This article is available in French, German, Dutch, Italian, Indonesian, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.
Why set up a VPN over your router?
Setting up a router with a VPN connection can be convenient if you have a lot of devices you want to protect. It’s also useful if you have devices that do not support VPN settings directly.
Wondering what router to purchase for use with NordVPN? Then click here to look through a number of router recommendations we prepared. These are best in both performance and security.
Setup tutorials for supported routers and firmware:
- ASUS WRT (native firmware)
- ASUS Merlin
- DD-WRT
- Gl.iNET
- Mikrotik
- NetDUMA
- OPNsense
- OpenWRT
- Padavan
- Sabai
- Tomato
- pfSense
- DrayTek
- EdgeRouter
Please note that since December 1st, 2018, NordVPN no longer supports L2TP/IPsec and PPTP connections. That means some routers no longer support secure VPN connections. You can read more about that by clicking here.
Not sure if your router is supported and/or can't find it on the list above?
Then let's find out whether or not it's compatible. Before proceeding, it would be best to first check our list of unsupported routers.
When you're done, you'll need to find the user manual that came with your router. If you do not have it around, don't worry: it can usually be found on the manufacturer's website. Within the user manual, search for any mentionings of OpenVPN support. It should be specified whether the router supports OpenVPN server, client, or both. To be able to set up the VPN, the router must support the OpenVPN client, be it with the server option or without.
As long as you have this feature, and none of the tutorials seem to be relevant, be sure to contact our support team who will gladly assist you with the setup!
In the case that you were not able to find anything on OpenVPN within the manual, it is likely that the router will not be supported. However, you can always double-check by calling your retailer and asking about OpenVPN client support.
Please keep in mind: most ISP-issued routers do not support VPN configurations. Additionally, If the router lists a protocol supported in the "pass-through" mode, it will most likely not work. "Pass-through" simply means that the router does not block VPN connections from devices connected to it. However, that does not say whether you can configure the router itself.
Tip: Don't forget to use a strong password on your router, as it will help you to avoid uninvited guests on your network. As generating and remembering strong and secure passwords is not an easy task, we recommend to downloading our free password manager — NordPass. It generates secure passwords for you and stores them safely, letting you avoid time-wasting password resets in the future.
