Does NordVPN have SOCKS5?

NordVPN does support Socks5 proxy on its network. You can use some of their servers as SOCKS5 proxies. Since not the whole NordVPN’s server network support’s proxy, you may need to contact their customer support team and inquire about the servers’ names that do support the Socks5 proxy.

Whether it be NordVPN or Socks5 proxy, both can work for you pretty well on any given day. That said, both of them do lack some things that the other one offers. For example, when talking about NordVPN, it is about flexibility. Socks5 proxy on the other hand can be used anytime, anywhere with any protocol, however, it lacks military-grade encryption.

In this guide, we’re going to look at NordVPN’s Socks5 feature in detail and tell you why you should use it. Also, Check out our recommended best VPN in 2023.

NordVPN and Socks5?

NordVPN has done something which many other VPN providers failed to do. That is – integrating the Socks5 proxy network with the VPN infrastructure. This feature will allow its users to control proxy service from well within the NordVPN application.

You will have to add a separate application or settings with other providers, allowing you to use Socks5 with the VPN tunnel. In the case of NordVPN, all the required settings are just one button away from the user.

As it has a large VPN server network consisting of over 5,200+ servers in about 59+ countries. There is a good chance that the number of servers that support Socks5 proxy is at least over a thousand. For more details, you can read our in-depth NordVPN review.

NordVPN application allows the users to set the extent they wish to use the Socks5 proxy. It offers three modes that control – how the Socks5 proxy service will behave during the VPN connection.

1. The first mode, “Maximum Security, ” disables the Socks5 proxy service’s full flexibility by encrypting the data completing.
2. The second mode, “Maximum Speed,” reduces the encryption around your data, but the encryption exists.
3. The third mode, “Best of both worlds,” takes the best parts of the two former modes and meshes them to create the best of both worlds.

With NordVPN, you can do something that is not possible with any other provider, you can use the Socks5 to whatever degree you want while remaining protected by NordVPN.

Socks5 – What is it?

Socks5, which stands for Socket Secure, is a network protocol that facilitates communication with servers through a firewall by routing network traffic to the actual server on behalf of a client. Socks5 is designed to route traffic generated by any protocol or program. The protocol was originally designed by David Koblas, a system administrator of MIPS Computer Systems, in 1992.

Socks5 is the most recently optimized version of Socks. It builds upon previous versions of the Socks protocol to offer advanced security through multiple authentication methods. This means that only authorized users can access Socks5 proxy servers.

Socks5 proxies offer more adaptability than other types of proxies while also offering greater security features. In cases where users aren’t primarily concerned with protecting their data with encryption, a Socks5 proxy may win over a VPN, as Socks5 proxies can function at greater speeds.

Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of the Socks5 proxy.

• Overcome Online Restrictions – With Socks5 masking your real IP address and location, you will be able to access the websites that were restricted to you.
• Extensible Online Traffic Compatibility – Socks5 proxy service can work with any program, protocol, and network. Unlike HTTP service, which works with either HTTPS or HTTP only.
• Better performance with fewer errors – As the Socks5 proxy service does not rewrite the data packet header, there is a minimal chance of data being mislabeled and misinterpret.

While Socks5 proxies do offer some similar benefits that of VPNs, they’re not a VPN replacement.

Socks5 proxy and NordVPN – Why should you use them together?

Let us see the reasons behind using NordVPN and Socks5 proxy together. Till now we have been looking at these two separately, but what if we use them together? What will happen if we combine them and let them cover each other lacking.

There are three reasons which make NordVPN the best VPN you can use for Socks5.

1. Speed and Privacy – NordVPN is renowned all around for its next-generated encryption techniques. Combine that with additional security features such as Internet Kill Switch, multiple different security protocols, and DNS leak protection; the Socks5 proxy service will surely get the push it needs to work faster.

With all the encryption techniques used by NordVPN, the data transfer rate gets a bit slow, which is where the Socks5 proxy comes in. To speed up the data and processes needed to protect the user’s information. This speed boost will also be effective if you try to stream geo-restricted streaming services such as Disney+ with NordVPN.

2. Servers – NordVPN has a huge server network that consists of 5,200+ servers in 59 countries. As the number of servers will expand in the future, the servers for streaming, torrenting, and, of course, Socks5 will also increase.

3. Customer Service – This is a neglected feature most of the time, but it is essential. When dealing with two different technologies, you will definitely want to receive fast, friendly, and cooperative support.Making it one of the best 24/7 Customer Support in USA

While there is no denying that for complete security and online anonymity, VPN is the best solution, when all that military-grade encryption is involved, the speed does tend to take a fall. On the other hand, while Socks5 proxy offers good speed for accessing unlimited geo-blocked content worldwide, anyone can hack your data due to its lack of encryption department.

The combination of NordVPN and Socks5 can also give you an edge in torrenting/file-sharing purposes. Although you can achieve stable and fast torrenting with NordVPN, with the introduction of Socks5, your P2P experience will only get better exponentially. In some cases, you may find an issue with your torrent client not loading the trackers, but it can be easily resolved with “port-forwarding” and disabling your torrent client’s “Rate Limit Settings.”

Free Socks5 proxy – Can you use it?

Yes, you can use a free Socks5 proxy service. But we do not recommend you to use them. There are two reasons behind our recommendation.

The first reason is that there is no way to confirm how legitimate the proxy service is. Usually, these free Socks5 proxy services do not provide full-featured services. In terms of speeds, they are no match for the paid ones like NordVPN.

The second reason is that these free Socks5 proxy services are known to sell their user’s private data and information to different third-party authorities. It is always a wise decision to trust your online privacy to a premium VPN provider, just like NordVPN, which has a clear no-log policy. Also, NordVPN’s logging policy is audited by third-party auditors so you don’t have to worry about your data getting exposed with NordVPN.

We do not recommend our readers to use free Socks5 proxy services due to the above two reasons.

Conclusion

To say that one is completely better than the other wouldn’t be justified. Both NordVPN and Socks5 proxy have their shortcomings. Still, by integrating Socks5 proxy features into NordVPN VPN infrastructure, you can enjoy the best of both worlds with NordVPN’s high-speed servers, stable connection, strong encryption, and guaranteed access to geographically restricted content.

NordVPN is the best choice if you wish to get unlimited access to different video-on-demand streaming services in HD quality. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee program if you do not find their performance satisfactory and offer the luxury to pay for every NordVPN subscription through PayPal.

NordVPN can also be easily configured on devices such as macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and Linux. Not only your everyday use devices are compatible, but devices that are a bit complicated for VPN configuration such as Kodi are very well configurable by NordVPN.