IPVanish

ipvanish
3.9 / 5.0
3.9/5
  • Jurisdiction: USA
  • Advanced Privacy Features: Kill Switch, An Automatic IP Changer
  • Number of Servers and Countries: 1,400 Servers across more than 75 Locations
  • Streaming and P2P: Yes

Based in the United States, IPVanish VPN is a commercial Virtual Private Network service that provides end-to-end encryption. IPVanish UK, IPVanish Canada and other instances around the world all fall under the United States jurisdiction.

After being acquired by StackPath in 2017, IPVanish’s CEO stated that the company no longer had access to any logs or logging systems and that they held no intent to record logs in the future. The company’s website boasts a current “zero-logs” privacy policy, which states it does not record any user data. The only data currently requested by IPVanish is the user’s payment method and email address to keep their account active.

IPVanish now describes itself as the world’s most trusted VPN service, with internally coded software and in-house customer support. The company also owns all of its physical hardware outright.

IPVanish has not been audited to check if they are currently logging data.

Its software is not open source. Read on to learn more about the software in this IPVanish review.

Why IPVanish recommends its paid service over other free services

IPVanish recommends its paid service over free services because of its promise of premium data security and trustworthy privacy protection. The company also offers a money-back guarantee over 30 days for customers who are unsatisfied with the product.

IPVanish compares itself with free VPN services, which it claims cannot compete with its purpose-built network and high-quality resources. The company also offers a worldwide network service with over 1,400 servers across more than 75 locations. It promises close proximity to servers for all users, regardless of their location. IPVanish suggests that free VPN services cannot ethically provide worldwide coverage at this level.

IPVanish advanced privacy features

It boasts a strong set of advanced privacy features, including:

  • 1Pv6 leak protection (automatic)
  • DNS leak protection (automatic)
  • Kill switch to immediately halt traffic if IPVanish goes down
  • An automatic IP changer (the customer can set this to change at a certain time interval).

How fast is IPVanish?

IPVanish download and upload speeds, according to its website, are some of the industry’s highest. The company also boasts 256-bit AES encryption and a promise to never throttle network connections, allowing customers to max their bandwidth.

Which operating systems support IPVanish?

The IPVanish app is available on desktop and mobile devices. The service is supported by all of the most popular operating systems, including:

While IPVanish may not function on older versions of the above operating systems, the company provides “best-effort” support for users. IPVanish highly recommends customers use a manual setup for older versions of operating systems.

IPVanish provides best-effort support for manual setups of the following operating systems:

  • Windows 7 (up to the latest version, for as long as it is still supported by Microsoft)
  • Mac 10.6.8 x64 (up to the latest version)
  • iOS 5.1.1, 6.1.3 and 6.1.4
  • Android 4.0.3 ICS (up to the latest stable version, i.e. not alpha/beta)
  • Linux RedHat or Debian-based distros
  • Router firmware including DD-WRT v2/v3, Asus-WRT, Tomato and Merlin.

Which streaming services support IPVanish?

IPVanish works with several of the most popular music and video streaming services, including:

  • YouTube
  • Spotify
  • Sling TV
  • Amazon Fire TV/IPVanish Firestick
  • Kodi (check Best VPN for Kodi)

Several other streaming services, such as Hulu and Netflix, have implemented measures to block VPN users from accessing their online content. Some customers can use Split Tunnelling via IPVanish’s FireOS and Android device apps to continue watching Hulu, Netflix (check Best VPN for Netflix) and other streaming services while their VPN is active.

Can I download torrents with IPVanish?

IPVanish allows peer-to-peer (P2P) activity across its network, and the company advertises itself as the fastest VPN service in the world for VPN torrenting. While many torrenting services discourage or disallow P2P activity, IPVanish encourages it.

The company’s dedicated proxy server, named “SOCKS5”, supports P2P clients including Vuze, Deluge and uTorrent. The SOCKS5 proxy enables a speedy connection, unlimited traffic across P2P networks and all-location access. According to the IPVanish website, this dedicated proxy server is also restricted and secure, requiring all users to provide their SOCKS5 proxy password and username from the control panel.

Is it free?

Users cannot use IPVanish for free. Their monthly subscription is currently listed at $10 per month, while their yearly subscription costs $6.49 per month, billed annually at $77.99.

ipvanish vpn pricing

User reviews

IPVanish boasts an overall 4.3-star rating on the Google Play Store and a 4.5-star rating on the Apple Store. Below are some real IPVanish reviews from customers. Each IPVanish VPN review was found online.

“Legit. I haven’t had any issues with the service been a sub for about 4 years. But! When an issue does come up. The Customer Service is impeccable! Gotta love the team they have working the lines of communication. These guys rock!” – Google Play Store, 13 June 2020.

“The app has always worked well for me. A couple times had a glitch putting in custom settings they were very prompt to reply or answer as the case may be There always patient and clear with directions Always willing to answer general questions prompt and clear also.” – Apple Store, 15 February 2020.

“Yeah, Ipvanish is good. Simple, speedy and reliable, with a good selection of servers and a killswitch that works well. My only complaint with them was they dont have port forwarding available.” – Reddit, 17 May 2019.

Conclusion

Overall, IPVanish is a popular, well-known VPN service boasting a number of benefits over free VPN alternatives. IPVanish covers a large audience across the world, with fast connection speeds, advanced privacy features and support for all popular operating systems.

Although IPVanish has experienced controversy regarding its privacy practices in the past, since the company’s handover to StackPath in 2017, there have been no recorded instances of data logging or privacy breaches. The company proudly presents a user-friendly privacy policy stating no user data is ever logged, excluding email addresses and payment details as needed for account management.

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