IPVanish Review

There’s one VPN that claims the title of the “only true Top Tier VPN service” in the world. Its name: IPVanish.

This US-based VPN provider touts high speeds, an expansive network (74+ locations according to their statistics), and some pretty strong claims to privacy. I wanted to get into the nuts and bolts of the service, and this IPVanish review will do just that.

I broke this VPN down to find the pros and cons, dabbling in the details of their product from network speeds to pricing.

Let’s get right to it.

IPVanish VPN Overview

OVERALL RANK:	#6 Out of 30 VPNs
USABILITY:	Very Easy, Supports All Devices
LOG FILES:	No Logging Policy (Audited 2022)
LOCATIONS:	74+ Locations, 3,200+ Servers
SUPPORT:	Live Chat & Phone Support
TORRENTING:	P2P & Torrenting Allowed, Encouraged
NETFLIX:	Yes, Limited (US & UK)
ENCRYPTION/PROTOCOL:	AES 256-bit, WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2
COST:	From $2.19/mo
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:	www.ipvanish.com

IPVanish Pros

1. Usability Is Right on the Mark

Setting up IPVanish, I found that the user experience was quite smooth. Apps with complicated set-ups are at a disadvantage from the start, but this was not the case.

IPVanish launches easily, with some tools to get you started.

Installation

Installing IPVanish was quick thanks to their one-click install. All it took was agreeing to their terms of service and the installation happened in one step.

As soon as IPVanish confirmed the installation, all I had to do was click run to launch the application.

Running the app asked for sign-in information or you don’t have an account, to sign up. The interface is clean and simple and does not clutter their user forms.

Completing login opens the home interface, on the Quick Connect tab. This tab provides some information before a server is even connected. Information such as your current IP address, location, the current protocol, and status of your connection.

You’ll see the status of the kill switch (that’s touched on more later).

Clicking connect establishes a connection to a default network. The connection uses the best available country, city, and server. Again, the simple interface keeps everything in a clear view.

Once connected, the app generates further information about the active connection. It will provide an updated IP, location, time connected, server, and data up/down with an informative graph.

In-App Features

The IPVanish toolbar comes with a strong package of in-app features. Once I was up and running with a connection, there was a lot to unpack.

Server List

IPVanish has a server list widget that visually displays available servers, both by list and by map location. Having these two options available provides more flexibility when choosing a server. There is also a search function to narrow down countries if you have a location in mind.

Settings – General

The Settings widget controls all of the options for the app. Opening up the settings will allow changes to General settings. Here’s where the language can change, various startup settings can be configured, and support is available.

Having easily accessible support is a win when troubleshooting is necessary.

Settings – Connection

Clicking over to the Connection tab gives you some more options to control protocols. Here’s where the kill switch is controlled.

I like the easy access to reconnection, and IPVanish customizes the number of tries it will perform in the event of a disconnection.

Information

Keyboard shortcuts are enabled through the information widget. The inclusion of keyboard shortcuts for power-users is nice, although I’m not sure about the placement. It seems like shortcuts should be toggled through general settings, but this is a personal preference.

Terms of Service and license information are housed here, appropriately so. The version of your IPVanish is also listed to help you stay up to date on the software.

2. Multiple Devices Are Supported With Unlimited Connections

A VPN system, or really any app for that matter, should be compatible with various devices for it to be truly reliable. IPVanish comes in strong with support for the majority.

IPVanish supports simultaneous connections with no limit – meaning you can connect as many devices as you want at the same time.

Each device is unique in its feature list, so every platform has varying levels of support.

Windows

• Kill Switch Support
• IPv6 Leak Protection
• LAN Blocking
• WireGuard & OpenVPN Support

The kill switch is supported by Windows, which, when turned on, will block network traffic if IPVanish loses your connection. The LAN Blocking feature is a win for privacy: It blocks devices from communicating with yours if you happen to be sharing a LAN.

Windows support includes a Zero Logs feature that does not record any activity or data when using IPVanish, which should be standard fare for a VPN.

Mac

• Zero Logs
• Kill Switch
• API Load Balancing

API Load Balancing is not offered on Windows. With this feature, IPVanish can suggest a server that they promise to be the fastest based on your location.

iOS

• Zero Logs
• Always On
• 3D Touch
• API Load Balancing

The home computer is no longer a standalone device. Mobile support needs to be a part of the equation and iOS gets some support here.

The Always On feature is an added touch that keeps your IPVanish VPN active anytime Internet traffic is detected. Mobile devices use data connections as well as Wi-Fi. This a great feature to have running at all times to stay protected.

3D Touch can control IPVanish, and it’s nice to see support for the latest iterations of Apple technology.

Android

• Zero Logs
• OpenVPN & WireGuard Support
• Kill Switch
• API Load Balancing

The list is slightly shorter in terms of support for Android vs. iOS, but it’s valuable to have these core functions nonetheless. The Android app, along with the iOS app, are free.

Fire TV

• Zero Logs
• End-to-End Encryption
• Unrestricted Browsing

IPVanish offers some support here for Amazon’s Fire TV service. I like the encryption feature to keep personal information clean from advertisers or broadband providers. Data protection is a hot topic in the news, so this is a big plus.

IPVanish offers a solution to digital censorship by using their own servers. This will allow you to consume content without pesky geo-restrictions.

Routers

• Device Security
• Network Encryption
• Zero Logs
• Bypass Censorship

Linux

• Zero Logs
• Network Encryption
• Bypass Censorship

Chrome OS

• Zero Logs
• Network Encryption
• Bypass Censorship

Nothing much outside of the standard fare, but it’s nice that you have the option to use IPVanish with Chrome OS.

Windows Phone

• Zero Logs
• Network Encryption
• Bypass Censorship

3. No Leaks Found at All

As IPVanish heavily advertises itself as a private VPN, we decided to put it through its paces with a series of leak tests to see whether it really does protect your home IP. We’re pretty impressed with the results. IPVanish passed all of our tests perfectly, which can’t be said for other VPNs that suffer from DNS IP leaks.

First of all, we loaded up Browserleaks.com with the VPN active to see whether IPVanish suffers from any WebRTC leaks. The WebRTC protocol is infamous for disclosing your real IP even through VPN connections, so we’re happy to see that IPVanish protects against this. If you look closely, you’ll see that it appears as though IPVanish fails the WebRTC test, but this isn’t the case. While the IP reported through WebRTC isn’t the same as the remote IP address on the VPN, both IPs are part of IPVanish’s Polish IP block.

Next up, we put IPVanish through IPLeaks.net to see whether it would disclose your home IP through DNS requests. As you can see below, only IPVanish’s private DNS servers were queried during the test, indicating that your IP doesn’t leak through IPVanish when using their VPN client. To keep you safe from IPv6 leaks, IPVanish blocks IPv6 entirely. You won’t notice this when using the client unless you’re using a service that exclusively relies on IPv6 for routing, but these are few and far between. Still, it’s something to be aware of before you buy.

We’ve also confirmed that IPVanish’s obfuscation settings work properly. IPVanish uses the Scramble module added to OpenVPN which changes your traffic so ISPs and network admins can’t easily identify it as coming from a VPN. Scramble is effective even if you’re working in environments where Deep Packet Inspection is enabled, but you’re only able to use it with OpenVPN, so if you need better speeds you should keep it switched off and switch to WireGuard as your VPN protocol.  

We’ve also put IPVanish’s Kill Switch to the test. It keeps your internet connection turned off when you’re not connected to IPVanish’s VPN servers. That’s essential if you’re working from public Wi-Fi and don’t want to send traffic over an unencrypted line if you lose your connection. So, we dropped the connection intentionally and found that IPVanish’s Kill Swich won’t let any traffic through, as you can see below.

We’ve also run some testing on the installer itself, to be a little more thorough. While we trust that IPVanish is a legit provider, part of our due diligence is confirming that the installer doesn’t come with any malware attached. Using the VirusTotal.com Report for testing, we scanned the IPVanish installer.

The result was a clean sweep. No viruses were detected on the installer package.

4. Multiple Features Provide Good Value

Kill Switch

I briefly touched on this feature earlier in the review, but IPVanish’s Kill Switch feature deserved a little spotlight.

The kill switch is a practical safeguard that instantly blocks Internet traffic in the event that your VPN connection stops working. It’s an extra layer of protection, but so far it is only available to macOS, Windows, and Android users.

The kill switch is toggled to in the Settings:

Once activated and you’re working with the VPN, if you lose connection, IPVanish will show a disconnect notification.

The app will then attempt to restore your connection. While the connection is being restored you don’t have to worry about anything running through the VPN, thanks to the kill switch. IPVanish lets you adjust the number of reconnect attempts in the kill switch settings.

Protocols

I dove into the connection types offered up by IPVanish. There were quite a few protocol options, which means more flexibility

IPVanish offers five different protocol types:

• WireGuard
• IKEv2
• OpenVPN (TCP and UDP)
• L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)
• IPSec (Internet Protocol Security)

WireGuard is now the fastest protocol option available, offering both security and speed. For mobile connections, IKEv2 is an excellent choice as it manages network changes well.

OpenVPN is still a strong choice for most users. You’ll get multiple authentication types, and it typically will be faster than L2TP. You won’t get a lot of support for mobile using OpenVPN, so utilize L2TP for those connections if necessary.

IPVanish will give you PPTP as a fallback, but try to stick with WireGuard or OpenVPN for better security.

Customer Support

I’m particularly sensitive to support features while using VPNs. Like any network, it’s not bound to work all the time. In those cases, having an expansive customer support system in place is critical.

IPVanish offers a few layers of support. You can email questions on their company support page, and you also have a live chat and phone support for more immediate issues. They also provide text guides to research solutions.

I wanted to key in some response times using their chatbot, so I submitted a sample question.

The response was relatively prompt and provided an answer in the first response. A good chatbot can work wonders for 24/7 support, so this was a win.

5. Number of Servers and Locations Is Plentiful

IPVanish boasts a healthy count of servers, covering nearly every continent. The overall numbers are impressive:

• 40,000+ IPs
• 3,200+ Servers
• 74+ Locations

The splits are solid for server counts in North America and Europe. This is where you’re going to find the highest concentration of support.

Additional servers are mapped in Asia, Africa, South America and the Oceania jurisdiction. The expanded global server coverage now includes more regions than before, especially in Africa and South America which are often underserved by VPNs.

6. Speed Tests Show a Fast VPN Connection

IPVanish claims that they offer high-speed servers, so we wanted to put it to the test using our in-house speed testing rig. Our default line gets 250Mbps download and upload, which you can see from our baseline results. For the most part, IPVanish performed pretty well, although we’re a little underwhelmed by the upload speeds to our nearest server.

Baseline

• Download: 250.06Mbps
• Upload: 252.32Mbps
• Ping: 1ms

Nearest Server

• Download: 235.09Mbps
• Upload: 193.53Mbps
• Ping: 78Mbps

Europe

• Download: 235.02Mbps
• Upload: 236.67Mbps
• Ping: 47Mbps

US East

• Download: 226.56Mbps
• Upload: 223.45Mbps
• Ping: 96Mbps

US West

• Download: 210.48Mbps
• Upload: 216.53Mbps
• Ping: 166Mbps

Asia

• Download: 226.56Mbps
• Upload: 223.45Mbps
• Ping: 96ms

7. Torrenting Is Allowed and Encouraged

IPVanish supports torrenting, as well as P2P connections when using this VPN. IPVanish taps into The Onion Router (TOR) for added layers of privacy. It will come at the cost of some upload and download speeds, so be advised when using this network.

Using uTorrent for Windows is possible thanks to the use of the SOCKS5 Proxy. It requires a bit of a setup, but it is possible to use.

8. No Logging Policy Is Enforced and Audited

You may have seen in the features section that, across the board, IPVanish sticks to their policy not to keep logs to help you remain anonymous.

IPVanish maintains its privacy policy to be as transparent as possible, and that includes not keeping track of data or network information. In 2022, their no-logs policy was independently audited by Leviathan Security Group, adding credibility to their privacy claims.

If you’re in the hunt for a VPN with privacy in mind, this alone could sell you on IPVanish.

9. Encryption Is Top-Notch With WireGuard Support

Speaking of privacy, I wanted to dig into the strength of the encryption. IPVanish’s encryption protocol exceeded expectations.

IPVanish uses AES-256bit encryption, the highest level of AES encryption available, on all internet traffic to ensure privacy. This is the same level of encryption used by the U.S Government to protect information.

The addition of the WireGuard protocol has improved both speed and security compared to older implementations. WireGuard uses more modern cryptographic elements that offer a excellent balance of security and performance.

The encryption is very easy to activate using their VPN apps. No matter which device you choose to use you have the same level of secure encryption built-in. Best of all there is hardly a drop in performance when using IPVanish VPN encryption.

IPVanish Cons

1. Inconsistent Streaming Compatibility

International users take note: Streaming Netflix with IPVanish is possible but limited. Our past testing has shown that IPVanish struggles with some regional libraries. While it’s worked with US Neflix in the past, our most recent batch of tests shows there’s some inconsistency with how well IPVanish works with Netflix. We’ve tested a range of other streaming providers too to see whether IPVanish works, and it’s a mixed bag.

First up, Netflix US. Unfortunately, we couldn’t connect to Netflix US on IPVanish despite bouncing between multiple US VPN servers. We weren’t able to sign in at all, so if you’re looking for US Netflix you’ll need to pick another provider.

However, IPVanish does work with other Netflix regions, including ones we’ve previously had trouble accessing. For example, we were able to access Netflix JP and stream a variety of content first time. It’s good to see that IPVanish is paying attention to which regions are being blocked and regularly updating their IPs accordingly, so we expect that at some point Netflix US will be accessible again.

The rest of the Netflix regions we tested worked perfectly. We jumped over to the UK servers and booted up Netflix UK to watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. It all worked perfectly without any buffering, so we can definitively say IPVanish is great for streaming when it actually works.

Last up for our Netflix tests, we logged into IPVanish’s Germany servers to access Netflix DE. As with the other regional variants, it worked perfectly well first time.

To round out our streaming tests, we checked out a few other popular streaming sites with IPVanish active. While connected to the UK servers, we were able to access MasterChef on BBC iPlayer, once again without any buffering.

It’s the same story for Paramount DE after changing over to IPVanish’s Germany servers again. No buffering, no lockout issues either.

Given that IPVanish suffers when trying to access Netflix US, we were interested to see whether other US streaming services would be similarly difficult to access. In the case of Disney Plus, we were able to get in first time.

Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for Amazon Prime in the US. No matter what we tried, the service detected we were using a VPN and wouldn’t stream until we logged in from our home IP address.

So, all in all IPVanish definitely works… some of the time. It’s not the best for streaming US content, in which case we’d recommend you stick to a provider like Surfshark, NordVPN, or ExpressVPN. However, if you’re really locked in to buying an IPVanish subscription, there’s still plenty of content you can access pretty much seamlessly.

2. It’s Based in the U.S. (Which Is Part of the 14 Eyes)

IPVanish is based out of the United States and it’s important to note how this impacts your privacy. The United States is a member of the Five, Nine, and 14 Eyes Alliances.

This places IPVanish within U.S jurisdiction and could make your ISP information privy to surveillance by the United States and shareable to neighboring countries within the Five Eyes Alliance.

This may be a bigger deal to some than others. The U.S arguably holds the largest number of VPN providers in the world, so IPVanish is not alone in this category. I still consider this to be a drawback. Privacy is so central to the use of a VPN that being located in the U.S may be a reason you want to try another provider.

It’s worth noting that IPVanish has undergone a no-logs policy audit in 2022, which adds some reassurance, but the jurisdictional concern remains valid.

Pricing Is Competitive with a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

IPVanish offers several pricing tiers that provide good value compared to the rest of the VPN market. The Essential package starts at $12.99 per month and comes with unlimited devices and threat protection against phishing sites, as well as 3GB of eSim data.

Upgrading to the Advanced plan for $14.99 per month adds a secure backup option through the cloud, as well as phone support and a secure browser. It also increases the eSim data available to you to 5GB per month.

If you buy the yearly package for Essential instead, you get a massive discount: $39.99 for the first year which renews at $89.99 afterwards. Similarly, the Advanced plan goes down to $53.88 for the first year and renews at $109.99 per year.

The payment methods are flexible. All four major credit cards are accepted, as well as PayPal. You get a 30-day money-back guarantee to try their VPN and see if it works for you. If it’s not what you like, IPVanish will provide a refund.

 

Conclusion

Is there enough built-in that makes IPVanish worth using? In my opinion, it makes a strong case. I like the simplicity of the app, the server support is extensive with over 74 locations covered, and speed tests are positive.
Privacy is in the foreground. The independently audited no-logs policy, strong encryption with WireGuard protocol support, and clean leak tests might entice users who prioritize data security.

The unlimited simultaneous connections feature is a major selling point, especially for households with multiple devices or small businesses. Few VPNs offer this level of flexibility without additional costs.

While pricing is competitive for the first year, be aware that renewal rates increase substantially. Shopping around might lend more affordable long-term options. However, if IPVanish has the specific features you’re looking for, like unlimited connections and proven security, the cost shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.

All things considered, IPVanish isn’t the perfect VPN for everyone, particularly if Netflix access across multiple regions is important to you. However, for users seeking a reliable, fast VPN with proven security credentials and the ability to connect unlimited devices, I consider it a solid selection for 2026.