IPVanish Review

Privacy and Security

There's a lot to like about IPVanish's privacy policy and security options. No logs of any kind are ever recorded. While some VPNs state a no log policy, their fine print will state recording of connection times and bandwidth used. Thankfully, IPVanish is completely honest when they advertise no logs. Their AES-256 OpenVPN encryption couple with SHA-256 for authentication is as secure of a foundation as any VPN. The "Obfuscate OpenVPN Traffic" option works towards greater privacy by masking all traffic as regular HTTP web traffic.

IPVanish also comes with a slew of additional features to lock down your connection. The NAT firewall is particularly awesome as it blocks any unrequested incoming traffic. This helps to enhance general net security as well as providing a shield against DDoS attacks. Their DNS and IPv6 leak protection nullify the most common methods for third parties to discover a user's IP.

The SOCKS5 proxy is another underutilized feature to mask your real internet identity and can be combined with OpenVPN. This increases privacy further without hardly any speed hit. Finally, the internet kill switch option will cease internet operations if the VPN connection ever breaks. This ensures a safe and secure internet experience.

IPVanish is based out of the US, which is a negative given the government's surveillance and court powers. From the looks of it though, IPVanish has gone above and beyond to counter this. It's one of the few US VPN services that's safe to recommend for privacy.

Speed

If download speed, reliability, and/or latency are important to you then IPVanish should be seriously considered. We reached download speeds of over 90Mbps, which is pretty close to our non-VPN speed. As of the time of this review, that's the fastest top speed yet. Upload speeds maxed out our 20Mbps connection, but I imagine it would've exceeded that had our connection allowed it. Of course, consistency is important too. Once again, IPVanish excelled with floor speeds never dipping below 30Mbps across North America, Europe, and Australia.

The affect on ping time is as low as any, which is great for gamers. We definitely recommend IPVanish for any streamer or professional gamer. The DDoS protections coupled with an almost non-existent latency detriment will keep your playing at a consistently high level. There's no flaws in the speed department to even speak of.

Countries

When compared to other VPN services, IPVanish is on the high end of global coverage. They offer 40,000+ shared IPs on 1,000+ VPN servers in 60+ countries. Their reach is fairly spread out too, with a number of servers in Asia, Australia, South America, and even an Egypt location. IPVanish is a good option for travel as the proximity of servers to almost everywhere in the world ensures optimal speeds.

Dynamic server switching keeps internet speeds high, as well as maintains a high degree of privacy. Some major cities are missing in the US though so while it's good for US sports fans, it's not all encompassing. New servers are added periodically though and are always of high quality.

Ease and Usability

Signup starts with a form requesting email, password, and payment. That's it. The only downside to the setup process is the lack of Bitcoin support. Afterward, there are a lot of options for getting started quickly. Users can let IPVanish do the heavy lifting and select servers based on preferred locations and top speeds. Don't worry though, everything has manual control too. Both the desktop and mobile apps are very responsive so we really like how this VPN software handles.

Their IP cycle feature is particularly neat. Approximately every 45 minutes, IPVanish will automatically connect to a new IP. This works seamlessly with the aforementioned internet kill switch. This improves usability for novices and experts alike, who normally must manually swap servers for this kind of privacy protection.

The main downside to the desktop and mobile apps is the plethora of options. To IPVanish's credit, they're well laid out. Any advanced user should breeze through customizing their setup, but it might be overwhelming for a first time VPN user. For example, one issue users may run into is that settings like "Obfuscate OpenVPN Traffic" can only be modified while disconnected from IPVanish. It's not entirely clear while using the software either, which can be frustrating.

Support

IPVanish has only continued to improve their offering over time. Last year, the company offered only email support. A recent extensive overhaul to their support system introduced 24/7 live chat. Their tutorial library is also quite extensive, negating the need to even contact support in most cases. It's certainly nice to know that it's available though. We really like to see VPNs that don't rest on their laurels and continue to expand. With both support and server capacity increases in 2018, IPVanish is ensuring that long-term buyers are taken care of.

Value

IPVanish charges a fairly average monthly rate of $10. Their yearly package comes in at $77.99, which equates to $6.49/mo. This is on the higher end for VPNs so it's certainly not a budget VPN. That said, you get a ton of features for your money. It's actually been difficult to mention all of IPVanish's unique features because there are just so many (take a look at that laundry list of pros compared to cons). One I'd like to call out specifically though is the 10 simultaneous users since most VPNs allow only 4-6.

So while this is certainly not the cheapest VPN, subscribers definitely get more than fair value for what they pay. Savvy users will find that changing browser windows before purchasing anything will receive a bonus discount, ensuring an even better value than what is already one of the industry's best.

Bottom Line

We try to keep reviews on Best VPN Now short and to the point. By now you can probably tell IPVanish is one of our favorite services. It is jam packed with features, and the company does not skimp on providing a top tier product. Privacy, security, speed, and usability all receive top marks. Sure, there's some room for improvement in regards to customer support and US locations. But there's room for improvement on every service, and these issues are relatively for minor given the complete package. This is a do-it-all VPN that we strongly recommend to all VPN seekers.