Private Internet Access vs IPVanish VPN 2024

James Everard

Senior Writer

Choosing between these US-based VPN giants may be tricky since they have some similarities — for instance, both are fast and optimized for streaming. Plus, IPVanish and Private Internet Access (PIA) each support unlimited devices and offer affordable prices considering their quality. But there is a gulf between them once you explore each service’s customizable options.

IPVanish offers all the essentials in terms of functionality and security, but its features are somewhat limited. However, PIA stands out as one of the most feature-rich services I’ve ever tested. Its Settings menu reveals a treasure chest of customizable settings, while it can also cater to any level of technical preference.

If you want to see it for yourself, you can try PIA for free with its 30-day money-back guarantee. If its wealth of settings proves too much, you can easily claim a refund and try the more straightforward IPVanish instead.

Short on Time? Here Are My Key Findings

Best alternative to Private Internet Access

Our Score: 9.9

If you can’t choose between these services, ExpressVPN is a great alternative. Its unique Lightway protocol was built from the ground up to cater to the needs of commercial VPN users. It offers fast speeds for optimum streaming, downloading, and gaming and highly advanced security.

Our Score: 9.9

Read more about ExpressVPN

See ExpressVPN's Best Deals

Compare ExpressVPN vs Private Internet Access

Visit ExpressVPN

www.expressvpn.com

Streaming — PIA Works With Most Major Platforms

PIA maintains streaming-optimized servers for the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Australia, and the US (x2). Our international testing team confirmed that it offers buffer-free streams and reliable connections for platforms licensed in those regions, with the exception of Sky. The VPN failed to stream the service during my tests from the UK.

While IPVanish was unreliable for Netflix, PIA was consistent with its regular and specialty streaming servers

IPVanish works with various popular platforms, and it’s one of the few that does so reliably with Sky Go. But it’s hard to ignore that it doesn’t work with Netflix, Prime Video, or BBC iPlayer. If you’re looking for a reliable streaming VPN, those are some pretty major omissions.

IPVanish wouldn’t work with Disney+ using any of the UK locations during my tests

Winner

If you prioritize watching Sky, go for IPVanish, but otherwise, I recommend PIA. It has specialty streaming servers for multiple countries and works with the most popular platforms.

Server Network — PIA Outstrips IPVanish By a Mile

There’s no contest here. PIA is way ahead of IPVanish in both countries and number of servers. PIA is also the only reliable VPN I’ve tested with servers in every US state, so it’s a great choice for use in America. You’ll always have fast nearby servers, wherever you are in the country.

Winner

To put it into stats, IPVanish’s server network is just 7% the size of PIA’s. Plus, PIA covers 25% more countries than IPVanish (which doesn’t offer servers in a single country that PIA doesn’t cover). IPVanish’s 20 US locations would be impressive compared with most services, but since PIA has servers in every state, even that is an easy win.

Speed — PIA Is Faster Across All Distances

PIA has considerably faster speeds than IPVanish, which is hardly surprising since it has a much larger network. Speeds on our tester’s nearby UK servers were only 1% faster with PIA, but from New York, the difference rose to 44% in PIA’s favor. Japan’s download speed was the only one of 6 tests in which IPVanish had a slight advantage.

PIA also offers the option to balance your speed and security. You can toggle between 256-bit encryption (safer but slightly slower) and 128-bit (less secure but with a speed boost). IPVanish offers no such customization and only offers 256-bit encryption.

Speeds from New York were particularly impressive since it’s 5,500+ km from the vpnMentor tester in the UK

IPVanish did well on nearby servers, but long-distance connection (UK to US) dropped significantly, as can be seen below.

Speeds on faraway servers were relatively sluggish with IPVanish

Winner

Although IPVanish kept up pretty closely with PIA in some speed tests, there were noticeable differences when comparing the VPN’s long-distance speeds. Add to that the ability to adjust various speed and security factors, and PIA is the clear choice for speed.

Gaming — PIA Let Me Play Lag-Free

While both PIA and IPVanish worked well for gaming on local servers, only PIA offered lag-free gaming on most long-distance connections. During my tests, I connected to US servers to play Fortnite with my overseas friends. I had no interruptions while gaming with PIA, but the lag on IPVanish’s servers made it difficult to play.

I couldn’t use either VPN to play games on ultra-long-distance connections, though. When I tried gaming on servers in Japan, the lag was simply too much to play. This isn’t surprising — very few VPNs offer low-latency connections at this distance. Nearby servers were thoroughly responsive, though, and perfect for the insanely addictive bonk.io.

I recommend the WireGuard protocol for gaming since it offers fast speeds and low latency

Winner

I had no issues gaming on most of PIA’s servers, while I could only game lag-free with IPVanish if I connected to local servers. The lag was too high on ultra-long-distance connections with both VPNs.

Torrenting — IPVanish With SOCKS5 Proxy for Fast Downloads

Neither service offers specialty P2P servers, but both VPNs support torrenting across their regular networks. Despite PIA’s larger network, faster speeds, and port forwarding feature (which requires manual network configuration), I’m giving this round to IPVanish since it offers a proxy service specifically designed to support P2P.

The proxy isn’t as secure as a VPN since it doesn’t encrypt your data, but for the same reason, it’s also faster than a VPN. Despite the security concession, it’s still safer than a regular internet connection since it hides your real IP. You can configure IPVanish’s proxy directly to your download client, but I liked that it also works via the Firefox browser.

Note that downloading copyrighted files is illegal almost everywhere, so make sure you only torrent materials from the public domain. We recommend VPNs for privacy, not piracy.

Winner

IPVanish’s proxy service offers faster torrent downloads than any other VPN I’ve tested. Both VPNs are still a solid option for browsing and downloading via their regular VPN server networks.

Security — PIA Offers Considerably More Security Options

This is another area where there’s barely any competition — PIA’s advanced security features blow IPVanish’s bare-bones app out of the water. Take a look at the table below. IPVanish doesn’t win any of the 12 categories, with PIA comfortably ahead in most.

PIA’s Advanced Kill Switch doesn't let you connect to the internet until you turn on the VPN. That means PIA is particularly useful in privacy-adverse countries and on restrictive networks because it makes sure you're protected at all times.

Plus, it offers a decent effective ad, tracker, and malware blocker that’s preconfigured in the app. IPVanish provides an ad blocker, which blocked 93% of ads when I tested it on my PC laptop. It did well on Android too. However, I had to install a beta version to get it on macOS, and it isn’t available on iOS.

PIA’s MACE feature is available on all of its apps

Winner

IPVanish offers all the security essentials you need and is a great option if you want an out-of-the-box solution to protect your online activities. But with its wealth of features and customizable security options, PIA is once again a clear winner.

Privacy — PIA Edges a Close Call

Both services have their HQs in the US, a founding member of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. That means they’re both obliged to comply with data requests from government agencies.

However, I’m confident this isn’t a problem since both VPNs have independently verified no-logs policies. That means that even if the authorities demand data, there will be nothing to submit. PIA’s no-logs claims have even been proven in court multiple times. When user data has been demanded, PIA has never had anything to show.

On top of this, PIA takes the lead in privacy protection since it accepts crypto payments via BitPay. If you use this in combination with a burner email, you can leave no trace of your subscription to PIA. Whereas there’s no way of subscribing to IPVanish without it logging your payment details (albeit with bank-level encryption and security).

Winner

PIA takes this category since it accepts crypto payments and has multiple independent verifications of its no-logs policy. Furthermore, thanks to some high-profile court cases, PIA’s no-logs policy has been legally proven on multiple occasions.

Works in China — PIA May Work, but IPVanish Won’t

The government of China operates the Great Firewall (GFW), one of the toughest firewalls in the world. Only state-approved VPNs can be used by residents in China, although there are no public records of visitors being sanctioned for VPN use in the country.

China continually upgrades the GFW, and few VPNs have the resources or inclination to stay ahead of its network blocks. As a live chat agent revealed, IPVanish is unable to overcome these blocks. However, PIA has had some success in China — although you may have to tinker with its many settings to get it to work.

The WireGuard protocol might work in China, although there’s no guarantee. WireGuard is available on PIA apps for all OSs, so it’s worth a try. If you’re feeling technical, you can try using manual configuration through OpenVPN Connect. It’s not straightforward, but there’s a handy guide on the PIA website.

Winner

Another easy win for PIA since IPVanish doesn't work in China. It’s possible you’ll have success with PIA as long as you tinker with some settings and try a few options that customer support recommends.

Installation & Ease of Use — IPVanish Is Simpler, Although PIA Is More Feature-Rich

Both VPNs are quick and easy to install, taking less than 2 minutes on any device. And, despite the abundance of options, PIA’s more complex features have handy explainers beside them. Just hover over the “i” icons.

PIA’s main app is neat and small; you only need to open Settings if you want to customize your features

IPVanish is simpler, but that’s largely due to the lack of adjustable settings and features. If you want a simple VPN, just use PIA’s main interface and don’t open the Settings menu. It’s preconfigured for most online activities anyway, so you don’t need to adjust anything if you don’t want to. On the other hand, I find IPVanish’s user interface clunky since its recent redesign.

Winner

Despite its lack of features, IPVanish isn’t that user-friendly, and its map-based server list makes the desktop app cumbersome and befuddling. In comparison, PIA’s abundance of features and settings are carefully organized and well-explained, and the design is sleek and intuitive.

Reliability & Support — PIA’s Agents Are Knowledgeable and Responsive

PIA’s live chat agents are only ever seconds away. You don’t have to go through a chatbot, and its agents are generally helpful and knowledgeable. Plus, the Support section, featuring guides and a searchable knowledgebase, is considerably more extensive than what IPVanish has to offer.

Winner

IPVanish’s live agents are helpful and quick to respond, and the chatbot only takes a few seconds to override. However, the wealth of info on PIA’s site and the expertise that its agents offer make it a clear winner.

Tips on Choosing Between PIA and IPVanish

If you’re yet to decide, here are the criteria I used to scrutinize PIA and IPVanish during my rigorous testing process.

• Smooth streaming. ​​My international team and I each tested the VPNs with our local content using servers in our respective countries. This allowed us to experience firsthand the buffering times and video quality to make sure these VPNs worked with the most popular streaming services.
• Fast speeds. The vpnMentor speed tester conducted tests on multiple servers at various times of the day. By measuring download and upload speeds, it was easy to gauge each VPN's performance.
• Server networks. I examined the size and distribution of each VPN's server network. A vast and well-distributed network often translates to better connectivity.
• Robust security features. I scrutinized the security protocols and extra features offered by each VPN. This involved testing encryption standards, kill switches, and any additional layers of security that protect against data leaks and cyber threats.
• Respectable privacy practices. For this factor, I meticulously studied each VPN’s privacy policy to make sure they keep your online activities private.
• Easy to use. I navigated through the interfaces of each VPN to evaluate their user-friendliness. A straightforward, intuitive design is essential for hassle-free operation, especially if you’re new to VPNs.
• Trustworthy money-back guarantee. I checked the terms of the money-back guarantees and tested them for myself to ensure they were reliable. It's important that you have a reliable refund option if the service doesn't meet your expectations.

PIA vs IPVanish — Reddit Opinions

Many Reddit posts enthuse PIA’s reliability and excellent privacy record, despite its location in the US. It has many loyal, long-term users, whereas some services can have customers looking to move on after brief subscriptions. Some users report that IPVanish is more reliable for streaming, but that’s contrary to what my team and I found during our extensive tests.