Introducing NymVPN – could this be the world's most secure VPN?

After months of beta testing, NymVPN has finally launched. It's billed as the world's first decentralized, noise-generating, mixnet VPN and can protect users from censorship and AI-driven tracking.

Developed by Swiss-based Nym Technologies, NymVPN aims to circumvent censorship, protect users against cyberattacks, and fill security gaps in VPN technology.

It is run by some of Europe's leading privacy researchers, engineers, and activists, including privacy advocate Chelsea Manning.

So how does NymVPN work and can it be a serious contender to the best VPN crown?

Anonymous mode for maximum anonymity

NymVPN argues that currently available VPN technology does not protect user metadata. Metadata can be analyzed to determine location, device and activity type, and intent. Hostile actors, utilising AI-driven tracking technology, can generate more value from metadata than analyzing specific user activity.

The VPN has two modes for protecting your online identity completely, while also providing flexible security levels and speeds.

The first, anonymous mode, results in class-leading metadata privacy and ensures anonymity for users by using a noise-generating mixnet. Metadata privacy includes securing information such as IP addresses, timestamps, and URLs.

Anonymous mode utilises the "Sphinx" encrypted routing protocol, which is designed to handle mixnet traffic and multi-layered encryption. Your data is protected with five layers of encryption and each of the five servers it travels through is only able to decrypt one of these layers.

NymVPN is a decentralized VPN (dVPN) which means there is no one "central point". In anonymous mode, your data is distributed and encrypted throughout different nodes and no one node can see all of this data – the Tor browser works in a similar way.

When we use the internet, our data travels in "packets" and NymVPN encrypts these packets in several layers before passing through the mixnet.

"Noise" is created by introducing dummy packets into the network. These dummy packets look just like real traffic packets and increase user anonymity.

Anonymized data packets from different users are then shuffled together by mix nodes to obscure communication patterns. The mixing also prevents timing surveillance as you cannot tell what time your data arrives and leaves a server.

The novel 5-hop routing procedure used in anonymous mode allows for highly private and anonymous online activity and makes NymVPN one of the most secure VPNs available right now.

Fast mode for everyday privacy

Fast mode is NymVPN's second offering. It uses the AmneziaWG protocol, which is a fork of WireGuard, and is designed for general internet browsing, streaming, and sharing.

It offers comparable speeds and higher levels of security than many other VPNs by routing traffic through two independent servers. It operates a 2-hop setup by default and "tunnel in a tunnel" encryption for added privacy.

NymVPN has upgraded AmneziaWG to improve its line of defense against deep packet inspection (DPI) – a common technique used to block VPN use – and this marks the first step in NymVPN's roadmap to implement censorship resistant technology.

Keeping your identity hidden

NymVPN features no logging by design as no single entity in the decentralized network can access your entire traffic route. Nobody, including NymVPN, can trace online activity back to a single user and NymVPN has no access to your traffic records.

The NymVPN network is run by individuals all over the world and are independently owned and operated. Network operators are incentivized to provide a quality service through the NYM tokenomics program. The more people who pay to use the mixnet, the more the operators are rewarded and the private and efficient the network becomes.

Zero-knowledge proofs (zk-nyms) enable users to verify payment and account usage without revealing their identity. Secure and anonymous transactions are possible and all payments will be automatically converted to NYM tokens to provide anonymous access credentials while using the app and support the NYM tokenomics ecosystem.

NymVPN's features

Alongside choosing which mode you route your traffic through, NymVPN allows you to select the locations you wish to enter and exit the NymVPN network from.

Currently over 50 locations are covered by entry/exit gateways, with over 750 nodes located in 80+ locations worldwide.

The Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania all feature a decent number of nodes, but the numbers in Africa are notably low.

At the time of writing, we haven't had the chance to test NymVPN's unblocking, streaming, and speed capabilities. We can't see any reason it would struggle accessing blocked content and we look forward to comparing it against the fastest VPNs and best streaming VPNs – although these are not NymVPN's primary focus.

There's a kill switch and censorship resistant technology is already being implemented into NymVPN, with more expected in 2025. Post-quantum encryption and split tunneling are two other features expected in the near future.

NymVPN's code is open source and its network security was audited by Cure53 in July 2024 – adding weight to its security claims.

All major platforms support NymVPN and you can protect up to 10 devices on one plan. The mobile app for Android and iOS can be downloaded now from the Google Play and App Stores. Desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux can be downloaded from the NymVPN website.

As with most existing VPNs, NymVPN offers two year, one year, and one month plans. The two year plan equates to $5.19 per month ($124.56 up front) and the one year plan works out at $6.99 per month ($83.88 up front).

If you only desire one month of protection, this will cost $12.99. All NymVPN plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee enabling you to try it out before committing to your purchase.

"Nym was created with the core principle that secure, private, and uncensored access to the Internet is as fundamental and essential as access to clean water and electricity," said Harry Halpin, CEO of Nym Technologies.

"NymVPN marks the split between Big Tech’s exploitative control of the internet with a new vision – one where privacy is a right, not a privilege. Our technology was built with the support of the original ‘cypherpunks’ and the world’s top cryptographers to defeat even government-level mass surveillance – it’s a new innovation to increase freedom, not control."

"NymVPN is not just the world’s most private VPN, but NymVPN is available to anyone, anywhere in the world, at a price lower than less secure VPNs," Halpin added.