IPVanish Review

IPVanish: Enjoy a Genuine Privacy on the Web

Every person living in the civil society has the right to privacy. This is equally true for both offline and online privacy. However, in real life, this right is severely violated too often. Now we are talking not only about intelligence services. Your activities on the Internet can be easily tracked by your Internet services provider. Those who need to transfer any types of sensitive data via online channels or make online payments can suffer from hacker attacks at any moment of time. In this environment, a good VPN service is a real must-have. IPVanish is a shining example of a powerful full-featured and reliable VPN. Read our full IPVanish review for details.

Rating /Score

IPVanish is traditionally ranked among top-5 providers of VPN software. Most reviewers mention its excellent performance, high standards in data encryption and a very high speed. However, there are certain drawbacks that don’t let the company be best of the best. Our final verdict is the following:

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  – Speed
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  – Security
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  – Features
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  – Support
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  – Pricing

Pros and Cons

IPVanish: Expert Review

The best way to assess any product is to conduct a real-life testing. Instead of relying on IPVanish reviews written by someone else, we’ve tried and tested it on different kinds of devices, so our opinion is based on the real experience.

The Company’s Overview

IPVanish is a dominant name in the market of online privacy services. It has been around since 1999 and over time, it has gained a reputation of a reliable and trustworthy services provider. It is an American company with the headquarters in Florida; but its software is recognized everywhere in the world. As of now, the company owns about 1000 first-tier servers in 60 countries. Though the network is not the largest in the world, it is still impressive. Moreover, no intermediates are involved – all the servers belong directly to IPVanish VPN. On the one hand, it guarantees the highest possible speed. On the other hand, the possibility of data leaks is virtually excluded,

Features

IPVanish VPN is a full-featured VPN service that offers software for all types of modern platforms. It is compatible with Windows (beginning from Vista), Mac and iOS, Android and Windows Phone. More than that, it can be used on Linux, Chromebook, FireStick, and can even be installed on routers. One package includes solutions for all kinds of devices. After you’ve bought a license, you may set up to 10 simultaneous connections. If you use multiple devices at home, you may download IPVanish on your router and protect all the devices that are connected to this router.

It supports various protocols. In most cases, users are recommended to opt for the OpenVPN protocol (it is used by default). Other options are L2TP and PPTP.

One of the reasons to download IPVanish is an opportunity of getting an unlimited access to torrent services and streaming platforms. Even if in your home country these services are blocked, IPVanish will help you to unlock them without any hassle. And due to a really high speed, you’ll be able to download or stream even resource-demanding content, such as HD-clips. Unfortunately, via IPVanish Netflix in the US can’t be unlocked.

An interesting solution is the IPVanish free privacy check. It is available on the same-named page on the official site and lets you check your current level of protection online.

Other features include the Kill Switch and an automatic reconnection. The first one switches off the internet connection as soon as the VPN connection is lost. The second one helps to automatically restore the connection as soon as the problem with the VPN is resolved. One more interesting function is an automatic alteration of the user’s IP in certain time intervals for enhancing the privacy.

Finally, IPVanish VPN allows automatic blocking of suspicious public networks. It can protect your sensitive data from possible hacker attacks in public places.

Performance and Speed

Speed is an important characteristic of VPN software. Most IPVanish reviews say that it is almost as fast as the top providers’ products. During our speed tests, we’ve found out that its performance is very good in most cases, though the results are still a bit inconsistent. However, it is a general problem of all VPNs: different servers are used for different connections, and it’s not surprising that the speed also differs. As a general rule of thumb, the closer the server is the higher the speed is.

Browser Extensions

The provider offers full-fledged apps for multiple platforms but it is not the only option available. If for some reason you don’t want to download any software on your device but still need a protection, you may try alternative options. Though this provider doesn’t offer browser extensions, unlike its counterparts, you may like the variant with its proxy servers. To use it you need to have a valid IPVanish account. An IPVanish SOCKS5 proxy server provides an entry-level protection. It helps to hide your real IP and access blocked services but your data stay non-encrypted.

Another interesting solution is IPVanish Kodi. As you probably know, Kodi is a universal cross-platform media player that is widely used for playing streamed content. Protecting it with VPN is definitely a good idea. On the official site, you’ll find a detailed instruction on how to install IPVanish on Kodi depending on the type of the device.

Safety and Encryption

The question of safety is crucial for every VPN user. Fortunately, IPVanish complies with the highest standards of the industry. They claim a “zero-logs policy”, which means that no logs of users’ actions on the web are ever collected and stored. Of course, we can’t verify this information; all we can is to believe their word. But till now, there haven’t been any recorded cases when they revealed any users’ data or gave it to the law enforcement bodies. As of today, IPVanish is considered one of the safest VPN services around.

For the highest level of protection, the provider uses the strongest encryption methods. By default, the most advanced encryption protocol (OpenVPN) with the strongest AES cipher is used. AES (advanced encryption standard) uses a 256-bit key. This is the “gold standard” in the sphere of encryption, which fully meets modern security requirements.

Pricing Plans and Payment Methods

To start using IPVanish download its software from the official site. On the Pricing page on the website, you’ll find all the current offers from the provider. As of now, they offer one plan that includes all available options. However, the price for the package varies depending on the period bought. Thus, the initial cost of the product is $10 per month. If you want to save 25%, opt for a 3-month plan and pay $8.99 per month. Finally, buying a 1-year option, you save 46%, as the price per month for you will be just $6.49. Truly saying, it is not the cheapest proposal in the market. For example, IPVanish vs PIA is rather expensive: the latter is available at the price of $3.33 if you purchase a 1-year plan.

IPVanish free trial period is not applicable. They offer a 7-day money back period, which is very modest if compared to most premium providers that have up to 30-day refunding policy. Beware that if you don’t want your subscription to be prolonged automatically, you need to switch off this option in the Settings manually.

New users can take advantage of an additional IPVanish discount 20%. To get it visit the IPVanish coupon page and copy a special code. Enter this code before making the first payment and get a one-time discount.

Available methods of payment include several types of debit and credit cards, as well as some alternative payment systems, such as GiroPay and PayPal. However, Bitcoins, as well as other cryptocurrencies, are not accepted.

Customer Support

Early IPVanish reviews used to describe the support service of the provider as poor. However, over the years, the company has improved it greatly, making the focus on the complete customers’ needs satisfaction. Their upgraded site has a clean user-friendly interface, which is exceptionally easy to navigate. You’ll find tons of useful information there even without contacting the support. In the footer of the site, there are links to comprehensive guides and instructions, as well as, their proprietary Blog section, containing lots of interesting materials. Finally, they offer a very good FAQ section where one can find answers to the majority of questions, including instructions for IPVanish APK files installation, IPVanish on FireStick, settings for routers, and so on.

If for whatever reason you need a live consultation, it is not a problem as well. You may contact the support team via e-mail, social media, or via a live chat. As of now, the chat is available to subscribers only.

How to Use and Installing

With detailed instructions and guides provided, even newbies should not experience any difficulties with using the VPN service. The first thing you’ll be requested to do, even before IPVanish download starts, is to create an account. A unique IPVanish login and a password will be used to access the services of the provider. After creating an account and paying for the chosen plan of IPVanish download software for your device and start using it. All the settings are usually made automatically, but if you need manual settings (e.g. for IPVanish APK files), there are detailed guides.

Within the framework of one IPVanish review, we won’t describe the interface and features of every application. Clients for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices look very similar and have, basically, one and the same capabilities. As soon as you log in, you’ll see a plain black window with green buttons. The interface is intuitive: in the main tab “Quick Connect” that is opened by default, you may choose the server and its location as well as set a connection. The next tab is the “Server List” where you can find a full list of available servers. In the “Account Details” tab you can check information about your account. The fourth tab is “Settings”, which is intended for advanced users who want to adjust the parameters of the program manually.

The Bottom Line

In our IPVanish review, we’ve analyzed strong and weak points of this popular VPN service. Altogether, its advantages apparently overweigh the disadvantages. It offers software for various types of devices; it is fast, flexible and customizable. Its capabilities are almost unlimited: with the help of the service, you will easily hide your IP address, bypass any restrictions, and feel the taste of a real online freedom. You’ll get a full access to any type of content via torrents and streaming services.

However, the IPVanish review would be incomplete without mentioning some drawbacks of the service. Unfortunately, it is not capable of unblocking Netflix in the USA. Also, the range of countries covered is a sort of limited. For example, currently, it doesn’t have servers in Russia.

Recommendations

1. Use an IPVanish coupon to buy it at a lower price. An additional discount 20% is provided to all new customers.
2. Buy a 1-year plan to get the maximum IPVanish discount. After all, if you don’t like the product for whatever reason, you have 7 days to get all your money back.
3. Switch off the feature of an automatic recurring in the Settings section. If you don’t do so, your subscription will be prolonged without a prior notification, as the feature in on by default.