All three of these providers, PIA, PureVPN and WiTopia, offer great service to users at reasonable prices. PureVPN leads the way in terms of the number of server locations it has; more than double of PIA and WiTopia combined. However, in terms of actual servers, PIA is in a league of its own. Neither PIA nor Pure keep any user logs at all, while WiTopia does keep a trailing log of indirect data, but no data that can be used to identify users. All three services can be used on all major operating systems, however, for mobile WiTopia is limited depending on the mobile operator and hardware provider. All three have options that allow users to access geo-restricted content on streaming services such as Netflix, but only PureVPN and PIA support P2P Torrenting. While PureVPN and PIA can be accessed currently in China, this is one global area where WiTopia states it has difficulties accessing, along with some parts of Canada, Belize, UAE and Oman.
Features
9.7
Pricing
8.0
Ease of Use
9.6
Reliability & Support
9.8
Features
7.4
Pricing
9.1
Ease of Use
8.0
Reliability & Support
5.7
Features
6.0
Pricing
8.2
Ease of Use
8.2
Reliability & Support
8.0
Rating
Features
9.7
7.4
6.0
Pricing
8.0
9.1
8.2
Ease of Use
9.6
8.0
8.2
Reliability & Support
9.8
5.7
8.0
Reviews
Review by our expert
Katie Kasunic
Technology Researcher
9.2
Private Internet Access (PIA) is one of the most popular VPNs on the market. True to its name, this provider is best known for its strict no-logs policy and commitment to user privacy.
Is PIA truly as trustworthy as they claim when it comes to protecting user privacy and anonymity? How does it perform in other categories like streaming, torrenting, and safety?
We tested PIA ourselves to find
Great Choose of VPNI have used PIA for a number of years without hardly any issues, I get average speed and reliability, I would more blame the NBN CO in Australia for my dropouts. The best parts of this VPN is I can use a gift card to pay for the service and I can enjoy my torrenting and file hosting with no complaints.
Latest negative user review
Marcin
2.0
I am not going to argue but my comment was honestMy review was honest. I have never used services such as IP location changes or whatever you call it. Maybe my problem wasn't difficult but honestly, my issues were resolved within minutes. Maybe I was lucky, I don't know. But in my case the customer service was great. I don't work for this company :) hahaha.
PureVPN is a premium service that operates 2,000+ servers in 140+ countries. It offers unlimited bandwidth, P2P compatibility, and high-end security features including military-level encryption and port forwarding.
Even better, it can unblock Netflix. But it's not as reliable as our top 10 recommended VPNs, since the speeds were slow and the quality was poor.
Streaming – Does PureVPN Work wit
3 years as a customerBeen using Pure VPN for 3 years without any issues. I always disable auto-renew and buy a year's deal on discount at around £12 for the year. These deals can be found on many deals sites if you look around. Speeds are fine at around 2 thirds of my unconnected speeds testing from UK based servers and neighboring countries servers. I don't connect to far-reaching countries so can't comment on the connection speeds. Only had to use the support once and within 5 minutes my issue was resolved. Android app is a bit clunky compared to the likes of the top 10 but at £12 for a year I can't complain. Suffices my torrent and streaming needs to keep my activities hidden from my ISP. Note, I do not use their streaming profile as PPTP uses RC4 and is not secure enough to hide your activities. Always best to be safe!
Latest negative user review
Cyryll
2.0
They will auto subscribe you even after cancelling before 7-day trial endsThey took $77 from me even after canceling for 1 day of use and before the trial ended. They will auto-subscribe you to their 1-year subscription even though you have not subscribed. Have to contact their customer service and told me it was automatic, didn't help me at all and I had to contact PayPal for a refund.
Endorsed by The New York Times and The Economist, WiTopia certainly does well in the first impressions stakes. Rebranded from the originally named Full Mesh Networks; WiTopia has been operating since 2003. Their aim has always been to supply "complicated and expensive security technology over the Internet as a set of managed services." They created their personalVPN in March 2005 to optimize their u
Had it for 9 years, still happyI've used them in Mexico for almost 10 years now. I know the computer support world and they go the distance, they are truly exceptional. I have no problem with US Netflix or Amazon, they have a kill switch now, and I have one account that runs on 3 devices. They've been around the block, they have experience and competence, they've been loyal to me and I'm not leaving anytime soon. If your connections are dropping it most likely has to do with your provider throttling your connections.
Latest negative user review
Anonymously
2.0
Constantly drops on my Mac, even worse on iPadI have been a Witopia user for at least 4 years. When I chose them they were the best rated and I liked their polices and ethics better than others. However, a persisting problem is that their connection drops, sometimes every few hours. When I first contacted support they blamed the issue on my ISP, saying that they were severing the connection between my Mac and the VPN server and they couldn't do anything about it. And discussions with support over the years have only ended with the company still claiming that a solution was out of their hands. What kind of tech company is this, so non-inventive.
Time passes and I can't find a VPN that I can trust. I purchase an iPad 6th gen a month ago, and setup the VPN. Unlike the experience on the Mac, the VPN drops sometimes in as little as three minutes and at other times remains connected for up to 30 minutes before dropping. I contacted Apple support, completed a diagnostic which found that the problem is not with the iOS, which only leaves Witopia as the problem.
The least that Witopia could do is develop a notification that alerts the user, telling them that the connect is about to drop. That way the browser(s), could be closed before the true IP address is revealed. My subscription expires soon and I won't be renewing.
Private Internet Access (PIA) is one of the most popular VPNs on the market. True to its name, this provider is best known for its strict no-logs policy and commitment to user privacy.
Is PIA truly as trustworthy as they claim when it comes to protecting user privacy and anonymity? How does it perform in other categories like streaming, torrenting, and safety?
We tested PIA ourselves to find
PureVPN is a premium service that operates 2,000+ servers in 140+ countries. It offers unlimited bandwidth, P2P compatibility, and high-end security features including military-level encryption and port forwarding.
Even better, it can unblock Netflix. But it's not as reliable as our top 10 recommended VPNs, since the speeds were slow and the quality was poor.
Streaming – Does PureVPN Work wit
Endorsed by The New York Times and The Economist, WiTopia certainly does well in the first impressions stakes. Rebranded from the originally named Full Mesh Networks; WiTopia has been operating since 2003. Their aim has always been to supply "complicated and expensive security technology over the Internet as a set of managed services." They created their personalVPN in March 2005 to optimize their u
Great Choose of VPNI have used PIA for a number of years without hardly any issues, I get average speed and reliability, I would more blame the NBN CO in Australia for my dropouts. The best parts of this VPN is I can use a gift card to pay for the service and I can enjoy my torrenting and file hosting with no complaints.
Anonymously
10.0
3 years as a customerBeen using Pure VPN for 3 years without any issues. I always disable auto-renew and buy a year's deal on discount at around £12 for the year. These deals can be found on many deals sites if you look around. Speeds are fine at around 2 thirds of my unconnected speeds testing from UK based servers and neighboring countries servers. I don't connect to far-reaching countries so can't comment on the connection speeds. Only had to use the support once and within 5 minutes my issue was resolved. Android app is a bit clunky compared to the likes of the top 10 but at £12 for a year I can't complain. Suffices my torrent and streaming needs to keep my activities hidden from my ISP. Note, I do not use their streaming profile as PPTP uses RC4 and is not secure enough to hide your activities. Always best to be safe!
Miriam Haberfeld
10.0
Had it for 9 years, still happyI've used them in Mexico for almost 10 years now. I know the computer support world and they go the distance, they are truly exceptional. I have no problem with US Netflix or Amazon, they have a kill switch now, and I have one account that runs on 3 devices. They've been around the block, they have experience and competence, they've been loyal to me and I'm not leaving anytime soon. If your connections are dropping it most likely has to do with your provider throttling your connections.
Latest negative user review
Marcin
2.0
I am not going to argue but my comment was honestMy review was honest. I have never used services such as IP location changes or whatever you call it. Maybe my problem wasn't difficult but honestly, my issues were resolved within minutes. Maybe I was lucky, I don't know. But in my case the customer service was great. I don't work for this company :) hahaha.
Cyryll
2.0
They will auto subscribe you even after cancelling before 7-day trial endsThey took $77 from me even after canceling for 1 day of use and before the trial ended. They will auto-subscribe you to their 1-year subscription even though you have not subscribed. Have to contact their customer service and told me it was automatic, didn't help me at all and I had to contact PayPal for a refund.
Anonymously
2.0
Constantly drops on my Mac, even worse on iPadI have been a Witopia user for at least 4 years. When I chose them they were the best rated and I liked their polices and ethics better than others. However, a persisting problem is that their connection drops, sometimes every few hours. When I first contacted support they blamed the issue on my ISP, saying that they were severing the connection between my Mac and the VPN server and they couldn't do anything about it. And discussions with support over the years have only ended with the company still claiming that a solution was out of their hands. What kind of tech company is this, so non-inventive.
Time passes and I can't find a VPN that I can trust. I purchase an iPad 6th gen a month ago, and setup the VPN. Unlike the experience on the Mac, the VPN drops sometimes in as little as three minutes and at other times remains connected for up to 30 minutes before dropping. I contacted Apple support, completed a diagnostic which found that the problem is not with the iOS, which only leaves Witopia as the problem.
The least that Witopia could do is develop a notification that alerts the user, telling them that the connect is about to drop. That way the browser(s), could be closed before the true IP address is revealed. My subscription expires soon and I won't be renewing.
PureVPN is a clear winner when it comes to these three providers. While PIA is comparable in terms of functionality and features; both have kill switches, and offer 7-day money back guarantees, PureVPN has more impressive encryption, split tunnelling and the option of using dedicated IPs. WiTopia offers the longer money back guarantee at 30 days, but the level of encryption that users get is dependent on the subscription package they buy, and the service lacks a kill switch. Both PIA and PureVPN packages differ in length of subscription, rather than content, but overall PureVPN offers the better value for money and security.
Interestingly, if you compare PureVPN with NordVPN, which is our top ranked vpn, you'll see that PureVPN can learn a lot from NordVPN. Compare PureVPN with NordVPN
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Katie Kasunic
Guy Fawkes