IPVanish VPN Review

How Much Does IPVanish Cost?

Unfortunately, you won’t get a free internet experience with IPVanish as it isn’t a free VPN. IPVanish offers two subscription options, enabling users to choose to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis.

• The 1-year subscription plan is the most cost-effective option at just $4 per month for the first year (or $47.99 in total), and $7.49 a month (or $89.99 in total) thereafter.
• Signing up for the monthly plan will set you back $10.99 a month. It is necessary to note that IPVanish does regularly change its prices, so we would advise checking the current prices on the provider’s website before choosing a plan.

Previously, IPVanish offered 250GB of encrypted cloud storage with SugarSync as part of all of its plans which was great value for money, but now this option is only available as an ad-on. SugarSync costs an extra $7 on top of your normal subscription price for the first year, and $20 each year thereafter. However, you will receive access to an impressive 500GB of cloud storage which costs $20 a month if bought separately, making it well worth the extra investment.

IPVanish is one of the cheapest VPN options in the VPN industry for first-time customers, however, the price does rise significantly after the first installment. For example, CyberGhost charges an impressively low fee on its long-term plans and does not increase the price after the initial installment.

There is no free trial, however, IPVanish does offer a risk-free 30-day refund policy, enabling you to test the product on all of your devices and request a full refund if you are not completely satisfied.

IPVanish offers limited options when it comes to payment. Users can purchase a subscription with either credit card or Paypal, however, there is no support for anonymous methods such as gift-cards or cryptocurrencies.

IPVanish VPN Sale

IPVanish VPN runs regular sales and VPN deals on its website. As mentioned above, you can currently get the annual plan for just $4 per month or $47.99. This is a massive 63% discount, from the regular annual subscription cost which is $89.99 per year.

IPVanish and its massive discounts are constantly changing, so it is worth checking the website regularly to make sure you don’t miss out on the best deals from this reliable VPN service.

Make sure you check out the website during November to take advantage of the great IPVanish Black Friday sale and Cyber Monday sale and the other latest discounts.

Is IPVanish Private?

Privacy is one of the most important aspects of any VPN. IPVanish is one of the best VPNs when it comes to user privacy and security. The VPN operates on military-grade encryption and supports two of the safest VPN protocols available, IKEv2 and OpenVPN, ensuring your data transfers are sent via a secure internet connection.

Unlike many of its competitors, the company offers the option to manually configure OpenVPN connections. Users can opt to scramble OpenVPN traffic to mask VPN usage or choose between OpenVPN 443 and OpenVPN 1194 ports to further optimize the VPN setup and provide a secure environment for your online activity.

On the Windows client, IPVanish offers complete IPv6 and DNS leak protection, to ensure certain online data never becomes exposed. There is an automatic kill-switch too, to ensure that the internet connection is cut if your VPN fails for any reason. Tests revealed complete protection against leaks with IPVanish which is reassuring, especially if you use the IPVanish app for everyday internet activity like online banking. You can securely surf the net with IPVanish and its strong VPN connections.

The VPN’s iPhone app includes the option to set the VPN to automatically connect for certain networks for cybercrime prevention benefits. IPVanish will protect you if you utilize unsecured public Wi-Fi networks in cafes, hotels, or airports and want protection from online identity theft.

The company offers a no-logging policy too, for additional peace of mind, ensuring your online activity and browsing history remains private. However, unlike other premium VPN providers such as NordVPN and TunnelBear, IPVanish is yet to complete an external privacy audit of its servers and systems. Without an independent audit, there is no empirical evidence to back up the provider’s security claims and guarantee online data is secure.

The no-logs privacy policy states that the provider does not store user internet activity, connection, or traffic logs when connected to the VPN. However, we would like to see IPVanish release an audit to back up these claims in the near future.

Is IPVanish Good for Streaming?

Many users choose to download a VPN to access geo-restricted streaming content on sites such as United States Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. However, such sites are becoming increasingly difficult to access through a secure server due to the implementation of powerful VPN-blocking technology.

The VPN app was unsuccessful at accessing BBC iPlayer on all of its UK servers. IPVanish also struggled to access Amazon Prime Video as the site recognized the use of a VPN and blocked streaming activity.

It did manage to unblock geo-restricted YouTube content, however, this is unsurprising as most VPNs are able to do so. Impressively, IPVanish could unblock Netflix on all of the servers that were tested. It was also successful at overcoming restrictions on Disney+ and provided fast video streaming speeds thanks to its high-speed servers, highlighting the fact it is one of the fastest VPN services out there.

While it is impressive that IPVanish grants access to Netflix and Disney+, it does not compare to some of the best streaming VPNs on the market. If you are a streaming fan and want to gain access to a host of additional content, we would recommend ExpressVPN or Surfshark, which are successful at unblocking all popular streaming platforms with ease.

Is IPVanish Compatible with All of my Devices?

So, how many simultaneous connections does IPVanish offer? IPVanish provides unlimited simultaneous device connections, meaning that you can protect all of your devices including your laptop, iPhone, tablet, Smart TV, and gaming consoles, and share the VPN with your family and friends too, all for a single subscription price. Use on unlimited devices is rare and makes the VPN company one of the most cost-effective options on the market and the best for VPN users with different devices.

There are dedicated IPVanish apps available for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Fire TV, all of which are user-friendly. Despite the fact that there is no internet browser extension web proxy, IPVanish does offer setup guides for Chrome and Firefox, as well as routers Linux, Chromebook, and more.

The VPN app setup is relatively easy. The Windows and macOS clients can be installed from IPVanish’s website, and the iOS and Android apps can be installed directly from their respective app stores.

If you do not require dedicated clients, IPVanish also offers manual setup guides for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux. Despite there not being as many manual guides as offered by ExpressVPN, there is an extensive amount of helpful information available. For example, IPVanish’s website offers 15 tutorials for Windows alone, with different guides for setting up OpenVPN, L2TP, IKEv2, and PPTP on Windows 7, 8, and 10. There is even a SOCKS5 tutorial for qBittorrent for P2P file sharing and torrenting.

Is IPVanish Compatible with Windows?

IPVanish’s Windows VPN app works well and is easy to use and offers a list of VPN servers, a simple Connect/Disconnect button that allows you to easily connect, and a Settings page. There is also the option to open a status panel to display your chosen protocol, connection time, VPN name, and data usage. This level of detail is rarely seen in a VPN client.

The client also offers a simple server list with a search box to filter servers by keyword for ease of use. You can also sort the server list by the response time, load, or country, which is useful. The Favorites option allows you to save your most used servers with a single click so that they are displayed at the top of the server list.

There is also the option to select a server location from a map. Simply pan over the map, zoom into your desired region, and more locations will appear, displaying how many servers on offer in each location.

The IPVanish VPN Windows client also offers a range of configurable settings. Users can switch between L2TP, IKEv2, SSTP, PPTP, and OpenVPN TCP and UDP protocols. There is complete protection against DNS and IPv6 leaks to ensure your private data or IP address never becomes compromised. You can also set which server IPVanish utilizes when the client opens.

It is necessary to note that the kill switch is not automatically activated so you need to manually turn it on in the settings. Once activated, the kill switch will cut your internet connection if your VPN server connection fails for any reason. This ensures that no unencrypted data or your actual IP location become exposed. When tested, the kill switch worked consistently to deal with any interruptions, to ensure our web traffic was safe and would never become compromised.

Is IPVanish Compatible with Mobile?

IPVanish works well with mobile and offers apps for iOS and Android mobile devices. Its mobile apps offer a range of features including split tunneling (available on Android only), a location picker, and protocol customization.

The Android app offers a simple Quick Connect screen for ease of use, which displays your current IP address, your chosen VPN server location, and a Connect button enabling you to quickly connect to the internet.

The app automatically chooses the best available server in terms of geographical proximity but there is also the option to set your target destination country or city. Once connected, the app features a real-time graph revealing your server speeds, new IP address, server name, and VPN connection time. There is a kill-switch too, to ensure your internet is blocked if your VPN server connection fails, to prevent the transfer of any unencrypted data or your real IP address.

On iOS, there is the same Quick Connect screen as on the Android client. The iOS version also displays server load times and ping, as well as a Favorites system, however, these features are unavailable on the Android client.

Does IPVanish VPN Offer a Good Server Network?

When it comes to choosing a VPN provider, it is helpful to evaluate its server network and location range. The VPN offers an excellent range of VPN servers across 75 locations that perform well under a speed test for a seamless internet experience. The company offers servers in Europe, Africa, South America, the United States, and more, meaning there are plenty of IP addresses available.

VPN Server speeds are relatively fast, averaging over 100Mbps. Long-distance connections are significantly slower, as is expected. However, the product provides speeds that are sufficient for most online activities including streaming and gaming.

Does IPVanish Offer Good Customer Support?

Regarding customer service, IPVanish offers a range of support guides and articles that are updated regularly. The articles may not be as detailed as those offered by some of its competitors, but there is still an extensive amount of information available.

And, if the support guides do not offer the answer to your query, there is a 24/7 live-chat support option on the website available enabling you to speak to a team member within minutes. At the time of writing, there was no in-app live chat.

Author Cliff Durward

Hi, I'm Cliff. I'm based in Cleveland, Ohio, with my wife and two kids. I have a keen interest in cybersecurity and have been writing about it for around a decade now. Due to my background in computer science, I am familiar ...
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