When comparing IVPN vs Private Internet Access, the Slant community recommends IVPN for most people. In the question“What is the best VPN provider? ” IVPN is ranked 4th while Private Internet Access is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose IVPN is:
You can switch between a single VPN connection (singlehop), or routing your internet traffic through multiple VPN servers (multihop) at any time. The latter increases anonymity, but comes at the cost of a slightly worse performance. Furthermore their multihop system has a built in restriction that dictates that it must be a hop from one country to the next, so no Dallas to LA hop, but because of this there should be nothing too shocking about the overall latency. NY - Toronto - London can still edge under 100ms, LA - SLC - HK hitting 350 - 380ms is pretty normal for everyone. A single hop from Brooklyn to Jersey can be as low as 7ms, with 20ms to Atlanta. To further the point, really this means that if you route through a US node they may throttle you, but it may help to be on a private tracker. It certainly wouldn't affect you if you're connecting from a peer through Canada or Bucharest.
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Pros
Pro Multihop and Singlehop options
You can switch between a single VPN connection (singlehop), or routing your internet traffic through multiple VPN servers (multihop) at any time. The latter increases anonymity, but comes at the cost of a slightly worse performance. Furthermore their multihop system has a built in restriction that dictates that it must be a hop from one country to the next, so no Dallas to LA hop, but because of this there should be nothing too shocking about the overall latency. NY - Toronto - London can still edge under 100ms, LA - SLC - HK hitting 350 - 380ms is pretty normal for everyone. A single hop from Brooklyn to Jersey can be as low as 7ms, with 20ms to Atlanta.
To further the point, really this means that if you route through a US node they may throttle you, but it may help to be on a private tracker. It certainly wouldn't affect you if you're connecting from a peer through Canada or Bucharest.
Pro Wireguard is available
Pro Multiple payment options
Bitcoin, cash and PayPal are accepted.
Pro Token-based account
You can create an account by generating a token and using it to login. If you don't believe it's secure you can also add 2FA.
Pro 2FA Supported
Can setup 2FA for extra security.
Pro Ethical company
Opened and runs DoINeedAVPN.com — A website to determine if you need a VPN or not. IVPN's website also offers a Blog to help determine if other VPN companies are trustworthy, what to ask companies, and other safety practices.
Pro Based in "No Eyes" Country
Company is based in Gibraltar, so IVPN is not obligated to provide access to three letter agencies.
Pro Warrant Canary is provided on their website
You can find it here.
Pro Non-persistent logs are kept for 10 minutes
They are kept for troubleshooting reasons.
Pro No traffic or protocol restricitions except for BitTorrent in US
Except for BitTorrent in US, you can use any and all protocols at your disposal, no traffic is restricted.
Pro Cheap
For a single year of service the total cost is $39.95, which comes out to $3.33 per month. Making Private Internet Access one of the cheapest providers of VPN services on the net.
Pro Disconnects internet if VPN drops
If the VPN goes out, the internet will be disconnected so users will be protected from browsing without protection.
Pro P2P/Torrent service included
All users are able to access P2P networks without having to download a 3rd party client. Private Internet Access uses separate VPN gateways for browsing and P2P access, so both are optimized without interfering with each other.
Pro Multiple layers of security
Including IP cloaking, encryption, firewall, complete anonymous browsing & complete uncensored access to the internet.
Pro Multiple OS compatibility
Private Internet Access is compatible with MacOS X and iOS, without having to use a third party client. It also works on Windows, Android, Linux & more. In total, Private Internet Access is compatible with almost 40 operating systems.
Pro No traffic or protocol restricitions
You can use any and all protocols at your disposal, no traffic is restricted.
Pro Use multiple devices
Private Internet Access allows for up to 5 devices in use simultaneously.
Pro Instant setup
When you sign up, you will instantly get a user id and a password to use in their provided software (Windows and Macintosh) and they have tutorials and FAQs for Android, iPhone, Linux and other devices such as routers.
Pro Excellent service
They are very eager to answer any questions that you may have.
Pro Multiple VPN gateways
You can pick where you will appear to be from: the US (multiple), Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Romania, Canada, or Hong Kong.
Pro Multiple payment options
Payments are accepted through Bitcoin, Ripple, PayPal, Google Play (Mobile), OKPay, CashU, Amazon and any major Gift Card.
Payment plans are by the month, half year and by the year.
Currently $6.95/mo, $35.95/half year, $39.95/year.
Truly anonymous payments can be made by gift cards or Bitcoins.
A $25 Starbucks gift card gives you 100 days.
A $32 Best Buy gift card gives you 129 days.
A $50 Walmart gift card gives you 366 days.
Pro No logs are kept
According to Private Internet Access in 2013:
We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP.
According to Private Internet Access in 2014:
We absolutely do not log any traffic nor session data of any kind, period. We have worked hard to meticulously fork all daemons that we utilize in order to achieve this functionality.
Cons
Con PSAD and rate-limiting are used
Con Based in the USA
Private Internet Access is based in the United States of America and can subject to a gag order, so basically the NSA can do whatever they want without PIA telling their customers what the NSA is doing.
Con No free version
While they offer a variety of payment plans and payment methods, a free version of this service is not available to users.
Con Non Transparent "Proprietary Method" to detect violators of Terms of Service (ToS).
When asking a Customer Service Representative, how violators of ToS are detected, the CSR stated "Proprietary Methods." When asked for clarification, was referred to Legal Department.