VPN, security experts compare browsing online to sending a postcard – your message is easily visible as it passes through the system to get to the intended recipient.

But by switching on a VPN before you do anything, you’re adding a (metaphorical) envelope to that postcard, keeping everything shielded from view until it lands in the right hands. NordVPN uses A-256 encryption for everything you do, keeping everything safe from prying eyes.

But using a VPN isn’t just about privacy and protection.

Whenever your devices connect to the internet, it's assigned an IP address, which includes information like the name of your broadband supplier and a rough approximation of your location.

This is what enables websites to find the takeaways or stores nearest to your current location. If you're not using a VPN, any website can determine your current location — as demonstrated with this creepy demo on the NordVPN website.

Several streaming services use this location data to adjust the library of titles available to you (usually based on the licencing deals struck in each country) or block its service entirely.

VPNs allow you to manually change your IP address by routing your traffic via one of thousands of server locations scattered around the globe. This can change the films, documentaries, and shows available to watch on your Netflix or Prime Video app. It can also unblock the likes of Hulu, Max (née HBO Max), Sky Go, ITVX, and BBC iPlayer when travelling.

You’ll just need to check the small-print of each streamer to make sure you’re not breaking the rules by spoofing your location to unlock more shows to watch.

NordVPN is one of a number of critically lauded Virtual Private Network providers operating in the UK. Google and Apple also offer some limited VPN features with paid subscriptions.