Choosing a VPN can be tough task. With all of the options out there, how are you supposed to know which one to trust to give you the best experience and privacy there is to offer?
Today we’ll be comparing some of the older and more well-known VPN services out there, Private Internet Access and IPVanish. Both of these services have been around for some time, they’re fairly popular services and for good reason. But which one of them is the best?
Before we get into the best VPN out of these two, it’s important that you know what a VPN is in the first place. That way you can better make an educated guess when it comes time to subscribe to one.
What VPNs Do & Why You Should Get One?
When you use the internet regularly, you’re putting yourself at some amount of risk.
This is because every time you access the web, you’re putting your valuable information out there. Whether you’re entering your payment information to a website or logging into Facebook, it all gets sent through the web.
The thing is, it doesn’t take too much knowhow to get some of that information. Things like your IP, user data, and location are pretty easy to access once you learn how to do it.
This leaves a big hole open for people like hackers to steal your sensitive data and do as they please.
And even if you’re betting that a hacker won’t target you, there’s still someone who can see all of your traffic on the internet, your ISP.
Everything you do on the web is sent through your internet service provider, and when that information gets sent through, they’re able to access all of it. After they have this info, they’ll often sell your usage data to whoever offers the highest price, and it’s completely legal.
If you’re someone who’d rather keep their information private, then a VPN might be just the thing for you. A VPN, or virtual private network, is a service that allows you to protect yourself and your data when using the web by adding various layers of protection.
You can think of your internet connection as a highway. And your ISP can see all the traffic running along that road.
What a VPN does is put a cover over that roadway. They act as a middleman between you and your ISP, as well as anyone else trying to peer at your information. Anyone can see that you’re using one, but that’s about where it ends because there’s not really a way to see straight through the barrier a VPN creates.
The VPN does this by encrypting your information, making it impossible to read while it’s en route.
There are plenty of reasons you might want to do this.
One is the aforementioned safety concerns that using the internet unprotected can bring. As there are many people out there who might not have the best intentions with your information.
But there are other uses for VPNs as well.
For one, it masks your online location, and many allow you to set a custom location yourself. This means you can gain access to geo-restricted content. Want access to the UK version of Netflix? No problem.
Another valuable use for a VPN is for those in countries with heavy censorship or web restrictions, as the VPN will allow them to access previously blocked sites.
So how do you go about choosing the best VPN?
There are a few big things to consider, as well as some smaller, quality-of-life features that are nice to have in a VPN as well.
The big ones for VPNs are their policies on user privacy and security.
Since one of the biggest reasons for investing in a VPN is the privacy they bring, it may be a good idea to invest in one that will actually protect your information.
So how do IPVanish and Private Internet Access stack up when it comes to who the best VPN is?
About IPVanish
IPVanish is a VPN service run by Mudhook Media Inc, a company based out of the US. The service originally launched in 2012 and has been going strong since.
About PIA
We’ve all heard their slogan. “Don’t let the past haunt you.” One of the original VPNs available in the mainstream, Private Internet Access, or PIA, was launched in 2010 by London Trust Media. The service is based out of the US as well.
Servers & Performance
The server amount and location is pretty important when it comes to VPNs. This is because a nearby server means you’re more likely to have faster speeds when using the VPN.
If you use a VPN without a wide server spread, you’re likely to have to settle for subpar speeds if you aren’t near any of their existing servers.
IPVanish servers
IPVanish has over 1300 servers spread across more than 59 countries, so you’ll probably never be far from one of their server locations.
The speeds you can expect from IPVanish are great too, they’re one of the fastest VPNs on the market right now.
PIA servers
While they used to only have servers in 10 main countries, Private Internet Access now makes use of almost 4000 servers in 32 countries. Again, you’re probably never far from a server location when using PIA.
PIA’s speeds are also extremely competitive too, especially when you consider the price for the service.
Servers & Performance — The Winner:
For servers and performance, there isn’t really a clear winner here. While IPVanish may have a better spread, they actually have fewer servers than PIA.
As for speeds, the services actually come out pretty close, so this section is a tie for PIA and IPVanish.
VPN pricing comparison
IPVanish pricing
When choosing IPVanish, you’ll be greeted with 3 options for payment.
The first option is a monthly plan, this plan will cost you $10 per month, which is pretty good as far as monthly plans for VPNs go.
The second plan is payment on a quarterly basis. If you go with quarterly, you’ll be charged $8.99 per month or a total of $26.99 every three months.
The last, and best-priced, plan is IPVanish’s annual one. The annual plan will cost you $6.49 per month, or a total of $77.99 at the end of the year.
PIA pricing
Private Internet Access also comes with three options, the only difference between each of them is how often you pay.
The first option is their monthly plan, which will net you $6.95 per month.
The second is a 6-month subscription plan. The 6-month plan will cost $5.99 per month, totaling $35.95 per cycle.
The last plan for PIA is n annual plan too. PIA’s annual plan costs only $3.33 per month. That means you’ll only be paying $39.95 per year.
Pricing — The Winner:
When it comes to pricing, there’s a very definitive winner here: Private Internet Access. Their prices are better than IPVanishes regardless of which plan you pick.
VPN Features comparison
IPVanish features
– 10 Simultaneous Connections – The great thing about IPVanishis that this VPN provider allows up to 10 simultaneous connections to the service with any supported devices
– P2P Support – Torrenting and P2P downloads are supported by IPVanish, so torrenting shouldn’t be a problem when using the service
– Unlimited bandwidth – With unlimited bandwidth you will never have to put a limit on the amount of data that is transferred nor will your network connection be throttled.
– Zero traffic logs – Your metadata about your VPN session will never be stored with IPVanish.
– Unlimited server switching – This is an awesome feature that will easily allow you to switch to another server in the private network. With IPVanish you will be able to switch servers as often as you desire.
– Censorship filters
– 256-bit AES encryption
– IKEv2, OpenVPN, and L2TP/IPsec VPN protocols
– 40,000+ shared IPs, 1,300+ VPN servers in 75+ locations
PIA features
– 10 Simultaneous Connections – Similar to IPVanish, PIA allows their customers to easily connect to up to 10 supported devices at once.
– Kill Switch – PIA comes with a built-in kill switch that will cut off your internet access should the service stop working correctly. This is to ensure that none of your sensitive information gets leaked because of a fault in the program.
– Adjustable Encryption Strength – PIA allows you to set your own level of encryption. This means that you can set your encryption level for your needs exactly without sacrificing performance unnecessarily
– Ad Blocking – PIA makes sure to block ads, trackers, and malware to ensure the best experience while browsing
– P2P Support – PIA also supports the use of P2P services, so you’re able to torrent under the protection of a VPN.
– Multiple VPN Gateways
– SOCKS5 Proxy
– Instant Setup
– DD-WRT VPN Compatible
Features — The Winner:
The winner for this section is Private Internet Access. While the features that IPVanish comes with are appreciated, PIA just comes with the same features that IPVanish does and then some.
While features like ad-blocking and a kill switch aren’t the biggest necessities, they’re nice to
Have.
Ease of Use
While both of these apps are very different from each other, they’re both fairly easy to use. Neither one of them makes it difficult to navigate around. Making use of the various features on offer should be pretty easy no matter how familiar with VPNs you are.
Ease of Use — The Winner:
When comparing how accessible these VPNs are, they come out in a tie. Neither one of them really has the advantage here.
Security & Privacy comparison
IPVanish security
IPVanish is based in the USA, and while that may not be the best country in terms of privacy laws, it’s also far from the worst as the US doesn’t require companies to keep customer data logs.
IPVanish takes full advantage of this by upholding a no data-logging policy. You can also pay for the service via privacy-friendly methods like gift cards and Bitcoin in order to add an extra level of privacy.
As for security, IPVanish boasts industry-standard, AES-256 encryption methods. This is an extremely safe way to encrypt data, and you can probably bet than any would-be hacker isn’t going to be getting directly through the encryption itself.
PIA security
PIA is in a similar situation to IPVanish, they’re based in the US, keep zero data logs on customers, and allow the use of privacy-friendly payment methods.
Private Internet Access also comes with the same level of encryption, though you can adjust this to become more or less secure depending on your needs.
The other big difference between PIA and IPVanish is that PIA comes with a kill switch built-in. This ensures your data doesn’t get leaked in the event that the VPN stops working.
Security & Privacy — The Winner:
Private Internet Access comes out barely on top in this section.
While both services offer very similar packages in terms of the security you’ll be getting, the kill switch and encryption adjustability that comes with PIA adds just a little bit of extra protection in the event of a faulty program.
Refund Policies
Both IPVanish and PIA come with 7-day money-back guarantees.
These are far from the best refund policies when it comes to VPNs, but they do give enough of a feel for the service to decide whether or not you enjoy it enough to subscribe.
Customer Support
IPVanish customer support
IPVanish has a useful help section on their website, and they have email support should you have any technical issues with the service. They also have a 24/7 live support chat for when you need a quick and easy fix to your issue.
PIA customer support
PIA also has a help section on their website as well as email support. But they don’t have any sort of live chat.
While it’s unfortunate that they don’t have any live chat, they are usually very quick to reply to tickets through their support section.
Customer Support — The Winner:
IPVanish comes out on top for this one. Both services have knowledge bases available on their websites, as well as ticket support systems, but IPVanish has the 24/7 live chat to give it the edge.
Bottom Line
Overall this was a very close VPN comparison. Both of these services are great choices, but we’re going to go with Private Internet Access as the winner.
While most of these comparisons have come very close, PIA manages to barely stay ahead of IPVanish in a few categories, namely Pricing and Features.
That’s not to say that IPVanish is bad by any means, either one of these VPNs are great at what they do.
If you’d like to try out either of these VPNs, go ahead and use the links below:
Try PIA here: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/
Or you could give IPVanish a spin yourself: https://www.ipvanish.com/
