Does Norton VPN Keep Logs? What It Collects in 2026

Short answer: Norton VPN does not log your browsing history, DNS queries or your real IP address, according to its own policy and two privacy assessments by the security firm VerSprite. It does keep some data, though, including how many times you connect each day and app metadata, for up to 18 months. Whether that counts as “no logs” depends on what you’re protecting yourself from.

What Norton VPN says it doesn’t log

Norton’s no-log policy page is short and fairly clear. It says Norton VPN does not keep:

• your browsing history or the websites you visit
• the apps you use or the files you download
• any personal information linked to your browsing activity

Its quarterly transparency report adds DNS queries and originating IP addresses to that list. For the April to June 2026 period, Norton says it received 25 warrants, search orders or subpoenas and no National Security Letters, and repeats that browsing data “cannot be provided simply because it does not exist.”

That’s the right language. It’s also exactly what every VPN says, which is why the next part matters more.

What Norton VPN does keep

This is the part most “Norton VPN review” pages skip. In October 2025 Norton tightened its policy after its second VerSprite assessment, and the changes tell you what it was collecting before and what it still collects now. As TechRadar reported:

• Connection timestamps were removed. Norton now only stores the number of connections you make in a 24-hour period, not when they happened or how long they lasted.
• Connection events are kept for 12 months, down from 24.
• App metadata is kept for 18 months, down from 36.
• Your email address, which Norton needs to create your account.

None of that reveals what you did online. But a daily connection count tied to your account is still a record that you used the VPN, on which days, and roughly how heavily. Providers such as Mullvad, which doesn’t even ask for an email, keep less. NordVPN and Proton VPN, the two top scorers in our database, both pair audited no-logs policies with RAM-only servers.

Why keep a daily connection count at all? VPN companies usually say they need some usage data to enforce device limits, spot abuse and plan server capacity. That’s a reasonable business need. The question for you is whether that data is tied to your account, and for how long. With Norton, the answer is yes, and up to 12 to 18 months depending on the category. With the strictest providers, it’s either not collected or only kept in aggregate.

The VerSprite assessments: what was actually checked

Norton has published two Technical Privacy Impact Assessments by VerSprite, an independent security firm: an attestation letter from August 2024 and a fuller assessment in 2025.

The 2025 testing ran from June 9 to June 27, 2025, with a validation retest on August 25 and 26, according to Tom’s Guide. VerSprite looked at the server infrastructure, deployment scripts, log retention settings and edge servers. Its conclusion: no browsing history, DNS requests or user IP addresses were stored, and the privacy impact rating was “None,” the best possible result.

One detail is worth more than the headline. In its first pass, VerSprite found that under certain rare error conditions, the VPN client’s IP address could end up in a log. Norton fixed it before the retest. That’s a good outcome, and honestly it’s also the best argument for audits: the bug existed, nobody outside the company knew, and an outside firm caught it.

Norton also had its Mimic obfuscation protocol assessed in November 2025, which we covered in Norton’s Mimic protocol audit.

How Norton scores in our database

Here’s where we need to be transparent. Our comparison database, which feeds the scores on this site, currently gives Norton Secure VPN (the name it still carries in our data) 2/5 on the no-logs criterion. It records no independent audit and no explicit no-logs claim in the terms of service. The VerSprite assessments above are not yet reflected in that score. We’re linking them so you can judge for yourself, and we’ll revisit the rating at our next data review.

The rest of Norton’s profile from our database:

Even if the no-logs score went up, Norton would still be held back by things an audit doesn’t fix: a US jurisdiction, disk-based servers, a weak RSA-1024 handshake, and only 31 server countries.

The jurisdiction question

Norton is owned by Gen Digital, the US company formerly called NortonLifeLock, which was spun out of Symantec. A US company can be served with warrants and subpoenas, and Norton’s own transparency report shows it receives them regularly. If the data doesn’t exist, there’s nothing to hand over. But US law also allows gag orders that stop a company from saying it received a request, which is why we score US jurisdiction 3/5 rather than lower or higher.

For everyday privacy, for example stopping your ISP or a hotel network from seeing your traffic, this barely matters. For journalists, activists or anyone with a reason to worry about legal pressure, it’s a real factor.

Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.

RAM-only servers: the missing piece

The strongest no-logs setups combine a policy, an audit and infrastructure that physically can’t keep data. That last part means RAM-only servers, which wipe everything on reboot. Our database lists Norton with no RAM-only servers (0/5). An audit can confirm that logging is switched off on the day it’s checked. RAM-only hardware makes it much harder to switch it back on by accident, or by order.

If you want to check any provider’s claims yourself, our guide How to verify a VPN’s no-logs policy walks through what to look for in audit reports.

How Norton compares with other security-suite VPNs

Norton isn’t the only antivirus brand selling a VPN, and most of these bundled VPNs share the same weaknesses. Here’s how they score in our database:

Norton sits in the middle of this group. What separates it is that it has published outside assessments of its logging at all, which most security-suite VPNs haven’t. None of them run RAM-only servers in our data, and none come close to the dedicated VPN providers at the top of our table.

Is Norton VPN safe to use?

For the people who usually buy it, yes. Most Norton VPN users get it bundled with Norton 360 and want protection on public Wi-Fi. For that job, an assessed no-browsing-logs policy, solid leak protection (4/5) and 24/7 support (5/5) are enough.

It’s a weaker choice if:

• you want the strongest possible privacy guarantees
• you stream a lot (3/5 on our streaming criterion)
• you travel to countries where you’ll need servers outside its 31

Better options if logs are your main worry

If you’re choosing a VPN specifically for its no-logs credentials, two providers in our database tick every box: audited no-logs, RAM-only servers and a privacy-friendly jurisdiction.

NordVPN scores 4.63/5 overall, is based in Panama, runs RAM-only servers and has a PwC-audited no-logs policy. Proton VPN scores 4.24/5, is based in Switzerland, also runs RAM-only servers and has a free plan you can test before paying. Our list of the best audited no-logs VPNs covers the rest.